#what if you had to vote on JACKALOPE if he was innocent or guilty...

[jackalopedaily]

Jackalope Daily Day 353

(I have other variations too)

[blacksorrow-untiltheend]

Drops MILGRAM Au

001: Kamishiro Rui (WXS)

002: Momoi Airi (MMJ)

003: Shinonome Akito (VBS)

004: Shinonome Ena (N25)

005: Aoyagi Touya (VBS)

006: Hinomori Shizuku (MMJ)

007: Akiyama Mizuki (N25)

008: Otori Emu (WXS)

009: Tenma Tsukasa (WXS)

010: Hinomori Shiho (L/N)

Warden: Hoshino Ichika (L/N)

Jackalope: Hatsune Miku (VS)

I planned out Tsukasa first, because he’s my favorite…

009: Tenma Tsukasa

Obviously my favorite character is gonna have the most ideas.

there are so many things i could do with his character, like,, i could give him DID like Mikoto, or he could be similar to his character in PJSK

“(cheerful) ..My name is Tenma Tsukasa! (saddened) Formerly, a Future star.. I’m 18, a third year at Kamiyama High School.”

This would be his introduction, or something like that.

He would, like Mikoto, have DID.. and he would, like Mikoto, not quite understand why he was there. He wouldn’t be violent for awhile, and he’d try to be kind. The friendships he’d make would 003, 001, 005, and 008. After trial 2, it depends if he gets guilty or innocent.

Guilty → changes to violent, closeted(?), untalkative. Still talks to 003, 001, 005, and 008, but never to others. Usually, him talking leads to fights.

Innocent → cheerful, happy, talkative, sympathetic. Attempts to befriend those voted guilty, and attempts to comfort them. Gets violent when the attacker of the guilty is near to them.

And then I wrote a script!

action: ichika walks in. clattering of boots, it catches Tsukasa’s attention.]

Ichika: “Prisoner Nine, state your name and age.”

Tsukasa: “Tenma Tsukasa! 18 years old, third year at Kamiyama High School.”

Ichika: “I am prison warden Hoshino Ichika.”

[Action: extend arm, hand out to shake hands.]

[Action: Tsukasa shakes Ichika hand. Energetic, but not too energetic.]

Tsukasa: “Pleasure to meet you, Warden-kun.”

Ichika: “I believe we’ve met before, Tenma-san.”

Tsukasa: “..eh? What do you mean, “we’ve met?””

Ichika: “Don’t you remember Saki-chan’s childhood friends?”

[action: Tsukasa stands there for a second, seemingly thinking.]

[action: Tsukasa has a surprised face.]

Tsukasa: “ahh, Ichika-chan! I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you. You look different, per say..”

Ichika: “Well, i’m glad you haven’t forgotten me. But don't get formal, Tenma-san.”

Tsukasa: “of course. I’ll stick to Warden-kun, then..”

Ichika: “it doesn’t matter.”

Tsukasa: “okay.. You can call me whatever you’d like.”

Ichika: “of course. Now, we shall began the interrogation. We’ve wasted too much time.”

Tsukasa: “yes, of course.”

Ichika: “silence.”

[action: Tsukasa darts his eyes to the side and nods.]

Ichika: “Sekaigram exists for one purpose; Everyone in here are murderers, and it’s our, Sekaigram’s, duty to come to the judgement if your sin is forgiven.”

Ichika: “Tenma-san, do you remember anything that happened before or during the event of the murder you committed?”

Tsukasa: “..no. This feels like a mistake, i shouldn’t be in prison. You know that, right, Ichika-chan? I haven’t committed any sort of murde—”

Ichika: “Silence! I will not be biased, and you are to call me the Warden. Understood?”

Tsukasa: “yes, ma’am.. “

Ichika: “Tenma-san, what have you been doing as of late? Perhaps, do you have a job? Something you do for fun?”

[action: Tsukasa opens his mouth to speak. He hesitates.]

Tsukasa: “I work at.. Phoenix Wonderland.”

[action: Ichika confused at hesitation.]

Ichika: “do you work with anyone? Perhaps someone I might know?”

Tsukasa: “…Kamishiro-kun and Emu-chan.”

Ichika: “Ehh? Prisoner one and prisoner eight?”

Ichika: “But… did anything ever happen between you guys? It seems like your bonds aren’t very… strong.”

Tsukasa: “Emu-chan was acting weird, and then she got arrested for some reason. I don’t remember why, but she had been a little.. off. As for Kamishiro-kun…”

[action: Tsukasa has a fearful, maybe worried(?) expression.]

Ichika: “Tenma-san? Is something wrong?”

Tsukasa: “....Kamishiro-kun is my best friend. He trusts me. I trust him.”

Ichika: “what are you hiding from me?”

Tsukasa: “Nothing, warden-kun.”

[action: Tsukasa smiles. He is sitting with his hands in his lap.]

[action: ichika seems aggravated, or rather, upset.]

Ichika: “Tenma-san! Speak now! Is Kamishiro-san threatening you?!”

Tsukasa: “ehh? No.. nothing of the sort. Warden-kun, are you okay?”

Ichika: “Shut up! I’m fine, i’m asking you whats wrong! Answer me, Tenma-san! What is it that Kamishiro-kun did?!”

[action: Ichika’s boot clatter on the floor as she walks closer to Tsukasa. Her hands are in fists.]

Tsukasa: “He didn’t do anything. Kamishiro-kun is innocent.”

[action: Ichika looks dumbfounded. She has a blank expression.]

[action: ichika laughs slightly and quietly.]

Ichika: “hhaha… hahahaha… AHAHAHAHA! Tenma-san, do you coin me as a FOOL?!”

[action: ichika kicks down a chair, turning around with her hand in fists.]

Ichika: “I’ll give you one chance. What did Kamishiro-kun do?”

Tsukasa: “...I saw him.”

Ichika: “eh?”

Tsukasa: “I saw him, watched him, commit his murder.”

Ichika: “...!!”

Tsukasa: “It was on accident. He didn’t mean to. It’s not his fault, it’s not.”

Ichika: “..that’s for me to decide!!”

Tsukasa: “I request you give him the verdict of innocent, please.”

Ichika: “ghh.. And what about you?! Do you want a guilty verdict?! You, Tenma-san, are a murderer! As well as Kamishiro-kun, Otori-kun, Hinomori-san, and everyone else!”

Tsukasa: “i’m not a murderer! Warden-kun, i’ve told you so many times!”

Ichika: “ you are a murderer! There is no doubt about it, do you understand?!”

Tsukasa: “no.. no… im not.. I’m not.. I’m not, i’m not, i’m not, i’m not… I’M NOT! I’M NOT A MURDERER! I’M INNOCENT! SHUT UP!”

Ichika: “.....!!!”

Tsukasa: “dang it.. So aggravating… aahaaha.. Stop it… shut up..”

Tsukasa: “you think you’re so great because you’re the prison warden?!”

Tsukasa: “you think you can boss people around!?”

Tsukasa: “hahaha… stupid.. Stupid.. Stupid..”

[action: Tsukasa kicks Ichika, she falls.]

Ichika: “--gah..!!”

Ichika: “..what? But– you– thats.. Impossible..”

Tsukasa: “hahaa.. Impossible, you say? ahahaa… impossible… impossible…”

[action: Tsukasa punches ichika.]

Tsukasa: “You’re sooo high and mighty, you can’t get hurt! Ahahaaahahaa… that’s what you thought, isn’t it?”

[action: Tsukasa punches ichika again, and again, and again. Ichika is wincing in pain, eyes slightly teary.]

[action: Shiho hits Tsukasa in the back of the head after swinging her bat.]

[action: Tsukasa gasps and falls, passing out.]

Ichika: “--!! Ggh..”

Shiho: “..ichika, can you get up?”

[action: Shiho reaches her hand out. Ichika uses it to stand up, using Shiho as support.]

Shiho: “It seems like Tenma-san can loose his temper very easily.”

Shiho: “but it seems like you can too, Ichika.”

[action: Ichika looks to the side and frowns.]

Shiho: “we’ll talk later. For now, get Tsukasa-kun to wake up. I assume he won’t remember anything.”

Ichika: “..mhm.”

[action: Ichika nods. Body language indicates tiredness.]

[windypuddle]

Hello! Do you know if there Is there a Milgram lore guide? I got into the music and I vaguely understand they're all in super jail but I see all this stuff recently about a recently released MV and I understand nothing. Thank u for ur consideration 🙇‍♂️

i dunno about a specific lore guide but i can give you a rundown!

Milgram is a prison built to punish those have taken a life, but their actions are not punishable by law/deal with a controversial societal topic. Each prisoner represents some different situation, often in pairs that foil each other (for example, prisoner 03 Fuuta's crime has to do with cyberbullying, while 04 Muu's has to do with regular bullying).

Milgram operates under a 3 trial system, and each trial, each prisoner will be interrogated (a voice drama featuring the prisoner and Es), a music video will be "extracted" from their memories, and then the audience (us) will vote whether to forgive them or not (also translated as innocent/guilty verdicts) (but you can only vote if you have twitter or LINE). I've assembled a playlist here of all the introduction videos, voice drama translations, and music videos in order (plus cover songs; theyre not strictly canon but give a fun insight on the character)

The number 1 thing to watch if you're confused would be this video. Jackalope is a funny little rabbit in charge of the prison, and only Es (the warden, also the audience stand-in) can hear him talk.

then there's Undercover, which was the first music video, and an introduction to all the characters. they all have a little line about them, and theres a lot of ominous shots of them in silhouette beating up Es, and some shots of what looks like each prisoner's life outside of milgram.

Undercover is especially relevant because the recent video that came out, Undercover: Route: Your Curtain Call, is a reprise of this, but... some things are different. I'll put this under a read-more for spoilers.

So. Haruka, Shidou, and Mahiru are missing.

some background: after trial 1 was concluded, Kotoko, whose whole story is about vigilante justice, attacked the prisoners who were voted guilty (except Amane, because attacking a 12-year old might be a step too far, especially since with what we learned in Deep Cover, Kotoko had a friend around Amane's age, or at least on the younger side. Maybe Amane reminds her of Lucky. Hmmm...). This confirmed that even though the prisoners can't attack Es, they can attack each other. Kotoko was pretty evenly matched by John, but she severely injured Mahiru and messed up Fuuta's right eye before being stopped by Kazui. Shidou, a doctor, told us in trial 2 that Mahiru's injuries were serious, and she could die if he wasn't around to treat them.

Someone, however, doesn't like Shidou. The religious group that Amane was raised in frowns upon medical treatment, believing that illness or injury is a trial from God and one should rely on faith to get through that. She views modern medicine, and indeed any help at all, to be in violation of this and therefore against the natural order of her religion. (She may have even been punished for violating this exact thing, as we see in her music videos. So she's very serious about this.) Therefore, she has a grudge against Shidou for being a doctor. Lots of current theories are that she is responsible for Shidou's disappearance/death in some way. That would also explain Mahiru's absence, because without Shidou there to treat her, she may have succumbed to her injuries. (It's also possible she killed herself, because she views us voting her guilty as Milgram rejecting her reason for living, her love. And she says she can't live without love.)

Haruka is a separate deal entirely. Sometime between trials 1 and 2, Haruka and Muu became close friends, relying on each other emotionally to a degree that is... let's say unusual. I'm not the expert on them. In his trial 2 interrogation, Haruka was angry at Es, but couldn't attack them directly; so, to disrupt the order of Milgram, he threatened to kill himself if Muu was voted guilty.

...yeah.

Ultimately, we don't know precisely what happened to them, and we won't know until the third trial begins. But it doesn't look good.

[givemeanaccountalready]

My friend told me to check out Milgram while I wait for my new computer to arrive so I can fixate on something since I cannot write on anything except my phone’s Notes app. And oh. My. God. This premise is horrific yet hilarious. I love it.

Before you kill me, take a step back and think about it.

Can you just imagine being Kazui, a 39 year old man, or even Shidou, a 29 year old doctor, just two grown men with life experience and enough regret to weigh down a rocket, waking up in what is definitely not their bedroom and learning that they’ve more or less been kidnapped to a special jail where they have 3 trials to be deemed innocent or guilty and that everyone in this special jail has killed someone. I can only imagine that they walked out of their rooms thinking they’d see other men of their age, being a little bummed out at seeing 23 year old Mikoto, 22 year old Mahiru, and 20 year old Fuuta and Kotoko and being like, “Damn, they’ve hardly lived and they’ve thrown it all away like we have. How sad and terrible.”

