#so in the universe of danganronpa. he is the protagonist

[dangan-toaster]

the protagonists of V3

[kaibutsushidousha]

Another Danganronpa linguistics-based that has been about as long overdue as the name study post is the post about the language nuances of Fujisaki's unusual gender situation. I'm genuinely surprised I never got a direct question about this, even when the Danganronpa Translation Critique tag was still active, but one post about the subject in this site and a conversation about it elsewhere (read: a place where can easily copypaste my own explanations from) inspired me to finally put this one out. This used to be a heated topic a decade ago, so there's probably too many disclaimers to be made with this one, so assume I made every one you need to read this study in good faith. Thank you.

I guess I need to start with a general explanation of first-person pronouns. I imagine a lot of people know this part already since it's an omnipresent aspect of the language, but it never hurts to review the basics. Japanese has multiple first-person pronouns instead of the single "I" English has. A person's choice of pronoun informs things about their gender, age, social status, and relationship to the person they're speaking to. In theory, there are maybe over 40. In practice, there are only 3, maybe 6 depending on your standards for what counts as "commonly seen". In modern Japanese, most pronouns are things you only find in fiction.

The three genuinely common first-person pronouns are the traditionally masculine boku and ore, and the gender-neutral watashi. Watashi can be easily mistaken for feminine since that's what women default to in every situation due to the lack of other options, but it's a truly neutral formal pronoun that men are using all the time in professional situations. It's especially relevant here that watashi is not inherently feminine in any way.

Now to the relevant question. What pronoun Fujisaki uses for himself? The answer is boku, a markedly masculine pronoun, the same our male protagonist uses. This can be seen in Mondo's flashback with him, in the scenes contained his inner thoughts, the bonus mode/game scenes that have his secret revealed, and if that counts, how Alter-Ego talks as him.

Fujisaki's boku is a traditionally masculine pronoun, so he obviously didn't use it before the reveal. It's easy to spot this and call it a pronoun switch. These kinds of pronoun switches are a very common language trick and come in all sorts of circumstances in other stories, but Fujisaki's case becomes a lot more intriguing when you verify what it was changed from.

The expected answer is watashi. It's the perfectly gender-neutral pronoun, but it's a pronoun women use far more commonly than any feminine-specific pronouns. It's a perfect fit for the disguise and it's very easy to honestly say Fujisaki has no reason to feel any dysphoria using watashi as a man. It's something his male peers are expected to do when talking to teachers and that they'll need to do in their jobs as adults. But Fujisaki never says watashi before or after the reveals.

The actual answer is none. Fujisaki omits pronouns in every line of dialogue he has alive. Omitting pronouns is a completely normal part of dialogue in Japanese, so doing it 100% of the time is not something people normally do, but it is something you can get away with in Japanese without raising many eyebrows.

This 24/7 pronoun omission has always been a fascinating dialogue quirk to me because in my 12 years consuming stuff as a Japanese student and translator, this is something that I've never seen done before or after, and something no translation of DR1 could convey properly in English. It's a truly unique case as far as I'm aware.

Makes this gimmick work requires an extra level of attention and sometimes getting creative with phrasing, both in Kodaka writing out-of-universe and in Fujisaki speaking in-universe. Genuine work was put into making Fujisaki fiercely refusing to refer to himself with anything less than a fully masculine pronoun, no matter how much he felt "undeserving" of his gender.

Anyway, that's pretty much all on the side of Fujisaki's own self-expression. The question I'm mostly copypasting my own answer from was "which characters used which gender expressions in chapter 2" and I yapped about Fujisaki's own answer because that's the special and unique description trick that frequently occupies my mind, but I guess I'll drop the answer here as well.

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The first point to be relevant is that many characters, including our PoV Naegi, use the honorifics san for the girls and kun for the boys. Naegi is the first to address Fujisaki after the reveal and he sticks to the san he always used. This continues even after the flashbacks give the full context of Fujimaru's situation.

Next, Celes mentions Fujisaki as "Fujisaki... kun", taking a big pause to indicate intent on the pronoun switch and attention to the habits she's trying to unlearn. Kirigiri, Geno, and Ishimaru also refer to Fujisaki in unambiguously masculine terms before Oowada reveals any of Fujisaki's perspectives on the matter. The rest don't say anything gendered, which is easy to do because Japanese is a really easy language to be gender-neutral on (this says a lot about the choices of the characters who did pick gendered words, perhaps).

How Oowada and Junko (Monokuma) address gender is discussed directly in the trial so I don't think I need to cover it here. They're also the only ones with full context during the trial, so it's not comparable to the 4 above deciding Fujisaki's gender based on fragmentary information.

And the last relevant new factor is Alter-Ego, who refers to its creator as "Goshujin-tama", aside from regularly using he/him. Goshujin-sama used by servants to address the specifically male lords they work for. As maids became a staple anime trope, you probably heard this one coming from a fetishized maid character. The reason why I'm specifying this is that Alter-Ego calls Fujisaki "Goshujin-tama" instead of "Goshujin-sama". The "honorific" tan is a variation of the classic honorific san, used primarily by otaku to address their anime waifus. The -tama there is a -sama equivalent of that. The blatant implication there is that Fujisaki designed his subservient digital clone to be attracted to him, which is categorically weird. That's another character element that the localization doesn't bother trying to convey, opting for a mostly sanitized "Master" as Alter-Ego's title of choice of Chihiro.

Then the next game has AI Nanami referring both to Fujisaki as her father and Alter-Ego as her brother, and I'm closing the post here because I'd rather not to think about how that makes Alter-Ego's title of choice weirder.

[review-anon]

Despair Time Chapter 2 Review Part 1: The Good

Hey guys Review Anon here and what’s this? I’m reviewing something other than ASOOT arcs? Yes, yes, I am. Shocker I know but I am not treading too far as I’m still covering Danganronpa as I’m reviewing Chapter 2 of Despair Time now it’s finished. I have my thoughts on it and now I’ve taken some time to take it all in I can talk about what went well, what didn’t go well and what lessons we can take away from the whole thing. I was gonna wait until Bubbles does their review/rant but natural disasters are bitches and power hasn’t been restored yet. So, I’m doing this now to get out of the way.

And for any people coming here from non ASOOT related tags then I will apologise in advance because you are gonna be in for a LOOONNNGGGG read. If you are the type to go tl;dr then turn away now.

I presume the rest of you want to read it? Well, let’s get right to it. I’ve split this into three parts because I don’t want to do Google Docs for this, and it would be an easier read for those who came from the non ASOOT space as you guys aren’t used to my lengthy reviews. Consider this your crash course on how I review, in extreme detail and excessive word count. This right here is about 8.5k which is a bite size by my standards which should tell you everything.

Please bear in mind you will have to wait a bit for the next parts as I want to get my current project done before this. Its just I didn't anticipate this taking so long.

Anyway, let’s get right into it, shall we?

Chains of Friendship

Chapter 1s for any Fanronpa tend to be very shocking as it’s the creator’s way to try and surprise the audience and subvert any expectations they have. Some do this well, others do not. But Despair Time was one of those who did it well by how it handled the main protagonist Teruko Tawaki.

At first glance she seemed to be an atypical Danganronpa protagonist. Ultimate Lucky Student? Check. Has an ahoge? Check. Believes in friendship, trust, hope and all those bollocks? Check. Gets backstabbed by someone they believed to be a friend in the first chapter? Check quite literally. Forgives said friend and continues to be a ray of sunshine? Ch- oh wait hang on a minute she didn’t do that at all.

Yeeaahhh while Xander’s sudden attempted murder on Teruko was a massive shock, what was even more so that Teruko decided to say fuck friendship and trust and not trust anyone ever again. On one hand you can understand Teruko’s rage. She was very close to Xander and he used that trust to try and kill her. Min was also someone who supported Teruko and she was willing to throw Teruko under the bus to save her own skin. None of the others stood up for her as they all decided that Teruko killed Xander, and it was only thanks to the power of protagonist energy and using basic logic that saved them. As such Teruko was well within her right to call everyone out for being selfish bastards. Especially since as we get to know more of Teruko this chapter, we learn that what happened in Chapter 1, while extreme, is a snapshot of her entire life due to how ruinous her luck has been.

I don’t think I’ve said this before, but I will say it now, luck SUCKS in the Danganronpa universe. Look at all the Lucky Students we had, Makoto is the only one who has a decent life and he loses the most. Nagito is so ravaged by luck he’s become suicidal and depressed. Yuki goes through literal hell due to his luck and the less said about Utsuro, the better. And while it’s still very much a WIP, one of my OCs is a Lucky Student and her life is equally ruined by her luck. But don’t worry I’ve not copy pasted it from anyone else as the direction I’ve taken my OC is in a way nobody has done before. And what Teruko has here is a fine example of that. She is an orphan who was abandoned by everyone in her life, she has numerous wounds on her body, she barely has any education as she has to sneak into large schools as a student and then once the gig is up, run away and her finances are in ruins due to the hospital bills. Its little surprise why she likes the Killing Game, as she gets guaranteed food and shelter here, which is more then what can be said outside. But even that has a silver lining as we know whoever the mastermind is, they have it out for her.

However, while this is a massive departure from what the typical protagonist would go through, it’s a known fact that in a Killing Game, you NEED to work with others. Class Trials are decided by majority vote and so if you become a pariah, you are very likely to be ignored and might risk dooming yourself or others if what you are saying is true. Teruko doesn’t have to like her classmates, but she needs to learn to coexist with them. Especially since Teruko switching from “I hate and distrust everyone” to “We are all friends” is a major mood whiplash I doubt anyone would do. So naturally one of the main themes of this chapter is learning to rebuild trust after its broken and the consequences of not trusting anyone.

