Happy black history month! For BHM i hope ppl consider boosting or donating. while trying to legally protect myself from my abusive mother who beat me early this year, alongside general struggles with my weak body too unhealthy for work and living poor, I need a bit of support during these times
Yesterday I was physically attacked by my mother even to the point of be choked, fought with & pushed in the tub hard (hitting my head in the process). I was also repetitively grabbed, thrown around, slapped and hit. Constantly yelled out because i triggered her with a message about me needing to see a dentist sooner than the thrusday appointment she set up, which ended up bothering her in the process. I've been living in that hell hole with my abusive mother for years alongside my disabled little brother. I contacted the police three times yet nothing much happened. She was not arrested just written off with a verbal warning to "calm down and dont use violence". However what she done to me are similar things shes been doing since I was a preteen. Well even younger than that, too. While she prefers to be verbally abusive, she is very willing to be physically abusive too. For now im living with my older cousin but its definitely not the permanent plan.
I was never allowed to have a job. Or to travel on my own. Even when trying to get a job for months whether it be remote and physical or hybrid, its been hard getting one that accepts me. On top of that, my chronic anemia has been taking on me physically, makimg me feel weak and so tired. So, I dont have much money saved up for me to even help me move out the house. My paypal was put on hold so ive been trying to send verification, but nothings happen of course so ill have to call eventually. My cashup is here if anyone wants to donate. But for now I rlly dont know what to do. Im so lost and stuck. Feel so shitty from all this abuse for years
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For a week now with video evidence of physical abuse towards my little brother ive been discussing with grandma about going to the police station to file a report since trying to do a CPS report online did not work. Im hoping something will happen. This had been taking a toll on me so much I can't tmake it anymore. Good bye everyone. Im going to try figuring Stuff out in the meanwhile.
Since DRDT Chapter 2 ended, I’ve seen two prominent theory-esque ideas floating around about our current dead:
While the killers have related more to Teruko, the victims have related more to David.
The items of clothing that the killers have dropped upon their deaths mirror items that their victims are wearing.
Both, I think, are very good ideas! And yet, as far as I’ve been able to tell, no one has yet considered the implication of both being true at the same time. If victims and killers have to have matching fits, and all victims align to David while the killers align to Teruko, that’s already a ton of information we could be using to Ultimate Clairvoyant our way into stronger death predictions for chapters moving forward. But, do the two ideas actually work together, or do they crumble upon shared inspection?
That’s what I aim to figure out today.
Spoilers for the canon Danganronpa trilogy, and DRDT through the end of Chapter 2. This includes discussions of Literature Girl Insane’s Tally 5 illustration, so be warned! CW for a very brief mention of self-harm.
(Hopefully it’s okay to talk about the Tally 5 stuff publicly at this point ._. It’s been two and a half years…)
By the way, this theory is very inspired by the collective works of the DRDT fandom in its post-Ch2 era! I do not claim to have come up with either of the base premises that I’ll be exploring. However, as (in some cases) I have not read others’ theories in several months, and did not come up with a good way to save them across that time span, I don’t completely remember who exactly has been talking about them thus far 😅 At the very least, I can recommend these posts as additional reading/inspiration:
Possible connections between blackeneds by expmomento
Whereabouts of Arei’s glove headcanon sent to me by anon
But if you have discussed either of these theories before and want to be featured, please let me know and I’ll edit this post to include you! I truly want to credit as many people as I can, it’s just been long enough that I don’t have names or especially links on hand for this anymore ;-;
To kick this post off, I should start by recapping our two victim/blackened pairs thus far, and the “patterns” that led people to developing both of these theories.
Chapter 1: Xander Matthews and Min Jeung
In Chapter 1, Min killed Xander after Xander originally attempted to kill Teruko. Beyond saving Teruko’s life, Min also served as Teruko’s assistant during the murder investigation in a way that made many people wonder if Min would become Teruko’s new support character. The Class Trial disproved that idea, obviously, but that doesn’t mean it severed the girls’ connection: at the end of the Trial, just before her death, Min pulls Teruko in for a hug, breaking down in her arms. Teruko is the last person Min touches before passing away.
Teruko and Min also share some themes, and possibly, lore. Both are very smart, introverted young women whose talents don’t lead to a clear career path in the same way their peers’ do. In 2-12, Teruko references Min’s declaration that “mistakes are meant to be fixed,” solidifying that they share themes of trying to make up for their errors. And, it’s quite possible that they’re both related to altDRDT’s mysterious “Teacher”: Min reverently mentions a “him” that could be Teacher in her bonus episode, and Teruko shares a suspiciously similar color palette and protagonistic role to the guy. They could even share in relationships with XF-Ture Tech and/or Mai Akasaki, or have similar histories of failing to rescue a friend, depending on what’s revealed by the lore. We still don’t know for certain what exactly drove Min to put her life on the line for Teruko, after all.
Especially as compared to Min’s minimal connection to David, it’s clear to see how Min would end up relating more to Teruko than him. Meanwhile, given how close Xander and Teruko are, it might come as more of a surprise that Xander wouldn’t be “on her side.” Then again, she’s fighting against David, who’s been trying his damndest to stake his claim on Xander since the beginning.
David’s speech in 2-12 explaining his rationale and plans moving forward made it very clear just how important Xander is to him. Both of them are involved in doing Good no matter the cost to themselves, and idolizing their fave beyond (probably) healthy levels. They’ve both tried to harm Teruko– Xander physically, David psychologically– in the name of ending the killing game. And, they’re on opposite sides of an “obedience” theme, where Xander is the Ultimate Rebel and David is stuck playing the role of an upstanding citizen as the Ultimate Motivational Speaker.
Upon Min’s death, she drops her blood-stained jacket for Teruko, the implications of which we’ll get to in just a bit.
Chapter 2: Arei Nageishi and Ace Markey
In Chapter 2, Ace kills Arei due to his fear of the killing game and desire to escape it with his life. Originally, he was planning on killing Eden instead, but Teruko speculates that he changed course to Arei after learning of how desperate Arei was to prove herself to Eden. He also may have been jealous of Arei, as he mentions that she was a “piece of shit” just like him, but that she, at least, had the guts and the conscience to attempt to change.
While I’d hesitate to call Ace and Teruko close, they have enough in common that, especially in combination with Arei and David, we can justify Ace being thematically tied to Teruko. Both of them were betrayed by an ally at the Chapter 1 Trial, which caused them to put up a stronger shield and worse attitude as they self-isolated. Ace and Teruko are (understandably) very fixated on their own physical security: Ace is constantly worrying about the killing game killing him, while Teruko is willing to brave the killing game because it provides her more stability than her depressing prior life. They’re quick to blame external sources for their misfortune, but after doing so, feel very bad about it in regards to their self esteem.
Arei and David’s connection is crystal clear. Need I even recap it, or can I just point people to David’s flashback in 2-13? (/j) The pair have matching “good” and “evil” personas, with the good (likely) being what they prefer and the evil developed in response to the overwhelming stressors in their lives. Both of them use their emotions to manipulate others and are, in my opinion, brilliant comedians in their roasts and quips. And of course, both have very low self esteem, and want to be better people despite believing that goal impossible.
When Ace dies, Teruko acquires his jockey gloves.
A Brief Consideration of Canon
Before we dive too deep into DRDT, I think it’d be a good idea to briefly run through all of the items that Makoto, Hajime, and Shuichi acquire throughout their games, just to get a better sense of what we’re looking for. In order, this is what we’ve got:
Makoto: Despair Bat [Leon’s baseball bat(?)], Crazy Diamond [Mondo’s jacket], Super Robo Justice [Celeste’s… disguise she made for Hiro], Alter Lump [Alter Ego’s remains], Dream Island Rocket [Jin Kirigiri’s execution vehicle???], Monokuma Hair Tie [Junko’s hair ties]
*Shuichi gets a couple more items at the end of v3, but the Variety Cushion and Roulette are related to unlocking post-game bonus content, and are therefore likely not Tsumugi’s drop item. Between the Easter Egg and the Badge, I’m inclined to believe it’s meant to be the badge, especially given that it’s displayed first.
