What happens behind closed doors must be brought to light.note
The night before spring break, Judith Diaton enjoys a faculty dinner with her lecturer Harry Boisen and fellow teaching assistants. Harry walks all the TAs back to their places, ending with Judith, before going to his office to pack up. Just before Judith gets indoors, she realizes she forgot her jacket. Fortunately, Harry's office is just across the street, so she figures she can ask him if he knows where it is. Unfortunately, Harry is getting kidnapped, and the kidnappers can't leave Judith as a witness.
Behind Closed Doors, a Spiritual Adaptation of Your Turn to Die, is an illustrated Web Serial Novel by JazzLover5972/Phily K. Illagan. It was first conceptualized on March 29, 2020 and released on April 20, 2020. It is available on Tumblr
and DeviantArt. Currently, the equivalent of Chapter 1 has been released. The story takes place fifteen years after SWAP Ensemble and includes some characters from there.
On its second anniversary, the story was rebooted as Behind Closed Doors: Parlance with some long intended changes to the story.
Behind Closed Doors provides examples of:
- Adorably Precocious Child: Jessica is the top student of her class and insists on not being treated like a child. Yet she has childish moments like stomping her injured foot on the ground without thinking.
- Age Lift: Judith is not a freshman at her college, which makes her older than her counterpart, Nao. Ernest, on the other hand, is a college freshman, so he is younger than his counterpart, Kai.
- Bland-Name Product: Judith and Harry's First Trial is a physical game of Don't Shut Up, also known as Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes with several music themes.
- Book Smart: Judith is ranked first in her Computer Security class and puts in extra effort to guarantee an A+. On top of that, she's also a Teacher's Aide for one of her past classes. Her academic intelligence is unfortunately of no use in the Main Game, where she spends a lot of time panicking. She only contributes when she's on the radar and to pay back Sonia for helping her out, and her insights are somewhat shallow.
- Bring My Brown Pants: It's implied that this happened to Kotone, just like her counterpart. After Harry's potential demise, Judith sees Kotone wearing a different skirt that was messily stitched to fit her.
- Canon Foreigner: Jessica O'Flannigan has no counterpart in Your Turn to Die. Her closest analogue is Anzu Kinashi because of her chipper personality.
- Cast of Expies: With the exception of Harry and Jessica, who already existed before Behind Closed Doors, everyone bears a resemblance to a character from Your Turn to Die. That being said, Harry fills the role of Kazumi Mishima, the former teacher of a college student, but is physically more similar to Sou Hiyori, the short, scarf-wearing tech genius.
- Sonia Cadenza is Sara Chidouin, the charismatic unspoken leader of the group.
- Connor Trochee is Joe Tazuna, the leader's best friend.
- Gustavo Gegentheme is Keiji Shinogi, the level-headed cop.
- Kotone Shoji is Kanna Kizuchi, the timid middle-school girl who watched her older sister die.
- Tulio Hocket is Q-Taro Burgerberg, the tall, bulky athlete.
- Cade Buffo is Sou Hiyori, the deceitful freelancer.
- Clé Chroma is Reko Yabusame, a sisterly member of a band.
- Judith Diaton is Nao Egokoro, the college student who was kidnapped just for being in the same place as her former teacher.
- Ernest Recht is Kai Satou, the aloof man with a passion for cooking who is suspected of stalking.
- Galante Ilarità is Gin Ibushi, the energetic Baby Of The Bunch.
- Kaede Shoji is Kugie Kizuchi, the older sister who dies in the First Trial. She is also named after Kaede Akamatsu and has piano patterns all over her outfit. She also dies in a similar way.
- Continuity Nod: SWAP Ensemble is directly mentioned in 2-1 to help Judith associate a celebrity she doesn't recognize, Guilla Tarah, with her lecturer Harry Boisen.
- Copycat Crime: Gustavo speculates that the deadly game is inspired by the one done by Ynez Hollock ten years prior.
- Curse Cut Short: During the First Trial, Judith is about to think a curse when Harry interrupts her.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Ynez Hollock is mentioned as a possible inspiration of the deadly game shortly before her story is released. She is depicted alongside Charlie, Sophie, Kenna, and Chenille in their actual human forms.
- Embarrassing First Name: Clé's entire first name is "Clémentine", which sounds too soft for her. She's forced to admit it when everyone starts suspecting that "Clé" is an alias for Kristoff Chroma, her criminal older brother.
- Explosive Leash: For their First Trial, Judith and Harry have to play a game of Don't Shut Up with explosive collars around their necks. Neither party wants to find out whether or not getting a Game Over would actually seal their fates.
- Expressive Hair: Clé Chroma has a spiky hairdo that flops when she's mellow and flares when she's angry.
- Faked Rip Van Winkle: Subverted; the prank that the gamemakers pull on Judith isn't meant to make her think she was unconscious for eight years, but that's the first conclusion she arrives at. The actual intention was to make her think it was All Just a Dream.
- Foregone Conclusion: Harry is guaranteed to survive because of his role in "Back To The Basement", as seen in the Side-Story Bonus Art. The explosion of the door cannot have killed him.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Just like their counterparts in Your Turn To Die, Judith knocks Cade out with a frying pan to the head.
- I Broke a Nail: Inverted when Judith finds out that all her nails are broken after she apparently went on a rampage, just stopping short of fingore. She doesn't notice until Ernest points it out.
- Identical Stranger: Downplayed; Harry's head TA, Marcia Capo, has very similar facial features to an inactive participant, Marcia Saite. Despite the difference in age and hairstyle, Judith mistakes the latter for a slightly older version of the former and easily falls for the Faked Rip Van Winkle.
