#milgram guide

[weather-cluddy]

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WATCHING MILGRAM (as of the end of the 2nd trial)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

INTRO

What's Milgram? Milgram is a multimedia project whose central concept revolves around the audience judging the character's crimes. All of them stand accused of murder after being brought to the mysterious prison of Milgram, but were their actions truly wrong? Only the audience, through the medium of the amnesiac guard Es, can decide that. Vote them GUILTY or INNOCENT according to your ethics or your whims over the course of three trials , and watch how their lives change in response.

You can read a list of trigger warnings here. Who's working on it? The musical and visual components are led by the vocaloid producer Deco*27 and his employees at OTOIRO, with him working on the lyrics and composing half the songs, while the other half is handled by Rockwell. Teddyloid often works in the songs' arrangement as well. Yamanaka Takuya is in charge of all writing in the MILGRAM project, except for the novels and their manga adaptation which were done by Nami Tsumi. His works tend to revolve around trauma and people's inner darkness, and are often music-related multimedia franchises such as the Caligula Effect series, Utagoe wa Mille-Feuille and Boisterous Six. (Fun fact: the last one was prompted by the thought that if he made a collab with the Takuya Yamanaka who's part of The Oral Cigarettes, maybe people would stop confusing them. It did not work.)

For more details, check the wiki's Staff page.

How do I vote? You'll need an account for either Twitter or LINE (Japanese texting app). Then go to the JUDGE page in the official website and click on the icon of a character that's not grayed out. (If they all are, then you need to wait until the new trial starts). You'll be asked to give the site permission to use your Twitter/LINE account. The website should remember your credentials afterwards. You can vote once a day every day for as long as the poll is open. The general rhythm of the project is that a song releases, then another releases next month and the next one takes two months to come out. Since each poll lasts for three months, this means that there should always be two characters available for voting, unless there are delays or you're at the very end or start of a trial.

How does this guide work? / Usage notes Due to Tumblr's restriction on the amount of links per post, this guide will have three parts.

I've organized content according to platform/format, but I also paid mind to original release date and overall importance to the plot. I've added some supplementary notes and explanations when I thought it was relevant. Sometimes the information is part of a larger theory post, but please don't take the link as endorsement of any particular theory. There will be links to the MILGRAM wiki, which is not spoiler-free. If you navigate to the character's main pages, you will immediately see images that spoil developments in the latest trial. This also applies to the official website's character pages. There will also be Youtube links. Since the suggestions can also contain spoilers, you can copypaste the link into Polsy to avoid them. You'll still get videos thumbnails when you pause or when the video ends, but from what I can see they're limited to the videos found on the uploader's channel.

TRANSLATIONS

Official Website

Character Profiles milgrammer (Click "profile" for each prisoner)

Voicelines First trial: milgrammer (Same as above) Second trial: Rochisama (Section: Voice lines)

A different set of translations can be found in the Milgram wiki. It is also the easiest way to access the audio, as old lines get retired from the official website and Wayback Machine is inconsistent in saving them. The quotes can be found in their own subpage, such as https://milgram.fandom.com/wiki/Momose_Amane/Quotes . Substitute character names accordingly, and keep in mind that Muu and Fuuta's names are spelled with two u's.

According to the writer's tweets, the prompts for the first trial's voicelines are: 1) Introduce yourself. 2) You're a murderer, aren't you? 3) Is there something you'd like to tell the guard (me)? 4) and 5) What do you think about Milgram?

And for the second trial: 1) To the awakened guard 2) Regarding the first trial's results 3) Regarding changes in the second trial 4) Comments on the first trial 5) What do you think about Milgram?

Loading Screen During the first trial, the loading icon for the website displayed the message "Sing your sins." When the second trial started, the icon was changed. Now it looks the same as the first one for a second, then morphs into "Doubt your punishment." You can see a gif of it here.

Youtube Channel

Teasers These are brief videos which feature the characters speaking sentences out of context. So far we've seen some, but not all of them pop up in the series itself. Some seem to take place in the past, so it's likely not all of them will show up. Note that these videos contain flashing lights, chaotic visuals and screaming. Translations can be found in comments. - First season teaser - Second season teaser

Voice Trailers These trailers have normal and glitchy lines. The normal parts are taken from the website voice lines, while the glitchy lines aren't featured anywhere else. Translations for the static-filled lines can be found in the comment section, and Rochisama also translated the second-trial lines in their website. - First season voice trailer - Second season voice trailer

PV Technically our first real intro to the series, but given the unstranslated onscreen text and the dodgy subtitles, it can be skipped. There's some concept art not shown elsewhere; A cleaned up version can be viewed here and here. The website features a lower shot of the same art shown in the last link.

Song trailers These feature short snippets of upcoming content: songs and one sentence per prisoner. You can skip this if you've already watched the songs and voice dramas in question; the only difference is that sometimes the translation is slightly different. - First trial - Second trial

Main Songs, Jackalope Videos and Voice Dramas In-universe, the voice dramas take place before the songs. However, up until midway through the second trial the songs were uploaded first and the albums (containing the dramas) would be released 1-2 weeks later, so it seems the intended viewing order is the other way around. The tracklist order also supports this, so I'll be using the song->voice drama order. ES and Undercover are special cases. Undercover doesn't seem to exist in-universe, with the timeline for this one being A Milgram Anybody Can Understand->ES->Website voicelines. For the sake of consistency, I still used the song->VD ordering, with A Milgram being placed afterwards due to being released later.

Lastly, some of the official English titles are different from the Japanese ones. I wrote down both the official translation, marked (EN), and a translation from Japanese marked (JP)

First trial Official song playlist

Undercover (Instrumental) Notes: Milgram's theme song and its first release. The official subtitles were changed during the second trial to reference the song titles, at the cost of being less accurate to the original Japanese: you can see the original lyrics here. The lamp that shows up at 2:11 says 御霊燈, "spirit lantern." This kind of lantern is placed at the house of the deceased for 49 days after death. It serves to both announce that the family is in mourning and a guide for the spirit of the deceased; fire being a way for ghosts to find their way from and to the afterlife is a common motif in Japanese folklore. The kanji above the scratched-out text reads "deceased." Text on the sticky notes on Mikoto's screen. ES (Text)

A Milgram Anybody Can Understand

Weakness (EN) / The Weak are Meat, Eat your Fellows (JP) (Instrumental) Notes: A theory post analysing the title and word choices used. Writhing of the Weak (Text)

Umbilical (Instrumental) Relative Zero (Text)

Bring It On (Instrumental) Notes: Onscreen text translation. Cultural context on lyrics. Braze you!! (Text)

After Pain (Instrumental) Notes: Onscreen text translation. Crying B (Text)

Throw Down (Instrumental) Notes: Onscreen text translation Moloch (Text)

This Is How to Be in Love With You (EN) / It's Love! (JP) (Instrumental) Notes: Onscreen text translation Love is Mine (Text)

half (Instrumental) Gouging In The Night (EN) / Night of Exposure (JP) (Text)

magic (Instrumental) Notes: Onscreen text translation. (Some corrections: "Happily supporting" is more like "Happiness-supporting" and "Weird Monk" would be "Mysterious Monk.") Apostle and Death (EN) / Apostle and Death and (JP) (Text) Notes: The odd extra "and" in the Japanese title is to make the title sound more repetitive. It's pronounced Shito to Shi to.

MeMe (Instrumental) Notes: The yellow sign at 1:28 reads "WARNING. This is private property! It's not a public dumpster! Don't just throw your trash wherever you like. Anyone caught fly-tipping will be reported immediately. WARNING." The tarot cards (probably) say "MIKOTO TAROT CARD" at the bottom. John Doe (Text) Notes: "Remember your murder" should be "I'll remember that, you murderer!"

Harrow (Instrumental) Notes: Summarized onscreen text translation (highlighted comment). Alternate full translation. TASK (Text) Notes: "Heh, I should be the one thanking you" / "Heh, you’ve gotten the order of expressing gratitude wrong." should be "That's not the kind of face you should be making when thanking somebody"

First trial closing video

[kukuepta1047]

I did a thing

[weather-cluddy]

There are seven types of Milgram content, organized roughly in order of importance:

1) The music videos. These are the images, tunes, lyrics, etc. extracted from the prisoners' subconscious with Milgram's machine. They're published on Youtube and Spotify, and have official day-one English translations. This also includes Jackalope's videos, of which there are three so far. In order of release, they're "A Milgram anybody could understand", "Jackalope's end of the 1st trial announcement" and "Jackalope's beginning of the second trial notice". The first one is an intro video, the second spoils the 1st trial verdicts, the second spoils the beginning of the 2nd trial.

