I took a quick liking to Kaede; I loved her spirit and determination, and I thought she bounced well off all the other characters. It was a real shame to lose her so early, although I can't deny it was a striking story moment!
I can understand why they didn't create full free time arcs between Kaede and every other character. The fact that they wrote two free time events for each character is already impressive; that's thirty events that you can only see in chapter one! But I still sort of wish we could have got a full series of five events between Kaede and each of the others. She connected easily with people; I wanted to spend time with everyone as her, because I thought she'd interact interestingly with everyone.
(Especially Rantaro. 'Dropping a shot put on his head' was perhaps a little too interesting.)
Every time I replay Danganronpa V3, I catch myself thinking that maybe this time Kaede will live past the first chapter. N... no, Riona. No, that's not how it works.
But... maybe it could be how it works? It's only just occurred to me that, if Danganronpa 2x2 does well, maybe they'll eventually rerelease the other games with alternative storylines as well. Maybe one day there'll be a version of Danganronpa V3 in which Kaede remains the protagonist.
Just wishful thinking? Perhaps. But I'm excited to realise it might not be an impossibility!