#i do see where youre coming from with miu. i just solve it by shipping her with jack. match made in hell | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

honhonluigi · 3 years

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Hinanami is basically the bland, white-bread version of Naegiri... and so much worse. They really tried to do the whole "put the protagonist with the emotionless stoic girl" but did a terrible job

They didn’t even try to do that, though. The fans did. Chiaki and Hajime don’t have a single real conversation the entire game. He’s not her friend. He doesn’t care about her. Aside from trials and investigations, where they’re focused on solving a murder and they talk to everyone in equal measure, they never speak to each other. Nekomaru spends more time with Hajime than Chiaki does. Hinanami is not canon. Never once in the game is Chiaki implied to mean anything to Hajime at all. He never talks to her. They’re not even friends. It’s the fans who started shipping them and acting like they were best friends. Because Chiaki was a fan-favorite, and fan-favs always get shipped with protags (Ex: Rantaro and Shuichi, who haven’t had a single conversation). Chiaki was supposed to be a fan-fav. She was supposed to be Waifu-bait. But then the cash-grab shitty spinoff anime happened, and they saw how much the fans like Chiaki, so they shipped her with Hajime in the anime. But in the games? Hinanami isn’t even close to canon. Hajime spends more time with literally everyone else except maybe Peko and Hiyoko? He and Chiaki do not have a single authentic conversation.

I made a whole thesis about this. I wrote a whole god damn paper about how Hinanami isn’t canon. It’s somewhere on this blog if you dig. It’s NOT canon. People only assume that it’s canon because of the anime, which came after the games. And if you think the anime is canon? Well, I’ve got a surprise for you. The anime completely goes against the game canon of everything to do with Despair’s founding, the Kamukura Project, and Junko/Mukuro in general. The anime says Chiaki was a real student at Hope’s Peak, but the game? In the game, both Chiaki and Alter Ego say straight up that she never existed outside the Neo World Program. She wasn’t a real person. The anime isn’t canon. The anime was nothing but fan-service. A cash grab. Completely and utter shit. Would you say the How To Train Your Dragon TV show is more canon than the movies? Fuck no! Same with the anime. The games are canon, not the anime. If Hinanami happened in the animes, it doesn’t fucking matter, because Chiaki didn’t even actually exist in the games.

Point is, people only assume Hinanami is canon because of the anime. But in the game, there’s nothing to imply that they’re a couple, or even friends. Let’s take a look at DR couples, shall we? There’s three types of DR relationships. We’ll take a brief look into each.

1. Chapter One Love Interest (AKA: The Red Herring)

You’re probably familiar with this one. It’s the ‘tutorial girl’. You meet them first. They become the protag’s best friend. The MC trusts them. They show the MC around, they get introduced to everyone together, and basically you spend the whole prologue and Chapter 1 getting close to them. You’re supposed to think ‘Oh, they’ll escape with the MC and be their love interest in the end’ even though it’s totally predictable that they end up dying. They end up dying in the first trial because they betrayed the MC by getting involved with a, unsuccessful murder somehow. This was Sayaka and Kaede. (I already went over on this blog why Kaede was a red herring, not a protag. She was only ‘protag’ to avoid people predicting that she would die in chapter 1 like all the other ch 1 friends.) Sayaka is friends with Makoto but ends up trying to kill Leon and getting murdered. Kaede is friends with Shuichi but ends up being executed for trying to kill Rantaro.

What about Chiaki? Does she fit any of that? Fucking no she doesn’t. After her introduction, Hajime ignores her for all of Chapter 1. And ch 2, ch 3, ch 4, ch 5, etc etc... But anyway. She’s not his best friend in Ch 1. They don’t talk. She doesn’t get involved in an unsuccessful murder in Ch 1. Who’s Hajime’s friend then? Who shows him around? Who does he trust who ends up betraying him by getting involved in unsuccessful murder during the first trial? Oh yeah-- Nagito. He would’ve died if it wasn’t for his luck saving him. He was supposed to die in his murder, or be executed. But his luck got in the way. Nagito was the chapter 1 love interest. He literally follows the same exact beats as Kaede and Sayaka. But uhhh...Sayaka and Kaede are totally valid love interests, but Nagito isn’t! Why? (Hint: It’s because he’s gay and has a mental illness.)

2. Plot Twist Love Interest (AKA: The Shady One)

This love interest comes on after the Red Herring love interest dies in chapter 1. This love interest starts off as being someone that you don’t trust, who avoids you, who acts super shady and suspicious the whole time. They hide things, act cryptic in trials, and know way more than they let on. They act rude sometimes, but also nice and helpful sometimes, to the protag so that MC has no idea how this person feels about them. The MC is curious, but also wary of them. This person ends up disappearing towards the end of the game so that MC doesn’t have access to them anymore. We lose the option for their free-time events at some point. This person disappears because they’re hell-bent on figuring out the mystery behind the killing game. They end up getting involved in some kind of plot to reveal the truth/mastermind/traitor and then it fails, resulting in their death or the death of someone else. This person gets falsely accused of being the mastermind by the rest of the cast. This describes, to a tee, Kyoko. People acknowledge Kyoko as Makoto’s love interest (because she’s a girl!). But this describes Kokichi too. The role that Kokichi and Kyoko play is the exact same in the story. Now, I don’t think that Shuichi was at all in love with Kokichi, but I think Kokichi had a crush on him. (This is why I make a case that Byakuya shouldn’t be in the ‘unholy trinity’. Kyoko should. Byakuya hits none of the plot requirements for that. He’s just a dick. Also, by all rights, Shuichi’s second love interest probably should’ve been Maki. She was shady enough, and he actually had a chance to like her. But fuck that. They did NOT go that route. Abusive comphet KaiMaki all the way, right?)

Anyway, let’s look at Chiaki for this one, shall we? Suspicious? Well, I knew from Ch 1 investigation that she was the traitor, but no one else did. No one in the cast suspects her of a thing the entire time. They’re completely flabbergasted when she hints that she’s the traitor. They all think she’s perfect. No one ever suspects her of a thing. She doesn’t disappear mysteriously. We don’t lose access to her free-time events. She doesn’t look into the mysteries behind the killing game (because she already knew them). She may help in trials, but she’s not cryptic or mysterious about it. She acts super mega ultra fucking rude the MC, but he doesn’t care, and he’s never torn up in puzzlement over “how she really feels about him” the way that Makoto and Shuichi get frustrated with Kyoko and Kokichi. She doesn’t hatch any plot to try and expose the truth. She does everything she can to cover up the truth until Nagito forces it. Which brings me to my next point. Who does this actually describe? Oh-- Wait! It’s Nagito again!! He follows, line for line, the exact same plot that Kyoko does, and so does Kokichi. So...Why is Kyoko the only one who gets to be a love interest instead of a villain? (Hint: Because Nagito and Kokichi are gay and you could argue that both have mental illnesses.)

The only part of this that Chiaki actually fits is the “knows more than everyone else”. But she doesn’t actually. She doesn’t figure it out because she’s smart, like the other three characters. She knows already because she’s the traitor. She knows more in the way that Sakura, Tsumugi, and Mukuro “knew more”. They were given that information. They are not love interests. And yeah, Chiaki uh...’gets involved’ in a scheme to find out the truth. But not of her own plotting or fruition. It’s Nagito’s plan, and she gets involved because he planned it. In the same way that Makoto ended up taking the fall for Kyoko’s botched first attempt at revealing the truth, too. Makoto, Chiaki, and Kaito took the fall for those plans. They weren’t the cause of them. Makoto only didn’t die because his luck (+ Alter Ego) saved him, just like Nagito’s saved him in ch1.

3. Side-Character Relationships

This is the last and third type of DR relationship. The love between side characters, like Taka & Mondo, Tenko towards Himiko, K1-B0 & Miu, Sakura & Aoi, Kaito & Maki. Honestly, you can’t even compare Hinanami to this logic, because Hajime is an MC. But let’s be generous and do it anyway.

These couples are always super obvious. Since you can’t see them through the eyes of the MC all the time, they’re even more obvious than MC ships. Side-characters in love spend tons of time together outside of trials and investigations. They’re with each other in their free time. They talk about each other all the time. They’re always together. They talk openly about their ‘friendship’ and how much they mean to each other. We get cutscenes showing the love between the two. Even in KaiMaki, which I hate, all of this is present.

What about Chiaki? Nah. She never talks about Hajime, and Hajime never talks about her. He never even thinks about her at all. He never seeks her out. They never ever have a single conversation in their free time. Unless you, the player, chose to do her free time events, they never talk outside of trials. They don’t seek each other out. They don’t spend any of their free time together. They don’t talk about how much they’re friends or lovers. They’re never together. They only get 2 cutscenes when they’re alone together: one of which is investigating Nagito’s room and revealing a major hint that Chiaki is a robot; the second of which is after she dies, wrapping up the plot that she is, in fact, a robot. These cutscenes don’t serve to show how much they care about each other. These cutscenes aren’t about Hajime at all. He might as well not even be there. It’s not like they have meaningful conversations. It’s just about finishing off Chiaki’s boring story, because it’s required. Compare: Taka & Mondo, whose cutscene is them fucking in the sauna. K1-B0 and Miu, whose cutscene is them fucking in Miu’s lab. Hina and Sakura, whose cutscene is Sakura telling Hina that she loves her. Kaito and Maki, whose cutscenes are them hugging and spending time together bonding over mutual interests. Chiaki’s seem pretty fucking stale compared to those, right? Yeah, because her only cutscenes are about bare-bones investigation and trial shit. Lots of people get investigation cutscenes. Doesn’t make them love interests. Chiaki and Hajime never spend free time together. They never seek each other out, have real conversations, or bond over mutual interests. They only talk during trials and investigations. Let me say this again, because I cannot emphasize it enough: HAJIME DOES NOT EVEN EVER THINK ABOUT HER.

4. Elements of Any and All DR Relationships

Now, there are elements of relationships that all DR ships have, regardless of if they involve the MC or not. The two characters spend free time together, outside of investigations and trials. The two characters have plot-related interactions outside of trials and investigations. (This is especially true in cases with the MC. Think how many plot-related scenes we got with Kaede + Shuichi, Sayaka + Makoto, Kyoko + Makoto that happened outside of trials and investigations?) These two characters have at least one heartfelt cutscene alone together. Like I mentioned above, they talk all the time. They think about each other. They talk about each other. Someone always makes a joke about the MC being in love with them.

Like I already pointed out, Chiaki has none of this. She and Hajime spend exactly 0 free-time together, unless the player forces it to happen themselves. They don’t talk. They don’t have plot-related cutscenes, discussions, storylines, etc outside of trials/investigations. They never speak to each other outside of trials/investigations. They don’t spend time together. They don’t have plots involving each other. They don’t seek each other out. They don’t talk to each other. They don’t even think about each other. And absolutely no one in the cast makes a joke about Hajime and Chiaki getting together. Fun fact: Kazuichi makes more moves toward/thinks more about getting with Chiaki in one scene than Hajime does in the entire game. Another Fun Fact: Nekomaru spends more one-on-one time with Hajime than Chiaki does. Where’s my die-hard fans insisting that Nekomaru x Hajime is indisputably canon?

Who has all of the above criteria? Mikan. Mikan does. She’s infinitely more of a love-interest to Hajime than Chiaki.

Now I’m gonna go over some popular arguments I see for why Chiaki is a love interest, and I’m gonna destroy them.

“She’s The Helper Character.” That character doesn’t exist. That’s a fucking lie. Literally everyone talks in trials. Everyone helps in trials. Everyone helps in investigations. There is no singular ‘helper’ character. There’s no assistant. There’s no side-kick. Kaito helps Shuichi in trials. Maki does too. Are they his love interests? Byakuya helps in trials. He’s not Makoto’s love interest. Nagito helps in trials and people are pretty fucking insistent that he’s not Hajime’s love interest. Everyone helps in trials. In a trial/investigation, the MC has to talk to literally everyone. They have no choice. The fact that Hajime talks to Chiaki in an investigation, or listens to her in a trial, is not evidence of him favoring her. Chiaki talking so much in trials and investigations is supposed to be dropping hints at her being the traitor. Not her being a “helper” to Hajime.

“What About The Swimsuit Scene?” “Hajime was totally drooling over Chiaki in that scene!” Yeah, he was. Because he’s a teenage boy and she was wearing a super slutty bikini. Literally everyone, boy and girl, in that scene looked at Chiaki and went “Jeez Chiaki...That’s a...bold swimsuit.” She wore a skimpy swimsuit and Hajime thought it was hot. So did Kazuichi. Kazuichi drooled over her WAY more than Hajime. Is Kazuichi automatically Chiaki’s love interest? Hajime also drooled over Peko when she walked in. Because he’s a teenage boy, and there’s hot girls in skimpy bathing suits. Also, Hajime talks nonstop through the entire fucking game about how hot and beautiful and amazing Sonia is. And he never once even has a thought about Chiaki. But uh...Nah, Sonia’s not his love interest. It’s totally Chiaki, right?

