#checkered seer

‘Gamification’... reaches a whole new level with this kid. Ouch.

But, hooold on just a second-

-I’m a little concerned about someone else who does this kind of thing.

Without any other context, it does sound like Ouma’s talking about RPGs he likes, to drive the point home. The problem lies with the fact that he’s also talking in meta, regarding the killing game they are playing right then. And if he’s talking like this regarding that, then the same could be said for past RPGs-not saying he was killing of course, because for one, not all RPGs need to involve that, and for another, his group DICE has a rule to not kill.

The second problem, lies with the unknown origin of this worrisome clothing...

...which, if the local anthropologist indicates, is almost certainly a clue by itself. Given Nagisa’s situation - and the way he describes it as uh... ‘funny’ - it’s easy to draw a conclusion that something is up with clownish apparel on Ouma, given that straitjackets are a link to an abusive institution for the mentally ill.

Something really bothers me about these remarks, as it’s a reference to the Soviet regime’s arrest-and-relocation (to Siberia, for... slave-labour). The point of concern is- we know this was a regime notorious for its extreme surveillance, where even so much as talking the ‘wrong way’ would have you whisked away in the dead of night never to be seen again

There are times when Ouma talks about being the ‘head of an organisation that controls the world’, but he also mentions being on the run within that world, and his actions in the game show that he’s extremely good at the hiding in particular. But the cherry on the cake-

-is how he seemed to gamble on there being tiny surveillance bugs-

-and turned out to be right.

Alas I don't have a very specific post of it (not anymore, or maybe it’s privated somewhere, or deleted, I can’t find it)- what I have is scattered pieces of evidence and general ideas of the theory everywhere and the kitchen sink

So to get a basic outline for mine at least, it’s basically:

Kaito plays a role in Ouma’s plan for the whole chapter- he helps co-ordinate a bunch of stuff that Ouma needs, and also keeps the group off his tail when they try to ask after him earlier on. To this end, he trusts Ouma enough to arrange and enact the Fake Crushing Plan(tm) and even help engineer his own kidnapping plot, among other things. Notice how cryptically he talks about the plan’s success to Shuichi, and obscures his relationship to Ouma when prompted by Kiibo to explain.

Kaito lies about the two items being crushed. Not only was the last Electrobomb way too useful to waste as a resistance item, the omni controller could not have been destroyed without freeing Monokuma from the trap designed to keep him away from the hangar in the first place (at least, such a thing would be pointlessly risky to do during this plot...)

Kiibo felt ill in the hangar due to the air- the reason had to do with something interfering with his systems, but in the JP text he was sure it wasn’t the Electrobomb causing that. A reason for that could be that he was sensing something in the air, however we never find out what it was that he sensed, just that leaving the hangar made him feel better (note: he is still within the Electrobomb’s range). The point being: perhaps a substance was used giving off a scent that he did not recognise and/or polluted the air, and that substance was coming from the hydraulic press.

Ouma used the Electrobomb in order to knock out the signal, to create the illusion that ‘the audience stopped engaging’. At least, the only established way to explain a sudden, timed blackout is an Electrobomb being used. All of this is so he can go underground - figuritively and literally - in order to mess up Monokuma’s master plan, that we don’t actually learn what it was in its entirety (due to missing bits of evidence- the nature of the ‘audience’ is a topic in itself, aha)

The long and short (without getting into all specific details of how they pulled it off- there’s... a lot to cover there): keeping Kaito as a possible ‘accessory-to-conspiracy’ in mind, and also a Danganronpa V3 script book that shows up in Chapter 5(?), the events of the plot may have gone down somewhat differently to what was said (Kaito’s a very good actor, so he’s capable of pulling it off, too)

Yeah, like seriously, I don't get why people think that Epilogue was made if not to cast actual doubt on the circumstances? I can understand being tired by the inconsistencies and whatever because there are a lot of variables, and it's something best filled in with one of those light novels- like DR0 did for DR1/DR2- because otherwise it's like. Trying to make a whole got damn backstory for V3 and its ridiculousness. So I understand why people might prefer the 'all fiction' ending, I just don't understand why they're so sure of it to the degree where it's become such a 'sticking point', really

Werewolf/Mafia-style role picking is an interesting take I gotta say, and it sounds like it could be fun to mess with, though I never believed that the Ultimate thing had anything to do with 'roles', but that the first Flashback Lights were bringing back memories that they already had (a limited amount of them, but memories nonetheless) so a role-shuffling thing is not one that ever crossed my mind even in the early days. Anyone else thought of that one?

