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sayakxmi · 2 days ago

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Some ideas for V3 as Remanants of Despair* under the cut, cuz it's prolly gonna be rambly.

Gonna preface it all by saying that some stuff will likely be inspired by in fact by Buttercup_ghost if not just downright borrowed, bc their takes are great (fully recomending reading the fic), but I'm also trying to add my own spin to it.

Another thing is that I like the idea of V3 Remanants being delusional/convinced they're doing the right thing. They all gave me very strong self-righteous vibes, and it's a recipe for disaster. Like, class 77 are more "burning the world down to burn it" while 79 (V3) are like "gotta burn it/purge it to make it into a better place". Like, Junko specifically used the fact that they are naive and view themselves as good people against them.

Shuichi Saihara

Ok, so first of all - SAWhara? Amazing, spectuacular, never been done before, full credit to Buttercup_ghost bc I love this idea so much. But I kinda like the idea of Despair!Saihara being some kind of a harbinger of truth if you get me. He sort of is one in the game, but there he is gentle and unwilling, but as a Despair, he has none of that kindness he's occassionally willing to give to the culprits. No secrets are safe around him, he will dig it all out to cause strife and despair. Unless, of course, you can actually overcome it. In that case, you have a chance of surviving. He probably doesn't view it as truth ruining people's lives but the lies they'd told to hide it earlier.

Also, again from Buttercup_ghost, but the idea of Junko getting to Shuichi first makes just so much sense. The two best picks are either Shuichi or Kokichi, but I feel like they also cancel each other. They're both capable of falling, but also they're both capable of standing their grounds if others fall first. The difference is that Shuichi is liked and can get Junko close to others, while Kokichi is alone and he'll always be, so getting through him first is a shot in the knee kinda, bc others won't be as trusting as they would've been if you met literally anybody else first, F. Plus, there's a chance of using that loneliness against him later to make him fall, so it makes sense that way, too.

Kaede Akamatsu

It's like semi-borrowed from in fact (it's faster to write the fic titile than the author's, so I'll be doing that from now on), but only semi bc it's something I probably would have come up to myself even without reading it, like, girl decides to take the one for the team & kill somebody, hoping the person that dies will be the one that "deseved" that/was the real enemy, and it's similar here. Some people are Evil and they need to Die.

Rantaro Amami

Something something, failing your family will get you in trouble, that's also why one of the first people he kills are his own parents. I mean, you lost 12 daughters, by now you should have found at least one, you're rich and all that, you can afford it, but apparently it's only Rantaro who cares enough to involve a detective I guess? But, yeah, abusers of all kinds are the targets, neglectful parents etc etc. You get the idea. It sounds ok in paper, but the definition of abuse in his eyes is kind of unclear, so if you beat up your kid he'll be after you, and you can also just have a nasty argument with your spouse, and then you won't have a spouse, so. And, again, the point of V3 as RoD is that they are doing what they believe to be right, but they have sekwed up perception of right and wrong and zero limits.

K1-B0

Something we kinda forget about Kiibou is that he canonically looks down on Shuichi, like, bro just tells him he saw him as beneath him in their last FTE, and only changed his mind after some time. MAN. But, anyway, Despair!Kiibou isn't trying to be perceived as like humans or anything of this sort, I mean, why would he put himself on equal grounds with some people (derogatory)? He's so much better than them! He's a robot, he's smarter, he's stronger, he simply knows best. And people better recognize that or they'll get burned to crisps. I can also see him perceiving himself as somebody who should make the law (a nod to all that lawsuit things), he kinda goes dictator mode I guess. Fuck the three laws of robotics.

Gonta Gokuhara

Straight up stealing from in fact, bc Gonta going around mercy killing people who are "least likely to survive" is peak. Also love him not considering the rest of his class his friends anymore (save for Kokichi, but we'll get to it later).

Angie Yonaga

Again, in fact, Angie believing that Junko is her god makes sense to me. Grl started a cult probably, so first half of chapter 3, but there's more blood, I guess.

Tenko Chabashira

Definitely one of the more difficult ones to turn into a Despair, but I can sorta see her misandry spiking up. My idea is kinda that since Shuichi, a degenerate male, brought Junko to them, which put Himiko and other girls in danger, she straight up blamed him for what happened, and got radicalized over time. Though, admittedly, Despair!Tenko is a subject to change if I come up with something better.

