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Alien Arcana posted:The reason Golden Age mystery novels generally avoid madman-killers is because it violates a major rule of mystery fiction: no cop-outs. The answer to "Why did you do it?" cannot be Time Cube. It's like using untraceable poisons or a secret-twin alibi - it ruins the integrity of the mystery. I wouldn't go that far. Some of those mysteries had motives that were completely and absolutely pulled out of nowhere because the authors didn't care about them. Ellery Queen did this...more than once, but the specific example I'm referring to is one of his earliest novels(again, vague because of spoilers) where the motive is tacked on after the criminal is discovered and they might as well say "And he did it because once night in France, he watched a group of Irish tap dancers and interpreted the sound as morse code telling him to murder somebody in this very specific manner." JDC himself said he didn't really care about the criminal's motivations to commit murder and preferred to focus on the method. I think a ridiculous motive to commit murder isn't against the spirit of the game, so to speak, in the same way untraceable poisons and secret twins. The latter ruins the mystery, while the former just sort of ruins the plot. I mean let's look at DR1 and the Mondo murder--I know, I know. Naegi and co arrived at the correct culprit without so much as a hint of a motive. We only heard his motive after the fact. If Mondo came out and said he murdered Chihiro because they went to work out and Chiriro turned out to be one of those douchebags who puts his towel over the machine next to him for no discernible reason, it wouldn't contradict absolutely anything we were told before. What I mean is, for old-time mysteries and mysteries with similar structure, motive isn't really the focus, it's more about who/how. And Dangan Ronpa is definitely like that, as evidenced by the Mondo thing. That doesn't mean the game won't touch in motive because hey, motive is a valid clue/red herring, but at the very least the game has made clear that it's a-okay with ignoring motive up until the criminal confesses.
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Dec 19, 2012 04:26
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I will admit, these characters do come off as more 'anime' overall than the first lot on first impression. But c'est la vie (and it would fit into my simulation/everyone is a blended and re-separated version of the original cast theory). I really, REALLY hope that Mikan's arc, if she gets one, is finding reserves of strength she never realized she had in a truly ugly, critical situation like whatever this game will eventually descend into. It would make her death all the more tragic, and her survival all the more sweeter if she lives.
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Dec 19, 2012 04:57
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Sherringford posted:I wouldn't go that far. Some of those mysteries had motives that were completely and absolutely pulled out of nowhere because the authors didn't care about them. Ellery Queen did this...more than once, but the specific example I'm referring to is one of his earliest novels(again, vague because of spoilers) where the motive is tacked on after the criminal is discovered and they might as well say "And he did it because once night in France, he watched a group of Irish tap dancers and interpreted the sound as morse code telling him to murder somebody in this very specific manner." JDC himself said he didn't really care about the criminal's motivations to commit murder and preferred to focus on the method. So it basically focuses on the physical processes behind a murder rather than the psychological ones?
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Dec 19, 2012 05:16
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ThisIsACoolGuy posted:Kinda echoing this as politely as possible. Unless four at a time is too much or something. It's probably more work doing an introduction for one character than doing a regular full update if just because they need to do a lot of initial work creating a proper "voice" and translation for that character. It will probably pick up later.
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Dec 19, 2012 05:22
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Arbitrary Coin posted:So it basically focuses on the physical processes behind a murder rather than the psychological ones? I think Dangan Ronpa is very much interested in the psychological processes behind murders. It's just that they're sometimes not part of the mystery-puzzle aspect of the story.
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Dec 19, 2012 05:22
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Dragoon Cody posted:It's probably more work doing an introduction for one character than doing a regular full update if just because they need to do a lot of initial work creating a proper "voice" and translation for that character. It will probably pick up later.
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Dec 19, 2012 05:25
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LightningKimba posted:There's a Twitter for people who only want to read updates and not have to read the thread. I would've (though I'm not watching it currently), but I pretty much associate him with Kyon first (and, well, I just finished Kamen Rider Kiva, so Kivat as well). That's actually why I was even more surprised when he showed up, since Fedule had mentioned Kyon earlier on and I started thinking what it'd be like if Sugita ever voiced a character for a DR game. I guess now we know how that'd turn out. I think Halfisch has a very good point as far as the introductions go- it's easy to compare them to the first LP's rather quick handling of it, but there's much more to translate this time around. I do personally wish we could get the introductions out of the way faster, but I understand that it's not really feasible to do that.
