AHHHH SHE'S SO CUTEEEEE

ANALYSIS/SPECULATION/OPINION TIME! (again)

So I've been thinking about Despair Time (again), specifically Teruko's animosity for David. It got me thinking, since I haven't seen many people mention this.

Why exactly, does Teruko hate David?

(Spoilers for literally the whole fangan. This is gonna be kinda long, so hang in there.)

Quick disclaimer: Some of the stuff in this post is based purely on what I have observed, so let me know if I miss something somewhere. Thanks :)

There are 2 other reasons why I think Teruko hates David, so I will list those reasons before I mention the main reason.

David's "entire personality" (Teruko's words, not mine) is "fake".

I mean, Teruko says this almost verbatum in the 2nd trial, based on her first interaction with David.

To me, this is a weird (but valid) reason to hate somebody.

(I'm not putting the pictures for Teruko's first interaction with David because we've all seen that lol)

2. David throws Teruko under the bus in the first trial.

The whole cast does, really, but David starts it. This is a more valid reason to hate David, in my opinion. David is the first person to be suspicious of Teruko's testimony (because he's a Xander simp, obviously).

This comment sparked the whole idea that Teruko was the killer, and once David said this, the rest of the cast (except for Eden) jumped on the bandwagon.

And after everyone but Eden sided with David, he was the first to accuse Teruko of murder. I'm aware that they had been discussing this before the trial began, but David is the first person to outright say this.

Though both of these reasons are valid, I don't think either of these are the main reason.

So, what's the main reason then?

Teruko hates David because she doesn't understand why he puts on the "nice guy" facade.

Teruko, from what I've seen, has a hard time understanding why David does what he does. I also believe that Teruko is nearly incapable of understanding why David's "entire personality" is fake, and doesn't really see how he (seems to be, based on what I've observed) conditioned to do so.

Here are some possible reasons why she might have some trouble understanding David's perspective.

Teruko's background/lack of talent.

As we all know, the Ultimate Lucky Student talent isn't a real talent, rather this talent exists because of winning a special lottery (according to canon Danganronpa, but for this I'm assuming that it works the same in DRDT universe.)

Unlike Teruko, the rest of the cast are real Ultimates, meaning that a LOT of people are watching them closely, expecting nothing short of the best. This especially applies to people like David and J, who are (in J's case, was) in the public spotlight constantly. Because David has millions of fans, he feels he has to put on a fake persona to appease them, when in reality, that's not his real personality. It's possible that David, like J, has been in the spotlight since he was young, and was conditioned to hide who he really is to appease other people.

Teruko, on the other hand, is a nobody, and doesn't have to deal with any kind of social expectation/pressure. No pressure from parents (since she's an orphan), and because she was constantly on the run, there was most likely no time to make room to please people when there were more pressing things to worry about like food and shelter. This is part of the reason why I think she's so blunt.

2. Teruko lives under a rock. (I love her, but she does.)

Now now, I mean this in an endearing way. Teruko seems like the type of person who couldn't name a celebrity if she tried, because like I said previously, she had bigger fish to fry. What tells me this is her reaction to J's secret reveal in Chapter 2, as well as what Levi and Arturo said to her during that time.

Out of the entire cast, Teruko was the only one who didn't know who J was (as a celebrity).

Based on both Levi and Arturo's comments, I can assume that not knowing who Mariabella Rosales is is pretty similar to not knowing who Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson or Beyonce are. So yeah, Teruko is 100% clueless about celebrities. Her own reaction says this too.

Yes Teruko, being a child celebrity is a big deal, and so is being revealed as the daughter of the most recognizable name in the nation.

Now, what does this have to do with Teruko understanding David?

Thing is, David is a celebrity just like J is, obviously. Biggest difference between them is that he is always in the public spotlight, while J successfully avoided the press. Like I've said previously, David puts on a fake persona because of his millions of fans that he needs to appease.

My point is, Teruko knows absolutely nothing about what celebrities have to deal with every day, so she doesn't think of their heavy influence on society and the constant pressure that they face. To her, being a celebrity isn't a big deal. This is great when it comes to treating celebrities like people, but not so much when understanding different perspectives.

Based on both of these reasons above, if David were to tell Teruko what he goes through as a celebrity, based on her background and limited knowledge of what celebrities go through, I'm not sure that she would understand. There would be a lot of questions in that area.

