milgram

what is milgram?

「すべてを知ったはちゃんと赦せるかな」

MILGRAM is a video series directed by DECO*27, a popular Vocaloid artist. The audience is to take part in judging 10 killers for their sins. Each of the 10 has killed someone, but the specifics of their crimes — or if it even was a crime in the eyes of the law — are hidden. The Prison Guard, Es, can extract the prisoner's memories in the form of music videos. These videos, along with ~15m audio dramas between Es and each prisoner, are what make up the bulk of MILGRAM's story.

The audience takes these videos and audio dramas into account when they vote for a prisoner's guilt or innocence. It is stated that people can use whatever standard they wish to decide a prisoner's guilt: personal preference, beauty, law, whatever anyone wants! There will be three rounds — or trials — where the audience can cast their votes. Each round's results will affect how the prisoner is treated in the interim as well as their attitude towards Es and MILGRAM as a whole. Some prisoners, if voted innocent, will hurt or heal the other prisoners. Guilty prisoners are put under higher security restraints, while innocent prisoners reap more benefits.

The series started in April 2020 with the posting of the Teaser Movie that introduced the concept. A character voice trailer and first music video Undercover were posted. From there, the series' first trial audio dramas and music videos began.

this shrine

This shrine will act as an archive of my thoughts of the series, my vote for characters' innocence, and my rationale behind those choices! Since I will be making this after finishing the second trial, my opinions on the first trial may be a bit skewed. I will try my best to keep everything as in-line with my initial impressions before watching the second trial, but it won't be perfect!

I've also included a guide on how to get into MILGRAM if you'd like to dive in. I highly recommend, especially if you're reading this before the third trial has begin (June 18th, 2025).

Please mind the trigger warnings of MILGRAM and proceed throughout this shrine with caution. There will be spoilers for the trials on their respective pages as well as in my journal for the entire series.

characters

To learn more about the characters and my opinions on them, navigate between the different trials.

upcoming

June 18th

Life (ライフ) - Yuno

August 20th

The Appare March (天晴行進曲) - Futa

trial one

The first trial of MILGRAM focuses on getting the initial impressions of all the characters. We don't have any context about what their sins were, or how they came about to kill their victim. The first audio drama for each character serves as their introduction and allows us to get a little more information about their personalities.

Again, I will try to ignore the context I've learned from the second trial, but my attempts might not be faultless. Since we don't really have the entire story, as is to be expected of the first trial, I chose to err on the side of forgiveness for most of these. If I was on the fence, I voted innocent.

I use the word "sin" to refer to the killing that led to the prisoner ending up in MILGRAM. It's not because I view all of their acts as irreprehensibly evil, it's just a quick word to easily refer to that act.

Additionally, I use the phrase "I voted" to signify what my opinions were. I wasn't a part of the fandom during any of the voting phases.

votes

001 sakurai haruka — 櫻井遥

i voted: innocent innocent — 58.33%

audio drama

I feel that Haruka's audio drama gave him a really interesting first impression! Especially since he's the first prisoner Es meets, I feel like he was a good choice to start out with. I found his demeanor offputting and strange. The VA did a great job characterizing Haruka with his voice and the dialogue. I'm particularly drawn to his feelings towards abandonment. He was very adamant that if people learned what he had done, he would be abandoned. Also, when Es rejected that notion, he got very excited. This gives me the sense that Haruka has a fear of abandonment, such that it could have led to his sin.

weakness

As the first MV of the series, I didn't really know what to expect. Let me first say that Weakness has some of my favorite visuals in the entire series! I love the mixed media, and I really think it helps enhance the feeling of detachment and otherness that Haruka seems to be feeling in this song. I noticed two other people in the song: an adult woman and a girl who looked to be Haruka's age. I can't help but feel like one of them is the victim, though I don't know which. Based off of the audio drama, I believe he must have killed one of them (I'm leaning towards the young girl) to get the other's attention. Again, I'm particularly drawn to the lyrics "You praised me by saying “You’re crazy.” / Thank you, I’ll do my best". I really don't think this guy knows the difference between positive and negative attention...

my verdict

I voted Haruka as innocent. My initial feelings are that he was neglected and likely doesn't quite understand what he did. Going off of the audio drama where he repeatedly didn't understand words Es was saying, and the lyric "When I tried to understand it, you'll make that disappointed face again", I can't help but shake the idea that perhaps he had some sort of learning disability that he was mistreated for.

