Danganronpa: THH - Mondo Oowada - On the Necessity of Lies

The Super Duper High School Gang Leader, Mondo Oowada is the former head of the Crazy Diamonds motorcycle group, the largest in Japan. He is the second person to commit a murder in the Danganronpa series, though because he was not in a right state of mind, Oowada could be construed as having only committed voluntary manslaughter. Nonetheless, he is punished by execution in a spectacular way: being churned into butter inside a motorcycle death cage.

At the conclusion of the Chihiro Fujisaki murder trial, it is revealed that the motive for the attack was to preserve Mondo Oowada's darkest secret - he had killed his older brother in a motorcycle challenge for control of the Crazy Diamonds. Worst of all, to preserve the unity of the gang, he was forced to cover it up for as long as he lived.


AMMUNITION: Monokuma's Testimony

"Mondo decided to keep the cause of the accident a secret from the rest of the gang. In order to keep his promise - in order to prevent the gang from splitting up, he couldn't tell anyone that it was his own weakness that had caused his brother's accident! As a result...the gang united once again under the lead of the younger brother who defeated the elder brother. And that became the reason for [Daia Oowada's] death...Mondo's lie became the truth." - Conclusion of the Fujisaki murder case.

Living that lie is something that, over time, continued to fill Mondo Oowada with guilt, shame, and hardened rage. When Monokuma threatened to reveal the secrets of the students living in Hope's Peak, Mondo realized that all of his actions thus far would be rendered null and void, a situation which further catalyzed his emotions. In turning to him for advice on getting stronger, Chihiro Fujisaki inadvertently pointed a finger at his true weakness, which resulted in an explosion of fury and the eventual slaughter.

AMMUNITION: "Ghost in the Shell" - On Romanticism

Recall in the above article that a global scandal was covered up for the sake of preserving order on the global stage. While the events in the backstory of Danganronpa are a lot smaller in scale, they are equal in brandishing the same type of phenomena. To avoid the creation of a power vacuum or the collapse of the Crazy Diamonds altogether, the idea that Mondo Oowada could be infallible had to be maintained. 

In the real world, we often refer to this as transparency, ironically as it's usually kept to a bare minimum. We see only what we are meant to see, and for many this brings about distrust and despair. At the same time, however, such illusions and masks also have the side effect of preserving our hope. Sometimes, preserving the illusion that the world is turning uninhibited is necessary to keep us moving forward as a collective and as individuals.

If you want to shatter that illusion of safety, then prepare to make yourself an enemy of the world.