I don't think Teruko is dumb, but just not knowledgeable in that area. I honestly really hope Teruko and David's dynamic improves and that they can understand each other more (this is unlikely, but a girl can only hope.) Their dynamic is the most interesting to me, and I wanna see how it develops over time.

Tell me what y'all think. I totally did not spend 3 days on this (lol).

Here it is finally....

Okay, so I've been debating on whether or not I should make this post debunking one of TheBadJoe's theories, and I'm finally making it (yay!) If you haven't read the post, here is a link to the theory post I'm mentioning. You should also go to Episode 15's YouTube comment section to find his comment too.

The reason why I'm debunking this theory in the first place is because it sucks. A lot.

Disclaimer: This post is not hating or discrediting TheBadJoe and all his hard work. I'm just debunking his claims/shaky line of reasoning. I'm also aware that this post was made after episode 15 was released and before episode 16 was released.

Now, on to the theory debunking. This is probably the longest post I've ever written. (spoilers)

Let's start by summarizing the post in question. Basically, TheBadJoe is saying this:

"Charles mentioned the use of barehanded strangulation, meaning strangling without a weapon. But, Arei has no marks on her body other than her wrists, and Charles couldn't have known that if he didn't see the body. Therefore, that is a huge contradiction/discrepancy, and that means Ace isn't the culprit."

Well. I'm not sure how he reached that conclusion. Here's what I think.

This is NOT a discrepancy/contradition, for 2 main reasons.

I will explain these in detail below.

How did TheBadJoe misinterpret Charles's statement?

Mixing up terms and definitions.

TheBadJoe incorrectly assumed that barehanded strangulation meant not using a weapon. If you're wondering how I got that from the Tumblr post, I didn't. I initially found this theory in the YouTube comment section of episode 15, where I argued with him about this not being a discrepancy.

What he didn't realize is that barehanded strangulation isn't actually a strangulation term (and he proceeded to correct me while being loud and wrong lmao). What he's talking about is manual strangulation, which is defined as, "applying pressure to the neck using hands, arms, or legs." (If you want more info I read this article.) Why is this a mistake? I'll get to that, bear with me.

2. Misinterpreting Charles's character.

You're probably wondering, "What does Charles have to do with this, besides not seeing the body?" Well, he's the one who made the comment in the first place (ignore my sloppy highlighting lmao)

Charles is a character that prides himself on being pragmatic, logical and specific (heavy emphasis on specific.) If Charles were talking about Ace strangling Arei without the use of a weapon, he would actually say "manual strangulation". But he doesn't. He says barehanded specifically, which can be taken at face value. Charles is talking about Ace using his hands specifically. A little bit before this, Charles directly mentions Ace using his hands.

Charles is only talking about the usage of hands to knock Arei out, so why would he imply otherwise later? If another character had said this, that line of reasoning could work, but it's Charles. He's doesn't give vague descriptors, ever. Also, the cast has been mentioning that Arei didn't have marks on her body other than her neck, so Charles definitely knew about the evidence previously.

Okay. Now that we've covered how TheBadJoe misinterpreted the quote, let's move on to why what he pointed out is not, in fact, a discrepancy/contradiction. The reason is really simple, actually.

Ace used his forearm, not his hands, to strangle Arei.

I brought this up when making this claim to TheBadJoe, and he pointed out that this was an assumption made by Teruko.

Is is true that Teruko made an assumption? Yes. However, this is a very valid assumption, for quite a few reasons. I will list them below.

There's no evidence that Ace strangled Arei with his hands.

This is the most obvious reason that TheBadJoe missed somehow. If Ace used his hands, there would be proof of that on Arei's neck, such as bruising or maybe some swelling. Like he pointed out, Arei has no other marks on her body besides the red marks on her wrists. (I used this article btw)

2. You don't strangle someone from behind using your hands.

Also a really obvious reason. Even Ace is smart enough not to do that. Smh.

3. Strangling someone with your hands is a lot harder and more time consuming than using your forearm.

Like I've mentioned before, Arei had no signs of struggle. If Ace used his hands, there would've been more evidence of that, not just on Arei's neck, but possibly on Ace as well. Arei isn't the type of person who would go down without a fight, as we all know, so it is highly likely that Arei would've injured Ace further if there was a scuffle. Plus, the dev would've written something like that in if that were the case.

