Surely those who've played Danganronpa 2 Chapter 5 remember this part:
And while there's a lot we can say about the entire time Nagito speaks here, I'd like to draw everyone to these lines in particular:
Here, Nagito appears to be responding to Akane as if he is the one who's sane here, comparatively to everyone else. It looks very straightforward, right? What else could we possibly extract from here?
Well...
What if I told you there could be an alternative translation considering the overarching context of Chapter 5? What if Nagito isn't pointing to someone, but something?
("No... That's not it... That's... Wrong...")
("I'm not the one who's crazy... What's truly crazy is...")
Technically, the sentence here in Japanese doesn't outline whether what's being compared is something or someone. It could be either one, so that does beg the question: why would I assume that Nagito isn't referring to someone? Well, I actually have a basis. After a lot of thought from the first time I noticed this, I believe there could be a purposeful parallel between the this set of lines from Nagito and the last words Hajime says before Chapter 6, when the Ruins are open and reveal this scenery:
Watch:
("Something's... Weird...?")
("Is something wrong with me...?")
("No... That's not it...")
("I'm not the one... who's crazy...")
("What's... truly crazy is...")
("................................................................ This world?")
If we notice, the sentences here are almost the exact same between Hajime and Nagito here, with the exact same wording. The only difference is that Hajime doesn't That's Wrong anyone, only skipping that part, but everything else is the exact same when referring to how he feels as he enters the Ruins. You don't have to take my word for it, when visual comparison between the lines can lead you to note that the same characters are there between each other, but they also mean the exact same thing, just that both are denying being crazy within different scenarios. However, Nagito's scene leaves the matter unanswered. Naturally, the player is primed to think that Nagito is just saying that everybody else is crazy, but if so, then there's no real need script-wise to cut Nagito off. However, if that cutting off of Nagito's words is actually meant to leave ambiguity so that it connects to the end of Chapter 5, it starts to serve narrative purpose. It starts to serve the purpose of having Hajime answer to the ambiguity placed in that scene, where it turns out that what's truly insane is this world, which isn't real to begin with.
In other words, it would point to the implication that exists in the OVA where Nagito had found out this world was a simulation, so when Akane asks if he's gone insane, to him, the surroundings would be the true insanity and everyone else hasn't reached this stage of the truth. It would recontextualize how he feels about his classmates, and about how heavy the burden of truth actually is to him. It remains in the realm of theory, but I figured that it made sense to give people the food for thought to make their own decision on the matter, whether it's to disregard this similarity or contemplate it when thinking about Nagito in Chapters 4 to 5.
Incidentally, I found that I had to point it out because the English script didn't notice, which is why Hajime's lines are different there:
(that isn't what the original means but okay.png)
"Crazy" and "weird" are the same word here that can have different nuance under different contexts. Here, the English script did not associate the lines from Nagito's scene, and I suppose in that very same vein, you can believe it's different or even that there's a deliberate contrast if you'd like, where Hajime's answer supposedly differs from Nagito's. However, I think my point's been made in that it can be worth considering that there's a parallel here, and that because of the way it's been translated, it would be impossible to catch, even though honestly, on rewatch and on thinking about it, I feel like it would be notable. Either way, make of it what you will my friends... Thank you very much for your time and I hope you're having a nice day <3
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