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we are reaching levels of tsundere that shouldn't even be possible

Since I've managed to cool down from the last episode, I have to say this. Drdt excels in wonderfully written characters and their relationships, but less so when it comes to the murder mystery aspect. I found Teruko's line of reasoning incredibly weak, far fetched, and full of baseless conjecture with zero actual hard evidence. (How do you know he was trying to kill Eden? And the whole slingshot thing? Plausible at best, but where's your proof?) I'm not a fan of how his ED, literally described as his body falling apart, was only brought up once by Rose in a veeery understated way when it could potentially disprove the whole theory.

On a second watch with a less emotional approach, I can confidently say that's not just me being salty my blorbo is going to die. Still, I have trust in the dev to make his character arc satisfying with the post trial and bonus episode.

By the way, I wonder if just like with David, the author didn't expect Ace to have so many fans?

ace doodles

( spoilers under cut)

yeah uh.... heres my guy.... ha...

I'm sorry fellow ace fans for contributing to the angst!! I had to!!!

There’s a lot you can learn about it, trust me

The cutest 🦔🌼

why dis look

You say you don’t like the killer reveal, why? I actually think dev made some great choices and I’d love to talk to you about your perspective.

i don't want to get too deep into it because, like i mentioned in my previous post, i don't want my criticism to come off as negativity towards the series or discourage anyone involved in the production of the show because it's honestly not a huge deal. like, it in no way ruins the show or makes it less enjoyable for me. and i don't think the choice of who the culprit is is a bad one at all, i'm mostly unsatisfied with the way the chapter handles it.

[spoilers beneath the cut, obvi lol. and please remember this is just my opinion. me having and expressing my opinion is not hate towards the series. i'm nervous enough as it is posting just this and not a bigger essay on all my thoughts because i really don't want to have this be misconstrued, nor do i want any criticism i have to give, regardless of how innocent and respectful my intentions, to make drdtdev or anyone who works on the series feel bad.]

i think Ace being the killer DOES make sense. i have no qualms with him being the blackened, in theory. do i think he could've made for a great survivor, or have really interesting growth throughout the coming chapters? yeah! i would have loved for Ace to be kept around for much longer. but him being the killer this chapter isn’t inherently bad. it's now clear that there's a specific direction Ace's character was meant to go in this story and i think that's fine.

my problem is with what *didn't* happen with Ace's character up to this point.

the chapter hasn't concluded yet so there's still a chance for my thoughts to change, though i don't think it'll make much of a difference. but i'm still waiting to see if it can stick the landing. and even if it doesn't, that's okay. i've already accepted it, i'm just still disappointed by it all the same.

Ace, honestly, hasn't played much of an active role in the story. he's been a source of conflict and comedic relief, and that's okay, not every character has to be as important as Xander or David...but he hasn't really gotten to *do* anything. this series is very character-driven, and thus is very focused on the relationships between other characters. Ace has only had one notable relationship (outside of his feud with Nico, but i'm not really including that as a "relationship" for obvious reasons), and that was with Levi. and that didn't even stay positive for very long. and we also know now that Levi didn't even care about him to begin with because he doesn't care about people in general.

not only did Ace never really get to establish any other relationships, no one ever LIKED him. of course a good portion of the fandom likes him, but in the actual story, no one cares about him. no one will miss him. his death is honestly kind of meaningless character-wise. does it serve as a lesson to some of the other characters? sure. but he's going to be dying here with no one ever liking or caring about him.

Min's story wasn't just a cautionary tale. people did like her, people did care about her. she was friends with a lot of characters, she got to have an impact in the daily lives of others. we got to know her better, the things she liked, her deeper thoughts and opinions on things. she got to do stuff, and we got to learn about her. her death meant more to the characters beyond just being the first culprit. she died as a person, not just as a character.

most of the stuff we know about Ace is surface level or things confirmed in Q&As. he doesn't get to contribute much aside from the aforementioned conflict/comedic relief. i understand where the show is going with that idea, and why him not being liked by anyone is a specific part of what led him to murder, but that's not really what irks me. it's that Ace never got to really be a *person.* he's essentially a plot device, serving the greater "good person" theme going on this chapter, and filling in the smaller roles in the story when needed, like an antagonist in a scene or delivering a gag. yes, his admittance to killing Arei and eventual post-trial trauma dump will give him a bit more humanity and character...but that's not really enough.