2) The voice dramas. These are short-ish audios (15 minutes) featuring Es interrogating the prisoners immediately before their song is extracted. They're published through Youtube (but not in the official account) and Spotify. They're also generally subbed into English once a fan-translation is made.

3) The voice lines, trailers and teaser movies. The first are found on the official website's character pages, the second and third are videos uploaded to Youtube. Each trial or season has one set of voice lines for each prisoner: the website has five lines for each, meanwhile the trailers have one 'clean' and one 'glitchy' line, and the teasers have just one.

For the first season's website lines, I suggest checking Milgrammer's 'profile' sections, which also includes the descriptive blurb for each character. For the second season's, we have rochisama's translation (the blurb remains the same, so there's no translation for the 2nd season's description). For the trailers and teasers, you can generally find a translation in the comment section. Keep in mind these include loud static and yelling, so you may wish to skip listening to them if that's an issue for you.

4) The QA sessions. Each prisoner pair receives 20 fan-submitted questions and writes out their answers, one per day. They're published through the official Twitter account, and the questions are sent through commenting on the official app (paid users only).

Generally translated through Twitter replies or quotes, but for binging I suggest rochisama's or the Fancult's archive. They're not quite up to date (and indeed Fancult declared they wouldn't translate anymore 'round a week ago), so you might have to do some backtracking in the official account to hunt for translations. You can use the #尋問_囚人番号004番 tag to quickly view all QA sessions through all trials, starting from the oldest one. Keep in mind you'll have to change the number to match the character you're looking for; this one shows you all of Muu's questions.

5) The app/timeline convos. They're very short (3-4 sentences) conversations between prisoners published in the official app. They used to be published fairly often when the project started, but nowadays new ones only come out during character birthdays. Rochisama has the most translations hosted in a single place (start from the bottom), but you can also check Fancult's Twitter account, which has everything up to the very latest convo (not counting Jackalope's or Deco*27's messages, which Fancult never translated).

6) Minigram: a comic strip featuring the Milgram characters. Not truly canon, just some comedic relief. It's published through the official Youtube channel, in the community tab, and receives official English translations.

7) The novel. Deals with a previous instance of Milgram with a different guard and prisoners. Arguably more relevant than Minigram, but less directly related to the present trial. You can check a summary of a machine-translation here, or you can ask Pai to share their own translation if you have proof of purchase. Incidentally, the novel will receive a sequel and a manga adaptation this year.

?) Es covers. Once a prisoner's song reaches 1M views, a cover by Es will be released (though we're currently rather behind on these). These are often sung differently than the original, generally in a more emotionless fashion, and have grayscale versions of the original PV. It's arguable how relevant they are to the actual plot, but I might as well note them.

As to what order to watch it in, read the introductory stuff and basically just go character by character from there, making sure to leave the QA sessions after you’ve listened to the songs and voice dramas of both prisoners involved.

So, you should start by watching the trailers, teasers and voicelines for the 1st trial, then Jackalope’s first video, then the Undercover voice drama, then Undercover the song*. Then you listen to Umbilical, Relative Zero (Yuno’s voice drama), Weakness, Writhing of the Weak (Haruka’s voice drama), and read the QA afterwards. Then you follow with Bring it On and so on. Simply follow the upload dates and supplement the voice dramas from the playlists I linked.

*You can also choose to watch the music videos first and then the voice dramas. Originally the videos were released online roughly a week before the dramas, but it’s not really done anymore, and chronologically the dramas happen before the music videos. In Undercover’s case, the Jackalope intro video leads directly into the drama, which leads directly into the 1st trial voice lines. The song is considered to be “Milgram’s theme song“ and doesn’t seem to exist in-universe, unless the writers decide to pull a twist later on.

While I do strongly reccommend checking the convos, it’s a bit harder to know where to place them in a reading order, since they were released so haphazardly. My suggestion is to read the first 80% or so (up until Mahiru’s birthday in 22/01/17) anytime before the second Jackalope video, AKA the 1st trial end announcement, though ideally without getting ahead of where you are in terms of music videos and voice dramas. Then after the last two Jackalope videos you can read the remaining convos.

Minigram is practically spoiler-free (technically it does tell you a character’s first verdict, but it doesn’t matter too much), so it can be read anytime. Same for the Es covers.

The novel doesn’t contain any direct spoilers for the current Milgram instance, but I suggest saving it for the end, after you’ve had some time to chew on everything else. It’s pretty long even in summary form, after all, and it does have some implications for the future of the series that would’ve best appreciated after you’ve got a firm grasp of the basics.

Hello Milgram fandom how do I get into this whole thing? I've watched music videos and I love them but people keep referencing other info and idk how to find it like what form it's in or anything pls help!!!

[poisonerthing]

i know most people have talked about fuuta and amane having locks on their doors already but its so interesting to me that rumerie's signature points at the keyhole on fuuta's

it leaves me wondering if we missed anything in backdraft except for the graffiti and the end part or if that was all there was to see

(more on my rb)

[marshmelia]

Moooreee OLD aaaarrrrrttttt

[heynowisavedyouright]

here$ your double 3koto confirmation come on

[emitranslyrics]

This Is How To Be In Love With You

Do you know what it means?  To love entirely? If so, Fall in my arms and you can OVERHEAT with me

All the secret things I only wanna say to you All the dreams that only you can make come true Are symptoms of love

Aah, I guess if I have to pick a yes or no then calling this “happy” is fair But I can’t shake off the feeling that flutters on my back  that there’s something special that still isn’t there You know? It isn’t really much the kinda convo  that you wanna have so early on but I can’t let it go I love the way your eyebrows scrunch when you get stressed!! Forgive me!~

If we spent a day Past an inch away I can’t bear to think how our half-hearts would separate I try play nice But it isn’t right Saying “I’m OK” would be such a lie! 

Do you know what it means?  To love entirely? If so, Fall in my arms and you can OVERHEAT with me

All the secret things I only wanna say to you All the dreams that only you can make come true

Are symptoms of love

Don’t you know what I mean? Don’t you feel incomplete? Without, A girl who crushes on you ‘til it crushes you

Even every time I test your durability, Even when we practise breaking up ritually It’s symptoms of love

(Br-r-r-ring!~) Sitting up at 2am calling! Sulking as a hint ‘til you say “Good Morning”! Why’s it always me who falls asleep the earliest It kinda makes me feel bad that there are seconds missed, y’know? We both get lonely from time to time But I bet you’re gonna get fed up of me soon right…? If you’re treating me so nice, there’s gonna be a price, So forgive me if I get really clingy, alright?!

There are times we fight But I think it’s nice Getting hurt is just the proof my heart is working

Let’s match our pain Like we will match our names This love-sickness, rotting us down to the core!

You know what this’ll mean. A promise more than rings Because, We are two parts that make up one whole lover

Wishing that I knew you inside-out literally But wanting death because I know that that’ll never be That’s symptoms of love

You’d know my smile’s fake If I made a mistake But look, When I’m with you it’s like a fire inside me

“Bye-Bye” feeling more like ordered jail time Getting shy because it’s you right by my side, All symptoms of love

If we spent a day Past an inch away I can’t bear to think how our half-hearts would separate

I try play nice But it isn’t right Saying “I’m OK” would be such a lie! 

Do you know what it means?  To love entirely? If so, Fall in my arms and you can OVERHEAT with me

All the secret things I only wanna say to you All the dreams that only you can make come true

Are symptoms of love

Don’t you know what I mean? Don’t you feel incomplete? Without, A girl who crushes on you ‘til it crushes you

Even every time I test your durability, Even when we practise breaking up ritually It’s symptoms of love

All the secret things I only wanna say to you All the dreams that only you can make come true Are symptoms of love~

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Tactics of Persuasion

Phantom dreams

Story-telling

Tailored pitches

Source credibility and authority

Social consensus and social identity

Scarcity

Information control

Self-generated persuasion

Commitment

The rationalization trap

Phantom Alternative

An option that looks real, is typically superior to other choices, but is unavailable (Pratkanis & Farquhar, 1992).

The key to selling a flimflam (i.e., the selling of pseudoscience, fringe science, and other questionable claims) is to sell the phantom as real and possible and something that can be obtained with the right belief, effort, and, of course, money, but, in reality, it is a false dream.

