Same anon as before, throwing in this ramble into your asks, hope you don't mind (feel free to ignore and delete if you do tho)
Things aren't really adding up with how Milgram works.
K, so, those voted guilty at trial 2 apparently got restrained. So, again, how the fuck did Haruka die?
But also, remember the Mahiru trial 2 sprite? Standing. On a leg with a cast. And yet, during her voice drama, we literally hear her get inside with a wheelchair, and she's mentioned to be using one (until her condition worsened so much due to Shidou's "care" that she ended up bedridden). So where's the wheelchair on the sprite?
Tbh, I feel like the way sprites get drawn is more for symbolism purpose rather than them being actually restrained like that.
Ann ee ways, this trial I'll be voting everyone inno.
Yuno and Kazui didn't do anything wrong throughout the previous trials, Fuuta's case is very common (in Milgram fandom especially, ironically enough) so I feel like it's hypocritical for us to vote him guilty and to make him suffer and spiral even more, and Muu has clearly not changed at all so punishing her through voting is not gonna help and she should face the consequences for her actions outside of milgram. Kotoko and Amane are unique cases, but I feel like they should be voted inno too.
For Amane, we are to blame for how she turned out. Voting her guilty first trial, when her MV showed her helping a cat and then getting punished for practicing medicine, sent a very clear message to her that "medicine = bad, if you help people, you deserve punishment". And then when we got more detailed visual of what she went through in next trial, we voted her inno, which sent a message "things you were taught are correct and you should indeed punish the ones who go against the teaching". It's no wonder she ended up killing Shidou, especially if it turned out that Mahiru died before he did, which means Amane would consider her early death to be his fault.
Kotoko, there's not much to do about her. We first judged for her crime alone, and that is it. Based on what we saw, she killed someone who did, indeed, deserve to die (and that crime already was judged outside of milgram). Her actual reason for being in Milgram is, without a doubt, someone else's death, who's death she blames herself for (since, for Milgram, you don't actively have to commit a murder or even admit you feel guilty, you can simply believe something is considered a murder, example. Yuno case, or feel like you're responsible for their death, example. Fuuta, Mahiru and Kazui), but we haven't seen that in MV (yet). There was no way we could have known she'd start beating up people who were voted guilty if we voted her innocent. Putting her through further punishment now to try to get her to learn that what she did is bad will not work, just like with Muu. It's pointless, and she's not facing proper consequences (and she likely never will because another guilty might get her killed, which won't make up for violence she inflicted on prisoners that resulted in one eventually dying, but an inno will result in her being freed from milgram, where, again, she'll never face consequences for that violence because it happened inside milgram).
For Mikoto though, I think we should finally vote based on his crime. So far, first voting was because people thought he was faking DID (despite the fact that it was plainly explained to the audience that he definitely does have it, and the way milgram works makes it impossible to fake DID since it differentiates each alter as its own soul), and he got voted guilty for this. Second trial, we voted him inno to, well, basically "fix" his DID (and it didn't fix shit, we just forced John into going dormant, which, surprise surprise, turned out to be horrible and is making Mikoto suffer even more now). He's literally the only character we were voting based on his disorder rather than actually judging him. I'd personally want him to be voted innocent so that he could have a proper trial outside of milgram.
Hi anon! Never apologize for entering my ask box. It’s open to all. And I love listening to rambles, because I ramble so much myself. It's nice hearing others do it too.
First thing first, holy crap that was an amazing catch by you about Amane. I didn’t even think of Amane’s verdicts like that. We have no idea what or how much of our collective thoughts the prisoners, especially the ones voted Guilty, hear/feel. Since Jackalope described their beliefs being rejected, it may be reasonable to assume they only hear the bad, while the ones voted Innocent may hear bits of everything, the good and the bad. But, even though they can hear us, for the Innocent, the decision to accept or reject our thoughts is theirs, while the Guilty seem to have to rely on their mental fortitude to reject the bad feedback.
