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Sayaka Maizono, the Crane Maiden

The Crane Connection

During Sayaka's first Free Time Event, she tells of an incident that occured during her and Makoto's first year in middle school; a huge bird wandered into the school pond and, in the end, Makoto was the one who managed to safely escort it out because he had been in charge of taking care of the school's animals. The bird is revealed to had been a crane, and towards the end of the Free Time Event, Sayaka says this:

"I'm that crane, you see. I've come to return the favor. Here, let me make you a cloak..."

In this excerpt, Sayaka is making a pointed reference to the story of the "Crane that Returns a Favor" or "The Crane Wife". A story in which, after being saved by a poor man, a crane tries to return the favor by taking the form of a woman and becoming the man's wife, attempting to make a cloak out of its feathers and sell it, so the man could be compensated for the kindness he had showed to the crane.

The story of Makoto's and Sayaka's pond crane coincides with Sayaka noticing and starting to get more interested in Makoto. She herself makes the connection between the two events, relating herself to the specific crane that Makoto helped through the folktale of "The Crane Wife", thus also making a connection between herself and the titular Crane Wife. In this way, Sayaka has linked herself both to her middle school's crane and to the crane maiden of "The Crane Wife" tale, with herself positioned as a personification of the folktale's Crane Wife transported to the modern day, especially in regards to her relationship with Makoto. Although, even if at first Sayaka is framed as Makoto's fated love and savior, by the end of the chapter both the player and Makoto have to reckon with the contrast between the expectation of a perfect and dutiful partner that is always by our side alongside the harsh reality of an imperfect individual trapped in an extreme situation, a contrast that has been central to understanding Sayaka's character for many years since. Ironically, a similar conflict of character is also present within the tale of "The Crane Wife"; the story's ending is a sad one, as the crane's true form gets discovered by the man before it finishes the cloak, forcing it to flee and abandon the man. Even so, I'd argue there is a significant differentiation concerning the presentations of each of the two women's motivations, especially Sayaka's, in their respective tales.

But before delving further into characterisation, we need to comprehensively determine the origins and main moving parts of "The Crane Wife" folktale, if we are to use it as a reference.

A Tangent on the Structure of the "Crane Wife" Tale(s)

Folktales and fairytales are very hard, if not impossible, to find a definitive origin for because they 1) are said to have begun emerging from the moment humans were able to transmit information orally, 2) are developed very locally, which also leads to them 3) being slowly forgotten when their place of origin is abandonded and its population is wiped out or assimilated into another culture. These difficulties are even more pronounced when those folktales revolve around as general and everpresent themes such as the interactions between humans and animals, with myths and legends detailing such interactions being found in some of humanity's oldest known written records, such as "The Epic of Gilgamesh". This is why written records of such stories are so important, but also so hard to find.

For similar reasons, the brief summary I provided for "The Crane Wife" above is only an abridged version intended to be a simplistic and comprehensive introduction to the tale, pertaining to the specific part of its narrative that Sayaka is referencing. The lineage of "The Crane Wife" tale as folklore, especially as it concerns a possible 'definitive' version, is complicated in a similar manner as the myths and legends mentioned in the previous paragraph, but for slightly opposite reasons. Obviously, the folktale in the complete, original form that it emerged could never be conclusively recorded. However, a significant number of written records containing versions of the tale have survived in the form of scrolls, and centuries earlier than the more well known attempt of the brothers Grimm to record their own homeland's folklore. Nevertheless, tracking down all these separate manuscripts is a great difficulty towards reaching a comprehensive understanding of the folktale's development, even moreso for non-japanese speakers.

The earliest written records that we have of the crane folktale are manuscripts from the 15th century ,or Muromachi period, in which the tale is more generally referred to as Tsuru no Soshi or "The Story of a Crane". This narrative scroll version, while still bearing similarities to the more well-known versions of the tale, in which a crane saved by a human man aims to transform into a human woman and become his wife, also greatly deviates from the expected versions; as the museum website states, the wife doesn't weave cloth or the cloak out of her feathers, but instead helps her husband by rebuffing the demands of his overbearing estate lord. Unfortunately, since I cannot read japanese myself, and the website doesn't state it, I cannot discern this specific version's deviation in the ending's tone, because, indeed, there will come to be versions of "The Story of a Crane" that, in stark contrast to the perceived notion of the ending of "The Crane Wife", end happily.