The sale of a phantom begins by creating ostensible solutions to satisfy our most basic needs and desires.

As such, phantoms often purport to provide things such as:

Health (quack cures, diets, “healing” rituals, mental health pseudoscience, psychic surgery, faith healing).

Wealth (get-rich-quick schemes, lucky lottery numbers, investment fraud).

Social popularity (weight loss regimes, love potions, dating and romance fraud, becoming an “expert” with “secret” knowledge about UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, and the moon landing).

Fear of death and the end of our existence (séances, life-after death claims).

Reduction in the anxiety of life’s uncertainties (advice given by horoscopes, astrology, psychic mediums, and other means, phrenology, psychic detectives, conspiracy theories that “make sense” of the world and the desires and feelings of those who spread them).

It is relatively easy to create a phantom since it does not actually need to solve these needs, but just appear to do so.

Compounding the problem, it’s often difficult to spot the real from the fake course of action without the needed knowledge, expertise, and critical thinking skills.

Although a phantom dream is imaginary, its impact on our behavior is quite real.

Story-Telling: The Invented Ruse

To allay our concerns, the seller of flimflam invents a ruse or story to make the fake look real (Bell & Whaley, 1991; Clark & Mitchell, 2019)

A good narrative:

helps to guide our thoughts (e.g., the cure is natural and traditional),

determines the credibility of information (e.g., as a natural cure, this makes sense), and

ultimately directs evaluation and choice (e.g., it works for Native Americans and Quakers, why not me?).

As such, stories cement information in our mind and tend to persist even in the face of strong, discrediting information (Anderson et al., 1980; see Pratkanis (2007) for the use of stories in influence).

Tailored Pitches

Fake healers can use the technique of pre-show to gather needed information.

For example: Before the healing event, attendees can fill out prayer cards with their healing requests and other information.

During the service, the fake healer can call out names and appear, by purported divine intervention, to know the person’s illness and personal life story.

Typically, the fake healer will “cure” shills (plants who fake illnesses) and those with painful health problems for which the pain can be overlooked in the excitement of the moment. The prayer cards (along with Googling and social media) provide the needed information.

Source Credibility and Authority

Two of the most robust research findings in social psychology are as follows: (a) we tend to listen to those who are credible (expert and trustworthy) sources (Hovland et al., 1953); (b) we tend to obey authorities (Milgram, 1974).

The merchant of flimflam leverages these 2 basic human tendencies by creating a persona as a credible authority and then using that persona to hawk a phantom.

Social Consensus and Social Identity

Flimflam merchants will use our social relationships to sell their phantoms by employing the influence tactics of social consensus and social identity.

When we see other people doing something, we are more likely to do the same through the conformity created by social consensus – if everyone is doing it, it must be the right thing to do.

Social consensus engages 2 psychological processes that promote conformity (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955):

information or social proof (“if other people are doing it, it must be correct”; Cialdini, 1984) and

normative influences or social pressure to agree or go along with the group (“I don’t want to be different from the group”; Asch, 1951).

The seller of flimflam will manufacture a false consensus (or take advantage of an apparent one). Quack remedies, astrological readings, unproven Covid treatments, get-rich schemes often feature testimonials of people who speak to the “value” of the product.

Once we become engaged with a flimflam, it can provide us with a desired social identity or a sense of who we are based on our reference group memberships, whether they be real or aspirational (Abrams et al., 1990; Kelley & Volkart, 1952; Tajfel, 1981).

Scarcity

Another social influence tactic to make a flimflam look desirable is to make it look scarce (Cialdini, 1984).

Given that phantoms are generally rare, this is rather easily accomplished.

As an effective social influence tactic, scarcity:

plays on a rule in our head, “if it is rare, it must be valuable”;

creates a sense of urgency and panic that we need to act now and feeling of frustration (reactance) when we do not obtain the phantom; and

inflates our feelings of uniqueness and self-worth when we obtain something that is rare (Pratkanis, 2007).

Information Control: False Accusations, Projection, and Doubt Campaigns

The sellers of flimflam often encounter scientists, journalists, magicians, lawyers, informed citizens, and other “do-gooders and crusaders” who use evidence and reason to point out false claims made in selling the phantom.

If left to stand, these criticisms can cut into sales and deflate the entire scheme. As such, the flimflam merchant needs to control the information environment and can do so using at least 3 techniques:

First, the peddler of a flimflam can falsely accuse the critics. Such attacks can be effective because it can result in a negative impression of the target of attack, undermining their reputation (Wegner et al., 1981). In addition, such allegations set up a chilling, coercive effect as others may become fearful of speaking out.

A second information control tool for the flimflam merchant is a variant of the false accusation known as the projection tactic – accusing others of the misdeed you are doing (Rucker & Pratkanis, 2001). In research, we find that a projection attack: (a) focused attention on the accused and away from the person making the accusation, (b) increased the blame placed on the target of projection, and (c) decreased the culpability of the accuser, making the accuser look good and moral for raising such issues. The effects of projection persisted despite attempts to raise suspicions about the motives of the accuser and providing evidence that the accuser was indeed guilty of the deeds.

A third approach to controlling the information environment is through a doubt campaign (Michaels, 2008; Oreskes & Conway, 2010). The purpose of a doubt campaign is not to convince someone of something (say, the value of the flimflam) but instead to raise doubts and confusion about the facts with the goals of (a) making it difficult to know the truth, (b) creating the impression that there is a controversy (when there is little or none), and (c) forestalling any action until the “controversy” is resolved. The doubt campaign was pioneered in the 1950s and 1960s by tobacco companies seeking to dissuade consumers that their products were harmful, but now is used to create doubt and confusion on such issues as climate change, the efficacy of vaccines such as those preventing childhood illnesses and COVID-19, the value of masks for limiting the spread of COVID-19, and evidence against various conspiracy theories.

Self-Generated Persuasion

One of the most effective means of influence is to have the target generate arguments in support of a position and thereby persuade her- or himself (Boninger et al., 1990; Lewin, 1947).

Self-generated persuasion is effective because in essence it asks the target to think up good reasons for a proposition and to refute any counter argument.

This self-generated message comes from a source that is considered credible, trustworthy, respected, and liked – ourselves.

Commitment

In order to establish continued advocacy and use of a flimflam, the seller needs to secure a commitment, especially a public one, from the target.

With a public commitment, a person is linked to a behavior or course of action – in this case, advocating for and using a flimflam.

Breaking this binding produces a negative tension of not living up to one’s promises and a concern that one will look inconsistent and untrustworthy (e.g., a need to save face). As such, securing a commitment increases the likelihood that the target will comply and perform that behavior (Brockner & Rubin, 1985; Salancik, 1977; Staw, 1976).

Commitments are strongest when the behavior is public/visible, irreversible, and perceived to be freely chosen.

One method for securing a commitment is through the use of the foot-in-the-door tactic (Freedman & Fraser, 1966).

Flimflam is rampant on social media, and we can easily see why.

Social media, with its emphasis on engagement (liking, reposting, posting, commenting, posing, arguing) provides many opportunities to make public, irreversible, and freely chosen commitments (as well as to allow those commitments to be used to create the appearance of social consensus as to the value of the flimflam).

While making a commitment increases compliance, it also results in perhaps the most important ingredient in selling a flimflam: setting a rationalization trap.

The Rationalization Trap

Once a person is sold on a flimflam, and especially when he or she comes to purchase and publically advocate for the phantom option, it changes the way a person processes information.

No longer is the goal “to find things out” but instead to defend and justify the beliefs and actions in what can be called a rationalization trap (Festinger, 1957; Pratkanis & Shadel, 2005; Tavris & Aronson, 2007).

When a person holds 2 discrepant thoughts, what social psychologists call cognitive dissonance, it results in an aversive tension state with painful implications for the self.

In such a state, we are highly motivated to reduce the dissonance.

Of course, one way to reduce the dissonance is to admit a mistake – I was wrong about the cure – and to take responsibility for one’s actions by alerting others and rejecting or, at least scrutinizing more carefully, the source of the disinformation about the quack COVID-19 treatment.

While a mature response and what science requires (Feynman, 1985), it is often difficult to take this route to dissonance reduction, especially when we have made public commitments, self-generated arguments, and linked our social identities to the flimflam, in this case, the quack cure.

Admitting a mistake often is taken to mean – to ourselves and to others – that we are not a good and capable person.

After all, we were unable to see through the deception and then told others to do something that might damage their health.

