#Except for Junko of course

[incorrect-zombieland-saga-quotes]

Saki, covered in scratches: "I'm still the toughest bitch there is, you know."

Lily, doubtfully: "Sure, Saki."

Saki: "I did eventually get the spider out of the house."

Lily: "It’s just that there was so much screaming."

[penguwastaken]

About Brainwashing in Danganronpa

Hello to all 3 of the people who see this account. A few months ago, I made a thread on hit website Twitter dot com about brainwashing in the Danganronpa Series. I discussed where it came from, how it works, and how the brainwashing of class 77-B was never a retcon. The thread got a lot of attention there, even getting a "debunk" on other hit website Reddit dot com (lmao). Due to that, there's been a lot of responses and questions. Since I can't really update a Twitter thread, I decided that I'd make the Ultimate™ Brainwashing thread and hopefully dispel any information on the subject while making my original points more clear and covering things I failed to cover. So here it is: Brainwashing in Danganronpa, how it works, where it came from, and how it was intended from the start. (a 🧵 except not really) *Massive spoilers for Danganronpa Zero, Danganronpa 2, Danganronpa Another Episode, Danganronpa Togami, and Danganronpa 3, as well as the series as a whole*

Danganronpa Zero: First Sighting

Brainwashing has its roots all the way back in the second official entry produced in the series, Danganronpa Zero. During the story's events, Ryoko comes across a secret cult made up of students from the reserve course. They're seen staring at a strange video, seemingly turning them and turn them into mindless zombies.

The video depicts members of the student council killing each other. Ryoko is stunned while watching it. She can barely look away, but eventually through force of will she does. This same video is later used to convince the reserve course to rebel.

The way it's described to work is that it uses their “pent-up emotions,” implying that their emotions played a role in its effectiveness. It's also worth noting that the novel itself refers to what is happening as brainwashing, making this objectively the first depiction of brainwashing in the series right from the second entry.

Danganronpa 2: Now it Gets Dubious

Our next instance of brainwashing comes from Danganronpa 2. The concept is brought up multiple times, such as when Makoto states that the Ultimate Despairs were brainwashed or how the Neo World Program is good at treating brainwashing, though the details of what brainwashing actually means in this context are kept vague.

It's also worth noting that Danganronpa 2 was being written around the same time as Danganronpa Zero and Kodaka wanted concepts from the novel to appear in Danganronpa 2, likely so readers would feel validated. This is why things like Izuru Kamukura and the reserve course play huge roles in Danganronpa 2, it's not too much of a stretch to say that the same applies with brainwashing. One detail we’re given about the brainwashing is from Monokuma, who states the Ultimate Despairs were brainwashed by Junko taking advantage of their feelings. Specifically love, hate, grudges, and "anything really". If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s exactly how the brainwashing video from Danganronpa Zero was described to function, using their pent-up emotions.

I should mention that Monokuma and Junko are known for being unreliable narrators who often stretch the truth, exaggerate things, and use hyperbole to manipulate people into believing their narrative. Monokuma describes the Ultimate Despairs as “nothing more than Junko’s limbs”, which contradicts the existence of characters like Nagito. Who, while in his despair state, did not work with Junko nor did he look up to her (at least in the normal sense like the other Ultimate Despairs). In fact, it would have been impossible for them to really obey any of Junko's orders as Ultimate Despairs because Junko was trapped inside of Hope's Peak with minimal connection to the outside world. This isn't a definitive "Monokuma is lying" statement, but just note that his word isn't 100% reliable. Meanwhile, someone like Makoto who outright mentions brainwashing, is a much more reliable source.

Danganronpa Another Episode: More Brainwashing! (kinda irrelevant tho...)

The next time brainwashing is used is in the next entry, Danganronpa Another Episode. Though its purpose in this discussion isn’t the most useful, as the brainwashing is caused by Monokuma helmets, which don’t have their functionality explained. I figured it was worth mentioning and describing at least, as its another example of brainwashing at least.

I did figure it was worth adding how the brainwashed children act. They obey the Warriors of Hope’s every command, as if they have zero control over their actions. This is different from how the Ultimate Despairs act, who still some free had free will after presumably being brainwashed judging by the actions of Nagito, who is also in this game.

Danganronpa Togami: I Hate My Life

Okay. As mixed as my opinions are on this novel trilogy, it does feature brainwashing. In fact, it might feature one of the most detailed and important descriptions of brainwashing in the series, and even outright CONFIRMS that class 77-B were brainwashed (sorta).

"Hey um... Tumblr/Twitter user Pengu... what do you mean by 'sorta'?" Well my uninformed reader who I guarantee has probably never read this book, there's a twist. I regret to inform you that the canonicity of Danganronpa Togami is rather questionable, as it depicts an extremely unreliable narrator’s warped viewing of events due to this thing called the K2K system, which means not everything in the novel is meant to be taken literally or at face value.

This doesn't mean that everything should be discarded or immediately dismissed however. This just means that we have to use our brains a little and decipher what the hell Yuya Sato was cooking when he wrote this novel trilogy. In the novel, we discover the existence of the elusive despair novel. When read, the novel will turn the reader to despair and inflict them with the despair disease. This novel is what's used to plummet the world into despair, as well as being what caused the class 77-B to become the Ultimate Despairs. There's no known ways to avoid it, once you read it, it's joever. 😔

As I said earlier, the events of Danganronpa Togami can’t be taken literally. Due to this and prior context, we can safely assume that the despair novel is most likely the K2K's warped idea of the despair video from Danganronpa Zero. Instead of being a book being read that brainwashed people, it was a video being watched. What makes me so sure? Well let's look over the similarities. The way the despair novel works is that it uses cruel words to overload the reader with negative emotions, causing them to snap and turn to despair. That sounds almost exactly like the despair video, overloading the viewer by manipulating their emotions until they turn to despair.

However, a major difference comes from the fact that Danganronpa Togami confirms towards the end that the despair novel doesn't literally brainwash people, acting as a placebo and an excuse for people with despair to use.

However I don't believe this suddenly breaks the connection to the despair video in Danganronpa Zero. All it shows is that the novel doesn't create despair, which is something we already established with the brainwashing video. It doesn't make despair, it makes it stronger. Whether it be via the disturbing imagery on the screen or the words on a page giving you an excuse, all it does is amplify despair. Basically it doesn't make despair come out of nowhere, it incites it. This connection's a little bit of a stretch but I'll bring it up anyways. The technology used in the despair novels was originally to bring hope. (Take notes, it will probably be important assuming you buy this connection.)

Essentially, the despair novel works in a similar same way as the despair video, but instead it’s a book and you read it instead of watching it. This means that class 77-B and the rest of the world were most likely brainwashed via the despair video, and that is what caused the class to become Ultimate Despairs.

Danganronpa 3: The One People Really Don't Like

And all of this brings us to the most detailed yet controversial usage of brainwashing: Danganronpa 3. Many assume that the anime’s usage of brainwashing is a retcon, contradicting the words of our holy savior Super Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair High School. However, I’d like to debate that. In fact, I'd like to finally put a nail in the coffin of this really stupid debate and finally show you that Danganronpa 3's depiction of brainwashing is exactly how it has always been described.

In Danganronpa 3, we are introduced to Ryota Mitarai and his anime. Using the power of subliminal messaging, it heightens the viewer's emotions and makes them more powerful. What was once a slightly emotional scene is now a complete tearjerker fully capable of tearing at the viewers heart strings! While he acknowledges that there are unethical things that can be done with this technology and it's technically brainwashing, his goal is to use this technology to make the world a better place, even if it can be dangerous. If that sounds familiar, that's because it's what Hope's Peak tried doing with the despair novel in Danganronpa Togami. Though I'll admit, this single point is a little bit of a stretch as there are differences. I just figured it was worth at least a mention.

Using her analytical prowess, Junko gets a rough understanding of how the technology works, so she develops the despair video, featuring the student council killing each other overlayed with subliminal messaging technology to make the despair felt while viewing the video stronger.

The video works on Mikan, however Junko fears that the video may not be powerful enough to fully go through with her plans due to not understanding the technology nearly as well as Ryota does. Because of this, she forces Ryota to create a better, more powerful despair video. A despair video v2 if you will. Junko’s fears weren’t unfounded, as we discover that Chisa had the mental fortitude to resist the despair video, similarly to how Ryoko was able to resist the same video in Danganronpa Zero. This is exactly why Junko needs a more powerful video, one that she knows can’t be resisted.