One of these versions is hosted at the Tress collection, having been created by a member of the Tosa School, the painting school that was founded by Tosa Mitsunobu, painter of the previous scroll and earliest recorded version of "The Story of a Crane". The Tress version comes much later chronologically, from the 17th century early Edo period, but this just goes to show how much the versions of the folktale have flourished. As the website itself states, by then there have been produced multiple different versions of "The Story of the Crane", with the only concrete way to group them being differentiating them into two 'lineages'; the three-volume lineage as the one with the happy ending, and the one-volume lineage as the one with the more 'traditional' sad ending, with Mitsunobu's version of the manuscript belonging in this category. The three-volume lineage is said to be the one developed around this time, more removed than the the folktale and even the Tosa's school own founder 's earlier version.

In fact, there is another three-volume version of the story from around the early Edo period, if a little later than the previous three-volume lineage example. It can be assumed from that lineage that this also has an 'unexpected' happy ending.

So far, it's safe to say that the version of "The Crane Bride" or the "Crane that Returns a Favor" that is commonly implied when reference to these titles are made, is descended from a one-volume lineage of "The Story of a Crane". But still, how can we be sure which is that version?

Wikipedia lists the supposedly two main versions of the tale, with "The Crane's Return of Favor" version including 'a bottomless bag of rice' section before the main 'making of the cloak' section and "The Crane Wife" version seemingly being the more simplistic and typical version that only focuses on the making of the cloak.

It would be simple if the folklore hunt ended here, but it does not. Wikipedia doesn't list a source of "The Crane's Return of Favor" version, and the "The Crane Wife" version has a lackluster one. The book from which "The Crane Wife" version of the tale is supposedly from 1) doesn't say from which specific manuscript, if any manuscript, is translating this version of the tale from and 2) is actually very similar to a more detailed version of a "The Crane's Return of Favor" or "The Gratitude of a Crane" version in which the same exact name is used for the man, and he stumbles upon the crane on his way for the exact same task, going to town to buy a futon, both times.

None of the versions that I've found and can read have the rice variant, and the only major difference is that in the book's variant, the man returns to a crane island after he has gotten rich from the cloak, where he shares one last meal with his crane queen wife, before returning to the mainland. Either the Wikipedia version of "The Crane's Return of Favor" is truly a different version that just hasn't been sourced correctly, or there's no need for two separate versions of the tale to be credited on the article.

If anything, there seems to be a mix up of the more detailed "The Gratitude of a Crane" version and the book's "The Crane Wife" version, in which Wikipedia wrongly paraphrases the man begging that he still loves his wife and still begging her to stay in the book's "The Crane Wife" version, when I only manged to find it on the more detailed translation of the "The Gratitude of a Crane" version. Even still, I can't find a specific manuscript cited in the detailed version of "The Gratitude of a Crane" either, though the website its hosted on at least cites that it's using Garth Haslam's translation. Notable is also the fact that searching "The Crane of Gratitude" can also lead to a another version of the tale, one where the man already has a wife and the crane simply takes the form of a young girl looking for shelter.

The book also cites a source for its version of the tale, another compilation book called "Folktales from Japan", edited by Keogi Seki, and translated by Robert J. Adams. Thankfully, this book gives more precise directions on the origins of this version of the tale, citing that it was collected from Satsuma-gun and Kakoshima-ken, a county and a prefacture respectively. However, it does not give any further information, meaning that as far as following this specific lineage of the tale, we've met a dead end.

In short, as far as non-japanese speakers are concerned at least, I'm only a little better off from when I first started. Thankfully, if the search through all these versions has taught me anything, is that a 'definitive' version is not necessary as an guide; the most common or emblematic elements of the tale that still persist today can be easily spotted in almost each of the versions I've located, and they can be used to create a template in which I can guide myself methodologically and measure how Sayaka plays into it accordingly. For now, the most encompasssing and cohesive template for my purpose that I've come up with goes like this:

Something happens to the crane and it gets hurt (either a trap or getting shot) -> a poor simple farmer or otherwise layman worker stumbles upon it and helps it -> the next day a woman shows up to the man's house and demands to be his wife or at least to be taken in-> the man protests claiming that he's too poor to support them -> the woman assures him that she will take care of it and locks herself in a cabinet for three days to produce a cloak -> the woman warns the man not too peek untill she is done -> after she finishes, she locks herself in a room for seven days to do the same -> the man peeks before the time limit is over -> it is revealed that the woman was the crane he helped and that it was using its feathers to weave a cloak in order to sell it and thus somewhat repay the man for the kindness he showed it -> now with its identity revealed their love cannot continue and the crane flies away/abandons the man and returns back to its flock.