Unfortunately, an all-too-often course of action is to dig in our heels further and to rationalize and justify our behavior.

Some common ways to do this include:

deny the evidence (“the data showing the ineffectiveness of the cure is made-up”),

take some irrelevant aspect of the disagreeable research and pretend that it is damning (“the study was only done in New York”),

derogate the source (“that’s from the biased media and the doctors’ union”),

derogate others who expose the quackery (“nurses and doctors don’t care about people”),

perform a selective information search (search out and spread any study or claim no matter how unreliable that supports one’s position),

keep repeating discredit research as if it is true, bolster one’s own self and one’s intuition as a way of knowing (“I can see through the media; I did my research unlike those duped by big pharma”),

derogate other forms of knowing, particularly science and reason (“science is a limited way of knowing unlike my intuition”),

use whataboutism (“what about the time Fauci might have said something wrong”),

seek external justification (“a cure that might work is better than having to wear a mask”), and, perhaps worst of all,

self-censorship of putting ourselves in an information bubble where we only hear agreeable information and anything disagreeable is either not heard or ridiculed.

Obviously, a rationalization trap is a very effective means of selling a flimflam.

Once we are in the trap, we will continue to buy the flimflam and advocate for the phantom option in an attempt to justify ourselves in the face of failing evidence.

A key component of being an active truth-finder is to have a plan for evaluating and making decisions about claims.

When we do make a mistake, the honorable thing to do is to admit the error and take responsibility for our actions.

Source ⚜ Reading Scientific Articles ⚜ False Claims ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[doctorbunny]

The Jackalope Guide [spoilers for both novels]

I skimmed through the first manga, second novel, side S/W and my memories so hopefully I've not forgotten anything important [text version under cut]

Jackalopes of MILGRAM:

Novel 1

Female/described as having a "woman's voice"

Uses atashi/アタシ pronoun (pretty bog standard feminine pronoun)

Goes by "Jacka"

Requests Es call her a jackalope and not a rabbit [note: there is a Jp equivalent of the phrase "flying pig" 亀毛兎角 kimoutokaku "turtles with fur, rabbits with horns" referring to something impossible, this phrase may be linked to jackalopes]

Newer at her job (compared to other Jackalopes in the series)

Works from a branch office of MILGRAM HQ (reports back to her boss remotely via big TV)

Sadist who enjoys human bloodshed (at one point even giving a stressed out Nervous a box cutter to self harm with, just like the kind she used to use, so Sumi could see who )

Likes organising MILGRAMs with "aesthetic" (IE all of Sumi's prisoners being involved in her death)

In order to prevent information being spoiled too early uses powers to stop the prisoners breathing until they stop trying to talk

Accidentally allows Twoside to give away information too early, spoiling her own MILGRAM

Her and her MILGRAM considered failures (punishable by purging)

Her 'vessel' is chained up by another jackalope (probably youtube jackalope) at the end of the novel then purged but the person was able to escape (because she was in the Branch Office)

Current location/situation unknown (but said to be alive)

Novel 2

Male/described as having a "young man's voice"

Uses jibun/自分 pronoun (slightly unusual as a main pronoun feels kind of soldier-like)

Also goes by "Jacka"

Has run many successful MILGRAMs in the past (allowed to take risks like Torch being the Es of Novel 2)

Works at MILGRAM HQ

Takes smoke breaks after trials

Talks to boss during smoke breaks

Boss is probably Youtube Jackalope

Hates bloodshed and doesn't care about the aesthetics or drama of a MILGRAM

When Tatsumi tried to kill Torch, Jacka retaliates by using his powers to take control of Tatsumi's body and make him strangle himself

He stops when Tatsumi passes out/Torch says he doesn't want Tatsumi to die, but if not for Torch, Jacka would've killed him

Hates his job/boss

Relieved to hear that Jacka1 escaped purging

Despite working at milgram for many years, did not know there was a branch office

At the end of the novel he defects from MILGRAM, forming a collaboration with Torch and showing/taking him through the secret exit

Asks Torch how he'd feel if someone he loved was judged guilty by MILGRAM (possibly implied to be something that happened to him?)

Youtube

Male/"Speaks arrogantly"

Uses Ore-sama/オレ様 (comically self important)

Internal monologue in Side W/S uses watashi/私 (significantly less arrogant)

Only goes by Jackalope

Insulted if you call him a rabbit

Appears at the end of the first novel to punish Jacka/judge Sumi

Appears during second novel's post-trial smoke breaks (human form in milgram HQ)

Was the one to approve Torch being a guard even though he didn't think it was a good idea

Hates smoking and asks Jacka2 to not do it

Highly values the aesthetic/elegance of a MILGRAM

Wants a "pure" milgram with the fewest possible distractions in the judgement of sin

Used the same kind of memory erasure on Es that Jacka1 used on everyone

Believes Es needs to trust him for MILGRAM to work

Probably responsible for Es' barrier (the 'hypnosis' lines up with other jackalope's mind/body controlling)

Views end of 2nd novel as the worst event in milgram history

Cooks the food for the prisoners (sheds lots of fur)

[linabirb]

how to write characters, voice dramas and mvs for your ocgram! (kind of? sort of? i'm not an expert?)

do you want to make an ocgram? do you have no idea where to start? maybe you don't know how to come up with characters for your ocgram? voice dramas are way too hard to write? how the hell are you even supposed to write mvs??

well hello there! i hope this guide can help you with doing just that!

as someone who has an ocgram (@linagram hi) and is currently trying to get everything prepared for season 3, i also was struggling. a lot. i'm kinda getting better at organizing everything now, but still, all the work you need or supposed to do for ocgram can be overwhelming, especially if you don't really have much prepared at the moment and you're just getting started.

before we proceed, if you're able to make art, edits or any other visuals for your ocgram, i recommend checking out this guide by @tsuwmya, it has a lot of useful info, references and resources. if you can't do any of that, that's fine too! you having fun with creating is more important and if you don't have the ability to create visuals, that's perfectly understandable. this guide is more about the writing part anyway, haha.

let's get started!

(warning for some spoilers for the milgram novels (at least the first one) just in case!)

this guide will be separated into parts so that it's easier to understand and you can find the part that you think is the most difficult one for you.

worldbuilding.

before we start working on characters and voice dramas, let's say you're just starting out. you want to make an ocgram, but you don't even know where to begin!

now, this is probably going to sound a little scary, but what i recommend doing before writing characters, vds and mvs is some worldbuilding. no, no, i'm not telling you to figure out everything about your ocgram lore (but if you want to, feel free to do so! i actually think it's gonna help you a lot in the future), but try to answer these questions first.

"when does your ocgram take place?"

it can be as specific as a certain date or it can be as vague as "some time before/after canongram". canongram lore doesn't really give us much info to work with so you can go wild. but figuring out even something as simple as whether your ocgram takes place before canongram or after can actually help you a lot!

"is your ocgram closer to canongram or novelgram?"

the music project and the novels' settings have their differences and both settings have their strengths. you don't have to write mvs for the novels-like ocgram, though you will still have to write the memory scenes. also, for a novel-like ocgram your characters are expected to be named after some sort of adjective that could describe their personality or be a reference to their crime/backstory (example: "nervous", "gentle", "two-side"), but their names are still supposed to be revealed closer to the end. meanwhile canongram uses the voice dramas, timeline convos and mvs (and apparently earbuds voicelines) to tell you more about the characters. figuring out the "format" of your ocgram like that can help you a lot too.

now, you have figured out these details. great! if you're feeling like writing more about how your ocgram works, let's think about these parts more.

is your ocgram just like the milgram project you've chosen as a "base"? maybe it even has the same jackalope? is the guard still named "es"? maybe there's more than one guard and more or less than ten (or five in case of novelgram, if i remember correctly) prisoners? does the prison still look exactly the same? maybe something has changed over the months or years? all of this depends on your own preferences and what you decide to do with the story. you can make your ocgram as different from canongram or as similar as you like.

again, we don't know much about canongram at the moment, so don't be afraid of coming up with the whole backstory for the prison.

when you feel like your world is ready, it's time to fill it with characters!

characters.

oh boy, the fun begins. i'm not your mom, so you can do anything you want with your ocs, but if you don't have any character concepts in mind and you don't know what to do, here are some tips!