"Ermmmm, Tumblr/Twitter user Pengu, how come Ryoko and Chisa are able to resist the despair video but Mikan and nobody in the reserve course could?" Good question, the answer is pretty simple. As mentioned before, the video takes advantage of the emotions of the viewer. Mikan is already pretty weak minded, so there wasn't much issue in controlling her. The reserve course already hated Hope's Peak and would take any reason to hate them more, so a video that shows them the sins of Hope's Peak would affect them as well. Ryoko and Chisa have no connection to the reserve course however, and neither are particularly very weak emotionally. Ryoko has the analytical prowess of Junko and Chisa is just a very strong willed person in general, and paired with Junko's lack of knowledge about subliminal messaging when creating the video, it's pretty obvious it wouldn't be that effective on them. All the more reason for Junko to force Ryota to make a better despair video.

The despair video v2 that Ryota is forced to make comes in the form of Chiaki’s execution video, where the stronger subliminal messages paired with witnessing the representation of the happiest moments in their miserable lives and their closest friend suffer makes class 77-B unable to resist. Ultimately this causes them to finally snap, being overloaded with despair, and now they turn into the Ultimate Despairs. (side note this is so freaking cool idc what anyone else says)

This resembles Monokuma’s explanation from Danganronpa 2. Junko used class 77-B’s emotions and years of getting closer against them to turn them to them to despair. Now featuring the added context of her using the video designed to manipulate people’s emotions. Also as @jelimore pointed out, Junko leading the class to Chiaki's execution itself was manipulating them. This depiction of brainwashing fits perfectly with the information provided throughout the series, even down to the little details. It’s so close in fact that I can say without a doubt that Danganronpa 3 did not retcon anything. “But Tumblr/Twitter user Pengu, that isn’t how the video is shown to work during Hope Arc. Therefore it actually contradicts previous entries and is inconsistent!" To that I say, you’re correct! ...at least about the hope video functioning differently, but that doesn’t make it inconsistent. The hope video behaves pretty differently. Instead of overloading the viewer with negative feelings, it simply just shows them a repeating video loop that turns them into a mindless zombie, likely caused by even stronger subliminal messaging. The people affected can also snap out of this state with some time, as seen with Aoi.

The reasoning for this is actually pretty simple, it’s just different technology entirely. It’s stated that the hope video was developed later on after the despair video. If anything, it behaves very similar to the Monokuma masks from Danganronpa Another Episode, which we also already established uses different technology. The hope video doesn’t contradict the despair video at all because they both use completely different tech. This can also be seen with how the despair video uses subliminal messaging, meanwhile the messaging in the hope video couldn’t be further from subliminal. There is no inconsistency, just two different things.

The reason the hope video needed to be broadcasted everywhere was so that since it would be airing everywhere, nobody would have time for the effects to wear off or resist it. This would turn the world into mindless zombies who obey every command, similarly to the Monokuma kids. It's just that now they don't have to force bulky helmets onto everyone.

Debunking Common Arguments

With the hope video out of the way, I think it’s very safe to assume that not only is the despair video’s functionality very accurate to previous descriptions, it’s also always been the reason for the brainwashing of Class 77-B, long before Danganronpa 3. Even if you disagree and think the cause of brainwashing was never explicitly mentioned in Danganronpa 2, there's still the fact that Danganronpa 2 outright says it was brainwashing. So even if a video wasn't the direct cause of it, them being brainwashed was still always intended (though given the context and the fact the video was introduced in a tie in novel for the game, I'm certain that it was always the culprit). Many point to this line where Kazuichi asks why they became the Ultimate Despairs and Makoto says he never got an answer to debunk this. But... this doesn't change anything. He asks why they became Ultimate Despairs, not how. And this is completely ignoring the fact that Makoto clearly has done his own digging into the situation, he discovered the Remnants of Despair were hiding among Future Foundation after all. The Future Foundation had access to brainwashing videos, they found them, so of course Makoto is going to know about the brainwashing. What Makoto is saying here is that he doesn't know every little detail, all he knows is that they were brainwashed. I wrote a bit more about it here, but there's nothing contradictory in this scene.

Many also point to Mikan stating that it was her many human relationships that led her to being the way she is. Once again, this changes literally nothing. Mikan was the only one of the remnants who actually knew Junko, she was the only one who spent time with her because she was the first subject. This is why she gets more attached to her, and even why she'd believe what Junko would tell her when they spent time together. Monokuma also says that Junko used "hopeless methods overflowing with charisma and humor" to control the masses. I don't even know why I have to address this, but this statement is so vague you can interpret it as a million things. Like for example, this is how she got Ryota to work for her. While pretending to be Makoto to manipulate the people in the trial, Junko tells them that they all became Ultimate Despairs while coming into contact with her at Hope's Peak and they were subjected by her terrifying influence. Again, ignoring how vague "terrifying influence" is, this is literally Junko trying to LIE AND MANIPULATE them. This is quite possibly the worst example you could have used because we know for a fact that she is lying to them while pretending to be Makoto. There's other examples of Junko trying to manipulate them, like mentioning how everyone hated them and their all Ultimate Despairs at the end of the day. But that's just what this is, manipulation. You would think that the "Junko manipulated class 77-B" crowd would understand that saying "everyone hates you but I saw your potential" is literally manipulation 101. She even states that Izuru killed the entirety of a student council, which we know for certain is a lie because Danganronpa Zero (which came out before) says otherwise. Some say that the brainwashing turned them into mindless zombies and eliminates all blame from their actions. While I would agree that it does make them less at fault, they still have the ability to make choices and still have free will. Their original personalities haven't been overwritten, their brains were just rewired to crave despair. They're still each their individual person with their own ways of feeling despair, and characters like Chisa and Nagito show that they regain their free will to an extent. I also wrote more about that here, LOL.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

This whole debate stems from people misunderstanding Monokuma’s words and going along with the popular interpretation, which turned out to be wrong. Whether you like the use of brainwashing or not, it objectively isn’t a retcon as it's been developed ever since Danganronpa Zero. Personally, I love the use of brainwashing. I think the way it's developed throughout the series and its usage in Danganronpa 3 is super interesting. If you disagree, that's fine! Heck, if you choose to headcanon that Junko manipulated 15 individual teenagers into all becoming despair hungry terrorists capable but ending the world and fighting off every military in the world in less than a year, that's cool too! But the truth is, Danganronpa 3's brainwashing is canon and it's also not a retcon nor does it contradict anything. Contrary to popular belief, Kodaka was involved with the writing of the anime. He provided a large draft and outline of the plot and oversaw its development. He produced the anime, he did his homework, the team even played the games to prepare for writing the anime. He knew what he was doing. I'm sure if Kodaka intended for them to all be manipulated one by one, that's what he would have went with. All information implying that it was manipulation is very few and far between and questionable at best, not to mention outweighed by everything implying it was brainwashing. Mind manipulation stuff is not new in this series, its been around since the first game and brainwashing was established in literally the second entry ever produced. Whether you love it or hate it, think it's the best thing since sliced bread or the death of the series, brainwashing was the answer the whole time. Some people just never noticed it, and instead of acknowledging that they were wrong, they stuck with a headcanon that they believed so much and jumped to the conclusion of "retcon". I hope this mega post managed to inform some people, maybe change some minds too. If you still don't buy it, then I guess there's nothing I can do. Thanks for reading all of this though, I tend to yap a lot about this franchise lmao.

[zxmbigirlfriend]

hopes peak academy tumblr dashboard simulator

🍡kusamochis Follow

i hate ultimates fuck off ultimates ultimates dni

🍀nagikomaeda Follow

reserve course lmao

🍡kusamochis Follow

YOU ARE LITERALLY WHO I’M TALKING ABOUT HERE

#except for @gamez4life you are the only exception ily

47 notes

🐉best-sister Follow

@lesbienning what are you gonna do? cancel me for “harassing ultimates”?

