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deadmandairyland · 3 years

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Hi! I’m here to bring you yet another Danganronpa tier list: the sexuality tier list, which you can find here.

Now I’m going to be honest here: I don’t really have any LGBT headcanons. It’s just not really something I focus on much when it comes to fandoms. Instead I usually just focus on ships, and as a result from that I tend to present a lot of characters as LGBT in fanfictions and posts I’ve made or reblogged. In other words, a massive chunk of my “headcanons” here are a direct result of shipping (as well as information I’ve picked up from the games themselves). That being said, it was interesting to actually think about this for once, so I’m kinda glad I did the tier list. And it gave me an excuse to bring back the rainbow color scheme I usually put in my tier lists for aesthetic reasons.

The original tier list had Straight at the top, but I moved it to the bottom for two reasons. One, this is Tumblr and that’s not what you’re here for. Two, I gave it a neutral color, and having a gray section next to a white section (i.e. the title of the list) like that looked bad to me. I definitely prefer this setup just on aesthetic alone.

Because this is largely based on ships, I feel it needs to be said that representation does not factor into this chart in any way. I know it probably looks bad that the only character in the Lesbian category is one of my least favorite (though NOT hated or even disliked, I should point out) characters in the main series. That has nothing to do with the fact that she’s a lesbian. She’s just a jerk, and usually not in a way that’s at least entertaining enough for me to like her.

Also keep in mind that this is just the main cast of the main series games. If you were to include characters from the DR3 anime, UDG, or the spin-offs, the Gay, Lesbian, and Ace categories would get more rep, certainly. Think Juzo, Yui, Takemichi, that gay guy with the trumpet, etc.

With that said, let’s go through the list:

Gay

Not gonna lie, one of the reasons why Rantaro is here (and not in Ace) is because of ships. Though I do sometimes ship him with girls, canon suggests he’s not interested in dating girls, and most fans seem to headcanon him as either gay or ace because of this, so I respected that. That being said, I also acknowledge he’s a very popular character in mlm ships, and at the time I was putting this together I hadn’t gotten to Taka yet so the Gay tier was still empty, and Byakuya was already sitting in Ace, so all of that swayed me to putting Rantaro here instead of Ace.

Taka was much easier to place here. He strikes me as a closeted gay man who probably doesn’t even realize he is gay. “Hey, let’s all hang out in the bath, guys! Getting naked is essential to form bonds with your fellow man! No need to be ashamed, it’s tradition!"

Lesbian

Again, ships. I only ship Hiyoko with one other character, and as soon as I say that you already know who she is.

Bisexual (Male Preference)

Akane is mostly here to account for any wlw ships I may have of her (e.g. Hina, Sonia maybe). Obviously she has a thing with Nekomaru, so Male Preference.

Chiaki is here for the same reason as Akane. I’ve shipped her with characters like Sonia and Ibuki before, but she really digs Hajime.

Chihiro honestly could have been anywhere in the Bi and Pan sections, but I ultimately went with Male Preference because of ships, specifically the fact that outside of the more... R18 circles of the Interwebs Chihiro tends to be shipped with guys more often than girls. Also doesn’t hurt that my OTP is Naehiro. I mean, have you seen how often Chihiro blushes around Makoto? (There’s more to it than that, as I’ve covered in the past. I’m just trying to add more fuel to the fire.)

Himiko is probably one of the few characters that isn’t here mainly because of ships. I do think she has some attachment towards Tenko, but I also get “I’m uncomfortable around her” vibes from her, and there are moments where she seems to crush on Kokichi (of all people) so that’s why she’s here. Still very much bi, though.

Hina has a crush on Makoto and has a complex around wishing she was more feminine so she can attract boys. So why isn’t she in the Straight section? ...Because Sakura, duh. And Kyoko too. And any other wlw ship you can think of that might work with Hina.

Honestly if it wasn’t for Miu I probably would have considered putting Kokichi in Gay. Again, while shipping plays a big part of my choices here, much like with Rantaro I have no qualms with putting a character in a tier that contradicts any ships I might have with that character, if those ships aren’t something I’m super invested in. This is a very important distinction, because it’s why I let ships sway my hand for so many of these even if I am also okay with going “Just because I ship this doesn’t mean I headcanon it” as I did with Rantaro. And honestly Kokichi’s ship teasing with Himiko does come off as more trollish than a sign that he’s into her, but he really gets into his back-and-forth with Miu, in my personal opinion, and he gets into it far more often with her for that matter. It’s why it’s one of my favorite ships for both of them tbh, and it’s because I like the ship so much that I just can’t ignore it for this sexuality headcanon tier list.

Maki... is here because of ships (e.g. Kaede).

Sakura... is here because of ships (e.g. Hina). ...What, you were expecting me to put a guy in the example? Remember, she has a boyfriend in canon.

Sayaka... is here because of... NOT ships, but DRAT. Yes, really. (”We really got down and dirty, Naegi-kun.”)

Sonia... strikes me as someone who swings both ways. I can’t describe exactly why I feel that way, but yes.

Bisexual (No Preference)

Celeste wants a harem of vampire boys but shipping her with Kyoko is also very popular and honestly i feel like it would fit her character. She’s got a look that says “I could get any ass I want and I know it.”

Ibuki is decked out in blues and pinks, and also I ship her fairly evenly among both boys and girls. She just screams bi icon to me, more so than any other character in the series.

Junko is either bi with no preferences or pan. She is an equal opportunity heart-and-soul-breaker and lust-for-despair machine.

There is no Mukuro in this list, but honestly I would probably put her where I put Junko anyway.

Kaede... is here because of ships (e.g. Miu, Maki)

Honestly I had no idea where to put Kirumi, so I just randomly chose one that I wouldn’t regret later if I ever put more thought into who I shipped her with.

I’m pretty sure Nagito being bisexual has some degree of canon attached to it??? I think??? I’m not entirely sure tbh, but fuck it. I’m doing this for fun anyway, so this doesn’t really matter.

Shuichi, like all Danganronpa protags, is bi as fuck. I also find him to be more shippable with guys than the other two protags, so IMO he has no preference.

Toko might have a thing or two for pretty boys, but... Komaru, I mean, this isn’t exactly shocking, I don’t think. Probably was closeted before she met Komaru. I mean she did focus on Hina’s boobs a lot in DR1, let’s not forget.

Tsumugi, much like Kirumi, is here because I haven’t put much thought into her ships.

Bisexual (Female Preference)

Gundham has a thing with Sonia in canon, but I can see him being bi. So... yeah, ships again.

Hajime, like all Danganronpa protags, is bi as fuck. It’s just that his Chiaki and Mikan game is just too strong.

Hifumi might claim to only like 2D, but his interest in Chihiro both in human form and computer program form (and the fact that this didn’t go away after the gender reveal) places him here.

Kaito strikes me as a closeted bisexual. The kind that could start any given conversation with “I’m not gay, but...”

Kazuichi also strikes me as a closeted bisexual, only his “I’m not gay, but...” is rooted more in dumbass than it is in systematic homophobia.

Korekiyo... is here because of ships (e.g. Rantaro).

Kyoko is bi as fuck, and I can see her having a preference towards girls in particular. She gets shipped with girls a lot (e.g. Celeste, Hina, Yui, and even Junko and Mukuro), and when she is shipped with boys it’s usually just pretty boys (e.g. Makoto, Byakuya, Ryota, Shuichi, and, depending on your interpretation, Chihiro). Also note that aside from Makoto and maybe Byakuya, Kyoko’s girl ships are far more popular than her boy ships. Just something I’ve noticed over the years.

Leon... is here because of ships (e.g. Chihiro).

Mahiru is here because I’m pretty sure she has a thing for Hajime in her FTEs, but obviously she tends to get shipped with girls more often (especially Hiyoko), and I agree.

Makoto, like all Danganronpa protags, is bi as fuck. It’s just that his Kyoko, Hina, Sayaka, and Mukuro game is just too strong.

Mikan may be interested in Hajime somewhat, but her obsession with Junko cannot be ignored, no matter how much some of you may want to.

Mondo is another character that strikes me as a closeted bisexual. He is said to strike out all the time with girls, so I do think he’s attracted to women. And I do get some vibes that he’s attracted to Chihiro pre-reveal. And if circumstances had been different, I imagine he probably still would have been post-reveal. But obviously it’s his bond with Taka that I feel cements his sexuality in, at the very least, an mlm category.

Tenko... is here NOT because of ships, but because I’m pretty sure she’s at least sort of interested in Shuichi because of some canon thing... and also I don’t want to put her in Lesbian just because it feels like I’d be stereotyping the Lesbian category if I do that. If we were to compare her to the character that I did put in Lesbian, Hiyoko doesn’t treat people like shit because they’re men, she’s an equal-opportunity asshole. Still not the best representation for lesbians by a long shot, but at least Hiyoko doesn’t follow the stereotype of a man-hating lesbian. She’s just like that, and that’s okay. But putting Tenko there, especially if she’s shown some degree of interest in a male character at some point in the game, just rubs me the wrong way personally, because it would feel like I’m ignoring canon just to stereotype her. But that’s just a personal hang up of mine. No disrespect intended toward anyone who genuinely feels that Tenko is a lesbian. Maybe you see something there that I don’t, and that’s perfectly fine.

Pansexual

I don’t remember exactly how her FTEs went, so I’m not going to get into that, but Angie just comes off as pan to me, like gender doesn’t fit into the equation at all for her.

Gonta I can see as either pan or ace. I feel like he wouldn’t care about gender, and honestly the only reason I decided to put him in Pan rather than Ace is because of that scene with Miu.

Imposter is not only pan, they are currently OT3ing it up with Ibuki and Ryota as we speak, and that’s a fact.

Keebo... is mostly here because of ships. A lot of ships, actually. Mostly male ships (Kokichi, Shuichi, Kazuichi, and, depending on your interpretation, Chihiro) but there’s also Miu to consider. And the Miu game is SO strong that I put him in Pan instead of, say, Male Preference.

Just gonna lump them together because I have the same thing to say about both of them: Miu and Teruteru would **** anything that walks. What did I censor? Well, I’m doing the Nier: Automata thing, so you can put whatever you want in there and trust me, it would probably fit, for better or for worse.

Ace

I know this is an unpopular opinion, because Naegami, but I just don’t think Byakuya is interested in anyone, at least not in that way. He might be fascinated with how common people live, because it’s so foreign to him, but that’s about it.

Straight

Even though I do ship Fuyuhiko with some of the boys, his Peko game is so strong that honestly I can’t see him actually dating anyone aside from Peko outside of some very niche fanfiction.

Honestly, Hiro was another one that I was just like “I have no idea what to do with you.” I think maybe his team up with Kanon made me eventually choose to put him in Straight? I don’t remember. I clearly didn’t put much thought into Hiro.

I really only ship Nekomaru with Akane, so that’s why he’s here. I’m sure if I dive deep enough into my psyche I can pull an mlm ship with Nekomaru in it out of my ass, but like Rantaro that wouldn’t be significant enough to change anything.

Peko is in the same boat as Fuyuhiko. I have shipped her with girls before, but her Fuyuhiko game is just too strong.

Ryoma had a girlfriend once, and as far as I can remember he didn’t really seem interested in anybody in the game, so that’s all I have to go off of for him.

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So there you have it. Explanations for literally all of them! Explanations that were definitely not pulled out of my ass as I was typing them, nope, certainly not. Definitely won’t be tagging all of them, but I may tag the ones with the longest entries. And like all the tier lists I’ve done, this was just for fun and honestly any opinion I have for any of these characters could change at a moment’s notice because my brain is fickle like that. Tried my best to make sure that every tier had at least one character in it, but I did so without trying to force characters in places that I personally did not believe they should go. I hope you all enjoyed my dive into this area of fandom that I rarely dive into (the LGBT headcanons, not the ships, obviously). It was a lot of fun, and hopefully it will stay fun and not result in angry anons blasting me for my opinions. I am grateful that this never seems to happen to me, but I’ve seen it happen to others and I know what Tumblr is capable of at its worst. These are just headcanons and a matter of personal opinion, and if you disagree with them, that’s perfectly okay. Your feelings and opinions are also valid.

#dangan ronpa #tier list #rantarou amami #kiyotaka ishimaru #hiyoko saionji #chihiro fujisaki #himiko yumeno #aoi asahina #kokichi ouma #kyouko kirigiri #mondo oowada #tenko chabashira #kiibo #miu iruma #teruteru hanamura #ended up tagging anyone who (at least in the editor) has four or more lines of text in their entry #or in hiyoko's case because i mention her a lot outside of her entry

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beneaththetangles · 3 years

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Reader’s Corner: Carole & Tuesday, Rascal Does Not Dream of Siscon Idol, and The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya

Rascal Does Not Dream of Siscon Idol (Rascal, Vol. 4)

My most consistent complaint about the Rascal series, which I otherwise find charming, is that the stories are too full of contrivances. with plots points and character actions often making little sense. Though these developments are often small, such as an explanation that the sisters at the center of this volume aren’t apologizing to each other after a fight because neither would accept such apologies, when that hardly seems true, the way they impact character development and the plot by changing both for the sake of reaching certain resolutions and mile markers in the text, rather than letting the characters and their situations play out naturally, is frequent and significant. The same issue continues, though thankfully at a lesser extent, with Siscon, the fourth volume of the Rascal series, which introduces Mai’s half-sister, Nodoka, an idol in her own right but one far less famous than her actress sister. Both are impacted by Adolescent Syndrome in this volume, switching bodies and being forced to act as one another in different realms and levels of show business. The dialogue between Sakuta and Nadoka is almost as delightful as between him and Mai, and features frequently throughout the text in this fun and warm read which continues the series’ delightful balance between playful adolescence and development of authentic relationships between characters, in whom I’m now fully invested. ~ Twwk

Rascal Does Not Dream of Siscon Idol is published by Yen Press.*

Yokohama Station SF

Not every robot overlord is like Skynet, intent on killing all humanity, with android enforcers that are nigh impossible to kill. Sometimes, the enforcers are turnstiles that not only keep the ticketless out of the station but eject rules violaters to unoccupied spaces to meet their deaths by starvation, and sometimes the master computer is just railroad infrastructure consuming the entire island of Honshu via slow, automated urban renewal. This unique and immensely absorbing post-apocalyptic novel begins long after the “Winter War” devastated Earth, and Yokohama Station, a concrete and metal structure growing seemingly without end, has covered almost all of Honshu and threatens the neighboring islands. Hiroto, lives on a sliver of land just outside the behemoth structure on a tiny beach community until an “Insider,” ejected from within the station, gives him a chance to explore the vast unit for five days, also charging him with finding a resistance leader, while he brings in a personal quest of his own. From the description, you may sense both Terminator and Ready Player One vibes, though its more similar in tone and eventually story to the latter, though cutting out that work’s affection for nerd culture and replacing it with efficient writing. Yokohama Station SF features a clever and well-crafted but familiar world, interesting artificial intelligence units—always a plus for me—and believable science fiction, having been written by an actual scientist, Yuba Isukari. Yokohama Station SF is his first novel, and as a compelling piece of sci-fi with anime sensibilities, it is a significant achievement. Paraphrasing another overlord of a sci-fi franchise, I shall be watching Mr. Isukari’s career with great interest. ~ Twwk

Yokohama Station SF is published by Yen Press.*

Love of Kill, Vol. 1

The quiet, beautiful Chateau Dankworth is a bounty hunter, working for an organization that contracts with mafia families to eliminate targets. Ryan-Ha Song is also an assassin, but an especially notorious one, skilled and feared for his prowess. When these two become entangled, it’s not in a deathmatch—it’s because the enigmatic Song wants to date Chateau! Volume one of Love of Kill features plenty of action and establishes the deadly world in which the protagonists work, but otherwise gives very little information about the two. Structurally and thematically, the opening volume is engaging, functioning through leaps back and forth in time and filled with grisly episodes of violence. It’s quite jarring, most particularly when the volume mixes in a romantic interlude between the leads that feels as awkward to readers as it does to Chateau, and for the same reason: Song appears to be entirely psychotic. That also makes it hard to root for the killer, while younger assassin displays so little personality that she’s also difficult to care for. With such coldness, it’s hard to imagine why this manga, which in its initial version was published through the Japanese art site, Pixiv, necessitated a fuller release. Perhaps future volumes will reveal that answer, but for now, the tale of Pixiv to published is the most engaging part of this manga. ~ Twwk

