Part 81: Episode 21 - Future Side, Episode 11: All good things

And after that wonderful series of events, we find ourselves back on the Future Side. Except we're more on the Past Side, because we're having a flashback, back to the end of DR1.



And here, we get to see what awaited our survivors - a whole lot of nothing.



However, Future Foundation has been watching all this time. Kyosuke gets pissed that there's nobody there to help them, but then one of the agents says the first responders just arrived... which I think contradicts the previously established series of events? Like, I'm pretty sure our DR1 crew didn't just immediately get picked up by Future Foundation, I think that got brought up in DR2 at some point. Oh well.



Anyway, Future Foundation now knows Junko was behind all this, and Chisa blames herself for this, saying that she didn't think Junko was behind it all. Except...



...well, we all know the truth now.



Juzo also seems somewhat peeved at this turn of events for reasons the others don't know, but we do.



Back in the present, Kyosuke gets snippy at the idea of Aoi of all people figuring out who the attacker is. Makoto tells him to at least give her a chance, and he does. Woop.



So, Aoi shows Makoto what Kyoko wrote down regarding the attacker. Turns out the only prints on the murder weapons are those of the victims. Furthermore, all wounds are in easily accessible places. Hence, the only conclusion is that all the "attacker" killings were, in fact, suicides. Ryota can't believe it, asking what could have driven them all to commit suicide.



Well, Kyoko has made some more notes. She drew maps of the places the bodies were found, where the survivors were, and... the monitors.



Ryota flinches, as if he just got an idea, and he doesn't like it one bit. I think he knows exactly where this is going, and I think you out there know as well. However, Makoto can't figure it out yet - he now remembers that he did see a monitor at every site where there was a dead body, but he can't pinpoint what their connection to the killings is yet.



However, Makoto has a plan.



His plan is to have Kyosuke tie him up. Essentially, Makoto is taking a page out of Odysseus's playbook - restraining himself in order to witness something that would otherwise be certain death.



Aoi asks Makoto if Kyoko's death pushed him past some sort of breaking point that he's trying this, but he just says that he'd never dishonor her memory like that. He goes on to talk about how Kyoko would always search for the truth and all that guff. So instead of, say, breaking all the monitors in the room they lock themselves in before the time limit expires or something like that, he cooked up this Greek classic because I guess self-experimentation is hopeful or something. Makoto also brings up the promise he made to Komaru and says that he intends to be a survivor. I can't help but feel like Kyoko could've come up with a less risky plan, and well, she's the woman that investigates by tasting the saliva off of corpses.



Anyway, the other three hole up in a room and the time limit expires, sending everybody to sleep.



However, Makoto is later awakened by the bracelet, and hears a familiar voice! Or, well, unfamiliar voice belonging to a familiar character.



It's Monokuma! He speaks directly to the attacker, but Makoto quickly realizes that it's actually just a recording.



Well, Monokuma has something to show to the attacker! What is it?



It looks like it's a Monokuma Theater episode, but the fact that Monokuma's theme is playing backwards seems to be telling us that something else is going on here.





Something isn't quite right.



And Makoto can't seem to look away. Hrm, now where did we see that behavior before?



And just like that, Makoto suddenly finds himself, well, wherever the fuck this is. The edge of reality?



However, he's not alone! Kyoko simply says "you're still alive". Makoto turns to face her, and...



...oh dear.



Sayaka chastises Makoto for promising to get her out alive and not delivering. Kyoko says this is all his fault. And just as Makoto starts to reply...





...some old friends show up.





Kyoko and Sayaka then tell Makoto that he should've been the one that died, not them.



Makoto is not dealing well with being directly confronted by those who died under his watch. And as he tries to cope...





...he gets to see all the dead again at once. Now, I know what you might be thinking. This is a really good scene showing how the brainwashing could turn somebody to suicide, but are they going to fuck it up by showing the one thing that, while fitting, completely takes you out of the moment?



Yes, they fucking did. They gave us Mondo butter. God damnit. And I can't even blame DR3 for that! They were saddled with this because yes, the dead Mondo did indeed turn into fucking butter as established by DR1. It's just so incredibly unfitting for this moment.



Back from the edge of reality, we have screaming, mostly.



Also, in fidgeting around wildly, Makoto inadvertently scrapes open his restraints.



And then, as if by divine intervention, a dagger is dropped nearby.





And with Makoto getting ready to jam it straight into his throat, the Kyoko and Sayaka in his head tell him to join them and kill himself.



And he is absolutely fine with that plan.



But then, the knife is knocked out of his hand...



...and he finds himself shoved against the wall by somebody who isn't going to let the man who defeated Junko kill himself. Who is this man?



It's Juzo!



Apparently, getting choked the fuck out is a good antidote against brainwashing, because it seems to have gotten Makoto to snap out of it. However, Makoto has some questions, namely, how the fuck is Juzo still awake? Note that Makoto doesn't have the question we have right now, namely, how the fuck is Juzo still alive?



Well, the answer to Makoto's question is "he straight up chopped off his arm Jesus fucking Christ what". The answer to our question seems to be "sheer fucking tenacity". Juzo says he wanted to get the attacker by doing this and finally end this.









However, as Makoto has now confirmed, there is no attacker. The one closest to a monitor got woken up by the bracelet, then shown the brainwashing video. After that, they all killed themselves.



