#character notebook

[azumetapraline]

⚠️ v3 spoilers ⚠️

i think that the idea of kiibo being a protagonist too is vastly underused in the fanworks i’ve been seeing. at least not the way i have it in mind.

the idea of shuichi & kiibo being the actual protagonist duo. i know that kiibo is technically the tv show protagonist, but like the game protagonist, he’s got to have one or two playable mechanics to make the show interesting, right?

like imagine if kiibo also had free time events, friendship fragments and love suite events. (that would explain him not having many friends besides miu & shuichi, since technically he’s supposed to let the “player” (audience) decide who he hangs out with.)

some of the funny parts would be when the two living protagonists would collide. them surprising each other in the casino farming tokens for cool gifts to offer to their friends, hell maybe kiibo has his own truth bullets!! them not realizing they are getting each other’s undergarments friend fragments.

or like for the love suite event. what if kiibo had his own?? imagine if one night they both activate the key and get each other, but both think the other will completely forget what happened? however, since they’re both protagonists, both have a hazy recollection of what happened in the love hotel room. would the next morning be awkward or wholesome?

the possibilities are endless!

[azumetapraline]

Me reading a Kiibo-centric fanfic: 😌📖

Fanfic: Kiibo has to power off every night in order to charge-

Me immediately:

NO HE DOESN’T?!? 😡

(/lh … No offence to anyone who gets it wrong, I’m just very passionate about my lil’ guy and technical errors in how he works peeve me way too much 😆)

[azumetapraline]

Something about Kiibo that has always bothered me is how in two instances, he contradicts himself on a physical characteristic he has.

To be more precise, I’m talking about his vision. In his first free time event with Shuichi, he explains that he has 20/13 vision.

For starters, that means he can see something 20 feet away as clearly as most people seeing it 13 feet away. Therefore his vision is slightly above average. (People also make that mistake when they hear Gonta say he has 20/6.25 vision, thinking it’s bad. It’s actually extremely good.)

However, in the third trial, he says this.

Which is an extremely funny line. He’s trying to prove to Kokichi that he doesn’t have sci-fi functions, because he keeps getting teased about it. But also… doesn’t that directly contradict what he said in his FTE?

I’ve thought of some possible explanations.

One of the two statements is incorrect. I know some people have never seen the first one, so they might believe he just has poor vision just from reading the second one. Therefore, it makes sense the statement that was said in canon be prioritized over the FTE one. However, I strongly believe that all the info the characters tell you in the FTE’s, dating events and Love Hotels are canon, although the events in question may or may not have happened in canon.

Alternatively, “my vision is somewhat poor” could mean something different than acuity. I’m not an optometrist, but I believe vision acuity is to measure how near/far-sighted someone is. So perhaps his far vision is good, but his near vision is bad (that could explain why he improved his eyes later on to have a zooming function). He could also have trouble differentiating colors, although this is only a theory and has no evidence whatsoever.

Perhaps he was exaggerating his statement during the trial. Of course that sort of goes against his character, who almost never truly lies, but maybe that’s why he said “somewhat poor”. It’s not actually bad, but not extraordinarily good. Perhaps for a human, his vision is good but, for a robot, a “camera”, his vision isn’t very good. That would mean he used robot standards to quality his vision. After all, with Shuichi, he had no reason to lie; even while bragging, he never outright says something false, he’s proud of the things he truly is. With Kokichi, he was on defensive mode, so it makes sense he might have framed his words so he seems less impressive than he actually is.

After laying down these theories, I’m starting to think the third option makes the most sense. He’s not a liar, and him saying his vision was poor relatively to robots and not humans is still technically true; he just wanted to make the point that he isn’t an all-powerful killer robot like Kokichi teases him about so much. Whereas with Shuichi, he was naming all his functions and had no reason to tell him a false vision acuity coefficient.

I hope you liked this mini-analysis that is probably meaningless to most people, but mattered a lot to me! Feel free to share your opinion in the comments or reblogs, I’d love to hear what you think of this “incongruence”! How do you… see all this? 🤪

[azumetapraline]

the stress of being so late with my school projects is getting to me tonight

so instead of dealing with it in healthy ways, i am wondering to myself on which character (between shuichi & kiibo) should i project my crippling procrastination problems onto

i think of shuichi since procrastination is a big, red-sign symptom of anxiety, and our guy right here is the textbook definition of anxiety (and so am i <3) (however i don't have much scenario ideas for panic attacks since i don't have them, when i'm overwhelmed/overstressed i just isolate myself and cry for hours)

and he also has executive dysfunction from his depression/autism so yeah, more onto the procrastinating factor

he wished he was more organized, more structured, especially since he's supposed to be a detective, he's supposed to be the "smart one", the "gifted one", but it falls apart so easily and he is quickly mentally buried by the weight of his poor decisions and negative thoughts

