So, let's get into the other side of DR3. The Despair Side. And what does it start with? Well, a black screen. And we get Chisa saying "Aw, bummer. Guess I died." We find Chisa in some sort of movie theater, watching her own death while eating popcorn. She talks about how she was there for some critical moments before she died, and how she was also there for The Incident. She goes on to talk about the Remnants, and how before they were the Remnants, they were just her students.  All their lives, fated to intersect at Hope's Peak Academy. A story of hope that turns to utter despair. This will be the lead-in to the events of The Incident.  And with that, we get our opening.  This one has a far happier feel than the one for Future Side, for obvious reasons. Of course, it still has its share of foreshadowy stuff, but I'm not going to go into detail on it, because I'm really not the type to analyze this.  At the end, we're shown a mysterious silhouette with cat ears. I wonder who that could be?  We begin our episode proper with Chisa being named assistant homeroom teacher for the first group of the 77th Class by Jin Kirigiri.  You know, rocket man from the first game and Kyoko's dad.  Koichi shows up here as well, being a talent scout and teacher. He contributes to Chisa's assignment by loudly belching because he's got a hangover and struggling to not vomit. Chisa loudly declares how ready she is, hits her chest so enthusiastically she almost injures herself, and bolts off to her class.  Koichi and Jin talk about how it was Kyosuke's influence that got Chisa this job. Koichi also brings up that it seems like Kyosuke is angling for the headmaster's job.  Meanwhile, Chisa greets her new class and finds, er, meager attendance. I don't think we need to re-introduce the DR2 characters - we've already done that with the recap I did, like, way back when. Go check that out if you need a reminder.  When Chisa brings up that she's their new homeroom teacher, Hiyoko says that she looks like she'll be fun to break. Chisa retorts by bringing up that she doubled down on health insurance before taking this job. Looks like she's prepared. Fuyuhiko brings up that Koichi is their homeroom teacher, but as we know, he's a bit indisposed right now, with Chisa saying that he's probably vomiting as we speak.  Mikan shows up late, claiming it's because she fell down.  She then proceeds to fall down in her usual manner again.  Chisa wonders where all the others are, and it turns out that those that are there are probably all that are going to show up. Attendance isn't too important at Hope's Peak compared to honing your talent, so basically nobody shows up. Chisa is, uh, not impressed with this class.  So she decides to engage her Ultimate talent in an attempt to whip this class into shape.  She declares them a bag of rotten oranges for giving up on their classmates and their youth like that, which gets a reaction out of everyone - except Sonia, who has no idea what oranges are.  We even get a just wonderful looking orange as illustration material.  Chisa *really* gets into this to an almost frightening degree. She talks about how even rotten oranges can make good marmalade if you have enough of them - Mahiru doesn't think it works like that, and I think I agree.  Sonia, however, is also really into this, saying that that kind of camraderie is what she was looking for when she enrolled here.  Fuyuhiko, on the other hand, isn't too into the prospect of "being friends with you sons of bitches".   So Chisa decides to take it up a notch. Fuyuhiko isn't impressed, declaring that she doesn't have the balls to hurt him.  However, when she fakes cutting his fingers off, it scares the poo poo out of him and convinces him that yes, she does have the balls. So, with the group relatively unified, Chisa leads the way to find the other class members.  Our trip first takes us to the mens' room, which has Sonia really excited about the prospect of being in an authentic Japanese mens' room.  Suddenly, the ground starts shaking and keeps shaking harder, like approaching giant footsteps. Mikan compares it to Jurassic Park...  ...and then the door blows open, sending Mahiru and Hiyoko flying, accompanied by a mighty shout of "MORE LIKE JURASSIC SHIIIIIIT".  Chisa *somehow* managed to protect everybody from that blast. And who is the source?  Of course, it's Nekomaru.   He, uh, caused some damage.  With Nekomaru recruited to the party, our next stop is the cafeteria.  Sonia calls for the chef, and...  ...of course, Teruteru immediately answers the call. Sonia asks for a meat dish.  Teruteru then loses himself in innuendo, as is his wont...  ...until Chisa puts a stop to that.  Of course, being tied up by a woman in an apron is something Teruteru loves as well.  So the reigns get handed over to Nekomaru, though Teruteru "can work with that as well".  The class is, uh, mildly horrified by this turn of events.  The next target is Akane, who has taken to parkouring all over Hope's Peak, which has landed her on the roof of the main building. So, what's the plan? Well, she smells meat.  And boy, she loves that.  Turns out the group has laid out some bait for her...   ...Chisa then sends out Nekomaru like he's a Pokemon...  ...the ensuing combat causes explosions all over the campus...  ...prompting a snide "the building's shaking more than usual today" from Koichi.  The plan works, though, even if Akane had to be crucified to get her under control.  The next one on the list is Kazuichi, who seems to be working on one hell of a machine, with him to compare for scale.  Given his love for Sonia, he's relatively easy to get to the group, but, uh, he's got a bit of a problem in the smell department.  To the point that Sonia just ends up further and further away every second or so, causing Kazuichi to really freak out.  Chisa tries to comfort him...  ...with mixed success.  Our next stop is the, uh, animal shed.  Gundham, as is his wont, makes an entrance like a supervillain, with bats literally swooping down on the others.  He gives his destruction spiel, but doesn't actually need to be convinced to join up, so that's the scene.  The next stop is the music room, where the doors are vibrating. Why are they vibrating?  Oh nothing special, Ibuki is just giving her usual "death metal with a flame thrower guitar" performance.  "Let's stick it to the man!"  "By attending class!" And that's it for this scene.  Next up, we're going to pick up Peko.  Chisa is not really impressed by Peko's reflexes. She admonishes Peko that while her job is important, she also needs to go to class, which freaks out Fuyuhiko because nobody is actually supposed to know about her job. Now that we've only got three people left, Chisa talks about how great all the growthful experiences they're going to have will be.   Then Teruteru gets himself splatted onto the wall by Chisa for a predictable "part of me is growing right now".  Next, the group is looking for somebody outside.  Kazuichi remarks that he doesn't like that guy, since whenever he shows up, his day goes to hell.   And as if summoned, he gets run over by a truck that just shows up out of nowhere.  Meanwhile, a familiar face laments how unlucky he is - he put in 1000 yen into the machine, pushed the button, and no drink.  Then, the truck lands right on the machine...   ...triggering a lucky hit that just spits out a whole bunch of drinks.  