DRDT Chapter 2 Bonus Episodes Dissection!!!
Hello everyone!!! It’s time for me to take a deep dive into DRDT’s recently released bonus episodes, Happy Birthday and Loser.
How deep will the dive be? Honestly, I have no idea. The “format” is going to be very similar to my Chapter 2 Part 2 Dissections, where I’m just rewatching the episode and pointing out any lines I find interesting and any theories that may arise from them. Given that these episodes are, at least on the surface, far less lore-relevant than Min and Xander’s (or the series proper itself), I imagine this dissection may be a bit shorter to reflect that? But there are certainly some topics in these bonus episodes that have set the fandom ablaze, and I do love to ramble, so we’ll see how it goes.
Spoilers for DRDT through the end of Chapter 2 including the Bonus Episodes, obviously! We've also got spoilers for the mainline Danganronpa series including End of Hope's Peak, so watch out for that as well.
Also, before we get into either of the episodes in particular, I just wanna say that I absolutely loved the more cinematic style of these bonus scenes. I understand why DRDTdev might want to keep future bonus episodes more lowkey on the art and editing. But honestly, I wouldn’t mind waiting a bit longer for these installments if it meant we got to keep up this insane level of quality.
Bonus Episode 3 - Happy Birthday
Not too much of a surprise given how neglectful Arei’s parents appeared to be vis-a-vis Fuyuko and Natsuko’s bullying of Arei, but it does seem like Arei’s parents aren’t the kindest to her either, if they won’t even spare a “happy birthday” to their daughter. I imagine that the sisters (this is what I’m going to call Fuyuko and Natsuko from now on in this post to save time, even if all three of them are sisters) being sent to reform school was done more as a punishment for doing things like (allegedly) wrecking the car than out of any desire to protect Arei.
Also of note, Arei’s outfit doesn’t look like something she would choose to wear herself. We know that Arei likes cute and girly clothes, and these clothes are neither. In fact, they appear to be the same outfit that the sisters are wearing in this CG, and are likely a private school uniform. This implies that Arei’s parents sent all of their daughters to private school, something that typically aligns with wealth and/or a strong focus on education. Both of these things could make sense with Arei’s desire to succeed as seen later in the episode.
I don’t think I actually processed this the first time, but it’s kinda crazy that Wes just happened to give Arei this free slice of pizza on her birthday if they truly didn’t know when the date was. Are they sure they aren’t the Ultimate Clairvoyant?
(I’m also going to be using they/them pronouns for Wes given that, at the time of writing, there’s been no official statement about Wes’ gender or pronouns.)
First sighting of Wes!! Well, other than the episode thumbnail.
Wes does not look particularly similar to any known characters in the DRDT universe, including the altDRDT cast. The closest matches we know of are probably either Whit or Crown based on skin and hair color, although we know that the former, at least, dyes his hair, which makes it kind of a moot point. There’s probably some incredibly slim chance that Wes is secretly the heir to the Spurling empire, but I find it most likely that Wes is biologically irrelevant to DRDT’s lore aspects.
But that’s not really the aspect of Wes’ character design that has everyone buzzing, right? Just what is up with that tattoo? Well, there is a chance that, as rachelcommitscrimes pointed out, it could be a hint that Wes was a former member of or affiliated with the Warriors of Hope, due to their tattoo matching the pins the Warriors of Hope wear.
However, the Chapter 2 Part 1 Q&A told us that a person who was 80 years old was “basically, old enough to remember the Tragedy,” which implies that the peak of the Tragedy occurred several decades ago. From later in the episode, we know that Wes is around college age, which would mean that the WoH would have to be an incredibly long-standing organization in order to have added even a child-aged Wes to their ranks.
I find shitposting-account’s interpretation, where the tattoo is simply meant to be a compass, symbolic of how Wes helped Arei find her way, to be the most compelling. But of course, we can never count out the possibility that Wes has an objectionable future ahead of them…
Also, why is there a wine bottle in the background??? Do bowling alleys usually serve wine?????
It’s great to see that Arei is still a little menace even when she has, like, zero power or social capital in the slightest.
