#Danganronpa theory

[danganronpa-theories-v3]

DRV3 is looped

I am certainly a supporter of the "DRV3 is a simulation" theory. There has been a lot of discussion about it before, both on reddit and tumblr. But if it is a simulation, how about an assumption that it is a looped simulation? There have been hints about it thrown in the dialogue, implicating that what is happening in the game can somehow happen again.

There's also a comment from Tsumugi in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan where she says that the "world" (and the Academy is referred to as a "world" many times) she's going to cosplay is the one she will cosplay 1,000 times.

But to me, the most obvious hint is the existence and the structure of Virtual World in ch4 - a looped structure with a wall that has been brought up a hundred times during the trial and plays a big role in it.

It makes me think about the End Wall that surrounds the Academy and the strange comments about it.

There's no way the whole Virtual World thing isn't representing at least something that happens in the main story. And as we see in epilogue, there is truly nothing outside of the End Wall, just like there's nothing outside of the Virtual World's map. The epilogue is in general practically a reveal that the whole Killing Game is a simulation (at least as I see it) but what do you think about the notion of it being looped?

[testedcatdraws]

The newest DRDT video did drop some info (spoilers for chapter 2 episode 12)

Obviously David's not the killer, his motive of lying was revealed to be that he wanted to end the killing game like Xander. Either Xander told him this or David assumed that's why Xander killed Teruko. I'm guessing it's both though, he took the info he had on Xander and concluded the reason Xander tried to kill Teruko was to end the killing game.

Also Arturo says he neglected everything not relating to his goal, maybe he also neglected his little sister? It said her death is his fault and that he left her, maybe he left her to pursue his career as a plastic surgeon. Rather or not he regrets this is another question, considering his reaction though I'm saying there's probably at least some remorse, if not remorse at least fear of what others will think. Probably a mix of both if he does feel remorse.

The alibies were switched around, due to the blackened killing in the morning instead of the night,

People who couldn't have kill Arei now are:

Hu, David, Veronica, J, and Nico.

I'll add Levi onto the didn't kill Arei list since him being the blackened is too obvious due to him being the killer, since he was revealed to be the one with the killer secret.

The Hu blackened theory's disproven, unless another plot twist happens I guess.

What I think the remaining secrets are:

The competition one belongs to Min

The blaming yourself for your family's death one is Xander

The self harm one is Veronika

The death game's your fault one is Teruko

And the Hopeless child one is Hu.

Reasonings:

Min one is because she did that Ultimate Student competition and such, I'm sure you've heard that reasoning before from someone else.

Xander is because the secret makes more since then what David said was his secret, not really much other then that.

Veronika is because she's easily bored and watches horror movies to have fun. The secret says that the person harmed themself for fun and took up their talent to distract them from this.

For Teruko it's because Xander killed her to stop the killing game some how, so the killing game seems connected to Teruko in a way. It makes since that she in some way caused the killing game, she probably didn't make it happen though. Who ever the mastermind is, they probably don't have this secret since that's too obvious.

For Hu it's just because it's the last secret, no other reason then that.

Who killer is, I think it's Arturo, for no other reason then I don't know who else it could've been. I guess it could be Rose, Whit's probably the mastermind so unless were going the THH route he ain't the blackened, Charles can't look at dead bodies. I don't see why Rose will kill anyone so we can knock her out, she has no motive that I can think of. I don't see Eden killing anyone, she seems too sweet and there's no evidence that she's secretly evil or anything. Arturo is constantly pushed back at in the trial though, and he seems the most willing to kill someone based on his reaction to Eden confronting him on his secret.

That's all I guess, feel free to agree or disagree

[catgirl-catboy]

Headcanon hill I will die on: Mikan's despair disease makes sense... if you ignore everything she and Monokuma tell you about it.

In every other case, it takes a person's defining characteristic, and reverses it to the logical extreme. Ibuki becomes the biggest conformist possible. Akane becomes exactly as helpless as she refused to be as a kid. Nagito turns into a compulsive liar.

Mikan remembering her time as an Ultimate Despair doesn't fit this pattern.