Then there are two high school girls, Yuno and Mu. And then they see a literal fucking 12 year old girl. There is a literal fucking 12 year old, who hasn’t even started junior high yet. The girl is an elementary schooler! And she’s killed, and by all accounts, not especially bothered about it because it was a punishment ordained by God. Yes, I’ve listened to both music videos and voice dramas, and poor Amane needs so much therapy and cult de-programming, but the crosses the line twice humor about it is her attitude:

“Maybe if you didn’t fuck around with God’s will, you wouldn’t have had to find out.” -Amane, a literal 12 year old

And by the way, a rabbit is the warden of the prison. He is a jackalope who can cook and talk, but only the 15 year old prison guard with amnesia can understand him.

Edit: I can’t believe I forgot Haruka. I didn’t know that the voice dramas existed so his video came up and I was like what happened to this poor, little meow meow, watched his MV, and was like “Oh, he not a widdle fucked up, he a wot fucked. Never trust appearances, got it.” I had no idea why the internet voted him innocent until I heard the voice drama and was like “Okay now I think I get why.”

[linagram]

[ 𝙿𝚛𝚎-𝚃𝟹 𝚅𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚊 #𝟶𝟸 ] 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚍 𝚃𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚕

OH GOD WE'RE DOING THIS WE'RE DOING THIS

so yeah this vd is supposed to describe the changes that happened between the ending of season 2 and the beginning of season 3. please enjoy!.. or don't. you are free to suffer as well

Warnings: descriptions of murder and suicide attempts.

Hinode: Are you ready to begin, Miki-san?

Miki: .. Yes. 

Hinode: So.. The trial hasn't even started yet, but we already had to go through a lot.

Miki: Y-yeah..

Miki: I mean, we had to expect something like this. It's the last trial, after all.

Miki: But still.. Everyone has changed so much.

Miki: And it's.. kind of our fault too.

Hinode: We had to punish the guilty prisoners somehow, you know that.

Miki: ...

Miki: I don't think you saw punishing them as a way to save them or the other prisoners.

Hinode: Huh?

Miki: Are you sure that you really don't like seeing other people in pain, Hinode-san?

Hinode: W-what are you talking about, Miki-san-

Miki: Never mind.I just hope Eiji-san comes back soon.

Hinode: .. This might be a weird question, but.. what kind of relationship do you two have? Are you close?

Miki: Eiji-san is very important to me. That's all.

Hinode: Do you like him?

Miki: .. *sighs*

Miki: I don't agree with most of the things he says. He can be really annoying. He's way too cruel when he punishes the prisoners. 

Miki: .. But I still want him to come back.

Hinode: So you do like him.

Miki: Guard 003, let's get to work already.

Hinode: U-uh, yes, sure.

Hinode: So.. It looks like the relationship dynamics between the prisoners have changed significantly.

Hinode: Those who were enemies are starting to become closer and those who were friends now hate each other's guts.

Hinode: Let's talk about the changes every prisoner went through during this period.

Hinode: Prisoner 001, Miyagawa Akio.

Hinode: Thankfully, Akio-san has started to get better.

Hinode: His injury isn't that bad anymore, but it's possible that it will still impact his life in.. not the best way.

Hinode: He still has to wear bandages just in case, but now we know that he has a pretty big scar there. 

Hinode: Thanks to him being voted innocent, according to Jackalope, he was able to receive treatment from someone we don't know yet, but since Akio-san's condition really is getting better with each day, I don't think that person is dangerous.

Miki: "I wonder who that person was.. Maybe a doctor that works here?"

Hinode: It's easier for him to walk now and his headaches aren't as bad anymore. He can finally read without anyone's help again and it also looks like he's not that obsessed with his accomplice anymore. I'm happy for him.

Hinode: He also seems to have changed as a person as well. He still prefers to spend most of his time alone, but he's not as.. "arrogant" anymore, maybe?

Hinode: Actually, it seems like he became closer with some other prisoners and not just Aimi-san.

Hinode: Those prisoners are Kei-san, Asahi-san and..

Hinode: .. Riku.

Miki: ...

Hinode: I knew about what happened between Akio-san and Riku before the second trial, so I was also.. shocked.

Hinode: However, Akio-san was the one who saved Riku when he tried to do.. that to himself, so maybe Riku is actually somewhat grateful to him?

Hinode: Looks like Aimi-san was a good influence on Akio-san, haha.

Miki: But what about Miyagawa-san's relationship with Aimi-chan?

Hinode: .. Well, let's talk about her then, shall we?

Hinode: Prisoner 002, Hanasaki Aimi.

Hinode: Aimi-san has been voted innocent, and to be honest..

Hinode: It seems to have really changed her as a person.

Hinode: Or maybe that's actually her letting her true colors show?

Hinode: I've expected her to be more happy about her only friend being voted innocent, but now that Akio-san is close with other prisoners and seems to have found friends in this place..

Hinode: .. Aimi-san is feeling lonely again now.

Hinode: She doesn't talk to Akio-san that much anymore. She doesn't talk to anyone actually.

Hinode: .. Except you, Miki-san.

Hinode: She seems to like you a lot.

Miki: .. Yes, she does.

Miki: She always says how I'm her "only friend" and that I'm the only person in this place who she can trust.

Miki: If I accidentally call her "Hanasaki-san" she stares at me with this weird look in her eyes and makes me call her "Aimi-chan" because "that's what I'm supposed to call her as her friend".

Miki: I just.. don't get it. I thought that if we vote her innocent, she'd act more..

Hinode: I think she's acting like this exactly because we voted her innocent.

Hinode: Aimi-san now thinks that she was in the right. She has been voted innocent twice now, of course she would think that.

Hinode: Of course she sees you as a friend. Because friends forgive each other.

Hinode: And even though you have.. also changed, you're still kind to her no matter what.

Hinode: So it's possible that..

Hinode: ...

Miki: What's wrong, Hinode-san?

Hinode: .. So, her brother thought that her classmates deserve to die for treating her like that, right?

Hinode: But what if he thought they deserve to die not only for bullying her, but also.. 

Hinode: .. For not being her friends?

Hinode: And since she killed him for "betraying her trust" in a way and doing something a friend wouldn't do..

Miki: .. She believes it's okay to hurt and even kill someone if they refuse to be friends with her?

Hinode: Possibly.

Hinode: And considering that she's been spending most of her time in her cell lately and writing something..

Hinode: .. Who knows what she's planning. 

Hinode: Now.. 

Hinode: Prisoner 003, Ishizu Shun.

Hinode: Well, this one has caused us a lot of trouble.

Hinode: He really didn't take being voted guilty well.

Hinode: Considering his memory problems, his memory loss is much worse compared to other guilty prisoners.

Hinode: Thanks to the way this machine works, we can also watch the recording of him getting his memory erased for the first time.

Miki: Do we.. really have to watch it?

Hinode: I found some of the things he said very interesting, Miki-san. We are the guards of this place, so we have to pay attention to everything the prisoners say.

Miki: .. You're right.

(the recording starts playing)

(Shun: .. W-where am I?

Shun: .. W-who are you two?!

Shun: T-this doesn't look like my-

Shun: Wait, what are these clothes?!

Hinode: It's okay, take a deep breath. You're fine.

Shun: I don't understand.. I don't understand!

Shun: W-where are they?

Shun: Where are Hina and Jouhei?

Shun: TELL ME RIGHT NOW!

Miki: Hinode-san!

Shun: I AM GOING TO BREAK ALL OF YOUR LIMBS IF YOU DON'T TELL ME WHERE YOU'RE HIDING THEM!

Shun: You just want to ruin my happiness, don't you? All of you.. All of you think I don't deserve to be loved, right?!

Shun: *starts sobbing* I JUST WANTED TO BE HAPPY!)

Hinode: I'm still grateful to you for saving me back there.

Hinode: I don't know if it's because I'm not that physically strong, but I really felt like Shun-san was going to kill me.

Miki: If something happened to you, we would have two injured guards to deal with. I didn't want that.

Hinode: Haha, understandable.

Hinode: So, I guess now we know his victims' names. 

Miki: There's something that bothers me about this.

Hinode: Really? What is it?

Miki: .. Why did he sound so worried about Hina-san's new boyfriend?

Miki: Actually, from what I remember, in the end of his second video, he was eating cake with both of them. And he looked happy and didn't mind Jouhei-san's company.

Miki: If he believed that Jouhei-san was a bad person who didn't deserve Hina-san, why would he want to spend time with him? Why would he worry about him?

Hinode: Maybe he actually liked them both, haha.

Miki: What was that?

Hinode: Never mind, that sounds stupid.

Hinode: It's just.. Shun-san likes both Kei-san and Eiko-san, right? And he also really wants to be loved..

Hinode: I feel like it wouldn't be out of character for him to be in love with both his "ex-girlfriend" and her new boyfriend even if he hated him at first.

Hinode: But that's just a theory~

Miki: .. Hinode-san, we're having a serious conversation here.

Hinode: Haha, sorry, sorry.

Hinode: Anyway, it took a while to make Shun-san go back to his cell and he actually tried to run away, believing that there must be some sort of exit.

Hinode: And when he actually did get his memories back..

Hinode: .. The first thing he did was attacking Kei-san right after he saw him eating with everyone.

Hinode: He really hated the fact that Kei-san got voted innocent while him and Eiko-san got voted guilty.

Hinode: .. He chose the wrong person to attack, however. Kei-san really did suffer from the consequences of being voted guilty in the past, but he can still fight back as long as he has a weapon.

Hinode: So, uh...

Hinode: M-maybe attacking Kei-san when he had something sharp in his hand wasn't the best idea.

Hinode: Oh well, at least they match now when it comes to eye injuries.

Hinode: Except Shun-san's eye is.. Uh..

Hinode: Pretty much gone-

Miki: Can we stop talking about it?

Hinode: Fine, fine.

Hinode: So, we can confidently say that Shun-san is one of the most dangerous prisoners right now. His relationship with Eiko-san is getting more and more weird too..

Hinode: He actually doesn't talk to anyone except Eiko-san now. He avoids Kei-san too, but every time he sees him, he looks angry and.. heartbroken, maybe?

Hinode: Looks like he really did like him.

Hinode: So, Prisoner 004, Chiba Naomi.

Hinode: Let's watch the recording first, since she got her memories taken too.

(the recording starts playing)

(Naomi: ...

Hinode: Okay, I think we're done.

Hinode: Naomi-san, how are you feeling?

Hinode: Naomi-san-

Naomi: .. M-mom?

Naomi: Mom, I'm sorry, I..

Naomi: *starts crying* I am so sorry.. for failing you..

Naomi: I just.. I don't know if I.. 

Naomi: I don't know if I want to-

Naomi: .. Huh?

Naomi: .. Who are you two?

Naomi: W-where am I? W-where is my mother?

Hinode: Calm down. Can you remember who you are?

Naomi: U-uh..

Naomi: M-my name is Chiba Naomi. I am 30 years old. I'm an elementary school teacher. I live in-

Hinode: Okay, it worked.)

Miki: The first thing she did when we took her memories was start crying for her mother..

Miki: I didn't know Chiba-san was so attached to her.

Hinode: I don't think she was attached to her in a good way though.

Hinode: The way she acted after losing her memories was very interesting.

Hinode: It's like.. At the same time she was more anxious, but she also was very friendly with all the youngest prisoners, even Asahi-san.

Hinode: Perhaps it's because she didn't remember what happened to her victim and how he treated her, since we took more memories from her than we did in Shun-san's case. 

Hinode: Maybe she used to see her victim in Asahi-san, but since she forgot about her crime, she started to like him more.

Hinode: But then she got her memories back and..

Hinode: .. The glass cat figure.

Hinode: She broke it and put the glass shards in Asahi-san's food when no one was looking.

Miki: ...

Hinode: Are you okay, Miki-san? 

Miki: My own little brother almost got killed, but sure, I'm okay.

Hinode: Got it, not okay at all, haha.

Hinode: Asahi-san was saved by Kei-san who noticed that something was wrong with the food and stopped him before he tried to eat it.

Hinode: I really didn't expect Kei-san out of all people to save him. You must be feeling very grateful to him.

Miki: .. I do, actually.

Miki: I did get him a strawberry milkshake as thanks later after that.

Hinode: This guy really made one prisoner lose an eye but saved another prisoner's life..

