#please correct me if i got anything wrong!! esp on the japanese part

[tanteitwopoint0-blog]

Danganronpa V3 and How It Plays With Expectations

I, uh, went off on the Danganronpa subreddit, and thought, hell, why not, edit it / add some more to it and post it here, too.

This was in response to someone saying that they thought Shirogane was suspicious from the start, and my take on that— it’s essentially just… 2500 words, more or less, on my thoughts about how the game plays with your expectations and constantly keeps you questioning— in more ways than one.

Obviously, spoilers under the cut! And very long, disjointed thoughts.

I feel it depends a lot on your initial standpoint.

Danganronpa V3 is meant to subvert a lot of your expectations as a Danganronpa fan. It's a soft reboot, so knowledge / experience of the Kibougamine / Hope's Peak arc isn't exactly necessary, but also it's best to experience Kibougamine / Hope's Peak for the optimal... well, experience. And it’s very much how SDR2 ties to DR1— though it’s less on the connection, and more on how the game plays and subverts all your expectations— way more, I’d even argue, and for many different things.

One of them, I feel, is the fact that Shirogane is the ringleader (I use ringleader, because in the original Japanese, the word they used for mastermind in DR1 / SDR2 is kuromaku (黒幕), while in V3 from chapter 1 - chapter 4, and by Shirogane in the last trial they use shibousha (首謀者); kuromaku /mastermind is used in V3 after the flashback lights are used in chapter 5 and their revert back to the Kibougamine arc (I'll get back to that in a moment), as well as to describe the outside world, the "true mastermind" behind everything, but, anyway).

From DR experience, the mastermind / ringleader is always someone... crazy. Basically Junko. (Who is usually actually is, aha.) It goes with the duality of hope and despair that the entire Kibougamine arc is practically built upon; "hope" and "despair" are the two extremities, and so Danganronpa has always been built off those extremities. (Again, Junko, but we can see it with the ultra-optimistic Naegi, and Hinata / Kamakura's Ultimate Hope... Talent... thing he has going on.) In general, I feel, the Danganronpa series has trained its fans to always suspect the crazy and insane; that the mastermind / the person behind everything is someone obsessed with having fun, of alleviating boredom-- like Junko and Kamakura. They're someone who creates chaos, who hates when nothing interesting happens, who are basically forces of nature to get what they want, being manipulative, playing with your emotions, etc...

(On that note... who exactly fits this description in V3? And what did they do, in chapter 5?)

However... V3 is an important derivation from that. I think the most important clue for this is the fact that the protagonist is a detective.

In the previous two entries, the protagonists were straightforward... normal people. Naegi and Hinata were normal people, and their arcs centered a lot around this particular fact. Naegi's difference from his Ultimate / SHSL classmates and how... well, detached he was from their experiences / pressures of being SHSLs allowed him to be hopeful. Hinata's a little similar, but with key differences; he too, was pressured, even as a normal person, by the expectations of society; thus he eventually caved and participated in the Kamakura project. I guess what I'm trying to say is that their arcs centered a lot around personal / societal issues; this goes with how while DR1 and SDR2 are murder mysteries, at their heart... they kinda aren't? The mysteries are there, of course, but I feel at their core— their hearts— as their respective last trials demonstrate, it's more about the social commentary / lesson they're about. Naegi and Hinata are also pretty normal for them to be more relatable, for their respective arcs to hit us closer to home personally. At the end of the game, DR1 and SDR2 aren’t murder mysteries; they’re more of personal stories, with personal lessons, regarding hope and despair, and the fact that they’re murder mysteries kinda… only serve to frame that— but they don’t embody the usual common themes of the genre.

Not that it's a bad thing, of course, but it's where V3 deviates. Saihara, whether you like him or not, is the true protagonist of V3; however, he's much different from both Naegi and Hinata. He has a very established backstory we get pretty early on, compared to Hinata and Naegi; Saihara is a detective apprentice, living with his uncle, working for him out of his gratitude, who has a fondness for novels and alligator finding and is a bit too much of a pushover for his own good (as Shirogane calls him last trial, "weak, weak, Saihara-kun"). People say his anxiety is too similar to Naegi and Hinata's, but... personally, I'll have to disagree? Because his uncertainty about himself isn't from a personal / societal place, or at least the way it is for Naegi and Hinata-- it isn't something society put on him, but rather, one that came from himself. His identity is actually completely established compared to Naegi and Hinata-- he isn't looking for it. He knows it already-- he's the Detective. The only issue, or conflict, regarding it I suppose… is his acceptance of it? He's a detective, he knows that, but it's more of his exploration of what that means, and his fear of the truth.