Chisa picks up Nagito, and that's our scene.  The classroom is now looking quite a bit fuller. Only two left, but the class is now really beat.  Noticing the dust in the classroom, Chisa decides that she'll go find the other two alone if the rest of them cleans up.  Kazuichi asks if they haven't suffered enough...  ...and is quickly reminded that no, they haven't, things could be a lot worse. Chisa heads out...  ...and the class gets ready to clean.  Mikan does her thing.  Meanwhile, Chisa finds herself here, in particular at a "Mitarai"'s place. She knocks at the door, and...  ...hrm. Boy, Ryota sure slimmed down over time. So yeah, this is obviously actually the Ultimate Imposter.  So, with Chisa knocking down his door, he tries to make an escape through the window, but...  Moral of the story, don't try to ditch your teacher. Because she can apparently teleport.  So, with Chisa dragging the Imposter along by his leg (quite the achievement given his size, really), we have only one classmate left to get.  Meanwhile, Hajime is standing outside of Hope's Peak.   He's not exactly content with his situation as a Reserve Course student.  And then somebody runs into him and just kind of stops while video game sounds play.  Awkward silence ensues. Yes, we are indeed looking at Chiaki here. But how can that be when she was an AI in DR2? Well, we're going to find out.  Chiaki moves to continue walking, but when Hajime recognizes the game she's playing, she really fangirls out and we get some love interest seeds being sown.  Chisa then shows up, still dragging the Imposter along. She recognizes Hajime as a Reserve Course member, and gives Chiaki an explanation on what the Reserve Course is.  The Imposter then tries to bail, and Chisa quickly recaptures him.  Hajime then has a bit of a mental crisis about his lack of talent. Chiaki retorts that while he doesn't have a talent, that's not the be-all-end-all, and he has a lot more freedom than they do - he can do whatever he wants, all she has is a pile of video games.  Chisa comes back with the Imposter, grabs Chiaki, and makes her way to class again. We get some more love interest seeds with Chiaki waving goodbye to Hajime, and we're back to class.  The class, now fully assembled, isn't too thrilled with the prospect of showing up to classes, but Chisa gives a speech about the importance of memories made with classmates and that kind of thing, which gets people fired up.  And even Chiaki takes a look away from her game for once.  We then cut to Chisa talking with somebody on the phone about her first day.  That somebody is Kyosuke - trust me, he's that little guy there - who is currently busy at a construction site, which is planned to be an overseas location of Hope's Peak Academy.  Chisa talks about her memories of Hope's Peak and how they met there to end the episode.  ...well, not quite. We get a post-credits stinger this time. People in a shadowy meeting room, mysterious!  Well, not quite so mysterious. Since we have the knowledge of what happens later, we know that this is the selection process for the whole Ultimate Hope project that would birth Izuru Kamukura, meaning that he took what Chiaki told him and either interpreted it completely wrong, or just flat-out ignored it. Oh Hajime, you cad. Anyway, that'll be it for the first episode of Despair Side. Next time, it's back to the future to really establish this killing game we've got going. What the gently caress just happened?: Chisa is made homeroom teacher for the 77th Class, the class that consists of the DR2 characters. Class attendance is very low, so Chisa takes everybody along to collect the rest of the class. Shenanigans ensue. Hajime, as a Reserve Course member, runs into Chiaki and the two seem to have a burgeoning friendship. Hajime is selected by a mysterious committee to be the test subject for the Izuru Kamukura project to create artificial talent. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Feb 20, 2019 |
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Feb 9, 2019 20:05
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I don't like Chiaki being a real person. The whole point of her name is that it was based on Chihiro Fujisaki. Anyway, dumb Mikan stuff aside, Despair hooked me a lot faster than Future, Episode 1, if only because the writers actually decided to *gasp* use the characters in a setting where nice things are happening before they just start dying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXG8Uwd7e30 TheMcD posted:
I don't usually like toilet humor, but Nekomaru blowing up half of the school with his bowel movements is so over the top that it circles back around to being funny. Blueberry Pancakes fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Feb 9, 2019 |
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Feb 9, 2019 20:37
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Chisa is pretty great ngl
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Feb 9, 2019 21:35
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My favourite detail in this episode is the fact that Ultimate Gangster Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu is one of the handful of students who show up to class. I love that he always tries very hard to look like he doesn't care and almost manages it.
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Feb 9, 2019 23:18
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This is why Nekomaru is so serious about his shits. Now we know how he murdered people while in Despair form.
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Feb 9, 2019 23:21
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Additional note: The person known as "Gundham" in the games is referred to as Tanaka the Forbidden in most of the episodes of this series, in order to avoid
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Feb 10, 2019 01:55
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TheDavies posted:Additional note: The person known as "Gundham" in the games is referred to as Tanaka the Forbidden in most of the episodes of this series, in order to avoid Which pays off in a very meta joke
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Feb 10, 2019 02:01
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The Despair Arc gets off to a relatively good start. It shows how well the series could work as a slice-of-life type deal. I appreciate that they went through the effort of trying to get back the DR2 cast. Well, for the most part. Gundham's old VA said he wasn't even contacted. Kind of a dick move. Anyway, the ones who got replaced were Peko, Akane, Fuyuhiko, Ibuki, Gundham and technically the Ultimate Imposter since he isn't playing as Byakuya right now anyway. I don't think any of their replacements are any good at all, but what can you do? Gundham is notably played here by KaiserNeko from TeamFourStar, so that's pretty cool if you're a fan of their work. Nagito is voiced by the same guy, but weirdly he sounds completely different. In DR2 he was all raspy, and in UDG since he's Ultimate Despair and I guess to sound closer to the Japanese, he keeps the rasp but talks much more slowly and more creepily. Then for some reason in this anime he completely loses the rasp and only talks slowly and creepily. He sounds like a different character, it's weird.