Hinode: Oh, by the way, let's talk about him now, shall we?

Hinode: Prisoner 005, Sanada Kei.

Hinode: His injuries are healing, thankfully, but I'm afraid there's not much we can do about his eye.

Hinode: Reina-san requested a new eyepatch for him, actually. A more.. uh, "cute" one, maybe?

Hinode: She really cares about him. At first she protected him from Yurika-san and now this..

Hinode: He got a new outfit and he feels much more comfortable in it now. 

Hinode: It's like he's back to "normal" but he's also more.. I'm not sure how to say it..

Hinode: It's like, now he has people he's actually close with and he sticks with them? 

Hinode: Though he is still very.. uh.. friendly with me, haha..

Miki: "I don't think Kei-san just wants to be friends with him.."

Hinode: But I think an innocent verdict really did have a good impact on him. He's still friends with Reina-san and he's now close with Asahi-san and some other prisoners as well.

Hinode: His relationship with them is much more healthy than whatever he had with Eiko-san and Shun-san.

Miki: .. I don't know if he will finally open up about his crime though.

Hinode: Well, Miki-san..

Hinode: Maybe he has a reason to be so afraid of talking about his crime.

Miki: Like what? And why do you think he's afraid of it and not just.. I don't know.. being mysterious, I guess?

Hinode: Well, let's think about it.

Hinode: Sanada Kei is a man who likes to be in control. When he sees someone he likes, he immediately tells them about it. He doesn't take no for an answer.

Hinode: .. But judging by how much he screamed during his punishment and how much pain it had caused him, he hates not being in control.

Hinode: He still has horrible scars on his back. He's shown crying and begging for help in his second viideo.

Hinode: Now, Miki-san, what is the worst thing that could ever happen to a man like that?

Miki: ...

Miki: .. I understand now.. I think.

Miki: L-let's talk about Yoshioka-san now.

Hinode: Okay.

Hinode: Prisoner 006, Yoshioka Eiko.

Hinode: Let's watch the recording first.

Hinode: Her behavior after the punishment was.. unexpected, to say the least.

(the recording starts playing)

(Eiko: ...

Eiko: T-takeru?..

Eiko: Where's Takeru?..

Eiko: H-have you two seen him?..

Eiko: Please, I just want him to reply.. Please..

Eiko: I don't know if he's even alive!

Eiko: And if he's alive..

Eiko: Why is he still.. ignoring me?..

Eiko: .. Maybe.. it actually would be better if he turned out to be dead.. haha..)

Hinode: After that she just started laughing and walked back to her cell. She didn't ask us anything about this place, she was too busy thinking about Takeru-san.

Hinode: We not only took memories of her crime, but some other memories as well, so she also didn't remember what Takeru-san did and why he stopped replying to her messages.

Hinode: I still wonder what exactly he did to make her kill him.. 

Hinode: I know, maybe it looks like Eiko-san is way too obsessed with him, but..

Hinode: To be honest, I can't help but feel like Takeru-san really wasn't the best partner for her.

Hinode: Well, whether it's her being too possessive or him being a manipulator.. 

Hinode: It's our job to find that out.

Hinode: Anyway, now Eiko-san is spending time only with Shun-san and doesn't talk to anyone else. 

Hinode: Interestingly, it doesn't feel like she only sees him as her "bodyguard" anymore. It's like..

Hinode: She really does feel like she can't trust anyone else here.

Hinode: She also seems to really hate Yurika-san judging by the way she glares at her now.

Miki: She attacked Eiji-san and Yoshioka-san likes him a lot, so..

Miki: I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out she's plotting something.

Hinode: Yeah, we have to be careful with her.

Hinode: Prisoner 007, Yano Asahi.

Hinode: This poor boy is somehow getting better and getting more traumatized at the same time.

Hinode: He almost got killed by a woman he trusted and who is the only person that can be seen as a mother figure here.

Hinode: And it's possible this woman will try to kill him again since Naomi-san really is.. not doing good right now.

Hinode: But at least now he has people who can protect him.

Hinode: He likes Kei-san a lot now and follows him everywhere. Kei-san doesn't mind and even plays along and acts as his older brother.

Hinode: He plays the same role for other two prisoners actually. 

Miki: ".. What is it with Kei-san being an actually good big brother for other prisoners, but not for his own little brother?"

Hinode: He's more open now and he smiles more often. Well, at least when Naomi-san isn't around. 

Hinode: He's also still a little afraid of Yurika-san for obvious reasons, but he's okay with her company as long as he's with Kei-san.

Hinode: He also gets along surprisingly well with Akio-san now.

Hinode: You must be happy to see your little brother making so many friends here.

Miki: Y-yeah..

Miki: "But I'm also tired of them trying to kill him over and over.."

Hinode: Prisoner 008, Maruyama Yurika.

Hinode: It was.. really hard to punish her properly.

Hinode: When she found out about what happened to Shun-san, Naomi-san and Eiko-san, she decided to fight back and threatened to kill Riku and your brother if we did anything to her.

Hinode: .. That didn't work however, since you've knocked her out instantly.

Hinode: You.. are really taking advantage of your status as a guard now, haha..

Miki: .. I know that she's capable of killing Marito. I couldn't just let her do that.

Hinode: You really care about your brother a lot-

Miki: Yes, unlike you.

Hinode: ...

Miki: I'm pretty sure she doesn't know that me and Marito are related though. So why did she-

Hinode: She probably chose him because she noticed how close you two are and because he's the youngest one here.

Hinode: A-anyway, let's watch the recording.

(The recording starts playing)

(Yurika: .. Hey.

Yurika: Where am I?

Yurika: Ugh, did I really get sent to prison or something?

Yurika: Uhh, wait, I was told that if something like this happens, I'll-

Yurika: ...

(sounds of Yurika standing up)

Yurika: You'll never take me alive, losers!

Yurika: Gh-

Yurika: W-what are you-

Miki: Seriously.. Maruyama-san, you're not actually that strong.

Miki: It's easy for you to attack the weak ones, like children and the injured prisoners..

Miki: But what about someone who's stronger than them and can actually put up a fight?

Yurika: ...

Miki: Now, sleep well.)

Hinode: We actually had to take more of her memories later, since she still continued to act.. unstable and she only got better when we took memories of her being "betrayed" by her parents.

Hinode: After that she started to act like a young woman who.. uh.. comes from a quite rich family-

Miki: And who never had to work to make a living.

Miki: It was kind of annoying, but at least she didn't try to kill everyone.

Hinode: It would be nice if we could just leave her like this, but we still need more information from her, so we had to give her her memories back. 

Hinode: She still likes to threaten everyone, but she doesn't actually do anything.

Hinode: It also seems that she's back to being friends with Reina-san.

Hinode: I wonder what made her have this sudden change of heart..

Hinode: .. Prisoner 009, Kuroki Riku.

Hinode: ...

Hinode: Let's watch the recording before I say anything.

(The recording starts playing)

(Riku: .. I hate him.

Riku: I hate him so much, I hate him so much, I hate him so much, I hate him so much..

Riku: I HATE HIM, I HATE HIM, I HATE HIM, I HATE HIM!

Riku: I am so done with this.. Why do I still have to spend time with him..

Riku: No.. 

Riku: Why can't I.. leave him already?

Riku: I hate him, right?.. So why can't I just tell him to leave me alone?..

Riku: I don't get it..

Riku: Huh.. I don't think I've seen this place before..

Riku: Well, it doesn't matter.

Riku: As long as he's not here, I'm fine with it.)

Hinode: .. He didn't even notice me.

Hinode: He didn't even notice his own brother, haha..

Hinode: Well, he does have some very strong feelings about Yue, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Miki: ...

Hinode: .. *sighs* I guess we still have to talk about.. that.

Hinode: Shortly after Riku got his memories back..

Hinode: .. He tried to kill or at least hurt himself by putting that hair dye he requested earlier into his tea.

Hinode: Thankfully, he was stopped by Akio-san, who noticed his drink looking strange and asked what was in it. 

Hinode: While Riku was trying to come up with an answer, Akio-san looked closer, remembered Riku's request and realized that it was black hair dye.

Hinode: Riku was mad at Akio-san at first, but now..

Hinode: They get along really well, actually. I rarely see Riku without Akio-san and vice versa.

Hinode: I think it's because deep inside..

Hinode: Riku actually wanted someone to stop him. Maybe he even wanted it to be Akio-san. 

Hinode: Maybe he wanted it to be him so that he could make sure Akio-san is not mad at him and has forgiven him.

Hinode: Riku seems to have become more social again and he spends a lot of time with Akio-san, Kei-san and some other prisoners.

Hinode: And now, finally..

Hinode: Prisoner 010, Himura Reina.

Hinode: She.. completely ignores us now.

Hinode: She said she doesn't care about our opinion anymore and she "has her own plans for this place", whatever that's supposed to mean.

Hinode: However, even though she's so cold now, she seems to have become quite popular among prisoners.

Hinode: She can be often seen with Kei-san, Yurika-san, Akio-san, Riku-san and Asahi-san.

Hinode: Aimi-san, Naomi-san, Shun-san and Eiko-san still avoid her though. I wonder why..

Miki: ...

Miki: I have a bad feeling about her becoming more popular.

Miki: And with these particular people too..

Hinode: Well, it's not like she can do anything to stop us or stop the trial from happening.

Hinode: Okay, that's the end of the report. We really should be more careful this time, now that we know what will happen to everyone after they receive their final verdicts.

Hinode: Are you ready, Miki-san?

Miki: .. I wonder what will happen to us after the third trial is over.

Hinode: W-well, they'll most likely just send us back home.. 

Hinode: Probably.

Miki: Also, where's Eiji-san?

Hinode: I've heard he will join us later, but I'm not sure when exactly. 

Miki: .. Okay.

Miki: *stands up* Let's go, then.

Miki: We can't let ourselves make a wrong choice this time.

Miki: .. Let the third trial begin.

[mayimkjs]

The MILGRAM Administrators Connections to the Id, Ego and Superego

So, the idea to do this popped into my mind while binge watching Steven Universe theories and retrospectives. I thought about applying this to MILGRAM because of Es (I'll get to that later in this post).

Feel free to add onto this are share your opinions. This isn't fully fleshed out I feel, so doing that will help. Some of this might be a reach, but it's interesting none the less.

Indented text are definitions and info about what the his I'm currently talking about is.

What is the Id, Ego and Superego

The id, ego and superego are the structural model of the psyche. They are three different interacting agents which describes the unconscious, conscious and values in relation to reality.

Id - Es

Let's get this out of the way first. This is what Es' name comes from as the German translation of "Id" is "Es".

The id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual needs. It is the unconscious source of all innate needs, emotional impulses and desires. It has no organization and no collective will and It demands immediate gratification of its instincts. The is seeks self-gratification.

I feel like this represents Es pretty well. We feed them our emotions, impulses and desires as well as the fact that it is impossible for all of us to come together and act as an organized individual. Es also doesn't totally even have free will them self.

Ego - Jackalope

the ego is the logically organizing agent that mediates between the id's desires and the demands of the superego.

So it's between the 2. It manages the id, but responds to the superego. Like how he is Es' boss and the jackalopes in the novel/manga are seen to answer to someone.

It analyses complex ideas and then synthesizes them into logically coherent interpretations.

Ok, hear me out. What if Jackalope is pulling the strings behind the scenes during the interrogations? The bell always rings at the perfect moment. He also puts together the general consensuses about everyone's crimes at the end of the trial. Other jackalopes are also seen to have knowledge of the prisoner's crimes before Es learns what they are.

 The ego attempts to direct the id in a way that satisfies morals, religion and culture.

The main role of a jackalope in MILGRAM is to guide Es and keep them on track.

Superego - The guy the jackalopes respond to

This includes the characters from the novel/manga and the guy at the end of the T2 review. I will be referring to this person/people as the Admin.

The superego plays the moralizing role via internalized experiences. The superego reflects the internalization of cultural rules and it aims for perfection. It's the part of the personality structure that includes the individual's ideals and goals that are commonly called the conscience. It criticizes and prohibits feelings it deems are wrong. Thus, the superego works in contradiction to the id. 