Love of Kill is published by Yen Press.*

Eniale & Dewiela, Vol. 2

This second volume of this very silly series continues within the same framework of gags from volume one. In one story, Eniale causes havoc to the world by using supernatural noises to create sonar in an attempt to find Dewiela’s earring, which she’s lost. This humorous storyline and other chapters also provide a view into the interesting cosmos of this version of the world. While Eniale and Dewiela represent the Lord and Satan, respectively, from a Christian framework, this world setting has other deities and belief structures both existing and being true concurrently. Eniale and Dewiela are trying to reap souls for their respective afterlife locales, while local deities they encounter are pushing back, saying that the local souls belong to them. The duo face especially harsh pusbback by local deities when they enter Japan. The most interesting story comes from the tale of a Catholic priest who, according to Heaven, may become an angel one day to battle during Armageddon. However, something changed in his life and Eniale is sent to investigate. This bittersweet tale ends, as usual, on a gag, reflecting how fun this series is overall, even if it’s theology is just wildly inconsistent. ~ MDMRN

Eniale & Dewiela Vol. 2 is published by Yen Press.*

Carole & Tuesday Vol. 2

Volume two of Carole & Tuesday has the titular girls experiencing new challenges on their way to recognition and success in the music business, but it opens with a focus on a third girl. Angela, a child prodigy famous for modeling, wants to try something different and to become a singer. The manga shares some of her backstory and how she teams up with Tao, a man of mystery who creates popular songs using A.I. He riles up Angela throughout the manga, pushing her (rudely) to try harder. Meanwhile, Carole and Tuesday are try to get DJ Ertegun to listen to their song, which he refuses. Later, they struggle to find harmony on a new song, and take a little break outside on their own, considering their journey up to that point. When they return to their apartment, their slovenly manager, Gus, convinces them to enter the Mars Brightest competition. It’s like American Idol, but on Mars! Angela also enters in the test that will show how skilled these three girls really are as singers. I’ve seen the anime so I knew what to expect, but the manga still entertained me, particularly with its fantastic artwork. The panels pop out and feature intricate detail, connecting more with the characters through the facial expressions, dialogue, and the challenges they face. ~ Samuru

Carole & Tuesday Vol. 2 is published by Yen Press.

The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya (Haruhi Suzumiya, Vol. 5)

Having watched the episodes, but never having read the novel from which they were adapted, I expected the “Endless Eight” story to be much like the anime version: repetitive, dull, and overly long. It is in fact none of these things, taking up just 1/4 of The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, the fifth light novel in the Haruhi Suzumiya series. While I still admire KyoAni’s decision to spend eight episodes on almost identical material to reflect the time loop aspect of the story (this despite the disastrous reaction it received), the much shorter chapter in Rampage doesn’t need the repetition to convey the peril and anxiety of the situation. It’s an excellent story, joining the funnier material in “The Day of Sagittarius” and “Snowy Mountain Syndrome,” the longest story in the series so far, which initially feels like material already covered but in a winter setting, though it later reveals itself to be a story that not only reminds us of how Nagaru Tanigawa excels as a science fiction writer, introducing further elements of the genre into his work, but also one that conveys serious heart. The last story provides another one of Haruhi’s sincere explanations of her behavior to Kyon and heavily features character development of Nagato, as subtle as it is, which is equal parts uplifting and mysterious. ~ Twwk

The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya is published by Yen Press.*

Maison Ikkoku Collector’s Edition, Vol. 3

Some forty years after it was first published, these chapters from volume three of Maison Ikkokku Collector’s Edition show precisely why this romantic comedy is so beloved, displaying the full retinue of humor and charm that are pervasive throughout the series. This volume continues to demonstrate Rumiko Takahashi’s talent at using misunderstandings to develop strong comedic content, which then gives way to reveal her character’s personalities and hearts. With Godai now knowing Kyoko quite well, but still miserably immature in his outlook on romance, he struggles to “make the leap” into a relationship with her, but each chapter shows that despite the obstacles that get in their way—some significant and others more figmental—the two are more and more making connections between their hearts. And as laugh out loud funny as many of the panels are, it’s these moments of caring, which increasingly find their way into the lives of Godai, Kyoko, and the rest of the Maison Ikkoku residents, that make the series memorable, driving it closer and closer toward fulfillment while keeping us just far enough away to crank the angst up to 11. ~ Twwk

Maison Ikkoku Collector’s Edition is published by Viz.*

The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat, Vol. 1

The world’s best assassin has run out of time—or has he? On the verge of retirement, he is tricked and killed during his last mission. But upon his death, the assassin appears before a goddess (what a surprise!) who needs him to do her a favor: Kill the hero of the world she’s in charge of before the hero causes trouble in the future for her and the world he is in. She chose the assassin because of his skill and allows him to be reborn whilst choosing his own skills. Much like Rudeus in Mushoku Tensei, this protagonist is reborn literally, as a baby, but retains his previous memories. As he grows up among a wealthy family of assassins in a world of magic and knights, he trains to become better and to prepare to face the hero. Along the way, he meets a girl named Dai who becomes his magic teacher and Tarte, whom he rescues from poverty (she eventually becomes his assistant/servant of sorts). Although it’s rather rushed and features fanservice moments I felt were unnecessary, I enjoyed volume one. It’s a good selection for fans of isekai, though not without some flaws. ~ Samuru

The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat Vol 1. is published by Yen Press.

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Reader’s Corner is our way of embracing the wonderful world of manga, light novels, and visual novels, creative works intimately related to anime but with a magic all their own. Each week, our writers provide their thoughts on the works their reading—both those recently released as we keep you informed of newly published works and older titles that you might find as magical (or in some cases, reprehensible) as we do.

*Thank you to Yen Press and Viz Media for providing review copies.

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benichi · 4 years

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I played Chou no Doku (so you don’t have to) - Mizuhito’s Route Part 3

I had planned for this to be the last part but I can’t cut everything down as much as I wanted to so the suffering shall end not just yet. Since I took such a long break I actually had to replay the latter half of the game cause my brain has rejected most of those memories to save at least a bit of the sanity I have left lol. But I promised to do this and I’m commited to see it through! I am the top Chou no Doku blog after all 😂 Also SPOILER warning. I put it under the read more last time but since it’s a thing they talk about constantly now I can’t do that anymore.

When we left off the last time Majima and Yuriko were having a ... sensual? moment in the garden with some vegetables. Apparently their... activities left her feeling invigorated.

After coming to the conclusing that that the vegetables made her feel alive (and definitely not the BJ instructions Majima gave her on a cucumber) Yuriko retreats to her room. While thinking about her brother she’s interrupted by a visitor: and who else could it be but Shiba. Mizuhito has also come to entertain said man (or rather to mark his territory) As usual the two men end up bickering like 5 year olds as Mizuhito tries to display how poor the family is doing in order to ward Shiba off. Since Yuriko tries to smooth things over at least a little bit her “brother” decides to run off to a Brothel once again.

Yuriko is irritated since he’s about to break his promise and ends up chasing him down. As I said this is like watching a bunch of children squabble.

If only it were just siblings being dramatic.

Here’s where the magic happens. Yuriko spends paragraphs explaining that her brother is still her family - even if they’re not related by blood and so on.

Can’t I just become a single old cat lady

I love how she calls him Brother in the same sentence that’s supposed to sell me that she loves him romantically.

But one choice later she’s all over him and saying stuff like “I’ve finally caught him” I mean wtf girl you promoted him from family to Lover in under a minute. So they end up huddling close together and Yuriko once again has her “mmm gotta talk about smell” moment. I think this gives us a pretty good idea what the sax scenes in the original are like lol.

Shiba eventually stumbles upon them and is obviously not happy with what he’s seeing. He parts ways with Yuriko by whispering into her ear that this Brother of hers is her biggest flaw. I mean he’s dishing out the truth, let the man talk.

I felt that.

I’m gonna puke. Cue gross moment of “Ohhh I’m a bad big brother because I want to kiss my little sister” “Noo we can’t to that Onii-chan” “Aww let’s at least try to see if we feel ~g u i l t y~” like my dude wtf. Honestly this scene was gross imo because he totally coaxed her into this and she just kind of convinces herself that kissing him is so a w e s o m e despite initially being totally against it like yikes.

WELL MAYBE CAUSE YOU LIVED AS SIBLINGS FOR Y E A R S

Voila, I told you.

Despite what one may think he doesn’t want to draw her nude yet. Since he makes such a big deal out of her being his ~innocent~ little sister Yuriko survived this encounter with her innocence still intact.

On the next day their Grandma pays them a visit to assess the current situation. Obviously the 1. solution to every problem in this game is either murder or getting hitched to someone that’s wealthy. Grandma proposes the latter.

They can’t decline her proposals immediately to avoid suspicion but to the two of them it’s clear that they want to keep their “relationship” going. Or maybe it’s not so clear because Mizuhito starts acting like a jelly 5 year old again.

Maybe it would help if you stopped calling him Brother with every breath you take.

Afterwards Yuriko models for him, but Mizuhito soon becomes distracted because he knows that even if they reject the current marriage proposals there will always be new ones incoming. He says that it will ~break him if Yuriko were to marry another Man (my dude let me tell you: you were just fine in the other routes I’ve played so far).

This shit so stupid even the game can’t take all of it.

A few days later Kyoko invites the two for dinner at her house. When Mizuhito leaves the room for a bit and after Yuriko whines about that:

Seriously why does everyone here have the mind of a child.

Kyoko takes the chance to tell Yuriko about the Geisha that her ... Brother... Lover?! what do I even call these two lol. The one her BroLover had been visiting frequently. Apparently she still posseses something that belong to Mizuhito and Kyoko wants to (find out if Yuriko and Mizuhito are facking) figure out how to relay this information to him. Obviously Yuriko with her 5 year old mind doesn’t want her lover visiting the Geisha so she asks Kyoko to keep it a secret.

On the way home we are subjected to another make out scene because Mizuhito got h*rny from Yuriko’s gaze. This scene is more “intense” to tell us that the frick frack is coming up soon but not quite yet.

If I took a shot every time she says Brother or Family then maybe I wouldn’t have to suffer like this.

I don’t know about you but I certainly don’t exchange gentle kisses with my older Brother.

After calming his raging... emotions Mizuhito says that they shouldn’t go too far since he thinks of Yuriko as special. Yuriko however feels “betrayed” by this like heavens forbid he didn’t rip her clothes off and bonk her in a dark dirty alleyway. How dare he.

In order to prevent Mizuhito from potentially bonking that Geisha who still has one of his “things” in a dark dirty alleyway instead Yuriko concludes that sending someone else to visit the Brothel is a great idea. She decides to ask Majima, her first love in case you forgot, and goes to visit him. When Mizuhito questions where she’s going in the middle of the night she comes up with the most convincing excuse ever:

Marvelous.

We’ll leave things here for now. So how will Yuriko’s first love react to this odd request? And how does this clusterfuck of a story end? You’ll find out in the (this time for real) final next part!

(The last part will definitely be up before Thursday cause I’ll be focused on Collar x Malice Unlimited then)

#chou no doku #choudoku #mizuhito #ripple effect stories #otome game

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tokumusume · 4 years

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tokumusume’s list of best and worst movies and dramas watched in 2019:

There’s a new category this year. Inspired by kpopalypse, welcome the Honorable Mentions! Movies that weren’t exactly bad but also weren’t good. Movies and dramas are qualified to enter if I watched them for the first time this year, not that they were released this year. Click on ‘keep reading’~~

Best Movies:

1. Parasite

Another masterpiece from the director of Snowpiercer (let’s pretend Okja never existed). A poor family con their way to a rich household. Choi Woo-Shik from The Witch (see below) is the eldest son and mastermind, fabulous as always. Definitely the best movie of this year. For me, movie of the decade.

2. The Witch Part 1 The Subversion

This movie is amazing, hard to describe without spoilers. A perfect mix of Stranger Things and Hanna. Choi Woo-Shik can come to my house and kick my ass anytime. I can’t wait for part two.

3. Death Trance

Visually stunning, kinda like Amemiya Keita’s style in early Garo or Mad Max. I wish the movie was longer and the characters were better fleshed out, Ryuen the monk and the little girl had so much potential... The most interesting thing about this movie is how sexualized the main male character is compared to the female ones, and apparently, the swords were designed to look like veiny penises (can’t find a source for this info), and yes, they do look like veiny penises. The final showdown is heavy with sexual energy. Have I already said that Ryuen deserved better? #RyuenRights

4. Gintama 2: Rules are made to be broken

The barber shop scene is a fucking cinematic masterpiece. I never laughed so much like I did with this movie. The way it doesn’t take itself seriously, the meta jokes, everything is perfect. Even better than the first one.

5. Kingdom

While I think that some fight scenes were way too long (like the bamboo forest one), the dynamics between Shin and Hyou/Eisei were highly entertaining, at least in my shipper eyes. I like that (SPOILER) the King of the Mountain People is a woman and not once they try to call her Queen. She is a King. Hashimoto Kanna is adorable as a Ten, Kanata Hongo does a great job as Eisei’s psycho brother, Sakaguchi Tak waves his sword around, the usual stuff but with added layers of dirt and sweat.

6. Bravestorm

A movie I lovingly call “Japanese Pacific Rim”. Full of Kamen Rider stars (Hino Eiji! Misuzawa Haruka! That girl from Heisei Generations, the one with a sword! She has a sword in this as well!) and giant robots (god, I love giant robots!), I waited so much for this movie and it exceeded my expectations. I just wish I could’ve watched in theaters, it had a limited showing in my country.

7. Twelve Suicidal Children

What begins as a murder mystery ends with a twist you won’t see coming. All of the actors are amazing, but special mention to Sugisaki Hana and that guy from that one boy group I forgot the name but can’t be bothered to Google.

8. Gakkou Gurashi

Four girls and their teacher try to survive the zombie apocalypse trapped inside the school. This one destroyed me for days.

9. Forest of Love

I’ve watched some Sono Sion movies but nothing prepared me for this. Be aware of extremely gory sequences and sensitive topics. Hinami Kyoko is so amazing as blue-haired, punk girl crush Taeko that I totally didn’t notice she was AkibaBlue in Akibaranger.

10. The Host

After watching Parasite I decided to go on a Bong Joon Ho binge and watched this horror movie. Not as good as Snowpiercer and Parasite in my opinion but heart-wrenching nevertheless. The little girl is the star of the movie.

11. The Hungry Lion

A story about the dangers of social media and slut-shaming. I want to punch Mizuishi Atom in the face.

12. Cromartie High

A little absurd comedy about yakuza-style high school boys (played by middle-aged men lol) forming a club to battle aliens summoned by themselves just because. It made me laugh like a child. A hidden gem.

Honorable Mentions:

1. River’s Edge

Depressing as fuck. Warning: the cats die. It’s not graphic but it’s traumatizing. Yoshizawa Ryo is a gay boy who sleeps with old men for money. There’s a graphic sex scene (not Yoshizawa, sadly) where my only thought was “That thing is gonna get stuck in there! Use a condom!” Can’t remember much from it except for these three scenes.

2. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Yamazaki Kento has the acting chops of a dead fish but it comes handy for playing a teen with psychic abilities and zero social skills. Hashimoto Kanna is one of the prettiest girls in Japan. Yoshizawa Ryo with white and blueish hair looks more like Sakata Gintoki than Oguri Shun in the Gintama live action. The end is a huge let down but the fun ride is worth it.

