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danganronpasurvivoraskblog · 13 days ago

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THE HUNDRED LINE: LAST DEFENSE ACADEMY - Journal #12: Route 4 - "TRUE" ROUTE DAY 33-58 [MASSIVE SPOILERS]

//After I finished the Conspiracy Route of the game, I kept playing down the supposed "main" route of the game, without hitting any endings in particular.

//I do feel like I am just on the verge of one, so I will most likely cover that ending in my next journal. However, for this one specifically, I will be going back to the old format for these, covering it day by day, and breaking down my thoughts and feelings on each event that happens.

//Because trust me, there is...A...LOT!

//We get some CRITICAL revelations and new information in SPADES in this segment, and covering this many days, when I would normally do around 10, means this post has the potential to be quite long, so I'm going to try and abridge my experience and break it down as plainly as possible in the points where I need to.

//...Strap in I guess, and as per usual...

DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED/SEEN THE HUNDRED LINE: LAST DEFENSE ACADEMY. I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT VERY SPECIFIC PLOT POINTS AND MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE GAME.

//So let's get into it...

DAY 33:

//So to recap where we last left off, we completed the Conspiracy Route, which kicks off with a critical decision that is made in this battle.

//After the UFB defeats V'ehxness, she employs a gambit that involves kidnapping Kurara and Gaku, so she may absorb them to heal herself and replenish her Hemoanima. In the timeline that I played through previously, the path diverged after I saved Kurara, and left Gaku to die.

//However, in order to stick to the true beaten path, we need to save Gaku. So with a heavy heart, I went back to Day 33 afterwards, and decided to let Gaku get absorbed by V'ehxness.

//Well...I say "heavy heart." But I mostly mean that I'll miss Kurara. I certainly won't miss the Conspiracy Route.

//One thing that did annoy me here is that even though I've already done this fight in full, and despite how there's a critical decision at the end if it, this is the only time the game hasn't given me the prompt to skip the fight.

//Granted, it's probably BECAUSE of the decision at the end, but again, this is easily fixed if you just have a WAVE skip feature. Get on that, TooKyo.

//Anyway, Kurara gets absorbed, and I hate V'ehxness with a burning passion.

//Seriously, the more I see of V'ehxness, the more I dislike her. Not because I think she's a poorly written villain or anything. In fact, I quite like the idea of there being a character in one of these games who is just pure evil. But this narrative structure is a bit of a double-edged sword to be honest.

//On the one hand, this portrayal of a supremely strong and unyielding force of evil serves to further themes of war, loss, and the high price of resistance. It presents a more realistically tragic picture of struggle, challenging the conventional heroic fantasy of effortless victory.

//Because let's be real. The idea of the heroes ALWAYS coming out on top against their enemies in a game that is about the horrors of war is VERY unrealistic. The fact that only a few characters died in the original timeline, and most of them were offscreen, was in line with the idea of a video game. But this part of the story now feels like it could be happening in a real life scenario, where we are forced to watch our friends die as we slowly sink deeper into pain, knowing we can't fucking beat this threat.

//However, this approach, for me at least, becomes very narratively unsatisfying from how often it happens. Having a villain like V'ehxness runs the risk of making the game seem pointless when she consistently invalidates the effort by taking back control, reviving herself, or invalidating hard-won victories.

//If every strategic success is undone, and each emotional investment leads only to greater loss, the game can veer into narrative stagnation, where progress is illusory. Which undermines not only the tension, but...you know...the whole CONCEPT of the game?

//If the result is always the same—V'ehxness wins and someone dies—then the stakes lose their significance.

//But...hey, that's something I'm gonna have to get used to. I just hate her and needed to rant.

//You know, the funny thing is, at this point I was wondering if Takumi maybe had the power to jump back in time again, even if he didn't retain his memories. It doesn't make any sense to me that he could only do something like that once when he didn't lose the UFB's power.

//It didn't make an awful lot of sense to me that he didn't try for a better ending, but I guess that's player choice at the end of the day, since most of these endings are kind of independent of each other regardless.

//I bring this up because I recently watched a horror movie called Happy Death Day for the first time, and it reminded me of that.

//For those who don't know, Happy Death Day is a black comedy slasher film that is, in short, Scream meets Groundhog Day.

//The story follows Tree Gelbman (Yes, her name is Tree; it's short for Theresa), a college student who is murdered on her birthday, only to wake up and relive the same day over and over again. Each time she is killed, the loop resets, and she retains her memories, allowing her to gradually uncover clues about her killer's identity, so she uses each iteration to not only survive but also to become a better person, confronting her own past and relationships.

//Which felt like a really uncanny movie to watch, since I imagine Takumi doing the same thing with his timelines, going back to rectify his mistakes.

DAY 34:

//Like at the beginning of the Conspiracy route, Day 34 starts off with Sirei giving everyone the super energy drink.

//Bro is built different, lol.

//Anyway, this scene doesn't change too much from how it was in the previous route, except for two major differences.

//One: Gaku is here instead of Kurara, for obvious reasons.

//And Two: Nozomi is not present, also for obvious reasons.

DAY 35:

//Oh, so THAT'S where this sprite comes from!

//I remember seeing it in the demo files, and was thinking "How is Kako gonna secretly turn out to be some sort of horndog." And then the kinky group sex line from the demo didn't really reassure me on that.

//But no, she's not horny, she's just drunk.

//It is funny seeing the Tsukumo twins looking all high and dumb next to each other.

//Not much to report on, only that the gang have apparently been drinking all night, and I get Free Time again...Not that I can SPEND it on anything.

//Honestly, I was running a bit low on materials after all the upgrades and gifts and shit I was doing, but because everyone is drinking their depression away, and Nozomi is too caught up over Kurara's death, Hiruko and Eva are the only two who can come with me on expeditions, and that's not really worth the trouble in my opinion.

//The problem is there is very little else I can do in this Free Time because of that. Getting the resources I need to upgrade my kit, tools, and bonds using gifts isn't possible when basically everyone in my team is indisposed.

//So my only choice is to either sleep through the day, or do the VR missions, so I did the latter.

DAY 36:

//This whole next segment of the story gave me some tense feelings.

//For starters, Hiruko’s behavior is starting to mirror Takumi’s from earlier, right after he was knocked out by Sirei. She’s now putting total, unquestioning trust in Sirei, almost like she’s been rewired to follow him blindly.

//When Takumi finally brings up the secret she once uncovered about the war (the one she tried to reveal in the original timeline before Eito killed her) she doesn't seem to have any idea what he's talking about.

Which strongly suggests that, just like with Takumi, Sirei may have tampered with her memories too.

//I really hope this doesn't mean we need to go to ANOTHER route to find out what she was talking about.

//The silver lining is that Hiruko herself seems to sense something is off. There’s a flicker of awareness in her that gives hope.

//I can't help but laugh about how I immediately found Sirei endearing, but now that he's getting the chance to actually, you know, be a character, I REALLY don't like him. I'll talk more about this near the conclusion of this post, but this isn't the first sign of bullshittery we get from him.

//But while that confrontation brews in the background, we’ve got another urgent matter: cheering up Nozomi. She’s been through a lot lately, and Takumi’s determined to do something meaningful for her.

//The plan is to build her a telescope, so Takumi and Eva gear up for another crucial expedition, this time to gather the rare materials needed for it.

//Unfortunately, the rest of the team is still recovering or otherwise unavailable, leaving only Eva and Hiruko able to accompany him, like I said before.

DAY 37:

//Fortunately, this issue does get resolved the next day, as everyone manages to recover from their slumps, except Nozomi, which I guess is to be expected.

//Am I the only one who noticed that Nozomi is unavailable more than any other character in this game is on frequent occassion? There's always some sort of reason in each timeline that prevents you from hanging out with her or taking her out on expeditions.

//Anyway, Takumi gives her the telescope, and the two stargaze. Leading to a very soft moment between the two.

//I love these moments with these two. They're easily my two favourite characters in this game, and their interactions are so familiar and wholesome, and it's always the best part of whatever bad situation we end up in.

//For some reason, I feel more connected to them than I have any of Kodaka's protagonist pairs. And yes, I do mean Naegiri, Hinananami, and the Training Trio.

//I love those characters and their dynamics, don't get it twisted. But these two together are just the best and most wholesome.

//Maybe it's because Takumi and Nozomi are more Uchikoshi-coded though, like Junpei and Akane from 999.

//Anyway, the good times can't last because, as expected, Nozomi suddenly starts experiencing rejection symptoms again.

//Obviously, everyone knows about Nozomi's unique circumstances here, so Takumi goes to explain the problem to everyone, and that they need to raid an enemy base and have Nozomi absorb a Commander's hemoanima to cure her.

//This leads to honestly a pretty badass and just generally satisfying moment.

//Sirei refuses to allow Takumi to raid the base, because they need all hands on deck, and he can't afford to split the group. And of course, since Sirei has kind of bugged Takumi to make him subservient, Takumi begins to (be forced to) see the reason in Sirei's words. And the little shit clearly knows he's in control.

//At least he does for a moment.

//Takumi's love for his childhood friend finally overpowers the hold Sirei has on him, and if Sirei refuses to let him go, he will go by himself.

//Unfortunately for Sirei, the others don't accept this. Moko, Takemaru, and Yugamu agree to join him on the strike force, and Sirei is given no choice but to acquiesce.

DAY 40:

//Jumping ahead a little bit, because I don't have anything critical to report, but as we've done in previous timelines, we get to the Invader base, and fight.

//However, one thing that IS different this time is I actually had Nozomi use her healing ability on herself. As you know, in these rejection symptom fights, Nozomi starts the fight with two thirds of her health, and is chronically slowed. But I never used her own healing ability on herself to see if that cures it.

//Turns out it does, so why the fuck are we even bothering?

//Okay, I kid. I know that Nozomi is using the Hemoanima to heal herself, which would probably make the symptoms worse in canon. I just think it's funny that this illness can be resolved with the push of a button.

//Anyway, like in the other timelines where I did this fight, the Commander we battle against is Quenzelle, the Commander who flies in the air and drops eggs.

//Although, one thing I couldn't help but notice is Quenzelle doesn't really drop eggs in any of the fights against him other than his initial one. I wonder why they gave him that power, only for him to never use it.

//Overall though, we have a fairly easy fight.

//But it ends interestingly, with Quenzelle saying similar things to Eva and Addamaque. He implies that humans were the ones who attacked the Invaders first, which we do get more information on later, but more on that in a bit.

DAY 41:

//If we got back to the school to find the Invaders attack, I would have pissed my own ass. Fortunately, we're in the clear.

//Everyone heads off to get some rest, but Takumi and Nozomi hold back.

//We get yet another touching scene where these two lovebirds open up to each other, and it ends with, surprisingly, Takumi telling Nozomi about everything that happened between them.

//INCLUDING how Nozomi is supposedly his childhood friend Karua, after having her memories of their life being taken from her...supposedly.

//Like I said, I love these moments between these two...And this one is my favourite so far. Takumi finally seems to realize how much this whole thing is weighing on him, now that he's finally being open and honest about it. How much he misses Karua, and his home, and his normal life, and how he chose to put the burden of saving his friends on himself, while blaming himself for every point he failed.

//And Nozomi understanding this, even without the context is just... *chef's kiss.*

//What makes it even better is that the English Dub makes it so powerful. Jay Rincon and Leader Looi do an amazing job selling the pain and recognition feeling between these two characters.

//Unfortunately, this wholesome and heartwarming moment is ended on a low note.

//Nozomi talks more about her backstory in corrolation to Karua, after Takumi notes that the scar is the deciding factor as to what helped him recognize her in the end. But Nozomi claims that her mother also died in the car accident.

