Melow

Hey, guys, did you see those totally legitimate screencap leaks for DRDT Chapter 3?

-He used drop hanging purely to frame someone else, dramatically shrinking the list of suspects to 4 people ❌

-He used the grippy tape that only 3 people could have feasibly grabbed ❌

-His murder method involved using a stretch band, that there was exactly 1 of, that 2 different people knew he had. Implicating himself completely.❌

I can’t even begin to describe how terribly overcomplicated he made this goddamn murder, he is the next Kirumi Tojo and Mitsuhiro Higa, deciding to setup the body in a stupid fucking way only to incriminate yourself more than if you had just left them where you killed them.

Had he just literally strangled Arei in the playground, there would have been literally nothing anyone could have used to pinpoint him as the killer.

Like I appreciate the murder plan but…dude there aren’t style points involved

thanks for all your hard work. really actually means a lot to me, and gave me something to look forward to when I had just about nothing jijt else for god knows how long.

LAYYYYYY YOURRRRR EYESSSS UPONNN MYY KUMADAAA REDESIGNNNN!!! (wip)

Okay first it’s Ogura. What’s her first thought gonna be. “How can I avoid killing a woman?” So let’s run through the boys.

Ogura intentionally set up the blackened kill so that if she were to fall and not be able to save them all, the people close to the bleeding would still have people to keep them safe.

Ninomiya is ruled out as a victim because of this.

Tei is ruled out as a victim because of this.

Obviously she isn’t going to kill Ikeda or Matthias because those are her fellow bleeding.

Yaitabashi would be the next obvious choice. He is a threat in the trials. He would make a good victim, however he is incredibly hard to isolate. Yaitabashi is always with Erina or Mutsuko. Mutsuko would not cooperate if she had to kill any member of the mahjong trio, and it’s impractical to get all three of them on board. Erina could be used to lure him away, however then she would either have to kill him herself, which she would not do, or she would be present for the murder, which would set off the BDA immediately. If you have her lead Yaitabashi down to Ogura and have her step out of the room, Yaitabashi would not fall for it because he is incredibly suspicious. Ogura’s plan requires a victim who is not so inherently cautious.

Hirose is far more useful an asset as an ally then as a victim. This also requires roping in Denden too.

Shishikura would not be an easy kill after Daiki steals his medication. He has been sick and bedridden with Maekawa practically all chapter. He’s also incredibly wary of people who are not Maekawa, as can be seen in him rejecting Yaitabashi sleeping in his room.

Isoda is ruled out because she has Hirose and Denden picked as fellow bleedings from moment one and she doesn’t want to hurt them if her plan goes south.

This rules out the men. This requires her to consider the women.

Erina is way too good at fighting back for Ogura to be able to take her down and she’s even harder to isolate then Yaitabashi, because if she got Yaitabashi on her side he would staunchly refuse killing Erina. Erina is a much more useful asset as a recruit than as a victim or enemy.

Denden is a required recruit if you want Hirose to do anything. It’s either her or Miocchi, and unlike Miocchi, Denden has the benefit of fully being a woman, so obviously Ogura wants her to live more than Mion.

Yokoi could make a good victim, however it would leave the group in complete disarray if Ogura’s plan failed.

Maekawa could absolutely kick Ogura’s ass and unlike Mutsuko, there is no way to lure her out. Shishikura would be an incredibly uncooperative bleeding, would staunchly refuse her dying, and would probably rat out the whole group if you even tried it.

Ogura’s not killing herself then she can’t save Ikeda and Matthias.

This just leaves Mutsuko. Mutsuko isn’t close with the current bleeding or the two people Ogura is certain she needs to recruit. If Mutsuko died it would not cause mass chaos to the group, it would only hurt Erina and Sou. If Mutsuko dies and Ogura’s plan fails, Ikeda still has Tei, Matthias still has Ninomiya, and Denden and Hirose still have Mion. Erina is the last person to join and is purely a strategical pick. Ogura does not care about Erina’s well being. She is only there because she’s an in with Mutsuko who knows it’s better to follow the pack than to cause chaos. This is why she’s recruited last, so she can’t fight back.

Okay, so now that I've sat with the trial for a while and saw the bigger picture of Chapter 2, I can say that I see Von's vision about this being one of her favourite trials to write.

The trial itself is really really cool, imo. Everybody's voice acting was IMPECCABLE. Major kudos to standout stars like Yaitabashi's, Ogura's, Maekawa's, Ikeda's, Tei's, and Denden's VA's. They really killed it this trial, I was in awe of their performances.