...but Mikan is a control freak. She manipulates people's opinions of her because that's the only way she feels safe.

Turning Mikan's obsession with control into an obsession with the lack of it would pretty much create what you see in chapter three.

Mikan is also very good at reading people's emotions, canonically. She's the one that sees through Nagito in chapter one with her autopsy report. Later, she throws his self-proclaimed greatest fear in his face.

I don't think she remembered her time as an Ultimate Despair. I think she figured it out from Monomi, who is NOT subtle.

[wackpedion]

I MIGHT just have figured out why Kokichi outed Gonta in Ch 4

I was on some japanese translation blog and Kokichi states even he doesn't know who the true mastermind is, which isn't so surprising.

Anyway as I read that I thought, if he doesn't know, its likely to assume he can't tell when the mastermind is lying when amongst them (I'm not actually sure if Tsumugi lies in regards to her being a mastermind, but maybe the general fact that Kokichi couldn't pick up on any lies, whether the lies were actually there or not, was something he noticed)

So what if, during the trial when Gonta was saying things that Kokichi knew were false but Kokichi couldn't pick up on any tells that he was lying, made him think Gonta might have been the mastermind?

IN FACT it would explain why he does it after Shuichi lies, as Gonta in response says he believes Shuichis claims. Gonta saying that, and Kokichi not being able to pick up any tells of a lie, would explain why it was at THAT specific moment he comes to a conclusion and outs Gonta as blackened

It could also loosely explain why he talks about ruining "the mystery solving fun". He verbally directs his so-called revenge at Shuichi, but him ruining the "fun" makes more sense when hes talking about messing with the mastermind and any audience thats watching them.

[cammy-mcspammy]

Platonic BroTP for Nagito + Sonia request: I'd just like to see some very comfy content between these two. In-game there seems to be a fair bit of mutual respect, with Sonia being one of the few that sort of sees some good in Nagito (and feels betrayed when he comes to hate them in Chapter 4 and 5). I personally like to believe that at Hope's Peak, Sonia was one of the only classmates that genuinely considered Nagito a friend, and enjoyed his company in studies or while drinking tea at lunch. Even if he personally didn't believe he was worthy of being her friend, he felt deeply touched that she made him feel like "part of the family". In fact that could turn out to be literal. I'm quite fond of the theory that Nagito and Sonia are actually long lost relatives. Like maybe Nagito's mom was the daughter of a Novoselic second/third princess that left her homeland to run off with a Japanese lover. Making the two of them second cousins. I dunno, maybe just something cute with them at Hope's Peak and post-recovery? Or if you wanted to include the family theory, I could see some canon and non-Despair AU possibilities. Sonia receiving a letter from one of her surviving sisters (now Queen) telling her that while she can't publicly forgive her, she does so in private. And sending her regards to their Japanese cousin too. Or in a non-Despair AU Sonia taking Nagito to visit her homeland and family. By boat of course, since he's terrified of planes.

Honestly, I lean more towards them being half-siblings but cousins also works really well too 🤷‍♂️

in my own theory I like to think that Sonia's mom cheated on the king with Nagito's dad. Nagito's mom found out and tried to flee with Nagito but ended up dying in the airplane. Neither parents elaborated, and Nagito knew about his father cheating yet chose to deny any royal blood in him. (So he wouldn't inconvenience the family)

nagito moved back with his grandparents, realizing he wasn't meant for the royal lifestyle nor weighing the family down with his luck.

HOWEVER I do love the idea of them being childhood siblings/cousins :( so I drew that too from a part of a fanfiction I wrote (I think the mafia one, where nagito's dad was a Don so it just made the family situation a lot crazier with the cheating)

Post recovery I think they find out their relation super late-in and eventually accept it, and sonia helps nagito move in his new apartment (albeit a little too much help).

[dangan-kagura]

Theory: Rantaro’s sisters might actually be a metaphor for the people who were killed in his killing game. So let's assume Rantaro really did partake in a previous killing game. When he got to star in the next season, Team Danganronpa gave him a new character that involves traveling the world in search for his sisters. It’s likely that, outside the Danganronpa universe, after his previous game, Rantaro was in denial that his friends were all killed and wanted to believe they were still alive somehow.