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Feb 10, 2019 02:07
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I would assume because his disease hasn’t gotten as bad at this point in time. Nagito is literally dying of an illness in UDG and should be dead of it by the time period of DR2. This is why Izuru smelt decay on Nagito when they met on the ship in Chapter 0.
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Feb 10, 2019 02:53
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I like the opening for Despair side quite a lot. It's pastelly and kinda wistful, which fits nicely with the viewer's awareness of the incoming tragedy.Lord_Magmar posted:This is why Izuru smelt decay on Nagito when they met on the ship in Chapter 0. I thought it was Junko's surely-not-very-fresh hand (and also a metaphor for how he's a hollow shell of a person, clinging to his ideal of hope because he has nothing else).
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Feb 10, 2019 03:29
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Despair side ratchets up the saccharine early on precisely because we know none of this can possibly end well. Especially now we know Chisa is future-dead too.
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Feb 10, 2019 03:44
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Lord_Magmar posted:I would assume because his disease hasn’t gotten as bad at this point in time. Nagito is literally dying of an illness in UDG and should be dead of it by the time period of DR2. His avatar in DR2 portrays his younger self just prior to entering Hope's Peak. He's actually older as of this first DR3 episode than his avatar is in DR2.
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Feb 10, 2019 04:34
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Bloody Emissary posted:I like the opening for Despair side quite a lot. It's pastelly and kinda wistful, which fits nicely with the viewer's awareness of the incoming tragedy. SoundwaveAU posted:His avatar in DR2 portrays his younger self just prior to entering Hope's Peak. He's actually older as of this first DR3 episode than his avatar is in DR2. Well ah, poo poo you got me I am a sham of a poster. Despair hope etc. I guess maybe Nagito just be like that then.
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Feb 10, 2019 07:33
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Lord_Magmar posted:I would assume because his disease hasn’t gotten as bad at this point in time. Nagito is literally dying of an illness Unless he made that poo poo up.
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Feb 10, 2019 10:55
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TheDavies posted:Unless he made that poo poo up. Or they luckily found a cure.
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Feb 10, 2019 20:29
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SoundwaveAU posted:The Despair Arc gets off to a relatively good start. It shows how well the series could work as a slice-of-life type deal. I appreciate that they went through the effort of trying to get back the DR2 cast. Well, for the most part. Gundham's old VA said he wasn't even contacted. Kind of a dick move. Yeah, I'm occasionally finding myself having some issues with the voice acting. Not in the "this isn't good" way, more in the "who the gently caress is talking, I can't see any mouths move and I don't recognize that voice" way. I'm really not used to these voices. TheDavies posted:Unless he made that poo poo up. curiousCat posted:Or they luckily found a cure. Who knows. That's the fun thing about Nagito in his DR2 and UDG incarnations in particular, you can technically believe pretty much nothing about him except his status as a massive hope-osexual and that whatever it is, he will have bullshit luck involved in some fashion. He's always got some sort of weird ulterior motive that overall does contribute to his general goal of the glory of hope and all that, but you sure as hell can't figure out what it is he's trying to do in particular right now, or especially what the gently caress it is he's going to do next. Like, think about his plan in UDG. I've thought over it quite a bit, and I can't 100% work the logic out. He admitted he was working with someone who also wanted Komaru to reach the kids' HQ at Towa Hills and eventually confront Monaca. That somebody, as we now know, was Monaca herself. Nagito particularly engineered the whole path Komaru and Toko traveled to build up Komaru's confidence and turn her into a hero that can become the hope of the adults and save the town, the idea being that Komaru, being a normal girl who can't do anything, would release an even greater hope. All the while apparently being completely oblivious to the idea that Monaca has been planning for all this? He does say that he has no idea what "his partner" is planning, and I guess he's just ignoring the idea that Monaca is obviously not planning to have Komaru just show up and beat her with the power of hope, because of course the power of hope is going to win regardless? And he's doing this while being a Remnant of Despair, stating he has no problem strengthening despair because hope will win regardless - except in this case, he's explicitly working against despair and boosting hope by helping Komaru? Shouldn't he be directly helping Monaca, who is the core force of despair in Towa City? Except he's also doing that because he's working with despair, here personified by Monaca, while boosting hope? The stuff at the end is kinda more straight forward, I guess? With Komaru choosing an ending that doesn't really resolve anything, Nagito ends up with hope blue balls and needs something else to get him off, so he completely shifts gears from supporting the hope against the despair right back to supporting the despair by planning to nurture Monaca into becoming the Successor, which shows how he just goes from one plan to another like it's nothing. Total loving wildcard. But what can I expect from the guy that takes the killing game setup and decides "I'm going to rig the entire island with explosives and BLOW IT ALL TO HELL FOR THE GLORY OF HOPE". I need to stop thinking about Nagito. All it leads to is despair. And I can't even say that that's not what he would have wanted! Thankfully, DR3 Nagito is a bit more toned down in his insanity. In his personal insanity, that is. The things that happen around him are still completely bonkers, as evidenced by his soda episode. This isn't the guy that cuts off his hand to replace with somebody else's yet. Though we will get there through this anime - that's the whole idea of Despair Side, after all.
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Feb 11, 2019 00:16
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Looking forward to the next recap of Future.
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Feb 11, 2019 00:24
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I don't really have much to say about the anime, but I will supply some extra information about the OPs and EDs: The Side: Future OP is named "Dead or Lie" by Maon Kurosaki feat. TRUSTRICK. Side: Despair's OP is named 「カミイロアワセ」 (kamiroawase) by binaria.
