Danganronpa doodles!!

Some random danganronpa doodles <33 this style is quite satisfying, hopefully it will become my main! ^^

Key words:

Danganronpa - Trigger happy havoc - Goodbye despair - Killing Harmony - DR THH SDR2 DRV3 - procreate - fanart / art - Merykitten - Chiaki Nanami - Hajime Hinata - Maki Harukawa - Kaito Momota - Mikan Tsumiki - Hiyoko Sayonji - Kazuichi Souda / Soda - K1-B0 / Kiibo / Keebo - Mondo Owada / Oowada - Leon Kuwata - Peko Pekoyama - doodles - kaimaki - Kaito x Maki - Hajime x Chiaki - ship

If Kaede was part of the Maki/Shuichi/Kaito Dynamic

Source 

So as a person who’s still a bit frustrated over Kaede getting killed so early here’s what I think the Kaito/Shuichi/Maki dynamic would be like if Kaede were alive.

Warning: This is really long because I got inspired lol

Since in the beginning of Chapter 1, Kaito and Shuichi were already gravitating toward Kaede due to her leadership qualities. So they would form a trio right after Chapter 1. Chapter 2 would have us see the dynamic between the three of them like Kaito/Shuichi in the original game. Then Maki would get added into the mix when Kaito tries to get her to join their group.

Kaede would be wary of her due to her being an assassin. Kaito would keep trying to convince her to give her a chance so then she tries to be open and friendly to her like Kaito. She realizes how she’s not bloodthristy but just put under unfortunate circumstances. I noticed Maki was able to open up her defenses to befriend Kaito due to his friendly nature. Since Kaede is outgoing and friendly as well, I feel like once Kaede understands and trusts her, Maki would like her a lot. I always liked the idea that they would parallel Kaito and Shuichi as “best friends”. Kaede playing with her hair and other events in the game that show them bonding.

Kaito and Kaede would be the positive energy in the group that keeps Maki and Shuichi’s heads high. I would imagine they would just get along right away and Kaito would help her with leading and inspiring others. They would have that type of dynamic that would have more playful teasing and lots of small talk due to them being more outgoing.

Shuichi and Kaede would have a similar dynamic to Hajime/Chiaki and Makoto/Kyoko. He would act as the partner to our main protagonist and help her whenever she’s down and support her. Kaede would encourage Shuichi and help him with his confidence by having him help her with leadership, investigations, ect. They would still have the same cute relationship that would slowly develop into a romance (Saimatsu shippers rejoice xD) They would be a team that would stand by each other and have more development in their relationship than what we got originally.

One of the things I felt was off about the trio in the game was that it felt unbalanced. Both Maki and Shuichi depend on Kaito a lot and he’s the one that holds the group together. Maki and Shuichi are friends to a certain degree but they don’t mix as well together due to Shuichi being a bit of a pushover and Maki being more harsh. I like the possibilities of this relationship but it doesn’t feel like they would try to keep the friendship if it wasn’t for Kaito. Maybe Maki and Shuichi’s relationship would be better if they met and got to know each other on their own terms. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they hate each other.

What I’m saying is that Kaede would bring balance to the trio. She would be the friend that would bring the peace in a disagreement, but is not afraid to call out people.

So this leads to the drama in Chapter 4 and 5. When Maki and Kaito stand against Shuichi’s actions in the fourth trial. Kaede would stand by him and be more understanding to why he did that. She would get even though it was cruel, he did it to save everyone. Kaito and Maki would feel betrayed by this because it would look like she’s siding with Ouma’s views in their eyes. Maki would be hurt because someone she considered to be one of her closest friends decides to stand against her. Kaito would be shocked because he believed she would always believe in people like him. Then Maki would harshly accuse Kaede that she stands by Shuichi because she has a crush on him, and in frustration Kaede would accuse the same thing with her with Kaito. Overall both girls would start to yell each other and Shuichi and Kaito would have to break them up. Then the group splits up for a while.

