I Unfairly Pulverise The Competition In Asshole Pageants.
My laptop was on its last legs, so, alas, I've had to replace it. My new laptop is tiny and silver and pissed me off in numerous different ways the moment we met, so I've named it Joshua after the unbearable Joshua Kiryu of The World Ends with You.
This naming was actually a great decision. I love Joshua Kiryu, even though he's the worst, so my laptop now inspires a sort of fondness when it displays the obnoxiousness of its namesake, rather than just rage.
Speaking of The World Ends with You: a sequel's been announced! I'm so excited! It's been thirteen years since the original; I'd given up hope! The original is still one of my all-time favourite games; it's fun, it's stylish and it's got some fascinating character dynamics. I'm looking forward to returning to Shibuya.
In my search for something to follow up Persona 5, I wandered into replaying the first Danganronpa game. It's interesting to revisit it!
I've just finished replaying the second case; there are spoilers up to that point below the cut.
The 11037 clue may be too easy, and Kirigiri holds our hand too much at points, but I still think the first case is a very strong case. Poor Naegi, slowly realising that the victim he cared so much about was planning to commit murder and frame him for it.
I really like that Kirigiri tells Naegi he can move past this after the first trial, and Naegi refuses. He's going to survive these deaths, but he's not going to move past them; they're a part of him now.
I still love Mondo. He's got some very serious faults, but he cares about other people. My weakness for angry, surprisingly softhearted characters who make relentlessly terrible decisions rears its head once again. (See also: Karkat, Kuzuryuu, Dr Cox, Lightning, Tariq.)
I keep finding Mondo and Chihiro hanging out together in free time and going 'aww, that's cute' and then remembering one of them is going to murder the other. These poor doomed kids.
(I notice I've written Naegi and Kirigiri, but Mondo and Chihiro. I'm very inconsistent in whether I refer to the first game's characters by given name or family name.)
You know, across the entire Danganronpa trilogy, I only ship two victims with their killers, and I'm mildly surprised by this.
Ishimaru's such a good kid. Absolutely tactless, but he's so passionate and genuine in his desire to prevent murders. His 'let's build bonds with each other by eating together every morning' idea was an excellent one, and his suggestion to reveal all their secrets to each other really could have prevented the second murder if people had gone along with it.
Mondo reacts with extreme shock on seeing Chihiro's body, which, you know, makes a lot of sense. He's the one who killed Chihiro, but he's just discovered that someone else came along afterwards, discovered the body and went 'lol, I'm going to crucify this corpse and write a message in blood on the wall, what fun'.
I've never been sure of how much I like Togami, but I think I've warmed up to what a colossal arrogant arsehole he is. It possibly helps that he reminds me a tiny bit of Light Yagami, although Light's better at putting on a socially acceptable façade.
I've also never been particularly into Naegi/Togami, but I'll admit that Togami's 'If you get down on your knees and beg, I might even show you myself' line does make some of the appeal apparent. He takes a real interest in Naegi, too, as soon as he registers 'this one made some strong deductions in the trial and is also easily led; he may be useful'.
The official translation of the Hangman's Gambit in the second trial is so bad. Schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder are completely different things!
Yeah, I'm enjoying Togami a lot this time around. He's just so arrogant and ridiculous. I love the way he's just toying with everyone in the second case for no good reason, potentially risking death for everyone, inducing himself.
Chihiro's story is such an odd one. It's essentially a trans guy's storyline - he's living as a girl, trying to work up the courage to start presenting as male - but in fact he's a cis guy. Trans female Chihiro is a popular interpretation within the fandom, but trans male Chihiro makes a lot more sense to me.
'Chihiro must have trusted whoever he was meeting with very much' noooooooooo
I still have a lot of emotions about this case. The idea of killing someone in a terrible, unthinking moment and instantly regretting it and trying to make it up to them in whatever tiny, inadequate ways are left to you is just so painful.
Mondo didn't try to dispose of the murder weapon. He just moved it, with the rest of the crime scene. He didn't try to remove evidence of his crime; his focus was on removing evidence of Chihiro's secret.
Of course, Mondo didn't confess. But I think, if the trial had started to draw to a close and it was clear he was going to get away with it, if it really sank in that he was going to have the deaths of everyone else on his conscience as well, he might have.
I'm not trying to claim that Mondo's actions weren't wrong. It's bad that he killed Chihiro! Obviously it's bad! It's terrible! But Mondo fascinates me because he does this awful thing and he didn't mean to. I don't think you can call it an accident, exactly, but it's a mistake, and he's in agony over it. I've got such a weakness for characters who make terrible mistakes and are overwhelmed by guilt.