Two major voices object to Teruko’s self-imposed isolation and distrust of everyone. The first is Eden Tobisa. She’s always been a cheerful and optimistic person within the Killing Game and has taken Xander’s and Min’s deaths harshly. In a way Eden behaves more like what a typical Danganronpa protagonist does, wanting to be friends with everyone and being kind. When she tries to get Teruko to bake with her, Teruko reminds her the last time they baked was with Hu, Rose and Min and that was later used for Min’s murder of Xander. She calls her naïve for being optimistic and says she won’t be friends with her, because she knows that at some point, Eden will crack from the harsh reality of the Killing Game and the luckster doesn’t want a stake in it. Kindness will always be rewarded with cruelty.

But when she says this Eden surprises her as contrary to what Teruko thinks, Eden isn’t oblivious to the cruelness of the Killing Game and reality as a whole. Yet the small clockmaker chooses to be kind because it’s the right thing to do, and if you give someone kindness while people can backstab you, you can be rewarded. When it comes to trust and distrust you need a healthy balance.

When I reviewed Black and White Christmas, I didn’t like how Sunako was forcing the Quantum Crew to trust the 76 Squad for a couple of reasons. I tried explaining it at the time, but I felt I telegraphed it quite poorly and I’m sure that’s irritated Mod Poi. The first one is on me, as I didn’t really know the 76 Squad then and as such couldn’t really tell at face value if they were to be trusted or not. Since they are from NWPM and I struggled to read it, my lack of knowledge led to that judgement, but the other thing is that I compared the whole thing to Raja and the Last Dragon and how it mishandled the theme of trust. Expect I didn’t explain it very well or misunderstood the hate. The main reason Raja got betrayed the first time was because she trusted Namaari too much, which you should never do to people you literally just meet. Give them the benefit of doubt yes, but never open yourself up to someone you don’t know that well. Teruko made that mistake with Xander and that’s why she got a knife in her gut.

While it’s a heartfelt speech, it had a notable impact on Teruko as she didn’t know how to respond. When you expect nothing but betrayal and backstabbing, having someone be kind for the sake of it can shock you. It’s the same shock Kyoko experienced in Trigger Happy Havoc when she didn’t expect Makoto to keep his mouth shut about evidence that he knows is false, and he explained it’s because he trusts her, she didn’t know how to respond. While Eden isn’t the main protagonist, the same principle applies.

Eden isn’t the only person who objects to Teruko’s views that you should never have faith in others as the other is Charles Cuevas. Starting off Charles was your atypical smug intellectual who believes he’s superior to others, akin like Byakuya and Rei. But much like them, he softens up and learns to work with others though in Charles’s case it’s a bit more extreme. In Chapter 1 he was revealed to suffer from Hemophobia, so much so that if he sees blood, he literally goes into shock and can’t remember anything. Xander uses this to his advantage to try and frame Charles for his would be killing of Teruko, but when it seems like everyone is turning on Charles, Whit is the one who stands up for him, gives evidence why he couldn’t do it and so Charles is cleared. This has caused the formally smug chemist to go through a bit of character development as while in Chapter 2 he still thinks his intelligence is beyond that of most of the cast, he isn’t pushing them down as much and has soften up to certain characters, most particularly Whit and Teruko. The former because he stood up for him and is an honest friend and the latter due to demonstrating that unlike most of the cast, Teruko actually uses her brain. It’s a slow burn but assuming Charles survives all to the end, he will become a much better person.

So, when Teruko talks about her disbelief that he is trusting people after what happened in the Class Trail, he brings up some valid points on why Teruko is actually being quite illogical as cooperation with others is key to surviving this game and humans are social pack animals by design, we work better as a team.

Chapter 1 Charles is pretty much Chapter 2 Teruko but after learning he cannot look at a corpse and thus is incapable of surviving on his own, Charles has started to learn how to rely on others. In some ways he doesn’t like how everyone pities him now so Teruko is a relief as her interactions with him haven’t changed. But while Eden says why Teruko is wrong from an emotional and moral perspective, Charles approaches it from a logical and factual point of view. As many analysts have already pointed out, it’s impossible to do a solo act in a Killing Game, if you want to live, you need to learn how to work with others. Either to prevent yourself from becoming a target, or so others can help you when you are down, much like how Whit helped Charles in his lowest point. As such using his own experiences, he knows the direction Teruko is coming from and implores her to reconsider as eventually events will occur which will force her back to trusting others again.

I like this as we have two different characters, both who get tons of development this Chapter, attacking Teruko’s morals from different angles. But while they are definitely making dents, Teruko is able to justify in her worldview that she’s been beaten too many times to be like Eden, especially as Eden seems to have had a good life where her worst secret is that she’s a closet lesbian. Which okay its definitely something Eden might have been harassed over if bigotry is still a thing in this world, but with so many of the cast being LGBTQ, it’s not the worst secret in the world. And for Charles, he has a deliberating condition which prevents him from surviving on his own. Everyone knows about Teruko’s luck and she’s survived this well without needing help on it so she doesn’t need to rely on others.

Expect of course, she’s wrong, because during an interaction with Veronika, she brings up the suggestion that Teruko might have prosopagnosia.

While it’s not confirmed in this Chapter, I do believe Bubbles has a point that Teruko might have face blindness but I don’t think its prosopagnosia. Recall that Teruko has had a very harsh upbringing where she couldn’t get close to people or have a solid support network. It’s known that having a disruptive childhood can lead to arrested development in various areas. I recall a case where a woman had blurry vision for a long time as a child and wasn’t diagnosed as shortsighted until much later in her life and because this happened after the point in a child’s development where the sense of self develops, it means this woman had a lot of self-identity problems and has a hard time recognising herself or others. But she doesn’t have prosopagnosia as that’s a neurological condition you are born with. Rather I feel the face blindness is due to people fazing in and out of Teruko’s life so much that she doesn’t bother forming connections and that is what’s fucked her up.

Regardless of the technicities, it IS a problem in a Killing Game because it would be very easy for someone to trick Teruko by merely dressing up as someone else. That wouldn’t be a problem if Teruko has a support network in place, but if she doesn’t, then she’s a goner. So, like Charles, for medical reasons Teruko doesn’t have the means to stand on her own and needs others to help her.

But the one character who shattered Teruko’s worldview and made her realise what she’s doing is wrong is the victim of this chapter; Arei Nageishi.

When Arei was introduced back in the Prologue at first it seemed like she was gonna be an insufferable Hiyoko-like character. She’s vicious, mean and enjoys tormenting others. But Chapter 1 reveals some layers to her as when Eden invited Teruko, Rose, Min and Hu to bake, Arei got really upset because she wasn’t invited, implying she wants to be involved with the group but doesn’t know how to approach it in any way other than being mean. Then during her FTE with J, she reveals that she has a ranking system in place for how badly she bullies other, while some like J get mild teasing, others she will try to ruin their lives completely. And for kind people she will make sure they cry because she cannot stand anyone being kind, implying that Arei seems to have a real problem with people being kind.

As such when Eden goes to apologise to Arei for excluding her, at first Arei behaves like how Teruko would think she would, she belittles Eden, calls her dumb and says she’s gonna die if she keeps this up, which causes Eden to burst into tears and run away. But alone with David and Teruko, Arei confesses that she didn’t like doing that. She said that stuff to Eden to protect her, because she believes the world is like what Teruko says it is, that kindness cannot be rewarded with anything other than cruelty. And if Eden keeps this up, she’s gonna die. The reason for this is as you would expect due to trauma as Arei’s older sisters would torment her constantly and make her life hell, until Arei just had it and frame her sisters for a bunch of crimes which resulted in them getting send to reform school. This here is a snapshot of one of the main themes this chapter has so we will come back to it later. So, is Arei just reinforcing Teruko’s worldview? Nope. Because then Arei reveals that despite all of that, she WANTS kind people to exist, she HAS to be doubtful of Eden because she’s so kind and optimistic, the exact person Arei wants to have in her life, but her past experiences have gotten in the way. And as she breaks down sobbing due to that, something stirs within Teruko.

Without realising it, Arei has shot a massive wound in Teruko’s armour. She’s someone who is basically like Teruko, who is rude and cruel to others because every time she’s tried to be kind, it was slapped down and punished. She also believes the world is a dark and evil place, but she also wants to believe kind people exist, despite what her experiences have taught her. This is what Teruko is going through. The fact she does cactus puppet plays of Xander and Min, shows that despite what Teruko claims, she is not a sociopath and can care for others, and she wants to be friends with everyone but having been hurt so badly, she cannot get close again. Teruko, without realising it, sees a lot of herself within Arei. She denies it at the time but those words have an impact on her.

David’s speech to her, even though its hollow and not even Arei believed it because she saw his secret and knew he was a piece of shit, still didn’t mind it. The reason being is that even if someone like David, who is seen as a beacon of hope and sunshine, is a rotten bastard deep down, then its proof she isn’t too far gone. While obviously we don’t have David reveal this to the others, we see the conversation happen, and it clearly had an effect on David, due to him remembering it so vividly. Arei’s drive to become a better person wound up saving Eden’s life twice as she interrupted Arturo’s attack on Eden when she tried to reveal his secret to him, and by doing her stunt Ace, the culprit for this case, decided to switch targets and go for Arei instead of Eden. Which I’m glad that Eden didn’t die because if she did, that would convince many that Despair Time was gonna be a cynical work like the Another Series and The Mistake. And why of course Arei still died this chapter, her death was NOT caused by her reaching out to others because Ace was gonna kill regardless of what was happening. And Teruko’s rage at Ace for killing Arei was less about him having a shitty motive but because had Arei lived, she and Teruko would have become good friends, since she would have understood Teruko’s pain and her desire to want to trust others regardless of her past.

