DANGANRONPA 2 ALTERNATE MASTERMINDS

[@kazuyasu9859]

Imagine if Sonia was the actual Sparking Justice and prepared the kg behind everyone's backs to kill her friends bc they were criminals and she only killed criminals

[@kelatitsfinest7730]

HOLY SHIT

[@pascuala.]

*Y E S*

[@bemiatto67]

I was so shocked that she WASN'T Sparkling Justice.

[@alejandrovasquez8527]

Ever read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie?

[@kazuyasu9859]

@@alejandrovasquez8527 Nope

[@shortfuse9443]

Honestly Izuru should have completely taken over Junko’s role in 2. It would have made the overall experience more unique, given Izuru more screen time, and be a lot more effective in demonstrating Hajime’s internal struggle

[@KaiserMazoku]

This. Junko could still be the "mastermind" in the sense that she was responsible for Izuru in the first place but the finale of DR2 should have been driven by Izuru himself and not some AI Junko.

[@tonyinfinite5174]

What ruined DR2 for me and Nico B I really felt that Kodaka pushed Junko too much she should've just been the DR1 villain and that's it, especially considering how Nagito easily surpassed her with his take on hope vs Despair she was just crazy and that's boring in DR

[@bella_daze3092]

YES

[@KaiserMazoku]

@@tonyinfinite5174 I wouldn't say she's "just crazy", her motivations are explained in side material. ...The problem is that it only gets explained in side material.

[@kelatitsfinest7730]

For real. Nagito was more engaging and entertaining, it just fell so so flat.

[@CurtRichy]

Mikan Mastermind is still one of my favs. Considering her trauma I think it would honestly be a pretty engaging mix. Like her initial reveal was so wild to me on its own. In general I feel like they did her dirty esp w/ her execution. There's a great video floating out there where someone rewrote D2 Chapter 3 and man, it honestly was a much better take from the motive to the execution. Anyways awesome vid weeby lol

[@GentlyUsedFrog]

Oh, i'd be interested to see this video if you could tell me the title? thank you!

[@Justin-ul7fh]

@@GentlyUsedFrog I think they're referring to TinyLeaf's video. Just type "Tinyleaf Danganronpa 2 Chapter 3" and you'll probably get it.

[@GentlyUsedFrog]

@@Justin-ul7fh Thank you kind bean.

[@gustone7102]

Ayo! Curt are making resarch? How are you, my dude?

[@TheExileFox]

This would make me like Mikan as a character. I don't hate her, but I strongly dislike her because she is kinda like microwaving a pizza for 1 hour. It's a bit much...

[@darthprimalmanrequiem2354]

Ibuki: I’m the ultimate despair!!! Literally everyone else: **laughs hysterically**

[@hiddenflare6169]

Ibuki: “But... I am... I... ‘Tears well up as despairing intensifies.”

[@Ketchiesentme]

Holy crap, you have an Anzu profile picture, hello fellow yttd and danganronpa fan!

[@darthprimalmanrequiem2354]

@@Ketchiesentme Hello!

[@orein1880]

**WHEEZE**

[@kingkilla777]

Ngl if she was the MM I would've been mad and cried

[@DoctorKabanov]

When it comes to V3 I’ll be one of the boring ones and say my favourite au mastermind is Angie. Or rather Angie plus real mastermind behind the scenes. Just because the idea of having an ear piece with “Atua” telling her what to do or having Angie as an actress that works with mastermind is in my opinion is really cool idea. I also heard interesting idea of having Himiko as the mastermind, since her character practically plays a major role in multiple cases as setting stage in 2, being close with both victims in 3, telling Gonta about chopsticks so his memory’s would be a mess and in 5 she brings crossbow which for all she knew might’ve been used to kill someone. Plus being practically only person to defend Tsumugi during last trial and having weird ultimate also seems suspicious.

[@DevinDoingstuff]

Make her believe that it is all Atua but A: It's actually nobody else but herself. B: It's a bigger Cult behind it. And you'll have me sold more on Angie.

[@kaboom6127]

I actually prefer Shuichi as the mastermind the most. I would change the survivors to be Kaeade,Kaito,Kokichi, and Keebo being alive. (Only pepole with the letter k get screentime apparently) anyway this would work like Dangormpa 1 where Tsumugi and Shuichi as being in on it but Shuichi betrays Tsumugi. (She dosent reveal what she knows becuase she loves the game and dosent want to ruin it.) Shuichi would then go on how he loves this show soo much and wanted to share the despair with them as well as the audience. The audience having despair will be due to A.Rantaro being a fan fav being killed first, B Maki being killed, ending the Kaito/Maki path early. And C that they could never solve Himiko’s case thanks to him.(Himiko being killed by Shuichi in chapter 5 who then led them to the wrong answer.)

[@mauveo2810]

poor himiko being a top suspect in like every trial lmao

[@Jeff-zk7cj]

Tsumugi was also a bit boring

[@Shaiapoufff]

Imagine if Korekiyo was the mastermind👁

[@cryptic_sunflower]

I honestly thought that Sonia was the mastermind the first time I played. She just seemed too perfect, and knew way too much about murder and crime

[@alilolfox]

I didn’t think she was, but *hoping* she was when I played XD

[@detectivepancakes3095]

If they did the constant swap for hajime, I feel the idea of him not being who he seems would have to be revealed during the time you play as nagito

[@nellewoodruff6337]

A red flag could be Nagito talking to Chiaki and it comes up that Hajime managed to beat her at video games during his occasional Izuru moments, but it doesn't get put into context until later on.

[@okamiseele8614]

@@nellewoodruff6337 that’s so neat!

[@maddiemcnugget1076]

Honestly I think that would be fine. As a piece of media, it shouldn’t be ruined when you learn the “twist”

[@Itslyrics111]

If Shuichi was the mastermind that would be so cool. Having the protagonist a blackend and the other protagonist the mastermind would be so interesting. I know we had the Hajime mastermind twist but it wasn’t *really* Hajime. So it can be something like this: Pre-game Shuichi loved Danganronpa so much that he wanted to work there. After a few games he decided to join as the mastermind. Having him as the mastermind would be heartbreaking to the rest of the cast and to the players themselves. Knowing they were helping and playing as the person who killed they’re favourite characters would be really sad if we are going with the whole “Life is a lie everything is fiction” plot twist. Honestly it would make everything very depressing, knowing Shuichi didn’t really care that Kaede died. In the end when we find out his true self he can be so cold and literally pure evil. He would simply be so obsessed with the game that he wouldn’t be able to identify what’s real and what’s fictional.

[@IvanDubsK7]

>Skeptical of Mikan’s execution I was more skeptical of how they could make the worst execution in the series

[@11th-lemon]

I think that execution is way underrated. I admit it isn't the most fun or satisfying one, and I also didn't like it when I first watched it, but thinking about it, it's pretty solid. The thing Tsumiki hates the most is being ignored, and her execution is very dismissive of her. The camera rarely focuses on her, and when it does it's only to sexualize her. We don't even get to watch her die, which should be the most important moment, as if no one cared about wheter she lives or dies. Being sexualized and immediately disposed of regardless was probably very despair inducing to her. And as a bonus, she died riding a giant arm despite her hating oversized things acording to her profile.

[@IvanDubsK7]

@@11th-lemon I appreciate the paragraph my dude/woman/they them But still sucks ass

[@thesirensystem]

I really like the take that the other commenter had, but there's also a fan theory as to what really happened which also makes sense. If you choose to believe either of those it has a lot more symbolism and isn't just "short execution we didn't see death hahaha bad" mentality a lot of people have

[@ClaireWritesSometimes]

There's a way to make Hajime the mastermind without Izuru or the Hope Cultivation project ever coming up. Have it that Hajime admires Hope's Peak but being in the reserve course, looked down on by the Ultimates, breaks him. He loses his faith and starts the killing game to show the world that the Ultimates are no better than common people, and inserts himself into it so he can have a taste at feeling like one of them. Also, the idea of Sonia as the Mastermind (or any Mastermind) slowly coming round and regretting their choices because of the bonds they'd made would have been a much better storyline for Tsumugi, and given her space to actually be a character during chapters 1-5 of V3 instead of a piece of cardboard.

[@lightninmoth]

I never thought about Sonia as the mastermind but the idea of her being a redeemable mastermind and the killing game being somthing her country set up is pretty interesting. My fav mastermind au is still Kazuichi (and Mikan tbh) however Akane also has interesting points as she's from a poor family and such and perhaps she could grow to hate those who were more fortunate than her and she sees them as uncaring and selfish.

