#junko enoshima core

[itsam00d]

hahaha! me, junko fucking enoshima! aka the ultimate despair!

[trashboat2004]

junko for hallo in @jhadevx 's room

[lovely-aisha]

[jankydem]

A Mastermind for a Mastermind.

[aparticularbandit]

thinking about narrative choice in dr0 and ryoko being in first person while everyone else - including junko - is in third person.

thinking about how we can look at this as how the reader - or writer - sees the world.

thinking about narrative choice and who is telling the story.

thinking about mukuro telling ryoko very clearly that the entire story is scripted by junko.

thinking about how technically this means that junko is, from a narrative standpoint, the person writing the story. the narrator. (not the author. and sometimes the narrator is not the character who has the pov - sometimes you have a layer of disconnect where the narrator telling the story isn't the character. see catherynne m. valente's fairyland series and john steinbeck's east of eden, where the narrator is telling the story but is not the third person characters who are the primary point of view characters.)

thinking about how junko is the narrator of dr0.

thinking about how junko put everyone in third person because they weren't her.

thinking about how junko put junko in third person because she wasn't her.

thinking about how junko put ryoko in first person because that's actually her.

(thinking about ryoko as the narrator of the story, but she isn't, junko is.)

[kkatastrophic]

HELP ME OUT HERE GUYS!!!

Guys send help how do I make sure that the audience knows that Mukuro thinking Junko put her into the timeloop for the sake of despair is not a SHIP!!! It's purely a trauma based reaction to being abused by her sister for years.

E.G:

"I don't need to escape... I know there's a reason that I'm here... she sent me..." Mukuro sighed and looked up at one of the many security cameras holstered onto stands and placed intricately along the walls and corners of the room.

Ikusaba sighed longingly.

"Oh I know you're watching this... you have a plan for me don't you! Putting your older sister through this despair... you killed me because of that didn't you? All for despair! Ah I miss your name... I miss your voice... I miss you..." The girl began to laugh manically as she spoke to the cameras.

Leon ignored her extremely strange actions and didn't bother listening or making sense to one second of her insane ramblings.

But one thing did catch his attention.

"Wait, did you just say sister?"

---

AKJRQEWFHJB I HATE WRITING THAT KIND OF THING, IT CREEPS ME OUT AND I PLAN ON GIVING MUKURO BETTER DEVELOPMENT (Instead of sister-kisser it's "oh my sister betrayed me, well fuck you too Junko I'm going to help Sayaka and Leon out of this shit-hole" <- Keep in mind that she believes Junko trapped them in the timeloop for her own despair.)

[despairs-memorial]

Feel like I need to say this because I'm attempting to write her, but my Junko is probably going to be very ooc. Idk, I'm under the impression that she's fundamentally just a person with all the love in the world in her heart, but she's unable to really express that in a way that is healthy for anyone. Like, first and foremost, she's an analyst. She's good with concepts and understanding people, but she's also the type of person that's incredibly misunderstood. She loves her classmates, her sister, her boyfriend, but she ultimately can't control herself and uses pain and destruction as a full show of that love. I think that Junkoland thing at the end of SDR2 is just a way both to live and so that someone can understand her in the way that she understands everything else. Like, understand her in all her aspects, the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. She's most well known for her looks and incredibly real personality, but she's always changing it, so does anyone except her even understand her in-universe or is she also in the dark about who she is? Anyway, all of this is to say that I think Junko is just a character that loves deeply in a very troubling way.

[knightscanfeeltoo]

A New Addition to a Collection of my most Hated Characters Ever...

[funishment-time]

this is probably the most Wild Statement Ever but i think Danganronpa at its core is fundamentally cute. yes, really.

despite everything that happens there's something just extremely cute about it, even beyond its mascots. i think that's why it's horrific and hits hard as a franchise, but also why it's easy to make very genuine, very sincere MLP, Warrior Cats, Animal Crossing etc AUs of it. why the non-despair AUs almost feel like the real main timelines. to me, Danganronpa is almost its own well-written horror fanfic. in this story, Junko is a remorseless mass murderer, probable cannibal, and perhaps even more, but we'd all still wear PJs patterned with a smirking Enoshima chibi and her b&w teddy bear

[theamityelf]

Hii I have an au idea. What if Makoto had been the one to be kidnapped instead of Byakuya? He heard Komaru was there and jumped at it instead of talking to his classmates and bosses first. I imagine since it's kind of agreed on that Makoto was the one who stopped Junko Enoshima the warriors of hope would have more of interest in him. Ultimate successor makoto core fr

Oooh, that's similar to my Komaegi UDG AU, but I love your focus on the Warriors of Hope. I feel like the version where Makoto is entirely stuck with them instead of wandering Towa City is absolutely an equally interesting route.

I would love it if as soon as any of the kids mentions Makoto killing Junko, he just perplexedly replies, "...Did you guys watch the broadcast? I begged her not to go through with the execution. I'm sad it happened, too!"

Monaca would probably just go, "Then it's Big Bro Makoto's job to make it right!"

Now, maybe I'm just optimistic, but I think Makoto can outwit these kids. The way I see this playing out is, Masaru, Jataro, Kotoko, and Nagisa are all either trying to teach Makoto how to be the new Ultimate Despair or just genuinely showing off to him what they've been up to. Which motivation it is depends on the kid, but the effect is the same: They each find themselves growing to trust Makoto, and they start to enjoy getting to be kids around someone they trust, more than they enjoy murdering people.

