Revisiting the Prologue after completing the game

[Fronzel]

Full spoilers.

Given that the prologue was deliberately mysterious and the game ends with a big twist, I went back and re-played the prologue to see if it made more sense with full knowledge of the game’s story. There are a couple of things which make sense:

Kaede says being kidnapped reminded her of how rotten the world is. This fits with the “real” Kaede who is later shown saying she has no faith in humanity but doesn’t fit the pink-vest version of Kaede who is very idealistic and optimistic. She’s also kind of cold to Shuichi which also fits this angle. This is pretty good as the contrast is there right away on a first play-through even if the explanation is a long time coming.

Similarly, one of Kokichi’s very few lines in the prologue is an offer to be helpful which is a big contrast to his obnoxious personality in the main part of the game.

But I’m disappointed to say there are more place it DOESN’T makes sense:

Why are Tsumugi, Keebo, and Rantaro gathered with everyone else wearing normal school uniforms?

Tsumugi is actually a member of the production team and should know exactly what is going on. The possibility that she’s already playing her role and concealing what she really knows doesn’t work because she should also realize that the Monokubs are screwing up their job because no one is in costume, including herself. This would have been a great place for a line or two where she appears to be shocked or confused but could be re-interpreted as her being annoyed that the Monokubs screwing things up.

Keebo is a robot, not a normal person, so where did he even get the normal school uniform that he’s wearing in this scene? He shouldn’t even have a previous identity to his in-game persona as he’s actually just a piece of equipment the production is making use of.

If Rantaro is a hold-over from the previous version of the TV show, why isn’t he already in costume? After Danganronpa 52 ended did he spend some time back in normal society before being recalled into the 53rd game? Why would it work like that? Is it even possible for his original personality to be restored?

If most of the characters applied to join the Danganronpa TV show and want nothing more than to be accepted into it, why don’t they notice the signs that this is exactly what is happening?

Fair enough they may not have expected to be kidnapped, but when Rantaro mentions that there are 16 high-schoolers gathered together but no one seems to understand what he’s getting at even though this seems to be a formula for Danganronpa (as it is for the actual games).

They should also recognize that the Monokubs are obvious derivatives of Monokuma. Kaede DOES start to say something about how they’re called “Monokubs” which might be her recognizing the connection (but is always interrupted before finishing the thought) but this doesn’t seem like a strong enough reaction when they all love the TV show so much they want nothing more than to be brainwashed into characters on it and get killed. There should be a shift from the shock and uncertainty of their situation to relief and excitement as they realize what’s actually happening to them is something they want.

[kwil]

Yep, it's something a lot of people miss about the story that there are a LOT of signs that Tsumugi is lying at the end. All of the "proof" that she provided, is all stuff that's in her ability to fake. Cospox is something she could easily apply using her talent in front of Kaede. The videos of the "real" characters could be recorded by Tsumugi.

[Fronzel]

Originally posted by kwil:

Yep, it's something a lot of people miss about the story that there are a LOT of signs that Tsumugi is lying at the end. All of the "proof" that she provided, is all stuff that's in her ability to fake. Cospox is something she could easily apply using her talent in front of Kaede. The videos of the "real" characters could be recorded by Tsumugi.

This would leave much of the game's mysteries totally unexplained.

[kwil]

Originally posted by Fronzel:

Originally posted by kwil:

Yep, it's something a lot of people miss about the story that there are a LOT of signs that Tsumugi is lying at the end. All of the "proof" that she provided, is all stuff that's in her ability to fake. Cospox is something she could easily apply using her talent in front of Kaede. The videos of the "real" characters could be recorded by Tsumugi.

This would leave much of the game's mysteries totally unexplained.

That's the point. It's meant to be ambiguous. All of the things that you point out are completely intentional and are indications of that fact.

[Zettaitekikibou]

Tsumugi was clearly lying about many things in the end, as Shuuichi himself was able to notice just by considering the absurdity of choosing to participate in a killing game like that.

And the players can know with full certainty that she was lying about how the characters reacted right after receiving their costumes, since by replaying the prologue it can be seen that they did not celebrate being chosen to be in the game, and that the "flashback" light was used before they had time to say much.

And Rantarou's words in the prologue confirm that he did not choose to participate in another killing game.

He recognizes the setting, but he does not recognize it as something that is supposed to be happening, since he asks who is doing that and why such silly imitation is being made, which are things that he would not have asked if he really knew beforehand that a new killing game would be made and that he would be participating in it as the survivor of the previous one. So in reality that video of him sending a message to himself was fake.


And it can be conjectured that other things that Tsumugi said were lies too, like what she said about Harukawa's feelings towards Momota being a product of her writing.

There's no evidence whatsoever that the "flashback" lights had power to change the feelings of people to make them begin to like someone. And the characters just end up believing in that premise because Tsumugi said it, even though she did not present any evidence to back it up.

Tsumugi said to Harukawa that maybe choosing not to vote in the end was a product of her writing just like beginning to like Momota was a product of her writing. But it's obvious that Tsumugi did not want Harukawa not to vote, since she wanted the game to continue. And since that was not a product of her writing, then the claim that she wrote Harukawa's feelings towards Momota also loses credibility. Also Kokichi messing up with the killing game, against Tsumugi's wish, is another strong evidence that she was not really in control of their personalities and feelings.

And I don't see much change in Kaede's personality. Saying that the world is rotten is a natural reaction to the fact that no one tried to help her when she was being kidnapped, and doesn't necessarily mean that she has no faith in humanity and that she wouldn't be capable of trusting in friends and of cheering their friends up. Also, while wearing the pink vest she was optimistic about some things some times, and had some skills at cheering people up, but at the same time she was also quite harsh in some conversations, and she ends up trying to kill someone. So the idea that she was cold at first and then changed into optimistic is not true.


As for Keebo, he's not a robot; He's a human being, that was turned into a cyborg to have the functions that Tsumugi wanted him to have.


As for Tsumugi wearing normal school uniform, she really was just playing her role as one of the 16 participants, just like she did throughout the rest of the game until the last trial. And she had no reason to be annoyed that the monokubs "screwed things up", since that was also part of the script, since the monokubs are just robots functioning in accordance with how they were programmed to function, so they were programmed to "screw things up" as a means to somehow entertain the audience by showing the 16 participants without the "talents" at first and then with their "talents" afterwards.