#archsimp notes

AND ISLAND MODE???

It also makes me think that though he isn't imminently perceptive about how people feel about him (Toko's free time events pop to mind), he is generally observant and whenever he starts thinking, he thinks with nuance particularly when emotional intelligencd is involved. He finds himself understanding people's feelings and deriving meaning from their actions to a degree that isn't guaranteed for just any person, and can get deep in thought for problem solving. I think that Makoto being the person to deem Alter Ego as an ally and giving reasoning as to why makes sense between all remaining people in the cast in that sense because he has the appropriate combination between emotional intelligence and the logical thinking.

Hajime:

I think Hajime questioning it here is reasonable: why would Byakuya's cottage have a clue about his murder? It could, but it's not entirely intuitive. Nagito would know though that the cottage might just have his letter inside still, which would be a clue for this murder.

Because of this, I find it doubtful that Nagito is actually scared someone would attack him. Rather, he is one of the sussy bakas involved himself, but this reasoning pulls in Hajime as a necessity, meaning that Nagito has an interest in bringing Hajime to Byakuya's cottage. It would be a sad place for a date, so I think that it's likely Nagito is trying here to make sure Hajime accompanies him to Byakuya's cottage so that Hajime intercepts the threatening letter and takes it as evidence for the class trial. My train of thought is in the post-trial dialogue where Chiaki reasons Nagito wants to complicate the mystery: I feel like, by Hajime knowing about this letter, it would deepen the mystery behind his death and also give the means to face it in the context of the class trial. Rather, it would match up to me on how Nagito's been nudging Hajime on different types of discrepancies found in the investigation.

Hajime:

Nagito of course isn't actually doubting Hajime to begin with, but it takes on a different layer when it turns out it has zero to do with trust and everything to do with the fact that Nagito already knows exactly who the killer is. Nagito can't even imagine Hajime being the killer because Nagito already knows the killer, so when Hajime is arguing that he could be the subject of suspicion, Nagito is able to easily dismiss that, and comes in with a line that he'll say in the class trial:

Which wow wording okay but this is the argument Nagito uses in the class trial as to encourage everyone to not proceed with finding out the killer, and considering how Nagito talks later on about how beautiful it is that the Ultimates are standing up to despair, that it's likely that this take from Nagito isn't truthful or at least, that he doesn't really think everyone is better off dying. This is also because it's being paired with another untruthful context, where Nagito wants to shut down the matter of Hajime being suspicious: Nagito would never doubt Hajime because in fact he would never doubt anyone because in fact he'd rather die believing everyone is super cool than pointing fingies!! It's also in hindsight a bit contradictory: if Nagito would rather die believing in others, then how come he's afraid of going outside due to thinking he'll be in danger? Is it that the mastermind would attack us, Nagito?

Hajime:

This line is a little weirdly translated here, where Hajime is THE chosen one singular and insisting on this point but the line is somewhat more like:

As I thought... You're sure strong. Just as you'd expect... From someone chosen by Hope's Peak Academy...

So it's a bit milder and has more deliberate repetition, as Nagito is actually harping on the same thing with pause in between

But more importantly here Nagito is responding to Hajime saying the investigation is for the sake of living by remarking on his strength. I think it's interesting that he's being seen as strong for wanting to press on and live in this situation. The argument Nagito makes where it's better to believe in others and die than to doubt them and live is one that he uses in the class trial to invite weakness and lead people to giving up. Hajime tanks this and isn't fazed, instead feeling like living is the entire point. Maybe because Hajime could shut down this argument, Nagito can feel like Hajime is strong, that he's not being dissuaded by these words. However, that could technically be something we could direct back at Nagito: in other words, would Nagito feel like the weak would succumb to this? That they would rather cling to that belief than to keep doubting and living that way? And would that say something about Nagito himself? That maybe Nagito would feel more comforted being able to believe and die? Mayhap... Though from there would be a level of speculation that I personally wouldn't dig through lightly unless you wanna partay with it we love to partay.

I've seen the translation of this last line being put to question before where supposedly intentional romantic subtext is being ommitted from this scene. However:

なんか…こいつと話してると調子が狂うな…

I don't know why, but... every time we talk, I don't really know how I'm supposed to react...