The fact that all of the kids except Monaca are becoming more and more focused on showing Makoto the cool sculpture they made or the new kind of ice cream they invented (they just poured maple syrup on an existing flavor) than doing the successor stuff or the take-over-the-city stuff would be a problem, but really Monaca's been trying behind the scenes to break Komaru the whole time, either to make her the successor still, or to use her suffering to break Makoto later, and Nagito has been kind of keeping an eye on both developments to see if Makoto would get through to Monaca before Monaca breaks Komaru.

I think Makoto and Monaca would both surprise each other. She's surprised that she actually does want him to be her big brother, and he's surprised by just how far she'll go to make him despair. Everyone she lets him get attached to is a new person to potentially harm to bring him closer to despair.

[hopeymchope]

Hope's Peak and... Whatever is Going on with the "Talents" They Study

Hope's Peak Academy! Where only the greatest talents are invited to focus on the areas in which they excel (and to be studied by the staff).

The people working at Hope's Peak Academy in Danganronpa (whether staff, scientists, or Steering Committee) are pretty consistently presented as being dedicated to researching and understanding the nature of talent. They talk like talent is this hazy concept that only certain people somehow possess, so they're out to crack the code of its mysterious origins.

We have top men working on the origins of talent right now. .... TOP. MEN.

Now, I know we all eventually learn just how much of a shitshow HPA was and how corrupt its primary operators were. But the evidence of their crimes is mostly focused on how they take their interest in "Talent" much too far. So long as it furthered the study of "talent," human experimentation, endangering the lives of students, and much, MUCH more were totally on the table as far as HPA's Steering Committee was concerned. Which is very bad, yes.

However! I think the issues with HPA's intentions ran even deeper. The people in charge weren't just corrupt; they were also stupid. And this is evidenced by many of the "talents" they identified and researched.

See, Hope's Peak makes no real distinction between the types of talent they identify and accept into their walls. Even though there's a MASSIVE DIFFERENCE between the talent of someone like Junko Enoshima vs. that of someone like Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu. Y'know?

(I strongly doubt I'm the first to observe how bullshit some of these "talents" are. But since I can't find any other conversations about this on Tumblr, I'm going to move forward with making my own commentary. Sorry?)

BTW, consider this: If Komaeda were somehow born earlier and was an adult by the time the 77th Class entered HPA? He could've easily been one of the staff members putting Hajime into that metal coffin.

In descending order of "I can see why they were interested" to "WTF is this," here are the four core types of Super High School-Level "Talents" that Hope's Peak Academy welcomes within its hallowed halls:

(DISCLAIMER: I include V3 students as some of the examples cited below. YES, I know they don't attend Hope's Peak in their game's main storyline. However, they attend Hope's Peak in both UTDP and DRS. That's good enough for me; you can always ignore those examples if you disagree.)

CATEGORY (A) Talents that seem to come innaately/naturally to those who have them. These are either your wunderkind types, or they otherwise gained their talent seemingly overnight. — (e.g., Yasuhiro Hagakure, Junko Enoshima, Nagito Komaeda, Miu Iruma)

My Thoughts: Okay, SURE. I get why you'd want to study how this can happen and where these kinds of skills come from. No notes.

CATEGORY (B) Talents that are developed over a lifetime of practice and/or hard work. Most Hope's Peak students we know about seem like they slot into this category. — (e.g., Nekomaru Nidai, Mikan Tsumiki, Kaede Akamatsu)

My Thoughts: My first reaction is "What is there to study/research about this?" Do the Hope's Peak staff not know that working on something for a long time can make you get way better at that thing? Y'all reminding me of Hajime in the now-classic @reddpenn comic where he is legitimately shocked to learn people can gain skills through practice. :P But HOLD UP; let's give them the benefit of the doubt here for a sec. Perhaps Hope's Peak's personnel are wondering why only some practitioners of these talents can reach such a noteworthy level of skill by the time they're teenagers? That's the most reasonable conclusion to draw about the inclusion of these students.

CATEGORY (C) Talents that are only noteworthy because these students demonstrated some above-average skill relative to their age or because they garnered attention through one specific incident. In other words: These individuals aren't nearly as exceptional as those in the previous two categories of talent, but at least they seem pretty decent at what they're being identifed for? — (e.g., Mahiru Koizumi, Shuichi Saihara, Kaito Momota)

My Thoughts: I hope I'm being clear enough about what I mean by this category. But if not, I'll try to clarify: Shuichi was supposedly recognized for his talent solely because he caught one murderer. Mahiru's photography is almost solely portrait photography and therefore not particularly noteworthy to most photographers; she's just pretty good at the one thing she happens to do. (And in truth, her mom's reputation probably played a role in her own Hope's Peak invite.) Kaito being able to pass a basic Astronaut screening exam at a younger age than is usually allowed is neat, but it's not like he's been an exceptional trainee or even gone into space; he's just the "Ultimate Astronaut" because he cheated his way into taking a test early and did surprisingly well at it. Maybe we're meant to think "Oh, Kizakura or whoever could somehow tell these students have the innate potential to be truly spectacular" or somesuch?? But that interpretation requires putting a lot of faith in this questionable-ass system (and the one HPA scout we're familiar with — a known alcoholic). Do these people REALLY demand further study? Is there ACTUALLY anything to be gained by learning about their "talents"??? I... can't see it, y'all. I don't get it.