I had never seen literally anyone speculate about this, but it makes so much sense and is so tragic at the same time.
I find it very interesting that, when looking back at the time DRDTdev was asked about the cast’s nationality, nothing was mentioned about Arei being an immigrant. I mean, it makes sense, because in terms of legal status, if the Nageishi family legally immigrated to the US, she is, legally, an American. (Take a shot every time I say "legal," sheesh...) But, even in the followup about accents, it’s only mentioned that Xander picked up a British accent when studying in England, and nothing about Arei ever having a Japanese accent.
In my mind, this could imply one of three (kinda four) things:
In universe, Arei is meant to have gotten so much better at speaking English that her accent is unrecognizable.
DRDTdev chose not to mention that Arei has a Japanese accent because they wanted to keep it as a surprise for this bonus episode/because Mokaui doesn’t have a Japanese accent, which would make it kind of weird to mention that she’s supposed to have one.
DRDTdev had not yet solidified that Arei was an immigrant/Japanese first language at the time of the Q&A.
Given how important Arei being an immigrant seems to be to the root of her bullying and therefore her entire character, I really doubt that it was the third option. I like the first option the best for an in-universe answer, but I think it's also worth mentioning that, in the case of a purposeful omission/concealment, we should be aware that other characters may have had parts of their backstory concealed in these Q&A answers. There could be other characters who, for instance, were not born in the United States, but that information is being saved for a later plot development, and the same could be true for other questions as well. Looking at you, sexual orientation question…
Also, I find it interesting that we now have (seemingly) three characters who canonically spent part of their lives in Japan, those being Arei, Teruko, and Eden. I think it speaks to Japan as a cultural powerhouse post-Tragedy/in this version of the Danganronpa universe in general, but it’s an intriguing coincidence.
Back on the subject of Wes’ gender, this speech is insanely “Wes is some flavor of trans” coded to me. Like, I don’t know if it’ll ever be stated explicitly, but to me this whole conversation very much feels like Wes relating to Arei as an outsider upset at “the way things always are” from the perspective of gender instead of race.
I feel like most people in the fandom probably share that interpretation already, but in case people hadn’t thought about it before, those are my two cents :)
Totally makes sense that (in a setting where Hope’s Peak recruits college-aged students and not high school-aged ones) the cutoff for being declared an Ultimate would be the end of high school, but it’s nice to have it in writing like that.
Also, if Arei is saying she’s “got years” until her high school graduation, that places Arei’s age as a high school sophomore (two years until senior year) at the absolute maximum. Even then, she's more likely a high school freshman (three years until senior year) or even a middle schooler. I don’t think Arei ever clarified at what time she sent her sisters to reform school, but we know this happens before that does, too.
Again, this was to be expected, but it’s nice to have it further affirmed. Honestly, if Ultimates are basically this nation’s top celebrities, it’s kinda interesting that Arturo doesn’t worship more of them, lol. Maybe, with some of them coming from fairly low walks of life, many Ultimates don’t have the glamour of beauty Arturo expects.
It’s also interesting that Arei specifies that “this nation” practically worships Ultimates, given her history of coming from another country. Is she intended to be specifying that the United States worships Ultimates more than Japan or any other country does?
We do know from A History of Hope’s Peak that Japan did rebuild their Hope’s Peak Academy, and Mai says that “the entire world admired [Ultimates],” so it’s not like glazing Ultimates is now a US-exclusive thing. It’s probably nothing, but the word choice could be subtle foreshadowing that the US has more Ultimate fanaticism than anywhere else in the world. Whatever that would mean for the lore.
Arei: 👀
Obviously alluding to Levi’s backstory, but like. There’s no way that this isn’t foreshadowing something super fucked up having occurred in the past, right?
This is a fascinating piece of information because, in a very Rose-like way, it perfectly sets up Hope’s Peak to be able to blackmail a bunch of talented young people– or at the very least, it could if Hope’s Peak had a tie to the government. If the pipeline is someone accidentally commits a crime → the police/HPA finds out about it → the person is given the ultimatum (lol) of “become an Ultimate and do whatever we say or go to jail,” HPA could wind up with a lot of really talented people under their thumb after those people graduate and succeed. And like, if what Arei’s saying is correct, then there definitely is a connection between Hope’s Peak and the government, or else the police wouldn’t fear getting in trouble for levying an accusation against an Ultimate.
