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commentaryvorg · 5 years

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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 5.1

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time at the end of trial 4 after losing our precious gentleman friend, Kokichi switched from the huge lie with a grain of truth to it he’d been telling before the execution to a different huge lie with a grain of truth to it while still dodging all responsibility for murdering anyone, Kaito’s worst fear came true, almost, but he desperately tried to paper over it and insist it wasn’t really true at all, Shuichi tried to reach out and help him even more obviously and literally and Kaito could not let that happen, and Kokichi was still thoroughly lying to himself about everything (as opposed to Kaito, whose lies are mostly just to everyone else).

Now it’s time to move from my favourite chapter to my other favourite chapter!

Voyage Without Passion or Purpose

This chapter title is about SPACE. Mostly the in-universe story in which they left the ruined Earth while none of them really wanted to, a voyage which then ended up with even less passion or purpose once they were brought back to Earth and started killing each other anyway. But it’s also relevant to the one person who actually does end up going to space in this chapter, who, in contrast to the intended point of his “voyage”, will still manage to have passion and purpose while doing so.

And on that note, let’s skip this chapter’s terrible excuse for an opening stinger (some meaningless Monokuma nonsense about his dead cubs) and get to the real opening stinger of the chapter, which is, of course, Kaito being totally fine, what else?

Shuichi: (Even in such a dark time, one of us was still bright, trying to cheer us all up…)

That’s exactly why Kaito’s going to be acting this way! It’s not for his own sake – it’s to keep everyone else’s spirits up, because right now they need that more than ever, and Kaito is better at doing that than anyone. If even Kaito was acting down and gloomy right now, things really would seem hopeless, and he can’t let that happen.

(Also I love how Shuichi’s metaphor describes Kaito as “bright”. He’s a luminary!)

Kaito: “Geez, don’t be stupid, guys. There’s no way I’d die, y’know? Cuz I’m Kaito Momota! Luminary of the Stars!”

Obviously. Because he’s the Luminary of the Stars. He’s an invincible hero, right? The notion that he could be weak and dying is just stupid.

Tsumugi: “Are you really okay…?”

People Not Convinced: 1/5.

Kaito: “I’m telling you! I’m just fine! I wasn’t feeling great yesterday, but after a good night’s sleep I’m all better. I’m 100% better now!”

Yes, because what everyone saw last night is definitely something that can be completely fixed with one night of sleep. If he tried to claim he’s still not at 100% but was at least feeling better enough that they don’t need to worry about him, it might be more believable, but this?

Himiko: “But… there’s no way you’d get better so quickly after coughing up that much bloo—”

People Not Convinced: 2/5.

Kaito: “I told you, didn’t I? I just coughed too much and cut my throat a little, that’s all.”

Nobody believed you then, Kaito; they shouldn’t believe you now. But maybe now that a night has passed, he’s hoping people might have slightly forgotten just how much blood there was, or might be able to be convinced that their memories are exaggerating it due to the shock of seeing any blood at all.

Or maybe he’s just hoping that if he stubbornly insists this enough times, people will start to think it might somehow be true anyway because surely he wouldn’t keep telling such an obvious lie.

Keebo: “Are you sure you’re not pushing yourself too hard? Or suffering from a chronic illness—”

People Not Convinced: 3/5.

(Kaito is absolutely pushing himself too hard right now and is never going to stop.)

Kaito: “Don’t be stupid! If I had a chronic illness, I wouldn’t stand a chance in astronaut training!”

This… works somewhat well as an excuse. Kaito himself has no idea why the hell he’s so sick, because it doesn’t make any sense for him to have had this beforehand considering he’s supposed to be completely healthy to be an astronaut. So at least he can use his own confusion about this to help convince everyone else that it therefore can’t be happening at all!

