psycholocks

narumitsu, asoryuu, komahina hell blog @KomaedaPosting on twitter

[muzyoshi]

Master List of my Character Essays

Including replies to asks from other people, who are credited in parenthesis!

Danganronpa

Hinata's 'Hatred'

Komahina and Ultimate Talent Development Plan

Nagito Komaeda and Being Misunderstood

Line Delivery and Talent (part 1, lanterns-and-lightmares)

Komaeda's Speech (part 2, cybereuphoriia)

Bite-Sized Bits:

I was Komaeda's Actual Valentine

Parallels

Fandom and Hating Komaeda

Ace Attorney

Miles Edgeworth's Secret

Miles and the Magatama

Miles Edgeworth and Marriage

Bite-Sized Bits:

Edgeworth & Earthquakes

Laugh

[muzyoshi]

this line is so funny. Why is he Like That. gonna start saying this intermittently

[muzyoshi]

I was going through the Komaeda UTDP scenes again last night, and when the party one came up, I narrowed my eyes because something kind of struck me suddenly about it.

How exactly did they go from this:

... Into a 'handshake'?

There was no reason for them to be shaking hands at that point. They hadn't even come to the agreement about solidifying their friendship yet.

Hinata goes on and on about 'understanding' Komaeda in almost every single setting the two of them appear in. It's a huge theme in the original Danganronpa 2, and 'understanding' is even baked into one of Komaeda's character songs. It's something that means a great deal to Hinata. He, without exaggeration, kind of obsesses over it. Like there's something constantly itching at him about not being able to understand Komaeda - and he says himself in no uncertain terms that it's not just because he considers him to be dangerous (even if he partakes in a little denial and deflection to reach that conclusion sometimes lol).

So honestly, this scene comes across as kind of romantically charged to me. They speak deeply of Hinata's desire to understand Komaeda, and end up with their hands intertwined before any sort of agreement towards their relationship as friends. That is not a handshake, what the hell!!!

Does anyone else have thoughts on this? I think this whole scene is so fascinating, and really reads as a blatant tease by the writers. They knew what they were doing, definitely.

Edit: Check the reply section! It's wild that the translation could be twisted so much, I had never seen it until now. I think it's good that the overall themes of Hinata seeking to understand him are intact, but losing him making the headstrong decision to actually become friends on his own terms is quite sad. It's still mutual in the end, but I don't see why it was translated the way it was at all. Unfortunate...

[muzyoshi]

my collection!

[muzyoshi]

This may be The SDR2 Moment of All Time. It's such a powerful few lines of dialogue. It says so much. I could write 5 different essays on it. Amazing

[famoustreepieslime]

HET TWIN. I wanted to ask you a question that's a bit... unbearable to think about. Regarding Nagito's CD drama, do you think Hajime rejected him in any way? I was rewatching it and, well, I saw some people commenting on things like that, and I'd really like to know your point of view.

Well, for one I believe people are just making jokes in comment section. Or more like repeating the same joke.

But more so, with the context of the conversation:

1- Komaeda's part isn't a literal love confession. He is confessing his feelings, and there is romantic undertone however it's not a typical love confession scene where you'd expect other person to acknowledge the love and respond to that love by whether they feel similarly. In this conversation Hinata is trying to understand Komaeda and Komaeda is trying to make Hinata understand him.

2- What Komaeda is saying more like "I adore you. I will do anything to assist you. I have been alone all my life and you are the first person to truly attempt to understand me even after knowing what kind of person I am."

3- Hinata IS acknowledging that, the point of the conversation isn't about Komaeda's love (whether it's platonic or romantic), it's about trying to understand Komaeda's character. And Hinata is replying accordingly to it. He's saying that his attempts to understand him isn't motivated by simple reasons like love or hate (unlike him, perhaps), but there's a logic behind it. Which he feels like Komaeda should be given the chance to at least have someone try to understand him, instead of leaving him as he is. Because leaving him alone and not acknowledging him is bound to result in something bad.

In conclusion, this part of the Drama CD as well as FTEs more about Komaeda's character than his love so of course the conversation is focused on that. More so Hinata does acknowledge Komaeda's feelings but the conversation isn't about romance so he neither accepts or rejects him.