Trigger Happy Havoc is… Trigger Happy Havoc-ing as usual, in a way where I don’t think we can use it as part of the same pattern that SDR2 and v3 lay out. Clearly, they had not yet settled on the trophies being parts of the blackeneds’ outfits during that game’s development.
Between the other two games, we can see that the exact same item was never repeated within the course of one game: SDR2 boils down to Badge-Sword-Apron-Earring-Backpack-Accessory(?), while v3 gives us Hairpin-Gloves-Mask-Bag-Jacket-Badge. Although, if you count the Black Dragon Blade as either a handheld object like Junko’s phone or a carrying case like Chiaki’s backpack, this “rule” can be broken.
Items have definitely been repeated across games, though. Teruteru and Tsumugi both give badges, and if you’re counting Gonta’s insect game as a purse like I am, he and Chiaki both drop bags. Throwing THH into the mix, we’ve also got Mondo and Kaito both giving jackets and Junko and Kaede both leaving their hairpins behind.
Badge, bag, jacket, and hairpin being used multiple times across mainline Danganronpa by no means implies that these things have to turn up as loot drops in DRDT. However, we can see with these choices that the most common loot items are distinctive to each character’s look, and potentially their talent as well. Peko’s sword, Mikan’s apron, Kaede’s hairpin, Kirumi’s gloves, Gonta’s bag, and Kaito’s jacket all have pretty direct references to their talents, and I’d count Teruteru’s badge among that number as well, as I assume it’s meant as a reference to Michelin Stars.
Excluding the masterminds, our outliers are Gundham’s earring, Chiaki’s backpack, and Kiyo’s mask, all of which are very direct representations of their personalities. Gundham gets something fantastical and edgy, Chiaki gets something cute and helpful (which is possibly also meant to just be a video game character in the DR universe?), and Kiyo’s mask relates heavily to his complex with his sister.
Some of these items are also featured in the blackeneds’ respective murder plans: Peko uses her sword to get up to the beach house window, and Kirumi uses her gloves to protect her hands from her zipline’s rope. This line of thinking is also, presumably, where the THH loot comes from. Leon used his skills as a baseball player to access the trash room. The worldview and physical strength Mondo developed in the biker gang is what led him to kill Chihiro. Celeste and Hifumi created the Robo Justice suit to try to get away with their murder, and it also serves as a physical manifestation of Celeste’s lies. Chapter 4 shows us a reminder of the death of someone who just wanted to help their friends. Chapter 5 relates to how Junko has been rigging the results of these executions all along.
Lastly, it seems like the loot items seem to favor accessories– things that would be worn on top of your basic shirt, pants, or dress– as opposed to the more base layers themselves. Therefore, by studying the base games, we can deduce that its ideal present is an accessory that displays the blackened’s talent or personality, and may have to do with the way in which they committed murder.
Outfit Analysis
Finally, it’s time to actually take a look at our fashionista friends, and figure out what loot they might drop upon dying! Levi had better watch out; I’m coming for his title as the Ultimate Personal Stylist. First off, we’re going to look at our confirmed dead, as that’s more evidence than speculation. I’ve prepared some diagrams for the occasion >:)
Here’s our Chapter 1 case study. I did my best to highlight the top 3-4 elements of each student’s outfit that I felt could be turned into a trophy, although, my opinion is obviously subjective. Still, to me, some students just have better options than others, so I also tried to tier-rank the various options. Items circled in green are items that I feel are strong/likely to be trophies, orange means it’s plausible but not my first choice, and red is me scraping the bottom of the barrel.
If I had been trying to theorize as to what Min would drop after just the Prologue, I think I would have expected that her pin (which we now know is XF-Ture Tech paraphernalia) or her tie would have been her trophy. Still, the jacket probably would have been my third choice. Similarly, Xander’s jacket registered as a lower-tier option, while the eyepatch and bandana stuck out to me as more noteworthy.
It’s kind of funny that, despite actually having matching red neck garments, that’s not the option that DRDTdev went with (assuming that the relation was on their mind at all). However, given that Min’s jacket is directly murder-relevant– she used it to protect her more visible button-up from being stained with Xander or Teruko’s blood– I understand why they would have leaned towards including the jacket instead. Nothing in Min’s outfit communicates her talent or personality perfectly, so leaning in to the murder method is an understandable choice.
In terms of Xander’s jacket, this is where the Tally5 puzzle kicks in. I’m not going to put a copy of the image here, because, um… I actually still don’t understand how to solve the puzzle and therefore have no good way to retrieve the image…
To my memory, the correctly solved puzzle takes you to an image of emo David facing away from the camera with Xander’s jacket slung over his shoulders. There’s some hidden text as well, but given that I don’t think it’s relevant to this theory, I won’t discuss it further.
I don’t think it’s clear whether David actually has Xander’s jacket in real life or if the art piece is solely meant as symbolism, but it helped fuel the idea of David obtaining Xander’s jacket, at least. In canon, if David were able to get into Xander’s room, he could probably take one of Xander’s spare uniform copies from his closet. I wrote about my thoughts on entering a dead student’s room here, where I concluded that it’s plausible.
Even if David doesn’t literally own a copy of Xander’s old jacket, though, the Tally5 art implies that he spiritually has possession of it, which is honestly more similar to the manner in which Teruko has her stuff. Like, especially given that we see Teruko’s room in Chapter 2 and it doesn’t appear to have Min’s bloody old jacket in it, I doubt she’s actually going to be storing her dead classmates’ wardrobes in her room.
Chapter 1: Min’s jacket for Teruko and Xander’s jacket for David. What’s next?
Ace’s outfit is one that I don’t think has a ton of options, which makes the riding gloves stand out far and away as the best option from his character design. They very clearly relate to him being the Ultimate Jockey, and, given the flavor text that accompanies them, they seem to factor in to his trauma regarding his friend Taylor, too.
The neck bandage he acquires after Nico strangles him would have honestly been a really interesting choice, but it’s also not as much his thing as other parts of his outfit– it’s a bandage that anyone could get, and was applied more as a result of Nico’s decisions than anything Ace himself did. So, I could see it having had less of an impact when looking back on it in further chapters down the line.
The jacket comes in third because, while distinctive, it would have been another jacket after we already had a jacketed duo in Chapter 1. I will be less inclined to consider the possibility of pretty much all further jackets and gloves when analyzing the other characters because they’re already locked in for Chapters 1 and 2. I don’t think it’s impossible that they could make a comeback, but I imagine that DRDTdev would be less inclined to repeat items when they could pick something different.
For Arei, I think that her bowling ball pin or bowling glove would have been excellent choices, but to match with Ace, the glove is the easier match. The bowling shoes also could have been a thing, but I marked them as red due to, in my opinion, being a weaker option than the other two.
While Teruko got Ace’s gloves, there’s currently not much evidence to suggest that David would be in possession of Arei’s. If DRDTdev wanted to retcon this, though, it would actually be really easy, given that Arei’s bowling glove is missing from her BDA image. I swear DRDTdev confirmed on Twitter that Arei’s glove wasn’t missing for any plot reasons, but instead because they wanted to make the evidence of tape having been on her wrists more obvious, but it seems the tweet was deleted, and I can’t find any archives of it :( Source: trust me bro
Still, there are the arguments that either David could also break into Arei’s room to steal an extra copy of her glove, or that David doesn’t actually need to have a physical copy of the item for it to “count”. I actually quite like the interpretation that David “obtaining” Arei’s glove could be a metaphorical representation of him taking her hand, as we see in 2-13.
