 We begin our next trip to the Despair Side with Junko putting together a jigsaw puzzle of the Last Supper in Monokuma form, which is pretty amazing.  She's currently at Ryota's new workplace, and all the while, Mikan is telling her about how great her class is, especially Chisa and Chiaki.  This will obviously not end badly in the slightest. Ryota then asks Junko why she's so into that jigsaw puzzle, anyway. Those of you adept at pattern recognition will probably be able to work out her answer: You spend all this time working on it, putting it together piece by piece...  ...and then entropy comes along and fucks everything up, making way for wonderful despair.  Also, Mikan seems really into this.  After that, we get the Reserve Course protesting outside the main Hope's Peak building.  Apparently, the video of the first killing game has been spreading despite Hope's Peak's attempts to cover it up, and it seems like it's only a matter of time before the government steps in.  Meanwhile, back at Ryota's, he's noticing that Mikan is acting really weirdly infatuated with Junko, and he suspects Junko brainwashed Mikan and that Junko has to be up to something.  He then spots a "movie production" folder that doesn't seem familiar.  Inside, all he finds is a "ZV" file. Very astute viewers will already have an idea of what this could stand for. Spoilers: I would wager it's "Zetsubou Video", or "Despair Video".  He gives it a watch, and it's basically just footage from the first killing game.  Ryota, uh, doesn't take it too well.  He then suddenly finds himself cornered by Mikan, with her telling him he really shouldn't have looked at that.  Ryota learns from Mikan that everybody in that video is now dead and that Junko made the whole thing. Ryota doesn't take that too well either, and calls the whole thing sick.  Mikan can only agree. She's, uh, kinda gone now.  Meanwhile, back at Hope's Peak, the numbers in the protests seem to have grown quite a lot, and they're starting to climb over the gate to get in.  And on the other side, we have Juzo, who still seems a bit too eager to beat the crap out of Reserve Course students.  And all the while, our class just kinda stares out the window, worrying. Worrying about how Hope's Peak is trying to cover this protest up by calling it a "parade", worrying about why Mikan is gone, that kind of stuff.  Chisa shows up and tries to cheer the class up, with mixed success. Chiaki asks Chisa about Hajime because of course.  And amidst all of them, the Imposter knows more than the rest, but still not everything.  Like how Ryota is in a really not great situation right now.  Mikan is getting really, really inappropriate with Ryota trying to convince him to help Junko with what she's doing...  ...though Junko then shows up and puts a stop to that, yelling at her to stop acting like a pig in heat.  Of course, with Mikan A) being despairified and B) being Mikan, that has the opposite effect Junko might have intended.  Though she doesn't really seem to care either way.  Junko then shifts into her teacher personality for a presentation while Mukuro drops in like a ninja to roll out the projection screen, hands Junko the remote, then jumps back into the air and disappears, which is pretty neat.  And here's the topic of today's lesson! The basic gist is that the video Ryota found is responsible for turning Mikan into what she is now, but overall, it's not as effective as Junko wishes it would be, since her brainwashing skills aren't up to snuff.   So Junko's plan is to use Ryota's brainwashing strategies in the killing game video to create a true despair video.  Ryota, understandably, isn't really down with this plan and tries to run.  However, Junko then threatens him by suggesting that if he does run, she'll use his class as the subjects of her next video.  Back with the class, they've been looking for Mikan, with no success.  But then, somebody enters the door! Hiyoko greets that somebody with an enthusiastic "Hey girl!".  And what we get back is "Sorry, still a dude.". It's Nagito! The class is, uh, less than enthused about this turn of events. Nagito gets brought up to speed on the Mikan situation...  ...and just as luck would have it, he spotted her on the way to school! The class decides to head out where Nagito saw her to find her.  However, Nagito seems to have some sort of plan hatching on his own, as he pulls aside Peko for a talk.  Meanwhile, Chisa psyches herself up to give her class hope...  ...but finds herself greeting an empty room.  They did, however, at least leave a note. Chisa gives pursuit, knowing that the situation outside is, uh, a little dicey right now.  Back outside, Juzo continues punching people.  He then gets some unexpected reinforcements - it's Kyosuke!  He tells Juzo that this whole thing falls on his own shoulders, and that he put Chisa and Juzo into a situation way bigger than they could handle. He then tells Juzo to call Chisa.  However, Chisa is outside looking for her class and doesn't notice the call.  And the class has split up into multiple groups looking for Mikan.  Chiaki and Nagito find themselves at the statue of Izuru Kamukura - that is, "old Hope's Peak headmaster" Kamukura, not "The Artist Formerly Known As Hajime Hinata" Kamukura.  And of course, Nagito being Nagito, he just steps up to the statue and just so happens to push a button in the wall and step on a pressure switch at the same time, which opens a staircase downwards.  The two start exploring the place, with Chiaki wondering what a school would need such a secret place. Nagito suggests they must be doing something they don't want found out and gives human experimentation as an example. Eh, that's just way too outrageous, Nagito, no way that's true! They continue along the hall and find...  ...Ryota! He immediately starts by swearing he didn't do anything and that he didn't want to hurt anyone.  Junko then shows up to really get the scene going.  She asks how Nagito knew about this place, the answer to that being that he didn't and just got lucky. However, Junko says that it doesn't really matter since they won't be able to tell anyone about this place. But Nagito then just says that if Junko is expecting backup from Mukuro, well...  ...she's kinda busy right now fighting Peko.  Nagito says that what he's doing is for hope. And what is his plan to derail the despair train? Well...  ...he's got a loving gun! Now, Nagito's plan, being a plan made by, well, Nagito, is kinda crooked. From what I gather, Nagito is going to attempt to kill Junko, but really, killing her only means something if she really is the epitome of despair. So he's also kind of hoping he'll screw up and Junko will go on to be an even bigger despair for hope to rise up and defeat. You know, standard Nagito stuff, but it does kind of lead me to wonder what exactly he wants to do, given that his optimal result relies on his luck not working.  But then, he notices something!  It's Izuru! No, not that one, the other one! Nagito tries to shoot Izuru, but his gun jams...    ...and then, like with the guy in the first killing game, Izuru does some sort of slow motion move, steals Nagito's gun, and shoots him with it while saying that he has good luck too. Ryota takes the opportunity of everybody being preoccupied with the current situation to bail.  Of course, Nagito being Nagito, he wouldn't die from being shot. His student handbook ended up blocking the bullet.  Chiaki and Izuru also have one of those foreshadowy moments.  Outside, Ryota ends up running into Chisa and having a nervous breakdown over how he thinks Chiaki is going to die and that he can't do anything about it, since he's just an animator. Chisa cheers him up by telling him it's her job to protect her students, not his, and that when this is all over, she wants him to show her some of his work.  And as Chisa rushes to the statue, we get an inner monologue from her about how she has a bad feeling about this and how she doesn't really know what she'll do, with her talent being the Ultimate Housekeeper, but in the end, she feels like she has to do this.  And to end the episode, we get a post-credits stinger back with Chiaki and Izuru. Chiaki asks "Is that you, Hinata?", and that's the episode. Next time, back on the Future Side, poo poo's really gonna get real. We'll learn what lies behind the secret passage, people will die, and Makoto will experience the shock that Monaca promised he will have! What the gently caress just happened?: Mikan has gone full despair. Junko is trying to use Ryota's brainwashing techniques together with her footage from the first killing game to create a despair video that will turn people insane like Mikan. The Reserve Course riots are getting worse. Nagito's back with the class, and together, they go out to find Mikan. Nagito uses his luck to stumble over the hidden room where Junko is keeping Ryota, and Nagito pulls out a gun to try and kill her. However, Izuru shows up and out-lucks Nagito, taking the gun away from him and shooting him. However however, Nagito survives with his own luck, and Ryota escapes in the chaos. With Chiaki still down in the hidden room with Junko and Izuru, Chisa rushes to her aid as the episode ends.