📸lesbienning Follow

123.69.420.51

🐉best-sister Follow

WHAT THE FUCK

1,609 notes

🐰gamez4life Following

why can’t reserve course and main course just get along :(

473 notes

🐺fenrir-mercenary Follow

@junko-enoshima-official how do you reblog

5 notes

🔮mageofdespair Follow

haiii!!! :3 our warrior cats animated series featuring our ocs “the rise of despairstar” has its first episode out now :3!!! Drawn primarily by @birdskinhater and voice acted by @totezadorbz, we’d like to say thank you to @junko-enoshima-official for helping give our project more recognyation!! :3333

💋junko-enoshima-official Following

#omgggg this slayed #not to be a warrior cats fan or anything but i TOTALLY LOVE despairstar she serves CUNT you with me she serves CUNT

21,394 notes

🍡kusamochis Follow

Getting brain surgery tmrw hope it goes well

11 notes

🎓hope’s-peak-academy Following

Clarification- our school has NOT taken part in any unsanctioned lobotomies. Such behaviour is abhorrent and we recommend that any reports of it are to be reported immediately.

2,356 notes

🍬candygurl Follow

just got expelled

21 notes

🍀nagikomaeda Follow

Finished my junko enoshima callout doc, you can find it here

#junko enoshima #anti junko enoshima #junko enoshima critical

685 notes

💉kill-your-self Follow

i stand with my cancelled wife

💉kill-your-self Follow

shut the fuck up about your fictional characters this is about my real-life girlfriend

3,687 notes

🎤ilovesayakamaizono Follow

shes so pretty it hurts…

#koma talks #i love her #sayakaposting

7 notes

🎸 bookidooks Following

IS THAT A FUCKING DEAD BODY

#WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKKKKKK

9 notes

🐱cutesquish Follow

Fun fact: killing people is universally wrong! If you think otherwise you are a horrible person and I hope you fall in a tar pit!

📸lesbienning Follow

Fun fact: you shouldn’t be morally policing other people’s activities! Everyone has their own way of expressing themselves and you shouldn’t be forcing your views onto others! Op is an asshole, don’t listen to them!

🐱cutesquish Follow

what. what the FUCK.

🃏irlvamp Follow

Calm down. It is unnecessary to be throwing a fit after an innocent comment. I believe it is important to see both sides of the debate.

🐱cutesquish Follow

don’t you like run an illegal underground gambling ring

🎸 bookidooks Following

anyone here smoke weed

10,452 notes

🐰gamez4life Following

Playing this cool horror game… there’s “punishment” if you failed a task and there was this one were we had to go through all these traps and eventually got impaled… god it looked painful i would definitely not like to be in that game

#it was so sad too? Like we got a little bit of hope and then it got quenched out :( #i HATE the evil teacher btw how dare she betray us

5 notes

[nmakii]

masterlist :)

— if there is yet to be a link, please assume i am still working on it!

— previous works

hazbin hotel

alastor x chef!reader

alastor x similar!reader

— youre losing me - judgement upright & reversed (charlie & lucifer)

sway with me… — a date with alastor

religion’s in your lips. — making out with lucifer

getting caught in the moment… lipstick on your face — alastor + lucifer + vox getting lipstick stained

all of the girls you loved before — chaggie fluff

alastor x modern!reader

rant to me, i like the sound… — charlie + angel + alastor ranting

your sweet radio demon! — alastor getting jealous

the girl in my story has always been you! — alastor x insecure reader

yandere!alastor x clingy!reader

hotel staff x drag!reader

human!alastor x rival!reader (school au!)

yandere!alastor x fiance to be!reader

foolish one — loving vox was bad for your health

the monster’s gone — don’t be scared, lucifer is here

whiskey on ice, sunset and vine — drunk mistakes with drunk alastor

“do you think you’ll kill for me one day?” yes, of course i will, my darling — tricking yan!alastor + yan!vox

domestic life was never quite my style… — married life with human!alastor

your ivy grows, now i’m covered in you — babysitting fat nuggets for angel dust

[ghostface alastor] [teasing you with the mask]

— yandere!human alastor series

burnt out — breaking up with alastor

only bought this dress so you could take it off — alastor + vox + adam’s fashion preferences on s/os

alastor x hypersexual ace!reader

danganronpa

yandere!nagito + kokichi x demon!mastermind!reader

overlord!junko x overlord!reader

kokichi x ult psychologist!reader

haikyuu!!

all because i liked a boy? — rumors. because of oikawa

so dim that spotlight… — inarizaki’s manager is an idol?!

bedtime angel — kuroo + oikawa’s s/o hugging a pillow

knockin’ that kitty cat out! — can the hq boys fight?

bungo stray dogs

dazai x oda’s sister!reader

autistic!s/o — dazai + tetchou

blue lock

autistic!s/o — bachira + isagi

rin x reader with sibling issues

chigiri x reader with long hair

the look of love, the rush of blood — dating nagi, but not actually dating him

he gave me the… ICK! — random bllk boy icks

must be love — you decide to snoop on sae’s phone

christmas kids — kaiser hates his birthday. no exceptions.

crack baby ness

silly bllk smau | 2 | 3 | 4

once upon a dream — yukimiya’s dreaming of a mysterious, faceless girl. you can’t sleep.

falling asleep on call with nagi

sae loves calling you his princess

kaiser’s cologne

nagi loves when you blow up his phone

somewhere in the crowd, there’s you — sae surprises you on your birthday

after all this time, you and i — ???

marble game with nagi

out of otoya’s league

sae isnt the jealous type, but…

knockin’ that kitty cat out! — can the bllk boys fight?

everything is blue! — the colors kunigami + bachira + kaiser + rin + nagi + otoya + nanase see love in

late night studying with sae

nagi’s treasure

nagi’s model girlfriend

sae showing up late at night

genshin impact

food wars

project sekai

percy jackson and the olympians

percy x shy!athena!reader

[carbonatedjem]

Tokomaru Week 2024 - Day 4 - Despair

Okay so up till now the way I've been picking prompts has been choosing which one I want to do for Syomaru Week (where I really wanna go all in on the art if I can), and then using whatever is left to use as my Tokomaru Prompt, which usually makes for a neat challenge. This is the only prompt so far where I actively chose it for Tokomaru week. I admittedly didn't know what I was going to do at first, since either ship seemed like I would have had to do some angst which personally I don't wanna indulge in for these shipping weeks (More power to those who are though, I can't wait to see em and you're way stronger than me). I almost just doubled up on the rainstorm prompt. But then I remembered MasterMind AU's are a thing, and then I further remembered that Evil Girlfriends are the coolest. And so we get an AU where Toko's the Mastermind and Komaru is essentially her Mukuro equivalent, except they're dating instead of being sisters. Also for further context on Makoto's reaction, i kinda imagine that in this AU Komaru was in the Killing Game with him instead of Junko (Mukuro is also in the game, but as herself. If you're wondering where Junko is, i dunno she's outside doin stuff??). Like Mukuro she died, but in her case she just full on faked her death.

Last detail, sorry for the long wall of text to go along with this, i accidentally got too invested. Toko is still the Ultimate Writing Prodigy when she's not discovered as the Ultimate Despair, in Komaru's case she's the Ultimate Girlfriend because I think that's very silly and fun, she's also Ultimate Despair of course.

I had a lot of fun with this pic! The designs especially, I kinda wanna do more with them but only time will tell if I do

[wellpeckyoutoo]

i am positively SCHEMING

I am unironically so happy and proud of how I made these two; especially how I did their talents. Normally, 'Ultimate Murderous Fiend' is Genocide Jill's talent, BUT I thought it would be a lot more interesting if I allowed that talent to be up for grabs. Naturally, that raises an issue with Toko, as she would need to have TWO talents, one for her, and one for Genocide Jill. My solution? ...Well, you'll see. :3

Info on the characters under the cut~!

Junko- Of COURSE Junko-fuckin'-Enoshima would get the talent of 'Ultimate Murderous Fiend.' It's kinda perfect for her. Not much changes here; she's still cray-cray, she's still a problem-starter, yada yada. But in this AU, she ISN'T the Mastermind. Instead, she fills more of a Kokichi-type role. She's a chaos starter who knows a lot and tells VERY little. She doesn't hide her talent from anyone, which leads to MUCH suspicion on her. She spends her days killing as many people as she can, in as many despairfully creative ways as possible. Her nails are painted with a poison that kills on contact, and she has killed a whopping 999 people, some of those being her ENTIRE family. Except for...