//This is a completely different story than she told before, where she explained her mother committed suicide after her research was halted.

//This is a pretty big deal, beacuse avenging her mother was the whole reason Nozomi is even here. So what gives?

DAY 42:

//Takumi suspects Sirei might have fiddled with Nozomi's memory too, which is not impossible. And the idea is reinforced when the guy starts being a gaslighting little shit when Takumi confronts him about it.

//Sirei instead implies that when Takumi jumped back in time, he actually jumped into a different universe where things were a bit different. Considering how varied some of these timelines are, I don't think this is necessarily wrong, but that...

//...combined with that fact that THIS happens makes me think he's just fucking around.

//I got genuine trauma from this, because I saw this kind of scene essentially non-stop in the Conspiracy route.

DAY 43:

//I genuinely take back everything good I said about Sirei by this point.

//The guy is gaslighting the hell out of me, and is lobotomizing not only Takumi, but everyone else, because he's so insecure, and feels so powerless to control the members of the SDU.

//It makes me wonder why he even bothered trying to ease us into fighting in the first place if he could just tinker with our memories and make us into entirely different people who become subservient with him.

//What's upsetting most is as the commanding officer, Sirei is responsible for helping humanity win this war, yet it feels like every time we've fucked up in the past, it is always his fault.

//The entire casual route was his fault, for instance. And it's only because of his shitty commandeering of the situations that we lost Kyoshika and Kurara in meaningless sacrifices.

//And the whole thing becomes even more uncomfortable and disgusting over the ensuing days.

DAY 44:

//Honestly speaking, had I not developed such an intense hatred for Sirei's actions over these past few days, I think I might have been able to stomach Day 44 to 46...But as it happens, this part of the game ended up being incredibly controversial, and I think I'm starting to understand why people were complaining about it.

//Effectively, what starts this off is Kako makes Eva eat something strange, and for a brief moment, it actually seemed to snap her out of the brainwashing Sirei inflicted on her.

//She starts screaming something about her sister, and it looks like she's about to relapse fully, when Sirei strides in and takes her out, as he does OFTEN in this second scenario.

//Which you hate to see. Especially given how much I've already grown to like Eva.

//This kickstarts a three-day sequence where Takumi is roped by Sirei and Nigou into re-brainwashing Eva to make her compliant again.

//Honestly, this whole situation is emotionally exhausting. I wish the game gave us a choice to let us say no to the idea of brainwashing her, but instead, it feels like we’re being railroaded into complicity.

//I mean get it. Takumi’s probably still under Sirei’s lingering influence, and maybe that’s part of the point. But it doesn’t make it any easier to stomach.

//At the very least, Takumi’s discomfort is obvious. He’s not okay with what’s happening, even if he can’t fully resist it yet. That small resistance in him is all we have to hold onto.

//And then it got…deeply uncomfortable. Because it's another roullette wheel game where you spin it, and whichever it lands on will be her new personality, until we get her back to "normal."

//The first time I did it, it landed on "Decadent." And...

//It got this...

//How the FUCK does "Decadent," mean HORNY!?

//Yeah, not gonna lie, I'm USED to Kodaka and Uchikoshi doing shit like this, but even for me, this was unsetelling and distressing.

//Anyway, it's a failure, so we try again tomorrow.

//On a brighter note, Nozomi reached Bond Rank 2 today. She’s still an absolute ray of sunshine, and honestly, we desperately needed that right now.

DAY 45:

//Despite all the shit that happens here, Day 45 actually starts off well.

//Gaku tried to recreate Kurara’s curry, and everyone eats it for breakfast that morning.

//Gaku doesn't get a lot of good moments after the initial time we see him step up to fight, and then I guess when he holds the festival to cheer Kako up and make up for making her upset.

//I don't hate Gaku, because he has his moments like this, and I like that he's still carrying the weight of being the one who survived when Kurara didn’t. Kind of shows that despite how much they hated each other, he does miss her.

//I was also a LITTLE happier, because when we brainwashed Eva again, THIS TIME the wheel landed on "violent." Which led to another one of these super angry breakdowns like the one in the Casual Route.

//Unfortunately, it doesn't last, but I WAS kind of hoping she'd break out and go on a rampage.

DAY 46:

//My heart bleeds for Shouma in moments like this.

//Throughout this arc, he's clearly been devastated by what Eva’s going through. You can tell he genuinely cares about her, and he just doesn’t know how to help. Watching someone you love fall apart while you’re powerless to stop it is like torture, I can imagine.

//The good news is we finally managed to "cure" her this time. She seems stable, at least for now. But even that is bittersweet, since, as Takumi says, this isn't really who she is.

//Nigou’s reaction is…a bit off-putting. He’s way too cheerful about Eva returning to her submissive state. I get that he’s relieved she’s not being harmed anymore, but his tone felt tone-deaf.

//She is still brainwashed, after all. But hey, I am also glad that we're not gonna kill or torture her any more.

DAY 47:

//Aw shit...Here we go again...!

//Yeah, I'm never gonna be a fan of THIS fight. Who knows how many more fucking times I'm gonna have to sit through it.

//This time around, we get to see Nigou in his human form during the hallucination. Which, in theory, should be fairly standard, but the moment he shows up, everyone in the dream starts threatening him on sight, which I think is really funny. Poor guy can’t catch a break, even in people’s dreams.

//Wow not even a reference, just straight up name-dropping the character.

//Also, Eva is here too, and in the dream sequence, she basically confirms that she is an alien. Though in the sequence the Artificial Satellite is her spaceship, so I'm not sure if that's meant to suggest something.

//The way this event pans out this time around is similar, but still different. So, apparently, due to her cryptoglobin being boosted, Turamtammi's power is now strong enough to the point where normal human ears cannot pick up the frequency of her music, which is why we all got corrupted anyway...

//Kiiiiiinda weird that this is only happening in this route and not any of the others where I've fought her?

//But just like last time, the UFB is able to resist the effects, and goes to save Takumi. Though we actually experience the game from his perspective for a little bit.

//I genuinely feel for UFB. The little guy just wants to be included.

//Well, THAT'S a hell of a statement.

//We end up in a huge battle again. Same setup as last time: facing off against Turamtammi and Nyewgank. But this time, I stuck around for the whole thing instead of fast-forwarding through it.

//But then…EITO shows up.

After we take down Nyewgank, Eito suddenly jumps in, siding with the Invaders, and of course, it's playing his wack-ass boss theme again.

//The more important thing though is, like before, Eito has unlocked the truth behind the war, or at least parts of it. And as he has a tendency to do, he's yapping during his boss fight.

//I was actually getting hyped for a proper showdown with him. Thought we’d get some intense back-and-forth…but nope. I obliterated him in a single hit. So so much for dramatic tension.

//After the fight, in typical Eito fashion, he pulls a wild move and absorbs both Turamtammi and Nyewgank before we can.

//Eito starts unraveling the whole mystery too. Not only does he essentially confirm that Sirei has been messing with the group's memories, he even makes a case that there’s no guarantee that the people we think we’re protecting are even on the Artificial Satellite anymore.

//He also explains that the reason he's siding with the Invaders is because his final plan is to absorb our Cryptoglobin, then allow himself to be consumed by V’ehxness to reach some twisted form of transcendence, and make her all-powerful so she'll kill us all.

//Not sure why he wouldn't try to do it the other way around honestly; let V'ehxness absorb the power then take it from her so that he can be the one to kill off humanity. But Eito is as Eito does I guess?

DAY 48:

//Seeing as UFB managed to save the group the previous day, Takumi goes to talk to Sirei again about letting him get on the squad. This time, we will get through to him.

//...Or not.

//FUCKING TRY HARDER TAKUMI! MY GOD!

//Takumi doesn't even have the excuse of being subservient to Sirei anymore! He's kind of moved past that, so now he's just pussying out!

//Speaking of which, luckily, the gang are starting to catch on to Sirei's antics. Obviously, no one is willing to accept this kind of idea coming from Eito of all people, but Tsubasa and Takemaru present physical proof that something fucky is happening.

//Takemaru keeps a journal/diary, and in it, he notes that he went to talk to Eva about something, which he has no memory of doing. He most likely heard something critical from her, and Sirei ended up erasing it from his mind.

//When the trio go to ask UFB about it, Takumi is so eager to get to the bottom of this, he almost lets himself get eaten by the Undying Flames in order to get his attention.

//Side note, the English Dub lines don't match with the English text. Not a big deal, but it's weird that this is the only time in the game so far that this has happened.

//Unfortunately, UFB doesn't have any idea about the process. But even though we don't get definitive answers about the memory tampering, the group agrees to discuss amongst themselves about letting UFB join the team.

DAY 49:

//Leading on from that, the group all gather in the cafeteria, and it's time to do something that we haven't done for a while now. The negotiation minigame.

//On Sirei of all people.

//There is actually some funny dialogue exchanges in this scene. Namely:

Gaku: H-Hey, if you guys shut me down like that, it makes me sound like a dick... Takumi (internally): You are kind of a dick.

Kako: Maybe if we figure out his weakness, we can negotiate.

Ima: What an annoying little mini game. I want no part of it. Gaku: We can just make Takumi do it. He's team leader. Takumi: I was already planning on it...But the least you could do is not say it like that...

//The interesting thing is throughout the day, we actually get multiple different gift ideas for Sirei, though I don't imagine any of them really work.

//The three gifts are a gun, a bottle of wine, and a globe. I gave him the wine bottle, and while it seemed like he was taking the bait, he ended up smashing it.

//As if he couldn't get any more annoying.

DAY 50:

//So, you might not remember, but in the original timeline, when we got to Day 50, Sirei suggested that he had a gift prepared for the rest of the group in the cafeteria. But obviously, because Sirei was dead by that point, we never got to see it.

//Now though, we do. But it turns out it was just a couple of dingy little badges.

//Classic bait-and-switch for these types of games.

//HOWEVER, the cafeteria meeting does yield interesting results.

//Largely the reason why Sirei refuses to let the UFB be part of the team is because in his eyes, he is not a living being, and doesn't deserve to be treated as such. He exists purely to be a weapon, and has no human rights.

//However, Nigou reveals that despite Sirei's words, the opposite is very much true. Because part of his duty has been to protect the UFB, and because they've spent so much time together, Sirei has so much familiarity with the child that he's come to view him as a sort of son, and cares about him more than he lets on.

//The reason he is so obstinate about this is because, as an AI, he doesn't want his own feelings to sabotage the mission.

//Nigou helps Takumi create a photo album made of memory banks shared between him and Sirei, and Takumi gifts it to the Commanding Officer, finally initiating the minigame.

//And...to be honest, I get that this is supposed to be a serious, passionate moment of depth for Sirei or whatever, but honestly, it just came across as really silly to me.

//The good news is that Sirei becomes willing to compromise, and asks Takumi to make a deal.

//To be honest, it's not a very good deal, but Takumi is willing to bend to it if it gives UFB the chance he needs to achieve his desire to have friends and classmates. Effectively, he says that if Takumi and the others agree to stop poking into the matter about their missing or manipulated memories, he'll try to pull some strings to make it happen.

//Takumi does tell Sirei to stop doing the memory manipulation though. Whether or not he will comply with that counteroffer remains to be seen.

DAY 52:

//The UFB arrives at Takumi's room and uses the door like a normal person, which somehow scares Takumi way more than the way he usually appears, which I think is funny.

//Anyway, Takumi takes the boy to the cafeteria to finally meet everyone properly, and they begin to introduce themselves.

//I don't remember if this was brought up before, because I genuinely don't remember, but apparently, when the Undying Flames boy fires off the final attack, his body will be burnt up by his own Undying Flames, and he will die.