3. Ano ko no, Toriko

Congratulations to Yoshizawa Ryo, he has FIVE movies in my list of favorite movies this year! This is to make up for crowning GIVER as the biggest waste of time of 2018, this list is totally not biased, lol. “Ano ko” could be just another romance movie but the (very) little insight into how the entertainment industry works and not focusing on school life made me love it. Poor Sugino Yosuke being left behind again, when will this boy get the main girl?

4. Monstrum

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it’s pleasant enough to fill a rainy afternoon with a lot of blood and spilled guts. Hyeri of Girl’s Day is the heroine and Choi Woo Shik is the commander she falls in love with.

5. Weirdo Go

I confess I watched this one just to see Ji Li (aka my snake son Nie Huaisang) dressed as a woman but it was enjoyable and not that problematic.

6. Real - Kanzen Naru Kubinagaryu no Hi

Directed by the same guy that did “Creepy” and “Before we vanish”, there are lots of twists you won’t see coming. And a dinosaur. A fucking dinosaur.

7. Tomodachi Game: The Final

The movie loses its focus halfway through then picks up again minutes before ending. Yoshizawa Ryo delivers again as the sadistic Yuuichi, much like his role in Gintama. The plot twists are the star of the movie.

8. The Living Dead

Sorry Wen Ning. I saw the plot twist coming in the first 30 minutes of the movie, not very smart of the writer. His personality did a 180° turn for worse and I’ll demote the movie to an honorable mention for it. Gao Han is cute though, I would like to see him as a better character.

9. Backstreet Girls

Some recycled scenes from the drama to situate the viewers, a completely new story for the movie, it is certainly funny and enjoyable, if you can get past the forced gender reassignment surgery background and transphobic jokes (you shouldn’t get past it btw). I like the soundtrack.

Best Dramas:

1. The Untamed

Do I need to say more?

2. The Tale of Nokdu

This Korean romance had everything to be a mess but it wasn’t!!! *claps* I don’t hate the main female character and the whole palace politics actually kept me interested until the end. The complete shift of atmosphere mid-season was strange at first but ultimately very welcomed.

3. The Naked Director

Netflix original Japanese content is amazing. This one is a look at the life of a legendary porn director in the late 80s, I learned a lot about the history of Japanese porn and censorship (yay pixels!) and went looking for his, erm, works. Very graphic, 69/10 don’t recommend watching with people in the house.

4. Channel wa Sonomama!

I don’t remember it well but it’s about a news station and what is like to be a journalist and it was very interesting and funny.

5. SCAMS

Forgettable. Sugino Yosuke with black hair cons old people via phone calls.

Worst Movies and Dramas:

1. The cat in their arms

The cats spend 90% of the movie in human forms, and halfway through it they simply abandon the cats’ plot to show a fucking long montage of a weird guy painting a picture of a nude girl. It’s also super creepy to see a grown-up man acting like a cat, getting belly rubs and eating cat food from a bowl. Yoshizawa needs to choose his roles more wisely.

2. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

A waste of Suda Masaki’s talent. Can Japan stop casting Tsuchiya Tao already?

3. Samurai Marathon

Almost two hours of dirty men running through a forest. Maybe Japanese History experts will enjoy it, because I certainly didn’t.

4. Lady Vengeance

While there are legit great moments, I didn’t find this “classic” to be anything special. The animal cruelty was too much for me.

5. Hot Gimmick

This movie makes Bohemian Rhapsody’s editing look like a work of art. There are more flashing cuts than a T-ARA music video. I have no idea who likes who, who’s banging who, what even are they saying. Too much poetic shit for my like. I wanted to see Shimizu Hiroya naked. I was bamboozled.

6. The Divine Fury

While some parts were interesting, at the end I still don’t know if the protagonist is possessed by a demon (if yes, then why would he help a priest destroy his friends?) or if he was blessed by God when his father died and talked to him (the glowing hand thing, why and how??). The exorcism parts are really, really scary, or maybe I’m just a chicken, but I had to avert my eyes. The best (only) part is that the protagonists are hot. Hello Woo Do-Hwan, you can sacrifice me to Satan any time…

#tokumusume awards #2019 #Parasite #Gintama #The Untamed #The Tale of Nokdu #Yoshizawa Ryo #long post #jdrama #kdrama #jmovie #kmovie #cdrama #cmovie

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commentaryvorg · 4 years

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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 6.4

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time in chapter 6’s investigation, one of Shuichi’s flashbacks contained fake memories of real people and was therefore genuinely inspiring for once, Tsumugi rather tellingly pointed us to a ridiculous red herring about Kaede’s twin instead of anything actually helpful, Himiko was being just a little bit Kaito to compensate for how useless she feels in this investigation, and the hidden room contained a bunch of clues about the real mastermind’s identity and the truth of Kaede’s case.

Now, we’re headed to the Flashback Light classroom.

This very heavy rubble in the way which requires all 4 Friendship Power to move happens to be the shelves of music CDs and the entire piano from Kaede’s lab, which is through the wall to the left. It’s kind of neat how they thought about what rooms the rubble would have come from and made it match, even if this sadly means that Kaede’s lab is totally ruined now.

We can see the full moon outside the hole in the wall of this classroom. We could also see the full moon outside of Kaede’s lab during that scene where Shuichi was mourning her… and that was weeks ago, but only something like two weeks, not four. Yep, that’s a projection, isn’t it. (Or probably just a developer oversight. After all, you’d think Kaito or Gonta or anyone at all would have noticed, hey, the moon’s been full for over a week now, something’s up with that.)

The Flashback Light setup computer has all kinds of tantalising options available that it’d be fun to look through… but unfortunately Shuichi’s inner monologue funnels you into picking only the options you’re meant to pick, and you can’t see anything else. Boo, game designers, not writing optional text for this; it would have been interesting! Buuuut it would have been a lot of branches of text for something entirely optional, so fair enough.

- The survivors on a different planet

- Other survivors in the Ark

- There are no survivors

Note how there’s no option for them to remember that actually there were some survivors on Earth and it wasn’t quite as devastating as they’d been led to believe. So apparently the memory of the apocalypse really did involve them remembering that literally everyone on Earth must be dead, with such certainty that future memories weren’t allowed to contradict that. Meaning no possibility of an audience, not even a small one. Meaning that, once Kokichi saw the Flashback Light in the Virtual World containing the memory of this apocalypse, he had to have known Flashback Lights were fake, if he hadn’t already figured that out when he saw the outside world in the first place.

Shuichi: (And these categories… there are several inconsistencies about the survivors. Do I… have to select the correct one?)

Come on, Shuichi, you must know that doesn’t make any sense. You’re going to be quizzed about this thing you don’t remember, and you have to get it right before you’re allowed to remember it! That seems incredibly silly and unnecessary. The real implication of this should be immediately obvious.

Adjusting to match other memories.

Haha, yeah, that’s also not a thing that real memories should need to do. Though it’s neat that the computer has a built-in system to keep track of everything that’s already been decided as the “truth” for them and make everything else consistent with it. That could cause issues otherwise.

Shuichi: “… Is there more than one truth…?”

There is something beyond the “truth”, just like Kaito knew you could reach, Shuichi!

Himiko suddenly shows up, despite having been trapped behind rubble in the hidden room last time.

Himiko: “Be happier that I survived! I was able to make a spectacular escape from that sealed room!”

Yes, the Amazing Himiko’s Spectacular Sealed Room Escape Act, never performed before and improvised on the spot!

Himiko: “Nyeh? You don’t understand how I escaped from there?”

Shuichi: “…No?”

Himiko: “Hmhmhm, I see… you don’t get it… You don’t know how I escaped… Then I shall tell you! I escaped from that sealed room with my magic!”

I love how gleeful she is about having done something he can’t figure out even though it wasn’t a prepared and practiced magic trick. She’s finally got something that she can claim really was her using her magic, rather than having to constantly make excuses about why she can’t use it!

With a bit of prodding, Shuichi convinces her to actually tell him.

Himiko: “G-Got it. I’ll tell you… I definitely used my magic, but another thing that helped me escape that sealed room… was the girls bathroom on the 1st floor of the school building.”

It’s okay, Himiko, that still used your magic. Finding secret passageways is definitely something mages are good at (and obviously not because they use hidden passageways a lot in their acts), right? Like, with some kind of Detect Hidden Things spell? Totally.

Himiko: “Nyeeeh!? That’s a Flashback Light!”

Shuichi: “Y-Yes, but we shouldn’t use it…”

Heh. Shuichi has finally started to realise that maybe they shouldn’t really have been using any Flashback Lights at all this whole time.

Shuichi: “… This is an emergency. Nothing I can do about that. Ah, now’s not the time to be thinking about boys and girls bathrooms… Alright, I’ll do it.” (I repeated several excuses in my mind as I stepped into the girls bathroom.)

This kind of (perfectly understandable and gentlemanly) mindset is why Shuichi didn’t find this hidden passageway in chapter 1 and save everyone except possibly Rantaro. Kyoko had no such qualms, but she was a very different kind of detective than him.

Himiko: “Geez… Caught up on past killing games… That’s typical of a Remnant of Despair.”

It’s also even more typical of a Danganronpa fan.

Motherkuma: “I can’t birth Monokumas unless the designated person specifically says the word ‘birth’…”

One might wonder why Motherkuma was set up so that he even needed to be given an order from the mastermind to be able to make another Monokuma and couldn’t just make them on his own, but it does make sense if you think about it. Monokuma is a psychopathic AI programmed to cause suffering for entertainment – they’d want to have failsafes in place in case he decided to go rogue and carry out that purpose of his on some “real” people beyond what he was meant to do. So they limited the physical power he had, first by having the Exisals only able to be controlled by the relatively harmless Monokubs and not Monokuma himself, and then also by making it so that Motherkuma can only clone Monokumas when the mastermind deems it necessary and not just on his own whims. That way there’s no risk of a sudden Monokuma robot uprising because he’s decided it’ll make good entertainment.

Himiko: “Even I, the wise and powerful Himiko, panicked a little bit when I saw I was trapped in here.”

I really like this new Himiko who’s trying to put up a bit of a façade of false confidence, even if it’s obvious to everyone else that it’s a façade. It’s so Kaito of her!

And the more I think about it, the more I realise that Himiko never really did this kind of thing before this chapter. She was pushing herself to act positive, but not showing overblown confidence in her ability like this. Which makes it all the more likely that she is deliberately trying to imitate Kaito in his honour, and that’s adorable.

Himiko: “W-Well? Was I… useful?”

Of course you were, Himiko! This hidden passageway you just found is a vital clue!

But Shuichi just kind of brushes her off at first and doesn’t tell her that. This is unfortunately not the first time he’s been so in detective-tunnel-vision that he’s been unintentionally dismissive towards his friend who really wants to know that they’re being helpful to him.

Himiko: “…”

Shuichi: “Hm? Something wrong?”

Himiko: “J-Just tell it to me straight… like a man.”

Himiko’s even correctly invoking Kaito’s concept of manliness! Don’t beat around the bush, just be open and honest about how you feel about things! Even if the truth is that she wasn’t useful, Shuichi should just come out and say it instead of trying to hide it.

Himiko: “I-I want to be useful for my friends. But I can’t help much in investigations, can I? I couldn’t find the mastermind…”

She’s also doing a little bit better at actually applying that manliness herself than Kaito was when he was having similar issues, because Kaito never directly admitted to how badly he wanted to be useful and how useless he was feeling.

Shuichi: “Himiko, not only were you *useful*, you may have cracked the case wide open.”

Himiko: “Really!? If I found such an amazing clue, that’s proof I’m no ordinary person! Hiii hee hee hee! I’m terrified of my own magical power!”

This is so adorably like the kind of immediate bouncing back that Kaito would have done if Shuichi had ever told him something like this. All in a day’s work for the Luminary of the Stars! Himiko being like this too is lovely.

Kaito’s continued insistence on presenting himself like a hero when he no longer truly felt like one and when everyone else was sure he was still sick was essentially him showing them a fiction in the hopes of inspiring them and keeping their spirits up. Himiko’s constant commitment to her act even when she’s not on stage and even when everyone’s perfectly aware it’s not real magic really is a lot like Kaito in some ways. Her doing her best to fill Kaito’s shoes like this is going to be a great help for boosting Shuichi and Maki’s mood once the three of them are living outside and trying to cope with all this. And the fact that Himiko has her own issues that she’ll need help with too outside of this fiction she presents isn’t going to dampen that, despite what Kaito thought on that front. Kaito was afraid his fiction was only a lie, that everyone believed it was true and it’d stop working on them if they knew it wasn’t, but that was never the case.

While Shuichi and Maki’s talents are necessary for their arcs and for the overall plot, it might seem like an arbitrary choice for the third survivor to be a magician, and that Himiko’s talent really could have been anything else. But I think this was still probably chosen on purpose, because Himiko presents fictions that are meant to cheer people up and make them smile, and that’s wonderfully relevant to the overall theme.

Maki: “What… were you doing? Why were you in the girls bathroom?”

It’s pretty awkward writing that Maki has this immediate scandalised reaction to this. She’s supposed to have lost the instinctive sense for gendered bathroom taboos, based on the time she casually offered to check on Kaito in the bathroom without realising it’d be the boys’. Also, like, come on, Maki knows Shuichi, she’d know he’d never do that unless there was a reason that was actually important and relevant to the case. Danganronpa writing, please stop shoving this annoying talk of pervertnedness into everything, it’s chapter 6, now is especially not the time.

Anyway, Maki has the photo of Rantaro.

Shuichi: (With this… I can fight. I can fight the mastermind behind this killing game. …And I believe I can end it all.)

Look at Shuichi believing in himself! He’s got so much more genuine confidence now than he ever used to, without anyone else needing to encourage him to feel that way! Kaito would be so proud of him. And it’s thanks to Kaito that Shuichi’s come this far.

Shuichi: “Monokuma… you’re the one who calls these class trials… But not this time! This time, *we* choose to call a class trial! One to end them all!”

He’s become such a protagonist and such a hero! Look how far he’s come! Kaito would be so proud of him! Of course, Kaito already saw Shuichi as this much of a hero in the first place, but now Shuichi’s really started to realise and embody that image Kaito had of him, so that everyone can see him the way Kaito did!

Monokuma: “And I think it’s pretty interesting that you guys are on board with holding a class trial. In fact, I welcome your initiative! This turn of events will make things very interesting!”

Unfortunately… that’s still exactly what the gamemakers wanted Shuichi to do. This was the plan for him all along. (That’s even exactly why they killed Kaito.)

To keep the stakes high, Monokuma threatens to kill them all if they can’t expose the truth and provide an interesting class trial, and he asks if everyone else has as much resolve as Shuichi does.

Maki: “I’ll trust you. But if you screw this up…” [she smiles] “…I’ll kill you before Monokuma can.”

Shuichi: “…Y-Yeah, I believe you.”

I love how this would seem on the surface to be an “I’ll be mad at you if you mess this up”, when what it really is, since Maki specialises in quick and painless deaths, is her saying, “If we fail, I won’t let Monokuma make you suffer.” Shuichi is smiling, too, because he understands that. This is the second time Maki has offered to help her friends by killing them painlessly if it becomes necessary to do that, and it’s weirdly adorable?

Himiko: “I have friends I can trust! There’s nothing to be scared of!”

Oh, Himiko. Most of them, at least.

Shuichi: “Our hope is going to end this game of despair!”

Shuichi, no, you’re now sounding far too much like a perfect scripted Danganronpa protagonist and not enough like your own person doing this for your own reasons that have nothing to do with that bullshit Flashback Light that brainwashed you all.

Keebo: “Do you really think that ending awaits us? It sounds too good to be true, honestly.”

Yeah, because obviously there’s only two options here, the hope ending and the despair ending, right? That’s definitely how this works. Even without his inner voice right now, Keebo still instinctively thinks that.

Shuichi: “That ending *is* hope for us. …And we can’t give up on hope.”

Shuichi is basically just tautologically saying “the hope ending is hope”. Come on, Shuichi, shake off that brainwashing, dammit.