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Feb 11, 2019 00:34
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TheMcD posted:Like, think about his plan in UDG. I've thought over it quite a bit, and I can't 100% work the logic out. He admitted he was working with someone who also wanted Komaru to reach the kids' HQ at Towa Hills and eventually confront Monaca. That somebody, as we now know, was Monaca herself. Nagito particularly engineered the whole path Komaru and Toko traveled to build up Komaru's confidence and turn her into a hero that can become the hope of the adults and save the town, the idea being that Komaru, being a normal girl who can't do anything, would release an even greater hope. All the while apparently being completely oblivious to the idea that Monaca has been planning for all this? He does say that he has no idea what "his partner" is planning, and I guess he's just ignoring the idea that Monaca is obviously not planning to have Komaru just show up and beat her with the power of hope, because of course the power of hope is going to win regardless? And he's doing this while being a Remnant of Despair, stating he has no problem strengthening despair because hope will win regardless - except in this case, he's explicitly working against despair and boosting hope by helping Komaru? Shouldn't he be directly helping Monaca, who is the core force of despair in Towa City? Except he's also doing that because he's working with despair, here personified by Monaca, while boosting hope? You probably don't need to overthink it. My take is Komaeda helped out just because he believed this showdown in Towa City around the Ultimate Hope's ordinary sister was bound to become a big important focal event of hope vs despair. All the more so if influenced by his crazy luck. If hope wins, then that's great. If despair appears to win, that's also great, cause surely it just means the hope which will follow afterwards is going to be that much better!! 
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Feb 11, 2019 03:27
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Bifauxnen posted:You probably don't need to overthink it. My take is Komaeda helped out just because he believed this showdown in Towa City around the Ultimate Hope's ordinary sister was bound to become a big important focal event of hope vs despair. All the more so if influenced by his crazy luck. If hope wins, then that's great. If despair appears to win, that's also great, cause surely it just means the hope which will follow afterwards is going to be that much better!! That's pretty much his utterly insane logic.
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Feb 11, 2019 07:04
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I wonder what would happen if you locked Junko and Nagito in a room.
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Feb 11, 2019 07:12
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:I wonder what would happen if you locked Junko and Nagito in a room. Depends if it's 'regular' Komaeda or his even more insane despair-filled self.
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Feb 11, 2019 09:40
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freshlybaked posted:Depends if it's 'regular' Komaeda or his even more insane despair-filled self. is there really much of a difference though? 
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Feb 11, 2019 09:54
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Bifauxnen posted:You probably don't need to overthink it. My take is Komaeda helped out just because he believed this showdown in Towa City around the Ultimate Hope's ordinary sister was bound to become a big important focal event of hope vs despair. All the more so if influenced by his crazy luck. If hope wins, then that's great. If despair appears to win, that's also great, cause surely it just means the hope which will follow afterwards is going to be that much better!! Look, in a sleep-deprived state, I once attempted to work out whether the Hope's Peak arc could feasibly be bent enough to count as an allegory for the Russian Revolution from an anti-Communist point of view - essentially a re-imagining as a Cold War era propaganda piece. Overthinking is kind of my thing. And no, I don't remember any more exactly why the gently caress I thought that was a good idea. You are right, though. Oh, and if anybody's curious, I elected to not continue the attempt once I realized that I would have to equate Monaca with Stalin. Once that thought crossed my mind, it just kind of revealed the complete and utter insanity of it all to me. Hobgoblin2099 posted:I wonder what would happen if you locked Junko and Nagito in a room. One of the two was going to be dead within like fifteen minutes, I'm pretty sure. Given his annoyance at being unable to see Junko's end for himself, I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to actually make it happen himself.
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Feb 11, 2019 13:04
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TheMcD posted:One of the two was going to be dead within like fifteen minutes, I'm pretty sure. Given his annoyance at being unable to see Junko's end for himself, I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to actually make it happen himself. Nagito considers himself an unworthy person, though, so perhaps he'd think that someone like him killing Junko wouldn't be a moment of true hope. Come to think of it, they're both characters who prefer to achieve their goals by influencing other people. Nagito's luck causes a talented person to fall through the ceiling and become stuck in the room with them. Nagito tries to manipulate the newcomer into killing Junko for hope; Junko tries to manipulate them into killing Nagito for despair. (It's a shame Hajime doesn't have the talent to qualify, because he's probably the character who'd have the most entertaining breakdown in that situation.)
