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Jul 11

DRDT Bonus Episode 3 First Impressions

LET'S GOO!!! DRDT is back, at least for these two episodes! I'm very excited to see what's gonna happen here! Here are my immediate thoughts as I watch the episode!

Spoilers for DRDT. CW: Talks of murder, bullying.

I hope we get Mai... I'm a little worried because we saw the Arei text boxes and they didn't have The Flowers, but I would really like to see her again. Or, well, hear her again. I miss her so much...

Also do we think this is Ace or Arei? Min got the first one, so this should be Ace. But Arei got the most pre-drop material, so it could be hers.

(Note: the above was written before seeing the thumbnail, as before the premiere it was generic lol)

It's Arei's! Makes sense, birthdays are more related to her backstory than Ace's. The order is evidently not that relevant lmao. She looks so cute!

A watch on the hand? And first line is a curse I love you Arei.

... Who the fuck is Wes???????????????????????????????????

New character?! We're popping off.

Okay, bowling club owner, makes sense.

Arei: ... not a single person is gonna wish me a happy birthday or do anything nice for me.

Poor girl. This is why we needed Mai in the episode, she would have wished her happy birthday :(

Yo!!! New character design?! We're actually going crazy lmao. The thingy with the cardinal directions... wonder what Wes' deal is. (<- Very obviously avoiding pronouns because I can't tell what Wes' gender is lmao)

Oh my god this is like fully ilustrated. I can see why dev said these ones took so long, and why the next Bonus Episodes aren't gonna be like this lmao.

Arei: You talk to all your costumers with this much sass?

Arei ToT I've missed her so much... Arei you will always be special to me.

GENERATIONAL reaction image just dropped.

Wes: I once got hospitalized in my birthday.

I wonder if Teruko is Wes' sister... no chance, but it'd be funny.

Arei's sisters are awful and Arei is crying... Augh my heart. This is why we needed Mai man she'd make this better.

Wes: I don't get paid enough for this (paraphrased)

Wes come on ToT It's actually completely fair, I just feel bad for Arei lmao.

I wonder if those bracelets in Wes' left hand mean anything... probably nothing big but idk. Definitely no flower tattoo though, that's always a question with these characters xD

[Arei insults Wes] Man she was kind of a bitch even before the whole "Queen of High School" era huh? Makes sense, and I still love her, but it's good to get that clarified. Overall I'm very happy we get to see a bit more of what Arei was like before Hope's Peak!

Wes: Are things alright at home?

Are we deadass? Did you just miss the thing about her sisters? Lmao.

Also haven't been mentioning it but VAing has been phenomenal as usual!

Wes: Is there a particular reason you're getting bullied? (p.)

Well, Wes is trying to help, that's nice! I like Wes a lot :)

... Although, is it bad if I'm still kinda hoping Mai shows up later? I know this is pre-HPA, but still. I'm fine with it if she doesn't, but y'know. I miss her, readers, I miss her a lot.

Arei: I've done no wrong! (p.)

I love her, she was always like this xD

[Arei explains] Augh... New kid syndrome... So her sisters weren't always that bad, interesting. Also, Arei wasn't born in the US? Makes sense, but neat lore drop.

Arei/Wes: This is the way things always are.

Fate, one could say. Goddamn I love DRDT so much man, I've missed it a lot :,D Also I liked the cut in it was cool.

[Wes philosophizes] Hm... interesting. So Arei got the idea to change herself from here I'm assuming, and also is where she started to get a little fatalistic about people always being awful. Then again, that last part she was already thinking, so it's not exactly new.

Arei: Give me a few years, and I'll end the lives of all those worthless scumbags.

OKAY maybe we got a little crazy there lmao xD Wes we may wanna call the police ??? Because I know she doesn't mean murder, but it sure does sound like she's planning murder lmao.

Wes: You're not actually planning to kill anyone, are you?

Okay at least we asked lmao. Goddamn I miss Mai, I know my GOAT could handle this ToT

Arei: Who knows

Bro????

That's another generational reaction image lmao. And yeah what the hell was Arei on???

Wes: Murder, huh! That's interesting! Tell me more!

I love Wes actually, perfectly solid replacement for Mai xD

Arei: Because I'll be an Ultimate!

Okay so several concerning things about that statement.

... Actually nevermind we knew about Levi already Ultimates definitely just get away with murder lmao. Still, interesting that she was actively aiming for it lmao.

Arei: Can you imagine being the person who bullied an Ultimate in high school? This nation practically worships Ultimates.

Okay! So again, pretty standard fare with everything we've heard so far, but trying to be an Ultimate specifically to get back at people who bullied you is crazy work. Spite really works as a motivator, huh?

[Arei spells out the plans] Okay so we're losing our minds actually! We knew Arei could be sadistic but holy shit man, she's kinda going off. Very glad to see it, though, I just miss her so much.

Wes: You specifically want to hurt people? Even kids who want to be police don't say that part out loud (p.)

Yo Wes kinda based? It really is a hell of a thing to say lmao.

Wes: I'm morally obligated to tell you hurting people is wrong (p.)

Lmao. Wes really do be vibing lol.

[Wes looks at the cameras to make sure everyone knows Wes tried to stop Arei] Hell yeah Wes, good for you xD

Arei: Who said anything about murder? Wes: Uh, YOU???

PFFFT- I thought the exact same thing xD Only took one episode to mentally connect with Wes, peak character lmao.

Wes: I don't think being an Ultimate lets you get away with murder (p.)

Oh my God, this shot. I love you Arei, so so much ToT

It's interesting that she's aware Ultimates can get away with that, though. At the very least, she seems more confident in it than Wes. Does she actually know something? Like an Ultimate she's aware of that has gotten away with stuff? Or is she just guessing? If she actually knows something, either it's something she personally knows (which is interesting in its own right) or it's something that can be deduced from publicly available info, which could explain why Xander seemed to be against Hope's Peak in Visiting Graves.

Arei: There's no precedent for murder specifically.

I should really let the videos play a bit more lmao. Obviously the Levi case wouldn't be a thing until Arei herself went to HPA, but I doubt the public would know about it regardless. Still, it's common knowledge Ultimates get away with stuff, so that could still explain the Xander thing.

Arei: Just kidding!

Lmao. You know I'm not entirely sure she was lying there. Sure she didn't kill anyone, but what she's saying is still a little too close to her motive secret for there to be no truth to it at all.

Arei: I won't have a future, trapped in a dead end job until I die (p.)

Bro Wes is right there ToT But yeah, this is a very bleak outlook, Arei makes me sad :(

Arei: Like working at a shitty run down bowling alley.

Oh it was intentional lmao. Carry on then xD

Wes: You remind me of my high school years.

Classic.

Arei: No way you were cute as a kid.

Classic xD

Arei: Not the old person speech that starts with "when I was your age."

Classic xD

Wes [after speech]: That talent that I had poured years into...

Wow, Wes was also interested in HPA. Interesting, interesting... I can't imagine this being too relevant to anything unless the altDRDT cast was a HPA class that used to have Wes? It's the first thing that came to mind, but it's not really the only option. It's also possible that we'll never hear of Wes again, which is entirely okay lmao. The university Wes mentions might not even HPA.

[Wes continues] Lots of shared themes with Min which makes me happy. Cool to have a character that's going through this kind of life.

Wes: I have enough sense not to tell you I'm into collecting kids' toys.

Pfft. Fine hobby, though I wonder what kind of kids' toys exactly. Although it is funny to bring that up when childishness is, like, a Thing around Arei. You know, with her turning point and death both being in the playground and all, her being picked on specifically for being the younger sister, and sorta becoming a worse person when she "grew out of it" by ruining her sisters' lives...

[Wes mentally complains about Arei never tipping] Lmao.

Wes: I'm not tying myself to some narrow ideal of how I'm supposed to exist. I no longer think of everyone around me as my competition.

Okay so I'm not hallucinating you are actually just a Min parallel of some kind xD The wording is so familiar I actually wonder if maybe Wes was one of the people competing in the Ultimate Contest for Eminent Students or whatever it was called. Wonder if Min poisoned Wes.

