Ace Being Sus

ace being sus

spoilers (unless you're new to the fandom, atp you should've seen the trial)

Disclaimer: This is a stretch, but hear me out.

It was pointed out in the trial that Ace's behavior was suspicious because he kept blaming Nico for Arei's murder, as shown here.

Ace Markey: --Totally the murderer! Now that we know that the murder took place in the morning, you can't excuse yourself with your "uhhh ummm I actually have an alibi" bullcrap!

Near the end of the trial, Teruko deduced that this behavior from Ace was very suspicious.

Teruko Tawaki: But in hindsight, Ace has been abnormally insistent about Nico's guilt, even by his standards.

I don't know if anyone has pointed this out, but now that I have the benefit of hindsight, there's another reason Ace's behavior in the trial was incredibly suspicious, and it has everything to do with David's secret reveal.

Back in Episode 10 who was the first person to actually mention that David is a scumbag?

You guessed it. The culprit himself.

Though Charles and Whit were actually the ones who revealed David's secret, Ace was the first person to actually mention that.

Isn't it incredibly ironic that Ace, a shitty person, calls out David for being a shitty person? By revealing that David is in fact a scumbag (and David going along with this notion, theatre kid style), Ace redirected the trial. A lot of people, the cast included, blamed David for misleading the trial. Though David is mostly at fault for this, Ace is partially to blame as well. I'm not sure if he did that intentionally or not, but either way it's (mostly) smart, especially since David went along with the "I killed Arei" crap. I say mostly because this reveal did in fact prove that Ace can be quiet and sneak around places.

Again, this is probably a stretch, but these are my thoughts.

Danganronpa Despair Time is a artistic masterpiece.

When I first stumbled upon DRDT, I didn’t see it as anything else but another danganronpa fangame, a simple derivative of the mainline series created by a admiring fan like all the other Fanganronpas invented (not to put shadow on other fangans, as they are all unique and also level to despair time. the skill and work put into them can’t be overlooked. take a look at Heartless Deceit and Brave Danganronpa for example!!! holy fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!). However, it did not take me long to realise that, in fact, Despair Time, is much more than that.

Danganronpa Despair Time is an amazing creation, a hidden gem with quite an alluring charm to it. What else is there to say? (there is a lot more to say.)

Ever since the prologue, the prelude, the start, the calm before the storm, released, Danganronpa Despair Time has never failed to deliver a beautiful and extremely compelling narrative. It doesn’t take a genius to tell that there has been an enormous amount of effort put into it.

The art, for one, is absolutely stunning. It’s level to the likes of famous games like, for example, Fortnite Battle Royale and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare IV. Both games have multiple artists, unlike Danganronpa Despair Time. The fact that it’s just one singular individual working on such is almost unbelievable.

The sprites mimic the Danganronpa style to a verisimilitude, looking extremely realistic. The cutscenes seem to also be similar, yet subtle hints of DTDev’s personal style are shown (eg. The lineweight), creating something that cannot be described as anything but perfection. It’s amazing how it works so nicely.

Let’s not forget the scriptwriting. The characters are extremely realistic, their struggles, goals and motivations hitting quite close to home for many individuals, including me.

For example, let’s take our protagonist, Teruko Tawaki. She is first introduced as someone who has no sense of belonging, not knowing who her parents are and being separated from her only (known) sibling at a young age. This, coupled with her amazing design, displays how Teruko is much more than the Ultimate Lucky Student, much more than simply the main character of Despair Time.

During chapter one, Teruko begins to feel more comfortable around the people around her, enjoying more of her time and even making friends. She builds trust with them, and forges bonds, just like we do.

However, when she meets up with Xander, things start going immediately downhill when he stabs Teruko, causing her to become unconscious and indirectly causing his own death in the process.

Once Teruko wakes up, she’s in the middle of a crime scene: Xander’s now a bloodied corpse, and she’s the main suspect for his murder. Because of this, everyone around her (who, mind you, got along with her extremely well before) began to move away from her.

This is exemplified even more during the first trial, where the spotlight ends up on Teruko, everyone seeming to believe that she was the one that killed Xander even though *he* was the one that attacked her first. Because of this, Teruko ends up flipping out in the middle of the trial, daring the others to vote for her, breaking down in anger and frustration for being betrayed by everyone in such a manner.

In the end, when Min is revealed to be the culprit and promptly executed, Teruko states that she hates everyone and says that she’s never going to trust anyone ever again, moving away.

A lot of people have said that they dislike Teruko for this, but I don’t share the same sentiment. In fact, I think it’s extremely realistic for her to have such a change in nature and breakdown. After all, consider:

- Someone she trusted immensely (Xander) tried to murder her and broke her trust through doing so. Infact, Xander was the first person Teruko met, so his bond with Teruko may have been stronger than the others.

- Min may have technically prevented Teruko’s death, but she also caused Xander’s and framed Teruko for it, making everyone think that Teruko was the one that killed him.