we only get to see Ace how the other members of the cast see Ace: his loud, combative, aggressive side. the side that makes people think he's nothing more than an angry meathead who can't do anything right. we never got to see much of his other sides, of a much more somber, melancholic Ace. receiving even a hint of the Ace we see in his confession of guilt beforehand would have given him the depth we needed before this point.

to explain what i mean: imagine how unsatisfying it would have been if we never got to actually see Arei's breakdown in the playground. if Teruko had left before it happened, and we only get to learn what happened from a flashback from David's perspective. we already feel the weight and tragedy of Arei's death when her body is discovered because we knew beforehand why she behaved the way she did, how she never even liked being the way she is, and wishing she could be a good person like Eden. if we didn't get to see that happen beforehand, Arei's death would feel very flat and detached. her character growth would've happened entirely retroactively.

that's how i feel with Ace. it's not like he didn’t get enough spotlight this chapter, he certainly did. but every scene he was in really didn't really add anything new to him. the only thing that "progressed" with him was his hatred and paranoia. we just see him descend with no uplifting moments, no emotional hook to make us feel anything for him. the closest we get is the scene where he's arguing with Nico and Veronika at lunch, ranting about how poorly everyone thinks of him and that they all assume that he's for some reason happy to be the way he is. but it's really the barest of scrapes towards the deeper layers of his character.

a big problem is that there were a lot of chances for his character to actively be *explored*, but instead, the narrative perspective of him stays completely stagnant. the time we get with him this chapter doesn't give him any greater focus. and sure, you could say that that might be a big giveaway to him being the culprit, but i think if the time between character spotlight is distributed evenly, that would be easily circumvented. there was a lot more time that could've been spent building Ace's character beyond his animosity and self-loathing tendencies. we could have had someone actually attempting to bond with him, even if it doesn't turn out well. even if all the characters distrust each other to varying degrees, there's still a lot of characters that like each other or have unique bonds with each other that make them stand out and feel worth remembering, because those bonds contribute something to their characters. but with Ace? he truly gets the short end of the stick, because this isn't just the characters neglecting him, it's the story itself. if Ace got to have a moment like Arei, maybe someone to confide in, even if he wasn't really friends with them or liked them at all, him being vulnerable just once and having a moment with someone else would have rooted him in more as a person who fell victim to what the killing game wanted from him and not just a fictional character fulfilling the purpose required of them in the story.

honestly, it's a bit of a slap in the face, the way the show goes about it. because in hindsight, Ace's whole character is *meant* to be wasted potential. after all, his related phrase on Mai's bio page is "a girl who had a bright future".

he was set up to have the potential to change, the potential to add more to the story, the potential to show us more than what we were given. and i think the show kind of knows that and specifically perpetuates that. the scene where Teruko tells Levi to give up on trying to apologize to Ace almost reads as the show itself telling you to give up on Ace. that, why should we care about him? he's not going to amount to what we want from him. there's no use in investing our feelings in him.

whether or not any of that actually was intentionally doesn't matter, unfortunately, because rewatching so many scenes having this new context really makes it all seem like Despair Time doesn't want you to care about Ace. that Ace is meant to be a waste, that that's the core of his character. him being the epitome of wasted potential could have been great, actually, if they chose to use even a slight bit of that potential to build him up more before his inevitable demise. instead we watch him eat shit throughout the entire show thus far only for him to get royally fucked at the very end in the worst way possible. Ace's theme of wasted potential is only wasted potential because nothing is ever done with him. not actively, anyways. whatever his post-trial confessional is like won't really give us what we needed from the start. Ace didn't just deserve better in his life. he deserves better as a fictional character. he deserved to be a person and not *just* a character. he deserved to have deeper, emotional character moments outside of the trial, long before his murder confession and rapidly approaching demise. he deserved to be 3-dimensional.