And that's a pretty straightforward, murder mystery thing. Instead of being a social commentary like the other two games, Saihara's entire arc centers around the truth— his personal identity does have something to do with it, but it's more of intertwined with the entire truth / lies themes of the game, which makes him an effective protagonist for V3, in my opinion. After his first encounter with the truth, with the man who killed the person who drove his family to death and Saihara became reluctant to find the truth, he learns more about accepting the truth despite how hard it may be, as we see starting immediately Chapter 1; meanwhile, the game itself centers around truths and lies, up to its very end. It's similar to the last two games, somewhat, in that sense, how the protagonist embodies the themes of the games (Naegi's hope as the other side of the coin to Junko's despair, and Hinata as pretty much the epitome of "my past may be me, but I can still chose the future" with his Kamakura thing going on). Only thing is, Saihara's and V3's themes are a little different than the last two.

There's also the fact that V3 is the only entry in the core DR games to not have an Ultimate / SHSL Lucky Student. Luck and Hope are tied very closely together in the Kibougamine arc; Naegi and Komaeda are both Lucky Students, and I think we all know pretty well how closely these two were tied into their respective game's definition of hope and how it's treated. Anyway, I won't go too far in, but it's interesting how V3 actually doesn't have a Lucky Student. It's something I actually noticed because my girlfriend (who isn't spoiled yet) pointed it out; we were looking at the cast and she was giving her first thoughts, and she said it bothered her that there was no Lucky Student, and-- well, it got me thinking, because that's the point. V3 doesn't focus on the hope / despair dichotomy; instead it focuses on truths and lies. And so, with the absence of the dichotomy... is the absence of the Lucky Student, as well.

What I’m trying to get at is, V3 is a lot different from the Kibougamine arc, for a lot of reasons. And yet... they still try to pull you in with the same tropes, to see if you've been paying attention.

Chapter 5, I feel, is the best explanation of this. Remember what I said about a character that fits Junko's / Kamakura's description? If you haven't guessed yet, it's, yeah, Ouma Kokichi. He's ... well, clearly very Junko like. He's playful, an annoying cryptid, is an overall chaos bringer and it'd be a lie to say that even with the fact that he's my 3rd favorite V3 character (after Saihara, out of complete and total personal bias, and Shirogane, aka my favorite slimy, stinky ringleader ever), you can't deny he... says... some shit. Well, a lot of it.

Though, as V3 always goes, he inverts that. Ouma, both as a person and a character, also preys on your emotions, the same way Junko does; he pulls it off, making you feel a certain way to hide his true intentions. He says a lot of shit, yes, but if you look at his actual actions and their effects, before Chapter 4 he... was actually quite helpful. Recall his "COOL MOTIVE, STILL MURDER" speech post-trial 1, where he says that sure, maybe Akamatsu's actions came from a good place, she still, you know, committed murder. Recall his actions towards Yumeno, how, even with how harsh and seemingly insensitive he was, he helped her come to terms with her refusal to express her emotions and her feelings for Tenko and helped her cry. Recall how he basically gave us the answer to Trial 3 when he got a concussion and cryptically proved that the trick was set up in all three rooms. (It's actually pretty amusing in the trial, if you take one of the back routes-- if you decide not to use the truth bullet of "Bloody Ouma" and prolong the discussion with a lie bullet, instead of napping like he does if you get the right truth bullet as Saihara points it out, instead Ouma stays awake and literally goes out of his way to say, "Hey, listen, were any of you guys paying attention, I proved that the trick was in all three rooms, remember?" Of course, not word for word, but, you get the point.)

And so on.

But, well, as I said, he tests you. V3 tests you, to make sure you're paying attention. Chapter 4 and 5 is basically the culmination of this; his actions are suspicious, but if you were thinking without your emotions (which, as said, both Junko and Ouma are very effective at), you can tell something's up. Chapter 4 is the best example of this, I’d say; before his actions were never outright malicious— perhaps cheeky, perhaps a little rude, but the scene of his cooperation with Monokuma is suspicious. It’s meant to be suspicious, though— again, in which way you come into the game will change your perspective on it. One way you may go tackling said suspicion is perhaps like Comun, who in his livetweet thread of Chapter 4, points out how he noticed that most of Ouma’s actions were from a generally good place, and was suspicious of the fact that he worked with Monokuma because that wasn’t something that lined up with his actions.

