- Abandon Shipping: When the teaser for Chapter 3 came out, people were pairing up Sou/Shin and the real Sou, also known as Midori because the two characters had known each other previously. This changed once the first part of Chapter 3 was released and Midori was revealed to have manipulated and deeply unsettled Shin during the time they were friends.
- Adorkable: Ranmaru really can be a sweet, endearing kid, quick to get flustered, especially when his crush on Sara comes up. Unless Sou is alive, in which case this ends up getting very harshly subverted.
- Americans Hate Tingle: Keiji x Sara is by far the most Fan-Preferred Couple on Pixiv and in Japan, having about three times as much fanworks on the site versus the second most popular ship. However, in the West, it's a very Base-Breaking ship due to the age difference between Saranote and Keijinote , where such ships have been seen as controversial, and shipping Sara with characters around her age (e.g. Joe, Ranmaru, Nao and even Ryoko) is far more common.
- Anti-Climax Boss: Midori can be this in 3-1B, but in probably one of the most bizarre ways possible. Before the Banquet that kills off the Dummies and Midori himself, you can get the entirely former group killed sans Hinako. And because nearly everyone is dead, a lot of tension of picking the right one is eliminated as you're playing with a bunch of corpses, and it's easier to get to the truth seeing how any incorrect assumptions are crossed out. Overall, it comes across as very underwhelming this way.note
- Base-Breaking Character:
- Sou Hiyori is by far the most divisive out of the participants. He's either seen as the most interesting and complex character who added to the story or just a straight-up unpleasant asshole who antagonizes Sara just because people are willing to trust her more. The Reveal that Sou is actually not the real Sou Hiyori but a man named Shin Tsukimi who was trying to survive did smooth things over but it caused a different kind of Broken Base. Either Sou/Shin Tsukimi is an understandable and tragic Jerkass Woobie, or you like Shin Tsukimi because he put to light various things along with being able to understand his motives... but you still hated his actions when he masqueraded as Sou Hiyori. Then, just as he was starting to warm up to the group, the base got split again in the path where you choose to save him instead of Kanna (against his wishes) and he responded by completely giving up on the group and vowing revenge on Sara and Keiji, only putting his mission aside for Chapter 3-1 because they had a common enemy in the form of Midori. Either you see it as a tragic yet Surprisingly Realistic Outcome for a troubled man with severe trust issues who just lost his Morality Pet and still find him compelling for his fleshed out history with Midori (which is far more personal than that of the rest of the cast sans Alice) and for still being an uselful ally to the group despite hating them, or it causes you to completely give up on the ungrateful Jerkass in favor of the much more supportive and understanding Kanna and resent him for torturing Sara with the modified Joe AI, setting up a series of events that indirectly cause Reko/Alice's deaths, which doesn't occur in Kanna's route.
- Kanna Kizuchi has quite the split opinion on her. While fan opinion of her at first was pity and sympathy due to losing her sister in her First Trial, opinions on her started to split as the game continued on. You either continued feeling sorry for her with all she went through and found her the biggest woobie, or were irritated and frustrated with her lack of a spine and stupidity for teaming up with and trusting Sou instead of Sara or even Reko. Her route in 3-1, where she makes a comeback from her suicidal thoughts and vows to help everyone escape to honor those who had died, helped ease this split a lot, though there is still discourse over whether this makes her more or less compelling than Sou, as she finds her resolve in the first few minutes of the chapter, leaving her with little to do throughout.
- Ranmaru Kageyama became this in 3-1B after its release, due to some vary polarizing events during the Logic route. Namely, that Ranmaru is turned to Jumping Off the Slippery Slope by Sara and becomes a full blown murderer for his idea of survival, killing off the remaining Yabusame sibling (who themselves are quite popular) and becomes the group's true Token Evil Teammate and no matter what happens next, is reduced to a being a Big Bad Wannabe. Some fans embraced the change completely and latched onto the idea of Ranmaru's plan working, citing that it was something that caught many people's eyes as a proper twist for the game. However, others are very much against the twist, arguing that it takes a character that appealed to them initially and strips the appeal away for the sake of shock value. Murdering an important character off-screen without any hesitation or remorse despite having plenty earlier made him come across as one dimensional and lame for Logic Ranmaru's detractors. Especially when he is quick to die, cutting his new direction short, even his fans admit to be dissatisfied by his brief unceremonious demise. There is another side, with fans saying that they prefer the Emotion route, where Ranmaru keeps his previous characterization and grows nicer instead, Logic fans claim it's "boring" and fails to make him stand out. Regardless of opinion, Ranmaru has only vastly grown in popularity, pushing him to be a more divided character.