again, this is all just my personal opinion, and there's still a chance the show can stick the landing and make Ace as the culprit feel a lot more natural and deserved. i'm not really confident in that happening, but drdt is full of surprises as well as a lot of great writing. that being said, even though i believe they kinda fumbled the bag with Ace here, i don't hate this turn of events. although he's a big favorite of mine, i still wanted Eden to be innocent over him, because she's also a great character and her killing Arei would not only be pretty huge character assassination, but would also make Arei's death meaningless. and i also think there were other characters who could have been better candidates as the chapter 2 killer (not just Hu, i think Levi, Arturo, and maybe even J also could've made for compelling culprits with the right reasons).

i'm content with this. i'm heartbroken he's going so early and i wish the execution of his guilt had been a lot better, but overall it's not terrible. he just deserved so much more in many different ways.

Quick doodle

idk if this guy can ever find peace :')

SPOILERS FOR DRDT

I am gonna say straight up that I didn't like this conclusion for ace but oh well that's just Danganronpa lol

But I seriously think this shouldn't have been NEARLY 4 HOURS OF A TRIAL 😭😭😭

Ace fans, have hope, the episode is 50 minutes long so Teruko can reveal Eden as the culprit.

Just remembering that her expression doesn't mean anything, Shuichi didn't have a sad expression at the end of Kaede's closing argument.

Clues that point to Eden being the culprit:

The tape

The method being strangely similar to a clock

She was messing with Teruko's clothes, and then Charles found a ball of clothes during the investigation

In the same scene, she got nervous when talking about her conversation with Arei to Teruko

She told Teruko to wait right before they discovered the body

She was missing in episode 7 and only appeared at the end (when the body was discovered)

She doesn’t have an alibi for the time of the murder

If I forgot anything, feel free to let me know!

Spoilers for Chapter 2 Episode 14 and discussion of the Eden Culprit theory below!

I completely understand why people don't like the Culprit!Eden theory, but I've seen a lot of people say that one of their main reasons is that Teruko would go back to square one of her arc, and that would be annoying, which I don't think is 100% accurate.

What I mean is, you can't convince me Eden would be the culprit and then not be like:

"T-teruko...Please...Don't give up because of me, okay? I know I really messed up, but I don't want my mistake to stop you from being happy. You can't go back, no matter how hard you try...But you can impact the future. So please, Teruko, keep moving forward. I know you can do it! You're so strong, stronger than me, stronger than anyone I've ever known! I'm not asking you to do it for me, but for your own sake. Even if I couldn't believe it before, there's hope. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise, okay?"

Cue MonoTV complaining about how boring this conversation is and whisking Eden away (Can you tell I was imagining what the end of the trial would look like for each culprit today?).

All this is to say that if Eden's the culprit, that doesn't completely 100% guarantee Teruko will regress to beginning of chapter 2 Teruko. It'll definitely make her have some sort of set-back, sure, but I doubt Eden would leave this trial a murderer and not have a super sweet, touching moment with Teruko about not losing hope and stuff.

Also--Teruko's whole thing is bad luck, and if she trusted one person, Eden, and really wanted Ace to be the one to murder Arei and not her...My guess is that her luck wouldn't be able to resist fucking her over again. Or maybe it'll go easy on her, just this once. You never know.

The reason for all this is because I heard someone say that everyone wanting it to be Ace so fucking badly in-universe but it just. Isn't. Was a fun idea, so I kinda took that and had a deep inner monologue about it I wanted to post. I'm not really expecting this to convince anyone or anything, but I still wanted to point it out.

wait a second. late night thoughts but hear me out

Although Arei was killed in the morning, her body wasn’t warm. This is because her body had been splashed with water and cooled off by the fans.

But Ace doesn’t know how sweat works. Therefore, he would have no reason to splash Arei with water, because he wouldn’t know that it would cool her down.

You could make the argument that the water got onto Arei by accident when the jugs broke, but then only half her body would be wet, and her hair in the BDA looks like it was wet then dried.

(Ace Markey believers rejoice… more evidence that he is not the culprit!)

Something I’ve been looking at recently is the mechanism behind old clocks.