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Apr 2, 2019 21:36
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Mikan trying to rape Ryota was unnecessary. Ryota retroactively being a major crux of Junko's plan feels lame. Izuru having super powerful good luck somehow makes my head hurt. But the thing that bothers me the most about this episode is Nagito somehow knowing about Junko and Mukuro with no explanation. The shot of Nagito with a gun became a meme, of course.
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Apr 2, 2019 21:58
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:Mikan trying to rape Ryota was unnecessary. Ryota retroactively being a major crux of Junko's plan feels lame. Izuru having super powerful good luck somehow makes my head hurt. I mean, the concept of just injecting somebody with purestrain talent by way of SCIENCE! is pretty stupid to begin with. And really, they could've just explained it away through Izuru's super analytical powers anyway. But I guess they just want to reinforce the notion that Izuru is basically a talent god. Nagito learning about Junko and Mukuro is probably just another one of those "lol, luck" things. He probably just stumbled over the information somehow. Oh, by the way, in case anyone was wondering if I had planned some sort of special thing for April Fools' Day (and I wouldn't know why anybody would be wondering this, but whatever, I started writing this and now I'm going to finish it), the answer is technically yes.  Of course, me being me, it wouldn't have been an "April Fools' Day" thing, but rather a "Monaca's birthday" thing. That's a much more fun thing to celebrate than "Just A Prank, Bro" Day anyway. I had originally planned to have a contest whereby the object would be for the audience to seek out one news article that they believe would cause me personally the most despair. The winner would be selected by me and would have gotten a prize. When I originally envisioned it, back before I had even started on this LP but already knew I would do it, it was a more light-hearted, with people maybe trying to reason out that the best way to cause me despair could maybe be to give me a news article detailing just how screwed the San Francisco Giants are for the foreseeable future, or just post an article about Alex Smith's horrific leg injury, that kind of thing. Things that are a lot less global. Of course, the world has continued to develop in a direction that makes me somewhat uncomfortable with the prospect of a contest centered around finding despairful content, since it could just end up depressing the poo poo out of the entire audience, so I ended up axing the idea.
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Apr 2, 2019 22:34
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:But the thing that bothers me the most about this episode is Nagito somehow knowing about Junko and Mukuro with no explanation. Yeah, at least some vague foreshadowing hints of him looking into the killing video or something would help. But I do really love this moment where Komaeda takes a much more simple and direct approach to his crazy luck plans than usual. How do you stop Ultimate Despair? Just shoot her!
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Apr 2, 2019 22:48
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That was probably for the best. Happy Space NEET day, though.  Bifauxnen posted:But I do really love this moment where Komaeda takes a much more simple and direct approach to his crazy luck plans than usual. How do you stop Ultimate Despair? Just shoot her! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPUNF6pZY2U
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Apr 2, 2019 23:40
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TheMcD posted:
So in the postgame of DR2, Island Mode, you can basically take the characters on dates around the island. Nagito's, of course, are characterized by him expounding on all the unlikely or outlandish things that could result from him performing an activity or visiting a place. If you take Nagito to the statue of the robot monsters on the center island, then, well...         Nagito Komaeda Falls In Love
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Apr 2, 2019 23:57
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By far my favourite scene in DR3 is Nagito just straight up pulling a gun on Junko and revealing that he knows all about the poo poo she's been up to. Uh...somehow. What makes the scene is Trapped By The Ocean Scent playing (That is Nagito's god drat theme music). DR3 generally uses music well, and I can think of no better example than this moment. I love that the second that music hits, you realise that Nagito isn't the one in danger, Junko is. Also, Peko versus Mukuro is very cool.
SoundwaveAU fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Apr 3, 2019 |
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Apr 3, 2019 00:45
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This episode is yet another reason why Nagito is the best.
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Apr 3, 2019 01:48
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TheMcD posted:I mean, the concept of just injecting somebody with purestrain talent by way of SCIENCE! is pretty stupid to begin with. And really, they could've just explained it away through Izuru's super analytical powers anyway. But I guess they just want to reinforce the notion that Izuru is basically a talent god. Nagito learning about Junko and Mukuro is probably just another one of those "lol, luck" things. He probably just stumbled over the information somehow. Twitter counts as news these days, right? 