(The gloved hand is even specifically the one that can be seen in the CG!)
Chapter 2: Ace’s gloves for Teruko and Arei’s glove for David. Aaaaand Chapter 3 doesn’t yet exist in the public eye, which means that there’s no more canonical story to analyze. Instead, we enter the realm of prediction, taking an analytical eye to the character designs that exist to see what might pop up as a trophy should they be a blackened in the future.
For lack of better options, I decided to go through the characters in recap foil theory order, while skipping the characters we already talked about as well as Teruko and David themselves. Should this theory prove to be true, I think it’s very likely that both Teruko and David would turn out to be survivors, although it’s possible that David could join his own team as probably the Chapter 5 victim. If he did, he would probably drop either his hair clips, his bow tie, or maybe his suspenders, but I digress. Xander and Min eliminate themselves as a pair, while Nico and Eden team up in the absence of Ace and Arei, and Charles and Whit team up in the absence of Teruko and David.
Nico has a wealth of great options, given how cat-themed their wardrobe is. I think that their cloak or their fingerless gloves would be great drop items, with a bias towards the cloak because we’ve seen gloves before. The cat slippers would also work, but I have them ranked lower because 1) they’re admittedly a bit silly and 2) they aren’t typically visible when watching DRDT in its video format.
Eden also has a lot going on, although not in a way where I feel particularly great about any of her options. Does that mean she’ll survive…? (<- delusional) The best option is probably her toolbelt, given its relation to her talent and potential application to some sort of murderous contraption. Meanwhile, the glasses and brooch are pretty iconic parts of Eden’s design, but almost certainly wouldn’t have anything to do with her murder plan, nor do they directly convey her personality particularly well. I included the vest as a final option because of the hourglass shape on its pocket, but it’s close enough to just being her shirt that I don’t know if DRDTdev would really go for it.
Charles’ notepad and visor fit the bill remarkably well, with bonus points for the notepad because I’ll be damned if that list of weapons Whit showcased in Chapter 1 doesn’t become relevant again somehow. Latex gloves might feel like they fit the “no gloves” rule, but due to a certain Plastic Surgeon, I’ve decided to include them. Charles’ tie could also be an option, although given how non-specific its design is, I think it’s a weak one.
Much like Eden, Whit is suffering for options, which clearly means that he’ll survive as well (<- still delusional). I think his bracelets and/or rings would be the best option because they’re at least pretty distinctive, but given that they have remarkably never been heart-shaped, they aren’t a great summarization of his talent or personality.
I’d be higher up on Whit’s silly-patterned socks if they weren’t one of the things that was changed in Chapter 2’s Dress-Up Room segment. I suppose you could interpret that as the design of Whit’s socks being important enough that DRDT felt they needed to change them, but I take it as DRDTdev not initially putting too much thought into the socks’ design, such that they wanted to change them later. (The fact that Whit’s socks are not visible to the average viewer doesn’t help them, either.)
The choker could work, especially if Whit either is choked to death as a victim or chokes someone else to death as a killer. I sorta feel like it’d be hard to represent as a standalone item, though…
Veronika and Hu are both crushing it. Butterflies have had a longstanding thematic relationship with Hu, such that her hairclip would be an excellent choice to represent her. The finger picks would also be a great choice to directly show off Hu’s talent, as well as her spiritual “claws” that she brings out in arguments with Ace and David. Her hanfu belt would be an okay choice based purely on visual distinction, but it’s also by no means the most notable piece of her outfit. I’d throw in the jacket as well, if I weren’t basically cancelling all jackets.
Veronika’s eyeball hair clips are probably the most obvious loot she’d drop, and for good reason: they’re easily visible and the cleanest representation of her talent as the Ultimate Horror Fanatic. Her earring would also be a great choice, especially keeping in mind that it has sentimental value as a good luck charm from her best friend. The corset, I think, would be the best overall representation of Veronika’s taste in lolita fashion, and I also think it looks kind of vampiric, which could tie into horror. The arm coverings could also fit, especially in a world where they’re covering up her self-harm scars, although I worry about their pixellated representation in the same way as Whit’s choker.
Rose has two good options, and not much else. Her beret and her apron would both be good indicators of her career as an artist, as well as being very memorable in her overall design. As for a third option… her sneakers, I guess? If DRDTdev was intentionally trying to draw attention to them, it would explain why Rose’s shoelaces are looped around her ankles like that. They’re so weird. What a strange cookie, that Rose.
J’s options are horrible across the board, which means she’s definitely surviving (<- triple delusional). Her hoodie is probably the best choice, but it’s another jacket. Her paint-splattered T-shirt would best showcase her talent, but it’s not an accessory, like most drop items are. And, for a third option… her shoes??? Idk man, I’m just trying to come up with literally anything else. Maybe she’ll kick someone to death, and then it’ll all make sense.
Wrapping up our main cast, we’ve got Arturo and Levi. Arturo’s surgical mask would make the most sense for him, but I also think that his ID card could be a surprisingly good option. As alluded to previously, the latex gloves make a comeback with Arturo; I think that the fact that they are specifically latex gloves make them different enough from Ace and Arei to count as their own category. The last option I’m throwing in is Arturo’s little red necktie. I definitely don’t think it’d be the top choice if he were a killer, but if he’s a victim, I could see it being thrown in to match with someone else (much like Xander’s jacket).
Meanwhile, our personal stylist has so many options that it’s hard to pick any one as a standout from the others. I listed his options in the order of arm coverings, vest, tie, and earrings, but I don’t really have a strong preference on the arrangement.
Cool, now we’re done! Surely there aren’t any mysterious students hidden within the school lurking around, waiting to put their two cents in :3
The Mai Akasaki Factor
Goddamnit.
In yet another round of “post I recall seeing, but cannot find,” I remember that connections were also made between the items Min and Ace dropped and aspects of Mai’s outfit. Under the assumption that this, too, is something that DRDTdev was considering, by looking at Mai’s design, we can get a better sense for which items we should focus on when forecasting DRDT’s next three chapters.
(I’m assuming that if you’ve made it this far into the post, you already know who Mai is, by the way. If not, the details aren’t really notable to this post, other than that she’s probably dead, definitely haunting the narrative, probably the Unnamed Student from the bonus episodes, and definitely the girl that Teruko saw in her flashback in Chapter 1. If you want to know a hell of a lot more, check out this post.)
Honestly, Mai does not have a lot going on in her design. Its two most notable elements, in my opinion, are her giant braid and her flower tattoo, neither of which are eligible to be loot drops. As you can see in the diagram, I listed out the only real options her design has, of which there are only eight: hair tie, neck ribbon, button-up shirt, jacket, gloves, skirt, tights, and boots.
We’ve already done her jacket and gloves, the things that so far lend this idea credibility. I’m also not inclined to believe that the shirt or the skirt would happen, given that they are not accessories. Therefore, we narrow it down to four options to potentially be applied to three chapters: hair tie, neck ribbon, tights, and boots.
Hair Ties
If hair tie is an option, Veronika and Hu are cooked. Not that I personally really thought either of them were going to survive, but this is not helping them.
Those two are the only ones with hair ties proper (or headbands, for that matter), but you could also throw in Rose’s beret as no one else has a qualifying hat to match with hers. All of them are accessories that go on top of your head, so maybe you could stretch it. Then again, Mai’s hair tie is decisively not on the top of her head, which weakens that argument. So, maybe we’ll just consider this a duo option.
Between Hu and Veronika, I would think that Hu would be connected to David while Veronika would be connected to Teruko. Hu is probably the only character left alive that I would say is definitively more connected to David than Teruko, due to their shared leadership roles and his manipulation of her throughout Chapter 2. She's also the third one shown alongside Xander and Arei (the two current victims) during this clapping scene in Literature Girl Insane, which lands her a role in the video's supporting cast.