The Admin is who has final say on how each round of trials work, who the prisoners are and staffing. They want perfection which is why they created MILGRAM. They created MILGRAM to be the perfect justice system. They keep changing their tests because they don't deem them perfect. From what's been shown, there have been 3 tests. The first only had one person voting which resulted in all but 1 person being given a guilty verdict. The second, the prisoners got to vote and everyone got innocent I believe. So the logical next move, is to get a warden with no connection to the previous connections to MILGRAM and a larger voting pool. And to take this a step further, use the same technology used to wipe everyone's memories in the first test on the warden and get a system that would give you more details.

The structural Model

Id: Fully unconscious

Ego: Mainly conscious and preconscious with some unconscious

Superego: Mainly unconscious with some preconscious and a little conscious

[milk-ly]

So fellas, it seems as though Kazui likely won’t make it back up to the innocent pool this trial💀

This is definitely one of the biggest situations the community has had with voting, and there’s apparently already been a few over the years.

So I want to talk about it, but with speculation in regards to in universe Milgram lore and themes!

First off, I’m not sure what the creators can do at this point. Because Kazui’s votes have long since dipped into the unforgiven pool, ending the voting early like they did with Shidou’s in trial 1 likely won’t accomplish much. The damage has already been done.

It’s not like they can remove the faulty votes like they did with Fuuta’s Trial 1 botting incident either. They can’t exactly hunt hundreds of people all down and remove their votes. So, I don’t think there’s much they can do.

My best guess is that they’re going to try to make it work in the story as much as they can.

Not sure how it’s gonna work, but they kinda did it with T1 Mikoto, no? They had jackalope bring up the fact that he caused quite a stir, referring to the tiktok incident.

A friend brought something to my attention a while back when I told them what was happening.

Obviously what’s happening sucks and is disingenuous to the project. However, this situation says a lot about people’s biases and psychology as well. It ironically fits the theme of the project.

How far are you willing to defend your favourites? How far are you willing to screw over your most detested characters?

Also this line in undercover:

“the fine line between “hate and OK”

Poetically enough, the person who started gathering people to mass vote Kazui guilty was a Kazui FAN was it not? And it was then some people who hated Kazui and what he did that jumped onto the opportunity to ensure Kazui being voted guilty.

We really are treading a fine line. Despite the wildly different opinions towards Kazui between the people voting him guilty, they’re still coming to the same verdict.

People are literally monetarily bribing people completely unrelated to vote. Like they are going REALLY far to just screw over a character, aren’t they?

The story of how the votes pan out is important too, not just the results. This is why Jackalope brought up how the votes actually played out during trial 1. It tells a story. It shows how we came to different conclusions during the voting sessions. It shows how strong our verdicts are. It shows our biases.

Here’s a quote from Jackalope’s report of the end of the first trial that’ll probably show what I mean better:

“Prisoner no. 04, Mu. Innocent […] but what’s with this one? You were completely on the road to forgive, but decided to change the judgement at the end. Seems you were bent on making a judgement until the end. Did you notice something with this one?”

While Muu still ended up with an innocent judgement in trial 1, this line shows how important the trip to getting there is no matter what the final verdict turns out to be. What happened in history can not be changed.

I wasn’t there for Muu’s t1 voting so I can’t say for sure what Jackalope was referring to, but I assume it’s talking about more people catching on to her “true self.�� There were always hints of it in trial 1, you could deduce it from the messages written on the chalkboard and her phone messages. (Granted, non-Japanese speakers would have more trouble)

In our current situation, it’s the people with the most power and influence that’s affecting the votes the most. And that in of itself is saying a lot too. People are feeling so strongly about wanting their verdict to prevail that they’re using their influence to ensure it.

But on the other hand, this is definitely not what was intended when they said that we could vote however we wanted💀 still praying that the unforgiveness shrine will die out. And that people will stop trying to bot or bribe people. But I don’t think that there’s really anything we can do aside from just continuing to vote how we want.

Related to that, I want to give a wild prediction for trial 3, hear me out.

I am slightly concerned about what’s gonna happen to Kotoko in t3. Kotoko ticked off most of the community when the t2 designs were released. And because of that, I know a lot of people are already planning to vote her guilty.

Hypothetically, if she is voted guilty, she’ll be restrained right? But you know who won’t be restrained?

Orekoto.

We’ve learned that even if Mikoto is restrained, orekoto will not be.

This is a huge problem for Kotoko because if you saw their timeline conversation, they literally directly threatened to kill each other.

Here’s a snippet of the timeline conversation on Kotoko’s birthday during t2:

Mikoto: Ah, Koto-chan. It's been a while. We were isolated for some time but, how are you doing? Lots of things happened, but for now let's get along. Here, it's your birthday right? I figured that noone would come celebrate it for you, so I came to wish you a happy birthday.

Kotoko: ...What a carefree person you are. Someone as atrocious as you won't be forgiven next time too, surely. When that time comes, it'll be your last. Next time, I'll kill you.

Mikoto: Haah? Why don't you try it then, you lunatic. I'll crush anyone who tries to harm me.... I'll make sure to thoroughly beat you at your own game...!!

It’s pretty implied that the one talking in that conversation isn’t Mikoto. Mikoto has never talked like that from what we’ve seen. (I’m actually not sure if he uses Ore pronouns there, I’m assuming he did, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!)

So if Kotoko IS attacked by Orekoto because of the beef they have from the two fist fights they’ve had, Kotoko will not be able to defend herself.

Originally, the only caveat I had to this thought was “well, if it comes down to that, won’t Kazui be able to protect her?”

However, now that Kazui’s likely heading into a guilty verdict because of everything’s that’s been happening, he may be physically restrained in t3. Which means that if a prisoner is being attacked and Kazui wanted to help, he won’t be able to.

It’s already pretty likely that we might lose someone when t3 rolls around. Through Mahiru’s condition, Milgram has already warned us that death is indeed possible. So there are a lot of characters that are already showing slight death flags.

Also this line:

This line about Jackalope taking action if Mikoto “becomes an obstacle for all” is peculiar. I’m not sure if they would put this line in here if it wasn’t ever gonna play in somewhere.

It’s totally possible that Orekoto wouldn’t actually go for Kotoko unless she was going for him first though. So I guess we’ll see.

Sorry this isn’t written the most clearly, I just wanted to get this out there. I’m very open to hearing what others think too! I’m hoping for the best once t3 rolls around. I personally don’t want anyone to die, but I know it might be inevitable. Maybe this post will age poorly though, I don’t know. Just some thoughts!

[nemiravens]

OC-tober Day 27: Your OC having a weird dream

Feat. Nemu from MILGRAM

Nemu didn't remember how things led up to that point. In fact, her memory had always been filled with lapses ever since she woke up in MILGRAM. Confusion should no longer be a foreign concept.

Prison clothes she couldn't recall putting on. She didn't ignore the tag attached to the strap rounding her shoulders.

No. 011. The eleventh prisoner.

MILGRAM has only ten prisoners. Nemu always wondered why the Panopticon would have an eleventh room. But she refused to acknowledge the revelation.

Why would she make the eleventh prisoner?

She's situated in the middle of what seemed to be a court. The straps adorning her outfit was a grim reminder that depending on the outcome of her trial, she's bound to be stripped off of her liberty.

She watched as clarity restored her vision enough to recognize the faces of those who would determine her fate. The same individuals whose fates she decided with her own iron fists.

"You may now cast your votes." Jackalope's words echoed inside Nemu's head. She stiffened.

"She demonstrated malice to those in need of her benevolence. She must not be forgiven."

"She is a false prophet. Therefore, she must be punished."

The scales began to tip towards a sure judgment. Nemu felt like she had been bound and thrown into deep waters. Helpless and drowning.

"Innocence is subjective. But there's a solid proof of her wrongdoings."

"She's guilty! Like... guilty guilty!"

The prisoners who took the role of her jurists. Executioners who delivered her rightful punishment. Nemu had earned her keep.

Her consciousness pushed back to the surface, and Nemu snapped her eyes open with a startled gasp.

"Good morning, Nemu. I hope you earned your well-deserved rest."

With disoriented vision, Nemu observed Jackalope snuggly seated on her lap. He remained speaking, possibly delivering updates and instructions, but his words refused to register.

The consequences of her verdicts were sure to follow. Jackalope made it clear that the final decision lies on her whether a prisoner's crime is meant to be forgiven or punished. But Nemu didn't want to hear any of it.

She dreaded to know any of it.

See the full list of OC-tober writing prompts here.

[bonnyhoddie]

Little MILGRAM rant lmao

Found out a little while ago that Shidou was innocent despite him being a shitty doctor at best and a literal organ harvester and CRIMINAL at worst.

And also found out today that he has fewer guilty votes than MAHIRU, who has already been BRUTALLY attacked by Kotoko and whose only crime was being overwhelming and suffocating and being ACCIDENTALLY toxic.

Like, I'm sorry, people WANT Shidou as a doctor? He literally has voice lines where he tells what could very well be his patients, to "hurry up and die" and had a little SMIRK when turning to leave RIGHT AFTER comforting family members after possibly telling them to let their family member die.

"Oh, he clearly regrets what he did." So does Mahiru?! Girl didn't even REALISE what she was doing until it was too late. Also, she was BRUTALLY punished for it.

ALSO, the shitty doctor/CRIMINAL/POTENTIAL SERIAL KILLER got forgiven but not the high school bully? Like, yeah, Mu is a shitty person and deserves not to be forgiven, but Shidou should have been guilty too.

"Kotoko will attack them!" No tf she won't because a) Jackalope made a rule that the prisoners can't attack each other because of Kotoko, b) She tricked us (but also kinda didn't), so we know now what she'll do, so we can vote her guilty, and c) the PRISONERS will know that Kotoko is a threat to them, so would be wary of her.

"He's keeping Mahiru alive." Jackalope legit made a rule so that the prisoners couldn't attack each other, I'm POSITIVE that he can arrange something so that Shidou can still help Mahiru, like helping her visit him. OR, arrange something so that he doesn't have to help her in the first place.

Though, it's too late to try and change the votes lol, so I guess the only option is to vote him guilty in the last round, because a shitty doctor, who clearly does not care for the lives of his patients since he literally wants them to die, and who almost NONE of us would actually trust to care for us and keep us alive, should NOT be getting more inno votes than a manipulative high school bully and a love-obsessed woman.

Don't get me wrong tho, I like Shidou, I just wish people didn't forgive him when nobody would like him if he was a doctor irl and you were in his care.

/nm

[fuutakaijyama]

Hello! How about Kotoko learning that reader was guilted on trial 1. Where she had some sort of feelings for them (a crush?) and until then believed they were innocent... Either from that or from the perspective of reader suffering of hearing the voices and what she does (or doesn't do)

idk how to write for Kotoko but I tried my best

LOVE FOR THE GUILTY

a/n: grrrr kotoko as much as i struggle to like her character ask and you shall receive.

warnings ?: brief mentions of violence / harm.

Unbeknownst to you Kotoko was infatuated with you, and while she couldn't put her finger on why she had such an attraction to you she had dwindled it down to something of a crush.

A small smile on her face as she waved to you while going back to her cell, or maybe her sneaking you an extra snack when Jackalope wasn't looking? (👀)

As you got to know each other your bond gradually became stronger, from you sitting together during meal times, to her sending in requests on your behalf if you wanted something, you were practically inseparable.

At least.. until trial two.

You were voted guilty to your surprise, a sour expression on your face as you tried pulling Fuuta away from Kotoko’s blows, standing in front of him you stared her down. “Kotoko! What are you doing?! What the hell did he ever do to you?!”

Kotoko stood there in a way that oozed of fear and remorse, placing her bat down on the floor, her hands in the air as she apologized.

Kotoko betrayed you, from practically forcing herself to hit you in the stomach with her bat or slamming you around like a rag doll, nothing would hurt more than those cold words she spoke.

“Those who've committed sins must be tried for them, there will be no exceptions.”

Time flew by as you rotted in your cell, the voices growing louder and louder and your head spun, eyes watering as you felt like crying. You heard the sound of someone shaking your cell bars.

Kotoko. Your head shot up, watching her come inside, keeping the cell open for both of you. “Amane told me about the voices. Is that true?” She was skeptical, sure Amane had been practically brainwashed by a cult but who was to say it wasn't their doing as well.

“Why the hell would I tell you.” The bond that you and Kotoko held had slowly started fraying, a bitter expression plastered on your face as a concerned one played on hers.

She sat next to you, rubbing your shoulder as she played with the longer strands of your hair, “Does it hurt? Y’know to have the voices ringing in your head?”