It's sort of hilarious that, in the original Danganronpa, you're not playing the detective character. The detective character's already worked everything out, but she can't be bothered to spell it out for everyone, so that task falls to you. Poor Naegi.
This naming was actually a great decision. I love Joshua Kiryu, even though he's the worst, so my laptop now inspires a sort of fondness when it displays the obnoxiousness of its namesake, rather than just rage.
Speaking of The World Ends with You: a sequel's been announced! I'm so excited! It's been thirteen years since the original; I'd given up hope! The original is still one of my all-time favourite games; it's fun, it's stylish and it's got some fascinating character dynamics. I'm looking forward to returning to Shibuya.
In my search for something to follow up Persona 5, I wandered into replaying the first Danganronpa game. It's interesting to revisit it!
I've just finished replaying the second case; there are spoilers up to that point below the cut.
The 11037 clue may be too easy, and Kirigiri holds our hand too much at points, but I still think the first case is a very strong case. Poor Naegi, slowly realising that the victim he cared so much about was planning to commit murder and frame him for it.
I really like that Kirigiri tells Naegi he can move past this after the first trial, and Naegi refuses. He's going to survive these deaths, but he's not going to move past them; they're a part of him now.
I still love Mondo. He's got some very serious faults, but he cares about other people. My weakness for angry, surprisingly softhearted characters who make relentlessly terrible decisions rears its head once again. (See also: Karkat, Kuzuryuu, Dr Cox, Lightning, Tariq.)
I keep finding Mondo and Chihiro hanging out together in free time and going 'aww, that's cute' and then remembering one of them is going to murder the other. These poor doomed kids.
(I notice I've written Naegi and Kirigiri, but Mondo and Chihiro. I'm very inconsistent in whether I refer to the first game's characters by given name or family name.)
You know, across the entire Danganronpa trilogy, I only ship two victims with their killers, and I'm mildly surprised by this.
Ishimaru's such a good kid. Absolutely tactless, but he's so passionate and genuine in his desire to prevent murders. His 'let's build bonds with each other by eating together every morning' idea was an excellent one, and his suggestion to reveal all their secrets to each other really could have prevented the second murder if people had gone along with it.
Mondo reacts with extreme shock on seeing Chihiro's body, which, you know, makes a lot of sense. He's the one who killed Chihiro, but he's just discovered that someone else came along afterwards, discovered the body and went 'lol, I'm going to crucify this corpse and write a message in blood on the wall, what fun'.
I've never been sure of how much I like Togami, but I think I've warmed up to what a colossal arrogant arsehole he is. It possibly helps that he reminds me a tiny bit of Light Yagami, although Light's better at putting on a socially acceptable façade.
I've also never been particularly into Naegi/Togami, but I'll admit that Togami's 'If you get down on your knees and beg, I might even show you myself' line does make some of the appeal apparent. He takes a real interest in Naegi, too, as soon as he registers 'this one made some strong deductions in the trial and is also easily led; he may be useful'.
The official translation of the Hangman's Gambit in the second trial is so bad. Schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder are completely different things!
Yeah, I'm enjoying Togami a lot this time around. He's just so arrogant and ridiculous. I love the way he's just toying with everyone in the second case for no good reason, potentially risking death for everyone, inducing himself.
Chihiro's story is such an odd one. It's essentially a trans guy's storyline - he's living as a girl, trying to work up the courage to start presenting as male - but in fact he's a cis guy. Trans female Chihiro is a popular interpretation within the fandom, but trans male Chihiro makes a lot more sense to me.
'Chihiro must have trusted whoever he was meeting with very much' noooooooooo
I still have a lot of emotions about this case. The idea of killing someone in a terrible, unthinking moment and instantly regretting it and trying to make it up to them in whatever tiny, inadequate ways are left to you is just so painful.
Mondo didn't try to dispose of the murder weapon. He just moved it, with the rest of the crime scene. He didn't try to remove evidence of his crime; his focus was on removing evidence of Chihiro's secret.
Of course, Mondo didn't confess. But I think, if the trial had started to draw to a close and it was clear he was going to get away with it, if it really sank in that he was going to have the deaths of everyone else on his conscience as well, he might have.
I'm not trying to claim that Mondo's actions weren't wrong. It's bad that he killed Chihiro! Obviously it's bad! It's terrible! But Mondo fascinates me because he does this awful thing and he didn't mean to. I don't think you can call it an accident, exactly, but it's a mistake, and he's in agony over it. I've got such a weakness for characters who make terrible mistakes and are overwhelmed by guilt.
It's sort of hilarious that, in the original Danganronpa, you're not playing the detective character. The detective character's already worked everything out, but she can't be bothered to spell it out for everyone, so that task falls to you. Poor Naegi.