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Feb 11, 2019 13:34
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 We begin our next episode with Kyosuke talking to Makoto, saying that if he really believes in hope... he'll commit suicide.  I only now noticed that Despair Side doesn't seem to have episode title cards.  Next, we get a little interlude from Monokuma, explaining the rules of this game, because things have quite changed compared to the first two killing games we've seen.   Rule #1: If the time limit hits zero, everybody gets injected with a powerful anaesthetic. Huh. A powerful sleeping drug that gets injected via a bracelet that shows a time limit. Sounds familiar somehow.   Rule #2: There's an attacker. While everybody else is sleeping, the attacker will wake up and be able to kill.  So basically, we're doing the old traitor dance again.  Rule #3: If a sleeping phase goes by without anybody being killed - because the traitor has been found out and killed - then the game is won!  Rule #4: There's forbidden actions. Everybody has a particular action they're not allowed to do, and if they do actually do that action, then they're injected with a poison via the bracelets and poof, they're dead.  Kyoko checks her forbidden action and doesn't seem to like what she sees.  Furthermore, the events are once more being recorded and broadcast.  It is at this point we are introduced to Miaya's thing - she's a leading programmer on the Neo World Program, and also so shy she only ever communicates through her avatar, which comes out through the screen at the front of her wheelchair. Usami here gets righteously pissed and demands to know who's behind this.  Monokuma responds by crawling out of the TV...  ...and into the display, where he basically replays DR2 for a bit...  ...by beating up Usami and turning her into Monomi.  And with that, Monokuma says his goodbyes and leaves our gang to themselves.  Makoto goes into his usual M.O. of trying to keep the group together, talking about how Monokuma wants to tear them apart. Valiant effort, but he forgot he was literally on trial for treason like, half an hour ago. However, Kyosuke immediately agrees.  So, everybody kind of splits into small groups for a bit. Gozu and Juzo tend to Chisa's corpse, Kyoko does her detective thing and takes a look at the door, and Miaya tries to get any sort of connection going, but fails. Aoi says that she would have expected Future Foundation to have a better firewall, but Miaya retorts that it was good enough for any attack from the outside, but this was an inside job. Meaning that indeed, somebody in here is a traitor.  Daisaku comes back from scouting the area outside the meeting room. There is nobody outside in the hallways, and all windows and elevators are sealed shut.  So, with that determined, it's time to start figuring out who the traitor is. Juzo suggests killing them once they find out who it is, which Makoto objects to, saying that restraining them would be enough. Juzo objects that Makoto would just wriggle out of the restraints using his Ultimate Luck (yeah, remember that that was a thing?), and Kazuo concurs. Tensions start flaring.  Juzo once again states that he thinks Makoto is with the Remnants and is clearly spoiling for a fight, though others start coming around to plead for not jumping to violence right away.  With, uh, mixed success, as Ryota finds out.  Daisaku freaks out, and we hear the jingle that was supposed to announce that somebody has broken their forbidden action.    And, well, that's it for Daisaku.  Seiko tries to help with some medicine she had, but to no avail.  With our first confirmed kill from forbidden actions, tensions start going even higher. Miaya suggests everybody reveal their forbidden action to keep this from happening again, but the rest isn't too into it. Kyoko also brings up a good point - revealing their forbidden action might actually be someone's forbidden action. So basically, it's the motives from DR1 all over again.  Kyosuke declares that they need to find a course of action, and since it seems impossible to stop the game itself, they need to win it by finding the attacker. And since everybody has probably already an idea who they think the traitor is, he asks that everybody point towards the person they think is the traitor.  Koichi kicks us off by picking Miaya, admitting it's just a hunch.  The others, well... it was obvious, wasn't it? Anyway, so here we replay the part from before the opening where Kyosuke asks Makoto to commit suicide.  Kyosuke has this plan figured out - basically, they kill the winner of the vote, check and see if somebody gets killed, and if yes, vote again and murder that one. I mean, it's a plan, but somehow I don't think that somebody that went through all this trouble to set this up would pick the one that would immediately get suspected as a traitor. But that's just me. Kazuo objects, but Kyosuke just says the Remnants have to be eliminated at all costs.  He talks about how cooperation is important in crisis situations and that kind of guff in an attempt to guilt trip Makoto into killing himself.  Kyoko eyes a fire extinguisher.  Juzo decides he had enough of this poo poo and just outright charges Makoto with a knife...   ...but he's stopped by Gozu, who just breaks the blade with his bare hand because he's built like a brick shithouse, and declares that hope won't come in the form of a comrade's death.   Then Kyosuke pulls out a loving cyber-katana or something because I don't loving know, I guess why wouldn't he have a cyber-katana if he could have one? He talks about how many comrades have already lost their lives, and they have to fight fire with fire if they don't want those deaths to be in vain.  Then, the entire room gets filled with fog because Kyoko used the fire extinguisher to create a distraction.  Aoi and Makoto take the opportunity to bail.   Juzo tries to pursue them, but finds himself slammed back into the room because Gozu is covering for the other two.   Juzo then tries to get up and fight Gozu, but instead gets tazered by Miaya.  Meanwhile, Aoi wants Makoto to run, but there's a problem...  ...OK, looks like the subtitles took a nap here. Regardless, Makoto's forbidden action is "running in the hallways".  So they take an alternate solution.  Meanwhile, back in the meeting room, Kyoko hears someone walking up behind her and grabs a rock, probably ready to bash someone's skull in...  ...but Kazuo just tells her that violence won't solve anything and will only lead to more despair. He says she's safe.  Makoto and Aoi feel like they've run away far enough...  ...but that turns out to be wrong as Gozu is sent flying through a wall right next to them.  And Kyosuke follows right after that.  We then get a fight scene between Gozu and Kyosuke for a bit, which also involves the two having a clash of philosophies, where Gozu believes that killing comrades is a line that can never be crossed, and Kyosuke believes that all Remnants must be wiped out without exception or they'll just come back, and some collateral damage along the way is inevitable. It also has Gozu saying "you've gone too far, rear end in a top hat", which is great.  Miaya then shows up like a race car and points out a fire extinguisher near Aoi.  However, when she tries to use it, it jams.  So she just chucks the loving thing, which causes Kyosuke to have to avoid it, giving Gozu an opportunity to get some distance.   Which he then uses to literally elbow drop a massive hole into the floor they can use to escape.  Makoto then barely manages to close a door behind them before Kyosuke's katana, which he just threw at them, reaches them.  He then checks his forbidden action and just kinda looks vaguely determined.  As Aoi and Gozu talk about where they should head next, Makoto points out that they're almost at the time limit, and they decide to find somewhere to hide.  Miaya also shows up because she doesn't want to stay out there alone, which is a reasonable fear to have.  We then cut to Ruruka and Sonozuke, walking along a hallway. Ruruka asks if it's only her that thinks it's obvious the traitor is Seiko. Sonozuke agrees, saying it would be easy to betray your friends twice if you already betrayed them once, and Ruruka says that Seiko is the same as Hope's Peak and Future Foundation - rotten to the core. Seems they have history.  Meanwhile, back with our main group, Gozu is blocking the door of the room they decided to hide in with a large closet of sorts.  Aoi is getting depressed over how all this is happening again, and it's all the same, but Makoto says that it's not the same - he and Kyoko are there, too. They're friends now, and so they know they're not alone. That cheers her up.  Gozu then comes in to share his admiration for Makoto from back when the events of DR1 were being broadcast, and how Future Foundation needs him. He also says that Kazuo was very excited to have Makoto on board, and that Future Foundation would be revolutionized with him.  He then caps it off with a slap on the shoulder so hard it has Makoto coughing, and a "so spare me your slump-shouldered modesty - people are rooting for you, jackass!". I like this guy. He's got all the right things to say.  Meanwhile, Juzo and Kyosuke meet up together. Turns out everybody else ran away - Juzo couldn't find anybody else. Kyosuke's plan remains unchanged.  Juzo says that he'll protect Kyosuke - as long as he survives, Future Foundation can rebuild. He also doesn't want to let Chisa's murder go unavenged.  Back with our main group, Aoi is still worried, but Makoto is positive as ever and just says that if they stay close, his Ultimate Luck will rub off on them.  Then, the time limit runs out, and they conk out in a couple seconds.  The monitors all over the facility spring to life, and Monokuma adresses the attacker, telling them to get out there and kill someone.  Next, we see Makoto waking up. He goes to rub his eyes, and, uh...   ...loving *welp*. That's the episode! What the gently caress just happened?: The killing game is explained, and it's basically Mafia plus everybody gets a specific action they're not allowed to do. Tensions rise and Juzo ends up attacking someone, which kills Bandai, because his forbidden action was to witness violence between the participants. Groups develop quickly, and Juzo and Kyosuke try to kill Makoto, though they fail. Kyosuke pursues Makoto, Aoi and Gozu, but is eventually stymied by a door. Makoto, Aoi, Gozu and Miaya barricade themselves in a room and fall asleep as the time limit expires. When Makoto wakes up, Aoi has been stabbed. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Feb 20, 2019 |
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Feb 11, 2019 19:12
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I can't believe the new killing game is just a game of Mafia. Very original, Monokuma.