- Broken Base:
- Chapter 3-1 as a whole has been regarded as fairly divisive compared to its earlier chapters, whether it's an improvement or very flawed is ultimately up to which fan you're speaking to. Detractors take to the fact that neither Yabusame has a major event that would make a route more unique due to their actions, and neither do Kanna nor Sou, as their routes diverge depending on Sara's choices, not those character's own (which is especially egregious in Sou's case after he claims to be seeking revenge on Keiji and Sara). They also go on to state that the Dummies, while still very popular, are brought in and taken out too fast, and the overall chapter feels a bit too rushed. However, a good load of fans defend the chapter, saying that it brought in characters that are engaging in their own right but don't need full arcs, that Midori's an incredible antagonist for the section he's in and that they found it more interesting that it was Sara who was the pinnacle of things going worse or better for her, rather than anything else, and they state that running a longer chapter runs the risk of Padding. The fact that the Chapter had to be rewritten no less than three times undoubtedly did cause some debate on whether the deleted content was better than what was provided has also lead to some debate.
- Hinako's plot twist is the most divisive event in the entire series. Many fans are pleased with it after correctly speculating for so long or happen to find it a fun confirmation. It has received lots of critiques all the same, countless fans heavily dislike the plot twist for a multitude of reasons. They range from finding it too predictable, thinking it is far too rushed for such a heavily built up event, believe the attempted explanation for Hinako's replacement due to her one-sided connection to Alice as "murderer and victim" very forced and/or really dislike that Hinako is just abruptly killed off before the reveal even happens. There's a third party that remain uncaring, not hating it but not loving it either. That same group either finds it forgettable, confusing or believing it failed to leave an impression: mostly thanks to the fast pace and information overload of the Banquet. Not even a majority of the supporters can really defend how abrupt it ends up being in the long run. Both groups alike wished for a bigger impact, someone in their group fully working with ASU-NARO is way too big of a deal for how the twist actually played out. An anticlimactic death by a drill with no chance to see the traitor's side of the story. Not only that, very few are happy with the split between two different Hinakos thinking of it as a misuse of screentime and her potential. Instead of one potentially fleshed out character like the other dolls, there's one underbaked character and another that might as well not exist in the fans' eyes. This twist ends up very underwhelming to anyone who wanted to see a properly explored real Hinako, how she's like and why she wanted to die so badly. It's ultimately a twist very few are satisfied with.
- Captain Obvious Reveal: After the Room of Lies scene, Reko having been replaced with a duplicate is hinted at pretty heavily. By the time the negotiation scene at the end of the chapter brings up the possibility of someone having been replaced by an impostor, a lot of players will know right away where the scene is going.
- Complete Monster: The real Sou Hiyori—also known as Midori—is a sadistic member of ASU-NARO who manipulated each of the candidates into signing the consent forms for the Death Game. Midori grew up with a fascination for humans and would enjoy torturing them physically and/or mentally until he'd broken them. Before his alleged death at the hands of Alice, Midori and Shin Tsukimi had been friends, but Midori would enjoy doing things to freak Shin out and seeing his reaction to the point that Shin looks almost ill having to recall it. Prior to the game, Midori manipulated Keiji into killing his childhood hero by accident, scarring him for life. Midori enjoys tormenting the participants with an innocent smile on his face, especially the Dummies. This includes gaslighting Sara into believing she's a Manipulative Bitch who's willing to let the other participants die to win the game; replacing Mai's arms with his own severed arms; and turning Maple—who he had configured to love him—into a deformed killing machine.
- Death of the Author:
- Not the game, but the manga (which is co-directed by Nankidai) has been claimed as very controversial due the Adaptation Deviation and the condensed story not quite working to endear readers as they once had. The most damning piece of evidence as to why the manga is looked down upon however, is the scene of Kanna fanservice, which many fans have been up at arms about.
- Nao's crush on Mishima received this status among the fanbase when Your Time to Shine first released. The way it was executed made quite a few players uncomfortable with a select few thinking less of Nao as a character outright. Many choose to reject the idea of Nao pursuing a Teacher/Student Romance.
- Draco in Leather Pants:
- Due to his popularity from fans, Ranger's exceedingly cruel antics from the moment of his introduction are oftentimes overlooked by his fans. This was likely inevitable once it turned out he had a pitiable backstory, especially with the exceptionally cruel nature of both the times he died.
- Safalin's more sinister and darker aspects such as smilingly saying she was never your friend in a certain ending at Chapter 2, and her clear pleasure at seeing Sara getting addicted to the machine tend to get handwaved due to her providing medicine and the infirmary to the participants, and being the least outwardly antagonistic of the Floor Masters.