This option is a shame, though, because out of the rest of the non-Hu cast, Veronika is one of the people I could more easily see flipping to David’s side. I feel like I’m always bringing it up, but I personally can easily see a world in which Veronika becomes obsessed with David in the same way she is with Arturo, especially if Arturo dies before the two of them. Veronika and David also share talents in media (consumer vs creator), and are prone to behaving recklessly in pursuit of what they believe is most important.
However, that’s not to say that Teruko and Veronika’s relationship is meaningless. Veronika is one of the relative few with whom Teruko has a strictly one-on-one Daily Life scene with, the others being Charles, Xander, and Eden. (Rose gets really close twice, but ultimately the first does feature Nico and the second MonoTV.) They both have pretty conspicuous ties to the killing game (Veronika is an outward fan, Teruko has Xander assuming she was the mastermind), and won’t hesitate to make others uncomfortable in the pursuit of sharing their intel.
Assigning Hu to David and Veronika to Teruko would project that Hu would be a victim and Veronika would be a killer. It’s believable for sure, but on paper I would be a little disappointed, as I think that’s the obvious direction in which both of their characters would go. However, it being the natural choice would also make it make sense, and I won’t waste my time belittling a fangan author’s writing choices before they even transpire!
(Oh, I should also mention that David’s hair clips could belong in this category, too. So, hypothetically, it could also foreshadow Veronika or Hu killing David in probably Chapter 5).
Ribbons
Now I remember why I made a specific point to include Arturo’s necktie. It looks so similar to Mai’s, it’s crazy.
Eden has the clear second best option as well: her brooch is another ribbon hanging right above the clavicle. Better than Rose, however, I do think that Whit also belongs in this category for his choker necklace. It’s not tied in a bow like Arturo or Eden, nor is it affixed to his shirt, but it is a straight-lined decorative piece placed in about the same point of the body. Arturo and Eden is the far clearer connection, but if we want three people to, say, fill out a Chapter 3, he’s the next best choice.
There are very few matchups in which Eden would not land on Teruko’s team. The two of them have a very clearly-defined relationship that seems like it can only grow even more important come Chapter 3, as well as representing opposite perspectives on themes of trust and optimism.
Arturo, on the other hand, is a puzzle, given that he’s not particularly related to Teruko or David at the moment. Teruko has interacted with him more times throughout the story, but that’s only due to protag privilege. Meanwhile, Arturo and David have hardly talked at all, but their biggest scene together dealt with their sisters. Diana Chiem is such a mystery that it seems like there must be something greater planned for her, which could imply more sister-based content between Arturo and David in the future. In the world where Arturo and Eden are just operating as a pair, though, Arturo kind of has to go with David, so that’s what he gets for this matchup.
As for Whit, he could go both ways, much like his orientation. He’s Charles’ bestie, which makes me lean towards him joining Team Teruko by pure association. But then again, he is David’s recap foil partner, and the pair does have some burgeoning beef.
Well, in the event that we’re putting these three together in some sort of double kill scenario, it’s much more likely that there would be two victims than two killers, which would leave Whit as Eden’s victim along with Arturo. It’s the prediction that literally no one has seen coming! Which makes me doubt that it would actually happen. But we can review what we’ve learned to create the most cohesive whole at the end.
(And again, this group could also definitely include David’s bowtie, or at least what’s left of it. While Eden would remain as the killer, Whit would probably get kicked. Therefore, this could predict that Eden will kill Arturo, Eden will kill David, or Eden will kill David and Arturo.)
Tights
Oh boy, tights! The thing that I didn’t mention for literally anyone, because of how similar to pants they are! The only item of clothing I mentioned in my analysis that’s akin to tights is Whit’s socks. However Rose and, perhaps more notably, J actually do wear tights, and Veronika and Eden also have somewhat eye-catching socks.
I’ll go out on a limb (like, more than I have been throughout this post) and say that while tights or socks could be equated to Mai’s tights, it wouldn’t be a mix of both, i.e. we get J’s tights with Eden’s socks.
In the tights universe, Rose and J both read as more connected to Teruko at the moment. However, Rose’s relationship to Teruko is friendlier– Teruko helps Rose confront her traumas and shares the blame for Class Trial faults– while J’s relationship to Teruko is more adversarial. Sure, J’s tsundere bit means that some of her teasing of Teruko is likely affectionate, but her adverse reaction to Teruko pulling a knife on her was probably not.
That’s not to say that I think J and David are going to become besties, though. I just think it would be easier for someone with less of a claim to actually being Teruko’s friend to swap over to interacting more with David in the future. Additionally, J and David are closely connected to themes of fame and morality, which may be further expanded upon. Should this be the case, we would be looking at Rose killing J in the future, which is… plausible? I feel like that’s been my reaction to literally every situation we’ve come up with. Maybe I just don’t think anyone would kill.
Eden and Whit are back together again, but this time with Veronika. I’ve already spoken my initial thoughts on each of these three, so you should be able to guess that, in this situation, I would assign Eden to Teruko and Whit and/or Veronika to David. Therefore, Eden would kill Whit, Veronika, or both.
Boots
Again, not one that I looked at too closely. I think I’m going to count all the shoes under this category, though. J and Rose have their matching converse, while Nico chimes in with their cat slippers. Though I didn’t mention it earlier, I think that Levi’s boots could also work as an item for him if shoes are on the table.
In the vast majority of killing games, offing four people in one chapter is impossible, meaning that, even if the theory turns out to be true, some of these shoe options would have to be red herrings. Therefore, I’m more inclined to consider them all nebulously and then see what combinations we can come up with.
Rose, as I already said, has a Teruko lean. They’ve already spent a decent amount of time together, and I believe that groundwork has been laid for them to get even closer in the future, especially if Eden and/or Charles die soon.
Honestly, I take back what I said about J. Although I wouldn’t be too shocked if she remained closer to Teruko than David (especially because that would make her a killer, and I will die on the hill that J has a murder talent), I actually think it’s pretty likely she’ll switch sides. Some people have to, and David and J's thematic ties are pretty compelling.
I have a very hard time believing that Levi would not stay more linked to Teruko. Thus far, he has very little with David and has literally saved Teruko’s life at this point. Both Levi and Teruko escaped brutal pasts with a lot of trauma and a feeling of responsibility for the damage that their compatriots feel.
And Nico… well, much like Arturo, I don’t think they have a particular claim to either camp. However, I would probably lean towards David both by association to Hu and because of the secret-sharing scene that the trio shared. Nico and David are also connected by their feelings of inhumanity, which could be expanded upon later.
Eden and Levi for Teruko, J and Nico for David. With those orientations, we could have Eden killing J and/or Nico, or Levi killing J and/or Nico. Or of course, we could have a double kill scenario in which Eden kills J and Levi kills Nico, or with swapped pairs.
Speaking of…
What 4:3 Means
I said in the Mai Akasaki Factor section that we had four potential elements of Mai’s outfit to apply to only three chapters. Your immediate followup thought may have been something like, “oh, so that means that one of them will be an unimportant red herring.” While I’m not going to say you’re wrong (because you very much could be right), there are a few other options I feel are worth discussing.
First of all, I’ve brought up the idea of a double kill chapter within one item multiple times, whether it be two victims with one killer or two victims with two killers. However, what I haven’t brought up is the possibility that two items could be burned in one chapter. It could be that, within the same chapter, A kills B in the tights group while C also kills D from the hair ties group. Or, like a Venn diagram, it could also be that A kills B in a tights pair and D in a hair tie pair. Either of these would help to knock out all viable elements of Mai’s outfit.
Alternatively, we can consider Chapter 6. There’s a chance that a killer and victim pairing happens there, in which case the killer is almost certainly also the mastermind. However, I also think it’s possible that Mai could serve as the Chapter 6 “victim,” leaving the mastermind only responsible for being connected to Teruko and mirroring Mai herself. These, too, could be used to cover the four remaining items over the course of the killing game.
