Deciphering Gleamingtempest's DRDT Character Playlist
Hello!!! For those of you not in the know, @gleamingtempest recently posted a fan-made DRDT playlist with one song for each character in the same vein as the one @venus-is-thinking and I made a year and a half ago. Both because I was tagged directly and because it saddened me that I wasn't able to participate in the Tetro Pink one (due to not having watched Tetro), I, of course, wanted to throw my hat in the ring this time around! Although, because I want to get this post out quickly due to other obligations, I will be trying to keep this one relatively short and sweet. Relatively. We'll see how quickly that gets out of hand.
Thanks to Gleamingtempest for putting this fun puzzle together! If you want to play for yourself, make sure to give all of the songs a listen before reading my analysis.
Spoilers for DRDT through the end of Chapter 2, and CW for mentions of self harm and various ways to die.
I know I said short and sweet, but it wouldn't be an accirax post without a couple of disclaimers up top.
I saw that Pawsmos shared their own interpretation of the playlist in the notes of the original post, but I haven't actually read them yet! This analysis is all my own. I very much look forward to seeing what Pawsmos deduced after writing all this out, though ^_^
There will likely be some times in this post where I critique a song assignment, possibly calling it "a bad fit" or "not making sense," when that song assignment actually turns out to be accurate. Please understand that, in those instances, I'm not at all critiquing Gleamingtempest, their song choices, or their character analyzing skills. Most likely, I'm just calling my own logic or shots called bad. And even if I wind up disagreeing with some of the assignments, I still 100% respect Gleamingtempest's interpretations as different but equally valid to my own, and the work she put into making this playlist.
Obviously, Venus and I are the only people to have ever made a playlist analysis post like this (/j). But, if someone had made their own playlist analysis post, perhaps for Danganronpa: One Shot's official character playlist, I could imagine that they might have decided to include a number ranking displaying how confident they were about each assignment. That clever-yet-nonexistent person would have had a good idea, so I'm going to steal it.
(^I'm so sorry to everyone who hasn't read FF's DROS playlist analysis post, that bit was probably very confusing if you weren't caught up with the quote unquote lore 😅)
Okay, now let's go!
Alien by Lebanon Hanover: Levi Fontana
Confidence rating: 7/10
Alien is a song about someone who feels like they'll never fit in with their peers, which certainly fits Levi and his lack of remorse towards... most things in life. Mentions of a "brutal town" (likely matching Levi's rough upbringing) and how "small talks simply have no relevance" (which could fit with Levi's admittance that he doesn't really care about anyone in the killing game) also feel fitting along those lines. Things like pondering if anyone would notice his disappearance and keeping a "delighted face" work a little bit less, but they're easy to overlook in service of the major themes and fitting vibe. Plus, for Levi, things like the delighted face and "laughing at jokes of you" could just be an exaggeration of the typical pleasantries people are supposed to display when chatting with one another.
I'm pretty confident that this is Levi's song, especially because I'm not completely sure which other song he would pick up if this isn't his. However, I know that Nico also deals with feelings of alienation from their peers, so I wouldn't find it too hard to believe that Alien is Nico's and I'm just missing signs of Levi elsewhere.
curtain call by KANKAN: David Chiem
Confidence rating: 8/10
Apologies that this entry doesn't have any actual lyrics quoted in it; the music video itself seems to be the only source of English-translated lyrics online and I'm too lazy to skip around in the video and write stuff out :P
curtain call depicts a person who seems pretty detached from life and their perception of themself. They call themself meritorious and applaud themself for committing a "perfect crime" in one breath, and call themself a cynical puppet in the next. This matches up perfectly with David's ping-ponging "strategic evil genius" and "manipulative scumbaggy piece of shit" self-interpretations. The mention of being reborn near the end of the song also reminded me of the "secondary delayed introduction" from the infamous LGI MV.
Also, I mean... this song just oozes David energy all over it. The fact that it's called curtain call and mentions actors was already going to make me think of someone dealing with showbiz, AKA either David or J. The person in the video straight up looks like David down to the hairclips, and my choice of sprite in that header image was 100% intentional. And, furthermore, the character in the video puts on a mask around the 1 minute mark of the song that looks like the mask shown in Undead Enemy? Which I know that Gleamingtempest and I at least both believe is David's song on the official playlist???