As this analysis continues, this template will end up being very crucial as it pertains to story beats, not only in how Sayaka follows them but also in how she subverts them.

A Fated Love?

As discussed in the first section, Sayaka, by connecting herself to the middle school crane, she also connects herself to "The Crane Wife" tale, putting herself in the role of the titular heroine. When Makoto saves that crane, it's when Sayaka starts truly noticing him, considering that it happened during their first year in middle school. The inciting incident of the tale, where the hero has to rescue to the crane from a calamity, has already occured, even if the actual crane is only relegated to a proxy.

We see all throughout the Free Time Event the way which that incident left a lasting mark on Sayaka. From her confessing how she was the one to pay attention to Makoto first:

"Because I looked at you all the time..."

"I was always looking for an opportunity to talk to you."

To her comparing the event to a "fairytale", in a possible reference to another japanese folktale of "Urashima Tarō", where a fisherman saves a turtle and gets rewarded with the company of a princess, even at the cost of thousands of years passing by:

"It was like out of a fairy tale. The turtle once every million years, that bird once every thousand..."

And her relating herself once again to that middle school crane, and thus "The Crane Wife" tale, by putting her belief in Makoto that he will be the one to save her, just like he did that crane:

"I'm sure you'll help me find my way out, just like that crane. You'll save me."

From her perspective, Makoto saving that crane and handling the situation the way he did was something not just admirable, but extremely notable, enough to lodge it into her memory so many years later, and feeling regret that she couldn't approach Makoto again and thank him for that good deed.

Sayaka believes that Makoto managed to save the crane because he was calm and treated the crane like a regular animal, despite its size, especially since their teacher proved to be inadequate at handling the situation:

"It was so big, the teacher had no idea what to do."

"But you led it into the forest behind the school. You helped find its way out."

Her identification with the crane through this encounter might not be simple relatability but aspiration; if a wild confused animal could be treated with that understanding and respect, Sayaka might've hoped for a possibility where she could obtain the same treatment. After all, the previous day she had divulged to Makoto her own rough upbringing, not just in attaining her dream but in her relationship with her parents, growing up with the absence of her mother. Taking this into consideration, it's no wonder that after the crane incident she saw Makoto as a sort of selfless savior figure.

Makoto's view of the situation however, turns out to be much less heroic. As Sayaka gushes about how wonderful it was that he helped that crane, Makoto clarifies internally:

"Well, only cuz I was already in charge of taking care of the animals at school. They made me do it..."

To Makoto, it wasn't a selfless act that occured due to his compassion, unable to go on a moment longer seeing an animal suffer; it was an obligation that was expected of him due to preceding duties. It was a task that he was forced to undertake, likely by their teacher. From his perspective, he wasn't helping an animal but taking care of a problem, in order to avoid personal consequences.

This brief comment is not the only instance of Makoto downplaying, if not being complately indifferent to, events that were to become integral to Sayaka's perception and relationship to him. As we saw a bit earlier, she was the one that wanted to approach him first, looking at him constantly and feeling regret that she didn't manage to talk to him before graduating, implying that she was trying to contact him and grab his attention all throughout middle school. When she muses about how she never thought she'd get a chance to talk to him like that again, he mentions that:

"It's because you were like a celebrity. I couldn't just go around staring at you..."

Through that comment, and also just by process of elimination considering Sayaka's confession of multiple previous attempts at interaction, we can infer that the reason their relationship didn't commence sooner was that Makoto was the one foregoing effort, the one that didn't pursue it back. Unlike the original "Crane Wife" tale, even throughout their reconnection, Makoto, by describing Sayaka as a "celebrity", still separates her from normal, average people, the group of people he considers himself to belong to even after being accepted into Hope's Peak. In other words, Makoto, by putting Sayaka on a pedestal, fails to see how close to him she really is.