(we're going with the canongram formula here, but you can adjust it as needed)

as you probably already know, the canongram prisoner pairs have some sort of theme. both haruka and yuno's crimes have something to do with children. both fuuta and muu's crimes have something to do with bullying. you see what i mean. figuring out themes for your prisoners could be a nice start if you don't really have any characters in mind. pick themes that sound interesting to you and that you would like to explore more.

let's go with the theme of "luck" for example. how can two (or one, or three, or any number, really) prisoners share the same theme? how can you show that? maybe one of them is really lucky and the other one is extremely unlucky?

okay, but here's the fun part. how can you apply this theme to murder? maybe one of them was able to successfully get away with murder, meanwhile the other one accidentally killed someone because of their bad luck? and this way you can come up with really cool characters even if you didn't have any ideas in mind before that!

okay, so the milgram's whole thing is that all characters are morally gray in some way. and the character's moral "grayness" is a spectrum. for example, it can go from "eh, they shouldn't be here, honestly" white to "okay this one is kinda fucked up" gray to "JAIL. NOW. OH WAIT YOU ALREADY ARE THERE" black. but again, even the sweetest and kindest characters should have their questionable moments and even the scariest and most dangerous ones should have moments that make you feel sorry for them.

let's take some canongram prisoners as an example. we have haruka. an adorable squishy blorbo, everyone's skrunkly, the guy who everybody kins. don't you feel sorry for him? don't you want to give him a hug? oh, he kills animals, by the way. he also killed a young girl. just so you know.

now, we have muu. a spoiled teenage girl who always get the things she wants and is proud of it. a girl who literally said she's okay with haruka killing himself for her. literally has a song called "it's not my fault". cries every time a minor inconvenience happens and whenever someone suggests something to her, she just goes "i don't wanna..". her father is a landlord. except she also got bullied by her own friends, doesn't understand how real friendships and human connections work, still brings haruka food and checks up on him when nobody else does and it's heavily implied she actually does feel guilty for killing rei. yeah.

my own personal formula goes like this: i come up with a character. i write some things about them and then i take a look at their crime and personality and if i feel like they're a bit too sympathetic, i add a little bit of spice so that it isn't so easy to forgive them.

let's take my oc aimi for example!

she's such a cutie, isn't she? she's also a victim of bullying too.. oh, also she has the biggest number of victims out of all my prisoners. she also seems to be very obsessed with the concept of friendship and if you refuse to be her friend, she will not take it well. she will most likely try to kill all other prisoners in season 3 or at least hurt them in some way because she doesn't see them as friends anymore. she's been voted innocent twice. she has way too much power in her hands at the moment.

okay! now, let's take my oc kei!

a pretty guy! seems like the flirty type. oh, by the way, he takes photos of people being tortured and that's how he makes money (not counting his job as. well. a normal photographer). "oh, well, maybe he didn't have a choice-" he did. he literally does it because he wants to. he likes it. he enjoys it more than his boss. he likes seeing people in pain and believes that hurting someone means showing you love them. he physically and emotionally abused his own little brother for years and the poor guy still can't walk and move properly because of it. he has five victims.

but for some reason, he also has these huge scars on his back. he also was shown crying in his second mv. he was shown as someone helpless and someone who ended up in a very dangerous situation because of his victims. so.. is he the real victim here? or is he just trying to look more pitiful?

i think you're already starting to understand what i mean. of course, you have all the freedom to do anything you want with your characters. make them as dangerous or as cute as you like. but if you want them to have this "milgram vibe", i suggest you try to find "balance" between their traits that make them look forgivable and the ones that make them look unforgivable!

we can't forget about the guards though! does your guard have all their memories intact? do they remember their name, their past, etc? maybe they're just like the canon es and they don't remember anything at all? do they have their own jackalope or maybe they do their job without a fluffy little bunny around? what is their role here? are they more of a "self-insert"/"audience surrogate" or are they their own character with a backstory and everything? maybe they're an active type who has very deep relationship dynamics with the prisoners and talks to them a lot even when they're not interrogating them? or maybe they're just a creacher? maybe they just do their job and don't really talk to them? they're just standing there.. menacingly.. all of this is up to you to decide!

of course, the relationship dynamics between the characters are very important! first of all, look at your overall cast, when you're done with them. what kind of relationship do you imagine them having? maybe you see them as a found family? maybe all of them are friends? maybe all of them are kissing passionately in the moonlight? maybe all of them hate each other? maybe they even don't care about each other at all! again, it's all your choice and it depends on what kind of characters you're working with.

if you're stuck and you're not sure where to begin, i think a good start would be taking a look at your prisoner pairs and try to figure out the dynamic between the prisoners from each pair. what are their parallels like? how similar are they? how different? do they like each other because of their similarities/differences or they hate each other because of them?

okay, so when you're done with characters, a much scarier part appears.

plot.

so, what do you write first? is it the voice dramas? maybe mvs?

i think it really depends on a person and what you personally find most comfortable, but from my own experience i actually would advise you to work on the vds and mvs first before writing and posting a character's profile.

you see, it's possible that while you're in the process of writing the voice drama, you will notice that the character's personality is much different from what you had written in their profile and originally had in mind for them. of course, it doesn't mean that it will definitely happen to you, but this happened to a lot of my ocs, haha.

so that this doesn't happen but you also have an idea of how your character is supposed to act, try writing down or simply making a mental note about your oc's main personality traits. maybe they're the most extroverted one? maybe they get tired easily? maybe they flirt with everyone they meet? keep those traits in mind, but also give yourself the freedom to explore their character and make them more deep in the process. maybe while you write the most extroverted prisoner's voice drama, you will realize that they actually don't like other prisoners that much or while you write the sleepy prisoner's voice drama, you will get an idea about them not wanting to face their reality and use sleeping as a method of escapism.

if it helps, i personally work on my ocgram in this order: voice dramas > music videos > character profiles, but of course, you can adjust it to your preference.

i think it should be obvious that you should work on the characters' crimes and backstories before you actually start writing the voice dramas and posting stuff about them. sure, you can make it up as you go, if you're confident enough, but i strongly recommend you have a plan or at least a concept of what your character's crime is supposed to be. it will make everything much easier for you!

about backstories: you don't have to, i don't know, come up with names for every single member of your character's family, but i recommend thinking about your oc's backstory outside of their crime. what was their childhood like? what about their teenage years? do they have any friends? what's their relationship with their family like? all these details can help you understand your character's motives, personality, crime and other stuff. also it's simply fun!

so, let's start with the voice dramas.

voice dramas.

(i've also answered a vd-related question here!)

voice dramas can be very hard to write, so let's think about what makes them hard for you first.

maybe you just don't have any ideas? maybe you don't know what the characters are supposed to talk about?

what personally helps me when i start writing the voice dramas is asking myself this question:

"why are these guys even here?"

probably sounds weird, but if you think about it, it actually makes everything a little easier to understand.

why is the guard here? most likely to interrogate the prisoner.

why is the prisoner here? most likely to answer the guard's questions.

okay, we're getting somewhere.

now, how would your guard interrogate the prisoner? of course, it really depends on your guard's personality. maybe they would try to make the prisoner feel more comfortable? or would they rather threaten them and scare them?

now, let's add the prisoner's personality to this equation. what is your prisoner like? how would they react to the guard's questions? what do they think about the guard? are they scared of them? maybe they want to be friends with them? what do they think about milgram in general?

let's put these personalities in one room now and give them a moment. how will they interact? what will they think about each other?

if you're not sure what your guard is supposed to ask about, you can always use the canon voice dramas for reference, but my personal method is simply thinking about what my guard is most concerned about or interested in. and yes, this goes for the guards who don't care about anything too!

maybe your guard wants to make sure the prisoners are doing okay? in this case, they'd probably want to ask about how they're feeling first. or maybe your guard is more focused on the prisoner's crime. then they'd probably start asking about that right away.

okay, your guard has asked a question! how will the prisoner answer?

depending on your prisoner's crime, personality and backstory, they may be okay with revealing some things, but would never want to talk about something else. maybe they're okay with talking about their murder method, their victim and all, but they will never tell you what their motive is. if you're only getting started with the first season, try to reveal something they're okay with first! then you can talk about the other things in later seasons.

what helps me a lot is separating my prisoners' crimes into parts and sort of.. figuring out which parts should be revealed very early and which ones should be saved for later.

for example, maybe we can reveal the prisoner's murder weapon and method in the first season, their victim's identity in the second one and their motive in the third one.