“The ‘I’m Taking My Top Off’ Comment.” Yeah, Chiaki said that to Hajime. And Hajime freaked the fuck out. He didn’t want it to happen. He was like “WAIT WHAT!?” He wasn’t “oh fuck yeah, let me see those gamer titties!” Maybe Chiaki was flirting with him, but Hajime definitely didn’t flirt back. At the very least, it shows that he wasn’t expecting it, because he never thinks of her that way. Hajime didn’t respond to that line at all. Also, the only reason Chiaki even said that in the first place is because she was made to be fap-material for Otaku Gamer Bros. So of course they’re going to make her talk about her boobs, give her a slutty swimsuit, and make her boobs three sizes bigger when she wears it. (It’s true! I checked! Also, does this mean that Chiaki is a closet sex freak? Yikes...Well, it’s more interesting than everything else she’s got going on.) Point being, when she brought it up (and she was joking, for a reminder. She wasn’t serious.), Hajime didn’t want anything to do with it.

“Junko blackmails them about ‘The Girl You Love’.” Yeah, okay, I’ve never actually seen people make this argument. And I better never fucking see that. Because it’s so god damn obvious, and stupid. Junko’s lines are basically “you need to hurry up and make a decision, because the bodies of the girl you love and the boy you hate are in the real world wasting away.” She is talking to everyone, but specifically, she’d just been goading Fuyuhiko on about Peko. This line. Is clearly. About Peko. It’s about Peko. It’s not fucking about Chiaki. And I better never see anyone claim this. Why not? Why can’t it be about Chiaki? SHE’S NOT FUCKING REAL!!! She doesn’t have a body! She’s not wasting away! She has no body outside the Neo World Program! This line literally cannot be about her. Even if you go by the anime and say she did exist, she’s still fucking dead, and still doesn’t have a body to waste away in the first place. Chiaki and Alter Ego BOTH say that she doesn’t exist outside the Neo World Program!!!

“Then Why Did She Appear to Hajime in the Last Trial?” Because of plot convenience. That’s all. See, we’re not supposed to know she’s an AI. (Even though it’s incredibly obvious). When she is executed, we’re not supposed to know that she’s an AI programmed by the Future Foundation. We’re supposed to be like “Why did she do that? Why did she say all those weird things? Why was she the traitor?” We’re supposed to have all these unanswered questions. (I mean, I already knew all of that from ch 1, but the game clearly tries to keep you from suspecting Chiaki at all.) So, if she’s dead and executed, how can we finish her story? How are we going to get a chance to wrap up all those unanswered questions? She appears to Hajime and tells him. She reveals it all to him, answers all the viewer’s questions, and finishes her story. That’s it. She appears to him out of convenience to finishing her own plot. Why him? Why him specifically? Is it because they’re in love? Nah bitch, it’s because he’s the main character and the only way the audience could see their questions answered at all is if she appeared to him. She also appeared to Sonia, as Sonia specifically states. Is Sonia her canonical, definite, not-possibly-arguable love interest? No. Sonia’s love interest is Gundham. If seeing Chiaki had something to do with love, then why did she see her too?

“But Her Free Time Events End With Them In Love.” Yeah, so does everyone else’s. Nagito’s, Akane’s, Kazuichi’s, Mikan’s...Sayaka’s, Toko’s, Kyoko’s...Kokichi’s, Kaito’s...Everyone’s free time events end with them falling in love with the MC. That’s the point of FTEs. That’s the reason why no actual ships are explicitly canon in any DR games. Because they want the player to have the chance to get close to, and pursue a relationship with, whatever characters they choose. That can’t work if that character is dating someone. So they make all FTEs end in love confessions, and they let no ships become canon. You can choose literally any character, go through their free time events, and have them fall in love with you. It’s for the player. It’s not canon. And sure, those FTEs might not specifically end in an outright love confession (like Nagito’s does), but it’s pretty fucking obvious in every single one that you win them over and fall in love. Why do you think you get their underwear? Even Toko, canonically smitten with Byakuya, goes “I’m already in love with master, but...” Sideways glance, smile, “You can think of me if you want...” It exists for the player, and can be done with ANY character. It doesn’t speak to any special privilege for Chiaki.

And just a couple more things I have to say on this topic:

Hajime didn’t like her. Hajime doesn’t fucking like Chiaki. I’m not gonna say that he hates her, but he definitely doesn’t like her. Whenever he has to talk to her, he’s always thinking about how weird she is, how childish she’s being, and how rude she is for talking over him/falling asleep when he talks. He doesn’t enjoy talking to her. I did Chiaki’s first two FTES, and Hajime hated every god damn second of them. He thinks she’s rude, boring, weird, and childish. He thinks about that stuff any time he’s forced to talk to her. When he finds her diary, he goes “God, this is awful, it’s like a five-year-old wrote it.” Why would you think that he likes her??? (You know who Hajime really fucking despises? Gundham. God, talk to Gundham and read Hajime’s thoughts. He’s fucking brutal. This guy has a huge beef...)

So Who’s Hajime’s Actual Love Interest?

Everybody!!! This is actually a theory I cooked up. I think each MC gets a ch 1 love interest (Sayaka, Nagito, Kaede), and then a second plot-twist love interest, but it happens in different ways each time. Kyoko and Makoto get together all nice and neat. Shuichi has a second love-interest who likes him, but Shuichi absolutely does not like him back. Hajime’s second love interest? Everyone. Hajime has this kind of curse where the second someone captures his interest/gets interested in him, they die. I noticed in the game that they’d push characters on Hajime hardcore, and then kill them the next chapter. Now, this happens in every game. But in Hajime’s case, they weren’t just pushed on him as characters. They all flirted with him. One of the reasons why I think almost everyone in the class had a crush on Hajime. First, it’s Nagito, and Impostor confides in Hajime and Teruteru flirt with him too. Then, they either get killed or get taken away (and chained up for three days without food, water, or bathroom access). Next, Mahiru starts flirting with Hajime by bossing him around and always seeking him out. I don’t think Hajime liked her back, but she liked him. And then she dies. After that, Mikan flirts with Hajime, spends time with him, gets cutscenes cuddling with him, hits on him, and other people even make jokes about them fucking. Then she dies. Hajime becomes closer friends with Ibuki, then she dies. Hajime starts to get close to Nagito again. Then he goes crazy and dies. Hajime showed a ton of interest in Sonia, but then she goes for Gundham. Hajime gets close to Kazuichi, but then he goes for Sonia. Hajime is cursed. I think everyone in the game got an inkling of being Hajime’s love-interest before they died/got taken away. With the exceptions of Peko, Hiyoko, Gundham, Akane, Fuyuhiko, and Nekomaru. I think they give Hajime a person who he likes/likes him, and then immediately take them away before any relationship can be formed.

Now, I guess this is the time where you could make a case that Chiaki fits. “Well, he gets close to her, and then he loses her!” But actually, that kind of doesn’t fit. He gets close to her only after she’s already dead. And he’s only ‘close to her’ for one conversation, after she’s already dead. He doesn’t get to spend any quality time with her before she dies. Even if you wanted to make that claim, it still wouldn’t make Chiaki any more of a love interest than Mahiru or Teruteru or Impostor. She wouldn’t be the one-and-only, indisputable, only option for Hajime. Based on evidence in the game, I don’t think Hajime actually had a crush on Teruteru, Impostor, or Mahiru. I think they liked him, but I don’t think he ever would’ve liked them back. And that’s the only way I can see Chiaki being even a little bit his love interest. In this world, where pretty much everyone gets to be his love-interest at some point. In a world where she crushes on him but he doesn’t like her back. Because he doesn’t. That’s obvious in his thoughts and actions. (He reacts worse to Peko and Fuyuhiko’s execution than he does to Chiaki’s, btw.)

But I really don’t think she’s his love interest. She’s definitely not “the” love interest. She’s not the only one. She’s not the “canon” one. She’s not his canon love interest at all. That’s not at all what the evidence in the game points to.

If my crackpot theory isn’t true, then I’d say Hajime’s love interests are Nagito and/or Mikan. Maybe Sonia. They’re the ones that he actually spends time with, and have all of the criteria that are set by literally every other DR couple. He has none of that with Chiaki. Honestly, I think Nagito is the more prominent love interest. I think Mikan and Sonia definitely had their spots too, but Nagito fills the role of both first and second love-interest. He hits literally every single beat of Kaede and Sayaka, but also of Kyoko. Whether or not Hajime loved him by the end is debatable. Sometimes I doubt it. But he loved him at first, and Nagito loved Hajime the whole time. And Hajime was destroyed after Nagito’s death. But even though Nagito hits every single point of being a love interest compared to Sayaka, Kaede, and Kyoko...He’s still not allowed to be a valid love interest for Hajime. If you think Komahina is canon, then you’re just “biased”. You’re just looking “through your shipping goggles.” Even though Nagito’s story is literally both kinds of love interest mixed together. Nah, nah, nah. Who cares about evidence? Clearly I’m just biased. Clearly I’m just “using shipping goggles” to see what I want to see. Because... *looks at smudged writing on hand* Hinanami, the ship with no evidence at all, it definitely 100% canon and Komahina, the ship with all the evidence you could ask for, could never be canon at all. I’m just stupid. Right? Right. And why? Because Nagito is a gay guy with a mental illness!!!!!

I despise KaiMaki, but I still acknowledge that it’s at least partially canon because it was in the game. But I don’t acknowledged Hinanami, because it was never canon. It was never even hinted at. Nobody better come onto my blog arguing that Hinanami is canon in the fucking slightest. I can’t deal with that bullshit. It’s not canon. This is my second essay on the subject. (I wrote a huge essay listing all the reasons they weren’t canon, and yet I was still able to find MORE evidence against them for this one? Wow, that’s a lot of proof that they aren’t indisputably canon.) I’m fine if you want to ship them. You can be like “they had a lot of potential for a relationship!” You can be like “I think Chiaki had a crush on him!” or “I think Hajime would’ve liked her!” That’s fine. You can do that all you want. Like any other DR ship. But don’t go around being like “NO, it’s DEFINITELY canon!!! No other ship is canon because Hinanami is canon and it’s completely indisputable! You’re wrong and stupid!!” It’s not canon. No DR ship is canon. You can ship them but please, do it like any other DR ship. Ship them because you saw potential, but don’t cram it down everyone’s throat as ‘must be canon’.

Hinanami is the only ship that does that. It’s the only ship that is insisted to be 100% canon with no disputing evidence whatsoever. People dispute Kaede and Shuichi. People dispute Kaito and Maki. People dispute Kyoko and Makoto all the fucking time. Every other ship is flexible, except that one. “Hinanami is the only canon ship and no other ship is valid or matters, you can’t ship Hajime with anyone else, all the other ships pale in comparison because Hinanami is so canon, and you’re just a biased delusional idiot if you ever dare to imply otherwise!!!” Stop it. It’s not canon. I should be able to make a valid case for another ship without being immediately shot down because of Hinanami. No other DR ship does that. Quit. I hate seeing everyone insisting that it’s canon. Acting like it’s just “common sense” that it’s canon. It’s not. There’s no fucking evidence for it AT ALL. But it makes me feel like a crazy person whenever I see people insisting that, as if I’m the only one who missed the scene where they fucked without protection or something. If everyone is allowed to dispute literally every other ship, then it should be the same for Hinanami. The “canon” ship with absolutely -67% evidence towards it.

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ryouverua · 6 years

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Trial 4 - Post-Trial (Pre-Execution)

Investigation 1 / 2

Trial: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW FEW SHITS I GIVE ABOUT YOUR PREGNANCY DRAMA RIGHT NOW

Glad you care as much as I do, Monokuma.

... Nothing? He’s completely stone faced. What does that mean? Is he shaken at how Shuichi wrest control from him at the very end? Is it regret? Taking the time to mull things over, or brace himself? Something else? I’m pretty convinced he showed a lot more of his true self in this trial than he usually does, so he may be trying to calm himself down. Hmm....

Nice reflex, Kokichi!

H-He’s just going to roll with that? Well, I guess he did get the murder he was hoping for...

MY CUTE LIPS

how dare you make me laugh during such a trying time

Wait, are you saying the memories are being held separately now? You’d think the avatar error would corrupt that kind of data. I guess I might be overthinking things though - I suppose the memory data could be being held separately until Gonta goes back in and is able to retrieve them properly? ... Yeah I’m definitely overthinking this.

OH WELL OKAY NEVER MIND THAT’S APPARENTLY SPOT ON

no way

NO WAY WE HAVE AN ALTER EGO GONTA

ahem, my apologies, ~Gonta Alter Ego~

Well shit, there’s that second self Gonta had been lacking!