By this part of the game it's clear, at least to the player, how attached the two of them have become, and how highly they think of eachother, especially in how Sayaka wants to compensate Makoto's kindness. Two days before the Free Time event, Sayaka offers to be the one to help Makoto navigate this strange situation they found themselves in, and the things she says are pretty interesting:

"But *you're* the one that helped me find my courage again. Not any of those "ultimate" students."

"And to thank you for helping me out, I'm going to become your Ultimate Assistant!"

"I'm going to help you out as much as I can, so let's get out of here together!"

Sayaka is actively rejecting "Ultimates" as a label, at least as a label that indicates quality, in favor of Makoto, an "average" student, being the one to stand by her and help her. To that end, she will become his assistant, she will be the one to help him so they can overcome this situation and escape. It's a reversal of roles status-wise, but if one takes into consideration the transactional way this interaction is framed, and how Sayaka calls herself specifically an "assistant" to Makoto rather than a partner, it becomes evident that this interaction is not just about their talents or 'helping each other out'.

This is the part of the tale where the crane wife cements herself into the man's life, and assures him that she will help him take care of any troubles that concern him. This scene is the wife helping the husband; it is 'the crane returning the favor'.

Even if by now the crucial first story beats of "The Crane Wife" have taken place, there is uncertainty in how the later events of the fairytale will transpire; the game's setting already has a grim surreal twist built into it. As it will eventually turn out though, the killing game's environment will serve to further emphasise how darkness can grow and hide within the seemingly familiar, in the same way that Sayaka will be used to subvert how the 'fated childhood romance' character is expected to remain perfect and passive even in such a dire situation; in reality, Sayaka has already strayed from that archetype.

More Than She Seems

Sayaka has already hinted at the hidden depths that lie at the core of her character through her reference to "The Crane Wife" tale and in how it's used to guide her arc. However, that reference is not the only indication that she might be more than she initially seems to be. For example, let's take a closer look at her outfit:

At first, it looks like a completely ordinary sailor uniform, with an added feminine flair in the form of the big pink bow to differentiate it from looking too plain. Although, there's one very minor but particular detail that stands out once it's noticed; the vertical line spanning from top to bottom on her blouse, a line that is not visible in other characters wearing sailor uniforms, like Toko or Sakura. Indeed, her 'sailor uniform', is not a one-piece, but a hoodie. Even if the art book doesn't elaborate on the line explicitly, it still states that her uniform is a variation from regular ones.

Still, why is this slightly different garment so notable? As Sayaka mentions earlier in the game, while helping Makoto move something:

"I know how I look, but I've actually built some pretty good muscle jumping up and down on stage!"

Even if this excerpt is not in direct reference to her uniform, there is the implications of unexpected athleticism in contrast to her appearance, alongside a connotation of change of costume. From this, we can draw the conclusion that the hoodie is preferred because it's more convenient to her pursuit of idol success, including the more laborious parts of it that most people ignore. Ergo, as part of Sayaka's design, the use of the hoodie symbolises concealment, mostly of the undesirable parts of being an idol; her muscle mass and, therefore, the physical sacrifices she had to make in order to reach the idol dream. The line-stroke that reveals that the garment is a hoodie is itself concealed under the uniform's big pink bow and navy collar, still trying to uphold the illusion of a regular, cohesive one piece. In that sense, the hoodie also alludes to a duplicity inherent in Sayaka's character.

Of course, the thematic relevance of her design is not limited to just details; she is a singer that also dances, with stylised black hair that jut out from her back, wearing a mostly white top and very long, black stockings that cover her entire legs starting from her thighs. Japanese cranes are birds that can both sing and dance, have black markings on their faces but are mostly white, with big wings that stick out from their hind even when they're tucked in, and long, black legs that start out from the bottom of their thighs. Even if the visual similarities between Sayaka and cranes aren't as overt and plain to see as the hoodie stroke, Sayaka's blatant and textual connection to cranes and "The Crane Wife" tale results in those similarities ending up as another link that further bind Sayaka to her eventual fate.

Another one of Sayaka's thematic thoroughlines is a running joke about her possessing psychic abilities and being able to read Makoto's mind before he says something:

"Like I said, I'm psychic."

She explains that it's due to her intuition making her good at reading people, and that ultimately gets confirmed when she seeks reassurance from Makoto for one of her guesses, specifically one where he promises to do his best for her:

"...But is that really what you were thinking?"

