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The Chapter 4 Essay Part 1: Kokichi Ouma

A metapost on my thoughts on Kokichi’s overall motivations and Gonta’s actions during ch4. Split into two parts. You can find the Gonta half here: (LINK)

I think the way Kokichi acts when he’s telling the truth says something crucial about his personality. When he’s telling the genuine truth, his expression becomes carefully neutral.

(post trial, chapter 1)

To me, it feels like he’s trying very hard to keep this face of neutrality. Normally, he’s able to expertly express any emotion that he wants to. In these moments, its almost like the emotion he’s feeling is so overpowering that he’s trying to repress it in order to maintain control over the face he presents to everyone else, but isn’t quite able to do so.

Kokichi is very careful about keeping people from seeing the parts of himself that he doesn’t choose to show. His villain persona and constant lying is part of this- He wants to keep people away from him. During the events of the killing game, he uses the distance that he creates in many ways. Part of it was that not having many close alliances allowed him to go off and do whatever he wanted during daily life. This let him explore the school and investigate the truth of the killing game without interruption or much attention. Lying also gave him distance between the game and himself. Pretending that the killing game was fun might’ve been his way to cope with everything that was happening. I think Kokichi is really damn good at separating himself from his emotions, lying to himself to do what he thinks needs to be done. This line from Chapter 1 is pretty telling…

(post trial, chapter 1)

This was also something he says himself to Kaito in the exisal hanger during chapter 5.

(post trial, chapter 5)

I’m inclined to believe everything that Kokichi says to Kaito in the exisal hanger. As Kiibo says when Kaito questions it, “I think his dying words may have been the honest truth.” Knowing he was about the die, and that he absolutely needed Kaito’s help to get his plan to break the killing game to work- to achieve his genuine, true goal- I don’t see any reason for him to lie.

This emotional distance extends past just the killing game. I think it's a key part of how he interacts with others around him.

Kokichi is an ultimate leader. I think he uses his talent throughout the game in an attempt to “lead” everyone from the shadows. He wanted to stop the killing game and escape with as many people as possible. However, his methods are very ends-justify-the-means. I believe that he did genuinely care about everyone at the ultimate academy, but in the detached way a distant king might care about his subjects. On the other hand, if he had to use or sacrifice a few as pawns for the greater good, that is what had to be done. It’s not like it didn’t emotionally affect him, but I think he was deliberately trying to keep his distance so that it would not impact him as much, and so that he could continue trying to tear the killing game apart with as many tools in his arsenal as possible.

(post trial, chapter 5)

With this core motivation in mind, this brings us to Chapter 4.

In my opinion, the Killing Game Busters was never a plan that was meant to succeed. From an in-game perspective, the idea that he was originally going to follow this mercy kill plan doesn’t make sense to me. Firstly, Kokichi already had suspicions that they were being watched as early as chapter 3.

(post trial, chapter 3)

…and he later confirms that he was fully convinced of this fact when Monokuma agreed to reuse the chapter 4 motive in the virtual world.

(post trial, chapter 5)

He knew that this killing game was for somebody else’s entertainment. I’ll go a bit into the secret of the outside world in a moment, but considering this, I don’t think he ever fully believed in it. Choosing to mercy kill everyone, in the name of a “truth” that was incompatible with what he had discovered… just doesn’t make sense to me.

Not to mention, from a narrative standpoint, I think the idea that he was completely for this mercy kill plan, decided to throw out the plan mid-trial, and then start an entirely different plan to end the killing game in chapter 5, isn’t very compelling. It weakens Kokichi’s overall character by making his motivation less cohesive and making him seem less organized over all, which I think is one of his strengths as a character. A Kokichi that is this fickle with what he’s trying to do would not have been able to write the script for chapter 5.

I think he always had different goals in mind with the Killing Game Busters. The first was something that is made very clear in chapter 5, but started here in chapter 4: He wanted to stop the killing to give himself room to break the game while minimizing deaths. The second was to further villainize himself, for all the reasons I talked about above, and some more I will get into in a little bit.

Seeing the secret of the outside world was undoubtably disturbing, regardless of whether he believed it or not; there is a noticeable shift in how Kokichi acts before and after he swipes that card key. Combined with discovering that Miu, someone he’d been working with closely, was planning on murdering him, I believe that seeing the destruction of the outside world pushed him towards more drastic measures than what he had been doing in previous chapters. He decided that in order for his plan in chapter 5 to work (which he had almost certainly already been planning at this point, considering how elaborate it was), he needed to make everyone question if pursuing the truth was the right thing to do at all.