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Dec 19, 2012 05:35
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orenronen posted:I think Dangan Ronpa is very much interested in the psychological processes behind murders. It's just that they're sometimes not part of the mystery-puzzle aspect of the story. Oh yeah, I'm not  enough to think that; I thought the post was referring to a specific type of mysteries in general
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Dec 19, 2012 05:47
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I dunno about everyone else, but I just wanna meet all the characters before I make any judgment calls on who is the best character and who is the worst. And I'm definitely not all that interested in who kills who first and how - the developers have shown that they're good at picking interesting victims and culprits, and so I'm not gonna freak out about it. For the record, I think the two new characters are neat enough. Nothing as instantly amazing as Gundam or Souda, but not terrible. I want to see where the game's going with them.
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Dec 19, 2012 05:52
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orenronen posted:I think Dangan Ronpa is very much interested in the psychological processes behind murders. It's just that they're sometimes not part of the mystery-puzzle aspect of the story. I'd agree with that for the most part. Mondo's motive in case 2 wasn't at all included in the mystery-puzzle aspect but the game clearly cared about it and made it make sense from a story-perspective as well. I mean, it's probably not the best idea to look for motive and use it as evidence to solve a murder(unless DR2 goes in a different direction with that and I end up looking silly) but the motive is still going to end up pretty fun in general. The only part from last game that would make me go "Ehhh I don't know about that" is case 3, since(at least for me) it didn't really feel like the game was trying to explore the psychological process behind that particular murder at all. But for the most part, yeah, I'd agree. Arbitrary Coin posted:Oh yeah, I'm not I'm gonna cut myself short to avoid derailing the thread past the "how this relates to DR" phase, but the answer is "more or less" because even if the "Why would you kill?" doesn't really matter, the psychological "What the hell makes somebody commit murder in this ridiculously specific manner" came up pretty often in that specific kind of mystery. Hopeford fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Dec 19, 2012 |
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Dec 19, 2012 06:07
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Nice to see you here, Sherringford. I thought you would only come when the murders start.Cornwind Evil posted:I will admit, these characters do come off as more 'anime' overall than the first lot on first impression. But c'est la vie (and it would fit into my simulation/everyone is a blended and re-separated version of the original cast theory). The system, overall, seems more self-aware of being a game than DR1 was, with the main menu design, leveling(?) and collecting "Hope Shards" (whatever that is).
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Dec 19, 2012 06:15
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Jeek posted:Nice to see you here, Sherringford. I thought you would only come when the murders start. The potential leveling system intrigues me. Maybe instead of solving murder crimes, we'll be slaughtering our classmates for XP and trying to cover it up. 
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Dec 19, 2012 06:25
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Either that or try and be friends with everyone in order to get the super-secret True Happy Ending or something. I just hope Ibuki survives this, she kinda reminds me of Asahina.
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Dec 19, 2012 06:34
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Wolery posted:The potential leveling system intrigues me. Maybe instead of solving murder crimes, we'll be slaughtering our classmates for XP and trying to cover it up. I would guess that the levels would be related to the skills usable in the trial sequences since a) it seems you accumulate levels by doing social-link stuff, the same way you'd gain skills in the last game and b) it's not really clear how attributes could benefit the player outside of those sequences; the game's already started us with the important non-trial skills.
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Dec 19, 2012 06:40
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So, question for Oren, are you doing the "only use one expression for the main character" thing again? Because that was part of the reason Naegi was such a bland character (the other reasons being he was primarily designed to be as bland as possible), and it would be a shame if Hajime was also stricken with only one expression for the entire game simply for the sake of tradition, since his character seems promising when it comes to his expressions. Is it because we don't see his expressions for his lines? Cause I wouldn't think it would be that difficult to figure out which expression would go with each line, plus you have the help of an editor dude who can do that work for you. SatansBestBuddy fucked around with this message at 06:45 on Dec 19, 2012 |
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Dec 19, 2012 06:43
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Oren did change Naegi's expression when Naegi's expression changed. Naegi just didn't change his expression that much.
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Dec 19, 2012 07:29
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No, excluding when oren replaced his default portrait for a higher-quality, not-smiling one, there was exactly moment where Naegi's portrait changed: right before his execution. Oren's reasoning for not changing it even during trials was that it was basically the one shortcut he had for the LP, though it did have the benefit of increasing the impact of the aforementioned scene when it did change for that one moment.
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Dec 19, 2012 07:40
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I'm going to keep a single expression for now. There are several reasons for this - One, this is still a timesaver I'm grateful for. Two, Hinata has relatively few sprites compared to the other characters, since they are only used in trials - I considered switching expressions for this LP, and there were already lines in the first update I couldn't find the perfect expression for. Three, the game makes good use of body language, so I don't like showing face icons before you see the entire sprite they were cut out from. I may switch to a non-smiling one, though.