Mukuro- Still a devoted follower of Junko. She follows her Junko around obediently and sometimes gets her hands dirty along with her. She spends most of her time writing while her sister gets all the kills. The two spend most of their time on the move, but Mukuro managed to actually publish a single book. It blew up, and she immediately became a VERY popular author, which, of course, got her into Hope's Peak. When the Killing Game starts up, everyone is off-put by Junko's talent, but Mukuro insists that it's fine... But it probably isn't.

[satoshi-mochida]

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars adds PS5 and Xbox Series versions, launches March 6, 2025 - Gematsu

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam on March 6, 2025, Konami announced. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions are newly announced.

Digital pre-orders are available now for all platforms except Switch, which will begin pre-orders on September 6. Physical edition pre-orders will begin on August 28.

The following downloadable content is included with pre-orders for the digital edition:

57,300 potch – In-game currency

Fortune Orb – Doubles the experience gained by the character that bears it.

Prosperity Orb – Doubles the “potch” gained when winning a battle with the character that bears it.

Here is an overview of the collection, via Konami:

About

A hero’s destiny is written in the Stars. The legendary Konami JRPGs Suikoden I and Suikoden II have now been remastered in high-definition!

The Story of Suikoden I

A once renowned hero turns into a violent tyrant, and an empire falls into decline. A Liberation Army is rising up in an act of rebellion against an oppressive rule. One by one the 108 stars of Destiny gather to shape the course of history.

The Story of Suikoden II

Our story’s hero and his friend Jowy are members of the Unicorn Youth Brigade, which participated in a drawn-out border dispute between the Highland Kingdom and the City-States of Jowstown. A few months earlier, a truth agreement was signed between the two forces, both of which were happy to see an end to the fighting. However, hidden under the momentary peace the fires of a new war continued to smolder…

Key Features

-Graphical Improvements

Pixel sprites and environment art enhanced with new screen effects including lighting, clouds, and shadow animations Flickering flames, smoldering smoke, the movement of leaves and insects, all add up to a lively in-game atmosphere!

The effects and direction have been redesigned, bringing memorable scenes back to life in more beautiful ways!

-New Character Drawings

All character portraits have been updated in HD. Junko Kawano, who designed the characters for the original version of Suikoden released in 1995, has newly re-drawn all the character portraits for Suikoden I HD Remaster: Gate Rune War.

-Sound Improvements

Field Sound – A large number of environmental sounds not found in the original version, such as the sound of running water in the river, wind, insects, and running footsteps, have been added. You can enjoy an immersive experience like never before!

Battle Sound – All sound effects are now in HD. In addition to the impact of the 3D effects, the realistic sound greatly enhances the dynamism of the battles!

-Game System Improvements

Many new features have been added, such as dialogue log, auto-battle, double-speed battles, etc.

Watch a new trailer below.

Release Date Trailer

English

Japanese

[the-100-days-of-junkan]

Day 92 

Queen of the Convenience Store by an Orphan Account

It’s the one where Junko and Mikan get blazed on weed.

Okay I summarize it like that for the bit but this is another personal fave, and alongside that it’s also pretty interesting in a similar way to Yesterday’s Fic! As this is, as far as I can tell, the first fic on AO3 to use the Non-Abusive Enoshima Junko/Tsumiki Mikan Tag! Or at the very least its the first one listed and doesn’t seem to have any other fics beating it out for that. Might be strange to commemorate the first use of a tag, though I can say for sure I’m super happy to have something like that. Makes the initial wave of binge reading very easy when I get an intense hunger for reading Junkan fics!

Oh right! I forgot to mention it (I think) in previous days, but with the exception of Day 99 every post for the remainder of the event will be fully finished art rather than colored sketches. I thought it best to just go all out by this point . . . which granted is weird to say given the amount of effort I’ve put in by this point but IGNORE THAT!~ 

For today's art instead of making a direct adaptation of a scene like yesterday, I opted to make a cover for it. Which was a bit harder than expected! Cover Art is actually something I kinda struggle with, representing an entire story whether short or long through just a single image requires so much meticulously fedangling in the brainspace, and that’s not even considering the actual contents of a story. So, how does one make a cover representing a short story where Junko and Mikan get stoned and eat snacks? Get a lil weird with it. The original idea was actually going to be a normal piece of them running down the street to the titular convenience store. That seemed too basic, so then I kinda just metaphorically smashed the idea with a meat mallet until it was more malleable. 

I took the Sidewalk, made it float, put the field and tree where they were cuddling in the back, and dropped our two baked girlies into it alongside a bunch of snacks. It was pretty fun once I figured out what I was doing! 

As for the story itself, it’s cute! It should be noted that this seems to be one part of a larger series by the original author, though the stories beyond and before this point are focused purely on Mukuro x Kyoko x Makoto, so if you liked this fic and that’s your thing you’ll have plenty more!~ 

The story does feature a lot outside of the main couple, from the aforementioned throuple, to even the appearance of some Komahinanami! It isn’t till a little over halfway through that focus is completely on Junko and Mikan.

That said when it does focus on them I find myself quite enjoying it! The story shows its age of course (2017! I think that was actually the year I got into Danganronpa? Before it hit me with the girl beam like, a year or two later), but I don’t see a need to be hypercritical of it given that I still wouldn’t consider myself all that fantastic of a writer when i manage to force myself onto the keyboard.

I love how sweet Junko is to Mikan over the course of the story especially once they’re baked. And during the earlier parts I just, love Mikan fuckin passing out when she realize Junko actually asked her out. Like that’s one of my favorite tropes sadlfhsdljfs.

Okay but for the actual main event of the two getting BLASTED on weed. I love it tbh.

I’ve had a very long history with weed, I’ve basically been doing it since I was legally able to. The reasons varied, to focus on work, to improve my art, to have some fun, make myself feel a bit more confident, relieve stress. It varied by the day. However I did recently quit the stuff as my relationship had gotten unhealthy with it over the course of this year, will I go back? Someday, but for now i’m vibin. Point is, having a lot of experience with Weed means that I have a bigger appreciation for this fic than I probably would have otherwise. In terms of how accurate this is to what Weed can do to you, it should be noted that Weed can have different effects on people. For me, it can make me mellow or hyper active depending on my stimuli, some people become panicky and paranoid, and some people just aren’t affected by weed at all no matter the dosage. This is just me going off my own personal experience.

Those girlies were toasted as shit and it’s adorable. For Mikan, calming her down some makes a lot of sense, and while speaking from experience her coordination increasing a bit seems a bit questionable I can’t write it off entirely. I’ve used weed to reduce stress or put back my darker thoughts in the past, so it checks out! And Junko using weed to make her brain stop running at max constantly might seem a bit weird and unrealistic, however, you do enough weed you can just kinda shut down your ability to think and feel under the right conditions. Speaking from direct experience. Obviously an extreme end of the spectrum I just described there, but it means this checked out! 

Beyond that, the way these two talk from here feels very on brand with how I would often speak with friends in call when I would get high. And it’s just so fuckin cute! They’re just sayin shit y’know? I don’t wanna just describe every little thing that happens like a recap, so it’s kinda hard to describe? Like none of what they’re saying really matters, but at the exact same time it actually really matters. It’s the forward momentum of it y’know??

Them describing what kind of chocolate they are is very silly and super god damn adorable while they’re just cuddling in the grass and laughing with each other. But they’re also like trying to verbalize themselves in a light and fun way that lets the other understand them, AND it leads to that really cute line at the end where Junko talks about liking Orange Cream! Also the part where Junko tries to call Mukuro just to see if she’d show up was really funny, I just love the mental image of it all alsdjfhlsdjfhsd. 

It’s just a really fun little read going through one very cute night with these two, love it!

As always, Reblogs, Comments, and Little Notes in the Tags are appreciated!~ They always make my day!~

[lightlycareless]

If your main story followed canon, how would your Naoya handle the situations that canon Naoya was put in? Do you think Naobito still put in that thing about Megumi in his will and do you think Maki would’ve ended up killing the Zen’ins(she’d most likely spare Y/N and her children and maybe Naoya if Y/N asked) or do you think it would’ve never gotten to that point at all? I love your story and I find it fun to think about how your Naoya would handle the situations of canon :3

Heya!!!

