Bunch Of Cute Angies For This Twitter Meme  (─‿‿─)

Kaito is, in fact, not a Virgo

saw that meme about characters side profiles slotting together again and thought about them

I keep thinking about how Maki says she joined the assassin cult to protect her childhood friend from being the one to go through it instead, but like... what if they were just manipulating her? Pretending to target the friend and hoping Maki would take the bait, with her being their real target all along? Because if the friend really was as kindhearted and emotional as Maki describes, those aren't good traits for an assassin, regardless of how strong you are, and surely the scouts would know that. They're experts, they'd be able to tell when someone doesn't have the emotional aptitude for a life of killing, never mind if they're athletic.

Also, Maki says that during the training they tried to break her, but her memories of her friend kept her going. What if that was the point? The assassin training was torturous and horrific, and the kids are about 10 or 11 when being put through that -- they would break if they didn't have some reason to hold on. Assassins are an expensive investment, and I doubt the cult would want their kids dying before making it out of training and carrying out some hits. Maki sees it as herself managing to resist somewhat, like a small "win", but perhaps the cult were banking on that, they were using her love for her friend against her to inspire her to survive the training and become a better assassin. Maybe they realised that if there was a way to give these mangled, messed up kids a sliver of positive reinforcement, the tiniest flickers of motivation, but in a way that the cult could fully control, then they'd end up with more resilient assassins. And with Maki this method was a roaring success.

And then what if they were the ones who had the friend killed off once she'd outlived her usefulness, and they needed Maki not to have any distractions from her work now that training was over... And they made it look like an accident, with the friend heroically saving a child, so that Maki would retain those good memories and use it to keep herself going, as opposed to breaking down and giving up now that her entire reason for doing all this was gone. She says it herself: "the memories of her I keep inside me have kept me alive till now." So maybe they were manipulating her and using her all along, letting her believe it, letting her keep this tiny sense of self in order to make sure their star assassin stayed alive and didn't give up entirely... I mean, we already know they're manipulating her by using her care for the orphanage, right? The better she does, the more funding the orphanage gets. They're already using that against her. It is a stretch to believe they'd use the person she loves most in the world against her too?

If that was the case, the worst part is that it happens all over again. She saw her protection of her friend as a personal victory, none the wiser to the fact that it's exactly what the cult wanted... and then here she is in the killing game, seeing her character development as another personal victory... only for that to be exactly what Team Danganronpa wanted, too. She could finally stop hating herself, start accepting that she too deserves happiness, that she can have friends again if she wants, only for none of it to supposedly be real. It's just "good TV". And the entire assassin backstory might not even be real, either. Maybe I'm just falling into the same trap by finding it so interesting and obsessing over it when it was all fake anyway. We'll never really know. Lies within lies, manipulation within manipulation...

But regardless, it DID keep her alive until now. And she does survive in the end. At least that much is real, so does it matter if the rest of it wasn't? Why do I stay up at night thinking about this??

Morning gifts guest

its been almost 6 years since kaito and ouma have infested me. here's me talking out of my ass for over 2k words

to love the ouma-kaito dynamic is to love the themes of v3. to see one of them as 100% correct and the other as 100% wrong is to hate the themes of v3.

there must be balance. which is one of the themes!

at first, they each represent one end of their spectrums: lies, distrust, and logic VS truth, trust, and emotion. but it's not all black and white— they're far more similar than they think

to get the obvious visual foiling out of the way: short vs tall, scrawny vs muscular, pale vs tan (relatively...), round eyes vs sharp eyes, cool purple vs warm purple, black and white vs a colorful galaxy, and a tight "straitjacket" vs what's basically loose pjs

they're visual opposites, but they're also both purple, charismatic leaders, would rather die than their let go of their respective roles of hero and villain, and both want to end the killing game. they're also both SO dramatic. they cannot be separated.

all this is to say that they're the same, just taking different approaches (i mean, just compare their early FTEs. what are you two FUCKING talking about. your ass is NOT a pirate kaito shut up). ouma hides drops of truth within his lies and lives to poke holes in others' poorly concealed lies. kaito talks about being honest, but is also constantly lying to himself and others. and it's so fitting for them to essentially die with each other.