and in my imaginary saiibo post-game scenario, i like to think kiibo helps him dealing with the stress and makes sure shuichi takes care of himself (since it's easy for him to... punish himself for not being "productive enough")

ughhhh ok azu back to work

[azumetapraline]

writing down my saiibo vampire fanfic makes me realize kokichi doesn’t always need to be there to hold the kiibo / shuichi / miu trio together

he does butt in here from time to time, but i’m starting to adore the dynamic between these three

shuichi acting as a very calming and grounding presence for kiibo, who realizes his friendship witu miu is far from perfect

instead of cutting her away, though, he tries to fix their relationship and it works

and miu and shuichi have to get accustomed to each other because his (future boyfriend) and her bestie/teammate cares about them

did kiibo need miu in my fanfic tho? why did i make them friends? was it peer pressure? i guess their talents made them into school project teammates, and they started to hang out together during lunchtime because they didn’t have anyone else to be with. (happened to me a few times)

the funniest part is that i DID make kokichi appear at some point but it was just a bit. an excuse to disrupt the status quo. to make miu realize she’s gay

at first i was surprised that kokichi wasn’t a very big part of my fic. i thought he was “missing” since in so many fics he’s always so important. no, azu, sometimes a character just isn’t needed. it’s not necessary to force him in. (i love kokichi don’t get me wrong. i just realize that with enough worldbuilding and thinking, the story becomes “alive” and takes decision on its own)

[azumetapraline]

9, 14, 18 for the ask game!

Hii, thank you for asking!!! (This post obviously contains spoilers for Danganronpa V3!) (Also I'll focus on V3 for this ask.)

9.) Favorite Execution?

Good question! I hesitate between Kaede, Kirumi and Kaito's executions. Kirumi's execution is especially brutal, both physically and mentally. Kaede's is heartbreaking.

I think my favorite, though, is Kaito's, because the concept is so good. I love the idea that Monokuma's first and last executions find each other like a loop. That this time, it's Kaito who wins, not him, because he dies from his sickness and not from the execution itself. I also like that it's what breaks the game, as Kiibo protects everyone and has his ahoge (or rather antenna) broken by debris. It's one of the only executions that have more impact in the story than a character dying, which is cool. It's one of the rare executions that fills your heart with hope instead of despair.

14.) Favorite Freetime Event?

I know I'm being biased, but I really like Kiibo's FTEs. The big reason is that they're just genuinely super fun! I felt comfortable putting his here because I know a couple of friends (who don't like Kiibo as much as I do) who agree that his events were fun.

I find really sweet that he wants to create a robot business to promote robots and prove the world that he's just as useful as humans. I find hilarious how he tried to sing for Shuichi, but was so terrible Shuichi became sick. Poor boy, he's doing his best and yet!

I'm also slightly upset by Shuichi's statement here. Does he not know about, ahem, VOCALOID???????

I also find Shuichi's statement here slightly suspicious. Please draw any conclusions by yourself.

The ending is also very sweet, it's obvious that Shuichi is genuinely willing to stick by Kiibo's side and be his friend (Kiibo first seeing him an "inferior" can be interpreted in many ways, I don't know where I put my analysis of it).

18.) Favorite In-Game Moment?

I'll say that both secret events from chapter 2 are events I'm super fond of, when I watch someone's playthrough, I'm always looking forward them! I love how overall the characters interact, and these two moments are genuinely so fun and sweet!

I genuinely love this graphic so much. The girls look so happy to relax, and I love the two awkward gays fellows in the back also happy to be there! I love that in this event, Tenko reinforces Kiibo's non-binarity (YESSS), and that Kirumi is willing to accomodate him with oil instead of juice. (The only caveat is that Tenko was robophobic at the end /j)

This moment also was GOLD. I love that they expanded on Kaito's gambling curse. Poor guy, he's the laughing stock for this time, but it's all in good fun, isn't it? Everything is perfect: Miu making dirty jokes, Kiyo asking her to "be silent forever", Ryoma being calm and cool, Shuichi awkwardly standing there, the atmosphere, etc.

(I just noticed Shuichi has the EXACT same expression for both events LMAO)

Anyway I hope all these answered your questions! :D

[azumetapraline]

I COULD have had a favorite character just like me but NOOOOO I HAD to ship him with the protagonist huh??

[azumetapraline]

i don’t see that much saiibo in which kiibo’s more “boasting” side is explored more

i really like the idea that shuichi doesn’t mind kiibo showing off and talking about his cool features (especially since kiibo will only brag about things that are factually correct)

but that the counterpart shuichi doesn’t like is that kiibo will also oftentimes turn around and insist on shuichi’s qualities!!

the praise can’t go to only one of the two, whether shuichi wants it or not!!

but yeah overall i find so cute the dynamic of kiibo at least SEEMING confident and proud, and shuichi being the more humble one (and that in reality, both are insecure about themselves). good stuff!