If you checked my fandom page, you may know I was a fan of Danganronpa. There's a game that is inspired by Danganronpa, which is Project: Eden's Garden. Despite it is kinda a fangame of Danganronpa, there's no Monokuma.

The reason I'm interested in the story is because I really like the way they write the protagonist, Damon. In the official Danganronpa series, the protagonist often become the beacon of hope or leaders among the students. However, Damon is more cold about his classmates, and distrusts them more. At the end of the prologue, he also openly expressed how they shouldn't blindly trust each other to not kill anymone just because they are Ultimates. Well that caused almost everyone to dislike Damon, but that's why I'm so invested in the series, I really want to see how an unlikeable protagonist will thrive in this environment.

My favourite character? Wolfgang. I like how polite he is towards people, and he's cute. bbg

Eva isn't who I cared about at first, she and her title "Ultimate Liar" is mysterious sure, but it didn't catch my eye, probably since there's always the mysterious quiet character every Dangan game and I'm used to it. Well, but it turns out, she lied about her title, she's actually the Ultimate Mathlete, which is a significantly less cool name. But it makes sense why she lied, she was never a fan of her title, having this title makes it harder to make progress on her other passions (She tried to publish papers unrelated to her title, which ended up being ignored). And in the days of being in the mathlete, she was bullied due to the jealousy of her mathlete teammates, and generally alone (And assuming she didn't lie, she ate lunch in the bathroom). She tried her best to get approval from adults, but they never really cared for her. And the title she got? It felt more like a burden. And having the title Ultimate Liar, she feel less vulnerable in this killing game. Though I must say, naming yourself the Ultimate Liar sounds like the most cringe thing someone can do, I should call her the Ultimate Cringe from now on.

Eva and Damon being the outcast among the students, that made them interact more during the investigations. When they shared the blackmails they received, it seemed Eva finally found someone she trusted, and she smiled. And it is funny when Eva slowly sheds her cold exterior and hangs out when others more, also she makes weird bleh noises. I was quite happy these two finally found a buddy when everyone was wary of them, at least they can support each other...

Well body discovery, Wolfgang is dead, his cold body lying on the floor with a painful expression. While his my fav, I wasn't quite surprised, my favs dying isn't very rare. And the most suspected person is Diana, the only one without an alibi. With every evidence pointing towards her, the obvious choice to vote for is her. You know, it IS difficult to believe such a kind character would actually kill, but it's Danganronpa, this kind of twist isn't new...

Well actually, this isn't the end of the story, and she didn't kill Wolfgang. First of all, Wolfgang is the one initiating the attack, he was hallucinating after being drugged. Standing on the flooded floor, he seemed to have mistaken Diana for someone else, saying how he's glad to see her, and wanting to be her, and he's sorry "for what I have become". But once she got closer to Wolfgang, he became enraged and attacked her with a knife. While she did pick up a tazer gun, she never got the courage to shoot it. And what actually killed him is a sudden electrocution, a sudden flash, then he dropped onto the floor, lifeless. While Diana was safe standing on the dry platform, the position she's in made her look very guilty, which is what the culprit wanted to happen.

Who's the true culprit then? In order to electrocute Wolfgang in the correct timing, the culprit used the vent connecting the dining room and the boiler room. That's when I realised, who's the one woke up in the boiler room, A.K.A. the one most familiar about the structure of the room? Sigh... Eva, Seriously? I was starting to get attached to Eva, also I always see her as the main gang, and with her extremely calm attitude when being accused, I was quite in denial about her being the killer.

There are multiple reasons that lead to her murder. Having severe trust issues and being disliked in this group, she felt powerless, feeling like she might be killed anytime soon. Also, she gained a traitor perk after decoding a secret, she got a device that can control the secruity cameras, and she wanted to put it to use. And most importantly, she had no choice but to use the perk, because she will be killed if she didn't kill anyone. She had no choice anyway.

Multiple students asked, weren't they nice to her? Especially Diana, who invited Eva to be her roommate when many people didn't want to. But Eva didn't care, all these kind acts are pointless when all of them are still on Wolfgang's side, the one who actively pushes her and Damon away. And the fact Damon exposed Eva's crime, why would she see him as a friend?

Her execution is quite straight-forward, she has to walk on a esculator going towards a pit of fire, with the exit in front of her waiting like a carrot on a stick. And to make it difficult, math related stationaries falls onto the esculator like rain, adding insult to injury (and more injures). This execution isn't just based off her title, but also a reflection of her life. She spent her life trying to get the adults approval, but achieving that is always out of reach, like the esculator keeping her away. And the falling math stationeries is like her Mathlete title, it only brings her more pain than honor.