lying your way to the truth, and 10 other tricks to surviving a killing game:

v3 is a game that asks: who are you? why are you even alive? what parts of you are really "you"?

in other words: what is true and what is a lie? does it matter?

the flashback lights are all lies. tsumugi can literally rewrite their "truth" as she wishes. and of course, there's the fact that they're all fictional characters come to life.

and there's the big lie of ch1, brought back in ch6. although this is less relevant to me, personally, because kaede fully intended and did try her damnedest to kill so either way she's still at fault soo

the theme of the survivors is that they all have a reason to fight to live even if the world is hell, because they're pushed forward by the connections they made— kaede's encouragements, the training with kaito that led to shuichi and maki's happiness, and himiko's memories of tenko and angie. 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.

basically, "maybe the real reason to live is the friends we made along the way"

shuichi explicitly says that his feelings are true, even if they're born of lies. to lie, there has to be a truth. to be truthful, you can't lie. yin yang and all that

it's even shown with the (underused imo) game mechanic of perjury. kaede and shuichi can literally lie for the sake of finding the truth

he rejects being forced to choose between "hope" and "despair," breaking the cycle. it's pretty easy to apply this to the other dichotomies in v3: truth vs lies, trust vs distrust, logic vs emotion. even heroes vs villains.

ultimately, i think v3 aligns more closely with kaito's ideology, because of course truth and trust is a good thing....!, but not without poking massive holes in it too. because kaito's a prideful hypocrite and the game does NOT let you forget it <3 more on that later

little white lies AKA ouma is sick of your shit part 1:

"is the truth worth it? aren't feel-good white lies ok? what even is a lie?" ouma asks with his little hater heart. (ch1 and ch4)

here, we see ouma questioning the individual nature of common sense ("gut instinct", if you will)— how can kaede decide if his talent is a lie? what is a lie? if ouma is 99% lies by weight, what is ouma??? an annoying grape??

we all want the truth, right? but the truth can be ugly. that's what ouma's always showing.

this is something shuichi also tackles with his feelings on his own talent. by exposing the truth, he causes pain to others. but this isn't about him, so you'll just have to keep that in mind

in the death road to despair in ch1, it's kaede's optimism that causes misery to the rest of her classmates. they're lying to themselves when they try to do it over and over. again, ouma calls her out on it, pissing off kaito who supports kaede 100%. the idea they can all get out and become friends is…also really unlikely. and even with kaede's murder "for the greater good", ouma disparages her for doing it in the first place: she lost the moment she seriously considered the thought, and played right into monokuma's bloodthirsty lil' paws.

right after the ch3 execution, himiko still refuses to let herself feel… until ouma calls her out on it. stop lying to yourself. and they all let it out, crying together. it's a good thing, and spurs on himiko's arc to be more true to herself. you did a good thing, ouma. now onto ch4! yay!

the "truth of the outside world", and ch4 as a whole, is probably the most in your face way of showing this. but more on that later.

the boys are back:

if you want a good relationship with someone, vulnerability is key, one that ouma unfortunately can't replace with a lockpick. you have to be honest. maki and shuichi were honest to kaito, which let him help them out.

ouma is definitely not vulnerable, up until the very end. ouma's distrust of everyone pushes them away, leaving him alone— without the "reason to fight to live" the others have— living out of spite and determination, until he dies for that too. 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.

kaito's better than him, which is a really low bar, but the game goes out of its way to tell you that he's still hiding secrets and adamantly refuses to let down his hero persona, harming both himself and those around him. you are COUGHING UP BLOOD, you are NOT okay. while his sidekicks still know something is wrong, he refuses to truly let them in, instead just brushing them off.

and that pisses ouma off. at the very least, ouma's honest about being a liar. kaito, in his eyes, is a coward. (not only that, people still like him despite being a liar..... but that's probably more to do with kaito being way less of a dick).

ouma, in kaito's eyes, is also a coward. he can call ouma a two-faced coward as much as he wants, but pot, meet kettle

chapter 4 AKA ouma is sick of your shit part 2:

ok. seriously onto ch4 this time. it's the perfect set up to the insanity of ch5. the tension is insane. also, ouma does not shut up about kaito having a crush on him. ok man.