- Ensemble Dark Horse:
- One of the most popular Floor Masters is Rio Ranger, the only member of the lot to actually be an artificial intelligence-powered doll. Though he's only introduced in chapter 2-1 and shot to death at its end, his highly active role throughout, gimmick of wearing the deceased's clothes, and somewhat tragic character traits have earned him a lot of adoration from fans.
- The Memory Dance itself was already popular for both its interesting dance sprites and higher difficulty, but the final enemy (who is a Miku Expy) has gotten a good amount of fans that persist years after her debut, due her cute design, surprisingly fast pace, and being surprisingly creepy.
- The other participants who died in their first trials are also very popular, especially Ranmaru, after the third chapter introduces and fleshes them out heavily as robot doubles. Pretty much the only already-deceased character who doesn’t have all that many fans (if anything, what was learned about her made people like her less) is Megumi Sasahara, who also has the misfortune of not actually being in the chapter in person.
- Kanna's sister: Kugie Kizuchi has this status, as she manages a fairly decently sized fanbase for a character that died offscreen at the very beginning of the game. Very little is as known about her as a result of her nonexistent presence yet details revealed through other characters along with her connection with a beloved character like Kanna elevated Kugie quite a bit.
- Ryoko Hirose always had a small yet dedicated fanbase, largely from her connection to one of the most popular characters in Your Turn to Die: Joe Tazuna. This dedicated fanbase grew as she steadily made more appearances. Her fanbase started to take off once she got a design in the manga. Ryoko's official debut in a Sara focused mini-episode skyrocketed her popularity.
- Epileptic Trees:
- A common theory is that the real Sou Hiyori, named in game as Midori, is Kanna's biological older brother. Fans point to the fact that Kanna is adopted and that Midori has similar hair and eye colors to her. Eventually Jossed by 3-1B's revelation that Kanna does have a biological older brother... by the name of Shin Tsukimi.
- There are theories suggesting that Sou's victory rate of 0.0% was fabricated. Since he is good at lying and manipulation and has computer skills, it's almost baffling that he would place so low when Kanna and Gin, two children, would have higher victory rates than. It's believed that the real Sou Hiyori had a hand in manipulating Shin's survival rate since he has been stated to enjoy unsettling Shin and seeing him on edge. Not to mention Sue Miley was the one to tell him about the survival rates and Miley has demonstrated a fondness for misleading others to bring them to despair, as what she did with Sara during Joe's execution. Thoroughly Jossed after 3-1's reveals. The Shin AI shows to be lacking manipulative qualities and candidates such as Ranmaru and Sara are more relentless than anticipated. The nail in the coffin is that Midori did have a hand in manipulating Shin's survival rate, but for the opposite effect. Midori and Miley increased Shin's chances to survive... by having him throw away his identity and become Sou Hiyori.
- It’s commonly speculated that Kai is actually Faking the Dead, and is secretly working in the background to continue defying the Death Game. The main reason for this theory being that his death doesn’t include a “has expired” narration, with his past training as an assassin being used to support the theory, suggesting he may know enough about a human body’s limits to successfully pull off a fake suicide.
- Fandom-Specific Plot:
- A common AU among the fanbase is to swap Sara and Joe's positions, meaning that Sara ends up becoming The Lost Lenore for a Heroic BSoD-suffering Joe.
- For many Mastermind AUs, Sara Chidouin, Joe Tazuna or Gin Ibushi are the usual suspects.
- Fanon:
- Fanartists have often depicted Kanna wearing Sou's scarf as a Tragic Keepsake in post 2-2 scenarios in which Kanna lives.
- In most fan media made of Chapter 3, the 2-1 survivor is more often than not depicted to be Reko Yabusame. While the 2-2 survivor is more of a toss-up.
- Fan Nickname: Due to multiple hints towards Nao being attracted to women, and the ending itself having her embrace Sara while talking about living together, fans often euphemistically refer to the Massacre ending as "the lesbian ending".
- Fan-Preferred Cut Content: There's tons of scenes that didn't make it to the final game. A few of them earned a following to the point some voice disappointment that it never reached the final product. For example, Ranmaru tragically confessing to Sara that he just wants a best friend he can lean on and Anzu opening up to Reko about her own parents and calling her a big sister are considered compelling events that many wished made it to the final game.
- Fans Prefer the New Her: While Ranmaru was not without a good amount of fans before, he exploded in popularity once he became a cold blooded killer in Sou's route and gained a floofier hairstyle and white irises. In fact, it's much more likely you'll see and hear about Ranmaru in the Logic route, which practically eclipses his Emotion route version. Partially subverted as that version of him also made him a very hated character. So much so that there's a sizable amount of fans that prefer him in the other route, doesn't help that the Kanna route appears to be the most played and preferred route as a whole.