Results (Mai Version)
It’s time to figure out what conclusions we can draw from the version of this combo theory that also factors in Mai’s outfit. If the heading didn’t make it clear enough, I will also be creating another version of the kill order that doesn’t factor in Mai after this, along with discussion of some of the trophies we haven’t covered yet. But for now, we lock in on what we’ve got.
Beyond the biases I’ve already shown thus far, any resolutions I decide on in this section will be heavily based on my own opinion, as which characters go in which chapter will be almost solely up to my discretion. As a heads up, these are my general vibes, updated for the end of Chapter 2:
Not very specific, but you get what you get. I really have no idea what to make of J… 😅 I’m not so married to these vibes that I won’t doublecross them for the sake of the predictions, though.
For the sake of simplicity, I’ll also be assuming that DRDT will have a double kill and that it will be in Chapter 3, even though it’s very possible that it won’t in some form. Cool? Cool.
Under Mai’s qualifications, here are my predictions for the rest of DRDT:
Chapter 3: J and Nico are killed by Levi (shoes)
Chapter 4: Hu is killed by Veronika (hair tie)
Chapter 5: Arturo is killed by Eden (ribbon)
Chapter 6: Mastermind Whit (tights); Teruko, Charles, Rose, and David survive
You can tell I was struggling by the fact that I actually made Whit the mastermind, lol. Who even am I any more?! (/lh)
Narratively, I would have preferred to make Rose the Chapter 3 killer over Levi. Having him become a killer so quickly after Ace feels weird, while Rose’s lowkey spiral could imply an earlier exit, especially if prompted by a financial motive. However, that would have left Teruko as the only female survivor, which I don’t like, especially when Rose has the makings of a good survivor herself.
I briefly considered making David the Chapter 5 victim instead of Arturo (because I do think that David could make sense as a Chapter 5 victim a la Nagito or Kokichi). I decided not to, though, as I also think that David is a much more sensible survivor than Arturo, especially under this theory where David’s relationships to all of the victims is a huge part of the narrative. To top it all off, I was stuck forcing Charles, who I see more as a Chapter 3 or 4 death, into the role of survivor due to his outfit not having anything in common with Mai at all.
This result is also full of clothing I deemed as less likely trophy options, with only Hu and Veronika clocking in for the good tier. J and Arturo are only looped in by items I deemed as pretty unlikely (though in J’s case, she was suffering for options), and Levi is included on the basis of shoes that I didn’t even list in his top 4.
This death order lineup is certainly not what I would have come up with objectively myself, but it does line up with what I’ve seen many other people predict as the future of DRDT. Therefore, I do believe that this idea could have some merit! However, for the reasons I listed above (among others), I also have my doubts that DRDT’s story would actually play out in this way. Therefore, let’s investigate the ways in which this theory could pan out if you remove the relation to Mai from the equation, beginning with the investigation of some other items of clothing we initially passed over.
Tools
I’ve created the “tools” category to combine Charles’ notebook with Eden’s toolbelt. Although belts and books are by no means the same, both are generically useful and can be used to further their owners’ talents. They’re also both paired with pencils: Charles writes in his notebook with the pencils in his other pocket, and Eden’s toolbelt contains a pencil in it.
Charles and Eden are in a death match for who gets to be more related to Teruko. Genuinely, the fact that both of them are so clearly Teruko-coded makes me want to eliminate this category altogether, despite their items being, in my opinion, a pretty good match.
In the end, though, I think I would have to keep Charles with Teruko, while leaving Eden to David. Charles and Teruko have been very, very clearly paralleled, with Charles slightly ahead of Teruko on his arc of accepting that he wants to form friendships with other people. Both are calculating, distrusting, sarcastic, and have similar hair. Charles and David also, to my memory, have not interacted very much yet.
Eden, on the other hand, has had at least one notable interaction with David via their shared strong relationship with Arei. Given the highlighted similarities between David and Arei (and David and Teruko, for that matter), I can see a scenario in which Eden begins reaching out to David as of next chapter. Ultimately, that could lead to a stronger bond between the two, such that, eventually, Eden could become more related to David than Teruko. Or, at least in the context of this specific matchup, anyways.
Hang on, every time I match Charles up with Teruko, it means that he’s locked in to being a blackened, doesn’t it? Maybe I should stick him with David to avoid that hemophobic hurdle…
Glasses
Um. This is a category including Charles’ visor and Eden’s glasses. My thoughts on it are exactly the same as the above “tools” category except that I think that the glasses are a worse item for Eden than the toolbelt. Who knew that there would be two categories including these two characters only?
Vests
Both Eden and Levi wear vests that could be sourced as their loot item, although I’m not particularly inspired by either of them as contenders. They’re coming at it from opposite angles: Eden’s pretty decent vest fares poorly against her good alternative options, while Levi’s pretty mid vest does alright against his uninspiring field.
Ugh, again with making me pit some of Teruko’s strongest soldiers against each other? Well, I already explained the reasons why I think Eden could convert over to David’s side in future chapters, so I’m inclined to stick with that and say that Levi would remain by Teruko’s. I feel much less strongly about it, though, as a lot of Levi and Teruko’s relationship is more projected for the future than actually in the text. Then again, the bullet-taking Levi has undergone for Teruko can’t be ignored, either.
I’ll also use this section as a chance to explore Nico’s cloak and Rose’s apron, both of which (as a second layer of clothes for your upper body) could be matched up with the vests or each other. I’ve already explained why I think Rose would lean Teruko and Nico would lean towards David, which also conveniently puts them on opposite sides should their items be matched up.
Ties
While they probably could have been included in the ribbons section, Charles and Levi have distinctive enough ties that I felt it warranted a separate entry. Plus, the ribbons are more so necklaces that remain pretty close to the neck, while Charles and Levi’s long ties drape all the way down their torso.
Teruko’s friends need to stop matching with each other. I suppose that, as I was just saying that Levi’s relationship to Teruko was technically more tentative, I should award Charles the position due to Teruko being one of only, like, two people that Charles regularly interacts with. Congrats on winning the title of Teruko’s bestie, Charles.
Latex Gloves
Did you know that Charles and Arturo both wear latex gloves? The DRDT cast sure did, when they were trying to figure out which pair of latex gloves was ripped to shreds at the Chapter 1 crime scene.
For that reason, and the fact that gloves were already used for Ace and Arei, I find it pretty unlikely that the pair’s shared gloves would make a comeback to serve as both of their trophies. Admittedly, though, it would also allow them to share an item of clothing with Mai… it would just be one that’s already been claimed. There’s also the potential that this pairing could go in the lab coat direction instead, although one could also argue that that’s just too close to being a jacket.
Regardless, if you’ve been paying attention thus far, you would clearly know that I’m going to say that Charles would stick with Teruko and Arturo would go David mode.
Jewelry
This section combines Whit’s bracelets and rings with Veronika and Levi’s earrings– a small but mighty squad.
While all of these people have a Teruko lean, I would rank their likelihood to remain related to her in the most-to-least order of Levi, Whit, Veronika. But, of course, if you winnow this down to a two-person group, you can avoid Levi entirely.
Belts
Belts as a connecting throughline between Hu’s hanfu belt and Veronika’s corset seem very unlikely, as you can really just do the same but better via their hairclips. However, this matchup lets you throw Eden’s toolbelt back in the mix as well, producing some unique combinations.
Eden easily remains by Teruko’s side in this matchup, while Hu stays with David. I’m neutral on Veronika, but given that we’ve already seen her and Hu pair up with her as the killer, it’d make more sense if this path would allow her to be Eden’s victim (with or without Hu).
Arm Coverings
Every day I fear that the description “arm coverings” doesn’t make any sense. But, anyways, Veronika and Levi have them. In this situation, Levi would be the killer and Veronika the victim.
