You (don't) love him, you hate him, you guessed it, we're talking about the Beast from the East that people like the Least: Sakakura Juzo!

Sakakura seems to be the character people either love to hate or just kind of hate.

With all this discussion going on, I've gone and rewatched the episodes of DR3 with him in them, and I've come to offer my fresh, brand new impressions and thoughts on the character. I think I've caught a lot of things I hadn't in my first viewings of the episodes, and if anyone else is feeling like some things could use more, see if maybe you just missed it the first time.

Needless to say there will be spoilers up to the third episodes of each arc of the two anime series.

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Future Arc

This part is in the present time, takes place after the worst event in the history of ever and etc. and right after the second game. Here's how the anime introduces it.

"They initiated multiple, simultanous terrorist attacks around the globe." "They did nothing but bring despair."

The despair that the world this part of the story has experienced is on a scale far beyond what we've seen in any of the games, with the exception of Ultra Despair Girls, which actually is referenced in the first episode's intro.

It's funny, you know, I thought I would talk more about this half of the story, but as soon as I saw one of Sakakura's first spoken lines I really didn't understand why there was a need.

"This month alone, there have been forty terrorist attacks."

Seriously. That's more attacks in a month than a month has days. In a month that is not over. And this is apparently a good month.

It took Naegi to episode three to give a vague explanation with no proof of why he did what he did in DR2 and why that should explain the Remnants of Despair aren't with him. Prior to this, the Future Foundation is referring to the kids as just "the Remnants of Despair Naegi Makoto hid," each responsible for the deaths of millions of people on their own, assuming "millions-class murderers" implies what it sounds like it does.

That's how the scene was set before Naegi even met anyone. He hid 16 people each responsible for millions of lives and none of the good guys know why he did it.

Is it any wonder some of the group are hostile?

Would you accept Naegi if you were in their position?

If your entire town was nuked off the map and you were the only survivor, if your parents, your siblings, your friends, your teachers, your crushes, your pets, and everyone you've ever known were all dead, would you accept "well they've changed now" or "a badder person made them do it" as someone's justification for taking some of the biggest players responsible away and potentially giving them freedom?

While people are still dying in droves?

To put this into perspective, if each Remnant of Despair is only responsible for one million deaths, then Naegi is giving shelter to a group of people comparable to Hitler.

When Naegi finally comes around to explaining his side, how does he even do it?

"Yeah, they may have killed a lot of people, but they were at one point in their lives good kids and it's really all Junko's fault guys, so I wanted to give them rehab. The rehab had an unexpected screw up I'm going to be vague about, but I think they're okay. Please trust this short and vague explanation and be my friend!"

This is the guy people are choosing over the one who's upset people are dead and dying. This guy.

Munakata is absolutely right when he points out Naegi is speaking from a point of view that hasn't seen "true despair." Naegi was hidden away during the worst, forgot how it started, got to be a hero, and the weight of the "a lot of people" those kids killed doesn't really seem to weigh on him at all during the speech.

Sakakura refers to them being in a war zone. Is Naegi acting like they're in one?

Anyone who thinks punching him was out of line needs to think about that. It's not like anyone tried or was trying to kill him at that point, but is anyone really going to argue whether or not it would have been justified now that we have these numbers?

The series is targeted at young adults, so naturally, Naegi will be portrayed as the one in the right by the end. That won't change how he facilitated the escape of the people responsible for an untold amount of death and destruction.

All that said, that's just to give a frame of reference for Sakakura's state of mind.

Now let's look at what he's actually done in the Future Arc.

• Of the initial members of the meeting in the first episode, he's the only one taking part in the meeting prior to Munakata's arrival who seems to be genuinely upset about the volume of the ongoing terrorists attacks and also invested in taking action over it. The other members comment on the Future Foundation's budget or how "at least it's less than it used to be" more than this.

• He has the gall to be suspicious of someone who aided a over a dozen mass murderers for some reason, and that someone's allies. He continues to have the gall to take it out on them, especially after Yukizome is killed.

• His actions immediately after one of the only two people he is known to care about unknowingly led to the death of someone in a moment where everyone wasn't communicating well to begin with and had been thrust into an absurd situation they had not yet processed fully.

• He says he believes Munakata is what will restore the Future Foundation and bring out hope again and is acting towards that goal.

• He throws a chair at Kirigiri.

Like… really?

In most situations he would be an easy favorite.

tl;dr: I don't see him as having done anything that bad in Future to begin with, what he has done doesn't really need much discussion, and I am really unsure where the hate came from prior to Despair 3.

