I am curious about the Kokichi is evil Chiaki connection
!!!! Thank u sm for asking!
[This post will be containing spoilers for dr2 and v3]
To understand what I mean I first have to make a premise: as we all know v3 is shit ton full of references to the rest of dr, in the story but just as much in the character designs. And I strongly believe that understanding those references is key to enjoying the game more (at least for a sucker for analysis such as myself). Many v3's characters are a mix of previous ones we've come to know and love and considering dr's reputation since the second game for quoting itself...I find it hard to believe it's a coincidence or "reading too much into it". (Or at least that's what I like to tell myself lol)
Kokichi is the epitome of this. I can count so many characters he's a frankenstein of under some aspects (I'm up to 9 as of now) and saying he's Nagito is not wrong but it's also...not right?And he is not only Chiaki either, but I do think his role is similar.
I'll start with the character design, as I mentioned earlier, leaving the sprites as references (i took these from the wiki):
Chiaki has white (neutral), pink and green as her color palette, which is basically Monomi's palette + green.
Kokichi has black, white and purple as his instead, which is basically Monokuma's palette + purple. This is hardly random as during the game he gets close to monokuma, he plots with him and later on "becomes the mastermind", being literally in cahoots with him. Chiaki in dr2 has a similar relationship with Monomi being the teacher and spy duo. You could argue with Nagito and monokuma's relationship to open doors or similar (sdr2-chpt.1), but I hardly find it the same. Rather, Kokichi talking to Monokuma in the game room (v3-4) is more similar to Chiaki and Monomi alone monitoring the party (2-1) (as it is a collaboration rather than manipulation). Also fun fact but green's negative color tends to be purple but idk if that level of detail is purely coincidental or completely intentional.
There's the "game" motif too they have in common. I'm 90% convinced his bandana checkered pattern references the arcade rooms in UDG.
When I said "evil Chiaki" it was an easy way to summarize "Chiaki and Kokichi both have the same goals but operate in completely opposite ways". Chiaki's role is to make everyone get along because she loves all of her classmates. Sounds familiar? It's just that Kokichi has some...unhortodox methods to say the least- while Chiaki continuously supports her classmates through kind words and actions.
Also worth of note is their roles in their respective chpt.5. At the "start" of v3-5 Kokichi reveals willingly that he "is the mastermind" to avoid any more death, cornering Tsumugi and then Shuichi has to prove that's not true. At the end of 2-5, Chiaki willingly reveals she's the spy to avoid more deaths, cornered by Nagito's plan and Hajime has to prove it is true. And during the trial too. Chiaki is the blackened by mistake, Kokichi willingly becomes the victim. (Mirroring each other/being the opposite in both the intentions and role in the formula - mirroring dr tropes is another thing v3 does a lot of, but it'd be too long to go into rn).
While it is not a perfect fit because Kokichi, again, is inspired and so influenced by many other characters, I do believe it makes his role so much more complicated.
It's kind of a general analysis as I only have played v3 once and I still have to fully understand what the fuck was Kokichi doing in v3-4, but I do plan on coming back to the game after replaying the other two first.
I hope it was as fun to read as I had fun writing it <3