Green specifically gets put under scrutiny for the phrase 調子が狂う. This phrase generally means that you're being thrown off by something like out of sorts due to that thing, and so applies for situations when like I don't know someone is telling you something out of left field or playing with your emotions that way, so you're flustered or agitated. Here, the context is exactly that Nagito was just saying in front of Hajime that he would rather die believing in people than living in doubt, a pretty heavy statement to be dropped and seen at face value, only to joyfully redirect the conversation back to Hajime like let's go go go to Byakuya's cottage, so it would be intuitive to understand that Hajime is using this moment as basis to comment on how Nagito can throw him off when he's talking to him. In other words, I would find it difficult to take this to mean that Hajime is flustered or that this term is being used romantically necessarily. The official English translation chose to make it so that Hajime doesn't know what to say when faced with Nagito, which I'd arguably consider more accurate in this instance. Personally I guess off the top of my head I'd translate it like:

You know what... This guy really throws me off whenever we talk...

So like there can be variation here but I think you're seeing the idea here, personally I think the meaning in the official English script is okay.

Cute levels of condescension

Okay Komaeda I'll open the map right now ! :D

Hajime:

(really out here skipping a bunch of Monokuma dialogue for image limit reasons sorry friends)

This is a classic and iconic Nagito Komaeda moment where he calls Monokuma without much hesitation to open the door to Byakuya's cottage, prompting Hajime to also be surprised that Monokuma just appears when Nagito calls him. It's a classic, but it's also notable from a personal research standpoint because to me it's adjacent to Nagito's general practical mindset and how that aids in his lack of scruples: here he has a goal which is to get inside Byakuya's cottage and he knows Monokuma can most likely open the door, so he simply goes for it and calls him where maybe someone else would consider the dangers or not be keen on doing so. However, Nagito just does it for the purpose he is aiming for and in the process looks to Hajime as if he knows how to deal with Monokuma. In the end, though, he's just doing what would be the quickest shortcut to what he wants to do right then and there.

Entering the room and talking to Nagito nets this singular line. By itself, it just makes one wonder whether it's the cool acting gig or if he's really reflecting on it, but this latter hypothesis to me gets more interesting when we go look at the envelope inside the room

omg we could have also analysed handwriting from this all along

Nagito write on a piece of paper right now

This scene has a whole Nagito exposition marathon where a lot of this I'm fairly sure is word for word what he'll say in the class trial about Byakuya and what his thought process must have been, but I am running into unfortunate image limit issues and so will become a scribe for this hot second to give you the exposition since it ties into the rest of the scene:

Nagito: Maybe... This is why Byakuya suddenly decided to throw a party...

Hajime: Huh?

Nagito: "The first kill will happen tonight." Because someone made this threat to Byakuya... he gathered everyone in one area, and was extremely cautious about all the dangerous items. He was trying to create a scenario in which everyone could monitor each other. He thought... if he did that, nobody would be able to kill anyone...

Hajime: So... he believed this crazy letter?

Nagito: He couldn't ignore the possibility of this happening, even if it was just a worst-case scenario. Remember what Byakuya kept saying? How he "wouldn't let anyone become a victim."

Nagito describes something that he probably also found notable about Byakuya: his promise that he wouldn't let anyone become a victim. Nagito had commented about Byakuya's strength the morning after he sent the letter, and seemed to have been overall impressed by Byakuya. We can see that he took note of the strength of this promise and had it as a basis for why he would believe Byakuya would act on his own, and that he would be against the possibility of breeding distrust through revealing Nagito's letter.

Hajime: He couldn't overlook that slim possibility... just to keep his promise? Then... why did he keep it a secret? If he had just told us...

Nagito: He probably couldn't... He probably thought... That was also a worst-case scenario.

Hajime: What do you mean?

Nagito: If everyone knew what was in this letter, whether it's a lie or not... Everyone would have likely begun to doubt each other, and at that point there would be no turning back.

Hajime: S-So Byakuya... tried to do something about all this all by himself, without telling anyone?

Nagito: His strong sense of responsibility... is the only explanation I can think of.

And we can find here that he describes what he observed as Byakuya having a strong sense of responsibility. From there, Nagito constructed a scenario where Byakuya would find himself wanting to get everyone in an area, knowing Byakuya wouldn't reveal the letter. Where I'm going with this is that Nagito was maybe truthfully observing Byakuya closely from the get-go, and used the pieces from this observation to make his move where he wanted to guide Byakuya's actions because he found Byakuya to have the qualities that would lead him to act that way. This has relevance for my particular research nerd agenda to denote Nagito's judgement of character and emotional intelligence, and what he would have been eyeing when thinking of his plan. Probably, he threatened Byakuya with the belief that he would be too strong and with too strong a sense of duty to let it spill thus securing a scenario where Nagito could take advantage of his caution.