Teruko also suffered the consequences of shutting others out as by being isolationist, Teruko has missed the context for a lot of what shenanigans have unfolded among others, and due to believing her viewpoint to be the only correct one, she makes mistakes. During the Class Trial, Teruko misreads the time and assumed the murder occurred at 8pm and NOT 8am which is Arei’s true time of death. Had Charles not pointed this out, David would be ruled as the culprit and everyone would have been executed. Another major mistake Teruko made was in how to end the Killing Game. When Veronika said that Eden had an idea to end the Killing Game by being as boring as possible, Teruko said that wouldn’t work as that’s why motives exist, whereas she has an idea but she needs to wait until the next murder occurs. We are left hanging, and for Arei’s case quite literally on what she meant by that, that is until Ace was exposed as the culprit and Teruko asks Ace to do something outrageous; Kill MonoTV.

Teruko’s logic for this at first glance seems sound. The reason the Killing Game occurs is due to the fact they have to follow MonoTV’s rules, and breaking them results in death. However, with Ace due to die via execution, he has nothing to lose. If he destroys MonoTV he has a chance to save his own life, of course if he fails, so what, Ace is gonna die anything so it achieves nothing. In short, there is no downsides and only upsides.

Expect of course if you have been paying attention, this is not the case. Firstly, normally with the mascots they tend to have copies, one gets destroyed, another takes its place. Thus, the game will carry on, but then there’s another one and one that tripped a lot of people up. When MonoTV was asked who would be the blackened, he said whoever was the most “mastermind-y” Now a lot of people interpreted this as being whoever is behind the murder and not necessarily the murderer. This is why Bubbles proposed that while Hu would be the one to kill Arei/J, David would be the blackened as he was the one who manipulated Hu into doing so. But this logic doesn’t just apply to murders, when Ace obliges and tries to smash MonoTV, it doesn’t work due to the robot being more durable then initially thought, the AI said that while Ace did break a rule, he was gonna be executed anyway so it would achieve nothing. As such the one being punished would be the one who told Ace to break said rule; Teruko herself.

As the countdown for Teruko to get gatling gunned occurs, I wasn’t worried like Teruko, as I KNEW someone was gonna jump in front of her and take the shots. The question was; who? I was thinking either Eden or Charles would do so as both have strong connections to Teruko, and for both it would be a massive contribution to their characters. In Eden’s case its shows she’s not scared to fight what she believes in, and returning the favour. Teruko stood up for her when the culprits narrowed down to Ace and herself, and Teruko decided to focus on Ace, so the petite clockmaker would return the favour. For Charles, it would be him facing his fears as he is terrified of the sight of blood and gore, so him jumping in front of the way of a gatling gun, assuming he survives, would show how much he is starting to care for the others. Anyone else aside those two…I didn’t think so. Ace would have never done so as I’m sure he is the one who voted for Teruko. Nico clearly wanted to get away with their crimes and the others either aren’t close to Teruko or jumping in front of the gun would be out of character for them. So, when the timer hit zero, I expected a CGI of either Eden or Charles with a lot of bullets in them…

But instead, my expectations were blown wide open by the fact that Levi of all people jumped in front of Teruko and shielded her from the bullets. This reminded me very much of when Akane was almost blown up by a bazooka by Monokuma but Nekomaru blocked his way and got shot. Considering what we learnt about Levi in this Chapter, this really took me off guard AND bumped him up several tiers in my character rankings.

But this had a total shock on Teruko, as she believed if she didn’t care for anyone else, nobody would likewise care for her, so the fact that someone cared enough to shield her from pain, and that they are on death’s door because of her, send shockwaves through Teruko’s body as when after Ace’s execution as everyone rushed to the infirmary to treat Levi, Teruko stayed behind to do something she said she would never do; mourn.

The amount of people who contributed to Teruko’s character development doesn’t end there as while those four are examples of positive interactions for Teruko, we have had two cases of negative interactions who serve a different purpose, the first is David Chiem.

When introduced David…seemed off. He seemed like an affable and friendly person who believes everyone has the motivation and desire to change, and Xander in particular seems to be a massive fanboy of him. But like most celebrities and people in public that is just a façade is in the Prologue when Xander went off to get something for his idol to sign, we see David chuckling to himself on how much of an idiot Xander is, without realising that Teruko was there to see it all, and his shock when she reveals she heard that, says it all. Chapter 2 brought up the suss meter even further when David ‘confessed’ his secret and implored everyone to discuss their own secrets, which far from doing good, ended up causing a lot of drama and tension. Anyone with a irk of sense could tell David was fake, I knew he was fake, Bubbles knew he was fake, pretty much most Youtubers reacting knew he was fake.

Another factor working against him is his VA. Quite a few SDRA2 English Dub VAs also worked on Despair Time, and for the most part is interesting to see their contrasts. Bblackroses is known for playing Hibiki Otonokoji, but here she is J who while Hibiki is a bubbly peppy girly-girly, J is a complete tomboy who hates the starlight and fame. Artimmissis Setsuka Chiebukuro, who is a very reliable woman with a prankster side to her, but here she is MonoTV an incompetent mastermind who tells the worst jokes. David Chiem’s VA is Sword of Swords who also worked on SDRA2, and what character did he play there?

Oh, nobody important, just Mikado Sannoji the Mastermind of that game, the leader of the main antagonist group Void and more or less a piece of shit.

At first glance the contrast seems to be that Mikado is an evil bastard whereas David is a moral force of good. But as the pressure mounts for David and the fact his secret is that he’s a manipulator who likes to deceive others, as well as how he mocked Arei’s desire for friends earlier, meant when it reached the boiling point the mask came off and David revealed his true self.

It’s here the true contrasts between him and Mikado become clear. Both are men who hide their true selves behind a mask, literally for Mikado and figuratively for David and both pretended to be forces of good before their masks slip and their true vile nature is revealed. David is obvious as he tried to be a good moral speaker whereas Mikado you might have missed it tried to be a hero and claim Void was a force of good before Rei and Teruya ruined it. In addition, their true selves are so VERY different. Mikado always remained polite and affable even when he is being extremely bastardry whereas David is rude, condensing and swears all the damn time. I also cannot help that David’s true self looking a lot like Utsuro, who is the main object of Mikado’s desires cannot NOT be a coincidence.

But what does David show for Teruko? Well, he seems to at a glance reinforce Teruko’s beliefs that nobody can be trusted as Teruko smugly pointed out she saw the warning signs of him being evil way before anyone else did. And whenever he talks to her, he seems to want to keep this act of Teruko hating everyone up, saying it’s her nature to distrust others and the only thing she trusts is the truth. And then here is his final confession he wants Teruko to trust what he’s saying. David is in a way a warning of the kind of person Teruko would become if she keeps on her current path. I also think that David had Teruko’s secret and knows it’s her fault the Killing Game is going on. The fact he keeps seemly praising Xander and calling him a good person is obviously an attempt to get under Teruko’s skin due to how she feels about him. I for one second don’t believe he cares about Xander.

Mr. Politician isn’t the only person who serves as a warning as the culprit of this chapter, Ace Markey does as well. Ace always seemed to be a coward as he is easily scared of his own shadow and while he talks tough, he doesn’t have the actions to back it up. However, in Chapter 2 Ace gets sick and tired of being a wimp and thus decides to become a bully, which is still being a coward as pretty much most bullies bully because they are cowards who want someone weaker than themselves to lord over to make themselves feel better. Yet what drives Ace’s actions is his Thanatophobia, fear of death which is a very bad thing to have in a Killing Game. Due to this fear, Ace decides to commit murder as he feels if he doesn’t kill someone, someone will do the same to him and the fact Nico almost does, reinforces this belief. Teruko is someone while not paranoid, is very distrustful of everyone and if she feels that anyone and everyone is out to get her, she could fall down the same slippery slope that Ace does.

Despite this, Ace still manages to surprise her as when Levi takes the bullets for her, everyone needs to get to the infirmary to treat Levi otherwise he dies, but the lift won’t work since Ace still needs to be executed. Ace has already made it very clear he hates and despises Levi, especially after the latter confesses that he doesn’t care about the former, which seemed to really hurt him, but seeing someone he hates that much do something so selfless, means he decides to do the one decent thing in his life, while also being his last, getting MonoTV to execute him so the lift doors open and Levi could be saved.

That I think was the final straw which broke Teruko. She has had mounting pressure throughout the entire Chapter but then someone who was a coward, sacrificing himself so that someone else could live, is the final crushing proof as well as the knowledge that while she avoided making the same mistakes as before, she just wound up making new ones, that caused her to cry alone in the Trial Room.

We also get interesting character interactions with Teruko and MonoTV throughout the chapter. Since Teruko isolated herself so much from the others, MonoTV hires her to do maintenance around the Killing Game since he’s too incompetent to do it himself. As Monokumas were originally butler robots this would have never happened in the main series. We learn a far bit about MonoTV, that he is a simple robot designed for the Killing Game and he doesn’t have full knowledge on who’s running the thing as he was only programmed to do what his tasks enabled. And as Teruko pointed out, he is sadistic as Min was executed before she could say everything she wanted to and Ace’s execution was dragged out for as long as possible, in both cases it’s to make the victims feel the most despair. The other interesting thing is that Teruko can use Monocoins to get him to remove other characters who are bothering her which is the complete contrast to FTEs. What should we call them instead? Exclusion Zone Effects or EZE? Nah that doesn’t roll off the tongue.

In conclusion, I really liked how Teruko was handled in this Chapter due to how much of a cliffhanger the previous chapter left with her. This chapter did so much to knock her down for her high and mighty view and while she won’t be buddy-buddy come Chapter 3, I do believe that she will be more approachable to the cast. Teruko’s journey throughout this fanganronpa will be interesting to see and I see her opening up more about her past as she gets more comfortable with the cast.

Trust in Nature

Every Danganronpa game has two themes, no matter how you slice it. The first theme is the most obvious one and this is a theme that the protagonist and the mastermind have in common. For Trigger Happy Havoc its Hope vs. Despair, Goodbye Despair is Future vs. Past and Killing Harmony is Truth vs. Lies.

