#i mean we had danganronpa kirigiri

[yuzuna123]

despite the series having it's set of flaws ( every series does! and that's okay! ) can we appriciate the fact that Danganronpa answering the questions the main story had before Danganronpa 3 finished?.

i give kudos to Kodaka and the team for that.

[penguwastaken]

Nobody Understands Mukuro Ikusaba (aka Mukuro Character Analysis)

...except for the people that do (lol).

But first I want to clarify what I mean by this title and why I even wrote this thread in the first place. Mukuro is my second favorite Danganronpa character, only beaten out by Kyoko. There's a lot of reasons why I really like Mukuro, but one of them is her writing.

I think she's one of the best written characters in the series. But unfortunately, she also happens to be one of the most misunderstood characters as well. Not even by the people who don't like her, but also by her own fans.

"Mukuro has incestuous feelings for Junko" "Danganronpa 3 retconned her character" "Mukuro was just a plot device" These are all claims that baffle me because simply just consuming the media will say otherwise.

To many, Mukuro is either a one note incest freak or a pure innocent cinnamon roll who did nothing wrong and both of those interpretations are wildly incorrect. I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but we're finally here.

Nobody understands Mukuro Ikusaba (a ""🧵"") (Spoiler warning for the entire series)

Story Overview

We don't actually know too much about Mukuro's backstory aside from the fact that at a young age, she was separated from her younger twin sister Junko. Before being taken away, she claims that she was homeless and after she was taken she was forced to become a member of the military group Fenrir.

So clearly Mukuro never really had the chance to have a normal life, and more importantly: never had a chance to feel the care of another person.

Her sister, who Mukuro had not seen in years, suddenly got in contact with her and called Mukuro over to participate in her plan to overthrow Hope's Peak Academy (and the world). Mukuro, who already felt bad for losing her sister and was desperate for any kind of affection, accepted and began working for Junko.

Junko took advantage of Mukuro's desperation and had her basically work as a servant to her plans. She started by having Mukuro wipe out the entirety of a middle school in order to prove Mukuro's skills and how far Mukuro would go for her.

With that out of her way, Junko made Mukuro obey like her servant in order to overthrow Hope's Peak and cause the tragedy. Mukuro did so without batting an eye and disregarding any second thoughts she might have had, all while facing Junko's abuse.

During her time attending Hope's Peak, Mukuro met Makoto Naegi. Unlike most of her classmates, Makoto was friendly to her and showed her compassion. This confused her as we already established that Mukuro wasn't used to affection. Because of this and her tendency to latch onto anyone who shows her even an ounce of care, she began to develop feelings for Makoto (that even Junko acknowledged).

"In the past two years, Ikusaba had gained an interest in the world beyond her sister. And in that world, Makoto Naegi--the first person who smiled at her and bridged the gap between her and the world--had become like a sapling of sincerity taking root in her heart." -Danganronpa IF confirming Mukuro's feelings for Makoto

"Upupupu… I wonder what kind of fun you were having in the infirmary? Did you take care of your rival in love, or did you wish them a happy marriage? Either way, don't you think our nice guy Naegi standing side-by-side with Kirigiri makes for a wonderful picture? If this were a thriller, they'd be the last surviving couple!" "Upupupupu… Or how about just killing all of the others? If everyone but you and Naegi die, then the two of you can spend the rest of your student lives together! After all, we can't even hold a trial if there's only two people left. Maybe it'll be best if you just hole up here, safe in the building forever!" "And what're you going to do once he goes back to his old self? It's not as if you were dating Naegi, right? You were just watching him from afar all this time! Now this is a shock. You can shoot right through people's heads and hearts without even blinking, but you can't even steal away some skinny little boy's heart! You want me to tell you who Naegi had a crush on before his memories were erased? Upupupupu…" -Junko teasing Mukuro about her feelings as she aids Makoto in Danganronpa IF

Once the tragedy occured, Mukuro was locked inside of Hope's Peak with Junko and the rest of their classmates and she helped orchestrate the killing game. She disguised herself as Junko, under the impression that Junko would fake her death and they could spend the rest of the game together.

This is when the seeds of doubt began to sprout inside of Mukuro. I wouldn't say that she necessarily began to go against her sister, but she definitely was starting to get a little more hesitant.

"It was only recently that she began to question her mindset. Hearing about this plan from Junko and watching the world burn at the hands of people in Monobear masks did nothing to sway her, but when she heard that Junko was intending to plunge Naegi and the others into a game of murder, something within her began to move. The seed of doubt soon took root, sprouting into a thorny vine that twisted around her feet. And the moment she met her friends for the first time under the identity of Junko Enoshima and realized their memories were truly gone, the vines quickly tightened around her ankles." -Danganronpa IF describing Mukuro's feelings when the killing game began

To Makoto and the player who are under the impression that this is Junko, they assume that she's referring to not wanting to be a model anymore. But given her backstory of never being able to live a normal life and always having to fend for herself or follow the orders of others, we can infer what she actually means. She expresses disappointment in the fact that she never really had a chance to do what she wanted.

This all culminates in the moment where Junko was supposed to fake the death of Mukuro, but that isn't what happened. Instead, Junko killed Mukuro and betrayed her. To say that Junko felt no remorse from this action would be a lie, however. Junko only did this because she knew it would hurt both of them.

...but what if that wasn't what happened? What if Mukuro wasn't killed? What would happen then? That brings us to:

Danganronpa IF

Danganronpa IF answers the hypothetical question of what if Mukuro survived Junko's attack. Of course this means it isn't canon, but due to Kodaka being involved with its creation and its existence as an event that hypothetically could have happened, it is canon compliant. This means that while the events didn't happen in canon, they could have and things like characterization are all accurate. Think of it like an extended free time event. While the events themselves aren't canon, the things they say and imply are. I'll also be referencing Danganronpa IF a lot because since it's told from Mukuro's perspective, it gives a lot of insight on her thought process.

After regaining his memories, Makoto recognizes and rescues Mukuro seconds before her would-be death and he gets impaled by one of the spears. Mukuro rushes to save him, abandoning her disguise and goal.

During this time, Mukuro does a lot of thinking. Why did Junko try to kill her? For all the time they've been working together, Mukuro always assumed that her job was to prop Junko up and help her achieve despair.

It turns out that Junko didn't want Mukuro to obey Junko's every order, Junko wanted Mukuro to retaliate. She didn't want Mukuro to submit to her, but instead to fight back.

With this Mukuro changes her mind, choosing to fight Junko instead of assisting her. Not because she's on the side of hope, she never cared about hope or despair, but because she only wants what's best for the only person in her life who cared for her.

"'That's why… I'll take responsibility. I'll make you happy, Junko . I'll make youdespair. I'll save Naegi-kun… I'll make sure none of our friends die. I'll get them all out of here. And I'll kill every last one of the ones on the outside. You planned this for years and killed so many people to make this work… so I'll destroy every last trace of it.' She was not driven by resentment at the sister who abandoned her. Ikusaba would do all this for her sister's sake." -Mukuro changing her approach to making Junko happy in Danganronpa IF

Who is Mukuro Ikusaba?

Now this is the part where I finally exit the synopsis phase and finally get into the character analysis, explaining why Mukuro acts the way she does in all entries.

Now, I want to begin with a common critique of Mukuro's character, specifically one that's attributed to Danganronpa 3. The one that says that Mukuro's behavior is not only out of character, but also claims that she has romantic feelings for her sister.

First point out of the way, Mukuro's blushy and flustered attitude is nothing new when it comes to her character. It's been an aspect of her since the very beginning of her characterization.

"'I don’t know if… she attracts despair, or despair attracts her, but… she’s lived her whole life with despair by her side. She lived while immersed in despair. That’s why she began looking for despair in others; she began to enjoy pushing people into despair. But you know… that’s normal. It’s no different than someone cursed by misfortune falling into hatred for those who are better off than them. But what’s special about her was that�� she learned to enjoy inflicting despair upon herself. That’s how the link to despair began: as she chased down despair, she pushed it onto others along the way. Doing so caused her to crave falling into despair even more… and because of that chain to despair, the Ultimate Despair was born.' While she spoke, it was like she fell into a fever; the expressions on her face slowly turned into ecstasy. It was so completely absurd that it would have been difficult for anybody to think of it as anything but a joke, but I could tell that this was real. It might have been the hazy memories of Junko Enoshima inside me that led to that conclusion. 'You don’t get it right? That’s fair, I don’t think anybody could… But you know, only I can understand it…' Consumed by ecstasy, even Ikusaba’s breathing had begun to turn ragged." -Mukuro describing Junko in Danganronpa Zero

The second (and more important) point to address is the one that Mukuro holds some kind of romantic feelings for her sister. Now, in all honestly, I can't hold this against anyone for thinking this even if I think it's a wild misinterpretation of her behavior. Danganronpa has a track record of using incest for comedic effect (to always poor results). However, Mukuro's relationship with Junko is not used to comedic effect and it's portrayed in a negative light. Not only that, we know that Mukuro does not enjoy behaving that way.

"'She hoped that, perhaps her sister on the screen would say something like 'Not! You seriously thought I'd say something that sappy? Jeez, you're annoying! Can't you just disappear forever or something?'. She hoped that Junko might criticizeher and call her useless. Ikusaba was no masochist, but she would have preferred to hear scornful laughter and be shot at rather than continue to endure this pain." -Danganronpa IF explaining Mukuro's "masochism"

Mukuro doesn't behave the way she does because she has feelings for Junko, she does so because she believes that's how Junko wants her to behave. Danganronpa Zero and IF makes it clear that Mukuro was wrong about how Junko wanted her to behave.

“'You don’t get it right? That’s fair, I don’t think anybody could… But you know, only I can understand it…' Consumed by ecstasy, even Ikusaba’s breathing had begun to turn ragged. 'Only I’m able to understand her… That’s why she needs me. She still hasn’t realized it, but… maybe she’s only pretending not to. Ufu… It’s because she’s so shy. Ufufufu…'” -Mukuro explaining that Junko needs her in Danganronpa Zero

"Ikusaba knew that not even she herself was her own ally. After all, despite the fact that Junko had betrayed her and very nearly killed her, Ikusaba still believed that she was the only one who could understand her little sister. And that was why she felt that she had to protect her. That's right… you were just being you, Junko. You just wanted despair, right? It's because you love me. You wanted to kill me and fall into despair. That must have been it" -Mukuro in denial in Danganronpa IF

"Ikusaba believed that she alone could understand the despair known as Junko Enoshima. It was a ludicrous notion. The moment Junko said, 'I love you', Ikusaba realized--to her agony--that she never truly understood her sister. Only now had she come to realize Junko's feelings." -Mukuro realizing that she didn't understand Junko in Danganronpa IF

Because of Mukuro's incorrect interpretation of understanding Junko, Mukuro believes that Junko expects her to respond to her abuse with acceptance and masochism. Even if she was uncomfortable to, as long as it made Junko happy, that's what mattered. Of course, we learn that Junko wanted Mukuro to respond her abuse with retaliation, and as soon as Mukuro realizes that her behavior immediately shifts. Mukuro holds a great deal of admiration for Junko, so much so that she only wants to do what would please Junko the most.