Kind of a tangential point: on my first time through I thought Kaito’s illness was a terminal illness that he’d had and known about his whole life. It would have made a lot of sense! Of course he’d be so determined to live life to the fullest, if he’d always known he was dying! It would have explained why he risked everything to get into astronaut training early, if he knew he wouldn’t live long enough to make it into space if he waited to do it the normal way!

…But what didn’t occur to me was Kaito’s point here that he would never have actually got into astronaut training if he’d been sick at the time. They obviously do medical exams as part of the screening, and they’d pick up on an illness like this.

It also wouldn’t have made complete sense for Kaito to have been terminally ill his whole life, since the way he deals with realising he’s dying during the story is… pretty terrible, suggesting that he was not at all mentally prepared for suddenly facing his imminent mortality. And in the end, it’s even more fun that way.

Kaito: “Seriously, you guys are worrying too much. Just cuz you all love me and can’t help yours—”

Of course they care about you and are therefore worried about you, you moron! You’re the one who made yourself so important to everyone! Stop acting like the fact that everyone cares about you is something to be brushed off as a joke!

Kaito’s determination to be an inspirational figure to others is delightfully incompatible with his insistence on not having anybody worry about him. Or at least it would be if there was something wrong with him, so good thing that’s not the case and he’s totally fine, right?

Maki: “…Of course we’d be worried.”

People Not Convinced: 4/5.

Kaito: “… My bad… But I’m serious. You don’t need to worry about me anymore…”

And of course, of all things, it would be Maki saying she’s worried – which isn’t just anyone being worried about him, it’s his sidekick – that’d be the thing to make Kaito drop the forced cheeriness and be slightly more real about things. Only in terms of how he feels bad about making people worry, though, of course. Not in terms of him feeling bad for himself.

Kaito: “I shoulda told you guys I wasn’t feeling well. I made you worry for nothing.”

Looks like he’s somewhat regretting pretending to be so Completely Fine last chapter. If he’d been just more honest that he was at least sick, then they wouldn’t have been so shocked at suddenly seeing the full extent of his illness out of nowhere and it might have been easier for him to brush over exactly how bad it was.

…Buuuut despite that, he is still insisting that he’s completely 100% better now and making that mistake all over again. Gotta be the most invincible hero he can possibly be!

(Either way, that wouldn’t remotely fix the problem of how they’re going to deal with you dying when it happens, Kaito.)

Maki: “…”

Kaito: “O-Okay… don’t glare at me like that.”

Maki is Not Amused at him being an idiot in a way that hurts himself and makes everyone worry about him more. She’s so caring, in her very distinctly Maki-like way.

Kaito: “If I do start to feel bad again, I’ll have you guys help me, okay?”

Kaito, you gigantic fucking liar. You’re feeling bad and need their help right now and you’re not asking for it.

This right here is honestly one of the worst lies Kaito ever tells, because he’s doing more than just stating something untrue. He’s actively asking them to trust him that if he does feel bad he wouldn’t hide it, while utterly breaking that trust even as he’s saying it. It’s bad enough that I think Kaito has to be less okay with this than the kind of lie he usually tells. It probably hurts him on some level to be saying this, and this just goes to show how desperate he is to convince them that he’s fine and stop them worrying about him no matter what it takes.

Kaito: “Now that that’s outta the way, let’s eat! Yeah, c’mon guys! Let’s all eat!”

(Kaito spoke cheerily, then left to go get his meal.)

And here’s a conspicuous subject change immediately after that, like he’s hoping people won’t think too hard about how awful he would have just been if he really is still sick and lying to them. All of this awful lying and desperately trying to convince them of something horrendously untrue – all that’s definitely “out of the way” now, because he says so. They’re convinced and it’s over and he doesn’t have to worry or think about it any more, right? Right.

Also, there’s no way Kaito is able to keep any reasonable amount of food down at this point. He’s going to have to force himself to eat at a normal pace in order to not worry anyone further, which is only going to cause him even more suffering later when he’s on his own.

Shuichi: (…Is there really nothing wrong? With what I saw yesterday… how can I act like nothing’s wrong…?)