4. It ruins the goal of stealth/element of surprise.

If Ace had strangled Arei with his hands, he would've had to do so from the front, which lowers his chances of being successful. Again, Ace isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he isn't that dumb.

Let's move on to one of the counterpoints that TheBadJoe mentioned.

He has a great point, and the turpentine is a great example.

Here's the thing though. The DRDT universe and the real world are pretty similar, so things that are different in the DRDT universe have to be established as different before applying it to something else. The turpentine is a great example of that (it works like chloroform in the DRDT universe, unlike the real world. That was established by Teruko in episode 7, as mentioned in the inital comment.) However, this does not apply to strangulation/Ace's strength. Why Ace's strength specifically? Simple. The only character that has been presented to have an abnormal amount of strength is Xander (and he's dead.) And even then, Xander's Hulk-strength (exaggerating) was established previously before being applied to the chapter 1 trial. Xander specifically could probably leave a mark, but Ace? It's safe to assume that's not the case. And before you go, "No it doesn't!" yes it absolutely does. Otherwise, it's bad writing, and DRDT is far from poorly written.

In other words, it's not a discrepancy because strangulation wasn't established as something that works different from the real world previously.

Okay, now to the final part of the debunking.

Most importantly, how does this prove Ace's innocence, and Eden guilty?

This is my biggest issue with this theory post. How did he intentionally leave out what actually ties Ace to the crime (the stretch band? His confession?) Even if this was a discrepancy, the evidence would still point to Ace! There also isn't a single piece of evidence that points to Eden and Eden alone. I'm super unsure about where his brain was going with that one.

Okay that's it! This totally didn't take me almost a month of procrastination! I hope y'all like it. If there's a discrepancy in my analysis please let me know so I can fix it.

Thanks for reading :)

DAVID. CHIEM.

I SAID MY PIECE.

and if i say something

Black representation

Just wanna mention this.

As a Black person myself, it's great to see characters like Eden and Rose (though Eden is blasian.) Black characters in media are sometimes not represented well (as in they perpetuate stereotypes) but that's not the case with Eden and Rose.

Eden specifically is the sweet, nice, more docile character (though it's established that she's more than that) but that's a rarity to see Black characters in that way.

Rose being the ultra smart but innattentive character is also not something I see in Black characters often.

I love both of them partially because I can relate to them, as a nerdy Black girl myself. My point is that both Rose and Eden break stereotypes of what Black characters can be. I'm not sure if the dev intended on this, but thank you regardless.

Speaking of Black characters in fangans and diversity in fangans in general, I'd like to see a little more (racial) diversity in fangans in general. I'm not saying every fangan should be this way, but I'd just like to see more of it.

this is so true NOOOOOOO

Just got hit with the revelation that Hama, Harada, and Chiba are just Mondo, Kiyotaka, and Chihiro in a different font and I’m not okay

⠀

can we also talk about how none of these politicians pictured are radical leftists, and by picturing these people, ted cruz doesn't know what being radically left is

hilarious.

genuinely in hysterics over this image actual united states senator ted cruz posted on twitter

- he watermarked it

- trains run on tracks so the point of the whole meme around who's steering it makes zero sense

- trains also don't have road signs

- i really don't think ted cruz has ever been on a train before

- bernie looks so happy at the front of the train it makes me feel like i'm five and he's the conductor of the train on the children's TV show i was invited to attend a live taping of

- no seriously i don't think ted cruz knows what a train is i think this should be the new "it's a banana what could it cost michael" in terms of rich people being hilariously out of touch with every day reality

- help

WHY DIDN'T I REALIZE THIS SOONER

spoilery spoilers for project: eden's garden chapter 1

I rewatched Eva's execution for like the umpteenth time and I just now realized that she DAMN NEAR SURVIVED HER EXECUTION?? LIKE ALL SHE HAD TO DO WAS PULL HERSELF UP ON THE PLATFORM. BEST GIRL COULD'VE LIVED (even though she did have the execution coming, and the exit was probably full of traps, she had a better chance.)

I don't think I can name another execution where the culprit very nearly escaped their death.

Okay thanks for coming to my mini rant. I got another rant coming soon about my band kid adventures so stay tuned if ya want :)

teruko tawaki for president

its shitposting hours

and from the drdt livestream

um so akira isn't the ultimate hitman OR the ultimate internet sensation. SHE'S THE ULTIMATE RIZZLER.

the one time i will call david pookie

david works in retail. and happy birthday david!!