[@treesusr]

For V3 I think only 3 characters could really work: 1. Kiyo - We all know why he would want to kill as many people as possible 2. Kokichi - He's pretty much the closest to a Remnant of Despair out of the group, plus it would fit perfectly into the core theme of truth and lies 3. Ryoma - It would be kinda cool to show his sense of taking justice into his own hands a lot more defined. Perhaps he sees some evil in each student, and it would potentially cause him to create the killing game in order to show them what it's like to be a prisoner like he was.

[@galarstar052]

hell, even beyond killing for sister Kiyo would make a killing game just to see how humans act in that scenario.

[@darkmint6448]

I think of Kiyo for the best in V3 for 2 reasons: 1)He is an anthropologist, he may want to see how the supposed best of the best would react to such a situation or 2) He sees part of his sister in each of them. In this it would require him knowing about the abuse of course. And he wants to punish them for what his sister did and what she made him into.

[@TripleThreatener]

I love the idea of mastermind Kiyo

[@nellewoodruff6337]

I like that Ryoma idea. He could keep trying to put them in situations that would reveal their true nature i.e. Kirumi willing to let everyone else die for her sake, or Kiyo being a serial killer.

[@orangeville1978]

Kokichi would be too obvious to be a mastermind in my opinion

[@katlikesanimecrossing2404]

I think Kaede would be an interesting mastermind for V3. I think the fact that she would be the controller of the killing game would probably only hurt shuichi more. It would be fairly easy for her to have actually done a role reverse with Tsumugi in chapter one, except she would still be the one having the connection with Shuichi. Also, she could've gone with a route of faking her death instead of using tsumugi or another character for it. It would be interesting for the characters when they discover that kaede was lying to them. She also seems manupulating in the game (at least to me) and I think she has the intelligence to create a danganronpa.

[@lazyslayingstar]

Yeah!

[@hilol9074]

V3 spoilers. Also even if you kept everything canon Kaede mastermind would make sense as it is basically the exact same as the Chiaki au in this video, she often dismissed their emotions and gives them unrealistic expectations, which having Kokichi call out after the death road of despair and chapter 5 make even more sense as he is working against the mastermind the whole time. It also would be quite ironic if the main antagonist/anti-hero of the game was the only one immune to the masterminds’ manipulation. Kaede may stay alive until the end but a fake execution would also be cool. Also would explain Kaede tells her story in past tense at the beginning, like how is she narrating this in the past tense unless she lived or it was done on purpose for the protag swap

[@kiwikarp9509]

Sounds interesting, but I think it would have to service Kaede's character more than the others. If it doesn't, it makes her feel less like a character and more a tool for dramatic moments. And, if we're being honest, the original game does that with her enough to see why it would suck.

[@tristanproductions8653]

I feel like if Kazuichi found out sonia was the mastermind his brain would literally just implode

[@DarkMinior]

I think Shuichi would make for an amazing mastermind. Since Shuichi is the Ultimate Detective, he looked up to Kyoko as the former Ultimate Detective. Shuichi, though, didn’t feel confident in his talent and wasn’t able to compare to Kyoko. It is known that Kyoko was a key person in ending her killing game, using her detective skills to help solve a lot of killings. Shuichi would think that if he was in his own killing game, then he would be able to live up to Kyoko’s legacy. Kaede would still be the protagonist in this au, because it would give her a lot of despair that the person she was closest to was the mastermind all along.

[@theprincess3872]

I think my favorite idea for a different v3 Mastermind is where Kaede is the Mastermind and you only realize this in chapter six, which is where you switch protagonists in the middle of the trial.

[@theprincess3872]

It would also be interesting if Shuichi made Kaede realize just how wrong the killing game and hope vs despair was, and Kaede ended up shutting the killing game down, leading to the audience no longer supporting killing games as a whole

[@fayybeu]

@@theprincess3872 yeahh no that sounds icky

[@gwenmcardle3866]

with your mikan mastermind storyline, her whole "forgive me" freakout would actually still fit in super well

[@eeveefi6869]

In the Sonia one, ultimate impostor could have been agent sent by novoselic to help Sonia keep the game running smoothly but when he dies in chapter 1 it would put all the pressure on her when at first she would be planning to rely on him more

[@mayzera]

1:22 One of the characters I think would be a great mastermind is Kaito Momota. Because he has this hero persona, he would feel like a hero to the audience because they'd love all his work. One more reason is because he is a walking death flag and in almost every chapter seemed suspicious at some point, but everyone including the protagonist continues to trust him. In chapter 5 for exemple, everyone looks up to Kaito and trust in him as a leader. But he being the mastermind would be absolutely despairing not just for Shuichi but for all the survivors. Almost like Chiaki being the traitor but even worse then that.

[@Shxdxe]

For V3 I think Maki would make an amazing mastermind. I don’t really have a story in mind but I think it would be so cool if Maki had real feelings for Kaito and was regretting putting him in such a horrible situation. Just thinking of Maki putting this whole killing game together, falling in love with one of its participants and breaking down and regretting everything in the end would be very interesting. Sorry for bad English btw.

[@TaylorJD]

I actually had the opposite concept in mind. That Kaito would be the mastermind. He's such a supportive and caring character, so to see him falling for Maki and developing such a strong bond with her and Shuichi only to have it revealed that he's the mastermind would be so heartbreaking. Its a twist that no one would expect which is why i love it so much

[@Shxdxe]

@@TaylorJD that’s very interesting actually! That would be very cool

[@sensitiivv_]

I know this isn't really related to masterminds, but I think Gundham Tanaka would have been a better traitor than Chiaki Nanami. Him thinking he is an incredibly evil person with no redeeming qualities while yet being a nice and respectful guy, only to find out he was the only good guy in the cast. Despair for everybody, especially when you find out Gundham is the only one who's permanently dead, and for Sonia, losing her loved one forever. Would have been good character development for Sonia as well.

[@2mellow35]

Gundam wouldn't be a noticeable AI though. This would be better if DR2 was a bit more grounded in reality.

[@feliciabaxter6423]

if he died he would protect sonia as a ghost functioning as her guardian angel

[@jeffeverywhere]

5:18 Yui already being best girl before the story even started. Edit: Never mind.

[@RobertoGonzalez-er9mu]

I really loved the hajime/izuru scenario. Imagine if for your first play through you couldn’t read the inner monologues at all and just thought it was a style change but after you beat the game and found out the twist, it suddenly let you play a second play through where you could see what hajime was thinking. It could be so interesting just seeing what was passing through his mind while tricking everyone and how he manipulated them into killing each other. It could add so much replay value to a already amazing game.

[@zo_seerchan]

Nagito in mastermind reveal : I WANT EVERYONE WITH A GOOD LUCK AND LIFE FOR SO LONG TO FELT THE SAME DESPAIR WITH ME Mikan : Am I a fucking joke to you

[@whatever5401]

Imagine a master mind Chiaki whose motivation is that she had to face abuse and bullying growing up, and admired video games because they were her only way to escape reality, the only place where she can be the hero in her own story, the only place where she can feel strong enough to stand up for herself and other people. And since she isn't dead and isn't influenced by Junko as much as her classmates in this AU, she volunteered to become a part of the neo program to "help her classmates recover" but in reality she's there to start a killing game just so that she can be the hero and bring hope to them (and also because she wants to know what it's like to be a video game character), only to steer them towards a dark path of despair by her toxic positivity. i'd like her a lot more if that was the case

[@Kaelronpa4299]

In my opinion, Keebo is a good mastermind for v3. Keebo is a robot like we know, but his backstories is different. In keebo's true backstory, his dad (Professor Idabashi) make powerful AI for Keebo with learning program, but the AI had a glitch that make his personality change to make Keebo want to learn everything even learn hope and despair in every derection. And he killed his beloved father but its doesn't enough. Keebo still want to fill hope and despair with every emotion in any mean necesarry. So he kidnapped people to participate in the killing game and with Professor Idabashi technologies, Keebo can erase everyone mind to forget who kidnap them so Keebo could gain there trust and build hope with them so he could fill the hope of friendship and the despair of betrayal. Not only that, Keebo also use his dad technologies to make Monokuma work in their on. I imagine the moment when the mastermind reveal, Keebo said the reson he planned the killing game is because he want to be just like everyone, filling emotion through friendship, lost, betrayal, etc. Keebo also want to know which is better, hope or despair. That is all I got. If you like it, you could add more backstory

[@novelsolvings8024]

I've always really liked the idea of Maki being the Mastermind of V3 (or at least the mastermind's presence in the killing game). An idea I had is that this killing game is being run by the Holy Salvation Society and Maki helped to set it up and they have her there to basically act as their secret enforcer (get the ball rolling for murders, stop any attempting to 'outsmart' the killing game, etc.). She basically goes through her same arc from the base game as she warms up to the other students, but with the added element of her getting close to her marks and her knowing she shouldn't get attached. As the game goes on the Holy Salvation Society keeps pressuring her to make a move and it takes more and more of a toll on her under it all boils over in the mastermind reveal. I just like the idea of a more conflicted and bound-by-duty mastermind to contrast the more chaotic masterminds of the past.

