u/4ereshnya

One of the finniest Chapter 3 moments for me was Hatami being genuinely surprised at Koin bring mad at him. "Can't get the readon him", he says! My brother in Monokuma, you nearly ruined his show, having stormed off over the trivialest thing possible, and now you're wondering why he's suddenly giving you a cold shoulder?!

Of course, Koin isn't blameless either. He'd been chasing Hatami right until the day of the festival and even forced him to participate by claiming to have enerered his name. No wonder Hatami's patience finally ran dry.

...But that's not the actual reason why Hatami quit. What actually tipped him over the edge was Koin stealing his tie. Until then, he accepted his fate and was willing to go along with this circus. And yet, this is the point where Hatami went "fuck this shit, I'm out". So what's with the tie? Was it just a final straw that broke the camel's back or does that tie hold some sort of significance to Hatami?

I've decided to compare Hatami's current design with his old one. And overall there aren't many changes. The only major differences are in Hatami's attitude, hairstyle, and the tie. For some reason, younger Hatami has a green tie instead of his current yellow one. So what is it that made Hatami make such a small outfit change?

I had a thought that maybe Hatami's tie used to belong to someone from Adagura Film Club, so I've checked over their sprites. None of them wore such a tie or even such colour. So I'm back at square one.

I'm sure there is some significance behind this tie, but, unfortunately, it isn't likely to be revealed in this chapter.

First is, of course, Koin ending up being Hatami's personal doxxer. Every shady info we find out about him comes from Koin: his talent, the slaughter, his name situation...

Second is the fact that Koin is indirectly responsible for Miharu's death. He's the one who reveals Hatami's talent to everyone which makes Seki connect the dots about the latter's involvement in the slaughter of Adagura film club. That leads Seki to uttering some unpleasant words about Hatami, which ends up being recorded in the Hate Box. Miharu hears that recording, assumes it to be Hatami's, and goes to, ironically, Seki for a plan to neutralise such a threat. Which kickstarts Seki's whole plan of having Hatami kill Miharu. I'm sure Seki would have started scheming something even without the Hate Box, but the reason he realised Hatami's identity in the first place was because of Koin.

Speaking of the Hate Box... Hadn't everyone originally decided not to press it? You know, becasue they were aware that thing was meant to have them kill each other? So how did it end up being pressed? The answer is Hatoyama, who for no reason whatsoever activated the Hate Box. Now, with my favourites, I'm usually ready to stand by all their rights and wrongs. This shit, however, I've got nothing to defend with! He was fully aware that the Box was a motive! And we know he is not as dumb as he pretends to be. If even Arumada could figure out that activating the motive was a bad idea, then Koin definetely can! So if you want to add a fourth (or would it be fifth?) "culprit" to Miharu's murder, it would be Koin.

Of course, putting the blame solely on Hatoyama is wrong. Miharu and Seki are responsible for their own actions, and anyone else might have pressed the button out of curiosity if Koin hadn't. ...Or they might have not. The fact remains that it was Koin who activated the Box despite his classmates telling him not to.

There seems to be an ongoing theme with Koin not hearing "no" as an answer. The most evident it is in chapter 3 with an ongoing gag of Koin terrorising Hatami to become his assistant. While I did find it a bit funny, I had an weird feeling about it. I did touch a bit on it in my Matsuoka post, thinking it had cleared up yhings for me. And yet, the feeling persisted. If you think about it, why *was* Koin chasing Hatami all this time, despite Hatami refusing each time? Koin, I believe, is quite emotionally intelligent, and while he has this mischievous air about him, unlike, for example, Kokichi from Danganronpa V3, he is not malicious about it. So why would he keep harassing Hatami, when it's clear as day that he has no desire in participating? Was he that desperate for an assisting student? I'm sure Hishimeki would have eventually given up and agreed. Which is kinda what she did in the end, volunteering to be an assistant after Hatami stormed off mid-show. Koin's behaviour doesn't make much sense to me. It seems as if he *needed* Hatami on stage for whatever reason. Especially considering how he basically forced Hatami to participate, claiming to have entered his name without his consent.