Himiko Yumeno

Chapter 2 body discovery, except she's doing it on purpose. Himiko Yumeno, Blood is Magic. Maybe she embraces the "evil witch" archetype, too. Nobody will question her status as a mage if they're dead. I like where I'm going with it, but I'm struggling to put it into words, I hope you get the idea.

Miu Iruma

I tried to think of something, and against myself I ended up kinda agreeing with in fact again, oh well. It just makes a lot of sense for her to turn into a Despair out of paranoia - get them before they get you, y'know? But it's Miu, so her ego has to be involved somehow. It's a mix, then, she's afraid of everything, but also wants the world to acknowledge her genius and hotness, so if she has to blast some people into fractions, she will.

Korekiyo Shinguji

Listen he was like 16 in the game how tf he managed to not only kill almost 100 women, but also somehow not be caught. Bro isn't exactly the definition of subtle appearance-wise. He's supcious as hell, actually. And for that reason, again, sadly, in fact went into this direction, and so am I. I told you the author's takes were great.

Ryouma Hoshi

Aaaand in fact isn't over. It was awfully simple with him - he has nothing left to lose, so Junko gets him to care about her, and he doesn't care what happens to the rest of the world.

Kirumi Toujo

I'm not 100% sure about it, but I'm kind of vibing with that backstory of hers, that she once served somebody so well that person became unable to do their job, and her opting to do just that, because everybody else is fucking incompetent compared to her, and she deserves far more appreciation. She's resentful, and she'll smile and bow politely and ruin her employers' lives from the inside, showing them they're nothing in comparison.

Tsumugi Shirogane

She's a tricky one, but I can imagine Junko making her recognize her "true potential" or something. She's likely the one who idealizes Junko the most out of everybody, and I can see it as somewhat similar to the Mikan situation, which, oof. She gives Tsumugi all the attention she could possibly ask for, while for the rest of the world she might as well not exist, and she roams it in various costumes, doing whatever she pleases and avoiding responsibility. She's similar to Impostor in a way, but I'd say their difference is that Tsumugi can copy only some general stuff, mostly visually, so she can trick people into believing she's somebody else only for a little bit, while Impostor is so good they could live somebody's life for years and nobody would question it too hard unless they and the original were literally in the same room, and also Impostor can learn their skillsets. Anyway, I think at her core Tsumugi just feels worthless, so she becomes anything else for Junko, and when she's dead, her reason for being herself is gone, too - nobody cares about some Plain Jane, so she wants to become the next Junko to feel the void something something.

Kaito Momota

I'm really entertaining the idea of him just embracing the worst parts of himself - he believes himself to be the hero, the main character, the chosen one, and he requires others to recognize that. He pulls a vigilante, probably, but, as usual in Despair!V3, his view of who is and who isn't a criminal is skewed. But it doesn't matter, because he's never wrong in his judgement. He knows best who desevres or doesn't deserve to live, and he takes all the credit for putting the ones who don't into their grave.

Maki Harukawa

And who else does Kaito take the credit from if not the Ultimate Assassin herself? Ngl, they give me the vibe of Fuyuhiko and Peko. Kaito's the hero, and Maki's his sidekick, his weapon. Her hands can never be clean, but she can use them to make the world a better place by getting rid of all the filth. And she trusts Kaito's judgement, so if he tells her to kill somebody, they'll be dead.

*Kokichi Ouma

In fact gets the credit for making me realize things can be happening in the same universe, and also that V3 can be the ones responsible for what happens to him. Kokichi isn't a Remanant, he essentially takes Chiaki's role. He is by no means his class' hope, but he sure af won't let anybody touch them (well, an attempt was made). I've mentioned by Shuichi that best options would have been either to start with him or Kokichi, and yeah. Kokichi absolutelu could become Despair under the right circumstances, anybody could, but Junko made her choice, and while it was logical, it also meant Kokichi will not fall to her. He was recognized by HPA as the Ultimate Supreme Leader for a reason. Nobody touches his people and gets away with it (whoops, she did). Bro went through a Chiaki-style execution, except he reaches his class who weren't as friendly to him as Chiaki's would've been. By which I mean they toruterd him to near death. Like, I have specifically ideas for Kiibou burning his wrists, making the hand-shaped scars resemble cuffs (punishment for all the robophobia, Kiibou doesn't need the human laws to do things for him, he can judge crimes himself), Gonta knocking him out, bc he wanted Kokichi not to be awake to experience any of that, and at some point when Kokichi looks at Shuichi, Shuichi ends up stabbing him in the eye. RIP.