As for Tsumugi, I believe she was the second survivor of the last game (since Kiibo was exclusive to V3's game- as said in that last trial), and she was messed with by Monokuma to present as a stand-in 'proxy' for him. I know brainwashing might be a bit cheap by now, but the choice of character to (torture and) brainwash is very apt especially if she had wound up betraying the others in the past as well, what with possibly being an international spy (as she joked- though I doubt it's a joke). And it's just, the added insult to injury for her because at the end she looks so lost, even aside from just being 'plain', she had no sense of identity left underneath her Junko. Maybe she didn't even realise who she was even until the very end

At the least, I believe that what had happened here is some reflection of what had been happening in the still-missing memories- which involves Ouma as well, and is the reason why he's been hiding things from everyone. This makes the thing feel more cohesive to me because then there is some genuine consequence, resulting in Ouma being super passive-aggressive at times and other times just losing it, for reasons we can't fully know but can make reasoned guesses at his motive. It adds more weight to that anger, his role of scapegoat, and that's the thing that draws me to pick at him this way. Alas with Tsumugi I'm less inclined because I don't feel that kind of presence with her, even as a so-called ringleader which kind of sucks. I already doubted the fiction from the start so that didn't help either...

Because of my rerun through DR:AE, I had to imagine the twins in the Warriors’ age group as well- tweaked faces and hair to make a bit more young-ish ;w; Not sure if I want to keep the hair quite that short though

The ‘wilted flower’ (Ouma) doesn’t know how to smile yet, so he’s mostly got that poker-face squiggle if he isn’t otherwise blank-faced or crying. The swirl-eyes that ‘Monokichi’ has will make you dizzy if you stare at them too hard- actually just don’t lock eyes with this kid, whatever you do, ever. Also he smiles a lot but it tends to be quite unsettling when he does

and- yes I also imagine ‘pre-DICE’ DICE uniforms with the logo stitched on the front of some plain old T-shirts. I’m not sure where that goes but I like the idea of a ‘DICE’ existing that actually was a simple clown troupe, or at least nothing more complicated, and the later one its apocalyptic reprisal. Just something about Ouma bringing back a motif as a reminder of a - I must emphasise: relatively - better time feels like it would work for him, especially since his childishness is a heavily ingrained mechanism that’s very personal to him

Besides the obvious (it’s right on the summer solstice- almost opposite of Junko/Mukuro’s around the winter solstice), let’s take the numbers 6 from the month, and 21 from the day.

There’s a 6 sided die. Add up the sides: 1+2+3+4+5+6. You get 21.

Now imagine there’s a twin, a sibling with the same birthday. You have not one ‘die’, but two ‘dice’. Like the group, ‘DICE’. 

Now we add all the sides of the two dice. Here’s a nifty number: 42.

A few things about the number 42 which are really cool! First of all, it’s ‘The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life the Universe and Everything’, in reference to The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, another sci-fi oriented piece. Second, it’s a number that can be associated to ‘God’ and the ‘Universe’ (according to Kabbalah, ‘42′ is the number with which God creates the universe). 

Third... well. Taking from what I’d said before about Ouma and Shuichi having ‘opposite numbers’ associated to them - Ouma having ‘Ni shi (shi)’ as a 2 and 4, with Shuichi’s ‘shini(gami detective)’... ahem, ‘god of death’ thing being 4 and 2 - this cosmic and godly number 42 is associated to both of them as well.

Now for something wild: take Ouma’s birth month: 6. Shuichi’s birth month: 9.

6 times 9 is 42 when done in Base 13, as said in Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. For extra fun- the digital root of 13 is 4. BAD LUCK.

‘Playing the bad guy so the other doesn’t get soft’ routine: feat Monomi

What’s fun here is, Ouma’s going straight into Monokuma-mode to test her. Since, well... she’s obviously dealing with Monokuma. And she’s getting kicked around all the time by Monokuma- no wonder, because the effect of the virus (ahem, ‘redesign’) on her in DR2 is nothing short of debilitating. As Ouma noted here, she practically has no fight in her (until later on in DR2 of course, where she stands her ground even after getting pulverised over and over)