She does not have romantic feelings for her sister and to say so misses the point entirely. She isn't behaving that way because she's a masochist, she behaves that way because she believes it's how she's expected to, even if she's visibly uncomfortable. Once she learns this isn't what's expected, she immediately changes course.

Danganronpa 3 also has official relationship charts that depict the relationship between characters. In this chart, crushes or explicitly shown romantic feelings are labeled with a heart (as seen with Kazuichi's attraction to Sonia or Toko's attraction to Byakuya). Mukuro's relationship does NOT feature this heart. You would think that if Mukuro's very obvious admiration towards Junko was romantic it would have a heart, but it doesn't because it isn't. If what I said before didn't convince you, I think this itself is proof enough.

Mukuro's admiration doesn't extend to just Junko though. Due to her unfortunate upbringing, Mukuro has a tendency to get attached to anyone who shows her the affection she's desperate for. So much so that her behavior changes completely around the people she cares about.

"The mass of monochrome spun round and round, making it look as though they were projecting a hypnotic image from three directions, but Ikusaba remained expressionless. In fact, the bizarre sight unfolding before her compelled the Super High School Level Soldier to regain her focus. She was an entirely different person from the girl who had panicked at Naegi's injury in the gymnasium." -Mukuro while fighting in Danganronpa IF, behaving completely differently from when she panicked over Makoto's injury

"Not only that, if anyone who knew her as the Super High School Level Soldier and mercenary were to see her now, the difference in her attitude might even make her look like another person altogether. And Monobear continued to drive the girl into a corner." -Mukuro panicking over Makoto's injury in Danganronpa IF

"The mask of ice she wore around others was entirely unlike the face she showed her sister, making it almost seem as though she had multiple personalities." -Danganronpa IF explaining that Mukuro's behavior around Junko is different from her typical icey expression

This is why around most people, Mukuro has a pretty blank expression. However when she's around Makoto or Junko, the two people who she cares about, she displays a much more soft and emotional side.

That being said, an often overlooked aspect of Mukuro is that she actually has a slight ego and is proud of her skill. This is especially obvious in her fight with Peko in Danganronpa 3. Of course, if I spent years in the military without getting a single scratch, I'd probably have an ego too.

Mukuro is also capable of turning off her feelings and going into a "killing machine mode" whenever the situation demands it, mostly when she's carrying out some mission. It's not because she doesn't feel bad for what she's doing or isn't having any second thoughts, it's that she pushes any doubts to the side to focus on getting the job done.

"In battlefields, where she made her home, her main mission was to kill and survive. And in that setting Ikusaba was invincible. She could put her own emotions on a leash in order to become a killing machine." -Danganronpa IF explaining how Mukuro is capable of ignoring her own feelings

"With a single whisper that was drowned out by the sound of gunfire, Ikusaba went completely silent. Thanks to her status as a member of Super High School Level Despair, her heart was filling with joy. And as if to offset the sudden surge of emotions, the sparkle in her eyes disappeared." -Mukuro turning her emotions off while fighting in Danganronpa IF

So Basically...

Due to her upbringing Mukuro is someone who gets attached to people easily, particularly those who give her attention. Junko took advantage of this to make Mukuro essentially act as her servant. Believing that Junko expected her to return the abuse she faced with enjoyment, she forced herself to do just that. Even if it made her uncomfortable, making her sister happy at her own expense is better than being alone. She's capable of turning off and ignoring her emotions to following orders when necessary and is generally a proud and skilled soldier, though she has a softer side that she only shows to people who she cares for.

That is who Mukuro Ikusaba is.

Conclusion

There's a lot of reasons I really like Mukuro. I think she's silly and cute and I like her singing voice. But I also think her characterization is really good in all of her appearances. I think a lot of the critiques made towards her (especially towards her appearance in Danganronpa 3) are misguided or just a result of her being misunderstood.

She's not a plot device or a character exclusively there to act as an extension of Junko. She's filled to the brim with character depth and interesting writing and has plenty of characterization on her own. I'll admit that her presence in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a bit limited, however she doesn't just become an important character in four other entries without getting some kind of development.

Many think her characterization is inconsistent or different across entries, but I honestly think it couldn't be any MORE consistent. The only times where I'd say she acts out of character is in the comic anthologies, but those are non-canon media that's kinda known for flanderizing characters for the sake of comedy.

Basically, I like Mukuro. I hope I managed to change some minds or shed a new light on her to anyone who didn't before. And if you already liked her, I hope maybe I could make you appreciate her a bit more or just help you explain her in some way.

anyways follow me on twitter cough cough

Also special thanks to Twitter user @LKSixtyfour for their tweets about Mukuro's characterization, many helped me organize my thoughts to form the thread that you just read.

Edit: didn't make any changes to the post, just fixed some typos

[gachagon]

Hypocrisy anon here and I agree completely with your response, especially the tags.

I really hope a p:eg writer writes a fic about a Danganronpa character being plopped into Project Eden's Garden cause I feel like the dichotomy between them and the cast would be so good.

Like I could see the cast seeing Makoto as a complete anomaly with how optimistic he is even compared to Diana. With Hajime I could see many of the characters shunning him with Damon doing so too. Nagito and Kokichi I feel like would be even more wildcards than they were in their own games.

If Eva had been with any other group she either wouldn't have murdered or I think she would've won that Killing Game. The THH and SDR group were like so friendly and trusting of one another that each trial was a gut punch because they knew someone had genuinely betrayed them or felt like they had been backed into a corner into becoming one of the Blackened. (Aside from Celestia who was just straight up trying to win it lol)

I definitely think she would've won the Killing Game for THH if she befriended Naegi and still did her whole "I'm gonna frame someone else" plot. Only because I think Naegi and the others would have had too much faith in her T_T

Hajime had to vote for multiple people he actually liked so I don't think she'd have won SDR's Killing Game, but alternatively she wouldn't have murdered if she had a support group and seeing as the SDR crew were like legit besties even after the Killing Game, I could see her not resorting to murder.

V3 however, idk I feel like she would've lost. She'd have had to tell a lie so convincing that it'd trick the REAL Ultimate Liar, Kokichi Ouma and I just don't see Eva doing that. But I do think she'd bond with other characters in V3 because she wouldn't be the only person with an "unusual" talent. (That, and her ostracizing starts because she's the first to point out the naivety of believing no one would murder. The other crews I feel would've had more people who would've agreed with her openly rather than following some leader. That way she wouldn't be alone in her opinion, which sort of makes her spiral from the jump.)

Like Kirigiri and Byakuya would've agreed with her in THH, I can see Fuyuhiko and Peko backing her up on the whole "we really CAN'T trust people like that..." point, Maki and Shuichi would've also agreed with the idea of it etc...but in Eden's Garden the only person she had was Damon, and Diana agreed but not outwardly and she did just stay quiet for the most part T_T (i love Diana but I feel like Eva had a bit of a point, it's like when you're in a group of friends and they're bullying someone and you point out how they're all being kind of mean, but nothing happens bc you don't do anything personally to distance yourself from that kind of behavior.)

That, and the other crews didn't have a "leader" until like the very end. Sure there was someone to help lead the discussions of the trials, but outside of trials they didn't have someone who dictated what they did or when they did it etc. Like nobody was looking to Naegi or Shuichi or Hajime as leaders to make decisions for everyone. When Wolfgang was like "Just bring any suspicious clues to me next time Desmond" I knew that shit wouldn't fly if it was THH or something (Byakuya would've called him out on it so fast lmao)

[rindragon-from-twewy]

Uh oh! Someone left me alone with my thoughts again! I don't see many people talking too deeply about pre-game stuff beyond "Number One was a terrible person" so I'm here to throw my own poorly explained hot take in to the ring-

I'm not really built for theory crafting and tend to miss or forget obvious details so consider this... an AU proposal more then anything. (Tbh I mostly just wanted to draw smol Yuma lmao-)

Spoiler warning ofc and enjoy this horrifically long and poorly explained ramble-

So... I don't really know much about the general fandom age headcannons on characters. I won't be going in to specifics right now about what I think all the character ages are cuz this isn't about that but for context, I pin Yuma around 15-16, on the early 18 side if you really wanna push it. Mainly cuz... it'd be kinda weird for Kurumi (a school student) to be one of his main love interests otherwise- For the sake of argument, I'll say 18.

So anyways-

Makoto's like... what? 3 or 4 years old? Forgive me for not re-watching chapter 5 just to get my timeline correct here but that's roughly right. Meaning that Number One would've been about 13 or 14 when he agreed to participate in the experiments at most. And sure, he's the smartest person in the world but anyone can be susceptible to lies or manipulations, especially someone that young.

But then of course we don't know how long Yuma had the Number One title for. Surely it would've had to have been at least a little while- I doubt the unified government would go after the blood of the newly appointed "smartest detective in the world" the second he got in to office. So who's to say exactly how much this literal child had been manipulated beforehand?

I'm imagining a sort of... Nagisa plus Kirigiri scenario (the danganronpa characters lol-) where they'd been set on a very specific academic path nearly their whole lives. Sure, Yuma probably had been born a genius and his strong moral code was most likely all his own but... no matter what way you spin it, there must have been some negligence to allow someone so young to become so cut off from the rest of society. It could've been intentional, it could've been accidental. Either way, why is someone like Yuma, who is obviously younger then most of his peers, who could easily pass as a trainee detective simply because of how smol he is, make it all the way to the top on his sheer intelligence alone?

This rambling's getting incoherent, sorry, it's late and I'm tired-

Makoto's pretty manipulative, sure, but he only got to the CEO position cuz of all the blackmail he had- Man had zero control over the city to the point he had to let outsiders get smuggled in just to help him fix it. Makoto (and by extension Number One) is book smart. Not street smart. They can build the rain machine, they can run multiple government conspiracies, etc etc. But if Number One was a kid at the time, it would've been pretty difficult for them to manipulate, mansplain, malewife his way in to office imo. A kid can't manipulate a dozens of adults in to being the leader of the whole WDO, no matter how naturally gifted they are. I mean it's no secret that the unified government and by extension the WDO are just as shady as Amaterasu so why wouldn't they take advantage of a young and impressionable kid when the opportunity arises?