Some have said that it’s too early to call what the themes for Despair Time are, but I disagree as Chapter 2 imo is the ideal time to introduce your themes, and I think I’ve worked them out. The primary theme is one that doesn’t take much to deduce and others have caught onto it and that is Optimism vs. Cynicism. Teruko is a very cynical individual and doesn’t think she can trust others but more optimistic people disagree, saying being jaded makes you more open to being deceived. Eden and Charles, who are 100% the partners in this fanganronpa serving similar roles to Kaito and Maki in Killing Harmony where one represents the emotional connection and the other the logical one. Eden is always a bundle of sunshine and wanting everyone to be happy, but unlike someone like say Makoto, she isn’t oblivious to the fact the world is cruel but chooses to be kind regardless because its decent and it’s the most moral thing to do. Charles is more logical based and originally was quite cynical but having been shown kindness by Whit, he has opened up a bit more to some other people and while he definitely is a work in progress, he is more optimistic about surviving and escaping the Killing Game.

And this brings me to the Rival of the Fanganronpa; David. Bubbles didn’t like David surviving past Chapter 2, ignoring their own hatred for David aside because they didn’t think David contributed anything meaningful to the overall narrative of Despair Time. I disagree harshly as if I am right with the main themes of Despair Time, David is 100% a perfect Rival character as he represents those themes so well. The cynicism side is obvious as David believes that everyone is gonna die in the Killing Game and there is no point to continuing so might as well get it over and done with. This is why when David’s true nature was exposed, he tried to claim to be the killer, which is another typical rival tactic, so everyone votes for him and they all die. This very logic is why Teruko said she is not the culprit because as soon as David went on his tirade, it would have been an instant win condition for her. And as the game progresses more and more people are gonna want to live to prove David wrong and his mental sanity is probably gonna decline as a result until his Rival protection cause expires in Chapter 5 where he probably dies in a way to try and spite the cast. Going back to the Mastermind, I believe they think the Despair Time cast are all horrible people that deserve to die, whenever that be because they are Neo Remnants of Despair or something to do with Teruko, and as such use the Killing Game to kill them all. By the end of the fanganronpa, Teruko would have become more like a typical Danganronpa protagonist and be able to defy the mastermind wanting to kill her by showing the world is not a bleak place and people can change and improve.

That brings me nicely to the secondary themes. The primary themes are shared between the protagonist and the mastermind, whereas the secondary themes are shared between the group and the rival character. This take a bit more thinking to figure out but I think I’ve cracked what Despair Time’s secondary theme is. Trigger Happy Havoc’s is working together as a team as the class are trying to work together to survive the Killing Game while Byakuya is trying to play the Killing Game in order to “win” and isolates himself from the others. Goodbye Despair’s secondary theme is a deconstruction of the idea of talent as despite being Ultimates, Class 77-B doesn’t really care about their talents and support each other for their own individual characteristics and despite Hajime being revealed to be a Reserve Course Student, are extremely accepting of him. Nagito by contrast believes Hope’s Peak talented and talentless system is gospel, praises his fellow Ultimates for their talents which they do not want to be reminded by and is extremely cruel to Hajime when he finds out he is a talentless person who thinks he can mingle with his idea of the elite. Killing Harmony’s secondary theme is wanting to remain stagnant and compliant as the V3 Cast are very content to stick to the status quo and carry on with their lives, whereas Kokichi would rather shake things up and challenge said status quo. All of these secondary themes are very important to the story. And with that I believe Despair Time’s secondary theme is if humanity is inherently good or evil.

That seems very similar to Optimism vs. Cynicism but it isn’t. This theme tackles if humans are capable of changing their nature or if they are always either good or evil. From this it’s very easy to see where David lies, he believes humanity cannot change their nature, people are either saints or scum. If someone can “change themselves” it’s because they were never that bad to begin with, whereas truly evil people cannot change. And Teruko also seems to agree on this concept because whenever Eden says she is a good person, Teruko tells her to stop as by saying that, she makes her feel worse for the fact she can change but she hasn’t made the effort to do so. Teruko always believed she was scum and would die like scum if she cared about nobody around her.

Naturally this chapter has a few characters who challenge this rule big time. Let’s start with Levi, the guy has always seemed chill but we get to see more of a scary side to him when he threatens to kill Ace if he doesn’t stop being an arsehole. We also have an interesting opening discussion with him and Eden where Levi confesses that he doesn’t see himself as a good person, contrary to what Eden thinks. This all gets revealed in the Class Trial when Levi admits that he doesn’t possess empathy and therefore cannot care about anyone around him, the fact he’s killed 4 people, one of whom being his own father and yet he treats it with the same disinterest as one would swat a fly, is very telling.

Fans were quick to diagnose Levi with Antisocial Personality Disorder, and this is where DT Dev actually impressed me big time. This disorder is one of the most maligned within society, even more so in my opinion then those on the autistic spectrum. The reason being is simple, almost every single time a fictional character is revealed to have this disorder they are almost always a psychopathic villain who kills everyone around them and gives zero shits. To say how damaging this stereotype is unbelievable and Levi is frankly the most realistic portrayal of someone with this disorder. Yes, Levi doesn’t have empathy, or a very low level of it, but he still tries to be a good person not because of morals and emotions, but more so out of a sense of duty, especially as before Levi revealed it nobody suspected a thing due to Levi not behaving like the usual stereotypes. He isn’t very good at it because he's trying to figure out how to be a good person which isn’t easy when it’s not instinct. When Ace asked if he cared about him at all and Levi responded with flat no, while Ace screamed at Levi in his usual manner, it’s clear the jockey was hurt by this reveal as a small part of him wanted to consider Levi a friend.

So, for Levi to then shield Teruko with his body from the gatling gun, not only comes as a massive shock but I believe this is Levi’s attempts of trying to prove he is a good person. Chances are, he wasn’t happy with how he handled the situation with Ace and wanted to prove something to him, so that’s why he protected Teruko, not only because thinking about it, Levi was probably one of the few characters who could survive that, but to try and redeem himself from how he mishandled the situation with Ace. And the effects of this are very clear as Ace, who was trying to prolong his death as much as possible, upon realising the only way to save Levi is for him to die, demands MonoTV to execute him. If someone without a clear concept of empathy can be a good person, then isn’t that proof humans can change?

Arei is another character who also wants to believe she can change. After she decides to become a good person, the bowler saves Eden from being threatened by Arturo and then later that night confronts David about the fact she knows he’s full of shit. We heard some of this originally from Ace who overheard the conversation, but when David is thinking about what to say to Eden, we hear the other half where Arei says she’s glad David is horrible because it means there is no such thing as a pure good person. That even someone like Eden might have done something nasty and if he’s so deprived then there’s hope left for her. She even offers a hand of friendship to David because she thinks they are one and the same, and they can improve their behaviour together. The fact David remembers this means the conversation had a meaningful impact on him, even though he doesn’t show it. What Arei is showing is clear existentialism or optimistic nihilism. Nihilism which I’m sure 75% of people reading this believe in, is where you believe nothing in the world matters because it’s all meaningless. Optimistic nihilism by contrast is saying that yes nothing matters, but that’s okay because you have the power to decide what is most important. Arei clearly believes there is no such thing as a pure good person, but what she can be is a slightly less shitty person then she was before.

And finally, there’s Ace. Ace’s motive for killing Arei is the fact he is scared of death, and that if he didn’t kill someone, then he would be killed. His reason for targeting Arei was simply coincidence, his original target was Eden but upon learning of Arei’s desire to change, decided to exploit that to target her. Ace also demonstrates a level of intelligence we haven’t seen from him before given that he was able to memorise how Nico tried to kill him, replicate that method, overpower Arei with a method unique to him and since everyone thinks Ace is dumb, he was able to pull the wool over their eyes and he could have damn well gotten away with it, especially with David’s stunt making so many convinced he was the one who killed Arei. Goes to show that people are not as stupid as you think. He gets chewed out big time by Teruko who calls him a coward, his motive is dumb and that Arei didn’t deserve to die because of that. However, even when facing death there is still a chance for character development and that comes when Levi eats a rain of bullets. Not only does this change Ace’s opinion on Levi considering he hated his guts before, but he gives Arturo a well-deserved callout who claims he doesn’t know how to treat Levi’s wounds because of his mix-maxed medical skills, but Ace calls him a coward saying as a surgeon he should know the basics and apply that skill to save Levi’s life or at least keep him alive as he gets executed. And yes, despite being as scared as possible for his death, he accepts it as it’s the only way to save Levi as the lift doors won’t open until he is executed.

Onto Ace’s execution I was pleasantly surprised as I have seen somewhere on YouTube an Ultimate Jockey Execution where the horses are used to tear the victim up, and I would have complained MASSIVELY if Ace went down a similar route. But no, the execution is more tailored to Ace’s fear of death by him escaping horror scenario after horror scenario, no wonder Veronika was orgasming over it, until when facing an execution squad, they shoot confetti and Ace suffers a heart attack and dies from fear. This is actually a real way people can die as during the 1970s, there was a string of cases where Hmong refugees would die from heart attacks in their sleep despite being healthy and middle-aged. Doctors at the time concluded that they were suffering nightmares so bad it would cause heart attacks and kill them in their sleep, and if this sounds familiar to you, it should as it was one of the inspirations behind A Nightmare on Elm Street. There’s a reason you shouldn’t scare someone with heart problems and while Ace might not have any heart issues, he has been suffering a lot of stress which could have made his heart rate dodgy and then the execution delivered.

These themes are extremely heavy hitting and I’m glad Despair Time is covering them. I could be wrong about them but that’s my theory on what they are.

Murderer Among Us

And finally, my last big positive about Despair Time’s Chapter 2 is the fact we not only get an attempted murder, with the plot twist the would-be victim would later become the culprit but the fact that this attempt didn’t succeed means the would-be murderer walks among the cast still and they have to deal with the consequences.