The only reasons why I put this one as low as an 8 are that 1) 10/10 is only for songs that have been outright confirmed already, 2) the fact that I can't view all of the lyrics at once next to each other is making it harder for me to get a wholistic view, and 3) there are some other songs on which David could be kinda helpful, and if those are where he actually belongs then this could go to someone else. Not entirely sure who, though. J, maybe...?
Butcher Vanity by FLAVOR FOLEY: Veronika Grebenshchikova
Confidence rating: 10/10
I've seen a lot of DRDT characters drawn in the style of Butcher Vanity's MV-- J (likely due to Hayley's wonderful cover), Arturo (likely due to Lucius' wonderful cover), Arei, Veronika, and, just now, Min, while I was looking for the two aforementioned covers! However, I've always been of the opinion that, of the DRDT cast, this song easily fits Veronika best. And, I know for a near-fact that Gleamingtempest agrees.
Can't beat my memory on this o-- wait, fuck, you had Hu on Bitter Medicine and Teruko on TrusT here as well? Ohhhhhhh no, that's going to make the rest of my post really wrong. How did I miss that...?
Um, well, I guess I'll remain with my original assignments, since switching it now feels like cheating and reassembling so much of the playlist would take me a very long time, since I'd have to remake my graphics and fight all my original assumptions. You'll just see it reflected in the confidence ratings, I suppose 😅 This is not a bit btw this is a 100% genuine revelation)
Getting back on track, the mix-up of love and violence in this song perfectly fits our killing-game-stanning queen, and the frequent expression of others telling the singer to tame their impulses only for the singer to celebrate them is very reminiscent of Veronika dealing with her need for heart-pounding excitement. A horror fan would call a bleeding, cut-out heart an "aortic work of art," wouldn't they?
This is Home by Cavetown: Hu Jing
Confidence rating: 0/10
Immediately jumping into an assignment that I now know is wrong, here's Hu with This is Home! Well, here we can take a look at where I went wrong. I liked this song for Hu because, even if she isn't as notably focused on defeating the killing game as, say, Eden or Xander, she's still someone who tries very hard to be a force of good in the killing game, and her desire to be of use to people made me see her as the type to promise to help everyone escape (even if she didn't have a specific plan).
While the lines about cutting one's hair and hiding one's chest have a pretty clear trans interpretation (and Hu is not canonically trans at this time), I found it natural to connect those things to Hu's known history of self harm. Although self harm and body dysmorphia/negativity don't always go hand in hand, I, at least, could picture a world in which the blades used to cut Hu's hair were misused for other purposes, which would perhaps lead Hu to hide injuries on her chest.
Lastly, I felt that the "get a load of this monster" section reminded me of Nico, while the "get a load of this trainwreck" section reminded me of David: two characters with whom Hu's characterization is tightly intertwined. Might just be a me thing, but when I assign songs to characters, I often let them have sections singing about other people when those characters are 1) related to the singer in a meaningful way and 2) doing something important, like attempting to kill Ace or blowing up the Trial. Here, I thought Hu might have been doing the same thing.
I was never super confident in this choice, which retroactively makes sense, because it was wrong. On my first listen, I wrote it down on my whiteboard as "Xander? Hu???" However, looking at it again, I wouldn't be surprised if this one is just Nico themself. That would make the trans-coded parts make more sense, and then the "get a load of this monster" section could just be Nico talking about their own perception. The "get a load of this trainwreck" could I suppose still be about David, but it would probably also just be about Nico and the star mention would be a red herring. I'm still not so sure that Nico would be the type to be committed to getting "us" out of here (as opposed to just getting "me" out of here), but perhaps that's just a difference in opinion. Or, maybe it really was Xander all along. Or someone else who I haven't even thought to consider yet! :O
Tongues & Teeth by The Crane Wives: Teruko Tawaki
Confidence rating: 0/10
And, we follow This is Home up with another song that I now know is probably wrong, Tongues & Teeth! I still think it fits Teruko very well, though...
Tongues & Teeth's singer very clearly has poor self esteem. They describe themself as sharp-tongued, dangerous, destructive, greedy, and ruinous, and try to ward off a potential romantic interest(?) with depressing omens of their future together. However, they seem to have at least one soft spot deep down, as they acknowledge that, if the other person is truly willing to accept them for all of their faults, they too would be willing to enter a relationship.