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Apr 3, 2019 03:48
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:Izuru having super powerful good luck somehow makes my head hurt. Pretty sure that's straight up said in DR2 when Izuru and Nagito are talking on the boat - Izuru is bored with Nagito because Luck is a boring power that he already has, the same way he's bored with everything. Not that that conversation works particularly well in the same world where this stuff happened.
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Apr 3, 2019 05:33
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FoolyCharged posted:Twitter counts as news these days, right?  Why, I oughta...
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Apr 3, 2019 19:37
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 Back on the Future Side, we're greeted by Monokuma! He says that our mental capacities are probably about the size of a gnat's, so...  ...this entire episode will be dedicated to recapping the previous eight!  ...actually, he's just kidding, though there will be a short summary. So we're skipping that part, because it's hardly recapping anything at all, anyway - it's like a minute long. The only highlight is Monokuma calling Byakuya "Glasses McDorkface".  So anyway, when we last left off, the building wasn't exactly doing so hot.  Inside, Ruruka gets tossed around and presumably knocked out while Juzo isn't really fazed by it.  So Juzo manages to open the secret passage, and inside he finds...   ...well, something! Looks like we're doing the old Virtue's Last Reward shuffle - turns out all this time we were assuming our characters were in a specific place, but actually, they're somewhere else entirely! Underwater, in fact!  After the opening, we rejoin Kyoko and Ryota, having run away from the room Juzo and Ruruka were in. Ryota asks Kyoko why she's so sure the secret passage was a trap, and Kyoko responds that while it would have led to the building's exterior, they wouldn't have been able to leave - alive, anyway - because they're underwater. Now, how did she figure that out?  As we see Juzo walking around in the room he just entered and finding... cabinets? Servers? Something, anyway - Kyoko explains that they are in fact in a carbon copy of the original building they started out in, positioned exactly under the original. She figures they were moved when they fell unconscious after being gassed at the beginning. Ryota can't imagine why somebody would go through the effort of doing all that, to which Kyoko replies that it would make sense if the aim was to confuse people.   The thing that tipped her off that something was wrong was that at one point, Aoi had a knife thrown at her that got lodged in the door. Later, after they woke up again, the mark from that weapon was gone. Her reasoning as to why exactly somebody would stick them into the ocean is that whoever was behind it probably wanted to keep outsiders from intervening. All this has her figuring that Kyosuke is probably involved in this in some capacity, given that the construction of this building was his pet project and all.  Speaking of Kyosuke, he's still dealing with Miayabot, who has gone into Dr. Octopus mode, I guess. Man, Monaca builds some rad as gently caress battle robots. Danganronpa mecha game spinoff when?  However, Kyosuke deals with the problem relatively easily. We also get some voiceover from Kyosuke talking about how despair has taken everything from him, and that he wants to eradicate despair so that nobody else has to suffer the way he did, that kind of guff.   In the broken down husk of Miayabot, Kyosuke finds some sort of tablet that seems to be Miayabot's CPU. It also has some information on the different participants - here, we get to see Great Gozu's forbidden action, and it also shows Chisa's forbidden action before Kyosuke tears the device out and pockets it. Chisa's forbidden action is "Kyosuke dies". Actually, while we're at it, let's have a recap. Here's everybody's forbidden actions as we know them: Makoto: Running in the hallways. Aoi: Getting hit with a punch or kick. Kyoko: Currently unknown, and I don't believe there were any hints towards this at this point. Kazuo: Answering a question with a lie. Gozu: Getting pinned for a three-count. Koichi: Opening his left hand. Miaya: Turning to the right. Seiko: Having her shadow stepped on. Juzo: Punching someone. Ruruka: Allowing somebody to leave the building/game area. Daisaku: Witnessing violence by the participants. Sonosuke: Eating something - or rather, putting food in his mouth. Chisa: Allowing Kyosuke to die. Kyosuke: Currently unknown, though one could take a guess, there were enough hints to get close enough for government work. If you want a hint from me, here's one: Kyosuke's forbidden action has come up for him several times already. Take a look back at past episodes and you might spot it. Ryota: Currently unknown, and I don't believe there were any hints towards this at any point. So we're three out from knowing everybody's forbidden actions.  And Kyosuke then uses his fire sword to cut Miayabot in half for good measure. RIP in pieces Miayabot, you were rad but too powerful for this world. Kyosuke talks about how the actions he's taken aren't wrong, and that he will become hope. Sure, pal.  Then Juzo shows up with what is basically a "oh hey, you got one".  And as the two walk off together, we get some voiceover from Kyosuke saying that no sacrifice is too dear for his purpose of defeating despair. Uh oh. Juzo better watch the gently caress out.  Back with Kyoko and Ryota, Kyoko suggests finding Makoto and the others, to which Ryota says that he can't imagine Makoto being much help. This then has Kyoko talking about how great Makoto is. And in the midst of her wistful reminiscence, they find themselves interrupted...  ...slightly awkward.  So, the four get together and talk about Kyoko's discovery/theory that they're currently underwater. Makoto then starts moping about the idea that Byakuya might have gotten himself hurt because there might be traps at the actual building where he was going. He also brings up the point that somebody was going to die because of him, though Kyoko immediately shoots that down as something he shouldn't worry about. He also mopes about not being useful to anyone in this place.  This has Kyoko giving him a pep talk in regards to how infectious his hope is and how they need him and his words in this situation. She also makes a point of taking one of her gloves off before taking Makoto's hand.  Back with Kyosuke and Juzo, the two exchange information as to who got killed. Juzo finds himself somewhat put off by the fact that Kyosuke seems to straight up not give a poo poo that Seiko, Sonozuke and Koichi kicked the bucket. He then finds himself even more put off by the way that Kyosuke just blatantly goes "Kazuo's dead too, and I killed him", though he tries to play it off smooth as that just being part of the plan of purifying the Foundation. First the Foundation, then the world.  