- Friendly Fandoms: With Danganronpa and Zero Escape due to their similar premises. Oddly enough, there's been some of this between YTTD fans and fans of Sethical, due to a few crossover videos that got popular enough.
- Growing the Beard: While Chapter 1 is not considered bad by any means, and considered a generally good start to the Death Game by many, it's generally agreed upon that Chapter 2 is where the game really hits its stride. The reasons include introducing mini games, a period to get to learn more about the other survivors, a possibility to net different endings, really delving into the Psychological Horror aspect of the game and making your choices actually effect certain outcomes of the story including who lives and who dies.
- Heartwarming in Hindsight: A common Fan Nickname for Sou and Kanna were "Greenblings" due to their Like Brother and Sister dynamic, which became this trope once Chapter 3-1B revealed that the two are biological siblings. Also doubles as Harsher in Hindsight, as by this point one of them is dead... by your indirect hand.
- He's Just Hiding: Just about every significant character that's died in the game is thought of this way. The series is so tragic that even Nankidai couldn't resist making alternate outcomes where nobody dies and tragedy is averted.
- I Knew It!:
- Several fans predicted after the release of Chapter 3-1A that Q-taro would die in 3-1B, which eventually turned out to be the case.
- As soon as it's revealed that there was a traitor working for Asu Naro in 3-1A, many players assumed it would be one of the recently introduced Dummies. Then when there's a painting of an unknown participant being killed (along with Nao Egokoro's death), some figured out that Hinako was the traitor, and that she wasn't a doll at all.
- Iron Woobie:
- Gin Ibushi is the youngest unwilling participant chosen to partake in the death game, being only 12-years old. Despite this, he maintains a tough and cheerful demeanor throughout, even as he's repeatedly put in life-threatening situations for the sick enjoyment of his captors. Q-Taro, who is The Big Guy of the team and around twice his age, admits at one point that Gin is far more brave than him, despite being as scared of death as everyone else. It's only when he's in the midst of a twisted game involving him (such as the final attraction and the banquet), where Gin starts showing fear and agony in the face of death, and he becomes a full-blown Woobie in Chapter 3-1b upon learning of Q-Taro's death.
- Kazumi Mishima is an eccentric art teacher and one of the nicest characters in the game who is dismissed as a creep by others for his appearance. He also ends up being the first victim of the first pre-trial by garnering the most possible votes for himself to ensure the others' safety, which only ends up being for naught as the trial could've been passed without carnage if the vote had come to a draw. His demise is also not pretty: having his neck burned off by his overheating collar.
- It Was His Sled:
- "Gonbee Yamada"'s true name is Alice Yabusame, and he is Reko's brother.
- Joe Tazuna dies. Not only does his guilt-formed hallucination self show up on dozens of fanarts, the character's death is the manga adaptation's R-Rated Opening.
- Jerkass Woobie: Sou Hiyori, the gloomy loner in the group. Through the bulk of the first two rounds he's nothing but antagonistic to the other players, especially Sara, he uses Kanna for his own gain, and he lies constantly (not to mention how he's the one who gave Joe the Sacrifice card in the first Main Game. But it's also true that, like all of the other participants, Sou was kidnapped and placed into a deadly game and is just trying to survive. He's just as crushed as anyone when his attempt to help them all escape ends in failure. It's also revealed that his first trial involved him learning the victory rates of the other candidates, and learning in particular that his victory rate was 0%—meaning that from the very beginning, he knew that the group was going to inevitably vote him out and kill him. His distrust of the main group, and especially Sara who has the highest victory rate, is at least understandable.
- LGBT Fanbase: The visual novel has garnered a good amount of attention from fans who are LGBT, not unlike the similar novel Danganronpa, due to the characters being Ambiguously Bi or Ambiguously Gay, or Straight Gay and a character that's strongly hinted to be Transgender. And those characters who aren't in this category accept this with no problem, making many happy upon the revelation. The fact that many of the males have a Heroic Build does help things for those who are attracted to men.
- Love to Hate: Midori has garnered this reaction due to being a smiling yet silently threatening and unrepentant Jerkass who somehow always has another trick up his sleeve, even if he's seemingly pushed into a corner.
- Memetic Badass:
- Mishima, his selfless personality and mental fortitude had this status given to him outright by Nankidai which inevitably bled into the fanbase's perception of him. He's consistently depicted as outrageously powerful to the point of breaking his collar with his bare hands.
