Sorry to have to do this (especially after we've went through the process of getting her approved twice (first proposal being a victim of plagiarism). We thought she was an easy qualifier when me and Smilely got her re-approved as Pure Good but then Luigi Fanboy bought up a one-off scene to me that possibly the entire community forgot about, which may affect her status. I deeply apologize that this scene was not addressed in the original proposal and it was so unnoticeable anyone could forget. Although this is more of a rediscussion than an outright removal as I’ve in fact heard ppl argue this moment is too minor for a removal. Also I'm just gonna copy parts of my original proposal.
Anyways thanks as always to Jester for permission. Also thanks to Smilely for helping me find the screenshots.
What is the work?
Danganronpa is a horror Japanese video game created by Kazutaka Kodaka and developed and owned by Spike Chunsoft since 2010. It takes place at a school called Hope's Peak Academy of which students who are known to have ultimate talents are forced to kill each other by a robotic teddy named Monokuma. After each killing, the students have to solve the murder of the victim by going to the class trials to find out who is guilty.
Danganronpa V3 is the third and (let’s be honest) final installment of the franchise that takes place in a futuristic setting revealed to be a fictional fictional game at the end.
Who is she?
Kaede Akamatsu is the overarching protagonist of V3 and main protagonist of the first chapter. She is the Ultimate Pianist and a student of the 53rd Killing Game who becomes best friends with Shuichi Sahara, as well as the first culprit in the killing games.
Reason for Removal
So... she meets almost all the criteria and is generally a very nice person who cares about everyone around her and is even willing to sacrifice herself for her friends... except there's a single short scene that we forgot about during the proposal in the beginning of the game. That being while investigating, she sexually harasses Tsumugi (who btw, she doesn't know is an evil mastermind, but assumes is another innocent survivor.) The scene is after Rantaro's murder and the group is trying to investigate everyone's alibi. While Tsumugi is dozing off and not answering her question, Kaede grabs the hem of her and threatening Tsumugi to talk, or she will lift her skirt to forcibly expose her to Shuichi Saihara, then threatens to tie her skirt around her head so everyone can see her panties... which is just... ick. She doesn't really apologize for this, and is just ends with Tsumugi complying and saying "so I need to talk, right?" Will also note that Kaede's enthusiastic sprite was used during that moment as well, showing she got some kind of enjoyment out of it, and that there were other ways she could have gone about getting Tsumugi's attention.
Yes, the scene is entirely played for laughs (typical Danganronpa sex humor ofc) and it is a one-off out of character moment (which was also done to get Tsumugi's attention so she could ask about Rantaro's murder) but such I think the line has to be drawn at such a crude comment that was never subverted in anyway. While characters have gotten away with one-off moments before (such as Iroh enjoying a woman touching him or Zoey in the background laughing at Scott being crippled), Kaede never really grows past this and threatening someone with sexual harassment might be too icky for the trope.
You can watch the scene on this video (at 50:16). This is unfortunately a moment the writers just... had to include for absolutely no reason, that adds nothing to the plot and just had to exist.
Verdict
Sigh... personally I think she’s a weak cut since the Danganronpa writers are too impulsive not to add in a random sexual harassment scene for the funniez. But I understand if there are arguments for her keeping. I’m really sorry again I forgot about this scene in the original proposal but this is an optional dialogue that lasts for like 30 seconds so it slipped over my head.