Miscellaneous
There are a couple of items that I think would work well for their respective characters, but don’t fit in super well with anyone else.
Well, that description is slightly unfair to Nico’s fingerless gloves, which fit in great– with Ace and Arei’s gloves. Although the fingerless gloves would be a great choice for Nico, if we assume that this theory is true, I think we just have to disqualify them at this point. They don’t have what it takes to fit in with Charles and Arturo’s latex gloves, I’m afraid.
Hu’s finger picks are also a really great choice that fail to match with anything else. Honestly, their best matchup might be with Nico’s fingerless gloves, given their relationship to fingertips. They’re opposites in that regard, though, and still run into the “is this a repeat of gloves?” angle as well.
Arturo has both his face mask and ID card that don’t match with anybody else. I considered looping the mask in with the glasses as “things that go on your face,” but Arturo has more fitting matches with Charles (gloves) and Eden (ribbon) anyways, so I canned it. The ID card really has nothing matching it; if anyone had some sort of pin or boutonniere I could’ve tried to swing it, but sadly, they don’t.
As for David (should he count), I already mentioned that his hair clips would likely be matched with Veronika and Hu’s hair ties, and that his bow tie would be included alongside the ribbons. His suspenders are another story. The closest match they probably have is either Rose’s apron or Charles and Levi’s ties, but even that’s not all too similar.
For these reasons, I think all of these miscellaneous items are out of contention.
Results (My Version)
So, having added seven new items to the list, what are our new conclusions? Keep in mind that the four items we talked about for Mai are still on the table, but they aren’t required to be included. It also means that the theory doesn’t have much of any claim to helping to identify a mastermind, so I won’t pick one. I’ll leave that up to each reader’s discretion.
I think the best way to frame these results is to give two options. One will be my analysis unbiased by my opinions on the characters and their stories (like saying “I don’t think that [blank] will die”). It will only based on which items I feel are the best trophies and that match the most with each other. The second will be the conclusion that I would draw within the bounds of the theory, factoring in my vibes on who might be a killer or victim and how far people will go.
Objective version:
Chapter 3: Whit and Veronika are killed by Levi (jewelry)
Chapter 4: Nico is killed by Rose (smock)
Chapter 5: Eden is killed by Charles (tools)
Chapter 6: Teruko, David, Arturo, Hu, and J survive
Or this but with Chapter 4 and 5 swapped, as the order I placed them in was fairly arbitrary. I would guess that either Teruko or J would be the mastermind in this setup.
Other than preventing David from being involved in a double kill (which, as I said, I am perhaps erroneously locking to Chapter 3), this is the option I found that included the greatest percentage of green options. Well, okay, there’s also an option where Veronika kills Hu and Whit in Chapter 3 as a part of two separate pairings (hair tie and jewelry) if you’d prefer to let Levi survive over Hu. It does require aligning Whit with David over Teruko, though.
To be frank, I do not fuck with this kill order. I don’t know why Levi would kill at all, and striking out at the incredibly random pairing of Whit and Veronika currently seems nonsensical. I agree with the idea of Nico as a Chapter 4 victim, but I doubt that Rose would be their killer due to their friendship. And Charles is yet again causing problems for me, locked into the killer slot. I could maybe believe that someone could manipulate him into, like, accidentally killing someone by weaponizing his phobia-based incompetence, but making Eden the victim in that circumstance would be unjustifiably brutal to Teruko. Such a huge event feels like it would have to take place in Chapter 5, but that would then allow Teruko absolutely zero time to grieve before moving on to Chapter 6 shenanigans.
Let’s see if I can use some less-highlighted evidence and/or fudge some connections to create a conclusion to this theory that I prefer.
Chapter 3: Nico and Rose are killed by Levi (shoes)
Chapter 4: Hu is killed by Veronika (hair tie)
Chapter 5: David is killed by Eden (ribbon)
Chapter 6: Teruko, Whit, Charles, J, and Arturo survive
…Okay, this is just the Mai version except with Rose and David dying instead of J and Arturo. I like this less, actually. I think my favorite version of this theory is just the version that includes the Mai connection, which is good, because I think that including that extra layer makes the theory more interesting. As a reminder, here’s the Mai version again:
Chapter 3: J and Nico are killed by Levi (shoes)
Chapter 4: Hu is killed by Veronika (hair tie)
Chapter 5: Arturo is killed by Eden (ribbon)
Chapter 6: Mastermind Whit (tights); Teruko, Charles, Rose, and David survive
This will serve as my “definitive” answer to this theory. For it to make sense to me, I just have to accept that I, personally, had very incorrect reads on Charles, Whit, and Levi, and then it’s honestly not even that bad. And my reads on Charles and Whit contradict with a lot of people in the fandom, so these "problems" might not even be an issue for you, dear reader!
Also, I promise I do not hate Eden, nor am I dead set on her being a killer. Yes, I thought she would be the Chapter 2 killer. However, she wasn’t, and now I would probably expect that she’d be a survivor or maybe late game death. Killer could be on the table in a Chiaki kind of way, though. If she’s going to make a super deep run and be Teruko’s support, having her randomly die off as a victim feels like it could be anticlimactic. Under the limitations of this theory, it was basically impossible to avoid all three of Charles, Levi, and Eden being killers, and in this version of the theory, Levi and Eden wound up taking those bullets.
So, after all this, what do I actually think of this theory? Well, I think it’s a really cool idea! I wouldn’t have written (*checks word count*) over 9000 words of theory about it if I didn’t think it was interesting. However, every possible conclusion I could draw is so different from my personal instincts about where the story will go that I’m not sold on any of these pairings actually bearing fruit. There is basically no way to make Charles or Eden victims under this theory. There is no way to make David or Hu killers under this theory. Those limitations, along with some others (like, I don’t know, Nico and Whit having outfits with nothing in common) could be insanely helpful in predicting the future if true, but are so hyper-specific that almost any theorist would run into road blocks with them.
Such a great percentage of the “theory” is just casting out thoughts about the future using only the “evidence” of some dubiously-established patterns, which isn’t the most trustworthy way to draw a conclusion. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of Deltarune’s mid-Chapter 2-hiatus Chess Theory, and those who are familiar with both Chapters 3+4 and the theory know how well that panned out. But still, I really loved hearing about Chess Theory when I was stuck in that hiatus, and in the same way, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this!
Do any of my predictions actually line up perfectly with your projected DRDT death order? Can you decipher the evidence I collected into a narrative you find compelling? Are there any really obvious pieces of clothing that I somehow missed??? If you’re experiencing the urge to answer any of these questions or others in some sort of comment, feel free to, as I always enjoy further discussions on posts like these.
Friendly reminder that Haiti is still being torn apart by gang violence and hundreds of families have been displaced due to gangs taking over. We’re still in the “transitional” stage of our government but things are barely moving.
Now, Hurricane Melissa is threatening the south.
Tropical Story Melissa grew into a Category 5 hurricane, prompting Haitian officials to put parts of the southern region under red alert as
Hurricane Melissa is delivering a devastating blow to thousands of Haitians already suffering. Gang violence has forced many families out of
Jamaica and Cuba are also getting hit hard.
Hurricane Melissa has made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center. Follow for live updates.
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“I remember an incident from my own childhood, when a very close friend of mine and I, we were walking down the street. We were discussing whether God existed. And she said he did not. And I said he did. But then she said she had proof. She said, ‘I had been praying for two years for blue eyes, and he never gave me any.’ So, I just remember turning around and looking at her. She was very, very Black. And she was very, very, very, very beautiful. How painful. Can you imagine that kind of pain? About that, about color? So, I wanted to say you know, this kind of racism hurts. This is not lynchings, and murders, and drownings. This is interior pain. So deep. For an 11 year-old girl to believe that if she only had some characteristic of the white world, she would be okay. [Black girls] surrendered completely to the master narrative. I mean the whole notion of what is ugliness, what is worthlessness. She got it from her family, she got it from school, she got it from the movies — she got it everywhere; it’s white male life. The master narrative is whatever ideological script that is being imposed by the people in authority on everybody else. The master fiction, history, it has a certain point of view. So, when these little girls see that the most prized gift that they can get at Christmastime is this little white doll, that’s the master narrative speaking: “This is beautiful. This is lovely, and you’re not it.”