Rantaro states that he has 12 sisters. That would be an equivalent number to how many people are killed in Danganronpa, meaning that 4 people, including Rantaro, survived in Danganronpa 52. And it’s stated in the final trial that Rantaro sacrificed himself so that the other survivors of his killing game would live, but it meant that he had to star in the next season, that was his punishment.

Rantaro’s character may have been different in Danganronpa 52. He could’ve been the Ultimate Adventurer, or something else, but definitely not the Ultimate Survivor. Once his killing game was over, Pregame Rantaro probably wanted to travel around the real world thinking that Team Danganronpa had hidden his friends somehow. But once they kidnapped him again, they altered his memories by making him forget about his previous killing game and give him this Ultimate Adventurer character that involves him saying he traveled the world to find his lost sisters, but in actuality, he wanted to find his friends that were killed.

Why would his character have been different in Danganronpa 52? Odds are, Danganronpa 4 through 52 had stories that were in no way related to Hope’s Peak Academy or even the Ultimate Hunt. In the last trial, it’s stated that they gave them the Flashback Light about Hope’s Peak so that they could have the hope to stop Kokichi, since the Flashback Lights are made by selecting what kinds of fake memories to use.

Also, at the beginning of the game, Rantaro is the most calm and cautious out of everyone when the Exisals appeared. In his FTEs, he states that he’s been in life-threatening situations when traveling the world. It could be more likely that he was so calm about the new killing game because of his experience in whatever kind of killing game he and his “sisters” starred in. Because everyone’s pregame selves act the same as they do in-game, Pregame Rantaro probably had an idea as to why he was kidnapped, but once his memories were altered, Team Danganronpa decided to make Rantaro’s new character a homage to what his life was like after Danganronpa 52.

[miaowmelodie]

I'm watching a let's play of the first Danganronpa while I'm removing a doll's hair and I'm at the point where Byakuya decides to not participate to the morning meetings anymore.

I think his point of view has a giant flaw.

Let's say he does manage to become the blackened and gets away with it, which means he basically kills all the remaining 11, what then?

Sure, Monokuma is the one that will execute the 10 that couldn't guess it was him, but to become the blackened he has to kill at least one of the 11 with his own hands.

Monokuma has cameras everywhere so he's able to see who killed who, but who says once Byakuya graduates he won't just publish the video where he's killing someone?

Hell, for all we know he might have enough resources to show it on live television like Kira's messages.

Then what? No matter how rich he is he won't get away with it.

Depending on the juridiction system of the world Danganronpa takes place in they might just execute him as soon as he's out.

So he'd escape Hope's Peak just to end up behind bars at best or 6 feets under at worse.

_

He has no reason to go on his superiority complex trip because they fundamentally only have two options :

1) Keep working together to escape no matter what Monokuma threatens them with;

2) Accept to stay there for the rest of their lives living as a community.

-

Trying to graduate will just guarantee they all die.

[joneleslament]

Tenko and maybe Kirumi I believe are two of Rantaro's lost sisters

Going to drop this graph here and leave it up to debate

[charlescueves]

This is my suspicion for the Chapter 2 murderer in Danganronpa Despair Time. ALSO IM SO SAD THEY DIED THEY WERE MY FAVORITE CHARACTER I LOVED THEM SO MUCH 😭

*SPOILERS AHEAD FOR DANGANRONPA DESPAIR TIME AND SUPER DANGANRONPA ANOTHER 2*

I THINK J IS THE KILLER (with evidence)