CATEGORY (D) Talents that aren't even really a talent at all, they're just a position/title someone gained by being born. — (e.g., Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, Sonia Nevermind, Keebo)

LIVE HINATA REACTION

My Thoughts: Okay, so MAYBE Sonia was recognized by Hope's Peak as the the absolute pinnacle of refinement and royal behavior or something? But I kind of doubt it based on her actual behavior (and weird interest in serial killers) in DR2. And there's no way in hell that Fuyuhiko is the baddest-ass Yakuza, even among teenagers. You scratch that kid slightly. and you get the babychild undernearth. And Keebo? His talent is HIS OWN EXISTENCE. His "talent" is actually just his creator's talent, FFS. He's not even "High School"-AGED in reality; he's just programmed to operate at a mental capacity of approximately teenage-level. So ultimately, I'm asking: What is there to STUDY about any of these?! These aren't even TALENTS, frankly! These have got me wondering if there's some other reason to include these particular students... like perhaps Hope's Peak wants to extend their tentacles into the power/influence afforded by Novoselic royalty/the Yakuza? Or perhaps they wish the leverage Keebo's A.I. technology in their own pursuit of creating of an "Ultimate Talent"? Point is: THESE 'TALENTS' ARE SEVERELY SUS. (I have to wonder if the larger public and Reserve Coursers ever complained about how sketchy some of this shit sounds?? SURELY they did.)

ADDENDUM/NOTE: There are also those who hover between the various categories I've cited. This includes those who might be a mixture of two categories, or those whose background is hazy enough that it's not clear whether they always had their talent (A) or developed it over time (B). But I think the above list encompasses everyone we know about, either in one or multiple categories.

CONCLUSION: Hope's Peak is so vague and weird about what they define as "talents" that it's tough to say what on Earth they believe they're studying over there. Because the methodology they were employing for identifying these talents is super loose, they're inviting over SOME fascinating subjects right alongside a bunch of teenagers who... really can't reveal much of anything about anything?

How did Junko Enoshima learn to easily analyze the patterns all around her to the point that she was able to accurately predict most outcomes? GREAT question! You may genuinely be able to unravel something about inborn skillsets and unusual brain development from such a case.

How did Mahiru Koizumi become a great photographer? Uhhh, she observed some stuff from her mom and just tried a decent amount of portraits, I suppose. But she's not even that amazing frankly, she ain't taking any award-winning pictures or using any particular artistry. She's just good at smiling portraits. That's it. You ain't gonna learn shit from this.

How did Fuyuhiko become the Ultimate Yakuza? Because YOU decided he was! And that was just because of his inherited leadership role! He has NO special talent, wtf are you idiots doing?!?!

ANYWAY, that should cover all of the Hope's Peak students we've ever me—

Oh, right. There's ONE weird half-exception to this list, which I guess I'll explain for anyone who wants to be extracirricular about this topic.

BONUS! Outlier Case: Makoto Naegi (in DR1 only)

My Thoughts: In the original Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the player/viewer/reader is made to believe that Makoto Naegi possesses no talent at all. Instead, Naegi was merely this year's winner of the annual drawing at Hope's Peak, and THAT IS IT. He was just drawn from a proverbial hat, and his presence is just a randomized factor. And SURE, by the end of the game/manga/anime, he's declared the "Ultimate Hope," but it's not like he was brought into the school based on that talent, so that's not particularly relevant. What I'm saying is simply this: DR1-era Naegi is the only known Hope's Peak student who doesn't fit into the above four categories. ............ Though this was later retconned, of course. Stories such as Makoto Naegi's Worst Day Ever (which came out alongside the first release of DR2, a mere two years after DR1 first hit PSP) and Danganronpa 3 would state that Naegi always possessed some unpredictable form of Komaeda-style inborn "luck" even if he wasn't necessarily aware of it. Which slots him into category (A). AS SUCH, he was only an outlier for literally THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF THE SERIES. And since the first installment didn't really delve as much into the sketchy, obsessive ways the Hope's Peak scientists chose to study their roster of "talents," his outlier nature isn't really relevant anyway. I don't feel any need to justify "Makoto Naegi as portrayed in 2010-2011 continuity" for his inclusion in the class roster.

..........................but if I DID have to do that, I'd say including him among the students makes him the Control Group. :P

[siramay-the-showgun-dragon]

naejunko

they're like, equal opposites of hope and despair, Makoto was a poor boy, but he had a gift to give; He could make you see how the world could be in spite of the way that it is. he was born a normal boy with a loving family and a life filled with love and hope, but even when faced with hardships he always persevered, smiling at despair in the name of hope with a strong heart, a stronger will and a unpredictable luck even Enoshima could not grasp but it was never his luck or his brains that saved the world but he is smarter than the fandom gives him credit for. but while those helped on his journey in dr1 it was never about that what truly saved the world was his heart and his hope, the will to stand against her and go "no we won't do as you say" and inspire everyone to move towards hope, a strong will and a strong heart, perfect for her.