- Kanna, similarly to Mishima she's made out to be stronger than she normally is in the canon game. Countless official sketches depict her easily able to break through walls without trying and even able to defeat a trained boxer: Naomichi Kurumada in a match.
- Memetic Loser:
- Reko, for her tendency to die in remarkably unceremonious and uninteresting ways compared to the deaths of other main cast members. She also rarely catches a break in Nankidai's sketches: being one of the common targets for random chaotic events.
- Sou, for being both ridiculously weak (canonically weaker than Kanna, who is in turn occasionally made much stronger than she is), and because of his actions often blowing up in his face.
- Ranmaru, similar to Sou, any and all of his actions blow up in his face: to the point it borders on hilarity. For example, there's an optional scene where he can die instantly after his big reveal in the logic route. It ends in a comically pathetic moment of Ranmaru instantly switching out of his malicious new sprite before he's blown up. It's outright official to an extent as even Nankidai depicted him in a sketch series as a loser that gets badly injured from his own pettiness.
- Hayasaka, for constantly being a nervous wreck to comical degrees and canonically having the worst luck from being the receiving end of almost every opponent and trap. Even his pose in YTTD merch has him on his knees in an apologetic position.
- Anzu, for being the Butt-Monkey of the cast while also having the least screentime out of anyone. Fans also can't help but meme on the fact that she can die as soon as you meet her.
- Memetic Psychopath: After the release of 3-1B, Ranmaru quickly became this once he murders either Reko or Alice so that he can win along with Sara in Sou's route.
- Moe: Gin is an Adorably Precocious Child that many fans would love to own as a pet. Kanna can also qualify, for obvious reasons.
- Moral Event Horizon:
- The games's first antagonist, Sue Miley, truly cements herself as unapologetically evil at the end of Chapter 1-2, where she not only executes Joe, but gives Sara a button to slow his execution, telling her if she presses it enough she can save him, when it only prolonged his suffering.
- Rio Ranger crosses it at the end of Chapter 2-1 where, depending on your choices, he either pits the real Reko and fake Reko against each other, resulting in them both dying, or tricks Alice into thinking that Reko is dead, throwing the fake Reko's head at him, and then blowing it up, killing him before he could find out his sister was actually alive.
- In Chapter 2-2, Gashu Satou crosses it when he shoots himself upon the characters exposing him for violating the rules, condemning Nao to be executed after he forcibly gave her the sacrifice card as well as forcing the characters to choose either Kanna or Sou to die along with her.
- The real Sou Hiyori (a.k.a. Midori) had already crossed it prior to the story's events when he set Keiji up and manipulated him into killing his beloved childhood idol, causing him to become the traumatized, broken man he is throughout the game.
- Of all characters, Ranmaru crosses it on Sou's Route in Chapter 3-1B when he kills either Reko or Alice by activating the hanging trap in the locker room and reveals he was planning to kill all of the other participants as well so that he and Sara could leave together. Needless to say, the other characters don't want anything to do with him after this incident, and no one, not even Sara, is all that upset when he dies.
- Narm:
- Sara forgetting who Joe is in Sou's route is undoubtedly a shocking moment, but the Wham Line that reveals it can lose a bit of it's punch due to sounding like the set-up to a bad prank call.Sara: Uhh... Keiji... Who is Joe?
- Some of the deaths really stretch the Willing Suspension of Disbelief. A good example would be Hayasaka's possible death by books with teeth.
- Sara forgetting who Joe is in Sou's route is undoubtedly a shocking moment, but the Wham Line that reveals it can lose a bit of it's punch due to sounding like the set-up to a bad prank call.
- Narm Charm:
- It can be a little hard to take the loony designs of Sue Miley, Tia Safalin, and Maple seriously, and one has to wonder how they get around without dropping their odd choices for hats, but the game plays them completely seriously as antagonists, and once you can get over the stack of pancakes on Maple's head, she's no less terrifying than the other obstructors.
- Kanna's possible death via Transflormation can raise a few eyebrows as to what the limits of the collars are, but the background music, Tia's horrible attempts at sugarcoating the body horror, and the fact that Kanna genuinely seems to be in pain really make up for it for some.
- While Mai's revelation in Chapter 3-1B that her hands aren't her own and instead the hands of a fully grown man that are bigger than her own. can be a bit silly, the fact that it's genuinely a horrible discovery makes it pay off.
- Again in 3-1B Midori reveals he's more machine than man by rotating his head completely around multiple times, which veers from anywhere of it being unsettling to silly to amazing.
- Nightmare Fuel: Plenty to be found here.