... Wait no that doesn't make sense. UCES candidates all have to be the same age lmao. Wes was probably aiming for Ultimate Explorer or something given the tattoo, disregard xD

[Wes inner monologue] True!!! Very Xander-coded mindset, which comes with the territory of having Min parallels lmao. I'm happy Wes is happy :)

Oh okay so you want me to cry. You want me to weep, openly. Well guess what IT'S WORKING THEY'RE SO CUUUUUTE! AREI'S WEARING THE DAVID HAIRCLIPS!!! Aw it's too cute, it's too cute, my heart's breaking, augh.

Wes: I'll even give you a discount so you become the Ultimate Bowler (p.)

WES THE GOAT! We love Wes around here!

Arei: Maybe this birthday isn't so bad after all...

Arei I love you...

Arei: This pizza's cold!

AREI I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SO MUCH.

What a fun Bonus Episode! Lots learnt about Arei, lots learnt of a brand new character, just peak all around! I miss Mai, but I can wait longer for her to show up. Wes was very cool, I wonder if we're ever gonna see them again. WE LOVE DRDT AROUND HERE!!! Can't wait for the next Bonus Episode! :D

meaflet

May 26

1moreff-creator

Case File: The DRDT Character Playlist

Long ago, in a playlist page far, far away, the DRDT YT channel held a playlist containing 16 songs. Each of these songs were said to be connected to one of the characters in the series. This playlist has long since been deleted, existing now only in fanmade recreations like this one by venus-is-thinking. How seriously we're supposed to take it is obviously up in the air, given the deletion and all, but it's still a fun exercise to try and assign these songs to our favorite goobers! And today, we're going to go over this challenge, so I can give you my thoughts on who each song belongs to!

Of course, though, the exercise is fun until you realize how insanely difficult it is. There's a reason I've been sitting on this for literal years lmao. I tried my best, but... well, you'll see!

Spoilers up to DRDT CH2. CWs: Animal death, suicide, alcoholism, smoking, mention of WWII, betrayal.

Now, if you've been following me for a while, you know that I've already analyzed a playlist like this before, right? I didn't struggle for literal years putting together the Danganronpa One Shot playlist guesses, and I even managed to get like half of them right.

Well, there's two reasons for that. One is simply that I did the DROS one when DROS was starting CH3, which is technically a bit more context than we have for DRDT right now. Two is that the DROS playlist... made sense. This one doesn't.

What do I mean by that? Simply put, every song in the DROS playlist had not only plenty of lyrics, but also either a very specific message it conveyed, or a story it followed. There were exceptions, but they were far and few between, so you could assign most of them on lyrical analysis and then sort out the rest with some vague process of elimination.

There's three songs in the DRDT playlist that, even when put together, don't have any more than 7 lines of actual words. There's also one or two that are in Japanese and don't have easily accessible translations, not to mention the possibility of conflicting translations. There's several songs that have either a vague message or just very little imagery to go off of, which makes them hard to assign. All this and more makes the DRDT playlist a bit of a headache.

So! Instead of assigning only one character to each song right off the bat, I'm going to do something a little different. I'm first going to talk about every possibility I can see for each song, then only at the end try to arrange them in a way that makes sense. I feel like letting you see my entire thought process instead of just the end result is going to be the best way to communicate why exactly I reach the conclusions I do.

I'll start with the songs that I find are relatively easy to assign, then slowly make my way to the harder songs. The song number refers to their placement on the playlist, which I don't believe is particularly important, but I'll keep track of it regardless.

Though, before we start, huge shout-out to demodraws0606, gleamingtempest, googledetective, venus-is-thinking and accirax for making their own posts about this before me! There are definitely more out there, but they're the ones that helped me the most when reaching the conclusions I'll present here. Check out their posts in the links, they're very good!

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Song #4 - cartoons

Prime Suspect: Rose Reaching: Teruko

They're calling it the most Rose coded song in history. Not only is it about the singer feeling detached from reality and the world, but it expresses the point through a bunch of drawing and animation allegories.

Abstraction's how I live my day to day Sketchy lines upon an empty page Hard to explain, and to express Forever just a work in progress

Can't tell you how I feel when nothing seems real It's all just cartoons in my head And everything's unseen like the fastest inbetween It's all just cartoons in my head

Rose is an artist, and she regularly has issues with memory and telling apart what's real and what isn't.

Rose [2-5]: My dreams are strange. My memories, my imaginations, my fears... They all mix into one until I can no longer tell what's real.

I mean, yeah. This is Rose's.

You might be wondering about the "Reaching" section thing. Basically, in case I run out of characters or songs, it's nice to write down any character that's even tangentially related to the song. Teruko has talked about herself and others in the context of "characters in a show" in a couple of occasions, which arguably fits the idea of "none of this is real, just cartoons in my head."

Teruko [2-1]: You all have the misfortune of being "characters" in a story where I'm the "protagonist." Because of that, you're all doomed.

Hehe I found a way to get yellow text back >:)

Again, this is an insane reach, don't take it too seriously. I really doubt Teruko genuinely doesn't think of this whole thing as real. The point is that if I'm absolutely forced to put Rose somewhere else, I have this to fall back on, even if it's silly.

Song #7 - Shun-ran (Spring Storm)

Prime Suspect: Arei Reaching: David

Translation used linked here.

Shun-ran opens by telling us that the singer lives behind a facade.

I was covered in false images, just like God

In particular, they project an aggressive image, always looking for a chance to take out their anger on others.

I won’t pay attention to small fry For one such as I, affecting composure, to speak Is because I become angry easily, watching hawk-like for my chance

They "summon a spring storm" (presumably lash out in some kind of way), but they're upset at their violence.

I summoned the spring storm and then cried. My heart was wounded.

They feel the need to continue their aggressive act, even though their anger has long faded. They've forgotten how to live without that facade.

My rage and other such things vanished long ago but though I perform my act, I’m ignorant.

However, the song has a happy ending. The singer is able to destroy their facade and live in peace.

I pledged a ceasefire. My personality peeled off and fell because I have the courage to accept disappointment.

And just in case this wasn't already reading like the most Arei coded song in history to you, the song ends on the note that the reason the singer was able to shed their false images was because they met someone they considered an idiot for going against their worldview, but who eventually helps them "wake up."

I called you an idiot. Like smoke, you made me uncomfortable. I looked at you and woke up.

Arei [2-5]: I can't stand that naivety of hers! I can't stand how easy it is for [Eden] to make friends! Someone like her clearly has never had to fight so that others wouldn't look down on her! It's not fair! It's not fair that she can be kind and trusting and naive and no one takes advantage of that! That's not how it works! That's never been how it works for me!

Do I need to actually explain this? We've all watched DRDT, I take it. Arei put up a mean and insulting front so she wouldn't get hurt, but eventually grows past that facade and becomes nicer thanks to Eden. If I didn't know better I'd think Arei was deadass written after the song. Hell, her sisters are called Fuyuko and Natsuko, which respectively mean "winter child" and "summer child", so her getting the "spring storm" makes sense even from that angle.

David's here because of the constant mentions of facades and because technically you could replace Eden with Xander and the song doesn't completely fall apart. But David's pre-killing game persona is not that of an aggressive spring storm, so the whole "ceasefire" thing doesn't work for him as well as it does for Arei. Thus, our favorite Bowler gets this song!

Song #11 - Hi-Fi Evolution Theory*

Prime Suspect: Veronika Reaching: Xander, J, Future Context

*Song name translated from Japanese, exact wording may vary

This is one of the songs that doesn't have a translation I could easily find. Thankfully, even with just Google Translate to guide us, it's not that hard to see who gets this one. This song shows the singer talking to someone, asking if they're tired of living the way they are. They consider the way of living of that someone to be kind of pitiful and awful, and essentially tells them that they don't plan on living like them (at least that's how I interpret "if you want to die, do it alone").

Hey hey, are you getting tired of it? Hey hey, why don't you stop always hanging your head?

Your brain is rusty Doing tasks you don't want to do "This is a happy way of life" I don't know anything else, if you want to die, do it alone

Instead, the singer proposes moving past society's expectations and living according to their own desires. This is the "evolution theory" of the title, as the singer believes those who live according to their whims to be stronger than the rest.

It seems this world is dominated by the weak Bending reason and raising their voices "That's just how your life is" I don't know about the others; expectations are futile.