After Miu’s body discovery, nobody was really worried about losing this class trial. Everyone had seen how Shuichi had guided them all to the truth and caught the blackened three times in a row, despite the unique difficulties in each case. They had full confidence in his abilities.

(investigation, chapter 4)

Shuichi is also not really doubting his abilities as a detective anymore. One of Shuichi’s core internal conflicts is his fear of the consequences of revealing the truth. Up to this point, it seems like he’s been moving past it. Especially after catching Korekiyo “Actual Serial Killer” Shinguji, who had no regrets or grey motivation for his killings. Shuichi’s morale, and subsequently everyone else’s, was at an all time high. (Of course, he was starting to feel a lot of pressure to solve these cases and save everyone on his own… but that’s another issue. ily Shuichi)

If Kokichi could take the wind out of Shuichi’s sails, really destroy the confidence he had built up so far, he could set up his impossible trial in chapter 5 to be more likely to work as intended. Everyone will be less motivated to try and figure out what happened if they are uncertain that finding the truth would actually result in anything good.

And I do believe he was trying to knock Shuichi off balance specifically. Damaging his confidence is one thing, but he was also deliberately trying to drive a wedge between him and Kaito. He antagonizes Kaito all chapter 4 investigation, including making up a nickname for Shuichi (“Shumai”) that directly riffs off Kaito’s closeness with Maki. He insists into the trial that he and Shuichi are partners now.

(class trial, chapter 4)

(Sidenote: Kokichi’s behaviour during trial 4 is genuinely really interesting to me. On top of the direct digs like this, he says a lot more subtle things to get under Kaito’s skin during trial 4 that I think are super neat to pay attention to.)

Theoretically, pushing Kaito away from Shuichi, combined with the powerlessness he’ll feel in the wake of the truth of both trial 4 and the outside world, could make him easier to convince to join Kokichi’s “side”. He even directly asks Shuichi to team up with him before leaving the virtual world:

(daily life, Chapter 4)

This leads me to believe that Shuichi was originally the one that Kokichi intended to use to build his impossible trial. I mean, if Shuichi was the one in the exisal hanger and presumed dead instead of Kaito, the chances of everyone else solving that mystery drops Significantly. Everyone else, aside from maybe Kiibo, was 100% convinced that Kokichi was the mastermind at that point. No one except Shuichi would’ve tried to dig as deep as he did, for better or for worse. I think this idea is supported by the note that Kokichi wrote next to Shuichi’s face on the whiteboard in his room (“trustworthy?”). He was clearly considering Shuichi as a person for one reason or another, and I believe this is it.

By condemning Gonta, who everyone else perceived as a kind soul who would never hurt anybody, someone who was struggling to understand what the virtual world even was with his amnesia, would be perceived by the others as kicking someone when they were down. Gonta has an absolutely miserable time through the accusations and wholly blames himself for how things turned out in the end. That, and Gonta’s actions were even well-intentioned. The secret of the outside world was apparently so horrible, Gonta thought it would be kinder to mercy kill everyone rather than force them to face it. This result would make everyone question if the truth was really as undoubtably good as they had come to think so far; Not only did Gonta suffer because they had to find the truth, but seeking the secret of the outside world would apparently also only lead to suffering. This would make them hesitate during Kokichi’s impossible trial.

(class trial, chapter 4)

As I said before, Kokichi’s second goal for trial 4 was villainizing himself even further. He says that this was a goal himself to Kaito in chapter 5.

(post trial, chapter 5)

Part of this villainization was just adding to the persona he had already created for himself and that I already talked about his motivations for before. The other part was what he says here. He specifically wanted everyone to think that he was the mastermind. This gave him leverage in two main ways. First, making himself appear to be the mastermind with an actual mastermind as hands off as Tsumugi genuinely gave him power over everyone else. He used this in chapter 5 to put a pause to the killings and give himself more room to enact his plan to break the killing game from the inside.

(daily life, chapter 5)

Although he then says “You guys can commit suicide together or kill each other… / Or, you can change your mind and stay here! You’re welcome to do that too!”, having experienced the secret of the outside world already, I think he’s pretty confident in what they will be feeling in this moment. No one is going to kill each other, and he knows that. He wants them to take that second option for the time being while he sets up his plot.

