hate the whole 'sayaka is a snake so bad person' / 'leon technically didn't have to kill her so bad person' discourse so much. tell me you cant read without telling me you cant read honestly.
the thesis of chapter 1 is that otherwise good people become their worst selves due to the killing game. that's why dr team had the sweet, scared teen idol kick off the killing game and backstab the protag in the process. but still had her go back on her decision to frame makoto, taking the time to write out her true killer's name with her last bit of strength. that's why, to a much lesser extent, they had leon not be completely blameless in sayaka's death, even though the plot would stay mostly the same if it was truly self-defense. but still had him crying, screaming, and even taking the time to draw a extra cg of him distressed to show that he's really no cold-hearted killer and likely wouldn't have done it if he felt he had any other choice.
leon and sayaka are good people and that goodness shines through in their last moments. but they both unambiguously tried to kill someone, and now both must die for it. even though they were actively encouraged by the setting to kill.
it's all a big commentary on the tragic nature of the killing game to change its victims for the worse!! to make its victims act in opposite to who they really are!! to create natural human desperation and then punish it!!! blaming leon/sayaka instead of their material conditions is just silly and against the point. and the game even explained this outright.
(you can find the full context at the end of any chapter 1 walkthrough, but I'm really not misrepresenting anything. the game really is this obvious about it. )
((also this discourse completely undermines that danganronpa as a whole is a tragedy first and foremost about teenagers being forced to kill eachother. this is literally step one of understanding danganronpa. and chapter 1, again, is just a long way of setting up this theme. how do people argue about this??))