Well, unless they were just worried about the social and/or financial power that said Ultimate could throw back against them or their precinct. Maybe I overthought this. But I do still think my original interpretation is a valid reading of what Arei has to say!
Wes’ entire bit here at the end of the episode is so relatable to the mid-20s lifestyle. I wonder if DRDTdev is about the same age as Wes themself, lol.
Also, to any high schoolers (or younger???) who are reading this: Wes is literally right about the whole school thing. A good college or a good degree does not guarantee you success, and honestly a lot of the people I know who forged their own paths are “more successful” than the ones who didn’t. It’ll all chill out eventually. Take it from me, probably one of the oldest people on DRDT tumblr :P
Arei, stop glazing peaking in high school, it’s not a good thing (/j)
And she doesn’t tip 😔 guys we have to cancel Arei
I’ve already gushed enough about this CG to make an entire illustration about it but WAAAAAAA THEY’RE SO CUTE!!!!!!!! I love this CG so much, they're adorable. Oh to see the entire year-or-so the cast spent at HPA before being sent into the killing game. I love seeing them be happy…
And it’s really sweet that the episode ends on Wes deciding to support Arei in her dreams, too. I’ve made it pretty clear that I strongly agree with everything that Wes is saying in this episode, but it’s important to remember that not every piece of advice will work for every person, too. I think it makes for a more nuanced ending than if Wes was just presented as being completely right beyond any shadow of a doubt. Common DRDT writing W.
Bonus Episode 4 - Loser
Time for insane yaoi beyond the likes of which anyone has ever seen (/j)
Can I just say, incredible intro to Taylor’s character as a whole; his personality was not at all like what I expected (it was better). It’s crazy how this scene contextualizes Ace as the sane one/voice of reason in the relationship.
Also, as many have pointed out, there is a bite mark on Taylor’s arm. Ace, I know what you are.
And don’t think you’re off the hook from me knowing what you are, Taylor.
Relevant that Ms. Naegi will go to speculate these things herself, meaning she’s more than just an average administrator and has a function more similar to a talent scout. Or, at the very least, she’s the one who puts the final seal of approval on candidates someone else has scouted. Which also implies that there is some extent to which the students are scouted, as opposed to only considering those who may have submitted a formal application, should they exist!
…Also Ms. Naegi mention kjlksdjflksjdflksjdf. Since it’s been a few days since the episode actually dropped, I’m fairly acclimatized to it, but it’s still crazy to actually reckon as reality.
Oh Ace, the tragic character that you are… We already knew that Ace was practically born to be the Ultimate Jockey, but having that “gift” be contrasted against someone who tries super hard makes it hit all the harder. Am I talking about Taylor or Arei? Haha :)
Side note, but I really love Sethfuzzy’s voice acting for Ace in this episode, and how it seems like Ace’s voice is slightly higher(?) to make him sound a bit younger. ProjectAlpha22 did a great job voicing Taylor too; I hope to see them again in more fangan projects if they’re interested!
Two interesting pieces of lore here. For the first one, I wonder if all of the misspellings in the fake Eden ransom note were meant to go hand-in-hand with this idea. For the second, it sounds like Ace considers himself good (or at least not shit) at talking to at least some people within his family. I don’t think we knew that before!
And furthermore, even more Ace lore! We now know that his family is fairly well-off, at least enough to support one child (of ten) not working. Taylor also believes that they wouldn’t kick him out of the house. I definitely got the impression from this bonus scene that Ace has a pretty good relationship with his family, though it could always be more tenuous than Taylor knows about.
A quick analysis of Ace and Taylor’s friendship: Taylor has been described as being Ace’s best friend, though that’s a fairly low bar to clear when it seems like Ace doesn’t have any other friends. They’ve raced each other a lot, which implies that they see each other fairly frequently. Although, it’s not like they’re neighbors, since Ace mentions that Taylor would have to drive over to visit him (also likely implies that Ace and Taylor are over 16 years old in this scene!). However, it also means that Taylor knows where Ace lives, and is close enough to him and probably his family to be able to come over unannounced.