Bonus: I knew it before but while I writing this I noticed it better that Hinata is really emotionally mature for his age. He puts his feelings aside (although they blend in whenever he interacts with Komaeda because of course he can't go with this matter with 100 percent logic) to understand him. Because anything Komaeda does isn't just "Komaeda being Komaeda" but actually have some more complex reasons. He knows that if you left him alone without acknowledging the big issue he's bound to make more choices that can lead disaster. For him, for others. Isn't it crazy not even Komaeda's teacher was able to see it? Yet alone any other classmates of his! I will definitely talk about this in a further analysis BECAUSE he does that in UTDP and in game too (aside from the FTEs)

[muzyoshi]

Are you guys ready for some insane lore about me?

I was Nagito Komaeda's official valentine in 2020. This is an officially created image by Spike Chunsoft.

Story below if you're interested!

So for some context, back in 2020 Spike Chunsoft held a small art 'contest', wherein you could create a Valentine's card for your character of choice (from any of their IPs), and 'might' receive a reply from your chosen character.

And... as far as I know, I'm only one of two people who received the honour of being selected as a winner for this contest. More on the second winner in a moment, but it took ages for them to contact me lol, and it was through Twitter DMs. The prize was this card by the company (And Komaeda...), and a free code for a game of my choice from their site. (I chose AI: The Somnium Files, by the way.)

But of course, it goes a little bit deeper than that, because otherwise it would be a rather unremarkable story. The whole contest was super poorly managed. Once it began, there was almost zero communication, no real indication of when 'winners' would be chosen, and of course the "reply from your Valentine" was rather lackluster.

I was buds with the admin of the Danganronpa Wiki back in the day when they were still active, and we asked around about this... and as far as we were able to discern, there were only two winners (who mentioned it publicly, at least), being myself and a user by the name of Roirence, who made something for a Zankai Zero character.

I don't want to share the art I made for the event because it's highkey incredibly cringe... but maybe among a sea of memes and joke cards, it was in part why I was picked? It was so disgustingly earnest on my part lol.

While it is definitely sad that only two people (apparently) received anything, I can't help but laugh every time I remember it. I truly was harnessing Ultimate Luck on that day. We're still happily married

[muzyoshi]

Reflection of You

Commentary on Hinata's shattered identity, and his following existence challenging and fragmenting Komaeda's values and beliefs. The death portrait frame was used as an allegory for their worlds as they know it having crumbled individually.

I think Hinata spends a large majority of the main story pushing down his conflicting feelings regarding Komaeda. The betrayal he felt mixed with the twisted level of genuine care for his wellbeing leads to some very interesting breakdowns of how Hinata constantly chooses to run away from and circumvent his problems and feelings, and is mirrored by how he chooses to move forward with the Kamukura project. He's a super compelling protagonist and they complement each other in a really unique way that is fun to explore.

[bakatheoven]

first post kinda nervous...........

[retrorats]

Kodaka being secretive about Komaeda and Hinata.png

[dr2-hell]

komaeda and hinata for a post dr3 au changed somethings on komaedas design and redrew hinata completely

[muzyoshi]

At the bottom of the official website created for Danganronpa 2x2, right at the bottom of this page, is a repeated tiled "2" fading in from Monokuma...

I'm reaching HARD here, but what if it's supposed to symbolise a repetition of the simulation or something... I'm thinking it's possible that this new scenario is just one of the many times the simulation could have been run, with the final successful run being the one we play through in the original DR2 scenario. Maybe Komaeda and Hinata could be the only ones to make it through this one. That would be so insane lol...

... Nahhh, I'm definitely reaching....

[muzyoshi]

It kinda blows my mind that we're getting brand new content with the Danganronpa 2 cast... It almost doesn't feel quite real. I wonder if the characters will feel... off at all? Like it's been so long, and having some new people on the team, will the dialogue feel wonky or wrong, do you think?

I personally have very few real expectations. All I really hope is that the characters still feel close to their original counterparts in the new scenario. Brand new Nagito Komaeda dialogue is just such an insane concept, how is this the timeline I'm living in lmao. It's been 8 years since I tore through the entire series, but my love for it never died...

