#it probably doesn't help that I see so much of the katai/ire pairing between fumiaki and katai (even if that's only due to colour schemes)

[stillthewc]

YEAR OF THE FANGAN - AUGUST EDITION

ꕥ DANGANRONPA: DRIVEN BETRAYAL ꕥ

It's time to talk about one of the few fangans I've actually been following the production on! Driven Betrayal has been on my radar for a while now, with me pretty much solely using Twitter to sporadically check in on the story's development. So, I was ecstatic when I heard the news that the prologue was dropping this month, and taken aback by just how good it was!

For starters, I was pleasantly surprised to learn just how this fangan was formatted in the first place: a mix of longer-form videos on Youtube, and story posts on Instagram. I've never encountered a fangan that uses mixed media before (outside of maybe Penguinronpa, but that's moreso posting their slides on Youtube rather than blending both mediums at once), so it automatically adds some charm points to the story.

However, what really drew me into this story is the central premise of it: it follows Ennosuke, a survivor from a previous killing game who find himself thrust into a new one, with only his past experiences and connection to private investigator Jun to help him through it. From the pre-prologue alone so many interesting questions are raised about this story: how will Ennosuke once again deal with a situation so traumatic to him the first time? What connection does the previous game's mastermind have to this new one? Were Jun's motivations for joining the new killing game truly just to investigate it? There's so much unexplored territory that makes it all the more interesting to follow, which I see as an absolute plus in a genre filled with more by-the-books, solely-focused-on-cast-intros-and-set-dressing prologues.

Speaking of Ennosuke, he's officially joined the roster of "fangan main characters I adore just as much as the side cast", a rare feat very few protags have the honor of having! Really, the foundational work for his character set up by this prologue is amazing: as a survivor of the previous killing game (and one who seemed like a once-irrelevant side character from my understanding of the pre-prologue), he's left with heavy trauma about the event, having since given up his kendoka talent and becoming a more closed-off and jaded person. With the story laying out a trust vs. distrust theme, I'm excited to see just how he develops, especially since both Fujiko's role in the prologue and Takako's involvement in promotional materials seem to serve as a direct counter to Ennosuke's closed-off demenor.

That's not to say the side cast is slouching at all though, since right off the bat I adore pretty much all of them! More goofy characters like Rie and Fumiaki do a good job at helping the prologue feel light and breezy, more logical-minded characters like Jun and Yoshimitsu make sure the tone stays grounded, and there's even some more relatively-normal characters with fun quirks, like Dai and Shigetoki. Because of it, the cast is super well-balanced tonally, and are a joy to watch the interactions of!

And that's it, that's all! Seriously, go check this thing out if you have the chance, and as per usual, I'll see you in the next one!

FORMAT: "Instaronpa" / Video

WHERE TO FIND IT: On both Youtube and Instagram (please note that both formats work in service of one another! If you solely consume one of these, you're probably gonna get super confused, lol)

FAVORITE MOMENT: The argument between Ennosuke and fellow first-killing-game-survivor Hibuko in the pre-prologue (but if you wish to exclude that, I'd say Ennosuke and Jun speaking to one another just before the mascots show up, and Ennosuke realizing his worst fears are right)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Fumiaki Hosekawa. Due to his status as the Qualified Youth Parody Artist, he's naturally a cocky, carefree goof who makes confusing "jokes", doesn't have any tact whatsoever, and butts heads with the more-mature Ennosuke (and apparently wrote all Minecraft / video game song parodies in this world? Seriously, that's amazing)

OTHER STANDOUT CHARACTERS: Yoshimitsu Masako, my pre-story fave whose calm demeanor and immediate desire for logical deductionism already makes him a great leader (even if I don't see him living for very long because of it, lol), and Ennosuke Shiokawa, for all the reasons listed in the main article.