Here’s my theory: What if arei was dead for a while? I know what you guys might be saying, “arei appeared at breakfast, she couldn’t have been dead!!” But let me say this: what if that wasn’t the REAL arei we saw? If you have watched/played Super Danganronpa Another 2, you would know the case of the second chapter. For those who don’t know, the murderer basically dressed up and acted as the victim in order to screw up the time of death (so the people think the victim was alive, although they weren’t). What if it’s the same scenario here? In an earlier episode, Teruko stated that there was MULTIPLE outfits for each character. Meaning that Arei had multiple duplicate outfits. And then there is the dressing room, which holds many wigs and could potentially hold eye contacts. This gives the perfect opportunity to dress and act as Arei. In addition, Arei did not say a WORD in this episode. Yes, she was present, but even in the moments where she was present she was quiet and had her hair covering her face. Isn’t that a little odd? I mean, we’re literally talking about Arei: a girl who insults people and starts trouble any second she can. Isn’t it off for her to be quite? We already established the duplicate clothes, wig, contacts, unusual behavior, and hair covering the face. So now, let me explain my theory. I think J is the killer. J, as we already know, comes from a family of ACTRESSES. Even though she wasn’t an actress herself, she still should have known a thing or two about her mothers career. Also, J is cold and introverted, so if she was acting as Arei, Arei’s weird behavior at 1:56 could be explained. Another thing that further proves my theory is the conversation between Teruko and Veronnica. Literally the ENTIRE conversation they had was about the ability to tell somebody based off of their face alone. Veronnica LITERALLY SAID “if I put on makeup, contacts, and new clothes, would you still be able to recognize me?”. I mean cmon guys, the evidence is right there. Teruko literally admitted to not being able to tell apart facial features, so it would make sense if Teruko didn’t notice that J was acting as Arei.

IN CONCLUSION:

I think J killed Arei for the purpose of getting away from Arturo. Arei bullied her too, so that could be an alternative purpose. She probably asked for Arei to meet her in the computer lab, saying that she “has Areis motive and wants to discuss it with her”. Arei would meet up with her, in which J would smash her head into the computer lab wall (in the video, a dent is seen in the computer lab wall). Also, in the beginning of the video, MonoTV says that J tried going into the gym to train. That confirms that J works out, meaning that she has the strength to punch Arei into the wall. After this, she could’ve hid Arei in her room. Nobody goes out as night, so nobody would see J with Areis body. Then, she would have time to disguise as Arei, and meet up with the others during breakfast. Since Teruko is confirmed to not have the ability of telling peoples faces apart, she wouldn’t have noticed J being in Areis disguise. That’s probably the reason “Arei” didn’t talk, because J has a deeper voice and Arei has a high pitched voice. If J talked, then it would be obvious she isn’t actually Arei. Like i said previously, J could pull of such a feat, especially with her mom in the acting industry. Why did she do this? I’m assuming it was to throw off the time of death. The same case happened in Super Danganronpa Another 2. The murderer faked being the victim to throw off the time of death.

After hiding Areis body, J waited for everyone to go away in order to hang Arei in the playground. I believe that she WANTED IT TO LOOK LIKE SUICIDE. What I’m trying to say is that Areis real cause of death was from getting her head smashed in the wall; not because of being hanged. In order to cover up the true cause of death, J hanged her in the playground. A lot of people knew about Areis backstory, so it would “make sense” for her to commit suicide. You might be asking, then why did J dress up as Arei? It’s because she wanted to draw the suspicion off the hole in the computer lab. If “Arei” was seen after the hole was made, then she couldn’t have possibly been killed by said hole. Therefore, everyone would be forced to believe that hanging was the cause of death, and that the death happened AFTER breakfast. If this plan doesn’t work, i think J would blame it on Nico, as Nico was seen “trying to kill ace by hanging”. So it would seem as if he used the same technique on Arei.