What’s really going to happen in the end, though, is just an ending, a permanent one, for the whole killing game. And that really is something that they would all genuinely want to hope for.

Tsumugi: “Keebo… let’s trust Shuichi here.”

Tsumugi also wants this class trial rather than Keebo’s continued rampage, because of course she does.

Shuichi: “Our final battle! Our hope will defeat your despair!”

Monokuma: “Puhuhu… puhuhuhu… Ah-hahahahaha!”

Shuichi: “Why are you laughing…?”

Because you’re giving the audience exactly what they want, Shuichi! This isn’t supposed to be about a battle between hope and despair like it’s just good versus evil, but the audience sure wants it to be!

Tsumugi: “I-It’ll be okay! He’s probably just bluffing!”

And Tsumugi does not want them to think too hard about why Monokuma’s so happy about all this.

Shuichi: (But it was still much easier than I imagined it would be. …No sense worrying about that now.)

No, this is definitely something you should be worrying about, Shuichi! If Monokuma wants something to happen, it’s not a good thing! Remember last trial where you forgot until it was too late that Monokuma is always the real enemy?

Tsumugi: “The four of us, and Keebo… By combining the marks of our friendship… we can overcome this class trial!”

These words from Tsumugi sound way more trite than anything anyone else has ever said about friendship in this game. How do you even “combine the marks” of friendship?

Finally we can walk freely without a stupid time limit. The courtyard has a few half-hearted piles of rubble here and there but is otherwise looking remarkably intact for having been the battleground of a huge robot war all night. Methinks the developers were being a bit lazy here. (But at least the training spot is okay and that is good.)

Maki: “Up until now, we had to find the culprits among the people in our group during the class trials. That’s why we couldn’t work together even if we wanted to. But… this time, it’s different.”

Tsumugi: “Ah, since there isn’t a culprit among us, we can work together without any doubts.”

Himiko: “We’re all going to be working together this time… I already feel more at ease!”

Shuichi: “…”

Shuichi already knows what’s up. He’s realised the that the clues indicate the mastermind is one of the five of them. He should be able to realise exactly who it is, too, but in the trial he doesn’t seem to have figured that out until shortly before he tells everyone. Maybe he does know, though, and just doesn’t want to admit it to himself because he still hates accusing his friends.

Keebo comes back with all his weapons removed and his antenna replaced, meaning his inner voice is back.

Keebo: “I acted recklessly and put you all in serious danger… I’m sorry! I’m very, very sorry!”

As he should be, really. He was willing to kill all his friends, and now he’s realised that maybe that wasn’t the best idea.

Keebo: “I was wrong to try to destroy everything just to avoid losing to despair… Even if I had followed throough, there would have been no hope or future left afterward. In which case, my actions would have merely resulted in a different despair altogether.”

Yeah, that’s exactly what he would have done, and at least he finally realises this. The narrative is not doing a great job of hinting that Keebo’s inner voice is effectively mind-controlling him, because he’s being more rational and making more sense now that he’s mind-controlled again than he did when he wasn’t.

Granted, as it turns out, searching for the truth and holding this class trial is exactly the kind of thing the audience wants, and maybe it would have been better for everyone to just be randomly killed by Keebo’s rampage and give the audience a boring ending that might end Danganronpa for good. But since Keebo doesn’t know anything about the audience or what they want, then as far as he knew while he was doing it, his rampage was completely illogical and wouldn’t have achieved anything worthwhile.

Keebo: “But… will you allow me to fight alongside you!? I want to help you find the truth! Please!”

Shuichi: “Of course, Keebo. That’s what I’ve wanted from the start.”

Maki: “If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to do all this.”

Sure would have been nice if Keebo had realised that he could use his weapons to help them find the truth earlier. You know, like in chapter 4 when four more people were alive and could have also potentially been saved.

Tsumugi: “…”

Keebo: “Oh… You seem angry, Tsumugi. Would you prefer I not help…?”

Tsumugi: “I’m not mad… I’m just holding myself back.”

Tsumugi goes on to explain that she’s just “holding herself back” from making what sounds like some kind of reference to something that would ruin the mood. This moment would otherwise maybe seem like a hint that she’s the mastermind and is angry at what Keebo just did, but then that bit just makes it awkward because apparently she isn’t actually angry at all? Unless she made that excuse to try and cover up her genuine anger, but you’d think her acting skills would have prevented her from even showing it in the first place.

There’s also the fact that, although she definitely was mad at Keebo going off-script, she’d have been most angry about that while it was happening, and would just be relieved now that he’s got his inner voice back and is acting like he’s supposed to again.

Maki is still carrying the Bugvac, so Keebo offers to look at it with the zoom function he’s installed on himself. This is something that Kokichi also could have asked Keebo to do while he was alive. It’s possible, as I mentioned before, that Kokichi didn’t realise the Bugvac was finished until after trial 4, at which point it’d be basically impossible for him to ask Keebo for help… but it’s also entirely possible that it just didn’t even occur to Kokichi that Keebo could help here, because lol he’s just a thing he’s not a person it’s not like he could ever help with anything at all.

Keebo: “Because I’m a robot, I can evolve in ways that are simply not possible for a human. I’ve… finally accepted that. There are notable differences between us, but they’re nothing to be ashamed of. Because… with my talent, it’s possible that I can save you all.”

This is the most half-assed attempt at making it seem like Keebo has actually had a character arc here. There was no kind of build-up to this at all. The change that made him decide to put on all his weapons was his inner voice being gone and had nothing to do with character growth, so now that his inner voice is back, he should be back to how he was before, which was apparently not wanting anything sci-fi at all.

…I say apparently, because whenever Keebo did happen to make use of his other functions like his recording function and his flashlight, he was always quite proud of himself and happy to be making himself useful in ways nobody else could. And yet he also kept saying that he didn’t want to be sci-fi and adamantly refused to install far more useful functions until now, which seems rather contradictory. I suppose you could handwave that the previous functions are too basic for him to consider them “sci-fi” and be averse to them? But even then, his speech right here implies that it’s less about what counts as “sci-fi” and more simply being able to do things that set him apart from humans that (supposedly) made him uncomfortable.

The writers, and I mean the out-universe ones here, really just did the absolute laziest job at what should be a vital piece of character work to justify why this killing game didn’t end in chapter 4 like it really should have. At least they did a pretty good job of justifying all of Kokichi’s terrible decisions that were vital to the plot having them be fairly plausibly linked to all of his issues, but man, they barely even tried with Keebo.

Clearly the Nanokumas need to be bear-shaped and just holding tiny little cameras, right. It couldn’t possibly be more efficient to just have their entire bodies be cameras with wings.

They talk about how these tiny cameras prove that Kokichi was right to use the Electrobomb in his plan.

Tsumugi: “Umm… the more I learn, the more I wish that Kokichi had just worked with us normally.”

Yup. That sure would have been fucking helpful of him, wouldn’t it!? And that’s definitely not exactly why you wrote him to be the kind of person who’d never be that helpful and would never want to trust or work together with anyone, not at all.

Tsumugi: “Gonta discovered it, Kokichi made a design, Miu built the device… It was because of all of them that Keebo was able to find the final clue. It’s almost like… everyone is cheering us on.”

Yeah, because Kokichi and Miu totally cared about helping us with this Bugvac, that’s definitely why they, you know, let us know they’d made it and didn’t just leave it for Maki to discover by chance through a lot of tedious effort, right.

Maki: “Relax. If we end up failing, and it comes time for me to kill you… I’ll make sure to end your life swiftly, so you won’t have to suffer.”

Shuichi: “…Th-Thank you?”

Aww! Though I’m sure Shuichi already knew that that was what she meant when she “threatened” to kill him earlier and she didn’t actually need to clarify. I also love Shuichi’s awkward thanks – he does appreciate the gesture, but this is an odd thing to be thanking anyone for.

Shuichi: (There’s no point in worrying anymore. Right now… we only need to think about getting out of here alive.)

Ahahaha. They’re still blissfully oblivious as to what the attempted end goal of this trial is going to end up being.

Shuichi: (I’m sure… this is the end of despair. And the beginning of hope.)

noooo Shuichi stop it

Shuichi: (The killing game of Hope’s Peak Academy… The killing game of Jabberwock Island… And the killing game of this Ultimate Academy. How much more until they’re satisfied?)

Yeah, definitely just these three, right? They definitely haven’t had way more than that and still aren’t at all satisfied.

Shuichi: (This is the end of it. I’m… tired of this. We’re going to end it. We’re going to end this cruel game.)

This is very, very true, though, more than he realises right now.

I once saw an LPer observe that this final trialground looks kind of like the set for a game show? Which is quite appropriate, really.

Monokuma: “Puhuhu, it’s not up to you or me to decide whether or not this is the end.”

Oh boy, it sure isn’t. But we’ll get to that problem (and I mean that as an out-universe problem and not just an in-universe one) in several more posts’ time.

Monokuma casually threatens to murder his cubs if they don’t help him out during the trial. (Yeah, they’re still here, in case you forgot. I’ve been sparing you from them.)

Shuichi: “…You really are the worst.”

Monokuma: “I’m the best at being the worst, don’tcha think so? Puhuhu… I tell ya, people can’t get enough of my crude antics!”

Yep, Monokuma knows exactly what he’s here for – to play the villain and make himself hateable in an entertaining way (not that anyone should hate him for wanting to kill the Monokubs, but, you know). This is yet another thing he and Kokichi had in common.

…And the part where Monokuma was furious at Kaito for dying his own way? He was probably kind of okay with that having happened, too, beneath it all. He’s the villain, after all. He knows that he’s really here to make you root for the good guys to beat him and feel triumphant when they do.

---

[Next post]

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #chapter 6 #deadly life #commentary

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weaselandfriends · 5 years

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What's your opinion on Hieronym's "To the Stars"?

Before I began writing Fargo, I read the first chapter of To the Stars, thought “This is probably decent, but not for me,” and stopped reading. I didn’t attempt to read it again until after I had already begun writing Chicago.

It’ll probably be clear to anyone who has read both of our works that we have different approaches to storytelling. I’m not a huge fan of “worldbuilding” in general, and worldbuilding is TTS’ strongest aspect, so already there’s a disconnect between the kind of stories I like to read and the kind of story TTS is trying to be. Clearly, a worldbuilding-focused story like TTS is appealing to a lot of people, and TTS has a pretty strong following because of it. But that’s not the kind of story I personally like, so already I’m not going to be positively disposed toward it.

Oftentimes you see these video essayists who critique a work of fiction at a molecular level, calling out small plot/character inconsistencies, minor technical problems, et cetera. What you might call “nitpicks.” In my opinion, if someone consuming a piece of entertainment is focusing on nitpicks, that’s not a referendum against the person (being “too nitpicky,” etc.), or even a referendum against the work, but an indication that the work they’re consuming is not engaging them. A work can fail to engage because it’s poorly made, but it can also fail to engage simply because it’s not a story to which that specific consumer relates/appreciates.

So, TTS being at a conceptual level not the kind of story I would like, I’m probably more disposed toward finding flaws in it than someone who appreciates the kind of story TTS is.

I read 15 chapters of TTS, which is a bit under 200,000 words. 200,000 words is about 600-700 pages of a book you’d buy at the store. The first two chapters have a pretty clear-cut inciting incident. The main character, Ryoko, makes her wish and joins the space marines. Alright. But in the next 13 chapters, the story has essentially zero forward progression. There are plenty of flashbacks, plenty of explanations, plenty of conversations, but the story does not progress. Ryoko remains on Earth, waiting to be deployed. At times there are a few hints dropped at some greater conspiracy behind the scenes, but that’s not plot progression, that’s more like foreshadowing that there will eventually be plot progression.

It was too slow for me. I’m sure people invested in the world don’t mind a pace that slow. In fact, I’m sure many would argue that faster plot progression would actually detract from the worldbuilding, which is the story’s main draw. But for me, it eventually burned out my patience and I couldn’t continue.

That was my main problem with it, but I did have a few smaller issues. The style’s a chimera, with these lovingly technical and detailed descriptions of places, things, and concepts counterbalanced against dialogue more reminiscent of something you’d see in a light novel. But the next two points, while relatively minor reasons for why I didn’t like TTS, are less formalistic.

1. Homura. People will and have interpreted her character in various ways, and her seemingly uncritical (maybe this changes later?) deification in TTS was, from my understanding, a not-uncommon take pre-Rebellion. Although I’d argue that Homura was always kind of a slimy individual (I still love her) even when looking solely at the show, I can understand the perspective. What I don’t get, however, is how in TTS Homura is the person who unifies Magical Girldom and serves as its heroic first leader. Regardless of how you feel about Homura morally, we’re talking about someone who couldn’t convince even Sayaka and Mami, after hundreds of attempts, to do a single thing she wanted them to do. Homura is the least charismatic character in the show, the one with the worst leadership qualities. Even if she knows about Madoka, who is going to believe her? It’s not like she was so successful getting people to buy into her seemingly supernatural foresight in the show.

The introduction to Homura in TTS is literally a propaganda piece, so perhaps in-universe she’s just a convenient martyr onto whom can be projected any positive qualities. But Mami, who is quick to indicate areas where the film was censored and serves as an objective source on what really happened, doesn’t dispute the concept that Homura was the primary driver behind the formation of the MSY.

Because I haven’t finished the story, and based on the fact that there does seem to be some kind of conspiracy either behind or at odds with the government in the story, it’s possible that these notions become disputed later on. In fact, there are a lot of elements to this story where I thought to myself, “If the take on this was a little more nuanced, I could see myself getting invested.” Another such element is point two.

2. Everyone is Kyubey. The people in this story talk and act less like real people, and more like Kyubey. Kyoko in particular has some lines that sound nothing like Kyoko. Of course, there’s an in-universe justification of “hundreds of years have passed,” a justification that isn’t even unrealistic. Society has moved toward a more communal, more technological state. So its members thinking and speaking more like Kyubey makes sense. But the characters and narration seem completely oblivious to this. There doesn’t seem to be any critical take on the essential sameness of all characters’ perspective and voice. Kyoko drops a line that sounds more Spock than Kyoko and it’s passed off as being completely normal. So maybe this point is less a criticism and more something I wish was actually taken further, explored, delved into to some extent.

Kyubey himself is noticeably absent from the parts I read. I have to wonder why, especially since this is a humanity that seems closest to his level of existence. Does he have an opinion on it at all? What about its imminent threat of extinction? Is he biding his time while he manipulates everything in the shadows? Is he part of the conspiracy hinted at throughout the story’s early chapters? These questions might have spurred me to continue reading, except there were no hints that any of these questions would be answered. After about 200,000 words, I didn’t have the patience to find out.

Obviously, those last two points are a lot less fundamental to my problems with TTS. In fact, they’re less “flaws” and more, let’s say, questions. Questions that might even be answered, considering there are about 600,000 words of this story I haven’t read. But I brought those questions up because those are the questions I attempted to respond to in Chicago, and the reason for my evocation of TTS at certain moments in the story.

Ultimately, I think Hieronym clearly put a ton of care and effort into the story, more care and effort than I probably put into mine. I think TTS is just, on a conceptual level, not the kind of story I would enjoy. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad story, though. I hope this post doesn’t come off as overly critical, because that wasn’t my intention. I just wanted to give a few thoughts on it.

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suzu-kun22 · 6 years

Text

Danganronpa V3 Character Rankings

My rankings for each character, plus a little paragraph for why I put them there. Spoilers ahead.

16. Korekiyo Shinguuji

I hate him. He’s creepy and he freaks me the hell out. Plus he killed two characters who I loved very much. Plus he was a really obvious killer. Even though the seesaw trick was incredibly clever, he was obviously the killer from the start. To add insult to injury, he’s voiced by my favorite English voice actor. He also shows us the unquestionable truth that incest, truly is wincest.