what also helps me with writing the voice dramas is simply "visualizing" everything and imagining how it would go in a visual novel, anime, actual voice drama, etc. also remember that since it's a voice drama, you're kinda supposed to tell everything through sounds and, well, voices! so for example, if you want to tell the reader that the prisoner is nervous, maybe you can make the guard say "you look nervous" or simply make the prisoner say "i'm kinda nervous".

music videos.

mvs are something everyone does a bit differently. maybe you can actually draw/animate your prisoners' mvs. maybe you can write song lyrics for them. maybe you can simply write their mvs' descriptions. it all depends on your skills and what you're working with. so here i will simply talk about how to come up with an idea for a music video.

firstly, what are you supposed to reveal in your prisoner's mv? is it their murder method? is it their victim's identity? maybe something else? keep that in mind so that it's easier for you to drop hints to that thing.

now, what can we do for the visual part? is there anything you associate with the prisoner? a certain theme, aesthetic, etc? even simple objects can help, think about how many canongram prisoners have an object as their "theme": yuno has balloons, muu has an hourglass, kazui has an apple, etc. now, try to think how you can reveal something about the prisoner through this theme. for example, in yuno's case, balloons are a reference to her pregnancy. milgram loves symbolism, so take advantage of that, haha.

what also helps me a lot is simply listening to music that i associate with that prisoner and kinda coming up with music videos in the process. watching actual music videos can also help when you're looking for inspiration.

also, don't forget that everyone's music videos literally come from their brains. what does your prisoner think about their crime? what do they remember about it? how do they feel about it? do they feel guilty? do they feel like they've done nothing wrong? do they wish to forget it? do they see it as their biggest achievement? it can also help with writing song lyrics, if you're doing that.

if you're writing a mv description and you're not drawing/animating a music video, i would advise you to try to describe as many things as possible, as long as it's important. yes, we all love noticing small details while rewatching the milgram mvs, we all love the tiny things that are important for understanding the character's crime, but sadly, if we can't see it, how else are we supposed to know about it? so yeah, if the color of the curtains is important in your story, you should describe it too.

anddddd i think that's all for now! this is mostly done for people who haven't gotten to the second/third seasons of their ocgrams yet, so stuff like the prisoners' reactions to their verdicts, their punishments, etc, is not here. but you can ask me about it (and if you have any other questions, you can also ask me)!

hopefully this helps someone <3

[weather-cluddy]

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WATCHING MILGRAM (as of the end of the 2nd trial)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Collaborations Petit Milquesta A manga crossover between Milgram and Clock Over ORQUESTA, another song series with an audience voting component. Chapters were released on Twitter and followed by a guilty/innocent poll.

Trailer Part 1's translation: Chapter 1 (Verdict: Innocent) Chapter 2 (Verdict: Innocent) Chapter 3 Verdict: Innocent) Part 2's translation: Chapter 4 (Verdict: Innocent) Chapter 5 (Verdict: Innocent) Last chapter

Karaoke no Tetsujin A café collaboration with a karaoke establishment. With certain drinks you'd get a special card with a random prisoner's thoughts on karaoke. Promotional illustration Interrogation card translation: Weather-cluddy, doctorbunny. Menu translation

AVIOT A set of earphones with lines for each character, including Es and Jackalope. Promotional illustration Review (includes photos of box and earphones) Voice lines translations: Made by doctorbunny, made by CHERRYSOUP.

Interviews and Commentary Interviews

Music Natalie interview An interview with Deco*27 and Yamanaka very early into the project, around the release of Umbilical (Yuno's first song). Discusses how Milgram came about and the creator's thoughts and expectations on it.

Animate Interviews These are small interviews with the voice actors. One batch deals with the characters themselves and was released very early on, the other is about the first trial songs and were made after each one was uploaded. Character interviews + Weakness and Umbilical Bring it On After Pain (Unstranslated) This is How To Be In Love With You Throw Down (Unstranslated) half magic (Unstranslated) MeMe Harrow (Unstranslated)

Clock over Orquesta collab interview An interview with Yamanaka Takuya and Jun Okamoto, the producer of Cloquesta. They discuss topics like the tension between commercial appeal and artistic freedom and what makes a good story.

Producer commentary App comments from Deco*27, Rockwell and Teddyloid (Search for "creator comment") The animators also gave some commentary on Twitter up until Triage, Shidou's second song. Weakness (Unstranslated) Umbilical (Unstranslated) Bring It On (Unstranslated) After Pain (Unstranslated) Throw Down (Unstranslated) This Is How to Be in Love With You (Unstranslated) half (Unstranslated) Magic (Unstranslated) MeMe (Unstranslated) Harrow (Unstranslated) All-Knowing and All-Agony Tear Drop Backdraft It's Not My Fault (Note: There's a part of the translation missing, it should say "the monster that was born from the results of the first trial") Triage

Birthday Flowers Flower language is a recurring motif in Takuya Yamanaka's works. These are his comments on each character's birth flower. These posts only started being released during the second trial, but they're not particularly spoilerish.

Haruka Yuno Fuuta Muu Mahiru Shidou Kazui Amane Mikoto (Follow-up) Kotoko

Streams and live events Every year at the end of April there's an anniversary stream where the staff chat about their thoughts on how things are developing and announce new merch. As of writing there have been four anniversary streams plus one emergency stream in October 2023, where they announced the Hallucination concert. First anniversary translation: part 1, part 2 Second anniversary translation Third anniversary: No translation currently Emergency Stream: No complete translation, a few parts have been translated. Fourth anniversary: Summary.

Hallucination In January 2024, a live event was held in which the VAs for the various characters sang the trial songs and acted out abridged versions of their voice dramas. Mahiru's songs and dramas weren't included as her actress was unavailable. She uploaded a small video announcing this and answering a few questions, you can see it here unstranslated but transcribed. The noon show revolved around the first trial while the evening show featured the second. Both can be viewed here and subbed versions of the voice dramas, except for Aesculapius and TASK (Shidou's second drama and Kotoko's first) can be viewed here. In relation to this event, they also released script books for the voice dramas and a booklet, the latter containing interviews with Yamanaka and Deco*27, as well as DMYM and akka, both animator directors. A scan of the booklet can be viewed here, and the translation for the Yamanaka & Deco*27 interview can be read here. The script for the first trial's voice dramas can be viewed here, with the second trial and transcripts coming soon.

Milgradio A talk show that started in January 2024. Every month there are two new entries, featuring Yurina Amami (Es' VA) and and one of her fellow Milgram voice actors. The exception was the two first episodes, which had Yurina solo and then her and Yamanaka. So far the order of VA appearances has been Amane, Kazui, Shidou, Muu, Haruka, Fuuta, Yuno, Kotoko and Jackalope Each episode is free to watch until the next one releases. You can watch them on OpenRec for a membership fee, or a free archive (not including the first episode) here.

Covers and remixes There are two type of covers in MILGRAM: Es covers, in which Yurina Amami (Es' VA) sings a prisoner's song after the original upload reaches 1M views, and Vocaloid covers, which are remixed covers of Deco*27's Vocaloid songs that are assigned to a prisoner and released along with their OG song and voice drama each trial. Note that as stated in the Music Natalie interview the Vocaloid songs have no relation with each character's personality or backstory, and are selected based on which VA Deco thinks will sound good. They are, however, arranged and sung in an "in-character" way.

There's a rumour going around that there won't be any second trial Es covers, in contradiction with what was said in the second anniversary stream. The source seems to be an English comment in the third anniversary stream, in which somebody who doesn't speak Japanese claims to have heard it from somebody else.

Official playlist of Es covers Comment by Yurina on magic's cover

Hatsune Miku cover of Undercover, made for Milgram's first anniversary

Unofficial Playlist for Vocaloid covers Unofficial Playlist for intrumentals of the Vocaloid covers and trial songs Note: The first season's covers don't have official instrumentals. The CDs instead came with "off-vocals", which only removed the speaking parts of the songs. For the third anniversary, a mega mix of the first trial's songs made by Teddyloid was released. It can be watched here.

Miscellaneous Runes The Milgram runes are a mysterious script that appear in the music videos, official website, merchandise, etc. They're a substitution cypher for the Latin alphabet. Translations: Undercover and website Undercover album Undercover album (Miku ver.) Prisoner belts (This isn't mentioned, but I believe the text at the bottom, with the age and weight, is also what's shown in the song trailers and in the back of the first trial albums.) The second trial album covers' all say "Abandon all hope ye who enter here" in Italian. Prison map

Decoding graph: 1, 2 Font file Font file for runes and regular website text

Image Archives Includes merch, album covers and CDs, commissioned or staff-created fanart, etc. Laniemae's archive Milgram Fan Archive Milgram Visual Archive (mainly images of the first trial albums and CDs) Holographic illustrations for Undercover, Weakness and magic Some of the second trial albums Photocards that came with the first trial albums.