Omg this is such a difficult question to answer because I feel like everything would still continue on as the manga! With a few exceptions, of course. Let's get to them 👀👀👀

Naobito would still select Megumi over Naoya to be his successor (if the clause regarding Gojo becomes effective) however, your dear husband wouldn’t go batshit crazy over it.

Instead, he’ll get to see how messed up it really was for him to become leader at 15 years of age. So young, unprepared, and the fact that he hadn’t spent time with the Zen’in, meaning he didn’t know how everything went down, just made it worse! This is definitely a reflection of him becoming a father; he sees Megumi as either one of his babies and the dangers and stresses of becoming clan leader drives him crazy with worry! It’s a tough job, that’s for sure, one he never wishes either of them to endure.

THOUGH the one thing I struggle with deciding the most is whether the Zen’in massacre happens or not.

It’s interesting to see how Mai and Maki would grow up to be in an environment where you were around; The easiest route to take is to say that Naoya remained the same jerk we know from the manga, everything continues on as planned, and that’s it! But then, I don’t think you’d be able to stay around for that long! Certainly not to tolerate a man that disrespects you constantly.

Though I do like to play with the idea that you were there ‘till the end, as the quiet, submissive wife Naoya always wanted you to be. Your relationship with him wasn’t the best, but as long as you kept to yourself, served him, and so on… everything was fine. Kind of. Until a baby came along…

BUT WE’RE NOT HERE FOR THE REALISTIC part, we’re here for my version of Naoya 😏 and so, I’d like to say that maybe, just maybe, the murder of the Zen’in never happens (I still struggle to accept it happened in the first place! I 100% believe Mai cursed her. Like, Maki never hinted wanting that but anyways) because you would’ve done your best to set a better life for the twins, persuade Naoya to use his influence for their benefit. I doubt anyone would’ve cared much since they were “irrelevant” to the clan so yeah sure, why not!

The one that would’ve put up much resistance obviously would be Ogi and their mom, Junko. Going as far as reproaching you about it, but you did not budge. Not after all the horrible things they’ve gone through. You couldn’t back down.

But of course, as much as you tried to stop the clan from being crude to them, some would still persist, more so when Maki eventually decides to pursue a career as a sorcerer (You and Naoya would have discussions about this; he still believes that people with no cursed energy shouldn’t be sorcerers, even if there were ways to go around that. You insisted otherwise.) making things worse for Mai with her inevitable departure.

I have no idea how Maki got to enroll in the school and whatnot, mainly because the Zen’in would finally intervene at this point, saying something like “We allowed you to act the fool, use the heir to make their lives better. But we draw the line at sorcery—back off if you know what’s good for you.”

Thus, for the sake of this ask (and my curiosity) I’ll make it as if you were the one to call Gojo intending to ask a favor out of him. Informing him of what was going on with her (specifically how talented she was!! So, he better not mess this up!) and make sure he gives her all the support she needs; because you knew damn well the Zen’in were not people to underestimate and would go out of their way to ruin her life. But at least they respected (feared) the leader of the Gojo clan enough to not intervene… that much.

As for Mai, you end up recruiting her as part of your staff; a kind of hidden, diplomatic solution to protect her from being forcibly enrolled as a sorcerer as well. The Zen’in hated you for it, but what could they do? They sure liked abusing the system, but when it was the other way around, they hated it. Talk about hypocritical…

Naoya, even though he didn’t agree with much of what was happening between you and the twins (mainly because it made you a target of his family, again) would still 100% remain by your side. Any snarky comments from them he’d shut down immediately, with the threat of retaliation if they persisted.

Unfortunately, there’s only so much you could do to protect the twins—so maybe that massacre does happen in the end. I’m still debating whether you die or not, but it’s most likely that you do, solely because I believe Maki was cursed by her sister. Mai told her to destroy everything and she did.

YET I DON’T FEEL HAPPY WITH NOT GIVING YOU A CERTAIN ANSWER, MORE SO WHEN IT’S A PESSIMISTIC ONE, SO: No for the sake of a happy ending, you don’t die. Mai is eternally grateful for the things you’ve done for her and her sister (you managed to ease the tensions between the two, Maki apologizes for leaving and Mai understands why she left) so, she doesn’t hold any grudges, and thus, she doesn’t ask her sister to destroy everything 😊

Instead, when you and Naoya decide to live away from the estate for a while, you invite the twins over with their mother, if they wished. Junko heavily decides against it, but since you take your staff and Mai is part of your staff, she has to go. (This is nothing but a formality, you let Mai do whatever she wants. She doesn’t really work for you) and Maki goes whenever she has free time at school.

Megumi ends up becoming the clan leader because of Shibuya, but he ends up giving the role to Naoya by… insistence of Maki! She trust him to do a good job now (and because she knows you’ll keep him in check haha) and since it’s a reformed Naoya, you can bet he will do his best to restructure the Zen’in into a better clan. I mean, do we honestly think he’d like to see those things, especially when they happened to you (with the fear of them occurring to his own kids as well), and not do anything?

So yeah! There you got it. TLDR: your interference in Naoya’s life essentially changed everything that happened in the clan, to the point where they didn’t get killed for it hahaha. NGL this totally sounds as Y/N was some kind of messiah with all the work she did, but hey, that’s the power of love 🫣🤣

Thank you so much for sending in this ask! This touched a subject I’ve been wanting to explore for a while now, I might get to it later on :> specifically the did Y/N die at the massacre? OR WHAT ABOUT CURSE NAOYA? (That’s another ask I got on my inbox hehehehehe I guess we’ll have to be patient 😏)

Now, take care, and hope to see you soon 💖

[popcornpieispissedoff]

A Pile Of Canon Divergent Danganronpa Headcanons:

The students absolutely did not get along when they first enrolled, they were all legit getting on each others' nerves and every other day was a shouting match.

Byakuya doesn't mind Ultimate Impostor's presence most of the time, but there have been times when he was seriously creeped out by Impostor.

After they adopted Kotoko, Hifumi collected all his loli/shotacon and invited Kotoko to help him burn it. Seeing the damage adults did to Kotoko has him rethinking his tastes in manga altogether.

If Kiyotaka catches anyone running in the halls he will drag them to that person's starting point and make them walk back to their destination.

When Gonta inevitably found out that Hiyoko liked squishing ants, he sat her in front of the biggest anthill he could find and unloaded ant facts on her. This bored the habit right out of Hiyoko.

Everyone has accidentally locked themselves out of the school at least once.

Over time, everyone noticed that Mikan was tripping over less and less. Though she attributes it to learning balance from Sakura, she subconsciously knows it's because she doesn't need the attention anymore.

Mikan wants to cure Nagito's terminal illnesses, but fears that Nagito's luck would kill him if she does so.

Mikan cares deeply for the Warriors of Hope, and is a key player in their rehabilitation.

The virtual Jabberwock Island from Danganronpa S is still there...but the students actually built it to get away from their oppressive dickhead superiors that they hate. It has the 50 day summer camp mode for all of them, or a solo mode for anyone to set a specific amount of time within the virtual world to unwind.

[Very slowly lays hand on Masaru's head as to not trigger his trauma of being slapped] This boy can fit so many cuddles and kisses.

Jataro won't just let you hug him, the little mf will let you s q u i s h him into your body with all your love and might. As long as he can still breathe he will be happy and let you hold him.

Kirumi cracks pretty easy under stress. She doesn't lash out at everyone so much as she curls up against the nearest wall and rocks herself.

Don't ask Kirumi to reenact Jackass with you, or she will absolutely overcomplicate the assignment and seriously injure herself. She does not comprehend physical comedy, much less the line where physical comedy becomes everyone around her fearing for her life.

Ryota straight up lives in the walls along with the balding Monokuma from V3. Junko and Ultimate Impostor are the only ones who know, but neither of them have been successful at getting Ryota out of his shell.

Korekiyo has been given an intervention by all the girls at Hope's Peak. It ended with eight hours of group hugging. Korekiyo is feeling better now.

Korekiyo and Kirumi have routinely fought over the air conditioning.