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Dec 19, 2012 08:02
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Cornwind Evil posted:I will admit, these characters do come off as more 'anime' overall than the first lot on first impression. But c'est la vie (and it would fit into my simulation/everyone is a blended and re-separated version of the original cast theory). She's already SHSL Nurse, though. In animeland, I don't think that means she's a better nurse than anyone else her age, it means she's a better nurse than anyone, period. And no matter how contrived the situation, I just can't see a way for her to keep behaving the way she has thus far during a medical emergency and still somehow also treat someone. Or to put it another way, I get the feeling that if this was Police Academy, Mikan would be Hooks.
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Dec 19, 2012 08:53
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orenronen posted:I'm going to keep a single expression for now. There are several reasons for this - One, this is still a timesaver I'm grateful for. Two, Hinata has relatively few sprites compared to the other characters, since they are only used in trials - I considered switching expressions for this LP, and there were already lines in the first update I couldn't find the perfect expression for. Three, the game makes good use of body language, so I don't like showing face icons before you see the entire sprite they were cut out from. What could we possibly hold trials for in a peaceful paradise island such as this?  Obviously this game's most dramatic moment will be when Hinata accidentally leaves a candy wrapper on the beach and subsequently gets accused of littering.
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Dec 19, 2012 10:54
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Kanfy posted:What could we possibly hold trials for in a peaceful paradise island such as this? Cabin fever makes people act funny. People get into serious fights over small issues. It'd be cool for there to be a real, pull out all the stops trial over someone stealing the last can of peaches on the island, because people are seriously pissed off enough to want a trial.
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Dec 19, 2012 11:20
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With so many talented people and abundant starting resources, it would be stranger if they couldn't become completely self-sufficient. Well, assuming that their supplies are never restocked.
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Dec 19, 2012 12:03
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Yeah there's a lot of talented people, but that brings its own problems. Everyone there is used to being the top dog in their circles. Bringing them together and out of their comfort zones could cause a power struggle. Also nurse is most relatable character so far because goddamn do I love the smell of isopropanol.
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Dec 19, 2012 16:01
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Just curious, Oren, how long is DR Zero? For some reason I have this impression that it's not very long but I'm starting to feel like I'm wrong about that.
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Dec 19, 2012 16:12
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FPzero posted:Just curious, Oren, how long is DR Zero? For some reason I have this impression that it's not very long but I'm starting to feel like I'm wrong about that. It's fairly long, but not excessively so. It's split into two volumes - the first is 245 pages and the second 281, although due to the different nature of English and Japanese, don't judge those numbers by the standards of English books. The last update I posted got us to page 28 of the first volume. orenronen fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Dec 19, 2012 |
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Dec 19, 2012 16:25
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About how far into the LP do you expect to be by the time you post the end of the novel translation? And how relevant is the stuff we'd learn in the novel to DR2? Maybe don't answer the second one, actually, for the spoiler potential.
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Dec 19, 2012 17:04
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Alien Arcana posted:The reason Golden Age mystery novels generally avoid madman-killers is because it violates a major rule of mystery fiction: no cop-outs. The answer to "Why did you do it?" cannot be Time Cube. It's like using untraceable poisons or a secret-twin alibi - it ruins the integrity of the mystery. I find it a little ironic that you're referencing the secret-twins thing in relation to Dangan Ronpa.
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Dec 19, 2012 17:20
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Both secret twins and the villain being mentally unstable/insane without a motive other than it making her feel good. The individual trial mysteries in DR1 may have avoided cop-outs, but the overarching mystery sure didn't.
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Dec 19, 2012 17:41
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Ditocoaf posted:About how far into the LP do you expect to be by the time you post the end of the novel translation? And how relevant is the stuff we'd learn in the novel to DR2? Maybe don't answer the second one, actually, for the spoiler potential. He has said it's relevant to DR2 before, with no further elaboration. If it were entirely irrelevant side-material it wouldn't exactly be something that belongs in an LP. I'm sure he's put some thought into making sure the relevant novel info is on the table before it's important to the game! KillerEggplant posted:I find it a little ironic that you're referencing the secret-twins thing in relation to Dangan Ronpa. DR1 didn't abuse its secret twins in that knowing the characters involved in the switch were twins was utterly irrelevant to the deduction that one was disguised as the other. Basically all the relevant clues that the body discovered in Chapter 5 was really one we'd seen before were present at the first investigation of the crime scene.
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Dec 19, 2012 17:46
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Dragoon Cody posted:and the villain being mentally unstable/insane without a motive other than it making her feel good.
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Dec 19, 2012 17:47
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Dragoon Cody posted:Both secret twins and the villain being mentally unstable/insane without a motive other than it making her feel good. The individual trial mysteries in DR1 may have avoided cop-outs, but the overarching mystery sure didn't. (I do agree that the "secret twin" thing was kind of a cop-out, though.)