LINE stickers Translation

Name trivia All the characters have the character for 'tree' in their names.

Character locations There's a Google doc sourcing most of the stock photos used in the prisoner's cards shown in Undercover. Raw versions of the cards were also provided to premium user years ago, and they give different locations. Note that both set of images may not be entirely consistent with canon. The images are pre-existing assets, and the premium cards has oddities like placing Mahiru in Hyogo prefecture, 500 km away from her stated location in How To Be In Love With You.

How to Make Stories that Stay in People's Hearts This was a hour-long presentation given by Yamanaka Takuya, Milgram's main writer, during the Game Makers Scramble 2024 convention. As the name suggests, it was focused on advising game developers on how to create a good story and it pulled examples from the Caligula Effect series and Milgram, so it could be an interesting insight on his writing process. There's no translation available, but the Game Makers Youtube channel uploaded a recording.

[clover0101]

haruka and what each animal on his case represents, an analysis

before we begin, general CW for the issues haruka's story deals with (neglect, child abuse, animal death, etc).

Throughout the MVs, animals play an important role in Haruka's story. I think each of these represents a part of Haruka, both how he perceives himself and how he wants to be perceived. Even if Haruka presumably has numerous animal victims, the ones most emphasized are dogs, fish, and rabbits.

1. RABBITS

Haruka is seen on many occasions with his bunny plush. It’s so important that it appears not only in Weakness and Undercover but also in graffart’s collab, where each item is importan on the character's story in one way or another (like mahiru and the mantis). I see it as a toy from his childhood that he’s very attached to.

The fact that it’s specifically a rabbit is interesting to me, as the rabbit is a prey. If we go to the unique point of view of Japanese culture, rabbits are also quite related to the moon. The lunar cycles are also an important symbol in weakness, showing white, blue and finally red moons over a red sky. The origin of the relationship between rabbits and the moon is debated between admiration as they are perceived as objects of fertility and health because of their reproduction, or a legend that spread from India:

"a rabbit can't tolerate seeing people die and jumps into the fire to become food, then Indra rewards him for his sacrifice and takes him to the moon."

The theme of self sacrifice and the ultimate reward one receives for it is reinforced by Taoism, where the hare, like the moon, dies to be reborn and represents immortality. More popularly, rabbits are also associated with good fortune. It being white also points to innocence, and in turn to the pursuit of something that upon attainment brings discovery, an idea popularized by Alice in Wonderland. Even if it's more seen as a weak and tender animal, it has also been culturally represented as cruel and capable of aggression, closer to what Haruka is than the role of merely a prey. Haruka wants to be seen as weak prey that the strong hunt, to be pitied and loved for it. To be perceived as someone to be protected, as he cannot defend himself, but this is contradicted by his own actions both in weakness and throughout milgram. The prey becomes the predator and gives way to the next animal;

2. DOGS

The dog is universally a symbol of loyalty and the effort it takes to form a training bond between a wild animal and a human. Dogs are seen accompanying men and being obedient to women.

Dogs are perceived as creatures that love unconditionally and are capable of giving everything to protect those they love.

In terms of personality and behavior, they are the closest animals to Haruka, who accepts and actively seeks to be guided and to be faithful for someone, to be used to feel useful and not abandoned.

Even if they are domestic, the dogs whose breeds are distinguishable are large dogs, considered to be hunting dogs. Haruka being represented as a dog also creates a parallel with kotoko, who is represented by a wolf.

Haruka being represented as a dog also creates a parallel with kotoko, who is represented by a wolf. Dogs are the friendlier, "clean" version of wolves, domesticated to be obedient, while wolves maintain a certain solitary air of independence and savagery.

However, whenever a dog is featured on screen it is accompanied by loud instrumentals and rather graphic visuals. In Weakness, child Haruka accepts and expresses affection towards the animal, who apparently is suddenly injured and runs away from him into a forest, where he is disoriented and confused. Haruka follows its footsteps and ends up seeing his hands in horror, realizing that he's the cause of its injury.

The perspective of present Haruka isn't so different, who now attacks it, destroying it until the only remains are the necklace it was wearing, ultramarine liquid and eyes, which I consider represent the opinions of others and looks that judge him.

I think the fact that this dog bleeds the same color as Haruka's is a not-so-hidden hint at the fact that, in a way, Haruka is ending up with a part of himself (this time a bit smaller, not being human yet) to escape people's judgments.

There are also many sayings that by mistreating someone, "you are treating them like a dog", like an animal, something inferior, but that still sticks to what the human wants and believing all their words.

In AKAA, we see that instead of being a mix of at least two dogs, they're now separate entities and different breeds that dissolve as Haruka sings about being reborn. Again, dogs often appear in stories as spirit guides, helping humans enter and exit the realm of the dead safely, representing a middle ground between life and death. Dogs are followers of their owners, not leaders, and no matter how close a bond they form with humans, they are rarely recognized as equals to us.

3. FISH

Most of the similarities between Haruka and fish are presented visually, with Haruka being a passive spectator of his own life, observing others from behind something akin to a glass wall that separates him from normal people. He's constantly surrounded by water drowning, and in one scene is even presented at a fish-eye angle, being watched by his mother.

In AKAA we can see two specific species of fish.

Yellow bobfish: they're very complicated fish to keep in aquariums because they release toxins when stressed and are naturally solitary once they reach adulthood, it's not recommended to have more than two in the same tank because they are territorial and aggressive among their own species, however it's friendly and sociable with fish of other species. It responds to stress with aggression and attacks its own kind (in this case other weaklings) just like Haruka.

Clownfish: they usually inhabit anemones, forming a mutualism in which they find shelter and food. Toxins from anemones don't affect them as they develop immunity to them throughout their lives to eventually live in them. Anemones benefit from clownfishes cleaning its tentacles. Clownfish often eat parasites and are also known to steal more food from anemones than what they give in return. They are also capable of changing sex from male to female. Seeing this particular species depicted tells us a lot not only about haruka, but about his relationship with Muu, as for the first time it's not depicted as a mutual need, a codependency that endangers their lives if they become separated, but a mutually beneficial relationship where both can exist separately, but live much more comfortably by relating to each other in this way.

Extra: Insects (specifically butterflies) and parasites.

The symbolism of transformation and metamorphosis is so present that it even took the title of both voice dramas. Caterpillars can only wriggle and are no different from any worthless worm, but after a season, they manage to transform into a butterfly: beautiful, admirable, much more memorable and lovable. Having been forgiven and meeting Muu, Haruka manages to "fulfill" his metamorphosis and become someone he believes is better. Still, from what is shown in AKAA, it doesn't seem that Haruka is entirely happy with this change happening - the monarch butterflies represents ambition and perseverance, but it seems to be rejected by haruka, who crushes it in his hands

Haruka longs for this transformation, but is unable to fully accept it happening. I think it's because no matter how much he changes and wants to be someone else, he can't get rid of the disastrous image he has of himself, or he has forced himself not to change so as not to be disliked even more by others.

Now, Kotoko is an important figure to Haruka despite not interacting much. It highlights both his codependency (or mutually beneficial relationship) with Muu as much as the fact that he assimilates a parasite.

This is a point I've made several times before, but Haruka's way of socializing is based on taking parts of others and melding them on himself, especially women. It started by stealing his mother's necklace and taking it as his own, continues by killing Mirai and stealing what he lacks, and ends now in a much more obvious way with Muu, imitating her personality, accepting her accessories and the clothes she chooses for him and even copying her sprite pose a bit.

If he had become closer to Yuno and Mahiru, I'm sure he would also start imitating their behaviors in one way or another. Haruka lives by taking parts of the women he surrounds herself with, and he seems to want to take something from kotoko as well, but it's still unclear what he wants.

What does all of this have in common?

Not only is the theme of change and rebirth prominent, but every animal that Haruka comes to hurt relates in one way or another to his desires, thoughts, or parts of himself. Figuratively, we can say that Haruka's case is about him eliminating and hiding every part of himself, until he murders his human victim, Mirai, who at the same time is the closest and most prominent part in him, with whom he wishes he could reconcile and exist together, accepting each other - for, unlike his other victims, Mirai is often presented as a friend and someone Haruka misses. I have yet to write Mirai's analysis on its own, so whether she is also a part of Haruka or not and whether all his kills are figurative is up to each one's choice, I tend to wander between both sides because I like both scenarios. In a less figurative way and taking the case more literally, these facts are simple trivia and interesting symbolism to consider when analyzing Haruka.