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Despair Arc

Somehow, this much shorter appearance will be the one that takes up more time. Without any delay, I'll get right into it. Starting off, since there's some debate over what happened when, let's just go over the order of events.

Before he even appears on screen, these things have already happened:

• Two Reserve Course students have died within the span of a few days.

• Hope's Peak doesn't want word to get out, so they're covering it up.

• Sakakura does not trust Hope's Peak right now, but is working for them to investigate them.

• Hope's Peak has apparently changed from how it used to be in the past to become a Hope's Peak Munakata's team does not approve of.

Immediately prior to Sakakura's appearance on screen, we've got these things happening:

• Hinata was sneaking into the Main Course building despite knowing it was against the rules because he wanted to talk to Koizumi.

• A security guard had his hands on Hinata, who was yelling that he wanted to go through anyway.

This is the point when Sakakura enters.

• Sakakura grabs Hinata and flings him away from the other security guard, introducing himself and telling Hinata he needs to follow school rules. He follows this up by saying he'd let Hinata's rule breaking "slide just this once" so long as Hinata hurried up and got lost. He then turned to leave.

• Hinata rejects the offer to leave and gets on his knees, saying he can't accept it and needs to know "the truth." Sakakura stops, turns back around, and calmly gives the answer that an unfortunate girl was killed by someone who sneaked into the school while another died from the shock of it. He finishes the statement by saying that that's all.

• At this point, Hinata snaps. He says that that explanation is bull and that Sakakura is just trying to hide the problem.

• Sakakura again pauses in making his response, appearing annoyed for a moment, before telling Hinata that Reserve Course students are easily replaced and that he doesn't have the time to deal with it every time one of them dies.

• Hinata understandably is upset by this comment. He jumps to his feet and swings at the man, missing both times and receiving a punch to his stomach that brings him to his knees in return.

• This is when Sakakura puts out his string of harsh words, spits, and steps on Hinata.

Since there are some things that can be inferred about the above I'd like to put forward, I'll stop before moving to Sakakura's "speech" and go into them here. You can take this as speculation, assumptions, opinions, interpretations, or whatever else you like.

What's next is my take on what came and what I made of it, that's all:

1. At no point did Hinata actually identify himself as a classmate or even friend of either of the murdered girls. I've seen comments pointing out how Hinata was just asking about his classmates, but considering Hinata didn't bother to mention he was their classmates in the first place, as far as Sakakura/his position is concerned, Hinata might as well just be a nosy punk. Sakakura could have assumed, and probably did, but whether or not he did is besides the point.

2. Considering Sakakura says he's "going to let this go," that it's understood by all three characters Hinata was breaking a rule, and potentially that the first security guard may not have been intending to let Hinata go, it's not too far out to guess that Hinata was on the way to being punished or even retained.

This could even be supported by how Sakakura introduced himself as the head of security right away. As we know he was wanting to have Hinata leave, removing the power of the first security guard and any punishment he may have intended to hand out at that instant while offering a pain-free out is one way to go about that.

1. When Sakakura turned to go after shoving Hinata, he put the ball in Hinata's court. He was done. At that moment, Hinata had either broken a rule by attempting to sneak into the school (or attempted to break one), but he was being let off the hook. Sakakura didn't have, or at least showed no signs of displaying, some sort of grudge or "hatred" against Hinata or Reserve Course students. He was moving on.

One possibility that crossed my mind watching the scene again was how Sakakura not only actually answered Hinata when he wanted to hear the truth, but what answer he gave him specifically. He doesn't owe Hinata the truth at all and could have said as much. It's not like he's the type of guy to beat around the bush. But he turns, still calm, takes on a thoughtful expression, and tells Hinata someone snuck into school and killed one girl and then another died of shock.

One interpretation of this could be Sakakura essentially telling Hinata "look you stupid kid the story is that the murderer was someone who did what you're trying to do right now, why don't you back off you moron." Is it the one that was intended? I can't say, and recognize it's something of a stretch, but I wanted to put it out.

The other (and more likely and supported scenario) is that as the head of Hope's Peak security, he is repeating the story that Hope's Peak is abiding by, as is his obligation. What he says at this point is not his own opinion of the matter, but what he, as the head of security, is supposed to say.

1. Supporting this is the next part of the conversation. When Hinata calls out Hope's Peak on hiding the truth, Sakakura is quiet for a second, then runs his hand through his hair like he's annoyed. We all know what kind of body language that is, but even if we didn't, it's cleared up for us once Hinata leaves.