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Feb 11, 2019 19:42
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Mafia is a good setup for an anime killing game, to be honest. The first DR anime had horrible pacing for the game's setup. - Episode 1: Introduce the characters - Episode 2: Sayaka and Mukuro are dead - Episode 3: Leon is dead - Episode 4: Chihiro is dead - Episode 5: Mondo is dead - Episode 6: Kiyotaka and Hifumi are dead - Episode 7: Celes is dead. How can you care about the characters when there's no events to flesh them out and half the cast is gone by the halfway mark? Anyway, thoughts of the episode: -  Life is simply unfair.- Juzo kills Bandai and immediately goes on to trying to kill Makoto afterwards without giving a flip. Basically no one else cares that Bandai dies either aside from Seiko. - By now it should be apparent that the Future Foundation is a train wreck and Monaca's plan in UDG was right on the money. - Not!Narukami having a cyber katana is further proof of just how over the top this goon is. Also, a katana was Yu's weapon in Persona 4, as I recall, so I'm beginning to think this is intentional. - The Great Gozu using The People's Elbow to destroy the floor is one of the best moments in the anime.  - Aoi noooooo Also, seeing as the episode and TheMcD already brought it up Seiko, Ruruka, and ...other guy whose name escapes me are not pointing at Makoto here. Presumably, Kyosuke just ignored the two votes for Seiko because he's tired of them being at each other's throats. Seiko also makes a remark to Ruruka in Episode 1 during the siren sequence that she suspects she's up to something, because presumably they've been fighting for a while.
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Feb 11, 2019 20:34
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Rith posted:Nagito considers himself an unworthy person, though, so perhaps he'd think that someone like him killing Junko wouldn't be a moment of true hope. His behaviour in Chapter 5 suggests that he does still dream that he could become an Ultimate Hope himself though. Especially in some way that would martyr himself and use up his unworthy (and allegedly terminally ill) life for some greater purpose. He might be unworthy, but unlike the rest of those unworthy people out there, he knows his place about how unworthy he is! Which gives him a bit of a superiority complex at the same time. Unlike the rest of the unworthy people, he has the deranged and utterly self-sacrificial will to offer his talent and life in the service of hope.
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Feb 11, 2019 21:07
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Yeah, I didn't want to bring it up when people were talking about the sanity of Monaca's plan, but she was completely correct, the FF are a largely a bunch of moody 20-somethings who are too busy holding grudges and hating on the platonic concept of Despair to actually, y'know. Do anything. Komaeda is...Komaeda. I try not to think too hard about him.
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Feb 11, 2019 22:21
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This only reminds me that a Dangan Ronpa style mafia game would be awesome. But the problem with that usually is that in DR, the killers arent pre-determined And a mafia game without pre-determined roles is just unbalanced.
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Feb 11, 2019 22:31
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Side: Future's ED is "Recall THE END", by TRUSTRICK.
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Feb 11, 2019 23:24
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TheMcD posted:I only now noticed that Despair Side doesn't seem to have episode title cards. They're at the end of the episode right before the end credits (unless ep 1 was missing it for some reason).
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Feb 12, 2019 03:46
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Mafia locked-room mysteries. Yeah, that's alright.
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Feb 12, 2019 04:36
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DeafNote posted:This only reminds me that a Dangan Ronpa style mafia game would be awesome. There is a Dangan Ronpa Mafia setup out there for Tabletop Sim; it quirks the traditional rules a bit to account for talents making things chaotic but it looked like it was fun to play if you liked traditional mafia.
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Feb 12, 2019 04:45
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Fun fact: the opening for Future side from the 2nd episode onwards is actually different than the one for the 1st. It actually has more color! And the survivor count obviously will be different with each episode. Also interesting to note that in the video, when the lights turns on, the traitor is in the same exact position as...Kirigiri. Is she the traitor? Keep watching to find out (I'm not actually going to give out any spoiler, but let's just say that there were many theories from that video.)