This turn of events doesn't exactly improve Juzo's mood. As it stands, they've been killing each other because of somebody that probably isn't even in the building but instead controlling everything remotely in some way. They've been doing all sorts of things to try and find the attacker, and it turns out in the end that it was all of them. Yeah, thinking about it that way, it does make the entirety of what Juzo and Kyosuke did entirely pointless when they could've just stuck their thumbs up their asses and let Kyoko figure everything out.



Makoto suggests ending the game by destroying all the monitors, but Juzo says that there could be a ton of them, and if Makoto wants to do that, sure, but don't expect him to help.



Juzo also confesses that from the moment on that Makoto left Hope's Peak, he hated him. When Kyosuke told Makoto to kill himself, all Juzo could think was "about time". But why? Well, it's because Makoto defeated Junko. Turns out Juzo is still seriously beating himself up over fucking up that Junko situation we saw last episode. And in the end, he couldn't kill Makoto for Kyosuke, and as a result, Kyosuke just threw him away. Makoto tries to convince Juzo that Kyosuke didn't mean it that way, that it was just because of the game fooling him, and Juzo just... walks away.



So, Makoto joins up with the rest of the gang and confirms Kyoko's theory further by smashing up another monitor and finding another dagger in it. So we now know how people are being killed, but the question remains - who made this?



Ryota again reacts to that question in a subtle way that really does sell "oh fuck me this is my fault oh fuck oh shit but I can't let the others notice".



However, Kyosuke has another answer to that question. Apart from him, there is only one person with enough access and enough knowledge about this facility to pull this off. It's the man who built the Foundation from the ground up, and who was also a former headmaster of Hope's Peak - Kazuo Tengan. He also knew of the "true identity" of the attacker and told it to Kyosuke - phrased in a vague way to hide the real truth, but still accurate enough to not trigger his forbidden action of answering a question with a lie. Thus, Kyosuke theorizes that Kazuo was in fact the true Remnant of Despair. The others don't want to believe it, but according to Kyosuke's logic, it's the only answer that makes sense. He also reveals to the rest that Chisa was with the Remnants as well.



Back during the investigation Chisa and Juzo did, the evidence overwhelmingly suggested Junko was behind it all, but both Chisa and Juzo insisted Junko was innocent, so Kyosuke believed them. However, Kyosuke believes it was Kazuo who abused the fact that Chisa and Juzo were Kyosuke's friends to throw him off the track, when we know it was Junko herself.





Ryota really takes this new information hard, and Makoto seems to be starting to be suspicious of what exactly Ryota's role is in this.



Meanwhile, Juzo is dragging himself back to the secret room. He's clearly running on fumes at this point and doesn't have long left. So what's his plan?



Well, there's these very convenient switches here.



And with Juzo talking about how the others will talk about how he was always a big softie when they find out he let Junko off the hook...



...he flips the first switch.



That turns off the lights and then on the emergency lights...



...which also leads to the monitors turning off. And when Makoto asks who could've turned off the power...



...somebody has a bit of a realization that it is in fact Juzo trying to save them. Makoto tells Kyosuke to head to Juzo and that Juzo isn't the enemy. Kyosuke replies that even if he isn't, he ran him through with a sword and left him for dead. Kyosuke says that Juzo was his friend, to which Makoto says that Juzo *is* his friend, and if he wasn't, he wouldn't be shutting off the power right now.



Basically, Juzo got a sword shoved through him by Kyosuke and he's still trying to help him, so just go to him and tell him that you love him, you fool! Or, well, that you're still his friend.



So with the credits rolling, Kyosuke runs off.



Juzo talks about how he deserves what Kyosuke did to him, but regardless, he still wants him to live, and then flips the last switch.



With that, the bracelets just fall off.



Kyosuke arrives at the breaker room to find...



...he's too late. All he can do now is ask Juzo to forgive him. RIP our boy Juzo, for real this time.



Meanwhile, outside, more Future Foundation reinforcements have arrived and are taking care of those that got caught in that explosion we had earlier.



Finally, Makoto asks Ryota if he has any ideas how a brainwashing video could be made, just because he's the Ultimate Animator.



Ryota however immediately takes the question as an accusation and says not to blame him, that Junko used his technology. Aoi wants some more explanation on this subject matter, but then, they're interrupted by a phone ringing.



It's Ryota's! But what could the reason for it ringing possibly be?



DUN

DUN

DUNNNNNN

And that's the episode. Seems like our gang is mostly out of immediate danger, but it seems we're still not quite out of the woods just yet. Next time, on the Despair Side, the class we've come to know and love so much throughout this series finally graduates.

What the fuck just happened?: Turns out the "attacker" is actually everybody, because whoever got killed was made to kill themselves with a brainwashing video. Makoto tests this theory and almost ends up killing himself, but he's saved by Juzo, who despite being close to death, decided to take himself out of the game by literally chopping the part of his arm with the bracelet off. Makoto suggests breaking the monitors, but given their number, Juzo has a different plan. Juzo drags himself to the secret room he found earlier, which holds the breaker room for the building, and using the last of his strength, flips all the switches to turn off the power, turning off the monitors and the bracelets. Kyosuke theorizes that the one behind all of this has to be Kazuo. Makoto then tells Kyosuke to stop being such an idiot and go to Juzo and tell him he's still his friend, but Kyosuke arrives too late, Juzo already breathed his last. Finally, Ryota gets a mysterious message on his phone from Kazuo.