Given that Ace mentions Taylor going to school and talking to people, it’s also a definite possibility that they attend the same school. However, I think that was actually probably Ace guessing; if they went to the same school, Ace wouldn’t have needed Taylor to tell him about his exploits with the chess club. With Taylor’s personality, I also kinda doubt that he would have left Ace alone for long enough to go on that chess club sideplot, either…
None of this is really that important, but I wanted to think about it anyways.
There was actually a misprint when it came to putting this line in the video. The script was supposed to say, “You’re always so proud (🏳️🌈👨❤️💋👨) of being my rival,” but the text box didn’t support emojis :/ (/j)
“And that’s scarier than anything else…”
It’s deeply sad but also deeply funny to me that one of Ace’s motivations for continuing to be a jockey is that he’s worried that Taylor would rival-divorce him. Ace please go on a date with him, I promise it will all be fine.
He’s already thought about this and decided to put Ace’s last name first on the marriage certificate. What a gentleman.
Who the hell is Victoria…….
And finally, it’s time for the big reveal… Ms. Naegi!!! Er, probably.
I know I’m not the first to get to discussing this mysterious character, so I’ll probably wind up referencing, paraphrasing, or accidentally copying something that someone else has said. I apologize. Since so many people have been saying so many of the same things, I’m also probably not going to go hunt for sources about it. Sorry again, and I hope that’s okay :)
At the outset, I want to take a brief moment to ask the question, “are we sure that this is Ms. Naegi?” I tossed this question back and forth in my mind before deciding that it would be way too convoluted if this scene depicted anything other than what Ace just described: Ms. Naegi showing up at his door and telling him that he’s going to be the Ultimate Jockey, likely in the wake of Taylor’s death (whether because Taylor’s death removed the competition or whether Ace inherited the title Taylor originally won after Taylor’s passing). I mean, technically this could be, I don’t know, Mai from the future telling Ace to give Xander a note that says “kill Teruko Tawaki,” but we currently have no reason to believe that this image isn’t depicting what the text is describing. If it is depicting something else, it could be literally anything, which would therefore make it mean basically nothing. For the time being, at least, I think we should assume that this is Ms. Naegi.
Getting back on track, this design. We can really only see three things: the hood, the jacket, and the long white hair.
Starting with the simplest, the hood. Here’s a better look at it as compared to Makoto (and Nagito’s) designs.
If you didn’t know, Makoto’s hoodie does canonically have a design on the back of it. It was put there because the game was originally imagined to have portions where you would pilot a 3D model of Makoto around the school, and therefore spend a lot of time looking at the back of his head. The symbol on the back of Ms. Naegi’s hood is very similar in color and shape (two concentric circles), but seemingly not exactly the same, as hers has an extra bit on the left which I highlighted with the blue arrow. That difference is the kind of thing that, by my estimation, would be difficult to have happen as an accident, which means it’s probably intentionally meant to be a slight variation. The fact that the hood is also black as opposed to Makoto’s green also makes it clear that this is not directly meant to be Makoto’s hood.
As we can see, Ms. Naegi’s hair also very clearly goes under the hood but over the jacket, signifying that this hood piece is not connected to the jacket itself. Hell, it could be more of a bandana than an actual hood, and be tied in the front instead of attached to the jacket's front.
At any rate, it makes sense that Ms. Naegi might have a piece of clothing that either belonged to or is similar to Makoto’s, given that she is likely a descendant of his (we popping bottles when the truth comes out that she’s actually Komaru’s descendant /j). The same cannot be said of Nagito’s jacket, a jumpscare that made me yell aloud when I first saw it.
This thing confuses me so much. As a recap of canon, when last we saw Nagito (not including 2x2 as it probably didn’t even exist when DRDT was being developed, or v3, which is probably not canon to DRDT?), Nagito awoke from the Neo World Program and was able to rejoin the rest of the SDR2 cast (minus Chiaki) in the world of the living. He joined them in ending DR3’s Future Foundation killing game, where he and the rest of the former Remnants of Despair took full accountability for the scandal in order to maintain the Future Foundation’s reputation before setting back off for Jabberwock Island.