But so after that whole exposition Hajime boils it down to what I think would be a reasonable conclusion to take:

This is a simple assumption where the person threatening Byakuya with a murder would probably be the actual murderer. Hajime isn't accounting for the quirky guy in the room with him being actually I don't know more like the almost murdered but this is where personally the Byakuya's cottage arc reaches the juiciest part yes everything else was just the prelude for over here to me personally:

It's this part where sweaty and sadge Nagito Komaeda is backtracking away from the relevance of this letter, going as far as to say that it could just be a prank. On replay (not this one but previous) I thought that was especially interesting: why say something like that at this stage of the investigation? Nagito wanted to show Hajime this clue, or else there would be no need to insist on going to Byakuya's cottage, making up an excuse about how he's afraid of being in danger. This is meant to tie into the mystery and of course be relevant, but when Hajime accuses the sender of being the murderer, Nagito is saying that it actually could just be a random ay lmao from some person, and how it's fully unrelated. I'm not making up the hesitation or at least Hajime agrees with me and goes on his own monologue about the iconic Byakuya's cottage scene:

Hajime points out this hesitation from Nagito, but assumes that it must be because Nagito doesn't want to believe there is a killer. We people from the future know that's not the case. We people from the future know that Nagito is exactly the person who knows about the killer, and the sender of the letter to begin with. However, when Hajime immediately assumes that the sender is also the killer, Nagito does not have the same composure as before when making stuff up. Personally, I believe that Nagito is hesitating because he is being as if accused of being the killer by Hajime in this scene.

We could say that the practical consequences of Hajime wrongly assuming that the sender is the killer could be bad, but then again, Nagito was benefitting from and not minding all that much Hajime assuming that the portable stove didn't matter or that there's no way to go under the floorboards from inside the building, but he is shifty about the sender of the letter being seen as a suspicious person. We know from the class trial that Nagito tries to take up the role of a red herring, but what I think can be worth the food for thought is that he didn't start out that way. Nagito at first is trying to make it so everyone gives up voting to begin with, a move that doesn't put him under scrutiny if successful. I'd say Nagito could be considering the chance of failure, but to me I feel like maybe this bit in Byakuya's cottage is where he could be feeling it in practice, as in, the idea of being branded as a killer, and that maybe this is what had him fearful. Then, considering of how he is like in Byakuya's cottage, I end up thinking that maybe, knowing that Nagito was meant to be the victim, that the fact that Byakuya ended up dying and Nagito surviving could have weighed on him in some way, where he felt remorse.

The idea of sending the letter seemed at least serious enough he's venting to Hajime the next day, and he expressed respect for Byakuya, who as far as he was planning would remain alive. It's likely that he wouldn't have wanted to become Byakuya's killer, and wouldn't want to be seen as that either. And that also, he could have been thinking about how he would be perceived by everyone on this matter. I mean, Nagito was planning on dying here, so if dead, he wouldn't have to worry about everyone else, but what now? Now he's the guy who planned a murder and Byakuya is dead when it should have been him. I think about this part of the game a lot because I consider the possibility of Nagito's actions in the game reflecting much more nuance regarding Byakuya's death than it initially seems from memories of Nagito's way of addressing Byakuya in the class trial. I think there could be a duality at play here, where Nagito's plan, and subsequently Byakuya's death were both things that were actually not light to Nagito at all. I think there could also be different ways of interpreting this and it'd be cool to see people stepping forward to tell me, but I personally find myself thinking about the way Nagito is hesitating here to be related to how actually, Nagito does feel bad about Byakuya's death, and he also might find it actually scary that he would be perceived as a murderer.

Additionally, Hajime here is livid thinking of the profile of this possible killer, who's actually the guy right in front of him. Just as Hajime is saying, Nagito was able to quickly and with relative accuracy profile Byakuya to plot a murder, which says a lot about Nagito's intelligence. Without knowing it's Nagito, Hajime is disturbed at the calculating nature of this person, and I think it also bears thinking about.

