Been thinking about...

The Scholar Who Thought With His Heart :

For as long as I could remember,

I was never able to understand rules.

To me, they were hieroglyphics

That everyone else could read flawlessly.

But it was fine,

Because they never seemed to apply to me.

I would often be made to cut the line,

As I was special, you see.

I've always known about

That gaping hole inside my heart.

But one day, as I was standing on the edge,

I decided to fill it with knowledge.

"Surely, that will fix me", I thought.

This shouldn't cost a lot.

They say that knowledge is power

But does this also apply to the lover?

Of course, I was happy

As they praised me for my mastery.

Day by day, my success grew.

And the pressure did, too.

I think I was doomed from the start

To die from a bleeding heart.

As I drift away, please don't cry.

The Hope of a Walking Corpse :

Here I am, on my bed.

Alone, again.

Once I turn and recognize my walls,

I go back to keeping my eyes closed.

Sometimes, it works

And I sleep until dawn.

But when it doesn't,

I dwell on a past I can't recall.

Spending just five minutes in my own company

Puts me in a state of agony.

My mood shifts constantly,

And my thinking exhausts me.

And yet, despite all this pain,

I can't remember the last time

My shameful human emotions

Have escaped the confines of my brain.

I never scream, I never weep.

I just keep on going.

Every day, I go on the ring,

So i can afford to sleep.

The sea of blood I have had to wash away

From my body

Can only be seen by he,

Who carries luminol on the daily.

I know this isn't a good way to live

But this is my better option.

If I do not turn my mind into a graveyard,

I'll be headed straight to the psych ward.

But a few encounters have made me realize

That I need little to feel energised.

A kind stranger, a beautiful scenery,

Those are also part of reality.

Maybe I don't need to prove to the world

That I deserve to be alive.

Maybe a little chemistry

Kamimura Kazutoshi : "Looks like you're gonna have to find yourself an ultra capable wife who doesn't mind you being a useless man-child."

Hasegawa Ken : "Oh yeah, I'll get right on that..."

Kamimura Kazutoshi : "The money will help."

Hasegawa Ken : "I'm not into women, though."

Many people interpret Kamimura's silence as hope--"Maybe I do have a chance!". But looking at his behaviour throughout the entirety of the student spotlight, I'd actually be more inclined to believe that his silence communicates...jealousy. As in, Hasegawa revealed his sexuality with such ease, showing that it really is no big deal for him. He's probably talked about it before. And to Kamimura, who as we know, got bullied so hard for his sexuality he had to drop out, this feels insulting.

At the beginning of this exchange, it does feel like Kamimura is testing the waters, but the subsequent jealousy still holds true.

Throughout the interview, anytime money or family is brought up, Kamimura always has something snarky or playfully antagonistic to say. But behind that playfulness is some truth. Because as much as he loves Hasegawa, he can't deny that the world he lives in is vastly different from his own. He's the Golden Boy who found success doing something he loves. He has everything that Kamimura lacks, including a loving family and enough money to feel secure. When Kamimura calls him a "Rat fucking bastard", I think he means it. It's the envy talking.

When Hasegawa tells him that he would help him financially once they escape, I think Kamimura's reaction communicates both embarrassment and offense. On one hand, it's sweet and he's not used to people being so nice. One the other hand, "Does he think I'm a charity case or something?".

In-universe, when Monomoko told them that she was not the one who chose the questions, the two of them must have been so confused. Because it's obvious that the reason why 2/10 of Ken's questions were about Kazutoshi is because of shippers. But to them, it feels like whoever is running the killing game is watching their interactions kicking their feet and giggling. Just very odd behaviour for a mastermind.

Had it been the scientists, it would have been interesting to formulate the questions differently. Rather than asking him "Are you worried about Kamimura Kazutoshi, given the recent events?", they could have asked "Why are you burdening yourself with protecting him?". I feel like that would have really triggered Hasegawa into showing a side of himself he has been trying so hard to smother until that point. I think it would have rattled Kamimura, just like it did in Woodshop. It would have made him realize just how...intimidating and unstable Hasegawa can be if you push him far enough.

When Ride the Cyclone starts, each member of the choir is described as a stereotype. Digestible archetypes to act as our baseline. Their respective taglines all are based on their relation to their town "The Most _ _ In Town". This is to establish that they are basically prisoners of this No Man's Land. They each represent a different way of looking at their town.

When Noel is introduced, he's described as "The Most Romantic Boy In Town". He's eccentric, into film noirs, acts like a character in a play and is very poetic. He sees the world through a dramaticized, romantic lens. He is established as the dramatic gay guy of the group.

But then, we learn more about him. We learn that his flair for the dramatic goes far beyond a few theatrics. In order to get away from his gruelling daily life, he escapes in his fantasies. And those fantasies are just like him...eccentric.

He has an alter ego--Monique Gibeau, a prostitute living in post-war France living a life of debauchery and dying alone in an alley, tragically, next to a priest.

Many people believe that this alter ego is proof that Noel is secretly trans. And I won't take that away from them. Personally, I believe Monique Gibeau is more so a product of a repressed creative mind living in the middle of nowhere. Noel wants an exciting life, one where he can freely feel with all of his heart. Because he isn't just dramatic, he is intense. He feels deeply and wants to finally be able to experience those emotions.

But how can one feel deeply in a town where the most exciting attraction is...the Cyclone roller coaster?

"I wanted a man that would drive me to drink. I wanted to wake up in an alleyway in my own vomit, missing teeth! I wanted to drink myself to death on the cup of life."

Noel doesn't actually yearn to be a prostitute living a life of misery. He wants the world to match his emotional intensity. He wants drama and love and beauty and desire. He wants despair and sadness and agony. Because he's an artist. And someone like him feels smothered living a boring, everyday existence.

So, he dreams. At least he has that.