So, as we left him in canon, Nagito is… regarded as a current Remnant of Despair and wanted criminal? Why is anyone wearing this jacket, much less a presumed employee of Hope’s Peak Academy??? Isn’t Nagito considered a terrorist and a war criminal by the general populace????????
Putting that aside, the jacket itself is slightly different from Nagito’s in a similar way that the hood is to Makoto’s. The jacket seems to be missing its green hood in favor of the Makoto-style one. The red square pattern is also shown on the left shoulder when it’s normally only on the right, and the giant “55” is missing from the back as well. Any one of these things I could easily excuse as an oversight, but all three of them together make me think that, similarly, this is not meant to be Nagito’s exact jacket, but instead a jacket inspired by Nagito, or meant to recreate his iconic look.
But again, iconic to who??? He doesn’t wear the green jacket during his public stint at Hope’s Peak because he’s always wearing the school uniform. He’s only shown wearing the green jacket 1) in the Jabberwock Island killing game (which no one other than the Future Foundation saw), 2) at the end of the Future Foundation killing game (which no one other than a few surviving members of the Future Foundation saw), and 3) in the video in which he reestablished himself as a terrorist (which the entire world saw)!
Thus, I think we’re left with two options:
#1: Ms. Naegi belongs to a group who knew Nagito as a Remnant of Despair, and began to idolize him in that state. Perhaps the fact that he once bore Junko’s hand factored into that worship, somehow. This implies that the new Hope’s Peak may have at least one employee which belongs to this (presumably) radical group, and that she’s confident enough about it to wear it out and about to go recruiting new students. This seems incredibly unlikely.
#2: As we know, the Future Foundation and the new Japanese Hope’s Peak are aligned, given that Makoto was a Future Foundation employee and the principal of the new Hope’s Peak. We also know that Makoto knew that Nagito was a (decently) good guy, and very strongly believed in the redemptive capabilities of the Remnants of Despair. Therefore, in the past of DRDT, Makoto may have put in some work to right the history books on what happened with the Remnants of Despair, redeeming the public’s view of the 77th class and aligning their image with that of the Future Foundation/Hope’s Peak. This seems much more likely, although it would be an insane lore bomb to randomly drop in the middle of Ace’s bonus scene.
Of course, we can never forget about the dark horse sleeper candidate third option:
#3: I am way overthinking this.
But, like, this has to have some lore significance, right? You don’t just dress up one of your characters as Nagito fucking Komaeda for no reason, or without thinking about the implications that such an outfit would have on your series’ lore! There has to be some reason why Ms. Naegi is wearing a Nagito-style jacket, and right now, #2 is my best guess as to what that reason may be. I look forward to getting further hints and guidance in the future.
Canonically invoking Nagito also further confuses the canonicity of the “[David] is the byakuya/nagito/kokichi of the cast” and “lets play spot the komaeda” comments in LGI, btw. Now that Nagito may be an actually important figure in the lore, we have to consider both what Kokichi’s inclusion alongside the Byakuya and Nagito means as well as the additional implications that being “the Komaeda” might have in-universe. Or not, this is still largely a joke scene.
And, oh yeah, we still have to loop back to the white hair thing, too. So, why does Makoto have a descendant with white hair? A compilation of options:
A) Ms. Naegi is Makoto’s direct descendant, and was born with white hair. This would imply that he had a partner with white hair. The most likely candidate for this role would be Kyoko, who has white hair and is often considered as Makoto’s canon love interest, even if they never kiss or call each other boyfriend and girlfriend or anything of the like.
The second most likely candidate would probably be Nagito, especially given the jacket. Although, if Ms. Naegi had to be the biological children of both men, it would require one of them to be trans. I think both trans!Makoto and trans!Nagito are fairly common headcanons, though.
Hypothetically, if Ms. Naegi was, like, Makoto’s granddaughter or whatever, it could also be that Ms. Naegi’s parent that was not at all related to Makoto had white hair. However, this would be lame as fuck, so I am disregarding it. The same goes for her simply dying her hair white as well, assuming it wasn’t for Nagito cultists reasons or something of similar relevance.
