Why Did Kaede Akamatsu have to suffer?
I can still vividly remember that day, just over a month ago, my mother had received one of the worst news in her life. Her dear father, after a long 80 years, and after being sick for a while, had died due to heart problems. These news were enough to send our family into a state of despair.
I didnāt know my grandfather that much. He was a quiet man. Yet, after hearing the news, I couldnāt help but bawl my eyes out in sadness and empathy for my mother and grandfather.
In the end, after taking my mother and older sister to the airport to personally see my grandfatherās funeral, I was left alone in my room, sitting at my desk, as infront of me I stared into the Kaede Akamatsu figurine I had in my desk.
So, why was Kaede executed?
When I first played DanganronpaV3, I felt an immediate connection to Kaede Akamatsu, so much so, she reminded me of my older sister, pretty aggressive, yet, still incredibly nice.
Though, something incredibly fascinating about Kaede is the fact that as a character (or really anything) is that you donāt really know much about her. Sure, you can make speculations on the stuff she says and all that. But at the end of the day, do you really know Kaede? As in Know everything about her which includes her past? I donāt think so.
Yet, when I first saw her get falsely accused and shortly after get executed, I cried. I cried real human tears for a person that wasnāt real. It was then that for a long while for a few years now I wondered the same question: Why did Kaede Akamatsu get executed? With the events I mentioned earlier, I believe it has something to do with that.
You see, I study a lot of philosophy, I also study a lot of religion as well, alongside Psychology and what not. Throughout most of my journey, I have found that a lot of what these incredibly wise people say to be inspiring, hopeful, and even almost wholesome in a weird way.
Yet, I always seem to forget the things I am taught whenever I experience days that I simply cannot handle. I mean, what good are those words when you feel like your at your limit and overwhelmed? What good is language for things you cannot understand or comprehend or rationalize or put into words what you are experiencing?
Ironically, because I wanted to understand Kaede on a deeper level than just āart that I likeā, I started studying these things, which is also why I am here writing this and explaining it to you.
One thing I have learned throughout my entire life if I had to learn anything from it was the fact that there simply are just problems or in general just things in our life that we cannot solve or understand rationally. My studies on Zen Buddhism had taught me that whenever we are met with days that our human, all too human minds canāt take, we put trust in our heart, in love.
Kaede sort of faced a similar thing to this in DanganronpaV3. I mean, think about it, she starts off as ānothingā as she states, in which then the moment her rationality and will claims what she is, where she is, etc., she starts suffering. Kaede tries to project calm, positivity, and in line with the game, hope, to all her classmates. Yet in the end, none of them truly take her seriously, especially once the second announcement of the killing game was made by Monokuma to get people to start killing eachother.
And so, Kaede Akamatsu, the protagonist of this crazy world, hit her limit. She couldnāt process all that was happening to her, she was just a human after all, so much so, you could call her my sister, or your mother, or our daughter. In a Kierkegardian sense, Kaede, while trying to make her classmates faith in public, was ultimately feeling the deepest form of despair in private.
Yet it isnāt what Kaedeās situation was that was profound, but rather, what she did in reaction to this. Kaede is an emotionally intelligent person, she understood what she was facing, she understood her own despair, when there is no love, or no hope, or even faith, is when there is the lowest form of despair. Sin, and hell, are the words Christians use to describe these feelings and states.
So how did Kaede overcome this? Well, the answer is more intuitive than you think.
Now, Iām assuming most of you probably know by now what Kaede did in response to her own despair, she decided to attempt murder and then willingly submit herself toa public execution in front of everyone whom she swore to save! How could that possibly have helped her or anyone in the long run!?
Well, again, as I said earlier, the answer is more intuitive than what we could possibly think. And I feel like one way to help understand that is another personal story.
A while after my mother came back from visiting her fatherās funeral. She tried to go through her life normally.
Of course, I tried being a good child and help her around the house alongside try comforting her whenever it seemed kinda sad.
But one day, my mother had reached a breaking pointā¦
It was just a normal day when I heard my mother crying in her room. Panicking, I rushed over to see what was going on. The image I saw, haunted me.
I saw my own mother, the one who raised me from birth, crying badly on her bed, she was having a breakdown as she was staring at memories of her father on her phone. I immediately came to her side, hugging and holding her, trying to help her calm down.
It was then when my mother explained that, my grandfather lived a long good life. He was married until his death, and he died a pretty fast painless death. But not just that, My mother told me that I looked exactly like my grandfather, and I kinda acted like him too, pretty quiet, yet compassionate when, necessary. As soon enough, my mom continued to cry while repeating the phrase āmy father, my poor fatherā.
In the end, I just held my mother, I didnāt try to calm her down this time. I was simply just being on her side through it all.
So, why did Kaede have to die? Does it have to do with me holding my mother, letting her cry as I stay on her side? I believe it does.
You see, I feel like we all will experience days where we all reach our limit and canāt hold it in anymore. Where sufferingā hellā seems to be the only real place in our conscious awareness. But does it have to be that way?
What I have learned throughout all of my attempts to unpack Kaede as a character is that, when faced with an obstacle that we cannot understand rationally, the solution we have, the thing we need to put our faith into, is love.
Just like how I put a risk in love to hold my mom through her hell, Kaede took a leap of faith. She gave a chance to love. And the result? Shuichi being able to solve the final puzzle in the killing game, ending Danganronpa once and for all, but also, being able to move forward with his life, knowing that not only is he not alone in his suffering, as his best friend was the before him to help guide him through the deepest parts of hell, but also, because of the reminder of his mortality, Shuichi is also by then able to track down what truly matters to him with his life, wherever he goes next.
Similarly; I learned through Kaede the importance of the reminder of mortality, the universal of suffering, and to have faith in love when faced with hell, despair. Through faith, I managed to help my mom go through hell not alone, and remind her that she isnāt alone. She will never be alone, ever again.
I guess, in the end, even if it seemed like I was able to give a pretty fair answer to the question asked throughout the video, I must admit that, I donāt have a complete answer to why Kaede died. My human, all too human mind will never be able to comprehend it, that is something only my intuitive heart will understand, and that is okay.Ā
Maybe that is why I cried during her execution, and more recently to my grandfatherās passing. While I couldnāt understand or rationalize it, my empathy, my heart, my intuition, sees the pain from it, the beauty in it, the truth in it, and learns to release, to let go, because it is okay to cry for those type of things.
So, that is why Kaede Akamatsu, Ultimate Pianist, had to suffer, to help save all of us, from hell, kind of like Jesus, the saviour, and the reason why he was crucified.
That is why I am so insisted to say that Kaedeās execution is the most important cornerstone of Kaedeās character. Why it is the most crucial point of understanding her. Why it is the most important work of art Danganronpa as a franchise (or atleast, the games Iāve currently played) has created, while also the most human. It is to teach us that Love is the way and that it is the only true victory and salvation.
Thank you for taking your time to see all of this, my dear friends, I hope you come out this with a new view of life, or at least something of worth. I plan on making more content like this. Though, honestly, I might be a little less personal and sad about it. Please consider supporting as it helps a lot.
And as I like to say sometimes, I wish loving kindness to all of you!
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