[@TaylorJD]

When i first watched a playthrough of v3, i genuinely thought that the mastermind would be either Kaito or Maki. I loved the idea of having such a betrayal to Shuichi and either Maki or Kaito (whichever *wasnt* the mastermind) because of how close their friendship was by the 5th chapter. I was extremely disappointed to not see any sort of betrayal because Tsumugi was just a boring background character for me

[@niceplantpjo]

I love this idea

[@MAAG_OFFICIAL]

I think kirumi would be an interesting mastermind for v3 because she helps the president so a killing game would be a little easier to pull off because she would know what they are doing and she could use her motherly act to convince everyone to do something like what Angie did in chapter 3 and live in the school. I feel like her motivation would be that she's tired of people always relying on her and started to feel despair because everyone had a life outside of their talent other than her since everyone else had talents that didn't require them to be another's slave. When kirumi got to the age of high school, the president payed hope's peak to except kirumi in to the school and she felt despaired filled about how everyone else talked about how much fun they had on vacations, trips, ECT. And one day she heard about danganronpa and convinced everyone to audition for it, everyone got excepted and kirumi got the role of mastermind. The rest of the game is normal until chapter 6 where tsumugi and kirumi switches places in the story and she reveals her motivation to the rest of the class. The end is the same but kirumi dies how tsumugi dies in the original game.

[@mcfl0yd118]

My thoughts for Sonia is that Junko and Mukuro were someway related to here and her country, and she was a big part of the Ultimate Despair. However, she was always easily influenced by hope and friends and such, and basically all the stuff that was said in the video. I also thought that maybe she put in the thing that Izuru put in thinking it was just Monokuma and the killing game, but Junko had herself on there to help move everything along and monitor Sonia. Then Sonia could have at the end sided with her friends, and then junko came out of no where to keep the despair going.

[@rickjazzyroll]

Honestly I wanted a different Mastermind so bad after danganronpa trigger happy havoc

[@ZMDD2017]

id love for Mikan to be the mastermind. her trial was hands down one of my very favourites it was sooo good, i loved seeing her going kinda crazy and mad

[@anotherdayanotherslay_02]

8:15 I feel like this is so true, Mikan would toy with others because of her fear of being ignored

[@wintersnow998]

For V3 masterminds, I'm torn between Miu and Angie. Miu's talent would make it super easy to make inventions to capture the other students and keep them from escaping the killing game. Her plan in the fourth chapter proves she's smart enough to pull one over on the others and really only fall under suspicion of Kokichi (who, let's face it, is already incredibly paranoid). Plus her relationship with Keebo would make things all the more heartbreaking when the reveal finally happens. At some point, she probably assumes control over him like the audience did in canon and tries to use him against the remaining survivors. Angie's home island could have a tradition of having killing games to honor Atua, with Angie being chosen to mastermind because she's Atua's prophet. Her forming the Student Council in Chapter Three could come from her having grown attached to the others and wanting whomever was left to survive, thus forcing whomever her outside contact was to fake her death to pull her out until the reveal since she's been comprised. If Tenko still dies trying to become a vessel for Angie's soul so Himiko could talk to her one last time, imagine how disturbed and heartbroken Himiko would be that Tenko's death was now doubly meaningless, since not only was the seance fake but her close friend they were trying to bring back was alive the whole time.

[@d4c_reznor470]

Someone had the idea of Atua himself being the mastermind of V3. For that to work Angie would have to survive but I would be intrigued about her reaction to Him actually being the bad guy. It'll be s betrayal similar to Mel Gibson and Cartman in South Park or Flynn and Chester in CWACOM; the one you idolize was really your biggest enemy

[@FlamesofRebirth3836]

Hajimes au is so interesting. They’ve never had the protag be the mastermind in a main game so that would be a huge twist.

[@runningoncylinders3829]

Yeah, Sonia’s who I thought it’d be since that castle moment in the game. I’m really glad we got a huuuge final boss though, cause they sure did some justice to the type. The gambit of the Phone Slams were thought provoking.

[@HB-kl4kr]

I think shuichi would be an amazing mastermind I’m kinda disappointed that tsumugi was the mastermind . My au is that kaede was the protagonist and shuichi would still be the support because it would really put kaede in despair and the rest of the cast because they really relied on him throughout the killing and his would be the case he solved traumatized him and he felt like he had no one to talk to adopt his trauma but the the v3 cast let him be himself so he started to have an unhealthy obsession with all of them and was curious about how much despair they could take until they started to become hostile and give into despair so that’s why he did the killing game this is my au so it’s perfectly fine if you don’t like it

[@pikadawnshowbiz7968]

For the masterminds of V3, I think an interesting mastermind would be Kaito. His speeches about friendship and having belief in each other could be used as a ploy to get the whole group to fall deeper into despair further and further, making his hero persona as a fraud. It would also be heartwrenching to see Shuichi's reaction to Kaito's reveal of being the mastermind as they spent the whole game bonding, with Kaito helping Shuichi with his self-esteem, only to realize that it was all fake. As for his backstory of becoming the mastermind, it could go something like this: Kaito originally was a really positive person like he was canonically. He worked really hard as it was his dream to see space and have belief in himself to see it through. The people who had the most belief in him the most would be his grandparents. They would constantly tell Kaito that they believed in him and that was the only thing he nedded to achieve his dream. However, he was rejected to go to space because they found a better candadite. Another thing that would push him over the edge would be his illness. Before going into Hope's Peak Academy, he believed that he could get the medical treatment needed to survive. However the hospital that he was seeing kept delaying his treatments due to the severity of other patients. These events would make him realize that having belief is pointless as no matter how much he believes, it does nothing to change the situation. He decides that before going to Hope's Peak to making a killing game where the idea of having belief in yourself and others is shattered over and over to make the point that belief is useless trait. He wants to reinforce that no matter how much the class believes that nobody could kill and that working together would bring peace and harmony, it was futile as the murders were still happening.

[@TaylorJD]

Kaito even said in his free time events that one of his dreams was to conquer the world, and I love how heartbreaking it would be for Shuichi and Maki. In my AU, Kaito would have done anything to achieve his goal of conquering the world, and because he was terminally ill, he had nothing to lose by participating in the game himself. He never wanted to fall for Maki or make friends with Shuichi, so by the time he gets revealed, he regrets everything he's done because he finally understands the meaning of hope. It would be heartbreaking to see him apologizing for everything he's done and tell Maki and Shuichi that he loves them even after all he's put them through just before being executed / dying from his illness

[@chqrismaras5697]

