Danganronpa 3: Zetsubou Hen – 02-03
Of course he has the Anime Protagonist Seat.
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Normally it would be hard to play spot the anime protagonist with Hajime’s class considering how normal he looks (ahoge aside). But seeing how most of his class is blue and transparent, it’s a lot easier. It’s certainly an interesting way to show background characters, and maybe hint at how depressing the school is for the untalented. |
To be honest, I put off writing for episode 2 because I had no idea how to write “…and then they all got really horny” into anything worthwhile. But there were a few things that were important about the episode. For one, it brought Yukizome’s class more unity in a fun way, which is in total contrast to what the Reserve Course seems to be experiencing. Also, it highlighted Nanami as kind of a lynchpin of hope for the class (or just a person who provides hope to Hajime too). It was her games that brought them all together, and she seems to have the right idea about things in general if you count her interactions with Hajime. Yukizome definitely chose the right person for class representative. The second episode also went into Hajime’s world a bit with his decision to become artificial hope, and how he struggles with wanting talent, but having the talented people tell him that being normal is fine or that talent alone doesn’t define people.
The best lessons in life take place on a bench (apparently)
The lesson that talent doesn’t define people is a good one too. Sure, having a talent is great, but like Nanami pointed out, even if she wasn’t the best, she could still have fun in her own way. Unfortunately, all of the good that Tengan and Nanami taught Hajime seems to have totally been overwritten by Sakakura’s asshattery in the latest episode. Sure, he was trying to spare Hajime in some sort of way, but he went the totally wrong way of doing it, and was also pretty violent for no adequately explored reason.
Sure, Yukizome doesn’t seem to think that Sakakura is a totally evil person, and in trying to keep Hajime from the truth it does seem like there’s a redeemable side to him. Unfortunately, from saying those things about talentless people to Hajime, he indirectly fed into Hajime’s insecurities, which is definitely going to make things extremely despair-ridden once the experiment is done. What he said might even shape what Hajime will do too, since Sakakura seemed to reveal the worst side to the elitist psychology that Kibougamine seems to have. Sure, not everyone thinks that way (like Nanami and Yukizome), but everyone else in the school seems driven by the ideology that talent is everything.
I forget a lot of the details surrounding the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case (aka Natsumi’s murder), but it was a major plot point in the 2nd game and was used as a motive for a murder within the game. It’s interesting that this seems to be a starting point for Junko’s takeover since it didn’t seem like that important of an event when it was presented in the 2nd game, but it makes a lot of sense to be the start of things. The murder of a friend or sister is a pretty heavy topic, and it definitely changed the atmosphere of the show quickly. It makes a lot more sense for Junko to enter in here as opposed to what was going on in episode 2. If they don’t go in to the details of the whole incident though, it’s probably fine. The last time Koizumi discovered what happened to Sato, she was (kind of) murdered for it. Plus there are probably more important things to go in to in the remaining episodes.
It’s too bad that Natsumi had to die though, since she was definitely mean, but still redeemable. Her mindset that she had to be the best to not let her brother leave her behind seemed self-imposed, but even Hajime sympathized with her. In this case, it seems like nobody was really malicious for the sake of it. Koizumi’s friend was genuinely worried about her (or at least it seemed that way), and Natsumi had reasons behind her behaviour (even though she didn’t have the greatest way of expressing herself). This makes the whole event more tragic since they were both shown having human sides to them, and they might have been able to talk things out, but instead they had the wrong way of going about things. …Though that kind of goes for any murder that happens in Danganronpa.
…Man the writers really want the viewers to hate Sakakura don’t they. Sure he’s friends with Yukizome and all, but pretty much everything he does, he does with unnecessary violence. But anyways, the plot definitely progressed these past two episodes and it seems like it’s going to get darker from here. I’m still curious as to how Junko gets her hands on Yukizome’s class as well, since they seemed pretty hopeful in episode 2. Though of course the murders probably shook them up a bit.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
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@Karakuri: Check this out!
Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura Dons Seraph of the End Cosplay
Well, that had me laughing.
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Man, more government people should take up cosplay.
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It’s a perfect fit since Crowley took over Nagoya’s city hall in Seraph of the End/Owari no Seraph’s second season, sitting at the mayor’s desk before the humans came and took the fight to him. To no avail, though.
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And so the killings begin. The way things were going, the outcome was inevitable.
That’s what raises anxiety for her. Seeing that Nanami is the apparent representation of hope for her class, the probability of her getting involved in an unpleasant incident should be rather high. Because if I wanted to spread despair to others, the polar opposite of what she emits, my priority would be to stamp out the biggest threat to my plans.
The rift between the Main Course and the Reverse Course widens as the series goes along and the discrimination on the latter is more profound than anticipated. Excluding Yukizome’s class whose getting the majority of the focus, I’d imagine the rest of the Main Course classes are unbelievably condescending.
Such conversations will result in different reactions depending on the receiving person. It will be all well and fine for the one who has talent to say such things but for the one who’s lacking, all they might feel is their inadequacy deepening and that tends to end taking a bad turn. Usually, only the minority takes those talks well and this show clearly isn’t going to cater to that section.
That aside, it’s difficult to imagine someone artificially getting a talent that involve some considerable alteration to the one subjected to the process. It all feels sketchy, unpredictable and filled with dangerous backlashes.
Natsumi’s case is where feelings are deadlocked. There’s pity in the fact of her death, especially after she told Hajime her true intentions and troubles but at the same time, you’re unable to forget she was digging her own grave with her intimidations, even if she was making empty threats. She knows they’re empty but others won’t believe it since her act was too convincing.
For last, there’s Sakakura. Even in the Zetsubou-hen, he’s an intolerable douche which in turn increases my sense of relief upon his impending demise (Whenever that may be) in the Mirai-hen. After his talk with Yukizome, I understood what he was trying with Hajime but the way he went about it, including violence, no less, had me gritting my teeth. His overall behavior overpowers any possible redeemable quality he may have.
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Also, I’m anxious about Nanami since her character wasn’t technically in the 2nd game… I really want to know what happened to her…
I’m not entirely sure if that’s true or not. Maybe Togami would be condescending (though he is to everyone), but I can’t imagine characters like Naegi being like that. It probably depends on the character.
Well, we’ll see where the artificial hope project goes…
But yeah, Sakakura. I feel like just because the writers are trying really hard to make people dislike him, they’re going to keep him around for a while.