However, many people also do the opposite-- fall into the trap, because Ouma's so much like Junko, he's been suspicious as fuck, what the hell is he up to? -- and, well, they see him talking to Monokuma, and they get suspicious not because it’s uncharacteristic of him, but because they think it’s just like him.

Chapter 4, I feel, in that way speaks lengths about Ouma’s character, and by extension, the game itself. Chapter 4 and 5 in general is meant to challenge you and your expectations, how you saw Ouma— and, as he is practically the embodiment / personification of the game itself, your perspective of the game itself as well. And Chapter 4 is the start of it. As shown, it checks to see if you’re paying attention; Ouma’s actions are undeniably cruel and terrible, but the why is so vital. His feelings towards them are incredibly important, and extremely influential as to how you understand his character.

As the game itself says, his actions were out of self defence; that part is undeniable. The real issue, however— the real debate, the true fact of the matter— is whether or not you think he actually regrets it.

The game itself teases it— practically asks you— post-trial. Ouma claims it’s all a lie, that he never cared about Gonta, and here your perspective of him is absolutely vital into how you see his next actions, in my opinion. If you played the beginning of the game thinking his actions were malicious, that he was evil this entire time, then you believe he’s telling the truth. On the other hand, if you’ve been paying more attention to Ouma’s actions and believing him to not be as malicious and evil as he claims to be, then you believe he’s lying.

Either side, frankly, fits, but I feel that’s more without context. Within context, and having picked up on the fact that aside from all the crap Ouma says, you’re a little more skeptical than usual of his post-trial lies.

This leads up right into Chapter 5. This chapter pulls off all the traditional Danganronpa tropes, essentially, and it's to see if you've been paying attention: if you'll say "Oh, yes, this is Danganronpa, I knew Ouma was suspicious from the start" or "Uh, actually, this is kinda weird, where is this coming from? Isn't this whole game about truths and lies, not hope and despair?" (The fact that they start using the word kuromaku / mastermind again instead of shibousha / ringleader is another clue, but it's lost in translation, alas.)

Still, though, even without the little translation / vocabulary tidbit, I feel it tests you, yet, still. Ouma continues to be his cryptic self, and again his actions can be taken either way, depending on your perspective of him and his motives. Ouma snatches the title of mastermind, the game launches itself back into Kibougamine world out of literally nowhere, and you’re either left thinking “yes, this is Danganronpa”, or “wait, what the actual fuck, there’s something off about this entire thing…”

And it all culminates, I feel, into the Chapter 5 trial— Ouma, the seeming mastermind, the one who apparently trapped them all in a killing game, cooperating with the person who seemed to hate him the most to take down the actual mastermind.

It’s meant to send you reeling, either way, regardless of your initial emotions / feelings towards Ouma, but again, the game asks you at the end— what were his intentions? Was he evil? Or was he not?

The game constantly questions you and your perspective, and Ouma is, in my opinion, the culmination of all of that.

So to the actual meat of everything. Was Shirogane suspicious? Of fucking course. She never did anything, all her words were empty, and unlike literally every other V3 character, she has absolutely no meaningful relationships with any of them. However... was she like Junko? Because-- well, like I said-- isn't that what a DR mastermind / ringleader supposed to be like? Didn't Ouma fit the description better? Yes, but that's the point. She's suspicious, but she's unassuming-- and DR antagonists are batshit crazy and cryptic and weird, not unassuming and nerdy and quiet. If you play the game from a murder mystery perspective, with the detective protagonist? Yup, she's there. That's her.

But if you're playing from a Danganronpa perspective? Expecting another Junko, staring daggers at Ouma (who amusingly enough, was in somewhat the same mindset, as he never found out Shirogane himself, either)? Then, nah, she's gonna fly right under your radar. Funny enough, back to my girlfriend, aha-- she was the same way. I'm lucky that my tastes are eclectic-- she knows that I like Shirogane, but doesn't know why. And on her first look at the characters? She thought Shirogane wouldn't mean anything.

It's what she wants you to think.

The game plays a lot with your expectations, and asks you a lot of questions. Some things seemed obvious— others, not so much. It's just all how you look at it.