//Granted, he DID die in other timelines. Like, I remember him doing so in the Retsnom Route when we used his final attack on V'ehxness. But I thought that was just him overusing his power and his avatar disappearing. The final attack does still kind of happen.

//Which is sad, and unfortunate that it took until Day 50 to finally turn Sirei's thinking about it around. Because now we only have 48 days or so to get to know this dude and become friends with him.

//We get another choice here, for Takumi to make a judgement call. Letting the boy join the team or not.

//Now, this is a weird choice considering the efforts we went through to actually get him to this point where he's meeting the others, and it feels too cold to turn him down. So I ultimately decided to let him on the squad.

//I guess the whole reason why is because if the boy joins the group, chances are our fights will get longer and harder, because we won't be as prepared defensively. Keeping him where he is means we'll be safer and more secure, but like...I couldn't do him like that.

//What's even better news is that now we're at this point, UFB finally gets a name, meaning I don't have to call him ghost boy or UFB anymore. And that name is...

//Honestly speaking, I expected the boys name to be Hie or Hono or something like that, since it's Japanese for fire or flame. But I did a google search, and this does kind of make sense.

//Shion in Japanese is spelled 志音, made from the kanji for "will/purpose" (志) and "sound" (音)

//So effectively, it's eluding to the fact that he is humanity's voice incarnate, since he's the reason we're going to win this war against the Invaders.

//Things seem to be looking up...but even with Shion on the squad now, things don't end to brightly.

//Takemaru doesn't take kindly to the deal Takumi made with Sirei. Obviously, Takumi doesn't like it too much either, but he only went with it because he had Shion's best interests in mind.

//Meaning Takemaru is most likely going to take matters into his own hands.

DAY 53:

//As was sort of to be expected, Takemaru didn't show up for the morning meeting, but neither did Gaku. Meaning the two of them were likely plotting something.

//That aside, Shion is now available during Free Time events. He can't be given gifts, and he's not in the report card, but he does have his own bonding events that can be unlocked through talking to him.

DAY 54:

//This kind of just continues on from the effects of the previous two days. Only that Yugamu starts acting a little bit sus now.

//This isn't part of the plot, but I spent some time with Kako today in the library, and there was a kind of sad event, which is pretty rare. In short, she was talking about ghosts, and said she wanted to see her parents again as ghosts.

//Speaking of Kako and her brother, she and Ima believe that Gaku is acting really on edge, even for him, and they believe that someone is goading him into believing what Eito said about everyone's families not being safe on the Artificial Satellite.

//Strange though, since there doesn't appear to be anyone outwardly having a reason to do so.

//And they really want to emphasize this because they play the same flashback sequence twice in quick succession? Like...yeah, game, I get it!

//Takumi, you've had HALF A WEEK to take the initiative! Just fucking do it! Stop stalling!

DAY 56:

//This day was quite possibly the most tense in the story so far.

//In the morning, Gaku somehow hijacks the school announcement system, and tells everyone he's going to force Sirei to contact the Artificial Satellite, no matter what it takes, and tells everyone to head to the Gym if they want answers.

//Everyone rushes over, but it doesn't go down well. Sirei is nowhere to be seen, and for some reason, without ANY proof, OR indication, Gaku, Takemaru, and Moko blame Takumi for siding with Sirei, and fucking ATTACK HIM and the others.

//This time though, it's not shitty writing that's to blame for the characters acting up for no reason. But we do get a cool sequence here before the fight, where we get a transformation sequence from GAKU'S perspective, IMMEDIATELY followed up by the same sequence from Takumi and his group.

//I wasn't expecting Gaku of all characters to have his own version of the cutscene. Eito and Nozomi did make sense, at least.

//Anyway, we get a fight here. It's not too difficult, especially because Moko, Gaku, and Takemaru ain't got nothing on Takumi's team which is himself, Nozomi, Hiruko, Tsubasa, and Shouma. With just three of them, they're very easily beatable.

//I like the idea of Takumi using his super powered Azure Blitz on them to get them to shut up though.

//ANYway, after being defeated, Takemaru and the others calm down, and the truth comes to light. As it so happens, Yugamu was taking advantage of their already tense feelings, then used drugged snacks to strengthen those feelings until they were sent spiralling into a pit of fear and doubt, which led to them attacking the others.

//All of this was to create the perfect distraction to allow Yugamu to capture Sirei and get answers out of him. And he's able to do so by performing surgery on himself and removing the bomb from inside his chest.

//The reason he did this is because Yugamu himself is concerned about Eito's words, and doesn't think it's wise to outright dismiss them. Especially since Sirei has been especially shady.

//He goes on to explain that he had a "loved one" back on the Artificial Satellite. Someone that he promised he would kill one day when not tied down by his family's work. And if there's any indication that that person may not still be alive, then he wants answers, if nothing else.

//Nigou and the others manage to persuade Yugamu to release Sirei by explaining that, even if Sirei wanted to contact the Artificial Satellite, the classified nature of his mission prevents him from doing so easily.

//Though Takumi eventually convinces Yugamu to let Sirei go, the assassin still demands answers. Sirei finally complies and reveals the truth.

//He explains that his entire existence is dedicated to fulfilling his mission. To do that, he needs not only the intelligence to follow his programming but also the flexibility to adapt to unexpected situations.

//As he puts it, his consciousness is shaped by "the will of humanity."

//To make the best possible decisions for the human race, Sirei has been programmed with simulations of humanity’s collective thought patterns. Every time he faces a choice, he runs these simulations to reach an unbiased outcome. In other words, he arrives at decisions by effectively running a virtual majority vote based on all of humanity’s perspectives.

//Since the mission is critical to humanity's future, it's only logical that it reflects the will of the species as a whole. And because the mission is classified, and he doesn’t have the luxury of asking each person individually, he relies on these internal simulations to determine the consensus.

//This process can take time, which is why he sometimes vanishes for long stretches. Additionally, to keep the mission free from individual bias, Sirei is unable to follow orders from any single person.

//Which is really interesting and also...

A LOAD OF CRAP!

//I'm sorry, I GET that humanity are not ever presented as being a righteous species in this story. But you CANNOT convince me that all of the terrible shit Sirei did is based around what the majority of the human race would do!

//If this is consistent throughout the different timelines, my suspension of disbelief will not account for an entire race of people thinking it's okay to:

Brainwash people, and in one outcome, to the point where one becomes disillusioned with reality.

Not allow ANY sort of contact with the characters and their homes.

Commit war crimes on these level (largely with Eva)

KIDNAP a bunch of LITERAL CHILDREN!

Make said children FIGHT in a WAR!

//And SO much more!

//What makes it even more stupid is quite LITERALLY in the same breath, Sirei and Nigou admit that the mission is confidential, and only a select few people on the Satellite know about it.

//THEN THAT'S JUST NOT FAIR!

//I GUARANTEE you that if humankind knew about what was going on, the results would be VERY different!

//OF COURSE humanity aren't allowing contact with the Artificial Satellite. Humanity don't even know we're FUCKING DOWN HERE!

//It's honestly infuriating that people can look at this and NOT see a very blatant problem with this system. It's not only nonsensical, but it's egrigiously self-destructive!

//Of course, I don't blame Takumi and the others for leaving things at that, because...how the fuck do you even RESPOND to something like that?

DAY 57:

//Alright then. THIS is the point where things start to get kinda nutty, so prepare yourselves.

//The next enemy attack happens today, and the Invaders are once again joined by Eito, but this time, the fight is a little bit different.

//But if there's one thing that's the same, it's that it's yet another Eito fight where the guy just does not stop talking throughout the whole thing. And this time, it's a back-and-forth with Sirei.

//Side note, just in case I forget to bring it up later, this is another part of the game where Sirei really kind of got on my nerves, because he doesn't justify himself AT ALL during this back and forth. Eito plants the ideas of doubt into everyone's heads about what he really found out about the war, and goes into detail explaining when and how he discovered it, even if he doesn't drop the whole truth immediately.

//And Sirei only responds by saying effectively "He's lying, shut up, fight."

//Does he WANT me to be on his side or not?

//Also, Eito does tell all the revelations he discovered during the fight, but it's hard to keep track of them all. He does give on major hint, where he mentions that Earth died a long time ago, and there's more to World Death than we know.

//The more important thing here is that this is a fight against Zen'ta, the commander who can copy people's appearance, and who did so to Moko in the original timeline. This time, however, she seems to do it for Eito, suggesting that the real Eito Aotsuki was killed and replaced with her.

//This is not the case. Eito is still in this fight; he's simply hidden among a mess of clones.

//In order to defeat them all swiftly, we use the same ability that was used previously at the end of the Retsnom Route with Shion putting all his power into a final explosion to take the enemies down.

//Which...is confusing.

//I know that Shion is effectively on the team now, but if I rememeber correctly, didn't using this attack kill him in that timeline? That, coupled with how this fight ends, should really have been the end of the guy.

//Speaking of flames and Ultimate Moves though, I've noticed that almost every time I've fought Eito after the initial final boss of Route 0, I've always unintentionally finished him off using Takumi's Azure Blitz.

//I think I'm gonna try and keep that trend going ;)

//But after Eito and Zen'ta are defeated, the final scene of this day is RIPE with plot twists.

//Firstly, much like he did to Turamtammi and Nyewgank, Eito absorbs Zen'ta before any of us have a chance to, but then V'ehxness shows up to absorb him, just like he planned for. But BEFORE he has a chance to, he tries to drop lore on the war, only for Sirei to suddenly dash down into the field, because he's desperate to cockblock the group from any of the answers.

//But in doing so, he almost gets taken out by Zen'ta, still holding together a form of Eito. But before Sirei can get merced, Nigou jumps in the way of the attack, and dies in his place.

//Which after everything I've had to suffer through with Nigou, the only thing that makes me sad is that Eva was made to watch a character who, in a odd and sketchy kind of way, did try to keep her safe.

//Like I said, after that, Eito absorbs Zen'ta, which heals all his injuries and fatigue, and then V'ehxness appears to absorb him. V'ehxness manages to get MOST of Eito's power, but before she can get all of it, Shion dive-bombs into the battlefield to rescue him.

//As a side twist, it's revealed in this moment that Eva is actually V'ehxness's sister.

//She really IS Mukuro, huh? Secret 16th party member, sister's with the megalomaniacal main villain, is originally an enemy to the party, etc. The list kinda just goes on.

//And as she...seems to have a habit of doing to be honest, V'ehxness decides to leave her final attack for later, so she can once again spend some time recovering from her injuries, and also to give Shion a chance to recover from his.

//This day ends with another choice, with Eito now at our mercy and somewhat crippled by V'ehxness - to either kill him or spare him, much like the first choice that was made after Takumi jumped back in time.

//As you can imagine, there is no way I am killing this fuck, no matter how much he might deserve it. Takumi justifies the reason being he doesn't want to kill another human being, but I personally just want to hear him finish what he was saying.

//And I don't give a damn what Sirei says. He can't be trusted any more than Eito can.

DAY 58:

//Everyone gathers in the courtyard the next morning to hear what Eito has to say, with Eva carrying around the destroyed carcass of Nigou, which makes me a little sad tbh.

//As expected, Sirei does basically EVERYTHING he possibly can to stop Eito from talking, endlessly nattering on about how everything Eito says is a lie, and when Eito finally starts dropping the truths, he even clams up and refuses to affirm what he says, which isn't earning him any brownie points.

//But thankfully, Shion interjects and blackmails Sirei at the right moment, saying he'll have the SDU members break into the defense room and kill him if he doesn't answer their questions, so Sirei is given no choice but to bend, leading to him and Eito finally dropping the big reveal...