FML THEY’RE SO CUTE

WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN PRE-EXECUTION UGH

So we’re establishing that they have the power to do this kind of work, huh? I guess... having a mini-killing game simulator inside another killing game simulator would be too much? I do remember that one image of Kaede with that helmet on her head, but...

Wait so - wait wait wait, doesn’t that mean Gonta Alter Ego knew that real boy Gonta wouldn’t be able to remember what happened in the world?

No seriously, give me a second to think about this -

- I’m 99% sure Gonta wasn’t lying to us when he said he didn’t realize he switched the cables. He did make it sound like it sound like he was following what Himiko was saying.

- Could Kokichi have tricked him into switching them? But then that would a) mean that Kokichi knew what the error would be and how it would affect Gonta and b) fly in the face of everything we saw in the last half of the trial, including absolutely losing it on Gonta when he was incapable of defending himself. He was also sitting on the opposite side of the room, and I’m pretty sure everyone would have kept Kokichi from physically putting together his helmet because, well, come on.

- Is Gonta Alter Ego’s existence dependent on the error, as I mentioned earlier? Monokuma said that he was created using the simulated thought patterns of Gonta via his previous login and combine them with the leftover memories. I wonder if they could do that with anyone else? Or or or -

- Monokuma has very, very easy access to this stuff! What does it say about Monokuma and the whole situation that he has the memory and personalty files on hand like this? Could the computer really be powerful enough for them to have completely - well - scanned their brains in a way that allows him to just pull up Gonta again, after the fact, without Gonta being directly plugged in?

- I... just... keep returning to seeing Kaede and Shuichi in that helmet from way back when, you know? That was supposed to be them losing their talents, but if that’s true (and it isn’t my semi-crack theory about them having downloaded the personalities/memories/etc of previous dead? Ultimates or something - “I want to die”), then that would mean their talents, their beings - because I think it’s fair to say their talent informs their personalities, and vice versa - are literal digital files floating around somewhere that had to be accessible in order for them to be ‘returned’ to them - and man, if Monokuma had access to those, that would help solve how he planned to act on that Necronomicon motive if Angie was able to go through with it!

Interesting how this has been the motive in the first, second and now this chapter, huh? Kirumi might not have included the class in her ‘everyone’, but that was definitely what moved her hand.

meanwhile Korekiyo Shinguuji, you special, awful, special boy...

His weakest points, of course, are always painfully exposed during the trials, and there have been plenty of people willing to comment on them, even when they’re thinking they are being kind about it (and of course, not all of them are). His strengths - rendered useless, nearly immediately.

And his talent - well, other than pointing out the distinct lack of insects in the area, the only time it was ‘used’ was in the disastrous Insect Meet-n-Greet. When it rains, it pours.

Maybe that’s what Gonta needed - not just someone to listen, but someone who could relate to him so strongly. But of course, at this late hour...

Damn, and it changed from ‘able to’ to ‘willing to’.

And there it is - straight from the horse’s mouth. No wait, that’s not right - we got it from the horse’s mouth earlier, but our resident horse is an admitted liar -

I don’t know if he’s so much ‘bad’ as he is being cagey about his reasons.

Wait you what??? So the card key is for a place we haven’t been able to access yet? Where, then? An area of the school we haven’t unlocked yet? A viewing tower - or hell, Kaito’s lab? That would be the prime place to have a (powerful) telescope and we haven’t gotten it yet -

“Save everyone” - it sounds... less believable from you, but at the same time... I’m just, are you saying it for Gonta’s sake? To trick us? Or are these your real thoughts? You’re a smart guy, Kokichi - you have to know that getting past the obstacle that is Miu here is only a short-term win. From this point on, you’re going to have to live with everyone left, and Gonta isn’t going to be here to protect you...

And hell, if these are - were - your real thoughts, at the time, does that mean you really were thrown off enough in the trial that you threw everything you and Gonta planned to the wind?

So, the meeting we got to peek in on... Man, I really, really want to know how Kokichi was able to figure out Miu was gunning for him. Maybe they’ll explain that next chapter? He’s perceptive, but there’s gotta be a limit - right?

Oh, so that’s - completely - hm. At first it seemed like the motive was ‘the right to see it’ - something for the classmates to fight, or kill over. But now, the way Monokuma is talking - he’s making it sound like seeing the outside itself is enough to drive someone to murder. I am... totally... biased by my VLR-loving ass and still thinking it has to do with them being in space/on a ship, and them either being far, far away from Earth or them being able to see the devastated ruins of Earth after being pelted by meteors.

So, uh, I feel like that motive would work with everyone except... maybe Kaito lmao. N-Not that I think he wouldn't be upset, but I imagine he’d be like, oh fUCK YES WE’RE IN SPACE! And oh, that’s definitely not Earth. There’s no way the Earth was destroyed. It’s totally fine, we just can’t see if from where we are! insert monokuma hitting his head against the wall in the background

So there actually was something in the simulation after all of that? I was 99% at this point that it was all a lie too!

Why do you insist that the motive and the case itself are separate???? Sure, knowing the exact mechanics are important, but knowing what moves the hand and heart in the end are pretty damn important!

This... this had to be when they left near the beginning. Does that mean they were carrying the Flashback Light with them the whole time after that???

OH you little stinker

By the way:

Interesting choice in wording by both of them. Earlier Kokichi said he ‘showed’ Gonta, and here he says he ‘entrusted him with it” - both very much a way of talking about Gonta as if he was at least near him, if not equal to him. However, Kaito is using the term ‘exposed to’ which is very... well, passive, and really makes Gonta out to be the victim. So who do we believe? Kaito’s side, where Gonta is just a hapless victim in all of this? Or Kokichi’s side, where Gonta was a willing perpetrator? We’re going to get more on that, but I think the way they talk about Gonta is so interesting - it’s clear a lot of the classmates ended up putting Gonta on a pedestal via infantilization, something we’ve brought up before, and I (RELUCTANTLY) love how that was used against them all as a weapon.

Also damn it I definitely checked all over the map and found nothing but that was only because Kokichi got to it first >:(

It’s always interesting to watch how Kokichi uses his status as a liar to get what he wants.

All of the sayings I want to use right now involve horses for some reason, and I swear that isn’t intentional, but what comes to mind immediately is, “you can lead a horse to water, but can’t make it drink.” And of course the inverse is right here - Kokichi led Gonta to the light and chose the exact words that he knew would make him pick it up himself, but unlike what Kaito said ‘Gonta was exposed to it’, which paints the picture of Kokichi unexpectedly blasting him with the light - Gonta practically runs over before shining it on himself. With that said, I’m absolutely not absolving Kokichi of wrongdoing - he is fully aware of how desperately Gonta wants to feel useful. Feelsbadman.jpg

METEORS? RADICAL 6? HINAMIZAWA SYNDROME EPIDEMIC???

FUCKING BRUTAL

But... damn it. No, this makes sense. This was the motive I was struggling with outside of ‘killing in defence of someone else’. Ah, damn it, damn it, Gonta...

ISN’T

WAIT

ISN’T THAT WHAT SHUICHI REMEMBERED HIMSELF SAYING

Man, I can’t imagine how shocking it would be to see someone who is you, with just a few hours of extra memories and a bit more insight separating you, saying something like that.

And he was able to find some reprieve last chapter via Angie, but then she died... Oh, Angie, you were divisive and manipulative as hell and I even found times when you rubbed me the wrong way, but I’m still mad about you going out the way you did. You earned that halo and those wings on your portrait, damn it!

Seeing Gonta like this is breaking my heart. oTL But damn it, ‘outside is hell’. That’s... leading exactly where I think it is, huh...

I’m just struggling with how convenient it was for him to target Miu, who was coming after him! I guess he knew that Miu was creating circumstances for her to murder him away from prying eyes which, of course, worked out in the opposite direction, but still - !

This is a terrible time to push the ‘Gonta is martyring himself for us’ line strategically speaking, which... could mean that either this is from the heart (evidence for - his current sprite, which seems to only accompany the most weighty lines and is far different than his usual crying sprite / evidence against - the way he attacked Gonta in the trial... unless now that the trial is over and the execution is looming, he’s realized their time together is limited?) or this is his way of thanking Gonta for his service, by trying to get him the recognition he craved before he dies? Or something else entirely?

Is this... real, Kokichi??? Is this real??? And possibly a much better use of the ‘despair’ mechanic than DR3 could ever hope to use???

still a stupid name

The shocking thing is how simple this all is when you look at it. The complications came from Miu’s murder plan, and the only thing that implicated Gonta is the avatar setting on Kokichi’s avatar. Without that one clue, they would have absolutely would have implicated Kokichi.

I do enjoy that in the face of ‘death’, he’s still able to make jokes like this. Then again, maybe it’s only because of having Gonta as back-up that he can...

Yeah, she is not happy about being called out. She’s pretty resolute despite that, which speaks to how confident she is in her work.

Of course, Miu being Miu, she has to say it out loud because her general insecurity is next level.

Aaha never mind about what I said before - this is absolutely because he has Gonta on back up. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was his signal to Gonta to come and ‘save’ him.

Isn’t it amazing that we have now had two killers who both want to get out to ‘help everyone’ and believe they alone can do that in a way no one else can?

He actually made a remark about how Miu’s reason was just an excuse, which - man, ‘your murder isn’t valid but ours is?’ That sure as hell wouldn’t fly in court.

Ugh, and this is why I’m super curious about if the faces they make in the simulation can be manipulated by the user of the avatar or if they are directly informed by how they’re feeling and can’t be controlled. This is a very angry face or someone who has previously described this as a ‘fun killing game’! Is it authentic or not?

I’m not sure if it’s nice of Kokichi to tell Gonta and everyone else that Gonta was able to come up with that plan or not. On the one hand, it really rubs in the fact that everyone was underestimating him. On the other hand, it further dirties his hands to have participated in the cover-up afterwards.

Again... is this more kindness on his part or not? This isn’t a team that real Gonta would ever want to be on, but on the other hand he is validating Gonta as an equal in a way that he was never able to in the regular school life..

Yeah, actually though... fair.

I-I don’t know if I would go so far as saying tricked, Kaito! God, I do love you, but you are making incredibly rash and biased decisions right now!

Real!Gonta is miserable because he killed Miu and Gonta Alter Ego is miserable because he made everyone suffer needlessly and he’s assuming they will continue to suffer as they outlive him and everything is such a damn mess right now fml

Meanwhile Shuichi’s heart is being torn in half which, you know, #relatable

Notably absent: ‘us’. Not please forgive us, please forgive him.

Interestingly enough, it’s changed from ‘their plan’ to ‘Gonta’s plan’ now that he’s casting it in a sympathetic way.

And here we are, on the opposite side of the ‘truth and lies’ theme - being presented with a case where maybe it is better to not know. I can see why Umineko fans really enjoy DRV3 - replace ‘lies’ with ‘fantasy’ or ‘magic’ and we’ve got that same battle being fought out here. Actually, now that I think about it, both had a ‘lower level’ game master obscuring the truth with fantasy/lies with a ‘higher level’ game master pushing the protagonist(s) to find the terrible, bloody truth...

This sprite is a bit closer to his ‘crocodile tears’ sprite so I’m a bit wary, but - hm...

I wonder if their deaths would have been instantaneous, similarly to VLR and their poisoned bracelets, or if it would be a spectacle. Oooh, a terrible thought - if everyone aside from the culprit was dragged off to their own personalized execution...

The fact that Gonta Alter Ego is willing to jump to Kokichi’s aid would mean more if he hadn’t also been so fast to help Kokichi out in Chapter 2. :(

“Role of the villain”, huh? This... if all of this and everything coming after are his true feelings, then...

Shuichi has his role as the detective, and he has his role as the Supreme Leader - but who but you yourself imposed that burden on you???

He’s really trying to create a clear line between Gonta and himself - Gonta is a martyr, who took it upon himself to do a terrible deed on behalf of Kokichi, while Kokichi, the villain extraordinaire, was the bastard who pushed the burden all onto Gonta. How the hell is he going to survive the next chapter??? I swear I keep saying, Kokichi, are you trying to make yourself a bigger target - but seriously, Kokichi, are you trying to make yourself a bigger target here???

He is really not used to anyone coming to bat for him! Especially after that bit about ‘everyone hating him’ this must be like a punch to the gut.

You will always be a gentleman to me!!!

AH NO FUCK I MEAN WE ALL KNEW THIS WAS COMING BUT -

Shuichi is me right now because - is this, real? Are you legitimately saying that? I... I’m pretty sure you were the one who brought up how Monokuma would never let one of us switch out for the blackened in Kirumi’s trial, or am I just misremembering??? Is it okay for me to be questioning your sincerity right now? I feel awful, but -

He... Maybe he was prepared to get executed, if they landed on him as the criminal. Would Monokuma have let them choose Kokichi as the killer if they got it wrong, or would he really have killed everyone else and left Gonta alive? What if they had tied in the votes? Would Monokuma have executed both of them?