Due to Teruko's luck, her "break[ing] your pretty things" and "wring[ing] you dry of everything" is both literal and accurate. If you spend a long time around Teruko, she believes that you will be negatively affected by her luck in some way. Such luck also caused Teruko to be distrustful and hurtful throughout the majority of Chapter 2, hence the sharp tongue and "not being a vessel for your good intent". I could certainly see her giving this warning to Eden or Min, or possibly Xander or Charles as well.
However, with the heads up that Teruko's song is very likely TrusT, I have to consider other options. Obviously, Mai is always a big mystery, and if she's another Lucky Student with a similar effect to Teruko, then she could have gone through similar things. Teruko is also far from the only character with self esteem issues, so this song could be attributed to someone like Xander, David, or Rose instead. Disregarding the rest of the list, I might pick Xander for this song out of those options...? See, this is why I decided to not totally rework everything, I don't know what I'm doing anymore ;-; (/lh)
Hello, World by Louie Zong: MonoTV
Confidence rating: 9/10
Unless someone else is going really hard on the robot analogy, this is easily MonoTV's song. It's a song about a robot being brought into the world, and pondering its purpose and capacity for emotion. This mirrors MonoTV's scene with Teruko in which it reflects on what it was made for ("does a toaster know why it toasts?"). The little robot in the music video even looks like MonoTV, with the simple white face on top of a flat blue background.
There are a couple of students who suffer with feeling different from/less than humans-- David, Nico, and Levi, off the top of my head-- who could absorb this song. However, I'm not really sure what else MonoTV would pick up in the interim.
MonoTV getting a Louie Zong song, and Rose's official playlist song being Cartoons (which I think pretty much everyone agrees on)... ROSE MASTERMIND CONFIRMED?! (/j)
Waiting for the Joy by The Staves: Rose Lacroix
Confidence rating: 6/10
I think this song fits Rose pretty well, I'm just shaken about most of my placements now so my overall confidence is low lol
Anyways! Ever since Waiting for the Joy opened on "I've been asleep for a week and I don't know / Where I've been," I had it pegged as an option for Rose. Then the song went on to describe a person who's trying their hardest but can't manage to find any happiness in their life, and... well, that certainly didn't dissuade me from my original Rose opinion. "Tell me what to do and what to do it for" is a highlight, as it mirrors the way that her entire artistic output is under the jurisdiction of the Spurlings, so that she can attempt to pay off her debt. "And my hair got long" also reminded me of Rose being able to call out minute distinctions in her physical appearance in the Prologue.
That being said, on the whole, this is a pretty generic song about depression, so it certainly could belong to any of our other sad folks of the cast. Still, the passiveness presented in this song makes me think of Rose, and her tendency to take a back seat in her own life.
Still Waiting by Sum 41: Xander Matthews
Confidence rating: 4/10
It makes me giggle that Waiting for the Joy and Still Waiting wound up next to each other in the shuffle. It makes it sound like they're talking to each other :)
At a first glance, I think that Still Waiting seems like a clear choice for Xander. The punk rock sound is something that I associate with the Ultimate Rebel, and the way that the singer calls out the hatred and injustice in the world also feels befitting of that title.
However, when you actually take a look at the lyrics, the singer doesn't really... do anything about those injustices? They continuously ask if they're still waiting, but they never challenge themselves to take a stand about it whether their answer is yes or no. In fact, they keep saying things like "Can't find hope to believe in" and "We're in a war that can't be won," which seems to be the exact opposite of Xander's belief that major systems can be changed. On my first listen, I thought that the song would resolve with the singer deciding to fight on despite lacking hope in the world, but that resolution never came. There's no actual rebellion presented in the lyrics.
Ultimately, I left Xander here because I wasn't sure who else wanted it. Maybe David or Ace? But now that I know that a lot of my list is objectively wrong, I'm as unconfident as ever that this is correct. I guess I'm Still Waiting for inspiration to strike here :P
Death Anxiety by Bleeding Through: Ace Markey
Confidence rating: 6/10
I mean, the title really says it all. Ace has anxiety, is dead, and had anxiety about the concept of being dead. What more could you want?
