Who are the top 5 people who you would argue that Kokichi is close with?
If 5 are too many people for Kokichi's standards then you can lower the number lol.
Aaaa this is such a good question!!
Firstly, I want to say during the killing game I think it was very hard with someone like Kokichi to be considered close with someone. So i'll just try to point out the dynamics that were probably significant enough for his character and why I think that dynamic would be considered "good" in Kokichi's standards.
This is mainly just my personal view so please don't attack me and thank you!
There is no particular order in this take.
I think this one is pretty self-explanatory but i'll try my best to breakdown why I think Kokichi would and could have been pretty close to Kiibo.
For starters, Kiibo is very empathetic but he isn't gulliable like Gonta. He knows where to draw the line with Kokichi's misgivings but that doesn't take away the fact that he really does acknowledge Kokichi as his own person.
He also doesn't actively antagonize Kokichi. For example: when everyone looked at Kokichi as the black sheep when he warned Gonta that being gulliable could get him killed, Kiibo was the only one who didn't see any harm in his advice.
Kiibo is a great friend to Kokichi, even though Kokichi constantly belittles him, Kiibo still tries his best to treat him with kindness.
What I really like about their dynamic is how Kiibo tries his outmost best to see eye to eye with him.
Kokichi's teases him constantly, he does that to try to push him away. Why does he try to push Kiibo away? Because someone is finally trying to break down Kokichi's true nature and it touches him and scares him at the same time, he doesn't know how to react.
In ch5, when Kokichi had already revealed he was the mastermind, Kiibo wanted to talk with him first so that Kokichi and the others wouldnāt resort to violence.
This tells us a lot about Kiibo as a character, and it tells us a lot about where he stands with Kokichi.
Kokichi didn't fully trust Kiibo during the killing game, some speculate that its because of the possibility that Kokichi thought that Kiibo could have been an elaborated robot created by the mastermind.
But that doesn't take away the fact that Kiibo's intentions to understand and befriend Kokichi are pure.
All in all, Kiibo was the only one who actually believed in Kokichi's last words while everyone swiftly brushed it off as lies.
I think its evident that Kokichi kept everyone at arms lenght because of his trust issues but I think that if a killing game wasn't a thing they would have defiently been good friends.
During the UTDP and DS games they have multiple interactions were Kiibo makes Kokichi let his guard down for a small moment.
Kiibo really would have been a necesarry friend for Kokichi to haveāsomeone who accepts him as who he is yet someone who draws the line when he goes too far.
Right now you are probably thinking: "whaaat? But she tried to kill him and she tried to kill her! How could you ever consider these two to be close?"
Allow me to quickly get that argument out of the way.
Miu didn't want to kill Kokichi just for the sake of killing Kokichi. She choose him for a reason, but it wasn't because she hated him.
Why did she plan on killing him? Because she is aware of how smart he actually is. Her two options were to kill either Shuichi or Kokichi, she choose to kill Kokichi because she has done plenty of inventions for him and it would have been much less suspicious for these two to hang out in her lab (even for Kokichi himself it would be less suspicious) than for her to tell Shuichi to help her out with an invention when they rarely spent time alone or worked on any blueprints or inventioms together besides the one with Kaede in ch1.
Not only that, but she felt regretful for what she was about to do to Kokichi and even apologized to him beforehand. She didn't mock him at all, she felt genuienly bad.
And now you're probably thinking "okay maybe Miu didn't really want to kill him just because she hates him but what about Kokichi? He could have prevented all of this!"
Actually, before entering the virtual world, Kokichi actually tests Miu's willingness to see if she would actually go through killing him. Begging is not something Miu would do so lightly considering her arrogance.
He also gave out so many hints multiple times infront of Miu, he even questioned Miu various times in the virtual world, showing her that he was aware that she was up to something and trying to make her not go through with what she wanted to do.
He also gave Gonta an open choice, he didn't manipulate him, did he direct him towards the decision? Yes. But he never forced him to do anything, Gonta killed Miu on his own free will and actively agreed with Kokichi's "killing everyone is the best choice" mindset.
Actually, after Gonta killed Miu, Kokichi was acting super angry at him during the rest of the trip on the virtual world. It's as if a part of him hoped Gonta maybe would have backed down on the plan, but Gonta actually accepted the plan with little to no hesitation.