People Not Convinced: 5/5.

Literally nobody is buying that Kaito’s okay. His display this morning has quite clearly been over-the-top forced cheeriness and pointed insistence cutting people off the moment they question him, and everybody can see through it.

…Partly.

Keebo: “Despite Kaito’s remarks, he should probably receive medical attention just in case…”

Tsumugi: “Now we’ve got another reason why we need to get out of here.”

Maki: “And on top of that, we need to do it fast.”

Because while they are suggesting this, nobody seems to be acknowledging just how completely necessary it is to get Kaito medical attention as soon as possible. So while, evidently, everyone still believes that he’s sick, he has managed to successfully convince them that at least he’s probably not dying. I imagine they’re thinking that if he really did know he was dying, that’s something big enough and serious enough that surely, surely he wouldn’t be so stupid as to not let them know that.

…But, no, he… really is entirely that stupid. Guys, you are massively underestimating how incredibly idiotically selfless Kaito is.

(Well, Tsumugi does know he’s dying, but of course she’s not going to do anything that might save his life and is just going to continue to act vague and oblivious while he continues to die because of her.)

When Kaito comes back, everyone’s moved on to speculating about the outside world that Gonta saw and despaired over.

Kaito: “We can’t figure that out just thinking about it, so there’s no point wasting your brainpower.”

Keebo: “But we can’t simply not think about—”

Kaito: “Sure, there’s a chance the outside world is messed up because of Monokuma. But making us worry about it is what Monokuma wants. He’s using it to put pressure on us.”

Kaito is still really good? He’s been lying through his teeth, but that’s all for the sake of keeping everyone’s spirits high and stopping them worrying, and now he’s continuing to do that in a way that doesn’t require any lying, too. Wondering what could be out there without having any way to know for sure is just going to make everyone anxious for no real reason, which is exactly the kind of thing Kaito’s always working to try and prevent.

(I wonder if it’s occurred to him that his own illness might also be something Monokuma did to put pressure on everyone by making them worry. Because that isn’t actually too far from the truth.)

Kaito: “Kokichi and Gonta just snapped under that pressure.”

It’s really interesting and notable that Kaito includes Kokichi as having snapped under the pressure of what he saw! Given that Kaito obviously has no way of knowing that Kokichi realised the outside world was a lie, this is a reasonable thing to think. (And he did kind of snap when he saw it anyway, just for a different reason.) Evidently Kaito never quite bought Kokichi’s claim that he did everything purely for sadistic glee. I would hope that Kaito is also sensible enough to realise that Kokichi didn’t truly want the mercy kill either, since he actively pointed out that he sabotaged it himself. So I’m not sure exactly what Kaito’s mental idea of Kokichi is right now, but it does seem to involve him having snapped and lashed out as a result of seeing the outside world, making him messed up and pitiable rather than just inhumanly evil. If anyone was going to see through Kokichi and realise something fairly close to the truth about him, of course it would be Kaito.

Kaito: “The outside world is probably fine.”

Himiko: “You’re such an optometrist… Can you prescribe some rose-colored glasses for me too?”

Himiko’s line here is so freaking clever. It sounds like she’s just mispronouncing “optimist”… and then she goes and makes the sentence actually make sense for the word “optometrist” while still being about optimism. I love it. …It’s honestly a little too clever to be really befitting of Himiko, but still, good one, localisers.

Keebo: “…As a detective, what are your thoughts on this, Shuichi?”

Gotta ask Shuichi about this, of course. If anyone’s figured this out, it would definitely be him, right?

Shuichi: “I-I’ve considered a few theories, but I can’t say for sure…”

Himiko: “Well, that’s understandable. There are barely any clues.”

…But, yes, funnily enough, Shuichi has not magically figured it out when he has basically nothing to go on. I wouldn’t be surprised if the possibility of an apocalypse has crossed his mind given what they know about the meteorites, but there’s no way he’s going to claim that and make everybody freak out unless he has concrete proof of it.