I like the way that the song mentions a lot of different ways that someone could die (flames, buried alive, cancer, one million knives, etc) and how that mirror's Ace's execution. I also think that, given the references to "walk[ing] with the dead" and "eternal sleep await[ing] me underground," it would really make sense for this song to go to one of our four (five?) dead options, which, again, Ace is one of.
That being said, in a killing game, surrounded by death on all sides, it would be pretty understandable for anyone to be worried about dying. "Every night I fear is the last with you" also strikes me as a little strange for Ace. I would have to imagine that line would be targeted at Levi, but even so, I don't think Ace would be willing to admit that so candidly, if he even felt that strongly about it in the first place.
If I were to hand this song off to someone else, it would probably be Charles, given his necrophobia and his greater proximity to/care for a couple of his fellow students. Still, the fear of death is one of if not the defining characteristic of Ace, which is what makes me think that this would land in his court.
Pollyanna (I Believe in You) by Catherine Warwick: Eden Tobisa
Confidence rating: 8/10
This song is so cute, and pretty much perfectly encapsulates Eden's life philosophy! The song even acknowledges the Terukos of the world with the line, "You may say I'm a fool, feelin' the way I do." Pollyanna is about someone with a knack for finding the beauty in the world, and choosing to channel that energy into believing in the people around them. It even has a reference to time near the end, for all the Ultimate Clockmakers out there.
I'm fairly confident that this is Eden's song, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if she was assigned the similarly optimistic Shelter later down in the playlist, instead. I also noticed that this song is apparently from the Mother/Earthbound series, so, I'm not sure if I'm missing any context there? But I believe that I can get at least a couple of songs on this playlist right, and that's why I believe in this!
Carousel by CJ the X: J Rosales
Confidence rating: 1/10
That 1/10 isn't related to any of the earlier shakeups; Carousel was sadly just my "process of elimination" pick of this playlist. Personally, I wasn't able to pick up vibes of any DRDT characters from this song, and I also didn't feel like J fit many of the other songs on the playlist. Thus, these two wound up together...? I'll try to defend my choice as best I can.
First of all, lines like "Perfect circumstance to write" and "You're a star, name your price," as well as the additional context of CJ the X being a music producer/YouTuber themself, made me associate this song with working in a creative and/or performance-based field. J fits both of those boxes. The line I highlighted on the banner image could also definitely be about Mariabella, as it's said with the same bluntness that J uses to insult her greatest foes.
However, that's about where my associations end. "Everything will be alright / Darling hold on tight" comprises many of Carousel's lyrics, but it's a placating sentiment that I don't think fits J's hotheaded tsundere nature very well. The whole second verse, the part about "Reminisc[ing] about your hand in mine" also doesn't have a clear target thus far in J's story. Out of the options, it would probably be Arei, but saying "You're too kind, I am a disease" about their relationship seems a little silly.
My other main contenders for this song were David (but I decided that I liked it better with David on curtain call and J here) or Whit (but the other song that I put Whit on didn't seem to match J at all). In the end, J and Carousel were the ones I turned into my dump stat. I think I'm just missing a piece of the puzzle with this one, so I won't dwell on it any longer.
TrusT by half alive: Charles Cuevas
Confidence rating: 0/10
See, this one being wrong makes sense to me, because I actually wanted to give TrusT to Teruko, but I thought that Tongues & Teeth fit her so well that she couldn't possibly go here instead. Hence, I put Charles on TrusT as a sort of "lesser Teruko." So, I can kinda claim a partial victory on this one, at least :,)
Still, I think there was a definite argument to be made for Charles here. TrusT is a song about someone who doesn't want to trust in others, but ultimately is kind of forced to due to being in an actually healthy relationship for once. Trust is a deep ocean, but one that the singer knows that they're supported in. Trust is an old, tall tree, difficult to cut down and known for weathering the seasons. "How sweet, the taste of certainty / The gift you gave is safe with me"-- over and over again, they reiterate that, even though they're afraid, they've actually found something that they can trust in for the long haul.
While trust as a theme is more integral to Teruko's character, Charles appears to be farther along in his arc of learning to rely on and let his walls down around people. So, the assurance present in this song could have reflected that further step of growth. Similarly, I think that, at this point in the story, Charles is closer to having a true trusting relationship with Whit (or at least admitting to it; see Chapter 2 Episode 3) than Teruko is with Eden, or anyone else.
