(Starting today, I'll be tried / For all my love crimes / How many could there be? / I don't wanna know!)
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"Ishimondo, Komahina, and now Saiouma... Wow, Bede, do you just ship all of the basic bitch ships?" YES. And I'm not ashamed of it either. Because, before joining the Danganronpa fandom, my biggest comfort ship was an extremely small one that only appears in one game of a series of games, for which the fandom was already small. I love that I ship all the basic bitch ships with over 1k fanfics on AO3 each. I will graciously eat my meal.
Anyhow... Saiouma is probably my most recently-aquired ship of the ones that I have pages to in this shrine, but that doesn't mean that I love it any less! I actually posted, before I got into Danganronpa, that, if I did, I knew I would get attached to this ship. Predictable bitch I am, that's exactly what happened. And I'm having a ball!
By the way, just to be clear: in this house, we pretend that the major plot twist about who the characters of V3 are didn't happen. Fuck that and fuck you.
Kokichi Ouma is the Ultimate Supreme Leader.
Kokichi describes himself as an evil leader, and claims that the title is the reason behind many of his more questionable actions, as if he is expected to fulfill his role (by others or himself). He is an elusive and manipulative person who can cry crocodile tears on command, and who tells lies and also says whatever he's thinking. He's oddly straightforward about all of this, though; he's a self-admitted liar, claims to be the leader of a secret society, and claims to do nothing but bad things. He is described as 'a trickster in the truest sense of the word', but with 'a sense of innocence that makes him difficult to hate', by members of the crew who worked on Danganronpa. He enjoys pranks, teasing others, and has a strong need for attention. He can be very ominous, and one of his sprites is downright demonic-looking, but he's also flirtacious (particularly towards Shuichi). He's also playful and can be somewhat childish, and loves playing games and has a strong desire to be the winner and to play them seriously while also having fun. Whether or not Kokichi's trademark lying is something that he's unwilling to or unable to stop is unclear, but he seems to lie mostly because he feels that he's free to do whatever he wants, although it is also implied that he uses his constant lying to hide his own intentions, but it is implied even more heavily that he uses it to hide and suppress his true feelings, as well. He does seem to have a giveaway for when he's being honest, though; his face and tone goes more neutral and blank. He also appears to have some sort of trust issues, and he also geniunely believes that other people are unable to care about him (even kind people, like Gonta), and he also seems geniunely affected when told that he's the type of person who will always be alone. During chapter 5, he confesses that he was lying to the others and himself in order to survive and go on during the killing game, and it's implied that his evil and extreme behavior was a part of a plan to outwit the mastermind. His voice actor also says that Kokichi is actually a very meek person if you take away his wish to outwit everyone. He overall seems to have good intentions, saying that his lies are told half out of kindness (with the Skill Shuichi gets after Kokichi's Free Time even being called 'Kind Lie'), but acts on them in a harsh, purposefully annoying, and confusing manner, making him a character that is difficult to describe quickly (thus, the length of this paragraph just meant to summerize his personality).
Kokichi's past is unclear due to his constant lying, and the fact that he doesn't like to reveal anything personal about himself. The few things that we know for sure is that he loves video games and has been playing them his whole life, and that he is the leader of D.I.C.E.; a group which he claims to be an evil organization, but is later revealed to be just a small group of young pranksters who commited 'laughable crimes' for fun. D.I.C.E. consists of the most important people to Kokichi, and are like a family to him. A few things can be assumed via dialogue, as well. It's implied that he has no parents and no family, and it can be assumed that D.I.C.E. is a group of children with no parents to stop them from traveling or committing crimes. His organization's name could be a reference to the animated TV series D.I.C.E. (DNA Integrated Cybernetic Enterprises), as well, which is about an organization run by children (much like how Kokichi's D.I.C.E. is); specifically orphans. It's been pointed out that Kokichi's skillset appears to be that of a petty thief, as well, which may be due to his past. It's also implied that Kokichi has no family to go back to in the bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan, too, as Kokichi and Kaito both won't go home for New Year's. Kaito doesn't due to his family situation of living with his grandparents, and he asks Kokichi why he isn't at home with his parents. Kokichi avoids the question, instead saying that Kaito shouldn't ask personal questions when talking to a supreme leader. All of this in combination paints a decently clear picture of what Kokichi's past is like.