He knows Hinata isn't wrong. He says the exact same thing to Yukizome during the credits when they're alone. He even adds to the point Hinata was making with his own opinion:

"It pisses me off. The teachers and trustees are only thinking about self-preservation."

"Then, why did you say that to Hinata?"

"If he noses around and learns too much, that kid is the one who'll die."

Could I reiterate this again? In the exact same episode, merely moments after this fight ends, Sakakura himself says he has the same view point as Hinata, but said what he did because he was looking out for Hinata. He said and showed that he is also angry about the same thing Hinata is angry about. He probably has more reason to be than Hinata does.

This is plainly spelled out for us.

Yukizome doesn't disagree with the sentiment either. She accepts this part of his explanation fine, and keep in mind, she would have been around for the worst things he said to Hinata given when she interrupted. She would have to have been to ask about what he said.

But so what? Even if he felt that way, he still chewed out Hinata, didn't he? So let's go back to the part of the fight that people seem most bothered by. Hinata and Sakakura's back and forth:

Sakakura: "If you don't have any talent, just pay money to compensate for it. It's a pain when someone gets killed. Don't sully the name of Hope's Peak, you scum."

(This is where Sakakura spits.)

Hinata: "Yeah, she had no talent. So what? All lives are created equal!"

Sakakura: "No, they aren't. Give up. You can't make diamonds out of scrap metal."

(Sakakura steps on Hinata during this sequence.)

Sakakura: "Act like a normal high school student, and hang out with the other normal high school students, and enjoy your lives, thinking you're all great. Got it?"

Sakakura: "I know kids like you… You start acting all special, just because you start interacting with the Main Course a little."

Sakakura: "Honestly, this is why I hate normal people. You cling to the talent of the Main Course like crap tailing after a goldfish."

Hinata: "You're wrong…"

Sakakura: "Huh?"

Hinata: "There's more to life than just talent…"

Sakakura: "Well said. The talentless should act as befits them. If you have time to envy the talented, use that time to live like a gear in a machine. For people like you who have no talent, you don't need to think. If you live life idly, groveling before your betters, nothing can make you happier."

Hinata can't take anymore, unleashes a battle cry, and manages to land a hit on Sakakura.

Sakakura: "Tsk. How about a nice trip to the hospital, kid?!"

Sakakura moves to strike Hinata, but it is here that Yukizome interferes.

Pretty rough, isn't it?

While there are some things you can get out of this too, more than any of it, I want to look at this first line, because I think that's the most important once you finish the episode and see the scene with Yukizome after Hinata leaves.

"If you don't have any talent, just pay money to compensate for it. It's a pain when someone gets killed. Don't sully the name of Hope's Peak, you scum. (spit)"

As far as the first part of the line here goes, that's the truth. That's how Reserve Course students get into Hope's Peak. Hinata himself has been frustrated over this aspect of the system in the series before, so we're all on the same page, right?

But if you go back and listen, there's something that seems off about the tone. Even if you don't, isn't that wording weird? What about the tense? To me, it sounds much more like he's quoting someone or talking to someone else than talking to Hinata at this point in the conversation.

Imagine if it was written this way:

"'If you don't have talent, just pay money to compensate for it. It's a pain when someone gets killed. Don't sully the name of Hope's Peak, you scum.'"

There's a close up of Sakakura's eyes looking to the side right before he spits, and he looks angry here. Throughout the entire sequence, this is actually the only time, even when he goes to punch Hinata again at the end, that he looks this mad.

I've commented on this before, but I think this is another great example of how Kodaka is using anime over a game. We're seeing something you can't have in a game in this sequence: directing. We're purposely being shown these different camera angles in order to be told the story this way.

What story am I suggesting is being told here? At that moment, Sakakura's anger is directed somewhere else. Not at Hinata, but at Hope's Peak.

If you think I'm pulling your leg, here is the most important thing about this part of the altercation that 100% of people commenting about it I've seen seem to have overlooked.

He isn't even facing Hinata when he says it. Same with when he spits.

No matter how mad people are that he seemingly spat on Hinata, there is no possible way you can rewrite the scene to turn Sakakura 180 degrees around so that he could have spit on Hinata. The sound effect used doesn't really sound right for that either.

My suggestion is that in this moment, for just a moment he was expressing his disgust with Hope's Peak. We know very well by now he's a man who devotes himself to the mission, and we know he detests the state of the school as it is now. This is something else that's reiterated at the end of the episode during his conversation with Yukizome.