However, I'm just nitpicking to defend my initial assignment. I think that TrusT is an excellent predictive pick for Teruko, and that by the end of the story this will match her development to a tee. I just now have to figure out if I can shove a Charles-shaped peg into a Tongues & Teeth-shaped hole...
Bitter Medicine by The Crane Wives: Nico Hakobyan
Confidence rating: 0/10
I just realized it was both of the Crane Wives songs that I initially messed up. I'm sorry, Crane Wives.
The beginning of the chorus is the main thing that initially drew me towards Nico. Letting their complaints die on their tongue so as to not draw any hatred towards them is Nico's main character struggle of Chapter 1 and the beginning of Chapter 2, so I immediately drew a connection between that occurrence and these lyrics. "Stolen sympathy / For all my worst mistakes" also reminded me of how Ace was blamed for what went down in the Gym, even though Nico was the one who was actually out for blood.
However, the whole "worst mistakes" thing fits with Hu's hidden quote super well, and I did think that "Don't look up to me / I'm not as tall as you think" was a little off for Nico. Nobody ever really looked up to them, and similarly, they never promised to get everyone out of the killing game, be a great emotional support, etc. Hu, on the other hand, does want others to rely on her, yet might feel guilty for asking them to do so due to her lack of faith in herself.
I do think that the titular "bitter poison" aspect fits Hu a bit worse than Nico, given that Hu's two biggest moments thus far have been 1) chastising Ace and 2) chastising David. That doesn't sound to me like she's "keep[ing] the worst of the words in" :P But, now that it's been pointed out to me, I do think that this is a really solid choice for Hu! On top of some very fitting lyrics, the general vibe matches her pretty well too.
But Not Kiss by Faye Webster: Whit Young
Confidence rating: 3/10
This song has very few lyrics, and even fewer when you discount all of the "Yeah, yeah"s. Therefore, I am relying a lot on the fact that the song has "kiss" in the title to assign it to the Ultimate Matchmaker.
The best part of this song for Whit, in my opinion, is the "I hope you're okay" segment, which I highlighted in the banner image. It shows that, while he does care about others, he's worried enough about drawing out negativity that he chooses inaction. It's very "bitter things go down the drain" of him.
The rest of it... well, it's a bit of a stretch, but we know from Whit's profile that he's been unlucky in securing a romantic partner for himself. Whether that's just a facet of his personality or a hidden part of his talent, it's possible that his prior bad experiences with relationships would lead to him keeping someone he really likes at a distance, and thinking things like "You're all that I have but can't get."
However, Whit wound up here because I wasn't entirely sure who would go here in his absence. I think that Charles, Min, or David could have relationships that you could interpret as doomed romantic interest. Now that I've had a bit longer to think about the implications of Teruko TrusT, I think my overall shuffle might be
Charles -> But Not Kiss
Whit -> Carousel
J -> curtain call
David -> Tongues & Teeth
? (I didn’t double check that very hard.) Although then I have to get rid of David curtain call, which I liked a lot. I don't know.
Let me reiterate that I am having a fun time, though! I'm just struggling within that fun 😅 and hoping that I'm not coming off as too much of an idiot.
by x0o0x: Min Jeung
Confidence rating: 2/10
I'm glad that I was already mildly aware of x0o0x's shenanigans before seeing this list, because the lyrics would have been really tricky to look up otherwise, lol. Anyways, this is going to be my longest entry, so strap in. Also, Genius Lyrics refers to this song as Slash, so I'm just going to call it that so that I have a word to use.
I was really struggling to interpret this song-- beyond just "I'm invisible at the train station"-- before I noticed that, on the Vocaloid Lyrics Wiki, this song was inspired by the Japanese horror story, "Kisaragi Station." Hilariously, I was already somewhat acquainted with the story due to the Garupa Pico episode, "Mashiro Station," but that's neither here nor there.
The urban legend follows a schoolgirl named Hasumi who accidentally falls asleep on the train home, and wakes up in a station she's never heard of before. The story is told through Hasumi's POV, posting on social media about her experiences. She tries looking around for people, but no one is there, and she tries calling for help, but no one can find the station on any maps. Eventually, she hears drums and bells, and finds an old man with one leg yelling at her from the train tracks. Hasumi tries to run away into a tunnel, injuring herself, and reports that she's found a person willing to help lead her to safety. However, said person wouldn't tell her where they were going, and started muttering mysteriously. The story ends with Hasumi saying that her battery has run out, and then she's never heard from again.