Edit: WAIT I HAVE ANOTHER THEORY 😭. What if Ace didn’t try to kill himself? What if he is genuinely telling the truth? I’m not saying that Nico had anything to do with it, he was probably in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m thinking that Ace was attacked by J, yet didn’t die because of Nicos help. Basically, I’m trying to say that Ace’s incident and Arei’s death are connected. I mean, the hanging of the 2 most suicidal and hated characters can’t be a coincidence. I think that Ace was the first target, but after J realized he was alive, she went for Arei instead. I’m sticking with my J culprit theory (sorry guys). J was also a victim of Ace’s “bullying”, so she could have a motive for killing him too. I believe that J stole Rose’s paint cleaner, used it to make Ace faint, and then tried to hang him. Because of the fact that wire is a terrible hanging material (as it can’t really snap a neck), it didn’t kill Ace. Nico saved Ace’s life, but Ace doesn’t know that because he woke up WHEN Nico was taking the wire off of his neck; hence the fact that Ace thinks he was trying to kill him. Then the events i explained above took place. I know a lot of people suspect David, Whit, Eden, or Nico. I hope its not them , because it seems a little TOO obvious. I also have a theory about Arturo being the killer, so please let me know if you want to hear that.

So yea, this is my theory, sorry for it being so long. I’m genuinely upset because Arei was my fav 😭.

[cheesecakemermaid1048]

It seems that Yumeo knows Tomaya's sister, Chion, on a personal level. Either that or he greatly admires her work

 I am leaning toward the first one. It is possible they could have known each other as co-workers beforehand. If that's the case, it's not a surprise that Chion doesn't know him.

If you remember memories of her talent were erased.It wouldnt be the stretch, she would also forget the people she met while doing her work.

If I am right,that will make what Chion said about Yumeo bittersweet.He probably realized in meeting her again,she has no memories  of him,so he kept his mouth shut in order not to confuse her more.

Side notes:

Chou is already my favorite. She seems plain to me at first but now knowing she can kick ass.She is my favorite now

[grapemoon]

Do you think the reason so many character in Danganronpa V3 have ahoges is because it was in-style for fans of Danganronpa in-universe. Cuz in the past games, only characters you could play as had ahoges, and in v3 there’s characters like Miu and Gonta with them too for some reason. We’re led to believe that they used to be hardcore fans of the series, so maybe that explains the hair thing?

[boonalina]

Please go to the video and leave a like and a comment there if you enjoy it! I spent a few hours editing it so uh yeah!

I think Danganronpa V3's mastermind was lying in the end

[imsosocold]

Even before Danganronpa 3 there was the question of who the “true” ultimate gamer was if Chiaki was just an AI. Personally, while I didn’t think this was the case, I always found the concept of there being no ultimate gamer really funny.  Like imagine Hopes Peak going “Ultimate serial killer, ultimate assassin, ultimate Yakuza? Talents we’re seeking to cultivate. Ultimate luckster and Ultimate clairvoyant ? There’s no more legitimate talents than theirs. Ultimate gamer?  No, being good at games isn’t a real talent.  Now excuse me, I have a meeting with the candidate for the Ultimate fanfic writer.”

[raspbeyes]

A good amount of people theorize that Kaede's execution ran for eight to ten hours. this is cuz the clock in the background of the trial goes haywire for a bit until it lands hours ahead from where it started. and though it adds a twisted layer to her death (since her chokehold would cause her to catch a breath every time she is dropped, not allowing her the mercy of losing conciousness) i just don't think it's reasonable. cuz like ... everybody else - all 15 students - would have to be watching this in real time. I refuse to believe these people stood around and did nothing but watch for eight hours lmaoo it's just not humanly possible. Like did they all go without sitting or eating or drinking for eight hours or what...?

personally, i think that the clock either is there for the aesthetic or is a possible reference to the time signature. my first theory is it being there for simply for the aesthetic, to symbolize Kaede's mental state as the extrutiating pain must feel like it is lasting forever. The execution's background is also that of an opera hall, so the grandiose clock is there as an additional prop

but my other theory - i personally prefer it - is that the clock is referring to time signature. Since the despair of the execution is that the song is being purposely played wrong to further add to Kaede's pain, the clock - representing time - going out of control refers to Monokuma disregarding the time signature/beat of the song as well. The clock starts going into a frenzy around the same time the classic execution music kicks back in, visually representing Monokuma completely hijacking the song for his own theme, completely changing the time signature to match his own song.

[dangan-kagura]

Theory: The motive videos work in the same way as the Flashback Lights.