T... This just brings me back to Kaede, but this time it’s directed at Kokichi specifically as well as everyone else...

K... Kokichi turnaround? Maybe? M... Maybe he’ll... actually pull a Kuzuryuu and work with....... us......... why does that not seem likely at all......

I REALLY DON’T GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT YOU TWO CAN YOU NOT

H-He has a specific “Gonta!!!” audio clip?! A-And his face here, omg -

Even now he’s just thinking about what he wasn’t able to do as;lkdfj

NO KOKICHI ACTUALLY CRYING FOR GONTA IS MAKING THIS 100 TIMES WORSE

NO THIS ISN’T - DON’T LET THOSE BE HIS LAST WORDS - NO FUCK NO NO ASL;DFKJ -

WHELP -

You may be wondering why the screenshots cut off here. The answer is - oh dear god Monophanie just went full ALIEN on us and mY GOD YOU’RE GOING TO KILL OFF GONTA, BUT ALSO HAVE A FUCKING SCYTHER RIP OUT OF HER STOMACH AND GO ON A MURDER RAMPAGE

yeah I was, uh, physically unable to keep screenshotting though the execution

but I can still give you my general thoughts ranging from the eloquent to the general brain babbling:

whY is she getting so big the pregnancy thing is gross enough but -

Oh god she’s swelling up, Gonta’s face is swelling up, everything is terrible -

WHY. WHY OH GOD WHY WHO CAME UP WITH THIS EXECUTION IDEA

Rest in fucking pieces Monophanie/Monotaro, I didn’t expect you both to die but I’m not mad about it

Evil Scyther fUCK NO i-it... ran Gonta through....

And now they’ve been set on fire for NO FUCKING REASON DAMN IT YOU’RE ALREADY STINGING HIM AND HE’S BEEN STABBED - I-I suppose it could be seen as a reverse Celes, considering she was going to go out via fire then was unexpectedly hit by that truck

For that matter this was also very - well, they killed Alter Ego in the first chapter 4, so that’s the obvious reference, but all those insect shots was a bit ‘A Million Fungoes’ too, yeah?

#Gonta Gokuhara #Kokichi Ouma #Ryou plays drv3 #spoilers #drv3 spoilers #Shuichi Saihara #Tsumugi Shirogane #Kaito Momota #Himiko Yumeno #Kiibo #K1-bo #Keebo #Maki Harukawa #Monokuma #long post

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oumakokichi · 6 years

Note

Can I ask why you ship Saiouma? I like the pairing conceptually, but in game, Saihara seems completely cold and indifferent to Ouma. Even before chapter 4 and the real start of Ouma's mastermind ploy, he doesn't seem to care at all about him or interested in figuring him out beyond his lies. He doesn't even care that he got bashed in the head by a floorboard. He does show interest in him after his death, but while he's alive, there's not much there. Did I miss something? What do you see in them?

I’ve had this ask in my inbox for quite a while—partlybecause life has been really, really busy these last few months and I didn’thave any time to write, and partly because I wanted to write a much longerresponse for this question. You aren’t the only person who’s asked me this sortof question, anon! But it’s been such a long time since I really wrote in-depthabout what appeals to me in their dynamic, why I started shipping it, etc.

Ships are always a matter of personal preference, of course,so I can completely understand if saiouma isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I don’tintend for this post to be a way to “convince” anyone or anything like that.This will just be a post detailing my thoughts on Saihara and Ouma’s individualcharacters, their interactions with each other, their potential fordevelopment, and why I personally really, really like what they have to offeras a ship.

I’ll be covering full-game spoilers, of course, so anyonewho wants to avoid them shouldn’t read!

To begin, I wouldn’t say that Saihara seems “cold” or“indifferent” towards Ouma prior to Chapter 4. Instead, I think he’s very muchwary of him—unsure of how much of what he says he can trust, but still definitelyintrigued by his lies. As a detective, Saihara’s role is to seek out and detectthe truth, no matter how difficult or painful it might be. By calling himself aliar at every given opportunity and simultaneously making huge, grandioseclaims (that he’s the leader of a secret evil organization, that saidorganization has 10,000 members, that he controls mafia organizations and theworld itself from the shadows), Ouma invites him to “solve” him, in a way.

Saihara takes on that challenge, too. Up until Chapter 4, inno way does he ever completely cut himself off from Ouma or distance himselffrom him completely. Rather, Ouma is the one keeping him at bay, nevercompletely letting him in or giving him a chance to know “the real him.” Nomatter how much Saihara wants to know the truth about Ouma’s lies, no matterhow skeptical he is of him, there’s only so far he’s allowed to come in gettingto know him.

He’s paranoid, unsure of who might be the ringleader or apotential killer, and as a result, he refuses to trust anyone but himself. Butthis means that he himself is the biggest obstacle to forming potentialalliances or friendships with others. Rather than opening up or letting peoplein, he keeps them at bay—and even when he does make a very guarded offer inChapter 4, he goes about it completely the wrong way, opting to antagonize,rather than to let his walls down or be entirely honest. It’s just not hisstyle. As Saihara says in Ouma’s final FTE, even if he reaches out his hand toOuma, Ouma won’t take it.

And therein lies the biggest problem with their relationshipin-game. Saihara does want to knowmore about Ouma—he wonders pretty frequently what Ouma’s true intentions are,what he’s up to, and what he’s thinking. But he’s also extremely nervous aroundhim, because of how flippant Ouma acts all the time. As someone with anextremely good eye for detail, he can tell when he’s being pushed away. Healso, as it so happens, doesn’t like feeling like his time is being wasted orhis feelings are being dismissed.

Saihara puts up with a lotfrom his classmates. That much is apparent. He’s pretty much a doormat, rarelysticking up for himself or putting his foot down. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’tget tired or snippy every once in a while. Often, his snippiest and most sarcasticthoughts are directed at others whenever he feels like they’re belittling himor looking down on him. It’s why he seems so bored and uninterested when Momotatries telling him the grandiose tales of his life in his FTEs—because he’sconvinced Momota is lying to him, and therefore wasting his time.

This is pretty much his dilemma with Ouma all the time. Throughoutthe entirety of ndrv3, Ouma almost never admits when he’s being serious orhonest. Despite his fascination with mysteries and clues, Saihara stillultimately prefers when people are honest and sincere with him. The idea of investingtime and effort into reaching out to someone who’s going to continually pushhis hand away is exhausting to him—and rightfully so.

Take, for example, the scene you mentioned in Chapter 3,where Ouma does actually get his head bashed in while searching for clues.Saihara and Maki come across him, and while both of them are surprised to seehim there, there’s not really a lot of concern shown. But this ties back to thewariness and uncertainty that I mentioned. Ouma seems to be hurt pretty badly (and, in fact, he really is)—but Saiharais never sure of how serious Ouma is being. Because it’s Ouma, there’s always apossibility that he could brush everything off in the next minute as a joke ora lie.

As a matter of fact, that’s exactly the reason most of thefandom had such a negative reaction to Ouma’s “death” scene in Chapter 3. Priorto the game’s localization, many people had only seen gifs or still images ofOuma playing dead, and I think many fans assumed he was doing it simply to fuckwith the player and the other characters alike. I saw many people assuming hefaked being injured entirely, much like Yamada and Celes faked being injured indr1 Chapter 3, despite the fact that there was no infirmary to steal bloodpacks from in ndrv3, and that Ouma himself even admits that the injury is real.But as most people didn’t know this, many people had very negative assumptions about his fake death in Chapter 3.

This is the main problem Saihara has with Ouma’s behavior.He’s constantly afraid of reaching out to Ouma, only to be made fun of or takenadvantage of. Saihara is someone with an inherent need to find the truth, as adetective—but he’s also terrified of the truth, having been traumatized badlyby it before. All of the constant layers of uncertainty and mystery around Oumaleave him intrigued, but definitely afraid of having his good intentionstrampled all over. He’s wary and skeptical of Ouma, but without necessarilybeing cold or indifferent to him.

This is notably different from Hinata’s relationship withKomaeda in sdr2—as most people know, it’s completely impossible to finishKomaeda’s FTEs if Hinata failed to spend time with him in Chapter 1. AfterKomaeda’s actions in Chapter 1, Hinata feels far too betrayed and furious withhim to ever risk letting his guard down again. Even if you attempt to spendmore time with him, it all amounts to pretty much nothing, as Hinata isconstantly suspicious and resentful of Komaeda, and Komaeda, as a result, neverhas a proper opportunity to talk or open up about himself.

The urge to get to know Komaeda is never there unless Hinataalready began the process of befriending him early on—in which case, eventhough he’s still undeniably skeptical, he’s willing to at least hear him outwithout constantly expecting the worst. But Hinata’s feelings of personalbetrayal are too strong for him to ever let go of them completely, hence why hesuspects Komaeda is up to no good nearly every time he comes across him in themain story.

I think this sort of dynamic is what many people perceiveSaihara and Ouma having, but the fact is that’s not entirely true. Saihara isnever personally betrayed by Ouma throughout the entire game. Even at hisworst, in Chapter 5, Ouma’s claims of being the ringleader are meant as adeliberate blow against the entire group, in order to catch them all off guardand take away their willingness to try and escape to the outside world, rather than a personal attack on Saihara.

There is no point at which Ouma ever personally wins Saihara’strust and then betrays him, because Ouma invites doubt and skepticism from theothers from the start. Literally starting with his introduction, he callshimself a liar constantly, always casting unnecessary doubt on his own claims—becausehe wants Saihara and the others todoubt him. By putting everything about his own words and behavior into asuspicious light, he not only succeeds at pushing everyone else away, but alsoslowly but surely manages to craft himself up into a devious, larger-than-lifecharacter.

I think this explains most of the distance between the twoof them in-game. It’s an exhausting, never-ending challenge, trying to figureout how much of what Ouma said was a lie or not. Even in his final moments, hetried his best to remain a mystery, going to his death in a literal catbox. Hewas fine with being hated and resented, as long as it meant a shot at trying tostop the killing game and striking back at the ringleader.

The horrible, morally grey lengths Ouma was willing to go toin order to attempt this is largely the reason Saihara becomes considerablycolder to him from Chapter 4 and on. Both because of his role in plotting Gontaand Miu’s deaths, and because of his claims that he was the ringleader and theone behind the religious cult that led the SHSL Hunt, Saihara runs into thesame pitfalls as everyone else, fully buying into Tsumugi’s flashback light andbelieving that Ouma must have been the leader of the Remnants of Despair as aresult.

But, as you mentioned in your ask, Chapter 6 is what largelyprevents Ouma from staying in the catbox forever. Despite Saihara’s lingeringdoubts that Ouma might still have been lying in his final moments, Chapter 6presents one piece of evidence after another proving that he was really andtruly not the villain he pretended to be. Everything, from the childish natureof his research lab, which Saihara notes feels like “someone just pretending tobe a supervillain,” to the constant trail of clues which Ouma himself left forthem all following his death, all help to chip away at those doubts.

The most notable piece of evidence, however, is Ouma’smotive video. Sadly, the impact of this motive video is somewhat diminished inthe NISA localization. As I’ve mentioned before, the translation for it wasbutchered, with the most important reveals actually left out entirely, to the pointwhere it seems like Saihara is literally making stuff up on the spot in thetrial later on. But in the original version of the game, it’s madepainstakingly clear that DICE, with Ouma as its leader, was an organizationfundamentally against murder, with its most important and fundamental rulebeing “don’t kill people.”

These clues and evidence all tie together to paint a verydifferent picture of Ouma, one that I think left Saihara honestly conflictedafter his death. After the stunts Ouma pulled in Chapter 4, it makes completeand perfect sense that he didn’t seek him out or want much of anything to dowith him. Ouma claimed to be the worst sort of person, someone who enjoyed thepain and suffering of others, and Saihara and most of the rest of the groupbelieved him. But seeing so much direct evidence to the contrary, as well asrealizing how hard Ouma was trying to stop the killing game left him thinkingback on the way Ouma had acted and the things he had said.

Many of those things were themselves clues in the grandscheme of things. Seemingly offhanded comments or remarks he makes to Saiharain his FTEs look very different in hindsight—particularly the line in his finalFTE about how “some games can be won without playing them.” This is ultimatelyexactly what Saihara does in the final trial: in order to bring Danganronpa toan end, he and the other survivors refuse to participate in the game anylonger.

And it’s Ouma’s outlook on lies, rather than any other,which is the closest to Saihara’s own by the end of the game. Rather thanthinking of lies or truth in black-or-white terms of “bad” and “good,” Saihararealizes that lies can themselves be elevated to the status of “truth” ifpeople recognize them as such, and fully believes in their potential to changethe world and bring comfort to others.