At this rate, we'll drown A yearning that won't fade, driving us mad Unable to spread our wings now Do we look like clowns? History changes like that Let's keep evolving from here The Earth too

A high-fidelity, easygoing view of life But it's fine to have fun, right?

I have no clue what "high-fidelity" is meant to mean in this context, but it's there.

It's not hard to see how this fits Veronika. Although at the start of the series she's a bit more self-conscious, she slowly shifts into a character who truly has no regard for people's expectations of "normal" behavior. She regularly acts purely on whims, and generally has a pretty easygoing view of life. Thus, this is most likely Vero's song.

Xander and J are mentioned because they, too, go against society's expectations, but I wouldn't call either of them particularly easygoing. The focus on "fun" in the song fits Vero far more than those two.

What you might be wondering about is the "Future Context" thing I put in the "Reaching" department. Basically, I believe there are many songs here that may refer to events later in the series, which would make it impossible for us to correctly assign the song at this time. This is what "Future Context" as a possible suspect means, "there is a chance we can't properly assign it right now." Think of Shun-ran, and how there would've basically been no way to give that to Arei during CH1 unless you hard read her character arc. Technically this could apply to all the songs, but there's some where this is a bit more likely than in others.

In the case of Hi-fi Evolution Theory, because the song is so Veronika-coded, it is also inherently mastermind-coded. There is a non-zero chance that (provided they're different characters) this song is meant to go to the mastermind, who may also be acting on their whims against society for all we know. Because we don't know who the mastermind is, we can't assign it safely.

Do I believe that's likely? No. Veronika fits the song so well that there's really no need to bend over backwards with assumptions about the mastermind and their motivations to explain it, even when the video has a famously black and white chess board front and center. I'm happy to just let Vero have this!

Song #9 - Undead Enemy

Prime Suspect: David Reaching: Min

For whatever reason, he put on a mask symbolizing the leading role he had yearned for in the past. And from the next day onward, the unhappy boy's smile did not falter, he was even loved by someone.

So like do I keep going or is that enough to convince you this is David's.

I mean, an "unhappy boy" puts on a mask that allows others to smile and laugh, making him loved by people. He desires their love even though he also resents them.

Laugh and sneer, you prisoners, at the good fortune that came to those who smiled, and its messengers too. Slander and criticize,and then, I won't need anyone else. Just leave me alone.

I can hear it from far away, sobbing choked up tears stained by angry roars. Just stop it everybody. Don't leave me alone.

David [2-11]: People who are born lazy, useless and stupid will stay that way until they die. If you were able to "improve" yourself into a better person, then it only means you were a better person to begin with. Aaaaand with that, my career is officially in the trash.

I mean. It fits him even better than Literature Girl Insane, and that's an achievement. The only reason to even consider Min is because of the repeated theme of perfection and references to school in the song.

An equation on the abacus, connections rattle and clatter. 1 mark? 100 marks? 10 marks? Oh my, a failing mark? 1 mark? 100 marks? 10 marks? …and how about you?

But like. Everything else about the song is so incredibly David coded that there's no reason not to give it to him.

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These first four are the songs I'm most confident on. That means that if there are any other songs that fit these characters in a vacuum, I will push them to the Reaching tier no matter what, because the song would need to fit better than these. That's difficult.

However, there are two more songs that I find have one prime suspect that stands above other characters. I could see myself being wrong on them, which is why I won't just default to the Reaching tier with them, but still.

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Song #2 - Sing Along

Prime Suspect: Teruko Reaching: David, Future Context

The song talks about how the singer loved someone who hurt them and left them.

I can't go on livin' alone now that you're gone You done me wrong, so here's your song Now sing along, baby Well, I know you know that you're killin' me But it's worth it just to see you smile Tell 'em to carve my name in the barstool, baby You know I'm gonna be here a while

So, Teruko with Xander and to an extent Min. This line in particular fits very well with her fatalistic attitude and generally pessimistic outlook on life.

Compromise is made out of peace But history's made out of violence After the war of the worlds has ceased All that's left is the deafenin' silence

(All that's left is silence??? -> Silence -> Mai dislikes silence!!!- I'm insane)

David could actually work pretty well with Xander and possibly Arei too, but he's so locked into Undead Enemy that any other song you want to give him is gonna be a reach.

However, "Future Context" is actually very relevant for this particular song. At the end of the day, the only thing we have here is someone feeling bitter at someone even after their departure (which in a killing game is probably gonna be death). Do you realize how likely it is that this ends up applying to multiple characters? Already, it might apply to Levi feeling frustrated at Ace's behavior before his death. Eden's also lost people, and the only reason she's not mentioned is because she's not really bitter towards them. I still think Teruko is the most likely, because betrayal is something that's pretty integral to her character and is likely to continue being that way for a while, but there's certainly a possibility that someone else ends up making more sense here.

Song #6 - A Mistaken Belief of Love

Prime Suspect: Arturo Secondary Suspects: Future Context Reaching: Whit, Xander, Charles

Alright so those of you who've already read other people's opinions are probably raising your eyebrows because whaaat is this guess. And yeah, at first glance it looks weird, but I swear it makes sense.

The first thing I need to establish before we go any further is that the song isn't strictly about romantic love. Like, yes, you can take it that way because all songs can be interpreted in many ways, but it's not what the song is originally about. Instead, the song is actually about the love between a cat and its owner. Yes, like, deadass a pet. Although the cat is represented as a cat-person throughout most of the video, the ending makes it clear that it is indeed a straight up cat.

In fact, the song might actually be based on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Black Cat." It helps with context, but I'll mostly focus on the actual song.

To put the story in chronological order, it starts with the owner being neglectful towards the cat, no matter how much the cat loved them.

“Hey, do you still love me?” The answer to this pantomime-like question Is still smoldering beneath the surface I’ll always be suspicious about it Tonight, the anti-satisfactionist sneers, “you won’t return to the gap in your bed, or your clean and tidy little room.”

The cat doubts the love because the owner doesn't return to "the gap in their bed," their place in their shared room. This neglect comes from the owner's problems, namely alcoholism, though the video shows a few other vices visually, like smoking.

With your ego swelled by a feeling of omnipotence, don’t drink for three straight days Just about everything is drunk and unsteady

This eventually culminates with the owner... presumably killing the cat in a drunken rage. It's not ultra clear in the video, but that's what it looks like, and it's what happens in The Black Cat, so. The cat dies, is the important thing.

Just about everything is drunk and unsteady I’m not there, I’m not there, “that’s right!” you say I’m the one who coughed up blood!

However, the cat's spirit lives on, and begins haunting the owner. This is actually what's shown during most of the video. The cat's anger comes from its mistaken belief that its owner loved it enough to care for it.

Weak, without exception, if we just play peekaboo Then, I’ll kill you at our rendezvous I just wanted to mistakenly believe that you loved me

There’s no mistake, you’re no exception, hey, if I die, I’ll leave you my precuneus, my pennies, everything I just wanted to mistakenly believe that you loved me

The precuneus is a part of the brain which (among other things) deals with self-consciousness, including comparing your own personality to that of others. Feel free to interpret that however you want, it's not that relevant for us. All we need to understand is that the cat leaves a part of itself with the owner.

Now, it's hard to apply a lot of this to DRDT directly. As far as we know, no one has drinking problems, and no one's killed a cat. However, I believe the main points we can take away are these:

The owner killed the cat.

The cat believed the owner loved them.

The owner is haunted by the cat's death.

You can see why "Future Context" is such a big possibility here. A situation like this can easily happen within the killing game. For example, imagine that in CH3, somehow, Hu ends up killing Nico, but doesn't get executed for some reason or another. Nico fits the cat theming, would've believed that Hu at least liked them, and their death would obviously haunt Hu. At that point, the song would go to... well one of them, I'm not sure which one :v

Do I think that particular scenario is likely? Not really, but it helps to illustrate that an event like the one in the song can happen.

However, it's not necessary. Because I'd argue that there's a character who already fits this song. Arturo, because of Felicity.

Let's review this. The cat loved the owner, just like Felicity admired her brother, as stated in a deleted part of a Q&A answer. However, the owner often left the cat on its own, neglecting it, similar to how Arturo abandoned Felicity. And while Arturo didn't directly kill Felicity, he certainly blames himself for her death. It haunts him, just like the cat's death haunts the owner.