We don't really know how Number One truly felt about anything. We know how Makoto views it, we know what Yuma thinks about it but we don't know if Number One really understood what the repercussions of the experiments could've been.

So let me just... break down what I'd interpret a vague timeline of events to be (in this hypothetical... Uh... AU I guess?)

- Yuma gets in to the WDO somehow. Very young, very impressionable. He may be really good at solving crimes but like any kid, he doesn't know anything that he isn't taught about. Being surrounded by mysteries and crimes, all while constantly being praised by adults as being "just soooo smart!" Is probably what taught him that he didn't need other people and so never learnt (or potentially was never even allowed to) make friends.

- Growing up surrounded by a combination of Yes-Men and people who let the obvious child labour/ exploitation slide because "This little genius is such a special case, we gotta let it slide this once!" Made it so he reached to the level of Number One far faster then anyone would expect. And that then came along with abandoning his old name and identity, isolating himself completely for his own protection. (I like to think he may not even remember his original name because he was so young at the time (for extra angst ^vO))

- And so a completely isolated pre-teen, who's entire life up until this point has entirely consisted of gory murder scenes and tragic crimes he was personally responsible for solving, was approached by the unified government. Who knows exactly how much detail they went in to with explaining their plan? Maybe they said that it probably wouldn't even work out, given all the past failures. Maybe they came begging for his help, like many people seeking justice would have done before them. Maybe they simply told him it was for the sake of peace? Maybe he was in his angsty emo phase and thought having a clone would be cool, who really knows? A pre-teen is a pree-teen, they all do dumb things- either way, he agreed.

- And so things played out like they said in the game, Makoto was created, escaped, saved the citizens of Kanai Ward via isolating them. He keeps them fed the only way he knows how - through the WDO; the only organisation he's ever been able to rely on (and thanks to his authority level, of course). Yuma starts getting suspicious while also simultaneously maturing enough to realise just how wrong everything about his life is, gets his new identity, makes the contract with Shinigami and heads off to start fixing his problems.

Additional Thoughts:

It's like that thing in the original beauty and the beast movie where everyone suddenly realised that the witch probably cursed a 9 year old for not letting a creepy stranger in to his home-

Maybe that's why he stuck with the name Yuma after everything. Cuz he didn't remember his original name to fall back on. He could've been Number One for as long as he could remember for all we know!

Maybe he was so busy trying to run the whole WDO that he didn't even pay much mind to the experiments? Could've just agreed to shut them up without knowing what he was getting in to. Makoto really drove it in to the mud how horrible of a person Number One was but how can we be sure that's an objective fact and not completely opinion driven?

I'm like actually really curious what other's perspectives on this could be. Again, I don't know much about the rain code fandom's age headcannons but it's pretty obvious to me at least that Yuma's on the younger end of the cast- (And by extension, Makoto too-)

Maybe I'll fact check myself when I have the time- either way, it's an interesting AU idea at the very least. I'll probably delete the writing portion of this post if it turns out I'm horrendously wrong-

Its probably gunna turn out that Yuma's in his mid 30s or 40s and suffers from baby face syndrome or something cringe fail like that lmfao-

So. Yeah. That's all just a theory (minus most of the fact checking) A GAME THEORY- Thanks for reading! :D

[affluent-havoc]

Incoherent Rambling on Naegamigiri and Siblings and How that Could Maybe Impact their Relationship Dynamic in Some Way

Makoto is the oldest in his family. Kyoko is the only child in hers. Byakuya is the youngest in his. (side note, it's more of a "to my knowledge thing" for kyoko since i know almost nothing about danganronpa kirigiri and golly she has so much looooooore ;-;)

I find all of this interesting. I personally feel it may add to their dynamic as well. Therefore, I'm going to break this all down... or try to. Gosh! This is a lot harder to put down into text for me than I thought. Basically, I feel that, their sibling experience (for lack of a better term) affects the smaller stuff in their dynamic. Makoto - For the most part, I feel he knows certain skills that come from his experience of being an older brother in his family (not that Komaru and him are that different in age but still!) Maybe a decent amount of cooking experience, understanding what all the nobs do on a washing machine, stuff like that. Also, some of the stuff he does also had that experience bleed into it. Like, he doesn't try to get out of certain tasks cus he's so used to not being able to get out of them. So, it's just second nature for Makoto to just do the things cus, as the older brother of the family, he didn't have that "younger sibling privilege" sorta deal where, once the parents get another child and no longer just have one, they're a lot more lenient on what the kid does cus they learned from the first kid on what they want to do. Or it's just like a "oh no! we can't have our precious baby girl do that, now can we!" which I feel is a coin flip on whether or not Makoto's parent's were like that due to the fact that the is like, nothing on these people! Another thing of note I feel like mentioning is that I feel he's quite experienced with that classic "back and forth banter". Cus siblings are like that sometimes. So, how this all bleeds into his relationships with a certain detective and heir is that, if for any reason they were being a bit more catty and playful than usual, he can stand his ground for a good while and even play a little dirty too if needed be! Kyoko - I feel she's rather puzzled by certain sibling things as she never had other ones. It was just her. Or, basically, in terms of the little quirks Makoto and Byakuya have due to their own family relations and how their families functioned, she catches on to those quirks but that doesn't mean she understands them in full. Feel she's a bit of an unbiased party though when it comes to things in the relationship though even without her being a detective which, is kinda her thing anyway. Like, if the two boys are lowkey fighting with one another, she'll be there to mediate or just immediately know that Byakuya was up to something cus of course he is. At the same time though, since she's still learning in terms of being in a sorta relationship like this, she can totally join in the hijinks if needed be. Or not needed be because ticking of Byakuya is fun. It's mutual at times though where they're both being kind of catty to one another. They are quite similar in some regards. Byakuya - He's rather interesting in the fact that, excluding Danganronpa Togami, it's unknown on his sibling dynamic as the youngest. With the novel series though, it gets a bit more interesting. However, regardless of which direction, I believe that, as the youngest, he has that inherent dickish energy. That "yearning to cause some chaos" feeling boiling inside. Not because he's rich though that certainly doesn't help. It's also added because he's the youngest. I say this as the youngest as well. Them's the rules! Thus, I feel he just, causes problems sometimes because he can. Not, big ones but they're still inconveniences. Sometimes, it involves bothering Makoto and Kyoko at the same time or just one of them. It's sometimes just to rile a reaction which, depending on what it is, may or may not happen. Other times though, he lowkey just wants some attention and it just so happens that they're conveniently here and he totally didn't seek them out at all! Pfft- that's ridiculous! No clue how much of this made sense! I just found this whole thing interesting though. Like, subtly, their life experience, not just childhoods, bleed into how they interact with one another. Idk it's cute too! These three are my kryptonite, damn it!!

[thekamukuraproject]

literally why do so many people hate izuru hes just a kitty cat. you're hating on a kitten. you're sick

YES!! you fucking get it!!!!

Not that Izuru didn’t let a lot of awful shit happen and then DID awful shit. Like just letting Junko start an apocalypse because you find the world boring and letting her blackmail a room of teens to get them to kill eachother while literally STAYING IN THE BUILDING with the teens killing eachother... that's bad :( Not a good thing.

That and Izuru fixing and putting together the Junko AI to mess up a simulation designed by multiple Ultimates to rehabilitate people and act as like the best therapy ever...

But like that is the extent we ever hear about Izuru is canon! or noncanon if we look at some of the weird novels like Danganronpa Kirigiri or Danganropa Togami (I have read neither in their entirety) but Izuru isn't brought up in either! (that I am aware of)

Yet Izuru in many fics I read is a manipulative asshole who wants people in pain, or I've seen people say that Izuru manipulated Junko into doing the tragedy! Like this dude was kept in a basement thinking they knew everything and having no competition or reason to grow in ability or talk with people, because they knew what they'd say, they knew what reactions they'd envoke, they believed they knew everything and what measure of joy they'd feel or what measure of hate they'd feel.

Even in canon we see in Sdr2 ch0 that they're clearly WRONG about that! They like the unpredictable motions to the waves but assume they will get used to it so no point in getting excited. In UTDP they aren't purposely mean to people. They just find little point in having an elaborate discussion with someone, likely for the exact same reason shown in sdr2 ch0. They'll get used to the person or figure them out (assuming the person just wants to use them for their talents) and get bored of the person.

Izuru is just a hyper depressed super teen who finds things boring or is so pessimistic that they assume even things they like in the moment will be boring... Like I suffer from what I like to call "Understimulated Depression" where if I'm not being given enough mental stimulation, I grow severely depressed. As a result, I'm a dopamine junkie, I need new fun things to do or I wither, and that's SUCH an easy thing to project onto Izuru. Not to say to pity me, but like this fucker had their brain scrambled and body altered through non-legal means and then gets shoved into a room with nothing but a bed. I'd *die* of boredom and so would probably everyone else!

I went on an insane tangent here but like Look at this guy! Insane surgies that suppressed a whole identity to make room for more talent and then evidence of extreme depression and then also left in a dark concrete room :/ You let that fucker OUT and give them proper love and attention? Insane, but maybe they wouldn't have sided with the villain if they'd been given enrichment in their enclosure and a warm sun spot to lay in. Maybe your cat wouldn't be so evil and scratch you if you thought about how a kitty may view you not interacting with it and getting to know it before just going in for the touching and poking and prodding with sinky human hands

[kiiromaru]

THH's Moral Alignement and Reasoning

[spoiler for danganronpa 1]

disclaimer: I haven't read the novels, also these aren't character analysis, just my reasoning for why i put them in this category, also please add onto it if you disagree or have anything to say ^^

Lawful Good

Sakura Ogami: She always takes decisions that she considers to be the best for the people around her : trying to proctect her dojo by accepting to work with Monokuma or committing suicide and making sure to write a letter explaining to everyone why she did it as to resolve the situation and create a more peaceful atmosphere among them.

Kyoko Kirigiri: She has good intentions and i feel like what pushes her to act is kind of a "i can do it therefore i should do it" mindset.

Chihiro Fujisaki: Cute baby sunshine, never did anything wrong in their life.

Ishimaru Kiyotaka: He's the Ultimate Moral Compass, pretty self-explanatory.

Naegi Makoto: A genuinely good person who tries his best to be kind.

Neutral Good

Aoi: We can see during chapter 4 that she put her personal beliefs above all else but even if she tried to kill everyone i still think that she is a good person.