And anyone can fight me on this but post- class trial in ch4 you can just tell Kokichi feels regretful as hell for what he did to both Miu and Gonta. He goes through the lenghts of wanting to actually get killed alongside Gonta. And before anyone tells me he was lying about that, theres so many points that prove quite the opposite.
Maybe Kokichi could have prevented her from getting killed but he would have never been able to actually stop her blood-thirst.
Alright, with all of this out of the way, let me explain why I think Miu and Kokichi was a significant bond to Kokichi himself, excluding the obvious chapter 4 ordeal.
Even during the killing game, Miu and Kokichi seemed comfortable with each other, no masks, no forced antagonism, just both of them genuinely bitching at each other and revelling in being unpleasant.
During the ch1 class trial, when Kokichi called Kaede out telling her that she did save their lives but she did exactly what the mastermind wanted in the first place, she became a puppet for the mastermind to use.
Miu actually sided with Kokichi because as cruel as his words were, he wasn't wrong. She backed him up before Tsumugi could even finish her sentence.
On another note, Kokichi is also one of the only people who is able to genuienly handle Miu's lewd insults and jokes.
While everyone else gets disgusted by her insults/jokes or shut her down, Kokichi easily just fires the lewd insult or joke back at her.
Actually, I remember someone pointing out on once how Kokichi never yells at Miu, and although this seems pretty unimportant considering he always calls her horrible sets of nicknames but thats exactly what makes all of this so sly.
Miu's demeanor completley shifts the moment someone yells at her, because of her upbriniging she isn't used to get yelled at so she actually gets shaken by it.
The fact Kokichi found a surprisingly gentler way to handle her and quiet her down shows how observant he is of others behaviors. Plus, Miu being the massochist that she is, actually doesn't mind the insults and actually sort of likes them.
Also, the fact that Kokichi who has major trust issues had to put his trust in Miu enough on the inventions he asked her to make, and also how he also trusted her enough to tell her about his plan to revolt against Monokuma.
Then theres Miu who entrusted Kokichi with her actual fears of betrayl and also how she considers Kokichi's saftey enough to warn him against working with other people, then it makes it even better how Kokichi didn't mock her fears and genuienly listened to her concerns.
During ch5, Kokichi points out how Miu's constant loneliness and unwillingness to trust others is what made her want to kill, he tells the others about the conversation he and Miu shared and you can just tell he feels regretful about what went down with the two of them.
Danganronpa DS provided us with a few interactions between the two and you can tell that they do get along in their own wierd ways.
Isn't it funny that in the DS Kokichi and Kazuichi's event, Kokichi was indirectly calling Miu better than Kazuichi while roasting her in the same breath? Pure art.
Things went down in ch4 and i'm never going to justify Kokichi for it, but lets take into account that Gonta had free will the whole entire time. Before anyone starts calling me out on victim blaming or something, let me explain my reasoning.
Kokichi did lead Gonta to the flashback light, but when Kokichi broke down the plan to Gonta, he actively agrees with Kokichi's "mass killing to save everyone" mindset.
Of course, Kokichi lead him to make a decision like that but in the end Gonta accepted it. Kokichi never blackmailed him or manipulated his thoughts, Gonta commited the murder because in the end he did think that it was the best plan when he found out the secret of the outside world.
Gonta has a moral code and knows whats right and wrong, he agreed to kill Miu with no loopholes whatsoever. Although Kokichi lead him to those murderous thoughts, he also gave him a free choice to act on them or to not act on them.
Besides, Kokichi felt crazily guilty over everything that went down in ch4. He lost his composure multiple times during the class trial, he was more eager and constantly yelling at everyone, he even went as far as yelling at Kaito, which shows how he couldn't even keep his carefree composure infront of his rival.
In the end of the class trial, Kokichi is genuienly crying and begging to be punished alongside Gonta. Theres people who think he was lying here, but I disagree greatly.
Kokichi was saying a lot of things here that didn't seem like simple lies, not to mention these crying sprites were rarely even used during earlier parts of the game.
Plus, Kokichi begging to be executed alongside Gonta actually did put his own life at risk. If Kokichi was doing all this just for the act he wouldn't have gone as far as saying this.
