#*edit wording

[jacksmysterylabyrinth]

I may just bear a bit of a grudge against Gaku for this line, honestly.

At least Hiruko had the excuse that Takumi sounded as if he didn't know what he was talking about where it came to personal matters, while Gaku was fighting for the sake of being contrarian- it doesn't actually matter to him if Takumi grew up in a happy situation or not, what matters to him is weaponising his perception of Takumi's privilege in order to undermine and shut him down. It's shitty behaviour even without factoring how presumptuous that is of Takumi's background.

Frankly, it has to be said that Gaku knows only enough about Takumi to register that he grew up 'in close quarters with a babe', as he might put it- if he even knows that much. What's more, some of this event has Gaku bemoaning the fact that he 'can't have a hot babe to look after him' (well, a mother), so of course if he knew about Karua in passing, he would especially not care if Takumi had any sort of problems at home.

If we got into the issue of Gaku's commentary about women, we'd be here all day...

Takumi meanwhile, is not exactly in a position to counter Gaku- besides that this is not the time or place during a Persuasion event, whatever problems he has he tends to keep to himself, minimise or worse still, be completely unaware whenever something is evidently wrong with him. He's exactly the sort of person to have festering issues that he can't quantify, as well as some heavy self-esteem issues, which means he'll very likely shut down when others minimise him thoughtlessly.

[jacksmusesdrv3]

'Ouma said he's enjoying being bullied (to Monokuma in Chapter 2)- that's all just a part of his mastermind plan, so it makes no sense at all that he'd complain about bullying in Chapter 4's trial.'

Well. First thing is first: he lies, rather often, so using words out of context to 'prove' he 'wants bullying all the time' is just... backwards. Especially since he's sarcastic at times- and what's more, he is so in that same scene, when he turns around to be like 'oh did you hear that? I'm just talking to myself' after saying something about not cooperating in plain sight (go figure why he'd have things made that remove security cameras). And it turns out... he had said what is important to the group's survival. Of course he wants to maintain enough distance with his mask in order to put on his mastermind-y airs, but he also wants to communicate things and be taken seriously.

Second, you'll know by Chapter 5 that he does this shit as a means to an end, but this behaviour also goes hand-in-hand with the childish way he acts in other modes, too. He maintains a similar kind of neurosis, not letting people in on himself, holding back on his emotions, et cetera. Hence, why it's necessary to point out that in fact, he may have been hated even outside of the game, and that this tendency carries over into the main game. Where it becomes apparent, that from the time he announces himself as a 'liar' and 'Supreme Leader' (whatever reasons he has for doing that, that's up in the air), people have been biased against him even when he's serious. This is something we can see play out as early as the Death Road of Despair- he's visibly very upset at Kaede forcing the group over and over, but Tenko tells him he's being 'selfish'.

Also... funny expression to make when you're totally unserious, huh.

So in point of fact, there is a reasonable amount of ambiguity as to how much of 'he wants bullying(tm)' plays into his plan. Sure, he might 'use himself as a target' to change the mood - like in the dining hall in Chapter 1 - but it's reasonable to suggest he prefers when that's on his terms, and that he doesn't want it all the time. That's a fairly simple conclusion, and doesn't take away his motives either.

[jacksmysterylabyrinth]

Playing

...with that face Takumi's making, I think he's saying that for his sake as much as he is Karua's

What especially bothers me about this, looking back at it, is that Takumi has been narrating his life despite it being such a 'mundane time'. The way this kind of self-narration happens in the first two Danganronpa games is that it marks a significant event from the outset- being in awe at coming to a famous academy for the first time. The third Danganronpa game has the protagonist stuffed in a locker and spacing out of her existence when she talks to herself, which puts a highly dissociative spin on that 'meta self-talk'- and well it would, she was kidnapped and possibly drugged for all we know.

In the Hundred Line prologue, we are introduced to the complex's emergency siren through Takumi and for all we know about his life until that point, that's the first time he's ever heard it, the way he pauses in shock to take in the message. But it's not. He's heard it many times, so many in fact that you'd expect him to roll his eyes and move Karua to hiding if he was really that nonchalant. His narration then proceeds to explain the presence of the sirens as 'something the society has accepted as normal', which is... a bit strange for someone who has accepted the presence of them without any issues.