//At least...the first one, because there seems to be even more to the story that I don't know yet.

//Mad respect for Shion though. I feel like ever since he's been getting more screen time, he's really become a great character.

//The major plot twist in this game centers around a single, crucial detail that was deliberately kept from the characters for these 158 days. When this truth is finally revealed, it completely reshapes our understanding of the story.

//That key detail...is that we are NOT on Planet Earth.

//Throughout the game, everyone believes the Tokyo Residential Complex is an underground shelter on Earth, built to shield the last remnants of humanity from the apocalyptic event known as World Death. Shion was supposedly sent to Earth to eliminate the Invaders—monsters thought to be Earth's final threat to humanity—while the rest of the Special Defense Unit protected him at the Last Defense Academy until the weapon could be deployed. Meanwhile, the remainder of the human population supposedly escaped the planet and relocated to an Artificial Satellite to avoid the fallout.

//But the reality is far more complex. While World Death DID trigger the war, Earth itself was destroyed long ago, ompletely devoid of life, and likely no longer even exists. The damage was catastrophic, far worse than the devastation seen outside the fire barrier.

//In fact, Sire's EXACT words are that Earth was "on the verge of exploding."

//In truth, humanity had spent generations constructing the Artificial Satellite as a means of leaving Earth entirely. THAT part, at least, remains true, but not in the way that everyone expected.

//The Exodus Project, which everyone believed was an evacuation plan to survive the war, was actually a mission to abandon the real Earth and find a new world for what was left of humanity. As it turns out, the Tokyo Residential Complex where the SDU lived has always been located on the Artificial Satellite. Meaning this is where we ACTUALLY were at the beginning of the game.

//During the Satellite’s construction, humanity also searched for a suitable replacement for Earth, and they eventually discovered one.

//This new planet, known as KXK-787, or as Eito and the Invaders refer to it...Futurum.

//Which is...a little on the nose, but hey, I'm not complaining.

//The planet is strikingly similar to Earth. It's in a life-supporting zone, covered mostly in water, and has all the right conditions for human habitation.

//That’s where we are now. Not Earth. Futurum.

//One of the main reasons so little is known about Earth within the Tokyo Residential Complex is because humanity left it behind centuries, possibly even millennia ago; long before Takumi and his friends were ever born. Sirei explains that the SDU weren’t told the truth because it was considered too abstract and disconnected from their reality, which would only confuse or destabilize them.

//Which I'm gonna have to call bullshit on, even if I do kind of get it? If you ask me, Hemoanima, Shion, the Invaders, World Death, and almost everything else that came before this is far more complicated and otherworldly than even space travel. At least sci-fi is a genre that's been confirmed to exist in this world. And yet those concepts are the one's that Sirei spends the least amount of time explaining, because understanding it any more than we do would be "pointless."

//As I've said before, there was also an underlying desire among some humans to bury the past and avoid facing the guilt of destroying their home world, but more critically, after humanity's departure from Earth, internal divisions began to form.

//Some factions believed humanity should return and face the consequences rather than flee. This ideological clash nearly led to civil war, prompting leaders to restrict access to knowledge about Earth and the Artificial Satellite. As a result, most civilians were left in the dark.

//I really appreciate this twist because we’ve already seen evidence of it! This idea is pretty much what the Conspiracy Route revolves around, with the Anti-Exodus faction and Gotou. It’s satisfying that the primary route reveals this later, giving us new insight and a clearer explanation for earlier events.

//Still, despite all the time, effort, and sacrifice poured into the Exodus Project and the journey to Futurum, humanity made a critical error: Futurum, while eerily similar to Earth, was already inhabited by an intelligent species. One with its own society, history, and belief systems.

//That species is V'ehxness and what we’ve come to know as the School Invaders. In actuality, they're their own species of intelligent lifeforms called "futurans." Not creations of World Death AT ALL.

//Initially, humans tried to communicate and negotiate with the futurans, but remember, the only reason Takumi and the others can even understand them now is because of the Hemoanima, which allows for some level of translation. Without that bridge, misunderstandings led to conflict, which escalated into full-scale war.

//The real challenge for humanity was that, while they held the technological edge, the futurans possessed a unique biological advantage. Occasionally, individuals were born with a rare type of blood that granted them immense power in combat, so overwhelming that even humanity’s most advanced weapons were rendered useless against them.

//You've probably already guessed it, but that special power is Hemoanima, or Cryptoglobin, which the Enemy Commander's have. That's why they're heralded as heroes in their culture.

//The Commanders; V'ehxness, Eva, and the others; are seen as divine champions by the futurans, chosen by the god they worship. Humanity’s advanced weaponry was completely ineffective against them, and for generations, people struggled to overcome these powerful defenders. No matter how much effort was put in, humans simply couldn’t overpower them or claim the planet.

//V’ehxness, while undoubtedly driven by her own dark motives and goals, stands apart from the rest of the Commanders. The others aren’t malicious; they’re simply defending their homeland, fighting for survival against what they perceive as an alien invasion...just as the SDU believed they were doing all along.

//The ruins outside the school aren’t the result of World Death. They were once vibrant cities filled with ordinary futurans. It was the battles fought when futurans were forced to protect themselves from human aggression that reduced them to rubble and forced evacuations.

//In summary, from the very beginning, humans and the members of the SDU are the REAL invaders. Humanity struck first, making the futurans view the SDU as extraterrestrial enemies bent on wiping them out and taking their world.

//And the SDU does NOT handle this revelation well.

//To his credit, Sirei doesn’t try to justify or deny humanity’s actions. He admits it’s a war of conquest, plain and simple, but insists it’s a war born out of necessity.

//The Artificial Satellite was never meant to be a permanent solution. Its systems are deteriorating, and its limited resources are running out. Over the years, the population has dwindled drastically, and humanity is quite literally running out of time.

//Sirei explains that he kept the truth from the SDU because the vast majority of people aboard the Artificial Satellite have no idea a war is even taking place, let alone that the SDU has been deployed on a mission to secure a future for the species. Only high-ranking officials in the government and military know.

//Because of fucking course they do.

//Life on the satellite is already confined and grim, so adding the burden of war would have pushed the population over the edge. The only public clue that anything is wrong is the emergency alert system in the TRC that warns of attacks.

//Then there’s the truth behind Last Defense Academy.

//The school is actually a disguised spacecraft, deployed from the satellite and doubling as a planet-killing weapon. Takumi and the others were placed aboard and sent to Futurum alongside Shion. When they landed, Shion ignited the Undying Flames around the building to shield it as he charged up the energy needed to activate the weapon.

//The reason it looks like a school is because Shion always wanted to attend one, and to live like a normal kid. And since he’s the cornerstone of humanity’s potential victory, they granted him that symbolic wish.

//It also helped that only young people around Shion’s age were physically compatible with Cryptoglobin transfusion, so the school concept made practical sense, too.

//On the topic of Hemoanima/Cryptoglobin, it originally came from Futurum. Only those with this unique blood could harm others who carried it. Desperate to turn the tide, humanity began experimenting with the substance until they were handed an opportunity they couldn’t ignore.

//A child was born on Futurum with unimaginable power. So much so that the futurans believed he was a divine figure, calling him "The Second Coming." In a horrific act of desperation, humanity kidnapped the boy.

//That child…was Shion.

//And this is arguably the darkest twist of all. Shion is a native futuran, abducted and used as a weapon to annihilate his own people and destroy the very planet he was born on. Also, his presence allowed human scientists to make rapid progress in Cryptoglobin research, ultimately enabling Takumi and the others to receive successful transfusions.

//Which brings us to the present: the SDU has landed on Futurum, accompanied by the kidnapped "Second Coming," with the express purpose of wiping out the native population and taking their world for themselves.

//Tragically, this war has raged for almost as long as it took for humanity to even discover Futurum. At this point, diplomacy is impossible. The SDU has already killed multiple revered Commanders, and absorbed their powers, meaning the damage is done.

//There’s no turning back now, for either race.

//This is an interesting thing Sirei says here that I want to draw attention to, since he uses it to kind of justify the case he makes for not only fighting a war of aggression against this innocent alien species, but also for lying to the SDU's members.

//He follows this up by adding that "righteousness belongs to the winner."

//Which is sad...and also kind of true.

//There's an old saying that "History is Written by Victors." It doesn't necessarily mean the same, but it's put in a similar context.

//I have admittedly mixed feelings on this justification, because while I do somewhat agree with it, I feel the need to point out that when you look at the humans and the futurans, the humans are shown to be FAR FAAAAR more destructive!

//Humanity's invasion of Futurum isn’t driven by malice, but by necessity. And yet, this desperation doesn’t absolve them, only deepening the tragedy. So far, humanity has:

Rendered their own home planet uninhabitable, then abandoned it.

Suppressed historical information about Earth and the Artificial Satellite to avoid accountability.

Initiated a war against Futurum; a habitable alien planet already home to an intelligent, INNOCENT species.

Destroyed most of said planet's surface over generations, rendering many innocent futurans homeless or dead.

Abducted a futuran child prophesied as The Second Coming, to use him as a living weapon.

Forced said child to power a world-ending weapon aimed at his own people and home planet.

Used said child's blood to develop a bioweapon program that empowered young people to kill the native population.

Sent them into battle as legitimate child soldiers without fully disclosing the ethical implications or reality of their mission.

Killed and absorbed the powers of revered futuran Commanders who were defending their home, effectively dismantling the spiritual and physical protectors of the planet.

//Meanwhile, the futurans:

Lived on the planet peacefully long before humanity’s arrival.

Were attacked for the legit only reason that the humans, while willing to go through the effort of spending generations building an escape ship, then another few generations fighting a war against them, were not willing to go through the basic effort of learning their language.

Defended their people and planet from invasion.

Revered their defenders as sacred, not militaristic like the humans did the SDU.

Were made to be the aggressors, even though they were the one's defending their home the whole time.

//if you think about it, the only one of the futurans that is in any way evil is V'ehxness. But that's because she has her own will to power that exists independent of the war she's fighting. She herself just wants to kill Shion and take his power.

//Even then, she too is just defending her home planet from humans.

//Also, the idea of their being no good and bad in this war isn't really real, because if you look at things from an outward perspective...The quote should really be "There is no good in war." Period.

//Legitimately, the only people who are innocent in this war are the SDU, and the other Commanders. The face of each side of this conflict are varying degrees of malicious and evil.

//The leader of the futurans, V’ehxness, is revered by her people as a divine protector, but beneath that venerated image lies a deeply corrupted figure. She’s responsible for murdering her own people, has abused her authority, and (as revealed in the current route that I am currently on) has committed heinous acts of child abuse and SO much more. Her crimes extend to attempted familicide, and perhaps most damning of all, betrayal of the very religion that her society is built on. Driven by a god complex, she sees herself not just as a savior, but as a divine being above reproach, violating the faith she once symbolized.

//On the human side, Sirei, the orchestrator of the entire SDU operation and the public face of the human campaign, represents a colder kind of villainy. While he claims to act in the name of survival, he is the architect of a war of conquest against a largely innocent species, and his list of atrocities includes manipulation and brainwashing, child exploitation, unethical scientific experimentation, and psychological torment of a futuran woman, Eva, as well as the rest of his own team, especially Shion. Yes, Sirei sees Shion as a sort of son since he's raised him for most of his life, but Shion is still being used as a living weapon. For Sirei, no act is too extreme if it serves the mission, but his "pragmatism" has long since crossed moral boundaries.