Arturo's Motive Secret: Your younger sister killed herself because of you. You should have never left.

It's not crazy to say, based on what we know, that Felicity committed suicide because she "mistakenly believed" her brother loved her, and stopped believing that when he left.

The counterargument here is that it's a little strange for the song to have large sections sung from the perspective of a side character, as opposed to the singer being the DRDT character related to the song like in most of the other songs. However, given some of the other songs we're gonna see, I wouldn't rely on patterns for these things lol.

As for Xander, Charles and Whit, well. They're some of the only characters who we know have dead people in their backstories who could've had "a mistaken belief of love" (so no poison victims for Min because they presumably didn't know her) and who might actually be haunted by the deaths (so no Levi because he's remorseless). However, we know fuck all about Elliot, Xander doesn't strictly blame himself for his family's death so much as he just feels survivor's guilt over it, and I don't really think Whit's mom could have "mistakenly" believed he loved her, seeing as he does appreciate her very much. So, uh, unless future context gives us extra possibilities, I'm going with Arturo!

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My confidence in my guesses is about to take a dive off a cliff. Here we get to the songs that really caused me to procrastinate on this post for years lmao.

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Song #5 - asymptotic

Prime Suspect: Whit Secondary Suspect: Min Reaching: Charles

Officially the first song with a whole two suspects! Asymptotic is a silly little love song, themed around math, about two lovers who can never get together.

I think you're curvilinear A real nice graph to see You're a cutie face in x-y space Not imaginary

We're asymptotic, we're on it Till the end of linear time Asymptotic, divided By the smallest slimmest line Asymptotic, obliquely Here's the point of this speech As close as we could ever get You'll be just out of reach

In case you're not caught up on your math, an asymptote of a curve is a line that the curve infinitely approaches, but never intersects. For example, take the function 1/x, graphed in the image for the song, and make x tend to infinity. That means, make x a big ass number. Then, 1/x becomes really close to 0, right? In fact, if you tell me any positive number larger than 0 (call it ε), and I can tell you a number x' such that not only is 1/x' smaller than ε, but 1/x is smaller than ε for any x larger than x'. However, what you can't do is name a value of x such that 1/x is exactly zero. So the curve 1/x approaches the straight line y = 0, but never touches it.

And yeah, this is pretty Whit coded.

Whit's Profile: Unfortunately for Whit Young, he seems to lack all luck when it comes to finding a relationship himself.

Whit can try all he wants to get into a relationship, but for one reason or another, he never actually manages to establish the relationship. So he and his crushes can always get very close, but they never end up "touching". Additionally, Whit has some connection to math, or at least computer science and data analysis.

Whit [2-7]: Machine learning! We both like machine learning! Charles: Machine learning is the use of computer algorithms that have the ability to learn from data without being explicitly programmed. [...] Machine learning also has its uses in matchmaking, or any fields in which one may need to process a large number of individuals.

However, there's a much easier way to connect math to Whit. It's also the reason Charles is in the "Reaching" part. The Ultimate Chemist is Whit's most plot relevant love interest at the moment, and Chemist -> Science -> Math. Sure, chemistry is (to my understanding and depending on the specific branch) not the most math heavy of sciences, which is why Charles is in the "reaching" tier, but it's close enough.

And the song really does make a lot of sense if you take it as Whit singing it to Charles. Like, you look at these corny ass, immensely pun dense lyrics and tell me they're not some bullshit Whit would say to try and put the moves on Charles.

I think you're curvilinear A real nice graph to see You're a cutie face in x-y space Not imaginary The limits are infinitely great I wish that we could cosine But that'll have to wait

It's derivative to say You're integral to me We're off on our own tangents Fading constantly

So, the Matchmaker gets what is probably the most explicitly romantic song in the playlist. Makes enough sense, right?

Well, eh. There's an issue with it, which is that it feels reductive. Like, Whit definitely has some other shit going on. Giving him a song based exclusively on one line in his profile, which hasn't even come up in the main series yet, feels very strange.

But you could argue this is a problem with asymptotic itself, as opposed to specifically the Whit guess. DRDT characters are all very complex and have a lot of shit going on, giving any of them a love song that has very little else going on is always gonna feel like a disservice.

And when taking that into account, you could argue that being reductive actually fits Whit, in a way. A big part of his character is that he always ignores complicated situations and feelings, right? So why not give him a song that brushes aside all his other issues and focuses only in his misfortune with romance, arguably the least of his issues?

The other argument you can make is that... well, these songs don't have to be a full encapsulation of the characters. I'll point you again to the three songs that have almost no lyrics; those ones can only hope to encapsulate a character's vibe, and little else. It'd be unfair to ask every song to capture the entirety of a character when those three could never do it. And for what it's worth, I'd argue asymptotic's silly goofy sound fits Whit pretty decently.

Still, it's worth keeping our options open. And while giving the Matchmaker a love song makes sense, it makes just as much sense to give the Student a math song. The question is, how would it work? As much as I love Terumin, their relationship doesn't have the same kind of explicitly romantic undertones that Charwhit has imo. And none of the other Min ships are particularly prominent in canon, either.

But perhaps we don't need the romantic undertones. It's possible this is meant to be about Min and Teruko in a more general sense, in that Min wanted to be closer to Teruko, but Teruko was distrusting as ever and ends up pushing her away, especially after the first trial. That could certainly work, especially as Min's secret quote is directly about Teruko. However, I'm not super convinced by this possibility because Min... just didn't actually express that much interest on getting close to Teruko before her death, imo. She wanted to save her, sure, but that was an impulsive decision. She doesn't really express the sort of eternal yearning the song talks about. They hung out, like, once before Xander's murder attempt, and Eden and Rose were there too.

On the other hand, you could abstract the person the song is about to just be an allegory of Min's goals. Not being the Ultimate Student, because she did achieve that, but rather making something worthwhile with her life, like becoming a teacher. The issue I have here is that while this fits the whole "the lines don't touch" idea, it sorta fails at the "infinitely close" aspect of an asymptote. Min doesn't fail at becoming a teacher because she could never have reached her goal even with infinite time, as the song would suggest, she fails because she dies before she can.

What I'm arguing is that the situation looks like this:

I'm having fun with the math song >:)

Per Whit's profile, he's "fated" to have bad luck in relationships. No matter how hard he tries or how long he spends trying, he just has bad luck with romance. Meanwhile, Min could have reached her goals, only she got killed before she could. Arguably, she could have also gotten closer to Teruko, if you consider that her goal. So she's not asymptotic, she's a curve cut short. Does that make sense?

However, I am being a little pedantic, and the song itself already does some amount of math butchering (why are you talking about "divided by the smallest thinnest line" then showing two curves that diverge in literal opposite direction on screen-), so you can probably get away with the wiggle room. These are both still very good interpretations, even if I personally prefer the Whit one. That's why Min is still a secondary suspect!

Also I would be lying if I said I'm not a little biased. I don't really like asymptotic that much and Min's my favorite character so I'm more likely to look for reasons to give it to a different character xD

Also Charles is here, should probably elaborate. Well, I mentioned it before, but Chemistry -> Science -> Math, is the logic. The issue here is that from Charles' perspective, there's no reason to believe he would be "asymptotic" to the Charwhit endgame. If he wanted to date the guy, he could just ask, no reason to believe they would always be separated and parallel. The one who has bad luck in romance is Whit, after all. So, uh. Moving on!

Song #3 - RUNAWAY

Main Suspects: Future Context, Charles Secondary Suspects: Teruko Reaching:

Chat we have a problem.

I find that everything I am is Everything I should be

Chat this line disqualifies the entire cast how do I proceed.

Indeed, this song has the peculiar problem of being too damn happy for this cast of 16 crashouts (and before you mention Eden, fork). That's why I genuinely considering finding a way to put Mai in the playlist, because she's just the happiest and least troubled character here, or she was until They Got Her ig. Twas' not but a fleeting thought, however, since the songs are ostensibly about the main cast.

However, let's not panic. What is the song actually about, if I'm saying it's so happy? It's effectively about facing your flaws, acknowledging them, but still loving yourself despite them. The song starts with the singer pointing out their own flaws, and feeling bad about them. They're silly flaws, but flaws regardless.