B) Ms. Naegi is Makoto’s direct descendant, but is of the age where she would naturally have white hair. Based on the hand in LGI (which is assumed to be Ms. Naegi) and the stature and style of the person in this image, I don’t believe this to be the case. Ms. Naegi appears to be a fairly young person, probably in her 20s or 30s if I had to guess.
C) Ms. Naegi is not Makoto’s direct descendant, but was instead adopted or otherwise added to the family. This is plausible, but we’ll talk about it in conjunction with the final option:
D) There’s some sort of “disease” or “curse” going around that is causing people to develop white/gray hair. We know that Teruko’s hair “started turning gray recently,” and it likely wasn’t due to stress like Ace. If it were, I think they would’ve been mentioned together, or at least that Teruko’s hair wouldn’t be described in such a more mysterious fashion than Ace’s.
We’ve also seen that, in the “What If” scenario where Teruko and her older brother Kyo stayed together, Teruko’s hair is no longer at all gray. Speaking of Kyo, he’s another character which has always been shown to have white hair, as has XF from altDRDT, but either of them could have originally had different hair colors. Veronika’s white hair streaks have apparently been there since birth, whatever that means.
If the white hair acquisition occurred due to proximity to despair, or even bad luck (maybe not in Veronika’s case, though she does have that good luck earring from her friend), I would believe that any of these characters could fall within that scope.
Time to stop beating around the bush: what do I think of the “Kyo is actually Ms. Naegi” theory? I will admit that Ms. Naegi’s hair does look damn similar to Kyo’s from the AU. I also like the concept of the Naegi family, in whatever state they may be in in current day, having luck that interacts with the Tawakis’ in some way, leading to them coming into contact with one another.
However, the mystery of Kyo’s identity/whereabouts needing to jump through the hoops that she was both adopted by the Naegis AND transitioned to being a woman off camera seems like a lot, especially for the casual audience who probably barely even remembers that Kyo exists, and may not watch the bonus episodes. I’m not saying it’s impossible– I would fairly willingly believe that Kyo was adopted by the Naegis OR was trans– but both together seems a bit much to me.
I’m inclined towards option D myself, where Ms. Naegi is probably still Makoto’s direct descendant, but something has caused her hair to turn white in the same way that Teruko’s and Kyo’s, and possibly XF and/or Veronika’s, has. As for the braids… I dunno, man, are we as a fandom going to have to come up with a Braid Theory at some point? Why do so many important characters have such similar hair styles?!
:(((((((((
xmicrophonyx said it best: they were within kissing distance.
Good job Taylor… you really won the competition for “bonus episode with the most dramatic irony,” haha………
Now that we’ve been through both episodes, what can we take away? Ace and Arei’s bonus episodes seem to have these similarities and differences:
Both show the characters at a time before they were admitted to Hope’s Peak, in their childhoods
Both show the characters have a conversation with, most likely, their closest friend in the world ( :,( )
Ace and Arei show opposite opinions on being an Ultimate: Arei desperately wants to become an Ultimate, to the extent that she’ll give her all to a sport which, initially, she only took up as a way to avoid her family. She dreams of the power and escapism that having a perfect Ultimate life would give her. Ace, despite being born with incredible talent for jockeying, desperately does not want to become an Ultimate, to the extent that that he’ll anger his Dad by not showing up to practice. He fears the lack of power and inevitability that entering the Ultimate sphere would give him.
There might be more, but I think these are the major beats. Given all of these strong thematic parallels and throughlines, and especially within the context of Xander and Min’s episodes sharing a similar number of comparisons, I think we can definitely expect all of our killer/victim pairs to have shared themes and/or topics in the future. Maybe at some point I’ll take a look at what I would currently expect everyone’s bonus episodes to feature, and mock up which pairs might be doomed to die together later on.
But for now, wow, I missed DRDT a whole bunch. It always manages to knock it out of the park with its interesting characters and lore ^_^ Hopefully my analysis provided something interesting to the conversation as well. Thank you for reading!