Making himself appear like the mastermind also benefited his impossible trial plan directly. Everyone would be much more likely to vote for someone they were convinced was the mastermind rather than one of their friends. No one would suspect that it was really him that was the victim.

“Using Gonta and making him into a murderer” was a significant part of how he villainized himself, but the way he treated Gonta during this whole experience was also a major factor. Starting as early as just after Miu was killed, he begins to be really aggressively mean to Gonta. He just straight up bullies him throughout the second half of the trial.

(daily life, chapter 4)

(class trial, chapter 4)

And then, after all this, he acts remorseful and sides himself with Gonta at the very end. It isn't genuine emotion like he felt before Kaede's execution, shown by his neutral expression. To me, this uncharacteristically open expression of grief feels like it was just set up to exacerbate the impact of his cruelty after Gonta’s execution. At this point, everybody’s little faith in Kokichi has been shaken significantly. With the shock of the trial, maybe you Could start to believe they were on the same side, as a team. Then, at the reveal of the extent of Kokichi’s manipulation, that is all ripped painfully away again.

(post trial, chapter 4)

(post trial, chapter 4)

Even if these parts of trial 4 make my stomach turn, I don’t want to imply that Kokichi is completely cold-hearted and unfeeling. Actually, I think there were multiple moments in chapter 4 that show him struggling to regulate his emotions and keep face around everyone else while he enacted this plan.

1: I don’t think Kokichi initially planned to make the reveal that Gonta was the killer as dramatic (or frankly, a bit traumatic) as it ended up being. He had been carrying himself a certain way during the first half of the trial, and I think Shuichi lying to his face in front of everyone about Kokichi’s own alibi dramatically changed his attitude. I mean, Shuichi lied (as he had done almost every trial and gotten 0 flack for) and Tsumugi even called him out on it, but everyone believed him over Kokichi anyways. So when Kokichi lies, it’s completely inexcusable, even though he’s been working tirelessly on his own trying to save everyone?* But when SHUICHI lies, and gets caught in it, people go along with him? They don’t doubt their trust in him for even a second? This double standard infuriated him. It’s at this point that he completely shifts in energy. If Shuichi, no, everyone, is going to disrespect him like this, he was going to make them suffer for it.

(class trial, chapter 4)

2: Kokichi only goes full villain after Kaito says “Kokichi, If you really cared for Gonta, explain yourself to everyone” in the post trial. I think that even though he was always going to paint himself as the villain, he was legitimately affected by the things that had just happened (Gonta’s death, Miu’s attempted murder, the secret of the outside world, even if he knew it wasn’t real) and what he’d just done. Even if he was trying hard not to be. The sudden shift he has from not saying anything to cackling about how little he cared about Gonta feels to me like he was kicking himself back into gear after trying to process some genuinely difficult emotions. 3: After Kokichi punches Kaito down, and everyone completely ignores him in favour of helping Kaito up, Shuichi says these iconic words to Kokichi: “Kaito always has us by his side, see? But no one wants to be around you. / You’re alone, Kokichi. And you always will be.” Kokichi responds like this:

(Post-trial, chapter 4)

There’s something about the way he cuts himself off, pauses, and then his mask falls. I think Shuichi’s words got to him more than he wanted them to. Honestly, Kokichi’s attitude towards cooperation, keeping everyone at arm’s length, and insisting (to himself) that he (as a leader) must fix the killing game completely on his own just seems so lonely to me. Even if he is intentionally trying to alienate himself and get everyone to hate him, being so viscerally cut into like this must have hurt. Especially from someone he was trying to work to get onto his side. It’s no wonder he quickly left after this moment.

This is what I think drove Kokichi in chapter 4. He’s a leader who wants to “lead” his classmates into safety, but he isn’t afraid to use underhanded, cruel tactics if he thinks it will get him ahead in the game for the greater good. He viscerally represses his emotions in order to keep himself going and keep everyone else away from him. He tried to destroy Shuichi’s confidence and drive a wedge between him and Kaito to get him on his side for his plan. He used and made Gonta into a murderer to villainize himself and discourage everyone else from seeking the truth.