Toko (Ultra Despair Girl): If we were talking solely about THH i would've put her in Neutral Evil since she doesn't care about anyone but herself and is pretty mean (also something that i find very interesting during the 4th trial is that even if throughout the game she seems totally devoted and in love with Byakuya + her obvious lack of self esteem she still chose to defend herself when she thought Genocide Jack had killed Sakura which could've led to his death), but the character development she gets in that game is golden so yeah.

Chaotic Good

Mondo: Feel free to disagree with me on that because of the fact that he killed Chihiro who very much did not deserve it but contrary to what Naegi says in the game it absolutely wasn't a cold blooded murder, himself stating that he blacked-out while killing them. I still chose to put him in good because otherwise he really tried to do the right thing (protecting Chihiro's secret by moving their body or even when in the anime he covered Mukuro's bldy with his coat it showed that he was a kind person) + we also know that he uses his influence to minimize tensions between gangs.

True Neutral

Byakuya: I feel like his god complex makes him kind of uncapable to relate to other people and consider their struggles on the same level as him so he doesn't care about anyone + we saw during the 2nd trial that he definitely can't be described as a good person. I truly feel like he couldn't care less about rules or moral implications as he considers himself above it.

Leon: His actions only seem to be motivated by what he wants in that moment without a lot of reasoning behind it, like changing from baseball to music or killing Sayaka when he could've totally ran away after she tried to kill him.

Chaotic Neutral 

Sayaka : I feel like she's morally neutral in the way where she's so goal-oriented that she doesn't care too much about the means to get to an end (which is also implicate in her backstory) but she's aware that what she does might bad : she was willing to let everyone die and pin the crime on Naegi but once her plan failed she still made sure to save everyone instead by writing Leon's name.

Yasuhiro : I hesitated to put him in chaotic evil because of the fact that he quite literally could have/tried to kill Sakura + he never was particularly kind to no one in the game and tried to steal money from us during his free time (tbh im still kinda mad at the wasted potential of making him a nice chill guy but well). In the end i went for neutral because i feel like its more a case of picking the worst possible choice than being a bad person, even if he is quite selfish.

Lawful Evil 

Hifumi: The reason i put him in "lawful" is because what convinced him to kill Ishimaru was Celestia accusing him of SA, which is an understandable reason especially paired with the chance to get out happy and with Celestia but he was still willing to sacrifice everyone to get out so lawful evil it is.

Neutral Evil

Celestia Lundenberg: It was pretty complicated but i settled on this alignement if we take the things she tells us at face value (since i've seen a few people saying that she wasn't actually trying to win the game and that's why her plan was so sloppy). I don't feel like she's a bad person but she doesn't care about doing bad things to get what she wants.

Mukuro Ikusaba: That's where me not reading the novels probably makes a difference because i know that she gets more development there but based on the game and the anime i have to put her here, even if she was obviously manipulated by Junko she still seemed to agree with her.

Chaotic Evil

Junko Enoshima: Do i really need to explain ?

Genocide Jack: I mean, she enjoys killing people and has no other reason for what she does.

Thank you if you read all of that, sorry for any typos/grammar mistakes, english isn't my first language and i wrote it all in one go. Please tell me what you think :)

[chubby-kiyo]

Danganronpa Weight gain scenarios

//wg and stuffing kink

Part 2: THH Girls

Sayaka Maizono

This is a difficult one for me, but I could see her being the type to eat a lot of the gifts her fans send and end up putting on weight. Ofc as an idol she would get shut down quickly by the press, but will probably have a strong fanbase that prefers the new chub.

Chihiro Fujisaki (she/they <3)

She doesn’t really move around much, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if she had some pudge to begin with (like in more of a skinny-fat way). She would definitely snack mindlessly while working on a program, especially if someone (probably named Mondo) brought food to her. They would chub up so easily, and since she’s so short and small-framed to begin with, the smallest gains would be noticeable. Filling out their dresses with newfound curves is super affirming for her, and having a soft, warm tummy resting on her lap especially after being so scrawny for so long is actually very comforting. So they don’t mind the changes.

Celestia Ludenberg

This girl wants to be waited on hand and foot by a (disappointingly not demon or vampire) servant. I’m firmly of the belief that she is plus sized to begin with, and exaggerates her soft curves with corsetry. To have a partner willing to get her anything she wants at her beck and call is all it would take to fatten her up. She’s a glutton and will stuff herself on hors d’ouvres before the main course could be brought out, not that that would stop her from eating it anyway. Her size is just an extension of the luxurious and debauched life she leads and she has no shame in it.

Aoi Asahina

Is the type who simply loves to eat. She’s never really been in tune with her hunger cues due to being athletic and never having to worry about watching her diet to stay fit. But if she got injured, say, breaking an ankle on a starting block, she would not eat any less despite her movement being limited. Any time she gets injured or has an off season, she puts on some weight and it fluctuates frequently. If something kept her from practicing her sport for an extended period of time, especially if she had a partner who tended to her already enormous appetite, she has the potential to really get huge.

Sakura Ogami

Is probably the partner feeding Aoi. But other than that, the only thing I really see is her having bulk periods to increase her muscle mass, and ending up with the more stocky “strongman” type build.

Toko Fukawa

I mean. We all know about the obvious scenario of Byakuya saying he prefers women with meat on their bones. But what I can also see is Toko being insecure about being underweight and having almost no curves. I could definitely see her trying to stuff herself day in and day out, disappointed to see almost no results aside from making herself sick. Someone (Komaru) will take notice and confront her about it, concerned that she’s pushing herself too hard and agreeing to help her gain in a healthier way. With a gentle hand and lots of feedings to increase her capacity, she would finally fill out. She’s totally happy about it, and so is her partner, but now that she’s developed a healthy appetite, she won’t be slowing down any time soon. But being soft for once and having wider hips and thick thighs that make her feel feminine and pretty for once? is nice enough that she doesn’t mind carrying a bit extra in addition to the necessary weight gain.

Kyoko Kirigiri

I could especially see her after the killing game taking up a more sedentary desk job type of gig as a detective or in her role with the Future Foundation and snacking more from the long hours and stress. Makoto would be the biggest enabler too, since he’s a chronic snacker himself (see part 1). If the opposite is true and she would forget to eat while working, there is no chance in hell that Makoto and Aoi wouldn’t be constantly begging her to eat.

Junko Enoshima

She is one I really have a hard time with. I could see her either gaining intentionally to feel the despair (way too overdone imo) or being a forceful feeder for the same reason (also overdone) but really I genuinely don’t care for her tbh.

Mukuro Ikusaba

Is either the victim of Junko’s escapades, or has to match her habits to pull off the twin stunt. She’s just too underdeveloped as a character for me to say alot (disappointing i know)

[arcadekitten]

hi!! who's your favorite Danganronpa character? :D

Okay so you actually unlocked something because I am a bit crazy about Dangan Ronpa so I'm gonna do this game by game and add a cut in case someone doesn't care LOL (also big spoilers for the games)

Dangan Ronpa: Okay so as a kid I really liked Togami because I thought he was so cool and now as an adult I like him because I find him affectionately stupid. I also loved Leon and I was sad he died so early but I just think his design and execution is so fun!! Like he's very iconic for that reason I think. And speaking of Leon I also really like Maizono! I know the whole joke is "but she was only around for one chapter!" but I think she's cute and I think she was executed exactly as intended and I think she played her role really well. I also really like Naegi as a protagonist, (Though I think sometimes they weirdly put him into a "pervy protag" role for fanservice stuff? Which to me feels almost out of character?) But outside of that there's something about him I find genuinely sweet and I appreciate that he like...cares more than the average protag might, at least in my eyes. Also as a kid I never cared much for Ishimaru but rewatching the game as an adult I found him really endearing!! ALSO I love Kirigiri I think she's very babygirl and I adore Celeste for her design and I think they captured "gothic lolita" in like, one of the most perfect and iconic ways! Also call me crazy but I like Junko and I like her as a villain. I need more girls who are just super weird and evil. And Again her design is also iconic.

Super Dangan Ronpa 2: I really like Hinata also as a protagonist and I think it's funny how everyone immediately attaches to him as a best friend. I also must admit I DO like Komaeda if not just for how absolutely unhinged and crazy he is. I like Gundam and Sonia especially when they're together because I think the way they bounce off each other is nothing short of cute and endearing. I think Ibuki is super cute and as someone who enjoys scene and scenecore fashions quite a lot I do agree that I think she shares a lot of similarities with that aesthetic and I love seeing her grouped with it! I also really like Saionji because mean girls are fun and also I wish we were able to see more of the character growth she had planned originally!

New Dangan Ronpa V3: So I LOVE Korekiyo, he fits into a lot of my character types (long haired boy, mysterious, also kinda weird and creepy and unhinged) and I LOVE the aesthetics that go along with his character, like his research lab?? Oh my god that looked so good! He might be like the most Arcade-made character in the franchise so I probably coulda just answered by saying him but I have so many more characters to talk about!! I also really like Angie, I like that she's pretty manipulative and it's hard to discern at times how aware of it she is and I just really like that. Her design is also cute as hell. Kaede and Kiibo are super cute, I love how earnest they both are in their own ways and how I can't help but root for them. I found Ouma to be super fun actually too(even though I feel like people don't really understand his character) but I love Ouma just the way he was written I feel like he's just a really nice addition to the franchise! And I LOOOVE Maki I think she is also very babygirl and I feel like people also misunderstand her and the writing behind her character but with the way that V3 plays out I think her character is like actually really genius and I really admire her for that. Also again I find her design just really cute too!

WHOOPS I didn't mean to lovemail so much haha! Can you tell I've loved Dangan Ronpa for a long time?

[starlightshadowsworld]

Danganronpa 3: Despair Arc episode 1

Thonks.

I love the framing of zooming out of Chisa's death to her sat in a cinema.

Because it's back to the past my dudes.

The colour pallet and tonal shift from the first episode of the future arc is jarring.

Like end of the world, arresting Makoto, put into a death game.

And now, high school.

Glares at Jin Kirigiri Can't wait for you to blast off.

Chisa is what I imagine a fusion between Ishimaru and Makoto would be like.

The fact there's only 4 people who showed up and one is Fuyuhiko.

I see you mister too cool for school sat in the back of the class with your feet up.

You ain't slick.

Mahiru and Hiyoko talking, Sonia sat front and center all posied.

It's insane how just one frame of them sat in class before any words are spoken, perfectly sums them up.

Chisa not being fazed by any of this, love it.

I mean honestly even her saying she doubled down on health insurance before she took this job.