Sakakura (to Yukizome): "But like Munakata says, Hope's Peak High School is rotten to the core now."

I think I've also misunderstood Sakakura prior to rewatching the episode. I could be completely wrong about this, but some of his comments don't completely add up.

It may be that Sakakura isn't genuinely arguing about talent one way or the other. He doesn't mention talent at any point in the Future Arc. Based purely on this appearance, either he got over that or he was only saying that specifically because he wanted to get under Hinata's skin.

It isn't that he's really telling Hinata he's worthless either. I actually think that this character is probably one of the most straightforward and honest characters in the series, and the great irony that everyone, myself included, seems to have overlooked here is that by Sakakura himself saying Hope's Peak is rotten, that is also including the newly implemented Reserve Course system.

Does this mean he cares about Hinata? No, that's not likely at all. It also doesn't mean for sure that he does or doesn't care about talent the way the episode made it look like he does. But he also doesn't want the kid (or any kid) to die, Reserve Course ot not.

When you get down to it, the rest of their exchange really just boils down to him telling Hinata to go away with increasingly harsh words. The entire exchange of theirs is nothing but that, just in different, escalating ways.

From him giving Hinata an out without a punishment to outright telling him to leave to insulting him and acting like Hinata wouldn't get anything out of him, the point of these actions he was giving to Hinata was that Hinata wasn't going to get anywhere with it. He was also teaching Hinata a lesson, to a degree, but I do think there's room to wonder how much of it he believes himself.

His words are very harsh, but when you break them down, as I said, he's basically telling Hinata to go away and that rather than being envious of what you don't have, ignorance is bliss. He did want to provoke Hinata to increasing degrees, but Hinata was only able to be provoked because there were kernels of truth in some of what he was saying.

It starts like this:

Sakakura: "Act like a normal high school student, and hang out with the other normal high school students, and enjoy your lives, thinking you're all great. Got it?"

Translation: Stick with the Reserve Course students and go away from here.

Sakakura: "I know kids like you… You start acting all special, just because you start interacting with the Main Course a little."

Sakakura: "Honestly, this is why I hate normal people. You cling to the talent of the Main Course like crap tailing after a goldfish."

Translation: You're not Main Course-special like you think you are. Go back to where you belong. I am trying to crush you with the nasty truths of this school and our society so you feel like you don't belong, like you'll just be chased away again by me. Go away and don't come back.

Adding to that, the "this" he's talking about? Think about what Hinata's already done by this point. Defied an authority figure a few times over, lashed out at him, yelled at him, and more. It all stems from Hinata's denial of himself. He doesn't recognize his place in being a student before an adult, he doesn't recognize his place as a Reserve Course student making demands like he's in the Main Course, he's just out here acting like he's a hot shot shonen hero.

Hinata was being arrogant, guys. Am I saying he was wrong to be? No. This post is almost exclusively focusing on Sakakura's perspective. If I were to take Hinata's into account, of course I would bring up how he feels about talent, how the project is weighing on him, how these are his classmates, I'd bring up all of it.

But looking at only one side like that is too convenient. Whether Sakakura recognized that or not of Hinata's side, his status (as the adult), his position (a security guard keeping Hinata from breaking rules), and his goal (preventing Hinata from getting himself into trouble he couldn't get out of) all beat out poor baby Hinata's feelings here. To Sakakura, it's just tough.

Hinata: "You're wrong…"

Sakakura: "Huh?"

It could be 50/50, but it didn't seem like Sakakura actually expected Hinata to keep standing up to him by now. There's a moment of surprise, then he turns up the level of his comments after Hinata continues.

Hinata: "There's more to life than just talent…"

Sakakura: "Well said. The talentless should act as befits them. If you have time to envy the talented, use that time to live like a gear in a machine."

Let's stop here for a second.

Can we all agree Hinata has issues with talent and desires it and that a big part of his character, entirely unrelated to this incident, before I go on? I hope so.

Now let's take this one in. This one's interesting to me, because the comment started off with Sakakura saying "If you have time to envy talented people."

By starting off with "if," the implication is that problem is that Hinata is envying talent, something Sakakura's words are implying is fruitless for Hinata, rather than doing something else or just accepting his life and living with it. He's saying "But since you're not doing that, then here's a suggestion for you, you punk."

Taking that into consideration, is that actually wrong? If we take a person without talent who envies talent, who in all likelihood will never obtain talent (as far as the speaker is aware), are they going to be happy if they live like that? Doubtful.