Kokichi is a queer-coded character. Although his feelings for girls is unclear, we do know that he is attracted to boys, given his tendency to flirt openly with Shuichi. He could also be considered to be coded with any number of personality disorders, but that's a whole topic unto itself.
Shuichi Saihara is the Ultimate Detective.
Shuichi is serious and polite, and has a generally unsure demeanor which leads him to assume that other people can do things better than him. However, his attitude can become stronger when the situation calls for it, and he does get angry when other people poke at things that he's sensitive about. Despite his skills as a detective, Shuichi lacks self-confidence, and says that he hasn't accomplished enough to be called a famous detective, and that he doesn't deserve his Ultimate title. Shuichi also has a tendency to feel depressed, and can even feel suicidal, but is able to get back up with support from others. Throughout the game, Shuichi breaks away from his timidness considerably, and begins to show more confidence in his abilities as a detective.
Shuichi's parents are a famous actor and a screenwriter, who went overseas for business, so Shuichi lived with his uncle and his wife. Shuichi says there isn't any sad story behind it all, but his parents are more or less neglectful towards him. He began to work as a detective under his uncle to show his gratitude, although he only thought himself to be helping out, with no desire to actually become a detective himself. Shuichi's cases were small things like finding a lost pet and infidelity cases, but, on one occasion, Shuichi managed to solve a murder case faster than the police and become publicly known as a junior detective. He claims that he only solved the case by chance, but the situation, in truth, is more complicated. While the culprit was captured thanks to Shuichi, his eyes when looking at him were filled with such hatred and malice that Shuichi never forgot it, and began to wear a hat to avoid eye contact with others (although this is abandoned later in the game, as his confidence grew). Shuichi later learned that the culprit had killed the victim to avenge his family, with the victim being a horrible person who had tricked the culprit's family and driven them to suicide. Shuichi felt intensely guilty for this, and gained a fear of exposing the truth because of this, considering himself a pathetic detective.
Kokichi is amused by and fond of Shuichi, having said that the other is 'not boring', which is a very rare and notable compliment coming from him. He's very flirty towards Shuichi, calling him his 'beloved Saihara-chan' in the original text, and occasionally calls him 'mister detective' or 'mister Ultimate Detective'. He also once called Shuichi 'Shumai', which is a parody of Kaito's 'Maki Roll' nickname for Maki (with Kaito and Maki being a canon romantic pairing). Kokichi enjoys Shuichi's company, finding him very interesting and praising him often. On Kokichi's whiteboard, it's revealed that he feels inclined to trust Shuichi, which is, again, high praise (please note his previously-mentioned trust issues). He more than once mentions that he is 'constantly thinking about' Shuichi, and claims that Shuichi is his favorite who he loves the most.
During Chapter 4, when everyone is inside the Neo World Program, Kokichi claims that he would cry if anything happened to Shuichi (whether or not this is a lie or teasing is, as most things are with Kokichi, unclear). When they're alone, Kokichi tries to offer his support for Shuichi, saying he wants to be useful to him, and, when seperating Shuichi and Kaito, Kokichi claims that Shuichi should be his friend, instead. When Kokichi says (in what we know for a fact is a truthful moment for him) that he can help Shuichi save everyone, and Shuichi doesn't trust him, Kokichi mutters to himself about being 'dumped' and 'rejected' by Shuichi, but not giving up that easily. At some point, he darkly states, in relation to Shuichi, that if he grows to like someone, he makes them notice him, even if it means choking them. In the original text, the phrasing he used (translated as to 'like someone' in English) is nearly always used in a romantic context, and would have been more accurately translated as calling Shuichi 'the person I fell in love with'. The same Japanese phrase is used by Maki to describe her feelings for Kaito in the original text, which, again, is canonically romantic in nature.