To that, Kyosuke gets kinda suspiciously wistful, talking about how Juzo has been at his side for years, all the stuff they've accomplished, that kind of stuff. Kinda sounds like, say, Juzo has a terminal illness or something like that that he doesn't know about and won't make it to that "then the world" phase. He also talks about how he believes that he is the one that can change the world and that his conviction never wavered. Juzo says that his conviction to support Kyosuke has never wavered, either, and Kyosuke agrees that he'd have never made it this far without Juzo's support.  Juzo gets kinda freaked out by this sudden reminiscence period and says that he has something he needs to get off his chest.  Kyosuke replies by shoving his fire sword straight through Yuzo. Yep. That just happened.  The dying Juzo can only ask why.  And all he gets as a response is "you know why". loving amazing.  RIP our boy Juzo. Turns out there was somebody who could remotely control him.  And Kyosuke walks off, cursing despair for making him kill Juzo. Kyosuke seems like the guy that would blame getting stuck in traffic on the way to work on despair. Or stubbing his toe.  Back with Makoto and the gang, they've also been doing the same thing I've done by collecting the forbidden actions they know. They also talk about Kazuo and his message to Makoto.  Also, Ryota looks at his phone in a way that must be important or they wouldn't focus on it. Either that, or it's another red herring.  We then cut to Ruruka stumbling through the hallways and eventually falling to the ground in a sitting position.  Turns out she was present when Kyosuke cut up Juzo, hiding. She then talks to herself about how everybody gets betrayed eventually and how she did the right thing back then...  ...back then being when Sonozuke was trying to open the secret passage, as we see in this flashback. The two have a talk about betrayal, Sonozuke reassures Ruruka that he'd never betray her, that kind of stuff.  Ruruka then goes in for a kiss...  ...and uses that to pop one of her sweets into Sonozuke's mouth, and, well...  Yep.  Ruruka tries to explain that she just can't take the risk that he were to betray her...  ...but Sonozuke just goes right back in.  He tells her that he understands, and that he still loves her.  We cut back to Ruruka attempting to block the door to the room she's in with some rubble, visibly straining while doing so. Turns out we're back at that time again - the time limit for the round is almost up.  She then stumbles and falls down.  She's not exactly in a good frame of mind right now. She keeps telling herself that everything will be alright as long as she stays alive, that she can make a lot of new friends once she gets out, and that it will be easy to stay alive if she just never lets anyone betray her.  Back with the main gang, they're also busy blocking the doors to the room they're in, with Aoi doing most of the work. Kyoko brings up the point that whoever the attacker is, they seem to have complete control of the building, so really, a barricade isn't going to do much good.  Kyoko then asks Makoto to promise that whatever happens next, he doesn't turn his back on hope, and that he doesn't forget that she's always on his side. Makoto gets into his hope mode with that, saying that there's no way they can lose.  And, with that, it's time for sleep. The next thing we see is...  ...loving hell. Well, RIP Ruruka. You were kind of a massive evil gently caress, but it seems like there was something in your past beyond that incident with Seiko that hosed you in the head, so I guess you're not completely evil.  Also, here's another ominous hole-in-ceiling shot.  Makoto wakes up, and it seems like everyone's still alive. Uh, though, if you look closely...  ...something doesn't seem right. Yep, looks like Kyoko legit died this time, not from the attacker, but from her forbidden action. And what was it?  Yep. What Monaca said was entirely right - because of Makoto [being alive], one of the survivors from the DR1 killing game is going to die.  Makoto, uh, isn't taking it well. Neither are the others, for that matter.  And in the midst of them trying to come to terms with the fact that Kyoko is dead, Kyosuke takes this opportunity to use the intercom to shittalk Makoto some more, talking about how his platitudes are useless, and how it's time to settle once and for all whose hope is greater - Makoto's or Kyosuke's.  Makoto is then reminded of what Kyoko said to him just earlier - to not turn his back on hope, and that she is still with him, and Makoto seems ready to settle this. That ends this episode. Next time, on the Despair Side, things go downhill incredibly rapidly. It will not be pretty. Also, Junko has what is probably the best moment of Despair Side. What the gently caress just happened?: Juzo enters the secret passage but just finds a room that shows him that they're currently in a building that is under water. Kyosuke destroys Miayabot and finds a device that has all of their forbidden actions on it. Kyoko and Ryota team up with Makoto and Aoi. Juzo joins up with Kyosuke but then gets a sword shoved through his chest by Kyosuke for some reason. We get a flashback showing that Ruruka killed Sonozuke by moving one of her sweets into his mouth during a kiss, triggering his forbbiden action. Ruruka then ends up killed by the attacker during the next sleeping period. Furthermore, Kyoko ends up dead because of her forbidden action - going past the fourth time limit with Makoto still alive. Kyosuke then uses the intercom to declare the final battle between Makoto's hope and Kyosuke's hope. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Apr 7, 2019 |
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Apr 6, 2019 22:40
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Our boy Juzo, controlled by Kyosuke, killed by Kyosuke, a tragedy of manly friendship. Anyway Kyoko’s dear and that is sad, mostly because she’s a cooler character than Naegi to begin with and is now being used as motivation for him to confront Kyosuke properly. Side:Future continues to be boring by not really doing anything interesting outside killing Kyoko in a real dumb way. I do not look forward to the next Side:Despair episode as the downhill plot trajectory hits terminal stupid.
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Apr 6, 2019 23:59
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You know, I think I'm agree that these anime series are just damaging the narrative of the games if taken as anything more than face value, but there's definitely parts I like.
But yeah I don't really dig the greater narrative and the series' feel kinda pointless so far. I'm really enjoying this thread, thank you for the hard work!