In the good route, both him and Chiaki survive, btw. Very long story would be that Chiaki, Nagito and Kokichi were friends in HPA, doing some investigating on Kamukura Project and Junko, and for Reasons Nagito was suspended for a while, so he wasn't there when Junko was getting to his classmates, blah blah, Kokichi tells him to go where his classmates went (Chiaki's execution place), bc he has to go after his own to safety or sth (even tells him about DICE in case something happens to him, bc he has a Plan, but no plan is 100% cerain to be succesful), so Nagito gets there when she's still alive if barely, Kamukura arrives, Nagito gets him to help Chiaki anyway. Kokichi's execution happens some time later, and Nagito and Chiaki find out and get to him when he's already like 90% in the grave & thanks to Kamukura he survives.

Bad route has them not get to Kokichi on time, and also at some point both Nagito and Chiak die, so they're both AIs in the simulation, long story.

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teotalksaboutstuff · 2 years ago

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Thoughts and Predictions for Danganronpa Despair Time

So I’ve been getting super into DR Despair Time of late, and I’ve decided to make a post outlining my thoughts thus far. Spoiler warning for all mainline Danganronpa games, both games of the Danganronpa Another series, and the Prologue and Chapter 1 of DRDT, as those were the only items completed at the time of posting this, with previews of Chapter 2 out. Bonus content for DRDT is also mentioned and spoiled in this brain-dump.

Thoughts So Far

I can’t say I actively dislike any of the characters, which is a good sign for things to come in my book. I will begin, thus, with my thoughts on them.

I am of course going to start with our protagonist, Teruko Tawaki, our Ultimate Lucky Student. I find her to be a nice subversion of the hopium protagonists we’ve had in the mainline games (especially Makoto), and even the Another series does have this to some degree (mostly with Utsuro though Sora does show these tendencies to a degree as well). I like how she is actively willing to distrust others and call them out on their hollow and hypocritical words after the trial. Considering they were willing to vote her dead without a second pause, she saved all their lives when none of them (except maybe Eden but we’ll get to her) deserved it, at least in her eyes. I am of the belief she is justified in how she acted, especially when Xander did try to kill her first. She is an innovative protagonist in my eyes, because she would have been the antagonist if Danganronpa Tradition (TM) had been stuck to. I am ever so glad that this one doesn’t with its protag, and I look forward to seeing her arc of what I believe will be re-learning to trust people.

Next up, speaking of the devil, is Xander himself. I find many similarities between him and Sayaka Maizono, mostly concerning their respective trials. They attach themselves to the protagonist relatively early on only to die first. Now, as most people who have seen DRDT have seen DR1, including myself, I can say I saw him dying first coming a mile away. What I did not see coming is that he would attempt to kill Teruko. While I did just say Teruko was justified in how she acted, I do not think it is completely fair to throw Xander under the bus here and call him a snake like some of the fandom do with Sayaka (and I don’t believe her to be a snake either, for anyone wondering. If anything, there are less logical arguments to call her one than Xander but we’re getting off topic). It is pretty much confirmed he was ordered to kill Teruko by an unrelated party, and I don’t think we’re going to find out who until the final trial or what they might have on him. I suspect it has something to do with the death of his parents as revealed in the bonus episode. That said, Xander’s actions are reasonable considering that important tidbit, and we’ve seen that he has a more emotional temperament. Thus, his emotions definitely pushed him to go ahead with the murder without the need for a MonoTV sanctioned motive.

Now for his murderer, Ultimate Student Min Jeung. I didn’t really find much of note with her until just before the body discovery, and when the trial comes around, hooooly shit does her hypocrisy become fascinating. She’s clearly conflicted between wanting to live herself and wanting to save Teruko, though it’s implied they’ve got some Divine Luck-style force going on that compelled Min to do so. I don’t think she would have tried to help the victim, if Xander had been ordered to kill literally anyone else. Part of the appeal is how morally grey everything is, of course, and I would be remiss for saying she’s completely unsympathetic. She didn’t exactly want to murder Xander, she just happened upon the crime scene and realized she’d have to defend herself, and she did in a very inventive way that ultimately caused her downfall.