This is why I find their dynamic so fascinating: theircharacters are directly meant to parallel each other. In a game about truth andlies, both of them represent an opposite side of the spectrum. And yet, both ofthem constantly delve into the other side. Saihara, in his efforts to seek outthe truth and help save everyone as a detective, has to lie. At least once per trial, he has a mandatory perjurywhich cannot be avoided. And Ouma, in order to better mask his true intentions,constantly mixes in bits and pieces of the truth with his lies, in order tomake it all the more difficult to tell how much of what he says can be taken atface value.

Under other circumstances, their relationship could haveturned out drastically different. The bonus mode is a pretty good look intothat. Like all bonus modes, it allows us a glimpse of a scenario in which thereis no killing game, and therefore no need for excessive doubt or paranoia. As aresult, in Ouma’s prison mode ending, he’sactually the one to reach out his hand to Saihara—a direct throwback to hisFTEs.

What I find the most interesting about Ouma’s prison modeending, though, is the fact that it lampshades a very important fact: thatSaihara still doesn’t really know anything about Ouma, but that he wants toknow more. Ouma himself says as much, and in his own internal narration, Saiharaacknowledges that he’s completely right (while blushing, no less). The lies andmystery surrounding Ouma left him wanting to know more, but unsure of how todetermine the truth. And at the very end, Ouma offers to let down his walls andgive Saihara a glimpse of “the real him.”

This potential for two characters constantly growing andgetting to know one another is perhaps one of my favorite tropes in fiction. It’swhat I love in any kind of ship, and definitely the reason I started shippingsaiouma in the first place. It’s very, very true that it’s impossible to ever really know another person (especiallynot in a matter of about 10 days, like in the bonus mode). We can, at most,know different “versions” of someone, the facades that they present to us andto others in their daily life. But getting to know someone is a constant,ongoing process; it literally never stops. I can vouch that I’m still gettingto know things about my significant other even to this day, and we’ve beentogether for years now.

With Saihara and Ouma, there’s this constant feeling ofback-and-forth, the dilemma between trusting and doubting. Saihara wants to know more about Ouma, but istoo afraid of putting his trust in someone so obviously dubious, only to bemade fun of or belittled in the end. Ouma wantsto trust Saihara—it’s why he took the risk of offering an alliance with him inChapter 4 in the first place, even if he went about it the complete wrong way.

He was fascinated by Saihara’s ability to grow and developoutside of the expectations he held for him; he thought he had him completelypegged, but Saihara’s ability to keep pushing forward even in the face of traumaand depression caught him off guard. This is why he becomes so much moreobviously interested in Saihara starting around Chapter 2. As soon as Saiharaputs his hat aside and takes the first, conscious step towards overcoming hisanxiety and feelings of inadequacy, Ouma begins to pay him considerably moreattention, culminating with describing him as “the person I fell in love with”(suki ni natta hito) in Chapter 4 (which is, coincidentally, the exact samewording Maki uses for Momota in Chapter 5).

There’s a constant sense that things could very well havebeen different between them, if only Saihara had continued reaching out hishand, or if Ouma had put aside his arrogance and his paranoia and finally acceptedit. The “what-if”s are countless, and I enjoy considering them.

I also find it extremely interesting how inextricable theircharacter arcs are from one another. Saihara’s arc of growth and development isjust as connected to Ouma as it is to Momota and Kaede; for better or worse,Ouma constantly challenges him to solve the mysteries around them, danglingclues before him, always looking pleased and enthusiastic when Saihara managesto find the right answer. Despite trying to play the role of an antagonist, orat the very least, a conflict-bringer, it’s very telling in my opinion thatOuma always responds with praise and excitement to Saihara in particular—praisewhich Saihara himself is afraid to take at face value, because he’s stillconflicted over whether Ouma might be lying to him or not.

And again, for better or worse, Saihara is the closest thingto someone Ouma “trusts” within a game full of potential enemies andbackstabbers. Saihara’s ability to surprise him and catch him off guard issomething Ouma reveled in, even as it frustrated him to no end. This is why hewrote the phrase “can’t figure him out?” (yudan naranai?) on the whiteboardnext to Saihara’s picture (I believe the localization phrase was “potentialally?” or something of the sort).

Despite knowing he couldn’t afford to let his guard down,and feeling that he couldn’t risk any alliances for fear of being betrayed, hestill very much wanted to get to knowSaihara better. Just as Saihara couldn’t figure Ouma out, Ouma could neverfully figure him out either, and it really shows when you read between thelines. And I think he really did want Saihara to understand him, too—typically,you don’t leave clues for someone if you don’t want them trying to solve themystery. Despite how contradictory he was as a person, and despite howdifficult he made it, I think he really hoped that Saihara might be the onebest-suited to understanding him as a person.

I really love the potential for growth on both sides in their relationship. There’sa real sense that in order to truly get to know one another, they would have tostand on completely even footing—which is what a relationship should always belike, in my experiences. All relationships start first and foremost with thedecision to get to know someone and be friends with them, and that’s exactlythe kind of dynamic I love to see in fiction too.

As far as other reasons I ship them… well, I touched ontheir parallels as the characters that best represent “lies” and “truth,” butit’s also notable that they play the very obvious role of “detective” and “phantomthief” as well. This is lampshaded in Ouma’s love hotel scene, where his “idealromantic partner” is quite literally Saihara himself, and he plays the role of acaptured phantom thief. The phantom thief traits also coincide with what weknow about Ouma in the main story as well: heists and calling cards seem wellwithin the possibilities of the stunts DICE probably pulled, and it’s a notablefact that most phantom thieves adhere to a moral code against killing orharming others.

The detective-phantom thief dynamic is a popular one inshipping, not only for saiouma but for many other pairs from many differentfandoms as well. It’s a tried and true trope of fiction, even a basis for AUsin many cases. The idea of a game of wits, or “catch me if you can” scenariobetween two characters is one that I think appeals to a lot of people. Ipersonally enjoy it quite a lot, especially when the “chase” is framed as twopeople trying to study each other and figure one another out.

All of these parallels and contrasts with one another amountto so many interesting possibilities for what could have been between them. AndI love seeing those possibilities explored in fanart and fanfic alike. Fandomas a whole is generally a place to explore dynamics and potential which weren’tnecessarily used to their fullest in canon, so I think saiouma is a greatexample of just one such dynamic.

I’m sure that not everyone will find saiouma as a ship to beto their personal liking. Which is perfectly fine! Shipping is different foreveryone, and personal preference plays a big role in what we all like or don’tlike. Sometimes something that appeals to one person just won’t appeal at allto someone else, and that’s only to be expected. As long as people are havingfun and not harming anyone else in the process, I think it’s fine to just liveand let live when it comes to shipping.

This got very long, like I knew it would, so I’ll go aheadand stop for now. But I hope I was able to get most of my thoughts across, as asort of big reference post for why I ship saiouma. Thank you for stopping by,anon, I had a lot of fun writing this!

#ndrv3 #new danganronpa v3 #shuuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #saiouma #ndrv3 spoilers //#my meta #okay to reblog #it's been such a long time since i did a piece of saiouma meta #i'm glad i finally had a chance to finish it up!

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simkjrs · 7 years

Note

ooh! i saw you ndrv3 post, and i have to ask: who's your favorite?

THIS IS SUCH A DIFFICULT QUESTION!! ndrv3 is chock full of self-absorbed strong personalities warping reality through sheer force of will, it’s so hard to choose!!! almost everything about this game is designed to pander to me specifically re: favorite character types i honestly have never felt so attacked in my life

ok that said…here’s a really long ramble on some of my favorite characters

1) iruma miu is SO funny. she’s like a manic hatsume and junko combined, except worse in EVERY SINGLE CONCEIVABLE WAY, look at this incredible screenshot from the first time you meet her:

decency? sensibility? discretion and prudence? NOT ON HER WATCH. iruma miu knows she’s a gift to the world and therefore she can do exactly what she wants, i.e. tripping her fuckin’ balls off and ruining everything by virtue of being her resplendent self. life is ALL about iruma’s personal pleasures, i.e. sleeping, sexual innuendo, and inventing, AND OBVIOUSLY IF IT’S NOT ABOUT THOSE THINGS IT’S NOT WORTH DOING. iruma opens her mouth and out comes nothing except THE most crass and vulgar statements you can imagine. she just gets worse and more obscene every single time she speaks. you thought you hit rock bottom? YOU SURE DID, BUT IRUMA’S GOT A JACKHAMMER AND SHE IS GOING TO KEEP DRILLING FOR ALL SHE’S WORTH.

by far one of the funniest things in ndrv3 is [SPOILERS] when gonta says “if we’d only had longer to live with iruma.. if only we’d been in different circumstances… maybe we could have been friends!” and everyone’s flat, knee-jerk response is “absolutely not.” the universal, unequivocal rejection of the possibility of being friends with, or even remotely associating with, iruma miu if they weren’t forced to by the killing game. is SO funny, especially because they’re saying it after her death. no speaking ill of the dead… UNLESS IT’S IRUMA, IN WHICH CASE IT’S OKAY, because she’s such a uniquely horrible instance of humanity that she spawns her own exception rule.

EDIT: i think it’s HIGHLY important that everyone looks at this screenshot. [spoiler warning for trial 4!!!]

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL, EMOTIONAL, MOVING EULOGY TO THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST GENIUS INVENTOR IN THE WORLD!!!! this is THE funniest thing anyone could say about miu posthumously. WHAT DOES IT MEAN. i think about this line every day of my life

in fact she’s so thoroughly depraved that you get THIS gem of an interaction in the ultimate talent development game:

FANTASTIC!!! IRUMA’S SHEER DEBAUCHERY IS SUCH A PRESENCE IN AND OF ITSELF THAT EVEN *JUNKO* KNOWS OF IT. is there anything worse and more despair-inducing than being compared to the most awful, degenerate level of humanity that iruma miu shamelessly and utterly unselfconsciously exists at? I DONT THINK SO. a comparison so despairing you could just die! nothing could top iruma’s Iruma-ness and i think that’s amazing.

2) ouma kokichi… is an incredible character, and incredibly fun to make fun of also. it’s rare that i get such a finely distilled combination of “terribly disconcerting and disconcertingly terrible to be around” and “interesting in-depth characterization” (as long as you can read between the lines) and GOD, there’s so much. look at this line ouma says right after someone was executed.

BIG mood ouma but also? there’s something so funny about the cheerful way ouma delivers this after everyone’s witnessed a horrible, awful, gruesome execution. no time for mourning, or any display of basic human compassion, only repressing your feelings and projecting as much of an air of ‘terrible human being’ as you possibly can!!!

[SPOILERS] exisal ouma’s lines are also REALLY good, i love the playful mischievous air of not-taking-anything-seriously (in spite of, or more probably, because of the life or death scenario). there’s just that mass panic debate where everyone’s freaking out and declaring that they’re NOT the culprit, except ouma cheerfully declaring that maybe he is the culprit!!! and he’d be perfectly okay with everyone thinking that! everyone out here to save their lives except for ouma who’s just out here to have a good time

and if ‘having a good time’ means martyring yourself so that the killing game won’t continue, well then sometimes that’s just how it is!!!

ouma is a thoroughly baffling character but i find it HILARIOUS how everyone in the game is like ‘oh no… scary boy… malicous…’ because ouma’s only off putting if you take him seriously. i mean you SHOULD take him seriously, but you shouldn’t take anything he says seriously. once you get past that, ouma is just a lonely jester boy who is embarrassingly transparent about what he wants. it’s very good.

side note: objectively kai/to x saihara is a better and healthier and more supportive ship than ouma x saihara but the latter is just so much funnier, it’s an entire trainwreck and a half. it’s the perfect mix of the “king and magician” dynamic with “weird ambiguous undefined and possibly one-sided relationship that is incomprehensible to everyone watching and also the people involved.” it’s absolutely pristine. i love everything about it

3) your boy saihara shuichi

i loved him from the moment he fell out of the locker hiding under his hat and looking incredibly uncomfortable with everything. and also being scared of literally everything. he’s like a constantly high-strung cat and his depressive episode in ch5 (or was it 4…) is a BIG mood.

by far one of my favorite things about him is his relationship to his “ultimate” title. “i’m only the ultimate detective because i accidentally solved a case before the police could” how do you ACCIDENTALLY solve a case? saihara just picked up a file, looked through it a bit, absent mindedly jotted down a couple notes and investigated on his way to school? NO BIG, JUST WAS CURIOUS ABOUT A COUPLE DISCREPANCIES NOTICED IN THE FILE!! saihara is the polar opposite of everyone in this game, he is nothing but self-consciousness, and he feels self-conscious about the fact that he solved a case. he’s not aggressive except in pursuit of the truth occasionally. nervous boy.

the way he internalizes all the things people say/do to him are really interesting too… suffice to say, i love him for his struggles and insecurities, i cant wait to see how he does in the final chapter of ndrv3.