- Paranoia Fuel: Chapter two introduces the hallucinations mechanic, where being reminded of Joe's death will cause Sara's hallucinations to get increasingly worse (with a bad ending if you let them get too bad). This gives an undertone of quiet menace to nearly everything you do in the chapter, since you can never be sure if an innocuous dialogue option won't end up veering off in a traumatic direction...
- Player Punch: Full of it, especially starting in chapter 2 where your choices do start to have consequences as to who lives and dies. Naturally, every Sadistic Choice is led up to by one of these, but the climax of chapter 3-1 has to take the cake. You've spent the entire chapter growing attached to the dolls representing the previous victims, and through sometimes some genuine Guide Dang It! perfectionism, it's possible to get every single one of them to the finale of the half-chapter in one piece... Then, they're a bunch of living entities who you personally have to pick off one by one to put off sacrificing Gin as you try desperately to kill Midori, a process which could whittle them down to a Sole Survivor. The only sort-of pickup from this is that the seeming horrific climax of it all, another forced decision between killing Gin or letting Keiji die, is taken out of your hands followed by a reveal that neither of them has to die, and even that's only because Q-taro set things up just so, having already been dead for some time.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Q-taro was such a divisive character that he bordered on scrappy status. He used to be the most hated character in the game by far, with quite a bit of rage back then. From harshly challenging the beloved Gin Ibushi, betraying the group in an ending or outlasting other characters. A lot of his intentions and efforts were misconstrued by the fanbase, it got so bad the character received hate for things that didn't happen or were contradicted by the game (such as "maliciously trying to kill kids" in Chapter 1 despite it being established that he was having them explain why they should live first before anyone else in the group. He got visibly bothered and opposed to Kanna's initial willingness to die). However, time and further review of his well written realistic actions started to turn the scathing perception into his favor. A lot of the one-time detractors of his sometimes selfish, cowardly personality were also very pleased to see his Character Development into an extremely selfless character after the game's halfway point. And for those still not convinced, his final Thanatos Gambit and heart-wrenching death scene were enough to sway a considerable amount over. It was enough to make him a well loved character overall with a lot of the fans calling him one of the best written characters in the game.
- Ron the Death Eater:
- Despite Q-taro's many flaws, a vocal portion of the game's fanbase exaggerates his selfish and Dirty Coward side and paints him as an opportunist who doesn't care about the group. This is primarily due to the Non-Standard Game Over where he leaves everyone to die to escape the game by himself after acquiring enough tokens to buy a ticket to the surface. Even though he was wrong to hide his plan to escape from the others, he clearly had no idea it was going to kill everyone up until he was one token away from freedom. Throughout the ordeal, Q-taro had no reason to believe that his sadistic captors (who had a tendency to Yank the Dog's Chain) were ever going to let more than one person (if any) escape the death game, so he cannot be fully blamed for taking what may very well have been the only chance for someone to escape, not to mention he's incredibly hesitant and remorseful when he makes his decision, and he clearly is angry at Rio for giving him the Sadistic Choice out of the blue. It should be noted that if Sara doesn't make the final trade with him, Q-taro gives up on the plan the next day (implying he wasn't completely thinking it through) even without knowing its cons, but this is overshadowed by the shock of having one of your teammates betray everyone's trust and escape alone.
- Though the logic route in chapter 3-1 does portray Sara as Slowly Slipping Into Evil, several fans portray her as a full-blown Villain Protagonist who goes completely off the deep end after forgetting about Joe, even though she's still willing to do a Deal with the Devil to rescue Keiji even in that route, and use it to save Gin instead of saving herself, and she's visibly horrified and distraught when Ranmaru goes through with his idea to kill the others to ensure they survive as a couple, despite briefly supporting it at first.
- Silent Majority: Route discourse is by far the messiest source of conflict in the fanbase with a near even split between Kanna and Sou. While Kanna's route is popular among wider audiences due to the lighter outcome and satisfying payoff (alongside the route generally being covered by popular streamers and let's players), a sizable amount of the diehard community prefer Sou's route for its intriguing drama and messy group dynamics. However, consensus among the Reko and Alice choice is noticeably one-sided. Despite Alice fans being the most vocal about their character and choice, usually with the argument of Alice having larger impact from his past actions, both Logic and Emotion players generally pick Reko over Alice. Likely due to her larger amount of screentime at the time of the split, her route being tied to the "successful" outcome of trying to save Gin: exposing more players to it, her development being far less bleak and Alice's potential death being more climactic and bittersweet than Reko's. It's so lopsided that saving Alice is the least obtained achievement in the entire game with a humongous gap between Reko and Alice's routes, doesn't help how most polls leave his routes in dead last.