Makes sense.

Super high school level or not they're still high schoolers.

And getting into Hopes peak is the hard part, once your in your in.

Your set for life when you graduate.

And as Mahiru says as long as you pass your exams and keep up your talent your good.

Why would you bother attending regular classes if that's the case.

Oh Mikan, your poor sweet child, get up.

The maid apron, guess shits going down. Ohh you're gonna show up to class, whether you wanna or not.

... I didn't need the very descriptive image of a mouldy orange but I get it.

Sonia matching Chisa's energy, yess.

Fuyuhiko tried to deny the power of friendship.

He loses.

Now I dunno if pulling a blade on a student, stabbing his table and look very much like you'll stab his hand... is the best idea.

But she spoke his language and for it got his respect.

Which I'm glad because as fun as asshole Fuyuhiko is, I like when he's friendly.

Also given the erm... Shit going on in this school, I don't think they can say much.

Just be glad Peko isn't here.

Why are we in the mens bathroo-...oh wait, Nekomaru.

Nevermind.

Nope, that's Sonia.

And the blood is pink here.

... Wish I didn't have to get that information from Teruteru having a nosebleed over Sonia ordering meat.

Sigh

I'm glad Chisa ties him up but knowing him he'd like it.

Annnd he does.

Idk if he flirts with guys in the game, but apparently Teruteru loves all.

... Way to much and way too intensely.

Stay classy, Teruteru.

Akane being spiderman, wasn't what I was expecting but here we are.

And if course they need Teruteru to cook to get Akane.

Smart.

Sonia is just getting all the pervs to go to class.

I don't care what anyone says, Gundam is so cool.

The animal shed looks like some kind of temple, torches are lit and he's standing above.

And there's giant statues of the 4 dark devas of destruction.

The bat's that signal his arrival.

"Speak the name of evil and it shall appear. You gaze upon Tanaka the forbidden one."

Gives a speech about destroying this corrupted planet.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼Now that, is how you make an entrance.

Ibuki's guitar being part flame thrower just makes sense.

Peko just apologising and going, makes sense.

Idk why Fuyuhiko is suprised about Peko's job. Is it a secret they're in the Yakuza?

I mean he was scouted because of it right? Idk maybe I'm missing something.

Did... Soda just get hit by a truck?.

Oh I get it, Nagito went to get a drink and now he's gonna end up with a Soda.

Slow claps

... Nevermind the truck broke the machine and he gets all the drinks.

Great show of his talent, he had bad luck and than immediately got good luck.

The four dark devas with teeny lil brushes is so cute.

... Wait so Ryota was apart of this class?

I thought he was gonna end up being Imposter but, huh... Interesting.

Because he's preseumbly the only one who didn't become a Remnant?

And he and Chisa got out.

Hajime!!!

Hears his thoughts of people insulting him.

Hajime 🥺

Chiaki!

... Wait wasn't Chiaki just programme in the simulator? She wasn't real like the others were.

So this mean that she actually existed.

... Oh... That's not good.

I know Hajime isn't apart of the 77th class, he's a reserve course student.

But man it feels werid seeing them without him.

And he's already got those negative thoughts about himself and his lack of talent.

At least Chiaki seems like she's gonna be a friend to him, especially from what we know from the game.

... But that wasn't really her but based on her.

... Hmmm....

Wasn't expecting Hajime to be from a rich family but I guess it makes sense.

Reserve course or not, Hope's Peak is one of the most prestigious schools.

The fact they have a uniform and the Ultimate don't, immediately putting them in their own category.

I find it interesting how Makoto is now seen as lower than everyone else.

Everyone who's an Ultimate while they wonder if he even deserves his title.

And he's wearing a suite identical to Hajime's.

A symbol of the reserve course, of people the talented see as beneath them.

Chiaki offering a unique outlook, the outlook I know Hajime won't accept.

Given... Yeah.

That you have the freedom we don't, you have the ability to do what you want while I just have a pile of video games.

Similiar to how Leon dedpite his talent for baseball wanted to be a musician.

"Let's put something else first, our hope."

Nagito: Hope

Me:... Oh no.

I mean now your speaking his language.

Chisa knows Munakata already?

I wonder if they went to school together than?

Also Munakata your hair looks so much better here.

What happened man?

Oh they definitely know each other.

So Chisa, Munakata and Juzo the guy who best Makoto all went to school together.

... And now we're going back to the present where she's just been killed infront of them...

Oh boy

[thenewfuture]

Ranking the Mainline DanganRonpa Entries

Hey guys. The mastermind ranking list brought a lot of discussion and attention here, and I had a lot of fun making it. Now it's time to start list that won the second place on the poll; ranking all of the main series entries.

Oh, beloved DanganRonpa. How you started out as a niche spiritual successor to Ace Attorney, to now becoming your own big entity that can rival the best of them. Where have the years gone?

Quick rules to explain the process here:

-Like I said this is only the mainline entries. Fanganronpas like the Another series, Rebirth, Blowback, etc. will not be counted.

-That being said, I will also not be including any side content like Summer Camp S, The Kirigiri, Togami and Ultra Despair Hagakure novels, Killer Killer, IF, and Zero. For one, because a lot of them don't do much to add to DanganRonpa's overarching story. And two, a good half of them I have not seen nor am I interested in doing so because they don't much for the main series anyway. Apologies...

-This list is going to be INCREDIBLY SUBJECTIVE AND OPINIONATED, if you disagree with any of the spots I've put them in; that is completely fine, just don't be a jerk about it.

-And finally, the following will contain massive spoilers for the DanganRonpa series and their respective games and entries. View at your own risk. But considering this is on a story blog that takes place after three of the entries here, maybe you shouldn't be here anyway, but I'm still warning others just to be safe.

#5 DanganRonpa 1: Trigger Happy Havoc

Why is the subtitle for the game way bigger and upfront on the cover while the actual series name is way smaller? I don't get it...

To kick off our ranking list, it's the game that started it all. The very first DanganRonpa game, Trigger Happy Havoc! Now don't get wrong, even though it's this low doesn't make it the "worst", just my personal least favorite out of all of them. I mean I would have had to like the first game to some degree if I stuck with the series this long, right? I think this game has just aged......poorly...

The premise of the game starts out very well, each student is trapped in an enclosed environment and the only form of escape is to kill another classmate. This sort of environment encourages distrust of others so that when it's inevitably time for a murder, not only are you devastated that the character you were growing attached died but also saddened at how another character you liked could do something like that. That's all fine and dandy......here's the problem...

You can't convince me these guys were EVER friends! Not only is the player supposed to get attached to the other characters, the characters themselves have to from lasting trust and bonding experiences so that they too can feel despair. But barring a few good exceptions, it's not really done with anyone else. Let give a few examples:

Could imagine Sakura getting well with Kiyotaka? ......Hard, right?

Could imagine Leon getting along with Touko? ......No, right?

Could imagine Celeste getting along with Aoi? HA! Right?!

And that's not taking into account despair loving diva Junko and her sister Mukuro who would barely have any identity of her own.

Like I said; there are some great relationships here, I am not ignoring that. I was saddened with Kiyotaka having to get separated from Mondo too, and even more saddened when Aoi tried to get everyone killed because she believed the reason for her best friend's suicide was everyone else. But the comradery of the group doesn't work as well as it should or could have been we focus on these smaller groups and leaving behind the characters that exactly fit into a group of there own. Many of the other games fix this by having much more morale boosting events and activities for the rest of the remaining cast, meanwhile I can't exactly say the same here. As an unfortunate downside of this, it makes some of the characters bland and forgettable at best. Cast makes or breaks your visual novel game people, and the cast of THH leaves a lot to be desired.

The pacing's also very slow here. Because Monokuma doesn't outright say that a blackened has to survive and outwit the others in a class trial, the first chapter feels much more sluggish as a result. Future entries would go on to fix that issue by telling them right out the gate. And like I said, because there are hardly any events or anything of note going with the cast at times, most chapters play like: "waking up, meet up with everyone else, talking about what happened, explore new area, Free Time, Free Time, sleep, wake up, meet up, Free Time, Free Time, motive, sleep, wake up, meet up, Free Time, Free Time, sleep, Free Time, Free Time, oh hey someone kicked the bucket"

The slowness also translates to the gameplay as well. Having no breaks means going through 1 to 2 hour trials in one big burst. The joke of "Naegi, telling them" is very much true here and it's normally him, Kyoko and whenever he's not being a dick, Byakuya carrying the trials with everyone else offering their input every once in a while. "Gee, I wonder if we could spice this up by having other characters object to your line of thinking?.......NAH!" The minigames are serviceable as well, I mean Hangman's Gambit was never bit it's fine here, Climatic Return is always awesome, and while MTB is fine I just want to talk to the person that suggessted having this sort of action take place NUMEROUS TIMES in some of the later trials! And I have an unexplained, visceral, HATRED for the RE:Action prompt. Imagine having to watch and read some text explaing important information to just suddenly STOP TO A HAULT and press another button to get more info because your character to ask, "what do you mean?" by himself.

All in all, while Trigger Happy Havoc may not hold up as well as most of its predecessors, and maybe some of my reasons boil down to me spoiling myself on this game but watching a let's play of it and skipping down to see who survived, that doesn't mean there isn't a whole lot good to this game. The characters I do care about are written pretty well, Makoto is a good protagonist for this game and works in a number of ways, the trials are fairly simple to what we get later down the line, and the atmosphere works well for a killing game environment. I just have a few issues with it personally that question if I want to go back to it on numerous occasions. But as I said, if I didn't like the first game somewhat I wouldn't really be here, would I?

Just remember your first shot isn't always going to be your best, and that's okay.

#4 DanganRonpa V3: Killing Harmony

I consider V3 to be the Fire Emblem Fates of the franchise..............now I know that made sense to a whopping two of you, so let me explain.

Fire Emblem Fates comes off the massive success of its predecessor, Awakening, and fixes a lot of its issues. The gameplay is much more advanced and easy to understand, the music is really good, the environments look amazing, and there is a ton of content for many to enjoy. .......Everything else with it?

OH BOOOOOOOOYYYYY!!!!!!!!

A great number of characters are incredibly one note, has an insane number of unwanted fanservice moments, has numerous localization controversy, and the story is so GODDAMN convoluted, confusing and messy, surrounding itself in a mountain of incest!

.........So onto V3...

DanganRonpa V3 comes off the massive success of its predecessors, and fixes a lot of issues. The gameplay and mingames are much more easier to understand and scrum debating is awesome, the music is fantastic, the graphics and environments take use of its new console software, and there is a lot of content to enjoy. .....Everything else with it?