And Junko was a young girl, But she'd seen how the world was… there's not much i can say on her life but there's more than enough implications to speculate on the tragedy of it, and this girl with the power to understand everything, she could see how the world was, one could say it drove her crazy, in a sense, I'm being metaphorical, but she had a plan to bring it to ruin and make the world feel a fraction of what she felt inside, but while she was unreasonable she was fair in her own messed up way making sure there was a chance, that if someone could, they'd stand against her... but no one ever did till the world went to ruin, as the ones strong enough to always crumbled to her will and the ones kind enough to perished in the end, but then there was Makoto a strong heart and a strong will, he never died and never gave in he looked her in the eye and she looked back focusing trying to analyze him what makes him special what makes him great but she can't understand she just cant

"I was thinking about Makoto looking at me for that last moment. His eyes sent me a burning feeling of unease. The individual named Makoto Naegi gave me a sense of unreliability and had a weak demeanor - but in the depths of his eyes at that moment, there was an incredible strength from his very core that shook all my previous preconceptions of who this person was. He looked at me with a dazzling aura. Whether there was a problem, whether he had an unbeatable enemy, he always would have a strength so strong he could never give up. Such an unforeseeable person looked straight at me with those eyes. I don't understand how I can feel this way around such a strange, mysterious force. However, I doubt I'll ever need to know." -DR0

When she fell, she fell in spite of herself. In love with Makoto

the one person to successfully stand up against her and stop her plans, which lead her to finally be able to die knowing she was wrong about everything. but even then, he didn't want her to die he wanted her to live and help her, but die she did, and maybe it was for the best now she could no longer hurt others and herself...

but sometimes I think, maybe... if they met each other sooner... things could have been different.

the boy with a bleeding heart full of hope and the girl with a broken mind full of despair

[thenewfuture]

Ranking the Masterminds of DanganRonpa and Fanganronpas

Hey everyone. During this break, I wanted to do some fun rankings that have been scrambling around in my brain for a while now. And the first one we got is ranking all of the DanganRonpa Masterminds.

The real true culprit behind their respective killing games, the ones forcing everyone to kill and distrust one another. The big final boss!

Quick rules to explain the process here:

-While their core character will be taken into account I will primarily be ranking their status as a mastermind first and foremost obviously. How they handled their killing games, hiding their identity and motivations for doing so.

-Only masterminds from fangans I have seen will be ranked, so if there's any one you don't see here it's most likely because I haven't seen it, so don't bother asking.

-Oh, and one final thing of course...The following will contain massive spoilers for the main DanganRonpa series, and certain fangans, take with your own risk.

#8 Akira Tsuchiya and Narumi Osone

DanganRonpa Rebirth holds a special place in my heart; it was the first fanganronpa I had heard about being a big April Fools joke, but soon I discovered the fanmade rework and dubbing for this project known as Rebirth Voices. Remaking the series in a new way with new twists, new class trials, and of course new-ish masterminds. I say new-ish because Akira was the original mastermind of Rebirth vanilla while Voices added Narumi as an extra mastermind.

And while I do indeed like Rebirth and its cast, the masterminds here leave a lot to be desired... And maybe that's because the series was cancelled before their roles of masterminds could get rolling, but these two aren't much compared to others. While we may never know what could have been, I will instead rank them based on the outline the Rebirth Voices crew provided.

So first Akira is your basic despair-filled mastermind fare. Influenced by his grandma's teachings of despair, made him the next generation of despair, and said grandma was killed by Kego and he wanted revenge, yada yada yada. Like I said, standard fare. And in Rebirth Vanilla, I hear he made it so Ayumu never really had any bad luck which is...a thing I guess.

Compared to him however, Narumi is......interesting... So she was in a rights group for Ultimates but lost her dad due to riots and so....joined Akira to make a killing game for.....f-for the sake of hope and.....and intended for Ultimates to be seen as saviors just like back then-

What the Nagito Komaeda, Hope Bagel Bullshit?!

Like....like why?! What? What for any of this?! I kinda get that in order for them to make this series they couldn't just have Akira be the mastermind, but seriously, what kind of reasoning is that?! And in chapter two, she used a corpse of one of her siblings to save Kego by have him swap places with him; WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN?!

Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion because like I said, the series is cancelled and maybe they could have salvaged this storyline, but as it stands; these two don't have going for them and as a result, DanganRonpaRebirth seemingly ends right back where it started; as one big joke no one talks about anymore...

#7 Tsumugi Shirogane

Oh man guys! Are you ready? This is it, a new chapter for the DanganRonpa franchise, a killing game without Junko Enoshima to be a part of us! Sounds spectacular! How could they fuck this up?

Oh, I'll tell you how. Maybe it starts with having a story so gut-punchingly meta it basically hurts any form of theorizing and creation of any fanwork and community building, also pull the rug under the players' feet and into a ice cold pool of water so many times they develop psychological trust issues along with hypothermia, and to cap it all of, have the mastermind be so, FUCKING, BORING!

I'll go into my feelings about V3 as a whole another time, but for now I'll just stick to talking about Tsumugi, and oh my word, is this girl a whole bag of nothing true to her word. Like, I should feel something she's revealed to be the mastermind just like Shuichi was, but I just don't. I should feel some sort of betrayal and anxiety from the sheer thought that it could be someone we spent so much time with over the course of the game, THIS IS WHAT MYSTERY GAMES LIVE FOR, and yet that feeling never comes with her. You know why?