You grimaced at the sound of her voice, in a way it felt like she was one of the voices too. “I can't sleep at night hearing them, they eat at you like larva.” You looked back up at her, feeling her hands trail up your arm and shoulders, finally making its way to your chin. Her voice was barely a whisper, a soft whimper coming from your throat.

“I’m sorry, I was blinded by my justice, I shouldn't have hurt you so badly.”

She rubbed your hand, hugging you tightly, hearing the sound of her cries about to explode from her chest.

Maybe, just maybe, you could forgive her.

[2amtechnicolor]

Milgram Project and Spec Ops: The Line - The Only Way to Win is Not to Play

"They are guilty. But what is justice? And how would you see it dealt?" - Konrad, Spec Ops: The Line (2012)

[TW: mentions of murder, violence, various war crimes, and the American military]

So Fuuta's second MV and voice drama premiered last night...and it's a lot. This is our first time hearing directly from a "Guilty" prisoner and honestly, probably one of the best example of how a vote can change personalities in Milgram next to Haruka's second VD.

(I will be pulling Milgram ENG translations from @onigiriico)

So we all know the basic premise of Milgram, the music videos. We watch a prisoner sing about their "murder", we listen to their talks with the warden, Es, and then we voice them "innocent/justified" or "guilty/unjustified" accordingly.

In season one, us, as the audience, had a sense of naivete. We had no idea what a "guilty" or "innocent" vote would do to the prisoners. There was no real explanation for what the consequences of our actions would be. Now, the curtain has been pulled back. Sure, we heard the story from Jackalope, but listening to a second-hand account and a first-hand account are two different things. One is clinical observation, the other is emotional.

One person's death is a tragedy, but a million deaths is a statistic.

When just given the factual events (Kotoko attacked Amane, Mikoto, Mahiru, and Fuuta before being subdued by Kazui), it's easy to digest. Person A moves to Persona B and commits Action C.

A 17-year-old boy strangles a 10-year-old girl.

An 18-year-old girl aborts her child.

A 20-year-old man harasses a middle schooler online until her death.

At face value, any one of these could easily be voted "guilty" from one sentence according to your own values. It's when you get into the specifics, when we see their point of view for ourselves, when we hear it from their mouths, that it becomes more complicated.

Why is Muu, a girl who stabbed a classmate, more forgivable than Fuuta, who never laid his hands on anyone?

Why is Mahiru, a woman whose boyfriend committed suicide, less forgivable than an organ harvester?

Does internet harassment justify losing an eye? Does a toxic relationship justify being on the brink of death? If you had known the outcome, would you even have chosen differently?

Fuuta: "You and I are exactly the same breed!...Like I’d let someone like this judge whether I should be forgiven or not!"

This brings me to Spec Ops: The Line.

For all of you who don't know what SO:TL is, it's a military shooter game in the Spec Ops series, released in 2012, near the height of the military shooter genre's popularity (Gears of War, Halo, Call of Duty, etc.) However, SO:TL isn't a video game--it's an art piece.

You play as Captain Martin Walker, a special ops soldier in the US Army, searching Dubai and the surrounding area for an missing army comrade of his: Lieutenant Colonel John Konrad, the 33rd Infantry's commander. Konrad had defied orders in an attempt to bring order back to Dubai after the worst of sandstorms in its recorded history hit.

I won't go into detail on the whole plot, but while the player searches for Konrad and the rest of the 33rd you also:

use white phosphorus against opposing forces, killing 47 civilians who were evacuated for shelter in the process

execute either a Emirati civilian who stole water from the desert city or a member of the 33rd who was sent to apprehend him, killing the civilian's whole family in the process. Choosing to not choose kills them both.

assist in decimating the water supply of Dubai, dooming the city's inhabitants to dehydration

and many, many more atrocities.

In the end, when you finally find Konrad, the man who has been taunting you over the radio the whole game...he's dead. He's been dead for a while. You, the player, as Captain Walker, did all this, killed all those innocent people, justifying that it would all be worth it in the end, to find a man that was already dead.

Konrad: "There were 5,000 people alive in Dubai the day before you arrived. How many are alive today I wonder?"

There is no way out of these missions but through. You have to use chemical weapons, you have to murder civilians in cold blood. You have no choice.

But...There's always a choice.

In the words of the game itself: "If you were a better person, you wouldn't be here."

You don't have to play this game.

Turning your console off and never touching the disc again is a valid choice.

You don't have to be a war criminal. You have the choice to walk away.

You don't have to vote in Milgram.

You, the audience, are Captain Walker. By playing SO:TL, you are responsible for the destruction of Dubai.

We, the audience, are Warden Es. By voting in Milgram, we are responsible for Kotoko's vigilante justice. We are responsible for Fuuta losing an eye. We are responsible for Mahiru's near-death experience, and Amane's broken mental state.

But we don't have to be.

...

However, There's one major difference between SO:TL and Milgram, and I'm not just talking about genre.

Spec Ops: The Line is a singleplayer video game.

Milgram is decided by majority vote.

If you choose to opt out of Spec Ops: The Line, no one has to die.

If you choose to opt out of voting in Milgram...you can't necessarily stop everyone else.

So if a "guilty" or "innocent" outcome is inevitable, which is the most moral decision?

Not voting?

Or voting with your conscience without knowing the results of your outcome?

Are you setting a shattered bone, or breaking it in another place?

...

I can't answer that for you.

Es: "It’s alright. If you and I really are the same kind of person like you say, I’ll end up like that sooner or later anyway."

[sweet-peach-studios]

A crazy Mikoto Theory!

Hey guys I'm new to MILGRAM (and reddit) unfortunately i missed the first voting but I had this crazy thought recently that we probably got mikoto and his mv all wrong?

( Bear with me here bc I really think I'm onto something with this. )

During the second trial announcement jackalope confirming mikotos DiD struck me as odd. This was really the only piece of Canon lore we've gotten and its very early, if this truly was mikoto faking for sympathy or whatever reason they definitely wouldn't have confirmed DID so early. It was almost as if the creators were trying to steer us away from that theory and I think why is because its way off. If we kept fighting the DiD theory bc it could end up being a problematic representation of a real disorder and chose to vote him guilty again based on the fact that he might possibly be faking we would condem him without even hearing him out. This lead me to rewatch his 1st trial with the thought of "if wether or not he does or does not have DiD" isn't what were supposed to be looking for then what are we looking for?" I don't think the creators expected the he's faking theory to get as popular as it did but the MV was obviously made with something hidden inside (that's the whole point of the game) so what did they want us to look for? Well..exactly what we were looking for in the other 8 MVs before his, who he killed and why.

Now I don't know who he killed but I'm thinking the video was hinting twords more why and what happened after it happened. This is when I started to really analyze the lyrics (English anyway)

The first line

"if I could laugh if I could go back id play dead even though I'm alive right?"

This line right off the bat was interesting as it sounds immediately remorseful, if I could go back and change things I would pretend to be dead instead. Considering this line was shown on top of what I'm assuming is his murder he's probably talking about what happens. But who's "he?"

(excuse my terms if anything comes off as offensive to anyone with did just let me know!)

Red(ill call the more murderous mikoto) looks to be the one to sing on the more aggressive parts of the song

  "if I could end, if I could stop, how long will this dream go on?" More remorse but this time with a reference to a dream?

"You don't have to keep it in, hide it away, I will save me"

Here's where my true theory comes in...this music video isn't mikoto swapping back and forth during all of his murders its Mikoto in the process of creating Blue (the mikoto we all know) to cope with what he did.

  The video isn't taking place of the course of mikoto killing severL people ( serial killer theory) but over the course of a few hours where the guilt gets to be too much to bear.

You don't have to keep in what you did anymore you can hide away with the new innocent alter, I will save me from this depression.

After the scene if him sitting after the murder is the first time we see blue in a cloudy dreamy space but we never see blu outside of this headspace most likely due to him not really being out yet red the original is still fronting. Blue "wakes up" so to speak confused and it seems almost like parts of the song are explaining to blue whats happening while still keeping him in the dark.

"I won't forgive you even though I'm right"

This line is repeated often and has been speculated to mean many things, mikoto breaking the 4th wall and talking to es, or him talking to red for getting him into this mess. But I think its actually Red addressing the person he killed. Think about it, this all started with the murder though I'm not sure what led up to it its likely that what happened with victim is why mikoto created blue in the first place.

I'll go in depth with some lyrics to try and translate what I think he's saying

"If I could change, can I do it?, I wonder from when I started to gave up"

He's wondering if he can become innocent again if he can guilt to stop eating him up, to feel something again, finally he has hope

If I could loose it, if I could choose, is this selfish?" Thats too much isn't it?"

If I could loose this guilt if I could choose to be innocent again, but isn't that selfish? This is crazy...

"Maybe its ok to keep living, split in half, make that heart beat"

The alter will give him reprieve if I split in half ill feel better. (Keep in mind I don't actually think he made an alter consciously but I do think the video is showing blue become more and more aware as reds guilt gets deeper.)

Then immediately as red starts to accept it blue Appears again confused and afraid.

Then the aggressive voice is now in the blue headspace red is now fully aware of blue and has come to terms with him being there

"Its like what's wrong isn't wrong, I'm already the fake one"

Sounds like red is convincing himself that this is ok, he can't be any worse than me he's already fake so now I can live without guilt of what I did.

The scene i the bath i think is the climax of the creation and reds acceptance of blue.

"I'm probably not to blame its probably nothing I'm probably just having a bad dream." "I just have to wake up"

Back to the referencing of a dream, Red is now allowing us to front and thinks of his life as a bad dream, (when blue arrives it'll all be over i just need to "wake up".)

Then Once again as he wakes up blue is seen even more confused and little desperate, I think blue knows there's something wrong he just can't figure out what.

And red is now in the hesdspace no longer fronting but is still guilty, "please let me out of here"  now he's fully invested in blue thinking that nothing is wrong "ill forgive you if you tell me that its a lie"

He wants us, es, and the victim to recognize that blue is innocent he will forgive the victim for creating him if you realize this.

Anyway I think this has some merit mostly because I think its a bad idea to keep pushing the idea that he's lying now. Haha let me know what you all think!

[queen-of-bel]

If Fuuta was beaten half to death by Kotoko and is more stubborn and scared to talk to Es because of her then she made his refusal to admit he was the one in the wrong worse :/

GOD I know I sound like such a broken record lately with saying how excited I am for Backdraft, but I think Fuuta's beating brings an extra layer of complexity to his character because now he really is a victim.

What's worth pointing out is that Fuuta seems to be actually closer to acknowledging his actions than he was in the first trial. On the website for his S2 voice lines, he actually says "I'm not guilty... I think."

This is a stark contrast to his S1 voice lines where he says "Murderer? That's not my fault. That's not me. I didn't kill someone. Right? Isn't that right?"

This question to Es is repeated in his voice drama:

"That’s stupid. I haven’t killed anyone. I didn’t kill anyone. ... I didn’t. I … didn’t, right?"

Instead of looking to Es to validate his "innocence", as he was in the first trial, Fuuta is now tackling his denial in a way we never have seen him do before. It's no longer about Es viewing Fuuta as guilty or not. It's Fuuta himself openly challening his view that he's innocent. It's a small step, but it is a step in the right direction.

He also says in S2: "What I did could have had absolutely nothing to do with that person's death - you don't know!"

Again, this isn't a complete admission of guilt, but by saying "could have", it implies that he's aware there is a chance that his actions led to someone's death, and he no longer is saying it's impossible that he's killed someone.

I think this is where the "unforgiveable" vote clearly did some good for Fuuta. His official character profile says that he's actually a good person, so we've always known he's salvageable; he just needs that wake-up call to help him get out of his denial.

What complicates things is Kotoko.

I think we're all fully aware of how I feel about Kotoko and her attacks by now, but tldr, she was NOT justified to go on this rampage, in my opinion.

It's undeniable that Fuuta didn't kill someone with his own two hands. He did something shitty, and that led to someone's death (although how is still a mystery), but it wasn't a direct cause and effect.

Meanwhile, Kotoko, who has absolutely killed people, goes insane on all the unforgivable prisoners, nearly kills them, but then just... gets off scot-free? Unless Es/Jackalope do something, their refusal to hold Kotoko accountable for her actions is an implicit approval, meaning Fuuta doesn't know who he can trust now.

He already is doubting Es' role in this, saying "Kotoko who attacked me! ... Or was it you who's behind this?"