Masaru will bite anyone at least once, but for reasons only known to himself, he likes biting clowns the most. He will hunt down any clown that appears in his field of vision and not stop until he gets a bite.

If Gonta finds any insect traps or insecticides, he throws them down the garbage chute.

Hajime is still Izuru, but it's an open secret. His classmates love him no matter what his identity is. <3

Reserve Course students weren't so chill about Izuru, however-they wanted Jin Kirigiri's BLOOD. And the Ultimates just kinda let them do it for treating their friend as a lab rat.

One winter when the heater broke everyone slept together in the gym until it was fixed. We're talking a pile of blankets that was three feet thick.

They legit would not trade each other for the world except for Kokichi and even then Suichi would still be sad about it

Mahiru doesn't like taking pictures of Ryoma because his weirdly large eyes reflect all the light and the result always looks terrifying.

Someone kept leaving a stuffed toy clown in random places around the school...until they adopted Masaru and he promptly bit the shit out of it.

Ibuki tried playing from the rooftop once. It took 8 hours to find her, 4 hours to coax her down, and 2 hours to soothe her afterwards.

Nanokumas like to move things around when nobody's looking.

All Ultimates are prone to getting the zoomies. It ranges from Leon running around in circles to Sakura almost leveling the school.

Reserve Course students like to observe the Ultimates because Ultimates are all stupid fucking dorks and watching them accidentally stir up chaos is great entertainment.

Hope Fragments appear when a student feels their happiest. It forms within the body and gets hacked up like a hairball.

Gonta routinely has nightmares about being caught in a venus flytrap.

Fuyuhiko has become aware of Yasuhiro's debt to his family, and holds it over his head.

Peko wonders if her parents know about her becoming an Ultimate.

Junko is trying really, really hard to feign apathy towards her classmates in the name of Despair, but no one buys it.

Mukuro and Peko like to spar together, and they're pretty evenly matched.

Miu is soft (by Miu standards) towards Chihiro.

Miu becomes very anxious and needy at the mere thought of graduating from Hope's Peak and moving away from her friends.

More to come when my brain cells wake up and remind me who these people are

[theamityelf]

Have you ever done RoD class 78 AND class 77 together before I genuinely cannot remember? I know you have a story about RoD class 78 on AO3 but it's not both classes together. Anyways like your previous idea everyone except Makoto is in despair and they keep him around because he is simultaneously their hope amd despair. Despair because he has to watch his friends do things they would have never done, and hope because some of them are waiting for him to join them.

How would the RoD of class 77 view their situation and what would their dynamic be now that they're both fighting for Junko's affection?

This is really cool!!

The envy over class 78 perpetually having more of Junko's attention and favor than them would be such great despair for the 77th class.

Mondo's "every biker gang in Japan" and Fuyuhiko's, ya know, yakuza, are constantly fighting over turf, because now there's factions within the Ultimate Despair. This lawlessness benefits their side, of course. When it doesn't benefit them to be at odds, they're allies. But they all want to be the ones to earn Junko's approval, and her classmates know her better and she cares about them more. Officially, though, the 77th class has "double seniority", because they're upperclassmen and they were initiated as despair first.

Basically, by objective measures of rank and usefulness, the 77th class should be the favorites; they have a princess controlling kingdoms on Junko's behalf, for despair's sake! They worship her way more than her class does. But she simply doesn't like them as much, and that hurts.

Okay, now Makoto!

He is hanging on to his morals, but naturally his mental health is in shambles. Basically, it's the status quo of Despair's Throbbing Heart, for him; he is keeping layers of denial and dissociation between himself and the horrors and surfacing from that state when there's someone he can save or influence.

The arrangement he's in would be different, in this AU.

The 77th class like to make fun of the 78th class for the fact that their luckster is still on "that good guy BS". They even point to Nagito proudly, like, "Look at our luckster! He set a convenience store on fire yesterday. What's your guy been doing?"

Nagito loves this. His class has never been so supportive and affectionate toward him.

The 78th class's response to this is largely defensive. Like, "Stop bullying Makoto! He's just a late bloomer!" Meanwhile, they all do their best to get him into despair. (Hifumi is the most creative about it.) At first, he meets every attempt with yelling protestations and passionate insistence that they're not like this! He knows them, and they're not like this! After they've done it enough, he loses the energy for such displays, but that doesn't mean he's given up. Every time they do a horrible thing in front of him and he shuts down emotionally, they wait eagerly for him to start laughing or pawing curiously at the ashes or something to indicate he's enjoying it, but he just shuts down for a while and, when his mind considers it safe to resurface, changes the subject.

He still argues and protests what they're doing, but now that he's no longer shocked every time, he can ration his energy so that he's subtle when he needs to be subtle and insistent when he needs to be insistent.

Junko lowkey loves it. When she visits her friends, there will be at least one time where she beckons Makoto over to sit with her and just kind of guides his head to rest on her...chest. Strokes his hair with her long nails and calls him a freak of nature and tells him he disgusts her. Sayaka's cuddled up against his other side, sometimes, but sometimes Junko takes care to get him alone. Quietly, in an alternatingly sweet, cruel, and emotionless tone, she tries to wear him down by talking at length about the futility of his resistance and how much happier he and everyone will be if he just gives in to despair.

He's sometimes trembling with fury while she does this, and sometimes he's just staring into space. Either way, he's managing his energy. He can't fight what she's doing to others if he wastes energy defending himself. And she knows it.

He seems not to be listening, but he saves her words in his mind. Sometimes they're useful, to get his friends to spare people based on little loopholes or slants in what Junko said.

The 77th class repeatedly offers to borrow Makoto for a weekend, claiming they can get him to despair, where his own class has failed. The 78th class tries to refuse, but Junko tells them to let the senpais try. So, sometimes Makoto visits them.

They think he's adorable and weird.

He gravitates toward the ones who do the least horrible stuff in front of him (Ibuki doesn't seem to personally kill anyone.) and the ones who seem the most capable of uncomplicated affection (Akane treats him like a younger sibling, and there doesn't seem to be any edge of weird, fond cruelty to it.).

Nagito and Izuru are fascinated with him.

Both the hope and despair in Nagito are delighted by Makoto. Makoto causes Nagito's class to view him favorably, to take pride in him. But also, Makoto has shown himself to be the best of them, somehow. There is a light within him that cannot be extinguished. It's a precious gift that he simultaneously wants to see destroyed and protected. Literally, any direction that Makoto goes will make Nagito happy, either from the perverse glee of seeing someone so amazing finally falling to despair, or the wholesome glee of seeing him continue to soar above the filth that has claimed everyone else. Either way, he is transfixed. After they've spent more time together, he'll probably start to care about personally protecting the good in Makoto, but at first he's just watching the fireworks with his hands behind his back.

Izuru is likewise fascinated by the unexpected fortitude. Since Makoto is subject to more avenues of attack to his morale, in this AU, than he is in Despair's Throbbing Heart, he's less overtly friendly in this AU than in that fic. He's kind, but he's more careful about who he opens himself up to, meaning the side of himself that he shares with Izuru is less an immediate friendliness than a quiet kindness. Still, Izuru is intrigued by it, and a part of him he doesn't consciously recognize is starved for kindness.

Both Nagito and Izuru are pretty overt about these feelings.

Sometimes Makoto wakes up to see a shadowy figure standing over his bed. "Kamukura?" he guesses from the long hair.

"I was walking past your door, and I heard you having a nightmare. I was curious, so I came to watch."

"...Okay." Makoto rolls over and goes back to sleep.

When Junko has her weird cuddle sessions with Makoto, Nagito will post up to watch, like it is a critically-acclaimed one-act play.

Both of them are constantly commenting on Makoto's behavior out loud in front of him, like they're the Twitch chat of his life.

Occasionally, someone like Akane or Taka will ask Makoto if those guys are bothering him, but he always says no.

(They don't know enough about Izuru to know that there wouldn't be much they could do about it if he was.)

[himiko-yumehellno]

Kodaka very obviously wants to make Danganronpa 4, but as many people have pointed out already, this would conflict with the ending of V3. I thought I would make things easier on our resident murder mystery writer who appears to really like making mascots that remind me of Whisper from Yo-Kai Watch, and come up with some solutions to this problem! Organized in approximate order of increasing silliness and grasping at straws, with some additional director's notes from ✨me✨!!

