CEO of Mike Schmidt and Foxy

THE DEATH PORTRAITS

To start with, let's take a look at Gonta's placement in the courtroom - he's right in between Rantaro and Kaede.

There's nothing too special about this on its own. But given that both of these students die in Chapter 1, the death portraits for these two surround Gonta and isolate him from the others from Chapter 2 onwards.

I would like to propose that this is a hint to Gonta's initially planned nature - a vicious killer standing next to the victims whose deaths he had a direct hand in.

Truly chilling.

But couldn't this just be a coincidence? Isn't it possible that Gonta was just randomly assigned to be in between the Chapter 1 casualties?

As in, the writers of V3 had no real intention in mind when putting him there?

There's a way we can calculate the chance of this specific trial placement happening naturally. Running the numbers, the probability of the two deceased students being placed next to Gonta naturally, without any intent from the V3 writers...

...is 1/105.

That looks like an extremely low chance to me!

With that, it seems likely that Gonta was placed here deliberately by the V3 writers.

Perhaps it's a cruel jab at the person who severely internalises their failures to protect their friends. Or perhaps that deeply kind person was at one point written as the mastermind who killed them... and he's placed there for a wicked Chapter 6 reveal.

"You don't believe Gonta is the mastermind? Gonta and the friends he killed have been staring you in the face this whole time" ...something like that.

Additionally... if we map everyone's positions to the casts of the previous games, Gonta is in the same place as Chiaki, SDR2's traitor.

And also, uh, Yasuhiro, but don't worry about that.

THE SCRUM DEBATES

We all know how these start. Everyone in the courtroom is stuck on a difficult topic, unable to decide how to move forwards. They're split right down the middle. Tensions are high - the right thing to do would be to calm down and discuss the disagreement...

...but then Monokuma butts in, prompted by someone saying a half-relevant phrase, and starts the mechanism that raises the students to the Scrum Debate stage.

I want to call attention to how Monokuma is prompted into starting each Scrum Debate... or rather, who prompts him.

In Chapter 1, it's...

In Chapter 2, it's...

In Chapter 3, it's...

...ahhh shit. Well, there's still a bit of a pattern here, no?

Monokuma needs a phrase to riff off, in order to interrupt the conversation and move the trial forwards. The phrase has to be something Monokuma can use to "seamlessly" transition to the Scrum Debate.

Perhaps Gonta here is feeding those phrases to Monokuma because that's part of his job as the mastermind. And when he's done it enough times to be noticeable, Kiibo (as the audience surrogate) picks up his slack the next time round.

In case you're curious about Chapter 4, in that trial Kaito is interrupted by Shuichi who is then interrupted by Monokuma. Still, if I had a nickel for every time Gonta of all characters was interrupted to start the Scrum Debate, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice!

THE BUG SAMPLES

Gonta's talent research lab is no doubt one of the prettiest labs in the Ultimate Academy, evoking nature with grass, trees, and dappled sunlight. One of the standout features of this lab, however, is the wall-to-wall display of bug samples. Gonta with the cutest expression known to man has this to say about them:

Now this right here presents V3's greatest unanswered mystery: who made these lovingly crafted samples? We certainly don't hear about anyone other than Gonta adoring insects, especially not to the point their love seeps out and becomes apparent to anyone who interacts with them or their creations.

But that's the answer to the question, isn't it? There is no one on this green earth that loves bugs more than Gonta. Ergo, Gonta is the one who crafted his own bug samples and decorated his lab, as part of the construction of the Ultimate Academy he oversaw as the mastermind.

THE SHOT PUT BALL

Concerning the canonical Chapter 1 murder... I'm sorry but I just have to say it. There's no fucking way Tsumugi swung a shot put ball into the back of someone's head with enough force to kill them.