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Apr 7, 2019 00:09
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- Good job killing the only person who cared about you and then revealing your actual murderous intentions over a fake exit.  - Ryouta and Kyoko's forbidden actions are alluded to, though extremely vaguely to the point where you'd only recognize the allusion if you know what they are. - Miayabot, nooooo  - Ruruka isn't dead at that point yet! I think you mean Sonosuke. That being said, I'd imagine that he mainly cared more about Seiko than the other two. - Thanks for the unwanted mental image of being stabbed and having your insides cooked by a flaming sword, Kodaka. That wasn't the least bit uncomfortable at all. Still less gruesome than Despair, though. - "You know why." also became a meme. At this point, it's probably not too difficult to recognize what specific scenes became memes. - I absolutely love how much of an rear end in a top hat Kyosuke is. He stabs Juzo and then turns around and curses despair for making him stab Juzo. What can you even say about a guy like that? It's so unbelievably stupid that it circles back around to being hilarious. - Ruruka's death is pretty pitiful, but I think it really just highlights how much of a hate sink she's meant to be given that she dies alone and no one cares. I don't think anyone even realizes that she died for the rest of the anime. I mean, conceptually they probably know it, but I certainly don't remember anyone commenting "Where's Ruruka" or anything of the sort. Then again, Kyoko basically left her with someone who was willing to kill her, so maybe they just assumed she was as good as dead anyway.  - Worth noting that Kyosuke knows that Kyoko is dead (or, at least, assumes that Kyoko wouldn't turncoat at the last second and stab Makoto in the kidneys) because of the PDA from Miayabot, hence the call on the PA. - Alright, Makoto is finally ready to do something other than run around like a chicken with his head cut off! And it only took, uh... what is this, Episode 9 of 13? Monaca was right: Makoto is lame.
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Apr 7, 2019 01:38
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TheMcD posted:Next time, on the Despair Side, things go downhill incredibly rapidly. It will not be pretty.
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Apr 7, 2019 01:45
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Fearless_Decoy posted:You mean this gets worse?!? I'm inclined to believe that Monaca left because she saw what was coming.
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Apr 7, 2019 01:51
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Fearless_Decoy posted:You mean this gets worse?!? We're at like a 1.8 on the Despair-o-meter at the moment. It gets worse.
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Apr 7, 2019 07:14
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Blue Labrador posted:
Yeah, I don't exactly remember too much about DR1 Kyoko, but I'm definitely finding myself liking DR3 Kyoko a lot. Her no-fucks-given attitude towards anything impeding her detective-ing is kind of refreshing, with her tasting saliva off of corpses and basically responding to requests that they leave the room with the corpses with "gently caress you, we're leaving when I'm done and not a second earlier", really taking control of the situation. And her going out by sacrificing herself for Makoto's sake while keeping everything secret is exactly how I would have expected her to deal with that situation, so it does fit. Blue Labrador posted:
You know, I'm going to have to test the waters on uploading clips of DR3 to Youtube eventually, so here's this scene in motion. I like it, too. I'm a fan of the triumphant music and Mikan just staring in excited awe as the pieces fly all over the place. Fearless_Decoy posted:You mean this gets worse?!? Ahahahaha. I'll give you this to muse on: Think about your opinion on knitting while you wait for this next update.
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Apr 7, 2019 22:45
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That reminds me. I have some images to share after the next update.
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Apr 7, 2019 23:37
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TheMcD posted:You know, I'm going to have to test the waters on uploading clips of DR3 to Youtube eventually, so here's this scene in motion. I like it, too. I'm a fan of the triumphant music and Mikan just staring in excited awe as the pieces fly all over the place. That settles it. I'll have to watch the dub of DR3 sometime. I only ever watched it with Japanese voices (right before DRV3 came out).
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Apr 8, 2019 00:01
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Fearless_Decoy posted:You mean this gets worse?!? You are not prepared for the next episode. Then again, no one was  .
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Apr 8, 2019 00:04
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TheMcD posted:Ahahahaha. I'll give you this to muse on: Think about your opinion on knitting while you wait for this next update.  omg you are awful hahaha
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Apr 8, 2019 03:09
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Blue Labrador posted:
While I hate this series myself (and you're all going to see why very soon), I will agree that it does have its moments and images like this are certainly one of them. You don't see much of the Dangan Ronpa magic here, but what you see is genuine and raises your hopes for a fitting ending. But you can't really lay these things at Kodaka's door; he might have contributed some ideas as to the direction, provided a framework, but he wasn't directing this, and nor did he write any of the episodes. The director of this series was a fellow named Seiji Kishi, and this is what he's done. And you're like: holy heck! He's done some anime! He's done some good anime; I mean, Seto no Hanayome regularly comes up in conversations about what are good comedy anime, and while I wouldn't quite call Ragnarok or Angel Beats "good," I certainly enjoyed myself. He's not an unskilled director, but... he is a very safe one. He has a very workmanlike quality to his shows, very point a to point b, and something happens to the production to make getting to these points a little bit faster than you thought... well, it shows. So, you get the idea that you have to tell him what's important, but you also get the idea that this man is an extremely poor choice to adapt 50+ hour games with a lot of slow character moments. You know, the thing DR is? This was the guy tapped to do the DR animation... which is only 13 episodes. And what was cut was more or less exactly the thing you think was cut: all of the free time actions, and most of the investigations, too. Oh, dear. This, in effect, is a lot of my problem with the anime here. The other part... we'll get to.
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Apr 8, 2019 18:10
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Kodaka didn't write this? That explains why so many characters feel off. Hiyoko was actually tolerable in this series!
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Apr 8, 2019 18:21
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:Kodaka didn't write this? That explains why so many characters feel off. Hiyoko was actually tolerable in this series! I mean, it’s also suggested that Hiyoko grew up a lot over the school life that DR2 reverted. Which makes a lot of sense considering we’ve seen that the other people in her class are not generally willing to put up with her garbage personality, even if they don’t put in enough effort to stop it during the game. Interestingly I know of at least 1 fanfiction where an alternative killing game involves Kotoko pretending to be Hiyoko because her growth would be impossible to hide otherwise. So you get two pretty reviled/divisive characters at the same time. Lord_Magmar fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Apr 8, 2019 |
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Apr 8, 2019 20:18
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Hiyoko was trying to improve after a week with Mahiru, here she's had several months.
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Apr 8, 2019 22:03
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TheMcD posted:Ahahahaha. I'll give you this to muse on: Think about your opinion on knitting while you wait for this next update. cease.
