Untitled

The Google Docs version of this translation is the most up-to-date. If using/reuploading/reposting this translation, do not remove the translator's notes, and do not change the translations. Credit and link if using. Check the original post before reblogging as TLs are occasionally revisited and edited.

[PAGE 1]

2000年 東京都渋谷区に生まれる。 Born in 2000 at Shibuya, Tokyo. 榧野尊は一般的な中流家庭で育った。 Mikoto Kayano was raised in a family part of the most common socioeconomic class: the middle-class. 社交的で人当たりも良く、何をやらせても人並み以上にはできる器用さで、幼い頃から手のかからない子供であった。 He was sociable and easy to get along with, having a natural talent for excelling at anything he tried. From a young age, he had been a low-maintenance child. 友人も多く、尊の周りには常に人が集まっていた。他人との適切な距離感、空気を読み、場を和ます能力。天性の資質といえるようなものだった。 Mikoto had many friends and there were always people gathered around him. He had the ability to maintain a proper level of distance from others, how to read the room, and the ability to soothe the atmosphere. It seemed to be qualities that came naturally to him. そのまま大きな挫折を経験することなく、美大を卒業し、大手広告代理店のデザイナーとして働くことになった。 Without having experienced any major failures, he graduated from an arts university and went on to work as a designer at a major advertising company. 会社は業界最大手で、同世代からは羨望の眼差しで見られる。尊自身も、自分の人生が更に華やかなものになるとじて疑わなかった。 The company was the leader of the industry and peers of his generation looked upon him with envy. Once more, Mikoto himself had no doubt that his life was only going to flourish further. しかし、そこで出会ったのは夢に見た都会的なデザイナーライフではなく、戦場とも表現するべき激しく劣悪な労働環境だった。 However, what awaited him was not the metropolitan designer life he had dreamed of. Instead, it was an appallingly brutal work environment that could only be described as a battlefield. 大抵のことは器用にやってのけてきた尊だったが、キャパシティを超えて積み重なる仕事、日々迫る納期、それを当たり前にこなす周囲の人間の存在、叱責、ため息、失望の眼差し…… Mikoto, who had generally managed to handle most things with ease, found himself buried under loads of work that exceeded far beyond his capacity with deadlines looming every day. The people around him handled it all as if those workloads, reprimandings, sighs, and looks of disappointment were perfectly natural… 職場で交わされている言葉の意味すらわからず、曖味な笑みを浮かべてやり過ごす日々。 His days were spent being unable to understand the meaning behind words exchanged at work and he was only getting by through plastering an ambiguous smile. どれだけ追い詰められても「助けてほしい」の言葉を口にすることはできなかった。 No matter how much he was driven to the edge, his mouth could not utter the words “please help me”. 息子を心配する親からの話にも、すべて順調であると嘘をついた。 Even when his parent called, all he could bring himself to do was lie that everything was okay.

[PAGE 2]

