alright gonna be so ill about this scene rq and why its so incredibly amazing for Kanna’s character
Kanna understands the power of emotions and how it can drive people to do things they normally wouldn’t, while other characters cannot quite grasp the concept. She’s the only one confirmed going through it with hallucinations, (Sara, Keiji, and arguably Shin,) but isn’t letting them deter her in any way, and in fact accepts the people who died trying to protect her and is living for her; which is obviously not the case with the other three.
Sara lets the memory of Joe completely consume her in chapter 2, and in the emotions route, while she no longer struggles with hallucinations of Joe, it’s still evident that his death changed her motivations. This is different from Kanna, who already learned this lesson with her sister’s death in chapter 1-2; she learned from Reko and Sara to not let her sister’s death completely consume her and then learned from Shin’s death how to recognize what compelled them to sacrifice themselves for her
The difference doesn’t seem like a lot but it’s ‘living for yourself, learning your strength from the people who loved you and could see it when you couldn’t’ vs 'living to not have someone’s sacrifice in vain’ y’know? It says a lot about Sara and Kanna’s self worth in relation to the deaths of their loved ones.
Looking at Shin, while his hallucinations are more implied, I think it’s fair to believe that at the Very Least he would struggle with delusions revolving Kanna’s death.
^This scene specifically showcasing how if its not struggling with the reality of Kanna’s death, he’s ignoring it to cope. It’s easier to pretend the people he has to be allies with didn’t have as big of a role in her death as they did. - (this dialogue from Shin and Keiji is some of my favorite but that’s for another day)
Back to the topic at hand, after Kanna’s death, Shin’s motivations completely shift. One of my favorite scenes in 3A is when the gang uses the elevator for the first time and whichever one Sara decides to use, Shin uses the opposite. Of course, this can read as him just being petty, but before this, Shin typically followed people with high percentages- he usually wouldn’t go somewhere for the first time by himself unless he goes with someone with a high percentage, or at least scoped out by someone with a higher percentage. This is such a character defining moment because this illustrates he is no longer desperate for his own survival.
Chapter 3 and on, Shin is only motivated by revenge. Revenge for Kanna, revenge for everything he’s lost. His motivations went from 'cheat the death game, beat the odds. just survive, fuck everyone else’ to 'revenge for Kanna, I don’t care if I die anymore, just as long as these people go down with me, how dare these people kill someone innocent’ (how logical of him to throw his own survival….)
And finally Keiji- Keiji, like Kanna, went into the introduction scene already struggling with the death of a loved one, but he went into it knowing how to suppress his emotions way better. He, of course, lost Mr Policeman a while before the death game and is not a 14 yr kid who just lost her sister. Arguably, Keiji is one of the most, if not is the, most logical character in the game. He does a lot of cruel things for the sake of his, or someone he care’s abouts’ survival - which is why he is able to vote for Kanna, or go behind Saras back for all the card trading in mg 2. Both cruel, but both helped him and Sara’s chances of survival.
Keiji lost a kind part of himself after Mr. Policeman’s death. I’m not saying he’s evil, or cant feel emotions, but he is kind of .. empty. He’s been going through this death game motivated by his primal urge to survive. The only times his emotional side comes out is when his grief is pulled out and is used against him, like with Everything with Midori in 3A or all the gun discussions. Which due to the suppression of this grief and him not healing from Mr. Policeman’s death, it completely overwhelms and consumes him.
Joe, Kanna, and Mr.Policeman’s deaths all communicated to the people that wanted to save them that they were Too Weak to save them. Something they did, or failed to do, caused their death. It is Sara/Shin/Keiji’s fault.
And now why Kanna’s 'Kind Hallucinations’ are amazing - she’s the only character to willing to accept her weakness, and realize that she is surviving because the people before her saw her strength. Kanna knows she’s stuck in a death game and has little-to-no control over almost everything around her. But despite that, she stands up to characters like Midori in chapter three, not because of Shin or Kugie, but because she is strong; she is doing it for herself, and of course she has the world’s best cheerleaders behind her, if only in spirit.
