i feel sick

In 3-1, this was Ryoma's proposed solution to the "Waves of Monokumas will kill us all" threat, and it segues directly into 3-2's conversation about the utilitarian value of an individual.

Ryoma believes that his life has no value. He's a convict who went to prison for mass murder after everyone he loves died. He offers no societal value and there's nobody who loves him or cares about him. No one would miss him if he were gone.

Therefore, it stands to reason that if anyone's looking to win the Killing Game and get out of here, Ryoma's the Objectively Correct target to pick off, right?

Ryoma's not the first Danganronpa character to propose an idea like this. In a sense, he can be considered a deconstruction of Nagito Komaeda. Nagito offered a similar philosophy about his life, which was part and parcel of a complex belief system, compared and contrasted against that of Junko Enoshima. One that propelled him as one of Danganronpa's biggest characters and brought his whole arc to a startling and satisfying climax.

V3 doesn't have a startling and satisfying climax for Ryoma, though. Being unsatisfying on purpose is one of V3's goals. That's why every Class Trial ends with a sucker punch instead of catharsis.

Ryoma doesn't get to go on an interesting and compelling journey of character examination and evolution. He doesn't get to grow and change over the course of a complicated storyline until finally reaching a point that will serve as the ultimate capstone on his character.

Ryoma finds someone to take him up on his offer. And he just. Fucking. Dies.

This is the kind of thing you wouldn't typically write. The most obvious outcome for Ryoma, the most obvious character to die first. It's, as noted, deeply unsatisfying both as a capstone for Ryoma's journey and as the foundation for a murder mystery.

There's a reason nobody took Nagito up on his offer in DR2. Because that would be a boring answer for why one person killed another. There's no flavor in killing a guy who's offering himself up for anyone to kill if they want to. A murder motive of "He would be easy to kill so I did" is super boring.

But when you're trying to write a Whodunit that... like... kinda hates the whole concept of Whodunits? Just a little? Then this is exactly where you end up. The "Kill me first" guy dies because obviously someone's going to fucking kill him first. Technically second but he was campaigning to be the victim as early as the first chapter.

I always thought that while it is unlikely, Ryoma absolutely had potential to fill the rival role in V3 (which I know, hot take) not because of his pessimistic nature and bleak outlook, but because his character could have easily taken to becoming far more distrusting and purposefully elusive to the protagonist, being able to step up to challenge them. He does know his way around a murder, after all.

Nagito is a threat to others because he has suicidal tendencies, whereas Ryoma is the opposite as he has suicidal tendencies because he sees himself as the threat. Nagito’s problems stem from absolutely wild things constantly happening to him, Ryoma’s problems started as a result his own pride. The difference between their “Im the Problem” vs “everything around me is the problem” views on the world are very important differences in character.

Both fully believe that their own lives serve little to no value beyond the possibility of their deaths to move things forward. Both believe that they aren’t worth the time of others around them, and don’t deserve interaction. Nagito thinks this because he elevates everyone else so high above him, and Ryoma thinks this because he sees himself as irredeemable. And both do not intend to survive the Killing Game.

While probably not a survivor, Ryoma would have been FANTASTIC as a candidate for trial 4 or 5 murder case on either side.

Dont starve together Danganronpa v3 au.

started danganronpa v3.

弾丸論破04 by Tadano.