With that context, the lyrics of Slash make a lot more sense. However, I actually don't think that the lyrics are trying to be a perfect retelling of the story. I think that x0o0x is riffing off of the original structure to tell a new story.
In the first stanza, the singer arrives in the station, and someone comes out of it. Originally, I thought this was in reference to the one-legged man-slash-ghost, but he was on the tracks. Instead, this is a divergence point from the original story: Hasumi tried to look in the station and no one was there, but there are people in the singer's station.
Therefore, my interpretation of this song is not that the singer has arrived in Kisaragi Station, but that they're so afraid of being sucked into a story like Kisaragi Station that it impacts how they behave in regular life. If Hasumi's troubles started when she questioned the station, and she got injured when she was trying to run away, then the singer won't do either of those things, and instead stay completely stationary so that nothing scary can happen to them. In essence, the singer chooses to sacrifice their personhood by making themself invisible and avoiding talking to anyone to avoid the possibility of anything hurting or scaring them. They refuse to take a chance on anything.
That's why there's the lyric, "The truth is, I want you to come meet me." Unless this is just a horror fanatic who secretly wants to be abducted by a ghost (which I suppose would be fitting for Veronika, lol), there's no reason why they would want the ghost to approach them. Instead, I think this is something inside the singer knowing that all of the people around them are likely harmless, and seeking connection with them.
In the end, the singer gets what they want: for no one to acknowledge them, so they basically disappear, and no one will ever come to talk to them. But, once they're finally, truly alone, they realize that they should've stopped that with all they can muster.
For Min, I associate this with her relationship to Hope's Peak and/or XF-Ture Tech. Via the end of Chapter 2, it really seems like XF-Ture Tech was involved in the creation of the killing game somehow, which would make Min aligned with the very thing that ultimately killed her. Therefore, you could say that Min is a schoolgirl who wound up in a dangerous location (XF-Ture Tech), but was so afraid of making any of her powerful compatriots angry that she fully retreated into the inoffensive, obedient Ultimate Student to avoid any consequences for rebellion. However, in the end, she wishes that she had spoken up and made friends with her classmates, because the consequences of bending to the fear of XF Tech's wrath were just as bad or worse than what would've happened if she'd tried to lead her regular life.
Anyways, that's my very long-winded explanation for why I didn't give Slash to Mai! There's a very obvious interpretation here where you just put the mysterious, missing, probably dead girl on the story about a mysterious train station in which a girl goes missing and probably dies, but... well, there was another song I really wanted to give to Mai. I'm fully willing to admit that I'm probably wrong here, but in my heart, Mai has a different song, and Min lands here.
Alien Blues by Vundabar: Arturo Giles
Confidence rating: 6/10
Much like But Not Kiss, Alien Blues doesn't have a lot of lyrics, especially if you don't count all of the "Na-na-na"s. I'm also not entirely sure what this song means in the big picture, but it has a lot of individual lyrics that fit Arturo well.
First off, "I'd do anything for you, Mrs. Highness" can obviously be about J. Now, we all know that Arturo wouldn't actually do anything for J, because if he did then he'd leave her alone, but it still fits with his devotion to celebrity. "My teeth are yellow, hello world / Would you like me a little better if they were white like yours?" fixates on appearance as a signifier for worth much like Arturo does as the Ultimate Plastic Surgeon. It also has the added benefit of talking about Arturo's mouth, something he's always kept hidden (potentially out of insecurity). The "I need to purge my urges" section I put on the banner makes sense with Arturo's feelings towards Felicity. He attacks Eden when she merely brings up Felicity's death to seize a violent outlet for the guilt he feels for letting Felicity die.
Yeah! I think this song and Arturo are a good match, but since I don't understand what the song is overall trying to say, I wouldn't be surprised if this was meant for someone else. That being said, I don't really have anyone else in mind for this song, or anywhere else I'd like to send Arturo, so...