In the fourth Class Trial, Kokichi is surprised and frustrated when Shuichi had lied to him. When he increases his villainous persona, which leads to Shuichi saying that he is meant to be the type of person who doesn't have anyone for him, Kokichi seems geniunely upset.
While Kokichi likes to mess with Shuichi, Kokichi seems to care for Shuichi, and also seems to be against the idea of actually harming him. Through his Free Time Events, Kokichi tries to 'kill' Shuichi and involves him in many pranks, though he also seems to make sure Shuichi won't actually be harmed, and only messes with him with words. He also invites Shuichi to join his organization, so that he doesn't have to die. In the last event, Kokichi hurts himself on accident by playing the knife game, and, when Shuichi frets over him and takes care of him, Kokichi seems pleased, as if this is the reaction that he was hoping for. Kokichi tells Shuichi that he won, which confuses the detective, as he wasn't even playing. Kokichi says that games can be won without playing them, and reveals that he never had any intention to hurt him. Since he has sucessfully made Shuichi care about if he's hurt, and think about him, he claims to have already 'killed' him, by 'stealing his heart', and joyfully proclaims that Shuichi will never forget about him because of this.
In Kokichi's Love Hotel scene (don't worry, skipping over the suggestive bits), Kokichi asks if Shuichi is mad because he feels like Kokichi is playing with his heart, and states that his head is always filled with thoughts of Shuichi. Before Kokichi leaves the room, he proclaims that he wishes to have more fun games the next time they meet. Notably, this is the only Love Hotel sequence which has Shuichi in his true role (with the Love Hotel sequences being based on each character's individual biggest fantasy), which implies that Shuichi, himself, is a part of the actual fantasy in question, rather than him just filling out a role, like the rest of the Love Hotel scenes.
During the bonus mode, Shuichi realizes that he can't change Kokichi's lying, due to it being a big part of him, and that, instead, he should try to understand him. In his Harmonious Heart scene, Kokichi says, 'Maybe I was born into this world just to meet you,' a reference to the famous line spoken by Kaworu Nagisa from Evangelion; a character with a canon queer crush on the male protagonist. He also, at one point, playfully suggests that they may have been lovers in a past life.
Everyone and their mother thinks that Kokichi is gay, to the point that you will get attacked on Twitter if you think he's m-spec, despite his feelings on girls being unknown. Which makes me want to headcanon him as bisexual out of spite. So I do. Fuck you. I also headcanon Shuichi as bisexual (as is fanon), so they're bi4bi (real)! Also, I think that Shuichi is a trans man and that Kokichi is non-binary, but lies about being transmasc to make Shuichi feel better.
I also headcanon them both as autistic. Shuichi has a few traits, and Kokichi not many, but I fucking love projecting so I say that he just masks a lot. Also, I think that Kokichi probably has some sort of personality disorder, but I'd have to look into each individual one to figure out exactly which one(s). I've heard people say that he has NPD symptoms, which I could definitely see.
I think that Kokichi's romantic feelings are the most obvious (as you could tell from the 'canon' section), but what's less easily written about is Shuichi's fascination with Kokichi's character and behavior. I think that Kokichi's feelings are probably one-sided, as-of the time of the game, but, in the events that they would be able to spend more time together on less... Killing game-esque terms, that fascination could easily shift to romantic interest, as well. (I do also like one-sided Saiouma angst, though. I eat that shit up.)
THE CRIMINAL AND THE DETECTIVE... SUCH a good trope. One of the most popular ships in the fandom, and for a good reason! Their dynamic as a pair is very interesting and kind of silly, and it's interesting to think about the character development that could come from both sides if they got together.
They represent lies and truth, lightness and darkness, villains and heroes, etc... God, I fucking love being queerbaited.
Because Danganronpa V3 is the most recent of the games, we, unfortunately, do not have very many pieces of official art of Kokichi and Shuichi (not just together, but just in general). We do have quite a few goodies from the manga, though! (Open the images in a new tab to get an up-close look!)