In a sense, he got what he wanted. His life will be remembered as a tragedy. Like Misha said : "Cut down before the words could ever come out." He died at 17, along with all of his friends, in what was supposed to be a fun after-school outing. All of those poems he wrote, all of these stories he had yet to tell, his plans to move to France once he'd saved up enough...all gone.

What's more tragic for someone like Noel than to be remembered as a Burger King order?

It makes sense that Misha was the one chosen to play the role of one of Monique's many love interests in his song, since outwardly, he fits the bill. He's an aggressive alcoholic who seems pretty strong in stature. I don't see how Ricky could have played that part.

I believe his frustration with Ocean doesn't just stem from her bossy attitude but also because he doesn't understand her. He doesn't understand how she can just accept her life in this boring town. Be so well adjusted, have the best grades and social standing, always be so energetic. How is she not miserable? Doesn't she want to see what's out there? But honestly, I think she does. Why do you think she works so hard? I think she, too, wants to escape and establish her future elsewhere. And that's where she gets her energy from. Where Noel is bitter, Ocean looks forward to the future.

"Tell him that like him, I choose to burn out rather than fade away." This quote perfectly encapsulates what he desires. Living fast and dying young sounds exciting to him. However, with a creative, romantic mind comes romanticization. And Monique's life is not something one should yearn for. But that's what I mean when I say that she's the product of years of repression. He doesn't actually want that life, but rather what she represents. Freedom, spontaneity, emotional and sexual liberation.

Personally, I believe she is the most interesting mastermind, simply because, compared to Junko Enoshima and Izuru Kamukura, she feels.. real. Dangerously real. Uncomfortably real.

Junko was a genius analyst who wanted out of boredom and Izuru was a genius analyst who wanted out of boredom. Tumugi however, is...a fangirl turned producer. She clings to fiction because it provides her an escape from the boring world she lives in. She is a consequence of letting fiction consume you.

Her mastermind reveal made me wonder if her in-game personality really was a persona. And of course, it very much was, since she was trying to hide the fact she was the mastermind. But I more so mean...how much of that was an act? Because when I look at Tsumugi, I see a girl who is very empty. A girl with no real personality that made her stand out, which is why she was able to keep up that "I'm so plain" role the whole game. What I mean is, any character she wanted to play would have fit her like a glove because she, as harsh as this sounds, doesn't seem to have a tangible personality. Whether it is the plain unremarkable weeb or the unhinged mastermind, she plays those roles perfectly because she wants to run away from herself. She wants excitement, and she believes she can only find it by playing a role and living amongst fictional characters she herself wrote.

And there's something tragic about that way of thinking. Obviously, the world as it is portrayed in Danganronpa V3 has bred some interesting personalities. If we believe that the students volunteered to play the game, then someone like Tsumugi existing is not that surprising. But if we apply that mindset to our real world...it gets more and more uncomfortable the more we think about it. There are people like Tsumugi out there. Bored people with empty lives who wish for the world to match their impossible standards of fantasy. She's the embodiment of a fan who went too far.

But where it gets tricky is that...her love for Danganronpa is very hollow. She's never explicitly said why she loves it so much. What does she like about it? What is so exciting about it that she died for it? Is it the executions? The character arcs? The motives? The premise? The world will never know. And I think that's the point. She stands out as an anomaly amongst all of these colorful, emotionally rich characters because she is a hollow person. Even her motivation for participating in the game is murky. She said herself before her execution that she has no interest in a world without Danganronpa...but why? What's so great about it?

She doesn't fit in with the survivors because she's like if a Danganronpa fan inserted themselves into the story but couldn't choose what role to give themselves. So they picked everything--victim, mastermind, survivor, culprit.

That's also why her Junko Enoshima cosplay sucked. It seemed as though she had only read Junko's wiki page before trying to act as her. It was a shallow, amateur attempt at trying to be her. And that's the point. It was to show that she was a cheap copy. Junko acted in a very stereotypical manner without truly being herself because she is the 53rd rendition. She has been milked for 53 seasons and her whole Despair Queen shitck has become...tacky. Overplayed.

Tsumugi is not a person. She is a patchwork of a bunch of different points of view--the hungry audience, Team Danganronpa, Junko Enoshima, Tsumugi Shirogane and the survivors. She needs to be all these different people because that's what it means to be the Ultimate Cosplayer.

She's the face of Team Danganronpa. That greedy production team that produces angst fanservice with predictable endings for an ever-demanding audience.

To quote the great Monomoko : "Everything that has happened here today is both fair and just."

But is that really true?

That line came from [Trial of the Hanged], after Harada Keizou was voted as the blackened in the murder of Chiba Airi. However, the actual blackened was his tiger, who flew into a frenzy under the influence of the adrenaline gas. Monomoko stated that, since Sawa was Harada'a property--an extension of himself--then Harada is considered the blackened. But that logic is a bit backwards. It would have made more sense if Monomoko highlighted the fact that, as a zoologist, Harada was to be responsible for his own tiger, especially in the presence of the adrenaline gas. He should have known better than to let her roam free while Chiba was climbing the rope. However, that isn't what she said. She said that because Sawa is his property, he is the blackened. But that's not right. Since Chiba had Okazaki's gun, if she had killed anyone with it, would Okazaki be the blackened?

Monomoko speaks very matter-of-factly. She chooses her words carefully. This means that she was programmed to jump through a bunch of hoops to make sure the rules of the killing game are upholded, even in the most morally grey or complicated cases. Because Yonekura's black and white view of the world cannot be questioned.

I would like to draw attention to the games and the secrets that are revealed during them. As the game master, Monomoko describes the games as "fair", yet, looking at the secrets that are revealed, it is clear that they really aren't. All of the students have skeletons in their closets, and as Yaitabashi Sou pointed out, this might be the reason why they specifically were chosen to partake in the game. However, because the students have so much to hide, this meant that the scientists were free to cherry-pick the secrets they wished to reveal.