#ask #personal #game spoilers //#honestly though everyone in this game is incredible #like your initial encounter with ma/ki and your interactions with her in the first trial?#her unreasonable expectation for saihara to have figured everything out already is so funny.#hey boy wonder got anything yet? no? then why the fuck are you talking to me #it's so good.#ndrv3 #Anonymous #dr stuff

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sanctferum · 7 years

Text

Dangan Ronpa V3: Chapter 4 Free Time!

After leaving the library, I immediately find a hidden Monokuma near the bottom of the stairs. Let’s look at all these old and new areas to find some others. There’s one on the railing in the second floor hallway, and another in the dorms, and yet another in Tenko’s abandoned lab. The final one must be during a trial minigame.

Hanging out with Kaito, he offers to spend the free time talking about himself. The reason Kaito feels so strongly about the universe. When Kaito was a kid, he used to go to his grandpa’s house. (Let’s not mention what we saw in the motive video to him.) He’d look for treasure in his grandpa’s old warehouse, and one day, while rummaging around, he found a treasure map, to find the treasures of these with! He promptly sold it to a pawn shop for cash. Kaito wouldn’t follow a map to adventure. He’d make his own maps. Still, the sea was calling him now, so he used the money to buy a boat and went on a voyage, and soon after becoming a captain, he met his destined rival. Where is this story going?

The boss of the Great Pirates. Uh. What.

He and the boss of the Great Pirates fought many battles, and eventually became friends. Then they had one final battle to determine who would conquer the seas. Kaito knew he could win, but he’d come to realize he wouldn’t be satisfied with just the sea. Kaito won the battle but didn’t finish the guy off, and ever since then, they haven’t seen each other. To be continued next time…

After an incredibly stupid and suspect story, we return to our room. No more free time today.

Monokub announcement! Night-time starts now, Monophanie and Monotaro have fallen in love, etc. Wait, what? C’mon, what’s with all the incest stuff. First Kiyo and now this bullshit…

Shuichi decides to pretend that never happened, and goes off to train with Kaito and Maki.

Gonta is up too. He thinks it’s best that even with the Student Council dissolved, people stay in their rooms for the night. Both Ryoma and Angie were killed at night…by that logic, the day/night split for the murders is 50/50, though.

Gonta feels useless. Shuichi encourages him, saying everyone can tell how much he cares about everyone. Gonta comes to a decision…but doesn’t say what it is. He’ll discuss it tomorrow at breakfast.

Outside, Kaito and Maki are waiting. 100 sit-ups each. In the time it takes for Shuichi to do 3 sit-ups, Maki’s almost at 30…that’s 10 times as fast. Impressive. And Kaito…has done none. He’s just staring at the stars…he gets up and tells us he needs to use the bathroom. Maki offers to go check on him for Shuichi while he finishes his sit-ups, but Shuichi points out that Maki would have to follow Kaito into the boys bathroom.

So no on that plan…but Maki takes the opportunity to ask a surprise question. Did Shuichi like Kaede? Maki thought he didn’t, because she can’t understand how people could become friends so quickly, especially in a situation like this. It’s weird.

Shuichi asks Maki what circumstances that people meet under aren’t weird for a sudden friendship. Maki is unable to answer, because it’s not an experience she has ever had. Damn, that’s…

Before Shuichi can figure out why Maki is asking these questions all of the sudden, Kaito returns. He drank too much water before training and had to pee. A lie, in all likelihood, but not one Shuichi picks up on.

So, then, the training begins again from the beginning. Another 100 sit-ups.

Kaito isn’t exercising because he has nothing to worry about, or so he says. What’s up with him?

Neither Kaito nor Shuichi are able to do the extra 100 sit-ups, but Maki manages it easily. Back in his room, Shuichi reflects on what the flashback light made him remember. All the things he remembered…If they’re connected to this situation, or to the Ultimate Hunt, or to the funeral…maybe the answers can save them. But those are answers Shuichi does not have.

Monokuma Theater! Haven’t had one of these since chapter 2. Chapter 3 just had Monodam theaters.

According to Monokuma, soccer players wear numbers on their jersey to determine how many mochi they get in the red bean soup they eat post-game. That way, the red bean soup can be properly prepared in advance. Trading jerseys with someone gets you that jersey’s number of mochi in your red bean soup. But for baseball players, the number represents how many pieces of meat they get in their curry. Volleyball players and sliced pork in their ramen, etc. And that is the importance of jersey numbers. Thanks Monokuma, that all sounded really credible and trustworthy trivia.

Morning announcement! Monotaro and Monophanie are now playing the part of an abusive boyfriend and the girl he seduced.

Outside the dorm, Maki and Shuichi talk about their conversation last night. Maki sounded like she didn’t care, but that wasn’t true. A detective should listen before making assumptions.

Maki walks off. Further up the path is Himiko, who’s out of breath from running all the way to the front of the Academy building from the dorms. She ran as part of her new philosophy of moving forward with her life. Walking is too slow of a pace for that! Shuichi questions whether she needs to be physically going fast to do that. The thing is, how else is she gonna do it? She doesn’t know of any other way to live life facing forwards, for Angie and Tenko’s sakes.

Still, she’s definitely gotta pace herself. Shuichi gives her a black belt from the monomono machine, so she can exercise in Tenko’s dojo. After breakfast, Shuichi will meet up with Himiko and train in the dojo.

Miu’s standing in the hall, near the basement stairs. Shuichi almost immediately regrets talking to her.

Fun last night? Huh?

Oh, she thinks Shuichi, Kaito, and Maki had a threesome in the middle of the courtyard. Yeah, that sounds like something Miu would think. She goes off to the breakfast hall, but not before mentioning that she’s working on the perfect invention! Once Shuichi has that, he won’t even need a rubber…Shuichi muses that Miu seemed more upbeat, and that she said “wait” in relation to the invention. Is she working on something right now, that she’s almost finished with? It’s weird…hopefully it’s something other than her figuring out how to make drugs and getting high. That’s the last thing we need.

Inside the dining hall, Gonta seems to be trying to convince the others of something.

Oh, he plans to fight Monokuma. Even with three Monokubs dead, there’s still two Exisals, and Monokuma himself has spares, so…bad idea.

Kokichi doesn’t think Monokuma’s defeat would even stop the killing game. And why would anyone (read: just Kokichi) want it to stop in the first place? It’s starting to get fun now, after all. He also states his intent to win the game. If he needs to become the next blackened to do that, he’ll do it. But the game can’t continue until there’s another killing…so, someone kill already, and make the fun start! And if no one kills each other, Kokichi will have no choice but to take the matter into his own hands and become the blackened himself.

Kaito punches Kokichi in the face. As Kaito yells at Kokichi, Keebo cautions that even minor fights can escalate into murder. If we try and solve our problems with violence, another killing is all but assured. Kaito, who was about to punch Kokichi again, steps back and puts his fists down.

Gonta says that if everyone’s gonna fight each other, he’ll go fight Monokuma rather than watch another killing happen.

Miu tells him there’s no need for that. Hmmmm. I wonder what she invented? An Exisal of her own?

Himiko delivers a Miu line…no wait, that’s just an example of what Miu would have likely said. But she told him not to be worried about Monokuma instead. Miu says that recklessness is pointless because she’s got a plan to save everyone.

“I’ll bring you to a world where the killing game doesn’t exist!”

It’s the computer, isn’t it…she plans to use the computer to create a new world of her own. That’s the only thing I can think of.

After breakfast, we head to the dojo to train with Himiko. Gonta’s there too. And he’s refusing to accept that there’s no way he can help out, so we have no choice but to invite him to train with us and work out together.

Himiko’s gonna do mage exercises. And the best way for her to gain the mana necessary is to have someone overflowing with vitality nearby. Gonta can stand nearby while Himiko borrows his vitality for her exercise. OK.

The exercises are basically preparations for stage performers to do their stuff. That isn’t a Mage exercise. That’s a Magician exercise. Well at least Himiko and Gonta are having fun.

Back to our room. Gonta wanted to fight Monokuma to save his friends. There’s no way Miu would ever say it, but she probably is working hard for the same reason. But Shuichi can’t help his friends, because his talent is only useful after they’re dead.

Free time again! Let’s see what nutty story Kaito has this time.

OK, so Kaito fought off a bunch of rival pirates and left his ship. But before he could get to port, he got caught in a storm. Right when he thought he was done for, a whale ate his boat. Hey, has this guy been watching Pinocchio too many times or something?

Whales are apparently the second smartest thing in the world. The smartest thing is Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars. What am I reading.

Kaito was sheltered from the storm, but he was stuck inside the whale’s stomach. He eventually made it to port, and realized that he’d tried to conquer the sea, and the sea won. So next up was…the land. This story sure is long.

Shuichi is just sweatdropping. Kaito talks on. He sold his boat and all his belonging, and entered the jungle. As he cut his own path through the dense growth, he found himself face to face with va giant anaconda, capable of swallowing a man whole! Kaito defeated the fell serpent, but that ended up triggering something else. Right before him, a gate opened up, leading to the Underground Empire, who had been using the anaconda as a watchman.

Against his better judgement, Shuichi asks what the heck that even is. Apparently, it’s a civilization located in an underground cave. Kaito invaded the empire, and made the emperor into his sidekick, but then time ran out and he had to go back to his gramp’s house. Summer vacation was over. So…was this whole story just his younger self thinking up a cool story about what the map could do?

Anyways, back to the main topic. Kaito must have wanted to become an astronaut for some reason, right? Even if he lost track of the topic while telling his tall tale. His reason is that the universe is the final frontier for him to conquer! Besides, astronauts are cool! What kid hasn’t grown up wanting to be one?

Shuichi looks so disappointed…

Well, time for more Free Time!

Kaito wants to escape. Who knows how much astronaut training he’s missing. But since we’re here, at least we got to meet each other and become friends.

Kaito says he could be called the Ultimate Hero. He’s had plenty of sidekicks before Shuichi. He’s only an astronaut trainee, but in other fields, he’s already made quite the name for himself. One of his sidekicks became a star rookie in major league baseball, another became an engineer who won a Nobel Prize, he even tutored the prime minister of Japan in politics! (What, the figurehead Prime Minister or Kirumi?) He goes on to talk about other sidekicks and make up a bunch of bullshit to brag about. But still, he says that he only nudged them in the right direction. Because…he believed in them. And that’s what’s most important, following the path you believe in. Kaito may be an idiot, but he’s someone who can give encouragement to others…encouragement that lets them face forwards and pursue their dreams. In that sense…he’s the perfect partner for Shuichi.

Evening time. Monotaro gives the night-time announcement. He has a bruise on his face and Monophanie is nowhere to be seen. Serves you right, asshole.

Monophanie whopped him so hard that he’s forgotten where he is and what time he’s announcing it to be. And didn’t there used to be someone else?

Monophanie steps out from behind a pillar to say that Monotaro is helpless without her. Shuichi doesn’t even bother commenting on the soap opera this time.

Training time with Kaito and Maki. Keebo and Tsumugi are in the dorm halls. Keebo’s worried about another murder happening if people are out at night. Keebo and Tsumugi discuss how seriously to take anything Kokichi says…everyone should make sure to be careful around him. I somehow suspect he might be the next victim, and he certainly is not gonna be the blackened this time around. Tsumugi’s also annoyed about the soap opera Monokub announcements. Keebo is more worried that it’s an incestual relationship. OK, well, they’re just robots, no offense, so if you want to squick at someone, Kiyo’s a better choice.

Do the Monokubs have to abide by human morality if they’re bears? No, they aren’t even bears. They’re robots oh shit Keebo’s mad about robophobia again.

Outside, Kaito doesn’t look well. Maki says it’s because of what happened earlier. Kaito suggests the three of them skip training and just talk. He definitely has something on his mind, so…

The conversation almost immediately turns to the subject of Maki’s life. Like, what her favorite blood type is. What? You meant, what’s her blood type, right? (It says it’s A, right there on the monopad’s report card.) Kaito seems to be acting stranger than usual.

Shuichi has a question of his own. When they first met, Maki told Kaede and him that she was the Ultimate Child Caregiver. Why that title in specific?

As the topic is about to move on, Maki speaks up with her answer. She grew up in an orphanage. That part of her backstory wasn’t made up. She has no idea who her parents even were, much let alone memories of them. And what she told us at the beginning…the only part of it that was false was her Ultimate title. Maki really was an orphan, and she really did end up helping raise the orphanage’s other residents…and kids really do like Maki. She doesn’t like taking care of them, but the kids like her anyways…but she never had a choice as to whether to become a caretaker or an assassin. Because when she was 10, a group of strangers started hanging around the orphanage. They were all smiles, but didn’t interact with the kids. Only watched them from afar…trying to see what talent each of them had. And Maki agreed to let them adopt her when she heard that they’d donate a large sum of money to the orphanage if she did. And that’s how Maki’s life started to become a living hell.