I said I’d be getting to Ultimate Clockmaker Eden Tobisa in a minute, and that is because I believe she is going to fill the support role. I think her and Teruko especially bounce off of one another very well, and for her to be as much of a cinnamon roll as she looks makes for a fitting enough contrast. Teruko, through Eden, can learn that not everyone is a snake in the grass waiting to pounce on you when your guard is down, and she can likewise learn through Teruko that not everyone is a cinnamon roll like her and that she needs to doubt people sometimes in order to be able to solidify her trust in them. I think she’s going to either survive the whole thing or die near the end.

Moving on, we have our Ultimate Zither Player, Hu Jing. She has done a lot to keep the class as a united front throughout Chapter 1, and it feels as if she is keeping up the facade of a perfect person. Due to this, I think she’s going to end up being a culprit, possibly even the next culprit if my theory about her being a spin on the Kirumi Toujo archetype is proven true. If she is, I think it would be nice if she wasn’t hung as part of her execution, that trope for musically inclined talents within DR and its fan projects is quite tired.

We move now to J Moreno, the Ultimate Effects Artist. I am really liking her character so far, and her Free Time Event with Arei is especially doing her favors (I’ll discuss this when we get to Arei herself). Immediately she puts on display that people are putting on an image with how they appear to us, and the events of the game prove this initial statement thematically salient to the themes I believe the game is going for, that being those of Trust vs. Doubt. I say this because it is true that everyone puts on a mask for the public, and no one can truly know how someone feels, unless they trust someone else enough to let them know this.

Next up is Veronika Grebenshchikova the Ultimate Horror Fanatic, and oh boy do I have things to say about her. Her DR references in the prologue are so blatantly obvious that I believe she is either the Mastermind or a herring as red as blood in that department. She mentions herself to be interested in the psychology behind why horror movies make us feel how they do, and it is for this reason I find her actions at the trial so interesting. I think that her excitement at Min’s culprit breakdown is especially notable, and almost gives off the vibe of Junko Enoshima. In fact, a lot about her is similar to Junko in design as well: her hair is not dissimilar to Junko’s, not to mention the eye hairclips that could possibly represent the audience watching the killing game. This does form a recipe for a compelling mastermind; it would show just how deep her fascination with human fear, terror, and horror goes and be a fascinating dive into someone willing to do anything to study these and possibly other emotions (i.e. Kokoro Mitsume if she had been the mastermind in SDRA2).

Next in line is David Chiem, the Ultimate Motivational Speaker. Xander stanning him is pretty funny, but there is some thematic salience to it as well, considering the both of them are concealing hidden depths that are revealed either almost immediately or much later on in Chapter 1. David doesn’t seem to like his talent much, evident with his mask slipping almost right off the bat when Xander leaves briefly. It falls off completely at the end of Chapter 1, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise if we consider this in conjunction with what J said in her intro, and I do wonder where they’re going to go with his character after this, as it would seem wrong for him to die just yet.

Arturo Giles, the Ultimate Plastic Surgeon, is regrettably the character I would have to rank the lowest in terms of how much I like the characters, but there is some significance to what we’ve seen of him so far (which isn’t much because he thinks the entire cast is fugly and is literally only helping in the infirmary bc he’s the only one with medical training). I do see his idolization of celebrities specifically for their external appearances to point to the significant sub-themes of how beauty is perceived, and if true beauty exists at all. We can frame this as External Beauty vs. Internal Beauty, or perhaps Appearance vs. Character. The talk of us putting on masks for the public seems appropriate here, as Arturo literally wears a mask, plus what I’ve already mentioned with J and David. He is obviously masking his own insecurities about his face, and it would make sense for there to be a reveal of what exactly is under this mask at some point during the game. It would be especially thematically salient if this were to be a complete accident on his part, to see it literally slip and fall off his face, like what we saw in a more proverbial sense with David. Such is to say, when we take off our proverbial mask that we all put on, some might see the embodiment of beauty itself, or at least sublimity, but others might be repulsed by a vision so ugly it burns itself into their mind for the rest of their life.