//And the threat doesn't stop with just these two figureheads. Eito, a third-party actor, is arguably even more dangerous. Unlike V’ehxness, who believes she is protecting her people, or Sirei, who believes he’s securing humanity’s future, Eito fights for no one but himself. His desire to exterminate humanity isn’t rooted in justice or defense; it’s driven by a pure lust for power and destruction. He’s already committed multiple atrocities of his own and represents a wildcard force of chaos that stands to push an already tragic war into absolute annihilation.

//I would even extend this implication to the other third parties we've met so far in the other routes; Retsnom and Gotou.

//I'll give Retsnom a bit of credit, since it is effectively just a wild animal at the end of the day, which kind of mirrors Darumi's own apathy for it's own existence, but this doesn't take away from the fact that it either kills or absorbs everyone in three of it's route's four endings.

//And then Gotou...Gotou is just a fucking asshole.

//In the end, while the war began as a desperate struggle for survival or a fight to protect one’s homeland, it's clear that those in power on both sides have become monsters in their own right, and innocent people with GOOD moral compasses don't get caught up in it.

//Anyway, I ranted about this long enough, but the conversation ends with Eito saying that what he said before about our loved ones not being on the Satellite was mostly just a bluff. He himself doesn't know for sure, but mentions that he thought it might be due to Sirei's memory tampering...

//...which unfortunately causes Eva to momentarily regress and murder Sirei again.

//As much as I have grown to dislike Sirei's means that definitely don't justify his ends, having him around, especially now that he's being forefront about everything and explaining his motives in full; seeing him just suddenly die was shocking and upsetting.

Conclusion:

//I wanted to stop it here, because frankly, I originally planned on having this lead on to the next few days up to Day 60. But I've decided to hold off until next time.

//Simply because the stuff that happens in the subsequent next part of the story ties pretty heavily with the next ending I got.

//And if you have any understanding of this game at all, you'll probably know which ending I got next.

//I don't really have anything left to say that I didn't already say to be honest. Just that the twists and turns in this story are getting hella intense, and slight spoiler alert, we're apparently not done yet.

//Before this, the one thing I failed to mention in my main recount is that after Eva kills Sirei, Shouma starts having a moment. He starts to struggle on the verge of remembering more about the group's time at Kamukura Hospital, and that's what's going to lead into I think the second half of this giant twist.

//And my beating heart can only imagine what that might be.

-Mod

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danganronpasurvivoraskblog · 2 months ago

Text

THE HUNDRED LINE: LAST DEFENSE ACADEMY - Journal #4: Route 0 Days 46-56. [MASSIVE SPOILERS]

//Well...THIS was interesting.

//To be perfectly frank, this part of the game left me very...conflicted. As in some of the ideas that we have presented here, as well as the general plot progression of this part of the story...didn't really sink in with me on first experience, and didn't exactly invoke the kind of feeling in me I think it was supposed to.

//Was it a drop in quality? No, I wouldn't say so. What actually happens is still awesome, just...maybe it's something I'm not quite wrapping my head around.

DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED/SEEN THE HUNDRED LINE: LAST DEFENSE ACADEMY. I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT VERY SPECIFIC PLOT POINTS AND MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE GAME.

//So let's get started:

DAY 46:

//The day starts off with Nozomi, who now seems more willing to be open and more willing to talk to Takumi, calls everyone to the War Room so she can finally give us more info about what exactly the group from STLDA learned from Nigou about "World Death."

//By the way, I've been unintentionally calling this thing "World Ender" because I'm writing ReCaptured, and this is what the Remnants call the Future Foundation before they find out the actual name of it, lmao. Unintentional, but honest mistake.

//And of course, this kicks off with a bunch of juicy new lore.

//As I have mentioned in passing with these blogs, one of my favourite parts about this game's story is how it's clearly set in a "distant" future, where humanity all live under a giant dome-like structure, and throughout the game, we see the characters react weirdly to phenomenons that we as regular humans think is natural.

//Just as it creates interesting scenes like that where the characters are unfamiliar with concepts that we find basic, the concepts that they live with under the TRC are what seem alien to us. So the more we learn about them, the more it hooks me.

//But essentially, Nozomi just gives a straight up summary here of WHY the Tokyo Complex was even created in the first place.

//To summarize what she says, Earth became uninhabitable due to a phenomenon called "World Death," caused by the planet itself deciding to end its life in response to humanity’s exploitation and environmental destruction. As natural disasters ravaged the planet, most of the population perished, but a few survivors escaped to massive underground shelters like the Tokyo Residential Complex.

//Over a century later, TRC's residents are the last remnants of humanity, with no memory of life above ground. Now, their survival is again threatened as resources run out. Their only hope lies in the mysterious item hidden in the Defense Room by Sirei. Nozomi and the others believe that the reason why we are here for 100 days specifically, is because that item is set to activate on the 100th day, serving as potentially humanity’s final chance at salvation.

//I don't know if there's nuance to this explanation, but considering the context we have thus far, it checks out.

//And again, there are some interesting tidbits here. For one thing...we find out that Darumi had an abusive brother...shame that, but unfortunately not super important for the current situation; though I am definitely more curious about it...

//And another, as it turns out, despite living in the TOKYO Residential Complex, none of these kids really even know what Tokyo WAS before World Death consumed it.

//Again, the difference in perspective between the audience and the cast is the most interesting part of this game's plot. This is normal for them. The idea that they descended from an entirely different race of human beings that covered an entire planet never even crossed their minds.

//This situation also got me thinking about the Invaders themselves. The current theory that the students have is that the Invaders are part of the world's will to destroy the rest of humankind.

//A definitely plausible theory for the moment, but I personally don't think it's true. And the main reason why I believe that at this point is because if the Invaders are part of World Death, then why can they not get past the Undying Flames? Or at the very least, how come the mooks can't get past the Undying Flames without some sort of special method? If they were part of the same apocalypse, shouldn't they be able to bypass it far easier than they've been shown to?

//I have other reasons, but they prop up later in this journal, so I'll cover them when I get there.

//MY personal theory is that the Invaders are exactly that. Alien Invaders. It's why they speak a completely unrecognizable language, and why they look so strange and...well...alien. My only issue is that at this point, I don't see why it's important for them to get past the school and into the Defense Room.

//However, my best guess is that whatever it is that humans are using to survive is potentially something that they stole from that alien race, and these guys want it back.

//And I think this checks out, because this conversation we have here really does go out of it's way to highlight that even after ALL the shit that's happened as a result of Earth trying to protect itself from greedy douchebags; the government of what's left of the world is still played up to be extremely selfish.

//A large reason why, or at least, as it's indicated by the characters, that most people in the TRC don't know about the old world is because most history books or textual knowledge on it has been scrapped. And I can only assume the reason is because they tried to erase any history of their fuck-ups. They don't want people to point the finger and blame them for their currently dying race.

//Coupled with the fact that they clearly have a hand in this war we're fighting, and drafted literal children into it to fight for the human race, and...yeah, it really calls morality into question.

//I'm almost thinking there's going to be an ending to this game where we find out the truth about the Invaders and what humans have done to them, switch sides, and help subjugate humanity. Of all the possibilities, there has to be at least one route that lets you turn your back on these nasty bastards.

//Anyway, with that all out of the way, it causes everyone's resolve to tighten...Everyone that is...except Ima and Kako.

//Oh, sorry, everyone except Ima and Ima alone. Kako is clearly far more motivated to fight than ever now, since only she and her brother are the one's sitting on the sidelines while even Shouma was able to come around to the idea.

//But Ima does not let Kako speak for herself, and it aggravates me to no end. Again, I was holding out for hope, because from what I'd seen of these guys so far, there had to be at least a good reason why. I was really banking on that actually, because in this part of the story, Ima just becomes insanely iredeemable, at least for a bit.

//We'll get back to that though.

//I still had Free Time for the rest of the day, and fortunately, within this time it's taken me to play, I've started to figure out more about what you should be doing with your spare time.

//One of the big issues that I had with this game was how upgrading moves costed BP. BP, which is an unreasonably rare resource during explorations. And one of my biggest critique's of the game itself was that doing explorations did not net nearly enough resources needed for character and weapon upgrades; even with a team that increases the likelihood of finding the resource.

//Turns out I was doing things a bit wrong.

//You're not SUPPOSED to farm BP with explorations. You just CAN do it. The REAL best way to get BP is by playing the VR training missions.

//I made the, admittedly, stupid as fuck mistake that you could only get the rewards from the VR missions once. Turns out you can just play them over and over again to get the points you need, and the best part is that it only costs one slot of time. And the more missions you unlock, the higher your potential reward is.

//If I spend a full day grinding the VR missions, it nets me about 6000 BP points minimum, which is perfect and serviceable for what I need. This is something I wish I'd recognized sooner; even before I started the game.

//But hey, better late than never.

//So...yeah, a lot of these 10 days I cover is gonna involve me grinding out the VR training. And again, even though she's not in the squad anymore, Hiruko is still registered in the training sim.

//I'm not going to talk extensively about what happens during my grind, because it's just the same mission over and over again, but I was able to get some new abilities for my characters.

//The standour one's are that Kurara now has an ability where she makes a turret that gives allies shields every turn, which, while not strong shields, is still very useful. And on top of that, Shouma actually got an attacking move.

//From what I can understand, Shouma can throw a punching attack that increases in power the lower his health gets. However, if he does attack, he immediately becomes stunned. Which...makes sense considering what we covered in the previous journal.

//This isn't a huge problem, but it does still make taking hits and reflecting the damage back his better option; especially since he can still lure enemies away from the point.

//Speaking of which, I did a big booboo in this fight as well, because I did not realize that Kurara's ultimate move worked the same way as the trip mine item; as in if they go off, it hurts EVERYTHING in the vicinity, INCLUDING your own teammates.

//So yeah, Gaku (appropriately) ended up getting blasted to death by the bombs. Poor guy.

//After the day ends, we have another Karua scene where she drops lore on what Earth was like before the TRC; very relevant to our current conversations.

//Although, to be honest, what I took away from it was really strange, and probably not important, but apparently what's going on is Takumi is in the middle of doing his summer homework, and Karua is watching him.

//My question is why does the concept of SUMMER break exist when the Tokyo Residential Complex has already been established to not have seasons?

//Should the concept of "summer" even exist to these people? And how come no one's questioning it if that isn't the case?

//I can't even call this a nitpick; I just think it's weird.

DAY 47:

//To be honest, a lot of the days I'm about to list are actually just days with Free Time. Which is good, because we need as much as we can get. But there are spruces of plot to break them up that mainly revolve around the twins, because obviously it's their turn to join the fight.

//But we did actually get a moment today during the breakfast sequence that actually made me laugh a bit.

//Can I just mention that I do really like that the writers of this game do give us extensive scenes to make up each day, even if they don't add much to the overall story. Kind of gives you this reminder that we are basically just living together like this, and we are regular people at the end of the day, despite what we go through.

//And it's a better chance to show off the characters just being friends; especially after the sheer spite between the two groups in the last arc of the story.

//Also, Komatsuzaki, holy shit, you branched out a lot for these sprites, huh?

//Yeah, not gonna lie, as weird as Gaku's sprites during this sequence is, him having a foodgasm over Kurara's curry is really funny to me. Especially given what's been going on with me at the moment.

//I haven't really talked about it, because it wasn't super relevant, but I've recently been rewatching a lot of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure; particularly Diamond is Unbreakable, because that part's my favourite.

//And one of my favourite episodes of that part; which I'm confident many agree with, is the Tonio Trussardi episode where Josuke and Okuyasu just go eat Italian food at Tonio's restaurant, and every time Okuyasu ate one of Tonio's dishes, he had a very critical breakdown of each one; and acted very intelligent about the flavor.

//This reminded me of that, so for me personally, it's as funny as it is relevant.

