#ouharu

compare & contrast:

maki has a primarily red and black color scheme with white accents. kokichi has a primarily purple and white color scheme with black accents. instant opposites, except that they are both pale, dark haired, and seem physically unimposing at first, being relatively short and skinny

(i want to say the latter half is on purpose but pretty much everyone in v3 looks like a bleached twig)

maki's blunt and appears stoic; her skills lie in the physical: in the realm of combat, she's an unstoppable reactive force...except when it counts

kokichi's a wily and deeply unserious liar; his skills lie in the mental: in the realm of manipulation, he's an unstoppable active force...except when it counts

they're both cynical outsiders to the group and difficult to read with high emotional walls (being under expressive or overly expressive)

maki's a deadly assassin who became alone after she left her orphanage, but over time, lets people in and gains friends

kokichi's a harmless prankster against killing who had a found family, but ultimately ends up alone by alienating himself. (tragic: clown car for sale, never used.)

BFFs (best foes 4ever, ch1-4):

in ch1, kokichi and maki share similar, semi-antagonistic roles against kaede. they're opposed to her imposed teamwork, stubbornness, and belief in others, through they express it in different ways and still go along with her ideas for a while

Kokichi: "Yeah, let's work together! We messed up last time, but I'm sure it'll go well this time!" Maki: "Work together? With strangers? You're a naive fool if you think you can end this so easily." Kokichi: "When you say we can't give up, you're not inspiring us-you're strong-arming us!" Maki: "Your half-assed speeches won't work on us anymore, you know that, right? So just come up with a plan for yourself." Kokichi: "Cuz I'm an evil supreme leader, remember? I'm supposed to be suspicious!" Maki: "Am I a suspect? You should suspect me. In fact, you should be suspicious of everyone. … So trust no one, Kaede… Or you'll lose, got it?"

while they aren't major players yet, they're quickly established at being hard to win over: kaede or someone else who knows will have to work hard to convince them otherwise!

ch2 is their first major plot point together: when kokichi reveals maki's hidden talent. but before that, their roles split. while still both enigmas, kokichi goes on the offensive, using gonta/the bug meet and greet as a distraction while he collects everyone's motive videos. meanwhile, maki retreats, defending her lab day and night and largely disappearing from view.

offense/defense & action/reaction is a great way to describe how they operate. kokichi's a schemer and leader, while maki is forced to be a follower, waiting for orders.

they both lie to obscure their backstory to make themselves appear more (maki) or less (kokichi) trustworthy. their talents initially feel overwhelming (supreme leader) vs underwhelming (child caregiver), when in actually it's the other way around. kokichi exaggerates his backstory and maki minimizes hers

kokichi is an attention seeker, always instigating and causing problems for shits and giggles. in his love hotel, he essentially says: "If I'm on your mind, then I win.” in contrast, maki wants to "become invisible." she tells the to class to pretend she isn't there to avoid conflict: "So…you guys mind your business, I'll mind mine, and we'll all agree to avoid each other." she's been dehumanized into becoming small. no one has to think about her because she's not a person. (we'll get back to this later)

kokichi actually says to gonta something very reminiscent to what maki told kaede, showing their distrust towards others:

Kokichi: "Gonta, you're so gullible. Y'know, if you keep being this gullible… You'll be killed before you know it. Understand?" Maki: "So trust no one, Kaede… Or you'll lose, got it?"

as for the trial itself, if the bug meet and greet didn't do it already, it quickly sets up kokichi as a major pain in the ass/rival, and uses kaito's belief in her to set maki up as a major supporting character. once kokichi outs her, they're both put into a murky gray area for now

kokichi learnt something about maki that was dangerous, so he exposed it publicly, painting her in the worst possible light. maki, now in danger, reacted as she'd been taught to: with violence. it's the true start of their hate of each other.

why reveal it now? why does kokichi specifically have so much beef with her? save it for later!!

ch3: maki tells everyone to stay away from her (because nothing good comes out of being associated with her), but kaito annoys convinces her to join him and shuichi for training, and she begins to open up to them.