OH BOOOOOOOOYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

Some of the characters are incredibly one note, has insane number of unwanted fanservice moments, has numerous localization controversy, and the story is so GODDAMN convoluted, confusing, twisted and messy, surrounding itself in a MOUNTAIN of incest!

..........Ya get it now?

I don't want it to seem like I'm ragging a whole lot on V3, but there are a lot of things that this game does that is straight up bad.

I will be nice and start with the good first however. I really like the cast and their designs, very unique and hard to forget even if I tried. The Ultimate Academy is a pretty cool set-piece for the killing game to take place in; having it be closed off to the world like Hope's Peak Academy but open to see the sky and other areas like Jabberwock Island, a pretty decent blend of the two. The music is a phenomenal treat for the ears, and for the eyes comes amazing sprite work for the new characters as well as Monokuma and great use of angles not before seen in the class trials. The new minigames for this game, Scrum Debate and Mass Panic Debates are also hella fun. And the bonus content is spectacular with Salmon Mode and Ultimate Talent Development Plan treating the fans to some actually GOOD fanservice.

That's about where the compliments end unfortunately. The other minigames aren't that fun to play through, Mind Mine is pointless and I don't enjoy it. V3 is notorious for having the ridiculous and mind stretching logic of all the class trials and that is a fact, Seesaw murders anyone? The back route mechanic sounds good on paper, and I'm not going to pretend that actually having multiple routes in a trial isn't a tremendous amount of work to pull off, but most of the optional ones are just time wasters as we don't learn much and just end up back on the correct path after a few minutes, so one has to wonder the point of all that. While I do like this cast, there are some stinkers that bring it down for me and can't compete with other ones. What the fuck is with all the incest in this writing?! And of course...the big two...

Why did we replace Kaede, a unique talent personality type who had tremendous potential for the first ever girl, main series, DanganRonpa, class trial protagonist.....for Shuichi? A low self-esteem, doesn't feel like he belongs, boy protagonist?

THIS IS THE THIRD TIME WE'VE HAD SOMETHING LIKE THIS!

We were this close to greatness....this close... And I love Shuichi too, but it still hurts everytime I think about it man, come on! Kaede could have done great things for this story or even have the two share the role of dual-swapping protagonists! And oh, that story though...

I get it, the power of fiction is real and it affects reality,and it does work for this game's overall theme of truth and lies, blah blah blah... But with how many times they HAMMER the message of: "Everything's fake! Everything you know and lie isn't real and it didn't happen! Look at you, the fans, you love killing games! You love DanganRonpa! Hahahahaha!" The message work so well it loops back around to feel insulting to not only the "fake" audience of the TV Show series, but also the auidence that's playing the game now. And apparently must have not worked enough because we still have people making videos on what they want in DanganRonpa 4, as well fans like me still being here and creating content discussion for it right now.

And with how ridiculous some of the characters' backstory are, such Gonta living with actual dinosaur people, Kaede preforming for famous kings across the world, Kirumi being the FUCKING PRIME MINISTER, maybe these were the clues all along to help you figure out this place was a fictional world. And I know that this is the series where a high school girl can overthrow the world into chaos, demigods are basically born left and right, and ghosts and aliens directly affect the plot, but I think we should have some sort of groundedness to this world, no?

Bottom line: V3 is a good game but has a mediocre story and because this is the last game in the series(maybe?), it leaves nothing but a bad taste in my mouth. I swear these writers aren't even trying anymore, DanganRonpa 17 was the best.

#3 DanganRonpa 3: The End Of Hope's Peak Academy

*THE BIGGEST AUDIBLE GASP KNOWN TO MANKIND*

Mod Freeze, isn't DanganRonpa 3 relegated as one of the worst installments in the franchise by the fans? Yes.

Mod Freeze, isn't the Final Killing Game a massive jumbled mess of time management, rules, and scope? Yes.

Mod Freeze, didn't DanganRonpa 3 not utilize a whole bunch of its characters as well as the DR2 cast? Yes.

Mod Freeze, isn't DanganRonpa 3 responsible for instilling the idea of the Remnants of Despair simply being brainwashed? Yes.

Mod Freeze, is this straw-man arguments tired out and old? Yes.

Mod Freeze, why is Danganronpa 3 so high? Well my dear reader, that is a long and extravagant answer.....

I like it.

........................

....That's it.

I'm not here to paint you a picture on how DR3 is the greatest piece of media in the history of existence, or even sway your mind from thinking that DR3 is so garbage that it could be mistaken for a Garbodor. I like DanganRonpa 3, for the simple fact that I enjoyed my time with it.

Now I am not blind to the various things DanganRonpa 3 has done wrong. It doesn't utilize most of the branch leaders well or hardly gives you any reason to care about them. A good chunk of the DR2 cast get left behind in the dust, especially those that should garner more attention like those present for the Twilight Syndrome case. And those that took the time to read and explore other lore such as DR0 do not get rewarded. Skips what could be interesting scenarios such as Chisa's time in the reserve course or even a few moments with the THH cast. And that's not even mentioning the Final Killing Game with all its confusing and convoluted bullshit.

But honestly, despite all that, I didn't mind any of that too much. I really liked the idea of a free-for-all killing game that Future Arc tried to implement, and seeing the fun and cute moments of the 77th class was such a delight. Some characters ere unfortunately narratively more built important than others, but some of them stuck out to me for the best of reasons. Chisa's fun mommy-sue nature, Seiko's tragic backstory and relationship with Ruruka, Koichi how he's trying to protect and be there for Kyoko, and a lot of the designs here for these guys kick ass.

Great Gozu is a more well-rounded character than a good chunk of others from THH and V3, and I can and will fight you on that.

Some of the returning cast was done really good here too, a real Chiaki for added wholesomeness, Hajime with his doubts of self-worth due to lack of talent, Imposter shined more than I thought he would, dude would ever imagine Imposter getting some shine in the main series, never me, holy cow. And we explored other characters who we hadn't known more about, like Izuru finally making him his own character, exploring the relationship and natures of Natsumi and Sato, and Mukuro.............y'know let's just not talk about that blunder...

I don't even mind the brainwashing portion either because.......that's what it always was....

And I had a talk with an anon a while back about this topic. I don't mind it too much because, if you're telling me that Junko can just switch your marolaity with a few words from her silver tongue, that makes her look too overpowered and the rest of the DR2 cast indigenous and kind of already shitty people. And I know a few of them can be swayed to despair give the right circumstances(Fuyuhiko, Peko, Mahiru, Mikan, Hiyoko, Akane), but honest to god how can someone like Imposter, Nekomaru, or ray of sunshine fall to despair with her words. I think we're stretching it here...

DanganRonpa 3 may have disappointment me as well as others on a quite few number of fronts, but kept me more invested in its story and mysteries than the past two entries. Again, my personal opinion of course... Without DR3, I wouldn't be making The New Future in the first place so it has to have some merit of enjoyment in here. And I think there could be more stuff to enjoy from this anime as well, squint and tilt it a little bit and you might find a gleam of hope...

But hey, what do I know? I'm the guy that likes DanganRonpa 3 :P

#2 DanganRonpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

Okay how do you say this name?! Ultra Despair Girls: DanganRonpa: Another Episode?! DanganRonpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls?! DanganRonpa Ultra Despair Girls: Another Episode?! DanganRonpa 1.5 Final Remix?! THREE FIVE EIGHT OVER TWO DAYS?!-Wait.

These years have shown that not much has changed in the grand scheme of this list, as it's secured second place spot has not been challenged. And that's funny because I'm pretty this game is much more divisive in the fandom as well, and it has the unfortunate perk of being more well known than the anime series. I mean, a game with no class trials, no investigations, no definite mascots, smaller cast than normal, a huge change in gameplay, and Monokuma being demoted to near Goomba status. It may be a spin-off entry, but these are some drastic changes to the formula, almost a whole new game at this point.

However, I think Ultra Despair Girls is a fantastic entry to the series, and you would do yourself a disservice by skipping out on it. Makoto Naegi's little sister, Komaru, fights through the streets of Towa City for survival against the Monokumas and the Warrior of Hope with the help of a returning face, Touko Fukawa.Right off the bat, I have to say this idea for a story is really impressive. Because this takes place after THH but before DR2, we get to see kind of the world is during the Tragedy. Hectic, apocalyptic, barely clinging onto hope.. I may not be a fan of zombie or horrors movies, but the ambience here is top notch and works extremely well.

We have a ton of colorful characters as well, the Warriors of Hope are good antagonists with heartbreaking and understanding backstories, seeing relatives or people close to the first's game cast is an excellent treat as well like Hiroko, Kanon, Yuta and Taichi even if we get a little out of those two...and of course, the main big bad, Monaca. If you read my ranking list of the series' masterminds you know full well why I like her. She is a perfect villain for this sort of story, a twisted and manipulative person with the face of the child but the heart of a demon.

Of course, I can't forget to mention Komaru and Touko. Komaru's development from an average whiny high school girl who can't do anything learns to stand up and fight for herself. And Touko, who has outgrown her shell of being reclusive and venomous to others....while still retaining that somewhat, now has an active roll of helping Komaru get through these tough times. She offers her advice, lessons, support, everything. These two's relationship make this game for me and I'm sure many others would agree with me on that front.

Okay, time to get on to the negatives here, ah......oh boy....

For starters Towa City is huge and many areas here are really cool looking, but the path is quite linear and that can be quite tedious for exploring and hiding collectibles. It's not too hard, but there are a lot of collectibles to nab, and if you miss one you have to start the chapter all over again so be mindful. One of which is the wanted list that the WOH have to hunt down other "demons" aka, THH's families and friends. You give them to Hiroko to hopefully go get them, but do you ever seeeee or meeeeet them in the Resistance base. Nope! That's a missed opportunity if I ever heard of one!

And um.......all the.....uncomfortable....things this game does....hoo boy... From Touko's fantasies, to the scoring screen at the end of chapters, to.....the Motivation machine in Chapter 3, and.....j-just how manipulative and twisted Monaca can be in chapter 4, this game proves it is not for the faint of heart. Probably not even that too, those who aren't faint of heart might reel at some of these questionable decisions here. I'd call it fanservice but because some of these scenes involve, ahem, MINORS; I'd call it fansqueezing with how much it'll squeeze and hurt you with all this psychological trauma. I suppose I've either seen worse over the course of my life to not be affected by this, or I've endured these sorts of things in the game so many times that I have become numb to it. Remember folks, I platinumed this game.

Ultra Despair Girls may make you feel despair at times, but beyond that despair, lies hope. Hope of a game with a great story, great cast of characters, and a great episode for this franchise in general.