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Dec 19, 2012 17:49
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Fedule's Riveting Editorial Anecdotes Episode the Fifth Today on Anecdotes: Extremes!  Not every character in Dangan Ronpa 2 has a bizarre speaking habit or style. Take Mikan Tsumiki, for example. I'm pretty sure that not a single line of her dialogue has been changed from the first draft. For all her stuttering and apologizing, none of her lines - so far, anyway - are reliant on anything that can't be directly translated.  Ibuki, on the other hand... well. quote:
What's funny is that this is actually a pretty literal translation... except the joke has been changed because Ibuki's original line is based on about three different quirks of which two have no particularly good equivalents in English. What she actually says is, "Chira! Chira!", followed by "...Konnichira!". "Chira" is an onomatopoeia meaning something like "glance".  number one is that she's calling her own actions, literally looking at Hinata and going "glance!" "glance!" number two is that she portmanteaus this into "Konnichiwa", which of course is a greeting. number three is that Ibuki is being her usual slightly hyperactive, slightly absentminded self.Fortunately, while narrating ones own actions generally always sounds pretty silly, singing to oneself is actually a thing that some actual people actually do, and wouldn't you know it, the girl happens to be a musician, so I guess this actually works out pretty tidily! It's funny because I was trying to interpret this line "liberally", and it kinda got more and more "liberal" until it looped back around and became sort of literal. For most characters, I could just tell you "this character speaks like ________ and has ________ quirk(s)" and be done with it. Ibuki, however, is probably going to have to be handled on a case by case basis. ... ... ...Oh, right. Ibuki speaks very energetically, habitually refers to herself in the third person, and says "huh" a lot, often followed by an interrobang. Next time: Surprisingly little.
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Dec 19, 2012 17:53
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Looking looking looking♪ Looking over here♪ Looking looking --
--Look! It’s - hey! I don’t know you!
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Sindai posted:Her actual motive (as lots of people guessed correctly in the thread) was to make the world despair by broadcasting the SHL kids killing each other. It wasn't crazy/random in the sense meant by "don't do this" mystery rules at all. She wanted to show that Despair could trump Hope, that much was obvious. What wasn't obvious is why she cared so much to do that.
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Dec 19, 2012 18:38
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 Second half of the chapter, continuing directly from last time. “But, it’s not like I’m forgetting things because I want to. There’s a sickness in my brain, right? I can’t help it, so be nice to me!” “No, I don’t think we can just call it a ‘sickness’ and be done with it”, Matsuda-kun shook his head lightly. “Human memory is a complicated subject and there is much we don’t yet know about it. It’s still very much a black box. Your situation isn’t just a simple sickness that can be dealt with like any other.” As he explained, he stuck suction pads all over my head and my face.The cords running from the suction pads were attached to the machines on the trolley. “There’s a part of it that we call ‘episodic memory’. It stores your personal experiences, the things you see and hear. The area of the brain responsible for it is called the hippocampus. If something goes wrong there, the brain experiences difficulties creating and storing new episodes. There’s a famous old case where a patient who had his hippocampus removed in surgery lost all ability to form new memories. Since then there has been much research done on the exact role of the hippocampus in relation to memory. That said, even if your hippocampus is malfunctioning, you won’t lose your ability to remember or learn ‘procedural memory’ tasks such as riding a bicycle or using tools. You won’t remember the episodes related to those tasks, though. For example, you may remember how to ride a bicycle, but you won’t remember how you came to be able to ride them... That’s it in a nutshell.” “I see... So that’s why even though I am very forgetful, I still know how to read and write in my notebook”. I held the notebook in question with both of my hands, and nodded thoughtfully. “Ryouko Otonashi’s Memory Notebook” The notebook was like memory itself for me. My one and only indispensable, trusted item. As long as I have it I can live a regular life, much like regular people. And yet, it seems that this school is a little late in accommodating the memory-challenged, and that I am still facing many difficulties on that front. For example, during exams it’s forbidden to look in notebooks, which caused my grades to plummet and got me suspended from -- “What? I’ve been suspended from the school?!”, I yelled, looking up from the notebook. “Just because my grades are bad?! That’s not fair!” “You should be glad they haven’t kicked you out completely. I had to negotiate with the school to make that happen.” “Really? You stood up for me?”