u/tanuki_with_knife

I don't know man, I'm not American, I've never seen those dubs.

Just realized that I've made a billion tier lists in this sub, yet never... just like, a normal one. Don't think I've ever ever mentioned my prisoner ranking fully.

This is NOT inno-scaling, I'm purely discussing the characters and how much I like 'em (I don't really hate anybody among the 10 tbh)

Not at all related to the actual Alien Stage characters and plotlines of course, mostly just voices and vibes. Though Fuuta's was a no-brainer, to me. Hope crossover/double-fandom/reference/whatever-this-is posts are allowed (I think they are? I've seen plenty at least).

The recent debates about Amane and Haruka's terrible families inspired me. Also, they're definitely not as prevalent unfortunately (or should I say fortunately?), but we don't talk about Mappi's and Kazui's parents enough.

By the way, just to make it clear:

This is specifically about the MVs

My girl apparently has this AWESOME crab. With a cap :D

Crab is here to symbolize her inner turmoils or something (I just wanted to post a cute crab picture I don't know what else to say, I never saw this crab before, awesome crab in all fairness, I kinda care about this crab now)

What do you guys think is gonna happen to Teyvat's roaster once we move on to another world (I'm assuming?)

Like. Are we just never gonna have another Lantern Rite again. No Summer Events. No Teyvat banners. No Teyvat birthday letters/art, or anectodes. Nothing?

I don't know anything about Honkai Impact, so I'm not sure how it works tbh.

Put both the girl and the kidnapper from Kotoko's MVs, just in case.

90% of them were a no-brainer. Cold takes incoming.

Not necessarily the most obviously wrong and outrageous one (though it can be that too), I mean the most "have to blink twice for it and do a double take on" theory. The "how did someone's mortal human mind arrive here" theory.

I'll start with the golden classic of "Kazui ate his wife", though I feel like many people already know that one.

I feel like this is an important enough conversation to bring up.

Just a quick thought I had, but I don't think this is coming from Mikoto's memory (like the report cards in the MV), because:

"Save information from the moment the front door opened to MILGRAM."

It's the wording of it. I think when Mikoto opened the door, the door didn't lead outside, but rather, to Milgram.

Also, look how this shot is framed. I think the cops are being looked at through a peephole (hello Monitoring by Deco*27 lmao), which means, the door still isn't opened in the real world. Yet Mikoto opened his own "door", one that showed him a bright light.

And another thing, there ain't no way Mikoto would react THIS confused in T1, and thought it's all reality TV, if he just saw the cops at his doorstep, like he'd at least know he's a suspect for SOMETHING.

Basically, I think my guy left the cops hanging. Or maybe he'll return to that exact moment after Milgram? No idea.

I'll try to rapid-fire through this, kinda:

1. He already knows what he's done and feels sick about it. Judging by his Healing Era™, he'd be very unlikely to repeat it.
2. I, personally, on a less practical and more empathetic level, would feel horrible guiltying a person who doesn't remember shit. While John and Mikoto are both part of the same system, I value intent a lot. To be honest, I DO think Mikoto thought of killing random people. I also do not think he'd ever do it under different circumstances.
3. But what about John? Didn't he (and, partly, Mikoto as a whole, technically) clearly want to kill those people? Yes and no. Due to him not remembering how many murders he commited himself (in his second Voice Drama), calling it all a "blur", and being described as "screaming and wailing", I do not think John was... let's just say, clear of mind. We're never given clear details, but considering how uh, eccentric he acts during the first VD, yet how casual he is during the second one, I don't think even John would repeat what he himself did.
4. This is kinda meta and due to bad writing, but genuinely, who the fuck expects to get DID as an adult from overworking?? It's impossible, and yes, while Mikoto could, technically, just not have the memory to recall his trauma, it was never once stated in the report, so everything else is just guessing. His report isn't from his perspective, and even one throwaway line would suffice. To me, "it just wasn't stated" comes across as an even weaker plot-point than Shidou offing that driver, because at least the driver was stated. Looking at this situation at least semi-realistically, Mikoto could not have expected himself to commit those crimes, ever, and him overworking himself wasn't a "risk he's willing to take" to anyone, but his own health.
5. He's a top 5 prisoner for me, so like. You know. Also MeMe and Double are my favourite songs.
6. I do not think he deserves to die. I firmly believe that the guilty ones will get executed. Come on now. Even if someone does believe he deserves to die, I don't think that inno vote is giving him too many chances either, considering that he's... in a bit of a trouble, shall we say.
7. I'm all-inno, fuck Jackalope, fuck Jackalope, fuck Jackalope, fuck Jackalope. I do not want to play into the "irony" of this experiment. It's literally called Milgram, after Stanley Milgram. No, thank you.

Overall, his crime was horrendous, could not have been realistically predicted, not really planned, not enjoyed, not remembered even by the alter who did it, apparently done in a blur, acknowledged and not repeatable. He also didn't lash out at anyone in prison. That's enough for me.