I have wanted this since Killing Harmony when Monokuma offered the tantalising prospect that if there are two blackeneds, only the first murder counts. So, when Korekiyo confesses to killing Tenko, the cast cannot vote for him because if he didn’t kill Angie, they would have got it wrong. I REALLY wanted it to be that Tenko was Angie’s killer, my logic being that Angie invited Tenko to her Talent Lab for a chat which got into a heated debate about how Angie was brainwashing Himiko and Tenko, who is quite hot-headed and doesn’t always think straight, accidently killed Angie in the heat of the moment. She would then either cover up her crime or someone else like the Mastermind would make the locked room mystery which the cast discovered and when Kiyo announces he is gonna do a séance, Tenko grows worried as if the séance is a success, Angie would reveal the culprit so Tenko offered to become the vessel which led to her death. You could also argue that maybe she sensed Korekiyo was up to something and did it to protect Himiko. Either way that would make for an interesting Chapter 4 because tensions between Korekiyo and Himiko would be high, but of course Kodaka doesn’t do anything with that and as a result we end up with 4 deaths, and 2 ruined chapters.

No other fanganronpa tried anything like this as they were all not willing to commit so I thank Despair Time wholeheartedly for actually having the balls to do so. As Nico, being pushed to their limit by Ace’s tormenting of them, which is very similar to how they are ostracised for being non-binary, meant they tried to commit murder by hanging Ace on the fans, but they not only miscalculated the strength of the fans but Ace woke up from being knocked unconscious and struggled awake. Before Nico could try again, Teruko and Eden showed up, foiling any would be attempt. Not only did Nico try to commit murder, but they betrayed the trust of both Hu who was trying to protect them but also Rose as Nico stole Hu’s wire and Rose’s turpentine to use for their murder scheme. What’s interesting is they didn’t apologise because they not only were not sorry for trying to kill Ace but know an apology won’t cut it. J gave Nico a very harsh verdict that even though their attempt was foiled, the point is they still tried to commit murder and was willing to give up the lives of everyone here for their own, and betrayed the trust of those who reached out to them. Hu hasn’t had a very good time this chapter because two of her closest friends; David and Nico, turned out to be using her for their own schemes, and we see the consequences of her mother hen nature. I feel a major theme for Chapter 3 is gonna be forgiveness as both Nico and David have burnt a lot of bridges this chapter and the fact they still live, means they need to somehow get back into the good graces of the group. How they do this I don’t know; David probably would be fine being a pariah but I’m not sure if Nico is wanting to make amends. They might, but they might also think they went too far. I do hope that Nico tries, especially after they have seen that even people like Levi and Ace were willing to act selflessly. And who knows, maybe David might try but I think it would be a ruse, which will still work because this cast isn’t the brightest.

Does this mean Nico would be a survivor? I don’t know as I do believe between David and Nico, one will be a survivor and the other will die, probably as a victim but who I cannot tell as Chapter 3 would probably expand upon these two a bit more. Regardless I’m glad this is being touched upon and I for one am looking forward to see where it takes Nico.

And that’s all the positives I have to say about Chapter 2. Teruko had a good character arc, I like how we know the main themes, we know who presumably the partners and rival characters are, we have an attempted murderer walking among the cast, quite a few characters like Levi, Arei and Ace got moments to shine and the execution was well done. But it cannot be all sunshine and rainbows. As much as there is good, there is also bad so when we come back next time, I’m gonna talk about what didn’t go well for Chapter 2 and what DT Dev could do to improve things.

Until then, see ya! -Review Anon

[megabuild]

actually i know i just wrote an essay in your replies but i have more to say and would like to open it to forum so im in your inbox now. the problem with naming a character as a komaeda is that you are asking two different questions: 1. is the character a komaeda (a la being a vriska, in the way fandom interprets and interacts with them) or 2. is the character a komaeda (in narrative ans archetype)? usually these are not phrased as exclusive questions, but in order to truly understand a komaeda, we must acknowledge that these are two different distinctions. they are not mutually exclusive, but they are separate questions. for instance, traffic!scott is a komaeda (in sense 1 but not in sense 2.)

to understand why type 2 komaedas are rare, we have to understand that komaeda is a deeply contextual character. komaeda is both the amalgamation of many different white haired anime boy archetypes (most notably kaworu nagisa (nge)) and exists within the context of foiling naegi makoto. komaeda in canon exists to answer the question, what if naegi makoto was dialed up to ten? he exists as naegi's traits amplified to contrast the moral of the first game; while dr1 is about hope & despair, sdr2 is about rejecting this binary.

so what do we look for in a type 2 komaeda?

1. religious-like devotion to a concept or principle that may be considered as fantastical in reality, but governs factors in universe either preternaturally (luck) or societally (talent). this obsession must have affected the character's life in the past to the utmost degree, and thus is the basis by which they examine the world.

2. relationship to a protagonist. i cant expand on this without explaining why komahina is important to the dr universe lol but its part of point 1

3. black and white thinking, blue and orange morals. must be seen as an outsider, offputting to the rest of the cast

4. contradictory self esteem. both having complete confidence in their abilities and seeing themself as inherently more enlightened than others, but also putting themself beneath those they deem to be the saviors of society. the character must be at odds with both these traits, and desire to be part of the savior class, often via self sacrifice

optional narrative traits:

1. deuteragonist

2. exists to reveal flaws within the status quo and to make the viewer/reader/player question things; exists as a watson

2a. must be exemplary of the problems within the system

2b. must foil a character who upholds the system

i hope this is helpful and not confusing. i have danganronpa autism and i take it very fucking seriously. love, evan

im nodding so hard THIS IS AWESOME and also so much more thought than i expected anyone to put in butthats a good thing this is good. i love your mind. sorry i just woke up and immediately saw this and now im going to be thinking about it all day. Scott is a type 1 komaeda but bdubs is (not but probably the closest we have) a type 2 komaeda. Sure. Lets fucking go majordubs wins again

[mocha-tapioca]

spoilers for drdt beyond the prologue utc

funniest plot twist guys actually wouldn’t it be funny if teruko was actually the rival this whole time. like if david (the guy we all collectively love and hate atp) was actually the protagonist because he still clings onto the hope that there is still some good in this world while teruko has all but given up on it because nothing good has ever come out of hoping for her. like what if this is david’s world and we’re all just living in it

okay i typed this all out for fun n i was gonna say goodnight but now that im like. writing this out. wait lowkey why is this clicking a little. something something teruko “i keep losing everything i love so i have no choice but to slowly rot in my own despair while shielding myself from letting things get worse for me. but i’m still alive anyway so i’ll survive quietly” tawaki vs. david “there is something (maybe even someone) beyond this sadistic game show that allows me to cling onto hope despite it all, and if that means everyone else including me will die then so be it” chiem

the ways they cope with loss—lashing out only to bottle it up in the end vs bottling it up only to lash out at the end—oh i love them. i love them so dearly thank u for these compelling dynamics drdt dev

is teruko actually the protagonist? she should be—we’ve been following her perspective this whole time after all. but at the same time she is constantly having her cynical worldview challenged by other people, like charles and eden and whit and david, who all cling to hope and happiness despite it all. for all the cast’s eccentricities, they have the luxuries of being able to wish for something teruko doesn’t have: a life worth living outside of this killing game. something that, as she slowly loosens up during this trial, makes her realize that oh, maybe i could have a future like this too. it’s something that i’ve noticed rivals in the canon games have too (maybe minus nagito but he was not someone whose personality i’d analyzed back in middle school where my danganronpa roots lie. also he lowkey freaks me out). maybe with these guys by my side, i can finally learn to hope again. idk power of friendship guys wahoo

david is surrounded by people who love him, who he encourages like a knight in shining armor—like a main character, perhaps. we don’t fully know how much of act it is, especially considering how this is chapter two and we got our current emo eyebag loser literally one episode ago. but what we do know is that he treasures xander a lot, though the nature of that relationship right now is unknown—romantic? platonic? parasitic, even? im not rlly into the drdt ship culture so i couldn’t tell u. the fact that david’s memories are also starting to return can help us assume that in both the current killing game and during hope’s peak, they’d idolized each other. could david be connected to the sterlings, that business family we keep seeing within the drdt universe? could the sterlings be the true mastermind and the reasons behind this place’s existence?

idk how to continue this but something something “i am the protagonist and i cannot die” seems like some sort of vague setup for a 5th/6th chapter death involving teruko that will involve david needing to take over. ties it back together for her essentially being the reason behind the first murder

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

-The World's most Multiversal DND Party!-

(featuring @danganronpasurvivoraskblog, @a-student-out-of-time, @finalverse and @despair-to-future-arcs)

[MORE INFO UNDER CUT]

//So there were a lot of talks about the main protagonists of mine and three other well-known Danganronpa ask blogs forming a DND part together on Mod Bubbles blogs, and as an artist, and a major DND fan, I could not resist.

//My little autistic cogs in my little autistic brain got turning and I basically made full on character sheets for all four main protags of each of the blogs; Kuripa from Survivor, Hajime from ASooT, Nagi from NWPM, and Aliza-chan from Finalverse

//I won't post the full sheets because I don't know how many people would want to see that, plus it's a shitton of information that I just don't want to bother with. But outside of the character cards above, here's a brief summary of every character in this "AU" shall we say.

Hajime - The party leader. Was once a young boy who never stood out, but gained the gift of a prophecy that showed him a dark future wrought by dark lord Junko Enoshima. Now with the power to reset himself every time he dies, the number of times depicted in his magical left eye, he dedicates his life to the journey of stopping the prophesized dark future. Sometimes he can be a bit cold and distant, always acting like the fate of the world rests squarely on his shoulders despite his teammates by his side, but he is capable, kind and a true leader.

Aliza - Aliza has a power with a similar origin to Hajime, which gravitates her towards him, and eventually is the founding reason she becomes his ally. Unlike him however, power is that to see and explore other universes parallel to theirs, where everything can be different, and she struggles to control it. The goal of her journey is to learn to use her power for good, and to escape the lofty expectations and cruelty of her family. She's a little bit clumsy and inexperienced as a result, with her wild magic sometimes landing her team in deeper trouble than they were originally, but she always means well and if nothing else, serves as the heart of the group.