一認められなかった。常に周囲から抜きん出た存在だったはずの自分が、人の足を引っ張ることになるなど。 He couldn’t accept it. He had always been someone who excelled compared to those around him. How had he become someone who only held others back? 泊まり込みでの労働が当たり前の生活に、導の精神は限界を迎える。連勤が100を超えたあたりだった。起きているのか、寝ているのか、現実なのか、夢なのか。 A life where staying at a company and working throughout the night was the norm had pushed Mikoto’s spirit* to its limit around the time he worked for more than one hundred consecutive days—Was he awake? Was he asleep? Was this reality? Was this a dream? [T/N: One’s spirit (精神, seishin) bears the nuance that it is one’s essence. It encompasses, but is not limited to, one’s soul, mind, heart, etc.] 朦朧とした意識で家に帰り着いた尊は、事切れるようにベッドに倒れ込んだ。 Mikoto, consciousness and awareness all hazy, somehow made it back to his residence and collapsed onto his bed as if his life had finally been snuffed. 自宅で目を覚ました尊は、不思議と晴れやかな気持ちだった。 When Mikoto opened his eyes in his residence, he was inexplicably* feeling better. [T/N: 不思議 (fukashigi), translated as “inexplicably”, means “beyond human comprehension”.] 携帯を確認すると、倒れてから丸二日経過している。納期も破ってしまっているし、きっとクビだろう。大量の着履歴が物語っている。 He checked his phone and saw that two days had elapsed. He also missed a deadline and knew that he was probably going to be fired. Especially if those numerous missed calls meant anything. 「仕事を辞めよう」尊の気持ちは決まっていた。自分の好きなことだけをして、しばらく休もう。 “I’m going to quit,” Mikoto made up his mind. He’ll only do what he actually likes and take the time to rest for a while. 人生のことはそれから考えれば良い。蓄積していたストレスは、すべてなくなっていた。 He’ll think about life later. All the stress that had been accumulating within him had completely disappeared. 空腹に気づいた導が気分良く外出の準備をしている中、家の扉の前には数人の普察が待機していた。12名もの命を奪った無差別殺人犯の家に突入するために。 Mikoto realized he was hungry and cheerfully got ready to head outside. Several police officers were waiting in front to storm the residence of the indiscriminate killer* who had taken the lives of 12 people. [T/N: An indiscriminate killer is defined as a person who has no clear motive and, almost impulsively, kills unspecified individuals, whom the perpetrator has no prior acquaintance with, in places people can freely pass by (NPA 1981). Indiscriminate attacks are known to cause great anxiety and fear as it is seemingly “random”/”indiscriminate”. Indiscriminate attackers are stereotyped to be persons who are unemployed, under financial distress, unstably housed, socially withdrawn, and/or have weak relationships. These prejudices are often associated with and contribute to the stigmatization of people with mental illness as dangerous. It has been noted that many indiscriminate murderers have very low or unstable self-esteem. It is also not uncommon for indiscriminate murder motives have been tied to the concept of “extended suicide” (拡大自殺).] 尊が限界を迎え深い眠りについた日に時間は遡る。 Rewinding to the day Mikoto had reached his breaking point and fell into a deep sleep. むくりと起き上がる尊。深夜の住宅街、家から持ち出した金属バットで次々に人間の命を奪っていく。 Mikoto abruptly rose from his slumber. In the dead of night at a residential neighborhood, he takes a metal baseball bat from his home and goes out, taking life after life. 怒号とも、泣き声とも、産声ともとれる声をあげながら。 As he did, he raised his voice; that could be seen as screams of rage, cries of anguish, or, perhaps, the first cry of a newborn.

[PAGE 3]

> story centers on how the condition affects his daily life BEFORE it reveals the "horror," making Mikoto a well-rounded and popular character by showing both his genuine side and emotional baggage to a sympathetic audience; he was literally designed to be looked at past the surface level.

>the ambiguity of "who committed the crime" is so muddy and vague that even Es (character) pins it on the one who showed overt traits of violence/anger as they calm Mikoto down. This shows how outside people tend to pick and choose parts and box them into categories. It's MIKOTO HIMSELF, the one speaking to Es, whoever he "is" "inside," taking direct responsibility for his actions. The muddiness of "who's who" in Mikoto's system is VERY REALISTIC and imo likely intentional.

>Mikoto's fear and remorse are legitimate. They put extra effort into showing how he swore it was all a bad dream, how hard his brain tried to forget. He really is a normal guy who gave in to a crazy impulsr; yes he's accountable, but he's rightfully frightened nonetheless.

> the point is not "DID makes this guy kill people and forget, how scary!!!" The point is, in my opinion, "working class people are routinely put in danger by a system that rewards shoving aside health and wellness for success and notoriety, making people seek pain relief in more and more extreme ways; no one is safe from the tidal wave of a sick human beings with nowhere to aim their frustration."

> "if it's about work culture then maybe don't put DID in." Millions, if not billions, of people are growing up until hostile, dangerous environments, and have been for generations. The working class is gonna have a pool of people with DID. The story would be less interesting if Mikoto remembered snappping; also, I imagine that the truth would have got him triple-guilty'd IMMEDIATELY if we didn't know Mikoto like we do now. That's my last point: the amnesia and presence of other self-states is explicitly used to elevate the narrative and add complexity, not just for shock value.

Mikoto canonically speaks in four dialects: Yonezawa, Kanto, Edo (known also as Kanto roughspeak), Kansai and Standard Japanese, what gives us 4 places. We know that his crime took place in Shibuya (Tokyo) and that he propably is from village or small town, basing on this interrogation question:

T1 John is the one, who speaks in Yonezawa dialect and he behaves like an abusive parent toward Es, so my guess is that he's Mikoto's father introject and persecutor/protector. Yonezawa is a city in Yamagata, so Mikoto was born there or his father comes from there, I think.

After the divorce they propably moved to Kansai or to Kanto, or both. I'm assuming more Yonezawa->Kansai->Kanto->Tokyo, since Tokyo is in Kanto region.

So, Mikoto was living in Yonezawa for first few years of his life, then some time in Kansai and then in some small town in Kanto and then moved out to Tokyo to study and/or work here.