Because Tsumugi has nothing going for her.

Name me something she did over the course of this entire game. Anything, anything at all, anything of note. Go ahead, I'll wait. I'll be right here.

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

You can't think of anything can you? Not one single solitary thing Tsumugi has accomplished. Not one character moment. None, hmm?

"Well she was apart of the Bugs Meet and Greet" So were other characters and even Himiko and Tenko had a funny moment in there, next. "She was in Angie's students council group" Again, so were others and that cult accomplished a grand total of nothing as a result, try again. "That...that one cg in her Ultimate lab" You're addicted to porn. "Oh, what about that one time in the NWP with Shuichi" That moments amounts nothing more than establishing an alibi for the two of them and even when it comes into question the lie Shuichi told to get Kokichi to cough up his involvement, Tsumugi sweeps that shit right under the rug. Meaning this whole game, the mastermind has left virtually no impression until the very end. Do you realize how messed up that is!?

For out the entire duration of the killing game, Tsumugi has thing of note, "being so plain" It's her whole schtick.

Plain plain plain. Plain plain plain plain. Plain plain plain plain plain plain. Plain. Plain Plain Plain Plaaaaaaain.

Plain, plain plain plaaaaaain

Plain!

PlANE!

PLAINE!

PLAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIINNNNNNN!!!!!!!!

And it wouldn't even be that bothersome, if we were SHOWED how she was plain. I think this video goes into detail why Tsumugi just saying she's plain doesn't work too well. Because all she's doing is saying it. No examples whatsoever about this phenomenon. In Fire Emblem Awakening, there's this character Kellam, who has many supports dedicated to how he doesn't stick out and how others easily don't see him, Tsumugi doesn't have that. In Blowback, Akeru is so good at being a silent and invisible ninja, that hardly anyone sees or hears her, Tsumugi doesn't have that. Even Makoto, Komaru and Hajime, admit to themselves and others that they are so ordinary to others based on the things they like; Tsumugi gets none of that!

Why can't Tsumugi be shown being plain and forgotten? Be shown taling and being ignored by others, being shown that she heard or witnessed an event or conversation and wasn't noticed because she's so plain and inactive. Or be shown wearing something ridiculous and no notices her at all. Show, not tell, people, show, not tell!

Another thing I want to address real fast is how many think that Tsumugi is dangerous because she helped the killing game go on for like....53 seasons. And like.......no. At least I don't think so. Tsumugi kinda gives off the vibes that she was just an intern at TeamDR and was given the chance to participate in a few killing games, and mastermind the V3 one. But apparently fucked up so much that she ended the series in its entirety. Oops. In the pregame world that V3 is trying to tell, I just get the vibes that Tsumugi is just a massive DanganRonpa fan and nothing more.

We could had great things coming from having a brand new mastermind this game, but if we were just gonna get stuck with this bluenette plain Mary Jane here, I'd rather have it be Junko for the 53rd time honestly. At least then it'd be consistent.

#6 Kazou Tengan

Hey guys, DR3 sucks.

*Wooing and clapping ensues from the audience*

Thank you, thank you. Good, now that I've gotten the easy bait out of the way. Onto Tengan.

I will give props to the DanganRonpa 3 team, it's not Junko Enoshima again; let alone a young girl this time. But an old man. Okay....okay...it's different at least. Why did he become a mastermind in the place?

"He became brainwashed by watching a despair video given to him y Chisa" ......Huh....? O-Okay, I guess... H-His motivation for the game at least...?

"He wanted Ryota to use his talent to brainwash the world into hope" ..................huh.....? What...what....what the fu-

This seems like a last minute decision, like they just chose a random name out of a hat or flung a dart towards a spinning wheel. Of all characters they could have chosen to be the mastermind of the final killing game, all the Future Foundation Heads, and all past characters leading up to this point. They choose...Tengan... Why, exactly? Up until this point, Tengan has been a side character, his only moment of note is kicking Juzo's ass(to the praise of many), and fighting with Kyosuke. Again, none of this sets him up to be swayed towards despair. Even after his death he's rarely talked about, suppossedly left a dying message in his blood, but again, even then, Tengan leaves little to no impact on this story.

He shows up so few times in Despair Arc for him to matter, and like I said, does very little in Future Arc. So it really is like they just chose him randomly. And so unlike my huge rantings about Narumi and Tsumugi at their roles of being the mastermind, Tengan doesn't even warrant enough to invoke any emotion out of me. He's just mastermind simply cuz...that's all. It says a lot about this series when even Kodaka doesn't like that the anime made Tengan the mastermind. But in any case, if we can take away one thing from this dissapointing mess; it's that NicoB was right once again with his crazy bullshit predicting powers.

#5 Izuru Kamukura

Top five baby, woo!

Now Izuru is interesting because, even though he techinally counts as a mastermind, he really......isn't in the grand scheme of things. Let me explain...

He is the one to plant the virus into the Neo World Program, that much is true, but in DR2 we're simply told about his actions and technically don't even get to meet the guy face to face. So one could make the argument that is really was just Junko, again. It wasn't until Despair Arc of DanganRonpa 3 that we truly get to see Izuru's character and what he's like. And I do like Izuru as a character, I think he's incredibly interesting. But as a mastermind....eh...