And that turned out to be a lie anyway! He wasn't able to enter Hatami's name, because, apparently, Hatami's name isn't even Tachihaki Hatami! ...As Koin claims. Actually, what's up with that scene before the trial? Koin learns that Hatami lied about his name and unsteady of revealing it to everyone as he always does, he summons Hatami to his room to tell him in private. To just tell him that he knows. No questions asked. No basic "What is your actual name?" or "Why did you lie about your name?", etc. It honestly looked to me like like a setup for a future blackmail or something. But why? Did Hatoyama just decide to be a dick for ruining his show? I can't think up of any other reason for now. This seems to become important later in the trial, since Hatami swears that he did not lie about his name, so there must be some problem with the festival entry sheet. And seeing as "Kokona is actually Coco" theory might be coming true after all, it could become a clue as to how "Hashizawa" could enter her name if she, apparently, never existed. Anyway, that doesn't explain Koin's strange, and almost threatening behaviour.

We still can't be sure that Coco was the one to kill Momori. This conclusion was reached based on a suspicious piece of evidence that may very well have been planted. Hatami himself admitted as much. So we can't even be sure about the killing method.

P.S.: Also, am I crazy or is "Kokona is Hashizawa" theory slowly coming true? That would explain the misunderstanding Coco and Chisa had beforehand. I'm really curious about how they're going to explain this.

Recently I came to a conclusion that Matsuoka is the only character in this series that I dislike. And when I asked myself why, the answer was pretty simple: he continues to harass Chisa about marrying him despite her giving a clear "no".

But then a thought came to me: "How is it any different from Koin harassing Hatami throughout chapter 3 about becoming his assistant despite getting a clear "no" several times?" Is it hypocrisy? Favouritism? Quite possible. But the answer I came to was "Koin has much more going on for him." Harassing Hatami doesn't become Koin's whole personality. He has lots of other moments to shine. He is a source of many other jokes that often have nothing to do with Hatami. And he is not reduced to just a comic relief either. Honestly, Koin analysis should be a separate post altogether.

In Matsuoka's case, however, his whole character revolves around Chisa. Any conversation with him eventually leads to Chisa. He doesn't speak with anyone else unless absolutely necessary. He doesn't seem to have much of a dynamic with any other character other than Chisa. I would be able to like him despite this flaw if this flaw wasn't Matsuoka's only personality trait.

There is a reason why Dave and Ueda, who initially left the same bad impression on me in prologue, skyrocketed so fast. It's because it quickly became clear that their characters go beyond just their "pervert" and "woman hater" archetypes. Sure, Ueda is a pervert, but it's only part of his character, not his defining trait. And Dave's hatred of women turned out to be legit phobia and some sort of medical condition, while he managed to shine in other aspects. Matsuoka, on the other hand, remained with his old "Marry me, Miss Komyoin!" schtick from the prologue without adding anything new to his character.

I don't want Kokona to end up being secretly evil or her personality being fake. We already have Seki to fulfill this trope, and doing so twice in a row (or twice in general) would feel kind of lazy and disappointing. I generally dislike when the twist villain becomes a completely different person upon their reveal. Kokona is definitely suspicious. She clearly didn't tell us the whole truth. But please, don't let her be evil!

So, the possession of the Wish Ticket allows you to request a piece of information, unlocking of any door, or escape from the school. The escape certainly seems the most tempting one. But why would a killer need that ticket if a successful murder already guarantees "graduation". Unless... You could request someone else's escape, too. Now that seems like a good deal. The only ones with strong enough bonds to attempt something that risky seem to be Arumada siblings. And with everything suspicious Kokona has going on, she is the most likely candidate in terms of motive and opportunity.

But for now my bet is on Matsuoka. He seems to be the only one physically capable of lifting Hashizawa and he knew about the menu. He also seems to have no alibi, and I could see him wanting the ticket to let Chisa escape. But I have a feeling that is not the case.

How come every time we learn something shady about Hatami it always comes from Koin? Who found the article about the slaugher of the Adagura Film Club? Hatoyama! Who found out and then revealed to everybody Hatami's talent? Hatoyama! Who now states that "Tachihaki Hatami" might not even be Hatami's real name? You guessed it — Hatoyama!