He has no idea if Monokuma would've denied or accepted his request since theres never been an incident like this before so why would he say something so risky if he was actually lying?
Kokichi claims he was lying about caring for Gonta so that he wouldn't attack Kokichi but thats the biggest bullshit I have ever heard in my life.
Gonta's initial reaction to realizing that he was tricked by Kokichi to do murder was literally just him in tears asking if all of this was a trick done by Kokichi. He wasn't resorting to violence and Kokichi who is hyper aware of others behaviors knows that himself, so he wouldn't have to lie to make Gonta not hurt him.
Plus, Kokichi is smart enough to know the rules of this school. If Gonta tried to be violent Monokuma would've easily restrained him.
Actually, if Kokichi wanted to strenghten his mastermind plan, he could have acted cruely minutes before the execution but he was so hurt by what happened that he couldn't even keep up his facade and compusure to do it.
And our sweet boy Gonta tells the rest of the cast to not blame it all on Kokichi. He just wants everyone to continue to stay friends, and he asks Kokichi to promise him they would all get along, Kokichi promises him that to give Gonta a sense of peace because he damn well knows these people would never try to get along with him.
Even after Kokichi's wrongdoings, Gonta still cared for him and accepted him for who he was. He always considered him a friend no matter what.
Most importantly, lets take a look at Kokichi's state after Gonta was killed.
Kokichi had never reacted this greatly over an execution, he was silent and wasn't able to regain his composure after Gonta's death, it wasn't until Maki and Kaito kept pressing him about the flashback light when he snapped.
His feelings were basically being trampled on before and after Gonta's execution. The cast instead of understanding Kokichi needed space and time to grieve they start asking him about the one thing that got Gonta killedāthe flashback light itself.
Besides Gonta and Kokichi's dynamic in the killing game, the UTDP and DS events they share together prove to us how much Kokichi estimates and cares for Gonta and how much Gonta cares back.
I would also like to quickly mention that Kokichi tells Gonta that he isn't boring which is a big compliment in his own standards.
They have a lot of significant conversations and most of them have Kokichi put his guard down for a second to express his genuine concern towards Gonta.
And although UTDP and DS aren't canon, they are still Danganronpa licensed games that are just non-despair au's. Supposedly, these games are reflections of what could've been.
This was a very short-lived dynamic but a significant one at that. Their relationship was was interesting because Kokichi gradually helped shape Kaede's perspective while Kaede inspired Kokichi.
Unlike Kaito, Kaede did take some of Kokichi's words and advice into consideration. A clear example of this is when everyone was getting memtally and physically exhausted from trying to escape from the exit and she kept on insisting to keep trying.
Kokichi is speaking for everyone here, they were all emotionally exhausted and needed a mental break.
He tells Kaede that she can keep trying on her own but that she shouldn't drag everyone down with her. He then reasonably snaps and tell her that what shes doing isn't inspiring them but strong-arming them.
That specific line strikes Kaede and she realizes she was actually indirectly harming everyone. Thanks to Kokichi snapping at her, she leveled her positivity back to a natural level.
She is one of the only characters in V3 who actively takes in some of Kokichi's words, the ones she feels that genuienly carry importance.
In the end of the first class trial, Kokichi tells Kaede a very cruel and harsh truth, he tells her how the moment murder filled her brain, she became the masterminds bait. Kaede doesn't shut down Kokichi and tells the rest that Kokichi isnāt wrong.
And lets not forget that Kokichi bestowed Kaede one of his most genuine compliments.
Believe it or not, Kaede did inspire Kokichi. Shortly after her death, he quickly started to make blueprints and requesting Miu to make inventions so that they can all work together to revolt against Monokuma and the Monokubs.
In the ch5 conversation that Kokichi mentioned that he had with Miu, he seemed pretty hopefull about the idea of working together until Miu tells Kokichi her own fears which causes Kokichi to realize that coaporation can lead to betrayl if you're not smart enough.
That doesn't take away the inspiration that Kaede fuels in him which causes him to make a complete 180 and pretends to be the mastermind to try and end the killing game, even if it means his death to follow suit.
Hear me out, I absolutely love rivals, but these two were done pretty bad in my personal opinion.