The possibility of a more plausible explanation for her abilities doesn't make their presence any less surprising and jarring. Though, it's notable that in the end, they still end up being accurate even in this final and more hesitant guess.

This running joke establishes a direct connection to the supernatural through her supposed psychic abilities, while still breaking that illusion of certainty of knowing who she truly is; firstly, by the player momentarily assesing the possibility that she might actually be psychic, and secondly, by it being revealed that she really is just a human doing her best, though in possesion of an impressive ability. This could also be used to tie Sayaka back to "The Crane Wife", with the tale's titular heroine posessing her own divine abilities that she uses to further help and bond with the man.

Returning to the theme of concealment, in the game there exist a lot of references to masks pertaininig to Sayaka in particular, alongside an uncertainty on whether she's presenting her true emotional state. In the scene in the trophy room, after an especially fraught conversation with her, Sayaka cracks a joke to lighten the mood; Makoto is relieved, but he makes an interesting observation about her expression:

"Her earlier mood disappeared, replaced by the bright smiles I'd quickly grown used to."

"It was almost like a mask, like some kind of neutral expression."

Sayaka's smile, an expression Makoto has consistently noticed, remarked and complimented, has become "a mask", something denoting a "neutral expression", moreso a courtesy than an authentic reflection of joy; if anything, the smile has now become something used to hide Sayaka's true emotions.

We see a similar turn of phrase after Sayaka views the DVD, Makoto finding her in the midst of a breakdown:

"There was nothing on her face that you could call emotion."

"It was as if her original mask had been stripped away."

She is described as being so distraught that she has transcended emotion, her terror exceeding human estimation of a proportianate reaction, even within such a disturbing setting. Makoto says that "her original mask had been stripped away", meaning that this is when Sayaka's true emotions can be seen. If that glimpse of her 'true' self is equated to being beyond human comprehension, what does that say about Sayaka and others' expectations of her? For Makoto at least, it means that he's still exceptionalising her and holding her to a rather cruel double standard; when Sayaka shows her true emotions, even if it's to the person she has grown the closest to, they are unnerving and framed as inhuman, precisely because they don't align with her more pleasant "mask".

Even when Makoto comforts her, making grand promises that he'll stand by her side and help her escape, when she smiles again he comments on how it seems "forced":

"The smile I'd come to know so well returned to her face."

"It felt a little forced, but still..."

Furthermore, the fated night before her murder, she comes into his room with a "worried expression":

"...there was another worried expression there."

The moments in which Sayaka presents her most authentic self tend to coincide with great emotional distress. Conversely, when she attempts to reestablish composure, she often does so by reassuming her previous pleasant, smiling demeanor, but it's in those exact scenes that she is described as having a "mask". Only when the pretense of uncomplicated cheerfulness fails does the stability of this presentation come under scrutiny, and thus even expressions coded as sincere are retroactively interpreted as hints of deception.

There are other, even if more comedic, bait-and-switch moments that allude to Sayaka’s positioning as an idealized woman, only to reveal the ways in which she does not conform to that expectation; the joke that she makes in the trophy room is about her making something to eat for herself and Makoto, with the punchline being that she could only cook chili oil. The joke's premise is a subvertion of the assumption of women’s competency in domestic duties such as cooking, particularly in relation towards men. Another similar joke happens in the second Free Time Event where the conversation broadly revolves around potential romantic partners; Sayaka says that she and Makoto "are more than just classmates", only to clarify that it's because they've been friends since middle school. The expectation is that Sayaka will state her attraction towards Makoto outright, when instead she just friendzones him, even when their romantic tension is palpable throughout the whole event. The in-game narrator also makes a comment about how Sayaka is "the ideal partner" after the trophy room scene, even if the scene itself serves to showcase the first cracks in Sayaka's composure. Kyoko also remarks on how Sayaka seemed to have "always her stuff together" shortly before her murder is revealed.

In that sense, both the reveal of her murder and the reveal that she was the one that was actually planning the murder serve to shatter the illusion of her competency, her "mask", even more; not only is she not the perfect woman, but she turns out to have been more flawed, more desperate, than even other killing game participants. The end of her arc is her 'true' form being revealed, whether that 'true' form is her mortality or her capacity for deception. Either way, the crane maiden fails in her mission and has to leave the man behind.

