As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked.
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Fridge Brilliance
- At first glance, it may seem strange that, during her execution, right after she's prepared to Face Death with Dignity, Nao refuses to let Sara push the button that would Mercy Kill her. However, her actions throughout the game beforehand all point to one fact: Nao refuses to let Sara get any more blood on her hands. Both of them have the death of a loved one on their conscience that they feel responsible for, and Nao recognizes this. She tries her hardest to ease the burden on Sara's conscience, from pushing Fake Reko into the spike pit herself to promising to stay by Sara's side in the massacre ending and reassuring her everyone's deaths aren't her fault. While Sara is partially responsible given that she has to participate in the voting, Nao's final act is preventing Sara from becoming an outright murderer and adding another death to her conscience.
- Nao likely also remembered how, after Sara's attempt to save Joe only prolonged his suffering, Sue Miley was more than happy to rub that fact in her face. Mercy-killing Nao would've made her the first death that was entirely Sara's fault, and she refused to let that be another fact the people behind the game could use to harm her.
- Why was Anzu so useless during the events of 3-1? Considering the Dummies were supposed to kill the humans or else they would be scrapped, her uselessness might have been her way of trying to get them killed while acting as if she was helping. Course, it could potentially end up as a case of Hoist by His Own Petard since her deceit could very well give the Obstructor more than enough time to kill her, everyone to die by a trap, or another Dummy instead.
- That is likely, but keep in mind that Anzu was pretty unable to help herself or figure things out even before she died (unless the trial was really rigged to be unsolvable, but there wouldn't really be a reason for that as Anzu didn't have the same ties to ASU-NARO as Shunsuke did).
- The other thing, Anzu is a terrified and traumatized teenager who got thrown into a death game with no idea why. While most of the other teenagers/children in the cast hold up better, the fact remains that the average teenager would probably react to the situation exactly as Anzu does: scared and panicking and unable to think of what to do.
- Why was Hayasaka often being the target of choice for Obstructors or traps? Considering he was being forced to work with ASU-NARO to supply them information, it was likely that he was being targeted to suppress any knowledge he might have and could give to the participants.
- Why isn't Sara the last place in token collection competition (along with Gin) even if she doesn't do any trades? Because when she and Reko check the 200 tokens vending machine, Reko inserts one token and Sara picks it up (= touches it).
- Kanna is 13-15 years old, considering that she is in middle school, but acts much younger than that. Emotional Regression is a potential reaction to severe trauma. Considering that Kanna has witnessed several people, including her own sister brutally die in front of her, this behavior can easily be an example of this reaction.
- No wonder Kanna was Sou's Only Friend. After all, blood is Thicker Than Water.
- There have been stories of long lost relatives feeling drawn to each other. It could be that Kanna could subconsciously sense that he was her brother.
- Midori being terribly afraid of death seems a bit weird, especially with how he's come with several brushes with death, but it makes perfect sense that someone is an insane Control Freak like Midori. As someone who wants to control nearly everything and everyone around him, being able to die in a situation he had no pull of what happens makes sense as to why it would cause him to be completely terrified of: A loss of control.
Fridge Horror
- Aside from Kai (and even then he did serve as a housekeeper for Sara), the link that ties the non-candidates together is that they have a bond with a participant: Joe was Sara's friend, Nao was Mishima's student, Kugie was Kanna's sister. This means that anyone even remotely associated with a participant: Ryoko Hirose, Q-taro's baseball team, Reko's bandmates, even Gin's classmates, could have become a non-candidate.
- Chapter 3-1b reveals it's even worse than it seems: Sou Hiyori, aka Midori, specifically offered to make everyone's wishes come true if they signed consent forms that guaranteed their spots in the Death Game. A prime example is Kugie wanting Kanna to get the chance to meet her real family; Midori granted that by having Shin Tsukimi, her older brother by blood, as a part of the game as well. The non-candidates weren't pulled in just for being close to the participants, but because their friends and loved ones made wishes for them.
- Even if Miley hadn't been lying about the chance of saving him, it would be impossible for Joe to have survived the Wrigglers. Looking closely, one of the Wrigglers has punctured his heart, most likely causing fatal damage, meaning that even if he had been disconnected, he would have dropped dead soon after. And who's to say Miley didn't do this on purpose?
- Just why did Anzu, of all people have the sixth-highest chance of victory? Considering that she was Out of Focus, perhaps some things are best left unknown.
Fridge Logic
- Why did Kai vote for Q-taro over Sara to be the shooter in the Russian Roulette game? Her safety was his main priority, so why didn’t he want her to be the shooter, the safest position?
- Most likely, Kai knew that Sara had only known him as her stalker, and was notably uneasy around him for reasons she couldn't explain. If Kai had chosen her to be the shooter, there was a chance she'd recognize him earlier and attempt to shoot him due to lack of information and her fear of him. But it still brings up the question why he didn't choose Joe, who directly lacked this negative connection.
- Perhaps he just didn't want Sara to be further traumatized in the event that she accidentally shot someone, considering his comment to her afterward about how she shouldn't try to shoulder too much.