I found it interesting that these old clocks would rely on a weight to be wound up and then dropped to continue working. These old clocks therefore include two notable mechanisms

- a heavy weight is moved up and then dropped down

- a mechanism is used to pull the weight, by spinning rope around a mechanical part.

If you compare this to Arei murder, I think you get an interesting parallel.

In Terukos own words, a “spinny thing” was used to hoist Arei up, and then suddenly stopped to cause her to drop. So to say, Arei is hoisted up, and dropped down, just like in a grandfather clock.

Maybe it isn’t so far fetched that Eden could discern Nico murder method, if it’s something she’s already worked with before?

Considering the Dev said chapter 2 will be quite long, and it been abouuutttt 1 and a half hours of new content so far, I’d so we’ve got time for a NEW culprit and for Ace to be innocent! : D

Luckily, we can ignore the following as him just being silly;

- Easedropping Arei and David conversation, which makes him look terribly suspicious if we believe someone other than Eden wrote the note to lure Arei out (and would therefore need to have listened in to Arturo, Eden and Arei convo)

- Also to add, Ace only reveals he overheard this conversation LATE into the trial, just to annoy David. Ace is set as someone who withholds evidence.

- following, some unknown person was apparently following Eden. Ace has been set up as quite sneaky, as per the above

- Aces stole Levi sports band just so Levi couldn’t use it. This makes him stealing the tape used in his attempted murder seem more plausible- he originally could have done it out of complete spite, as an impulsive “hey look thing on the ground, mine know screw Nico”. This helps get around how bloody odd it is that either Eden or Ace would, in the few seconds able, chose to steal a role of tape.

- As one of the four people involved with Nico attempt on… his own life… Ace could have been aware of the contraption used against it, and attempted to replicate it to frame Nico. To recap, the only people who COULD understand Nico murder method are: Nico, Ace, Eden, and Terko, as they are the only people who witnessed or were involved in Nico attempt on Ace’s life.

- Ace put himself forward for guard duty, which would have given him the opportunity to mess with evidence

- He is the last confirmed person, other than David, to see Arei alive

- He has the opportunity to steal the fish at any point, but particularly he could have done it immediately after Arei and David conversation - he was in the right place after all!

Wow what a lot of red herring guys! Amazing stuff

As much as I don't really like Ace, I can't help but feel sorry for poor guy. He's been almost murdered and almost no-one mentions it. If it wasn't important to the trial no-one would even bring it up. Every time he talks about it everyone dismisses it and tells him to shut up. No-one ever wondered if he's okay, how his neck's doing etc. And now he's being accused of fucking murder simply because he was at the previous scene of the crime in which he was the victim. Yes, he's a jerk, but he still deserves at least a bit of compassion for getting nearly killed and mildly injured.

As an aside, WHY in the Lord’s good name did Nico try to murder Ace via drop hanging??? It is quite frankly such a stupid idea. Strangle him!! Cut his throat!! Anything but these insane antics with ceiling fans and brooms!!!

Nico, Ace I love you both yet you are both somehow so so god damn stupid it hurts

Pre newest episode:

YIPPPEEEEEE Hu’s the culprit :D

Post episode:

: (

My fav disaster gay is gonna disaster die

Something about Ace’s defence about not being the killer kinda stinks - notice the similarities between these two lines?

Both times he says “commit a murder of my own”

- once during the trail to testify his innocence and that he WOULDNT commit a murder

- after Nicos attempt on his life, where he says he WOULD commit a murder.

It may be nothing, but it’s such oddly specific wording.

Ace baby I love you please stop looking suspicious.

I’m getting quite concerned he may be the killer, considering the trial is getting quite bloated in length, and that narratively, does Teroko need to learn to distrust her friends AGAIN? She just had the revelation with Rose about how important it is to believe in others, would it be make sense narratively for her to immediately unlearn this by the end of Chapter 2, with no real character progression? If Eden is the killer, that’s what would happen.

Worst, the key detail about him being briefly awoken during Nicos murder attempt means he could have knowledge of the mechanism and the sports tape. I still think it’s unrealistic Ace would grab the tape while bleeding all over the place - but then why would Eden grab it, did she plot this murder then and there? Unless you had a motive in mind, there would be no good reason to steal tape.