For example, let's talk about Harada again. Harada's secret was the only light-hearted one in the cast. Apparently, he has been in eight relationships over the course of his life. Wow. Gut-wrenching. But, why choose this one? According to his terminal and wiki page, Harada Keizou used to be a bully. He had quite the reputation for it, in fact. So this leads me to wonder...why not reveal that instead? This would have caused some discord. I understand that from a writing perspective, we needed one student's secret to be silly in order to light up the mood. But in that case, why make him be a former bully in the first place? Because a character cannot be interesting if they do not have trauma or a dark past?

There's also Hirose's case. In [Wound], Hirose Shingo reveals to Isoda Mion that he has performed illegal cosmetic surgery on aspiring models in the past, under his abusive ex-boyfriend's orders. Formulated the right way, this secret would have caused major discord. "Hirose Shingo has performed multiple illegal surgeries." This right here would have raised tensions tenfold, as this would make the other students trust him way less, as we do not know the outcome of these surgeries or why he even performed them in the first place. But this would also take its toll on Hirose, since so many people would know about that, if his secret got out, he would never be able to become a surgeon. This would definitely make him reconsider escaping with "everyone" if "everyone" includes someone who would be capable of revealing his secret on the outside.

But, the scientists decided to reveal his age and sexual assault instead. Why? This did nothing to his reputation amongst the students. Maybe they were banking on the possibility of a student teasing him about those until he reached his breaking point.

Since we are on the topic of Tetro Blue, let's talk about [Voter Game], or, [Let's Torture Ikeda Game]. I believe this episode was a masterful show of the effects of mob mentality and misplaced utilitarian logic. This game was a turning point as Kumada and Nishiguchi's plan to target Ikeda in order to "only make one enemy" completely backfired. This game completely broke up the group, and the only real winners were the ones who made themselves small and stuck to their morals. It was also during this game that we finally heard someone say that their situation wasn't fair--Kumada. "It's not fair. Deal with it!". However, she said this to shut Ikeda up as he was getting tortured thanks to her influence.

Some honorable mentions are Monomoko's blatant favoritism towards Maekawa, Monomoko messing with Tei's eyes which sent him on a downward spiral, the entire Bleeding situation, Yaitabashi and Kumada dying in such horrific ways because their perpetrators were losing their minds because of the punishments set up by the scientists, some students getting branded on their hand while some others had to be branded on their back.

Kamimura :

Comment Te Dire Adieu? :

I have made peace with the reality

That suffering will always find me.

It has long since taken over.

I am no longer phased by the horror.

No matter what, it's all the same.

When it engulfs me in it's flames,

I want you to be there

So we can share.

Your concern is music to my ears.

My feet will keep grazing the edge

Until your voice grows hoarse

From screaming my name.

When I am standing on the edge,

Ready to take the plunge,

I want you to stand there, powerless,

With tears streaming down your face.

I will write my last letter to the world

In my own blood.

I will smile as you read it,

And fuse with my ill spirit.

My goal isnt to make you hurt.

I simply want to be noticed.

I feel too hopeless to keep on living

But I am too spiteful to die unseen.

I celebrate neutrality as if it were joy.

There isn't anything I enjoy.

The only reason I am alive

Is because I know I am programmed to survive.

Humans are not supposed to yearn for death.

But we are also spiritual creatures.

So we trust in fate

And it has shown me I do not belong here.

When push comes to shove,

When even fate turns its back on you,

What else can you do

Besides make one with the dust?

Hasegawa :

White Lie :

During the darkest days,

The people around me would say

"There is no cure for sadness,

Only a change in mindset."

There is but one thing

That I am not willing

To do to keep on going.

It is lying.

The very reason I do not want to live

Is because I have found the truth.

My quest for finding it

Has led me to the deepest depths.

But if my only hope

Is to lie to myself,

And ignore the sickness around me,

Then I do not wish to be happy.

I am, at my core, an observer.

It has been beaten into me over and over.

When I tried to go against that title,

It only got me in trouble.

I am a simple case,

A simple course of events.

I grew up being told I was strange,

So I picked myself apart for years.

But all this did

Was make me even more alienated.

What was the point of all this rambling

If despair is all I am feeling?

This experiment was doomed to fail

From the moment that I

Decided to both be the scientist

People seem to be fascinated by the Psychopath Child (because psychopath/sociopath rhymes with evil in the public consciousness, wrong as it is). That contrast between the perceived purity of childhood (which is already a flawed perspective) with the horrific actions that the child commits.

The movie always starts off in a nice community where nobody has ever done anything wrong ever and then everything goes wrong once The Evil Child shows up. They're usually adopted so it feels like they've "infiltrated" the family, and if they aren't, then they're possessed by the Devil and it's up to a religious figure or the child's parents to exorcise and/or kill them (to atone, i suppose). And they are always characterised as calm, collected, overly logical and pragmatic compared to other children. Some have flat affect and limited facial expressions (those are usually the "tells" according to the movies' mandatory psychologists) and some are absolutely perfect. Flawless grades, good, polite, blend in. And their "tells" are usually more sneaky, like not crying when they get hurt, having no problem killing an animal because it's already injured.

And it's just...I won't dive into how annoying it is that humanity just doesn't want to acknowledge the complexity of their own nature and keep trying to put people into boxes. But...a lot of those tells are present in neurodivergent and/or traumatised children. But those kids *can* be heavily impacted by things, it's just that those things are different than for neurotypical kids. Like they'd be calm in a life or death scenario but cry at a dead butterfly.

What are those movies trying to say? That people are born "evil" and it's everyone else's duty to get rid of them before any harm is caused? That intellectual, mature children are always hiding something? It's reductive, isn't it? It goes back to magical thinking--this idea that "evil" is an actual thing that needs to be exterminated by "good" people. The world is not black and white, but clad in shades of grey.