What, then, constitutes Sayaka’s underlying mission? In the folktale, the crane undertakes the endeavor to help the man, while the man’s impatience is what ends up commencing the tragic departure. In Sayaka’s narrative, however, the framing invites a critical question; did Makoto anticipate, or even receive, meaningful assistance from her? Even if she, at first, takes on the role of the 'Ultimate Assistant', the assistance she provides is only substancial in the first couple of days. Like the tale, is Makoto the one responsible for her eventual undoing, or is this the point where the game deviates and instead implicates Sayaka herself as the primary, if not sole, perpetrator?

A Question of Agency

After Sayaka views the DVD with the motive, her bandmates motionless on the ground and Monokuma taunting her with the loss of her dream, she's in an acute state of panic that surpasses the emotional intensity that has been observed in all other characters by this point, most of all herself. As Makoto tries to reassure her, she latches onto him and pleads:

"Please... help me..."

This is where she asks him for a favor; no matter what happens, he'll be by her side and help her get out no matter what it takes. Makoto reassures her and he mentions Sayaka being his assistant, a reference and lampshading of Sayaka's previous promise to help him get out. Indeed, this scene reads as a reversal of the "Ultimate Assistant" scene, a reversal on who is the the one to offer and accept the favor each time.

Sayaka’s interactions with Makoto are structured as a progression of favors; she first positions herself as willing to support him unconditionally, and he does rely on her, at least emotionally; but then, it's she who seeks support from him, culminating in her final and critical request to switch rooms the night before her murder.

However, in the tale, the crane does not make any demands of the man; she merely instructs him to not peek once before she finishes weaving, and even this restriction is ultimately framed as serving the man’s well-being through the creation of the cloak. It's not only that Sayaka asks one thing from Makoto, but two; and the second one, had it not caused her fate, would've eventually disadvantage Makoto.

Even if Sayaka's arc largely follows the template set out by the tale, in this instance there is a significant diversion from it; the presence of her selfishness, and thus her agency in being able to make that request to Makoto. In that sense, Sayaka’s downfall could be traced to the specific ways in which she diverges from "The Crane Wife" folktale, particularly in how these deviations reframe her agency; her own desire to leave, her asking Makoto for favors before she fulfills her own promise to him and the fading of her smiling "mask" all function as indicators of this enhanced agency that has seemingly outgrown the tale's 'proper wife' template. Consequently, the attempted murder is portrayed not as an event embedded within a reciprocal couple bond with Makoto, but as an expression of Sayaka’s individual will, a will that is actively at odds with that of Makoto's, a betrayal.

To that end, Sayaka's death was also a subversion of the 'fated childhood romance' trope. Before the betrayal was revealed, the mere fact that she no longer remained romantically available to Makoto in the expected way through her death was subversive, even if she still remained partially folded into other tragic frameworks, such as the 'dead wife' trope. After the betrayal is revealed though, the implication that she was planning on going against Makoto's, the protagonist's, intention's in such a drastic manner, further instensifies the presentation of her agency, positioning her less as a passive agent of a romance plot and more as an active force that reoriented, and thus distanced herself, from the trope.

Return to the Flock

There's also something else that's notable with the scene after the reveal of the motive DVDs; as Makoto later learns, Sayaka's DVD contained her former bandmates laying on the floor of an undiclosed location, while Monokuma mocks Sayaka and her dream of achieving success with her idol group. As we had learned from Sayaka herself in the trophy room scene, she regards her bandmates as close as family, something which is significant because in the same scene, she also divulges her own family troubles, specifically her mother's abscence, if not death. Considering that it's the scene after she views the motive DVD that she makes up her mind to get out of the school with whatever means necessary, it can be easily surmised that the primary motivation of her plan was the harm she saw caused to her bandmates. In other words, if her betrayal of Makoto had been successful, it would've stemmed from prioritising her previous life, her bandmates and her dream over him. Notably, she would have been prioritising other women, and her own livelihood as a woman, over her supposed 'fated love', a direct antithesis to "The Crane Wife" tale.

Makoto had, by that point, already proven himself to be quite lackluster as her 'fated love'; in the grand scheme of things, he was a guy that Sayaka knew from middle school, that she never managed to properly talk to due to his own disinterest, therefore she didn't actually start getting to know him untill the most extreme circumstances forced him to actually acknowledge her. Yet, it was shown through their interactions that, even after all those years, she was still interested in him and cared about him a lot. However, when presented with the life that she was actually accustomed to and her actual close friends being threatened, not that she cared about Makoto any less, her choice on who to prioritise was obvious.