15. Ryoma Hoshi

I don’t have any problem with Ryoma actually. I’m just incredibly indifferent to him, so everyone who I actually like is above him. I honestly don’t really have an opinion on him except that he’s kind of cute as a ship with Gonta. I liked how he was so willing to give himself up for everyone else at first, and that he let Kirumi kill him, it made him seem like this person who’s already been through so much that he’s just finished with his life. He gave the impression of being just so... tired. And I thought his death was really interesting.

14. Tsumugi Shirogane

I actually like Tsumugi a lot. I thought she was a really relatable character at first, and then I thought she was a pretty cool mastermind. I hate that she got Kiibo killed and killed both Rantaro and Kaede, which is probably why she’s so low. Also just... her cruelty is so needless. During the sixth trial she’s so horribly cruel to the other survivors up to that point, but, once the jig was up and they knew what was going on, she really didn’t need to be. Unless my theories are right and it’s all a lie anyways! (*nudge nudge*)

13. Gonta Gokuhara

Again, not me disliking a character, just liking others more than them. Gonta is such a pure cinnamon roll who truly did not deserve what happened to him. He was taken advantage of by someone who just wanted someone to do their bidding, but Gonta was such a legitimate sweetheart to everyone. Even Kokichi. He only went with Kokichi and allowed himself to be manipulated because he thought it was the best for both Kokichi and everyone else. He just wanted to protect everyone, and he deserved so much better.

12. Kaito Momota

I liked Kaito a lot more than I thought I would. I went into the game expecting him to be a Hagakure type character. I thought he’d be loud and annoying and I’d get fed up with him quickly. But he proved himself to be quite likable in the end. His relationships with Shuichi and Maki respectively are what really make him likable. After what happened to Kaede, Kaito really picks Shuichi up by the hat and doesn’t let go until the hat falls off. And he single-handedly got Maki to come out of her shell and start caring about someone. Honestly, without him, neither of them would have any character arc. Which is part of what makes his death so amazing and so tragic at the same time. At least he got to stick it to Monokuma with his death.

11. Miu Iruma

Oh god Miu. Why do I love Miu. She’s just so damn entertaining I can’t stop loving her. What was Kodaka thinking when he said he made her to be unlikable?? Her death is the biggest turning point of the whole game for me. It does so much for so many characters and just outs Oma as such a truly despicable person (or at least that he’s acting as one) and she herself is just so much fun to watch. And I absolutely adore her relationship with Kiibo. They’re just adorable, whether you choose to interpret them as friends or lovers there’s no denying that they’re a perfect match.

10. Tenko Chabashira

Tenko is one of those characters who occasionally gets annoying, but you still just can’t help but love them. Before chapter three I was more neutral towards Tenko, but once she had raised her death flag right before the seance I realized that I really really REALLY did not want her to die. To the point that I almost started crying and was actively shouting at my game for Tenko to NOT go along with the seance. And of course, her ‘unrequited’ love for Himiko was (while slightly creepy) still sweet and something that was relatable for me (I’ll hang around people when I want to be friends with them). Her death was really the booster behind Himiko’s character arc too, which is just another bonus.

9. Kirumi Tojo

I’m honestly not sure why I like Kirumi so much. She’s just such a good person, even if she does murder someone she only does so because she honest-to-god believes with all of her heart that doing so will save the lives of so many other people in the outside world. She treats everyone with the utmost respect, and she’s an incredibly intelligent person too. I mean, you need to be smart to come up with and carry out a murder plan like the one she had. She created what would have been the perfect crime if not for the inner tube and the black gloves that she only had to leave in the pool because she would have died if she tried to retrieve them. I love her reserved calmness and how she just LOSES all of it once she’s discovered. That’s what really set her apart from Peko, she refused to accept her death and even tried to escape her execution, which just added so much. Also it doesn’t hurt that her execution was pretty damn cool.

8. Kaede Akamatsu

Honestly she would have made a great protagonist all the way through. I love how she helps Shuichi so much and is just so desperate to save everyone that she resorts to killing the mastermind herself. I love how Kaede’s trick was ultimately what outed Tsumugi as the mastermind and that, even after her death was long over, her absence weighed heavily on the rest of the game. She does so much for Shuichi as a character. She gives him his confidence in the first chapter, but takes it away again with her death, showing that the truth isn’t always the better answer and that, by fining the truth, Shuichi is sometimes just making the situation worse. She makes him doubt himself once again and leaves room for Kokichi to take advantage of this and for Kaito to step into her role as the one to help Shuichi get his confidence back. Of course, her memory doesn’t die as the one who left Shuichi to lose his confidence once again, he heeds her advice and remembers her as someone who believed in him, and that’s what she needed to be.

7. Maki Harukawa

I went in pretty indifferent towards Maki. At first I thought she was going to be a Kyoko type in a game that already had its Kyoko (Shuichi). I was expecting her to be the stereotypical cold girl with a tragic past, and she ended up being so much more. With the twist that ended up forcing Shuichi to step out of Kyoko and Chiaki’s role, Maki really took over in that area. She’s an intelligent and interesting character who is far from being perfect. She makes mistakes, and she lets her emotions get the better of her despite trying to be cold and emotionless most of the time. Even then, she tries to be selfless and protect her friends at the end of the game. And, despite her cold exterior and avoidance of relationships early in the game, she lets herself become close with Kaito and Shucihi. Leading to one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the entire game when she confesses to Kaito, just before he's dragged off to his execution. And, even then, she maintains a strong friendship with Shuichi, who clearly trusts her and is willing to rely on her for good reason.

6. Himiko Yumeno

I mostly just think that Himiko is really cute and I find the whole ‘always tired’ angle pretty relatable. I love her relationships with both Tenko and Angie and I adored her reaction to their deaths. She had one of the most realistic reactions to losing two friends in all of Danganronpa, and the CG of Gonta carrying her back to her room after she cries herself to sleep is absolutely adorable.

5. Shuichi Saihara

I don’t think loving Shuichi needs much explanation. He’s incredibly sweet and has severe anxiety and self-esteem issues, which makes him incredibly relatable. And the relationships he forms with Kaito, Maki, and Kaede are truly what help him begin to overcome this. While I often say that I wish Shuichi had been the mastermind or how cool it would have been if there was a twist where he had been a corrupt detective or if he had killed someone, I’m till very happy that none of these were the case and that our precious detective got to live in the end. He’s just a very likable character and someone you really cheer for. He’s so incredibly supportive of all of his friends despite he himself being the one who really needs their support and assurance to have confidence in himself. And I want nothing more than for him to gain this confidence and be happy with himself.

4. Rantaro Amami

I mostly love Rantaro so much because he has so much potential as a character and I have so many specific head canons about him and his relationships with others that just make him so lovable for me. I adore how desperate he was to live at first and how he really trusted himself to figure it out even though that trust is what ultimately got him killed. I love all the subtle hints towards his history at the beginning of the game (the most notable being Monokid shouting ‘he flew through enemy territory just to die like a bitch!’ or something along those lines) and everything about how much he clearly hates himself during his FTEs with Shuichi. His self-blame is incredibly relatable and just makes me want to hug him. And when he called himself the Ultimate Useless Big Brother I almost cried because hell no he is not a useless big brother, he’s doing so much for his sisters and he deserves the world! He truly did die too soon.

3. Angie Yonaga

I know most everyone hates Angie or finds her annoying, and while she can be annoying sometimes, I love her so much that I can basically forgive anything she does to annoy me. She’s basically Ibuki’s personality in Hina’s body, so she’s basically a combination of my favorite girls from both of the previous two games. She’s such a fun free spirited person and I just can’t help but absolutely adore her.

2. Kokichi Oma

Yeah he’s a terrible person, yeah he kills another three characters who I love, yeah he’s just an all-aroid pretty horrible acting person, but that doesn’t mean I can’t love every second he’s on screen. While I honestly believe that his personality is mostly fabricated, just watching him toy with everyone else is so much fun, especially since for the most part they’re all aware of it but still can’t help but fall into each and every one of his traps. The moment when I truly fell in love with him was during chapter four when he yells at the others that they’re just TERRIBLE AT BEING LIED TO, SERIOUSLY THE WORST! I adore this speech from chapter four so much that I’m going to be performing it as a Dramatic Interpretation piece. He’s jut impossible not to love for me, especially after chapter four. I was certain he was going to die in chapter five, but I certainly didn’t expect that badass trick he pulled and it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. While he’s not the most relatable, he certainly is damn entertaining and charming, and he caught me pretty easily.

1. K1-B0

I love Kiibo. Like obsessively. I have a firm belief that Kiibo would have made a great protagonist and that him being protagonist might have made the game’s social commentary even more relevant. I am planning on writing a post about this at some point in the future. Regardless of this there are just so many things I can’t help but love about this small and precious robot. How he’s so full of hope, even if hop isn’t what they need, how he tries to help everyone no matter what they do or say about him, and how he just doesn’t understand what his best friend (Miu) is even talking about like 95% of the time. He’s just so adorable and pure and I love him. His death was the hardest for me and when he smiles upon seeing that Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko survived it just kills me every time. My baby.

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daisiesanddanganronpaimagines · 6 years

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May I request a danganlife please? I’m a short female with long curly blonde hair and brown eyes. I have a youthful, childlike appearance and have old lady like tendencies, but I find that I can pull of vintage outfits. I am also currently majoring in History. I am shy with strangers but a loud, talkative, dork with people I am familiar with. I am responsible with everything but my health but am getting better at managing it. I like cutesy things, but I also enjoy the dark things as well.(Part 1

I tend to overthink things in the beginning of things but have made progress with calming myself down. I don’t enjoy expressing my negative emotions to others. I’m also known to be childish, excitable, thoughtful of others, stubborn, and have an active imagination (and depict being upbeat I can be emotionally challenged). I am polite to everyone I meet though and respect their personal space unless they want hugs. My hobbies include fawning over animals, being with friends, (part 2 from vintage

listening to music (and singing when alone), walking, wood burning, watching tv, and cosplay. (Final part from vintage girl)

Of course you can! I’m so happy I get to do more of these :3

Without further ado, let’s see how you would fare in the Danganronpa universe with your Dangan Life: SHSL Test Results!:

I think you would be dubbed the Ultimate Historian! This would be because of your majoring in history, along with your ability to be virtually timeless. I say ‘virtually timeless’ because of your unique way of being able to pull of a cute, yet classy and old vintage style. It’s incredible!

In fact, Tsumugi is often asking you if she can have some tips on vintage cosplay. She’s never been much good at those, despite wanting to be good at them. Conveniently, however, she met you!

Often, the two of you go to cons together and cosplay together. She teaches you some tricks, and you teach her some tricks. Although, you’re a bit surprised, because what do you have to teach the Ultimate Cosplayer?

Overall, you’re mostly liked. Shyness is very endearing indeed, and combined with your cute appearance, it’s just precious. Some hate you, for one reason or another, but you figure that because it’s the high school age, that it’s perfectly natural and nothing to worry about.

Once more people get to know you though, and you become more comfortable with everyone, it’s a good time. Often, your friends (like Mikan, for example) chide you for not taking care of yourself, which helps you form healthy habits so you’re not chided at school the next day.

Because you overthink, I don’t think you would become a remnant of despair. I think that you would see the little things in them - what they’re becoming. And although it might have been painful, you closed yourself off from that. Your childish and excitable nature never fails to entertain, whether it be yourself or others. More particularly, Ouma, who loves playing tricks on you almost as much as he does Gonta.

Being emotionally challenged is difficult, but luckily you have some caring people to help you along the way. Even though they might not know how, they do. The respect of personal boundaries is very reassuring (yet sometimes scary, in a way) to your friends, and they find themselves pulling back after hugging you or touching you in a new way for the first time because oh god - did they just invade your privacy??

They profusely apologize, but you laugh that little laugh of yours and initiate a hug this time, saying that you weren’t sure if they were okay with hugs, so you didn’t know what to do.

They sigh and relief, and everything’s fixed once more.

Overall, your life at Hope’s Peak is wonderful, but once you get into the killing game….well…

It’s not so wonderful anymore.

At first you don’t really believe anything. How could someone trap you inside of a school and expect you to kill your friends?

Your S/O?*

In the end, you don’t give into killing someone, despite your frequent emotional breaks and isolation. Often, your free time events focus on your past while you make talk with the protagonist, and you trust them, even going so far as letting them in your room, which you don’t really do otherwise - unless it’s for breakfast or some sort of event.

At the class trials and in investigations, you’re typically helpful as well, although not as helpful as someone like Shuichi or Kyoko, for example.

You do however, get killed by someone. It’s planned, but by the killer, it’s seen as more of a mercy kill. They do it the most painless way they know how - one knife straight through the heart as you’re asleep in a public area. That one slip up is all it takes, and you’re dead.

Your killer feels a profound amount of guilt, especially as your S/O and/or the others weep over your dead body. Sure, you had been isolated and had emotional breaks, but you tried to be upbeat, and cheer them up.

You even went so far as to throw a fashion show with Tsumugi, once.

The protagonist of your killing game squeezes your cold hand, and vows that they’re going to find your killer.

Even if that, in turn, kills them.

I think you’d be friends with: Hajime Hinata, Shuichi Saihara, Tsumugi Shirogane, Kaede Akamatsu, Ibuki Mioda, Ouma Kokichi, Korekiyo Shinguuji, Aamami Rantaro, Sayaka Maizono

*Provided that you have one

#matchup #dangan life: shsl test #love it #vintage anon #dangan ronpa #ndrv3 #dr1

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musicfeedsmysoul12 · 7 years

Text

Additions to the Family: Some Paperwork

Ao3: Here

Summary: Tsuna didn't really give much thought to his infertility until he realized he was surrounded by children. After being told fertility treatments wouldn't work, a new suggestions was given.

Adoption.

Or: Tsuna adopts an army of children.

Pairings: Undecide, Ryohei/Hana, Kyoko/Haru

Rating: T

Something was wrong. Reborn could feel it as he walked through the hallways of the Vongola headquarters.

With this bunch, he often felt it, but this was strange. Like something new and hopeful was happening. He had no idea why it felt like this.

Walking past Gokudera and Yamanato, Reborn overhead them talking to each other.

“Man, Tsuna’s been in his office for a while. There really that much paperwork?”

“Probably. It is the first of the month baseball-freak.” Reborn changed direction after that.

Tsuna hated paperwork. He’d been horrified the mafia actually had paperwork. Reborn had taken glee in teaching him why.

Vongola and the rest of the alliance had hotels, casinos, and brothels all in their names. These buisnesses under the Vongola reported to the Vongola liasions, who would compile the reports and then send off another to others, and so on. Then there were expense reports- most dealt with by another division who sent just updates to Tsuna. Alliances reports were a few to, so those were sent to Tsuna as well.

It wasn’t a terrible amount, but it did usually take a day or two after the monthly dump, then usually a morning for the weekly reports.

Tsuna still hated it.

Slipping into his student’s office, Reborn withheld the snort upon seeing Tsuna only half doing his paperwork. He was mostly on his computer.

Sneaking up behind his student, Reborn was about to say something when he noticed the fact Tsuna was researching adoption.

He slipped right out of the office.

He also pulled out his phone and began calling some contacts.

Tsuna would need them soon.

-0-

Domestic, international, private, public, closed, open…

Tsuna groaned, rubbing his face.

There was just so much information about it all, he felt his head swim a little.

But at the same time, he fell more and more in love with the idea of adoption the more he read it. A little boy or girl finding a family. A huge one, really.

Reading a bit more, Tsuna hummed under his breath.

He liked the idea of international adoption. Domestic risked to much of an enemy family slipping in a child and then attempting to claim them later on. Or an allied family doing the same thing really.

But what country? Did he want to specify? Did he…

“Tenth?” Tsuna looked up to see Hayato holding a dinner tray, looking worried. “You haven’t got much paperwork done.”

“Yeah, I…” Tsuna hesitated for a second. “I spoke with Shamal a while back, again. He told me that even with fertility treatments, there would be no chance of me having a biological child.” Hayato didn’t interrupt, simply waited. “He suggested… I think about adoption.”