I've been searching, nothing's working I've been tripping, no one's perfect Chasing vision, just the surface Shirt's on backwards, not on purpose I've been learning, something bigger Expectations, feet were failing

However, they then face themselves and decide that despite these flaws, everything will be okay. They don't need to be perfect ("redirecting my perfection somewhere else"). That's "the promise"... I think.

Staring into my reflection Redirecting my perfection somewhere else (Ohh, ohh, oh) When there isn't any progress Lean on truth inside the promise, it is well (Ohh, ohh, oh)

Despite these flaws, they see a bright future for themselves, filled with empty pages ready to be filled. They are content with themselves, even in their imperfections.

I hold my life out in front of me Dreams of who I want to be I'm seeing every empty page I find that everything I am is Everything I should be I don't need to run away

With this, they finally begin growing past their doubts, and learn to love themselves.

Something's working, heart is turning Vision's clear, and still I'm learning That what I am, what I am, what I am, what I am Is something more than I can plan

So... it's cooked. Like, it's way too happy a song for anyone here, right? The only thing that makes sense is that this is talking about the end of a character's arc, thus, Future Context is the only real possibility.

Or at least, that's what I thought, until I read googledetective's post where they called out Charles as a possibility, and I saw the vision. Just like the singer, Charles originally had very high standards for both himself and the people he interacted with, dismissing most of his classmates out of hand because of their talents. After CH1, however, Charles is arguably the character most willing to confront his flaws without running away from them. He acknowledges his original attitude of a loner was bad, he gives the secret he receives to Teruko to account for the possibility of getting incapacitated by his hemophobia/necrophobia, and he even starts learning basic adulting skills like cooking and laundry with the help of Whit. Sure, he's still arrogant about his intelligence, but to be fair to him what competition does he have beyond Teruko and maybe Rose?

Additionally, out of every crashout in this cast, Charles is arguably the one most comfortable with himself. He's never really showed much self-doubt after CH1, trusting his abilities while still keeping his flaws in mind. And if you argue that the RUNAWAY haver must 1. Confront their flaws, and 2. Be comfortable with themselves, it becomes clear why Charles is one of the only options. Characters like Whit may be pretty happy with themselves, but avoid their flaws, while people like Eden can face their issues, but don't feel fantastic (thinking about Eden's guilt over Min and Arei's deaths here).

Finally, there's one last reason to give this to Charles, but it's related to some "deeper" lore. I know I talked about the storyline in A Mistaken Belief of Love, but that was because it was directly included in the lyrics. RUNAWAY's video has an extra story sort of running in the background of the song's more general statement, so whether or not dev took it into account is certainly up in the air. However, I still wanted to address it because look at this description:

1960 - 26 year old Jessica Avet opens a stack of 20 letters from her father, J Francis Avet, addressed to her before he was drafted in 1940. Francis left his 6 year old daughter knowing he might not ever return, so wrote with the intension [sic] for Jess to read a letter on her birthday every year for 20 years. Jess never read a single one, until her 26th birthday.

So, this person has a family member who died when they were young, but they kinda ignored them for years and only faced them when they were much older? That's so Charles coded it's incredible. I'm this close to outright theorizing that CH3 is gonna have him receiving a letter from Elliot or something.

Charles is not the only option, however. Again, at any point a character could just... have an arc where they face their flaws and suddenly they fit here too. That's why Teruko in particular is a suspect; if anyone's getting a happy ending, it's probably her due to protag privilege, so she's the likeliest to have an arc that fits RUNAWAY. Something to watch out for, I guess.

Song #8 - Yesman

Prime Suspects: Ace, Nico, Min Secondary Suspects: Arturo, Xander Reaching: David

Me when I'm a DRDT character and my recap foil gets a song-

Okay so we have a problem chat. It's the everlasting problem that has plagued, like, every song analysis post in my Tumblr backlog. The issue that translation is very hard! Because there are quite a few different translations online, but a lot of them have some pretty big differences with the official English captions of the original video (the one on the DRDT playlist is a cover). There's a decent chance some of these translations have slightly different meanings, which could change interpretations of the song. I'm making the executive decision to use the translation in the captions on the og video for this analysis, please don't kill me if you prefer to take other translations into account T_T

Anyways. The song is a dialogue between two characters, which I believe may have names within the storyline of the song but which I'm going to call Flower and Miku after the Vocaloid used for their lyrics, because it's funnier that way. Flower is the titular "yesman", someone who behaves exactly the way society wants them to without pushing against it, even if they hate that life.

Flower: Hiding a selfish, angry laughter Pitted malt of selling complaints Hiding a casual abstention It's okay if I dance forever, right?

"I just want to live normally Isn't that lovely?"

"Ordinary person, extraordinary person, there's not much of a difference, right? Yes, yes, yes, yes, if I just nod it'll be fine I want to live fair and square Do you understand?"

Miku, meanwhile, is someone who isn't like that. She calls flower out for being "caught in the trap" of disillusionment.

Miku: Yes, face to face with things I hate "I have no euphemism, I hate this" The you that says these is still a ghoul, truly great "Well, I didn't have motivation from the beginning By now, there's no meaning of going back" Saying these, you were caught in your own trap

The "ghoul" imagery connects to the chorus, where Flower is directly compared to the living dead.

Undead, Undead! Beside you Undead, Undead! Dancing 'till the morning Undead, Undead! Peace at any price I'm just a performing blockhead

Side note, because this is kinda relevant for DRDT related discussion, the word translated here as "blockhead", 朴念仁さ (read: bokunenjin), can also be translated to something like "introvert", which you might see in other translations.

In any case, Flower initially dislikes Miku for being the "disappointment" society believes Miku to be, but she eventually realizes that she doesn't want to feel that way. That's the view of a critical "adult."

Flower: The "disappointment" label that was attached to you some day I can't get it out of my head Somehow, by the time I realized I turned into one of those useless critics called adults

Then Miku... does some yuri stuff? I think? Idk what's actually going on here.

Miku: Being surrounded and taken care of wasn't an ideal I'm okay with being inside of your heart, when it's not lonely I want to lower the curtain as if I am going to sleep

Regardless. In the video, the character Flower represents ends up breaking everything around them, as if finally being free from those expectations. However, the lyrics don't seem to reflect this all that much? So I'm a little confused at that part.

Undead, Undead! Same as usual I'm just a dancing blockhead Moaning/singing* x2! Begging 'till death Moaning/singing x2! I want to finish with you Moaning/singing x2! Don't fall into here Into a waiting blockhead Ah, this life is the best

*In the video, the Japanese writing says "moaning", but there's also English writing saying "singing'". This works because homophones rule

Look, the details aren't completely important. What we need to look for, assuming we take Flower to be the "main character" of the song, is a character who is a "yes man" and does what people expect them to, even if they hate it.

When I first got that, my immediate thought was Ace. He's stated he hates horse riding, but still does it out of performance anxiety whenever he's forced to. So, a complete yesman in that regard. Adding onto that, he's the character that best fits the "undead" chanting, having survived a murder attempt. Even LGI calls it out, with his numeral being attached to the phrase "a cat has 9 lives."

However, Nico works well too. They're also forced into a particular role by society, having to hide their gender identity, even if they hate being called a boy or a girl. They arguably also work better with the idea that the singer ends up rejecting society's pressures in the end, as they have come out as nonbinary, while Ace never got a chance to quit horse-riding. They're not as connected to the "undead" imagery, but they do work better with the "introvert" translation of 朴念仁さ.

But if you're talking about introverts who succumb to societal pressures, you have to mention Societal Pressure Girl. Min shows clear contempt towards her talent in her Bonus Episode, so the connection is made pretty clear there. Additionally, she works best with Flower's insults towards Miku, because of Xander. Flower and Miku beefing over different ideals on fighting against expectations is extremely reminiscent of Min's clashes with Xander throughout the entirety of their stay in the killing game. Especially since, like Miku and Flower end up agreeing on how much dancing to society's tune sucks, Min and Xander actually sorta agree on how pointless the Student talent is.

In fact, Xander also manages to sneak in as a suspect just because of these clashes. If Min is Flower, then Xander is Hatsune Miku (put that in the "out of context theorists" compilation), so he is technically connected to the song. The only reason he's secondary is because I'd expect Flower to be the one connected to the DRDT character, as she's the titular "Yesman," but still.