Let me start with those voted Innocent during Trial 1. Haruka and Muu both highly value and covet validation, so it’s no surprise that they would accept our affirmations without much thought. Yuno voiced her disgust with being seen as pitiful and being forced into prostitution and corrected it. Shidou and Kazui were also voted Innocent and rejected what we thought of them. Kotoko was probably going to do her thing regardless of our vote, because she believes Es doesn’t have it in them to punish the Guilty right. I think her Innocent verdict during Trial 1 emboldened her to go as far as she did. If she was Guilty Trial 1, then someone else would have acted negatively in-between Trials 1 and 2, and she could have been an acting force against any chaos and used that to bargain for her fang position, stressing to Es that her freedom of movement needs to be maintained like Shidou had argued. Someone was going to be a bad actor in-between Trials, if only to up the stakes like Kotoko was able to.
But back to the pushback for the Guilty prisoners. Mikoto doesn’t discuss what the voices told him, and that’s probably because he doesn’t get the chance to. His second audio drama is mostly John and Es talking, rather than Mikoto. Fuuta is quick to point out that Kotoko told him that Es’s forgiveness gave her the sanction to beat him to a pulp. But his focus is more on Kotoko’s violence and Es’s hypocrisy, and so we only get a tidbit of him listing a few things the voices told him, “Countless voices, judging me with all sorts of words… just for interest, just for fun, just because they don’t like me.”
Mahiru also mentioned hearing the voices between Trials 1 and 2, “Voices saying I couldn’t be forgiven.” And like Fuuta, she does question why she can’t be forgiven. She takes it a step further and says, “To not forgive me is to take the act of loving away from me. That’s the same as not being alive,” and, “So… if this love isn’t allowed, then I don’t mind dying.”
Amane seemed to be the most resilient, because of her repeated rejections of what the voices told her. What we do hear of what the voices told her are things we know she hates: pity because she is a kid. Amane was very vocal about hating that kind of treatment back in Trial 1. I was so focused on her outside rejection of pushback on her religious beliefs, I totally neglected the idea that she may have internalized that we agreed with her punishment. Like damn… that’s a sucker punch right in my heart’s gut.
But I skipped over what you first said. Questioning how symbolic the sprites are compared to reality is a good idea. Like there is currently no way for Muu and Kotoko to independently eat, drink, or even use the toilet with how their restraints are now. That or Milgram managed to remove their need for that, but someone surely would have said something by now, right?! And seriously, how did Haruka manage to kill himself? Could he have starved himself to death in Milgram? But if Milgram could remove your ability to act or experience a biological function like menstruation, surely, it can remove the need for food and drink and restroom needs. And his hands were most likely restrained, so he must have had to get creative to do it.
Now, about voting this time around… other people have said this, and mine is probably not going to be anywhere near as elegant. I know the fandom is pretty global, but growing up, did you ever hear the phrase, “You just lost the game,” from another kid? It is a dumb game that you lose simply by remembering it exists. Basically, rage bait on the jungle gym. There was no way to actually win that game, and I bring that up because I don’t think there was ever going to be a way to win Milgram. As a fandom, we can point fingers at each other all we'd like about if or what verdict or prisoner destroyed all our attempts to do damage control, but I really think that all ten prisoners were doomed by the narrative, because Milgram is not a friendly entity. No truly friendly entity would go to the degree of the restraints we've seen on the prisoners. And not just the physical ones, but the mental restraints as well. Based on what I've mentioned earlier, the Guilty prisoners can reject our rejection of them, just like how the Innocent prisoners are free to do the same to our affirmations; but, the toll it takes to do so is much higher, so it's harder for the Guilty prisoners to resist the bombardment of awfulness they get from us. To varying degrees, the prisoners have maintained their own sense of autonomy. And they will not bend to our will just because we said so, but only if they believe we said the right thing. In that respect, the prisoners have more agency than Es--their warden--does because Es gives whatever verdict we say to and then gives themself a reason for that verdict later.