Kaito: “…”

Shuichi: (Since the incident yesterday, Kaito won’t look me in the eyes.)

It’s appropriate that the first moment Shuichi is brought into the conversation, which draws our attention to what’s going on with Kaito here, is when people asked for Shuichi’s help because they assume he can figure out everything. Even though they’re assuming that wrongly in this case, the simple fact that everyone clearly looks up to and relies on Shuichi so much still really bothers Kaito, and after last night’s trial, his jealousy is worse than ever.

And the thing is, Kaito still shouldn’t even be jealous of Shuichi! Everyone is relying on Shuichi’s detective skills, but everyone has also been relying on Kaito’s luminary skills to keep their spirits up and stop them worrying throughout this very conversation. He’s just as important to the group as Shuichi is, just in a different way. But… Kaito can’t see that, because his façade doesn’t change how weak and helpless he feels beneath it. Recall that he’s in constant pain by this point – he can literally feel the extent to which his words aren’t true. He’s convinced that all of the effect he’s having on everyone right now is built entirely on lies and would completely fall apart if they realised that. (In reality, that is very definitely not the case; after all, everyone already knows it’s at least partly a façade.)

Shuichi: (He must still be angry.)

No, Shuichi. He’s not.

It never made any rational sense for Kaito to be angry at Shuichi even during the trial; any moments of him acting that way were him deflecting his pain and not the real point of how he felt. It makes even less sense for him to be angry now that he’s had a whole night to sleep it off and calm down from the irrational lashing out he did and realise what was really bothering him. It also makes no sense when you think about the fact that Kaito’s way of expressing anger at someone would never be to passive-aggressively ignore them like this – he would just come out and tell them how he feels. He’s not doing this because he’s angry.

I mentioned Kaito’s jealousy of Shuichi a moment ago, and while that’s contributing, that’s also not the main point. If he was simply jealous, that wouldn’t stop him from engaging with Shuichi like he normally does – Kaito was also jealous of Shuichi throughout case 4, but even as it was starting to get to him more and more, it didn’t change that he was still trying to to help and support his sidekick like always.

The problem is that Kaito doesn’t feel like he can help and support Shuichi any more, not after having shown himself to be so obviously and undeniably weaker than Shuichi in running away from the truth. He did everything he could to cover that up during the trial not out of jealousy so much as out of his irrational conviction that he needs to be strong and invincible in order for Shuichi to look up to him and be inspired by him. Throughout the last chapter, Kaito stressed again and again how much he wanted to help Shuichi, how he would always be there for him to support him and carry his burdens. By proving himself to be so much weaker than Shuichi in the trial, and by making things even harder for Shuichi by lashing out the way he did, Kaito is convinced that he’s failed every word of those promises he was so desperate to make.

The guilt and shame of his perceived failure hurts Kaito so much that he can’t deal with it, so he’s… not. He’s just pathetically trying to pretend Shuichi isn’t there and that the problem doesn’t exist.

And it’s not just about his own perception of having failed, either. If Kaito thought that Shuichi even possibly hasn’t noticed his weakness yet and there was even the slightest chance that Kaito could still support him even a little by continuing to act heroic and inspiring at him, by god would he keep trying, even though he’d feel it was a desperately fragile façade. (Just like he’s still trying to do that for everyone else despite them having seen his illness.) But since he’s not even attempting to engage with Shuichi right now, he has to believe not only that he’s utterly failed Shuichi far more than he has anyone else, but also that Shuichi knows it and there’s no point in trying to pretend otherwise. That “aren’t you my sidekick? Was that just a lie?” from yesterday’s trial that suggested the idea that Shuichi knew he didn’t need Kaito? Kaito still believes that.