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Apr 8, 2019 22:48
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 We rejoin our Despair Side shenanigans with Chiaki talking to Izuru, saying that while his hair is different, he looks like Hajime.  Izuru just replies with a "you talk as if you know me", which really throws Chiaki for a loop.  Junko then inserts herself into the conversation, first showing Chiaki that she knows a lot about her...  ...and then attempting to get Chiaki to watch the despair video by flattering her. However!  Chisa's got a fire extinguisher, and she's not afraid to use it! She tosses it at Junko, though Junko manages to dodge it, quipping "You can't hit me with detention like a normal teacher?", which is a pretty good line. The fire extinguisher then fills the room with mist.  Chisa attempts to grab Nagito and run, but she then spots Izuru, which causes her to freeze in her tracks. Instead, she tells Chiaki to take Nagito and run. Chiaki hesitates, but Chisa tells her that no matter if they're in the classroom or not, she is her teacher, and she can leave this to her.  So while Chiaki manages to escape with Nagito...  ...Chisa faces off with Junko and Izuru. Junko introduces herself and Izuru to Chisa, which causes Chisa to realize just who she's dealing with here. Junko doesn't sugarcoat things and just straight comes out with it that she plans to turn Chisa and her class to despair, and she won't even have to hunt the class down, since they'll immediately jump at the opportunity to save their teacher...  ...and indeed, as Chiaki arrives back at the class, she immediately tells them Chisa is in trouble and they need to help her.  Mikan also shows up, ready to save Chisa. Yep. That's totally her objective here. She's brought Peko along, who looks a bit worse for wear after her fight with Mukuro. Fuyuhiko runs to Peko's side, but Peko just tells him to run away, which is probably a good idea, which is why they're not going to do it.  Meanwhile, Junko explains that she's going to use brainwashing to turn Chisa and her class to despair, and she has a little example here to show off her brainwashing capabilities.  In comes what I presume to be a Reserve Course student. What's he going to do?  ...well. If you guessed "kill himself with a hacksaw while screaming about how he doesn't want to do this mixed in with screams of agony"... you're kinda hosed up. I like it.  Chisa tries to intervene but finds herself restrained by Mukuro, and thus is forced to watch as somebody kills himself right before her eyes. You know what the fun thing is? This isn't the hosed up part of the episode. Ahahahaha.  So as blood splatters all over the room, Junko fantasizes about how great it's going to be after she turns Chisa's class into Ultimate Despairs themselves. I like the touch of Junko being so excited she actually starts drooling.  Back at class, they seem to have gotten their plan together and seem ready to rescue Chisa.  Nagito, however, is of a different opinion. He believes that Junko's and Izuru's despair is too great for them to even compete - that going up against them is essentially a suicide mission. They will die.  That puts a good bit of doubt into the rest of the class.  So it then falls to Chiaki to give them a pep talk about how Chisa would try to save them in a heartbeat, talking about how Chisa was the one that allowed her to become friends with all the others, that kind of stuff. That gets everybody else fired up again. Of course, since we all know how this is going to end, this scene gives off a somewhat different feel.  Also, the Imposter reveals himself as, well, the Imposter. Strangely, it's kind of a minor point.  Nagito then talks usual Nagito stuff about how they passed the test and how their hope will obviously be greater than the despair. Phew, for a second there I thought Nagito would've actually, like, said something sensible.  However, Nagito can't even really get up right now. So to take care of that, Sonia orders Kazuichi to carry Nagito, which he immediately jumps at the opportunity to do. The class is united and ready to march towards certain doom. Hooray!  Meanwhile, somewhere else, Kyosuke and Juzo can't reach Chisa for obvious reasons.  Kyosuke suspects that Junko is hiding something and figures she's behind all the recent fuckery, but he's a few steps behind at this rate. Note that Junko was allowed into Hope's Peak via the Board and not the scouting. Juzo declares he's going to drag Junko in for an interrogation and "doesn't hear" Kyosuke saying not to go too hard on her as he heads out. Kyosuke also declares he will have revenge on Junko.  Now, welcome to the real fun part of the episode. Looks like somebody's getting a special presentation of the despair video. Who is it?  Well, I think you figured that much out.  But while they're giving the Ludovico technique a good shot, it doesn't seem to be working on Chisa while it did on Mikan. Of course, that can be easily explained by the fact that Mikan isn't exactly a shining example of mental health.  Junko leaves Mukuro to try and break Chisa herself, and so Mukuro consults the enclosed instruction book. It suggests introducing external stimuli if the procedure fails to bring results. So, uh, how do you guys feel about knitting?  How do you guys feel about brain knitting?  So, uh, yeah. Mukuro straight jabs the needles into Chisa's head and starts some serious amateur brain surgery poo poo. And as such, we are treated to the wonderous sounds of Mukuro poking around in Chisa's brain mixed with Chisa begging for what is essentially her life. Some real loving pleasant poo poo, let me tell you.  And as we get a representation of Chisa's memories in the form of a picture of Kyosuke burning up...  ...it's finished. This, again, is one of those scenes that are far harder to watch than they are to read described by me. Just look at the reactions in the thread to me announcing poo poo will get worse in this episode. I'm not the only one that thinks this scene was some really fun poo poo. To note, this my second of three "Jesus Christ this is hosed" scenes. The third one is still coming up, and guess what? It's the worst one! Now doesn't that just fill you with desp- uh, I mean, excitement?  Izuru is not impressed, and even calls it pedestrian. Well, gently caress you too, Izuru, you jaded gently caress.  Meanwhile, the class is trying to get to Chisa, hoping they're not too late. Of course, we know the answer to that, and it ain't good.  Also not good? The Reserve Course protest is blocking their path. Now, this is bad enough on a "they're blocking them from getting to the statue" level.  What makes it worse is the Reserve Course deciding that, well, if all of those Main Course people were to die, somebody would have to move up, right?  Gundham and Nekomaru stay behind to deal with this while the rest take a different route.  Somewhere else, Ryota also found himself pursued by Reserve Course students, and, well, didn't fare so well. However, they don't seem to be doing anything, and that's because they're waiting to let somebody through. That somebody?  Junko, of course!  She's here to say her goodbyes to Ryota. Literally, not figuratively (i.E. in the "I'm going to murder you" way).  