For V3 I think a really exciting AU would be where Kirumi is the mastermind, where she is still the prime minister of Japan, where her motive is that she knows that the threat to Japan is certain unknown members of the V3 cast (for this to work the cannon would probably have to be bent where all the cast actually came from the same class). The evil cast members might be brainwashed in a similar way to how the DR2 cast were brainwashed, but not all of them endured this, so Kirumi thinks the best way to deal with them is to hold a killing game where the evil people would naturally try to murder someone else to escape, and after revealing their true colours and getting caught, Kirumi would kill them via Monokuma's executions. Also, in this game, Kirumi organises the killing game but completely embeds herself in the game and trusts Monokuma to run it fairly, meaning she can't just exit the game and view the outside world at her will. She thinks the game needs to be organised fairly in order to maximise its effectiveness. I'll just briefly summarise how each chapter would influence this story: Chapter 1 stays the same, but in Chapter 2, instead of having Kirumi kill Ryoma, Kirumi might have doubts about whether it is worth it to hold a killing game after seeing how Kaede tried to kill the mastermind. She might think that the risk of her death is too great, and so to save Japan she wants to kill everyone there because she knows all the evil members will be killed at least, and she can live to continue saving Japan, even if it means that the innocent members of the class die. She tries to kill Ryoma, but let's say for the sake of plot that Tsumugi gets there first, and so Kirumi lives while Tsumugi dies. Kirumi is still exposed in the class trial however, and so to make sure that she isn't alienated, she explains that she is the prime minister of Japan and wanted to sacrifice everyone to save Japan from an oncoming threat, which is half true but leaves out that she is the mastermind and they are the threat. Like how Maki was given more time after she was exposed for being the Ultimate Assassin, Kirumi is also hung out with by Shuichi and Kaito, and she manipulates them to think that she is redeemable. In this period she decides it is worth continuing with the killing game since it is best to maximise the chances of nice and probably innocent people like Shuichi and Kaito surviving, instead of just killing them all. She has some issue with Maki however, being suspicious that she might be one of the evil members of the class based on the fact that she is an assassin. In Chapter 3, the killer is confirmed to have something to do with the threat to Japan in the class trial, and this reassures Kirumi that her plan is working. In Chapter 4, Monokuma gives the same motive to view the outside world, which Kirumi expects to act as a temptation for the evil members of the class to commit a murder in order to expect and ruin the peaceful world on the outside, but in actuality the outside world is already ruined, which Kokichi (one of the evil members) uses to manipulate Gonta in the same way as cannon to murder Miu, but Gonta's confession about the outside world disturbs Kirumi who didn't expect that the outside world could possibly be in ruin when surely the threat to Japan was all concealed within the killing game. In Chapter 5, Kokichi intends to take over the killing game and become the mastermind in order to maximise his own chances of escaping and causing ruin to the outside world, and kidnaps Kaito with an exisal in order to commit a murder that cannot be solved by misleading the surviving members into thinking Kaito is alive and Kokichi is dead, so they vote for Kokichi and Kokichi escapes. However, this is complicated by Maki (another originally evil member of the class who has been reconverted by Shuichi and Kaito's friendliness) does the same thing and tries to save Kaito by breaking into the hangar and killing Kokichi. Kokichi knows he cannot survive the strike-9 poison so he doesn't execute his plan, and instead decides to succumb to the strike-9 poison so Maki becomes the blackened and attempts to escape, but instead Kaito (aware of his own illness) kills Kokichi so Maki doesn't become the blackened. In the final Chapter, Kirumi wants to wrap up the game as soon as possible by killing Keebo and framing Maki for it, so the survivors will be her, Shuichi and Himiko, sacrificing Keebo to get rid of the last evil member of the class. They find out that it was Kirumi, however, and confront her on being the mastermind. There's a whole debate about whether or not her plan was justified, Maki reveals there were only two other evil members of the class besides her and that in order to get rid of those two Kirumi ended up getting 10 innocent people killed in the killing game, and whether or not she thought that the loss of that life was worth the loss of the 2 evil lives, and Kirumi argues that it was, because it was to save Japan. They point out that according to Gonta, Japan is already in ruin, and they attribute this to the fact that Kirumi's information was wrong, and not all of the evil members of the threat to Japan were in the class. They decide the only way to possibly save Japan is for Maki to live and escape the killing game and dismantle the organised threat to Japan from the inside. Kirumi is executed, and the game ends with the same survivors.

[@iamabox2478]

I had the exact same idea lol Kirumi creating the mastermind for both Japan and as a philosophical compromise between killing a whole class of innocent students and how some lives are stuff worth living would be so interesting!

[@futureddude4250]

Now this would be awesome

[@NarwhalSometimes]

A Himiko Mastermind for V3 would be pretty cool w/ the whole "Magic" Aspect with her character

[@aizichi]

Omg yes!!

[@DevinDoingstuff]

agreed

[@Swordyoshi]

Wow, the Sonia one, Chiaki, and Hajime are really good. That sound amazing and likely to do as stories as well.

[@thetealturtwig5667]

I love the idea of after defeating Sonias familly the other characters are able to give her the hope to steer her country away from it's disparfull ways. As well as giving her the emotional support for her regret and greif for Gundam

[@darkartsninja]

Kaede would have made the best mastermind in V3 because of the sheer amount of betrayal and (no pun intended) despair she could have made the cast feel with the reveal. Especially so if she ended up "living" and made a deep bond with the other characters..... only to shatter them when she reveals she was the one setting up the whole killing game all along

[@missmax2492]

Kazuichi definitely. My favourite AU scenario I've ever seen was one someone made for a shipping week for Soudam like 4 years back. The idea was similar to the Sonia idea where Kazuichi was at first very dedicated to the Ultimate Despair and was selected to be the mastermind by them. He would begin to have doubts which came to a head when Nekomaru and Gundham, both of whom he genuinely liked and had fun interacting with even under his canon persona, were fighting to the death for their friends. He makes the hasty decision to make Minimaru but have that be actually Nekomaru and let Gundham survive his execution but he's crippled from getting his leg smashed when escaping the stampede.

[@Elizaboba]

Mastermind Kokichi seems interesting to me. The reverse psychology of telling the others that he's the mastermind and them possibly not believing him seems interesting.

[@yukino017hananana2]

A mastermind in V3 that I would be interested in seeing would be Kaito. Specifically, how it ties with the entire rivalry situation with Ouma! The entire game would instead be a focus on trust instead, and how lies and truth affects it. Ouma is, no matter how you slice it, someone who wants the killing game to end. Ironic twist : He's a liar of the highest degree, with the least amount of trust. Kaito is someone trusted. He is described as a himbo. He wants the best for Maki and Shuichi. He's a honest person, but he hides a huge secret, and that is : he is sick terminally. He's cheated on his tests for when he joined the astronaut. He isn't a pure honest person. Now, make it so that Ouma is trying to take Kaito, the mastermind, down. Kaito, the honest, down to earth and idealistic himbo... being revealed as the mastermind. Kaito has revealed that he's lied before, in pressuring situations. He fabricated his goddamn identity as a college student to enter a space school. This isn't something that's easy. He got found out, of course, but the fact that he got far enough to take the actual goddamn exam AND get scores? Yeah, no, this guy can lie. Just like nanami, maybe he implimented Toxic Positivity. Maybe he tells others to cheer up and forget about it. Maybe he wants them to truly suppress it so they can feel like absolute shit later. The fact that he encouraged Shuichi to tell the truth... what if he made shuichi finally revealed his suspicions, the answer, the true truth of the game? Fabricated by the one he calls a friend... how heartbreaking would that be for him? Ouma, who can't tell the truth, or if he does, he is considered lying. A boy who cried wolf. However, in my opinion, all he wanted was for people to get out. In my opinion, a lot of him trying to lie and anger you could be his way of saying "bottling that up isn't healthy, you know? Get angry, process it." His cruel words would be a way of "Accept the truth that you've been trying to lie yourself away from." It's unclear how much is it is him lying pathologically, or him being aware of it. He wants concrete evidence, and he's bewildered why people would believe a hunch. He creates situations where the truth will come out, similar to Shuichi. In a way, he's creating a web of lies. For what? To catch the mastermind. He spies and researches on his own degree, trying to catch the one who makes them all suffer. The duality of these two character amazes me, I would love to see the theories of Kaito being a mastermind and his motives! Would it be his ticking time clock? or something else? NDRV3 has more focus on lies and truths rather than despair and hope, so maybe that play in duality would be strongly influenced on the characters as well! Anyways, here's my cents on it, hope you read this qwq

[@TaylorJD]

YES. Finally someone who thinks Kaito shouldve been the mastermind! I 100% agree that he couldve been inflicting toxic positivity, such as in the beginning of the game (in the underground minigame) when he was still encouraging everyone to keep trying to get through it even though most people were nearly half dead after the attempts at it. Kaito betraying Maki and Shuichi is my favourite AU because it's so heartbreaking. He's already terminally ill, and will die before the killing game is over, so why not make it more heartbreaking when he does die, and reveal him as the mastermind? It just makes so much more sense than Tsumugi being the mastermind in my opinion.