Why did I put Arturo as a secondary suspect. I'm writing this a few hours after writing his name there, so... I forgot why I did it. Like, I think I was cooking something about beauty standards and how they could be related to societal pressures, but like. Arturo doesn't hate beauty standards. Chat I've reached the point where my theorizing is incomprehensible even to me, is it all over?

Anyways, at least David as an option is a bit clearer. All the reasons he fits with Yesman are the same for why he fits with Undead Enemy, the only reason he's in "reaching" is because Undead Enemy just fits him better overall.

Song #12 - tip toes

Main Suspects: Min Secondary Suspects: Hu, Arturo, Charles Reaching: J, David

At the risk of sounding a little pretentious, you know how our world has a bunch of superficial symbols of status? Well, the singer is someone who achieved something like that, and indeed feels pride over it. However, they're not super happy with it. They wish they could be more earnest and follow their real desires instead of these symbols of status. They want to be "set free from wanting things they don't need." Think, like, a famous singer living a luxurious life, but hating how superficial it all is.

Demanding my mind be set free From wanting the things I don't need My pride is hiding its lies behind all the dreams Living inside Delusion is weighing me down It's taking the hope that I found And giving me nothing back

The feeling is creeping in slow It's feeding my need to be known And giving me nothing back

The "delusion" here is a delusion of grandeur taking away their true dreams and passions, it's the "need to be known" that's "giving them nothing back". However, it's not easy for them to let go of the pride associated with these superficial status symbols, causing an internal conflict they describe as a "heart attack."

Heart attack, so now I'm on my Tip toes, trying to see past my ego I'm reaching for something more than this feeling of being important Leaving my heart behind, it's bleeding But still my pride is screaming My future will listen to me Listen to me, listen to me Will I always know this divide? Living most of this war inside Take this ghost of me with the tide to die And release my heart to come alive

They want something more substantial than this meaningless status, this "feeling of being important" that's making them "leave their heart behind", but their pride is making it difficult, "screaming" for them not to give that up. They lament over this divide, wishing they could take this superficial "ghost" of themselves to die and fully follow their heart. And we don't have any more lines so we kinda gotta work with this.

With the way I described the song, you can probably guess which character I'm angling towards. Because if there is a symbol of status that someone has that they feel is superficial and meaningless, that has to be the title of the Ultimate Student. Because an Ultimate title, a spot in Hope's Peak, is obviously an extremely important symbol of status. And yet, in her Bonus Episode, Min makes it clear that she doesn't find her title to be as meaningful as others', because it's sorta inherently unsubstantial. She expresses a clear desire to grow past the title, to do something more with her life, something more than this title that does little more than make her appear important and well known.

And yet, Min doesn't just completely dismiss her title. Whenever Xander expressed his clear hatred of the title and what it stands for, Min was always quick to defend her lifestyle and argue for the importance of her talent, even though she fundamentally agreed with Xander. This is where the "ego" comes in. A part of Min does still feel proud of her accomplishments as the Ultimate Student, even when another part of her thinks it's an useless title, so it's hurtful when someone insults that. And it's not something she lets go of easily, as illustrated by the fact she continued studying even within the killing game.

This is why I put Min as the only main suspect, because I find her to be the best example of the song's conflict. She clearly expresses both the pride and the feeling that the thing she's proud of is stupid and worthless. However, the song is much more vague than I've been treating it as, so other options can definitely fit here as well.

In particular, Hu and Arturo could both easily fit this song in the near future. "The feeling of being important" is something that Hu explicitly looks for, wanting to be seen as reliable by the others. And of course, Arturo chases status more so than he chases beauty, as he quickly went from not thinking about J at all to immediately becoming obsessed when he learnt who her mother was.

However, they share the same problem; this song only works for them if you assume they'll go through a certain character arc. Currently, neither Hu or Arturo actually feel conflicted over their "pride." Hu sees nothing wrong about wanting to be seen as reliable and important, and Arturo has expressed regret over very little beyond his sister's death and catching Veronika's attention. For the song to work, then, you need to assume that either Hu will begin loving herself regardless of what others think of her, or Arturo will look past his desire for status and search for something more meaningful. And even if you feel comfortable assuming that, the fact Min effectively starts the killing game already fitting the song makes me lean towards her more than these two, you feel?

Charles, meanwhile, has already grown past his pride as one of the only "real" Ultimates that he expressed during the Prologue, so he fits a bit better in that sense. He realized the Ultimate thing was not the most important thing ever in the face of stuff like basic adulting skills, he "looked past his ego" and learnt to rely in others.

But there is a reason that he's not a prime suspect. His blinding pride and his desire for something more meaningful never truly coexist. In CH1, he's arrogant and self-important, but he doesn't show a desire to grow past that. And in CH2, he's already pretty much completely let go of his "feeling of being important" as one of the few "true" Ultimates. And even if you argue it could be referring to how he still considers himself smarter than anyone else, we then run into the same problem as CH1, because he has no desire to let go of that. The conflict, if it ever existed, ended before it became relevant.

On another note, David once again faces the funny situation of being really fitting for a song, but getting put in "Reaching" because of Undead Enemy. He feels his talent is just as useless as Min considers hers, and he definitely looks for something more meaningful by following Xander. But again, Undead Enemy.

Finally, J is here as someone who let go of a whole lot of status to follow her passions, but like. If she ever felt conflicted about leaving her status behind, we sure as hell never see it. The only reason I'm even mentioning her is that the only other song I mentioned her in is Hi-fi Evolution Theory so I kinda have to start giving her some options lmao.

Song #16 - Good Grief

Prime Suspects: Eden, Whit Secondary Suspects: Xander, Teruko, Future Context Reaching: David

Stated directly by its writers, this song is about how confusing grief is. The song is about someone who lost someone else.

Watching through my fingers x2 Shut my eyes and count to ten It goes in one ear out the other, oh One ear out the other, oh Burning bright right till the end Now you'll be missing from the photographs Missing from the photographs Watching through my fingers x2 In my thoughts, you're far away And you are whistling a melody Whistling a melody Crystallising clear as day Oh, I can picture you so easily Picture you so easily

They're "watching through their fingers" either because they're scared to confront the death, they're crying with their hands on their face, or both. Now, this loss makes them feel very sad and hopeless, of course:

What's gonna be left of the world if you're not in it? What's gonna be left of the world, oh? Every minute and every hour I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more Every stumble and each misfire I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more

However, because of how intense their grief is, this sadness isn't simple. It's interrupted by moments of intense emotions in general, including a weird euphoria when being reminded of the lighter moments in that person's life. That's why when they're "caught off guard by your favorite song", they begin "dancing at the funeral." It's representing the way people might laugh and joke about silly stories of the dead to celebrate their life, for example.

Caught off-guard by your favourite song Oh, I'll be dancing at a funeral Dancing at a funeral Sleeping in the clothes you love It's such a shame we had to see them burn Shame we had to see them burn

You might have to excuse me I've lost control of all my senses And you might have to excuse me I've lost control of all my words So get drunk, call me a fool Put me in my place, put me in my place Pick me up, up off the floor Put me in my place, put me in my place

Which gets us into the very obvious problem that a song about grief in a killing game might as well be a song about water in a school of fish. It can end up applying to basically anyone, provided the right people die. Hence why Future Context is a suspect. But if you ask me, this idea of laughing about better times to celebrate a person's life in the wake of their death makes me think of one conversation in particular, at least for now.

Eden [2-3]: You know, being in this kitchen, it reminds me of that time that you, I, Rose, and Min were baking together. You remember that, right? Teruko: ... Of course I remember. Eden: We had a ton of fun back then! Baking, decorating, and chatting... I could tell everyone really enjoyed it! But then... When you dropped that cake, and Min had to clean up the mess... Because of that, she ended up having to kill Xander.

The conversation continues, but you get the idea. Combine that with Arei, and it looks like Eden will be doing a whole lot of grieving in the near future. And with her being an intensely emotional person, it makes sense that she'd embody the entire massive spectrum of emotions grief can bring. Also this is literally the first time I've brought her up I need to give her some songs already.