When Nagito leaves, too, he doesn't leave very lightly either. He tries to find something for Hajime to do, before trying to separate from him (some screenshots will be from the backlog sorry sorry sorry):

He also in the middle advises Hajime to go check on Mikan as per usual, but while he leaves with a smile, Hajime is left alone to narrate this so the player gets an idea of Nagito's face that wasn't conveyed quite through the sprite:

Nagito was looking pale as he left, even after when it seemed like he would have recovered his composure, to the point Hajime briefly worried about him. It matches up the idea that Nagito doesn't want to accompany Hajime at this moment, saying he wants to be alone. Nagito's spoken to Teruteru already, though I suppose we can say that he could have gone up to him to coordinate stuff, but I feel like there could be a double meaning here of Nagito needing time for himself not just to prepare for the class trial and how he'll act in it, but also emotionally prepare for it, because he isn't okay at that moment. Either way, he leaves Byakuya's cottage affected by something in some way. To me, regardless of whether you'd have my take or not, I think it's very interesting food for thought how he seems to be affected in this particular moment, and another reason I'll want to pay attention in the class trial where he'll say things that will sound very mean to Byakuya which direct hate at himself.

(yes I had to whip out the Japanese script I'm so sorry) (also I love Usami and her cutesy lil uwu speech pattern but I'm not being paid to do this thus minimal effort was placed I'm so sorry)

(Nagito: "Well, that's okay and all, but... Just make sure you don't get in my way.")

(Monomi: "In your way...?")

(Nagito: "The "Life-Threatening Game" is about to start, right? So it would be a pain if you got in my way.")

(Monomi: "A-are you actually... going to twy it?")

(Nagito: "I mean... If I don't, I can't leave now, can I?")

("Besides... If there's any way trash like me could be put to use, it would be by risking my life for everyone's sake, after all.")

(Monomi: "Th-that's not true! You're not twash at all!")

("There isn't a single person in this world who doesn't deserve to live!")

("But even though I said something cool, I'm so scawed my heart is pounding!")

(Nagito: "... Aren't you actually excited instead?")

("Look, doesn't it get you excited when you think you'll be useful to those bearing hope?!")

This set of lines in particular are juicy to me because when Monomi is expressing being rightfully scared of a life-threatening situation, Nagito corrects her own feelings. Aren't you actually excited? Isn't that why your heart is pounding right now? And he speaks of his own experience as if she could relate, that the fact he can be useful gets him excited. This Final Dead Room segment speaks volumes about how little Nagito values his own life, and it's interesting to me not only how Nagito is focusing on how he'd want his death to be one that can contribute something to others but that he would seek to be that sacrifice in the name of that contribution... And also that he would believe that Monomi would actually relate to or understand this feeling, since she isn't one of them. Or that, even if she doesn't get it, that she might actually feel it deep down, and she just doesn't know it.

Isn't that kind of intriguing? You can take different roads with this, such as how maybe this is what Nagito also has to say to himself, subduing his own fear by putting the excitement in first place, or it can speak to the general lack of awareness that's been present when his POV was concerned, where he didn't really understand Fuyuhiko's grief for Peko as he dismissed the possibility that he could be reminiscing about her, or it could indicate that towards people more at his level, that he expects them all to feel as worthless as he does, to the point that they would carry a similar inferiority complex about their existence. Or all of them, or none of them. If there are more that pop to mind, feel free to let me know <333

Hiiii so are you interested in some nerdery of all time? :3

Because I had a draft for a text wall which had like, all of the text pertaining to the details on the things that Nagito found through the files in the Final Dead Room so if anyone wants to use as reference... Here you are?

Hajime casts doubt on the conclusions taken about Nagito's plan throughout the class trial, with the reasoning that Nagito's malice can't end at that. Hajime's doubt is translated by Monokuma as a belief in that malice, that essentially Hajime's doubt on Nagito's intentions translates to a trust in the fact that Nagito can do worse, therefore Hajime having to clarify that he means it in a bad way. However, this negative connotation is something Hajime believes in, and this guides Hajime in the class trial, so that doubt and the belief that comes packaged with it becomes a valuable judge of character.

Hajime also has to face this concept of belief with Chiaki being the traitor. A chunk of the trial relies on Hajime having to believe in Chiaki's deduction of Nagito's motivations, and in the process casting doubt on her, dissecting the hints that exist to conclude she's the traitor. The rest of the cast have to be convinced to believe in Chiaki, ending with Hajime's speech that it's because he believes in Chiaki that he's pursuing this angle of her as the traitor, and that no one would be saved by denying Chiaki's wish. The cast have to acknowledge Chiaki's conclusion, trusting in her through having to face points of doubt, and Hajime is a guiding force in projecting this because he answers to Chiaki's plea no matter how it hurts, and believes in her.

