more spoilery V3 rants? Yes please.

THAR BE DANGANRONPA V3 SPOILERS BELOW. YE BE WARNED.

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An opinion I've noticed here and there about DR is which cast is the best. Some people love the SDR2 kids the best, others find V3 better, and the unpopular opinion tends to be the DR1 cast, who of course had the disadvantage of being first, and thus before the many improvements of the mechanics and story of the games. Trials are shorter, chapters shorter, cases usually simpler, and thus less depth for whatever character died next or who the culprit was or who developed throughout the game due to the various murdery events.

Anyway occasionally that splits into categories, like which rival was the best, which protag, which female lead, or say a group! Which protagonist trio was superior? Who was the best died for our sins character? Which cinnamon roll was least bland? Etc. I think I mentioned this in an earlier post, but which cast of girls was the best was one I tended to pay quite attention to for obvious reasons. My favourite characters have mostly been girls in DR, and I am not here to elaborate why. Anyway either someone is throwing about their opinion often and everywhere, or that one of the more popular opinions is that the strength of V3's cast lies mostly on the guys, not the girls. In fact the girls were much better in SDR2! Basically, the best husbandos came from V3 and the best waifus were from SDR2. I can kinda see that opinion in a way, though I don't necessarily agree with it.

I think largely it comes down to how many in a cast were comprised of JOKE characters. For instance in SDR2, a lot of the male characters were joke characters in some way and either weren't plot relevant or only stuck around to provide comedy relief. What they might bring to the story itself is pretty minimal, and they're harder to take seriously when they aren't well, serious. Characters like Hanamura, Kazuichi, Nidai, and Gundam were quite over the top characters no matter how much you enjoyed their vibrant personalities. Also in terms of conventionally attractive characters, not a lot to choose from on the male side either. You got the protag who tends to look generic and bland, and even if you did like Hajime's design you  rarely got to see him outside of trials The Imposter, Hanamura, and Nidai all fall outside the range of being a cute anime boy, and while it's a stretch, it's not as if Kazuichi or Fuyuhiko are designed to be that boytoy yummy looking character all the fangirls can latch onto. Well, I mean maybe Fuyuhiko. Depends what you're looking for. Gundam can even be a bit too extreme for some people's tastes, and so you're left with well...Komaeda.

Hm. Yeah.

So not A LOT to choose from in terms of someone who has like, the most boring and standard taste in the world. Meanwhile there are many girls in that realm of conventionally attractive. Even our female lead, Chiaki, brings to the table quite a lot, from her cute design to her huge rack to lure in the guys and girls that are into that and her common interest with the player themselves, gaming... add to it her relevance to the plot and that's already one of many. Kazuichi often sings the praises of Sonia, who comes in looking like the typical Aryan beauty. Ibuki's here with her loud design that still looks pleasing to the eye along with her personality. Peko's attractive and looks like she can kill you. Akane comes in with the boobs, but she doesn't really win crowds in the depth or character department sadly. Mahiru looks a tad bland, but you could say design-wise she's like the equivalent of Hajime, and so our only minuses are the unpleasant and tiny Saionji. Oh and of course there's Mikan around to win crowds as well with her sympathy-bait traits. I could go on-and-on-and-on... I might be bringing up the design aspect a bit too much, but there are less joke characters in this crowd. Akane and her food? Sure. Maaaaybe Ibuki? She brings in a sense of emotional attachment and fun as well, though I could be biased. Saionji if you consider her screentime to be amusing in any way... I don't. But most of the females are fairly serious and are stuck with some sort of tragic backstory, tragic circumstance, or some other suspenseful, emotional attachment to the plot that's not meant to be laughed at. 