//I am also glad to see Kurara being hospitable. Because she is genuinely one of my favourite characters so far; especially after the last arc. Even when she was being a complete jerk, she was still a fav of mine, but having her acting this way just bumps her up for me.

//And one thing that I am so disappointed about is after breakfast, I actually spent the morning of that day hanging out with her to increase my stats. And while I don't remember exactly what happened with it, I remember Kurara was really mad at Gaku about something.

//And then she pulls out a fucking gun!

//Like, no cap, she tells Takumi she's gonna get revenge or...whatever, and then the screencap shows a fucking handgun, and she's like "Yeah, I'm gonna smoke this dweeb!" and Takumi has to talk her down.

//Caught me off guard in the best way, and I think Kurara might actually be one of my favourite characters in the game now.

//For context, after these days, this is my current tierlist. However, I will say that there is not a single character in this game that I think is bad or poorly written. The cast itself is genuinely very solid, and I pretty much like all of them.

//Which was one big reason why Danganronpa 2 was so good for me; because even the worst characters in it I still like a moderate amount.

//I spent the afternoon reading to increase my stats, and it kind of reinforced this idea that I brought up previously. The book I read was another one that contained a lot of history on the TRC, but so much of the content in it was censored.

//Again, the reason is pretty clearly because the government of the TRC are trying to leave the old world behind, along with how badly they screwed it up.

DAY 48:

//Today was another day where I just played the VR sim again, and even though I know it's going to get stale doing the same fights again and again just to get the resources I need, I think I'm getting used to it.

//It's not the WORST thing in the world. At least your efforts are fruitful.

//Only other thing worth noting is in the morning, there's a scene with Eito in the cafeteria where he mentions that thanks to what we now know about World Death, the possibility of Nozomi being an alternate universe version of Karua is looking increasingly unlikely.

//His reasoning is that since we're fighting for the sake of helping the Tokyo Residential Complex and the remains of humanity inside it to live another day, the likelihood of the academy and the complex being from different worlds is fairly minimal.

//Like I said before, I knew that that wasn't going to be the case, because the game does not just feed you answers like that. But yeah, I guess that's as good a reason as any.

//But once again, I am still absolutely clueless on who or what Nozomi is in that case. And I genuinely can't think of any good theories until the game gives us more information on her; which they have been pretty shy about.

//My best guess is that Nozomi's arc is going to come after we get the whole squad together.

DAY 49:

//I expected this would happen, but Ima has officially cut both himself and Kako off from the rest of the group.

//If you'd noted the tierlist above, Ima is currently square at the bottom of the list, even though I don't hate him. I just really don't like him for most of this part of the story, because he acts SO CONTROLLING. And the longer it goes on, the worse he gets. Again, we'll get to that, but his behaviour just gradually gets more and more disturbing as time goes on.

//But today turned out to be a little bit different. At the point I was at, I managed to get most of my social stats to level two, with Math and Gym being the one's I had to get next. Nozomi raises Math stat, so I planned on giving her a gift so she could help me level it.

//Unfortunately, I did search what she liked, and I didn't actually have the resources to make it. So what I did is I decided to go out exploring, and in one sitting, get to ALL the Treasure Chest locations on the map that I had unlocked so far.

//As a reminder, I am currently flame level 2 in the game, so I only have access to the Desert and the Forest.

//But I'm not gonna lie. Remember how I mentioned that the exploration stuff was by far my least favourite part of the game?

//Well...it STILL is...BUT I have managed to find a way to make it much, much, MUCH easier on myself. And it largely revolves around the team I picked to go out with.

//That squad is Nozomi, Shouma, and Kyoshika.

//First of all, I know that I kind of shit-talked Kyoshika initially, because her playstyle didn't really click with me, but after getting her some more moves and understanding how she functions, she is easily one of the strongest characters in the game.

//Even at a lower level, setting up the game right allows her to do more damage to enemies than even Hiruko was able to pull off early game. So in this squad, Kyoshika is my main DPS, with Takumi as my sub-DPS basically. If you use Takumi to clear out the smaller enemies and get them on their own with no adjacent backup, Kyoshika can effectively take out stronger enemies in one hit with her attacks.

//Having someone that strong means that I clear enemy spaces very easily very quickly, even the tougher ones.

//Shouma is really great for long-winded investigations because his whole thing is having the most health out of every character. So if you land on an event square where you take damage, he can take a lot of it and not really worry about it.

//He's also good at getting rid of smaller enemies on a wide scale in battle by luring them in and having them hit him. And again, considering the whole point of these missions is that health depends on how long the exploration is for, him being able to take damage that would normally badly hurt his party members makes him a godsend.

//This same reason is exactly why Nozomi continues to be the absolute uncrowned queen of this game, because in this kind of situation, having the ability to heal is just ESSENTIAL.

//So my main strategy is if my team is running low on health, I try to aim for spaces that initiate a battle, and during the battle, I have Nozomi just pump everyone's health up again. And then that health carries over to the board game mode.

//Of course, the issue is Nozomi herself is very squishy and lacking in health, so one really unfortunate roll on the board could kill her instantly.

//But in the event of something like that happening to any of my characters, I have been strictly advised to save-scum the fuck out of it, otherwise it's just not enjoyable.

//You need a LOT of patience with this gamemode, because if you don't have mental fortitude, it's gonna eat away at you. Getting these gifts in one sitting took SEVERAL HOURS, because you move so slow around this board, and in some places where you need to go, there aren't even any checkpoints that you can automatically jump to.

//Still easily the worst part of this game, and that's very unfortunate. But with the new characters on the team, it's at least not nearly as much of a luck-based grind that could end purely by chance.

//But I managed to get it all done, and ended that gameplay session there. But Day 49 doesn't end just like that though, because we have a really interesting cutscene.

//Remember how I mentioned that we had a scene where Karua and Takumi talked about the outside world again? Well, in that scene, Karua mentions the Moon, which again, is something that these kids are unfamiliar with. They live under a giant dome, so they've never seen anything in the sky ever.

//But this day ends with Takumi feeling a presence outside his door; which at the time I guessed was the Undying Flames boy, but it's raining when he goes out and no one's there. He ends up looking up at the moon and...

//...yeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhh, that ain't normal.

//I have no idea what to make of it, but I do actually have two theories, and both of them relate to the same thing.

//That "thing" is my theory about the Invaders being aliens.

//THEORY 1: What we're looking at here isn't the moon, but the spaceship that the alien Invaders actually come from. They descend down to earth from this conviniently moon-shaped spaceship.

//My reasoning? Sirei mentions at the beginning of the game that the Undying Flames are specifically an inpenetrable wall of fire. The Invaders sometimes get through it, but we're never given explicit detail on HOW. HOWEVER, Sirei does mention that while the flames respond to enemies that try to get OVER them, he does mention that there is a limit to how high they can reach.

//And when he explains it, he very notably mentions that one way to get by it is to come in from outer space.

//Which is what I think the Invaders are doing, because even though we know some of them get past the Wall of Flames, we're never explicitly given details as to HOW. Just that some particularly strong one's can just...do it. So that would also explain THAT little detail.

//THEORY 2: Remember how I mentioned earlier that whatever's in the Defense Room may be something we've taken from the Invaders that they're trying to get back?

//While this might sound ridiculous, here's a distinct possibility that we're not even ON Earth right now.

//Maybe that's a bit confusing, but what I mean is that the moon that we're looking for is ACTUALLY where the Tokyo Residential complex is. It's not underground; we are GENUINELY on another planet.

//I'm not sure whether we're actually on Earth after World Death though, like Nozomi claimed earlier, or if what we think is the moon is actually the Earth, and we're on a foreign alien planet. It's really going to depend on what the actual mission here is, and those juicy lore drops are stuff that I just cannot WAIT to explore.

//Either way, as I predicted, almost immediately after Takumi looks at the moon, the Undying Flames boy showed up. This time, Takumi goes to manhandle him, but before he can do anything, the doofus slips on the rainwater and knocks himself out.

DAY 50:

//AND WITH THAT WE ARE HALFWAY THROUGH!

//I honestly have no idea how Takumi didn't catch an effin' cold seeing as he not only slept all night under the rain, but the fact that his body is not acclimatized to any kind of weather. Also, did his clothes somehow not get damp? How come Eito or he didn't even notice?

//Today we had a very interesting event happen...Takumi was going to tell everyone at the cafeteria that he'd run into the strange ghost boy again, but in the middle of him trying to explain it, the Invader alarm sounded, meaning everyone needs to rush over to the war room.

//I was surprised because it hadn't actually been that long, and I thought for sure that the next fight we did would be where Ima and Kako stepped into the fray. But turns out I shouldn't have spoken so soon.

//I actually did notice that something wasn't quite right with this time's alarm, because even though it played the intruder alert CG, normally after that, we get a cutscene showing the swarm of invaders rushing into the school. We didn't get that this time; which should have been a clear suggestion that this wasn't what we thought it was.

//When we get to the War Room, Yugamu points out that even though the alarm sounded, there isn't actually anybody on the campus, much less the invaders. However, from the flames, we do see a lone figure incoming. And while at first we think it's an Invader Commander, as we zoom into the image...

//YEEEEEE-!

//To be perfectly honest, this wasn't how I expected Moko to be introduced into the plot...like, at all.

//I thought that after we managed to get Ima and Kako to join us in the fight, Nozomi would bring Moko up again, and we'd go out on a search mission to rescue her.

//But it seems like she's come to us instead.

//I'm really not sure how she was able to get past the Undying Flames without a Fire Hydrant, but maybe she somehow still had one and used what was left of her Hemoanima to get inside?

//But that's also weird, since STLDA didn't have a wall of flames, so there was no need for those things, and I doubt Moko ever used one. Hopefully it will be explained later.

//We don't actually see a lot of Moko yet, because she spends most of this time recovering, but she's in the Student Profile now, and on the map. And we get this short scene of Nozomi consoling her; which was one of the more notable CG's that were revealed in the pre-release.

//Even with only a few dialogue lines at the moment, she is pretty entertaining already. Kind of just the silly character it seems; though a less psychotic version than Darumi. Whether or not she'll have any notable involvement in the plot or not remains to be seen.

//We do learn a little bit more about what happened to Moko from Nozomi here, and more about Moko as a character. First off, she's apparently a real high-school wrestler, and strong enough to take out a small army of Invaders on her own.

//Nozomi recounts how, when the second group first woke up at the Second-to-last Defense Academy, they were just as frightened and disoriented as the A-Team had been. But Moko quickly stepped up as a leader, keeping the group from falling apart. Effectively, she was originally for the group what Nozomi is for them now.

//She apparently always knew the right words to lift their spirits when things got tough, and it's because of her guidance and support that they evolved into the powerful team we were first introduced to.

//Tragically, on the tenth day of training, a massive swarm of Invaders attacked. Even with Moko leading them, the team was almost completely wiped out. According to Nozomi, they used a diversionary force on the north side of the school to keep the group occupied, while strike teams silently picked them off one at a time. The group, still inexperienced, couldn’t respond fast enough once they realized what was happening. Yugamu, Kurara, and Kyoshika were killed, and the defensive barrier was destroyed.

//To make things worse, Nigou was captured and the Revive-O'-Matic was damaged. Knowing that Nigou was vital to everything, Moko launched a desperate rescue. Despite being exhausted, she managed to reach him and throw him to safety, but she was too drained to escape and ended up being captured herself. By the time Nigou revived the others, the Invaders had already retreated, taking Moko with them.

//All of this is to say that I'm quite excited to see how Moko plays in battle. Particularly because I don't see what kind of role she might fit into.