I enjoy when rivals come completley full cycle. Take Komahina's dynamic as an example, Hajime tried to understand Nagito and thanks to him being the only person who genuienly to get his true intentions, he got to solve the ch5 case based on his full understanding of Nagito.
This makes the rivalry come in full cycle, Hajime barely comprehending Nagito to Hajime finally being able to understand him which helped save him and the others.
Kaito and Kokichi's rivalry on the other hand had so much potential thrown in a flaming piece of garbage.
Kaito and Kokichi's concept at first glance seems promising, but do you know what completely crushes their dynamic? Kaito not believing in his last words.
Rivals working together in storylines is usually a way to make said characters to realize each others worldviews.
Kokichi understood Kaito since the beggining, hes very analytical of others behaviors. Kaito on the other hand, never once bothered to get to know Kokichi and brushed everything about him as lies.
Kaito and Kokichi working together in ch5 could've given us a fantastic opportunity were Kaito realizes "Shit. This guy is fucked up but he also has feelings like all of us. He was in the same situation as us and I never treated him as such. I believe in his sacrifice and last words."
Kaito and Kokichi's development was one-sided since it was only done by Kokichi who even bestows Kaito his "you're not boring after all" compliment.
Kaito on the other hand says that Kokichi's sacrifice was selfish and that everything he said in his last dying moments were a lie.
Kaito and most of the v3 cast have every right to be upset by Kokichi, but to belittle his sacrifice and last vulnerable moments was a low blow.
This is the reason why Kaito and Kokichi's was an honerable mention and not in the list, this could have been a great dynamic were the characters foil each other but it was just very one-sided by Kokichi and then Kaito just constantly hates on him and doesn't put effort in understanding him.
However, I will add that their dynamic was necesarry for the storyline, thats the reason why I even added these two here.
I would also like to mention that they had very cute moments in the DS events, they have light banter and Kaito genuienly does try to understand Kokichi in these events. There are very bittersweet "what could've been" moments.
I know people are probably mad that I put these two in a honorable mention but let me explain myself.
These two barley have any canon moments that actually are meaningful to both the characters.
Besides the "you will be alone" moment in ch4 and the "trustworthy" board on Kokichi's room this dynamic is very one-sided.
Shuichi himself wanted nothing to do with him half of the time and tried to avoid him constantly. Kokichi was the one who sort of persued to befriend him but Shuichi quickly shut him down because of his dyanamic with Kaito.
The reason they are even in my honerable mentions is because of how Shuichi's words affected Kokichi more than any other character after ch4.
When Shuichi tells Kokichi that he will forever be alone, he looses his compusure for a moment, he stutters, changes the subject and immedietly comes up with an excuse to leave. Shuichi's words evidently hit him and probably were part of the reason why he did what he did in ch5.
Kokichi having Shuichi as "trustworthy" on the board is a nice touch, but it would have been way more touching if their dynamic was actually explored more in canon. I think the reason Kokichi labeled him as "trustworthy" is because of how they all do rely on Shuichi's detective work and Shuichi never lead them to the wrong conclusion.
But the main reason I have them as an honerable mention is because of the ftes, these two had very nice ftes proving that Kokichi genuienly enjoys spending time with Shuichi, and in the ftes Shuichi actually worries when Kokichi accidently cut himself with the knife (in contrary to canon where he barely blinks an eye when Kokichi's head is bleeding in ch3).
The ftes show us a very interesting and fiery dynamic between the two that never got explored in canon.
I would also like to add the *cough* fanservice *cough* love hotel because not only did Kokichi see Shuichi as himself in the love hotel, but he also was one of the few characters that immedietly backed out when he realized he made Shuichi uncomfortable, plus can u believe that its only in the ftes and love hotels where Shuichi actually wants to know more about Kokichi? How sad tbh.
But anyways, Shuichi and Kokichi barley had any sort of dynamic in canon (the rivalry was practically unexistent since Kaito took the role as Kokichi's rival). But that doesn't take away the fact that Shuichi did impact Kokichi's character.
If you read all of this, I applaud you. I am so sorry for my long ramble but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless!
Whats your favorite Kokichi dynamic? I would love to know myself:)
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