Ever since that day, she trained to become an assassin. And she had no choice but to keep going, even when she didn’t want to. As long as she became an assassin and succeeded in her missions, the orphanage would continue to receive funding…at first, Maki vomited every day, cried every night…but then, she got used to it. It was her life now. And so she became a tool to be used for killing by the cult she worked for, and her heart became empty, and her emotions numb, and her thoughts on why she had to keep going diminished.

But even with all that, she has to ask herself after every mission what life would have been like if she stayed at the orphanage. It’s a gnawing thought that will never leave her.

So that’s it. The story of Maki Harukawa. A girl who made what seemed like the right choice, and descended into hell because of it.

Kaito says that Maki and Shuichi both try to shoulder things on their own. Better to trust in others. Having shared your burdens with your friends, you’ll become stronger. And if Maki has managed to share her burden with Kaito and Shuichi, then maybe she’s become stronger already.

Maki acknowledges that the training has made her stronger, and the three friends spend time just talking. Shuichi feels more than ever that he needs to uncover the truth of the Academy, so he can protect his friends. No matter what, he needs to keep his friends alive.

And yet, at that very moment, in the games room in the basement, Monokuma is face-to-face with Kokichi. Kokichi, who has something to talk about with Monokuma in private. Something that will make the killing game that more exciting. Kokichi also says that the reason he hasn’t used the motive yet is because it has to be used dramatically. But then, he had an idea. A certain someone is planning something interesting. If the motive is used with regards to that, then the game would become super intense. I wonder who the certain someone is? Gonta or Miu, perhaps.

When Monokuma says you’re an evil bastard, you’re pretty damn far gone.

Kokichi makes the evilest face he’s made yet. And evil is what he is planning…

Monokuma Theater! Dishonest people…you can trust them, cause you know that they’re dishonest. But an honest man, you never know when they’re gonna do something idiotic. Unless he’s lying about that. And so on and so forth. Kokichi’s plan really impressed him, it seems.

Monokub announcement, starring no one. No wait, Monophanie appeared out of literally thin air to continue the soap opera bullshit. Monophanie and Monotaro eventually realize that they need each other, and a curtain falls with the words “The End” on it. What a long, strange announcement.

Outside the dorms, Kaito wants to ask Shuichi for advice about their training sessions. We’ve been doing sit-ups and push-ups, but Kaito feels like something is missing. Martial arts, or mental training…we have a practice sword in our inventory, so Shuichi and Kaito decide to train together after breakfast. Kaito will bring Maki over as well.

Near the boiler room, Gonta’s still looking for the tiny bug…

*Silver the Hedgehog voice* IT’S NO USE!

Hey, I did say I would bust out that line every time the voice clip was used…

Himiko’s in the hall near the bathrooms. She’s sad the Monokuma soap opera is over. She thought there’s be a plot twist, where Monophanie would turn out to be pregnant with a kub of her own, but it’d turn out the father wasn’t Monotaro! The father would be Monokid, or Monosuke, or possibly Monodam but probably not. Despite her predictions, the soap opera ended happily ever after. I wonder if Himiko is a soap opera fan? Wouldn’t have thought so before now, but…

Inside the dining hall, everyone but Miu and Kokichi are here. That worries me.

Everyone’s trying to think of ways to make themselves useful to each other. After breakfast, we go back to our rooms. But even then, an “unspeakable malice” is brewing.

No time to worry about whether Miu is dead, though, because it’s time to train with Kaito.

Oh right. Maki doesn’t use swords. Oops.

It’s a painful memory, but Kaito tells her to get it out there so the three of them can continue to share each other’s burdens.

So, Maki gathered information for her mission. The target worked late at night, but was also into some nerdy hobbies. And we’re talking Tsumugi-levels of nerdy, especially considering that this guy loved cosplay. So Maki came up with a plan. Use a prop carrying case to stealthily bring a katana with her and then kill the guy with it. The plan worked at first. Then Maki drew her katana on the guy. But her height and hairstyle match that of a popular character who is a katana user, and she was in the middle of a cosplay hall when this happened. And so, before she knew what was happening, Maki found herself in a different hall, with people photographing her as part of a photoshoot. Luckily, no one looked inside her weapon case, or she would’ve been busted. They would’ve realized the katana was real…Kaito and Shuichi think the whole thing is pretty funny. But the story isn’t over with. Maki returned to her employers without having killed the guy. She was branded as a failure. And failing meant her employers would no longer donate to the orphanage…which is why she had to keep going. So that her hell of a life would have some kind of meaning.

Shuichi returns to his room. Hopefully there’ll be at least another free time before the murder. Ooh, there is. Next time, we finish up Kaito’s last free time event and move towards the inevitable deadly life.

#Dangan Ronpa #Dangan Ronpa V3 #Danganronpa V3

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oumakokichi · 7 years

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could you explain ouma's opinion on kiibo? correct me if im wrong, but ouma doesnt see kiibo as a person, and i couldnt help but have something cross my mind.. what if ouma used kiibo as the sacrifice rather than gonta? could you explain why this isnt possible or why ouma wouldnt/didnt do this? ouma values all lives of course, but do you think it would have inflicted him less to manipulate someone he doesnt consider human (plus knowing kiibos true purpose) sorry if i already sent this question

Ouma suspected that Kiibo wasconnected to the ndrv3 audience in some way, and thought of Kiibo as “strange/weird”according to his whiteboard, where he singled his picture out in a differentway from how he singled out Saihara’s picture. He knew that it was strange fora robot to be involved in the killing game at all, moreso with the whole “lastsurvivors of humanity” scenario which the remember lights were trying to forcethem to believe—after all, why would a robot be put onboard a ship meant forthe last survivors of humanity to sustain the human race?

Given all the incongruities,both about Kiibo’s backstory and his talent, Ouma was suspicious of him, and that’swhy he’s particularly hard on him sometimes. He teased him endlessly aboutbeing a robot and became noticeablybored/fed-up whenever Kiibo would talk about his memories or his past—because Oumahighly suspected those things were fake, even moreso than everyone else’sbackstories.

However, Ouma definitely couldn’tbring himself to think of Kiibo as “not a person.” Not human, perhaps, butevery bit of evidence points to the fact that no matter how hard he tried, hecouldn’t help but think of Kiibo as an individual with his own autonomy, freewill, etc. Things would have been considerably easier for him if he had beenable to think of Kiibo as an object, rather than a person—but that wouldclearly have been a lie, and Ouma knew it. I think a part of him was genuinelyfrustrated that he couldn’t think of Kiibo in those terms, despite the factthat Kiibo was so clearly sketchy, and so obviously involved somehow with theaudience watching the killing game.

Had Ouma really thought ofKiibo as “not a person” then he would’ve had no problems with disabling him orbreaking him so that he couldn’t function as an audience proxy anymore. If he’dreally ever genuinely thought of him as “just a robot” and “not alive,” thenthat wouldn’t have violated his moral code against killing at all, and he mostlikely would have done so because that would have been the safer option formaking sure no one was spying on them.

He had several opportunities todo this over the course of the game. The electric hammers that he commissionedMiu to make were more than capable of frying Kiibo, if it turns out that shesaw him as a robot rather than a person. They were programmed to work onmachines, not people. When Ouma tells them this in Chapter 5, Kiibo wondersaloud how Miu perceived him, and almost considers asking someone to try out oneof the hammers on him, but Ouma cheekily tells him that if it turns out she sawhim as a machine, then those hammers would fry his circuits pretty badly.

Given Ouma’s possession of thehammers, the remote control capable of hijacking electronic devices, and theelectric bombs capable of jamming signals, he could easily have broken Kiiboany time he wanted to. The fact that he didn’t do this despite all his teasingabout Kiibo being “just a robot” is pretty solid proof that he couldn’tactually bring himself to think like that, no matter how much it might havesimplified matters. He was suspicious of him, and Kiibo had obvious ties to theoutside world in some way or other, but he was also very obviously strugglingto become his own person, and that was something I think Ouma couldn’t help butrespect, no matter how much he wouldn’t admit to it.

The reason he didn’t use Kiiboas a sacrifice instead of Gonta is largely because Ouma didn’t go into the VRworld with a specific sacrifice in mind. He knew he would have to counter Miu’splan, and he knew he would need someone else to kill her in his place if hewanted to stay alive, but it’s obvious he didn’t have a specific person in mindat first.

It’s not until he commented aboutgoing outside to start looking around and Gonta volunteered to go with him inorder to protect him that he began talking under his breath, making commentsabout Gonta “being his bodyguard” and saying things like “If it’s Gonta, thenmaybe…” Clearly, up until the moment he knew he and Gonta could be alone whenfinding the remember light, he had no idea who would be the best person to tryand enlist into his plan.

Had Kiibo volunteered to go withhim instead, then there is a slight chance Ouma would have tried the same thingwith him. I believe there are several people he would never have tried toenlist in his plan even if he had had an opportunity to be alone with them.Saihara, for one, because he probably couldn’t have brought himself to do thatto someone he himself admits he was falling in love with. Maki, for another,since even if she watched the remember light, the chances of her cooperatingwith him for any reason were slim to none. And Miu, of course, since she wasthe one who was trying to kill him in the first place.

That meant his options for asacrificial pawn were limited to Gonta, Kiibo, Himiko, Tsumugi, and Momota.Momota is another iffy candidate in my opinion, because like Maki, he and Oumararely saw eye to eye on anything prior to Chapter 5. And the only reasonMomota was willing to cooperate with Ouma to the extent he did in Chapter 5 wasbecause he learned quite a few painful lessons about how wrong the “trusteveryone, don’t doubt your friends” mindset was that he stuck to in Chapter 4.Tsumugi, of course, might have seemed like a possible candidate to Ouma, but wethe players know she would never have gone along with it because she was theringleader. So that leaves just Gonta, Kiibo, and Himiko.

Had either Kiibo or Himiko gonealone with Ouma to find the remember light, then it’s possible he would have had to try and enlist their help. Hedidn’t particularly have a lot of time or options available to him; once theywere in the VR world, he needed to act fast in order to stop Miu’s plan. But nomatter who had gone along with him, I think it still would have pained him.Clearly he did value Kiibo’s life as an individual on the same level as everyoneelse’s; I don’t think there was any option in that scenario that would have “hurthim less” or “hurt him more.” Being forced into a situation where he had tobreak his moral code at all was painful enough.

Not only that, but I’m notentirely sure Kiibo wouldn’t have seen through what he was trying to do had hebeen the one alone with Ouma. Even if he had watched the remember light, it’sdoubtful whether Kiibo would’ve resorted to murder. Suicide, perhaps, becauseeveryone became suicidal and depressed upon knowing “the truth of the outsideworld”—but due both to Kiibo’s own personal belief in maintaining hope in thedarkest of times, as well as the audience input via his “inner voice,” I doubthe would’ve killed anyone.

Kiibo also has quite asurprising knack for understanding Ouma more instinctively than many other membersin the group. By Chapter 5 especially, Kiibo is the only one who sayspoint-blank that he doesn’t think Ouma had any reason to lie on his deathbed.His bonus mode interaction with Ouma shows that while he clearly gets fed upwith Ouma’s teasing and all the “robot discrimination,” he also recognizes itfor what it is: a bratty kid demanding attention. And he grasps the heart ofOuma’s character, too, stating that it’s not about whether Ouma is telling thetruth or lying, because either way, they’re friends and that’s what matters themost.

All of these things suggest tome that despite seeming kind of endearingly clumsy and incapable of reading themood sometimes, Kiibo is someone with a very intuitive knack for catching ontothings. If Saihara was the one who Ouma wanted to “solve” him and understandhim, Kiibo was the one who understood him more intuitively—much to Ouma’sdismay, I’m sure.

My point in the end is thatbecause Kiibo was so clearly a pawn in the grand scheme of things and alsosomeone with his own consciousness, memories, individuality, etc., there’s nodoubt that Ouma saw him as a person, even if he tried to emphasize how much he “wasn’thuman.” The situation was dire enough in Chapter 4 that if push had come toshove and Kiibo had been the most convenient option, Ouma might very well havetried to use him instead of Gonta—but I don’t think that such an option wouldhave hurt his conscience any less. Either way, he clearly thought of it asmurder. If he hadn’t, he would’ve either hijacked, disabled, or broken Kiibo,because doing so would’ve been the safer, colder, and more calculating option.

I hope this helps answer yourquestion, anon! This was a really fun ask, and gave me a lot of things to thinkabout. Thank you for asking!