We all already know he's a coward and scared of the idea that his actions caused someone to die, but now, he's locked up in a mysterious place where his safety isn't guaranteed, and the authoritative figures aren't looking out for his wellbeing? No wonder he looks downright terrified in Backdraft.

So I see two outcomes from this:

The first is that Fuuta becomes so scared of everyone and everything around him that he's just going to completely shut himself off. He'll push Es out because now he's slowly acknowledging the possibility that maybe, just maybe he did cause someone's death. Maybe he really is a murderer. And if that's the case, he can't risk Es coming to that same conclusion. When Fuuta tried to give his own biased account of the story that painted him as the hero (the MV for "Bring It On!"), that nearly got him killed. Kotoko beat the shit out of him, he lost an eye, and it's very possible (from his perspective) that Es was the one who orchestrated it.

And if that's how Es reacts when Fuuta is the hero of the story, how would Es react when he finds out that Fuuta actually is a murderer?

The safer option in this case would be to not tell Es anything. To shut him out completely, because confirming to Es that Fuuta is a murderer may literally be the death of him.

or

The second response I can see from Fuuta is the complete opposite-- he bares everything in desperation. Maybe he is a murderer, but it's also possible that he's not. If Es has already decided that he's guilty, then Fuuta is going to need to throw everything at the wall and hope something will stick that can convince Es he's not a murderer. Milgram is not a safe place for him, and he very well could die in here. Rather than lay down and wait for that to happen, he might as well do everything he can to prevent that outcome.

In honestly admitting that there is a chance he is a murderer (which he seems to be doing, albiet very slowly), he can argue there's a chance that he isn't a murderer. In contrast to the flat out denial he kept forcing down Es' throat in S1, him now questioning his own innocence may lead him to more accurately portraying the events of what happened, and in turn may lead to Es being more lenient with him.

Either way, there is room for some incredible growth and development for Fuuta this trial, and I really don't think I'm going to be disappointed in whatever direction they decide to take his character in.

[linagram]

[ 𝙿𝚛𝚎-𝚃𝟹 𝚅𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚊 #𝟶𝟷 ] 𝚃𝚑𝚎 ����𝚑𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚎

yay yay the verdict system reveal is here!

hopefully it all makes sense and is not too confusing... also please keep the ending of this voice drama in mind for the future :)

(the door opens)

Hinode: We're here.

Miki: S-sorry for being late!..

Hinode and Miki: ...

Hinode: Huh.. Maybe he's hiding somewhere?

Miki: W-why did he ask us to come anyway?

Hinode: Who knows. *sits down*  The third trial is going to start soon, so it's most likely related to that.

Miki: ".. The third trial.."

Hinode: Is something wrong, Miki-san?

Miki: .. It's just..

Miki: I can't believe we've come so far.

Hinode: Yeah.. You're so strong, you know that? I've joined you all very recently, but you've been here since the very beginning.

Miki: .. Eiji-san is very strong too. 

Miki: I hope he comes back soon.

Hinode: .. A-ah, right.

Jackalope: What, are you sad that such a pretty girl is ignoring your compliments?

Hinode: Ah, here you are.

Jackalope: Hm? No screaming this time?

Hinode: Well, I'm kinda used to your company and your sudden appearances, so..

Hinode: The only downside is that I have to try really hard not to sneeze because of my allergies, haha..

Miki: ...

Jackalope: Hey, Guard 002, is everything okay?

Miki: .. I don't think you're actually worried about me, so let's just get started, okay?

Jackalope: .. You've really changed, huh?

Miki: Please, just tell us why you've called us here-

Miki: .. I forgot your name.

Jackalope: *sighs* Fine, let's just get into it.

Jackalope: So. The third trial.

Hinode: (to Miki) Told you it's gonna be about that.

Jackalope: By the way, how has everyone been doing lately? I'm especially curious about the guilty prisoners, considering their punishments-

Miki: I'm sure you know everything already.

Miki: Innocent prisoners have started to feel better, thankfully, but the guilty prisoners..

Miki: Well, w-we had another suicide attempt and a lot of murder attempts as well..

Hinode: Honestly, I'm worried about some innocent prisoners too. They have been acting.. a bit suspicious lately.

Jackalope: Yeah, you all have a lot of work to do.

Jackalope: So, the reason why I have called you two here..

Jackalope: .. Do you already know how you're going to vote everyone this time?

Hinode and Miki: Huh?

Miki: Well.. We have to watch their videos first, right? That's how it's always been..

Hinode: Is it possible that this time our decisions will be especially important since it's the last trial?

Jackalope: All of your decisions are equally important, but I don't think you two realize that.

Jackalope: You don't know what is going to happen to the prisoners after this, right?

Miki: ...

Hinode: So, how exactly this trial's voting will go? Is there anything we have to know beforehand?

Jackalope: Well, first of all, you all have to know how Milgram's voting system works.

Jackalope: The prisoners have to go through three trials. They will be voted either guilty or innocent after each trial ends. 

Jackalope: Every single verdict matters. 

Jackalope: The prisoner's fate depends on the "combination" of verdicts they got.

Miki: !

Hinode: A combination?..

Jackalope: Let's go through all of the possible combinations, shall we?

Jackalope: Let's start with the best one!.. For the prisoner, that is.

Jackalope: What if a prisoner is so lucky that they end up getting not one, not two, but three innocent verdicts?

Jackalope: Well, first of all, they get to return home safely, so that's already good.. again, for them.

Jackalope: But wait, there's more! The prisoner also loses all memories of their murder and the same goes for everyone who was either related to that murder or heard about it.

Miki: Loses.. memories?

Jackalope: What, are you surprised? Come on, you have no right to say anything about this after punishing the guilty prisoners.

Jackalope: But yes, the prisoner and everyone around them forget about the murder completely! And not just about the murder, they forget that the victim even existed!

Jackalope: So yeah, all of their problems just get solved magically and they get to continue living their life peacefully.

Jackalope: Obviously, they won't remember anything about Milgram as well.

Jackalope: Now, let's see who has a chance to get three innocent verdicts..

Jackalope: Right now, Prisoner 002, Hanasaki Aimi, Prisoner 007, Yano Asahi, and Prisoner 010, Himura Reina, have two innocent verdicts.

Jackalope: So, do you think they deserve to live such a happy life?

Miki: "I'm not sure about Aimi-chan.. But maybe it really would be better for Himura-san to just forget about everything."

Miki: ".. I definitely want Marito to live a life like that."

Jackalope: There's also.. another thing that can happen to the prisoner that gets three innocent verdicts.. 

Jackalope: But we're not gonna talk about that. Basically, it's supposed to be a reward for them, haha.

Hinode: Hold on, what kind of reward-

Jackalope: Anyway, but what if the prisoner got only two innocent verdicts? Well, the order of those verdicts matters a lot.

Jackalope: For example..

Jackalope: If the prisoner got two innocent verdicts after the first or second trial and also got an innocent verdict after the third trial, they will be able to go back home and everyone around them will forget about the murder and the victim!..

Jackalope: .. But they won't.

Jackalope: The prisoner will still remember everything perfectly. They will remember their life in Milgram too.

Hinode: I see.. So it's like a punishment for them still getting a guilty verdict once?

Jackalope: Correct. It may sound good at first, like sure, nobody remembers about your murder except you, but..

Jackalope: .. If you still feel bad about it, well. Sorry about that.

Jackalope: Right now, Prisoner 001, Miyagawa Akio, Prisoner 003, Ishizu Shun, Prisoner 004, Chiba Naomi, Prisoner 005, Sanada Kei, Prisoner 006, Yoshioka Eiko, and Prisoner 009, Kuroki Riku, have a chance to go back home while still having memories of their murder, but otherwise being safe.

Jackalope: All of them have been voted innocent once, but also have been voted guilty once as well. Whether or not they get forgiven this time is your choice to make.

Miki: .. Hinode-san, do you think your brother should-

Hinode: .. I don't know. 

Hinode: Actually, maybe it would be better for him to just forget about his victim entirely.

Hinode: But that's not possible, considering his verdicts, haha..

Jackalope: Well, but what if you discover something truly horrible about that prisoner?

Jackalope: What if you thought someone this nice doesn't deserve to be in a place like Milgram, but then you watched their video and found out that they've done something disgusting and immoral?

Jackalope: This happens all the time here, trust me.

Jackalope: So, the prisoner who got two innocent verdicts after the first two trials, but got voted guilty in the end will be able to go back home..

Jackalope: Except they will get punished right before that and any wounds they got because of it won't be treated. Psychological damage also counts.

Miki: .. W-what?

Hinode: I'm sorry, but how is that supposed to work?

Jackalope: Well, for example, the prisoner may lose their arm or get shot, but we will still send them home.. except they will most likely bleed out on the way and when they get to finally see their family again, they will already be dead.

Hinode: By the way, how exactly the prisoners are going to be sent home? Do they just get teleported or-

Jackalope: Right now I'm supposed to tell you about the verdict system. Nothing else. 

Jackalope: The prisoners are the same: Hanasaki Aimi, Yano Asahi and Himura Reina have two innocent verdicts, but you can still vote one, two, or all of them guilty, if you so desire.

Jackalope: I wonder who's going to end up not so lucky this time..

Jackalope: And now, the worst option out of them all.. again, for prisoners.

Jackalope: Three guilty verdicts.. means death penalty. Simple as that.

Miki: D-death penalty?!

Jackalope: Come on, you thought everyone is going to make it out alive?

Hinode: But.. How exactly are they going to be executed?

Jackalope: I'm just going to say that it's going to depend on their crime and how they acted while staying in Milgram.

Jackalope: Right now-

Jackalope: *sighs* Well, we have only this loser. 

Jackalope: Prisoner 008, Maruyama Yurika. She got voted guilty twice.

Jackalope: She's cute, but.. She's been causing way too much trouble. 

Jackalope: So I won't judge you if you decide to vote her guilty again this time.

Miki: ".. Do I.. really want Maruyama-san to die?"

Jackalope: But what if our dear prisoner actually got lucky in the end?

Jackalope: What if they got voted guilty twice, but after the third trial, their sins finally were forgiven?

Jackalope: Well, they'll still have to stay in Milgram for some time. Three days, to be more exact.

Jackalope: And after that, they will be allowed to go home.. Unless..

Jackalope: .. If they do something that will leave us no other choice but to punish them again, they will get executed.

Jackalope: We shouldn't feel bad for them if they can't behave even for three days.

Jackalope: Oh, and obviously, they will still remember everything when they come back home. And so will the people around them.

Jackalope: They will still be a murderer. They will still be seen as one. They will still be punished as one, if they get caught.

Jackalope: .. This is the kind of fate that awaits Maruyama Yurika if you decide to forgive her.

Miki: "I wish I could forgive Maruyama-san, but.."

Miki: "After everything that happened, will she really be able to "behave"?"

Miki: "And also, if she just continues to do her job, she will most likely continue killing people as well."

Miki: ".. I guess I would forgive her if she did it only for the money, but.."

Miki: "I don't think that's the case."

Jackalope: So, what will happen to the prisoners who got voted guilty after the first or second trial and after the third trial, but still have one innocent verdict?

Jackalope: They will go home, sure. However..

Jackalope: When they come back, literally everyone will know they are a murderer.

Jackalope: So they will have no choice but to either let the outside world judge them or try to start a new life as a different person somehow.

Hinode: But.. How will everyone know that they were the one who did it? 

Hinode: And what if most people already knew about it, but still didn't do anything to stop them?

Jackalope: You really think we can't just tell the authorities about them? 

Hinode: But what if they won't believe you?

Jackalope: They will.

Jackalope: Right now, we have a lot of prisoners with at least one guilty verdict.

Jackalope: So, if Prisoner 001, Miyagawa Akio, Prisoner 003, Ishizu Shun, Prisoner 004, Chiba Naomi, Prisoner 005, Sanada Kei, Prisoner 006, Yoshioka Eiko and Prisoner 009, Kuroki Riku, get voted guilty this time..

Jackalope: This is what awaits them.

Miki: "Considering some of the crimes, I'm sure some prisoners would either get imprisoned for life.."

Miki: ".. or get a death penalty, just not in Milgram."

Jackalope: And.. Oh, I think that's all the combinations, actually.