Shuichi: (But… I had no choice… I had no other options… My deduction… wasn’t wrong. If I hadn’t identified Gonta as the culprit, we would all be dead. For the rest of us to survive, Gonta had to be sacrificed… There was nothing I could do…)

Shuichi is only assuming that Kaito is angry at him because of his own anxiety and tendency to blame himself. On the surface of his thoughts here, Shuichi is being somewhat sensible and rational about it – he’s able to assert that what he did wasn’t wrong and was necessary for everyone to survive. But still, the way he’s wording these thoughts here give the sense that, even if he’s not quite consciously blaming himself, he still feels like he failed Gonta for not having been able to do anything to stop him being executed. Despite knowing he wasn’t in the wrong, Shuichi still feels like the bad guy – and because of that, it makes sense to him that Kaito could be blaming him too, so he gets stuck on that rather than thinking about other reasons Kaito might be acting this way.

But no, Shuichi. There really was nothing else you could have done, and so it’s not your fault. Kokichi and Monokuma (and the mastermind) are the ones who killed Gonta, not you. Kaito knows this just as much as everyone in this room except you.

(For the duration of this bit of Shuichi’s inner monologue, we’re forced to look at a flashback image of Gonta being impaled during his execution, which I do not appreciate at all. But I understand why it’s there, because Shuichi would have that horrifying image burned into his mind to the point that he’d recall it every time he thinks about Gonta’s death, so this serves to show us how Shuichi is still haunted by that.)

Kaito: “I’m glad we’re talking about how to escape, but…”

Kaito, do you know why everyone got onto the topic of trying to escape? It’s because they were thinking about how to help you. If you told them the truth, they’d be even more desperate to escape in order to save you, so much so that they might actually manage it!

If Kaito realised this, it might actually be enough for him to be willing to bite the bullet and tell them he’s dying. Unlike a certain few people last chapter, Kaito would do anything if he believed it could help everyone to escape. So I genuinely don’t think this has or ever will occur to him – apparently his mind just won’t even entertain trains of thought involving everyone worrying about him, or everyone risking themselves for him and not the other way around, long enough for him to realise that this’d be what would happen. The notion of having himself be prioritised above everybody else really is just that unthinkable to Kaito.

Kaito: “…where’d *he* go? Kokichi…”

Shuichi: (The instant Kaito spoke his name, a nervous energy shot through us.)

Apparently Kokichi’s name is having something of a Voldemort effect on everyone right now. Except of course for Kaito, who freely said his name – because Kaito doesn’t quite buy that he’s the evil sadist he claimed to be.

Tsumugi: “We can’t just let… that person… be. He’s… a little too dangerous. No… not just a little… Because he… He enjoys watching us suffer. His face just screams that he’s having fun whenever he sees us suffer.”

Tsumugi, of course, also knows that’s not true, but she’s the one most stressing that and talking about it like it’s definitely true. I guess she’s figured that if Kokichi is going to paint himself as a massive villain, she might as well play along with that, since it’s a good story.

Maki: “If we weren’t in this killing game, I would’ve assassinated him already.”

Maki’s still stuck in that mindset that killing people is the best method of solving problems that don’t seem to have an easy solution. Her directing this mindset towards Kokichi is specifically because he’s apparently a dangerous monster who’s made himself seem like he needs to be stopped before he hurts anyone else. She always kind of hated him on a personal level, but she wouldn’t have said this about him last chapter.

Maki: “Ironic… The rules of this killing game actually make it harder to kill.”

Kaito: “Maki Roll… that’s not good. Playing this killing game is just what Monokuma wants us to do.”

Maki: “…I know.”

And this is why Maki does try and kill Kokichi later this chapter – because she’s going to believe he’s the mastermind and therefore that killing him won’t be “playing the game”. Given that, in her eyes, there’s no reason for her not to. Kaito’s argument here is valid, but he’s also forgetting to make the wider argument that, killing game or not, murder isn’t the right way to solve problems, even really big ones like this, and she should try and find something better.