[muzyoshi]

I feel like people in the Danganronpa sphere tend to conflate the amount of attention Komaeda gets within the community with the actual amount of screentime he receives in the game he debuted in.

Prefacing this by acknowledging that yes, he does receive more screentime than the average character, but the way people speak about it, you'd think he's the focus of every interaction or something. And that's just... not true? I sort of have to wonder if people who don't like him see all of the constant merchandise that feature him (and every other popular character, mind you!), as well as parts of DR3 and the 2.5 OVA, and merge that with his appearance in DR2... Because I really feel like he far from eats into every scene?

He is quite present in trials, and is the sidekick character during Chapter 1 who then has a big reveal within that same chapter. But after that? He's mostly just sort of There, tbh. He's mostly as present as any other character in my opinion, with some extra sauce like the Final Dead Room and his whole deal in Chapter 5. He and other Danganronpa characters get focused on for merchandise because they are the most popular characters. It's really not rocket science.

I'm very happy when other characters get some attention, but with the way some people yap their mouths, I wonder if they even know that Komaru and Toko DID each receive an official figurine... And that the Warriors of Hope DID receive lottery prize plushies.... and that other characters do get attention. I honestly wonder if Nanami and Soda have more actual screentime/lines than Komaeda in DR2 lmao. The hate for him really sometimes comes across as just "I hate popular thing because it's more popular than thing I like". I dont think people even really know why they hate him to begin with.

[muzyoshi]

What are your theories about Komaeda’s role in 2x2? The others too but Komaeda is my favorite and you also seem to like him a lot so— /silly

Hahah, so I gave my initial thoughts on his involvement in 2x2 during the latter half of this post, but in the interest in delivering a more full answer now that it’s been a while, hmm...

I think he’ll probably survive, but in a weird kind of way? I’m not sure exactly what that *means* yet, but something in-between, maybe in a similar essence to how Mechamaru exists. I don’t think he’ll become a robot or anything though. I do still believe he has protagonist potential, if only to shift away the focus a little so other characters can shine. So we get to be privvy to his thoughts while also satiating the people who want the story to be less about his antagonistic force. He could definitely die without any fanfare too though. Kodaka enjoys that kind of subversion. :P

This isn’t really a character prediction, but moreso a general one: I think it’s possible that this time, they pull a protagonist-kills-someone (and gets away with it) or someone-kills-protagonist angle. It’s the one big thing we haven’t seen Danganronpa do with its formula yet, and it oozes that shock factor the dev side loves to inflict. Also Chiaki will die early probably. That’s about all I got!

[muzyoshi]

im so so sorry for the absolute length of this ask i am far too afraid to danganronpa the fuck out in a reblog LMAOOO but i have #thoughts about the wanting to "become a protagonist" line that ive been sitting on for 7 years tht u reminded me of, feel free to ignore me LOL

i really do think it makes perfect sense in context, even if it feels a bit awkward on first blush he 100% knows what he's talking about and who he's talking to. he's talking past hinata in his final message, because he was never truly pissed off about hinata being 'talentless', but instead that he was.

^^ grabbed lines from the speech but!! this is what he's saying nearly directly before, where hinata immediately blacks out when he clarifies what the truth is. its ambiguous whether he means the remnants of despair or kamukura specifically here, but later on he makes it clearer-

again, ambiguous, he could be talking about AI junko, but like her whole deal is #Despair, and kamukuras whole deal is that he feels nothing. on top of that considering komaeda hasnt hacked the mainframe or anything i doubt he knows about her at this point LMFAO

basically, because he doesnt know who he's talking to (since he was trying to take out the remnants but knows his luck is unreliable), he has to be vague, but the scene is serving a narrative purpose, that being laying out the red carpet for the big twist thats about to hit

basically he's being dramatic about it, but he now knows why hinata "has a scent similar to his" (ill add a sc of this line under the paragraph LMFAO), because they really are the same. they both desperately wanted talent, to embody the hope of a generation. both of them got it, but only by a sick set of coincidences that put them in the right place at the right time. komaeda says he wants to become the ultimate hope at the end of the speech not just to stroke his own ego for potentially defeating the ultimates, but as a sarcastic reference to the project itself. he's claiming that title as his own after "defeating" a false hope!