[@ansundertale9952]

Mastermind Sonia is my favorite! I always imagined a rewrite of chapter 4 where Gundham plans to kill Mechamaru but at the last minute Kazuichi walks in and one of them still kills Mechamaru and you see the two of them suddenly being very secretive and only talking to each other during the investigation stage of the chapter. Suddenly, Gundham is very interested in kazuichi’s mechanic skills and they spend the entire investigation time taking about Mechamaru for parts and such and it’s revealed that they were trying to find enough parts to get everyone out of the funhouse and off fix one of the planes before the trial started. It’s obvious during the trial that they’re both hiding something but their newfound bound makes it so they don’t rat the other out. It doesn’t really matter who actually does the killing but I like the idea that Kazuichi was the one that ended up being the blackened that way we get a sad “take care of her, man. You’re the one she actually likes. I’m glad we didn’t let her die in this stupid funhouse” directed at Gundham and Sonia, making her mastermind reveal even more heartbreaking that him sacrificing himself for her was for nothing. You can get some good angst out of this.

[@raetedr2246]

Wow you made Mikan seems so awesome as the headmaster. I wish she was the mastermind

[@iamabox2478]

Another comment by a monokuma profile picture explained really well why Kirumi is a good mastermind for v3 and I thought this myself too since Kirumi is shown to be capable of manipulating the group (see Gonta, Tenko and others volunteering to take her place in dying) and if she thought the students were plotting against Japan I have no doubt she would take similar actions against them if she is the de facto PM of Japan

[@p.pirrip]

For V3, I think Kokichi would be interesting because when he says that the mastermind is him, everyone thinks he's lying. And he ends up faking his death like Mukuro and Junko. At trial 6, when Shuichi thinks it's Tsumugi, it all fogs up, and Kokichi then shows up. That would be cool :D

[@Jrockten]

After the heartbreak of Tsumugi, I prefer the idea of the mastermind being an external party who we don’t have to develop a bond with, like Junko. Looking at Tsumugi‘s evil sprites just make me feel hurt and betrayed, lol.

[@kaylaHat]

But that’s the point, you feeling betrayed is what the reveal strives for. In a series so focused on despair having you build bonds with the mastermind and then feel backstabbed sounds like the better idea

[@Jrockten]

@@kaylaHat I know… I know… but I think V3 confuses The enjoyability of betraying the in universe characters and betraying the audience. One is a fun storytelling twist, the other is a slap in the face to the past 60 hours you invested in this game I think the reason I didn’t like Tsumugi‘s betrayal was because her Trial 6 personality and her personality throughout the rest of the game seem to be completely different and unrelated, suggesting that the girl we knew all this time was nothing but a fake, a front, a Character. meaning all that character building The audience learned was for nothing. That’s not FUN. I like the Sonia mastermind idea because she’s a victim of circumstance, she might be lying about her true motives, but she’s not lying about who she is as a person. After she reveals herself, she is still the same person we’ve been getting to know all this time. Not to mention she shows remorse for her actions and is redeemable, unlike Tsumugi, who we only have her pure-evil trial 6 personality to go off of.

[@kaylaHat]

@@Jrockten yeah you bring really good points. Honestly i don't really know what to think of Tsumugi's trail 6 personality because of how much she lies, like after a whole game of dealing with Kokichi faking a villain persona, who knows if trail 6 Tsumugi was the real her or just a villain persona to please the audience In the end you're right, if a character you got to know and love was nothing but a lie, it's not very fun

[@galarstar052]

@@Jrockten i mean... Tsumugi doesn't really have much character building to begin with though.

[@Jrockten]

@@galarstar052 well, she doesn’t have character, but she has a character. That’s what I meant.

[@cookiegary5803]

I've always loved the idea of Shuichi being the mastermind. The pure irony of the detective who the others relied on to get through the trials being the mastermind has always intrigued me. And if the some of the chapters were changed to let characters like Kaede & Kaito live till Chapter 6, they would just be HEARTBROKEN.

[@11th-lemon]

Yeah, it makes sense for the mastermind to be a detective, especially if we keep the TV show twist. The mastermind would want to make sure the game lasts 6 chapters, so he could attempt to solve the murders if everyone else proves incompetent. Though I guess this was already done in every game, with Monokuma/the Monokubs "accidentally" revealing something during a trial. But this would be more direct.

[@alandelossantos6131]

I really liked this video, and also one of my favorites theories or AU for the Mastermind would be Nekomaru, as you said it could be like a "tragic" twist of events just like Mikan, maybe like his time at the hospital, he knew he was weak and his mind got corrupted so he tried to get stronger and stronger just so that he would not be in that position of "weakness", he would be an exeptional Manager still, but the twist here is that it wasnt by his own merit, he just hijacked the other teams/althetes that his team/althetes were against, but he felt he wasnt powerfull enough, so, by making the killing game he would demonstrate to the whole world his true power. By manipulating and using his fame as a Manager he would get accepted in Hope's Peak Academy, but for he to be a "better" mastermind (or not so obvious) i think he would be a little more serious, but he also would still have that comical relief, just not that "dumb" as he is in the actual games. He will go nuts when its revealed he is the mastermind (kind of Nagito-ish when he blew up the Hotel Lobby) and will start mumbling stuff about he's not powerfull enough and stuff. And well this is the end of what i couldve think of. I hope y'all who are reading this liked it and comment what would you change and stuff, any suggestions are welcome :).

[@emskippy]

Honestly Korekiyo and/or Miu being masterminds is a pretty interesting idea to me. While I'm not sure what her motive would be, Miu creating all the executions and mechanics for the killing game was always sort of a cool idea to me. As for Kiyo, the motive is most likely to see the "beauty of humanity" (and also taking out the sister part, because 🤢🤢)

[@realfromtherealreality4148]

I love that Nagito has so much obvious mastermind potential, that I've seen exactly 0 stuff with him as a mastermind. (Apart from vaguely aiding Monaca or Junko or some cross-overs with Kumagawa Misogi) (Plus he'd be too similar to Makoto Naegi as a mastermind) I do really like the idea of Chiaki as a mastermind but only if Chiaki was DR 1's mastermind.

[@daz1543]

No matter how "fanficy" a fan-scenario may be, it probably won't be worse than DR3

[@apolloslook]

honestly. fair.

[@Wince_Media]

Bingo. B)

[@11th-lemon]

You mean DRV3 or DR3? If you meant the anime, I agree.

[@fastrainbowdas4713]

Personally, I think Shuichi could be a great mastermind for V3. Now, obviously, the easiest way to do that is to just make Tsumugi 2.0 but I want to go a little further than that. In this au, Danganronpa is a TV show that's been popular for so long but it's been going on for over 50 seasons and people are starting to find it stale and boring. The company is losing money and there are rumours that it could shut down. And we have a boy who loves Danganronpa with his whole heart. So much so, he auditions to be the new mastermind, to make a fresh and interesting season. To do *anything* to keep the show going. A lot of people tend to have Shuichi not care for the others because they're all fictional but here he'd want to make great characters and what better way to make sure the audience would get attached to them than for the writer to get attached? So he really loves the cast, albeit differently than how he'd love real people. In the reveal he still acts like he's crazy and just wants despair and all that stuff because that's a staple for the show and, while he wants to make a interesting story, he doesn't want to deviate too much from what Danganronpa is known for. The show reveal starts off the same as in canon. He is deeply hurt seeing his characters in so much despair but he keeps up the act. Then someone (Depends on who's alive at that point. I imagine it's most likely either Kaito, Kokichi or Kaede.) decides to end the show but Shuichi doesn't think it'd work because he'd done everything right, Danganronpa was more popular than ever, surely it won't go down the drain so easily? But people start getting convinced. And Shuichi starts panicking. All his hard work for naught because this was the exact senario he was trying to prevent. The others (reasonably) assume he's panicking because if Danganronpa ends he wouldn't be able to watch them all suffer. But he ends up blurting out his true thoughts - What is he supposed to do? Danganronpa is his *everything*, it's what keeps him going, what makes him who he is, he threw away his life for it and now suddenly it's gone. Just what the hell is he supposed to do with himself now? He's crying at this point. The others are confused, the audience no longer there. And that's how the trial ends. Post trial, Shuichi apologizes. To all of them individually. For everything. The others definitely have mixed feelings on him after that but he doesn't blame them. And, whether they decide to believe it or not, he truly loves them all. He tells Kiibo to destroy the academy and him, but keep the others alive. After all, without Danganronpa, he's nothing. Since it's gone, it's better if he dies with it, right? At the very least, he'd go out with a bang. Kiibo destroys the academy and keeps the others (excluding Shuichi) alive. In the epilogue the survivors discuss what they think of Shuichi after all that and step out into the light. And there, the game ends. Obviously, a lot of people don't like the "It's all fictional!" reveal and would prefer something completely different but I'll leave that for someone else to come up with.