. My heart skipped a beat. “I’m so happy! Heh heh. You really are fond of me, aren’t you.” Matsuda-kun snorted. “...You just make a good research subject, so I need you in the school.” Still, Matsuda-kun went out of his way to help, and that’s good enough for me! “Your case seems to involve a failure in the retrieval of long-term memory. I think something went wrong with the synapses connecting the neurons somewhere in your brain, but I need more time to investigate the problem more thoroughly before I can really understand what’s going on.” “I don't understand most of what you just said, but, um... at least I haven’t been expelled! If I get expelled now, where would I even go?” I don’t have anywhere to go to outside this school. I’ve forgotten everything else. I don’t even remember my family, or any old friends I may or may not have. “If I get expelled, I will also end up away from you, Matsuda-kun...” Being separated from Matsuda-kun was the thing I feared most. My body shivered a little just speaking the words out loud. “You shouldn’t worry too much.” Matsuda-kun turned to face me and spoke bluntly. “You are a valuable research subject and I don’t plan on losing you... at least not at the moment.” “But, you might change your mind later!” I’m happy, but I have to remember not to be too much of a burden from now on! “Don’t complain. You should be honored that you’re participating in such important research.” Matsuda-kun chided me, then continued his explanation. “In order to understand why memory loss occurs, we need to understand the core elements of our brain’s memory storage apparatus. Once we make advances in that field, it opens the door to a wide array of possibilities, like improving the quality and longevity of human memory, or developing medicine to prevent memory loss. In the future, we might even be able to treat memories like we do data on a hard drive - we’ll be able to create devices that back them up or destroy parts of them freely. There’s already research going on that front abroad. They managed to erase some lab rats’ long-term memory by manipulating their M-zeta kinase enzyme.” “I see!” I didn’t actually see at all, but for the time being I had to be agreeable. “In any case, I’m just super-happy that I can be of any help to my beloved Matsuda-kun!” “Your brain is empty, and so are the words it produces. You really are an empty woman.” I didn’t quite understand if he was serious or just making fun of me. But, that’s just how Matsuda-kun is. He has always insisted I should take care of myself. He may be cold to me and he may be blunt, but he doesn’t treat me with fake sympathy. It’s depressing when people do, so I’m grateful for his attitude. “I may be empty but I’m still super-happy!” I raised my voice, refusing to be discouraged, but Matsuda-kun’s reply was almost a whisper. “Well, I can’t deny you’re helping me out here. One doesn’t get his hands on a rare case like yours very often...” “Did you say rare?! I like the sound of that!” I felt as happy as if I was being praised. “So what’s rare about me? Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!” “Stop acting like a child.”, Matsuda-kun let out a big sigh. “I don’t want to tell you. You’d just get annoyingly excited.” “What’s so wrong with that? Tell me! Tell me!” My insistence finally paid off. “...You don’t often see someone who has such a superb, brain-intensive talent like you do affected by memory loss. That’s why you’re such a rare case.” “...Talent? Brain-intensive?” Nothing came to my mind. “It’s fine if you don’t remember it... It was really irritating when you used that talent of yours. I’m warning you - don’t ever try using it on me. You got that, dung-beetle?” I didn’t quite get what he meant, but his dung-beetle comment stung my heart a little bit so I couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “Well, I don’t really care as long as I get to spend these intimate moments with you, Matsuda-kun. I should be thankful that there’s a sickness in my brain!” “I told you, it’s not really a sickness...” Matsuda-kun stuck even more suction cups to my head, as if trying to hide my grinning face. “Nevertheless, It’s admirable that you can take this so easily. Your condition is no laughing matter. Shouldn’t you be at least a little worried?” “...Why? What is there to be worried about?” “I mean”, said Matsuda-kun in amazement, “Aren’t you worried if those symptoms are ever going to go away?” “...Huh?” His words surprised me. It wasn’t like Matsuda-kun at all, asking a question like that in such a serious voice. “Hahaha! I’m not worried at all!”, I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “I mean, the only me I can remember is the me that is lying here on this bed at this very moment. I can’t remember anything from before I lost my memory, so it’s not like I have anything to compare it too. That’s why I don’t see my forgetfulness as a disadvantage... it’s just a part of who I am.” “You don’t see it as a disadvantage... but aren’t you even worried about how this memory loss started, or when it’s going to end?” “Not at all. In fact, I’m much more worried that if I suddenly get cured I wouldn’t get to see you anymore, Matsuda-kun.” The room suddenly turned quiet. After the silence continued for a while, Matsuda-kun broke it with a whisper. “You don’t have to worry” He said, his voice suddenly dark. “I won’t let this treatment end.” I looked up. The face peeking through his pitch-black hair was stiff, lost in thought. “Matsuda-kun?” As soon as I called him, he straightened up and turned back to me. “No, it’s nothing...” He shook his head, as if trying to smooth things over. Then, he returned to the machine and continued working it as if nothing happened. “Well, nothing good can come out of being too pessimistic about your symptoms. That’s one case where your natural cheerfulness is actually helpful.” “Yep! My thinking’s very flexible, after all!” “Your head is flexible, that’s for sure. You can’t even remember