//We already have DPS with the likes of Hiruko, Takumi, and Kyoshika, and Takemaru and Shouma already fit into tank role. I doubt she's a support, so...I am interested to see how differently she might play compared to who we've got so far.

//One of my favourite parts of this game is the variety of playstyles and strategies between characters. I do hope that Moko keeps that ball rolling.

DAY 51:

//Despite the fact that Moko came back, Day 50 was surprisingly short considering it's a milestone number.

//Not an awful lot happened today, but I have two highlights.

//First of all, the breakfast cutscene that morning got to show Yugamu and Darumi having an "enlightening" conversation, and even though we don't get much of this duo, I hope we get more, because their conversations are always cryptically hilarious.

//And second, would you FUCKING believe it, after all that grinding I did to get Nozomi a nice gift so I could raise my math stat, because she's busy taking care of Moko, Nozomi is UNAVAILABLE to hang out with!

//FUCK!

//I JUST WANTED TO GIVE YOU CHOCOLATE MY GIRL! WHY MUST I BE CUCKED THIS WAY!?

//Anyway, Eito also raises the Math stat, so I reset and decided to get him a gift instead.

DAY 52:

//*sigh*...Okay...

//Remember how I mentioned at the start that there was a significant point in this part of the story where the plot started to decline in quality? Well, it's this part here.

//This is the point in the story where Ima and Kako's involvement in the plot, and their character arcs, finally come forward. And unfortunately, it's not executed in the way that I hoped or wanted, but...let me explain.

//As I've mentioned before a few times leading up to this day, it's become clear that Kako harbors deep discomfort regarding her brother's behavior toward her. Even if, on the surface, they appear to be a typical pair of siblings, and fortunately, Kodaka doesn't ACTUALLY cross into incest territory with the Tsukumo's, it doesn't stop Ima’s actions crossing the line into something far more disturbing.

//And THIS PART of the story is CROSSING! THE LINE!

//As the plot unfolds, we begin to see Kako’s true desires more clearly. Rather than staying in her brother's shadow or continuing to play the obedient little sister, she wants to stand on her own and be part of the group’s effort to protect the school. Her determination grows steadily, and by this day, she finally reaches a breaking point.

//She gathers the courage to challenge Ima for the first time, to raise her voice and assert herself.

//Unfortunately, Ima’s reaction is as chilling as it is immediate.

//Rather than even pretending to consider her feelings, Ima glares at her with open malice, his expression dark and hostile. He coldly dismisses her words, grabs her by the arm, and drags her out of the cafeteria in front of everyone!

//He claims he’s going to “punish her for stepping out of line” and promises to give her a “thorough reeducation.” It’s a deeply disturbing moment, not just because of what he says, but because of what it implies.

//If you followed my main account @creepercraftguy, you'll know that I recently made a repost from one of @hopeymchope's posts where they talk about how he finds the cast of this game to be terrible, selfish people, and I went out of my way to refute their points and defend the characters and the games writing. In as civilized a way I could manage, I want to add.

//However, I CANNOT defend THIS! I think that hopey's assessment of what happens here with not just Ima and Kako, but everyone's reactions to what happens with the siblings, is spot on.

//This kind of control, entitlement, and possessiveness that are hallmarks of ABUSE!

//The terror on Kako’s face in that moment says it all. While it’s later implied that Ima didn’t physically harm her beyond perhaps a stern verbal tirade, since she seems relatively unharmed the next time she appears, the psychological toll in the moment impossible to ignore. This is the kind of dynamic you’d expect to find in an abusive household, not between two supposedly loving siblings.

//And that's not even the WORST part.

//Just as Ima starts PHYSICALLY dragging Kako away, Takemaru steps forward and blocks their path. Calm and composed, he doesn’t shout or resort to threats.

//He simply states the truth: if Ima truly cares for his sister, he ought to respect her autonomy and listen to what she has to say.

//It’s a simple, rational appeal...but one that Ima responds to in the most violently irrational way possible.

//Without a word of warning, Ima pulls out a weapon and STABS TAKEMARU IN THE STOMACH!

//JUST LIKE THAT!

//Like...this was his PLAN A! He wasn't even attacking in self-defense! Takemaru literally said ONE THING about how Ima was mistreating his "beloved" sister, that was very clearly true and everyone around him agreed with it, and Ima just STABS HIM FOR IT!

//I know that the game kind of already played it up for a long while before this bombshell dropped, but Ima might GENUINELY be the MOST FUCKED UP character Kodaka has ever written.

//Well...okay, maybe not, but he's DEFINITELY UP THERE!

//But it's not over yet!

//The scene itself is chaotic, shocking, and horrifying. After the stabbing, Ima successfully escapes with Kako, and Takumi, Eito, Gaku, and Yugamu manage to stabilize Takemaru and carry him back to his room so he can recover.

//But in the aftermath, something even more unsettling occurs. Despite everything, the threat to Kako, the stabbing, the obvious danger Ima now poses...Takumi just shrugs it off!

//He basically says it’s "too late" to act that day and simply decides to go to sleep, as if nothing could be done! The others seem to quietly accept this, and Takumi’s parting words are to “worry about them later.”

//LATER!?

//Kako is almost certainly being subjected to more of Ima’s abusive behavior right now, and yet the protagonist apparently prioritizes rest over rescue!

//And even putting that aside, AGAIN!

//IMA!

//STABBED!

//TAKEMARU!

//I can accept the students treating both Hiruko and Kurara's violent threats the way they did, with little agency, because we ultimately KNOW that neither of them are going to actually follow up on them. For Hiruko, it was clearly an incentive to get those afraid to fight to step up, and the same goes for Kurara; wanting to finally settle the disputes between the two sides at that point.

//But IMA is acting entirely selfishly, and did something that could almost have killed Takemaru with VERY LITTLE REASON! IF ANY! Literally all Takemaru did was say "You should listen to your sister!" and Ima went "Haha! You die now for that!"

//The lack of urgency is INFURIATING! No one is making any attempt to rescue Kako, restrain Ima, hell even both!

//And while I have gassed this game up to high heaven, and will likely continue to do so because I AM still enjoying it, this whole situation is a CLEAR failure on the part of the game’s narrative to treat the situation with the seriousness it deserves!

//The evening ends with Takumi getting a letter from Kako, essentially pleading for help. She asks Takumi to try and convince Ima to let her fight with the others, just as he was able to do for Tsubasa, Gaku, and Shouma. And Takumi agrees that tomorrow he will finally confront Ima about it.

//Which gave me a bit of hope that he was gonna step up...only for the next morning to have those hopes immediately dashed...

DAY 53:

The next morning, just as Takumi is about to go convince Ima to let Kako fight, Ima himself shows up at Takumi's door...completely unrepentant, mind you, and has the gall to ask for a favor.

//He flips the situation on its head, and gives us a different mission than normal. Instead of Takumi convincing Ima to fight, Ima instead wants Takumi to convince Kako to abandon her hopes of fighting alongside the group and return to passive obedience.

//However, he doesn't come empty handed. In exchange, Ima offers to take her place in the defense effort. So long as Kako doesn't fight, Ima himself will join the front lines so he can protect her.

//While this scene DID lighten the load a TAD, because it showed that Ima really does just want to protect Kako from any kind of harm, it’s an absurd proposition.

//In return for the privilege of Ima’s help; the same Ima who just stabbed someone for speaking out; you're asked to emotionally crush a victim of his mental abuse, and restore her to her "proper" role as his submissive little sister.

//To put this into Danganronpa fan perspective, this is equivelent to helping Kanade convince Hibiki that her only purpose is a mindless doll for her sister to play with.

//Worse still, this isn't a choice the player can meaningfully engage with. You're railroaded into compliance. No matter how many times you try to refuse. Even if you don't want to; and trust me, I DID NOT WANT TO, the game offers no real alternative.

//You’re stuck in a classic But Thou Must scenario: the story won’t move forward unless you agree to Ima’s terms. For me, it’s not just frustrating. It’s a betrayal of the emotional stakes the game itself has built up, forcing you to go along with a resolution that feels morally bankrupt.

//Yes Ima! Considering you stabbed a man and also look so much like Kokichi Ouma, you DO look like a HUGE liar!

//ANYYYWAYYYY, since we've essentially been FORCED into doing this, instead of going around to learn more about how to appeal to Ima, we instead go to learn a bit more about Kako and the twins in general.

//I'm actually okay with this part because even though I'm not on board with the actual mission, it does pique my interest.

//Mainly because we do get a little more information and characterization from Kako herself; who's contributions to the plot so far have been...fairly minimal. And some contribution from Ima too, who starts to open up about their backstory.

//Ima has always made it painfully clear that he’d throw the entire world under the bus if it meant ensuring Kako’s safety, but it's only with this part of the story where you see how his obsession with protecting her borders on apocalyptic. He would happily damn humanity if it meant shielding her from harm.

//But but the very obvious issue with what he's doing and why he's acting this way, is what does that kind of safety even mean if Kako isn’t allowed to be happy? If she’s not allowed to be free to make her own choices and have Ima dictate her his whole life?

//That’s the core problem, isn’t it? It's not just about whether she’s alive or unharmed — it’s about whether she gets to live her life, by her choices. And right now, thanks to Takumi's ongoing deference to Ima’s twisted logic, that freedom is slipping further and further out of reach.

//I’ll be honest. It’s incredibly frustrating watching Takumi cave like this. Whether it’s out of guilt, confusion, or just plain weariness, he keeps conceding ground to Ima, inch by inch. It’s not just disappointing. It’s disheartening; especially since Takumi has very quickly become one of my favourite protagonists in one of Kodaka's games, rivalling even KAEDE.

//We also learn something new about in that apparently, the twin's father used to be a detective. Which definitely shines a light on where Kako’s sharp intellect and analytical instincts come from. Even though she's unnasuming, she has been shown to be very keen, intelligent, and good at estimating outcomes, and I see where she gets it now.

//Her love of tech is another defining trait, and when Ima suggests getting her a motor scooter, it surprisingly turns out to be a solid idea. She reacts positively to the idea, and it’s one of the rare moments where Ima actually seems to understand her interests rather than project his own desires onto her.

//We also get confirmation about something that’s long been implied: the twins lost their parents at a very young age. I’d suspected as much, but hearing Ima talk about it gives it some more weight.

//He mentions that while they technically had other family members, those relatives didn’t care for them in any real sense. They abandoned the twins, leaving them to survive on the streets alone.

//Which, while this might be a stretch, kind of reminds me of Rei Mekaru's backstory in Danganronpa Another. As a reminder, Rei's backstory was that her birth parents were at risk of going backrupt and ending up on the streets, so they ended up disowning their daughter so that Rei wouldn't get caught up in the trouble and be dragged down with them.

//However, the family members that they entrustred Rei to abandoned her when things got a bit too difficult, betraying the trust of Rei's birth parents, and twisting her to make her believe that they'd never truly loved her. I'm getting similar vibes from this.

//That experience, as Ima explains it, is at the root of his obsession. Without Kako, he has nothing. She’s not just his sister, she’s his anchor. The only thing tethering him to the world.

//BUuuuuUUUuuUUUUuuuUUUuuuuuUUUUT-!

//While that tragic backstory helps explain WHY he clings to her so tightly, it doesn’t ABSOLVE him. Trauma might shape behavior, but it doesn’t excuse cruelty, especially not on this level. And what he’s done to Kako over the years is undeniably cruel, even if Ima himself didn't mean to come across that way.

//Effectively, Kako has relied on Ima to protect her basically their whole lives, and as a result, Ima knows nothing BUT protecting her. There's literally nothing else to his life besides making sure she is safe. Now that Kako is stepping up to fight, his own life is losing its purpose.

