We're going to retry the first murder, woohoo!

So now we're hashing out what Rantaro's deal was.

Aww, poor guy.

Hello, random Detective Conan reference!

And now we reveal the switched shot put balls!

So Kaede and Rantaro became sacrifices to start the murders... :<

Aww, Shuichi...

Shoot, is it Tsumugi behind all this after all?

Himiko, please...

Ohhhh jeez

Tsumugi just had to remind us she left to go to the bathroom around the time Rantaro was killed...

I wanna believe in you too, Tsumugi... :<

"It's Junko Enoshima!"
"Wha--"
"Cuz... it's always been her."

Pfffffffffft

"Junko Enoshima is...!"
"Junko Enoshima is... WHAT?!
"...Okay, time for a commercial break!"

/ded

Okay, it's time for me to get some sleep now. XD

Junko Enoshima... the 53rd.

OKAY THEN

"Killing me never stops the game." So is it an endless loop after all?

Looks like I was right to not trust the flashback lights after all... before I just... sort of... accepted them anyway...

Yes, Maki. You tried to kill Kokichi over a lie. Well, that, and he was holding your boyfriend prisoner, buuuuut...

And it seems that the "they were all normal kids who were abducted and given fake Ultimate talents" idea was also true?

That's right... Kaede and Shuichi both said they remembered being dragged into a car and kidnapped when they woke up in the lockers at the very start.

Doesn't really match up with "we willingly signed on for the Gofer Project and went into cold sleep as Hope's Peak students."

Especially since when they first woke up, they were in their "normal" uniforms, not the Ultimate outfits they supposedly fell asleep in.

Surprise! Tsumugi is just that dedicated to her cosplaying!

Ooooookay... someone's trying to dethrone Metal Gear Solid as the meta-twisty-fourth-wall-breaking-mindfuck series...

So, going back to that kid from the start of this chapter... is this game all just some massive reality TV show?

It was

I... okay then... this is getting way too weird, tbh. There's got to be more to it, though...

...right?

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Tsumugi said this is all her cosplay. That makes it sound like it's something she started herself.

But the series somehow changed from video games to "real fiction" and has been going on for 53 seasons?

And no one in this super peaceful, super boring outside world has any problems with abducting and murdering dozens upon dozens of teenagers for entertainment?

If this is some kind of social commentary, I think it's about ten years too late.

Okay, so we're back to "they were all normal students who had Ultimate identities implanted."

Okay, but then, what about Rantaro's game? Was that another "real fiction" show?

So then explain what's going on with Keebo! Is he a robot or an average high school student?

If the latter, then what about his tech upgrades?

No, no, Kaede and Shuichi remembered being abducted

I... what. You're telling me everyone auditioned for an ungodly popular TV series that's on its 53rd incarnation now, and only Rantaro had any idea that waking up in a strange school meant "cool, I've been selected to participate!"?

This is just getting too farfetched and stupid. This has to be part of the lie.

Yeah, no. The second game pulled a big mindscrew on the survivors during the sixth trial before revealing the whole story, too.

So if this is all fiction, and the survivors have nowhere to go home to... then what happens to them after their game ends?

Do they just show up in the next game like Rantaro until they inevitably get killed?

If it's all scripted, then what's the point? (Insert comment here about how reality TV is also scripted, etc.)

No, the point of Danganronpa isn't despair.

It's hope. It's always been hope.

Hmm, I'm seeing a suspicious lack of Keebo in despair here...

Bad end~

KEEBO REVEALS HIMSELF AS THE TRUE PROTAGONIST ALL ALONG!

An audience survey? Really? Have you seen the internet? How do you think we got Boaty McBoatface?

So if there is an audience watching, then shouldn't Tsumugi falsifying Kaede's trial have consequences? She broke the show's rules.

And we still don't know what that "the killing game will continue until two people remain" rule was about.

So if hope wins and the mastermind is executed... what's forcing them to continue the killing game? The outside world?

How does playing by the mastermind's rules let hope win?!

In order to beat the game, you have to beat the mastermind, remember?

I'm gonna be honest here, unless it turns out the reality TV reveal is all a lie as well, this ending really kind of pisses me off.

Humanity is so depraved that they'd universally adore a real life killing game? Everyone is seriously okay with this?

And the "lol, it's all fiction!" twist also makes me feel like the writer just played too much Undertale decided they wanted to be all meta, too.

Awww, sad piano music... is this Clair de Lune?

"Nope, fuck this game. We're gonna break the cycle by... killing ourselves... which will make the audience decide they don't want this game anymore..."

I mean, I like the theme of how "the only way to win is to not play" and you advance by refusing to do anything in the minigames, but...

One debate and suddenly this worldwide audience of diehard fans is all "nah, forget this after all?"

I think it's less that they're depraved naturally and more that they've become depraved out of boredom... huh. Sounds familiar.

.....

Okay. I've watched through to the end and NicoB's wrapping up his thoughts before we move on to bonus content.

I have... feelings about what direction the story went in at the end, there.

Not very complimentary ones, to be honest.

Apparently not everything Tsumugi told us was the truth, but it's still... urgh.

I feel we're supposed to come to our own conclusions on what's the truth and what's a lie.

(Not that you'd ever guess that with the fandom, but... you know. Fandom. Toxic wastelands. Yes.)

Fair enough. I think I'll just set the canon aside and focus on AUs where everyone is alive and getting good therapy, tbh