V3 on the other hand we have very plot relevant characters in the guys, even in Rantaro when he was killed off first! Including Rantaro we also have Kokichi and Kaito as well influencing the plot. These three characters aren't jokes whatsoever and have conventional attractiveness to their designs, nothing wacky and crazy. Our musclehead Gonta is meant less to look over-the-top (he looks far more toned-down design-wise compared to previous beefcakes) and is this game's resident sympathy-sink instead. Kork may be batshit insane to the extreme, but he provided great intrigue while alive and before the ridiculous twist, while also maintaining the conventional design (albeit with the creepy add-ons) in the aesthetics department. I'd equal him with Gundam in that sense. Ryoma may have looked ridiculous but his personality was anything but, and he was quite loved by those who understood his struggles. Shuichi has long eyelashes and is our angsting little protag who shows up in the game where we get to see the protag's sprite lots! I'm pretty sure I just mentioned literally every male character here. Not a single one of them is a joke character.

Oh right Kiibo. Why do I always forget about him. Well TECHNICALLY he is neither male nor female, but in the interest of this discussion, he too is plot relevant (eventually) and tho was treated as a joke many times it was moreso other characters utterly disrespecting him in the interest of comedy as opposed to Kiibo himself that was the joke.

Meanwhile our female cast do not fare as strongly in this department. We could have had our wonderful female protagonist, but she died, she died! Really early on in fact, and though remains throughout the story as an emotional connection especially to Shuichi and his lingering development, wasn't relevant to the plot as much as Rantaro was. Everyone still loves Kaede tho. Then we have Kirumi who while of course looks pretty of course wasn't plot relevant, did not have an attachment to any particular character (bonds always make characters stronger than when they're alone!) and dies early. She's got an infamous execution at least... ? Angie's sort of a hatesink in the interest of developing a conflict that comes to its pique in chapter three, while Tenko, Himiko, and Miu all contribute to the story either emotionally or in Miu's case, through her talent, can easily be summarized as joke characters too. Joke characters with more depth than the joke ones from SDR2, who might only have gained depth in their FTEs if lucky, but compared to the rest are joke characters nonetheless. Maki is controversial. Oh and Tsumugi is boring with her one-trick reference bit, who does nothing until she's revealed to be the mastermind, but she's not really the real TOTAL mastermind controlling absolutely everything like Junko was, and her twist sort of comes out of nowhere instead of being foreshadowed leaving Tsumugi left as moreso a before-and-after character.. so yeah ....

Also aside from Maki, none of them are nearly as plot relevant as the males. Sadness.

STILL. 

I think the reason why I prefer the V3 cast, including the females, or rather ESPECIALLY the females over the SDR2 cast is due to the depth. Like let's take both Miu and Kazuichi for instance, two characters with similar talents who serve as comedic relief and as a sort of pathetic jokey character in both games. I like Miu better. Why? Miu contributed quite a bit to the plot with her talent, but not only that her brand of comedy was always such a breath of fresh air in V3. The atmosphere is always dreary and sad and emo, then Miu comes out of nowhere with the most creative vulgar insult or slur ever, and how she reacts when others fight back is even better. She's consistently entertaining in her own unique way, which Kazuichi never really provided. His inventions weren't quite as dynamic, then again he is a mechanic not an inventor, and he mostly ran around being a coward, or accusing Hajime of things, or hitting on Sonia. Nothing that stood out. That Kazuichi survived and Miu didn't is kind of a shame in that sense, but DR is DR. The series doesn't discriminate when it comes to whoever dies or lives. Well okay, except to muscle people. Gain any sense of tone in your arms and death is guaranteed. ):

Or another example is how often people complain that a useless character lived, like Hagakure or Akane. They didn't contribute to the plot and their participation in trials did nothing to help advance the trial itself. Now V3 only has the luxury of three survivors, so by default Himiko is the traditional 'useless' survivor, yet when people complain about her longevity I get upset. Sure she's one of if not my absolute favourite of V3 so I'm biased, but it's not as if Himiko is useless entirely! She may be a bit of a joke character and not do much in trials, but just the sheer fact that she developed as a character made her far more useful than any of the other so-called 'useless' survivors ever were! Her contributions to the game were mainly emotional and I'm a sucker for emotional shit, so what can I say? Also with Danganronpa's tendency to shoo out the clowns, one of the survivors is always meant to be a comic relief character, but always one of the more subdued ones because God forbid we have Gundam's mannerisms ruin the suspense of chapter sx's many twists! Himiko is one of those, just like Akane or... well I dunno how Hagakure counts since he did seem over-the-top from the get-go, but his survival is a mystery to all to the point that he himself is entirely a joke with no substance whatsoever. Or at least that's what Danganronpa itself loves to imply, anyway. Who can disagree with that?