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CHAPTER THREE death prospects -- Danganronpa Despair Time
Hi. These are my feelings on how likely it is for the remaining students to die in Chapter Three of DRDT alongside accompanying explanations for each student. There is no objective metric for this because things can change drastically between one chapter to the next but I do have some personal thoughts regardless. Enjoy.
#12 -- Teruko Tawaki
I believe somewhat intuitively Teruko will not die before the finale. The entire narrative is centered around her character both diagetically and non-diagetically so she certainly won't die prematurely IMO. There isn't much else to be said in this regard.
#11 -- Whit Young
Whit has only very recently been getting set up for the second step in his character arc so I sincerely doubt he'll be dying in chapter three. I do believe his relationship with Charles will be developed to include more nuance in Chapter Three though and his backstory will be teased a bit.
The spotlight put on him at the very end of chapter two will probably continue as well in the sense that we will be led to feel more uneasy / distrustful towards his character as a whole going forward. Regardless of his final role in the story I do believe he's bound to be centered as a later game antagonist eventually.
He has too many undeveloped emotional threads to die this early though IMO.
#10 -- Eden Tobisa
With some confidence, I'll say Eden won't die until at least Chapter Five. She's been set up and centered as a deuteragonist too much to die before the later stages of the story. Additionally we're coming in hot off of a chapter where she received very intensive focus, so I don't believe she's primed to retake that spotlight in Chapter Three quite yet.
I do believe she's primed to have some very interesting interactions with Levi, Nico, and David in Chapter Three though. There's a lot of unresolved threads regarding Arei now not to talk about it and Ace is now deeply intertwined with Arei so Levi and Nico are natural bridges to that gap going forward. Levi and David are already primed to have a dynamic with Eden in any case.
#09 -- Charles Cuevas
Charles is a remarkably popular choice for one of the two chapter three victims amongst the fandom. Admittedly I don't really get why. The most common points people state in favor of it aren't very compelling to me, unfortunately. Not that there's anything with this prediction, I'm just intimidated by how robust the enthusiasm for this prediction is.
Fans sometimes discuss it as a foregone conclusion and that is very scary to me.
Regardless I don't really agree. Charles is IMO the main deuteragonist for Teruko and also an otherwise very important character for the progression of this show. He has an abundance of plot points tied to major aspects of the genre itself and there's an underlying expectation that those plot points will absolutely be paid off in the finale. I do occasionally see the rebuttal to this that those points can be resolved after his death but the points I find most compelling about his character in relation to the genre are his intelligence, his blood phobia, and his relation to memory loss.
All three of these plot points are incredibly significant to Danganronpa specifically and I don't believe we've explored them in nearly enough detail for Charles to be cut from the narrative yet. Charles' fear of blood makes it so that he has a very unique relationship to investigations, which he additionally is very useful during because he is in the most conventional terms the most intelligent or "learned" living character by far. Rose and Teruko are both very helpful but they don't have the staunch commitment to rigorous or "scientific learning" which Charles does, something which is very significant to investigations as a whole.
In order for that unique dynamic between being handicapped in trials and being useful in trials to continue to be paid off, Charles would have to make it to at least one more trial and I find it incredibly unlikely that it will only be one more trial as well.
The memory loss plot thread also leads me to believe that he will have some relation to the broader memory loss plot point of Despair Time, something which we would traditionally not see getting pulled away at until Chapter Four-Five. We might get pieces of this during Chapter Three but it seems remarkably unlikely to me that it will be fully opened up until at least Chapter Four and it certainly won't resolve until Chapter Six.
Granted, Charles does not have to be ALIVE in order to resolve this plot point but it would be most compelling for him to at least be alive while it is first being put into the spotlight, something that won't happen at the same time it is resolved.
Considering all this, I do believe that there is a tremendous excess of plot points for Charles to connect to which are genre specific that make it very unlikely to me that he will die during Chapter Three. It is also sometimes asserted that his emotional arc has already completed or progressed so much in Chapters One-Two that he could be considered a nearly complete character, but I believe this may be somewhat presumptuous given how little we actual know about Charles' past.
At the least, I don't really think Charles' callousness was the most pressing flaw of his character and his struggles with memory loss, avoidance, and the underlying themes of generational trauma embedded in his character are all very compelling points which we have barely even scratched the surface of as of now.
I know that characters CAN be resolved within one chapter but the amount of plot points which would have to be resolved in a compelling in one chapter which are attached to Charles is quite a bit bigger than a lot of the other characters still living. While he can die, it just seems pretty unlikely when there are other much easier to pay off candidates still living.
That's just my perspective though -- in conclusion, I'm pretty sure Charles is safe at least until Chapter Five.
#08 -- David Chiem
I know I just gave a huge dissertation on why Charles isn't likely to die in Chapter Three so I should do even more to justify putting David here since there is actually literal tangible text which HEAVILY implies something is happening to him in Chapter Three but I can't be bothered. I really honestly don't know what that means and I can only really justify this placement by saying a lot of the points I had for Charles also apply to David and also I think there are alternatives to 'Disappear' that don't straight up kill him.
I haven't pondered that or David's character enough to elaborate though honestly. He's just kind of a lot.
He probably won't die! But if he does I guess I won't be too surprised because the story will have kind of just straight up told me that's happening. We will see.
#07 -- Levi Fontana
I know he's like on his death bed literally but come on, he's the big character and if we're paying off or subverting the DR "tropes" like people think we are kind of widely then I think it's pretty reasonable to say Levi will probably have more to do with Chapter Four. Additionally Chapter Four is often centered around self sacrifice and the will to live, both things I think are more interesting to explore with Levi anyways.
It's also kind of hard to develop and explore a character who is asleep and he will probably not be up and mobile for a lot of the daily life, making it kind of unlikely that he'll die. Having a character out of commission who can't quite be a reliable witness is also more interesting during a trial than someone who didn't talk or move the whole time dying anyways.
He definitely can though. Like I could just be wrong and he could be mobile. So I don't really know. Oh well
#06 -- Nico Hakobyan
I wouldn't be too surprised if they died in Chapter Three honestly. They have been pretty well set up all considered and their isn't really any reason any of their plot points can't be resolved after they die.
Shy / socially unconventional characters who "crash out" dying during chapter three also isn't super uncommon so I wouldn't exactly be super duper shocked or anything. I just don't think the other candidates are wayyy more compelling than them for the time being.
I also think their potential death being more tied to Levi would probably be more satisfying.
#05 -- Rose Lacroix
Okay. Complicated feelings here.
Rose is logistically entirely reasonable to have die here and has been very well set up to complete her arc. She is tied to a lot of the themes you could expect to anticipated with a money related motive and also the story has been primed to explore her in Chapter Three anyways, so I don't really see why she can't die here.
My only tangible rebuttal is her memory, which I do think would be a very useful and difficult to replicate plot device during the later stages of the story when solving the broader mystery of the killing game. She's kind of a cheat code honestly if they ever get their memories back.
That is also why I think it's entirely possible she dies before then though.
She's so incredibly helpful that it's kind of an issue for any future killers and the mastermind if she's alive. Both narratively and diagetically she's under a lot of pressure. If a killer was smart they'd aim to take her out and if the mastermind was smart they'd know she could ruin the whole operation by getting literally any memories back.
So reasonably I have to put her in High Danger.
