LogFAQs > #889002604

12. Kaito Momota
Appears in: Danganronpa V3
Ultimate Identity: Astronaut
Endearing Character Trait: Perpetually dying

Ladies and gentlemen, the luminary of the stars! King of death flags!

I've seen a lot of people not like Kaito because he's "too positive" or "annoying." Well, these people are wrong. Kaito is one of the series' biggest successes, in that he actively plays with the series expectations, subverting cliches and tropes while being the crux of the most emotional DR story. The writers throw death flags at you relentlessly, (not to mention murderer flags), and Kaito joyously shuts those down. Acting suspicious in Chapter 3? Oh, that's because I'm deathly afraid of the occult! Mysteriously vanishes in Chapter 4? Yeah, Miu did that. Kaito exists to play with expectations, and he does it well.

V3 has the best story of the series and it's not really close (again, this is knowing that the ending of V3 effectively undermines the story itself). One reason why the story is so good is because you actually have relationships that feel real. The "friend trio" of Shuichi, Maki, and Kaito is one of the most likable in any video game I've played - and yes, I'm aware that he's basically Kamina and they're Simon and Yoko. We've all seen TTGL and it's worthy of whatever homages it gets.

Kaito begins as a type of romantic rival with Shinji for Kaede's affections. When Kaede croaks, instead of becoming a villain - the expected route - he actually becomes a rival/brother figure for Shuichi. The friendship feels earned and real. And again, when his optimism brings Maki into the fold, it doesn't feel like he's being shifty or pervy - he's just a good dude. I'm not a "shipper," but I can appreciate when a game writes chemistry effectively.

Chapter 5 is pretty good, though I can't help but feel a tad disappointed by it too. Like, it's kind of obvious that Kaito is in the Exisal the whole time, right? It's fun figuring out how the body switch took place, but it also feels a bit unsurprising - more on this chapter when we get to Kokichi.

Kaito probably notches the biggest victory of the series too, when he dies before Monokuma's execution can actually kill him. It's one of the series' best moments: a perfect mix of tragic and triumphant.

I originally had Kaito much higher (hence all the writing), but the more I thought about him, the more I realized that - as awesome as he is - he is relatively "samey." And yeah - he is super positive in an annoying way sometimes. Still - gotta give him props.

Next: Puhuhu...