Because we now know that it was supposed to be a point of Mahiru's character development. She, for the first time in a very long while, started seeing the world without rose-tinted glasses, and a lot of us just assumed she's exaggerating, like 😭 girl was trying to be honest for the first time, and all. We mistook reality for fantasy, while she's seen in the MV finally escaping the fantasy and showing us (well, herself), the reality.

I'm pretty certain that if Mappi had a T3, most of it would be focused on what actually happened, I think. Oh to not have been fallen prey to the plot device writing of this Trial... we could've had it all... 😔 shakes fist at sky or whatever

No, I don't mean that Mikoto guilty voters as a group are doing this, in fact, I think it's one specific person or group.

Here's what bothered me.

I saw someone claim that Mikoto guilty voters are "cheating". I didn't really think much about it, because there's been genuinely a lot of guilty votes recently. However, I took a screenshot of his votes an hour and a half prior to taking this screenshot, and his percentage was at 57.10% specifically (I'll post that percentage in comments).

For a second, I just thought it's a swing back and forth, but then I thought about it and it's like... there's almost nothing that could've caused it?

The poll refreshed around 6 hours ago, and the inno votes were going strong, gradually, but strong. This is also not a "Western fans woke up" moment. It's currently night time in Europe and evening in US. It's only morning for Japanese fans, and they tend to vote Mikoto inno. I'd understand if this drop happened earlier, but it didn't. This guy just lost 1.70% at a random time.

So what gives? I really hope it's not another Kazui situation.

(Especially now that the votes started climbing back up apparently, since I started making this post. It's so odd, man.)

We've got not one, not two, but three options! Ooh, lala! This is what I call:

The French Route

The Es Lawyer Route

The Meta Route

Ahem. Allow me to share my genius with the rest.

The French Route

Mikoto gets inno

Kotoko gets inno

Kotoko arrives in time and knocks out the two cops for a sec

Kazui covers it up since he's a cop

Muu gives Mikoto a ticket to France

Mikoto flies to France

Mikoto serves a normal sentence in France and gets proper treatment (France doesn't have death penalty, right????)

The Es Lawyer Route

Mikoto gets inno

Yuno teaches Es how to fake ID

Fuuta will attempt to apply makeup to Es' face normally, but considering he sucks at everything adjacent to styling (cough Amane's hair cough), he'll fail successfully and make Es look absolutely unrecognizable

Es will beat up Jackalope and use that rabbit's time travel thingie

Mikoto and Es will arrive at Mikoto's time

Es will represent Mikoto as a fake lawyer and win because they're the main character

The Meta Route

Mikoto gets inno

We somehow convince Japan to abolish the death penalty

Now Yamanaka can't realistically have him be executed in Japan

"But his crime happened earlier" don't worry pal, the death penalty system is sadistic as fuck, and some death row prisoners wait for literal years before they're killed

"But all of these are completely unreali-" YEAH SO IS MIKOTO'S T3, WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY, LET ME COPE

Bonus Route: It doesn't fucking matter because everyone is dead anyways.

Haruka strangled himself. Yuno died after complications. Fuuta was killed by online attackers who turned physical. Muu accidentally stabbed something and bled out. Shidou overdosed. Mahiru died of illness in the forest. Kazui shot himself. Amane starved. Mikoto got killed by police. Kotoko got killed by her enemies. Nothing ever matters. The dead trio are not any more dead than the rest. There is nothing to worry about. In this essay, I will-

Thanks to u/rosesdissection for the inspo

I just imagined if there was like, some type of bonus trial where the rooms were occupied by the victims instead, how'd it go. Some of these would get really funny imo.

So did Kazui eat all the good writing or.

No, but seriously. Even as someone who thinks Yuno's writing is only bad in the context of Milgram (imo her writing is interesting in a vacuum), and who thinks Shidou and Mahiru's aren't THAT bad (though Shidou's is definitely unrealistic), wow, is Mikoto certainly the worst case yet...

Not only is it unrealistic (DID developing in adulthood...? huh...?), it's also... boring?? I didn't expect the serial killer case to be the most boring one somehow, but here we are.

As for why I'm personally leaning inno:

1. At least one of the alters didn't know, so I guess it feels a little unfair to vote guilty for me? I'm very heavy on intent in every case (which is why I'm kinda harsh on Fuuta).
2. I don't know much about John's mentality during the murders, the "screaming and wailing" part makes me think he was just taking a good ol' swing at it.
3. I don't wanna see the guy get sliced by Jackalope.
4. All-inno because Milgram sucks.

In reality though, I wouldn't want him inno OR guilty, I'd want him surrounded by multiple health professionals and away from society for a while, because holy shit.

Also. I don't know if that's a common sentiment...

But the song is kind of disappointing compared to MeMe and Double. I don't particularly enjoy it much. It's so... un-Mikoto.

If Kotoko has a complete genre switch-up in the end, I'm gonna lose it.

This Mikoto Trial sucks, man. I'm so sorry, Mikoto fans. I can only hope for some kind of interesting interrogation, but I don't have high expectations.