I had a period of making posts about Danganronpa 1 where it doesn't look like it because I barely if at all talk about Aoi, but in the background I am very appreciating her existence. It's just that it's tough to sell why Aoi Asahina is cool to me right off the bat because the first instinct is SHE'S SUCH A GIRLIEEEE which makes it sound like it's just a matter of liking the fact that she's energetic but the fact that she's such a girlie just really matters in the context of Danganronpa 1. Aoi is still quirky compared to Makoto, but this intensity doesn't make her too outside of the norm that we can't relate to her, so at least personally Aoi was often the person I could most understand in the cast. In the Aoi vs Byakuya debacle throughout the game, I was pretty much always team Aoi but even besides that bias, Aoi is an interesting presence in Danganronpa 1 because she serves as an important emotional anchor there.

Aoi is juxtaposed with Byakuya throughout the game, mainly from how they continuously clash over how to approach the killing game. While Byakuya's development stands out in Chapter 4, to say that Aoi's character was only in service of it isn't true because Chapter 4 is also the culmination of Aoi's actions, and the fact that while Byakuya looked at matters logically and with the idea that people only care about themselves, Aoi is someone who prizes her own emotions and abides by them even if it doesn't necessarily benefit her.

Aoi is also the person we get to see crying about being in the killing game in Chapter 3, where we note that even someone like her has the flashing thought of murdering someone to leave the academy, but that she tries her best to contain this and think of something else. Sakura was a pillar of support for Aoi during this time, and the moment she's outed as the traitor, most people around her can't bring themselves to trust her, and Aoi gets to read the fake will from Monokuma leading her to believe Sakura took her own life from the despair of these circumstances. The fact that Aoi deliberately messes with the crime scene and tries to deceive everyone into getting the culprit wrong for Chapter 4 is a powerful moment because not only does it touch on the general overarching idea in Danganronpa 1 that anyone can be led to do terrible things in the worst of circumstances but that this doesn't make them bad people, but also because it's the moment where she outsmarts Byakuya.

Rather, that's part of the point of Chapter 4 to begin with. Byakuya perceived himself as superior to everyone else, that in terms of reasoning he is steps ahead of the game, and dismissed Aoi entirely, calling her outburst just a woman being hysterical while choosing not to mingle because he felt there was no benefit to trusting others in a world that is mainly competitive. Kyoko warns him of the price of underestimating human emotion, and that comes in exactly by Byakuya having been played by that very hysterical woman. This is because it was Byakuya who pushed for the deduction that Aoi was the culprit who killed Sakura, which had been part of Aoi's intention to begin with. She messed with the crime scene to make it so that it isn't possible to tell the death was a suicide, and Byakuya doesn't see the merit in Sakura taking her own life so he takes that bait, believing he cracked the case and Aoi was someone acting purely in self-interest, but it was the precise opposite, where her actions were not only self-destructive, but they were meant to actively harm everybody else, too.

To me, this is one of the more interesting parts of Danganronpa 1 because it touches on the overarching idea that anyone can be driven to do terrible acts under the worst of circumstances, but that doesn't make them terrible people. Sayaka is the first example of this, and isn't the last. Aoi's grief takes shape in Chapter 4 where the injustice she feels was enacted upon her friend in the killing game can only be washed away by the deaths of everyone present based on the fake will she read. Aoi was still distraught over Sakura's death to the point she wasn't thinking rationally. Danganronpa as a whole likes to address feelings that aren't clear black and white and aren't rational, and Aoi is one of those characters who have a moment in the series that is marked by the purely irrational nature of human emotion, where normally she would have never done something like this, but being in a killing game, and with the way she saw her friend getting shunned by everyone, she acted to have everyone perish. The most powerful part is, even though he was about to get involved in this too despite having only believed in Sakura wholeheartedly, Makoto forgives her.

The point being because he understands how she feels, where she's coming from. We know that it was the circumstances that battered her and that she's acting irrationally because of it. Makoto suffers watching her desperate to be labelled the culprit, but the point of it is that she is forgiven, and that Aoi is then given strength by the truth behind Sakura's death. This was personally the most compelling part of the game for me, because of the point it's trying to make. Aoi isn't the character positioned as requiring fundamental change because while her actions were wrong, the principle is correct, as emotion has a strong stake in the actions of people and being in tune with this is important. I feel like Aoi is slept on because her character doesn't become different after the events of Chapter 4, but the point of characterization isn't always for the change of a character, but it always is about expanding on that character. Through Chapter 4, I did get more out of Aoi, from the way she reacted to Sakura's death, the fact that she deceived everyone, the way that she was screaming desperately because she couldn't think clearly in her emotional state, and the way even someone as peppy as her can be wracked with negative feelings that cause harm bigger than what Byakuya did in Chapter 2.