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Feb 12, 2019 05:10
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Look at our boy Juzo go, kneeing a small anime making man for speaking out of turn. Now yeah, this anime does show why Monaca’s plan probably would have worked, the Future Foundation has a bunch of problems. Also the game this time is very different but works much better for an anime than the two games, but probably would be awkward from a game standpoint so the logic that this is a story that can only be told through anime checks out. Great Gozo is the greatest, but Juzo is still our boy and even is standing up for his leader. Honestly I think all the characters introduced in this anime are pretty good and I like them well enough even if I don’t like the anime. Lord_Magmar fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Feb 12, 2019 |
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Feb 12, 2019 06:05
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1234567890num posted:Fun fact: the opening for Future side from the 2nd episode onwards is actually different than the one for the 1st. It actually has more color! And the survivor count obviously will be different with each episode. Now I'm having flashbacks to the speculation over the Monokuma video. Are the people facing left the victims??? I don't think any of that panned out. Also, yeah, the openings do change subtly/not so subtly over time, it's really cool.
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Feb 12, 2019 13:12
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 So, to take our minds off how Aoi just got loving murdered, let's have some simple school life in Despair Side. We begin with Chisa marking off another day in her calendar.  Koichi shows up to ask what that's about, and Chisa says it's all the days with full attendance and that her next step is picking a class rep.  She then gets a phone call from another teacher asking her to save her.  And Koichi is immediately nowhere to be found.  Chisa makes it to the classroom and is immediately met by Akane flying through the room.  Akane and Nekomaru seem to be having a slight bit of a punch-up. Slight in that we've only lost one wall so far.  The other teacher, meanwhile, seems to have just outright fainted.  We then get this exchange. "That's enough! Listen up, Nidai, you can't destroy the classroom just because you feel like rough-housing!" "What did you call it? I'll have you know we're training in real life combat conditions!"  "Oh, well, in that case, knock yourself out." Well, I guess she tried.  Akane is having trouble dealing with Nekomaru, but Teruteru has something to help with that.  He's got something special from the Ultimate Pharmacist (read: Seiko).  Akane decides to straight chug the thing...  ...and it has some pretty impressive results.  Hiyoko notices that the other of the two bottles that Teruteru had rolled out during the scuffle and landed near her.  Chiaki is just kinda ignoring everything and playing her game...  ...but she gets a game over...  ...so she gets up and leaves the room. I also got a good chuckle out of Nagito just sitting there entirely unflinchingly while several objects buzz right past his head.  Out there, she runs into the Imposter. She laments how crazy the class is. The Imposter brings up that simply by virtue of being an Ultimate, they're set for life the moment they graduate, so what's the point in making friends here? Everybody's just running out the clock.  Chiaki brings up that she can't make friends with anybody in the class, which immediately summons Chisa.  She admonishes Chiaki for saying that she could never make friends, and brings up that if she thinks she can't make any friends because she's a gamer, why not take those games she loves playing so much and play them with the others. Somehow, it seems like this thought never occurred to Chiaki. To note, I have my share of issues with the DR3 version of Chiaki, but we'll get into that at a later date.  We then get another scene with Kyosuke and Chisa having a chat over the phone. Chisa brings up that Hope's Peak seems changed somehow from when she was enrolled there. Kyosuke brings up the new funds coming from the Reserve Course, and Chisa says that whatever is being done with those funds, the board of trustees is being secretive about it, and she'll keep looking into it. Seems like Chisa is also doing a bit of spying on the side for Kyosuke.  Kyosuke says that if the overseas expansion works out, he should have enough clout to "do what has to be done", and Chisa says it's up to them to save Hope's Peak. I sense a subplot developing. Of course, we know what Hope's Peak is up to, and it's not going to be pretty. But oh well. That's the wonderful thing about Despair Side - we all know poo poo is going to go to hell super hard and are just counting down until this Armory of Damocles falls down on our head. Like the unspoken vibe that something really, really bad is probably going to happen to Chiaki, given her complete lack of presence as an actual person in DR2. Or that might just be because Chiaki ended up way more popular than anybody intended and when they made an anime about that class's school life, they had to figure out a way to get Chiaki in there regardless.  Anyway, Chisa runs into Mahiru in the halls, who tells her that the class is waiting for her. Chisa notices that Mahiru has a packed lunch, Mahiru says she's planning to eat it with a friend of hers, and Chisa then remembers that a Reserve Course student is a friend of Mahiru's from middle school. Hold this thought, we'll come back to it at the end.  We next cut to Hajime laying on a bench at that fountain he also was at when Chiaki ran into him.  He then gets the poo poo scared out of him by Chisa, who sneaks up on him.  Chisa admonishes him for wasting his time slumped on a bench when he should be out there making friendships, and then shifts to asking him about the Reserve Course. Hajime says that he's had his sights on Hope's Peak ever since he was a kid, but now that he's here, he's lost his resolve. He then wonders why Chisa would take interest in a scrub like him.  Chisa then gets angry at him for his lack of self-confidence and demands he never call himself that again. Hajime meekly agrees, and Chisa heads out to go back to his class.  Then, somebody else familiar shows up to have a talk with Hajime!  Kazuo asks Hajime if he has an answer regarding "the project" (read: the whole Izuru Kamukura business) yet, and Hajime says he doesn't. Kazuo says that he's not too convinced this project is the best idea.  He believes hope comes from people acting like people (read: not from literally engineering one), and tells Hajime that he's free to decline. Hajime however is worried about the fees - his family can't afford the Reserve Course fees, and now that he's here, he can't return to his old life. Kazuo rebuts that he could absolutely do that, and that there's no shame in normalcy. So now Hajime has had two people, an Ultimate and a Hope's Peak bigwig, tell him that he doesn't have to pursue talent at all costs and being normal is OK.  