Danganronpa's Sayaka Maizono Is A Paradox

So I've been playing this little PSP/PS Vita game called Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. The story is basically that you are Makoto Naegi, a soon to be high school student. He wins an enrollment  lottery and is accepted to Hope's Peak Academy. Hope's Peak Academy is a school for high schoolers who are the ultimate in their field. When he gets to school, he is knocked out and brought into a demented prison like version of the school. He meets the headmaster of the school, an evil robot bear named Monokuma. Monokuma informs them that they will live here till the day they die, unless they murder another student to leave.

This is where the game kind of stabs the element of choice in the throat. You are immediately BFFs with the Ultimate Pop Sensation, Sayaka Maizono. Let me tell you, she is the absolute least interesting character of the bunch. She clings to you 24/7 (literally), she complains, and she had at least four panic attacks in the first fifteen minutes. You are forced to hate the character, even though your in-game character doesn't. Ugh.

She turns up at your door one night asking to switch dorm rooms, then spazzes out on your bed. You take the key to her room, and go to bed there. You wake up, and go into your room. Guess what? She's dead in the shower with a knife sticking out of her. "Oh goody," I exclaimed, noticing that the game had finally started. Sadly, my character felt differently. Before I could use the double sticks to make Makoto prance through the halls, he fainted for no damn reason.

He wakes up, and everyone asks what happened. You say you don't know, so you go investigate the crime scene. Anyway, once you've finished investigating, Monokuma tells everyone to come to the school courtroom (because obviously). This is the part of the game called the Class Trial. It puts you in a first person shooter mode where you must shoot down incorrect statements with bullets representing the evidence. It's honestly rather fun, and I enjoyed it. One of the more mysterious characters, Kyoko, tells you something that supposedly changes everything. Sayaka was trying to frame you, and it backfired.

Now your character is filled with hate and despair (by the way, the baseball player was the killer). I was not surprised, since Sayaka was such a bitch. This is where things get really interesting. Apparently, you were supposed to suspect something from the beginning. This would mean that YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HATE HER TWICE.

This is the first time I've ever seen this. But why, you ask. Well I'll tell you. Sayaka was meant to be your gateway into this surprisingly cerebral game. She reminds you that anyone and everyone is out to get you, and death is most likely imminent. You have no friends now, and you must win a deadly game of kill or be killed while holding onto a shred of your obsolete humanity. How wonderful.

Sayaka Maizono is the strangest character you ever will find in a game like this. She seems bubbly, but explodes for no reason. When she dies, you don't care. When she double crosses you, you still don't care. It's dumb, but it's another terrifying glimpse into Japanese game development. Thank you, Danganronpa, thank you.