//Which I think is the REAL reason why Ima is so desperate to stop her. And honestly? It's sad! It really is sad; because Ima seems incapable of considering that these two could just be normal siblings that support EACH OTHER rather than forcing her to do things she'd rather not, just for her "protection," and his own selfishness!

//It's not that I don't GET it; I just don't think it's stated very plainly! And that kind of ruins the experience for me!

//What's worse, the version of events we hear feels incomplete. Maybe there’s more to it that we'll see later on. For now, there's not too much to work with.

//Interestingly, this moment marks the first time in the game where we’re able to make a gift without having to spend an entire in-game day gathering resources. Everything we need is just…handed to us. No scavenging. No side quests. Just a direct path to giving Kako something meaningful.

//It’s oddly convenient, almost like the game wants this interaction to happen smoothly, and that in itself feels a little suspicious.

//What follows is the minigame where you have to talk to a character and guide the conversation toward a specific outcome. But this time, we’re not trying to persuade Kako to stand up and fight. Rather this time, we’re convincing her to stop.

//And again, I'm REALLY NOT OKAY with this!

//I don't want to tell Kako to pull back, because it feels like I'm telling her to accept the very role she’s spent so long trying to escape. To make things worse, at least in my experience, this minigame was concerningly easy compared to the one's I did with Tsubasa, Shouma, and Gaku. I had basically no trouble with this one and got like...one wrong answer.

//Fortunately, there is one silver lining in this mess, if you can even call it that.

//The minigame ends as it does normally, but right at the last second, the game reverses, and ends in FAILURE. Takumi completely fails in his mission to convince Kako to step away from the fight. This is the only time in the game (so far) that this has happened, and THANK GOD, because this was the one time I NEEDED it to fail.

//At first, it seems like a small victory: she won’t be silenced, and she’s not going to just fade into the background as her brother wishes.

//Then, in a scene that’s surprisingly short and understated, Ima appears in the flesh and...finally relents.

//He doesn’t APOLOGIZE, at least not outright, but he does acknowledge, in his own indirect way, that he MIGHT have taken things too far.

//For the first time, he gives Kako his approval to stand alongside the others. It’s brief. It’s quiet. But it’s genuine.

//And...I DID like the exchange the twins have. Really I did. I think it's nice to see them come to an understanding, but also...it highlights what my biggest issue with this arc of the story was! It was TOO SHORT!

//The exchange itself is only a few lines of dialogue, and again, it kind of just ends with Ima giving up; not so much apologizing. It's the same issue as what happened with the stabbing scene. It went from 0 to 100 in no time flat, and now it's gone back to 0 equally as fast. Both times for very little rhyme or reason.

//And again, Takumi is not in the right here.

//Because while he fails to get her to abandon her determination, Takumi DOES twist the conversation into a justification of Ima’s possessive and controlling behavior. Instead of helping Kako recognize the toxic, dehumanizing grip her brother has had on her for years, Takumi, perhaps without even fully realizing it, romanticizes it. He reframes Ima’s suffocating control not as abuse, but as some kind of noble, selfless devotion. He paints it as an act of love that should be cherished and repaid.

//And to Kako, who has been emotionally manipulated and gaslit for so long, this recontextualization lands with horrifying effectiveness.

//I can accept that the Tsukumo's love each other really, and that Kako always wanted to fight for the sake of protecting her brother. But the way it's handled feels like some gut-wrenching reversal that doesn't sit right with me.

//Takumi may have walked into that conversation with good intentions, or at least some vague sense of moral responsibility, but the end result is...while I wouldn't call it a CATASTROPHE, because it DID mean something to me, it wasn't completely wholesome and above all else...not warranted.

//Rather than helping Kako, and hell, IMA too, liberate themselves from an emotionally damaging relationship, he becomes complicit in reinforcing it. He gaslights the gaslit. He enables the abuser. Whether it was done through ignorance, cowardice, or sheer moral failing, the outcome is the same.

//I suppose the problem I'm saying is it feels like Ima really didn't get a deserved commupance OR strong character arc here. He kind of just decides everything in this situation on his own, and everyone else is dancing to his tune. Which I really cannot get behind, despite how much I do like this game's writing overall.

//But...yeah, that's how the day ends. Not with a bang but with a "for fucks sake!"

DAY 54:

//Nothing much happens today, and the Tsukumo Twins are kind of off doing their own thing as always. Except this time, they're remaining seperate. I guess to sort things out on their own for once.

//I spent my free time doing gift giving to Takemaru. Gym was the one stat I still needed to upgrade to get more abilities. But in the meantime, I did check out the new area of the school, since it's the one time the game doesn't actively force you to check it out.

//The courtyard is basically just an indoor garden, but the standout feature of it is that there's a giant bird-shaped cage in there that's clearly setting up for something bigger, since they mentioned that it nullifies any powers.

//I don't know why we'd have that cage in the fucking courtyard, which is a place normally for relaxation. If we had any prisoners in there, that'd be really annoying.

//Takemaru's reaction to recieving gifts he likes is...surprisingly cute actually??? lol.

//I mean, I guess it makes sense because the guy clearly isn't the hardass that he comes across as.

//Also, I'm gonna be real, I actually don't care about the stupid guesswork, and did straight up google what gifts each of the characters like in this game to make the best out of my presents.

//And of course, one of the gifts you can give is a goddamn vibrator...

//And of COURSE, KYOSHIKA is the one who likes it.

//I don't know why I'm even surprised.

DAY 55:

//You know what's most surprising?

//Today is the penultimate day that I normally end these journals on where the Invaders come in and attack, but...I actually don't have very much to say about this fight!

//It's GOOD, but definitely not as impactful to me as the previous defense battles were.

//I’m finally starting to get a solid grasp on how to manage my time efficiently in this game. Now that I understand how everything works I feel a lot more in control.

/To be honest, it was pretty obvious this time around that the Invasion was going to come today; all the signs were there, and unlike last time, they rolled out the full cutscene to introduce it. So unlike the fake-out with Moko showing up, I knew that this one had to at least be legit.

//I had a strong hunch that Takemaru would still show up to fight, even after taking a knife to the gut courtesy of Ima. Lo and behold, I was right. He reappears, injured, sure, but still ready to stand his ground.

//I kind of thought that when we got into the fight, Takemaru would either be fatigued, or have lost a little bit of health off rip. But I guess the devs didn't really think to do something like that; or they just chose not to.

//The first round of the battle went relatively smoothly. It felt like a warm-up, especially with the team starting to fall into rhythm. But then round two hit, and things escalated fast. That’s when the Invaders started deploying a nasty new trick: Fog Machines.

//Do I even need to explain how infuriating this mechanic is? Surely the word "fog" is a dead giveaway.

//Once it's on the field, your visibility drops to practically zero. You can’t see any enemies unless you’re standing directly next to them, and UNTIL you’re adjacent, you can’t attack them either. It completely derails long-range strategies and makes positioning way more stressful than it needs to be.

//Basically, it forces you to fumble around in the dark, hoping to bump into something hostile before it bumps into you, and in the event you want to attack them on the main turn, that burns through AP like no tomorrow.

//Even more annoying is the low visibility means you can't even use Shouma to draw enemy fire away from the barrier. You CANNOT DO ANYTHING to the enemies UNTIL they are visible!

//Unsurprisingly, I hated this mechanic. It doesn’t feel challenging in a fun way, more like artificially slowing things down and punishing careful planning. The GOOD news is that it doesn't last very long.

//Luckily, help arrives in the form of the Tsukumo Twins, who join the fight mid-battle (who would have guessed?) with the exact tools needed to shut the fog bulshit down.

//And the way these two play is...well...WEIRD...

//Kako, true to form, plays a long-range sniper role. She can pick off enemies from a safe distance, which is a godsend in a battlefield where visibility is severely limited.

//Ima, meanwhile, is highly mobile and downright overpowered in this terrain. He floats above the ground, completely unaffected by terrain restrictions, and can travel across the map with ease.

//That said, neither of them really do enough damage to really net value out of. They're GOOD, but there are stronger characters in the squad, like Eito. Not that I'm devaluing either of them, because being able to cover that much ground between the two of them is very useful.

//But on top of that, Kako’s main attack comes with an annoying drawback. Every time she uses it, her damage output decreases.

//I get the idea; forcing the player to think carefully about when to use her; but it makes her feel less satisfying to use as the fight drags on. I’m not really a fan.

//After the twins enter the battlefield and start tearing through the fog machines, the tide of the fight shifts dramatically. Once those devices are destroyed, the fog lifts, and the battlefield opens up again. With full visibility restored, the rest of the fight is pretty straightforward. The enemies are fully exposed, and from that point on, it’s a no-holds-barred brawl.

//In the words of our forefathers: Rip and Tear until it's done!

//However, even though the fight itself is nothing to write home about...the CONCLUSION brings a pretty dramatic twist to the story.

//As established, most of these combat situations end with picking one of the students to end the life of the commander and absorb it's hemoanima. But in the past, we've mostly done this to commanders that are defeated and defenseless. The only time that we've done otherwise is the first commander, that Hiruko didn't really give the time of day.

//This time though, the commander survives past the initial cutscene, and pleads for mercy just like the first one does. While we ARE about to ignore it, the twist comes from the Commander REMOVING its mask and...

//...

//...Is it bad that I find it insanely attractive?

//Okay, jokes aside, there is a very chilling moment here where the characters are shocked to find that the enemy Commanders look like regular human beings under the masks. However, we still can't understand what she's saying because she speaks a completely seperate language from us.

//There is another interesting lore moment here where Eito suggests that she's speaking a FOREIGN language, which is why the students can't understand her. I didn't even realize that the concept of racism might not even exist within the TRC because it's just the world as they know it. Everyone looks the same and speaks the same language; unlike the world we know.

//Of course, the Invaders speak a completely alien language even to us, but these guys have no way of knowing that.

//But yeah, this fight ends with this Commander succumbing to an entirely different fate than what we're used to. Instead of killing her outright, they take her prisoner and lock her up in one of those cages I mentioned earlier; until they could understand her language and get information out of their enemies from her.

//I KNEW that was gonna come into play somehow!

//I have a distinct feeling that this Invader is gonna end up being an important character, and I didn't even think about it until now but...what if this Invader joins OUR side and becomes the 16th student!?

//Like, we HAVE to have 16 party members by the end of this, right!? It's already so weird that we only have up to 15. I dunno, I guess we'll see.

DAY 56:

//GO HOME GO BED!!!

Conclusion:

//Yeah, this part of the story was a low-point overall.

//Not UNSALVAGEABLE, and definitely good character moments, but my main takeaways from it aren't great:

I like the Tsukumo twins a little bit more than I did before now that I properly understand them, but I think they are still my least favourite characters in the game. At least Ima is.

I did NOT enjoy the coercion segment of this chapter. It felt so wrong trying to steer Kako off doing what she wanted, with no choice but to do so. In the end, I'm glad she stuck to her guns regardless of what Ima and Takumi said.

I'm hoping the twins end up being better characters in the future. I already think Kako is cool and cute, but she hasn't had much change to shine on her own thanks to her fuckhead brother; who definitely didn't get the commupance he deserved.

There are still so many questions about World Death that even the general explanation doesn't answer. The mysteries of this game keep piling on; especially with the introduction of this potential ally commander.

//I AM still enjoying this game as much as I always have done. Even with all that's happened here, it hasn't really affected my opinion of this game; nor my willingness to continue playing it.

//Every game has highs and lows, much like my expectations. I had them high, and was low-blowed by them. This part of the game was fundamentally flaws overall, even if I do understand the idea they were going for; since it felt super rushed and unpolished.

//Which is a real damn shame. Here's hoping the next part will be better.

-Mod

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