from now on, it's the kaito & ouma show, the truth & trust & hope & emotion & hero VS lies & distrust & despair & logic & villain show.

and the game puts kaito, and all his themes, in the wrong. poor gonta and shuichi are just along for the ride

the stubborn belief that worked so well for maki in ch2 makes kaito refuse to believe, despite the evidence pointing to it, that gonta is the blackened, endangering everyone. and this is the cause of kaito and shuichi's rift which ouma takes great pleasure in. i'm sure this greatly validates his own distrust and loneliness, seeing it as the superior option

kaito's a liar, shuichi's a liar, and gonta is...not a liar but still technically wrong. YOU'RE ALL LIARS AND KAITO/SHUICHI STANS. YOUR FAVE IS PROBLEMATIC. OUMA'S FUCKING PISSED

it's the hypocrisy that gets to him the most imo

does he know?

anyways, it's a great showdown between their two ideologies. up until now, i'd say the score was roughly 3:1 in kaito's favor, but now it's definitely more even. it even features ouma punching kaito instead of the other way around like last time: something made possible imo because of kaito's sickness, which ouma forces him and everyone to acknowledge by doing this

this is a massive L for the hero side.... can the sidekicks clutch this victory and save the princess?

(interestingly enough, note that kaito doesn't even seem to hate ouma after all that. at the start of ch5, he puts ouma and gonta in the same category as having snapped under the pressure due to monokuma. his feelings, of course, change later on.)

...

are you sure about that

yeah, the truth sucks sometimes, huh?

what now?

chapter 5 AKA the boys are back 2 AKA voyage without passion or purpose AKA the sickest chapter name ever

ch5 combines ouma and kaito's ideologies through their swansong, their magnum opus, their collective theatre kid dream

the hangar man. THE HANGAR. no more cameras. no more prying eyes. no more heroes. no more villains. NO PASSION (KAITO). NO PURPOSE (OUMA). WHAT'S THE POINT. IT ALL BLURS (probably because of the blood loss)

think about it this way: kaito is literally dying, hypocritically refusing to let his friends in. ouma is metaphorically dying, because he lacks the "reason to fight to survive" everyone else has, because he has no trust, no friends, no bitches... anyways

(also the poison, which is. you know. is also literally killing him but shush)

the closest he had was, imo, miu for a little, then kaito in ch5. but in the end, it's all spite, not connection, that drives him. ouma kills himself to prove a point, and they both die as a middle finger to the mastermind— a hollow victory, in many ways.

think about kaito sitting alone in the exisal, hacking his lungs out in the metallic silence of the belly of the beast, having just learned one of the truths behind ouma's act, then killing him, then having to lie to all your friends for the hope that ouma's final, crazy plan works out. he's finally stooped to ouma's level. he's so used to the smell of blood by now. does ouma's blood on his hands look any different from his own?

even kaito's motto: "the impossible is possible! all you gotta do it make it so!" is pretty much an admittance. you can make a lie (impossible) the truth (possible).

also ouma bleeding out looking like shit laying in kaito's galactic coat like a cape. kaito squeezing his eyes shut before before pressing the buttons. these images changed lives.

the lying truthersssss...working together!!! to literally pretend to be each other!!! to blur into one being!! trusting each other to see it through for their shared goal!! at first glance, maki thinks it's her fault— that ouma manipulated kaito using her, but kaito disagrees, saying it was for the sake of ending the killing game.

this is all to hammer home the idea that we shouldn't see them as "hero" or "villain." the cast sees them as it first, but of course, we know that's not so simple by the time kaito steps out of the exisal.

in the end, they fail, but kaito puts his and ouma's dreams in their hands. they can do it better this time.

plus, kaito finally stops lying to himself and others, the thing ouma gave him endless shit for. it only took him 5 chapters

is it wrong to call "that was a lie" ouma's catchphrase?