Kuripa - He was originally a well-known artist and sculptor who lived a quiet life until a rogue in a steel mask raided his village and murdered his sister. For those who frequent this blog, you know how this story goes. He dedicated the rest of his life to hunting down the murderer, learning black magic arts and becoming a blood hunter, willing to sacrifice anything and anyone, including his own body, if it meant achieving his goal. He's a bit of a loose cannon and more violent than his peers when it comes to executing plans, much to Hajime, Aliza and Nagi's chagrin, but it's made up for in the fact that when he gets the job done, he REALLY gets the job done, and it makes them glad that he's an ally and not an enemy.

Nagi - Nagi was an Aasimar who was the guardian of a realm in the sky known as "Neo World" until she was attacked by Junko Enoshima's evil paladin right-hand, Mukuro Ikusaba, who was ordered by Junko to kill her and bring back a part of her body to show that she'd finished the job. After this encounter, Nagi miraculously survived, but Mukuro successfully tore her wings from her body. Nagi joins the party out of revenge, and despite her trauma, is still the most mentally sane member of the group, acting a lot like a team Mom of sorts.

//I'll also but transparent renders of the characters here if that tickles your fancy. Thank you for letting me pour my little nerd heart out.

[icejinlov3r]

(long post up ahead)

Alright, it’s close to bed time, so imma share my most recent fanfic idea that’s eating at my head. Will I ever get to write it? Not any time soon - but I’d like to someday.

But anyway, for a little context first. When I was in high school, before Dragon Ball became my hyperfixation, I was obsessed with Danganronpa. It was a murder mystery game/anime where sixteen students were trapped in a high school setting, and the only way they could leave is if they murdered each other. But not just do the murder - they had to get away with it too. The other “classmates” needed to investigate the crime scene, do a “class trial”, and vote who was the culprit. If they voted correctly, only the culprit would be executed - brutally. If they guessed incorrectly….then *they* were executed, and the culprit goes free.

With me so far? Good. Now for the actually fanfic idea.

The story would be sixteen villains of the DB universe would wake up in an unknown location - maybe a type of prison or something, I have yet to decide. And these villains would be banished at that location as punishment for their crimes. Their only chance at escape? You guessed it - kill one of their own and get away with it.

Along their torturous “journey”, friendships will form, enemies will be forced to work together, and of course plenty of super tragic, tear jerking deaths (seriously, there are SO many deaths in Danganronpa that’ll make you wanna cry). It’d be a way to bring some redemption to these villains, and develop their characters better.

I’ve done a similar fanfic before in high school, except all the “classmates” were different characters from a variety of anime. I even added illustrations, which was easier since it was on Wattpad.

But yeah, that’s my idea. I don’t know what I’d call this yet. And I’d need a big cast of characters too - sixteen to be exact. Trust me, it helps pace the story (characters die quickly). So far I have the obvious choices: Frieza, Frost, Zamasu, Cell, Cooler, Baby Vegeta, probably Kid Buu. I’m also open to other characters like Janemba and Z Broly. I’m not including ex-villains, like Vegeta, since they’ve already redeemed themselves. Degusu is a possibility, but I don’t know enough about him yet. Hit could be possible, although he’s more of an anti-hero, not a villain. And I’d prefer not to add any OCs in this story. Just cause it’ll be easier that way.

And every Danganronpa story has a main protagonist - the one leads investigations, and usually guides everything smoothly. Frieza could be an “obvious” choice. But I also wonder if I should add *one* OC as an insert protagonist instead - specifically, my sona, Icee.

Anyway, that’s my silly fanfic idea. Tell me your thoughts on it. Who knows, maybe I’ll start on some outlining on it if enough people are interested.

Goodnight!

[a-wonderful-danganronpa]

🍯 ABOUT: the Hope's Peak groundskeeper

[NO SPOILERS]

i've introduced you all a bit to 🕰️ Six Shinoda, our Clockmaking Wonder, as well as 📖 our protagonist and 🧚 the Undertaking Wonder.

that's a lotta girls. so today, let's talk about a lad: 🍯 the Hope's Peak groundskeeper! he is..

...the Monastery’s grounds- and beekeeper, a lover of tradition and scholar of “the Shining Era.” comes from a long line of groundskeepers, all of whom have tended the Monastery since it was the Academy. (he’s, therefore, annoyingly helpful.) the sort of guy who would have a Greek statue Twitter icon: he believes everything was better backinzeday, and almost everything out of his mouth is a quote from one of the Saints. the past to him was more real and happier. (I guess he’s right, technically.)

on a design level:

he's as-of-yet nameless, but i've been mostly looking at names that include the kanji "蜂" ("bee") or hachi, because i'm silly like that.

not yet drawn, but i intend for him to have a kind face you just want to immediately trust. you trust him, right? y̸o̸u̴ ̵t̷r̶u̷s̶t̷ ̵h̴i̴m̸ ̶w̴i̷t̵h̷ ̴y̴o̷u̶r̵ ̴l̷i̸f̵e̷?̷

the Groundskeeper is one of the first roles i conceptualized but one of the last characters i figured out. by this, i mean i knew i wanted a dude like him in the story, but i wasn't sure of the details until the very end of base character creation.

i wanted him to feel familiar but not too close to other existing characters both in AWD and in the Danganronpa universe in general. when you meet him, you'll have to let me know if i succeeded! i sure hope i did!

and some in-universe info:

his birthday is August 24th, making him a Virgo.

his blood type is AB.

his favored Saint? well, all of them, of course.

likes: cleanliness

dislikes: rude children

he's actually illiterate, but has an impossibly strong memory and hardcore Ibuki-level listening skills. he's learned everything he knows standing outside Monastery windows during lectures

though he's been at the Monastery for as long as the protagonist remembers, she doesn't know him well, mostly because he doesn't stop infodumping about the history of the statues at the Monastery, which creeps her out. she's gone out of her way to avoid him for 18 years, which is kind of incredible considering that she's never left the fucking place

especially right before the narrative begins, it seems from the protagonist's POV that he's gotten close to the Speed Wonder, her ex-best-friend. (perhaps romantically?) protagonist isn't jealous at all, no siree bob

[theamityelf]

If I've understood right, their luck is like this?

Komaeda: Luck manipulation and luck balance. His luck is at one time extremely bad for him, only for him to have a huge life-changing strike of good luck. Rinse, repeat.

Naegi: Luck as in unpredictability. It'll save his life but in ways that lead to chaos.

I think my preferred view of Komaeda's luck, at least right now, aligns with something I said in one of my fanfics, which is that it "gives him what he actively desires in the moment and takes what he passively values." Basically, it aligns with his immediate wants enough to make him feel that it trends positive, but really the negative far outweighs the positive in terms of magnitude.

I've seen an alternative explanation (which I also mentioned in the same fanfic) that Komaeda's luck is based in least likely outcomes. Where he'll be afflicted or attacked despite low odds, but he'll also survive despite low odds, because the least likely thing will always happen to him. The person who said this (and it was a YouTube comment on, I think, ProZD's Danganronpa LP) suggested that Nagito survived the Russian Roulette specifically because he gave himself the hardest difficulty setting, and if he'd played normally and used just one bullet, he would have died. Basically, unlikely successes and unlikely failures. And I am simultaneously satisfied with the tidiness of that explanation and disenchanted with the idea of treating luck quite so mathematically; I feel like, for me, it kind of goes against the spirit of how it operates in the story to completely strip it of...I don't know, guile? I don't know exactly how to put it.

For Naegi, I think the unpredictability thing is pretty spot on. I think it's worth mentioning that the clearest manifestations of his luck are usually in the form of protection from plots against him. Or not even protection from, but protection within plots against him; the plots will fully go into motion and come apart in the exact ways needed to save him. But I think it's also possible that the best way of explaining his luck is Plot Armor. In-universe, there is something metaphysical that identifies him as the protagonist and shields him in ways a protagonist needs to be shielded. It's unpredictable to the characters is because the ways in which it influences Naegi's life are largely a means to an end. Because the characters, in-universe, have free will to plot and scheme in ways that will harm Naegi, the world itself sets things in motion that will protect him from that harm long in advance.

But I also find that explanation a little...cheating. Like, I realize I'm the one who said it, but it does feel unsatisfying to say "Oh, the rule of his luck is that he's the protagonist so the writers will set up whatever is needed to keep him from dying early." I do think it could be interesting to consider the in-universe metaphysical implications, but I also think it robs Makoto of a lot of what's cool about him if we hand the credit over to the machinations of the universe, so I think the unpredictability explanation is the best way to look at it.

[jerktournament]

ROUND ONE - Byakuya Togami (Danganronpa) VS Yesod (Lobotomy Corporation/Library of Ruina)

(The contestant image for Yesod is from Lobotomy Corporation, but this entry is for both renditions of the character.)

!!! PROPAGANDA BELOW !!!

BYAKUYA: "- His title is literally, get this, "ultimate affluent progeny" - Fucking look at him /hj - Treats everyone as inferior in every way, even when they're trying to solve a murder he goes "how did YOUUU figure this out before MEEE???? >:0" - Constantly has an "Me vs. Them" mentality about everything so he feels the need to prove himself to be superior - Messes with crime scenes because it would "make them more interesting" (purposefully incriminating someone else, who he didn't like) Actual quotes by him - "I'm only here to get breakfast. I have neither need nor desire to talk to you. Now withdraw." - "You're like a child lost in the woods, you know that? A total waste of space." - "You know, I still just can't believe it... That an uneducated, brain-dead, useless piece of garbage like you has survived this long." - "You have only yourself to blame—you came to me with your tragic little story. I didn't ask you to. This is the real world, not some romantic fantasy fairytale.""

