GBAtemp Recommends: Danganronpa Series

Danganronpa_recommends.JPG

How do you stop a game series from stagnating? If you’re talking about visual novels, options are limited. Since the visual style most likely won’t change and the genre is light on gameplay, you’ve got to innovate in your approach to storytelling, but Danganronpa follows this advice in an unconventional way. While each game has a unique cast and setting, they follow the same structure and echo each other enough that the familiarity can become grating. Thematically, however, things are always different. Not content to expand on the original game’s themes or tell a new story using the same format, each sequel seems to be a rebuttal against the themes of its predecessor, without entirely invalidating that game either. It’s an interesting way to put the games in conversation with each other and muddy the thematic waters, ultimately being more thought-provoking than just telling one story that tries to cover as many perspectives as possible.

Danganronpa 1.1.jpg

Danganronpa 1.2.jpg Danganronpa 1.3.jpg Danganronpa 1.4.jpg
The series revolves around the students of Hope’s Peak Academy, a prestigious private school that scouts the most talented students around the world and gives them a free ride to foster their gifts, and it’s generally accepted that graduates will be set for life. The academy does this to establish them as symbols of hope, extraordinary people for the general population to look up to. Each game starts with the same basic premise: fifteen Hope’s Peak students find themselves held hostage by a gleefully psychotic robot teddy bear named Monokuma who informs his prisoners that the only way they can escape is if they kill another student, at which point an investigation and trial will be held to determine the murderer. If the incorrect student is identified, the culprit will be released and the other students will be killed. If the correct student is identified, the murderer is executed and the killing game continues as before. Following this, every game uses the same basic structure. There are six chapters, divided into two sections; “daily life” and “deadly life.” Daily life consists of exploring your environment, moving to the next story beat and getting to know your fellow students in optional free time events where you choose a classmate to hang out with. Daily life ends when a body is inevitably found, which signals the start of deadly life and an investigation. Afterwards, a class trial is held where the students gather with their findings and debate who they think the killer is.
The idea of filling icons of hope with so much despair that they’d be willing to kill one another forms the main thematic conflict for the first game; are people more naturally inclined towards despair over hope, and which is stronger? It’s fairly straightforward, just a redressing of a good vs. evil story essentially, but it becomes more nuanced in the second game. Danganronpa 2 takes the first game’s admiration of hope and twists it, showing the folly of locking yourself into a binary between hope and despair and how a fanatic devotion to any one ideal, no matter how noble, can be dangerous. Danganronpa V3 takes things a step further and turns the thrust of the entire series, uncovering and facing the truth, on its head. The sequels also take concepts from the first game and expand on them to introduce new ideas, but the main focus is always on looking at what ideas came before it from a different angle. As interesting as a lot of these ideas are though, their presentation leaves something to be desired. These themes usually come to the forefront during the class trials, and as such, they are endlessly talked to death rather than being allowed to breathe as a natural part of the story. At some point they become a bit of a word salad, with certain words key to the series - “hope” and “despair” and “truth” and “future” - repeated ad nauseam to the point of unintentional hilarity.

Danganronpa 2.1.jpg

Danganronpa 2.2.jpg Danganronpa 2.3.jpeg Danganronpa 2.4.jpg

Given the way Danganronpa layers its stories, this doesn’t necessarily have to detract too much. At any point, the game can be telling three stories; each chapter functions as a stand-alone murder mystery, the chapters come together to make a tense survival story while building the core themes, then near the end everything gets tied into the deeper lore of the series (and those themes are talked into the ground). So if you’re not into the hope vs. despair thing, you’ve still got a great murder mystery to enjoy for the majority of the playtime.