Hayato jerked back, eyes widening slightly. That… he hadn’t expected. Oh, he knew his boss loved children and always wanted some, but he’d never expected Tsuna to willingly bring children into their world… then again, if he had them biologically it would be the same…

The more he thought about it though, the more excited he was for Tsuna. He’d worried when Tsuna hadn’t really reacted to his infertility. It seemed like it hadn’t kicked in until now, but Tsuna… he found hope.

He always did.

“That’s… that’s amazing!” Hayato said finally, throwing his arms up, a grin on his face. “Are you researching it now? What have you found? Do you require any assistance-“

“Hayato-kun! Calm down, please.” Tsuna laughed, shaking his head. “I’ve been researching it for a week or so, and I’ve been thinking an international adoption is what I want most.”

“Where from?” Hayato asked, pulling out a pad and paper, making Tsuna wonder where they had been- and where the dinner, oh, on the chair, got it.

“Not sure. Some place we can be relatively sure there won’t be a rival Mafioso family attempting to slip a kid in?” Tsuna leaned back, frowning. “I also like the idea of adopting from a new culture we aren’t familiar with. It seems interesting.” He idly looked at a globe he had on his desk. Dino’s daughter, Emily, had given it to him, saying that every office needed one. He glanced over the various countries, but one caught his eye.

“Maybe… Mexico?”

“And the Cartels?” Hayato asked. Tsuna snorted.

“After you and Hibari teamed up to ruin them, they leave our operations alone.”

“Very excellent point.” Hayato chuckled. “Are you going to discuss it with the others?”

“Yes, tomorrow I think.” Tsuna grinned, thinking of it. “I’ll have to convert a room into a child’s bedroom.

“We’ll help.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

-0-

Telling the others had pretty much gone as expected.

Ryohei burst into happy yelling about how extreme Tsuna was, and how awesome it would be to have a little Tsuna. Lambo was similar.

Takeshi laughed, and eagerly talked about teaching the child baseball.

Hibari didn’t really react other then a nod. Murkuro cackled and said it would be interesting.

Chrome was thrilled, and talked about it all, along with Kyoko and Haru. Hana simply shrugged, a smirk on her face.

His mother and sister both were excited, and Mama decided to learn how to make traditional Mexican dishes for the future.

It was the Ninth and Imeitsu who gave him the trouble.

“You know this can cause succession troubles,” Timoteo told Tsuna, who rolled his eyes at him. After becoming Decimo, Tsuna had refused to have the ninth as an advisor, something which he was insulted by.

Tsuna didn’t care.

“As long as I don’t, say, lie to them for years and let them know they’re adopt, I don’t see a problem. I mean, that’s the biggest thing- lying to their faces.” Tsuna smirked at the older man who went a little red.

“Tsuna-“ Iemitsu began, looking cross.

“I suggest you don’t say a word. The only reason you’re still CDEF head is because Basil and Lal are still unsure if they wish for the position. As soon as one decides, you’re out.” Tsuna told him bluntly. “You are not someone I take advice from. You are not someone I respect. Do not attempt to try a single thing.”

He left soon after, only to run into the Varia. All gave him an assessing look, and Tsuna knew that they had heard of his plans before Xanxus even spoke.

“Adoption?” Xanxus asked, his voice hard. Tsuna nodded in answer.

“I’m planning on digging up information about biological parents, telling them as soon as I can, incorporating culture-“ Tsuna trailed off as Xanxus slowly nodded.

“Smart trash.” He muttered. The other members didn’t have much to say, but all looked grateful.

Like hell he would mimic the Ninth.

Telling Reborn ended up a contact in an adoption agency- the Open Hearts Society.

He wasn’t surprised Reborn already knew though.

“Mexico, hmmm?” Reborn asked, looking amused. “Girl or boy?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“True, I’ll teach them either way.”

“Not how you taught me.” Tsuna told him and Reborn pouted but shrugged.

Calling them directed him to a female who told him ‘I’ll come over, look you over and decide.’ Before she hung up.

Well, this would be interesting.

-0-

Victoria ‘Tori’ Mathews had originally wanted to be a cop. She’d gone to college for it and everything. Then she took a socialwork class, and the rest was history.

She’d moved to Italy from Canada after a brief marriage that fell apart when her husband decided to sleep with his secretary and pin the blame on Tori for a rather awful assassination of some heir to a mafia family.

It was luckily cleared up by a baby/man/person. Tori had promised she owed him one.

And now he was coming to collect.

“Wasn’t the Vongola that family I was accused of killing the heir of?” she asked over the phone.

“Yes. But Tsuna is not like the others. He wishes to turn the Vongola into a legitimate business.”

“From what I can tell, it really already is. Even with the hitmen and shit,” Tori muttered as she searched through the files Reborn had sent her.

The ‘less base’ mafia families were weird to her. No drugs, no gun trafficking and no human trafficking? Really, she kind of considered them like… not criminals. The only thing illegal was the protection bracket, the hitmen, fencing stolen goods… okay, never mind. Criminals.

“Look, I’ll talk to him. If I think it’s good, I’ll go through with it- though I will need some help hiding his mafia connection.”

“Your boss is crooked, it’ll be fine.”

“…Okay, that does not surprise me. How crooked?”

“Not to an extreme point, but he looks away for quite a few things.”

“Fun. Alright. Give him my number.” Getting the call and then heading over was the easy part.

The interview? That was the hard part.

It took place at Tsunayoshi Sawada’s- on paper, CEO of Vongola Industries. Terrible student, infertile due to an accident as a child- home. He’d apparently refused to stay at the traditional home for the Vongola Bosses, headquarters, and instead let the ninth generation stay, while he took over the retirement spot.

Looking around the small area, holding ten buildings, she was fairly certain it was the best idea. Open space, less neighbours- other then his inner circle- and a… jungle gym.

“Interesting,” she muttered to herself as she strode to the house with an orange door, knocking firmly on said door. It opened to reveal a fluffy haired brunette with big brown eyes. “Victoria Mathews, the social worker.”

“Oh, hello!” The brunette outright beamed and Tori was a bit taken aback by how… shiny it was. “I’m Saw… Tsunayoshi Sawada.” He opened the door wider and she entered. “Reborn said he knew you?”

“He basically saved my life,” Tori agreed, deciding to get it over with. “But I’m not sacrificing my own values to help you get a kid. If I decide you’re not a good idea for a parent, I will not push it through.”

“I understand.” Tsunayoshi agreed. He took her on a quick tour of his house- seven bedrooms, one office, a gym, a huge entertainment room and Tori kind of felt a little overwhelmed by it all- before leading her to the kitchen for some water and the interview.

“Why adoption?”

“I’ve always wanted kids. Being told that fertility treatments wouldn’t work, I was a little down until my doctor suggested adoption.” Tsunayoshi explained to her. “A… employee of mine was adopted but his father never told him and it turned into quite a… dramatic time for them.”

“Then you know what not to do.” Tori told him bluntly. “As for your job… if your child wanted out would you let them?”

“I didn’t want my job.” Tsunayoshi responded. “But I was backed to the wall, and I realized if I kept saying no…” Tori nodded, making a note on her paper.

“Many children available for international adoption- or domestic- are special needs children. Would this be a problem for you?”

“No. I mean, I would need to research and everything, but as a kid I had some… issues. I would fully support any child of mine. No matter what.”

“Your family- I’d like at least one civilian reference- would they be helping you?”

“All of them, except my father and my predecessor are accepting. They offered to help with the bedrooms.” The look on his face made Tori snort.

After a few more questions, Tori sighed and pulled out some paperwork.

“Fill this out, I’ll mark off on the home tour and I’ll send you info on a few classes you need to take. But… I have no objection to being your social worker.” He lit up like a sun and grinned so wide her heart felt light.

Weird kid.

-0-

The paperwork was almost as bad as the other stuff he had to do, but this stuff he threw himself into.

There was also deciding on the age group, and if he was okay with a sibling group. He’d spoken with his guardians, his mom and Tori- she gave permission- about it.

“I’d like a baby,” he admitted.

“That would take longer Tenth,” Hayato said, looking through his many notes. He’d cornered Tori before she left and she ended up throwing a binder of rules and regulations at him to stop with the questions.

“Not for the Vongola.” Reborn said with a smirk.

“Please don’t get Miss Mathews into trouble Reborn. She’s being really nice doing this.” Tsuna told him. His once tutor shrugged in response. “As for a sibling group… I’m not sure. I mean, if the baby has siblings I’d go for it. If there’s a twin, I’ll take both. But…”

“You wouldn’t seek them out.” Takeshi offered, looking through some paint swatches that they had gathered for the baby’s room. “How about a sea theme?”

“Oh, that’s perfect for a girl or a boy!” said Kyoko cheerfully from where she sat with her wife, the two looking over furniture. “Can you tell Tori that?”

“I kinda did. She told me she wouldn’t seek them out but she would keep it in mind.” Tsuna agreed. “If it’s a sea theme, what kind of fish should we paint?”

As the process went on, the group had a memorable afternoon in which Reborn implemented some ‘traditional Vongola’ ways (Tsuna knew Reborn was screwing with them) to paint the room a nice sea blue with colourful koi fish painted on the walls.

It was a paperwork day when a Vongola subordinate brought a plain brown envelope to the office. He had a grin on his face. The entire Vongola- and therefore the mafia- knew that The Vongola Decimo was adopting. Some Familigas had attempted to discover where to slip a child in, but the Vongola kept their mouths shut. And the one time Tori was leaned on, she broke three arms.

“You might want to read this sir.” Tsuna took the envelop, frowning, only to open it and find a packet of information with a picture of a tiny baby girl, with big brown eyes and dark brown hair.

Josefina.

I read some comment on Tumblr about how someone found it funny we all agreed there was paperwork involved in the mafia and Tsuna would hate it.

One- paperwork is awful. We all hate it.

Two- with something as big as the Vongola, I would be surprised if there isn’t any. I’m not talking ‘daily 8-4 paperwork’ but reports, expense, that sort of thing? Yeah, wouldn’t be surprised. So… yeah, me interjecting some reasonable thoughts?

I don’t like Iemitsu and the Ninth as you can tell. Ignore the fact the ‘Sealed Flames’ might be anime only, they piss me off so much. Iemitsu lying to his wife, never being around and being abusive? No one can tell me he’s a good dad. Neglectful at best, psychically abusive at worst. Terrible husband to.

The Ninth… why the hell didn’t he make his kids get married? Why the hell didn’t he step down sooner? Why the fuck does he send Reborn to tutor a civilian kid?! Why the hell doesn’t he tell Xanxus the truth?

Just… shitty dads. Guess it’s true almost all fathers in anime suck.

I don’t like Nana much either- but I’m not as willing to write her off. I mean, Japanese culture puts a lot on doing well. Tsuna doesn’t, and it might be shaming her. I don’t like she calls him Dame, but again, I don’t know if it’s culture or not.

So, here she’s a good mom. Not the best, but eh.

And now we meet the social worker, and get a glimpse at the future baby!

#KHR #additions to the family #tsuna #how does italian adoption work?#i'm pretending it's like canadian

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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Skip Beat 43

Skip Beat! Volume 43 by Yoshiki Nakamura

It says something about the enduring appeal of Skip Beat! that even though I have stacks of shoujo to read, whenever a new volume comes out it is my immediate priority. Kyoko has fought through an intense audition process to win the role of Momiji, but as usual in Skip Beat! this means that the drama is just beginning.

Part of what made the most recent round of auditions so intense is that Kyoko and Moko had the possibility of working together. When Kyoko finds out that Moko isn’t cast, she has a torrent of emotions and anxiety about how her best friend might be feeling. It turns out that the producer has Moko in mind for a role in another project, and things get smoothed over. Kimiko does not accept losing the role of Momiji so gracefully, as she attempts to drug Kyoko and fling her off the roof of a building, only to be foiled by Erika putting a plan in motion to expose Kimiko’s insanity. This all seems like enough soap opera shenanigans for one volume of manga, but the story continues to unfold with Kyoko and Ren continuing to misunderstand each other, even though they’ve been able to acknowledge their feelings internally.

Kyoko’s quirkiness as a heroine is perfectly summed up when she calmly assesses her danger by concluding that she didn’t know how high up she was, and she probably would only have broken a couple of bones. There’s also a hilarious panel where Kyoko senses that Ren is looking at her and from her perspective his stare turns into the predatory glare of a snake, only for her to turn to look at him and be confronted by his usual pleasant expression. A innocuous picnic with a bento that Kyoko makes ends up turning into a prompt for some intense internal thoughts about budding romantic feelings. With the forced proximity element of Yashiro serving as manager to both Kyoko and Ren, I’m hoping that this story arc might move things forward a little bit. Then again, we are a good 43 volumes in to Skip Beat! and I’m entertained no matter what happens.

By: Anna N

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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beneaththetangles · 3 years

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Reader’s Corner: Those Snow White Notes, Your Lie in April Revisited, and A Couple of Cuckoos

She’s My Knight, Vol. 1

The premise of this lovely little comic is simple: Ichinose has always been the popular kid, attracting attention from all the girls until cool, collected Mogami comes along, stealing not only Ichinose’s popularity, but also his heart. I’m a total sucker for the Mogami type in manga and anime—the tall, athletic, boyish girl—and she makes a perfect pairing with the pitiful Ichinose, who increasingly, as the volumes progresses, falls apart around her. There’s not much else here—just lots of gags and near-miss moments, so in that sense, She’s My Knight may end up being a forgettable series. But just as Ichinose is the damsel to Mogami’s knight, this series might be rescued, too, by hints that the girl is not as clueless as she seems. But even if that’s not true, even if the series means to simply tease us for endless chapters and results in a series that isn’t unique in any way, the manga would still hit the sweet spot of feel good romantic comedy so well that it doesn’t really matter—this is the perfect volume to open as you sit back, kick your feet up, and prepare to fall in love. ~ Twwk

She’s My Knight is published by Kodansha.*

A Couple of Cuckoos, Vol. 1

Nagi Umino learns quite the shocking truth: As an infant, he had accidentally been switched with another baby, and had essentially grown up his whole life as an adopted kid. To make matters worse, upon meeting his birth parents, and the girl, Erika Amano, that he had been switched with, he finds out that their parents had decided that the easiest way to resolve this whole matter is to have the two of them get married so that all the parents can officially consider both of them their children! With an anime adaptation announced recently, I figured I’d check out the first volume of the manga, and true to the name, it’s quite crazy. With a mess of family relations and some side romantic antics involving a smart girl Nagi has a crush on, this manga definitely has all the fun of a good romcom, and there’s not really too much that annoyed me about it, either, other than that the volume ended way too soon. I also liked how it touches on the awkwardness of trying to connect with a birth family you didn’t grow up with, and I hope future volumes do more with that along with the romance stuff. ~ stardf29

A Couple of Cuckoos is published by Kodansha.

Street Fighter Gaiden: Vol. 1

Videogames have made the transition to manga many times, and some have even done it on multiple occasions, which is the case with Street Fighter. I picked up Street Fighter Gaiden, which has two volumes and focuses on various stories in the SF series, focusing on various characters. Ken and Ryu get their due, and so does Chun-Li, who is some nice panels participates in a drug bust in San Francisco. Other stories feature Fei Long desiring to do something more challenging than be a movie star, leading to travels to Japan and a tragic accident while stopping some criminals; T. Hawk protecting fellow natives from another tribe who are being harassed by Balrog; and the final story, where Guile becomes involved in underground fights while trying to prevent a friend from getting involved with Shadaloo, the secret evil organization of the series. The stories veer from the traditional backgrounds of some of the characters, like Fei Long and Guile, but it’s interesting to read how the author puts them together. Fans of Street Fighter should check this series out! The drawings in the manga looks dated and a little rough here and there, but I certainly enjoyed it and will be picking up volume two. ~ Samuru

Street Fighter Gaiden: Vol. 1 is published by Udon Entertainment.

