Creator Breakdown: The original victim of this case, up until about an hour before chapter 6 went live according to the author, was actually Kirumi - Gonta was the original student the author had written to do the neck autopsy and all of his lines were all scrapped and instead placed with a complete improvisation of Kirumi. This is presumably why the Kiibo/Kirumi stint happened, as Kirumi was intended to have her arc wrapped up by chapter 6.
Call-Back: 'Kubs Kards' were/are a reference to the Chapter II of the first installment of Danganronpa, to the point of the motives of hidden secrets following the motive videos, just like how they did in the first game. Whether this turns out to be a pattern or not is yet to be seen.
Follow the Leader: Like in the second trial of another similar fanfic, Three-Point Shot, Tenko's reason for becoming the blackened is because she ended up finding out about Korekiyo's "Sister" persona. Also like in the third trial of that story, Gonta is killed by drinking a toxin-laced cup of tea that was actually meant for someone else.
Epunymous Title: Half-Kan, Five-Kan, do a full TEN-Kan! - A 'Tenkan' is an actual foot technique commonly used in martial arts, mainly Aikido. The name seems to be both an Aikido reference and a pun on Tenko's name.
The second arc took just over 4 months to complete, starting on the 18th of August 2018, and completing on Christmas day of the same year.
Ripped from the Headlines: The inspiration for the case according to the author was from British serial killer Stephen Port or the 'Grindr Killer', aka Stephen Port for anyone interested. Port was responsible for murdering at least four men and for committing multiple rapes over his course of killing. He received a life sentence with a whole life order on 25 November 2016, meaning he is unlikely to ever be released. His go-to drug for inducing his victims was gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid, also known as GHB.
CHAPTER III
Call-Back: Like above, Chapter III's Despair Disease motive was a call back to Chapter III of the second installment of Danganronpa, but instead of just people attaining converse personalities, they also became 'deceased people of the past', in order to keep to Chapter III's theme of reviving the dead.
Creator Breakdown: As stated in the chapter notes of chapter 22, like last time, this trial was intended to end very differently as there was supposed to be a third victim along with Kiibo & Kirumi, though it's not specified who. The idea was scrapped when the author realized that a third case would cause the trial to go on for much too long, and so, an entirely different murder was written out shortly before chapter 17 went public.
Creator's Favorite: Angie Yonaga, who was executed at the end of Chapter III. Kira is extremely vocal on her social media about her love for the artist, and it shows through her portrayal of her until the very end.
Follow the Leader: Like in the third trial of another similar fanfic, I'd Trade My Life For Yours, the culprits of the trial turn out to be Angie and the mastermind/Tsumugi, with the latter taking advantage of Monokuma's "first come, first served" rule to ensure that only Angie gets executed. The author acknowledges this at the end of chapter 22 that this similarity is a pure coincidence, and that they didn't realize nor have the chance to change the outcome until it was too late to go back.
Foreshadowing: 'Emprise' is an Anglo-French word that means 'an adventurous enterprise'. The 'Emprise' section of the title is in reference to Rantaro's return as a character. The 'Easy-going' section could also be a reference to this, considering that Rantaro is known for his chilled/laid-back/easygoing attitude in the killing game. 'Egoistic' may have been foreshadowing either Kirumi's failed attempt at murder and attempt at escaping. And Elegy, of course, was about the ressurection ritual.
Whether intentional or not, Miu and Himiko nearly swap places in terms of being The Woobie:
Both have their closest friend(s) killed off in Chapter III (Tenko and Angie, Kiibo).
Both are the initial prime suspects for the Chapter II (Ryoma's, Gonta's) and Chapter III (Tenko's, Kiibo's) class trials.
Angie's execution is a parallel to Korekiyo's; it's wild, more amusing and confusing than it is graphic, ends in the subject's physical body being destroyed in one way or another, and just as they think they'll finally be (re)united with their loved one (Sister, 'Atua'), Monokuma jumps in front of the moon/sun and gives them the opposite of their wishes (salting Korekiyo's ghost, banishing Angie into hell. Beautiful.
Reality Subtext: Unlike Chapter II which only took 4 months, Chapter III took 1 year and 5 months to complete due to the author's personal life issues. It was after the near 1.5 year hiatus that the author came back on the 2-year anniversary of the first chapter going up and not only completed the arc along with putting the nail in their favorite fictional character's coffin, but went back and revised the whole 22 chapters up until this point to update them to the writing style she uses nowadays.