[ashipiko]

BABAM! ☆

welcome to… ASHIPIKO’S BLOG!

WELCOME TO ASHI’S MULTIFANDOM (but tbh mainly twst) BLOG!!! feel free to expect lots of yume content and fanart ♡ THANKS SM FOR STOPPING BY and hope you enjoy your stay!!!

COMMISSIONS POST

MY A3! SIDEBLOG

MOOT LIST

MORE INFO UNDER CUT:

SONAS: list of ashi sonas! feel free to send questions and asks about them <3

TWST 〜 Ashi Tamadai (Ace Yume)*

A3! 〜 Ashi Tamadai (Azami Yume)

PRSK 〜 Ashi Tamadai (Akito Yume)

18TRIP 〜 Ashi Tamadai (Ushio Yume)

ENSTARS 〜 Atsu Tamadai (Kaoru Ship)

MILGRAM 〜 Atsu Tamadai

*EXTRA NOTE: wanted to mention stuff regarding my ace yume! (🫶 sharing: OK w my other yumes tho) just wanted to clarify I’m selective w sharing and so it just takes me a while to warm up to fellow ace yumes!!! no hate towards anyone at all I SUPPORT GIVING ACE THE LOVE HE DESERVES!!! <3 would just appreciate it if there was no forcing. TYSM!!!

OCS: misc OCs! my blog is more yume focused tho so you might not see them as often 😔

TWST 〜 Niko Cimarron

TWST 〜 Atlan Trein

PRSK 〜 Via Kashiki

PRSK 〜 Naoto Hatano

PRSK 〜 Izumi Fukuhara

*EXTRA NOTE: actually have a sideblog dedicated to my fansekai! it’s kinda dead but still exists <3 blog can be accessed thru any of the oc links

MAIN TAGS: a guide to ashi-related tags!

NEWER ASHI ART 〜 ashipiko draws ♪

OLD ASHI ART 〜 ashipiko draws

YAPPING 〜 ashi talks ☆

ASKS 〜 ashi’s asks ♪

OCS 〜 ashi ocs ♡

INSPO 〜 inspo

CRYING. 〜 ashi is crying

ASHI SIMPING 〜 ashi simping hours

FANDOMS: + faves! self explanatory!

TWST 〜 Ace, Epel, Leona, Floyd, Lilia

A3! 〜 Kazunari, Tenma, Banri, Azami, Natsugumi

NWJNS 〜 Danielle, Minji (wuv them all tho…..)

PRSK 〜 Mizuki, Akito, Tsukasa

18TRIP 〜 Chihiro, Ushio, Ev3ns

ENSTARS! 〜 Kaoru, Madara, UNDEADP

HAIKYUU! 〜 Kuroo, Nishinoya

MILGRAM 〜 Amane, Yuno

DUNMESHI 〜 Chilchuck

SPY X FAMILY 〜 Loid, Damian

TO BE CONTINUED…

<3 shoutout to all my moots btw. love y’all!!! AND TYSM TO MY FOLLOWERS TOO 🫶

[archivalofsins]

Love how on the Milgram homepage when you scroll down you just get greeted with this under characters

Where all the prisoners have red backgrounds emphasizing what Jackalope said in Es' voice drama about how if he were in our position, he'd vote them all guilty. It also alludes to the idea that's what they all deserve. Unlike Es and Jackalope who both have a multicolored background that's a mix of the innocent and guilty colors.

There are other interesting things about it, but I find this one uniquely hilarious when put alongside how the characters have been received.

Other funny tidbit Jackalope being labeled a guide and his character page stating,

"He is supposed to be an UMA (Unidentified Mysterious Animal) that is said to live in Wyoming, USA."

"But for some reason he is working as a prison guard along with Es."

Like it just straight up goes well this thing isn't meant to be here in his description and it's incredibly funny.

Jackalope: I work for Milgram.

Milgram *describing him*: I know it works for us but he's supposed to be-

Jackalope: I work here.

[purgemarchlockdown]

I- god- I need to talk about how Milgram as a system makes you assign who the "worst" is out of the cast. Which one doesn't seem guilty for the actions? Which one didn't have a good enough reason? Which one is most dangerous? Which one is the scariest? Which one is the most Deserving of punishment? Which one Deserves Support the Least?

When Milgram asks who deserves to be forgiven and who shouldn't be this is what they mean. This is why Jackalope insists that you can vote for any reason. This system is Built to find the "Worst One" and Punish Them.

ES SAYS THIS IN AMANE'S T1 VOICE DRAMA:

Es: Don’t make me laugh. I’m not your teacher at school; it isn’t my goal to teach you things or guide you on the right path. Milgram’s goal isn’t to turn you back into decent human beings and get you back into normal society. What is needed here is firm, honest judgment and decisions.

Es: Milgram's goal is not to help people, but to judge them "firmly" and "honestly."

It is NOT a coincidence that they are saying this in Amane's T1 VD. Y'know, the same character whose cult punishes them unjustly and unfairly under arbitrary and often unreachable standards.

And look- I get that they committed murder. That is indeed a crime, that is indeed a horrible thing to do.

However, there is an Underlying Theme here that is being explored! If this work was just about what was murder and who actually committed murder this series would be over by Trial 1 and characters like Mikoto, Amane, Haruka, would be guilty and also Dead.

Milgram is actively making us engage with this System of Punishment and find out that No, it actually isn't that easy to prevent the evil from hurting the weak. That people get hurt in this pursuit of justice. That this black and white system of punishment Does Not Actually Help Anyone!

And this is such a cool and interesting part of Milgram that I wish people we're more willing to engage with! I wish we, as an audience, we're more willing to accept that Our Judgement Hurts People. That this is a part of the experience of engaging with the musical murderer series that asks the audience if their willing to forgive or not.

(And I also wish the risk of people attacking me for this is a lot lower but ah well.)

[khunyuki]

YukiKhun Game Over Productions presents:

TWISTED PROJECT: DEFENSE IN WONDERLAND

A Twisted Wonderland AU inspired by Danganronpa and Milgram Project.

Synopsis: An amnesiac prison guard has to facilitate a death game while finding the culprit of a particular case amongst all the prisoners in order to survive. The prisoners must kill o be killed in order to gain their memories and freedom. The readers must eliminate the prisoners with a goal of saving as many as they can. Above all, eliminating the wrong person leads to a GAME OVER.

Note: This is still an idea and I will currently not write about this since I dunno where to start.

Genre: Murder Mystery, Thriller, Game

Warning/s: Death, Blood, Yandere?, Revenge

Masterlist

The game begins when an amnesiac prison guard, [Y/N], was tasked to watch over 22 prisoners in the mysterious prison called Night Raven Constitution. You, the Overseer, will experience WONDERLAND through the eyes of [Y/N], guided by the monster Grim. Your guidance is absolutely necessary when it comes to judging their crimes by voting whether or not they should be forgiven and live to see another day or be punished.

There are currently 19 prisoners in the Night Raven Constitution, all of them having committed a crime yet no recollection of it whatsoever. In exchange for their freedom, the prisoners are all given 3 choices: remember their crimes and confess their sins; gain immunity from votes and trials; or kill someone and get away with it. If someone is killed, they all have to work together to deduce the correct culprit.

Of course, [Y/N] isn't unaffected by this death game for your choices will affect whether or not their mission will succeed. [Y/N]'s ultimate mission is to correctly identify Yuu's murderer hiding amongst the crowd within the time limit.

60 Days. That's the time limit given to [Y/N] and the prisoners. Whoever proposed this death game is unknown but all you need to know is that the mastermind placed them there for a reason. A very twisted reason.

Your goal as the Overseer is to save as many prisoners as you can in this death game. You have to uncover the truth behind the prisoners' crimes to gain valuable hints. Depending on your vote, it may change the storyline and the fates of the prisoners, and the overall ending of this project.

Capturing the true culprit will automatically release all the prisoners, return their memories, and &@%#&#&#%%@. The game ends with Good Ending.

If failed to identify the true culprit within 60 days; if the true culprit dies within the time limit; if you or [Y/N] fails…

.

.

.

It's GAME OVER.