#just a few mentions about saihara but nothing spoilery since it all comes down to his talent as a detective

[oumakokichi]

You know, speaking of, I don't think I've ever read your thoughts on Mitarai in detail. Especially in comparison to Saihara, to whom Mitarai almost seems like a prototype of in some ways.

As much of a mess as dr3 was, I came out of it likingMitarai quite a lot, actually. More than I thought I would at first, for sure.While the anime was airing in its earlier stages, I saw quite a lot of hype forhim, but I wasn’t sure what to expect from him, really. He was there in most episodes, especially inFuture Arc (and later on became much more prevalent in Despair Arc)… but hedidn’t really do a lot early on.

Then the more things progressed, the more he started lookingextremely suspicious, and the more interested I became. And when it turned outhe made Super Big Mistakes™ and started showing a lot of his flaws, that’s whenI realized he was actually one of the better-written characters in the anime,and I wound up really liking him.

I think you’re exactly right in calling him a prototype forSaihara. Both of them deal with things like depression and debilitating socialanxiety, and both of them harbor a good amount of self-loathing for their ownweakness. Their inability to stand and face things leaves them feeling helplessand isolated, especially from those “stronger” than them who they perceive asbeing unable to understand or connect to their problems as a “weaker” person.

Like Saihara, Mitarai feels that his only use is through histalent. But where Saihara’s talent is one responsive to a situation, somethingthat’s “only useful after tragedy has already struck,” Mitarai’s entireambition was to use his talent to its fullest potential. In fact, describinghim as a “Saihara prototype but with 100% more ambition” might be a good way toput it, because it’s Mitarai’s ambition that drives him to work himself to thebone, as well as what allows Junko to take advantage of him so badly later on.

Mitarai’s desire to “change the world through anime” is somewhatinteresting to look back on after playing ndrv3, especially because of thewhole “fiction can change the world theme.” It would be very interesting to seehim actually put in an ndrv3-like scenario, and if there had been actualinteractions between the dr3 characters and other characters in the ndrv3 bonusmode, I wouldn’t have minded seeing some kind of interaction between him andTsumugi, preferably.

He and Tsumugi are also interesting parallels of oneanother, because they both resort to the “unhealthily coping through fiction”tactic, but in drastically different ways. And where Mitarai is clumsy andsocially awkward, he’s still a caring, empathetic person at heart. He avoidedcoming to class and getting to know the other sdr2 characters because he wasafraid that it would be a “distraction” from his work; in other words, he wasworried that he’d get too attached. Tsumugi meanwhile is someone who considersherself a true observer. She doesn’t need to worry about getting attachedbecause she fundamentally lacks empathy for her classmates from the start. Bothof them want to “only live in a fictional world,” but the way they regardothers is incredibly different.

Mitarai’s attempts to withdraw and isolate himself fromeverything around him and throw himself singlemindedly into his work aresimultaneously really sad, because it’s what prevented him from ever reallymaking friends or growing attached to people, but also impressive. It’s thatdedication towards his work that prevented him from giving up completely.

If it weren’t for that, he would’ve probably given upentirely when Junko pushed him to the edge of despair—and that was such a greatscene, because it was one of the few glimpses dr3 gave us of what Junko coulddo with just a few words and her analytical talent as opposed to brainwashingthem. Mitarai’s ambition and willpower (and, well, the fact that he knew howthe brainwashing worked in the first place) were the only reasons he didn’t everfully despair when countless others who were stronger or smarter than him did.

I liked that the anime questioned more of his motivationsand objectives the longer it went on. While he started out seeming fairlysympathetic as a character (moreso after standing in for Asahina and gettingpunched by Juzo pretty much right off the bat), dr3 also didn’t shy away fromgiving us hints and clues that he was deeply tied to everything that hadhappened at Hope’s Peak Academy. His run-in with Junko about midway throughDespair Arc then flat-out confirmed it. Thus, we were able to start seeingMitarai from the perspective of someone who didn’t seem to be pulling thestrings exactly, but who was also clearly hiding secrets. On top of that, heseemed exhausted, defensive, and clearly jealous of characters like Naegi whohad the “strength” to stand up to Junko and stop her.

Hope Arc was quite a mess in many ways—hell, the wholeTengan twist was pretty much a huge trainwreck. But one part I did like quite alot was the final scene between Mitarai, Naegi, and the sdr2 characters. Mitarai’sspeech to Naegi, his anger and frustration that Naegi simply couldn’tunderstand with him or connect with him because he was never the kind of “weakperson” that Mitarai perceives himself to be, felt very real andunderstandable. I think he succeeded in calling out Naegi on “empty platitudes”in that one scene better than Munakata did in the entirety of Future Arc,because it’s true that it was a perfect example of Naegi trying to comfort andconsole someone without actually knowing anything about what Mitarai hadactually been through.

It’s a shame that dr3 handled the sdr2 characters so badlyand didn’t really flesh them out or explore their full potential, because thescene in which they appeared and Hinata began talking to Mitarai was actually really,really good. The idea of Mitarai only being willing to listen to people who hadalso done horrible things and were still striving to atone for their mistakes,of people who would probably never stop atoning but wanted to make amends anyway,was really excellent in concept. If dr3 had been a whole anime about… well,that kind of thing instead of the mess that we got, I think it would have gonea lot smoother.

But regardless of the bad parts of dr3 and the unfortunatecharacterization in some aspects, Mitarai was pretty consistently writtenthrough and through. Like Juzo, he was someone who contributed to the tragicevents that Junko put into motion, and also like Juzo, he blamed himselfimmensely and felt as though he had betrayed the people who should’ve been hisclassmates and friends. But because he was always, constantly running away (asJunko lampshades) he never got to know them, and he was incapable of stoppingthe events that occurred as a result of his talent.

Even his attempt to upload his “hope” brainwashingtechnology in order to eradicate “despair” was yet another means of runningaway from the situation. By crafting a world in which only hope existed, it wasthe equivalent to creating a world where “nothing bad happens” and where “everythingis peaceful”—in other words, something like a “fictional world.” I really amvery strongly reminded of ndrv3 when I think of it like that.

Much like Saihara, Mitarai’s awareness and resentmenttowards his own weakness is something I found relatable. I quite likecharacters who consider themselves “cowards” or feel that they’re “weak” or “lackingsomething,” but who nonetheless contribute to the narrative in other means. AndI also like characters who want to atone in some way or make amends for thepast, so I suppose that means Mitarai was bound to be right up my alley sooneror later.

Had he just stuck around to be cute and relatively harmless,I would have liked him well enough, but I don’t know that I would’ve gotten asattached to him as I am now. I wound up liking Mitarai much more when he woundup showing all his anger and bitterness and jealousy, because it humanized himand it showed that he was perfectly aware of his own shortcomings. He was, inmy opinion, one of the better new characters to come out of dr3 along with Juzo.

Thank you for asking, by the way! I haven’t really talkedabout Mitarai at all so this was fun to think about. He’s one of thosecharacters who (again, like Saihara) I like to make fun of pretty often becauseit’s just so easy, and the dr3 dub made it even easier, but he really is apretty good character.

#dangan ronpa #dangan ronpa 3 #dr3 #ryouta mitarai #mitarai ryouta #no spoilers for ndrv3 this time #just a few mentions about saihara but nothing spoilery since it all comes down to his talent as a detective #my meta #okay to reblog #zekefreek