This chapter, it just feels like tragedy after tragedy. While Danganronpa chapters are often sad, but this chapter kinda made me especially sad in a "sitting on the chair processing the emotions" way.

While the chapter never outwardly stated Wolfgang's backstory (at least in the walkthrough I watched), there are enough context clues to understand what's going on in his head. In the blackmail photo belonging to Wolfgang, it shows his parents, with the words written on the back "Like father like son, beneath a sheep's skin hides a wolfish mind". And when Wolfgang is hallucinating, it is likely he mistook Diana for his mother. If the comment section saying Wolfgang's mother is a lawyer is correct, it probably means Wolfgang wants to be like her. I'm not very sure about the "I'm sorry for what I have become" part, was it connected to how the letter described him and his father? If his father was a murderer, maybe the letter have reflected Wolfgang's attempted murder. He was unintentionally harmed his classmate, if he had realised that, he must have felt very guilty...

Diana firmly believes nobody would kill each other despite the environment, and is even willing to be nice to Damon and Eva. There's a scene where Diana asks Damon if Eva said anything to him because she wants to be closer to Eva, and told him to find her if he needs someone to talk to. She reminds me of some of my classmates, very kind to everyone, and probably wants the whole class to be friends. But in the end, Diana was betrayed, Wolfgang died in front of her, she got framed as the killer, all the doing by Eva. Diana asks why Eva did this even when she treated her kindly, but Eva didn't care about her kindness at all, she just hates anyone who's on Wolfgang's side. Diana did not deserve that, it's heartbreaking what Diana got from genuine kind acts was to be betrayed later on.

Eva... She lied about her talent, caused the cast to panick multiple times, killed a person, framed another person, and even told everyone, including those who are kind to her, how much she hates them at her last moments. There are so many things that make her so, so unlikeable... And yet, I sympathise with her a lot, more accurately, I think I understand how she felt.

It hurts me right in the trauma

Being someone who's also bullied, I'm surprised how well her story is written, and how it never triggered (I hate how the only word I can describe that feeling is memed everywhere) me. In many stories, the bullied character are always portrayed as the helpless, weak victim who is very kind, the story goes like oh nooo this poor character is so likeable and yet everyone hates them, then the character gets assaulted in the worst way possible for shock value. For Eva, the story didn't show her backstory a lot to make you sympathise with her (especially if you exclude her FTEs), in fact I think there are more scenes that make her less likeable.

But that's what happens when you are mistreated your entire life. When everyone pushes a person away like that, you don't expect that person to grow up to be all kind and precious, they tend to be bitter and cynical, like how Eva acted. And with that attitude, it is difficult for others to enjoy that person's presence, so that person becomes more bitter and bitter. I understand why most of the cast would dislike Eva, but I don't think anyone deserves to be an outcast, it never feels good.

Brief mentions of my experiences with bullying part 1: She made everyone feel awful by wishing them to rot and die, and even said Diana's kind acts didn't matter at all, it's very cruel, true. But I couldn't help but feel bad for her, and even feel connected. In the days I was stuck in the shithole of awful class environment, there are still some classmates that's willing to talk to me, or treat me with respect. Being treated with very rare kindness, you'd expect me to feel very happy... But I didn't feel anything. For years, I thought I was being ungrateful or something.

Brief mentions of my experiences with bullying part 2: And that seems quite similar to what happened to Eva, she was excluded from the group for lying, and Diana is still willing to share a room with her, which is a really nice thing to do. But Eva said, "It didn't mean anything. You still agreed with everything Wolfgang said." After she said that, there's a strange feeling growing in my heart, and I only just now processed what I'm feeling. At first, I kind of hated how Eva said that, but... her words actually spoke my feelings for me. Some of my classmates are nice to me, but in the end, they are still silent about how I'm treated, and never actively helped me when I'm being mistreated. And in my point of view, they are very much still on the bullies' side.

People mostly know me to be a kind person, and I hate using hurtful words, but Eva cursing at the cast makes me feel like my feeling are finally understood.

Her words kept replaying in my head today, and more and more I wanted to cry, because that's exactly how I felt in the past, and someone is finally able to say the words for me. I never thought I'd feel so understood, especially not coming from a fictional character from a fangame, whose also the one who murdered my favourite character. But perhaps, the character who has an ugly personality is more effective at portraying how being mistreated can affect their actions. I especially love how the game portrayed a bullied character without adding any disturbing scenes like I often see in media, it is the first time I get to explore this concept without the story trying to trigger me, it actually made me feel better. Thank you Project: Eden's Garden, no matter if that's intentional.

To think I started crying (yea I cried typing this) not because characters died, but because I feel thankful about feeling understood is funny. Anyways, I should add Eva to my fav character list, and maybe cry more lying on the bed.