maki also decides to take a more active role by investigating with shuichi after kaito flees (in a heroic and masculine way!). they come across an injured and bloody kokichi, but spare him little concern, instead being focused on the investigation. to maki, the injury of someone who hates you is inconsequential. she herself has likely taken injuries like this and had to get back up. to kokichi, her lack of care is fuel to the fire to his treatment of her as a cold-blooded killer

seeing the way the group steadily accepts maki starting this chapter OH i know kokichi is fuming. he lovesss to antagonize her because he has the moral high ground for once

ch4: this time, kokichi is shuichi’s investigation partner. their character development continues to invert into ch5 until the kill, as maki becomes more trusting while kokichi withdraws and becomes more hostile (despite him attaching himself to shuichi, because it's to drive a wedge between kaito and shuichi to expose kaito's flaws/make them face the truth etc etc)

maki is in kind of an awkward spot here because her only friends are divorcing, but she's trying to be supportive and show her character growth, saying something she likely wished she heard:

Maki: “You're Shuichi Saihara before you're a detective.”

ch4 is when kokichi is at his emotionally weakest. he's just executed someone’s murder and the killer doesn’t remember it— maybe even lying about it, nothing is going to plan, he's an emotional mess, and everyone is pissing him off

while he's been a pain in the ass before, the insect meet and greet, the reveal of maki's true talent, etc can still be taken as having good intentions. (in the ch3 investigation, he's too busy being concussed to do all that)

but the ch4 murder drives his plans to new levels, being undeniably self-serving even if it was save his own life. and he knows this!

his back was against the wall here: in order to prevent his own death/win the killing game, he has to find a way to stop miu, who has made it so it's impossible for him to physically fight back against her. so he manipulates gonta into killing miu by proxy. but, he has to rationalize it, because he's against killing. it's literally the thing he's been harping on maki about for 3 chapters

to cope, he leans into the "villain" role hard. "if i'm a villain, i don't need to feel bad!" compare to: "if i'm a cold-hearted assassin girl..."

so while I believe he's still putting on a show here, his underlying feelings are real, just under 1000 layers of kokichi ouma-ness:

Kokichi: You're probably all thinking I should've taken on the dirty work and not Gonta, right? Kokichi: Everyone...hates me...so the role of villain is perfect for me... Kokichi: Yeah, I know already! It should've been my responsibility! [explaining miu's paralysis mod] Kokichi: That's why I had to ask Gonta! I would've done it myself if I could!

after his "I WAS FAKE CRYING OBVIOUSLY!!" reveal, he also directly compares himself to maki:

Maki: So...for your own entertainment, you sacrificed Miu and Gonta? Kokichi: What's so bad about that? You kill people for money...right, Maki Roll?

now of course, neither the "cold-hearted assassin" nor the "remorseless villain" actually exist, but he needs to cope somehow. maki killing for money is technically true, but it's more complicated than that. similarly, kokichi sacrificing miu and gonta for his own sake/entertainment (looks at audience) is true, but it's also more complicated than that.

ch4 is the BIG turning point for these two, representing just how far they've come since ch2. maki has opened up, made ride or die companions, and become a more active member of the group, dedicating herself to overcoming her emotional weaknesses. meanwhile, kokichi has uhhh pissed off everyone and killed 2 people

the most obvious point is at the end, after kokichi punches kaito. while technically this is more of a kaito&kokichi moment, maki rushing to kaito's side with worry shows how far she's come in even being willing to show such concern in front of everyone. even if the others still distrust her, they also share a common goal. they're all in this together!

in comparison:

Shuichi: "You're alone, Kokichi. And you always will be."

he really said "0/10 ragebait"

and before we get to ch5, a word from our sponsors:

meat shields, living weapons, and also literal, non-metaphorical weapons:

a weapon: "something used to defend against or defeat another."

