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shockersalvage · 5 months ago

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Salvage Showcase- Soshun Murasame

What's this? A new Salvage Showcase!! And this time we're back at Danganronpa Zero to talk about the first of the Student Council Presidents!!

Soshun Murasame!!

Summary

Chronologically, Soshun's ordeal happens during his tenure at Hope's Peak Academy. He's apart of its 77th Branch and is the Ultimate Student Council President. However, everything changed for him when he, alongside the rest of the SC (except Madarai) got threatening messages that had them head over to the old Hope's Peak Academy building.

Something that Soshun would soon regret taking, as it was a trap to get the Student Council reps to kill each other, under threat of death from Mukuro and their own motivations. That's not to say Soshun didn't try to stop things. Even after his Vice President, Kotomi, was killed by Mukuro, he tried to keep everyone's nerves, reassure them that the remainder of their group can get through this, and was gradually succeeding...

Up until Karen Kisragi shanked Ryota the Toymaker and everything went to Hell. He barely avoided being sliced by his own council secretary before it became a free for all. In the end, the Student Council effectively wiped each other out, with only Soshun surviving, but in a rough state with a head injury. While this injury isn't shown on screen, given that DR0 implies Daiki Kubo went on a rampage with a chair, and hurting two people prior to Shoji Yoko's death, it can be inferred Soshun's injury was a result of that.

On the flipside, he was alive, but was in a comatose state that, even after a month after the incident, had him unresponsive. Stashed in the East compound medical bay, Yasuke Matsuda, his classmate and Ultimate Neurologist, was tasked with seeing if he could interrogate Soshun and if he knew anything about the Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy. Something that, if Soshun did knew, might have gotten him silenced by the Steering Committee. Not that Yasuke was planning on ratting him out to those guys anyway, but the threat was there.

As Yasuke started to interrogate him, initially it seems like Soshun genuinely was not gonna react...up until Junko's name came out. That's when it's revealed to Yasuke, Soshun had been faking being unresponsive, sort of. He was genuinely faking being unresponsive, buts its clear he's in a lot of shock and trauma. His act was to essentially escape the notice of the Steering Committee, and, even in his injured state, wanting to see if he could still fight to protect the school given what transpired.

After Yasuke vows to help Soshun, since Yasuke himself doesn't want to let the old quartet have their way and get rid of his classmate, Soshun, gradually relents to questioning. When asked if Izuru killed the Student Council, while Soshun does say Izuru did, his tone heavily implies he wasn't completely sure.

However, things take a turn for the worse when Yasuke asks if Junko Enoshma was involved - and Soshun's snaps. He turns into a raving, maddened, 'thing' that can only scream Junko's name and how much he wants to just kill her.

...Something that Yasuke, who was Junko's accomplice and boyfriend, just can't have let slide. Soshun was so far gone, that he didn't notice Yasuke choke him to death. His demise would be covered up as a suicide and mark the end of the Student Council (because Madarai doesn't count).

Personality wise, DR0 characterized the old Soshun as being responsible, friendly to all, and the sort to laugh even at bad jokes. Something that is contrasted with how he actuall appears post-Student Council killing game. Apathetic, traumatized, sluggish and, prior to his breakdown, still hold some aggressiveness there in his voice. He was still devoted to at least wanting to protect the school from the threats that laid there and is very talented in deception given he was capable of fooling the Academy's medical staff for a month prior to Yasuke being called in. In DR3, we get to see more of how Soshun normally is, being coolheaded under the face of pressure (and even the death of one of his councilmen), faithful in his group getting out of a rough situation, and even being a decisive leader that people listen to (up until Karen at least).

Rundown

Soshun has several ways he interacts with DR0's them of Identity, and the lack of it. In his case, his interaction with the theming has to do with loss of identity following tragedy robbing you of your sense of peace.

In DR3, while we don't get much of him, we do get to see him at his best and what makes him who he is. Soshun is the Ultimate Student Council President, the leader of 13 other students (among others) and, technically, would be one of many other Student Council Presidents who would no doubt be among the 'faces' of Hope's Peak Academy in general. Even before the killings really started, Soshun was a trusted leader that his council did seem to depend on and believe in...

So what happens afterward, when the game starts and Soshun is left as the sole survivor? Well, he's left stripped of everything that made him who he was. His talent? Can't be Council President if there is no Student Council. His friends that trusted and liked him? Slaughtered each other. The school that likely would have propped him up, and usually supported him? Now is very much considering cutting ties with him, at best, or killing him if what he knows is that detrimental. His supportive and kind demeanor? Gone from his injury and trauma. In one night, Soshun Murasame pretty much lost all that made him who he was. He couldn't even keep the last remnant of himself, his sanity, because the very mention of Junko broke him to the point of no return.