This all reeks and I’m scared for my boy Ace :/

Something I found very weird about Areis murder is… why her and not Ace? So to say, after the attempt on Aces’ life, he doesn’t exactly keep quiet about it the next morning. He’s out screaming in the lunch room, surrounded by most of the cast (including Arei… who isn’t very chatty?)

Everyone knows he’s weak and injured, and as many characters have said before, no one likes him and he’s an easy victim (and I love him dearly)

And if that’s the case, why murder Arei? I would assume most of the prep for her murder was done that night, but then that suggests the murderer was specifically going for Arei, not for an simple target. It would have been easy to murder Ace and to blame Nico, so why go to the effort to kill the athlete Arei? The clearly physical volatile women who tried to strangle mono cat? She wasn’t super popular with the group, but it would be hard to pin her murder on someone directly. If Ace was killed, Nico, Hu and Levi to a degree, would be easy suspects to pin the blame on.

If it’s a crime of convenience, then Eden immediately looks suspicious as she’s the only one who could likely manipulate Arei at this stage. Arturo of course is suspicious bc he likely heard Arei swear to do anything for Eden - but he has an alibi. I can’t count out anyone else overhearing the conversation, and of course that’s a prime option. But story / lore wise, what is their reason for wanting her dead? Is faking note and overpowering Arei really easier then killing Ace? Maybe if you’re got some skin in the game.

Alternatively, would not killing Ace be on purpose, to avoid Nico being blamed? The only people who would benefit from that would be Nico and Hu, who also have…. An alibi only backed up by eachother.

Hopefully the next episode looks into the “why” a bit more, as Arei lore wise seems like such a difficult pick if you want to murder someone

The timeline of chapter 2 DRDT

Kinda like my previous post, this is gonna be like another information dump of everything siginficant leading up to arei's death

Day 1 (Episodes 3, 4, 5, 6)

This is not day 1 of the entire chapter, but episodes 3 (end of it), 4, 5, and 6

Morning (8 am - 12 pm):

The triple fight in the cafteria, where Nico and Ace start their "rivalry" and Arei's rope is placed into storage

David here makes the suggestion to share secrets (J is first to reveal Charles's secret on David's suggestion)

Arei's trauma dump occurs at the playground, with her and Eden having a falling out

Teruko reveals Rose's secret, Nico also asks to paint with Rose

Noon (12 pm):

Ace antagonizes Nico and Nico threatens to kill Ace

David reveals Nico's secret

Afternoon (past 12 pm):

Hu and David comfort Nico in the relaxation room, Hu and Teruko refuse to say their secrets to David

J and Arturo are seen together, with J unsuccessfully trying to escape Arturo with Teruko

Revealed in ep 10: Eden takes Arturo away from J for a while to reveal Arturo's secret, Eden and Arei reconcile (The letter has to be made after this point, and with it being implied that the previous alibis from the trials can be invalid, the list opens back up to either be eden, arturo, or a third party

Evening: ?? - Teruko was resting

Either in the afternoon or evening, Nico stole the turpentine from Rose (Definitely after noon is all we know)

Nighttime (10 pm - 8 am):

Teruko meets with Eden in the dress up room and are alerted by a "BANG" sound to the gym, stumbling upon the "bda" of Ace with Nico holding a bloodied wire

The gym is closed from this point

Nico's location is unknown

Levi exits his room into the hallway after hearing Ace's shouting (Check the F1 map to see everyone's rooms in relation to one another, also note the walls aren't sound proof)

Ace passes out shortly after, with Eden left in charge of him (supposedly)

Day 2 (Episode 7)

Morning (8 am - 12 pm): ?? - Teruko was sleeping

Revealed by MonoTV: J had tried to enter the gym but was rejected

Noon (12 pm):

Argument in cafeteria over incident night prior; This is the last time the audience and a majority of others will see Arei alive, who is silent

MonoTV opens the gym back up for Rose and Teruko

Rose mentions the grippy tape is missing, having last seen it last yesterday (No one could have accessed the gym from 10 pm to 12 pm the next day). Rose then excuses herself to go sleep