Though, he could also take his dialects from the tv or his friends, soooo, who knows xd

Requieeeem, come fasteeer xd

Voting innocent doesn't help ease the guilt that the prisoners feel. Yuno and Kazui haven't stopped seeing themselves as murderers despite them both getting innocent verdicts each trial and their "crimes" being considered some of the tamest by the fandom. Innocent verdicts can fuck up a prisoner just as much as guilty verdicts. Kotoko decided that her innocent verdict allowed her to hurt others, while Haruka and Muu began to think their verdict made their murders completely justified.

Voting guilty doesn't make the prisoners realize their mistakes, it makes them miserable and scared, and often just causes them to resent Es. The best example of that was amane in trial 1, who started clinging to her religion even more than before her verdict. I think this is happening with Muu too. She doesn't want to become a better person after what happens to her, she calls Es a bully just like her classmates and only sinks deeper into despair.

Anyways for the actual rant: Amane doesn't indoctrinate Fuuta because she's "manipulative" and she sees how vulnerable he is and wants to control him, she indoctrinates Fuuta because he's vulnerable and she thinks that the best way to help him is by sharing her religion with him. For as much as Amane talks about being mature and wanting to not be judged based on her age, she's still a kid with a very kind heart whose views of "kindness" and "helping" are warped by the environment she grew up in. She genuinely wants and believes that she is helping Fuuta and making him happy with Amaneism, and to an extent she is.

Fuuta isn't stupid or crazy for believing in Amaneism, nor is it out of character for him. Ever since Killcheroy died he's been terrified. Being abandoned by people he considered friends and blamed for something he didn't want or even think could happen scared him, being judged "guilty" and having his entire worldview declared wrong in a situation where he can't defend himself scared him, and being brutally attacked by someone he thought was like him (essentially making him see Kotoko and her actions as the worst parts of his worldview and someone he could become) scared him. Even though Es tries to say that they didn't intend for Fuuta to be attacked by Kotoko, Fuuta can't believe that because Kotoko was deemed "justified" while he wasn't and because he's one of the only people who has to suffer this way. He has never felt more alone or lost or afraid.

Fuuta, additionally, is a person who can't think for himself (to put it harshly): he's never been a leader, no matter how hard he depicts himself as one, and his prior philosophy as an internet warrior was one gained due to the people he was surrounded by and what twitter said was "right". Being shut down so severely and painfully and forced to confront why that worldview was so flawed was a harrowing experience that left Fuuta unsure about himself.

In comes Amane. Amane was one of the few others voted guilty in trial one, and Amane has had a very similar experience to Fuuta. Her religion was her life and everything she believed in: being punished for trying to do something good, and then being further punished by a different party for "correcting" her and another's actions, left her feeling like there wasn't anyone she could rely on. She founded Amaneism because she wants to save people by doing what she thinks is right. She's forging her own path because everyone else has let her down.

It's also clear that whoever she killed, she killed inside of a house (which she would need to enter), and that it's someone who would punishes her multiple timse.

After you cry, repent, and kneel, it’s now your turn to say that hopeless “I’m sorry”

"So there is no second time, I’ll give back the judgment that you gave to me"

Remember MY cries, MY repents, MY words of “I’m sorry” that I said to you?

There is five candiates, Gachata, Yuuri, Gozake, Riyone and Mrs Momose, as they are the only ones who Amane interacts with that punish her multiple times. But as easily we can dismiss four since they're characters.

While you could argue they people wearing the mascots are who she killed, it's very clear that these Mascots are representing Mrs Momose actions.

At the beginning of Purge March we see Amane leave the flag on the floor and mess up twirling Gozake's flag.

This transitions into her being water boarded for failing to comply with the teaching.

The teaching she messed up was "Tis ordained, thou shall discard vulgarity", otherwise known as in her head, Gozake's teaching, and so she depicts Gozake punishing her when it's her mother.

She messed up Gozake's teaching -> she gets waterboarded by her mother = Gozake waterboards her

We see this again later in Purge March and Magic

She helps the Cat, which goes against Riyone's teaching of "Tis ordained, thou shall follow thine destiny" since she is changing the Cat's destiny (to overcome their injury or die in trial) by helping them.

So, since an adult told her mother what see was doing, she gets tasered by her mother.

She went against up Riyone's teaching -> she gets tasered by her mother = Riyone tasers her

Even in Magic, Riyone is whom punishes her first, lining up with the events, and she could be recalling other punishments too.

The other two, Yuuri and Gachata, representing physical abuse and verbal abuse (or audio) are likely other ways Mrs Momose has punished Amane.