Jackalope: So.. "All Innocent", "Trial 1 or Trial 2 Innocent and Trial 3 Innocent, but still one Guilty", "Trial 1 and Trial 2 Innocent and Trial 3 Guilty", "All Guilty", "Trial 1 and Trial 2 Guilty and Trial 3 Innocent", and "Trial 1 or Trial 2 Guilty and Trial 3 Guilty, but still one Innocent".

Jackalope: Choose wisely.. or don't. It's up to you.

Hinode and Miki: ...

Jackalope: Well, if you don't have any questions, I will be leaving-

Miki: Wait!

Miki: Will Eiji-san join us this time? Is he okay?

Jackalope: Ah, that guy..

Jackalope: Yes, he will. It's just that he won't interrogate the prisoners in person.

Jackalope: It's like him and Hinode have switched places, haha.

Miki: Thank God..

Jackalope: By the way, he already knows about the verdict system.

Miki: Huh?

Jackalope: I've told him earlier. I had to listen to him ramble about how his brother deserves to be executed in the most brutal way possible..

Jackalope: And to be honest, I'd love to see Prisoner 005's execution. I'm sure it would be a fun one..

Jackalope: Except that will never happen because he still got one innocent verdict. 

Jackalope: By the way, Miki..

Jackalope: .. Eiji wasn't happy to hear that you voted his brother innocent while he wasn't able to participate.

Miki:!

Hinode: Miki-san, are you okay?..

Miki: .. I..  

Miki: I forgot about that..

-----------------------------------------------------------

???: So, what did they think about the verdict system?

Jackalope: Well, they weren't exactly happy about it, but I'm sure they'll figure everything out.

???: I can't wait to see how the things will go when that guy returns.

???: But isn't his arm okay now? I'm sure he can interrogate them in person now.

Jackalope: Well, they can still touch him. 

Jackalope: And also.. It was Eiji's decision.

???: .. Interesting.

???: .. So he wants to show everyone how strong he is, but he's still too scared to even talk to them in person.

???: Haha.. Man, he really is pathetic.

Jackalope: He's still a murderer though, remember that.

???: Of course I remember. 

???: Seriously, the fact that we went and made murderers judge other murderers.. 

???: They even have all their memories intact. They know well that they are murderers, but they are still happy to judge people who are just like them.

???: Most likely because it makes them feel in control. It makes them feel like they're better than them. 

???: Sure, they are criminals, but they got this job. Not anyone else.

???: That must mean something, right?..

???: .. Haha. Well, let them enjoy this feeling while they can.

???: In the end, they will be judged as well.

[mayimkjs]

An Introduction to MILGRAM

I decided to do this because I had everything written out for FOOL's MATE. Send it to your friends lamo.

Introduction

MILGRAM (ミルグラム) is an ongoing interactive music project by DECO*27 and Takuya Yamanaka that was first established in April 2020. MILGRAM is a mysterious, magical prison that houses 10 prisoners who have all committed a murder and it’s the job the guard to determine if their crimes are forgivable.

MILGRAM also contains a runic code alphabet that can be translated into the latin alphabet. This is seen on all uniforms and the website.

How do you decide what they are? 

Each prisoner gets 3 trials. After each interrogation, they are put through the MILGRAM system that extracts songs and music videos from their mind that will slowly explain what they’ve done. When someone receives a guilty verdict, they get more restraints put on them. The prisoners perceive their judgements as voices in their minds telling them that they're guilty or innocent/forgiven or not forgiven.

What is the purpose of MILGRAM?

I think the manga best explains the purpose of MILGRAM. Even though the manga is set it a different MILGRAM, it still has the same purpose. As the manga puts it, MILGRAM exists to oversee cases were people can’t be judged based on existing laws and puts them in front of someone with the role of a guard. The job of this guard is to review the prisoners’ “sins” or crimes and deem them innocent/forgiven or guilty/unforgiven. 

So what exactly does the audience do?

You experience MILGRAM through the eyes of Es, guided by the talking rabbit, Jackalope. After each song is released, you are able to vote on whether you can forgive the prisoner for their crimes or not. Each prisoner is guilty of murder. You just have to decide if their actions are forgivable or not. The final verdict for each prisoner during each trial has side effects. For example, Kotoko was voted innocent during trial 1 and ended up beating the shit out of all the guilty prisoners except Amane because she didn't have time for her. The viewer is the one who is writing these prisoners stories and the one who decides how this story ends. You don’t have to do deep dives or even read or listen to the voice dramas. The only thing you really need to do, is watch the MV and listen to the song.

How are the trials structured? 

MV release and voting for that prisoner opens.

EP release later that day. The EPs consists of:

The song

The instrumental for that song

A cover and rearrangement of a DECO*27 song

Instrumental for the cover

A voice drama

Interrogation cards are released on the app and Twitter. 

The voice dramas present us with each prisoner’s surface emotions, while the music videos reveal their underlying ones.

What is the “MILGRAM Portal”?

MILGRAM Portal is the official mobile app for MILGRAM, published by CRAYON Inc. It is currently exclusive to Japan. This app includes news, MVs, interrogations, trial voting and timeline conversations. 

What are timeline conversations? 

These are conversations between prisoners. You can make comments on these posts, but the prisoners won't see or hear you. 

Background

Originally, Yamanaka wanted to make MILGRAM into a video game. But after the release of “Otome Dissection”, which was OTOIRO’s first work, he decided to go the route that MILGRAM has went. They wanted to make this accessible to everyone and not put anything as important as voting behind a paywall. Mikoto and Kotoko (or maybe Yuno instead) might have been added later after a suggestion from DECO to “include a character who would cause a stir in MILGRAM”. The characters DECO and Yamanaka where referring to in the interview I am referencing were not name dropped, but considering the context, it seems this is who they might have been referring to. MILGRAM is made with questions like “Can you forgive someone after knowing their crimes?” and “What would you do if you couldn’t forgive someone you loved?” in mind. 

How is it made?

OTOIRO is in charge of producing the project. Team OTO (DECO, Rockwell, sometimes TeddyLoid) works on the music and audio portion, where's Team IRO works on the videos, official art and other graphics such as the interrogation cards.

When making the songs, DECO records a demo of him singing the song, at least this was the case for Undercover. All of the covers are picked by DECO because he thinks they hit the character’s voice. The covers have no relevance to the plot. 

After each character is voted for, they start working on the music for the next season. During this time, DECO and Yamanaka are also brainstorming ideas for forgiven and unforgiven outcomes. 

Who are the people behind this?

Takuya Yamanaka (山中拓也)

Co-Producer, Story/Author

Takuya Yamanaka is a writer who has a degree in psychology. He couldn't go into a psychology based job because he was deemed "too sensitive" and got too involved in others emotions. Other from MILGRAM, h’s most well known for being the creator of the Caligula series.

He is also a cheeky bastard. 

DECO*27

Co-Producer, Composition/Music, Lyrics

Pronounced Deco Niina, he is a VOCALOID producer who has been active since 2008. He is currently one of the most popular producers and has over 100 vocaloid songs. 

Rockwell

Arrangement, Composition/Music

Rockwell (ロックウェル, 69ℓ), also known as Tomoki Uchiba (内場智樹), is a Japanese songwriter, arranger and guitarist.  He's a former member of the rock band "Silhouette from The Skylit". He left the band in August 2016, and in September 2016 he started his career as artist Rockwell. It is said that Rockwell and DECO*27 went to the same high school and both members of the judo club.

DMYM

Typography/Prop Designer, Art and Animation Director, Card Designer

No.734, also known as Doumae Yumi or DMYM, is a graphic designer and illustrator. After graduating from the Comprehensive Design Department of Kuwasawa Design School, she worked as a freelance designer and illustrator for BALCOLONY. In October 2018, she became one of the art directors and illustrators of OTOIRO.

akka

Original/Main Character/Color Designer, Composite, Animation Director, Key Animator

akka is an illustrator who has been creating PVs since 2009. akka's first involvement with VOCALOID PVs was a fanmade video for "Two Breaths Walking" that has since reached over 1,000,000 views, the PV is the starting association with DECO*27.

OTOIRO

Production Company, Sound and Visual Creation

OTOIRO Inc. is a Tokyo-based creative studio which is active in the production of music. It was established in October 2018 with DECO*27 as the CEO. OTOIRO operates on the basis of two divisions of 'creators':

OTO (sound): focuses on the production of sound.

IRO (color): focuses on the production of artworks and movies.

arma banca Co,. Ltd

Merchandising, Event Planning, Record Label 

arma bianca is a character goods merchandising company that runs Amnibus and many pop up shops. The also produce line stickers and help plan and organize digital content such as MILGRAM.

With the start of Trial 2, they opened their own record label, arma Records. The are also in charge of pop up shops and were heavily involved with the first live show, “hallucinations” and run the main merch shop with is hosted on Amnibus.

The arma bianca-associated producer working on MILGRAM is Sakai Tomonari (坂井智成).

[linagram]

[ 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚞𝚢𝚊𝚖𝚊 𝚈𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚔𝚊'𝚜 𝚃𝟹 𝚅𝙳 ] 𝙰 𝙺𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚢 𝙼𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝, 𝙰 𝙼𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝙳𝚊𝚢𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

it's time, yurika.. it's time.. I REALLY CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HER FINAL VERDICT LIKE WHAT IF SHE ACTUALLY GETS A FULL GUILTY COMBO. i do still feel bad for her though.. but i also want to write her execution.. hm...

Warnings for Yurika's VD: a mention of sexual harassment, implications of Yurika and Takame's relationship being toxic or at least somewhat unhealthy, Yurika ends up having a mental breakdown.

Warnings for Yurika's MV: there are heavy implications of violence and murder, but all of it is "censored" in a way and is not detailed, aside from some blood imagery closer to the end.

(sounds of footsteps)

Hinode: So.. You did it.

Hinode: You told him the truth.

Hinode: He accepted it surprisingly quickly, haha.

Miki: Yes, and I'm glad..

Miki: Hehe.. I still can't believe he had a feeling that I really am his sister. Maybe that's why he always wanted to spend so much time with me.

Hinode: I'm very happy for you, but..

Hinode: Please don't forget your duties, Miki-san.

Hinode: Yurika-san has been voted guilty twice. Her final verdict is especially important.

Hinode: Maybe she will have a chance to live if we vote her innocent..

Hinode: But if not.. She will definitely get a death penalty.

Miki: .. Right.

(the door opens)

Yurika: A-ah, you're here.

Miki: Yes, um.. Is something wrong?

Hinode: You look nervous, Yurika-san.

Hinode: You know we were supposed to interrogate you today, right?

Yurika: .. I-I'm most likely going to get my head cut off by the end of this, are you expecting me to act chill about it?!

(the screen turns on)

Eiji: Or maybe you will be executed in a different way. Who knows.

Yurika: I-it's you!

Yurika: Oh, what, are you too scared to interrogate me in person?

Eiji: This is for my own safety-

Yurika: Okay, coward. 

Yurika: Actually, who will even execute me if it comes to it? 

Yurika: Or more like.. when it comes to it?

Miki: Now that I think about it..

Miki: I-I don't know.

Eiji: I was hoping that I would be the one doing the execution.

Hinode: Jackalope never mentioned anything about how the executions happen, but..

Hinode: .. I have a feeling that it's not gonna be our job.

Miki: Huh?

Hinode: We're responsible only for the prisoners' verdicts and what happens after that.

Hinode: Death penalty sounds like a big deal. Like, it's nothing like Eiji-san's punishments or the memory machine.

Hinode: So I don't think that we'll be the ones doing it.

Eiji and Miki: ...

Yurika: ..Who the fuck is Jackalope?

Yurika: And hellooooo, can we get started already?

Yurika: Actually, I have a question for you all.

Miki: But we're supposed to interrogate you and-

Yurika: Take a look at this.

Miki: ..It looks like a letter.

Yurika: Oh, it sure does. Now, do you remember what I got for Christmas?

Miki: ...

Yurika: Come onnnn, Miki. Think, think, think.

Miki: .. A-are you implying that I wrote this?

Yurika: Ohh, and why do you think that I'm blaming only you for this? You're not the only guard here, you know?

Yurika: Unless you see yourself as the only guard.

Miki: ...

Hinode: Yurika-san, may I ask what does the letter say?

Yurika: No, you may not.

Yurika: Look, I know my manager's handwriting. And this was not written by her.

Yurika: .. I have to admit that the way in which the letter is written.. sounds a lot like something she would say.

Hinode: .. Now this is interesting.

Hinode: So, the handwriting is different, but if you ignore that, the letter looks like something she would write?