So Junko fangirls a bit about how much Ryota's brainwashing techniques helped her spruce up that despair video of hers, and about how she's going to make Ryota's entire class watch it, and, well, Ryota isn't dealing with it too well. He keeps insisting that he just wanted to create a better world with those techniques and that he was forced to do what he did.  Junko kind of agrees! Indeed, he hasn't been responsible at all the moment they met - he could just run away and nobody would blame him at all!  And then, she tells him to run. Run, and live with the despair that while nobody else will ever know of his role in the Incident, he will know exactly what he did. And as Junko skullfucks the world, he'll be able to see it all fall apart, and it's all because of him. Note - not an actual quote. There's some weird poo poo being said in this dub, but skullfucking isn't one of them.   And run he does, having his mind now completely hosed by Junko.  But then, Junko notices that somebody beat up some of those Reserve Course students. That somebody?  Juzo, of course. He demands Junko head to the principal's office.  Meanwhile, Ryota is, well, still running. No aim, no logic. Just pants-making GBS threads amounts of fear and despair, running in the straightest line away from Junko possible.  As a result, his running has him falling straight into a river.  And as he sinks, all he can think of is how much of a fool he was for believing he could use his talents to make the world a better place.  He does however not drown - obviously, since we'd kinda be loving the timeline if he did - but washes up on a riverbank.  And there, in his most dignified moment possible, he beats himself up about running away and not fighting back. He tries to get up, tries to be brave once in his life, and immediately falls back flat on his face. And thus, Ryota concludes he's nothing but a weakling. This is something Despair Side should've been full of. Junko completely and utterly loving people's minds up. This is something that the games also failed to show enough of for my tastes. Just systematically tearing away piece by piece at a victim's mind until nothing but a cracked shell remains. To somebody who knows what Junko is capable of, squaring up with her mentally should be utterly terrifying. I never really got that impression from her other appearances, but this gives a glimpse of what should've been.  And speaking of Junko, she's having a bit of a faceoff with Juzo. She mocks him and Kyosuke for only now figuring out she's behind everything...  ...and Juzo gets ready to bust some faces in. However, that will have to wait.  Meanwhile, the class has arrived at the secret staircase.  Chiaki says she has this feeling in her stomach that there's still time to get the best ending in this RPG. Oh, sunshine, if only you knew...  Mikan then takes Chiaki aside as the rest of the group continues down the staircase. Mikan says she doesn't quite understand Chiaki - how she used to be so quiet, but then suddenly became the centerpoint of the class, the glue that holds the class together. And then, she asks one thing of Chiaki... that she forgives her.   And with that, she shoves Chiaki down a secret passageway.  It seems that Chiaki was knocked out by the fall. As she wakes up, she finds...  ...Chisa! Oh, what a joyous reunion!  Chisa explains that after Chiaki ran away, Izuru (well, "that long-haired boy") let her go, and that it seems like Izuru isn't their enemy. But now, they need to find the rest of the class.   And that's the episode. Quite a turn of events, no? Next time, on the Future Side, it will be time for the great collision between hope... and other hope. ...doesn't sound that impressive, does it? What the gently caress just happened?: Chisa interrupts the Junko/Izuru/Chiaki/Nagito shenanigans from last time, allowing Chiaki and Nagito to escape. That however allows Junko to capture Chisa and subject her to the despair video. That plus some creative brain surgery by Mukuro seem to have broken Chisa. We also learn that Junko has been using brainwashing to get the Reserve Course students completely under her control. Meanwhile, the class, including Mikan, who had come back, attempts to rescue Chisa and sets out to do so. Junko catches up with Ryota, who had been attempting to run away, and breaks his mind completely, sending him running away in complete terror. Juzo then finds Junko and attempts to take her in - the result of which we'll only get later. Back at the secret stairway under the statue, Mikan takes an opportunity to get Chiaki alone and shoves her down a secret passage. When Chiaki wakes up from being knocked out by the fall, she finds herself together with Chisa, who seems to be the same old Chisa... kinda. Ominous mystery ensues.
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Apr 9, 2019 22:11
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Hey, guess what? While Youtube didn't like me uploading the entirety of the first killing game scene, you know what it did accept? That's right, amateur brain surgery. Definitely check that out. The scene is infinitely more harrowing in motion.
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Apr 9, 2019 22:27
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TheMcD posted:Hey, guess what? While Youtube didn't like me uploading the entirety of the first killing game scene, you know what it did accept?  No.... No thanks, I think I'll pass.
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Apr 9, 2019 22:44
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This episode frustrated me. And I don't mean the brain surgery or hacksaw stuff, even though I don't really care for those kinds of scenes. I mean the general number of decisions that allow Junko to win sheerly because the main cast is stupid. So here's a list of things that bothered me. - Chisa goes into a dangerous location without her phone or contacting Munakata. - Chisa goes into a dangerous location without her weapons. - Souda continues to drag Nagito, who just got shot, back to Junko's lair. Even though they know she's dangerous. - None of the students call for help. - The Imposter remembers his identity and actually does decide to exist as himself here. I guess he does tell Mikan and everything, but it still feels ridiculous to me. - Izuru is a boring as hell character. - Ryota is retroactively the most important character in the series now due to essentially causing the calamity. - Ryota also doesn't call anyone for help. I guess his arc is being as much of a gently caress up as Juzo, though, and boy does he commit to it. Anyway, I promised pictures.  
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Apr 9, 2019 23:43
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Oh. Wow. Okay. When I was talking about hosed up scenes before, I had legitimately wiped this one from my memory, but now it's back in glorious surround sound  For me there are two remaining moments I consider massively hosed up, although one's more hosed on a meta level.I agree with you though, McD--Junko as shown here is an actually compelling and hosed up villain, and the games are weaker for not having more of this and fewer wacky personality changes. Monaca was a step in the right direction for that.
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Apr 10, 2019 00:01
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TheMcD posted:Definitely check that out. Nope. Seeing it once back when it aired was enough.