kokichi's weapon of choice is his words. he uses them to manipulate, using the cast as weapons against one another

kokichi uses his words against kaede to try to demotivate her and make her feel alienated from the group. from ch2 onward, he does the same with maki, but also uses gonta as a meat shield, creating a brains/brawn dynamic. in ch4, kokichi gives out electrohammers and electrobombs to further manipulate the cast. he also uses gonta as a weapon against miu, and shuichi and kaito as weapons against each other

maki's choices are more straightforward: knives. guns. crossbows. perhaps even a katana. in ch5, maki teaches kaito how to assemble and use a crossbow, and of course, uses miu's inventions, poison, and the crossbow in her plan to kill kokichi

but most importantly, maki herself is a weapon, used as an unfeeling pawn by her clients and eventually the mastermind as a weapon against kokichi

there's something to them being the ones to pass down weapons to the cast that isn't fully formed...

they also both use themselves as weapons against the mastermind, not caring what happens to them, in order to "win"

maki analyzing kokichi’s childish weapon designs in ch6…something about maki losing her childhood and kokichi being so childish…the sort of fantastical weapons a child would come up with…a CHILD SOLDIER maybe

weapons showing their contrasting characters aside, in the end, their weaknesses still lie in other people (kokichi uses words to use people as weapons, and maki herself is a weapon), because this is a game about relationships.

and these guys? have a normal relationship with relationships

"i don't DO ships. as in relationships...i don't need you. i don't need anyone."

like in the oumota analysis, i maintain that relationships, along with truth/lies, are the central themes of v3. i'll quote myself in this section in order to not cover old ground

tldr: "maybe the real reason to live is the friends we made along the way"

maki is central to this theme: "even though maki loses kaito, because she had those good times with him that led to her change in self-worth, she'll be okay in the end. she's not enforcing her own loneliness anymore."

as the game progresses, she makes more of an effort to put herself out there and work as part of the group, even declaring in ch3 that she'll work hard so that they can trust her and her talent, and all escape together, a far cry from her original intent to stay isolated from everyone.

kokichi is another character central to this theme, but obviously things don't turn out as well for him: "like maki, he reinforces his own loneliness, but unlike her, he never makes those connections that make him change into a more well-rounded person."

say it with me now!! "You're alone, Kokichi. And you always will be"!!!

throughout the game, he purposefully antagonizes everyone (especially maki) and the relationships he does form are transactional: namely, gonta and miu, who are a meat shield and engineer for him respectively.

gonta & miu both end up dead and shuichi & kaito come veryyy close to dying because of their goal of winning the killing game at any cost

initially, they're both distrusting and against forming relationships. they're outsiders even before shit hits the fan to their emotional distance from the others

of course, things change. maki lets herself open up and befriends kaito and shuichi, and earns the trust of the other survivors as the game continues

and that would've been impossible without a push from...

"the Idiot" AKA Kaito Momota, Ultimate Astronaut, Luminary of the Stars, et al.:

the man who declares that the impossible is possible! i can't shut up about this guy and neither can the v3 cast

they're both consistently sick of this man's hero bs. he represents boundless optimism (and pride), and they both consistently call him out on that

seriously though if they teamed up on him he would not survive

kaito and kokichi almost immediately get on each others nerves. kaito chases him around. kokichi runs away. that's an entire thing in one of their free time events. they're foils/rivals/etc. more about them here

meanwhile, kaito seeks maki out in ch1 because he can tell she's strong and defends her in ch2 for seemingly no reason other than gut instinct:

Maki: "It's not like I owe that idiot a favor or anything just because he defended me... But that hopeless idiot may have encouraged me a bit."