Meanwhile, Chisa made her way back to the class...  ...which has broken out into an impromptu fighting game tournament in a very Smash Bros-like game. Turns out Chiaki took Chisa's suggestion about gaming being a good way to make friends to heart.  We also get a competition in a sort of career simulator board game thing, which I recall being a thing in Japan that never really made it to the West, which is kind of a shame, it seemed fun. Kazuichi takes a snipe at Nagito, who hasn't been doing too well, but...   ...that then quickly changes.  Next, we get Chiaki, Chisa, Ibuki and Hiyoko competing in a kart racer. Ibuki's in first, then proceeds to get passed by Chiaki, then by Chisa, and finally Hiyoko comes from behind with a star and drops Ibuki into the water.  Then, after Ibuki gets pulled out of the water, Hiyoko reverses just to slam into Ibuki again. Because Hiyoko is a massive prick.  Finally, we get a Bomberman-like game with Mikan getting increasingly agitated and fidgety while running around dropping bombs absolutely everywhere and shouting about how sorry she is. You know, normal Mikan.   Next, Teruteru brings in some food, which we then learn was also Chiaki's idea.  We get a loud rumbling. Gundham wonders if the demon king has finally made his way into this realm...  ...but it's just Akane's stomach. So, it's time to eat.  Chiaki looks like she's found enlightenment...  ...then promptly declares that she's had better, much to Teruteru's chagrin.  Nagito, meanwhile, declares it a fragment of hope and is in tears over how great it is. Mixed reviews, it seems.  Teruteru takes a look through his suitcase and notices that one of the soups he had has gone missing. Hiyoko shows that she had it and used it, which very much bewilders Teruteru.  Akane, who at this point has had like four plates of the stuff, collapses. When Nekomaru picks her up to check on her...  Things get, uh, risqué. To the point where the two close in on each other for a kiss and literally each say "swoon", which is pretty amazing.  Mahiru decides to get a bit artsy with it.  Turns out Hiyoko poured that soup into the food, and as you might have imagined from it being pink and being in Teruteru's arsenal, it's aphrodisiac. Also, Teruteru seems to have an erection so hard it hurts. I suppose that only makes sense if you mix an aphrodisiac with someone who's already horned up 24/7.   Kazuichi decides to take the opportunity to offer his help to Sonia, and meanwhile, Fuyuhiko is having none of it.  Peko wants to help Fuyuhiko, but Mikan then gets really excited about her sword. She only wants the tip, though.  Nagito, meanwhile, is just sitting there muttering to himself about how awesome hope feels. So yeah, Nagito seems to literally have a hope boner, as opposed to his natural state, a figurative hope boner.  Hiyoko thinks this is all funny as poo poo. You know who doesn't think this is funny?  Teruteru, who seems to have hit some sort of next level of horniness and plans to let Hiyoko deal with it.  But then Chiaki just straight up gives him a Dragon Punch.  She says that if he wants to touch her classmate, he'll have to get through her first, to which Teruteru retorts that he's her classmate too. Chiaki can only respond with an "Oh, yeah..." before collapsing.  Our next scene has Chiaki laying in a hospital bed with everybody talking about how awesome she was.  She recounts the story of how she's used that punch before, fighting a biker gang boss named Willy.  Of course, the resolution here is that she's talking about a beat-'em-up game.  Next, we find ourselves back in the classroom. Kazuichi asks how Chisa can be so perky after what happened, and Chisa replies that that wasn't her first rodeo. Sonia then says that that must be why she's also not that tired.  Chisa then announces that the class needs an official class rep, and she suggests Chiaki take over the role. Chiaki doesn't want to, but the entire class says that she'd be great at it, so she accepts.  Then Nagito has to be Nagito again, talking about how great the bond between all these Ultimates is, and that at long as Chiaki represents them, the light of this homeroom will remain triumphant forever. At least he recognizes he overdid it afterwards. Also, not ominous at all.  After school, Chiaki runs into Hajime again - albeit not literally this time. She tells him a new fighting game came out in the arcades and wants Hajime to come along. Hajime doesn't want to, since he's not good at those games, but Chiaki says it doesn't matter as long as you're playing with friends. End of the episode.  But not quite! Our post-credits stinger shows Hajime in class - it seems a new transfer student is getting introduced!  Meet Natsumi Kuzuryuu. She introduces herself by insulting the rest of her class, so we're clearly dealing with a very pleasant individual here. Well, here's the thing.  She's a dead girl walking. The "beginning of the twilight" here is referring "back" (back in release order, forwards in timeline) to Twilight Syndrome, the mystery game Monokuma had the characters in DR2 play. This mystery game was actually based on real life events to act as a murder motive, and the basic gist is as follows: Natsumi here is Fuyuhiko's sister and one of the characters involved. Another one we don't know from here is "Sato" - she's the aforementioned friend that Mahiru has. To make a fairly complicated story short: Natsumi bullies and threatens Mahiru. Sato has enough of Natsumi attacking her friend and murders Natsumi. Fuyuhiko finds out Sato killed Natsumi and kills Sato. If you want the longer version, you can check out this update and this update from FPZero's DR2 LP. You can also check out the Class Trial from that chapter for more details, but the general idea should be fairly clear from the Twilight Syndrome parts alone - you don't need to know how exactly the murder was committed (and you can thank God for that - loving gravel swimsuit bullshit). For reference: Girl A is Mikan. Girl B is Hiyoko. Girl C is Ibuki. Girl D is Mahiru. Girl E is Sato. Guy F is Fuyuhiko. The "other girl", I guess, is Natsumi. Anyway, that's it for this episode. Next time, it's back to Future Foundation and their shenanigans again. What the gently caress just happened?: Akane and Nekomaru have a fight in the classroom, which bums Chiaki out because the entire class is so crazy, there's no real way to make friends for her. Chisa tells her to use her video games to make friends. Chisa and Kyosuke seem to have some sort of ulterior motive at Hope's Peak. Chisa and Kazuo talk to Makoto in an attempt to boost his confidence regarding his lack of talent. Chiaki ends up making friends with the rest of the class with her video games and gets elected to be class rep. Natsumi, Fuyuhiko's sister, is introduced in the Reserve Course. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Feb 20, 2019 |
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Feb 12, 2019 22:04
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Hiyoko bullying Ibuki in Mario Kart was the best gag of the episode.
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Feb 12, 2019 22:45
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