#ndrv3 #drv3 #new danganronpa v3 #kokichi ouma #kiibo #ndrv3 spoilers //#my meta #okay to reblog #anonymous

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oumakokichi · 7 years

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Could you clarify Gonta and Ouma's relationship in game? I've heard that they actually hang out pre-chapter 4 (to the point of Miu saying they're spending all that time together because they're having sex, lmao) and his tears for Gonta after trial 4 were real, but a lot of people are arguing that Ouma saw him as nothing but a potential pawn/bodyguard, even before chapter 4. What are your thoughts on their relationship? Thank you!

This is definitely a complicated question and one thatrequires a lot of careful explanation, because of a lot of the events ofChapter 4. I’m glad you asked anon, because I’d like to do my best atattempting a little more clarification for this, because both Ouma and Gontaare incredibly important characters to the overall turning point of the game,and it’s important to understand their dynamic and the events that occurred inChapter 4 as a result.

That being said, I’ve mentioned before in a previous post,but I’ll reemphasize a little bit: when I say “relationship” when talking aboutthese two, I really do not ship them atall. I would not ever recommend shipping them. The ship is somewhat popularamong Japanese pixiv artists recently and might have boosted a little of itspopularity here on Tumblr as a result, but I can honestly say that I don’tthink it would ever, ever be a healthy shipping dynamic in any sense, and whenI talk in this post, I’m strictly going to be referring to “relationship” or “dynamic”in the sense of their actual interactions within the plot, and not in a senseof shipping them whatsoever.

Spoilers for Chapter 4 and onward will follow, so please don’tread past this unless you’re comfortable being spoiled that far!

To cover what I just touched on, in terms of shipping, therereally is far, far too much of a power imbalance between Ouma and Gonta for meto ever be comfortable with them in a romantic dynamic. Regardless of Ouma’sintentions, and the fact that he definitely did not want things to come down tohaving to get Miu and Gonta killed, he made the decision knowingly, and it’ssomething he himself doesn’t shy away from or forget. He did set up acounter-plan to Miu’s attempt to murder him, and he did manipulate Gonta intohelping him with that plan, and it’s true that had Ouma not taken Gonta to theremember light or pressed him on after knowing the secret of the outside world,two lives would not have been lost (although considering if Miu had actually gotten away with her plan to kill Ouma, there’s really no guarantee for what might have happened at the school trial).

Gonta is someone who trusts others implicitly, always triesto see the best in people, and is kind, gentle, and compassionate. Throughoutearlier chapters, but especially in Chapter 4, Ouma comes down hard on him,insults him, and tells him to “stop moping” or “focusing on what he can’t do”—andwhile these things are likely the same kind of act that he put on in order toforce Himiko to confront the promise she made to Tenko, it still doesn’t changethe fact that he says pretty awful things to Gonta in order to achieve theseresults.

These things are part of Ouma’s act and façade to make thegroup hate him, yes, but that doesn’t make them any less horrible, and he knowsit, and the player should be encouraged to remember it too, because it’s notsomething Ouma should be excused for or even wants to be excused for. A huge part of his character is aboutdoing these cold, pragmatic things that need to be done for the sake of hisplans, but it still nonetheless involves making ruthless sacrifices along theway, even at the expense of staining his own hands and ruining his one firmmoral guiding point.

To try and ship Gonta and Ouma in a romantic fashion oranything similar is just…really not good. Gonta doesn’t deserve to be put inany kind of shipping dynamic where he’s going to be seen as anything less thanequal, and there’s really no way to deny that Ouma doesn’t see him as an equal, but as a piece to be moved on agameboard. This is something really important to be remembered with most ships,in my opinion, but with this one in particular I’ll just say that it doesreally make me uncomfortable that people would want to make this kind oftreatment into something “cutesy” or “shippy” when it’s really not supposed tobe, and not portrayed as such by the game.

That being said, in terms of the plot overall, Gonta andOuma do have pretty important interactions with one another. As you pointedout, even in earlier chapters they spend quite a lot of time together, and it’seven noted by other characters like Miu.Gonta plays an essential role in many of Ouma’s less-lethal schemes, such asthe bug fiasco in Chapter 2, where he used Gonta and his bugs as a distractionto go steal the motive videos and sift through them.

An undeniable part of why he relies on Gonta probably comesdown to the fact that yes, he does see him as one of the more easily manipulatedmembers of the group. As one of the only characters whose reaction is to trusteven Ouma implicitly, rather than to assume that he’s lying, Gonta and his sweet,trusting disposition mean that whenever Ouma does have a plan that needs beingdone, he always has a pretty accessible, physically strong member of the groupto rely on. This is pretty evident with the fact that he knew Gonta lookedlarge and intimidating enough to round up all the members of the group into theentomology lab while Ouma himself was off trying to collect evidence.

In that sense, people who say that Ouma has, to some degree,thought of Gonta as a pawn or bodyguard are not entirely wrong. I think it’strue that Ouma did think of Gonta in very straightforwardly chess-like terms asa piece to be moved at his disposal, and someone who could protect him orprovide physical influence in the group where Ouma lacks it. However, I woulddisagree to say that this is all he thought of Gonta as.

I’ve made many posts before regarding Chapter 4 and Ouma ingeneral, and the most essential part of his entire character is how contradictory he is. Everything,absolutely everything about him, pretty much comes down to being somewhere in amiddle ground, or else both things simultaneously, rather than put into eitherspecifically black or white terms. And it’s a brilliant writing decision,considering how his character design and color palette consists almost entirely of blacks and whites.

While Ouma did in fact think of Gonta in these cold,methodical, pragmatic terms like “how useful is this person to me and can Iutilize him as a bodyguard/pawn,” there was also, clearly a part of him thatwas at least somewhat grateful for the fact that Gonta believed him aboutanything at all.

As someone who manipulates the group from the sidelines intotrying to band together while feeding them clues, Ouma watches the actual “leaders”or “moral pillars” of the group with extreme interest. These include Saihara,naturally as the one who steps up to the plate and solves the class trials andriddles Ouma has been posing to him—but also, interestingly enough, Gonta. Assomeone who is relied upon and trusted by the rest of the group, and who onlyever has wanted to protect people, Gonta is not an intellectual leader, but anemotional one.

I know I’ve mentioned this before too, but Gonta’s abilityto trust others so naturally and so implicitly, and his overall friendly naturewas something I think Ouma envied. Cynical as he is, it’s clear that Ouma wouldlike to believe in “the power of friendship,” “happy endings,” and other suchoptimistic things, if only the situation were different. His behavior in theflashback we see of him and Miu talking practically confirms this, as his planto use the hammers and bomb to take down Monokuma is actually surprisinglyoptimistic and deals almost entirely on the idea that the entire group might bewilling to band together.

Gonta was a good person, and Ouma knew it. Regardless of thefact that he had been utilizing him for minor schemes and distractions inearlier chapters, I don’t think he went into Miu’s VR world planning for it tobe Gonta specifically that he used in his plan. In fact, he doesn’t seem tohave even considered using Gonta until Gonta volunteers to protect him when he’sabout to go running off outside. Then he has a moment of mumbling to himself,saying something along the lines of, “Maybe if it’s Gonta…if Gonta were to bemy bodyguard…” And it’s only after that that I think he finally went throughwith his decision to use Gonta specifically in order to stop Miu in her attemptto kill him.

The secret of the outside world is, in fact, horrible enoughthat knowing it in its entirety is enough to make literally anyone give uptheir will to live. It’s the motive Monokuma provided them at the start of thechapter, and even prior to entering the VR world, Ouma had already used thekeycard to go see it at the end of the mini-game route where the exit door waslocated. The remember light placed inside the VR world was supposed to show theexact same sight that Ouma had witnessed: a truth about the entire outsideworld so terrible and depressing that almost anyone’s will to live would becrushed instantly without an incredible tenacity to go on.

It is 100% true that Ouma did lead Gonta to the rememberlight, and that he encouraged him to use it, knowing that this would coincidewith his plans to have Miu killed before she could kill him. It is also truethat Monokuma placed this motive into the VR world as an incentive that all ofthe characters were encouraged to find and to use. And it is true too thatafter Gonta used the remember light and saw the state of the outside world forhimself, he was so horrified and distraught that he did agree to Ouma’sinitiative to “save” the group by killing them and sparing them from the hellthat was both inside the school and out of it.

Ouma presented his plan, did fully intend to manipulateGonta when he led him to the remember light, and was no doubt hoping thatthings would go according to said plan and that Gonta would agree to kill Miu,because it was really Ouma’s only real counter in order to stop Miu fromkilling him, since she had already made up her mind that she needed to get backto the outside world no matter what. It wasn’t a question of her just trying tokill him in the VR world: if that plan had failed, she was desperate enoughthat she would have just tried something else.

And Gonta did agree to that plan, because the entire point about the outside world and thetruth that it represented (an undeniable, horrible truth very different fromthe lies Tsumugi uses with later remember lights in order to try and boost thegroup’s morale again) is that it was literally just that bad. That horrible.Anyone, even the best person, would have their morals compromised and bewilling to do things they normally wouldn’t do after learning that kind ofsecret, because there was no longer any point at all in living.

The secret of the outside world was something the entiregroup was bound to discover at some point or another, be it sooner or later.Ouma introduces it first to Gonta, as part of his plan, but also to the rest ofthe group in Chapter 5 for entirely different reasons, coming down hard on themas an “evil supreme leader” who has declared that the entire killing game “isover” and that there’s no meaning in even going back to the outside world, asit’s entirely destroyed.

It’s certainly true, and important to not forget oroverlook, the fact that Gonta died as a result of Ouma’s plan. Ouma himselfdoes not try to overlook or brush over that fact within the game. And as I’vestated in other posts, the fact that this was an act that caused Ouma to breakhis one cardinal rule of not letting anyone be hurt or killed as a result ofhis own actions is something that devastated him.

People might or might not believe it according to their owninterpretation, but Ouma’s emotional breakdown in front of Gonta doesn’t makemuch sense unless you assume that it was real, because he knew the things thathe’d done in order to survive, and he knew that Gonta was a sacrifice that hecaused, and he really, honestly wanted to die. His resolve would have brokenthere, because he asks to die with Gonta, and it’s not even something Monokumaposes any objection to.

The only reason he stays at all and resolves himself tocarry out his plan to act like the worstvillain imaginable, is because Gonta (well, Gonta’s avatar, who remembered theweight of the things that happened in the VR world) asked him to stay with thegroup, to “be friends with them,” and essentially to keep everyone united andstrong. And that’s exactly what Ouma tries to do as an “evil leader,” by makinghimself into a villainous figure who he wants the other characters to despise.

If Ouma hadn’t developed at least some measure of realrespect for Gonta by the end—if he didn’t feel absolutely horrible about Gonta’sdeath—then there was literally no reason for him to have that breakdown infront of him. If he had truly thought Gonta an idiot and a fool and wanted to “rubit in his face,” there was no reason for him to not actually show Gonta that hehad “betrayed him the whole time.” That was what would honestly have caused themost suffering for Gonta, who was about to go to his execution anyway.

But he doesn’t do this. Not only that, but he does keep the promise he made to Gontaas best he can in his own way, even while still undoubtedly unstable andwanting to die himself because of the things he’s uncovered about the outsideworld.

Nothing can ever excuse the things Ouma did, and the factthat both Miu and Gonta die in Chapter 4 is something that leaves himirrevocably changed and far more desperate than he was at any point prior inthe killing game. He himself does not try to excuse his actions. They’re notsupposed to be excusable. And trying to ship Ouma with Gonta in any kind ofromantic sense, knowing that there’s a huge power imbalance and that Ouma was,in the end, willing to sacrifice Gonta, is really, really dangerous and notsomething I’m comfortable with.

But it’s also true that Gonta is one of the few charactersin the narrative who made a lasting impression on Ouma besides Saihara. WhileOuma was willing to cut out his own emotions and make that final decision to dowhat needed to be done in order to accomplish his own objectives, I wouldhesitate to say he actually thoughtof Gonta as nothing more than a piece. Gonta was someone who actually trustedhim, was nicer to him than most members of the group, and was a genuinely goodperson through and through. And Ouma was well aware of those things, and that’sexactly why Gonta’s death hurt so much, as did knowing that he himself wasresponsible in part.

I hope I’ve made matters a little clearer—I know this gotlong. But thank you for asking anon! While I would definitely say that shippingOuma and Gonta in any kind of potentially romantic dynamic is just flat-outunhealthy, there’s also no denying that they both are important to the plot,and that Ouma did, by the end, respect Gonta, and resent himself for the thingshe had to use him to do.

#ndrv3 #drv3 #new danganronpa v3 #kokichi ouma #gonta gokuhara #ndrv3 spoilers //#my meta #okay to reblog #every time i write more about chapter 4 a little part of me dies #it's such a good chapter but god #anonymous

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