In the original Danganronpa franchise, the term "Ultimate" holds a lot of weight. Hope's Peak Academy is knows worldwide as the ultimate (haha) authority on talent recognition. You cannot apply to Hope's Peak, they have to notice and scout you. And if you are scouted, you will be set for life. When you look at the characters in Danganronpa, you see that they are almost superhumans. Akane Owari is seen being able to climb the facade of the school all the way to the top in the anime, Nagito Komaeda's luck is straight-up supernatural, Miu Iruma is shown to be able to create and build cutting edge inventions in just a few days, Mukuro Ikusaba is a literal child soldier who was never once injured in battle.

In Tetro however, the students are not literally the best in the world at what they do. Isono Miki is not literally the best Internet Idol, Tamba is not literally the best Gymnast.

In the original Japanese version of Danganronpa, the students are not called Ultimates but Super High School Levels. And I believe this term works best for the Tetro students. Ojima is not the Ultimate Illustrator, but the Super High School Level Illustrator. Nakamigawa is not the Ultimate Designer, but the Super High School Level Designer.

In terms of backstory, we know that he's always known that he wanted to become a fashion designer. However, his parents were against it, focusing more on his grades. It came to a point where, during high school, they prohibited him from sewing or engaging with his passion until he performed better at school.

Despite this, he started running his business behind his parents' backs and became popular rather quickly, which led him to start hanging out with sketchy crowds that introduced him to their vices, leading him to develop an opioid and later heroin, addiction. It is obvious that he dabbled in those substances to fit in with the crowd but he strikes me as the type who priorities productivity above his own health so it wouldn't surprise me if he continued to indulge because they made him better at his job. He does mention at some point that his usage made him a better student.

It seems that his only real parental figure is his manager, Seiko, even saying that he misses her in his Student Spotlight.

Nakamigawa is an individual with an insatiable need to prove himself. To show the world what he is capable of. I'm assuming that his mediocre grades and the lukewarm relationship he has with his parents are the main causes. He takes pride in having made it through hard work alone, describing himself as "self-made". This leads me to believe he probably has a disdain toward fellow influencers who came from money.

In Blue, Ninomiya Youhei recognizes him as one of those influencers who constantly have meltdowns on streams and get into countless controversies, and looking at his Student Introduction video, it all checks out, as he's already criticising another public figure. But despite how emotional he seems, I don't doubt that his meltdowns are calculated on some level. He knows what to do, what to say and who to pick on in order to get attention.

Something that is striking about Nakamigawa is this duality he has, between this projected image of a successful, nonchalant teen millionaire who couldn't care less about "haters" and this insecure, emotional boy who spends his time obsessing over the people who criticise him. He even asks Seki, by the end of his Student Interview, after trash-talking the other students, if they mentioned him at all in their interviews, a clear indicator that despite what he might claim, he still cares about what these random people think of him in order to uphold his self-esteem.

I find him to be an interesting take of the "influencer" stereotype. This mess of insecurity and ego boosts and fragile fame and self-esteem intertwined with addiction and bad influences, all the while having no one who actually appreciates you. The superficiality of it all, the despair of it all.

This all culminates into the person we meet during the killing game.

Already, we can tell that he will be the antagonist character. He's brash, he's opinionated, he goes against the appointed leader (Sasaki Hitomi), and is the first one to suggest doubting each other rather than blindly working together.

I believe the reason he is so harsh towards Sasaki is because he sees her as a hypocrite. So when she tries to take the lead, acting like the paragon of moral righteousness, it is almost insulting. And the thing is, he was right. She did end up acting hypocritically, giving her punishment to Yanagi despite urging everyone else to take their punishments themselves and eventually killing someone despite being the first one to preach about "getting out of here together".

Although, that "I wonder how her grades got so high" comment was unnecessary.

Something I will command him for, is that he has a good head on his shoulders. He is one of the biggest contributors in every single class trial and has often been the one to figure out a decisive clue, like when he made the class realize that Okazaki had no peripheral vision, which meant that she walked right under Chiba's body.

And that's the thing about Nakamigawa. He makes the audience feel conflicted as he does bring up some good points and tries to help the group in his own way but also does not know when to keep his mouth shut. He always ends up going too far, saying the wrong thing and this makes him get on a lot of people's nerves. There are very few characters whom we see supporting Nakamigawa, such as Ojima and maybe Tsuno.

And speaking of Ojima...look. Their relationship directly mirrors Hasegawa and Kamimura's. We have the short, opinionated and brash one and the tall, calm and collected one who is there to calm them down. Both couples are codependent and have some sort of power imbalance. But when it comes to Ojima and Nakamigawa's relationship, it feels almost...forced.

Nakamigawa latched onto Ojima because of his looks. He said it himself that he would "look good next to me". But gradually, he began to use him as his diary. His therapist. Whenever something infuriated him or confused him or provoked a negative emotion, he would go to Ojima. Whether he was there mentally or Somewhere Else. It didn't matter, as long as the physical body was there.

After Chapter 4, he does warm up to him and starts directing his concerns toward him, but I cannot look over all the things he put Ojima through. For example, once Ojima finally tells him in the nicest way possible that he is the one sabotaging his own relationships and he needs to make an active effort to try and be better, he greets him with a suicide note later because he knew Ojima would check up on him. I understand that he genuinely was suicidal but that is not something I can personally forgive as it is not something you do to someone you love. And throughout all of this, Ojima does not act like a person in love but rather a therapist friend.

I do not consider Nakamigawa to be a bad person, as he does show his desire to be better, like when he gave Wada his makeover, allowed Ken to sleep in his room, his indignation over nobody taking responsibility over blinding Ken or when he made up with Tamba at the very end.

He isn't one of those vapid influencers who only think about their own personal gain and have no problem using other people as stepping stones to succeed. What's interesting is he tries to make people believe that he is like this but he clearly isn't. He is capable of empathy and guilt, like when he feels guilty over Sasaki's death. He has a sense of justice and cares about discipline and self-reliance. But he cannot help but chronically sabotage his opportunities to be better.