Izuru is neutral, let's just get right to the chase, Izuru is true neutral. He could care less about any ideals of hope or despair, he just lacks any empathy or any human emotions for that matter and just wants to go with whatever doesn't bore him. He's not overly edgy, evil, dark story, Shadow the Hedgehog person that most portray him as. He really is.....just neutral about everything. He only goes with Junko because she proved to him how unpredictable despair can be, which is why if literally anyone else got to him first, like Chiaki or Chisa, maybe the Tragedy wouldn't have occurred!

Wow guys, could you imagine that. What if we treated Izuru as an actual person, and not some lab experiment. Fascinating!

Izuru was quite literally a means to an end for Junko Enoshima, and I've feel like we've just scratched the surface of his potential. But as it stands, Izuru isn't really evil just misunderstood.

#4 Utsuro and Akane Taira

There is quite a lot to talk about with both Utusor and Akane, so I'm just going to break them up first.

-4a. Utsuro.

Utsuro is....fascinating to me. There are time where I like him more than Izuru; a much more interesting and relatable backstory, a proper hand in the story he derives from, and we do see him emerge at the final trial of DRA rather than just others talking about him. And then there are times....when I don't like him as much as Izuru. It's no surprise that DRA is literally just DanganRonpa 0.5, with A LOT of characters and trials mimicking the first game and even pulling from UDG and DR2. "A somewhat demigod bored of the world helps out Junko Enoshima just to see what despair is like and helps her achieve her goal" Golly, where have I heard that before?

And to make matters worse comes his innate ability, what he's known for; Divine Luck. Unlike Izuru who has multiple talents and therefore has many abilities at his disposal to take care of any and all threats that could come his way, Utsuro just has luck. And not just any luck, mind you. Luck so strong it nearly bends reality itself like the Netflix's Live Action Death Note movie to make whatever Utsuro wants, when he wants it. And therein lies the problem.

Utsuro's Divine Luck is so great, you can ask literally how he did anything and the answer is simply: Divine Luck did it.

"How did Junko's plan go so smoothly?" Divine Luck did it.

"How did Utsuro swap places with Yuki so easily?" Divine Luck did it.

"How did Utsuro get so much food and money when he was alone and starving?" Divine Luck did it.

"How did Tsurugi survive getting shot point blank at his temple?" Divine Luck did it.

"How did Akane survive with her wound and nearly drowning in the ocean?" Divine Luck did it!

"HOW DOES THE DAMN SUN AND MOON RISE?!"

WHO CARES?! ANAKOS DID IT! DIVINE LUCK DID IT!

It really gets worse in SDRA2 when basically all of Void, Mikado especially, are just sucking his dick dry essentially because emo demigod boys are just that damn hot. It really is a coin flip on whether I like Utsuro or not.

-4b. Akane Taira

Now onto the hyper energetic and emotional side to our blank and emotionless trouble maker.

Akane Taira I can say is much more fleshed out and interesting compared to her master. First off, her story of being lonely and on the streets forced to make ends meets by doing jobs as a maid is honestly really sad and compelling. She's Yuki/Utsuro's main support throughout the killing game and helps him on many occasions. So to ultimately reveal her true nature by the end of chapter five is such a gut-punch to my emotions. (Take notes, Tsumugi!)

That being said; there isn't really that much different compared to what we've seen of Akane previously and her despair persona. Just that she's really acrobatic and horny, I suppose... Which isn't really bad thing I'd say, she gets the jobs done well.

Her legacy spreads and haunts the Kisaragi Foundation in SDRA2, Akane has left a lasting impression on the surviving trio that the mere thought of her coming back sends them into shivers and willing to do anything to prevent that from happening, and you can mainly see it from how they treat Sora when they finally come together. But Akane is mainly following orders and whatever Utsuro wants, so like Izuru if Utsuro was just found by literally someone good, I'm sure Akane would've turned out fine as well.

And the interesting thing about Akane is much like how others are hurt by Akane's betryal, Akane has come to grow close with her classmates as well. She wants Master Utsuro back but at the same time she doesn't want them to die either. She has a heart, she's compassionate, she understands, she empathizes.

These two are really quite something, and I do like them. But there are things about these two that hold them back for me and just shy away from making the top three.

#3 Junko Enoshima

Here she is everybody! Junko-MotherFuckin'-Enoshima! The bitch that just keeps on coming back! The one that started it all!

Junko has a rep for coming back so many damn and being ludicrously tied to DanganRonpa's man lore and literally every other's story. Started the Tragedy, blackmailed Juzo, basically groomed the Warriors of Hope and leaned demigods like Izuru and Utsuro to her cause, all so flawlessly that one would call her a "Mary-Sue" in any other sense. So with all this in mind, why is she so high on the list?

Well, one of the reasons is that most of the other candidates SUCK! And the other is that......she just works.

Junko Enoshima is shallow, incredibly so. She causes Despair, just for the fun of it. She has no sad or tragic backstory, no reason to this other than cause she can. She is despair incarnate, causes Despair for Despair's sake, and there's nothing more to it than that.....and that works.

Sometimes, you don't need a relatable villian for your story. Sometimes, a bitch just evil. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that.And because she works so well it good explain why she keeps coming back. She's the Bowser to our Mario, the Dr. Eggman to our Sonic the hedgehog, the Ridley to our Samus Aran, the Xehanort to our Sora. We've peaked with her and there can hardly be any other villian to replace her. And with a story as wacky sounding as DanganRonpa, a hammy and almost cartoony villian such as her can only live in this strange world.