So, how can Kodaka make a new Danganronpa game that works with the ending of Danganronpa V3?:

Danganronpa isn't actually a killing game franchise loved around the world; Tsumugi either lied or was lied to herself (probably with the use of a Flashback Light to make her believe she was a willing ringleader). Allows for some interesting angst if it's the second option.

Despair made a sudden comeback and took over a good portion of the world. Tsumugi fudged some details, but it's true that a lot of the world now enjoys killing games, because normal life is just boring to them (a life without despair and death?! Ugh! Who'd want that, am I right?). We find out in a later installment that the survivors joined with other forces fighting against despair. Danganronpa 4 explores a separate killing game also put on in the name of this new global wave of despair.

Danganronpa 4 turns out to be a prequel (possibly featuring a killing game that the in-game franchise was inspired by, possibly just being one of the numerous previous installments Tsumugi threw out there in her exposition monologue, possibly some secret third option), and ends up with some ridiculous name so fans don't get confused on the sequence of events. Personally, I hope the name is Danganronpa Negative Four.

As so many postgame fics have taken to declaring, the entire game was a simulation. Except to make this work, it probably wouldn't be a simulation designed by Team Danganronpa – no, no, no! Perhaps this killing game was put on by Remnants of Despair or – *exaggerated gasp* – the Future Foundation themselves, hm?

Danganronpa V3 was a really fucked up social experiment and none of the "reality TV" backstory was real. No one knows how it got past the ethics committee, so don't ask.

It was all an alternate dimension/timeline. ... Look, if all it takes to brainwash someone into mass murder is forcing them to come to anime night, they can throw in a little time or dimension travel!

To piggyback on that last idea, the "reality TV" backstory was true; Danganronpa V3 and all the previous installments in this series were fiction... in the Rain Code universe. Or some other video game setting made by Kodaka. Nothing of the sort happened in the actual Danganronpa continuity, however.

Danganronpa V3 was Junko Enoshima's idea of heaven. Of course, it wouldn't have been complete without the despair of her ideal world being destroyed, hence the survivor trio shutting down her killing game show. Danganronpa 4, therefore, takes place in the living world, continuing off vaguely where the Danganronpa 3 anime left off. Notably, all questions about how Junko's heaven works and why she even got to go to heaven in the first place are not solved until a separate anime series, where we find out it was originally supposed to be her hell until she made the demon in charge of looking after her quit and give her full range of the place. It's never answered whether the participants of the killing game were other dead souls or just beings she created.

The entire thing was just the Monokuma Children playing with dolls. ... Or, knowing them, dead bodies.

Before V3 came out my brother had this whole theory that all of the characters were in a pseudo time loop where every time a killing game concluded, they'd just roll out a set of clones of everyone and start all over again, presumably killing off the survivors of the last game. I have no idea how this would solve Kodaka's issue but I want to see if they could find a way to make it work.

I'm excited to see what becomes of Kodaka's newest works, but apparently by his own admission he's interested in returning to Danganronpa at some point, so I thought I'd do the hard part for him. Feel free to take any of these ideas and run with them, Kodaka!

(feel free to add your own suggestions on how to make the ending of V3 work with a new Danganronpa game!)

[ultimatemissadhd]

You guys want complex characters but you couldn't even understand Kyoko Kirigiri - Kyoko defending post.

So today I'm gonna talk about Kyoko framing Makoto because you guys only foucs on Makoto in here which drives me insane.

Yes, it was unfair that Makoto got framed. But don't forget that Kyoko was getting framed too, it's not like Kyoko framed Makoto for a murder she committed. The dead body belonged to Mukuro who died chapters ago.

Of course, Kyoko could have pulled out an inspirational speech and sacrifice herself for Naegi but there was no place for that bullshit.

Haven't you seen the bad ending? If Kyoko dies, they never get out of the killing game, the tradegy goes on forever and they don't even know.

And Kyoko knows that. Kyoko knows she's the only person who can end the killing game with all the information and evidence she got. As much as, some of these were in her room, that still wouldn't be enough for others. Plus they would probably have no reason to go there after she dies, I also wouldn't be surprised if Junko got rid of the evidence in Kyoko's room after she died.

The whole reason why the trail was in the first place was because Junko wanted to stop Kyoko from destroying her killing game. Kyoko knows that.

Now, Kyoko finds herself in a situation where she's about to get executed and the "if you vote the wrong person then you all die" rule is not going to help her anymore since the whole thing is rigged and she's being framed by the mastermind. She knows that if she dies the killing game will never and go on forever AND SHE'S RIGHT. She's nervous, she's scared, she's in a point of no escape.

She has to choices:

1. Die and lnever defeat the mastermind and have everyone locked in there forever, mastermind wins, all the deaths meant nothing.

2. Frame someone else, live and defeat the mastermind and then avenge the deaths of everyone including the person who got framed.

There's no place for sacrifice bullshit here.

Kyoko choses to save herself, not because she's selfish or arrogant but because she believes in her abilities and the knowledge she has.

Makoto ends up being the person who gets executed instead and that's s pretty much a random thing because it really could have been anyone. Yes, she feels guilty and yes, she knows it's unfair. But it was the only thing to do so she can end the killing game.

Makoto survives and she goes to look for him and saves him and she does it pretty quickly. She goes there, brings him food and water, then helps him get back to the building. If she didn't care about him, she wouldn't think about what happened to him.

The fact that she was the only one to do so, maybe because she detailed map of the school that she got from some secret room, however the fact that she threw herself down the trash to save Makoto shows that she cares. But I think it's safe to say that if she didn't go down there, there's a huge chance that no one would.

In conclusion, chapter 5 is not all about Makoto. I hate when people make it all about him and how it was unfair for him and JUST for him. Because if you think about it, it wasn't fair for anyone and Kyoko had no choice, just like everyone else. They couldn't just not vote, they had to vote for someone.

Kyoko is an interesting character because like I mentioned before, what you'd except from a Danganronpa female support character would be inspirational sacrifice to let the protagonist solve everything by themselves and "I believe in you" and blah blah.

That scenario just doesn't work here because Makoto alone doesn't have enough information and knowledge to defeat the mastermind by himself.

Another thing is that Kyoko apologies and explains everything as soon as she sees Makoto.

Makoto forgives her not because he is a loser people pleaser although he is but not here but because he knows Kyoko and trusts her and he knows that she has those information that could help save the killing game, he knows that without her they wouldn't defeat the mastermind.

Kyoko Kirigiri is a character with her own morals, brain, way of thinking and mind. She is a deep powerful character who was one of the main reasons Junko was defeated. Yet, she gets very little credit. This would bring us to talking about the anime but that's a topic for another day and another rant.

[the-ultimate-puppeteer]

Masterlist

Danganronpa

THH

Kyoko kirigiri

Kyoko Kirigiri confessing to a shy male reader

Kyoko Kirigiri confessing to Junko and Mukuro's precious baby brother

Kyoko Kirigiri confessing to a depressed male reader

Kyoko Kirigiri confessing to a Mikan like male reader

Kyoko Kirigiri confesses to a male reader who's woken from a coma

Kyoko Kirigiri confessing to Ibuki's Younger brother

Kyoko Kirigiri confessing to a male reader who was executed instead of Makoto

Yandere Kyoko Kirigiri Confessing to a Main course male reader

Kyoko Kirigiri confessing an Aoi asahina like Male reader

Kyoko Kirigiri confessing to a crush she accidentally rejected before

Kyoko Kirigiri finding out her androgynous boyfriend is curvy

Kyoko Kirigiri confessing to a former remnant of despair reader

Kyoko Kirigiri as a Parent

Kyoko Kirigiri with a cuddly S/O

Yandere Kyoko Kirigiri comforting her boyfriend who had a nightmare

Kyoko Kirigiri confessing to a reader who's to kind for their own good

Kyoko Kirigiri with a Kobeni like Boyfriend

Kyoko Kirirgiri's boyfriend giving her flowers

Aoi Asahina

Aoi Asahina with an Izuru Kamakura like S/O

Aoi Asahina with a cuddly S/O

Aoi Asahina cuddling with her S/O after a busy day

Aoi Asashina and Reader having their first date

Aoi Asahina with a Kobeni like S/O

Mukuro Ikusaba

Mukuro and Junko's Younger brother who's just done with Junko's shit

Mukuro with an affectionate and cuddly reader

Mukuro x Reader general headcanons

Mukuro asking her crush out

Mukuro with a sick reader

Mukuro with a Tsundere boyfriend who's affectionate

Mukuro's boyfriend incorrect quotes

Mukuro with a clingy and air headed S/O

Mukuro with an S/O who absolutely loves her freckles

Mukuro with an S/O where she follows through on killing the class except the her S/O