- Inspiration Nod: Parlance opens with Judith playing through the in-universe counterpart of Nao's death scene in Your Turn to Die. Marcia Capo remarks that they've got the same personality, immediately establishing Judith as an Expy of Nao.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Ernest denies that he ever had a deep conversation with Judith and insists that he has no leverage over a college junior like her. Judith cuts down his argument by pointing out that she never revealed her year to the group, only to him.
- Innocent Bystander: Judith is kidnapped because she was there when Harry was kidnapped.
- Insane Troll Logic: Gustavo suggests that Clé took on the embarrassingly feminine alias "Clémentine" to cover for the masculine name "Kristoff". Clé remarks that it would be way too complicated for a coverup.
- Insistent Terminology: Harry points out that he's a lecturer, not a professor. However, "Prof" rolls off the tongue much easier, and he intends to make the career change.
- Ironic Name: Cade's surname, Buffo, makes Judith think of "basso buffo", a humorous operatic bass singer, but Cade's voice isn't very deep.
- Musical Theme Naming: Every participant other than Harry and Jessica has a name pulled directly out of a music dictionary. Harry himself is named after the French word for oboe, "hautbois," following the naming convention of SWAP Ensemble. Even the background characters fit the theme.
- Sonia Cadenza
- Connor Trochee (a metrical foot)
- Gustavo Gegentheme (counter-theme), who shares a surname with Contrary Gegentheme, the implicit past incarnation of Connie Basette.
- Kotone Shoji (two Japanese musical instruments)
- Tulio Hocket (in which a phrase is broken up between instruments). His twin sister is named Flo, so combining the first syllable of their names vaguely resembles "flute".
- Cade Buffo (a humorous operatic singer).
- Clé Chroma (key, chromatic)
- Judith Diaton (Diatonic)
- Ernest Recht (ernst/earnest, right)
- Galante Ilarità (gallant, cheerfulness)
- Kaede Shoji is named after Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.
- Narrative Profanity Filter: Clé is displeased that an AI is using the face of Ottava Troisim, her friend and former bandmate. When the AI tells her to type in a new name, she begins to type "a crude word" before Harry stops her.
- Nerd Glasses: Judith wears large oval glasses. When Clé calls her a nerd, Judith says it should be obvious because she's wearing glasses.
- The Nicknamer: Shortly after Jessica's first appearance, she asks to call Judith "Judy" and later calls Kotone "Koto" and Tulio "Hockey". She tends to cut the length of any name that is more than three syllables or ends in a consonant.
- Non P.O.V. Protagonist: Sonia Cadenza, the counterpart of Sara Chidouin, The Hero of Your Turn to Die, tackles more of the puzzles while Judith sits around. Sonia is also the one who finds the hidden twelfth participant.
- Odd Name Out: Jessica O'Flannigan is the only Muggle and the only one without a musical theme name. Even background characters like Ethan Eunice (unison) and Marcia Capo fit the theme.
- Oh, Wait!: When Tulio suggests voting off Judith, Galante, and Kotone, Clé angrily suggests adding Jessica to the mix, which is what Tulio did moments before.Clé: You may as well nominate Jessica, then! Oh wait, you already did.
- Power Nullifier: The facility is apparently lined with absorbers to prevent people from using Magic Music.
- Running Gag: During the first Main Game, Clé slams her fists on her podium whenever things aren't going her way. Judith makes a pointed effort to soften the blow and at one point slams her own podium when she's being hounded. At the end of the Main Game, Clé breaks her podium after she has been voted to open the dangerous doors.
- Senseless Sacrifice: In the Second Trial, Harry tells Judith that they should vote for each other in order to protect her. If Judith had voted for herself, the votes would have been even and Harry would have been safe.
- Shout-Out:
- Judith and Harry's first trial is a game of "Don't Shut Up", the Fictional Counterpart of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.
- Sisters Kotone and Kaede are forced to play a gigantic piano upon threat of hanging.
- In 1-2, Galante falls into a trap that functions like Guitar Hero and Rock Band but is called Rockers.
- Spiky Hair: In 1-1, Clé has hair sticking out in nine chunks on top of her head, four chunks in a high ponytail, and three chunks on each side below her ears. In 1-2, she briefly loses the spikes but gets them back up in a slightly different manner by the time the Main Game starts.
- Spin-Off: Of SWAP Ensemble, taking place fifteen years later and including Harry Boisen, the oboist who was eliminated second.
- Spin-Offspring: Jessica O'Flannigan is the daughter of Samuel O'Flannigan, and she plays a firm supporting role after her debut.
- Supporting Protagonist: The story is told from Judith's point of view, but she is too spooked to poke around at first, so Sonia handles more of the exploration. Judith is also so distraught at Harry's apparent demise that she stays still long enough for Sonia to find another participant.
- Symbol Motif Clothing: Kaede Shoji has piano keyboard patterns all over her sleeves, vest, and tights to make it obvious that she's a pianist. Side-Story Bonus Art depicts her in an outfit in which her hat, earrings, and jacket trim also have keyboard patterns.
- Title Drop: In 2-1, Judith asks Clé what happened "behind the closed doors".
- Uncertain Doom: Nobody had the opportunity to check whether Harry was still alive after the door exploded on him, but it's stated outside the story that he survives. Kaede isn't necessarily confirmed dead either, as Kotone hesitates to confirm her death when she calms down.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The entire premise is the same as that of Your Turn to Die.