But in essence the V3 girls feel a lot more three dimensional due to heir flaws, but not only that they have flaws, but how those flaws are presented. A character like say... Mahiru is sort of plain, and her flaws are little harder to define, but they're there. She has the tendency to lecture, chastises how boys act a lot, and forgives Saionji's actions far too often for her own good. But while her flaws were understated and harder to see, so too were her virtues. What's great about Mahiru? She's not as insane as her other over-the-top classmates? She's nice? She's relatable? I don't know.

Now we have Tenko, who IS over-the-top with her flaws, and is sort of ridiculous. You might say, well that's an SDR2 character right there! But then Tenko brings with her pretty obvious virtues too. While she insults and belittles boys without holding back, she also compliments and encourages girls without holding back either! She starts off seemingly having a selfish and superficial crush on Himiko, but over time we learn she also wants to befriend Himiko first and worries for her psyche and well-being too! To the point that she'd go out of her way to defend her, or to secretly infiltrate a cult just to make sure she's okay, to even giving speeches to the girl to keep her spirits up! It's really heartwarming in a way. Tenko's kind of like a much more well-defined Mahiru. It magnifies the flaws all the more, from the nagging of boys to the ASSAULT of boys, but then it also magnifies the virtues. Mahiru for some reason is okay with Saionji getting away with shit. Why? Well she probably understands her or whatever and wants to improve her as a person, but we can't really see Mahiru's intents that well. We could easily believe Mahiru's a hypocrite who chastises a guy for being mean but is completely okay with Saionji doing it instead due to her innocent appearance.

Meanwhile, Tenko's so obvious about how she feels it's impossible to misinterpret her intents. Yeah. she hates men, but she clearly likes Himiko, and clearly wants Himiko to have a better view of life, and thus a more healthy way of living, leading to a flourishing lifestyle. This extends to how Tenko acts around say, other characters like Kaede or Shuichi, but those fall into FTE territory. Even without the FTEs, there are moments in the game where the writing seems to conveniently forget about Tenko's androphobia for the purposes of plot, like when Tenko throws Shuichi (thus touching him when she was repulsed doing so in the FTE) and subsequently reads Shuichi's true inner conflicts and gives him advice. Well that was random and good, all of a sudden! It's like Tenko's biggest flaw might only be there for comedic purposes or something.... but bad writing or not, it's refreshing because it leaves Tenko as less of a one-note character. In this sense, Tenko feels like she has dimension. She's extreme, but she almost seems more realistic somehow... I don't know how to describe it.

Another comparison is Kaede and Chiaki. Kaede starts off seemingly like an endgame Chiaki, there to encourage everyone while never doing wrong. While Chiaki starts off as someone you sort of overlook at first, not especially standing out (unless her design pops out to you) compared to the many other wacky characters in the cast. Chiaki eventually gains her position as female lead and ends up never doing anything wrong, rarely if any shows any visible flaws that couldn't be attributed to her status as a AI, and despite being executed as the culprit, due to Komaeda's bullshit luck is the least culpable of any culprit ever and fits more as a victim in a case than a culprit anyway. CHIAKI IS PERFECT! I still love her as a character but in terms of flaws and depth, Chiaki's not the person to go to. That's Kaede.

Starting off as perfect usually means one must be torn down, where their perfectly pristine outer shell is ripped apart to reveal the ugly pulsing innards inside. It's usually not to such an extreme extent, but one reason Kaede became so interesting was due to her mastermind murder plot. It wasn't the perfect plot by any means, and by the last trial you even find out it ultimately failed in every way, not only to kill the mastermind but to kill anyone at all, and yet Kaede died anyway. Though she dug the hole that got her killed, she was also the victim of misfortune as well. She made a stupid plan that didn't even work and it got her killed off anyway. That was her fatal flaw, her ultimate downfall, but for a character like Kaede so seemingly pure and good and nice to do something like that makes her so much more human than I would argue ANY of the female cast in SDR2. And that's saying something. Yet her greatest virtue paid off posthumously in Shuichi's development, being able to keep him going despite her death, and despite her sin. IT'S SO GREAT! 