This approach allows the game to show how much it excels with its genre elements by letting each story work on its own without relying on player investment in the previous entries. The music is excellent, effortlessly switching moods from somber to madcap, breathing more than enough life into the game to make up for the sparse voice acting and lack of visual fluidity that come with the visual novel genre. The art design also does a lot of heavy lifting. Character sprites are wonderfully expressive and their designs are informative on their personality while still seeming like a natural outfit for this world. The game also knows how to handle its large casts, focusing on a few characters to keep the story focus tight, but not letting any of the background characters be forgettable. The mysteries themselves are varied and interesting too. While each game has at least one case that doesn’t work, for the most part they are inventive and fun, complicated enough that you’re normally only one step ahead of where the game’s going, but not so complicated as to be totally nonsensical. The full stories on what lead up to the murder also display the range of emotions the series is capable of showing. Some are absurd and farcical, some are genuinely tragic and moving. As the games progress, certain patterns emerge that can be frustrating to see repeated over and over again, and sometimes the game will get close to doing something different or embracing a fun quirk of the established rules before backing away and going with something seen before. Even then, the duller cases still have some fun surprises to turn up, so they’re never entirely without merit.

Danganronpa 3.1.jpg

Danganronpa 3.2.jpg Danganronpa 3.3.jpg Danganronpa 3.4.png
Danganronpa’s approach to storytelling is bold, to say the least. In an interview with Otomedia, series creator and writer Kazutaka Kodaka notes that he likes to take ideas that are taboo in the mystery genre and get them to work anyway. He might do it by building an entire game’s themes around justifying that trope, or he might just make the implications of that reveal too interesting in this particular context to get caught up on whether or not it’s overplayed. He knows how to leverage a bad idea by not getting bogged down in minutiae and making sure that the twist is a means to an end, rather than a satisfying answer in and of itself, and he’s also willing to taunt his audience for falling for his trick. Near the end of the first game, after a certain reveal Monokuma urges the students not to think too hard about the details of this news as they now have to contend with the way it fundamentally changes their perception of the entire experience up to this point. Early on in the second game, he makes an offhand comment mocking the idea that anyone would be willing to just accept such a cliché in a mystery story. Kodaka proves that no trope has been overused to the point of it being banned in storytelling; just that the requisite work must go in to peel off the stagnation.
 

anhminh

Pirate since 2010
Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2010
Messages
1,594
Trophies
1
Age
31
XP
3,364
Country
Vietnam
It's edgy af but I like it. What I don't like though is the beta soy boy MC that chanting "hope" at the end of every game. I was hoping for a strong female lead in v3 but nope, back to the beta male again.
 

Bimmel

~ Game Soundtrack Collector ~
Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2014
Messages
2,302
Trophies
2
Age
43
XP
3,778
Country
Gambia, The
I just love Danganronpa. Play it, play it now! If you like murder mysterys, that is.

And please play 999, Virtues Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma. Oh, and AI: The Somnium Files, too!

And Ace Attorney. And Hotel Dusk. And Ghost Trick. And.. I should stop here. Sorry. :wub:
 

Windaga

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
1,188
Trophies
1
Age
34
Location
New England
XP
2,727
Country
United States
I love Danganronpa so much, but I don't think they're very good "games." The pacing is odd, some of the game play mechanics, particularly in the third game, are kind of clunky, and the overall appearance of the game can be kind of overwhelming for new players. My best friend saw me playing through a trial in the third game and just couldn't follow along - bullets, swords, random letter bubbles in the dark - her eyes were spinning.

But hot damn do I love it. The story, the music, the characters, the writing, the general UI, the themes - it's just so good. And I loved the extras - particularly the Board game/dungeon crawler/gacha system in the third game.

Easily one of my favorite universes and VNs. Danganronpa, Zero Escape, Ace Attorney, Professor Layton got me through primaries and most of grad school haha.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nekomaru

FriendlyHacker

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Oct 19, 2018
Messages
82
Trophies
0
Age
26
Location
127.0.0.1
XP
386
Country
Italy
I really like this review/recommendation, such neat writing. And I love this series, but damn, it was an emotional rollercoaster... I wouldn't recommend it to people who are particularly sensitive, overly empathic or emotionally unstable, because let's be real, it can do them harm (speaking from personal experience here). I think it shouldn't be taken too seriously, I'd say the right approach should be something similar to Monokuma's easy-going attitude, with a good dose of detachment and maybe even irony. It may sound cold, but if you're soft-hearted and let the game suck you in, you'll be hurt. REAL BAD.
 
  • Like
Reactions: relauby

Flirkyn

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2014
Messages
261
Trophies
0
Age
30
XP
1,967
Country
France
I just love Danganronpa. Play it, play it now! If you like murder mysterys, that is.

And please play 999, Virtues Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma. Oh, and AI: The Somnium Files, too!