Junko works when you just stop thinking about her. Her motivations, her character, her personality, they all answer for the simple sake of despair. Like I said, incredibly shallow like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. But they're typically the best and most impressionable villains around.

#2 Monaca Towa

Pickle Satan!

I said we've peaked with Junko and none can really compete with her as a mastermind of a villian for this series, and I do mean that. But Monaca Towa here just may come close.

She's like Junko in almost every possible way. Sociopathic nature, manipulates people psychologically, and uses others like tools with no remorse for her actions. Saying Monaca here is FUCKED UP, would be a huge understatement of the century. But on the other hand, unlike Junko; you can kinda understand where Monaca is coming from. Abandoned by her birth mother to live with her abusive father and step-brother who obviously don't give two craps about her and make her know it. And apparently the treatment is so bad, when Monaca shows up one day with a wheelchair, they don't question why. Telling, isn't it?

While she's immensely smart of her age, she still is just a kid. Throwing temper tantrums when things can't go her way and using her cute looks and status as a child to trick others into working for her. She is vile, Chapter 4 will make you know this with what she did to Nagisa. And was already showed signs of being heartless when she nearly got the WOH to jump off the school rooftop, remember, this was BEFORE Junko showed up.

Monaca was perfect to be a complete mastermind, Ultra Despair Girls set her up to be the next Junko Enoshima, and when she finally comes back in DR3....they just throw it away anticlimactically and send Monaca into space.....sure I guess... Though it is kind of funny in a way, like she did not DR3 so much she yeeted herself out of the plot. I respect it.

I do like Monaca being as unsympathetically as Junko, but there are times when I do want her to be better, she is still just a kid after all. It's not her fault that she grew up in a shit environment. But then again, that's what makes Monaca so fascinating. There are many sides and many layers to dissect her, to pick a part bit by bit, it's intriguing to me.

It's with these reasons why I think Monaca is an amazing mastermind going by the main series timeline. .....Buuuuuutttt....if we were to include fangans into the mix. I think one does beat her.

#1....Mikado Sannoji

Behold, ladies and gentlemen! The master of dimensions the pleaser of crowds, Mikado Sannoji; Charming Magician!~

Mikado checks every box for me. Cool design? Check! Great personality? Check! Hammy? Check! Unrentlessly eeeevil? Checkity check check!

I do believe it was a stroke of PURE, GENUIS to unviel Mikado as the mastermind in the early prologue. Like, HOLY SHIT! The mastermind's right there! Oh my god! What a fucking twist to start off with!

Mikado is so charming with his eccentric personality and unhinged abilities as a magician, that for like two chapters you kind of forget he's the mastermind!

Like look at him! Look at this silly dude!

So funny, so witty, so goofy!

So, waitwaitwait, go back-

Waitwaitwait, this isn't right. Go back, go back!

OHMYGODGOBACK!!!

...ahem....like I was saying. even though Mikado is silly, I don't think he's so silly he ruins the narrative. It's a perfect balance if you ask me.

The mysteries surrounding him and his power of the other Void members are not to be trifled with. He's the boss for a reason folks, don't forget it. But because he was revealed so suddenly there are at times a lot of humorous moments with the cast where they either ignore him, kick him out of activities, or just straight up tell him to die.

And what I like most about is....finally...FINALLY GUYS....it's a mastermind....WITH NO RELATION TO JUNKO ENOSHIMA WHATSOEVER!

WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! WE DID IT! WE CAN HAVE A GAME WITHOUT HER! FUCK JUNKO ENOSHIMA! HE DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT BITCH! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

...I mean he does kind of copy her plan to use the Neo World Program, but Mikado could not literally give a fuck about Junko. He's all about that Divine D as I said before.

If there's one thing I can say I don't like about Mikado, its that once chapter 6 rolls around he just becomes another typical, "human are inferior to my AI genuis. Gwahahaha" stereotype that kind of kills his whole magician he vibe he had going. And his plan literally factored on him not even thinking that Akane would be the one to have Divine Luck when she emerged from the ocean. My man has linear thinking. If you pointed this out to him I'm pretty sure he'd explode.

But despite all that, Mikado is clearly set on his goal and will stop at nothing to achieve it, and DAMN NEAR SUCCEEDS I WILL ADD! He won the chapter 5 trial and everyone would have died had the Kisaragi Foundation not intervened, by all accounts, Mikado won. That is INSANE! And I love SDRA2 for breaking the molds of past DanganRonpas! With all that said, I tip my hat to the AI magician.

Mikado Sannoji is my favorite mastermind, personally.

-Mod

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

// Is there a main-focused character, or is it a group for the first arc of Phase 3?

//Phase 3's first arc is gonna be different from the others we've seen so far, because it's a prequel, not just to the events of Survivor, but to a lot of the events that happen in the core Danganronpa series.

//A big plot point that will become extremely relevant in ALL of Phase 3 was something that was discovered in the "Rise and Shine arc" of the story, when Kaede gets trapped in that lab by Zetsubou.

//It's revealed the lab actually belonged to the Future Foundation, and was specifically built with the intention of quarantining 5 patients who had been infected with Junko Enoshima's blood, and as a result of their infection, began to adopt her mannerisms, personality quirks, and emotions.