YESOD: "AAHGH HOW DO I EVEN BEGIN TTHERE'S JUST. yesod. probably spoilers here but when you first meet him in Lobotomy Corporation I think one of the earliest things he does is make a jab at your fashion sense even though it's universally agreed by new players that his outfit is a disaster (although he dresses like that for fear of contamination and his Trauma!). He's cold to mostly everyone and is very strict, rules-following kind of guy, and people often see him as emotionless and heartless, coming up with the nickname "The Viper" for him as a result of that! BUT!!! BUT!!!! LISTEN EVEN IF HE'S MEAN. EVEN IF HE'S COLD. HE'S LIKE THIS BECAUSE HE HAS TO BE!!! He has so much unresolved trauma in his past of getting too close with am employee and befriending them and losing them because he wasn't strict enough on safety regulations and let them off with a pass because they were friends. AND NOW HE'S CLOSED AND WITHDRAWN AND OBSESSIVE OVER SAFETY PROTOCOL BECAUSE HE'S SCARED AND HE REALLY REALLY DOES CARE ABOUT HIS EMPLOYEES!!! It's hinted that he doesn't like the nickname Viper but he accepts it because it makes him out to be the respected person he wants to be!!!! He praises the real AI of the corporation, Angela, for being cold and emotionless(which is ANOTHER bag of repressed trauma worms) and wishes he could feel nothing like her because HE FEELS TOO MUCH!!! I LOVE HIM SO DEARLY MI AMOR!!! And AND in the second game he's healed a little bit and is still a little mean but the first thing he does THE VERY FIRST THING HE DOES to the protagonist is walk up to him wordlessly and reach up to fix his tie. I'm normal about him. Also he's short. Short people closer to hell or whatever. IDK he's purple ok? :3 Even if he loses IT'S A TESTAMENT TO HIS GROWTH I'M PROUD OF YOU YESOD!!!!!!"

[strawberrysweater]

something i've thought about for a million billion hours even though it's probably not even this deep i just like danganronpa ok

i love how kaede shuichi and kiibo are all protagonists of v3 in their own ways: shuichi is the protagonist to the player, kiibo is the in-universe protagonist, and kaede is sort of... a protagonist only to herself. she tells us when we meet her and she wavers between being an in-universe protagonist and also just a plot twist device to the player. dr does this thing where every game has Character Archetypes and i like that "protagonist" is a role so strong that it has a defining physical trait (the ahoge) to the point that like. toko gains an ahoge in udg because she steps into that role. kaede shuichi and kiibo all have one. shuichi's is hidden under his hat only for him to reveal it after kaede dies and passes the role onto him. kiibo's is literally an antenna that i assume lets him receive wireless communication from audience surveys or whatever so it LITERALLY makes him a protagonist, it physically lets him fill that role. it's funny

AND i like the way they all deal with their protagonist roles - kaede and kiibo both do something that pushes them out of the role and breaks their narrative constraints, and it gets them killed and it falls to shuichi both times, someone who was never meant to have it in the first place. and THAT'S why he was able to end danganronpa for good because he's not tied down by the battle between hope and despair that every protagonist has had to go through (this is literally spelled out in the sixth trial you guys already know). i just love that theme of breaking everything and refusing to play a part, making your own meaning out of it, the importance of fiction and also of autonomy, etc. as soon as shuichi becomes the protagonist, the breaking down of the narrative is set in motion, and it culminates in the fourth wall being literally shattered. v3 is all about the reality inside the tv show, and i feel like anyone who steps out of their predestined role is able to see it, to feel it, even just a little...

like we have these two characters who are obviously protagonists who both act in their roles perfectly (kaede leading the group and wanting everyone to be friends and escape together without killing, kiibo listening to the audience and showing them the game and following hope) UNTIL they do something they weren't meant to do. a protagonist has never orchestrated a killing before. as soon as kaede started planning it, even if she ultimately failed at killing the mastermind or killing anyone at all, she was no longer a protagonist, because danganronpa protagonists don't kill

and because of kaito's execution, led up to from his and kokichi's last big fuck you to the narrative and the mastermind, kiibo is totally disconnected from his purpose and can do what he was never meant to do either. a protagonist is supposed to play along and win in the name of hope over despair (like how he acts as soon as he gets his connection to the audience back), not just indiscriminately destroy everything to bring the killing game down. he becomes a total wild card who breaks the fictional world apart, pulls aside the curtain, lets shuichi find out the flashback lights were fake, destroys the physical fourth wall for good, etc. and speaking of breaking the fictional world, when kaede "passes on her role" she literally causes the neon-lit-up trial UI to shut off and shuichi turns it back on again. a fantastic visual that has not left my brain. we love a kaede kiibo breaking the fiction parallel

tldr in both of these instances, kaede and kiibo stop being protagonists (in danganronpa's very distinct specific terms) and the role falls to shuichi, someone who was never meant to have it. and because of that, this danganronpa collapses in on itself. i think that's sick as hell

[humunanunga]

10 fandoms 10 characters!

Tagged by @clannfearrunt hiiiiiiiiiiii 👀

1. Tsukasa from .hack//SIGN. I didn't even notice until my late 20s that I'd been making characters inspired by them all this time. But listen. This lost child could fit so much mental illness but they made it out okay and I'm so happy for them. They got friends, a girlfriend and a whole new dad who all got them out of not one but two abusive situations. They were also my first queer rep in fiction. Lesbian? Transmasc, nb/gq? Transfem, even? Doesn't matter which take you run with, there is no cishet explanation for Tsukasa no matter how you look at them.

2. ...I was gonna say Sans Undertale, but you know what? W.D. Gaster, because I love the thrill of the hunt (the speculation about the mysteries surrounding him). Spooky man. Talks in wingdings, the mad lad. Gotta be my favorite sleep paralysis demon. I love cosplaying him. I can't wait to find out if or when we'll learn more about him through Deltarune.

3. Lancer, speaking of Deltarune! What a good boy, he's just a lilguy, his laugh is dopamine. I want to squeeze him like a marshmallow. I love him like I love my cat who begs to be held like a baby. Lancer is baby, no really, he's got so much growing ahead of him to get as tall as his deadbeat dad. (I know what you're thinking. Why didn't I say the other guy from Deltarune? Because we've already talked at length before about everything that makes him such a compelling character. Let the baby boy baby take the spotlight this time.)

4. Calliope from Homestuck. I don't have much to say that couldn't be said just from looking at that cherub. So gender. So very gender.

5. Tanaka Gundham, from Danganronpa. Definitely one of the most characters ever. I fucking love that guy.

6. Mutou Yugi from YuGiOh. I'm just really proud of him. I also love that his thematic dragon is Gandora. Holy shit.

7. Nephrite (centipeedle) from Steven Universe. She skrunkly.

8. Garry from Ib. We know they're going through it, but they were a good chaperone to Ib regardless and we like to see that.

9. Sigh............. Xion. She's the reason Kingdom Hearts was the first video game to make me cry.

10. Number ten, number ten... how about finishing with a problematic fave... Ebel Alfie from Purgatory 2. Reluctant protagonist just wanted to go home and be an angsty emo highschooler, instead gets a demon girlfriend and dragged along to start a revolution. Hilarious.

I'll tag @mini-binni, @child-of-crows, @cryptidbisexual, @fangenstein, @marismolotov, @photochoco, @probablyaposer, @talkingsoup, @ufohh and @wolfgirlakita

[funishment-time]

UTDP/Summer Camp: Hajime Hinata

in-game info from v3's UTDP Mode and Danganronpa S: Summer Camp AU, for fanart/fanfic inspiration etc. note that this is a "nice" universe where v3 goes to Hope's Peak and Junko never Junko'd.

this post details Hajime Hinata's scenes with others, as well as insights about him that these bits provide. there's a Lot, so jump on down under the cut.

(i hope to do all characters over time, so Hang Tight for your fave!)

> more UTDP/Summer Camp character databases <

CANON NOTE: Izuru Kamukura still exists. I will cover him in a separate post, as he's treated like a separate character. Strangely, though, from text alone, we can't confirm Hajime's relation to Izuru in the UTDP/Summer Camp AU. Considering Hajime and Izuru have similar scenes with different outcomes (much like Junko and Mukuro), it could be that they never exist at the same time (that is, we actually have two timelines going in this AU). It's up to your interpretation.

HAJIME INSIGHTS:

Hajime is still in the Reserve Course here (UTDP, w/ Aoi Asahina) + (UTDP, w/ Ryoma Hoshi) + (many others)

Was invited to the Summer Camp VR trip, though it's never explicitly stated why [just because of his "connections"] (Summer Camp, Prologue) + (Summer Camp, Taka's Campfire 3)

"I can't just stay a kid forever. Examining yourself and the reality you live in...That's how one moves ahead." (Summer Camp, Monokuma & Hajime)

"I'm cool with animals. A pet would be a bit too much for me, though." (Summer Camp, Ryoma & Hajime & Nagito)

Impressed by the Summer Camp VR world, and it piques his interest in things he never considered before (Summer Camp, Leon & Hajime & Chihiro)

"I'm just used to all the trash talk about being in the reserve course by now." (Summer Camp, Potential of Talent 3)

Makes balloon art for the Summer Festival, though with practice he can only make a dog and a flower (Summer Camp, Summer Festival events)

[Monomi:] "Hehehe...Hajime, you've become a full-fledged member of the class." (Summer Camp, With Swimsuits)

Reads a lot during the events of Summer Camp: "I feel a need to expand my horizons. I'm surrounded by specialists..." (Summer Camp, My Future)

HAJIME & OTHERS:

In this universe, Hajime still hangs out with class 77 a lot [notably Kazuichi, Gundham, and Chiaki] outside of school (UTDP, w/ Aoi Asahina)

Discusses talent with Ryoma, and Ryoma tells him: "You can choose any path you want, but be sure to think carefully about where it will lead." (UTDP, w/ Hajime Hinata)