The Dawn of the Witch, Vol. 1

Witches seem to be making a bit of comeback in manga lately. The Dawn of the Witch, one of the new entries, seems at first blush to add little that’s new to the canon, assembling a weak main character mage, overpowered but very young looking master witch, talented witch / love interest, and a beastman, as they undertake a special type of journey / course assigned by their magic school. However, tropes can be deceiving. Volume one tells a story at breakneck pace, developing relationships, adding backstory, providing action, and dumping a ton of information, which while it could become oppressive, in this manga, is captivating. The world and its history are fascinating, the way magic is used has some uniqueness (including a cursed, talking staff?), and the divisiveness between witches and the church shows depth. The world-building in just this one volume is extensive and engaging, and the story seems to be in good hands, while the art and character design, developed by two additional members of this three-person manga team, are just as extraordinary, bringing vividness to action scenes, boldness to the characters themselves, and lettering and paneling that add further dimension to goings-on. The frequent and obvious fanservice, unfortunately, can be quite distracting; it’s not a coincidence that it takes a back seat once the story ramps up, indicating how unimportant it is. By the last chapter or two, there’s no room for panty shots; we’re swept up into the lives of these characters, the choices they’ve made and are making, and the world they inhabit, which in terms of recent witch manga, is second to none. ~ Twwk

The Dawn of the Witch is published by Kodansha.*

Those Snow White Notes, Vol. 1

Moving to Tokyo after the death of his guardian, grandfather, and teacher, Setsu is a lost soul. Though he carries with him a shamisen, the ancient three-stringed instrument, Setsu is unable to play, haunted by the words of his grandfather which told him he was unworthy of it. But will this move to Tokyo and the people he meets there be just what Setsu needs to find his sound? The first half of this initial volume is one long chapter, and reads like a one-shot, an almost self-contained story of Setsu’s serendipitous meeting with a hopeful actress, Yuna, and the impact the two have on one another. However, this front half of volume one isn’t particularly distinct in any way, and despite a desire to connect emotionally with readers through the young protagonist and and his family, the panels fall flat in this aspect, as do they when depicting the sound of the shamisen, whose tone and rhythm I could feel but not the emotion it gives. The second half of volume, however, establishes the story and characters better. Setsu’s personality is better defined, as is his brother’s, and new supporting characters are introduced as Setsu begins to attend school, setting the stage for a club-centered drama, a la Kono Oto Tomare and Chihayafuru, two other anime centered on historic Japanese pastimes. And like those, there’s potential here, though it will be lost if Those Snow White Notes can’t find consistency and an emotional anchor, which would be a shame, as the first episode of currently-airing anime adaptation showed how a few adjustments could turn this story into something quite special. ~ Twwk

Those Snow White Notes is published by Kodansha.*

Your Lie in April, Vol. 4

I’m continuing my re-read of Your Lie in April and have reached Volume four, a part of this series which can be a tough read. Kousei has finally returned to the piano scene after two years away to find that his childhood rivals have only improved. Both of them were motivated by him to become better. Emi saw him when she was very little and it inspired her to play, believing in her heart to play for joy, while Takeshi is driven to perfection to reach what Kousei had always achieved. Then there’s Kousei himself. In these chapters, readers bear witness to the emotional and physical abuse Kousei underwent as a child and it’s hard to witness. But it does help present a complete picture of the person Kousei has become so far. This is a challenging volume because of what happens, but it’s important to the overall narrative. Beautiful artwork and emotional moments will keep me moving through this re-read. ~ MDMRN

Your Lie in April is published by Kodansha.

Skip Beat, Vol. 17

The “Suddenly, a Love Story” arc is an oddity, a portion of Skip Beat that is quite long and cumbersome, with not enough Kyoko and perhaps too much of the unappealing side of Ren, full of insecurity and lacking much of his initial appeal. Volume 17 thankfully puts the arc to rest with a quick but exciting (and revealing) finale which pits Ren against no, not Shotaro, but Reino, the abusive and perhaps occultist musician. The next arc also begins in this volume, introducing Kuu, a movie star more famous, it seems, than any previous character in the series. Although we get to know him just a bit, he appears to be a rival who could threaten Ren. He also immediately challenges Kyoko, providing the potential for her to really chew up character interactions, something sorely missed in the previous arc. The final chapters of volume 17 feel like a breath of fresh air, hopefully pointing toward compelling chapters ahead—though I fear the problem of an unappealing Ren may be not be solved anytime soon. ~ Twwk

Skip Beat is published by Viz.*

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#Manga #She's My Knight #Ikemen Kanojo to Heroine na Ore #A Couple of Cuckoos #Kakkou no Iinazuke #Street Fighter Gaiden #The Dawn of the Witch #Mahoutsukai Reimeiki #Those Snow White Notes #Mashiro no Oto #Your Lie in April #Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso #Skip Beat!#Reader's Corner #Articles #Author: TWWK #Author: stardf29 #Author: Samuru #Author: MDMRN

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commentaryvorg · 5 years

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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 1.3

Last time, Kaito’s adventures in nearly getting himself killed had totally saved everyone until it turned out they really really hadn’t, Monokuma announced the time limit motive, and Shuichi (and by extension Kaede) fell right into the mastermind’s trap due to the lack of any visible cameras monitoring them.

Now, it’s finally Free Time! I am going to be covering some FTEs in this commentary, but only as many as I can get in a normal playthrough. I’ll be trying to keep things as close as possible to what might have potentially happened “canonically”. So I’m going to be going for characters whom the protagonists would be most likely to willingly choose to hang out with if they didn’t have a player controlling them on the other side of the fourth wall.

I’m also going to make it a regular thing to ask around all of the characters before actually initiating an FTE with the one I’m planning on doing, just to see what thoughts people have on the current situation so that I can mention any if they seem relevant. There can be quite a lot of interesting stuff going on in the pre-FTE dialogue sometimes.

Speaking of, Rantaro happens to be hanging out in the library, suspiciously close to the moving bookcase, so there’s that.

Keebo: “I cannot believe we’re being subjected to this purely for the entertainment value!”

…whoa, Keebo, you actually hit the nail on the head there. Of all people to make that assumption, it’s interesting that it’s him specifically. I wonder if he has slightly more of a sense that that’s the case because of his inner voice? Hm.

Anyway, obviously the first person that Kaede would choose to hang out with would be Shuichi! He’s in the warehouse right now. I wonder if he’s checking out what kind of stuff it’s got to see what he can use for his plan. If only he’d taken the things he needed now while he was here instead of bringing Kaede here to get them with him tomorrow, she might never have grabbed a shot put ball. Or perhaps the fact that I’m about to make Kaede hang out with him now is what’s going to prevent him from doing that, at least in this particular version of events.

Also, while almost all the sports equipment is examinable right now, the box of shot put balls isn’t.

Kaede: “Do you wear a cap, smoke a pipe, and use a magnifying glass to investigate crime scenes? Do you say stuff like, ‘Indeed, most intriguing!’?”

Kaede is such a goof. I love her.

Shuichi: “A lot of those cases are small jobs… Infidelity cases, background checks…”

Shuichi is not normally a homicide detective except for that one murder case he accidentally solved. Still, I imagine that the Ultimate Initiative also looked into all of these more routine cases when deciding to name him the Ultimate Detective; just because the cases he’s solving aren’t murders doesn’t mean he can’t be talented at solving them.

That said, this kind of case is also not necessarily the most glamorous in terms of painting detectives in a positive light. Much later on in the story, Shuichi laments that all detectives do is uncover people’s secrets for money, and it’s probably these cases that make him think that.

Kaede: “Yeah, I guess it’d be bad if flashy murder cases kept happening around you!”

Yeah that’s definitely not going to happen at all now that he’s in a killing game.

Shuichi: “The other cases are just stuff like… finding runaways and stuff.”

This kind of case, however, does show a positive role for detectives. Shuichi’s saving people by finding the truth!

He goes on to explain that he and his uncle have a policy of following up on runaway cases to resolve the reason the person ran away in the first place, which is a lovely policy to have.

Kaede: (I didn’t know detectives were so considerate. Or is Shuichi just a special case?)

It depends on the detective, apparently. Shuichi’s a very different kind of Ultimate Detective from Kyoko – she was very cold and impersonal, whereas Shuichi has a much more compassionate and human approach, but both kinds are good in different ways.

I’m also going to include all of the bonus item-dependent scenes, since there’s no reason to assume they’re not canon. Well, with one certain exception, but I still have a few things to say about how that one is initiated, so I’ll still talk about it when we get to that point. That said, half of them aren’t super interesting and I won’t have that much to say about them, and this nail brush scene here is one of those. Still, it’s cute – Kaede gets so excited about it! – and it’s probably not a coincidence on the writers’ part that it happens to involve the true mastermind and the person whom Kaede ends up killing because she thinks they’re the mastermind.

Also, Tsumugi, if you didn’t want Rantaro upstaging you at nail art, maybe you shouldn’t have written his character to have twelve younger sisters. Or, actually, did Tsumugi write Rantaro’s character? Because he was written for season 52, so it’s entirely possible she wasn’t involved in that. Maybe that’s why Tsumugi is so inexplicably disdainful towards Rantaro in this scene – because he’s not her character, unlike everyone else there.

Moving on, Kaede can “max out” two people’s FTEs while she’s the protagonist, so she should hang out with a second person besides Shuichi. It’s a little less obvious who else she might choose to spend time with, but… yep, you guessed it, I’m going with Kaito. It’s pretty reasonable Kaede might want to hang out with him since he’s been so supportive of her, but aside from that, he’s a very important character and doing his FTEs here will give me more chance to talk about his similarities to Kaede and what makes him tick in general. Whenever it’s more ambiguous who the protagonist might choose to hang out with, I reserve the right to go with my favourite and/or the most story-relevant out of the most plausible options.

But first, while asking around…

Rantaro: “Oh, sorry. I was just… thinking about something. You wanna go to the library? I feel like reading.”

…not convinced that’s the real reason you want to go to the library, Rantaro.

Maki: “It feels like we were just given our Ultimate talents on a whim…”

Whoa, Maki, that is very perceptive of you. And I guess she would be the one to think that, since she hates her true talent more than anyone else here.

Maki: “…And if there’s time to complain, I’d rather spend it being productive.”

Don’t tell Maki right now, but this is her being pretty similar to Kaito in this particular way.

Kaito: “What’s wrong? You got something you want to talk to me about?”

Kaede: (Should I spend time with Kaito?) [Yes]

Kaito: “Yeah, you can tell me anything! I may not look like it, but I’m a great listener!”

Kaede: (I spent some time listening to Kaito, despite him telling me he was a good listener…)

This is a very meaningful exchange! On a first time through this would look like yet another supposed example of Kaito not being able to back up his own words, but it’s not that at all. Anyone who’s seen the rest of the game knows that Kaito really is a good listener when people need him to be. The reason he doesn’t end up being a good listener to Kaede here is because she doesn’t need him to be right now. The thing that’s bothering her the most is the knowledge of a mastermind and whether her and Shuichi’s plan will work, but she can’t tell him that. And maybe she could express more general worries about whether they’re really going to be able to survive the time limit, but she’s too optimistic a person to want to admit to things like that, especially to other people whom she’s trying to be an encouraging influence on. You know, kind of exactly like Kaito himself doesn’t either.

But I also like how the conversation started off with Kaito assuming she had something to vent to him about and offering to listen. This is an early sign of Kaito’s determination to support people. He may be totally at a loss in terms of coming up with a plan to deal with the time limit, but he knows that he’s good at providing emotional support for others. So he’s offering to do that here in an attempt to feel like he’s still making a difference, even though Kaede is probably the least likely person to need it.

What we have here is a clash of two people who focus far too much on helping others with their problems and never like to admit to their own, so the conversation that both of them initially thought of as an attempt to help the other relax got derailed and probably ended up as something along the lines of Kaito excitedly telling Kaede facts about space instead. Because there is absolutely no way that Kaede ending up listening to Kaito was the same unloading-your-problems kind of “listening” that Kaito was originally offering to do for her.

Getting into the actual FTE, Kaito wants Kaede to teach him to play piano.

Kaede: “Playing the piano is gonna help you when you go to space…?”

Kaito: “Of course! What if I meet an alien?”

I love how Kaito just says this like it makes perfect sense when it makes anything but to anyone except him.

Kaito: “Well, we haven’t confirmed any, but… It’s silly to think that humans are alone in this vast universe. Plus, isn’t it more exciting to think they’re out there somewhere?”

Of course Kaito would think this, not just because it’s mathematically likely given how huge the universe is, but also simply because it’s fun to imagine it. It’s what he wants to believe!

Kaede: “So, if there are aliens, do you want to try to communicate using the piano?”

Kaito: “Not just piano, any music! Even singing would work.”

Then just sing to them, you doofus. Don’t you realise how much extra fuel it would cost to carry a piano on a spaceship.

Kaito: “I think it’s totally possible to communicate with music.”

Even so, this is still great. He doesn’t just want aliens to exist, he wants to be able to meet them and communicate with them, and he understands that music is one of best forms of communication that works despite language barriers. This is already establishing Kaito’s belief in the importance of communication, even before he talks about it some more in one of his FTEs with Shuichi.

(He is making the rather human-centric assumption that any aliens he meets would communicate using sound, but still.)

Kaito goes on to talk about the Voyager Golden Record, which is a real thing that I hadn’t heard of until I saw this FTE.

Kaito: “It was put on a spacecraft called the Voyager. It was a message to any aliens that found it. It had greetings in a bunch of languages, images of landscapes… and also music.”

It’s really cool that humanity did this and so like Kaito to be invested in this kind of thing!

Kaito: “In the not-too-distant future, in fact! I, Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars, will be the first human to ever come in contact with an alien!”

Kaede: (…Where does he get this confidence from?)

What a dork. Aliens existing: mathematically likely. Aliens being encountered by humanity within Kaito’s lifetime: extremely mathematically unlikely. But that’s not going to stop him!!! He is so ridiculously determined.

Kaede: (I know well that music can transcend words and language to unite hearts as one. Oh god, I’m starting to sound like a hopeless romantic like Kaito! Hahaha…)

They are both so idealistic and so focused in different ways on communicating feelings to others and it’s great.

Kaede: (But I won’t lose… I won’t give up. Because I want to see everyone’s smiles just a little longer.)

Guh, Kaede just wants to make everyone smile and that’s why she’s going to do what she’s going to do.

In the morning, Monokuma shows up at the door when she’s expecting Shuichi, to tell her her lab is open.

Monokuma: “Now, go to the Ultimate Pianist’s Lab right away and compose a murderous melody!”

Ha. Ha ha. Oh dear.

And then she does the cliché of assuming it’s still Monokuma the second time the doorbell rings.

Kaede: “Geez, enough already! You’re bothering me!”

Shuichi: “Ah, I’m sorry! Should I come back later?”

Kaede: “Oh, Shuichi! Sorry, just ignore what I said!”

Come on, Kaede, you could at least tell him you thought it was Monokuma so he doesn’t spend the rest of today anxiously wondering why you yelled at him and whether you secretly hate him.

I randomly decided to examine Kaede’s closet before leaving and…

Kaede: (It even comes with my pink vest…)

Well that sure is a suspiciously specific detail that isn’t ever going to be relevant later or anything.

Kokichi: “C’mon! I wanna see you fly! Robots have jet packs or whatever under their feet, right?”

This is some brief foreshadowing that also highlights how little of a damn Kokichi ever gives about saving everyone. If he’s apparently so enamoured with the idea of Keebo flying, when Keebo’s lab opens up in chapter 4, he could have tried to persuade Keebo to use his jetpack and laser gun sooner.

Rantaro: “Look, like I told you before, I was just a little confused. Not being able to remember my own talent is… stressing me out. Really, I would appreciate it if you didn’t ask me about it anymore.”