- Stoic Woobie: Keiji Shinogi, the self-proclaimed "friendly policeman" of the group, is one of the more laid-back and level-headed participants in the death game, to the point of being more stolid than the AI-powered dolls encountered throughout the game even as he sees his allies die horrifically one by one. This becomes more significant when we learn that he was manipulated into shooting his childhood idol once while on the force, and is to this day haunted by hallucinations of his victim, which renders him unable to even hold a firearm without trembling. Unlike Sara, who is completely overwhelmed by her visions of Joe, he never talks about his trauma unless he's directly probed (and even then he goes out of his way to be vague), and his brief playable segment in chapter 3-1 shows him casually dismiss a hallucination of his victim while on a mission.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- On the Sou route of chapter 3-1, the first truly dramatic, story-altering change to the narrative based on survivors occurs: Sara's manipulation of Ranmaru Kageyama has turned him murderous, complete with an openly antagonistic demeanor, even going so far as to kill the surviving Yabusame before being outed. This is a massive tonal shift that creates a menacing undercurrent for the rest of the dolls' scenes, gives the group a true Token Evil Teammate where the apparent setups for it before all turned out to be a subversion, and gives Sara's darker side an enthusiastic ally who desires to kill everyone else in the cast. He even gets an Expository Hairstyle Change and glowing eyes to signal all of this... And, after that death, his presence amounts to nothing more should he survive than a slight nuisance in Maple's second fight. There's still no way to keep him as the Sole Survivor of the dolls when the dust clears at the banquet; he's always going to be its penultimate fatality if he makes it there, whether he had this Face–Heel Turn or not.
- Hinako Mishuku shares this status. Not only does she manage to be the dummy with the least amount of portraits. But with how much potential dynamics that could have been explored due to containing knowledge no one else has: the reveal that she's an imposter and the execution of it was largely considered lackluster. After a subtle but intriguing arc displaying Hinako's growing sympathy and growing care for others, the fact that she isn't even around to comment on nor be challenged about the reveal is thought of as underwhelming. Not helped by how abruptly fast paced the Banquet is. The group doesn't get to dwell on what happened too much because of events directing their attention elsewhere.
- Another of the Dummies, Anzu Kinashi, is considered to fall heavily into this. Unlike nearly any other Dummy, Anzu doesn't have a moment where she's terribly focused on for a particular segment and in fact can DIE after she's first introduced. She doesn't grow to have a significant bond with a human like Hayasaka, Mai and Ranmaru, nor does she gradually change her personality like Kuramada, Hinako or Ranmaru on Sou's route. Instead, she's simply a Butt-Monkey who could manage to outperform a surprising amount of people through methods unknown. The fact she's one of the Dummies who are predetermined to die no matter what does not help things either, as many of her fans were rooting for more screen time with her to learn a bit more.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- On the Sou route of chapter 3-1, after you find the hanging body of Reko/Alice, Ranmaru is instantly exposed as the murderer because he forgot to turn off the walkie-talkie he shared with the dying Kurumada, whom he thought dead. Granted, there already was more than enough evidence of his treachery for it to be a Captain Obvious Reveal regardless, but for a game so centered on discussions, it can feel a tad rushed for Ranmaru to be caught so easily because of his carelessness instead of having the group gradually figure him out and expose him like they've done in other scenarios. A proper investigation would've also allowed the player to delve into the minds of other suspicious teammates, such as Sounote , Hinakonote , and Mainote
- A rare instance of this being a case of Your Time To Shine's instance rather than Your Turn To Die's: With Kai being shoved into the spotlight and vastly expanding his character, dynamics, delving a bit more into his Dark and Troubled Past, a few fans were a bit disappointed that Ranger and Gashu, his Artificial Family Member and his horribly abusive father respectively, do not play a role (or even appear) in his route despite the undeniably interesting dynamic it would have had.
- Trans Audience Interpretation: As a result of his Gender-Blender Name, speech patterns wherein he seems to be deliberately affecting a "masculine" tone despite being more used to speaking in a "feminine" one, slipping into it while panicked (and having apparently had it more consistently while younger in a flashback), and a scene in Chapter 2-1 wherein he gets extremely defensive and angry when asked about what group he ought to bathe with, it's not at all uncommon for fans to interpret Alice Yabusame as a Transgender male who opted never to change his birth name. Earlier in the game's development, there's evidence to suggest that Alice was written as a female character. There's unused portraits of a beta Alice character in the game's files and, on the save/load screen, beta Alice's feminine silhouette is in a group shot. The creator of the game is on record saying that her character and role overlapped with Sou Hiyori's and so he reluctantly set her aside despite how much he liked her design. In the spin-off game Your Time to Shine, during his third fondness scene with Mishima, Alice reveals that his mother had raised him as a girl until he confronted her about it. This is vaguer in Vgperson's translation to be more fuel for the theory, but it must be said that in the original wording in Japanese, Alice told Mishima that the impetus to his confrontation was that both his body and spirit were becoming more masculine.