I do enjoy his interactions with Hasegawa. At the beginning, he calls him unremarkable and shows frustration over how secretive he is about himself and his relationship with Kamimura. But I think behind all this trash-talking is curiosity. How could someone so unremarkable, so frail, also be so rich and influential? How could this wallflower be this useful in trials? I think he is interested in Hasegawa because he sees potential in him. He sees that behind the fidgeting hands and shifty eyes is a cunning mind. And it kind of frustrates him that he limits his world to Kamimura and his family. Nakamigawa is all about ambition, showing all of you to the world. So he doesn't understand how someone so promising could possibly be content living such an otherwise simple life.

Nakamigawa's line of work is all about self-expression yet he himself is unable to show who he truly is, not only to the world but to himself. His pursuit for social acceptance tainted his opportunities to create real relationships. All the people he hangs out with are no different from actors who only hang out with each other to network, not because they care for each other. Even though sex is supposed to be a way to deepen the bond between two people who love each other, he's only slept with those girls for cheap clout.

When it comes to her family life, we know that her parents put a lot of pressure on her to succeed. She's been basically forced to pursue gymnastics ever since she was a child, primarily by her mother, and is on a strict diet to stay in shape--that latter part is referenced a couple of times during the killing game.

According to her terminal, she has expressed an interest in other hobbies but was actively discouraged by her parents, as those could potentially affect her ability to compete (even if those hobbies weren't super physically dangerous like theatre. The point is that they were actively against the idea of her getting interested in anything that wasn't gymnastics).

What's interesting is that Tamba doesn't seem to realize how unhealthy her family life is. She is described as very disciplined but she just seems to think that harsh food restrictions and hard training hours are just part of the daily life of an athlete.

However, because of the highly competitive and high-pressure environment she is constantly in, she has faltered a few times, like when she passed out during practice or broke a girl's knee at 16 to get her out of the way. Playing dirty in this field is unfortunately often encouraged, especially with young athletes, either by parents or their coaches. This behaviour came back to bite her however, when Hiroaki Nakamigawa pushed her down the stairs during a heated argument, fracturing her leg and leaving her in crutches, never to compete again.

I wonder how she explained what happened to her parents. She was gone for an entire month, and when she returns, she has a fractured leg and a vacant look in her eyes. But worst of all...she can't compete again! Oh, no! How did those showbusiness parents react? And what did Tamba say? We know that Tamba is not a very good liar so I really wonder how she managed to get them to leave her be.

After the events of the killing game, she apparently cut off all the other survivors and sank into hopelessness. She has no reason to do anything. She has admitted herself that she is grateful to her mother for pushing her so hard in gymnastics because if she hadn't, she probably would be lazying around all day. So without gymnastics, without any competition to train for, without a goal to reach, what's the point of doing anything?

It does bug me a little bit that she got a girlfriend in post game (because given what we know about her mental state, she doesn't seem to be in the mood for relationships of any kind) but at least that means she has someone to wake up for.

Tamba is established as the airhead of the group. The one character who is often very wrong and very loud about it. But reducing her to just that would be doing a disservice to her. If you get past her stress-induced aggression, she seems to be a pretty likable person, having made friends with a good portion of the cast (Watari, Kamimura, Hayashi, Okazaki, Yanagi). Sure, she's prone to acting on impulse, like when she gave her punishment to Kamimura because she was frustrated that he was falling asleep and triggering the alarm all the time during Chapter 1 but she did apologize and they did manage to form a bond, up until his death. She had that sleepover with Watari and Okazaki and she got along well with Yanagi and Hayashi.

Speaking of Yanagi, we've seen with her interactions with him, along with what we learn in her Student Spotlight, that her fantasies are very...childish. She likes Yanagi's Prince Act because she dreams of being a lazy princess living in a castle with a bunch of butlers wearing ridiculous costumes obeying her every order. It's interesting that her "dream world" includes so many people from the killing game. It's also intriguing that she dreams of not doing anything. Not having to worry about a thing.

Back to how she act in trials, sure, she's often wrong but at least she's one of the main contributors during them. Even her "IT WAS POISON!" bit is evidence of this. She's trying, you know?

She took the perk in Chapter 5 because she was afraid for her life, after the threatening letter. Everyone focused on her because she halved their investigation time yet no one said anything to Wada for blinding Hasegawa.

I did a Wheel of Fate with the Tetro Pink cast and the results were...interesting.

Took me a lot of time to come up with scenarios that made sense for each Chapter. Already, for this alternate universe, I made it so the motives aren't exactly like the ones in Tetro (not Chapter 1 -> Sleep deprivation, Chapter 2 -> Adrenaline gas) so the story is more entertaining.

This decision made it so the story is a mix of Tetro and Trigger Happy Havoc.

I decided to spin first for a protagonist, because why not. And I got Watari! I've always compared Watari to Ibuki because they're both comic relief characters who use humor to try and cheer up the group. However, I think Watari is underestimated. I think hearing her thoughts throughout the story would be genuinely interesting, as she is shown to be goofy on the surface (to cope with the situation she's in) but also to be capable of rational clear-headed thought when needed.

Chapter 1 : Hayashi Mai kills Yanagi Shigeki.

I think the motive for this one could be the Motive Videos. Because I really don't see Mai being the one to snap because of the Sleep Deprivation. It made sense for Sasaki, because poetic justice. Also, we needed to get our capable leader out of the picture in order to let the students be more scattered.

In this scenario, everyone receives their respective video. In it, their closest loved ones are shown to be in danger--but not dead! They are told that if they don't do something soon, their safety cannot be guaranteed. So Mai, who has a loving relationship with her parents, is freaking out. It makes sense as she is already acting pretty recklessly. She meets with everyone in the dining hall and everyone is on edge. Everyone is afraid for the people they hold dear. But she is still on the fence about who to kill. She is wondering which action would be more righteous : waiting it out until someone inevitably kills or tanking the whole group in order to get out and make sure their families are safe as well as potentially arresting the masterminds?