The mystery itself... I always have a hard time figuring out the methodologies of the killers, I'm ngl. Unless the evidence is very blatant and spoonfed to me, it's hard to go digging through alibis and tiny throwaway details scattered through the whole chapter (potentially multiple). But the mystery this time was very engaging. I felt so bad for Nishiguchi, my girl didn't deserve to go out like that. Being used as a pawn in a bigger game wasn't the fate she deserved, even if her death was relatively painless.

Now, addressing Ogura.

I know a lot of people were up in arms about her being the killer due to her criminal lack of screentime this chapter, and I have to agree - to an extent.

I sincerely do wish we could have gotten to see more of Ogura this chapter. I know that her lack of a presence was intentional(?) due to her masterminding the Bleeding behind the scenes for most of it, but I still think we should have gotten a few episodes fleshing her out. We got that sweet episode about her teaching the girls (and Isoda) how to make clothes using duct tape, and the obvious scenes between herself and Hidemi. But for the impact of the trial to really hit, we should have been given a chance to live in her head for a while.

Rather than having a hundred episodes dedicated to Ikeda.

We also should have gotten an episode or two dedicated to Ogura's feelings about Akiba. She literally saw her friend die in front of her in the first chapter, and it just...wasn't addressed afterwards. She broke down after the trial, but that was in the ending seconds of that short episode. I was really hoping we would get something relating to Akiba this chapter, much like how Yokoi is dealing with Ouno's betrayal. But alas.

I feel like Ogura witnessing Akiba's death and being powerless to help him, and having Matthias literally BEG her to save him and Ikeda from their awful awful home lives, that could have come full circle. She put her own life on the line to save those two after not being able to save Akiba. Just a single mention of him in her closing argument would have made it all the better, imo.

BUT, I will say - I LOVE Ogura's motivation behind killing Nishiguchi. Because ordinarily, Ogura was NEVER gonna kill somebody. So having a motive almost tailor-made for her was definitely the straw that broke the camel's back.

I just wish Ogura had been fleshed out more, is all. Especially with her background involving doxxing predators online, that was such an underutilised aspect of her character which makes her desire to save Ikeda and Matthias from sex slavery all the more impactful.

Ogura was a very layered character. She willingly sacrificed an innocent girl and took the fall for it, knowing the risks. She decided that by Hell or high water, she was gonna do everything in her power to try and save those two.

I just wish we could have gotten to see more of her, is all.

another pre-trial update :)

i wonder how long page 2 will stay the same, this is a fun tracker but it makes me SAD!!! the two victims being next to each other here is crazy MION BE CAREFUL

He's soooooo mad at Tei for venting to Yokoi about Ikeda's agere. Tei has been under so much pressure lately when it comes to making sure Ikeda is okay, bailing him out of every shitty situation he gets himself into, as well as being one of the only people consistently in his corner.

Tei is dealing with ALL OF THAT on top of his own struggles, both in the lab and in his own personal life. It would be perfectly natural for him to forgo his empathy and focus solely on himself. But he chooses to look out for Ikeda, who continues to treat him like shit.

That's one of the biggest drawbacks to Ikeda's character for me, personally.

Tei is very accommodating and gives Ikeda a lot of grace. He's patient with him when he doesn't deserve to be handled so gently. But all Ikeda can do is throw it back in his face, make horrible remarks about him to other people, but still expect Tei to bail him out all the time.

This really came to a head with this comment he made here:

This is where Ikeda's hypocrisy really boils my blood. Because not only is he making fun of Tei's trauma regarding underage prostitution, which Ikeda himself is a long-suffering victim of, but HE'S DOING THIS AFTER ALREADY OUTING MATTHIAS FOR BEING A TRAFFICKING VICTIM!!!!!!!

Ikeda is so angry at Tei for getting some of his thoughts out regarding always looking after Ikeda when he age-regresses, something that he probably shouldn't have done, but IKEDA HIMSELF DID IT 100X WORSE WITH MATTHIAS!!!!!!

Tei spoke honestly and from the heart. He was struggling, and needed to tell somebody who would listen, being Yokoi.

Ikeda, on the other hand, told everybody about Matthias against his will JUST to spite Kumada. AFTER already threatening to deport Matthias.

And he's gonna get so up in arms and angry about Tei venting to Yokoi????

Fuck off Ikeda, I'm so sick of your shit.

There's only so many "Oh he's traumatised it's not his fault" excuses I can use before I start sounding like a broken record. I'm tired of his hypocrisy, his bigotry and his callousness.

Ikeda better start improving and bettering as a person soon cos I can't wait 7 months for him to make it to the end without learning a single goddamn thing, especially if a bunch of people have died to serve as stepping stones for his "progression".

how deep is the sabotage?