- Woolseyism:
- vgperson's translation added in a nice, albeit simple, bit of foreshadowing at the very beginning of the game. Sara speaks about how looking into one's reflection in the water seems like something a loner might like to do, and Sou Hiyori - nicknamed "loner" in the English translation by Gin - is, in fact, haunted throughout the entire game by a shadowy version of himself.
- The Floormasters' names, which were already punny in the original Japanese, were also creatively adapted into English. Hoemi (smile) became Sue Miley (smiley), Toto Noel (totonoeru, to arrange)/Coco Roel (kokoroeru, to gain a heart) became Rio Ranger (rearranger)/Rio Laizer (realizer), and Han'nakii (on the verge of tears) became Tia Safalin (tears are falling).
- The bar in chapter 1 got a Rewatch Bonus for the translation. All the names listed on the blackboard are spaced apart equally, with the exception of Sou’s name, the space after being longer than the others, hinting that his original name of Shin was erased, with Sou being written in its place. This isn’t the case in the Japanese version, as Sou and Shin would be the same length in kanji.
- The TraduSquare Spanish translation also added a piece of foreshadowing for the prisoner's real identity as Alice Yabusame, as he awkwardly introduces himself as Alí Baba instead of Gonbee Yamada, which is explained as him failing to come up with a proper genderbent name for Alice. The discussion around him being a thief is also then prompted by Q-taro asking if he was incarcerated for "throwing his lot with 40 thieves", replacing the brief name-calling between the two from the Japanese and English version.
- Also from the TraduSquare Spanish translation: since Spain is home to a privileged linguistic plurality, instead of speaking in diverse Japanese accents Q-taro's speech mixes various expressions from Galician, Catalan, Valencian and Basque Spanish.
- The Woobie: Every participant of the death game is this to a degree, since they were once normal people who got abducted for reasons they couldn't understand (some of which they didn't even have a reason to be there and were merely picked as Sacrificial Lamb to influence/torment others) and made to play sick and twisted games on each other that are directly engineered to inflict a Cruel and Unusual Death or Survivor's Guilt upon them. Some of the characters who deal with this predicament particularly poorly are:
- Kanna Kizuchi, fittingly labelled "the frightened girl" before her proper introduction, is captured alongside her beloved older sister and put on a first trial which is engineered to kill the latter. Scared and confused, the middle schooler is unable to solve her First Trial and prevent her big sister's death, leaving her struggling with a Guilt Complex that veers into Death Seeker territory unless you snap her out of it. This is not helped by Sue Miley going out of her way to encourage these thoughts by taunting her whenever she gets the chance. Throughout the game, Kanna deals with the deaths of her other companions particularly poorly, wetting herself after Mr. Mishima's death, and asking to be voted (read: killed) on the first two "final games" for the benefit of the others. However, if saved in Chapter 2-2, she will resolve herself to live again for the sake of the people who died to protect her, and she will then become a much more active companion in the following chapter as a result
- Nao Egokoro, a timid and jittery art student who worships her teacher, is forced to see him get his head burned off his body a few hours into the death game, and then suffering a complete nervous breakdown as a result, which isn't helped by him manipulating her into getting him killed to ensure her safety. Though her mental state improves during Chapter 2, she then finds out that her captors never planned to let her survive the first trial in the first place so they're going out of their way to ensure she dies regardless of her efforts. Depending on your choice, she can then have her body slowly crushed to a pulp with a vice, or have her Survivor's Guilt increased tenfold by having Sara essentially doom everyone else to die to escape with her.
- Anzu Kinashi. She's a kind if somewhat dim teenage girl who spends most of her first trial begging and crying for her mommy and suffers a cruel death by spikes as a result. When brought back as a "dummy", she's visibly the least equipped to participate in the murderer game, being described as a "scaredy cat" who doesn't adapt well to high-stress situations. However, she gets as much luck as she got in life, and is either crushed inside a coffin by an obstructor minutes after being introduced to her new friends, or drilled inside another coffin by Midori during the banquet. What's worse, she goes out crying and begging not to be killed on both scenarios, and there's nothing the player can do to save her, as in the latter scenario Sara is forced to sacrifice her to save Gin.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/YourTurnToDie
FollowingYMMV / Your Turn to Die
Go To