^ one of many #foreshadowing moments from the man himself

sorry for wordvomitting again in ur inbox i promise im not trying 2 be condescending i just have this all locked and loaded LMFAO i have more i cld say but ill cut myself off here since its like 5am where im at but. it always makes me happy 2 see people still analyzing the fuck out of komahina in the modern day keep doing what ur doing 🙏🙏

HEY NO THIS RULES ACTUALLY.... THANK YOU... I feel like a lot of fans of him recently feel the need to suppress themselves a bit because god, some of the reception to his character is so needlessly hostile, but I promise you’re in excellent company here!! I am ravenous for Komaeda Yappage

It was late when I posted it last night so I didn’t want to go digging for The Logs(tm), I’m very glad you included some and expanded upon your interpretation of the text! That’s always the biggest strength of his writing IMO - there’s plenty of room for speculation, but not so much that being up to player interpretation is literally the plot device. (cough, V3...) ... He has real motivations, real goals, and the specifics of his psyche regarding his actions is what is left for the rest of us to analyze!

> He's claiming that title as his own after "defeating" a false hope! 

I love this. I think I may have subconsciously thought of it this way, but it’s such a snappy and concise way of summing up what was going on in his head after receiving the information about the Remnants. I really enjoy your read on it and can’t say I disagree or have much to add! I loooove the allegory about both Komaeda and Hinata receiving what they wanted, but in the most torturous, monkey’s paw, twisted way possible. It’s an excellent narrative parallel, and that’s why it’s so much fun to analyze them as a pair.

Thank you for sending this!!! 

[muzyoshi]

You know this might be just a Bryce Papenbrook thing but I feel like Nagito’s speech at the start of chapter 2 had some bitterness to it. Like, yeah he was definitely rambling about his ideals and he definitely thinks talent = worth, but the way his dub voice sounded made it feel like he’d tried to be more than a stepping stone, but all of the tragedy he’d been through in his life has just made him sick of trying.

I feel like there is a kind person in there somewhere, but he’s just so fucking jaded and tired. Gonna take more than FTEs to reach this one folks /silly

HELLO... it’s 3am here but I shot up to hashtag #Yap because I have some Thoughts on this actually!!

So prefacing this by saying I have literally 0 knowledge of Japanese, so I can only really speak on the tone and general feeling of the delivery on lines. But I played DR2 twice, once with Eng VA and once with JP VA, and I TOTALLY think there is a huge difference in the voice directions. That’s not to say Bryce’s take is *bad* at all - it’s obviously not! But there is definitely some sincerity and earnestness in his speech that is sometimes lost in favour of an airy sarcasm...? I’m a bit mixed on it. I like both takes. So to circle back to your point, I think there is certainly some design behind the tone Bryce utilises that doesn’t necessarily 100% fit Komaeda’s actual intent all of the time, so he ends up coming across as superficial and sometimes overly patronising.

As for his feelings, it’s a fact that he idolises Hope’s Peak and of course, talent. He stresses to Hinata more than a few times that they’re “the same” in that sense, and he genuinely believes that if you’re not born with talent, you can’t just become talented, and as such are arbitrary to the world. But it’s ALSO a fact that he does have some deep-rooted desire to cultivate the hope he believes in - the one only those with talent can carry, and I think his post-ch5 speech alludes to this (though the ‘wishing he could become a protagonist’ line is a little awkward and obviously a little meta, it’s not a throwaway line by any means).

I dunno if I would necessarily say he’s jaded, myself... moreso worn down, down and down to the point where he accepts that his talent is essentially a get out of jail free card, that inexpicably turns into a bomb strapped around his neck to punish him for ever feeling hopeful about anything, if the cycle he endures is to be believed in. So by that metric, he figures that it is a worthless talent.

I could probbaly go on for a few more paragraphs, but that’s my two cents on it :P Thank you for sending me this!!