The way this could have reflected any day in Takumi's life gives me the impression he's dissociating on and off at any point in any day, but we don't 'see' it happening because of how he narrates 'to us'.

[jacksmysterylabyrinth]

...great, this is the part with the red room ending. I still am haunted from that to this day

Also: Ota is far less annoying in the original game than in that sidegame. The difference is like night and day. He's also smarter here. Hell, he's kind of a badass.

[jacksmusesdrv3]

When I look at peoples’ comments that Ouma was ‘too mean’ or ‘cruel’ or whatever, it’s just so... surreal to me. Do you have any idea how much fortitude it would take to not be mean and bitter, in that situation? It would be ridiculous.

If you remember how Nagito acted when he learned The Truth(tm) about everyone, and then imagine that the V3 group themselves were - highly effing likely, judging from everything - a bunch of war criminals who ran away and forgot him as well, frankly you should expect every Godot blend in one shot.

[jacksmusesdrv3]

Clearly, Shuichi is taking the reins on the technical side of things. But okay, let’s suppose that he was suspicious Miu might be the mastermind, and selective about what to tell her. It’s still rather odd to suggest that extremely basic cameras will do much to ‘keep Monokuma under surveillance’...

In any event, his behaviour regarding the warehouse alone is... suspect.

Firstly, the fact that he went to the back of the warehouse without Kaede - thus, scrutinising that area without our viewpoint - and the second time-

-saw Kaede, standing in front of the shotput balls he already breezed past. 

It’s odd enough for a detective, and one accustomed to keeping an eye out for possible crime to... not take notice of them when he was out there on his own for business (as opposed to when they were together for introductions, in the Prologue). Yet being there another time, and then seeing someone loiter around these heavy balls, noting this without further thought...?

On top of this, he omits the issue of the interval times from Kaede, saying he didn’t think much of it. Making himself extremely suspicious when called out.

This is bad enough on its own, though it’s dismissed by Kaede’s suggestion that there was ‘too much going on’ and it’s possible that he forgot. Setting aside that Kaede is known to dismiss or deny genuine issues, and the interval times were by no means a trivial detail or under his control, there’s also-

-a video camera being present in the warehouse. Shuichi doubtlessly would have seen more variations of cameras than just disposable ones, and the Ultimate Inventor of all people would have no issues modifying any of them.

If I was being generous, I’d surmise he thought it would take too long to modify more complex devices, that digital data could be deleted accidentally, or that his capability with electronic devices is lacking. Still, we barely know what was even going through his head nigh the entire chapter, and since even Kaede hid her part in the plot from us, I’d say that’s more than enough cause for concern. Especially when the plot was engineered and motivated by Shuichi himself.

As for what that concern is...? Well, that might have something to do with particular properties of the cameras he selected... and how they’d be useful.

[jacksmusesdrv3]

Indeed there are some things here: a familiar katana, a kitsune mask and...

Sparkling... Justice...

Now what would this be doing along with the relics...?

[jacksmusesdrv3]

What are your thoughts on Shuichi's second FTE, specific the part where he notes that his parents had a "hand-off approach" when it came to raising him? Shuichi claims that there's not a sad story as to why he lives with his uncle, but Kaede notes afterwards that his smile seemed bitter...

Yeah, this one doesn’t bode well to me; good chance is that Shuichi had ‘some sort of feeling’ that he could have lived a better life with more loving parents, but given his ‘’sheltering’’ he wasn’t able to fully process what the nagging feeling was. When I think of it like that it’s awfully depressing, because not only does his uncle ultimately control what he becomes - as Shuichi says, he didn’t even want to become a detective - but potentially his entire life has been just like this, kept at an arm’s length for God knows what reason, even led from one thing to another without a clear idea as to how, or why he even got there. 

It’s difficult to say how far this goes though - with what… little we know of the parents - but his hunger for validation rearing up for something as basic as gratitude for his efforts is a bit… telling. At the least, Kaede’s remarks that he was ‘probably jerked around a lot’ meant that his efforts and feelings weren’t taken all too seriously much of the time, even if it wasn’t ‘overt jerkiness’, but things like ‘rational excuses’ and deflections that he’s forced to accept. I think this may be where Shuichi gets some conflicting traits too, as at times he and Kaede in their own ways rationalise or avoid addressing things that are off. For the longest time, it seems Shuichi has had no choice in the matter.