- Even though Teruko was clearly injured and frightened after being stabbed, the others kept seeing her as nothing but a potential murderer who’s proof of guilt would save their own lives, throwing heartless accusations at her without even letting her defend herself. Teruko had grown to like and trust most of them, so what do you think she’d feel if those people began to avoid her and think of her as a bad person who’d murdered someone out of cold blood?

How would *you* react if this happened to you?

Personally, I’d also react the same way as Teruko, throwing a fit and breaking down, perhaps even in tears. I don’t quite see why there’s any reason to hate her for such if you’re going to do the same thing in her position.

Then again, I’m not implying that Teruko is in the right, either. Especially since what she does in the Daily Life segment of Chapter 2, forcing Charles to take his clothes off and holding J at knifepoint among other things. However, there was a reason these occurred, that being the others’ betrayal of trust. Everyone’s technically in the wrong, and that’s the best part.

To elaborate on my last point in the previous paragraph- humans are not perfect. Pardon me for getting into a bit of philosophy and ethics, but there can never be a truly ‘good’ person as there is no true definition of morality, either. For example, someone stealing your copy of Persona 5 Clash Royale Silver isn’t nice, but so is yourself getting angry at them and burying them seven feet underground. Let’s all be honest here: We’ve all done something morally questionable in life at least once.

It’s also the same for the opposite end of the spectrum. In evil, there is still a hint of good. Your teacher in middle school may have been painfully strict, but he still had a soft spot for kittens. Criminals of all sorts have harmless hobbies, like gardening or cooking michelin star meals, that do not harm any humans in the process.

Danganronpa Despair Time understands that concept and utilises it with all the characters, not just Teruko. For example, Arei may seem quite rude, but in chapter two, when Arturo threatens Eden, she immediately jumps in to brutally roast Arturo to make him leave, but offers Eden to become her friend. She, like Teruko, is a extremely well-written character with many dimensions.

However, I digress. The point I’m trying to justify is that all of the individuals that make up the cast of Danganronpa Despair Time are beautiful characters that have clearly been well thought out.

Additionally, the story of Danganronpa Despair Time manages to sprinkle in the perfect mix of humour, drama and realism in its plotline and characters. Even if only two chapters have been released, you can tell that the future chapters will also be beautiful works of art. It’s just that sophisticated and fantastic. I’m surprised that Spike Chunsoft hasn’t contacted DTDev to make DRDT a real installment to the canon Danganronpa series.

Ultimately, to summarise, I’d like to reinstate that Danganronpa Despair Time is a gracious, absolutely splendid work of art this clearly has a lot of thought put into it. It’s characters, plot, story- everything, works together piece-by-piece to form an exquisite piece of media.

I’d like to thank everyone that has worked on DRDT- DTDev, Gen, Hydrator, Haru-Suwan, the voice actors, and the translators- for working to create such a sophisticated and sensational video series.

If anyone that I’ve mentioned above is reading this, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for creating such a wonderful masterpiece. I cannot reiterate it enough. Thank you so much.

99 notes View Post

neo-the-indigo

5 months ago

while this is an interesting take, it's still too soon to tell whether damon will be a good protag or not. the entire fangan needs to be released before we can determine his actual entertainment value.

I think I figured out why I don't like Damon as the protagonist of P:EG. And it has to do with my recent rewatch of House M.D.

Now, House is arguably worse as a person than Damon is. He causes trouble and does a lot of shit that should have sent him to prison multiple times. He treats people who have talents in other fields like complete idiots even when he's wrong about something and they're right, and is contrarian to spite others most of the time. He treats people like puzzles to solve. He nearly kills people, and in some cases actually did. And yet I find him more entertaining as a protagonist and want to follow him and his story.

And I think the key differences are three-fold.

He plays off other characters well and has one or two constant "straight men" to bounce off of who are equally as fucked up as he himself is. (Ex: Wilson, Chase, Foreman, Cuddy, etc.)

He's actually somewhat self-aware that he himself is just as much of the problem a lot of the time, even as early as season one episode one. (Points out times he was wrong on a diagnosis, how he's constantly being a jerk, that his Vicodin addition is an issue even if it helps him manage pain)

He actually has fears and reasons for doing what he does that play into why he is the way he is, all in ways that are easy to glean during his first few appearances. (the addition to solve a puzzle, the fear of being in pain, and more)

Damon doesn't have people he can play off of well. He's so self absorbed he refuses to even acknowledge the rest of his peers. He (currently) doesn't have a reason for being the way he is that we can put together through even context clues.

I think if they'd gotten the chance to live, Eva and Wolfgang could have been those people he could bounce off of along with maybe Kai or Diana. We could have seen more of the kind of Debater and Ultimate he wants to be and how he'd butt heads with people he's meant to be working with, even possibly leading. We could have someone who would actually be interesting to follow.

My problem isn't that Damon is an asshole protagonist.

It's that he's an asshole protagonist with barely any substance or real entertainment value.

16 notes View Post

neo-the-indigo

7 months ago

these designs are peak, especially eden, nico, and arturo's ones

DRDT Alien Stage AU (designed last year)