your friends or family before you lost your memory, and yet you aren’t even slightly disconcerted.” “But, forgetting them is just like I never had them at all! That’s why everyone I forgot -- they really have nothing to do with me anymore!” “Those words again.” Matsuda-kun winked for an awfully long time. “If you keep saying things have nothing to do with you, you’re going to end up with nothing left inside.” “Oh, I’ll be fine! I will always have you, Matsuda-kun!”, I stuck my chest in pride. “You’re the only person I can remember, so as long as you’re here I won’t get lonely.” “...You probably link me with the process of coming here to receive this treatment in your procedural memory. That’s why you can remember me.” “No, that’s not it at all --” “Yeah, yeah. I know”, said Matsuda-kun, trying to calm me down before I became too flustered. He continued attaching suction cups to my face, stopping from time to time to scratch his chest, which I could catch a glimpse of through a gap in his dirty white shirt. Does he really know what I meant? He probably just said that to shut me up. I don’t think he even believes me when I say I remember him. But it’s true. I don’t remember him in the usual sense of the word “remember”, of course. But I didn’t lie when I said I do. I remember Matsuda-kun. I forget him, and yet I remember. I’m not talking about our conversations, or what we did together. For these kind of memories I have to rely on my notebook. No, what I remember is something much more special and important! It’s not memories, but feelings. Not using my head, but using my heart. What I remember about Matsuda-kun is pure emotion. Every time I see him, I feel my heart beating faster before my head even realizes what’s going on. My heart tells me one very important thing. For me, his very existence is precious. One-of-a-kind. That’s why, no matter how forgetful I become, I will never forget him. There’s a connection deeper than memories between the two of us. For me, Matsuda-kun is special. He’s extraordinary. He’s a miracle -- “Shut up already, will you?” “What?”, I came back to my senses, confused. “Y...You heard me?”. I was about to jump out of the bed, but Matsuda-kun pinned my head back down. “You’re going to get the cord disconnected. What are you, human waste?”, he said cruelly. It's not like I tried to disconnect his cord on purpose! “B...But, I never said a word... Oh! Were you talking about how loud my heartbeat is? I can’t help that! If my heart stops, I’d die!” “...I wasn’t talking about you. I was referring to the noise outside.” “Outside?” Matsuda-kun turned up his chin, and pointed to the window. When I listened intently, I could indeed hear an unusual noise coming from outside. Jeering voices, angry voices, hooting voices. Reactionary voices full of anger. The kind of voices that could make the earth rumble. It was an assembly of unpleasant voices that could make your face frown instinctively. “...What is that?” “It’s the ‘Parade’. They’re getting louder every day...” “A parade? You don’t mean, that parade?!” “Liar. You don’t remember it at all.” Matsuda-kun pinched my forehead, and continued explaining. His face was grim. “It’s essentially a demonstration. The teaching staff -- or maybe I should say the old geezers from the steering committee -- didn’t like the sound of that word so they decided to call it a stupid name like a ‘Parade’”. “...But, um, isn’t a parade the exact opposite of a demonstration?” “That’s exactly why they chose that name” “But, why a parade...?” “It’s the guys from the preparatory school.” “Preparatory school...?” I’ve never heard of such a thing. Or have I? “You don’t remember, of course. Well, your head is oversized, so I guess that can’t be helped.” “Wait! Calling a girl oversized is a sexual harassment! If we lived in the Edo period you would be beheaded by now -- eep!” My head, which was on its way up from the bed, was pushed back down. “Hope’s Peak Academy is not a traditional learning facility like other schools. It provides education for the talented, but at the same time it also researches that talent. The teaching staff aren’t simple teachers. They’re also scientists who research human talent. Scientists are a bothersome bunch, though. The more they research, the more they want to dig even deeper. Therefore, there’s something they never have enough of. Do you know what that is?” “Um... It’s probably...” “It’s money.” “Oh, right!” My chance to find the answer on my own was gone, so that’s the least I could say. “Up until recently, Hope’s Peak was a small-scale facility that could survive on a government subsidiary and graduate donations. The research was often blocked by a lack of resources, though. The school's steering committee was not satisfied with the state of the research, so they instituted the preparatory school system in order to bring in more money.” I nodded enthusiastically to show I was listening. “The gist of it is that us Super High-school Levels are affiliated with the main school, but there is now a separate facility attached to it, called a preparatory school. It's located on the west quarter of the campus, while the main school remains here in the east quarter, so we don’t intermingle much. I heard there’s not much that’s the same over there -- they don’t scout their students, and rely on a regular entrance exam to choose among applicants. Their teachers are chosen the same way. Our teachers are scientists who work and live at the school, while they have regular teachers coming from outside.” “So, it’s just a regular high-school, isn’t it?” “Exactly. Nevertheless, there was a flood of applications. A brand name is a powerful