Mukuro ikusaba as a Parent

Overprotective Mukuro headcanons

Mukuro with an S/O who takes down an attacker

Yandere Mukuro headcanons

Yandere Mukuro comforting her boyfriend who had a nightmare

Mukuro carrying her S/O

Mukuro with an Ultimate sketch artist boyfriend

Mukuro with a Quiet but extremely affectionate boyfriend

Mukuro with a Touchstarved S/O with ADHD

Mukuro with a shy and introverted Younger sibling

Mukuro with a S/O that has contrasting Public side and a Private side

Mukuro with an S/O who has a Feral side

Mukuro meeting her S/O's parents for the first time

More Yandere Mukuro Ikusaba Headcanons

Junko Enoshima

Junko with a younger brother who's just done with her shit

Yandere Junko with a darling who purposely makes her jealous

Junko with an Autistic ultimate plushy maker

Yandere Junko with a shy and adorable boyfriend

Junko enoshima Incorrect quotes

Junko enoshima Incorrect quotes 2

Junko enoshima Incorrect quotes 3

Junko enoshima Incorrect quotes 4

Junko enoshima Incorrect quotes 5

Junko enoshima Incorrect quotes 6

Non despair Junko with an Autistic reader

Junko with a shy Younger sibling

Junko comforting her S/O who was ditched by a former friend

Junko with an S/O that refuses to fall into despair

Junko x Reader headcanons

Toko Fukawa/Genocide Jack

Toko Fukawa and Genocide Jack with a Boyfriends who's energetic and affecionate

Toko Fukawa and Genocide Jack with a boyfriend who helps them their hobbies

Toko Fukawa with a Boyfriend who's supportive

Toko Fukawa with an S/O who's quiet but affectionate

Toko Fukawa with a Male reader who has a crush on her back

Toko Fukawa getting caught making out with her S/O

Makoto Naegi

Being best friends with Makoto Naegi

Chihiro Fujisaki

Chihiro Fujisaki with a S/O who has ADHD

Chihiro coming home from a busy day to cuddle his S/O

Chihiro with a reader who's his Best friend

Chihiro having a Lazy day with his S/O

Chihiro relationship Headcanons

Chihiro with an easily distracted S/O

Chihiro with a depressed S/O who's really into exercise

Celestia Ludenburg

Celestia ludenburg with Ditzy and Clingy reader who has a dangerous Ultimate

Goodbye Despair

Mikan Tsumiki

Mikan with a Mioda sibling who gets into weird situations like his sister

Mikan tsumiki with an S/O that likes giving her compliments and affection

Mikan tsumiki Parenting headcanons

Mikan Tsumiki with a S/O with ADHD

Mikan with an S/O who helps out with her hobbies

Mikan with an S/O who's normally shy and friendly but when gaming gets angry and loud

Mikan with an S/O who's quiet but loves spending time with her

Mikan and reader who have a mutual crush on eachother

Mikan with an S/O who has a Feral side

Mikan with an S/O who likes giving her headpats as praise

Mikan coming home from a rough day to recieve love and affection from her S/O

Mikan with an S/O who has Public side and Private side

Mikan meeting her S/O's Parents for the first time

Mikan with easily lost and distracted S/O

Mikan watching her boyfriend molly-wop an entire Yakuza clan

Peko Pekoyama

Peko confessing to Chiaki's older brother

Peko confessing her love to a Makoto like reader

Chiaki Nanami

Chiaki with an S/O who has PTSD from their abusive family

Chiaki with an S/O who's sleepy all the time

Chiaki encouraging her S/O to get some writing done

Chiaki with an S/O whose normally shy and friendly but when gaming is angry and loud

Chiaki with an Ultimate martial artist S/O

Super Danganronpa Another 2

Chainsaw Man

Danmachi

RWBY

Jujustu Kaisen

Persona 3-5

Helluva Boss

My Hero Academia

Honkai Star Rail

Zenless Zone Zero

Anby with a Phaethon sibling who likes to show off

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley

Fate Grand Order/Stay Night

[hecatia666]

art summary thingy cuz these work for self-feedback! will share my thoughts on each month below, read if you wanna!

The big silly start, where the idea for the mod started, of course i had to shrink her down to fit the sizes but this is what inspired me to do it and to draw Iono the way i do

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This was a commission for a friend that turned out to be amazing! I think this was the first time i experimented with colors this way...

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You could say that Hecatia wearing clothes similar to Iono is the 'brand' i have now, since i like both characters maybe a mix of em fit well?

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April had lots of progress of the Iono mod and comms, but this one is simple yet very funny! just like evil buu except evil and... evil?

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Nikita, her final design and thanks to a dear friend too! I like her so much and the fact that she's a guest character on the stories that the same friend does it's very flattering!

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For Junko and Hecatia day i did each one separately but i felt that it was nice to put em both in a single pic, the super mario 64 level painting lol

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July was peak Uma Musume time for me cuz i was watching the anime and sharing a lot of it with friends and also experimentation with drawings! I drew these two without lineart for some experimentation thingy

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This one was a challenge to make, but damn it was worth it i love how opera looks with the pose, she does fit very well!

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A drawing for a very specific ship on a very specific webcomic on tumblr about very extra incorrect fire emblem gba quotes! The meme was overdue but i enjoyed drawing it nonetheless

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On october i felt it was a while since i drew hecatia, so the choice was to draw her in the alt costume from Puppet Dance Performance!

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This one is just adorable, i tried my best to made it look cute and it did! It's actually an ongoing series of drawings about the Gostiva cast being with their hypotetical pokemon team

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December went with a BLAST! After finishing antonblast i just HAD to draw Iono in the style, that i think i nailed pretty well!

Tho i also have this one as a favorite! I love this Gostivan so much and their team too!

[rubberduckyrye]

Also is anyone else bothered by the timeline of DR as a whole in V3??

Like here's the thing that I'm annoyed by rn, and this is something I feel like the V3 class could have figured out on their own if they weren't busy with their narrative hate boner for Kokichi

In DR3 the Anime (which is canon to V3) Makoto and go are shown as young adults, who eventually go on to rebuild HPA after the world is finally back to normal. I'm assuming in this timeline the Dr1 and DR2 cast are even older.

Considering the casts of DR1 and 2 were young adults by the time their KGs started, we can safely assume that the DR1 cast was about 18 (at the youngest) to mid 20s (at the oldest) depending on how many years they were in HPA for and how long it took from them holding up in the academy for their KG to actually start (it seems to be implied they were in the academy for a long time but idk how long exactly)

Add a few years after DR3 Future Arc's main story to account for the world being rebuilt/for HPA to be rebuilt, and you're looking at a cast that could well be in their thirties by the time the V3 cast applies to HPA as students. Or at the bare minimum, mid twenties.

So here's the stinker: how in the FUCK was Kokichi supposed to be Junko's "right hand man"?

If Junko would be in her mid 20s at the youngest and in her 30s at the latest by the time Kokichi could even apply for HPA...

Okay. Let's say Junko at the youngest would have been 25 by the time the new HPA is built.

Kokichi could apply to HPA at the earliest, probably about 16 years old? Since there is that rule that he had to have been in a different high school first.

That would mean that Junko is nine years older than Kokichi at the youngest she could have been--and let me put that into perspective for you.

If Junko was 18ish when she broke the world, Kokichi would have been 9 years old.

Considering she didn't even view the WoH on the same level as her, either Kokichi was an extremely exceptional child she took advantage of and made him her right hand man, or the whole thing was absolutely bogus.

I know these are very rough estimates here, but realistically speaking, there is no world where the V3 class (aside from TDP and DRS of course) aren't all way younger than the DR1 and 2 cast

It just feels like this detail got swept under the rug because the writers forgot their own implications