Himiko: “Nyeh? Is Maki Roll a nickname for Maki? That’s a good nickname.”

I appreciate this build-up to the fact that Himiko is indeed going to start calling her Maki Roll eventually, but… how did you not notice this until now, Himiko? Kaito’s been calling her that for a chapter and a half.

Shuichi: “Kokichi told us his objective was to win the killing game. He wouldn’t risk a murder that would so obviously implicate him.”

You’re thinking too narrowly, Shuichi. Kokichi has redefined “winning” to mean something other than getting away with being the blackened. His new win condition definitely could (and will) involve a murder which obviously implicates him.

Monokuma shows up to hand out the “prizes”.

Monokuma: “I can’t refuse you all, not when I’m all alone and outnumbered.”

Kaito: “…Outnumbered?”

And here’s Kaito realising that there’s no Exisals anymore, meaning that fighting back is finally a viable option. Monokuma mentioned that suspiciously readily, so I wonder if he prompted that train of thought out of Kaito on purpose so that this chapter’s story would hopefully take some interesting turns.

Monokuma: “But I’m used to being alone. Back in the day, I was alone from start to finish…”

Yes, and all of us preferred it that way, thanks.

Maki: “…What do you want to do, Kaito?”

Kaito: “I’m worried about Kokichi, but… There’s no point worrying about him all the time. Alright! Our first priority is to solve the mystery of this academy!”

Look at Maki turning to Kaito for leadership! And Kaito is genuinely being a pretty good leader – everyone else was leaning towards just worrying about Kokichi, but if they do that all day they’re never going to get anywhere and discover anything new. Kaito’s always about spurring everyone to take action.

Kaito: “Let’s investigate!”

Shuichi: “Alright… Ah, I’ll hold onto that…”

Kaito: “Oh… that’s right…”

Shuichi: (Without meeting my eyes, Kaito placed the key into my palm.)

Apparently Monokuma specifically gave the keys to Kaito, leading to this delightfully awkward exchange, made even more so by the fact that giving the job to Shuichi has everything to do with why Kaito’s so upset. I love the irony that it was Kaito who first decided that Shuichi should be the one to take the stuff and solve the puzzles back in chapter 2. What started out as a gesture from Kaito to help boost Shuichi’s confidence when he needed it by making him feel useful has turned into a reminder of the fact that Shuichi is by far the most useful and reliable person here and doesn’t appear to need Kaito’s help at all.

And the thing is, this job still doesn’t need Shuichi! Less than ever before, this time, since the items are literally keys and therefore there’s no puzzle involved. Kaito could respond to Shuichi here by going, “Nah, it’s fine. They’re just keys, right? Let me handle it this time.” – but he doesn’t. Even though Kaito is jealous of Shuichi and hates how Shuichi is supposedly so much more of a hero than him (which isn’t entirely the case – Maki just turned to Kaito to lead them, after all), he doesn’t try and act like Shuichi’s superiority is anything but the truth or try and take the spotlight away from him. Kaito believes that he genuinely is inferior to Shuichi and doesn’t deserve to be taking any of the credit that rightfully belongs to someone as awesome as him.

(And that’s painfully self-deprecating but also actually pretty admirable of him. Kaito is jealous of Shuichi, but it’s not a malicious kind of jealousy that makes him want to take away what Shuichi has that he doesn’t. Kaito is never that kind of person, even at his lowest.)

Keebo: “Kaito? Shuichi? What’s the matter? You both seem different today.”

Maki: “…Read the mood, Keebo. It’s fine, so let’s go already.”

Since Keebo is the worst at reading the room out of everyone here, we can assume from this that everybody else has very much noticed the awkwardness between Kaito and Shuichi and has decided to just completely ignore that elephant in the room. If only they weren’t doing that. They’re all probably assuming Kaito is just angry at Shuichi and therefore that asking what the problem is and trying to get them to talk about it would only ever make things worse… but oh boy are they wrong.

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