[@Jrockten]

I like the ideas that come with mastermind Chiaki with toxic positivity and all, but I don’t want it to BE Chiaki. My heart couldn’t take that.

[@DevinDoingstuff]

As for V3...I gotta go with a curveball and say that our little magician would be an interesting mastermind. While the popular detective is a classic, having a magician be revealed as the culprit all along, thanks to a magic-trick would be interesting, Reveal the magicians secret to set yourself free from the illusion. Another one would be a mastermind-accomplice of Kirumi, setting it all up on request from her latest master and the final showdown is her being torn between either siding with the new people, or obey the mastermind like a "proper maid", resulting in her taking the mastermind down with them.

[@ImaCreepyCreeper]

Honestly I really like Ryoma as a mastermind AU because his backstory sort of gives him the vibe of being the mastermind or at least being a killer, my explanation for it is that he would try to avenge everyone in his path out of despair for losing his family and girlfriend and he just sort of never let go of that and now he is too far into despair to turn back now. plz notice

[@madyy_3_xd801]

Teruteru! Reason: aside for the lust spells he puts on, he would also make food so the others can get unconscious so he can kill them all. Teru is always the short end of the stick and gets revenge successfully. Teruteru would also be yandere to the girls to explain his cannon self, and that is my AU!

[@viviennemorgan7217]

i like sonia as the mastermind because she's the ultimate princess and she loves reading about murderers.

[@atiim6751]

Kaito's got my pick for alternate MM. His role as the group’s emotional core gives the twist a sense of betrayal that’s plainly absent in V3’s, recontextualizing his interactions as you’re forced to question how much of his character was a terminally ill man w/a hero complex vs. a ruthless showrunner keeping his game going at all costs. Did his obsessive crush on Kaede stem from admiration for her efforts against his killing game, or was he simply trying to endear himself to its greatest threat? If their personalities were created for the game’s sake, does that mean Kaito personally designed Maki to be his ideal love interest? Was she just a tool for ratings and a means of pushing his heroic ideals on others? Did he insist on building up Shuichi in V3-2 out of a desire to be heroic, or was he just making sure the trials could be solved w/o interference on his end, thus keeping the game going? How much of his disdain for Ouma was philosophical, if at all? Was in an act to ensure the game would have a consistent source of conflict? (etc., etc., etc.) As much as I *love* the ruthless, shapeshifting showrunner in V3-6, the fact that Tsumugi being the mastermind doesn’t offer any meaningful reinterpretations aside from two throwaway lines about Doraemon Ep. 53 and Miu’s stools speaks to potential that wouldn’t have gone wasted with Kaito. While some alternate MM concepts **could** work, he’s the only one that wouldn’t require a ground-up rewrite or character assassination to be as impactful.

[@jackiewepps4694]

All these AU ideas are really interesting! The more the better in my book. But I'm a fan fiction writer who loves stories in general, maybe a little too much.

[@azaer.3092]

I think Kaito could of been an amazing mastermind. He was always encouraging Shuichi and it would make Shuichi and Maki too feel betrayed

[@yanni9394]

I agree

[@runningoncylinders3829]

The biggest twist I was hoping for is that the duo of Ch5 were both in the Exisal for the trial and that Kaito would still have his illness be his undoing. It would also be enough of a reason to invalidate this trial such was their goal, rather than have the mastermind steal the protag's kill way back in the first chapter.

[@Sugarsoleil_uwu]

I got this au where Gonta is actually the mastermind. (He’s my favorite lol) how Gonta came to despair realizing his real family doesn’t want him anymore because he’s not a normal human and instead raised by animals. So Gonta adopts this beast persona where in the wild “only the strong survive”. So he kills his family and uses their money to start a killing game, to weed out the sheep from the wolfs so to speak. Since he was raised by animals he never had a person tell him what was right and wrong. So he’s confused with showing mercy and hope since all he knows is surviving at all costs. I feel like his killing game out be like a jungle under a big dome. 😋 I loved the mastermind au so I just made one for Gonta lol what do ya think?

[@panandreas1269]

Imagine if Kazuichi was brainwashed by Mastermind Sonia as a makeshift personal bodyguard so that she would have less risk going into the killing game if someone was already in love with her and seemingly ready to die for her

[@N1EnaShinonomeFan]

I love the idea of mastermind Nagito intentionally sabotaging the cast claiming he does it in the name of hope just as a way to mock and spit in it’s face

[@mbuszka5295]

Imagine Izuru, or Nagito(both has their own reasons) setting killing game, just so to force Junko and Naegi to clash again, because: A. Izuru wants answer, which will be more surprising - hope, or despair. B. Nagito with his 'lucky unluck'. He wanted to prove everyone, Remnants can also can end 'hope infected', but his *unlucky luck* bring them killing each other, because paranoia he cause in them. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@typicalfangirl2001]

For V3 masterminds, I'd have to choose between Korekiyo and Kirumi, which I feel are both rare in the community. For Korekiyo, I actually thought he was the mastermind until chapter three happened. With his talent, I wondered if he had set this up to see up-close how the ultimates, these shining pillars in humanity, would react. In the first chapter with the motive presented and such his approach and comments hint at him just 'standing back and watching to see what they do' which could hint at him just being there to observe what they would do. With his knowledge on cultures and such he could know how to manipulate the others if need be, but he'd mainly let the students choose their own paths. He wouldn't really set anyone else up to be a false mastermind, but rather be curious to see who everyone would think is it. At the reveal he'd be unremorseful about what happened, simply grateful for the opportunity to observe the events and the reactions the students had. For his demise he'd say something to the effect of his thirst for knowledge being satisfied, and doesn't have anything else he wants to do, allowing the other students to kill him. If he was to win though he'd search for more students to start up another killing game, curious of how different their reactions would be. His discoveries in the community would allow him to have the funds to do these killing games, and if they went down the route of the ultimates in the killing game actually being juveniles (or criminals) they'd be alright with Korekiyo doing this as it's keeping criminals that have ultimate-talents at bay. A way to get rid of criminals, and allowing Korekiyo to satisfy his thirst for seeing the reactions up close and personal. I haven't seen much for Kirumi, but I do think she'd be an amazing mastermind. If you go down the route of her still working under the prime minister, he could've asked her to take care of dangerous ultimates (going down the juvenile ultimates once more), but can't make it outright killing to not upset the public. Kirumi would help set up the killing game, perhaps even helping to program and design Monokuma. The first chapter would go as if Kaede actually did kill Rantaro with her trap. In the second chapter Kirumi would receive her memory and in turn purpose of her role in the killing game. She'd help to encourage others with comments that don't seem suspicious. For Ryoma it could be like "He seems to be losing his purpose and drive as each day passes. I worry for his safety if he keeps his guard down." Or other methods to help the killings go along. Near the reveal Kirumi would be instructed to see if the ultimates left were worthy of being given a second chance. She'd have to challenge their drive to be better, and she'd be forced to take them out if they fail. However as the killings have gone by Kirumi has found herself getting close to the others. She wants to do what she's been instructed to do since she always strives to complete her requests, but she begins to wonder if she should go against the orders for the better of her client, to do what's best for them all rather than completing her task. She'd help instruct and lead the remaining students in proving their innocence and becoming ultimates who help to make the world better rather than being criminals. I know both of these were really long, but I really feel like these two don't have any AU's out there, which is a real shame. They may be a bit fanfic-y, but I hope you like them regardless.

[@xenorayy]

Glad to see Sonia in first place. During the game she kept agreeing with Hajime, giving good guesses and being very kind to the point where I was sure she would be a blackened at one point or another. Also shout out to the person who pointed out how she inadvertently helped the killers, I didn't realise until now.

[@PixelatedHashbrowns]

I think Angie would be agreat MM for V3. She is already manipulative as crap. Using Auta would also be very interesting.