Possible evidence

Kirumi stated that she remembered being prime minister just from watching her own motive video. So once she watched it herself, she believed that what was on it was true and part of her backstory.

Kaito stated in his 4th FTE that the current prime minister was one of his previous sidekicks. Now you would think that he’s talking about Kirumi, but it should be noted that you can get Kaito’s 4th FTE in Chapter 2, and when he saw Kirumi’s motive video, like everyone else, he didn’t want to believe it was true. So since the beginning, Kaito couldn’t have known Kirumi was the current prime minister, so he could’ve been talking about someone else.

After Kirumi’s execution, Angie was the one to suggest the motive videos being similar to the Flashback Lights, where if the specific person was watching their own motive video, they’ll believe that what’s on it is true.

Kokichi also got his own motive video and it stated that his organization DICE did “petty non-violent crimes and harmless pranks”. So if Kokichi saw it, he’d be smart enough to not actually commit murder.

Even though Ryoma's motive video says he has no one important to him, in his FTEs with Kaede, he said that he had a cat that he cared about. Now think back to Ultra Despair Girls, it's revealed that Celestia and Toko both had animals in their motive videos, so how come Ryoma's cat wasn't in his motive video?

The only thing that would get in the way of this theory is Maki’s motive video, which most likely reveals her secret about being the Ultimate Assassin and Ryoma was the one to get it. It’s more likely that since the beginning, Maki was already the Ultimate Assassin and simply used Ultimate Child Caregiver to hide that truth.

[dragbunart]

You know how I said I had a fucked up Au based on a Fucked up Theory?

Yeah... I present what I've been referring to as the "Breeding Hope" Au. Which is as questionable and horrifying as it sounds.

Hopes Peak has been studying if Talent could possibly be genetic.

And it all started because of Teruteru Hanmura.

While he's being scouted they notice his two younger siblings. And realize that these two siblings will be Future Ultimates.

That led to a question, could Talent be a biological component?

However, that was a singular occurrence. It only held water if there were more Siblings with Ultimate Talents.

Enter the student files. Amongst the 77-A and 77-B classes they notice a note on a certain Kaede Akamatsu's file... Or rather quotation marks. Kaede 'Akamatsu' Kuzuryu.

A quick check of her medical records proves that she is the sister of the Ultimate Yakuza.

Another set of Ultimate Siblings? Looking into the candidates for the future class 78 they see a set of twins Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba.

One is a rarity. Two is a coincidence. Three is a pattern.

Talent could be Genetic. This bade well for the future and the Izuru Kamakura project. With enough prep, they could possibly make sure there was never a loss of Ultimates, and that Hope's Peak has hands on those Ultimates.

In fact, they would even be able to Naturally pass on the Izuru projects talent with the right hosts for the embryos.

Suddenly any Ultimate with siblings get a bit more attention, and their family is monitored for Talent more closely.

Classes are rearranged. The Higherups at Hope's have looked into each Ultimate's life enough to figure out who would be most likely to fall for who.

Peko and Maki's classes are switched the minute they figure out the Swords Woman's connection to the Kuzuryu Family, and the obvious feelings between Fuyuhiko and Peko. Meanwhile, Maki's past has a few things that point to someone like Kaito or Kaede being a potential crush for her.

Such young Impressionable teens are puppets to the Hope's Peaks Board.

Even Natumi Kuzuryu is being monitored, sure she hasn't shown any Obvious Talent yet, but she has two talented siblings, she may carry recessive genetics after all.

After class 78's admittance, the Board ends up being a little forceful with Class events, to build bonds of romance.

This ends up with a few unintentional, but welcome pairs, Such as Gonta and Celeste.

Hell, the evil fuckers even monitored Hajime's crush on Chiaki, while they had been planning on wiping everything that made Hajime Hajime, just in case anything remained. They could use his latent feeling for the Ultimate Gamer to influence Izuru.

What's worse? When Natumi is murdered... Instead of surrounding her body to her family so she can be buried, they put it on ice as soon as it's found, to try and preserve the eggs that could potentially hold the talent genetics.