In DR0, meta wise, he's also interesting in the fact that, unlike most of the original, major, Zero cast, Soshun didn't actually have any official artwork of himself up until DR3 came about. While this likely isn't an artistic decision (could really just be for a lack of time/disintest in Soshun) it does track with the story's overall theme as well. Despite being the key victim of Junko's actions that kickstarts the plot of Zero, no one really cares about Soshun, truly. Hope's Peak just considered what happened a disgrace on their end, and wanted to suppress the truth if it was too inconvenient. Junko, who hurt him in the first place, just saw the council as easy means to of furthering her despair plot. Yuto wants to solve the mystery to advance his popularity, Kyoko has her own thing with her Dad going on, Jin in particular, while sympathetic, still goes along wth covering up the incident as much as he could. You'd think Madarai and Yasuke would care the most given they're classmates, but for the former its more of a 'wounded pride' sort of thing, while Yasuke (despite genuinely liking Soshun - which a notable thing given Yasuke's kind of a grump) straight up kills him to protect the girl who ruined Soshun's life. No one really cares about Soshun Murasame outside of how he affected their lives, likely negatively, and the story reflects this with a lack of a art to go with it.

Of the characters to compare him too, one would easily think of three guys. One, is Makoto Naegi himself, which makes sense given how Soshun is set-up to essentially be the 'Hope' of the Student Council that raises their spirits. Though, given his lack of a proper ahoge, he was also clearly designed in the mind to essentially what would happen if Makoto didn't have his luck or was placed in different circumstances by Junko. A tragic take on what easily could have been a protagonist in his own right.

In the same vein of DR1, we have Kiyotaka Ishimaru, who Soshun does follow a bit in terms of his story. While not as socially awkward outcast as Taka, both serve as a leader for their group who, due to Junko's actions, wind up losing the ones they care about in the killing game and undergoing a major personality shift. First by being near catatonic, then recovering into essentialy worst versions of themselves after something triggers them to change for the worse. Taka becomes Kiyondo, whose essentially trying to be Mondo in a sense, while Soshun becomes a 'thing' that needs to be put down. Likewise, both wind up killed as a means to an end for the machinations of a manipulative woman and her underling (Taka killed by Hifumi who was working with Celeste, to Soshun killed by Yasuke who was dating Junko).

Lastly, there is Kyosuke Munakata, fellow Ultimate SC President. In this sense, Soshun is pretty much a look into the future that awaited Kyosuke at the end of DR3. Both were leaders of 14 branch organization that wounded up in a killing game with the Ultimate Hope. Despite their attempts to stop things, be it through words or by force, the killings happen after girls they would have been closest too, are driven into despair and kickstart the affairs (from Chisa killing herself via Gloomy Sunday, to Karen killing Ryota). In addition, this game is merely a means to an end for the Mastermind to enact their endgame plamns to enforce their will onto the world. Ultimately, both stories ends with the killing game giving both serious injuries, and leaving their groups effectively dismantled, while the Ultimate Hope gets out alive and more or less well. What diverges is that, while Kyosuke lost everything, he did come out of his killing game with the resolve to carry on their memories and effectively being brought away from becoming a 'beast' himself lost in his rage and desapir thanks to his Ultimate Hope genuinely reaching out to him. In contrast, Soshun was left hurt and abandoned, with izuru not giving a flying feather what happens to anyone or anything unless its interests him. Thus, leading Soshun being unable to properly deal with his grief and wind up leaving himself vulnerable to be ing murdered.

Personal Thoughts

Soshun is an interesting character to talk about, given how he's essentially the DR protagonist that never was. He's the Makoto of a story that ends with the failure to overcome a killing game. While the other games had major casualties, at the very end, the survivors were able to work past their problems and eventually break free of their confinement. A bittersweet ending, all in all...

Soshun does not get that, Soshun is the protagonist that gets no happy ending, and that alone makes him very fascinating to me. Okay, also, admttedly, Soshun and his Student Council are very much major fanfic bait that I just can't help but love.

What were the rest of his underlings talent and council positions? How well would they interact in a proper killing game setting? Or maybe if more of his number survived? It's thoughts that those that, honestly, get people talking about Soshun and his lot, which is probably intentional given how they do exist just to slaughter themselves for the sake of the plot.

In terms of DR0, I appreciate that, for what its worth, he was used well to show, yes, Yasuke can have actually good terms relationships with his classmates in the 77th batch! Jokes aside, I did like how Soshun was also used to foreshadow Izuru's not being the number one cause of the Council's demise with how unresponsive he was to him be labelled as the murder. I also really enjoyed Soshun pretty much living, if briefly, example of the sheer trauma of what being in a battle royale would be like, while knowing full well the person who that to you is out there.

In general, Soshun's presence was short, yet, effective, for his time in the book and anime, and he remains just a nice well used tragic character, caught in the insanity of Danganronpa!

#soshun murasame #danganronpa zero #DR0 #danganronpa student council #junko enoshima #DR3 #danganronpa 3 #salvage showcase #yasuke matsuda #izuru kamukura #makoto naegi #kyosuke munakata #kiyotaka ishimaru

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