On a less rational, more subjective / emotional tangent though I don't want her to die because she's a darker skinned black woman in a Danganronpa game and I want her to survive sooo bad like god I want her to survive. Whatever. If she dies I won't be surprised but I do just really want her to live.
Crossing my fingers. Moving on.
#04 -- Arturo Giles
Arturo fits the archetype of a Chapter Three killer a littleee too well for him to not be up here. Additionally, Ace literally pulling him down by the collar and more or less breathing the theme of redemption from Chapter Two into Arturo's character very explicitly pretty flagrantly sets him up to begin his arc in Chapter Three I would say.
I don't personally believe he'll die because of that but I also fully acknowledge that redemption story lines can be resolved in ways that aren't them being redeemed or surviving. I don't believe he will regress or die before he can be redeemed because we kind of already did that with Arei and Ace but I do believe he could very well die as an act OF redemption rather than survive.
In spite of this, I do sort of think that might be more compelling for a Chapter Four death than a Chapter Three one. He is intensely linked to Veronika though and if you know anything about Chapter Three tropes and believe DRDT is playing with DR tropes -- you know for an undeniable fact that dying or not Veronika Grebenshchikova is going to take the spotlight in Chapter Three, in one way or another.
So chances are Arturo will at least be pretty tied into Chapter Three's trial.
#03 -- J Rosales
I don't actually want to justify why I think J is dying Chapter Three honestly. So I won't.
She's the lowest candidate of the three in my predictions because I do think there's a lot of routes for her going forward if she lives. I just also think she's a good unexpected but set up and compelling character to kill off in Chapter Three. She's tied to a lot of characters who seem like they'll be important to Chapter Three and we basically already know her backstory.
Idk. Sue me but she's dead.
#02 -- Veronika Grebenshchikova
Okay. Hey. So Veronika is definitely getting someone killed in Chapter Three.
I don't really know if she'll be the killer, kill and then be killed, or simply orchestrate a murder but she is going to get SOMEONE killed SOMEHOW during the hours of that chapter. This much I know.
My personal take is that she'll be the killer though I do know this is regarded as too obvious by a lot of the fandom. Personally I don't really care about that and think that makes it more likely. If DRDT is doing DR tropes then the Chapter Three killer will be the most obvious candidate -- which is Veronika.
She has all the hallmarks of a really compelling Chapter Three killer and I think that there is a really obvious simple but compelling execution concept for her which is very in line with how executions have been written so far which would lead me to believe she is a really satisfying killer candidate.
Veronika just kind of fits. I don't really know what else to say. The only reason she's not at the top spot is because I think it's possible she lives. Regardless of that though, she's getting someone killed.
#01 -- Hu Jing
Person she's getting killed.
I don't feel like I have time to explain the many many many many reasons Hu is marked for death in Chapter Three but at the least I need to emphasize just how doomed she is. She's doomed. The doomed one. She is doom.
Hu is gonna die in Chapter Three I don't really know how else to say it.
Bye
I hope that this is insightful, helpful or engaging. Thanks for reading. ^^
This may be a weird question but what are your thoughts on Yuno now that her MV and Trial video are out? Maybe it’s because I genuinely don’t understand her and that she never seems to give a straight answer about anything compared to other characters, but I’ve always hated her character and something about when fans say “Yuno did nothing wrong” just rubs me the wrong way. Plus everyone is losing their marbles about her in Tumblr.
Oh boy......
I think my opinion can be summed up by saying "Yuno's arc fits with her character, but not with Milgram". She's a very tragic character and all, but I feel mixed emotions when looking at her story. Some good, some bad (story wise). I said my thoughts on my personal blog, but I still stand by what I feel
I really--REALLY--can't get over why Yuno, someone who didn't even abort the baby growing inside of her, is in Milgram. Now, lots of ppl pointed out that this is the point of Milgram, none of them should be in torture murder judgment hell. But they all have sinned, directly or indirectly. Even the prisoners that didn't kill directly (Fuuta, Mahiru, Kazui, etc.) are not 'free of sin'. Fuuta doxxed a middle school, Mahiru was a toxic partner, Kazui acted selfishly and ruined Hinako's life, etc. With Mikoto, it's a bit tricky, since we believe it's John's crime, not Mikoto's. However, I have seen theories that Mikoto is the true culprit, and John is a red herring, so that's a whole another post in of itself. But when I read Yuno's report, I......don't see sin. I just see a high schooler that chose sex work and decided she wasn't ready to be a mother. It honestly rubbed me the wrong way how Ymnk tried to 'portray the bad' by stating she didn't have trauma, she didn't save her money, etc. when.....that doesn't make her a 'sinner' like the other prisoners, again, indirect or direct murderers
Yuno's VA even said way back in T2 that she was certain Yuno would be voted guilty. But she wasn't.....her change in attitude didn't change my stance on her crime. This is going to sound.....harsh.....but I personally don't care if she kicks stray kittens or shouts racist things on Xbox live. If there is no murder, then there is really nothing to hold her guilty for
I was speaking to someone on reddit abt this, and they compared her change in attitude to Muu's, and how Muu's was more impactful to us. Obviously the fandom's attitude towards Muu drastically changed, as she had that notorious guilty sweep in T2. It's because she went from "Desperate bully victim that killed and was horrified when she realized what she did" to "She was the bully FIRST and was bullied in retaliation". We thought we could understand why Muu killed in the first place, but T2 put a whole new spin on it. An entitled and selfish one, at that. This made us regroup and decide if we still wanted to keep her innocent or change to guilty
With Yuno, there was no killing. Therefore, there is nothing to rationalize. If someone is a bitch, but didn't commit murder, I'm not going to vote them guilty just because I don't like their attitude. Even Kazui, the prisoner who is predicted to get the 'second highest innocent ratio' still had his fair share of guilty voters. Because even if he didn't commit murder, his selfish actions are enough for us to think he deserves guilt and shame
What are Yuno's 'guilty' actions? That she had sex? That she was worried about how society would see her? That she didn't feel bad enough? That she lived?
I have no problem if Yuno feels bad. I know ppl irl that had miscarriages and still feel guilty, even if they didn't want the baby. The problem is the message that Yuno should feel guilty. It doesn't sit right with me. Yuno never deserved to be in there in the first place, and she still feels guilty to the very end. Again, there's no problem with her feeling guilty. But the fact Ymnk said that "This Yuno is a much better person" rubs me the wrong way. From her VA saying she'll definitely be guilty T2 to Ymnk's tweet....it's really off putting. Esp coming from a lady that contemplated abortion when she was 20 yrs old, only two years older than Yuno. I didn't go through with it, I love my kids, but it didn't mean I didn't want an out. I probably wouldn't have felt guilty, but it would've been my choice to make. I didn't hurt anyone. It's my body
However, Yuno as a character, is very tragic for me. At the end, she was given no choice. She used protection, but still got pregnant. Heck, she couldn't even decide if she wanted to end it all + abort the baby. She fell down the stairs before she could go through with anything. She never felt seen, became very cynical of the world bc of the fakeness around her. So much so that she literally thought the men she slept with were more honest abt their desires than others. She suffers from a lot of self loathing and was never seen or heard. It's honestly kinda sad that her depression + self isolation was overshadowed by the abortion plot, but again, that was considered 'her sin'
Also, another thing that didn't sit right with me was that Mahiru was ultimately the one 'teaching her a lesson'. When Mahiru's whole world view is skewed itself. Mahiru, the lady that was so obsessed with romance to the point it killed her bf, and so deluded in amatonormativity, changed Yuno into 'a better person'. Bc Mahiru wanted kids, Yuno didn't, and now Yuno is at fault?
Uhhhhhh......I feel like there's a lot more I could say, but I'll leave my thoughts at this, cause I'm blanking right now, but yeah. Honestly, this isn't ten sinners. This is nine sinners and a girl that passed out a fell