Whenever I imagine Kokichi on his own, out of the spotlight of the Audience or the eyes of his castmates, he’s never as expressive as he is in the open. I think in reality, Kokichi is a pretty depressed and lonely person. His clownish personality isn’t entirely a facade, and outside of a killing game scenario, I think he would act pretty similarly to how he does in game. But I do think that he uses it as a mask for his true emotions. While I feel like the “evil villain” persona is a genuine part of Kokichi’s personality, outside of the killing game he probably doesn’t act on it as deeply as he does in-game. I also think Kokichi struggles with letting people become close to him, even without anything on the line. The killing game just caused him to lean into these aspects of his personality hard, and in potentially the worst ways.

*I feel like here it’s important to mention that personally, I still think the collateral damage he caused in his attempts to stop the killing game matters. A lot. I don’t think he should be excused for the things he did, even if he had good intentions. This makes him a really interesting, morally grey character, and I like that about him.

peeves me off a little when some people say "miu and kokichi could be such good friends, i wish they weren't so toxic in canon!"

.......but they are friends? not in the most obvious conventional way, but still. friends.

i mean, miu actually built his blueprints and vented to him before the events of chapter 4. not only that, but kokichi had faith in her skills as an inventor, genuinely listened to her vent (though he also may have realized she was planning to kill him at that time but y'know) and plays into her degrading kink (i say kink, because, well. it is. how are the words "finally someone called me a cum dumpster" supposed to be read as distress??) without really scaring her (note that being shouted at scares her, something he rarely does)

(also also. miu was heavily, heavily reluctant on killing him. and i doubt kokichi was feeling good about orchestrating her murder, too.)

they don't hate each other. they're just assholes who bond like assholes (who care about each other at least a little, but won't admit it)

You know, the thing about Taka's FTEs (now that I've had more time musing over them) is that - Taka relies entirely on the assumption that when Hope's Peak uses the word Talent, they mean something that someone is naturally good at without putting forth any effort. As a result, Taka assumes that the other Ultimates are naturally talented and smart and gifted like his grandfather was.

To an extent, with a couple of them, Taka's right. Leon is naturally gifted at baseball. I'd argue that Chihiro is naturally gifted at programming (at least from the discussions in his FTEs). And I think it's likely that Junko is naturally gifted at analysis (but put effort into Despair and Fashionista. Or, at least, chose Fashionista for whatever reason).

But Mondo? Put effort into being a Biker Gang Leader (especially after his brother Daiya died, because he had to be better and prove that he was a good leader despite causing Daiya's death).

Sayaka? She explicitly talks about all of the effort that went into becoming a Pop Sensation (and just how easily that can all slip away from her).

Sakura, too, talks about all of the effort that went into becoming the top Martial Artist, and while you can argue that Hifumi is naturally talented, he goes to great lengths in his FTEs to talk about the effort he's put into spreading the amazingness of fan creation with his school.

So like - Taka is very clearly biased against all of the other Ultimates and says as much, but if he got to know them, he'd find that a good chunk of them are a lot like he is - putting a lot of effort into something they love so that they can be good at it.

And it's ironic that he thinks Makoto is like him. Because Makoto's Ultimate Talent - Luck - is another sort of natural thing that requires no effort. He might be just like Taka in terms of schooling (and all of the others, outside of their Ultimate, are likely the same way), but as far as the function of his Talent...he's just like everyone that Taka by nature does not like. But because Taka likes him, he pretends it's something else.

Idk...it's just interesting to think about, I guess.

The people have spoken.

Peaceful Hope’s Peak:

So this whole AU is based on the idea of the butterfly effect. One small detail can change the whole story.

What would have happened if the students had more time to solidify relationships before Monokuma started with the motives?

Hope’s Peak was relatively peaceful until that first motive was released, and even then Sayaka only acted on it due to fear and desperation. I think that of Monokuma had waited like a week to present the motive videos, Sayaka would have had a deeper and more genuine connection with the other students, and she wouldn’t have tried to frame Makoto.

So basically, the game starts out exactly the same, except there’s more time for the students to mingle and get somewhat used to life in the school. Makoto has a couple of rough patches with people (*cough* Byakuya and Mondo *cough*) but overall everyone’s been getting along. Monokuma presents the first motive, and Sayaka has her breakdown. This time, however, it’s not just Makoto who goes to comfort her. Most of the students are trying to cheer her up and support her.