This isn't about if a normal person doesn't care about talent. The entire basis of this comment is built around someone who does.

You can point out Naegi (who doesn't really count the same way as he was never in the Reserve Course) and his sister, but not only have neither of these events actually happened, meaning the precedent is not there in the series, neither of them were chasing talent the same way Hinata was. They didn't do what they did because they weren't chasing something that they didn't have, they did it because of their own reasons. That's not the case with Hinata.

Don't forget Hinata's acceptance of this is part of how the second game ends. This isn't wrong.

Putting all that to the side, the "gear in the machine" comment also could simply be a metaphor for Hinata's status as a Reserve Course student. He is one of the gears funding the machine that is Hope's Peak.

Sakakura: "For people like you who have no talent, you don't need to think. If you live life idly, groveling before your betters, nothing can make you happier."

It's really just more of the same here. Sakakura's words are calling out Hinata's attitude.

At this point, he was likely trying to provoke Hinata to get him to leave more than anything. By now he's given Hinata plenty of opportunities to do so, and Hinata still isn't doing it. Remember that at the end of the episode, we're explicitly told the reason he said what he said to Hinata was because he did not want Hinata nosing around.

It may have hurt Hinata, but if you're taking the stance that it's better to be put in danger or to defy adults who know better if you don't get hurt, then you're truly misunderstanding what happened in the scene.

A simpler way of putting what Sakakura said here is "ignorance is bliss," and there is definitely truth to that statement. How much you can find in it will probably depend on you, but that's another matter. This applies to his earlier line about being a gear in the machine too.

---

And that's the big fight we've been squabbling out.

By this point, we've established that Sakakura's intent was to get Hinata leave, and it's at least possible to interpret his worst lines as simply attempts to get Hinata to go away. Even if that's not the case and you can't believe it, he said that was the case to Yukizome. At that point, the only option left is that you need to assume he's lying. I don't have that standpoint, but I'll point out the option for you.

Is there any more to it, to Sakakura, than that?

To answer that we only need to look at his conversation with our favorite teacher at the end of the third episode of the Despair Arc. That conversation, and its timing, answers everything up to now very succinctly.

Sakakura: "I hope you haven't forgotten what we're really here for. Munakata ordered us to investigate the dark side of the school. There's no need to go sticking up for Reserve Course Students."

Yukizome: "I know that. I'm investigating like I'm supposed to. But that was violence, plain and simple! As a person, I can't just overlook it!"

Sakakura: "I don't know. Since high school, you've tended to get too absorbed by things."

This exchange serves to both highlight and remind viewers of the roles these two characters are playing. Yukizome may be acting as a teacher, but that isn't why she's there, and she herself acknowledges that.

In my opinion, Sakakura's entire spiel at Hinata is a combination of two things:

1. He's trying to get Hinata to leave, plain and simple. Hinata chose to be stubborn and defy authority figures over and over despite already having broken rules, being told he wouldn't be punished, being given multiple opportunities to leave, and even throwing punches. He chose to seek this way out in the first place when he had alternatives like Nanami and even Yukizome herself.

2. He's reiterating Hope's Peak's current views because he is devoting himself to that role. The scene with Yukizome is meant to illustrate that to us. Whereas she is willing to break from what she needs to be doing for her mission (she herself acknowledges she did it), he is not willing to budge from it when he's playing his part.

It also shows some insight into the man's character. Just compare how he acts with her compared to with Hinata.

With Hinata, he's calm and escalating in how intimidating he comes off, and his words seem like they're right out of the mouth of the darkest parts of Hope's Peak.

With Yukizome, she has the upper hand over him in their interactions. He expresses anger towards the establishment he's working for for Munakata, so that it can be repaired, and we see him flustered and all in all much more genuine seeming than when he's with Hinata.

If you compare the two, I would say with Hinata, we see Sakakura "on the job," and with Yukizome, we see Sakakura "off the clock."

Returning to my question then. Why is he doing these things? Why did he do these things?

Because it's exactly like he's said for multiple episodes now:

The man believes in Munakata and so he follows Munakata. He believes in Munakata's vision as the one that will fix things, be it the rotten Hope's Peak or the entire world.

That's it. That's all it is. That's all it's been from the start.

Munakata has him acting as Hope's Peak's security chief in order to investigate, and so that's what he's doing.

And that leaves us with this question that I brought up earlier:

Does Sakakura actually give a rat's ass about all of that talent stuff?