i still can't believe maki believed him. love makes you stupid i guess

extra thoughts:

you might be wondering why i call him "ouma" and not "kokichi." i do the same with some other characters: kirigiri, togami (though i switch between that and byakuya nowadays), and komaeda. it's because i don't know them like that. we are NOT friends. "kirigiri" is out of respect however

don't you think ouma has his own "sidekicks," his "villain lackeys," if you will, in DICE?

kaito's execution music should've had the "reach for the stars" line from sdr2 and i'm still mad about it

and they should've both in that exisal idc

kaito somehow exited that exisal with a new jacket. it's my headcanon that, in respect of a fellow theatre kid, ouma stole a second jacket from kaito's room and put it in the exisal

VR au post game low(high)key codependent oumota is everything and i'll happily read 1000 fics about it

also just outside of the Themes of it all, and tbh my main draw to this duo... they're so funny. they are SO. FUNNY. THEY'RE SO GOOFY TOGETHER. STOP TRYING TO ONE UP EACH OTHER

they should run around and beat each other with toy hammers. it's enrichment.

this isn't like thematically relevant but their love hotel events really show how well they could work together. they want a rival to pump them up and fight back so bad!! they'd have the craziest vigilante beef

WHY IS THIS 2.1K WORDS/???!> i am so weak to rivals man

tldr: look at this meme.

tldr 2.0: a true kaito fan is also a true ouma fan and vice versa. you may not like it, but they're two peas in a pod. don't worry though, they're not happy about it either.

1, 5 and 12 with Kokichi for the ask game👀

What do you like / dislike ?

There’s a ton of things I like about him it’s hard to choose just one.

But I really like his motifs. I feel like people (including me) are too quick to fall into his clown shoes, while a motif is that of a gamer (I couldn’t think of a better word). He’s just a guy that likes to play! His name means King Horse, two pieces on a chess board and he wears a chess board (kinda). Most of his FTE are just him playing games. And I like how it evolves to be a “player of the killing game” compared to everyone else’s forced participation.

What’s your least favorite cannon thing?

That he died.

Kidding kidding (kinda, I do feel like him living would make the themes of V3 better but that’s a rant for another day. )

It’s hard to choose a least favorite cannon thing because most of the stuff he says can be waved off as just him joshing. Idk, I guess my least favorite interpretation of his actions was that of a mercy kill during chapter 5. While it makes the most sense… it just doesn’t fit and I don’t know why.

(Edit: I wrote the wrong question like a dumbass mb. As for the actual question: obviously his fansong, but also CAT from Milgram and ENTER: BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR DEATH by Jhariah)

What is a headcannon you have?

I headcannon him as Korean, idk it just always felt right.

I also headcannon him to have heightened tastebuds. There’s a line in his FTE (I think) where he says he can’t taste at all, but I think it’s a lie. He actually prefers subtle flavors, but is willing to go through a sensory overload for his image.

I also head cannon that him and DICE became friends in a mental hospital (maybe escaped it together??). That’s why they were straitjackets.

I made a song a while ago

The fact Adria was basically leading Rapunzel to her death (to her knowledge) and showed no regrets is not talked about enough. She was equally desperate as Hector in the fact she was also trying to save a dead kingdom. I tried to show her desperation here but she doesn't really look "Adria-like" but I'll just call it characterization. I love her so much

Tsumugi Shirogane is, at her core, a shitty storyteller. She carries a deep passion but a weak constructive mind for her work, and concerts her writing flaws with bravado and grandiose features in an attempt to distract her chosen audience from her poor strategy. She fills her work with references and callbacks to the history and media that inspired her so, but can never truly create her own work, so she attempts replication and cheap copycat work instead in the hopes that that core connection she felt will carry over. It's full of meaning not because she succeeded, but because she tried. She's a fangirl writing a love letter to her problematic fav, and she's failing spectacularly not from lack of effort, but lack of skill. She's pathetic. She's a total loser, and she knows it, but if people will care about this one thing that she made, just this one thing, it will all have been worth it. And that's why she accepts her death so solemnly, why she doesn't fight back, because despite her failure, she did manage to teach her victims the one thing she could never accept for herself- that their lives mattered regardless of what they provided for others. And that, to me, is why Tsumugi is so endearing not just as a mastermind, but as a character.

Playing around with the V3 CG style

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