[@J03SAM]

excitement fills my soul when weeby uploads

[@Virtuous.violet]

I have alot of ideas so I'm sorry for the long comment. For V3 I'll be a bit basic and say Shuichi. I like both ways you can take this AU. Shuichi becoming the mastermind because hes a danganronpa fanboy or him falling into despair because hope has failed him. Shuichi's dialogue in ch 6 is already perfect. "Despair is the only choice" "hope is the villain here". It gives the impression that he doesn't like despair but its the only thing he has. This could be him slowly losing his hope in the killing game or at hopes peak. For the killing game one I like the idea that the trials and executions wear him down harder than is shown in the game. Once he figures out who the mastermind is, he kills them and then takes over their role to finish this killing game once and for all. Ch 6 would involve figuring out tsumugi WAS the mastermind and who killed her. For hopes peak it could be him crumbling under pressure and finding out that sometimes the truth can bring the worst despair as he solves cases. This one is also cool because it ties into some of his back story from the og name. Or he could stay as support and instead of having a protagonist swap we have a big reveal that the one who helped you solve all these cases masterminded them-

[@darthvigilante]

With V3, I'd say a good alternate mastermind would be Miu. As the mastermind she could use her perverted personality as a facade to hide her true ruthless personality. Also Miu's backstory of how she became the mastermind is that she ended up in a coma which robbed Miu the chance to be successful, thus creating the killing game out of envy and uploading an Alter Ego Miu program into the Neo World Program and the Monopads to monitor the students.

[@birthdaycake420]

I feel like for V3 i think kiibo would make a good mastermind/ assistant for the mastermind. He is like one of the characters you would least expect to be evil. It would also be cool if he was thrown away when he was build and the mastermind helped him and rebuilt him to be the ultimate despair robot. He helped the mastermind to ruin the plans of the students.

[@newbiegamelover4767]

I love these scenarios! Please, don't worry about being too specific, as these are just concepts. Also, I don't know if I've brought this up before, but I thought I should mention this here. While I did vote for Sonia in the poll, I do still like the idea of Nagito being a mastermind. Notice that I said "a mastermind," as in my mind, he's not the mastermind of DR2, but rather, a different killing game, specifically, the V3 killing game, or rather, the gameshow behind it. (Warning: this ended up getting pretty long.) In this scenario, the world has recovered from the Tragedy, but Nagito is still afflicted with his Alzheimer's disease, and is noticing that the world is showing less and less need for hope, as it is returning to normal functionality. In his state, he sees this as a problem, and wants to do something about it, and one idea he has is the killing game that he and his friends went through, remembering the hope that the killing game garnered as he and his friends came together to survive and escape. It's possible that he originally planned on only having the game in the virtual world, but with his deteriorating state, that plan was lost, and it ended up becoming a real world project. He somehow managed to gather a team of people to help him, and even got a hold on the brainwashing technology that Ryota created and Junko abused, which would not only help in the creation of a team, but also, an audience, and even lead to the creation of the flashback light. It's likely that they started out using Ultimate students, but as there's only a finite amount of them, and the future foundation would quickly be catching wind that something is wrong, they would be forced to seek out and kidnap normal high schoolers, which were in abundance. Unfortunately for them, normal high school students don't have the same appeal as Ultimates, which would lead to them using the information gathered from the Izuru Kamakura project and incorporating them into the flashback light technology, and thus, the Ultimate Real Fiction was born. I can't say exactly how big the audience really was by the time the 53rd game came around, but I highly doubt it was as popular as Tsumugi implied it to be, as it would still be under the scrutiny of the Future Foundation, and there's still the fact that the characters in that game were kidnapped (we even see pregame Kaede getting shoved into a van during her flashback). What I can say is that the brainwashing technology may have had a part in Shuichi convincing the outside world to turn off the killing game, turning it against the very game that it helped to popularized. I also can't say that Nagito survived long enough to see this, as his luck can only keep him alive for so long, and judging from the images of the false memories that the V3 students were given, Fuyuhiko had gotten pretty old by that time. This would mean that Nagito would've passed away long before the 53rd season, and the end of the killing game that he had created.

[@wolfcat1973]

In regards to the second idea for Izuru (the one where he takes over Hajime for a chapter or two), there could be the option of doing very small changes to the internal monologue, since that was the problem you had pointed out for that one. For example, Hajime refers to the others by their first name while Izuru refers to them by their last name (could also work for when he is talking to them, but that would likely raise questions from the characters if it’s done to far into the game), or with Hajime referring to places or items in the general way the others have decided to refer to something while Izuru refers to those same things by their proper names. Similarly, there’s also other small speech pattern differences, like Hajime uses contractions in his sentences while Izuru doesn’t. Again, Chiaki and Komaeda could be the ones to notice if Izuru slips up while pretending to be Hajime or they notice a slightly dazed look that Hajime might get when he shifts between Hajime and Izuru and back, like he doesn’t know where he is for a second or what’s going on. And, given they’re in a killing game, Hajime would, of course, realize it would make him look to suspicious if he admitted to not knowing what was happening, who died while Izuru was in control, or in any way admitted to not remembering what was going on. Just an idea I had, so, sorry if it isn’t all that thought out.

[@jadenspops608]

V3 Masterminds ❗️ Can’t come up with good stories/plot lines sorry but I love the following: • Angie - I think her serving as “atua” by possibly getting rid or despair/? I just like mastermind Angie Rantaro - obvious reasons

[@radiantheguy]

Not sure if anyone else has said this, but Miu would be an interesting choice for a V3 mastermind. Not only is she already an inventor, which would make it easy to explain why this place seems much more technologically advanced than the other two (screens instead of blackboards, places like Kiibo's research lab, and the exisals, to name a few), but I also think she could have a pretty interesting motive. When it comes to V3, almost all the characters circle back to that theme of truth and lies, so I think there might be another side to how Miu switches from brash and rude to meek and shy at the drop of a hat. Maybe, in her past, she was tired of the people around her taking advantage of her weakness, so she created a persona that wouldn't bow down to anyone. In this version, she deeply resents the people who looked at her as weak, especially those who were just pitying her. I'm not sure how she would get there, but I think she would want to create a killing game to make the people in it feel as helpless as she felt, and so that she could be in complete control of the situation. She would be the mastermind, the big baddy that seems impossible to defeat: in her mind, the complete opposite of weak. I didn't explain the concept well, but I just think it would be cool. Edit: To elaborate, in my mind, Miu was more similar in the past to the meek and shy personality we see sometimes in the game. In this version, she had a lot of fake friends who would gaslight her and take advantage of her kindness. They would ask for money, inventions, and maybe even sexual favors from her, justifying this behavior by saying “she owes them” or “that’s what friends do for each other”. This is why she assumes that the other students “want money” when she was being accused in the class trial, and why she thinks the only way Shuichi would stay with her in her love hotel event was if they… you know. Idk, I just really love Miu and wish she had gotten more screen-time/development, so these are some of the ideas I’ve had for her backstory for a while.

[@trickstercode3966]

Kokichi as a mastermind keeping his thing against killing: seeing if it's even possible to get out of a killing game without anyone dieing why because he was put in one alongside dice. Of course dice being his loyal followers and practical found family they are they got killed to protect him. (This is my go to evil kokichi because it may be a killing game but he isn't actually trying to kill or hurt anyone he's just trying to find a way out for everyone without the mastermind controlling it and it could imply that no one actually dies) and yes I am sharing this because I am way to proud of it. The no one actually dies bit can even be subverted to him having completely lost control of the killing game early on and everyone killing each other not only happens but goes full on tragedy. Which could be topped off with the reveal causing kokichi to have a full on break down, showing all the emotional pain, guilt, and absolute agony he would have been in the whole time, maybe even calling out how everyone moved on so quickly from each death, questioning why the killers couldn't just not kill, and even pointing out how many out he tried to give everyone so nothing bad would happen.

[@maryebl]

I like scenario where Hajime is the mastermind without Izuru. I love Izuru and I definitely want him more in the story, but imagine Hajime being so obsessed with talents so he decides to test them in a killing game to see if they can defeat him, a completely talentless person and during the game he would get more disappointed with them, because not only they fall into his traps and murder each other but also no one is able to see the mastermind pulling strings in him. Of course Chiaki and Nagito would be the most suspicious of him, well, they're really smart after all but Chiaki would have hard time to believe it because she wants to see best in people and she likes Hajime (not necessarily in the romantic way, but the way it was in the game and the anime) and Nagito would be like "there's no way a talentless person could make something like that" and that would mislead him the most, his attitude towards people without talent

[@chyuuix]

This!!!

[@bravetree]

I would love a part 2 with akane

[@ella_cupcake]

With the final idea, clearly Hajime was brought to the killing game because the government didn’t want someone that bad at geometry in their society. For V3 I love the idea of Shuichi as the mastermind. In the game they mention that there’s a fine line between studying criminals and becoming a criminal, so I think it would be interesting if they did something with that. I’m also planning on writing a fanfic about this, where he’s a yandere in love with Kaede. He made the killing game because he saw how Kaede had so much respect for the people in previous killing games who were able to remain hopeful. He makes the killing game so she could lead the group to hope like her hero’s, but then she dies. She wasn’t supposed too and he’s heartbroken. He continues the killing game because he blames the other students for her death

[@billybob3064]

Ayo could you tell me when you finish writing it? I would love to read it.