Then our prince shows up. He hasn't had his character development yet, so he is still fully in "I would do anything for you, m'lady" mode. He notices that Mai is the most on edge and approaches her. He decides to offer up his life for her. He reasons that this would be his greatest accomplishment--sacrificing his life to aid a lady. Mai rationalizes her actions by reminding herself that she doesn't know any of these people anyway, and that she must make concessions in these kinds of situations. But as she departs to her execution, she does display a large amount of guilt and self-loathing.

Chapter 2 : Isono Miki kills Hasegawa Ken.

The motive for this one is going to be the same as Trigger Happy Havoc : Embarrassing Secrets.

Every day, a students' deepest secrets get revealed. At some point, Isono's gets revealed, but the wording is a little different. The rabbit says that she almost killed her sister. But doesn't give additional context.

Some time later, Isono and Hasegawa are in the library together. They've grown quite close, after Isono approached him in the hopes that he would protect her. They've formed a little clique with Kamimura, who is asleep in his room. They're together in the library when Hasegawa, King of lack of tact and subtlety, makes a dark joke about Isono being an attempted murderer. Isono pushes him gently toward a bookshelf, so she can sulk. However, having underestimated her strength and overestimated his, she watches as he crashes into the bookshelf, and as the object that was standing upon it hits his head (maybe a terrestrial globe or something), killing him. I think it would work with the overall theme of a danganronpa Chapter 2 : Accidental death/Duos get separated. This also mirrors what happened with her sister, and show her that Hasegawa really was the wrong pick for a bodyguard.

Chapter 3 : Watari Nishino kills Wada Masanari and Ojima Takeshi.

Now, as a preface, I will say that I had to wreck my brain to explain this one. The motive is the same as in Tetro : Temperature Drop.

Watari has not been able to stop thinking about what she saw in her Motive Video. Her siblings. She hasn't been able to stop thinking about what might happen to them if she doesn't get out. She's the only one who can protect them. She notices that Wada has become an even easier target than before, thanks to the motive and Isono's death. So, she invites herself into his room and kills him. However, a stroke of bad luck. Ojima shows up to deliver some food to Wada, as he hasn't shown up to eat for a few days now. So, panicked, she kills him too.

I would like to think that we, as the player, don't really know that Watari killed these two. A bit of a Kaede situation. We get hints and suspicious bits of internal monologue but we aren't aware of what she did. That would make for an interesting surprise, I think.

New protagonist : Sasaki Hitomi

Chapter 4 : Sasaki Hitomi kills Chiba Airi. (So much for a new protagonist >.>)

For the motive, I decided to go with Sleep Deprivation, as I really do not see any other situation in which Sasaki would kill. Especially not someone like Chiba. It plays out the same as in Tetro. Chiba is at the wrong place at the wrong time. I'd imagine Sasaki uses similar methods as in Tetro. Because she's so exhausted, her murder method shows a lot of frustration and anger at this whole killing game. So I guess that's where we would get the obligatory gory murder.

It would be so haunting to be in Sasaki's head during that motive. To feel the gradual descent into exhaustion and derealization that comes with sleep deprivation. It would be similar to how Hajime acted in the Funhouse but even creepier. I'd like to think she didn't even realize she murdered Chiba. And once she comes to, she realizes what she's done after microsleeping and freaks out.

New protagonist : Okazaki Hanano.

Chapter 5 : Tsuno Manami kills Harada Keizou.

As we've seen in all Chapter 5s, the motive doesn't really matter. This is usually the moment where something important gets revealed or an incredibly convoluted plan gets put in place to take down the mastermind(s).

Tsuno has been gradually losing hope throughout this killing game. People she's trusted, put her faith in, healed back to health have either been killed or not once showed an ounce of gratitude. Plus with Okazaki roaming around, whom she knows has been trying to make a murder happen since Chapter 1, who knows what can happen? So she takes matters into her own hands. Out of everyone left, only Okazaki is willing to murder. As the ultimate super hero, she won't let this happen. But she won't kill her. Instead, she'll make her taste the pain she's had to endure all throughout the killing game--losing someone she holds dear. So, she targets Harada. She doesn't feel much after killing him, as she has her eyes set on her target. Later, after the trial, she rejoices in the idea that she's sacrificed herself so that everyone could escape...and robbing Okazaki of the opportunity to kill.

Survivors:

Hiroaki Nakamigawa

Tamba Ruiko

Okazaki Hanano

Hama Ran

Kamimura Kazutoshi

Now, I've only stopped at the beginning of Chapter 5 so I do not know about the fate of his character but what I have found so far has caught my interest.

I personally do not agree that his newfound religious zealotry is character assassination. I think it actually added to his character. I believe it is an extremely interesting path for someone to take in a situation such as a killing game. Especially one that is so nonsensical.

Because normally, if this killing game was indeed created by some scientists who kidnapped them and trapped them in some abandoned facility with all the doors sealed off, with no supernatural elements, like in Danganronpa 1, then yes, his ramblings would be concerning. But the things is...he actually is onto something. He interests me because his reasons for believing the things he believes are actually based on tangible evidence.

As a punishment for daring to stand up to the rabbit, his eyes were altered so that he wouldn't be able to see situations that are distressing. They would flare up, his vision would be filled with static. Already, this is pretty odd. How the hell could anyone do that? Speaking of punishments, there's Akiba's spontaneous bleeding, Isoda's eye and Yaitabashi's fingernails disappearing.

About the rabbit, he, along with the other students, has seen it teleport. Straight up disappear. Obviously, if you saw that thing in front of you, you'd think it was some sort of automaton robot powered by AI or someone was speaking through it. But even if it was, I don't think it's common for those to have the ability to teleport.