Oh, also this...

Another point to V3 being so low. How dare they tease us…

#1....DanganRonpa 2: Goodbye Despair

"Wow, shocking! The guy that's blog is about the DanganRonpa 2 cast ha DanganRonpa 2 as his favorite! I tooootally saw this coming a mile away!" Hey look man, I don't appreciate all that sass. I saw that train coming a mile away too and I didn't say anything. Also on you're right-

*HOOOOOORRRRNNN!* *CRAASSSSH!*

Eugh....oh, oh that looks bad.....A-Anyway....

Yes, if you follow me on my main blog you probably know that I love DanganRonpa 2 a whole effin' lot! I love mah boy Hajime! I love mah girl Chiaki! I love my other boys, Fuyuhiko, Kazuichi, and Imposter! I love mah other girls, Sonia, Ibuki and Mikan! I love DanganRonpa 2!

Everything is so right here. The gameplay, the setting, the story, the characters, it's all great!

Mind Dive and Rebuttal Showdown are excellent additions that keep the mystery paces going as well utilizes other characters and their outlooks on certain things. It's almost like it's a real trial here guys. And some would say that an island doesn't really fit for a whole killing game setting, and I agree somewhat, but I love all the places of Jabberwock island and I can argue waking up and finding yourself on a deserted island far, far away from any signs of civilization works just as good too.

And the cast, the cast is perfect! A great combination of personalities coming together to make every moment feel that much more impactful and memorable. And even though I may not like afew of them(Hiyoko, Nagito, Teruteru), they evoke more of a emotional reaction out of me and stick out in my mind far more than other members of the other casts. Not to mention there are plenty of group activities and moments together that serve to boost the character's morale and hope. While again, some of them are locked behind presents, some that aren't work well enough. The party at the old building, a beach party on the second island, Ibuki's concert, there are so many ways for the characters to come together that when some of them do die, it is really sad and heart-wrenching. Like what THH was trying to do, but better!

And the main story is really good as well. Having characters we all know and love turning out to responsible for the Tragedy set up in the first game is a really nice twist, as well as learning that it may be possible to bring them back. Some say it a cheap action that miiiiiight devalue all the tragedy and lose the player and characters have went through, and again, I can see that point being made. I personally believe if you give me the option to have them back I would take it a heartbeat.

If there is one true negative I have for this game, it's that the motives are fundamentally lacking in some regard. The motives for chapters 2 and 3 are very much targeted for specific people, and don't affect the others too much, which made the motives in THH work so well is that anyone could fall into the temptation, everyone was treated equal. And with those two chapters, eehhhhhhh.....not so much....

But even still, I hold DanganRonpa 2 very near and dear to my heart. It was the first game I saw and watched from beginning to end, the first game I played and even why I bought a Vita in the first place. I would come back to this game at a moment's notice, the emotions I felt through every chapter make me want to sit by the beachside and experience it all over again...

DanganRonpa 2: Goodbye Despair is my favorite game in the entire series. I cannot express how much I love it so much...

-Mod

[penguwastaken]

Danganronpa 2 Never Said Chiaki Never Existed

In Danganronpa 2, AI Chiaki shows surprise when seeing her profile in the book that Nagito got. A lot of people use this as proof that chiaki never existed, but that's really never said at all.

I figured it was pretty obvious, but the reason she is surprised is because she never knew there was a real Chiaki.

In chapter 5, both Monomi and Chiaki herself aren't aware of how Chiaki got her personality, so they just assume it might have come from the people that made them.

Of course, Danganronpa 3 later gives us an actual answer and says she was created by the memories of Class 77, directly building off of this mystery in the second game.

Point is, Chiaki doesn't know where her personality came from, who she's based on, or even that there was a real Chiaki at all.

"Erm but Pengu, they say that Chiaki's profile is fake"

That is never actually stated in game, all that is told to us is that Monokuma slipped in false information.

However, Monokuma DOES confirm that everything in the book is reused from information provided by the former headmaster (Jin Kirigiri obviously), which causes Nagito to question if the traitor is a former Hope's Peak student.

Once again, Chiaki's presence in Danganronpa 3 seems to be here to tie up these loose ends and mysteries.

So then what false information did Monokuma include then? Simple, he left Chiaki's profile in. He didn't fake a profile, he just included the profile of someone who wasn't actually in the killing game.

He even admits to ignoring the traitor, which is kind of a weird thing to say if you went out of your way to fake something for their sake.

AI chiaki is NOT the same as IRL Chiaki

They have different lives, memories, personalities, etc. All they share is the same persona, but ultimately AI Chiaki is just an ai that takes the appearance of Chiaki.

AI Chiaki is her own person, an AI created by Chihiro designed to create a chaperone like student based on the needs and experiences of those involved with the Neo World Program, and it just so happened to result in taking the form of Chiaki because of that. However, it is still not Chiaki. So leaving Chiaki's profile in and implying Chiaki is a part of the killing game is inherently false information.

At most, Danganronpa 2 leaves whether there was a real Chiaki or not in the open, however it never confirms or denies the existence of one. Nothing in the game outright says that a Chiaki never existed, only that the one we see is an AI of vague origin.

And if that isn't enough to convince you, during the scene with Chiaki's memory and Hajime, Kodaka says that he felt like Chiaki there felt more real which inspired him to make Chiaki a real person.

"Actually, now that I think about it, when I started making DR3, I got stuck on something from DR2. After Nanami dies in Chapter 5, she comes back in Chapter 6 through a glitch, and when I was writing Nanami for that, I had the idea that she was 'a little bit off'. She’s not like the Nanami we’ve seen so far, I thought; she was never that tender. I had that gnawing at my brain when I was making DR3, and I thought, 'Maybe that really was a different Nanami,' and that’s how I came up with the Nanami in Zetsubou-hen." -Kazutaka Kodaka in an interview

Of course this does not mean Kodaka intended that Chiaki in this specific was meant to be the real Chiaki when making Danganronpa 2. However it DOES show that Kodaka never ruled out the posibility of a real chiaki, because if he did he wouldn't have even come to that conclusion.

If you want my opinion, this seems like another scenario of people who don't like Danganronpa 3 having their personal interpretation of the story proven wrong and instead of admitting that they were wrong about something they just call it a retcon. The same thing happened with brainwashing, it happened with Mukuro, and I'm certain that's what happened here. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[fvriva]

🐖 iska pretty please?

putting this one behind a readmore again haha

send an oc + emoji (or order the WHOLE HOG)

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

This one was out of my hands. I designed Iskandar Kiriyakuya originally by algorithmically trying to create my ideal waifu, two of the seeds involved there being Kyoko Kirigiri and Togami Byakuya from Danganronpa 1. We simply mashed their surnames together into Kiriyakuya. Iskandar came from Rider from Fate/Zero, somehow, probably because she's a cavalry rider and a warlord.

🌼 - How old are they? (Or approximate age range)

At the beginning of Isekai I believe I said she was 30.

🌺- Do they have any love interest(s)?

She's got a couple of bitches she's left on the table due to being inept at dating and emotionally constipated. Her childhood crush, Baphira Kaneshiro is unhappily married to a merchant that is never home. She's gotten her ass beat by a pro wrestler, Hira Diamondclast. She's been given the run-around and got very close with a boat clown, Hayfa. She currently has gay little standoffs or something with over half of the women in the party. High noon shootout situation.

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

Iska famously doesn't really like food because of a long history of medical issues before she got her core installed. But it's basically a form of hotpot with a milky tea and beef based broth.

💼 - What do they do for a living?

She's a warlord, servant of the Meikugan Empire, babysitter to the children of prophecy, and a hesitant emissary of the Meikugan Quintessence.

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

She likes riding and caring for her axirin mount, Sareyn. She likes solving little puzzles as forceshaping exercises.

🎯 -What do they do best?

She's not the best in the world by any means but she's rather good at very fine manipulation of forces. Very precise telekinesis. She's also very good with animals.

🥊 - What do they love to do? What do they hate to do?

She loves tasks. Following orders. Being told what to do. Unless it's the Coinspinner, god of Fate, speaking. She also dislikes dealing with irritating people and is rather bad at doing so peacefully. She's also awful at sharing information about herself with people and being vulnerable in any way.

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

After the fight with the Tangled Beast she woke up on the operating table, core newly implanted in her body, and even though she felt like complete shit physically speaking, she was surrounded by her family members and her mom nodded at her in approval and her father shook her hand in congratulation. Feridhun made her favorite soup.

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

When she got outed as gay to her mother. She thought in the moment it was Baphy that had done it (it was actually Baphy's shithead half-sibling) which made it sting worse. Her mom took that as a sign that despite Iskandar's childhood fragility it was time to take her to the warfront and beat some backbone into her, that she'd lost sight of her lot in life and role within the family.

🧊 - Is their current design the first one?

Pretty much. She's been slowly changing over the course of the campaign. There are different things I would have chosen to put in her design if I was making her specifically for Isekai as opposed to co-opting her though.

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

The whole waifu generation process. I shan't elaborate further.

🌂 - What genre do they belong in?

High fantasy, especially military/political fantasy. Her personality has had to adapt somewhat to match the more action/adventure oriented story though. She's not as smart, calculating, or patient as a traditional protagonist in the genre because of it.

💚 - What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?

Lesbian. She hasn't done much experimentation with gender but I feel like if she could she would get a kick out of being perceived as butch especially if she can do so while still keeping her long hair. Butch in like a Chinese warlord way. I dunno.

🙌 - How many sibling does your OC have?

None siblings.

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like?

Bad! She was closer with her dad, sorta, when she was younger but he died while she was away at war. He never really saw her as more than just a fun plaything though. A child that lives in his house, not his daughter. Her mom has always been pretty frosty and resentful of her cringe child, constantly pushing her well past her various breaking points.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

I like the tension between her being so fierce and strong and very visibly being damaged goods. All her current peers are leery of approaching her, she has all this presence, she's very scary, but she's also just so pathetic and pitable. She's so sucks.

✏️ - How often do you draw/write about the OC?

I roleplay her pretty often but I don't draw her much these days unless I'm either objectifying her or putting her in a humiliating outfit. I wrote a bit for her before the campaign started officially but haven't since.

💎 - Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?

I could. Would need to be a really worthy death though. She's too cringe to be allowed to die yet.

💀 - Does your OC have any phobias?

Intimacy. Internalized homophobia. This isn't so much a phobia as an irrational dislike, but she loathes opulence and indulging in comforts on principle.

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?