However, Eden works if you take the intended meaning of the song. Because if you read the lyrics divorced from the writers' statements, then you can actually interpret it as someone ignoring their grief. The dancing in the funeral, the shutting eyes and looking through fingers, the "picture you so easily", the sleeping in clothes they loved, the losing control of the senses... It certainly gives off Whit "looking away" from his mother's death energy. The fact this is grief he felt before the killing game also arguably gives him points, as it is an integral part of his character from the start, as opposed to Eden who only starts feeling grief during the killing game. But at the same time, the fact that the song does acknowledge the death at all ("you'll be missing from the photographs", "I miss you more") is a little strange when Whit ignores the issue so much he deadass forgets his mom is dead at all. So. There's that counterargument.

Similar to Whit, Xander also feels grief before the killing game, which is why he's here, but unfortunately we just don't know enough about how he feels about his family to make him a prime suspect. And Teruko is here on the basis that she will definitely feel a good amount of grief over the course of the killing game, on top of whatever the hell she's going to feel about Mai's very likely death. But because it hasn't been shown yet, I don't want to put her as a Prime Suspect for now.

And David is here because look at tally 5 dawg my guy's grieving. But for the fiftieth time this post, Undead Enemy pushes him to the Reaching tier. I'm starting to wonder if maybe always disqualifying him was a bad move but oh well.

Song #10 - Drawing Pins

Prime Suspect: Levi, Nico Secondary Suspects: Teruko, Hu Reaching: Min, Rose, Future Context

This song is about someone who feels stuck in an awful situation, "held down by drawing pins."

I'm held down by drawing pins They pierce the skin

Additionally, the singer feels they can't understand the person they're speaking to. Apparently, this person has done something to them, and the singer can't understand why they did it.

Lights are on but no one's in - When you talk I don't feel like I belong - Here at all Tell me what you did it What you did it What you did it for 'Cause I can't figure it out

Finally, the singer wants to be loved by the person they're speaking to.

What do I have to do To be loved, loved by you

And... that's it. You can see why this is so difficult to determine. The song's very vague, and the emotions it expresses are pretty common amongst the cast.

Still, if you're talking about people feel like they "don't belong here at all", you're probably looking at Levi and Nico. They both have issues understanding people and their actions, fitting the whole "lights are on but no one's in when you talk" and "tell me what you did it for" thing. And they've both been stuck in unfavorable positions, being unable to freely discuss a part of themselves. Particularly, Nico didn't feel comfortable sharing their gender identity at the start, and Levi didn't feel comfortable sharing his low empathy. The desire to feel loved can then be abstracted to being accepted for Nico and being seen as a good person for Levi, though I give the slight edge to Levi here in terms of who it fits more.

As for secondary suspects, we go to Hu. She fits with the desire to be loved while being stuck in the unfortunate position of mental health issues which led her to attempt suicide several times, and you could argue she struggles to understand Nico's and David's actions for the chorus. However, I feel like that might be recency bias, if that makes sense? Like, Hu not understanding people isn't as core a part of her character as it is for Levi and Nico, the David and Nico situations are just particular cases where she struggles to see the other person's perspective. It feels to me like that aspect of lack of understanding only feels really relevant because it's one of the last things we've seen of Hu's character as of the end of CH2.

The same can be said about Teruko, but at least "why did Xander try to kill her" seems to be a highly important question for the storyline as a whole, so it would make a bit more sense to draw attention to it with that chorus. And her misfortune is certainly something that "pins her down," so it tracks. She's not a primary suspect solely because I think this fits Levi and Nico better, not because there's too many problems with it.

Going to the final category, Min and Rose work in the sense that they're the most directly "under drawing pins" in the sense that XF-Ture Tech and the Spurling Foundation have forced them into horrible positions, but they really struggle with the "tell me what you did it for" thing. Also, cartoons exists, so Rose has better options. On the other hand, if we're going to accept that said chorus is about a particular point in the killing game, like Xander's attempted murder or the Nico and David situations, then we have to acknowledge the possibility that something like that will happen again, and more suspects will enter the list. So, Future Context.

Song #13 - Polygonal

Prime Suspects: Teruko, Ace, Hu Secondary Suspects: Nico, Levi, Xander Reaching: David, Charles, Arei

The second song without an easily accessible translation, so we're gonna have to put our faith in Google Translate once more. And unlike Hi-fi, this one's a little hard to understand.

This song is about... uh... it's, like. So it's. Hm. Uh... self-loathing?

Ah, a life full of failures And so time melts away again

Ah, a life full of regrets And yet another anchor appears The scenery I can't see is still Stained bright red Everyone wants to laugh with someone

Okay, that's a start. The self-loathing causes the singer to grow jealous of... just, like, someone. From my understanding, they call themselves a mirror, because they... presumably are trying to replicate behavior?

Narrow-mindedness. You saw the "white" personality and dreams Unable to love them properly This rotten mirror Was jealous of someone I hate you, who grows straight and tall

My understanding here is that the "white" personality and dreams are, like, a facade of "good" born from the singer trying to replicate the person they're jealous of ("rotten mirror"). Or the "white" personality is actually the real personality of the singer, but they feel it cannot be loved regardless. The main idea is the whole "reflection" and "unable to be loved" thing, at least from my interpretation. The singer's trying to be a "mirror" of good people to be loved?

This pain that we can see "Melting away like a mirage" In a prison no one sees Alone, we Rot away

Okay, okay. We're making progress. Again, the singer doesn't feel "seen", their pain is sorta festering away from sight and causing them to rot, right? That's what's going on? Maybe we can understand the chorus now?

Ah, this light that shines only on me It hurts so much I feel dizzy and want to vomit The auditory hallucinations that never stop today, endless delusions Beyond the never-ending nightmare The urge to scream and someone's amplified sobs It's on the other side of the mirror Many voices that seem about to burst Resonating through the mirror, that's my pain

What the fuck is happening.

Okay let's take it one line at a time. "Light that shines only on me" is a spotlight, so the singer feels put... on a spotlight. They feel like the center of attention, but they don't like it ("it hurts so much"). Because of the whole "delusion" talk, it reads to me in a sort of self-destructively self-centered way, if that makes sense. They feel like everyone's judging them, basically? That's presumably what the "auditory hallucinations" would be, the thought that other people are judging and talking shit. Am I making sense or making shit up.

What's on the other side of the mirror? Well, if the mirror is sort of the singer pretending to be similar to other people... then they are the person beyond the mirror, screaming and sobbing with a voice about to burst.

Okay, okay! Again, hidden pain, etc.

The lingering echo, terribly dull Those eyes reflected in loneliness It turned "purple" A bruise I don't remember getting A green corpse And this memory that is eating away at me, a melancholy that frightens me

Why are we bringing memory into it. Why is purple in quotes. Am I losing my mind.

Uh... would you all forgive me if I just let this little part go as "the singer is vaguely depressed about the past"? I'm struggling with the imagery around here.

Okay, uh. So as a summary, the singer feels they can't be loved, put on a spotlight and constantly judged. So they put up a front of a "mirror" which you take however you want. They hide pain behind that mirror. They're jealous of the people who can stand themselves. Memory bullshit.

I think why you can see why this is such a problem. Unlike other songs, which are so vague that it's impossible to draw much meaning from them, this song is so detailed that no character can fit it perfectly. And that's without mentioning that a lot of the song is up to interpretation, so a lot of what I said might not even apply.

Arguably, Ace fits the best here. He does feel constantly judged as if he's on a spotlight, he hides his fear of death, he wants to be loved even if he tries to put distance between himself and others, he expressed jealousy over Arei, and... the memory thing can maybe go with Taylor?

But that doesn't mean he fits perfectly. Even beyond the stretch for the memory connection, Ace's issue is that the mirror, in his case, is only concealing things. I wouldn't really argue he's "reflecting" anything. Unless you say he's replicating everyone else's aggression, but... he's usually the one starting shit, so I don't think that works very well.

Teruko here is essentially the same thing as Ace, with the feeling of being unloved despite wanting to connect to people, the hidden pain, and the feeling of a spotlight (see: her referring to herself as the "protagonist"). She's a stronger guess in the "memory bullshit" department with all she's forgotten (incident of her back scar, Mai's name, prosopagnosia), but she arguably doesn't care as much about being judged (outwardly, at least, but also she doesn't respect a lot of people's opinions). And she still has the issue of the mirror not making a whole lot of sense, seeing as she generally does her own thing.

Hu, meanwhile, fits perfectly with the mirror imagery.