Afternoon (past 12 pm): ?? - Skipped over

Evening:

Teruko, Charles, and Whit are in the computer lab; There is a dent in the wall (Had to have been made either between start of chapter 2 until now as Teruko didn't visit the computer lab regularly)

Teruko, Charles, and Whit all move to the kitchen, David enters from an unknown place, tired, and then is redirected to the relaxation room by Whit

Teruko and Veronika are then in the movie screening room

Revealed in ep 11: Ace was in the fitness room, then overhears Arei and David talking in the relaxation room - This is the latest that Arei had been seen alive now

Alibis from 7:30 pm to 10 pm (confirmed during ch 10) (tho these may no longer be relevant to the case)

J and Arturo were together completely (as confirmed by J)

Eden and Hu both were doing dishes in the kitchen from 7-10 pm

Whit and Charles were together

Teruko and Veronica were in the movie screening room

Rose was alone asleep in her room, likely asleep since noon

Levi was alone doing laundry

Nico was "wandering around" supposedly on the first floor, as he does confirm seeing David go down the elevator around that time

Ace was in the fitness room alone, overhearing the conversation in the relaxation room

David and Arei both arrived at the relaxation room at this time, with David having come from the kitchen and Arei somewhere else

Ace, David, and Arei seem to be the only people on the second floor during the evening hours

Nighttime (10 pm - 8 am): ?? - Teruko was asleep

Arei's death occured during this time frame (or after she and David finished meeting from the relaxation room)

The trash can has all the trash accumulated from all of day 2 (from 10 pm of Day 1 to Arei's body discovery)

Rose's painting stuff

Thrown out grippy tape

Jugs from the gym, missing handles

Utensils and incense

The torn up letter

Day 3 (Episodes 7 and 8)

Morning (8 am - 12 pm):

This is the motive reveal, which is at exactly 8 am, and everyone is present except Arei, who MonoTV reveals to know is already dead

The body is discovered around at this time at the playground

The investigation also takes within the morning

Things with clear(-ish) time frames

With all that being, there are specific actions and items that have an exact time frame

Arei's death - post meeting with David during the evening of Day 2 to 8 am of Day 3

David is likely the last one to see her alive, and since he's clearly not the killer (just an asshole lol), the killer got to her afterwards. The killer was present at the meeting the next morning at 8 am.

The letter - After 10 pm Day 1 -> 8 am Day 3

The timeframe of which the letter is made/forged happens after Arei and Eden make up all the way back in Day 1 afternoon. The killer/writer could have made it at any time, but for it to be in the trash can, it had to be placed there during Day 2, as MonoTV last cleaned it "two nights" ago, which means after the Nico and Ace incident. It could be placed in the early hours of Day 2 to early hours of Day 3.

Accessing the gym - After 12 pm Day 2 -> 8 am Day 3

The gym could only have been accessed from noon, after MonoTV finished cleaning. Anything taken from the gym had to be taken in this time frame and then put into the trash.

The relaxation room - 8 am -> 10 pm

As explained by MonoTV the relaxation room is open from 8 am to 10 pm, making it closed all nighttime. Meaning that anything used in Arei's murder from the relaxation room (The water/fish) could only be accessed in this time frame.

The cracked wall of the computer lab - Start of chapter 2 - evening of Day 2

This one has no solid time frame excpet at any point before Teruko entered the computer lab during the evening hours of Day 2. Teruko never went to the computer lab prior to that, so it's not a lot to go off of

Arei's rope - After the morning of Day 1

Anyone could have access to Arei's rope starting from the morning of Day 1

Anyway hoepfully that's everything!! Just use this as a refresher if you need to and it's always possible I forgot something :>

Might be looking into this to deeply, but I wonder if Ace not knowing sweating would cool you down relates in any way to his eating disorder? If I’m remember correctly, ppl suffering with anorexia are more prong to “night sweats” (extreme nighttime sweating - very warm!) so he might associated sweating with getting warmer / sick, not with cooling down.

Or he’s just a silly guy.