Shelter by Porter Robinson: Mai Akasaki
Confidence rating: 5/10
This is the song I really wanted to give to Mai!!! Thus far, everything we know about Mai points to her being an awesome person who everybody loves. And, she seemingly returns that love to everyone around her: the whole premise of the Bonus Episodes thus far is Mai spending time with and comforting her classmates, and the quote combo of "A girl with many friends" (Whit) and "Everyone confided in her" (Nico) proves that idea as well. Hell, Hu's quote, "A girl who wanted to keep everyone safe" is literally about Mai giving everyone shelter!
And, it's not like supporting everyone else is the only connection that Mai has to this song, either. Lines like "Have you noticed I've been gone?" and "And they won't need to know our names or our faces" directly allude to the fact that the singer isn't amongst the person/people they're singing to, just like Mai. The whole "you'll be watching over us / Until you're gone" part gets a little confusing in the pronouns-- it'd be cleaner for Mai if it was "I'll be watching over you / Until I'm gone" but the general sentiment of the lyrics still makes sense.
I'm very impressed that we've managed to have two incredibly Mai-coded songs (Shelter and Slash) on this playlist, as going into it I imagined that she'd be one of the hardest characters to hit. Instead, I'm just daunted by having to choose between them! As I alluded to earlier, I do think that Eden could take Shelter in Mai's place, but that would leave Pollyanna open, which is probably an even harder slot to fill than Shelter. Perhaps I should've put Min on Shelter instead, and related it to how she protected Teruko from becoming the first victim. But, this is the arrangement I went with, and I'm happy with it! ... For now.
Primadonna by MARINA: Arei Nageishi
Confidence rating: 8/10
As someone who's been listening to Primadonna for... I think about a decade now? (yikes), I'm surprised that I never had the thought to connect the song to Arei before!
Arei's "being a girly girl is awesome!" mentality lines up perfectly with her calling herself a primadonna, and cutely claiming that "All [she] ever wanted was the world." She also embraces the duality of "I know I've got a big ego" and "I'm sad to the core, core, core," given how she acts with the others versus how she feels about herself inside. The song doesn't really reflect any of Arei's struggles with feeling like she's a uniquely and irredeemably bad person, but... does it need to? I don't think so!
While Arei probably could go in other places, I don't know who would take on Primadonna were she to move. I guess it would probably be either Arturo or Whit, but to me those feel like stretches. This one, in my mind, is not "kinda difficult."
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And, that's the end of my analysis! This whole post turned out very different than I thought, given that I learned that four of my assignments were dead wrong partway through, but I hope it was still an enjoyable read! I also hope that that pivot didn't make what I wrote come off as me trying to argue with Gleamingtempest that her choices were wrong, because that was not at all my intention! I just thought that it would be more interesting to hear my original thoughts on how I would've assigned the songs than to fully conform to the correct answers and just reiterate what she was probably already thinking.
Thank you again for the fun puzzle, and I look forward to learning what the true full list is! Take care.
LET’S FUCKING GO!!!! We’re so back. And the first draft is already at the trial? Awesome.
Also is David genuinely going to go back to his speaker act like Trial 2 didn’t happen? That’d be extremely funny. I have to imagine it’s not so simple but this screenshot is still hilarious out of context. David what are you doing.
Okay so as you may or may not know, the Danganronpa Despair Time sprite gallery was finally updated with the newer sprites, but while I was going through it I found this.
Now I might be tripping but I don't think this one was used anywhere. If you do find where it was used then please screenshot it for me.
But if I'm not tripping and this is an unused sprite, then that's cool asf. I love seeing the content that wasn't used like this.
Mastering the EIGS Factor: A Guide to knowing who to cooperate with to survive the Killing Game (Shitpost)
Introduction
As we all know, Mxs.Pragmaticide has tried every means to prove that Whit Young is suspicious and untrustworthy as hell--based on which they designed a multi-dimensional dynamic risk assessment model that achieves fine-grained differentiation of character types through nonlinear functions and weight allocation.
Behold, the EIGS model—by ingeniously weaponizing variables like Outward Warmth (E) and Inner Warmth (I), we've cracked the code to exposing Whit's diabolical duality with the elegance of a raccoon dismantling a trash can.