Basically what I'm getting at is yes, while the female cast of V3 might appear to only exist for comedic relief or to pad the story out as less relevant characters than the guys, they still fill out their roles admirably with more depth than the casts of the previous games did. That's why I like them. They're more human, more relatable, and thus it is all the more soul-crushing when they die. I think it's a testament when my favourite characters go from characters like Ibuki and Chiaki from SDR2 to characters like Tenko and Himiko from V3. Ibuki and Chiaki are great characters, good in alignment, cheer you up and encourage you to go on further; Ibuki's so independent she doesn't form a strong bond with any single student, but manages to be fun personified in every single event. Chiaki ultimately leads the protagonist to choose the best option in the end for his future, and basically helps us win the game. All well and good, right? 

But alas, not many flaws or development are involved in their presence. Ibuki dies too early, but even if she didn't there weren't hints of a character arc starting like with Saionji. Chiaki lives for longer but she serves to fulfill the development of another character (Hajime) instead of her own, dying in an ultimate noble sacrifice. There's not a lot to go around individually with these two... They certainly are characters that cheered me up, and would be people I'd be friends with due to their pleasant and uplifting natures ...

Meanwhile we have the lazyass delusional Himiko and the obnoxious misandrist Tenko.

Both characters had detractors early on, Tenko moreso, but during the first half of the game several people grew tired of Himiko's repetitive lazy shtick and magic jokes. Defenders of both might even accuse the other of dragging their favourite down. I've heard Himiko fans tear down Tenko, who was breaching creepy stalker territory when it came to Himiko. I too was part of this crowd the first time I was exposed to the game. My first impressions of Tenko were not great to say the least, and more than once I had spoken out loud for Tenko to leave Himiko alone. There are too, Tenko fans who believed Himiko treated her horribly, often ignoring her or being rude to Tenko, and therefore declaring Himiko did not deserve Tenko in any way. Even if I was on the Himiko train early on, this perspective has a point too. Yes, I agree with both.

Because both characters were flawed, and it detracted from their relationship early on in the game. Had neither of them evolved, I never would have considered the two as a duo to be anything more than just a duo, maybe something similar to the Sonia and Kazuichi dynamic from SDR2. Characters who both didn't really change much over the course of the game nor were especially plot relevant, but Kazuichi's one-sided fling with Sonia was...amusing I guess? There wasn't really much to it beyond that. A joke.

Yet as we learned more of these characters, and as time went on within the game, things changed. Once the spotlight turned to Tenko and Himiko, their interactions switched from a comedic standpoint to a story standpoint. Conflict arose with Angie's cult, and Himiko's need to mentally wish the present situation away. Instead of going to Tenko for comfort like she might have wanted, obviously Himiko turned to the only source that was offering a reasonable solution to her problems: Angie. This of course leads Tenko to jealously, and her own delusions because it's not as if she were super best friends with Himiko at this point anyway, but sometimes even when two characters aren't moving in the right direction, a little shakeup may be the best way to right the path to friendship. I like the fact that despite Tenko's obvious desires, she takes the right steps at the right order to win Himiko over. Himiko needs a source of comfort, friendship, something to lift her mind from the horrors of the killing game; in short, Tenko thinks of what Himiko's needs and desires are before her own, no matter how vocal she often was of them.

Some people expressed disappointment with the direction of Tenko's character because when she was initially teased, a lot of people expected some sort of arc where she'd learn to like boys, and thus would have some bond with some particular boy, perhaps the protagonist and soon her misguided and discriminatory views would be whisked away. Or maybe they had expected some sort of tragic background that lead to Tenko's stubborn beliefs, but neither occurred, or at least were elaborated on as much as they could have been before her untimely end. There were small hints, like Tenko's single mention of her alcoholic father, or her moments with Shuichi, FTE or not, that slowly, gradually, turned her direction for the better when it came to her views on men. And yet, none of it lead to fruition due to her death. What could have been, really? We may never see how it could have played out, but I still think what we got was fascinating and maybe a little less predictable than most people hoped for following the trailers.