In the trophy room scene, Sayaka places special emphasis on her dream, saying that she doesn't want to be forgotten and the world to leave her behind; this desire is significant in its own right, but her bandmates are included as part of what she wants to achieve, as part of that dream! If anything, Junko’s decision to physically harm the other girls suggests that witnessing their suffering in particular would produce a profound despair in Sayaka. Were Sayaka’s motivation only oriented toward fame, Junko might have targeted the band’s prospects more indirectly; for example, focusing on the girls getting into other bands or by undermining Sayaka’s popularity in particular. Instead, Junko’s violence toward Sayaka’s bandmates specifically, so severe that it implies they are either unconscious or effectively dead, potentially making them the franchise's second ever corpses counting Jin Kirigiri's execution in the opening, is marked as very meaningful.

Another part where Sayaka’s empathy and capacity to connect with another person emerges most clearly is still in the trophy room scene; she talks about the idol that she encountered as a child, the person who inspired her to pursue her own dream, someone who is juxtaposed with the absence of Sayaka's own mother. Sayaka frames inspiration not as abstract ambition, but as an interpersonal encounter through a role model. She recalls that the idol “looked like a princess,” and she emphasizes the idol’s smile, paralleling Makoto’s own emphasis on her own smile, reinforcing a thematic link of formation of identity through sincere affection. She didn't want to become an idol due to the fame or the wealth, but due to wanting to give the same kind of encouragement that idol gave to her to other people.

However, Sayaka does not present her idol aspirations themselves as purely idealized or passively received; she actively pursues them and frames her success as the product of effort that may have required compromising actions, using “things that... weren't so pleasant” as a telling euphemism, strongly implying that her path to stardom was not without struggle. In that respect, said characterization further complicates the "Crane Wife" ideal; she does not embody an innocently selfless devotion neither to her career or Makoto, and there is no naivete left to accompany the expectation of her purity or 'unsullied' virginity.

Throughout this whole section, we see sayaka repeateadly place importance not just on her life before the killing game in general, but the other people in it, the other idols, her bandmates, the other women. she cares for her bandmates and mythical idol girl that inspired her from start to finish. Conversely, Makoto is someone she cares abt but she ends up betraying in a way even her genuine care she showed gets discarded, and leon is someone she never cared for at all, just as a means for her plan.

Throughout this section, Sayaka repeatedly places importance not only on her life prior to the killing game in general, but to the other people who were in it; the other idols, her bandmates, the women that were in her life in general. Her devotion and fondness for her bandmates and the idol that first inspired her remains the same from beginning to end, and their possibility that they might be suffering deeply saddens her, but also motivates her to act. By contrast, Makoto while also a person she genuinely values, she ultimately betrays in a way that effectively discards even the genuine care she had previously expressed towards him. Leon, meanwhile, is someone she was never genuinely invested in, seeing him as only a means for her escape.

Sayaka cares the most for other women, the other idols, and in that way she is framed as more 'otherworldy' for it, because they're others of 'her kind', other pop idols, or, as Makoto phrases it, "celebrities". There is an assosciation with vanity for Sayaka not being able to empathise with people 'unlike her', most notably Makoto, as she does with people 'like her'. The extremity of her breakdown after the motive reveal frames her as hysterical, uncompromising and even naive for failing to adapt to the current situation by hyperfocusing on her previous life, her bandmates; she attempted the murder because she wanted to reunite with them, she cared about them more than anything and anyone else in the academy.

In other words, she dies because she discarded an idealised, 'fated', heterosexual love with an average, down-on-his-luck man, Makoto, for other women, exceptional women from her past. The 'betrayal' towards the man is framed as a betrayal because she couldn't become completely compliant and loyal to him; she was too emotional, too selfish, too ambitious. In an ironic twist, Sayaka meets the same fate as “The Crane Wife” because she couldn't successfully imitate and perform the tale’s ideal of purity and devotion towards the man.

The reveal of her 'crane form', in this case, is the reveal of her attempt to become a would-be killer, shattering the illusion of the 'perfect woman' who seemed to be perpetually present and selfless, exposing the true measure of sacrifice, and a selfish sacrifice at that.