This environment is the perfect breeding ground for magical thinking. Don't even get me started on the blackeneds being referred to by their "ultimate" titles. It gives off the idea that they were all "chosen" for a specific reason.

I do believe that this all started because of Ikeda Daiki's death. Believing that the dead students weren't really dead but went "somewhere else" was a comforting thought that protected him from the trauma that losing him caused. Him believing he is the chosen one compared to the other students also makes some amount of sense. After all, his eyes were altered by this all-seeing, all-controlling creature and this procedure's symptoms are ever-changing. At first, his eyes were not able to see things that would distress him, then he started having visions and hallucinations that culminated into these strange dreams. Dreams of this gargantuan being with thousands, millions, billions of eyes and mouths that produced sounds from every single instrument, all covered in ink and sludge. Of course he would interpret this as a God sighting. Of course he would start to believe he was special.

It is in our human nature to try and find explanations when we are stuck. When faced with something like this, it can be soothing to find answers. When the other students decided to play the game and focus on their own survival, Tei was practically forced to look at the meta structure of the game itself.

Tei is someone whose mind was already on the verge of rupture before he entered the killing game. He has no reason to live besides...well...survival. He lives to work, lives to pay his bills and rent and groceries and toiletries. He is defined by a facade. He is jittery, anxious, constantly on survival mode. Because if he broke out of it, he would crash. And if he crashes, he won't be able to work anymore. Meaning he won't be able to pay his rent anymore. Meaning he'll get evicted. Meaning he'll end up on the street. Meaning he'll die alone.

Caring for Ikeda gave him a sense of responsibility and control in a situation that defies logic. His life sucked before sure, but at least it made sense. It had a logical course of events. Actions and consequences that I mentioned earlier. This makes the Chapter 3 reveal even more tragic, as it basically showed Tei that he was fighting a losing battle. Trying to care for the underdog, being with him 24/7 only rewarded with infection and betrayal.

He shares his desire for responsibility with Hasegawa but the difference is that Hasegawa chose this life. He chose to provide for his family when he didn't need to. Atsushi had no choice.

As a mere participant in this killing game, Atsushi can only rely on magical thinking, abstract whispers his human brain immediately interprets as signs. He overdoses on pattern recognition because...what else can he do? Just sit there and take the torture? Why not try and make sense of it?

His sick eyes were not able to see Ikeda. They were not able to see this game for what it truly is. But now? He's enlightened.

Contrast him with Hirose, who operates through a purely logical and clinical lens. He focuses on the game and the students because trying to make sense of the situation would lead him nowhere. He prefers to play the game as intended in the hopes of finding answers later. Atsushi was forced into a position where he cannot just focus on the game, but the structure of it. Being exposed to so much danger and death and mind games and betrayal and cruelty and paranormal activity could only lead him to believe that this is all either a dream or an experiment led by God Himself.

This is why he begins to cling to Shishikura, as he is the only student who is explicitly religious. But even he is freaked out by Tei's ramblings because his idea of God/Gods is directly opposite from his own. Shishikura believes that Gods are benevolent whilst Tei has been led to believe that they are terrifying. This is why we give them offerings and worship them--to keep their wrath at bay.

He tells Shishikura that he wants to be one of those eyes and mouths he witnessed because this would give him a voice. He would actually matter, being one of those chosen to whisper this Terrifying God's teachings to the other Chosen Ones. He believes it isn't right that he was given this ability to see and hear God and yet not being listened to. It isn't right that he is suffering so much yet everyone treats him either as a background character or some lunatic.

The story opens with the Original Poster stating that they found a box with tiny pieces of paper inside. On the papers, is the story of a 19 year old girl who killed a woman with an axe. She details how she planned it out, how it all started when she was engaging in people watching and found the perfect candidate for her plans in the form of Linda Watson. For weeks, she mapped out her routines, found where she lived and schemed to make sure she would not be found out. Linda Watson was perfect because she seemed to be the type of person who is so isolated that no one would be hurt by her disappearance.

What interests me is how this girl doesn't seem to fit the typical profile of a sadistic killer. I can tell she is pretty disturbed, but she knows right from wrong. My best guess is she was dissociating during the murder and is in general very detached from the gravity of what she has done. This most likely resulted from the years she's spent fantasising about what it would be like to commit such an act, which gave her time to come up with so many justifications for it that it drowned out her common sense and reason.

When she talked to Linda for the first time, she thought "I might actually start to care for this person". And this is interesting. Because what cold murderer who seeks to kill someone to satiate their curiosity would ever think that when faced with their victim? This goes to show that she is capable of caring for people and forming connections and is also logical and cool-headed.

Near the end of her recollections, she talks directly to whoever will find this box, and says that she would be willing to discuss killing you if you asked. It seems she doesn't see murder as the abhorrent crime that it is and it is perfectly fine to commit it as long as the victim consented to it.  She also has this twisted affection for her imagined victims, yet she murdered Linda Watson in an incredibly brutal way. She seems to be fascinated by the act in the philosophical sense, but this caused her to become very detached from reality.

She says that she plans to just move on with her life--calling this act something she will "cross off [her] bucket list"--treating this murder like a camping trip.

I do believe her mind is deeply disturbed but I cannot put any label on her.

I think she resembles Hannibal Lecter in that aspect. Where her diagnosis doesn't matter. What's important is that she likes to muse philosophically about murder, enjoys planning them and sees a genuine beauty in the act but the ones she commits are insanely violent.

She killed that woman with an axe then cut her neck open with a kitchen knife--describing it as being "like cutting a tough piece of raw meat".

The reason why I believe she was dissociating is because her body was actively rejecting that decision she made of killing this woman. When she got to the door, her hands were trembling, she couldn't feel her arms, she was "ridiculously alert"--the exact symptoms you get when you are running away from something or when you are somewhere you know you shouldn't be. She was put off by how much her body was shaking and trembling and how hard her heart was beating. Her body was making her uncomfortable so she would walk away, trying to dissuade her from crossing such a major moral line.