And this doesn't even include considering the meta side of things. Yamanaka and others on his team have seen our comments on the music videos and across multiple social media platforms. I believe that the stakes were going to increase across trials regardless of who was Innocent or Guilty, and if it wasn't Kotoko inflicting harm on other prisoners between Trials 1 and 2 and posing a threat to others between Trials 2 and 3, then another prisoner would have been assigned the role as the bad guy. I entered the fandom late, sometime before Purge March came out, and looking back, I think that's clear. To put it more simply, at least one prisoner would have been hurt between Trials 1 and 2, at least one prisoner would have posed a serious threat between Trials 2 and 3, with at least one prisoner dying being somewhere between a serious risk and a guaranteed threat. Our choices influenced who did what and to what extent, and that while we were meant to try to mitigate the damage done, there was a degree of inevitability that something would have happened. And that's not to say, we the audience should wipe our hands clean of this. We are as much of a player in this game as Es and Jackalope. The prisoners are our pawns, and we did not do a good job of taking care of them. I know that's a strange way to put it, since calling others pawns has a very negative connotation to it, but relative to us, but we essentially played god and now we are reaping what we've sown.
So, Trial 3 voting... for the sake of not causing further harm, I want to vote all Innocent, even if I don't think I could find it in me to forgive their original murder, and this doesn't include what I think about certain people's actions in Milgram. But, I'm wary that this is going to blow up in our faces. An amendment to "All Innocent" would be "Sacrifice One or Two of the Guiltiest to Sate Milgram's Need for Justice," but that just sounds immensely cruel and will probably also blow up in our faces. I think we're damned if we do and damned if we don't, so we might as well vote "All Innocent" and pray for the best. I think it's the kindest option, so I think I want to go for it too.
My biggest worry is what will happen when the third trial is over. My final song agenda has changed from something hopeful to something more grim. The final song will most likely include Es making a choice, and I'm hoping that it's going to be a rejection of their role in response to what Milgram plans to do with the prisoners once Trial Three finishes. I think that it will involve killing the prisoners, though I'm not know if all prisoners who have been voted Guilty at least once will be targeted, or if it will be anyone who receives a Guilty verdict during this Third Trial. I don't have any basis for this, "Milgram Death Penalty Ending," but I've been thinking about Es's role after I had finally finished my Mikoto post. I think that Yamanaka has been setting Es up to make a serious decision over whether they will side with Milgram or with the prisoners. Throughout the past two trials, the prisoners have called out Es for their role in Milgram. While Es has pushed back on their criticism, most of their denial sounds weak, and it's clearly an attempt by Es to keep their conscience clean. Es believes that someone in their position should be right and just, and like Fuuta and Kotoko, Es wants to be seen as a hero, or at the very least, the good guy in this scenario, by removing themself from the prisoners' actions. Maintaining this degree of separation will fail Es once they learn of the three prisoners' deaths, and I think that this will impact Es's upcoming choice.
Es's third trial sprite shows them discarding their warden's hat and cap, as well as their gloves and key necklace (which I thought was the cord that kept their cloak on their shoulders). This gives me hope that they will waver and align themself with the prisoners. I'd like to believe in Es, because screw it, I like to believe that individuals will do the right thing, even though humanity can be an absolute cesspool of callous viruses, so I can get up and face the day. As seen when Es interrogates Haruka, Fuuta, and Amane, Es can be a petty, hypocritical bully when they are at their worst. But Es also has a moral code, a heart, and a belief that they need to see their responsibilities through to the end, so I'm hoping the good in them motivates them to side with the prisoners if Milgram forces Es to choose a side.
Throughout Milgram, there has been an emphasis on obtaining information through direct and indirect means. Jackalope has dangled a number of questions over Es's head (and ours as well) about what will happen next, only to smugly assure Es that those worries are not for the guard to concern themself with. We should just focus on the crime at hand and the judgment we think it should receive. Except, the reveal of Trial 2 pretty much drilled into us that nothing we do is in a vacuum, and we will see ripple effects that we didn't even think would happen. As we move into the third trial, I think Kazui's words from his first voice drama will come back to haunt us, "In other words, we're divided into positions of guard and prisoner, but we're both playing roles due to our lack of information."
The third trial songs are probably going to feature the most violent, selfish, and/or cruelest versions of the prisoners. Using our responses to what happened between Trials 1 and 2, Yamanaka and his team know about the fandom's attachment to their characters, and they are probably going to try to override the desire to shield the prisoners from further harm with the idea of, "Are these really the people you want to save? Do they even deserve it?" We are in for hell, and I am ready.
Innocent for all, I think. Sorry, this turned into a bit of an Es ramble. But it was awesome to hear your thoughts, anon!