A couple of nights later, Sayaka comes pounding on Makoto’s door, telling her story about someone trying to break into her room. She’s extremely close to convincing Makoto, but she loses her nerve at the last second and breaks. She tells Makoto everything and, because Makoto is like Jesus or something, he forgives her immediately. Sayaka goes back to her room, and spends her night jamming out with Leon like she had promised.

Time passes. No one else tries anything due to the risk being too high, and positive feelings about their classmates as a whole. Taka and Mondo start on their Gay Shit™, now with the added bonus of Makoto not being traumatized and also participating in Gay Shit™ with them. Mondo and Chihiro are also getting along really well.

Second motive is introduced, and Taka immediately decides to share his secret with the class so that the Mastermind can’t use it against them. Spurred on by this decision, Mondo follows his example. Soon everyone’s sat down with each other, revealing their secrets and talking through them one by one. Group Therapy ensues.

Time passes, and Monokuma is getting really sick of this Found Family shit so he tries again. This time the motive is money. Here’s how this one goes down:

Monokuma: Whoever kills another student and gets away with it gets 10,000,00$ how about that?

Everyone: …

Everyone: Anyways-

Celeste ponders it for a minute, but at this point she’s too close with Chihiro to really consider it, so she painstakingly let’s it go. (Outing myself as a CelesHiro shipper because the aesthetics are just too good)

At this point Junko - the real one not Mukuro because Junko was chosen as the Mastermind for shock value and I do not approve - decides she has been away from her sewing machine for long enough and starts working on projects for all of her classmates. This means MAKEOVERS because I said so.

Last ditch effort, Monokuma reveals that Sakura is the traitor because she hasn’t killed anybody yet. Sakura’s like: “I’m really sorry but like he has my family so I didn’t really have a choice. He’ll probably kill me soon, but I’m not gonna kill any of you.” Kyoko and Makoto immediately decide that this isn’t acceptable, and decide to try and put an end to the killing game.

Big ass investigation takes place and the students enter their first Class Trial, everyone is still alive. Things happen and the Mastermind is revealed to be Jin Kirigiri because he would’ve made so much more sense than Junko, and if a single persona asks me to elaborate I will.

Everyone makes it out alive, and this tremendous victory is shown to be a beacon of Hope to the rest of the world. The Future Foundation is established, with far more power behind it this time, and Hope’s Peak is turned into a proper sanctuary for people who haven’t yet fallen into despair.

Bing Bang Boom everybody’s alive and the world is healing you’re welcome everybody.

i know people give Leon a lot of flak for his murder bc he claims it was in "self-defense," but let's be real with ourselves. What the fuck else was he supposed to do? If he just left, what, he has to go next day and be like yeah we both tried to kill each other and i broke her wrist. Can you pass the salt? Also Sayaka 100% would've turned everyone against him bc like she's Sayaka. So yeah I kind of have more sympathy towards this guy. Like Sayaka was going to straight up murder him. For literally zero reason. Like, I kind of get why she wanted to murder someone but it is never explained what made her choose Leon specifically.

I used to be under the impression that if Taka felt like he was cornered he would absolutely fight his way out but now I'm not sure if he has it in him to hit anyone outside of sparring. I kind of just think even though he could thrash the majority of people in a fight, he would rather take a punch than risk breaking a school rule and defend himself. And even then he would probably apologize profusely if he thought he had hurt someone, even if he hadn't.

Also, I don't know if this is controversial but I think he came into Hope's Peak completely unwilling to spar with a girl. It was only when he met and sparred with Sakura, Hina, Akane, Mukuro, etc in gym class and after school activities that he had the realization "oh, wait, women aren't actually that fragile and I can fight them in a controlled environment without breaking them" after he was beaten in many many sparring matches.

Even then, he only agreed to spar with them after so much convincing that it nearly didn't happen. And he did it gently and had watering eyes if he so much as tapped them too aggressively. By the end of the year he knew the score and fought them as equals. In fact, he really enjoys fighting Sakura, in the same way he enjoys challenging Celeste's luck by playing board games with her. If anything by the end of the school year he's more gung ho about fighting the girls than the other boys in the class.

I don't know if it's a mentality given to him by his grandfather, his moral compass being skewed in the slightly wrong direction, the fact he's scared he might be accused of something if he touches them, or the fact he never interacted with a girl in depth before Hope's Peak, but this HC basically boils down to he drank too much respect women juice and accidentally became patronisingly sexist until he had it (affectionately) beaten out of him by powerful women.