But I think that when she put her hand on that handle and opened the door, her brain dehumanised Linda Watson because she had already made up her mind.

She is very self centered so it would make sense for her mind to reason like that :

Can't convince admin to not kill -> dehumanise person she wants to kill -> can solely focus on the sensations -> admin can enjoy herself.

I sincerely believe that part of her dissociation lies in her philosophical musings. She reveals pretty early on that she fantasised about what it would be like to kill a person since she was a child. But she never got around to do it because she knew she would get caught. 

That means that she must have spent years, isolated in her room, thinking to herself about it. She must have created so many justifications and counters to sound arguments that she became fully convinced that murdering for curiosity wasn't wrong. If anything, that story is a cautionary tale about the dangers of echo chambers.

When you spend too much time with your thoughts with no external presence or counter arguments, you might start getting stuck in your head--losing touch with reality.

I think that's what happened with her. In the story, she laments about not being able to discuss that topic with other people, because it is taboo.

All of this to say, if your valid, vital emotions like empathy are buried under layers upon layers of words and justifications, you'll end up not feeling anything. And who could forget the fact she wants a career in occupational therapy because she thinks it "provides tremendous help to people". Her psyche is all over the place but I think she genuinely wants to have a profession that allows her to help others. I think she wants to do good.

▪︎ For one, they have both been exposed to death at similar ages. Kamimura found the lifeless bodies of his parents after coming home from school at 9 years old, and Hasegawa witnessed his sister die right in front of him at 6 years old.

▪︎ They both have a love for learning and have a field they are passionate about. For Kamimura, it is chemistry and forensics. For Hasegawa, it is facts and trivia.

▪︎ They both suffer from panic disorders.

▪︎ They both have a pattern of withdrawing as a coping mechanism. Kamimura retreated to his room after seeing his parents' bodies, then later stopped coming to school because he felt he had no reason to. Hasegawa chose to dedicate his time to studying and distanced himself from his peers at school to avoid anxiety. After Kamimura's death, he stayed in his room for a while before the other characters came to check up on him.

▪︎ They both had no friends before the killing game, as a result of this aforementioned pattern, and that is why they became so attached to each other so quickly.

Visually, they could not be more different.

Heights : Short vs Tall

Hairstyles : Long hair vs Short hair

Attire : Hoodie vs Tailor-Made suit

Color palettes : Bright blue and red vs Neutral Beige and Brown

They are both very lonely individuals who, despite what they might have told themselves and others, genuinely yearned for connection. If anything, they are both intense individuals who feel emotions quite deeply.

During the killing game, they formed a bond quasi-immediately. In Late Night Chat, their first on-screen conversation, they talked to each other as if they had been long term friends. Despite how cautious and careful of a person Kamimura is, he even tells him "I am glad you're here, Ken". According to him, Ken was the only normal person there compared to "these freaks". Unfortunately, he could not have been further from the truth.

It isn't hard for the observant audience member to realize that Hasegawa is not afraid to play dirty if he believes it will serve a greater purpose. Not only did he use this ability to incapacitate the entire class during Chapter 5 to facilitate his murder plan, he also used it on Kamimura.

Woodshop is a great example of this. When Kamimura opens up about his suicidal ideation, Hasegawa grabs him by the shoulders and screams at him to stay, without stopping to consider how that might have looked to Kamimura. Hasegawa is 188 cms and he has him cornered in the off-limits Woodshop. They are surrounded by dangerous weapons and no one can hear them. When spelled out, this situation seems...fairly dangerous. However, when anyone else would have felt terrified, Kamimura seems calm. Furthermore, he seems ready to confess his feelings before retracting.

I believe this kind of devotion, this kind of desperation to keep him alive rattled Kamimura. Having been deprived of actual affection and appreciation for so long, being shaken by the shoulders and forced to witness it was welcomed.

Hasegawa is not malicious, but he is looking out for his own emotional well-being. He understood that if Kamimura died, his whole world would fall apart so he had to be forceful and aggressive with his confession in order to keep Kamimura close.

From the start, their relationship was established as codependent, mirroring Nakamigawa and Ojima's relationship. Hasegawa is the only person Kamimura trusts, despite becoming friends with some of the other students later on, only ever letting his guard down around him. Kamimura is Hasegawa's anchor throughout the killing game. He is the one who keeps him sane, who gives him hope. Without him, he goes off the deep-end. Kamimura represents comfort, because, try as he may to forget it, he knows they are extremely similar. "You were so smart. It was so impressive to me, how eager you were to learn."

What I noticed upon my first Tetro watch was how insistent Hasegawa was, despite Kamimura'a protests. He seemed to have this idea that he, and he alone, knew what was best for him. And that is when their personalities clash. Kamimura wants to be independent and equates having needs with being weak, whilst Hasegawa's love language is acts of service. He wants to be responsible for someone, to care for them. But when they block every attempt to do so, he panics.

But once again, he doesn't stop to think about Kamimura's point of view, only his own. Kamimura has lived with his conditions his whole life. He knows when he needs help and when he doesn't. So Hasegawa unknowingly insults him whenever he persists in his proposals to help him, because he implies that he thinks Kamimura doesn't know his own body.

Their relationship also has this "Us vs The World" flair to it that is stereotypical of teenage relationships. Especially on Hasegawa's side. This idea of complete and utter devotion to the object of your affection, this pressure to put them at the centre of your life and if you feel anything less than that then your love isn't true. "If I had to choose you or the world, I would burn it down just to warm you up". But what's interesting is that Hasegawa actually means it.

I am not saying their relationship is wrong, this analysis is simply an invitation to not view it through rose-tinted glasses.

I've been wondering about what would have happened had Hasegawa been the one to die in Chapter 3. I do believe it was inevitable that they would be separated at some point, since they were always joined at the hip and we needed to see how they would act without the other but I wonder...how would Kamimura have reacted?