Like Chiaki, Tenko did ultimately serve the purpose of developing another character, but before she died and fulfilled this purpose, Tenko was also strongly her own character. I truly believe her biggest and most obvious flaw was meant for comedy most of all, considering at the times of strongest tension, Tenko's distaste of men was lowkey. Heck, the only scrum debate she had a role in had her on Shuichi's side, and her point of argument was to rely on Shuichi's words, a boy! Even if her loyalty was most pronounced with Himiko, when push came to shove, Tenko would show that side of her to anyone, and I mean anyone. Tenko reminds me of a shelter dog, an animal who is so ready to love, but her former master trained her incorrectly, or was well-meaning but inexperienced in the field of dog-ownership, causing unwanted habits to develop in the dog. Perhaps everything the dog did wrong with attributed with the colour red, like maybe the dog misbehaved and would always be put inside a red kennel and then left alone for hours on end, whereas the blue kennel was always used for travelling like going to the vet. Ignoring the fact that dogs probably can't see that well of a spectrum of colour, the dog might believe anything associated with red is bad, and would bite anything red. The red car, the red coke can, the red sofa, etc. I KNOW WHERE I AM GOING WITH THIS ANALOGY I SWEAR. Because the master would leave for so long while she is in the red kennel, she now believes the colour is responsible for taking the people she loves away. 

Anyway that was longwinded, but Tenko is essentially that but with boys.  BOYS ARE BAD, says her master, in an effort to keep her focus on her martial art and not to be distracted by the usual teenage girl distraction that could lead her away from the discipline of her art. But Tenko takes it to the extreme because instead of explaining exactly why boys are bad, he instead tries to associate it with something else that would make Tenko unhappy, like weakening her skills in Neo-Aikido, and so Tenko starts to believe men are terrible in every sense of the word if they can do such a monstrously powerful thing. Tenko's master kind of sucks by the way, in sort of an amusing way, but he's not the greatest influence on Tenko in the least, ha. Anyway just the very fact that I can elaborate so much of Tenko's character without mentioning Himiko is evidence enough that Tenko can be a character on her own and doesn't rely on another to exist. Himiko was a big part of her screentime and lines yes, but Tenko was MORE than that, and that made her so much more interesting. Often my favourite ships and friendships I'm attached to one of the characters and the other one I find okay but their bond itself is so strong and intriguing that I like the other character by proxy too, but never for that character alone! Tenko and Himiko break that pattern.

And yes sadly Tenko dies before all that potential can be explored, but in a game like this where dying is just second nature, you can't really complain. The fact that she leads Himiko on her own development path leaves behind a legacy too! So many other deaths the character just ends where they die, and they don't affect any survivors or the plot down the road. Peko still had lasting memory and influence on Fuyuhiko. Rantaro still had relevance to the plot five chapters after his death. Mikan's demise was foreshadowing to the twist of the very end as well, meaning her sudden character change was not just a random reveal of insanity like say Korekiyo's was, and so had so much more substance within the story. Saionji dying without having changed and none of the characters she was associated with surviving beyond chapter three was an utter waste. A dead end if you will, and so is Ishimaru, all the things he learned from Mondo coming to a stark end with his death. Ryoma and Kirumi were standalone characters in their own chapter leaving little of a mark on the plot or the remaining characters, making chapter two arguably filler-y in a way. I could go on and on, but I'm glad Tenko wasn't a part of the latter group.

Though if Tenko remained alive she could have chipped little by little away all of Himiko's anxieties and flaws, her death sent Himiko into overdrive, to the point that her last words motivated Himiko to such a point that she rushed on forward without a plan or thought process whatsoever on what to do. Himiko was forcing herself in chapter four to not be who she had been her entire life, so it's no wonder her character was wonky in chapter four. I've heard a few people mention she was flanderized in chapter four and that utterly confused me. How do you flanderize a character by making them change drastically and that change only existing on one chapter? That doesn't make sense? Did that person know what the term flanderization even meant? Well I digress, Himiko was running all over the place and screaming her lungs out trying to change so quickly that of course it felt unnatural, but also heartwarming how much effort Himiko was putting into it. Not only from a sense of encouragement, but a sense of guilt and regret from not acknowledging Tenko sooner. Himiko, unlike Tenko, is not someone whose intents and feelings are obvious from the get-go. Anything but! I feel looking into her actions tell a stronger story of Himiko's feelings more than just reading her dialogue.