^words of a woman who has no idea what's about to happen to her character arc

kaito believes in the best of her, while kokichi believes in the worst of her

it's partially due to kaito's relentless...kaitoness (stubbornness, belief in the truth, ego, and insecurities) clashing with their cynicism that their characters change so much, though in different directions

so it's kind of ironic when kaito ends up working with kokichi to end the killing game instead of maki

ch5 AKA the big one AKA self-recognition in the other (derogatory):

ch5 is always at the scene of crime when it comes to me

antihero maki and antivillain kokichi <3

maki is at her worst (attempted murder and torture when she promised herself she could be better, endangering everyone by trying to get them to vote wrong). kokichi also seems at his worst, but is actually at his best (trying to end the killing game)

maki is also at her most kokichi-like here with her planning and lying, acting like she doesn't care about the lives of others. Kokichi isn’t at his most maki-like but he DOES hate himself so he’s close!

this is when they flip from their ch4 developments: maki on the offense with her poisoned crossbow arrows, and kokichi is on the defense with his hangar and exisal. her emotional weakness is preyed upon by both the mastermind and kokichi and her physical strength is useless against the hangar and exisal’s defenses

however, they share an goal. unlike kaede and kaito who wanted to survive with everyone, their current goal is to “win” against the mastermind at any cost, including sacrificing the lives of themself and others

(it's kaito's sacrifices that snap maki out of her murder haze and get kokichi to slightyyy open up right before dying. that's the luminary of the stars difference)

they spend the whole game hating the idea of the other. kokichi always purposefully flattens down maki to just a stone cold killer— the way she sees herself. his refusal to sympathize with her comes from his hatred of killing and violence revealed by his motive video in ch6. but by doing this, by acting so cruelly, he reveals his own weaknesses. after all, he is the mastermind. he is the stone-cold killer whose heart is gradually becoming empty, who’s willing to do anything to win, even if he hates himself by the end of it. by hating both maki and the idea of her, he also hates himself and the idea of him— what he’s convinced himself he needs to become.

again: their weakness is relationships. kokichi’s plan was doomed to fail because kaito would never risk the lives of his friends like that— kokichi's lack of relationships kept him paranoid and made him carry his burdens on his own. maki’s plan was doomed to fail because a) her relationship with kaito is her glaring weakness, b) her lapse in judgement prevented her from seeing that Kaito wouldn’t let her kill OR let kokichi be killed, and c) her friends wouldn’t let her go through with killing all of them. in trying to revert to Assassin Mode, she couldn’t see how she’d already been changed by her relationships.

kokichi when he can't blame maki for being a murderer when the killing game has forced him to compromise his morals on something he deems unforgivable (murder) for the sake of something important to him (ending the killing game) but also seeing that people still have the capacity to change for the better: FUUUUCKKKKKK

(also i don't think relationship is a word anymore)

and something something they both lost their sense of identity in their attempts to become their masks

Maki (Ch3): "After everything they did to me...sometimes I wonder what I am anymore..." Shuichi (Ch5): "The truth is in the eye of the beholder, huh? Kokichi was the embodiment of a lie."

ch6 AKA assembling bread from absolute crumbs:

kokichi('s room) is relegated to like 2 short scenes...BUT MAKI IS IN THEM!!

maki and shuichi enter kokichi’s room and find his motive video, revealing the truth behind his “evil” organization, DICE. maki stays behind to investigate.

according to shuichi, investigating his room means they might understand him better. while maki brushes off the idea of understanding kokichi himself ("…No, it's pointless to understand what he was thinking."), she's still trying to make sense of his actions and what he’s left behind.

she also believes in the kaito that believed in kokichi which counts for something. yay she trusts his judgement

Maki: “Kaito…believed Kokichi. He believed that someone’s watching this killing game.” 

v3 ends with the survivors asserting that while tsumugi created them to be "a lie" (characters), they've become real, and that if the outside world is as she said or like their memories, they'll still face it

"Perhaps just beyond here is the truth… But, maybe it isn't… Or maybe the outside world is the same as this world. It might be a world…filled with lies."

"The truth is in the eye of the beholder, huh?"

extra thoughts:

there are many good fics about maki coming to sympathize with kokichi. but i also want more fics about kokichi sympathizing with maki and hating it thank youuu. if you know any lmk

thought of maki and kokichi as batman and the joker and it made me giggle. well i guess he's also the riddler. kaito is NOT batman

maki being a child caregiver and kokichi being super childish...hm...

they also have the scariest sprites. why are they like that.

3.5k words of maki and kokichi jesus