Based on everything we've seen so far, I really don't think there's enough evidence to say one way or the other for certain. It's possible he does. It's also possible he was parroting Hope's Peak propoganda. It could be somewhere in the middle.

Personally, I don't think he cares. He seems like the kind of character that focuses on what he plans to focus on and nothing else.

As far as I've seen, his actions thus far in the Future Arc have absolutely nothing to do with talent. His interactions with Naegi and Naegi's companions are all completely justified by the horrors he's witnessed and the horrors the people Naegi is sheltering are responsible for. The fact that Naegi got to them by coming off at first as hope might have looked like a betrayal, if I had to guess. But talent? I don't see it, at least not yet.

---

Wrapping this up, one comment I see frequently coming up is that it's Sakakura fault now that everything happened. Frankly that's the one I really don't feel like addressing.

Sakakura didn't bully Sato or Mahiru. Sakakura didn't retaliate against that bullying and murder Natsumi. Sakakura didn't retaliate against that murder and murder Sato. Sakakura didn't get Hinata to come to Hope's Peak to be part of a terrible project, in fact he's there investigating shady stuff like that.

Sakakura is not Enoshima Junko's father, and unless we get a really crazy twist at the end, Munakata and he are not Enoshima Junko's parents. They are not responsible for her or her actions, which had way more to do with what happened than this. Sakakura also did not bring Hinata into the world as his son and then let him go off and do this. Sakakura also did not meet Hinata as a friend or student, not realize what was going on, and let this happen.

All of those things are the actions of others. At worst, at the most he shares a small percentage of the blame.

What I'm saying here is saying Sakakura is to blame for Hinata choosing to take part in the project is ridiculous. You're blaming the man for not being a psychic, and you're ignoring that a normal Reserve Course student in that position probably would have met a poor fate had they pushed this subject. You are severely underestimating how bad Hope's Peak was and how much they wanted that covered up if you don't think there was merit to Sakakura's suggesting Hinata might end up dead if he kept pushing.

If Sakakura chooses to blame himself down the road for some reason, that's one thing and that's for Kodaka to decide as an author. As viewers, however, we have more than enough information to see there has been much more at work than this scene that drove Hinata to making that choice.

He was rough with Hinata, for sure. By our standards, an adult treating a child like that is "wrong," but at that point you're just selectively applying our standards to a series that has so often strayed as far from them as possible.

That entire scene, and perhaps even many of his scenes in Future, all got some light shown on them at the end of Despair 3. It was short, but it also wasn't too much longer than the parts of the fight with Hinata people are upset over.

---

I'd like to say that I don't think this obscenely lengthy post was really necessary, but man, you guys have been feisty about this!

I believe the scene between Yukizome and Sakakura at the end of Despair 3 should have cleared everything up that was still in the air about Sakakura's character. After writing this, I'm actually of the opinion he's probably one of the next ones on the chopping block, or all of this is to set up him being a villain playing the long game.

I'm also of the belief the scene with Yukizome was included immediately after the fight, even before we see how Hinata takes it, because of how it addresses Sakakura. It was done this way explicitly. If Sakakura was a character we're "supposed" to hate with the intensity we're seeing here, they could have left us without the scene or put the scene in at a different point. The timing of the scene was where it was so that we wouldn't be given time to ruminate over it and start being too mad at him. They even cut out the credits sequence just to fit it in.

This is the exact opposite of how the Asahina fake out was approached in the Future Arc, where we were purposely left hanging for a week just so our emotions were toyed with. In this case, regardless of how things progress going forward, when you put a scene right away another one, it's there because you want it seen.

Kodaka knows what he's doing. Sakakura's actions may have had a hand in what Hinata did, but not to the extent being suggested by so many.

I believe the feelings we were supposed to have at the end of episode three were more in line with what the series is known for: dread and despair. We were given a look into Sakakura's character, and in turn have a taste of hope upon realizing he's there trying to root out the corruption in Hope's Peak, only for it to come crashing down after the next scene.

All of this actually said, I realize some new information could be added at any time that could make everything I've said wrong. That would be fun in its own way. We went from Asahina being dead to her being my number one suspect in the span of an episode.

If you want to pile on the hate, by all means, go for it. If you want to read over this, watch over the episodes again, or just give the dude a second thought, go for it.

Me, well, I had fun with this! I haven't analyzed a single character and brief scenes this much in years. I owe you guys hating on him for that! If nothing else, have a good laugh at how effort much I put into this after it ends up being revealed Munakata and Sakakura really are Junko's moms. I know I will.