What leads to this climax of the everyone’s friendships here is the connection to Ouma and his views and the lack of understanding. Maki hasn’t had friends in so long and when you take someone who’s been a ruthless and unemotional killer for so long, they say harsh things and don’t consider people’s feelings. Kaito and Maki dislike Ouma, but I believe Kaede would try to bond with him and understand him. Maki, Kaito, and Shuichi would disagree (well less for Shuichi) but they wouldn’t care much at first. As Ouma acts more antagonistic toward everyone, Kaito and Maki would argue with Kaede’s attempts of friendship with Ouma. When Shuichi sides with him in the fourth trial and then Kaede agrees with him, it puts a dent on the group’s friendship. Kaito and Maki wouldn’t understand due to Kaito’s stubbornness and Maki’s lack of empathy (because of that I feel like that’s why she sides with someone she’s closer to over undersanding everyone’s feelings- Kaito). So when someone she’s attached to, like Kaede stands against her she feels betrayed and says stupid and petty things in anger due to her fear and frustration of losing a friend like she lost in the orphanage.

This is what I felt like would have made Maki trying to kill Ouma have much more reason and impact to it. Her believing he’s the mastermind would be an excuse for her to take him down. Her anger at him kidnapping Kaito, having Shuichi and Kaede stand against her, and overall breaking up her only group of friends in her eyes would build up to this.

The same events would happen, Kaito kills Ouma and tries intact his plan and the others would try to save him. Kaede and Shuichi would make up with Kaito at the window before shit goes down.

During the trial, Kaede would be furious with Maki when she intentionally lied to get everyone killed. Maki would try to act like she doesn’t care but would be hurt inside. At the end of the trial, Kaede would slap Maki for her actions (trying to kill Ouma and lying to cause their deaths). Maki would simply be silent and realizing her mistakes and feel immense guilt. Kaito would yell at Kaede to not be too harsh on her. He would tell Kaede privately that Maki just needs guidance and a good friend to help her sort herself out and that he trusts Kaede and Shuichi to do that for him. Kaede would take his words to heart and would be sad as everyone else after his death. Maki would apologize to everyone for her brash actions and everyone would forgive her. Kaede would make her promise to never try to kill again and both girls would forgive each other. Kaede would try to look after Maki, like Kaito. She would help her love herself and sort out her insecurities with Shuichi.  

Sorry those last parts ended up focusing a lot on Kaede and Maki but it makes sense because we never see their dynamic. I feel like Kaede would have added a lot to Maki’s character as someone who would stand up to her but also be a friend to her. Maki having other close relationships besides Kaito is what I felt like would have helped her develop more into a stronger and independent person after all the trauma in her life and in the school. I love her relationship with Kaito but I did find it unhealthy that she just focused on him.

Fun fact: Some ideas for Maki/Kaede came from the fanfic “I’d Trade My Life for Your’s” (HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO READ). I wanted to state that having the four of them keeps a balance. Without Shuichi in the story, all hell broke loose for Kaede and Maki’s relationship. There wasn’t a trio for Kaito to get Maki into (I’m guessing cause he didn’t befriend Kaede the same way as Shuichi) so she was only able to befriend him. This caused a REALLY unhealthy attachment for Kaito and hatred for everyone else. She kinda turned into the Togami/Komaeda/Ouma in the story. It shows how Maki’s flaws can lead her down a darker path if things went differently. Seeing Maki and Kaede become enemies in the story made me want to see them as friends somewhere (so this happened lol)

With Kaito, I feel Kaede would have a similar dynamic to him and Shuichi but it’s Kaito wanting to be her sidekick due to the confidence she has. They would develop a close friendship through him helping her, but would always be concerned for her when she tried to befriend Ouma. (idk where to put this. I feel like all of this was already messy lol)

So yeah I feel like Kaede would have added so much to the trio if she was there. This adds to my fuel for my wishes for Kaede being alive. I hope for those who made it this far enjoyed my thoughts. If there are any opinions or anything please share. I hope I was accurate with the characters cause it’s been a while since I played the game xD

I swear I really should make Danganronpa fanfics haha.