Here are some reasons why I think this:

'Cosplayer' is not an athleticallly inclined profession (there's also nothing else in Tsumugi's backstory that would make her athletically inclined)

Rantaro is taller than her, meaning she'd have to put more effort into lifting the shot put ball in order to reach the back of his head

A shot put ball can weigh 4 kilograms / 8.8 pounds (if used in womens' sports) or 7.26 kilograms / 16 pounds (if used in mens'). But even if we assume it's the lighter variation, that's still rather heavy for swinging with enough force to cave someone's skull in?

Tbh I think the heaviest thing Tsumugi could swing is a fully loaded ita bag (sorry Tsmoogs I'm no better)

I rest my case. Now if only there was someone else in the V3 cast who is canonically jacked and has incredible feats of strength to their name, such as casually lifting up a manhole cover (weighing anywhere between 90 to 150 pounds) with two fingers.

THE UNCLE WHO WORKS AT SPIKE CHUNSOFT

I have an anonymous contact who broke into Kodaka's office, cracked open the secret Gonta Lore vault and brought these notes back to me:

Oh, and the fact that the Nanokumas - tools used by the mastermind to oversee the killing game - are specifically insect-like is suspicious too, I guess.

THE SUBTLE INSULTS

Canonically, one of Gonta's core traits is how he is typically kind and well-intentioned. But there's a few moments that stick out to me in contrast... moments where what he says doesn't quite match up to what we think his intent is.

There's another moment where he stops piggybacking off Kokichi's insults and delivers his own zinger:

A hardened criminal destroying the confidence of a vulnerable woman, 2017, colorized.

I would like to suggest that these sort-of-jabs are not the mark of a gentleman-in-progress, who still has things to learn about social nuances... but remnants of a script where you're meant to replay the game and think "huh, he was kind of a jerk at times, it makes sense he's the mastermind".

Miu seems to be the main focus of these comments, and outside of those you do see Gonta occasionally having to reel her in during trials. One of her core traits is how she correctly guesses the culprit the second she steps into the courtroom.

And for someone - say, a mastermind wanting a good old-fashioned trial - that might be kind of troublesome actually! At least give everyone time to get through the mystery solving and the character drama!

Now doesn't that sound like "oh shit, don't spoil the case right away, everyone else has lines they need to say"? Isn't that little stutter he does interesting?

Do you think after each trial he cracks open a cold one?

THE OCCAM'S RAZOR

One of the core components of the Chapter 1 murder is the secret tunnel in the girls' bathroom, that leads to the hidden room behind the library. Let's have a think about what this tunnel is actually like in a 3D space. Starting from the hidden room - the entrance faces one direction, it goes up one floor, and turns around on itself so the exit also faces the same direction.

Now something like that wouldn't be too difficult to build, assuming there are competent builders working on it. Who's responsible for the construction of the Ultimate Academy, anyway?

...hm.

Would you trust the Monokubs to build something more complicated than a straight line?

Obviously, the canonical twisting construction of the tunnel was a retcon that accidentally brought the Monokubs above room-temperature IQ.

Let's say the tunnel was originally something simpler. What could it have looked like? Where could it have lead to?

Now someone, not naming names, could theoretically lock themself into the A/V room. Perhaps they'd scare people off from the A/V room through the threat promise of scary bug documentaries blown up onto a large screen. And then, when the coast is clear, they'd use the secret tunnel to enter the library and commit murder.

They say the simplest explanation is usually the most accurate.

Alternatively, if we want to bring this whole 'Gonta could have killed Rantaro' thing back to actual canon... remember Kirumi's accusation of Gonta in Chapter 1, where she says he could have opened the library door using the projector screen and then thrown the shot put ball at Rantaro? That seems like a somewhat convoluted method of murder, right? But Danganronpa's murders are all about making the convoluted sound plausible. Perhaps this murder method could have been a 'first draft' for what really happened in Chapter 1, eventually being revealed during Chapter 6.

............and that's all, folks. I'll await my trial for Gonta slander. Not for the Monokubs though they can gtfo.