Gohar Kaneshiro, the saultry little bitch that outed her is her main on-sight nemesis. She's got other enemies (she fuckin hates the Coinspinner. Tried to punch him once but it went down like Sun Wukong vs the Buddha) but they're all fleeting in the face of Gohar.

🎓 - How long have you had the OC?

Seems like I named her in September 2020 so about 3.5 years

🍥 - What age were you when you created the OC?

I would've been 20!

[catgirl-catboy]

Satsuki's execution felt too off for me.. Jester and circus thing shouldve been used more i don't know interestingly? I don't find hers and Mikako's execution great, I don't find Mikako's execution great because she was dead the whole time and I wanted to see how are gonna they do something with the exorcist theme

And Yamato was very tragic and Yuki x Yamato is.. yeah, I ship him both Utsuro and Yuki because he was really affected them both to me but surprisingly fandom really slept on them like, guys please stop talking about tsurugi x yuki for five seconds.

And Satsuhiko.. They hurt me, the way Haruhiko loves her and the way Satsuki didn't want to actually do that but in the end they.. are both dead, they should get married in Mexico, they should.

Okay new question what is the most great Danganronpa another (1 and 2 counted) executions and which ships are most tragic to you?

P.s: I even find Haru x Teruya to be beautiful and tragic

Yeah, it felt like Mikako's execution was meant for Yamato, but they swapped it last minute because we had a greater emotional attachment to her.

I am guilty of talking about Tsurugi x Yuki, but I am guilty about talking about Tsurugi x ANYONE. He has a one-sided thing with half the cast.

I feel like Yamato ships would be more popular if we just had more time with him. I mean, imagine the "who the FUCK stole our food scene" when theres a stranger that you aren't sure know whats going on.

Ah weeby news. I stopped watching that channel because she caved into the pissbabies in her chat that were upset about jokes about the SDRA2 chapter three BDA. I feel like once you cave to those people once, its only a matter of time before they run your channel. Which is sad, because I really enjoyed her content! (specifically her meta because I am a guy with very specific interests.) If you can't stand jokes about corpses, don't play the lighthearted death game that contains both jokes and corpses.

How do they survive like, 99% of the fandom's memes. Also, proud member of the Kinjo cult reporting for duty!

I like Teruya and Haru a lot, but its the same dynamic of Ishimondo that I cannot imagine a platonic dynamic for Haru and Sat.

For most tragic, I am very much a fan of Hibiki x Setsuka and Emma x Kokoro. I also really enjoy Kanade and Hibiki's relationship, but more of the phycological aspects than the romantic.

(But I will read shippy content if it delves into what is wrong with either of them (affectionate))

When I said rewatch DRA, I actually am checking out a new LP! I'm almost to the chapter 1 BDA because of listening to the background while studying! I'm really enjoying it so far, but the LPer does have a phobia of clowns. I hope that when the time comes, she will appreciate our queen despite that! Also its a blind play through, since SDRA2 spoils so much.

Also, she likes Tsurugi and thinks he's the Kirigiri. You sweet summer child you are in for a thing or two :) A comment was also made about Kinji possibly being the mastermind due to how calm he was... while she was talking to Akane. I shouldn't find that funny.

As for a Satsuki execution... I can think of all sorts of delightfully fucked up possibilities. >:o) hehehe

[review-anon]

Oh man.

I just finished watching The After Chapter 1.

And it was...something.

So as a full disclaimer I'm not going into this blind. I do know the death order and some of the major events, but more like the spark notes so I don't know the full context behind the situation.

The idea that these are students for a new Hope's Peak but got kidnapped and the world forgot about them is harrowing, now since this is Danganronpa and nothing is cut dry like that, I do imagine some context was missing but it's a disturbing motive, the fact everyone, including your family has abandoned you, little surprise none of the cast react well.

The Konoe and Chisa dynamic, I don't know what to feel about it because while we don't know what Chisa has gone through, she feels she needs to keep running and not look back or ask for help, and when Konoe tries to understand her, she freaks out and attacks her, but this doesn't stop Konoe from reaching out to her.

I was getting quite angry with Konoe for her need to support Chisa even after she freaking attacked her, which is normally a red flag, and while she was right that Chisa didn't kill Yukime, or that Chisa completely misread Yukime's motives, I still wouldn't feel comfortable around her. But maybe its because Konoe is a optimistic and I'm not optimistic.

Either way I'm still very unsure of her as a protagonist as she's clearly not coping well with the situation and on one hand its a relief to see a protagonist who doesn't have their shit together and needs others to help them, I do hope she learns to stand on her own two feet or else I'm not gonna have a lot of love for this character.

I also feel really bad for Miharu, as being a Kirigiri means she must have astromically high expectations placed on her, and the fact she calls herself "assistant" is proof she doesn't see herself as the same levels as say her grandmother. No wonder she breaks down at the end when she realises all she did was lead someone to their death.

Yukime was a okay person, I did find her annoying at first but maybe because I don't like the super high pitched Japanese voice the VA gave her, its really grating. She does redeem herself ironically enough when she dies as we learn more about her, that she can tell someone's character by their writing, and that her ghost at the end does forgive both Konoe and Chisa for the argument eariler.

And then we get to Issei, dear god. Mitch has offically been dethroned as "Worst Chapter 1 Culprit" since this guy is the literal worst. First he gives nudes to people he meets without even asking which is just pure disgusting, I don't blame Marin for burning them one bit. Then when he's exposed as the culprit he is a completely deranged lunatic who's so detached from reality you think he's a regular user of Twitter. Always blaming others for his own flaws, talking about events that never even happened, and even when Koin gives him a VERY deserved The Reason You Suck Speech, he still doesn't relent, in the end implying that he forgotten who he was as he was so engrossed in acting.

But then we have Ryohei and you guys know I hate him. His Chapter 2 actions are deplorable and while I will get the full context later in Chapter 2 when its analysed in its detail, and I'm noticing that the critcism that Creeper had towards Tsurugi where it seems a switch was flipped for him due to how Tsurugi exhibited no symptoms of him being a Knight Templar prior to Mitch having a date with Yellowstone, whereas other emotional twists in the canon series had some elements of foreshadowing, its even worse here since unlike Tsurugi who while reasonable is quite strict and stern, Ryohei is affiable and friendly to others, giving them words of support, sticking up for Konoe when she feels down and then the ending scene with Miharu...

I never felt so fucking conflicted about a character in my life. I know what he does, I know his motives are inexcusable. I know his plan was apparently so similar to what LINUJ's original plan with Nikei was that he had to make last second changes, and I know every single word he says to Miharu is ultimately hollow and will screw her over in the worst way possible...

So why did I like how he was performed in Chapter 1? Its a horrible ugly feeling when you have conflicting emotions of both absolute hatred, and yet you really like how he was done in Chapter 1. I completely despise this feeling within me. Of course I'm sure once Chapter 2 has been fully analysed those feelings will go away and its just the transitional phase now.

Urgh that scene with him and Miharu has really messed me up. And I don't know why, is it because of dramatic irony? Is it something else which is going on? I don't know!

If you cannot tell; The After is a extremely underrated fanganronpa and you guys should 100% watch it for yourself. Not many people know it and the fact its making me, someone who doesn't often feel emotions, feel so many emotions, says a lot.

[catboyebooks]

yes of course there's an epilogue.

i think the narration here is actually from naegi's perspective; it's definitely not hinata, and the melodramatic phrasing is pretty distinctive. anyway, the narration says this absurd nonsense incident is about to wrap up, and remarks on how small this entire incident has been compared to the worst most despair-inducing event in the history of mankind. there isn't even a name for this incident (uh yes there is, it's called super danganronpa 2 goodbye despair academy 🙄) and the world at large isn't even going to know that this happened. at least, not as long as the group remains here.

the dr1 trio is standing on the docks on the real jabberwock island, looking out at the ship they're about to board. the preparations for their departure are finished and kirigiri and naegi both seem ready to head out. but togami has more questions. he asks if the sdr2 survivors are really going to be okay. didn't they just turn back into shsl despair? naegi seems a little uncertain when replying, but he says he doesn't think so. if they had, why would they have elected to stay on the island? both kirigiri and naegi figure that they want to remain behind to help their friends, the "dead" people, who i guess are still in a VR-induced "sleep" with their fates uncertain. kirigiri points out that just wanting to help is proof that they've changed, but says the reality is that the odds of everybody waking up are close to zero. naegi says that's not a problem because no matter how bad the odds are, they're still trying. togami says it'd take a miracle, and naegi says he thinks they'll be able to achieve it anyway. they've accepted both hope and despair and resolved not to give up. for people like that, maybe miracles are inevitable. (and also there's a guy here whose luck basically guarantees that if an outcome is extremely unlikely, it'll happen to him. no one brings that up but i'm gonna.) both togami and kirigiri are like Dude you are so naïve and you are like a little baby (affectionate). happy to see the throuple is doing well.

they talk about how they are going to be in big huge trouble if the rest of the future foundation finds out about this. since the other two let naegi take the lead on all this, they ask him what his plan is. he doesn't have one. kirigiri's like "ok good luck coming up with something bc i'm not going to help you that much." naegi protests but togami tells him he should be glad they let him take charge here and he's like "ok... fine." these three are extremely fucking married. i'm delighted.

the three of them head to their ship. they've got more work to do, the whole despair apocalypse thing isn't fully over yet. naegi says they have to create their own futures, too.

we cut to black and now hinata is narrating again. he says the ordeal is over, and their daily lives have begun. "lives that are much more absurd, nonsensical, and irrational than before... things are... probably going to be a lot more difficult now." this isn't a mystery with a tidy ending, and it's doubtful the ending will even be good. visuals and background noise fade back in; we're looking out across a vast expanse of ocean, hearing the waves. hinata says the future's not a path, it's like an endless sea; you can try to go anywhere, but that doesn't mean you'll get there. even so, he's going to keep on living as himself. as hajime hinata.

and then we roll the credits! once again the end theme is written and performed by megumi ogata and as always it slaps and it did not make me feel normal at all. i was sort of planning on talking about the lyrics but that feels like it should be a separate post, and might also involve me doing some amateur translation work.

there isn't a post-credits stinger this time, but when the spike chunsoft logo appears at the end, monokuma falls down and lands on top of it. he says — and this isn't subtitled so apologies if my translation is a little rough, i only heard this the one time after all — something along the lines of "until next time, thanks, everybody! i love you bastards!" (yeah, he used omaera and aishiteru in the same sentence) and then he lets go of the logo and falls offscreen. And that's it! that's the actual end of the game. we did it. we fucking did it. it only took me a year and eight months. Holy fuck