Hu [2-6]: You see, when my parents were younger, they often visited a local lake. Supposedly, the water was so still that it perfectly reflected the sky and the many butterflies that flew above the lake during those quiet morning hours. They had many fond memories of that place and wanted to work it into my name. My last and first name can be translated into something like "still lake."

See? It's not just that, but Hu also (arguably) goes along with David's ideas during CH2, in a way "reflecting" them. She's mirroring the actions of someone she considers good and upstanding, even if "jealous" is maybe too strong of a way to put how she felt about David before 2-11. And the reason she does this is out of a desperate desire to be loved, to be seen as reliable. She is extremely worried about what other people think of her, far more than Ace and Teruko imo, to the point where the main reason she doesn't want her secret revealed is that she doesn't want it to make her seem less reliable. So, the "hidden pain" part is obvious.

Finally, the memory thing sorta works with the idea that she's hurting either herself or others without realizing, as she does by talking over Nico. "A bruise she doesn't remember" might just mean she doesn't see the damage she did to her relationship with Nico until it's too late. A little bit of a stretch, but not the worst imo.

And speaking of "not noticing you're hurting someone until it's too late," that's where our secondary suspects of Levi and Nico come in. They both struggle to understand how others think, and as a result end up mostly "reflecting" behavior of those they respect, though Levi much more than Nico given the Pet Therapist mostly does their own thing. The "hidden pain" and "constantly judged" things works better for Nico, but the "memory bullshit" part might work better with Levi "oh yeah I forgot I killed my dad" Fontana. It works, but I don't see it as much as the first three.

So... what about Xander? Well, he's kinda a suspect mainly because the imagery fits him extremely well. "Rotting" gets brought up a lot, and Xander's family was described as "rotting." The video shows someone... not having the greatest time, fitting that again. And his family's deaths are the clearest idea of what "a memory eating away at [the singer]" could be referring to.

"Hiding pain" behind a "mirror" would need some assumptions, but you could argue that following the Chariton incident, Xander became more like his idol David pretended to be; a "mirror" of his idol to hide his survivor's guilt. Shaky, but works. The spotlight and "feeling constantly judged" thing... are ever shakier, but Xander has been known to do some bad things because he trusts himself (see: attacking Teruko), which could be seen as a sort of self-centered attitude. In this case, feeling bad about the spotlight is a little defeatist, like he hates that he's the center of all these hard decisions, but he's only like that because he trusts his judgement over others'? Something like that. There's a lot of assumptions made there, some of which I don't believe mind you, which is why he's only a secondary suspect. However, you can work around it all, so he's not "reaching."

Speaking of that category, though. David and Arei actually fit extremely well given they're foils of Teruko and Ace in the relevant aspects, and the only reason they're not prime suspects is because Shun-ran and Undead Enemy exist. Finally, Charles is here because "a bruise I don't remember getting" sounded like Elliot to me on a first listen (or, first read-through of the lyrics), and even though the rest of the song doesn't fit too well imo, it's enough to consider it at least.

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With this, we've officially run out of songs that make any degree of sense. The next three songs are the "quasi-instrumentals" that have basically no lyrics, which means we're gonna have to do this by vibe check alone. Save me.

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Song #1 - Diamond is Unbreakable (Main Theme)

Prime Suspects: Xander, J, Ace Secondary Suspects: Levi, Teruko Reaching: Charles

This song is pretty "punchy" and groovy. It's energetic and somewhat aggressive. I'm struggling to describe the vibe, but from that alone you can see why Xander, J and Ace are options.

Teruko is a secondary suspect because I think the vibe fits well, but not as well as the other three, and because the idea of something being "unbreakable" fits her whole Ultimate Luck making her survive anything. Levi is here because he's big and muscular like Jojo characters, and the vibe doesn't not fit him.

Charles is here because diamond is, uh, a material, so like chemistry and shit.

Oh dear God the quality of the guesses somehow fell even harder than before T_T

Song #14 - Spitfire (05 Version)

Prime Suspects: J, Xander, Ace Secondary Suspects: Levi, Teruko Reaching: Veronika, Arei

It's the same suspects I'm not making a new graphic lmao

This song has (count them!) two lines.

If I was in World War Two they'd call me Spitfire 'Cause you know that I can

... Well then!

The song is loud and extremely abrasive. It has its chiller and more melodic moments, but it's mostly just a bunch of screaming over harsh sounds. So, again. Xander, Ace, J, and to an extent Levi and Teruko. Though, if it helps, the Spitfire was a British plane, so... Xander evidence? I don't fucking know man.

Veronika and Arei are here because I've lost control of my life.

Song #15 - desk rotation

Prime Suspects: fuck if i know dude Reaching: Nico, J, Whit, Charles, David, Eden, Arturo, Min, Veronika, Rose, Teruko

And here we have it, the song in the playlist without any lyrics at all! dev this song has 23k views on YT what is this incomprehensible ball knowledge you posses?

Anyways, the song is- I don't fucking know, it's a bunch of noise and it's sorta kinda upbeat? Not to say it's bad, I think it kinda bangs but my music taste is sorta trash so idk if I'm the best judge of that.

Look you saw the list. The song's vibe is so absurdly indescribable that it can basically fit anyone if you look at it a certain way. And what the fuck else am I supposed to say here? Min could have it because Student -> Desks -> desk rotation? Nico because it has no words and they have trouble communicating? We've completely lost the thread. It's probably going to have to come down to process of elimination. It is what it is, I guess.

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Final Verdict

With all of this, we can reach a conclusion I'm decently comfortable with. Sort of.

See, for a lot of these songs, even if I think there are multiple people that fit well, it's convenient to choose one person over the other for the playlist overall to work better. I think Yesman works great with both Ace and Min, but Min is a great choice for tip toes. Meanwhile Ace's other songs are all pretty heavily contested, so I'm giving Yesman to Ace, which in turn means I can also give Polygonal to Hu without too much issue. Similarly, I could see Good Grief for Whit, but Eden's been absent basically the entire post while Whit at least has asymptotic, so to Eden Good Grief goes.

The surprising issue is Drawing Pins. Nico and Levi haven't shown up a lot aside the quasi-instrumentals for Levi, which means the playlist can work well with either of them on the song. Ultimately, I'm going to give the song to Levi because I think it fits a bit better, but I'll also give an alternate solution with Nico on Drawing Pins to cover my bases.

With that stated, here's the final list!

Diamond is Unbreakable (Main Theme) - Xander. Confidence Rating: 2.0/10

Sing Along - Teruko Confidence Rating: 7.0/10

RUNAWAY - Charles Confidence Rating: 4.5/10

cartoons- Rose Confidence Rating: 9.5/10

asymptotic - Whit Confidence Rating: 5.0/10

アイアルの勘違い (A Mistaken Belief of Love) - Arturo Confidence Rating: 6.5/10

春嵐 (Shunran) - Arei Confidence Rating: 9.5/10

イヱスマン (Yesman) - Ace Confidence Rating: 5.0/10

アンデッドエネミー (Undead Enemy) - David Confidence Rating: 9.0/10

Drawing Pins - Levi Confidence Rating: 2.0/10 (low because of Nico, not because it doesn't fit)

ハイファイ進化論 (Hi-fi Evolution Theory) - Veronika Confidence Rating: 9.3/10

tip toes - Min Confidence Rating: 4.5/10

ポリゴナル (Polygonal) - Hu Confidence Rating: 3.0/10

Spitfire (05 Version) - J Confidence Rating: 1.0/10

desk rotation - Nico Confidence Rating: 0.0/10

Good Grief - Eden Confidence Rating: 4.0/10

Alternative: Nico on Drawing Pins

Drawing Pins - Nico Diamond is Unbreakable (Main Theme) - Levi Spitfire (05 Version) - Xander desk rotation - J Everything else is the same

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And there we have it! Clearly, I'm not particularly confident on most of this, but I think it's a pretty reasonable solution. I wonder if the dev will ever reveal which was which, or if we'll never get to know just how wrong I was.

Hope you all enjoyed reading, regardless of whether you agree with me on these picks or not! It was certainly fun to go over all of this and try to figure out a way to make it work. If you made it this far, you deserve your own playlist song! Hope yours at least gets lyrics. Anyways, see ya'!

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