This is after Shuichi tries to ask Rantaro again what he meant regarding the Ultimate Hunt, which Rantaro sees as an “interrogation”. He really must be horribly lost and confused, just like Shuichi remarks in chapter 6. He doesn’t feel like he can trust anyone, and he’s terrified that Shuichi and Kaede don’t trust him and that if he tells them the truth of how he knows about the Ultimate Hunt that’ll just make them trust him even less. Guh. If only he did trust them and tell them everything, then the tragedy that’s about to occur wouldn’t happen, but it’s so, so understandable why he doesn’t.

He also leaves after the conversation is over, making it clear that he really doesn’t want to talk about this at all.

Maki: “…Heading to the dining hall? You guys better brace yourselves, then.”

Shuichi: “Wh-What? Why?”

Maki: “…Because Miu’s there.”

I absolutely adore how 1000% done Maki always is with the most annoying members of the cast. It’s very refreshing.

Maki: “…And what about you?”

Shuichi: “No, not yet… I suppose only Miu and Kaede’s labs have been prepared…”

Maki: “…I see.”

[Maki leaves]

Shuichi: “…It sounded like Maki was in a bad mood.”

Kaede: “I think Miu was bragging about her lab being open. But I don’t think that would bother Maki, since she seems so level-headed.”

The way Maki asks about other labs, and their observation that Maki seems uncharacteristically bothered by something that isn’t just Miu being Miu, makes me think that this is Maki being afraid of the possibility of her lab being open now. Like she’s thinking that it’s already accessible somewhere in the school and she just hasn’t found it yet, and now that it might have opened up, someone else could find it before she can stop them and learn her secret that she’s so afraid of having anyone know.

In the dining hall, Kaede starts begging to Miu because she’s just that open and straightforward of a person, but it’s sweet that Shuichi is inspired by this and joins in, even though that’s very much not the kind of thing he would have been comfortable doing if he’d been on his own.

Kaede: “Thank you, I owe you! Even after we escape, I’ll owe you forever and ever and ever!”

Miu does not deserve Kaede being this pure and good at her.

I’m not sure why Shuichi doesn’t have Kaede come with him to the back of the warehouse to get the sensors and instead asks her to wait there by the sports equipment. I mean, obviously from an out-universe writing perspective I do, but man, that on-a-whim decision of his made all the difference.

It’s a little odd that the only photo-taking cameras the warehouse has are disposable ones, but as we learn in chapter 5, it also has video cameras as well. Kind of makes you wonder why Shuichi didn’t try asking Miu to modify one of those instead. That wouldn’t have had the problem with intervals.

Kaede: (Will these cameras really work? Even if we take pictures of the mastermind and persuade everyone… What will we do after that? The mastermind could just smirk and order the Exisals to attack everyone. Can we really protect everyone with this plan? Will we really be able to escape this place?)

And right here is the moment where Kaede resolves to murder the mastermind instead of just capture them. She hasn’t got the whole Rube Goldberg setup in mind yet, but she grabs herself a murder weapon all the same, despite not being sure how she’s going to use it.

I’ve been talking a lot about Kaede and Kaito’s similarities and the ways in which Kaede is a better leader than Kaito, but this is one of the situations in which Kaito would have been better than her. Had it been Kaito instead who was helping Shuichi with his plan, his ridiculously stubborn optimism wouldn’t have allowed him to think this thought all the way through. He’d have stuck to Shuichi’s plan, refusing to acknowledge the possibility that it might not work. Kaede is also very optimistic, but she’s more capable of acknowledging negative possibilities than Kaito is. While that can often be a good thing, in this situation that works against her to make her conclude that her only option is murder.

Kaede: (I shoved the things I was holding into my backpack, and ran after him.)

Everyone knows what’s up with this line since it’s referred back to during the trial, but it’s still really good. The game can no longer afford to be completely truthful with Kaede’s thoughts and actions, but it never tells an outright lie. It merely omits certain details, leaving just enough there for you to figure out what’s really happening when you know what to look for. And while there are probably a few of Kaede’s thoughts about her murderous intent that we’re not seeing, it does make sense that she would mostly try to avoid thinking about it in the first place.

Kaede: “I was just thinking how amazing you are for coming up with this plan, Shuichi.”

Aww, look at Kaede admiring Shuichi for his talent even though he doesn’t believe in it himself. They really are a great team. Shuichi’s detective skills make him able to come up with this plan which at least on the surface looks pretty solid, but he doesn’t have the confidence or courage to carry it out on his own. Meanwhile Kaede is so great at encouraging people but doesn’t have the skills to come up with a plan like this, so she needs to team up with Shuichi for her ability to encourage people to actually be useful. If only Kaede had been able to truly believe that simply capturing the mastermind would be enough to save them.

(And, you know, if only Shuichi had been aware of the several pieces of information he’s missing that indicate the plan won’t actually work to capture the mastermind in the first place. But he’s still doing a really impressive job with what he has.)

During free time, I took Kaede to look at her newly-opened lab, because I could.

Kaede: (Smiling, I ran toward it and lifted the cover. Beneath it, a clean row of black-and-white keys smiled back at me. I haven’t touched a piano in a couple days, but it feels like it’s been forever since I played.) “Hahaha… I really am the Piano Freak…”

Kaede being so excited about seeing the piano is adorable. I love how she describes it as “smiling back at her”, like every piano is a friend of hers.

Also, it really has been forever since she played. Since, you know, she didn’t exist until a few days ago and has literally never played before. The previous owner of her body might have done, but not her.

It’s a shame there isn’t an option to, like, have Kaede pass the free time slot by just playing the piano. I feel like she totally would have considered that instead of hanging out with someone. (She does actually end up playing the piano in Angie’s second FTE with her, but it sucks that that’s the only way to allow her to play it before she dies.)

Shuichi: “You giving me something this wonderful… I wish I could give you something in return.”

Don’t worry, Shuichi, it’ll be your turn to give everybody presents soon.

(Does Kaede just, like, bequeath Shuichi the giant stack of presents she’s amassed from the Monomono Machine, so that he can continue her wish of making friends with everyone?)

Shuichi talks about how he lives with his uncle and aunt right now because his parents work overseas.

Shuichi: “Well, for me, they’re just a mom and dad who have a… hands-off approach to parenting.”

Ouch. Seems like Shuichi’s uncle is more of a parent to him than his actual parents.

Kaede: (Shuichi’s smile seems bitter. I wonder if his parents jerk him around a lot…) “Oh, we got off-topic! Um, there’s something I wanted to ask you about, Shuichi…”

I feel like Kaede is partly changing the topic here because she doesn’t want to make Shuichi think about his not-great parents. Look at her being considerate.

Shuichi’s first case was to find a classmate’s pet alligator.

Shuichi: “I researched alligator behavior and spent a long time preparing the tools to capture it… I had to climb around mountains and swim up rivers… It was a lot of work.”

It’s things like this that make it all the more believable that their backstories were made up by someone who was trying to write cool exciting characters and not necessarily the most realistic ones.

Shuichi: “The knowledge it took to solve that case… became the foundation for my detective work.”

Um, are you sure, Shuichi? I guess the more general skills you practiced were useful, but alligator behaviour?

Shuichi: “And… I was so happy to be of use to someone. I can still hear her ‘thank you’ to this day.”

Aww, Shuichi. He laments a lot later on that detectives can’t help people because all they can do is solve murders once the tragedy has already happened. But even aside from how he’s ignoring the fact that in this killing game he’s directly saving everyone else’s lives by solving the murder, that’s still not true! The kind of work he and his uncle do to find missing people (or pets) is all about helping people!

Kaede: “It never once occurred to me that detectives could show that kind of compassion. Compassion makes people trust you. If you offer them your hand, they'll reach for it... The world needs more detectives like you.”

And Kaede thinks so too!

Shuichi: “Because… that’s the first time someone has ever said that to me. I’ll never forget this moment. I’ll be able to believe in myself and be proud of being a detective.”

On the one hand, it’s adorable how much Shuichi needed to hear something like this. On the other hand, it’s a little awkward that he seems to be acting like his issues are all solved now, when they’re very decidedly not and he’s going to continue to be ashamed and afraid of his talent for quite a bit longer.

One of Shuichi’s lines here is fully voiced. Anyone who’s maxed out a character’s FTEs in DR2 (although I don’t think this was a thing in DR1?) might remember that someone usually only gets a fully voiced line on their very final FTE. Which might raise suspicions as to Shuichi’s mortality here on a first time through, making someone think that surely he’d only apparently have so few events if he’s going to die soon, right?

Except that this happens for the second FTE of anyone Kaede hangs out with. So a first-time player who happens to hang out with the same character twice in chapter 1 might end up assuming that that specific character only has two FTEs (especially if they go on to try and hang out with them more times and not get an event regardless of the presents they give), no matter who it is. And because of that, they might think that they just happened to choose to hang out with one of the two characters who’s therefore blatantly going to die this chapter, even though actually this would have happened for literally anyone. It’s like a Schroedinger’s Death Flag.

I dunno; I didn’t get this feeling myself because I first experienced this game by watching a playthrough that barely did any FTEs, but I have to wonder how many players had different experiences of being convinced that a completely different character was going to die than most other players would, based solely on who they chose to hang out with.

This last free time slot is a good one for asking around everyone before actually initiating an event. It’s the last slot before the time limit, and most people are starting to feel nervous about it.

Angie: “Hmmmm, I feel like cloistering myself away right now. Atua’s not feeling lively, either.”

Even Angie seems to actually be worried, for once.

Shuichi: “… There’s a whole day left… but I’m starting to get nervous. …I’m sorry I said something so pathetic. I’ll drink some tea and try to calm down…

Even though Shuichi has a plan to survive the time limit, he’s nervous too. He’s hanging out in the lookout classroom, probably because he’s already feeling antsy about the plan.

Meanwhile, Rantaro is in the library standing close to the moving bookcase again.

Kokichi: “When tomorrow night comes… and we all die… I wonder what Monokuma is gonna do? Will he end it… or just start a new one…?”

Here’s a neat hint that Kokichi has already figured out what’s up with Monokuma’s time limit. He realises that what Monokuma really wants isn’t to kill everyone but to have an entertaining killing game, so Kokichi’s wondering if Monokuma would really be satisfied with killing them all. He also seems aware of the fact that if the mastermind could kidnap all of them for this so easily, maybe they’re pretty expendable and the mastermind could just kidnap another bunch of kids and try again if this killing game fails.

All very intelligent, perceptive, useful observations that it would be really nice if he shared with everyone. The fact that he doesn’t very much indicates that he only cares about himself.

…Tsumugi, what are you doing hanging out in the Flashback Light classroom? I wonder if that’s just a coincidence, or if she was already preparing the Flashback Light for next chapter – wouldn’t be surprising, since that one is already there when they get to the next floors.

Maki: “…Hey. Your research lab is open, right? Can you… show me?”

Meanwhile Maki seems more preoccupied with the labs than the fact she’s going to die tomorrow. She probably wants to see Kaede’s lab to get a sense of how obvious a person’s talent is from the inside of their lab, so that she knows how worried to be about her own opening up. Plus, it’s not like she actually needs Kaede’s permission to check out her lab, but maybe Maki’s asking because she knows she would hate someone going into her lab without permission.

But of course, our hangout partner of choice this time…

Kaito: “There’s only one day until the time limit… Don’t worry, I’m not panicking. I’m an astronaut, after all!”

…is not remotely nervous what are you talking about. Astronauts are always fine!

Kaito: “Oh, you wanna learn how to have peace of mind, like me? Alright, I’ll show you how!”

Kaede: (I spent some time learning how to have some peace of mind from Kaito… But he told me stories that made me question his definition of peace of mind…)

Hee. Probably exciting, adventurous stories of effortlessly surviving ridiculous dangers despite seemingly-impossible odds, knowing him. It’s fun how oblivious he is to the fact that other people’s minds don’t work like his and maybe this kind of thing wouldn’t be anyone else’s idea of peace of mind.

Kaito: “I’ve been thinking this for a while, but, Kaede, you’d make a pretty good astronaut.”

Didn’t I say Kaito has noticed how similar Kaede is to him? He’s been thinking about that a lot, apparently!

Kaito: “First off, you’re able to both cooperate with people and lead them.”

Again showing how Kaito considers co-operation one of the most important qualities due to his astronaut training, and therefore values it so much in non-space-related people and situations too!

Kaito: “I haven’t even had to rally everyone here together yet because you’ve beat me to it.”

I see you leaving out the reason why she beat you to it, Kaito. But this supports what I was saying before that he absolutely would have done if Kaede hadn’t done it first!

Kaito: “But you do tend to go ahead on your own sometimes.”

Look who’s talking. Kaito, who out of the two of you nearly got themselves killed two days ago because they acted without thinking?

Kaede: “That’s true…”

…Then again, Kaede’s not denying it. After all, she is doing something on her own without telling anyone, which is precisely what’s going to end up getting her killed, so really Kaito is right to be worried.

Kaito: ��How about I make you my sidekick?”

Oh, Kaito. This must sound ridiculous on a first playthrough but makes so much more sense when you’ve seen the whole story and understand that Kaito literally does this with people all the time.

But it’s also very interesting, because when Kaito considers someone his sidekick, he thinks of them as a person who needs his support and whom he’s now going to devote his efforts to helping… and that’s not Kaede. Kaede is just as emotionally strong and capable of managing on her own as Kaito is – possibly even more so. Kaito knows this. So what I think he’s really doing here is trying to make himself feel just as good as Kaede by pretending that she’s someone who might need his support, to hide from the reality that Kaede’s been leading and encouraging everyone and seemingly working on a plan to get them all out of here while Kaito has done nothing except nearly get himself killed.

Kaede tells him she’s not interested in being an astronaut (or his sidekick), but Kaito’s still planning on using his job to make it easier for normal people, including artists like her, to get into space one day too.

Kaito: “I’m going to take the culture that grew on Earth and spread it across the universe!”

He’s so good! He cares so much about communication that he wants to let all those aliens out there know exactly what humanity is all about!

Kaito: “There isn’t any unnecessary art or technology in this whole world!”

I love this. Even though he’s personally most enthusiastic about space, he thinks everyone and everything is important. He might have a seemingly inflated view of his own importance, but he truly believes that everybody else is just as incredibly important, too!

Kaede: “I thought you just wanted to travel to space, and that’s it. But you’re already thinking about what you’ll do afterward.”

Kaede realises she underestimated him! There’s a lot more to Kaito being an astronaut than just thinking space is cool.

Kaito: “Of course! I’ll create a path for the people who come after me! That’s my role!”

Even when it’s him being an astronaut, the thing that’s supposed to be the most about himself, Kaito is still thinking of it as something to help everyone else as much as possible and not just as his own personal achievement. He’s so, so good.

Kaito: “I promise I’ll make a path out of here too, so don’t worry!”

This is his fully-voiced line for this event – because of course it is. He really, genuinely wants to be able to do that, even though he has no idea how. And in the end, he does manage to play an important role in getting everyone else out of there.

Kaede: (He tried to convince me of his goals, despite having no way to pull them off… Only Kaito could be this confident without a plan…)

…Pretty much, Kaede, pretty much.

This is one of my favourite FTEs – they could have just made it about why Kaito wants to go into space, but instead they present it in a way which makes it also about Kaito’s similarity to Kaede and what he admires in her, which is so interesting and relevant and I’m really happy they had a whole thing about it here.

Kaede: (No, it won’t be our last nighttime ever… Just our last night in this horrible place.)

Kaede is so determined. (To kill the mastermind.)

Kaede: (Yeah… We promised we would all be friends once we got out.) “…”

That ellipsis implies there are some thoughts she’s having here that we’re not privy to. Probably about the fact that no-one would want to be friends with her if they knew she killed someone. This might be when she starts thinking about disguising her crime.

Kaede: (The time limit was set to expire tonight… but weirdly enough, I was looking forward to it.)

Looking forward to saving everyone and getting out of here, of course! (Probably looking considerably less forward to becoming a murderer.)

Kaede: (Even then… I barely slept the whole night.)

Yeah, plotting a murder can’t be good for your ability to get to sleep.

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