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Apr 10, 2019 01:15
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mycelia posted:Oh. Wow. Okay. When I was talking about hosed up scenes before, I had legitimately wiped this one from my memory, but now it's back in glorious surround sound I disagree. Junko is at her worst in Dangan Ronpa 3, she isn't someone who can believably hide her madness in the slightest, she attacks Mukuro openly in a Taxi for pete's sake. The problem here is that Junko is not just "Junko" in the games, she's also Monokuma and Monokuma whilst a bit weird and disturbing does not act particularly crazy like Junko does when she's doing the personality swaps. Heck look at Shirokuma and Kurokuma, the Junko who that AI was based on is not even close to feeling like the Junko the anime goes with. Basically there's no real manipulation from Junko and so the entire plot of her driving the world to despair through corrupting other people becomes a non-factor, even though that's the way the games wanted you to see it. She got loving lucky in finding a person to brainwash the masses with anime, that's it. Monaca works largely because she's the bit of Junko that is Monokuma distilled into it's own character. Using words and knowledge to play everyone around her towards her warped goals, this anime loses all of that for indulging in an admittedly fun evil valley girl schtick. Now subverting the game's version of the Tragedy as supplied by Junko's narration might have been an interesting thing, if we got to see her at all work towards bringing about the Tragedy instead of stumbling upon each answer. The most she did is find Izuru and he'd already been broken by Hope's Peak and ends up being the one who reverses what she does to the Dangan Ronpa 2 cast anyway. Speaking of the Dangan Ronpa 2 cast are kind of absent from a lot of the big plot stuff of their side of the anime and that in of itself is a problem. Lord_Magmar fucked around with this message at 07:58 on Apr 10, 2019 |
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Apr 10, 2019 01:34
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The anime about the DR2 cast is not even about the DR2 cast.
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Apr 10, 2019 02:33
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Lord_Magmar posted:I disagree. Junko is at her worst in Dangan Ronpa 3, she isn't someone who can believably hide her madness in the slightest, she attacks Mukuro openly in a Taxi for pete's sake. The problem here is that Junko is not just "Junko" in the games, she's also Monokuma and Monokuma whilst a bit weird and disturbing does not act particularly crazy like Junko does when she's doing the personality swaps. Heck look at Shirokuma and Kurokuma, the Junko who that AI was based on is not even close to feeling like the Junko the anime goes with. All of this, pretty much. Junko is a lot of aspects coming together- an absurd silliness in character and aesthetic combined with a strong deductive intelligence and a terrifying purposeless cruelty, and all the anime gets right is the cruelty part. She doesn't give the impression of being all that intelligent and only succeeded in anything she tried to do not because of her successes, but from everyone else's failures. That's not compelling writing, that's lazy and cheap. There is only one part of this episode- this entire anime, really- when I really believed that Junko was acting like Junko, and you pointed it out. It was Ryota's scene, and let's face it: that more had to do with the actors involved than the writing and the circumstances. Because that's what I was led to believe Junko was like: someone who broke you not through violence or siccing other people on you, through psychology and a selective use of the truth. That Junko doesn't need brainwashing or loving lobotomies to get things done, nor does she need Mukuro- she just needs time and some strategy. But that takes some planning and effort, so that didn't happen here. And loving Mukuro- Jesus Christ, poor Mukuro. This is not at all the way she was characterized in the games; this is some character assassination in retrospect, which is the most unforgivable kind. And of course, the entire DR2 cast besides Hajime gets short shrift too. It should have been the entire class' slow descent into despair, not 10 episodes of happy(ish) shenanigans plus 3 episodes of... what we got. (I am ignoring the Future side, which has its own problems of introducing an all new, disposable cast and ignoring that we already had two whole games worth of good characters to play around with.) It's not good, is what I mean.
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Apr 10, 2019 15:57
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I had "Junko here with Ryota" in my post but I deleted it :V mea culpa. And don't get me started on the total lack of the DR2 cast meeting Junko until this/the next episode. I wanna say more, but it'd better wait until we see her actually meet them. Brainwashing animus is so stupid I refuse to acknowledge it.
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Apr 10, 2019 16:31
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These last few episodes were depressing.
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Apr 10, 2019 16:37
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resurgam40 posted:All of this, pretty much. Junko is a lot of aspects coming together- an absurd silliness in character and aesthetic combined with a strong deductive intelligence and a terrifying purposeless cruelty, and all the anime gets right is the cruelty part. She doesn't give the impression of being all that intelligent and only succeeded in anything she tried to do not because of her successes, but from everyone else's failures. That's not compelling writing, that's lazy and cheap. There is only one part of this episode- this entire anime, really- when I really believed that Junko was acting like Junko, and you pointed it out. It was Ryota's scene, and let's face it: that more had to do with the actors involved than the writing and the circumstances. Because that's what I was led to believe Junko was like: someone who broke you not through violence or siccing other people on you, through psychology and a selective use of the truth. That Junko doesn't need brainwashing or loving lobotomies to get things done, nor does she need Mukuro- she just needs time and some strategy. But that takes some planning and effort, so that didn't happen here. Basically my opinion, especially on Mukuro. Who yes is characterized as being pretty wholly devoted to Junko in the canon DR 1, even DanganRonpa IF is still about her doing what she thinks Junko wants after realising Junko was going to kill her instead of the original plan. Also yeah I will agree, Junko the actual Mastermind is only really shown whenever she interacts with Ryota, who in general gets to be the single most important character in Despair side besides never going to class with the actual Future Members of Ultimate Despair. It is baffling and frustrating that they introduced an entirely new character to have Junko abuse and destroy instead of it being her picking apart Class 76 with their weaknesses and fears and failures, the set-up is there. Peko/Fuyuhiko's thing around his dead sister driving a wedge in the class, Hajime maybe being a friend to them who disappears without a trace only for a monster with his face to murder the Student Council. There's plenty of things already in the narrative that Junko could've bent towards driving these people to despair and instead it's a brainwashing Anime. Heck Mahiru is literally the perfect target for Junko's particular form of lovely mindgames and they use brainwashing instead. This is not a Junko who could sell her self to the Warriors of Hope as a cool big sis to save them, she'd try and hurt them too quickly. Also somehow alive Chiaki is more of a perfect person then the AI made specifically to help bring her classmates hope and healthy emotional growth. Chiaki being a real person who died isn't terrible, her being this incredibly perfect person who can rally her classmates is just bizarre. Lord_Magmar fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Apr 10, 2019 |
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Apr 10, 2019 17:01
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