[@Jaybeconfused]

My favorite mastermind au is gundhams since it could follow the saying. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" since in his own weird way he's actually trying to help. Even when he's about to die he only seems to really care about the people around him( including animals) and to never give up on life. Even though I can't really think of a great reason why an idea I have is Gundam making the killing games to try help people see that life is precious and should never be thrown away. But after so many games and seeing so many people die it slowly drives him to despair twisting his ideals. To all life matters to him judging them harshly for sins they have committed. Causing him to kill the blackened in real life and those at the end he considers not deserving. Through means of using wild dogs to rip them apart or shock them until there brain turns to mush. until he gets to the final game after going through the game so many times and then meeting Hajime and best gamer girl. He would slowly dive into despair as the chapters go on realizing he's become worse than junko. Eventually causing him to break down and kill somebody wanting to destroy himself like he destroyed others before.

[@ThatOneCreator]

for a v3 mastermind au I stand by shuichi would of been a great mastermind spoilers for v3 you could even still make him the protag like imagine Kaede dies we see him so upset then he becomes friends with Kaito, who eventually also dies, I feel like every person Shuichi got close to ended up being a killer and maybe the player notices this but at chapter 6 you realize that was the plan the entire time he purposely made friends with people that would soon kill I think the survivors would stay the same and I feel like if we were to swap protags again I'd choose Maki over Kiibo because of the friendship between Shuichi, Kaito, and Maki I think Maki would make the most sense

[@Weird..lesbian69]

I would really like the idea of kokichi being the mastermind in dv3 because throughout the game he’s always been saying “I’m the mastermind” and all of that. Now for what I know most of the players that I have come in contact with didn’t actually think he was the mastermind the whole game they thought “yea he’s just joking no mastermind would go out like all that, and if he isn’t he’s just expecting death if they vote him” so I would’ve really loved it if he was because the whole game he was telling you and the fun twist is. He was haha.

[@TaylorJD]

It's likely an unpopular opinion, however, my favourite concept of an AU for Danganronpa v3 will always be Kaito. Most people like the idea of Kokichi or Angie being the mastermind because of specific aspects such as Atua or Kokichi being the ultimate Supreme Leader, but Kaito being the mastermind would be such an incredible twist in my opinion. Kaito is an over all motivating and supportive character throughout v3, and it is very clear that his personality is someone who never gives up when trying to achieve his goals. Kaito is very smart when it comes to his passions such as when he passed his astronaut exams even as a teenager, so it would be interesting if one of his passions *was* the killing game. In his free time events, Kaito tells Shuichi that one of his dreams is to "conquer the world", this would have been amazing foreshadowing to see that he really does control the world with the killing games. He also had memories of specific characters such as Ryoma, and this is the only instance of that in v3. Seeing that Kaito was sick from the beginning of the killing game could be another instance of foreshadowing. Consider this POV: Kaito was dying, and maybe his final wish was to participate in the killing game himself, rather than just spectate it. He knew he was going to die anyways, so he didn't have anything to lose. Until he developed deep friendships with Shuichi and Maki, that is. Kaito never had plans to make friends or develop feelings for anyone. He merely wanted to get close enough to the participants in order to give them false hope and tainted motivation. But against his will, Kaito gained a best friend, Shuichi, and even started to fall for Maki. During the 5th trial, just before his execution, Kaito confesses that he wanted to feel the despair of taking another life (Kokichi), only to be executed for it. He knows that he's lost the game, but that won't stop him from inflicting the betrayal on Shuichi and Maki. Kaito tells them the truth, that he orchestrated the killing game. Maki and Shuichi refuse to believe that such a positive and encouraging person could possibly be the mastermind. As he steps toward Monokuma for the execution, Kaito tells everyone that he's sorry, and that he understands now what the meaning of hope is. He doesn't want to be executed anymore, but it's too late, and he's going to die anyways. The only thing Kaito can do to rebel against the despair inaide of him is make sure that the execution isn't what kills him. And so he dies from his illness instead. Seeing Kaito grow to love and support Maki and Shuichi throughout the entirety of v3 was always a red flag to me, and I expected the mastermind to be one of the three of them. I figured that such a huge betrayal had to be coming, and I was excited for it, until the 6th chapter when the mastermind was revealed as Tsumugi. Kaito's betrayal is my favourite concept for a DRv3 AU, and I genuinely believe it would have made a much better ending/twist than Tsumugi being the mastermind.

[@isamelzorrilla5639]

I can't wait to see the Mastermine for v3

[@Artisticzorya]

17:50 But falls in love with Hajime and hints to Hajime that he has a crush on him but, unfortunately Hajime is blind so Nagito says " Fuck you. " to his feelings and continues the killing game. 😔

[@desil30stm]

I thought Sonia was the killer in both chapter 4 and 5 when I first played. I was so convinced in the 5th, especially since she always hung out at the military base and how she joined the others later in the monokuma factory, and with the fire grenades obviously. She also had a remark about the spears that Nagito used when she saw them in Nozomi Castle.

[@thecursed_1lordofcats738]

I think an interesting V3 AU mastermind would have been Shuichi. He is the only one with a reused talent and his apparent lack of confidence could tie into his motivation to mastermind a killing game. I mean, you don't need to look anymore in the eyes if there is nobody else left in the world. And having a copied talent would innevitably lead to comparisons between the original and the successor, further enhancing his insecurities. In an attempt to live up to the expectations established by Kiyoko, he would "assist" in the investigations for the murders even though he already knows who the killers are. It would be like cheating on a test because you have the answer key, only nobody else knows you have the key. His bond with Kaede at the beginning would give him some confidence but by that point it would already be too late and the killing game would have already begun. But this au just completely ignores the whole ending of V3. The students actually would be the last people left alive, going back to the earlier mentioned idea that nobody can look at him if there is nobody left. A large portion of the rest of the game would go on as it does normally, though at the end Shuichi would sacrifice himself after finding the strength to look to the future thanks to the efforts of Maki and Kaito. Also Tsumugi would perish at some point and only Kokichi would catch onto the fact that Shuichi is cheating during the investigation.

[@yes1i1yes97]

For the v3 mastermind I would think maybe:gonta au: After he was raised by reptites he finally comes out of the forest when a hunter shoots him .he wakes up in a hospital causing him to start the killing game because the hunter made him hate other people

[@alilolfox]

I absolutely love your AU for Mikan

[@alilolfox]

For real I might make an edit just about this AU (with credits ofc)

[@marylovesdavidcook]

I love what you did with Mikan ❤️

[@zephykelsey]

early gang, finally something to watch while i eat my food LOL thanks weeby!

[@kuromisland8462]

Yass thank

[@Rainezgutzz]

I really wanna see a kirumi mastermind AU and her motive would be pretty obvious with her trying to protect her nation by starting the killing game I feel like she would fake her execution and just continue to watch behind the scenes and that would make it a better mastermind reveal because the other students think that kirumi died from her execution. Do what you will with that information.

[@marylovesdavidcook]

Please make more for DR2! I'd LOVE to see Imposter as a Mastermind!

[@shrimps_clips254]

I think in V3 Tsmugi shoulda been a traitor and the mastermind being Shuichi. This would cause despair and all with Tsmugi only getting involved due to promises that she'd rather not divulge, what would be worst is Saihara outright killing her in the 5th trial and pinning the blame on kokichi (or making it somehow that kokichi kills Tsmugi), as so to tie up loose ends before the big finale, I'd feel like he'd mention the detective was the killer trope, plus (since Kaito survives in this hypothetical timeline) Kaito would probably somehow lead the group to the ending that is normally seen.

[@-KnOwLeDgE-iS-poWeR-]

A mastermind Hajime theory I have is everything stays the same except that in Danganronpa the anime when chiaki dies he decides to go against Junko but gets put into the neo world program as a remnant despite not being one any more. So he decides to get revenge for chiaki by corrupting the games files and forcing them to despair. I can see hajime and izuru being two different entites. Izuru takes junkos place and hajime remains blissfully unaware that his alter ego is causing all this despair and trauma. And I believe since Izuru had multiple talents he had the skills to make a virus to infect the simulation! I think it would be a cool way to reveal chiaki as a ai and her death prior to the game