002 Kashiki Yuno — 樫木優乃

i voted: innocent innocent — 51.30%

audio drama

Yuno's immediate impression gives off a completely different vibe from Haruka! I think she's very refreshing and also quite silly. I found her near immediate clocking of how the voting of MILGRAM works fascinating. I believe she's a lot smarter than she's letting on.

umbilical

The first thing that strikes me about this song is its title. Going into the MV, I had the word and its connotations on my mind. I guess that's why I thought perhaps the "you" isn't about a romantic partner, as I believe I was led to believe through the lyrics, but perhaps about a child? Some of the lyrics in particular feel directly related to a romantic partner, but others seem like they could go either way. Why would a song about a romance and changing yourself to fit the desires of a partner be called umbilical? I feel more drawn to the idea of wanting to change herself to be a good mother, though she's unable or perhaps unwilling to make that change. Maybe she doesn't think of herself as someone who could be a good mother. The images and visuals, however, really lend themselves to a series of dates. So, it could go either way. I thought the balloon popping was interesting, though I have no intelligent thoughts about it. Also, when she falls at the end, she is saved by the balloon. Perhaps, she was going to die, but does something (perhaps her sin) that allows her to live?

my verdict

I voted Yuno as innocent. My first impressions are heavily biased by the name of the song. Additionally, after watching Undercover, I think her sin might be abortion. I will have to see if it is actually, or if her victim was a romantic partner, and the word umbilical is meant to act as a metaphor for connections? Unclear. I'm interested to see where this route goes!

003 Kajiyama Fuuta — 梶山風汰

i voted: guilty guilty — 55.08%

audio drama

Fuuta's first impression leaves much to be desired at first glance. However, I could tell he was denying his crimes to himself just as desperately as he was denying them to Es. His barely-kept-together tough guy act paints him as a very fragile character. He seems desperate to prove himself and uphold a good character, though that "goodness" definitely looks a lot more rebellious than one would typically view as "good-y". He grabs onto Es's idea that killing in the name of justice is forgivable, which leads me to believe that's what his situation was.

Bring It

After his audio drama, the MV paints Fuuta as someone horrified at the consequences of his actions. He seems to have some sort of inflated ego that causes him to believe he's some sort of arbiter of justice, though in the last few seconds that immediately goes away. During the final confrontation in his "fantasy," there appears to either be cigarettes or gasoline selected in his "inventory". This paired with all the fire imagery gives me the impression that he burned his victim. Whether that's figuratively (scalding words) or literally (gasoline) we will have to see, but I think the fire motif is too prevalent to ignore. I think perhaps his reaction could be due to his extreme views about justice. Since he hates hypocrites more than anything else, maybe seeing what his actions have done makes him fear he has turned into what he hated the most.

my verdict

I voted Fuuta as guilty. After some consideration, I decided that Fuuta needed to be told what he did was wrong. I don't think he deserves to be 100% guilty at least at this point, since there seems to be remorse and a lack of murderous intent. However, his outward attitude towards what he did needs to be adjusted, then I would feel comfortable voting him innocent.

004 Kusunoki Muu — 楠夢羽

i voted: guilty innocent — 50.34%

audio drama

My opinion of Muu was the one that changed the most rapidly over the course of her audio drama. Within the opening interaction, I hated her. However, as time went on, I found myself wanting to know everything about her. Her questions that caused Es to have a crashout were fascinating to me. She definitely is smarter than she lets on, and is super emotionally intelligent. Muu picked up on little things in Es's behavior, and seemed to know exactly how far to go before retreating back into her crybaby persona (I do think it's a persona, btw). I'm fascinated by her insistance that she didn't do anything wrong. I'm also obsessed with her request for crepe cake... of course she requested that. She's a freak.