Now, Sayaka, with her 'true nature' unveiled and her deceit uncovered, has shed the form of the 'perfect' woman and has adopted that of a 'fallen' one. Much like the crane of the tale abandons its wifely role and returns to its original form, Sayaka departs from Makoto and the killing game to reunite with her bandmates, at least in death, finally returning to her flock.

But, in the end, does she truly manage to escape the role of the crane wife?

Just a Wife After All?

After all is said and done and the trial is over, Kyoko approaches the conflicted Makoto:

"Sayaka meant to double-cross you. That's a fact that you can never change."

"...as she lay dying, she was thinking of you"

"She wasn't sure she could kill someone...or deceive you."

"Which is why her plan failed."

Here, even after Sayaka was branded as a manipulative and cruel would-be killer, Kyoko comes to her defense to Makoto, first and foremost by claiming Sayaka did genuinely care about him, and that it was her regret in deceiving him that foiled her murder attempt.

At the end of the interaction, Makoto even makes a reference to Sayaka's "psychic" joke, showing that he still holds great affection for her while transferring that affection to Kyoko, the new 'love interest':

"How did you know I wanted to talk to you about Sayaka?"

"I'm psychic."

In this brief interaction, Sayaka regains Makoto's acceptance through Kyoko's invocation of her hesitation, stemming from her love for Makoto; even if her worry over her bandmates' well-being motivated her to attempt the murder, Sayaka's concern over Makoto stopped her. This hesitation might've led to her death, but it preserved her innocence; Sayaka is redeemed through that little loyalty she showed to Makoto, being folded back into the role of the devoted "Crane Wife".

Even if this scene is interpreted as purely Kyoko's conjecture, there are other hints in the game which suggest that Sayaka's plan might not have been intended as the cold betrayal it was made out to be; for example, Sayaka reaching out to Makoto after the motive reveal, bluntly asking him whether he'd do anything to help her get out, a condition that Makoto accepted. Though it was phrased too vaguely to be considered as Makoto giving clear consent to Sayaka's plan, in hindsight, that question can be taken as indication that Sayaka wouldn't have immediately blamed the murder on him, had it been successful. Makoto had also been the one to suggest both to share his room with Sayaka and to switch with her, Sayaka showing visible surprise at both suggestions, something which wouldn't have been possible if that outcome was the result of Sayaka's manipulation.

Another hint that supports Sayaka's innocence in her conduct towards Makoto is Monokuma's obfuscation of the killing game process and the trials; nobody from the cast was aware that the trials would've taken place nor their specific conditions, just that a person who could successfully commit a murder would "graduate" and be able to leave. In this chapter's trial they even discussed the possibility of an accomplish, a person who could help the blackened but neither be executed nor graduate; taking into consideration Sayaka's desperate request to Makoto, along the fact that she hadn't even thought about switching rooms in the first place, it's possible that she she saw the switch as an opportunity for her to work with Makoto rather than abandon him; she likely wasn't aware that if Makoto did help her as an accomplish, not only he wouldn't have been able to leave himself but get executed in her place.

Taking this interpretation into account, the murder attempt is reframed; as the cloak of the "Crane Wife" tale is the symbol of the harsh sacrifice the crane must make in order for it and the man to survive, especially as a woman and wife, Sayaka's attempted plan is the harsh sacrifice she would also have to make in order for her to survive, both as a woman and an idol. In the story, the cloak has to be made and sold for the couple to live and get married, but the reveal of how it's made is what forces them apart. In a similar way, Sayaka's attempted murder has taken on the connotation of the 'cloak' in both her as an individual and in her relationship with Makoto; however, the plan's reveal doesn't irrevocably damage his relationship with her, as it's seen from Kyoko's intervention. Indeed, Sayaka's failure turns a selfish action into a selfless one, precisely because she ends up forsaking her own survival and future for Makoto, because, as the crane in the folktale had done, she gives the man something to benefit from; in Makoto's case, it's the principles which guide him against Monokuma for the rest of the game. From the moment Sayaka commited to her plan, it was a zero-sum game between her survival versus Makoto's, so when she forsaked her own livelihood for his, it gets framed as a virtue, because she followed the final and most defining part of the tale. In the end, Sayaka Maizono became nothing more than another crane wife.

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