So if the only characters we see punishing Amane multiple times is the Mascots and her mother, and the Mascots are reflecting her mother's actions, then I think it's fair that Mrs Momose is her victim.

It also helps that all we see of the victim is their hand, and Mrs Momose throughout the entire Purge March MV is represented solely by her hand. It makes sense that the character who is always out of frame but their hand twice in the MV is the same as the one at the end of the MV.

Man ranting on the internet about the Superbowl halftime show or complaining that something is "woke"? Hobbyless Behaviour. Girls mocking another girl for not looking right? Hobbyless Behaviour. Mindless vandalism? Hobbyless Behaviour.

In place of my opinions I'll default to translation trivia!

So 2/3 times in the MV, Kazui uses the word 'honey' At first I thought this would map onto a Japanese term of endearment, like how anata is used in half

It's actually a much more interesting translation choice though!

the Japanese is (well basically the same as the subs but seemingly no 'honey' equivalent)

"A concieted ILY, foolish isn't it? Can't take it back" hitoriyogari no ILY baka ne, torimodosenai wa "I don't have anything like regrets" koukai nante shiteinai wa

If you know some Japanese, you might've noticed the particles I highlighted in bold at the end there (in Japanese 'particles' are sounds that connect words, but can also be used at the end of a sentence to add emotion/flavour)

In these lines specifically, Kazui uses the very feminine 'wa' わ particle (not to be confused with the grammatical 'wa' in stuff like 'watashi wa' which is は, dw about it) Wa is stereotypically used by women, but nowadays mostly only shows up in fiction as a way of showing someone is a certain kind of person In milgram, the only person up to now to consistently use 'wa' has been Kotoko Which, imo, is part of what makes her speech feel more Womanly compared to the other female prisoners who speak in a girly/youthful way

In his timeline conversations and voice dramas, Kazui usually uses the very masculine particles ぞ zo and ぜ ze

The 'ne' ね in the first line also reads as fem, that one is more contextual as people of all genders use it in day to day speech but stereotypically 'ne' is seen as more feminine than masculine (and especially next to that 'wa' and with no assertive だ 'da' ending in sight, sounds quite femme)

but ofc, the other main users of feminine speech in Japanese, is gay men (oversimplification)

And you know what? She was trying to talk. We were literally shown this twice.

Let's not go back to fucking 2023, when it all just started, because I'm really tired of this "Hinako is evil bitch" shit. We've discussed this so many times and I can't believe it's starting over again.

We were shown twice their attempt to talk about it, to discuss it. Hinako is the first one who puts her hand on Kazui's cheek in an attempt to give him comfort and show that she is here, she is ready to listen and discuss. We were told several times in the canon that she was a loving and understanding woman who accepted Kazui. They were best friends with a good relationship, after all.

He confesses his love to the person who has been important to him all this time, and in return receives words that it is disgusting. He's drunk, in despair, and his head is in complete chaos. His emotions are in complete chaos. He scares not only her, but also himself, not giving her or himself a chance to talk properly.

Hinako literally runs after him and tries to find him to talk to. Because, again, as we've been shown in the canon itself, they care about each other and are important to each other. Hinako wants this conversation herself, but Kazui hates himself so so much, still affected by the rejection.

He's scared, he's ashamed, he walks away from this conversation, closing himself in and pushing her away from him.

We don't know how many years their marriage lasted. And we don't know what condition Hinako herself was in. People laugh at the fact that she wasn't embarrassed by the lack of sex in the relationship all this time, but she could just respect Kazui and his choice, even if he could say without details that he just didn't want it. We don't know if she knew that Kazui didn't love her the way she loved him. We can only speculate.

She didn't die because he's gay and she is an "evil homophobe." Again, she was pretty understanding, that's canon. She spent part of her life in lie, living a scenario that was never real. And in an attempt to talk, she is simply pushed away. Just as the bartender rejected Kazui, Kazui rejected Hinako. And in the end, absolutely everyone turned out to be unhappy, broken.

Kazui and Hinako are both victims who suffered from homophobia AND misogyny. And trying to figure out which of them is more evil, who is more stupid, who is more emotional and unstable does not make sense. This is a chain that entails more and more events.

Could Hinako be rational and think with her head instead of her heart? Yes, she could. It could have been Kazui too. But they are primarily people who have emotions and different reactions to events. They can both be understood, they can both be sympathized with, they are both traumatized.

If people want to hate someone in particular in this story, they can hate the bartender who literally started this chain. Not a woman who's already dead. And not a man who has lost absolutely everything because of a homophobic society.

"What a silly dream! A little storm wouldn't make me disappear forever, Claire!"

What if it was all a dream…