Levi Fontana seems like the perfect foil to Arturo, largely as he seems to believe external beauty to be subjective. He is the Ultimate Personal Stylist, and it makes sense as he states, not in exact words admittedly, that his goals with this talent are to help people express their truest selves. He seems like the most ‘mask-off’ person there from the start, and he wants people to be able to let off their figurative masks, to show their internal beauty, by styling their external beauty in a way that does so. I do think there is significance in him being the one to attack MonoTV, as well as his attitude towards Ace. It shows that he is unafraid to express the parts of himself that others would deem ugly, and does so shamelessly without much regard for the consequences until after he’s already done it. He’s probably going to die in the mid-to-late game considering he’s the buffest person here.

-Speaking of Ace, we move on to Ace Markey, our Ultimate Jockey. He also seems very mask off, though it isn’t completely willing as he is simply scared of everything. And I do mean everything. Like, I wonder what the hell happened to him that made him like this. Perhaps we’ll get backstory on this later, perhaps not. I think he’ll make it to at least Chapter 5, if not survive the whole thing, as he hopefully learns to steel himself somewhat. It would make for a nice character arc.

Next in line is Whit Young, Ultimate I Love You, You Little Shit Matchmaker, and by far my favorite character so far. There’s admittedly more thematically significant characters than him, but I think he’s funny and I love him. Actually his relationship with Charles is probably going to be important later, considering that he knew significant information about him that did ultimately clear him of the crime, namely his traumatic experiences with gory death scenes like Xander’s. Also, he genuinely seems to have good intentions as a comic relief, meaning as much as he seems to be Kokichi Ouma with pastel colors at first, I find Whit infinitely better due to him immediately establishing compelling relationships with the rest of the cast. I’m deluding myself into thinking that he will survive.

Speaking of Charles, our Ultimate Chemist is next, and I have a feeling he’s going to die next, as unless the murder directly involves chemicals or a lack of bloody external injuries, he’s basically useless in trials. It also doesn’t help that he’s already had a ton of screentime with Teruko being his investigative partner in Chapter 1. Even if it fits, it would be a shame for him to die here as his relationship with Whit does have some significance in connection to the theme. It is Whit that must have helped him take the mask off at some point, or it was forced off him in little pieces when he found the body and Whit was the first to put the pieces together.

We finally get to Ultimate Bowler Arei Nageishi, meaning I now get to talk about her bonus content. She is definitely a textbook Hiyoko Saionji kinnie, though I quite like the angle they took with her especially concerning her relationship with J. This could correlate to the subthemes of beauty through the lens of femininity, namely in how J and Arei choose to express theirs. Arei leans towards the more traditionally and stereotypically feminine down to being the Queen Bee stereotype during her high school years by her own admission, and J prefers to present herself decidedly less so expressly because she has had a bad experience with traditional femininity. This speaks to the subjectivity of femininity, as J is no less feminine than Arei for presenting how she does, and Arei is no more feminine than J for her own experiences with her gender. Both are happy with their self expression, and that is what matters to themselves. They see their own internal beauty differently, and choose to express it in a way that suits their identities.

Nico Hakobyan, Ultimate Pet Therapist also hasn’t done much of note. Which is fair enough, as he is quite the shrinking violet and prefers to keep to the back. I do like him though, as I have quite the soft spot for catboys, even if he isn’t actually a full-blown catboy.

Last but certainly not least, Ultimate Art Forger Rose Lacroix is interesting, and I really hope she survives. It makes sense, however, that someone with her kind of info would die. She clearly had knowledge that most times we only find out at the end and was willing to reveal it off the bat, such as the class being sealed away for years before the events of DRDT. This makes me wonder what she’s going to do to fight the mastermind, assuming she does choose to do this. Alternatively, she is a traitor or maybe even the Mastermind herself. This could also make sense as DRDT is a fanganronpa and she is making a copy of Danganronpa, a sort of art she loves.

Predictions

Here is how I predict the death order to go, assuming a traditional Danganronpa structure is followed

Chapter 1 Victim: Xander Matthews

Chapter 1 Culprit: Min Jeung

Chapter 2 Victim: Charles Cuevas

Chapter 2 Culprit: Hu Jing

Chapter 3 Victims: Arei Nageishi

Chapter 3 Culprit: Arturo Giles

Chapter 4 Victim: Levi Fontana

Chapter 4 Culprit: Whit Young

Chapter 5 Victim: David Chiem

Chapter 5 Culprit: Eden Tobisa

Chapter 6 Victim: Rose Lacroix

Mastermind: Veronika Grebenshchikova

Survivors: Teruko Tawaki, Ace Markey, J Moreno, Niko Hakobyan

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