thing.” Matsuda-kun almost spat the words out. “People didn’t care that it was just a preparatory school. The prestigious Hope’s Peak Academy had finally opened its doors to the public. People are sheep. They are drawn to a name, and the school took advantage of that to get more money. Thanks to that, the school went through a sudden growth spurt. We suddenly have research facilities that can make any university jealous. No one was prepared for that -- in just a year or two Hope’s Peak Academy grew to an entirely different scale. The power of the steering committee also grew accordingly.” “But, that almost seems like a fraud...” “It doesn’t just seem like one.” Matsuda-kun’s mouth twisted in a bitter smile. “Right now, Hope’s Peak Academy is set up like a pyramid class system in a third world country. The multitude of students in the preparatory school exist only to support the few Super High-school Levels in the main one. It seems they have some kind of bogus system in place for exceptional students to transfer to the main school, but I’ve never heard of anyone actually succeeding. Our teachers probably think none of them deserve it.” “But that’s not how educators should behave!” “You’re right, but it’s exactly how scientists do. They don’t care about anything but their research subject. I’m just the same, in fact. It’s just that their subject is ‘human talent’.” “But, it’s still so unfair!” I puffed my cheeks. “Of course it is. If it wasn’t, there wouldn’t be any need for a demonstration, would there? But, still...” Matsuda-kun suddenly cut his speech short. His tone of voice changed to a cautious one. “I don’t think they could’ve set all this up on their own. There has to be someone else behind it. I think...” “Huh?” Matsuda-kun narrowed his eyes and looked outside the window. His look was so grim that I hesitated to speak. “Hey, Ugly,” after a short while he turned back to me, as if remembering something. “Write this conversation down properly in your notebook. Don’t brush it off as having nothing to do with you. Those preparatory school students don’t think much of us, so I don’t think they’re going to attack you or anything, but... it’s better to be cautious.” “Okay, I understand.”, as I replied, I noticed the suction cups stuck to my head and my face were making it difficult to move my mouth. “I need you to stay still for a while. I don’t mind if you sleep.” Matsuda-kun stepped away from my line of sight. “But I’m not sleepy at all...” I replied in an insecure voice. Matsuda-kun’s voice answered from the other side of the room. “I can give you sleeping pills. A dozen should probably be enough.” “A dozen?! Isn’t that a lethal dose? Are you sure it’s alright?” My uneasiness grew even deeper, and soon Matsuda-kun appeared in front of me again. He was now wearing a school jacket on top of his dirty shirt. “If something happens to my machines while I’m away, you’re dead.” “...Are you going somewhere?” “I have a little business to take care of. Anyway, if something happens to my machines, you’re dead.” He was serious enough to repeat the warning twice. “I wouldn’t mind being dead if it’s you who kills me...” “That would be troublesome for me. I hate gore.” I didn’t think that was such a good quality for someone who studies the human brain, but I didn’t say anything. “Ah! In that case, if I stay here and wait like a good girl, let’s go see a movie together later!” “...A movie?” “Um... You know, like that one...” I flipped through the pages of my notebook, searching for memories about movies. “Here’s one! Um, it’s about two robbers, Harry and Marv, sneaking into the McAllister household...” “Are you talking about Home Alone? It seems you’ve forgotten, but you bugged me to see it with you before, and we did.” “Really? Um, in that case...” I continue flipping through the notebook, but couldn’t find mention of any other movies. It seems I was particularly interested in that movie. I could blame myself all day, but it’d get me nowhere. “W...Well, it’s a masterpiece, so I’m sure it’s still interesting even if you watch it again!” “It’s certainly not a bad movie, but it’s not the kind of movie I’d want to watch again and again...” “So, what kind of movie do you --” “If you're trying to find out more about me, you shouldn't be so transparent about it.” I felt his distasteful stare glaring down at me. But, I didn’t give up. “Let’s do it! If you pretend you’re watching it for the first time, it can be fun!”. I read a little more in my notebook. “Ah! According to this, I thought the little boy who played the main character, Wacooly Culkin, is super-cute! There’s a cute boy in this movie! Don't you think that's exciting?” “And why, exactly, do you think that would excite me? Also, that actor isn’t named as if he was a brand of lingerie. It’s Macaulay Culkin.” “Ha ha, it says here that I thought he was so cute I wanted to adopt him!” “You only say that because you don’t know how he looks today. He underwent quite a transformation.” “A transformation, huh...” Matsuda-kun narrowed his almond eyes even more than usual, and swiped his bangs away from his forehead. “Just be a good girl and go to sleep.” It seems he was tired of me trying to postpone his departure. “Wait! Don’t go!” I was now panicking, and tried to stop him again. “I don’t want you to go! I’d be lonely! Don’t leave me here alone! We haven’t seen each other in a long time, have we?” “...A long time?” Matsuda-kun stopped in his tracks. “Why do you think we haven’t seen each other in a long time?” “...Huh?” “I’m asking why you think we haven’t seen each other in a long time.” Matsuda-kun faced away from me as he spoke. His voice was tinted with pain, and made