After Pain

After Pain is my favorite MILGRAM song! I think the visuals are very interesting, and the lyrics are fascinating. The use of "spell" or "magic" when referring to her saying sorry is very interesting. What did she do that causes her to apologize so much? Is it what caused her bullying? The other girl — the only other one to have a face and also later learn is named Rei — also interests me. Why did Muu say she loved her? In what manner does she love her? I'm inclined to think it's fucked up one-sided yuri, but that's just my bias talking.

my verdict

I voted Muu as guilty. Despite being my favorite so far, I do believe Muu to be guilty. She was bullied, yes, but is that cause to kill? Especially in the manner that she did? I saw some theories that she wasn't going out to kill Rei but herself, which is definitely interesting considering the line "counterattack being a suicide note". I don't know if there's any evidence for this, but I think her demeanor and general attitude towards her sin should be adjusted. Being told she's guilty will hopefully give her reason to second guess herself.

004 Kirisaki Shidou — 桐崎獅童

i voted: innocent innocent — 51.98%

audio drama

I can't help but agree with Es that after the previous four characters, Shidou's interrogation was eerily smooth. His adamant desire to be found guilty is interesting, because it doesn't seem like he's feeling regret or remorse — at least not in a typical way. I'm excited to see where his character goes! (A/N: i was originally so neutral about shidou but he's now one of my favorites so it's soooo hard not to go AHHJFKDSHWA about him)

Throw Down

Throw Down has gorgeous visuals. My initial reaction is that the flowers are a sort of metaphor for his surgical endeavors. Perhaps what he's been doing is transplanting organs from the patients we see the families of into a loved one? Especially the lyrics about "taking away in order to give". His whole views on ethics are also super interesting. Why does he view them as a delusion? Why does he value some lives over others? I looked into the tags that are everywhere in the MV, and I believe they're toe-tags for when patients are determined dead? I could be wrong about the specifics

my verdict

I voted Shidou as innocent. I'm unsure of the specifics of his actions, (i sound like a broken record), but I don't know if he committed any medical malpractice or violent acts. I'll have to learn more information.

coming soon

life coming out june 18

coming soon

journal

This is where I just dump all my MILGRAM thoughts and opinions that don't fit in anywhere else! Please refer to the table of contents below to navigate this super long page.

  1. tierlists
  2. rewatching t1 after t2

tierlists

characters

S Muu, Shidou
A Haruka, Mahiru, Amane
B Kazui, Fuuta, Es, Yuno, Mikoto
C Kotoko, Jackalope

songs & covers

each tier is loosely in order. sorry not sorry kazui i hate your songs....

S After Pain, Triage, Parasite
A Undercover, All-Knowing and All-Agony, Backdraft, It's Not My Fault, The Purge March, Weakness, Animal, DCSF, The Vampire
B Bring It On, Deep Cover, Double, Harrow, Magic, Throw Down, Umbilical, Liar Dance, Otome Dissection, Two Breaths Walking
C I Love You, This Is How To Be In Love With You, MeMe, Tear Drop, Android Girl, Anti-Beat, Delusion Tax, Hibana, Monopoisoner, Positive Parade, Psychogram, Reversible Campaign, Salamander
D Cat, Streaming Heart, Mozaik Role, Sticky Bug, Neo-Neon, Yowamushi Montblanc, Half

While my favorite songs definitely aren't simply due to the prisoners being my faves or vice versa, it Does have a hand in it. Shidou became one of my favorites after I listened to Triage on loop and decided to In Depth rewatch the MV and now here we are.

I can say that It's Not My Fault was my first favorite, though that was before I knew what MILGRAM was. The song just came up in my discover weekly and I liked it! But when I watched INMF for the first time I did end up liking the song and Muu as a character more as a result... Listen my brain works in mysterious ways!

rewatching t1 after t2

I'm rewatching T1 with my roommate as they watch for the first time and I thought I should liveblog my reactions as I pick up on things after having watched T2!

haruka

yuno

shidou