In another discussion, Hajime tells Ryoma to treasure the days he has with his friends, even if he has to go back to prison after he graduates (UTDP, Ryoma's Winter 2)

Nagito finds Hajime mysterious, especially how he's drawn to main course students. Hajime doesn't understand him in return (UTDP, w/ Nagito Komaeda)

In fact, Nagito seems to hope Hajime will see his point of view about being a "stepping stone" for other students. Hajime does not (UTDP, Nagito's Sports Festival 3)

But Hajime does force Nagito to be his friend (UTDP, Nagito's Winter 1)

And to be a normal human being to the rest of his class (Summer Camp, Campfire 3)

Talks to the other male protagonists about giving [and receiving] presents (UTDP, w/ Makoto Naegi and Shuichi Saihara)

Feels that others rely on Chiaki because she's helpful. Chiaki feels the same right back to Hajime, noting he's helped many in 77 come out of their shell (UTDP, w/ Chiaki Nanami)

Often asked to join in on main course activities (UTDP, Sports Festival events)

Kazuichi considers Hajime a "soul friend" [though full disclosure, this may have been to convince Hajime to invite Sonia to his birthday party] (UTDP, Winter 2)

Asks Sayaka if she'd still be an idol regardless of Ultimate status, and her answer is yes (UTDP, Winter 3)

A little unimpressed with Keebo, but realizes that sometimes being an Ultimate is "who you are, not what you do" (UTDP, Keebo's School Festival 1)

Gets advice from Gonta about having fun in the future, rather than worrying about talent or even passion. Then they bond over bugs and it's cute (Summer Camp, Gonta & Hajime)

Monokuma tries to "bond" with Hajime over their "outsider" status. It does not work (Summer Camp, Monokuma & Hajime)

Monokuma also tries to make Hajime upset about being in the Reserve Course. It does not work (Summer Camp, Potential of Talent 3)

Hiyoko asks Hajime for help picking out souvenirs for her father. Hajime is not helpful (Summer Camp, Hajime & Hiyoko)

Doesn't know what Monokuma and the other Kumas are, but neither does anyone else, really (Summer Camp, Leon & Hajime & Chihiro)

Prevents Mahiru from accidentally getting an embarrassing shot of Mikan falling [probably coochie out] (Summer Camp, Hajime & Mahiru & Mikan)

Encourages Mondo in his endeavors to become a carpenter (Summer Camp, Potential of Talent 1)

Considers helping Taka reform Hope's Peak (Summer Camp, Taka's Potential of Talent 2)

BONUS ECHO FROM ANOTHER LIFE: (UTDP, Winter 1)

[okthatsgreat]

Just as a silly thought, what minigames do you think your OCs would have if they were the main characters for a Danganronpa game?

OOOOHOOOOOOOOOOHUOU

HMMMMMM okay well i know that the in-trial minigames aren't really catered towards their talents or anything HBGFDHJ but this is a beautiful universe where i can do anything i want....

because in my heart naomi definitely has one of those 2D side scroller parkour minigames sorta like the death road of despair minigame in v3 but it's always moving and you need to select the correct answers and stuff !! like an old flash game HBGFD. i can see it in the v3 style and everything. shes got like three voice lines she says every once and a while one of which is just her going "EUHGUGE :(" every time she takes damage

because yoshito is already a protagonist i imagine his minigames are pretty similar to the others ... he probably has some version of logic dive that isnt a car but is a step up from hajimes longboard so uh. idk. a motorcycle. yoshito would never drive one but the visuals are very funny

giving sae a fishing minigame is ALSO really funny to me.. its like hangmans gambit except really annoying now. super slow too. like oh you thought danganronpa wouldnt have a fishing minigame? DEAD wrong stop the trial and starting fishing for my letters boy

ALSO ALSO i think a lot of them would have rebuttal showdowns/argument armaments !!!!!!! i know for sure that erin has an argument armament just bc she was a blacked in dr:50-- she'd probably be in full costume and everything lmaoaoa. rie would also have an argument armament for chapter 5 even though she isnt the blackened >:))))) she'd have a whole gownnnnnnnnn

[pollsonmorenichetopics]

Disproportionate Retribution Loser Poll Round 2 Side B:

Kaede Akamatsu's (Danganronpa) Disproportionate Retribution:

"(Danganronpa 3 spoilers) She supposedly committed murder. BUT she was put in a situation where if she didn't everyone would die. She also planned to kill the person who put them into the situation where she has to kill. She didn't even mean to my My innocent boy. The Worst Part. SHE DIDNT EVEN DO IT.

Punishment: The most painful death literally ever. OMG what the hell was that why did you do that TO SOMEONE WHO DID NOPT EVEN COMMIT MURDER. Sorry im still mad. Anyways the whole thing is pretty poorly written so it's not even tragic just aggravating."

"She failed at killing someone with her plan, so the mastermind framed her :( She is the person who deserved to be killed the least in all of Danganronpa"

"I realize it's too late for propaganda to help Kaede in the main tournament, but I did want to submit two points to consider for when she goes up in the loser's round (and hopefully can be added to her card. Well, maybe point 1 is too meta for this tourney but point two should be fine.)

(Danganronpa spoilers below)

1 - Why her punishment stings from a metatextual standpoint

As someone put it in the notes, Kaede's death was also a punishment to any player who wanted a female protagonist. After her status as the series' first mainline female player character was hyped up in advertising, she is executed as the murderer for the very first case, and even what little side content she has barely develops her character, instead mostly serving as ship tease with Shuichi, the true protagonist. In addition, the game's story has a bunch of meta twists that are very easy to read as player jabs, so Kaede's death feels more targeted in light of the game's overall tone.

2 - Her execution (CW FOR GRAPHIC BODY HORROR)

As punishment for a murder that she turned out not to have committed, she is executed first by being hung, and then while she is still suffocating, her body is used as a "finger" to play a mangled rendition of "Der Flohwalzer" on a giant piano (as she has the title of Ultimate Pianist, her execution is thus designed ironically) over the course of, if certain elements of the interface are believed, 8 hours, after which her body is crushed by the spiked piano lid, which may very well be what actually killed her."

Stanley Pines' (Gravity Falls) Disproportionate Retribution:

"He broke his brother's science project that might have gotten his brother, Stanford, into his dream school by accident as a teen.

So he was thrown out of the house by his father and was only allowed to come back if he made them millions. He was homeless because of this, living out of his car.

There is no implication that any of his family ever tried to reach out to him afterward. His brother still excelled at another university he went to. It was only really about the money for his father.

When his nephew and niece (another brother's grandkids) come visit him, he is pretending to be his brother (long story) and they don't even know of Stanley's existence. They only know about their gruncle Stanford. Nobody in the family seems to talk about him. All of this because of a science project."

[danggirlronpa]

i like your interesting take on tsumugi as a protagonist. i don't hear tsumugi a lot in terms of meta reasons and appreciation and i'd like to hear your though about tsumugi being a main protagonist please. :)

I'd LOVE to. Protagonist Tsumugi is something I really do think fondly of and often wish for.

Firstly, I think Tsumugi is really the only mastermind who you feasibly could play in a perspective of without making them forget they're the mastermind (a la Izuru). So much of V3 is either pre-planned or run by others on Team Danganronpa that her actual involvement as a mastermind is essentially nil - she's just doing damage control. It would be very easy to foreshadow the reveal without outright revealing that she's involved, the same way as with Kaede in the first trial.

Tsumugi is also the V3 character who has the most vested interest in keeping the trials going and making sure they get solved, because if the trial ends there, then there's no show. I could absolutely see Tsumugi's protagonist interventions ("No, that's wrong!") as being subtle interventions to make sure that the group is on the right track, but justified in her not quite knowing the answers because she isn't an ace detective, she's just a cosplayer with a mic in her ear to tell her when she needs to get everyone back on track.

I also think that playing as Tsumugi would play into V3's greater theme of culpability and the control of the audience. By playing as the mastermind, you are directing the killing game. Within the fiction, you, the player, are personally responsible for what happens here. Again, Kaede plays into this in a lot of ways as well (I think a version of the game where you still play as Kaede at first would serve this AU best), but the slow burn of it all makes the realization that much more horrifying, in the same way as the realization that everyone is Remnants at the end of SDR2. Kiibo as protagonist could also accomplish this, since you'd be more connected to the in-universe audience, but I think Tsumugi would provide an interesting take unique to her where the player is really taking on the role of Team Danganronpa itself.

There's an overarching theme that Tsumugi fits into with previous protagonists, too; Komaru had no connection to the mastermind, Makoto was friends with the mastermind once, Kaede and Hajime were accomplices to the mastermind once, and Tsumugi is the mastermind/accomplice to the masterminds. You get the final entry into this sort of sliding scale of connection to the villain, which in current DR is kind of dangling open-ended.

And she's also the only character in V3 who really plays into Danganronpa's overarching theme of the imposter complex ("plain, plain, plain")! I think it'd be so cool to have a take on the I'm Just Some Guy nature of DR's protagonists that is actually very talented, but still has this low self esteem because of the way they think about their talent. They tried to do this with Shuichi a little bit, but imo it wasn't very effective, because it never really came up; Shuichi's arc wasn't about learning that he is actually a good detective, it was about overcoming trauma. A Tsumugi arc where she learns that her talent is valuable, that she can have an impact on the things and people she cares about - especially when we, as the audience, think she's talking about supporting the other players, but in reality she's talking about supporting the killing game? Oh. Ooooooooh. I love that shit.

I do generally think that they should have done a lot more with Tsumugi's character. And, in fairness to them, there are reasons for Tsumugi being just a quiet background character without much impact - it's the big startling counterpoint that she's secretly the mastermind, compared to the more traditional tropes of the rest of the game; Tsumugi's reveal is what really blows the game wide open and makes you rethink the entire story thus far. I just personally think that there are ways they could've done it more effectively, to really give it that oomph.