me feel anxious. “Um... I can tell by the rate my heart was beating... I think...” “So, if you see me every day your heart doesn’t beat as fast when I’m near?” “N...No! That’s not it --” “We did just meet yesterday, you know.” “...We did?” “It’s not surprising that you forgot...” Matsuda-kun’s back curled forward, as if he was dejected. “I guess you were just lying when you said I’m the only person you can remember.” “W...Wait! I’ll remember in a second!” I flipped through the pages of my notebook in haste. I went through it all from back to back, but couldn’t find any memories about me and Matsuda-kun meeting the day before. It was a complete failure. When I looked away from the notebook, Matsuda-kun was already gone. “...Feh!” I’ve been had. And there was nothing more I could do about it. Sigh. I guess there really is nothing I can do but sleep. Not that that’s such a bad thing. At the very least, when I’m asleep I can lose myself inside my dreams. I can escape this lonely world that doesn’t have Matsuda-kun in it. I can probably even meet Matsuda-kun in my dreams! With that thought deep in my heart, I rolled to my side, careful not to disturb the cords all over my head, and sniffed the pillow that still had traces of Matsuda-kun’s scent. I sniffed it as if I was a puppy, and rubbed my cheeks against it, purring happily. Then, I closed my eyes. As my vision disappeared, my other senses sharpened. Before long, the only thing remaining in my world was Matsuda-kun’s scent... No, that wasn’t the only thing. I could also hear voices, interfering with my and Matsuda-kun’s private world. An assembly of emotional, unsettling voices. Anxiety washed over my entire body just by listening to them, so I blocked my ears in panic. ...It has nothing to do with me, after all. Nevertheless, I couldn’t sleep. I felt like my body has forgotten how to. I want to fall asleep. I want to sleep and rid myself of this world that doesn’t have Matsuda-kun in it. I want to meet him again. ...Matsuda-kun Matsuda-kun Matsuda-kun Matsuda-kun Matsuda-kun Matsuda-kun Matsuda-kun Matsuda-kun. Then, as I dreamed about dreaming about Matsuda-kun, I slowly fell into a blissful sleep. orenronen fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Jan 19, 2014 |
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Dec 19, 2012 18:39
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Three chapters in and we already have the madness of repetition. I'm betting she has SHSL ESP or something, but it's fried her ability to form memories.
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Dec 19, 2012 19:04
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So there's a school for regular students that they can pay to get into? Why do I have a sudden feeling that Hajime can't remember his talent because he didn't have a talent - he was just one of the students from the prep school? It would also fit in with his worship of Hope's Peak, along with this line:quote:To tell you the truth, the circumstances in my case are slightly unusual. E: Great, now I'm re-reading his entire intro, along with the stuff he says in the very first update. quote:Honestly, I’m not so special to warrant a formal introduction, and whenever I'm asked to give one I get terribly embarrassed quote:It isn’t a particularly tough question... Why is this so difficult? Or I could be drastically wrong and the prep school kids are only notable for some other reason(causing the Worst Most Despairing Incident, maybe? They do have plenty of reason to be pissed at Hope's Peak.). Haifisch fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Dec 19, 2012 |
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Dec 19, 2012 19:04
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Yeeeaaah, I think so too that this may be implying something about Hinata, but what if it's implying something about Nagito and more importantly Naegi as well? What if the "Bogus System" used by the preparatory school is the lottery that each supposedly won? Also, a dual school system that breeds unfairness, promotes elitism and can be considered a scam or at the least horrendously unfair? Man, I am almost positive now that Hope's Peak, even if they aren't directly to blame for the Most Despairing Incident, are directly responsible for propagating an environment that birthed it.
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Dec 19, 2012 19:07
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MadRhetoric posted:Three chapters in and we already have the madness of repetition. I'm betting she has SHSL ESP or something, but it's fried her ability to form memories. I think it's more horrifying than that. I think that her ability might have been perfect recall, and Matsuda turned her into this. 
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Dec 19, 2012 19:09
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Fedule posted:...Oh, right. Ibuki speaks very energetically, habitually refers to herself in the third person, and says "huh" a lot, often followed by an interrobang. Do they actually use an interrobang? That's some oddly obscure punctuation for a videogame to use.
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Dec 19, 2012 19:16
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Zenostein posted:Do they actually use an interrobang? That's some oddly obscure punctuation for a videogame to use. Well, not literally. It's just a ?!. I don't doubt, however, that if anyone on this island can actually use an actual interrobang character in speech, it's Ibuki.
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Dec 19, 2012 19:25
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