//The arc will take place just prior to the events of Danganronpa 3, and besides a few of the DR3 characters serving as background extras, the main cast will be comprised entirely of new characters never seen before, including it's main protagonist.

//All the other arcs in the story have revolved around one of the 7 main protags of the blog (Makoto, Hajime, Komaru, Toko, Shuichi, Kaede, and Kuripa), but the main character of this arc is a boy named Jakob Clement; an 8 Year Old boy referred to as "Subject 5."

//But that's all the information I can give. The actual plot details will arrive when I finally start moving towards making Phase 3.

-Mod

[multifanlol]

Hey! So i wanted to start writing character x reader stuff so, feel free to request, (I’m so bad at this help-) I’m guessing first i should write the fandoms I’ll write for/characters i will and won’t write for etc, so yeah-

Danganronpa

All students from trigger happy havoc platonically and romantically (excluding Junko Enoshima unless your some sort of mastermind like her)

All students from goodbye despair platonically and romantically + Monomi platonically only

All students from V3 platonically and romantically excluding Tsumugi again like Junko if your some sort of villain like her

Ultra Despair Girls

Komaru Naegi (Platonically and Romantically)

Yuta Asahina (Platonically and romantically)

Warriors of hope (Mainly platonic although I’ll only do romantic with them aged up)

Monaca Towa (Although i should be putting her in the category with Junko and Tsumugi i still really wanna write her lol mainly platonic though)

Characters i won’t write for in Danganronpa

Haji Towa

Monokuma (unless it’s some sort of funny platonic oneshot or something nothing serious though)

Monocubs

South Park

Characters I’ll write for

Adults (I’m okay with writing for most of the main adults like Randy, Sharon Gerald romantically and platonically etc…)

Most of the kids (I mainly prefer platonic like the WOH although I will do romantic but would prefer aging them up would prefer writing there post covid ones more although i will write them that age more reluctantly though)

Now that i have that clear the characters in specific I’ll write for are probably

Stan Marsh

Kyle Broflovski

Eric Cartman (Reluctantly)

Kenny Mcormick

“Mysterion” (just forget that isn’t Kenny lol)

Butters Scotch

Goth Kids (only platonic for Firkle)

Randy Marsh

Sharon Marsh

Craigs gang + Tweek

Main girls (Wendy,Bebe,Heidi,Nicole….)

Most of the parents

Teen characters (Shelly Marsh, Kevin Mcormick, Scott Tenorman…..)

Characters i won’t write

Ike (would prefer doing platonic and writing romantic stuff for post covid him since he’s like 3)

Firkle except platonic stuff

Amphibia

Characters i will write for

Anne Boonchuy (platonic and romantic)

Sasha Waybright (Romantic and platonic)

Marcy Wu (Romantic and platonic)

The planters (Platonic only)

Darcy (Romantic and platonic forgetting the core controls her and focusing on Marcy lol)

Pretty much I’ll do platonic for all the other frogs and only platonic since i feel uncomfortable kinda writing non human readers

Total Drama

Characters I’ll write for

All romantic and platonic (well excluding the tennis rivals unless platonic

Characters i won’t write for

Romantic for any of the frogs

What i will write in general

Male, female and gender neutral readers all are good here!

Male reader x male character/gender neutral x female character etc

Reader acting like a character as an example gender neutral reader! Acting Like Makoto Naegi from Danganronpa to (insert character)

I can go up to four characters at the moment at best I’ll add it up when i feel more comfortable doing more then four

Fluff, wholesome stuff etc

Angst but only reluctantly because i suck at them i feel like i wouldn’t make it serious so only if you really want one but i warn you

Platonic and romantic i think yk

I write parental f/o stuff or sibling f/os etc…..

I can write ocs and self inserts but I’d need important details

Stuff like kissing, etc I feel like I’m gonna suck at it but cringe culture is dead right-

Yandere stuff if yk yk

What i won’t write

Smut or lemons (I don’t mind it but i can’t write stuff like that because it comes out SO BAD I can’t even-)

Non consenting stuff, harassment, abuse, pedophilia etc (if yk yk….)

So that’s it for now i think I’m in other fandoms but there the main ones I’ll write for now sooo…..

[aparticularbandit]

Kyoko's entire gender and orientation and all of the things is just detective. That is who and what she is, and it is one of the very few things she is sure of, and most everything else just does not matter.

She is, first and foremost, detective. Everything else is secondary or less.

Junko, on the other hand, has never been that sure of anything in her entire life. Right now, she's Despair, and that's fun, and it can be her entire self right now, but even that's not really who she is because she has all of the different personas - she doesn't know who she's supposed to be, and she changes between them because she gets bored of them - and so of course she would call Kyoko boring and predictable because Kyoko is ever only and always Detective with a capital D.

(Except that Kyoko's involvement was the thing she did not predict in DR0. Someone comments on that, on how Kyoko isn't supposed to be there. (Mukuro? Maybe?))

But the thing is that Kyoko gives a permanence and stability in the midst of the whirlwind chaos that is Junko Enoshima. Because even without her memories, Kyoko is still Detective.

Unstoppable force meets immovable object indeed.

(Take the best things about the other and add them into yourself: Kyoko teaches Junko how to find herself in the midst of so many unknowns, and Junko gives Kyoko wings.)