Yurika: .. What are you implying?

Hinode: Well, you see, Yurika-san, we still don't know what exactly your other job was.

Hinode: So I was thinking, if it was something really dangerous and illegal, what if-

Yurika: Don't you say another word.

Yurika: You're trying to say that she's associated with Milgram in some way, right?

Hinode: Well, they couldn't just take ten random people and-

Yurika: She wouldn't do that.

Yurika: She wouldn't do this to me.

Yurika: I'll tell you what my other job was, just don't even think of blaming her for all of this.

Yurika: .. Takame-san wasn't an angel. But she was one to me. 

Yurika: She did a lot of things that this society would call evil, but she gave me money, food and a place I could call home. 

Yurika: .. She wouldn't just send me here for no reason.

Hinode: But what if she had a reason-

Yurika: If you keep acting like this, I'll start thinking you're the one who wrote the letter.

Eiji: Why do you even care about this letter so much? It's like you care about it more than your verdict.

Yurika: 'Cause my verdict doesn't matter. 

Yurika: You all will just keep playing with our lives, voting us innocent or guilty based on your own likes and dislikes, so in the end there will never be any true justice for the victims. Or us, if you still care about us.

Eiji: ...

Yurika: So why should I care? Go on, vote a guy like Kei innocent. Do it! His crimes don't matter as long as he's attractive!

Yurika: Do it. Fucking kill me already. 

Yurika: Just at least answer my question first.

Yurika: .. Who wrote the letter?

Miki: .. We don't know either. Sorry.

Yurika: ...

Yurika: .. Fine. 

Yurika: *sighs* Anyway, you wanna know about my other job, right?

Miki: Yes. 

Miki: And we want to know what exactly you did to your victims and why.

Yurika: .. Well, what do you think my other job was?

Yurika: Hey, Eiji, have any theories?

Eiji: .. I can definitely say that it's something you've done many times and it's also something you were okay with doing for the money. 

Eiji: Your second video also made me feel like.. It's something you were taught to see as a good thing.

Eiji: Maybe you even saw it as a way to.. help people in some way.

Miki: "Eiji-san is really trying his best.. I guess I should've expected that he would know a lot about stuff like that because of his family.."

Miki: ".. But he has never actually killed anyone, right?"

Eiji: .. Hey. 

Eiji: Did you have to be really careful while doing it? 

Yurika: .. Y-yeah. Yeah, I've made a few mistakes before, but with Takame-san's help, I-

Eiji: You got a lot of money for it, right?

Yurika: Definitely more than what I got for working at a maid cafe.

Eiji: Did it feel gross? 

Yurika: What kind of question is that?!

Yurika: I-I mean, imagine a girl like me, who was so used to always getting what she wants no matter what, suddenly going through someone's insides-

Yurika: !

Hinode: ...

Miki: .. W-what..

Yurika: .. Haha. You got me. Congrats.

Eiji: .. Was it organ harvesting?

Yurika: .. Yeah. Yeah. 

Yurika: That's what I was ready to do for a living. I was that desperate.

Yurika: Just so you understand. Yes, we kidnapped people. Yes, we killed them.

Yurika: Yes, most of those people were our customers. That's one of the reasons why Takame-san came up with the idea of having a maid cafe.

Yurika: Look, fine, I killed more than ten of those guys to have their organs harvested, but who cares?! 

Yurika: Like, yes, it was some kind of.. you know, black market stuff that I never bothered to learn more about and Takame-san never told me and just said to see it as a good thing, because maybe their organs will actually be useful or something..

Yurika: BUT WHO CARES ABOUT THEM?! MOST OF THEM LIVED ALONE, THEY HAD NO ONE TO MISS THEM, NOBODY CARES WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!

Yurika: SO MANY OF THEM HAVE HARASSED ME AND MY COWORKERS NOT ONCE, BUT MULTIPLE TIMES! TAKAME-SAN TOLD ME THAT THEY DESERVED TO DIE!

Miki: ...

Eiji: ...

Eiji: .. They.. really did not deserve to live.

Yurika: Right?! I just.. I just..

Yurika: *starts crying* I just.. I didn't want to feel like I was.. 

Yurika: Doing something bad..

Yurika: Takame-san kept saying that it's okay..

Yurika: "It's their fault", "We're not in the wrong"..

Yurika: S-she always hugged me after we were done and tried to comfort me..

Yurika: E-even if I fucked things up, e-even if I cried, even if I said I can't do it a-anymore..

Yurika: I-it's like.. s-she really.. loved me..

Hinode: .. So if those murders weren't really.. your fault, since you were only an accomplice..

Hinode: It's safe to assume that you're here for something you've done on your own?

Yurika: Takame-san helped me with it, of course, but..

Yurika: I-it was mostly my idea.

Yurika: T-that's probably why I'm here.

Miki: ..W-why did you kill them?

Yurika: .. One of them was really curious about my job, for whatever reason.

Yurika: Probably because she had a blog and didn't know what to post about or something..

Yurika: A-and she just.. kept getting on my nerves.

Yurika: She wanted to learn everything about me. Sometimes it felt like she was literally stalking me.

Miki: ".. Her first interrogation.."

Yurika: Her brother helped her too. So, uh, eventually they did find out and..

Yurika: .. I-I couldn't do this anymore.

Yurika: I needed them to die. 

Yurika: "How could you do something like this just for money?" SHUT UP! SHUT UP, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE ME!

Yurika: They needed to die. They deserved to die.

Yurika: I-it's okay, nobody would miss them anyway.. Who cares.. 

Yurika: Sure, they were pretty, I guess, they were popular, I guess..

Yurika: But it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine..

Eiji: .. She's losing it.

Miki: I-I can see that.

Hinode: Since her manager is not with her, she's trying to comfort herself without her help.

Hinode: And I don't think it's working.

(bell rings, machinery sounds)

Eiji: We should extract her video. Hopefully she doesn't realize what's happening.

Miki: R-right..

Miki: Prisoner-

Yurika: NO!

Yurika: PLEASE, I DON'T WANT TO DO IT AGAIN!

Yurika: YOU'RE JUST GOING TO VOTE ME GUILTY AGAIN! YOU JUST WANT TO KILL ME ALREADY, DON'T YOU?!

Eiji: Didn't you say that you're okay with that?!

Yurika: SHUT UP, I'VE REALIZED HOW IMPORTANT MY LIFE IS! 

Yurika: Or.. no, no, it's not important at all..

Yurika: Actually.. I don't think anyone would care if I died.. Even Takame-san..

Yurika: .. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO DIE!

Yurika: PLEASE, DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH ME, PUNISH ME IN ANY WAY YOU WANT, USE MY BODY AS A TOY TO PLAY WITH, FORCE ME TO BECOME A MAID EVEN FOR THE FUTURE PRISONERS OR SOMETHING!

Yurika: JUST PLEASE, DON'T-

Yurika: ...

Yurika: H-huh?..

Yurika: What is going on?..

Miki: "Looks like the machine worked.."

Miki: Hey. Hey, you're okay. 

Miki: You're fine.

Yurika: W-who are you?.. W-what is this place?

Yurika: What are you-

Miki: Prisoner 008, Yurika, for the last time, sing your sins.

42% ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░ 100%

[ Yurika's Trial 3 MV: Secret Ingredient ]

The video starts with showing us a dark forest. We can see a young man and woman walking, looks like they're around the same age. They look nervous, but for some reason they keep going and it looks like they're looking for something or someone. 

"Hey, hey, what are you two doing here?

Maybe you should stop sticking your nose into other people's business?

Come on, just let me live!

Like what do you want me to do? Reward you and say how brave you are?"

Suddenly, they hear someone's steps and while the man tries to leave, the woman makes him stay and listens closer to the steps. She tries to follow that mysterious person and she's really determined to find them. She sees that person's footprints and as she stops to take a closer look, we can see someone sneaking up from behind and hitting her on the head with something that looks like a broom.

"Oh well, don't say I didn't warn you

This is what happens to disgusting people like you

Justice? Morals? Oh, shut up!

You would do the same if you were me"

The woman opens her eyes. She's sitting on a chair and everything around her looks like it's made out of candy. The colors are very cute and nice to look at. She notices that she's not alone and someone is sitting in front of her. That someone smiles and waves their hand at her.

It's Yurika who looks like she's dressed as a witch. 

"So you wanted to know what I do? Let me give you a tour!

Trust me, it's 100% safe

Nobody gets out of here alive, but that's okay!

You wouldn't want to continue living after being here"

The woman gets more nervous and she tries to talk to Yurika, but Yurika doesn't seem interested and instead turns to the door. The door opens and Takame, who is also dressed up as a witch, walks in. Yurika smiles and runs up to Takame to hug her. Takame smiles back and pats her on the head. 

"But I have everything I've ever wanted here

This is my home, it's perfect for someone like me

I've found love, money, warmth and my purpose

I guess you could say I'm completely satisfied"

The woman meanwhile tries to leave, but fails because Takame notices and pushes Yurika away. Yurika doesn't seem to mind and even seems excited about what Takame is about to do. The woman falls on the floor because of how scared she is. Takame simply smiles at her and claps her hands. 

Everything goes dark.

Now it's the man opening his eyes. The scene takes place outside of the house and both him and the woman from earlier are tied up. Yurika laughs at them as Takame is making a fire with her magic. 

"What do you two think you're doing? Hey, hey, don't you know it's dangerous here?

Well, it's your fault now, shouldn't have taken a walk in the woods when it's this dark

What should we do with you? Should we tie you up? Should we cut off your limbs?

I bet you two taste like fear and betrayal, let me take a bite!"

The woman looks at the fire and at their ropes and it looks like she's asking Yurika what's going on. Yurika smiles and pulls out a knife. The woman starts shaking as Yurika gets closer to her and gets surprised when Yurika cuts her ropes. 

"So you want to know why am I like this? Why do I do this?

Don't I feel any shame? Don't I feel any guilt?

Here's the thing: no matter how many times you point at me and say "Guilty"

I won't feel anything, I'm too busy trying to survive"

The woman thinks that she's free for a moment, but then we see her face expression suddenly change and it looks like she's in great pain. We see Yurika stabbing her in the stomach, but the blood looks.. weird. It's pastel pink and sparkly. Yurika doesn't even look at the man and simply walks past him and we see that the reason why he didn't do anything at all and why we haven't seen much of him is because he was already close to dying because of being stabbed in the chest and now he's clearly dead while his eyes are still open. His blood is the same as the woman's.

"I just want to live, I just want to live

Can someone let me live a normal life

I've never wanted this, but it looks like I was born for this

It's like I was born to be a witch ready to be burned"

Takame walks up to the man and puts her hand on his chest. It's unclear what she's trying to do at first, but then we see her trying to make the wound bigger and "opening up" his chest, making everything even more bloody. She tries to grab something out of his wound and it's revealed to be some candies. She throws them and Yurika quickly catches them and puts them inside of a bucket that has a Halloween pumpkin drawn on it. Later, we see that the bucket is completely full and that Takame is now doing the same thing with the woman and Yurika is helping her. Their hands are bloody and they have some blood on their faces and clothes as well, but they don't care. 

"Actually, I think what I do is great!

We're helping people, at least that's what I want to believe

Don't blame me, blame the system

Blame the society, just please, blame everyone but me!"

When they're finally done, Takame gives Yurika a nod and Yurika excitedly runs up to the fire and starts burning the bodies. The bodies start to melt, looking like they were made out of ice cream or something similar. At least we can say for sure that the bodies look like they definitely aren't human. 

"I just wanted to live, I still want to live

Don't hunt me down, don't light me on fire

I still have something to hope for, something to fight for, something to live for

Something to kill for, something to destroy for, something I'm too scared to die for"

When the bodies are gone, Takame walks up to Yurika and holds her hand. Yurika blushes and looks really happy. They watch the fire become brighter and brighter and they start to dance. While dancing, Yurika trips and it looks like she's about to fall.

"So just save me with your love-shaped candy already-"

The setting changes completely. It looks like some kind of dark room. We can see blood on the walls. It's dark red. It's real human blood and not like what we've seen earlier. We hear something being dropped on the floor. The music stops playing. We hear Yurika say "I'll go get it". We can hear her steps.

Suddenly, we see Yurika, with empty eyes, messy hair, a medical mask, and it looks like she's looking for what she had dropped. Except it looks like we're looking at her from the POV of that thing. She grabs us with her hand.

The video ends.