Below is the complete mathematical model and usage instructions:
Upgraded Mathematical Model (EIGS)
Let four continuous variables (ranging from 0 to 5, integers or decimals allowed):
This model has several advantages. First of all, its Dynamic Nonlinearity ensures that Whit's gaping chasm between E=5 ("golden-retriever type of boyfriend! A cute and pink matchmaker!") and I=1 ("black hole of empathy") triggers a danger multiplier so explosive, it's basically Newton's fourth law: "For every smile Whit fakes, poor Charkitten's soul gets audited."
Meanwhile, Behavioral Sensitivity weaponizes metrics like Suspicious Behavior(S) and Grief Expression (G)—because nothing screams "trustworthy" like someone who makes puns about hanging and their classmates fed-to-the-wolves while muttering formulas about how to snap a person's neck under their breath.
But fear not! Our Safety Compensation Factor graciously deducts risk points for Whit's occasional "kindness" (e.g. pretending to have an eye surgery and monitoring Hu and Teruko while mentally calculating the TV show costs), because obviously, giving someone new clothes to wear in a Fangan, even if the clothes are stolen from the other party's house(poor Hu would never have expected Whit to use his three-dollar-store-thrifting abilities on her expensive Hanfu, would she?); neutralizes 0.0001% of their latent sociopathy.
Finally, Fine-Grained Classification dissects Whit's 16 personas across the Whitverse—from "Faux Altruist" to "Semi-Sentient Tax Evasion Algorithm"—proving, with spreadsheet-level rigor, that even his mid-tier evil modes outpace humanity's moral median like a Ferrari lapping a bicycle.
In conclusion, the EIGS model isn't just good—it's 666% peer-reviewed (only been seen by a writer who lives on the Western Hemisphere but keeps the same resting hours as Prag in the time zone of GMT+8 @rulanarinrush), ethically unhinged, and guaranteed to diagnose Whit's villainy faster than he can say "Aw Frig." Science!
Usage Recommendations
Congrats! Now that you've mastered the art of saying utter bullshit, deploy your Quantum-Tuned Paranoia Engine™ with the strategic finesse of Prag against any accuses that disagree to their Charxanteruwhitvid agenda: did someone just "accidentally" point their useless remote (that can't even make an elevator start running) at the lights of the computer lab where the redhair dies? Immediately boost their S to 4.9 faster than a conspiracy theorist connects dots, because that person (instead of Whit Young innocently displaying yaoi with his Hispanic little boyfriend for the audiences in the far corner) is definitely the mastermind!
When resources dwindle to "dirt on the ground and the aromy in the ballroom," redefine alliances like a billionaire redefining "middle class." Set your cooperation threshold to Danger<30—After all, you're so hungry now that there's nothing left to eat. As long as the other party isn't some blue-haired psychotic policeman screaming "justice" while pointing a gun at you; everying is negotiable. Remember: In the hunger games of trust, you're both Katniss and the tracker jackers.
Also, to cloak your inner Moriarty, calibrate E=3, I=3, G=4, S=1—achieving the charisma of a slightly damp sock and the menace of a spoon. This renders you invisible to both Eden Tobisa and Veronika Grebenshchikova, like a LinkedIn profile optimized for witness protection.
Pro Tip: If your Danger score ever dips below 1, congratulations—you've either become Gandhi 2.0 or a sentient doormat. Either way, update your will.
Final Notes
Please calculate with real-time data as the game progresses—your survival probability is directly proportional to the model’s rigor. Now, survive! (Unless you’re Whit Young, because your fate is doomed to be impaled by spikes like Chiaki Nanami or that boy in Forever Dead while you are left dying alone!)
Credits&Peer Review
Let's take a moment to bow down to Rula, whose sleep schedule is so inverted it makes bats look like morning yoga enthusiasts. Without their caffeine-fueled midnight cackles, this formula would just be math, not a masterclass in weaponized absurdity.
Then there's my data-obsessed irl accomplice Mxs Cai, who, upon seeing my Whit's E=5/I=1/G=0/S=4 rating, immediately tried to run a regression analysis. As the saying goes:
"Any equation can be a banger if you gaslight people into believing it."
— Sun Tzu, probably
The thought of an emotionally unstable teenager writing up emails to the UTP.......... (Of course she wouldn't send something like this. However she would be Thinking it)
kaledo-art
origamiaround
areudirty
gummygunk
ellievsbear