I think by the time chapter three started Himiko had warmed up to Tenko, but was too lazy or unmotivated to vocalize such a thing. We could tell she thought better of Tenko by merely hanging out with her, and not complaining that Tenko was hovering around her like she had been in earlier chapters. What Tenko did, defending her no matter what in the second trial when Himiko was a suspect really gave her this feeling of support that she was trying to find in Angie's religion. But of course even if Himiko was willing to be around Tenko around this point, it's not as if Tenko wasn't overbearing or perhaps exhausting Himiko with her presence either. After all with Tenko being the extrovert she was and Himiko an introvert it was bound to happen, so she will still seek Angie out for support too. I really strongly relate to Himiko in so many ways, more than any character I can think that I've liked in a while. Like Tenko there were hints of Himiko's background that were never explored. With Tenko it was the potential father issues, but with Himiko it was bullying. She always had a strong opinion against bullying, and was picked on by both Kokichi and Miu for her appearance, a common thing to be bullied for, and Kokichi and Miu both having bully-like personalities as well. Himiko's pretty easy to pick on too. She stands out in more ways than one, so it made sense. Still, this was not an aspect of Himiko that was explored beyond the first chapter. 

I mean, sometimes I feel like a quiet unassuming person who had always wanted a tight-knit group of friends and envied those who easily made them and was often surrounded by people, but still somehow chose to spend most of my time alone anyway, and was always afraid to speak up. Yet, I have this yearning of making others happy, seeing them smile, not only smile but smile because of me. At the same time, I sort of feel like an outcast, different from others, interests always being something else, not often having a topic to discuss with others that wasn't something specific the common person wouldn't be interested in. If I did bring it up, I'd be so excited to be talking about it it'd be the ONLY thing I'd ever talk about, and then I'd fear being disliked for being so eager in my singular topic and annoying the other party. That's why I just don't talk. The fear. I sometimes see Himiko like this, someone who has achieved that ability to make others smile, but also loses the boundary that keeps their interests at bay, often mentioning their singular interest at any time, no matter how appropriate it is. However this lack of barrier leaves her vulnerable, and she's easy pickins for teasing and insults, and ends up naive and gullible to more malicious people. This also leaves her emotionally vulnerable, so she seeks comfort in people, and probably has a horrible sense of judgment when it comes to people, but I guess since there's only fifteen other people that's not much to pick on anyway. Himiko is lucky both Angie and Tenko were the ones to gravitate to her first because though she needs support she's too lazy and introverted to ever initiate anyway. 

And I just relate to that on such a level... Himiko needed these people to open her up, to overcome those obstacles and flaws so she could face reality and become a better person. It's not as if Himiko becomes perfect after Tenko's death. She still carries with her those flaws. She's still gullible and naive, but now she has the motivation and the desire, and is trying to BE better. I wish I had someone like Tenko in my life, but someone like her doesn't exist. I can only equate her to a dog that gives you unconditional love no matter what, or someone literally in love with you they could sit next to you and listen to you gush about your passions for hours on end, and instead of it being a favour to you, it's something they genuinely love to do. This person doesn't exist. It's such a selfish desire for a person like this to exist, someone warped to your own whims. People are people. People are different. They can't be melded to what you, or in this case, I, want. That is why in real life, in reality the best functioning couples are of the utmost ultimate compromise. 

...anyway.. yes I've rambled on enough. I just can't get enough of V3's cast. I love them to bits. The ones I really love I especially love. The ones I don't are at least still interesting. Not a single character isn't interesting in this cast. They all served their purpose, whatever purpose they had. No one was wasted, and most certainly no one was useless.

TL;DR Ibuki is my best friend, Himiko is my child, and TENKO IS MY WIFE!!