And Ace Attorney. And Hotel Dusk. And Ghost Trick. And.. I should stop here. Sorry. :wub:
Ahah remind me I have to continu AI (I put it on hold after about 10h because I was too much on Code Vein and Dragon Quest 11 S) but I agree with you! You can also add Ever17 (and a lot more VN's ahah)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bimmel

Ev1l0rd

(⌐◥▶◀◤) girl - noirscape
Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Messages
2,004
Trophies
1
Location
Site 19
Website
catgirlsin.space
XP
3,441
Country
Netherlands
Ah yes, Danganronpa.

A series I hold an interest in to say the least (it's not like my profile picture has been a character from the franchise for the past year or anything, no siree).

I've analyzed this franchise to death, so I obviously like it. That said, reviewing something you really really like is kinda hard, since it means it's easy to overlook flaws in it.

Luckily for me, I'm someone who loved Trigger Happy Havoc, is mild on 2, kinda liked 3 and quite disliked V3. I never played UDG but it seemed decent.

So I suppose to examine this properly, I'll pick one thing from this and I'll examine it in detail. Specifically, let's talk about theming.

The OP makes mention of Hope and Despair and how some players feel it's repeated ad nauseam. Whilst this holds true to some degree, it's mainly a symptom that has started to appear from 2 onwards. In the first game, despair and hope are more abstract concepts than they are in later games. In Danganronpa 1, hope is the force of change, the desire to not give up in the face of hardship. In Trigger Happy Havoc, this takes two main forms. Aside from the general desire to survive the killing game, the most common way the game references hope is when someone refuses to abide by the rules of the killing game (ie. Fujisaki going open about their secret, Oogami not playing along with the mole role) and it's masters. Despair acts as the opposite of this, lying down because lying down is what you're told and it's convenient, accepting your situation as it is. A really good example is with Mondo. Both Fujisaki and Oowada were essentially dealt similar cards during the motive case that involved them, as they were major elements of their past they clearly weren't comfortable sharing. But as said before, while Fujisaki managed to defy expectations and decide to not play into the motive, Oowada essentially gave up and decided that his secret not coming to light was more important (whilst Mondo is more or less absolved to some degree as it is a crime he did out of rage, this is a consistent factor).

Now to talk about Enoshima. Junko Enoshima is the Ultimate Despair, but I'll go and argue she's only a good character in DR1, with her appearance in SDR2 being the characters absolute low-point and in 3 it not being entirely terrible. But why is it that she works so well in Trigger Happy Havoc? To understand this, it's important to understand that Danganronpa 2 onwards actually redefines Hope and Despair as being two concepts that are similar to the first game, but they differ enough to make a huge difference in how they work. Enoshima works in DR1 because she's essentially a huge element of the theming that DR1 has. Enoshima is essentially despair by DR1 standards. She caused the end of the world on a whimsy, she wanted to see everyone else fall into despair, and even when she's defeated, she instantly accepts it because it's convenient -> she gets to enjoy her own despair at being killed.

Makoto Naegi is the anti-Junko (and whilst later entries made him more or less her personal nemesis, he in this game isn't that personal of a nemesis to her plans and goals, Kirigiri fits this role better), and it's for a very simple reason. As he says himself: Naegi is just a little more optimistic. DR1s ending is often derided for being the moment where the game just Mary Sues Naegi in making everyone not lose hope, but that's entirely incorrect. Naegi doesn't Mary Sue, he just reminds everyone of a quality most people have: the ability to cling to anything, even if it's delusional. Look at what he says to his classmates, they're not assurances, they're scraps. For example, with Togami he just reminds him that even if his family is entirely dead, he can still build his own empire. He gives his classmates scraps to cling to, reminds them that even if just accepting Enoshima is the easy way, it doesn't make it the right way. Enoshima on the other hand is entirely about pressuring down on them, reminding them of all their issues and insecurities.

Kirigiri in particular stands out here, because a lot of the previous and current case focused on her. Enoshima's nemesis during THH is pretty much Kirigiri. Her mind is extra harshly wiped since Enoshima knew that if she didn't, Kirigiri would trivialize the entire game, and Chapter 5s sham trial is specifically to execute Kirigiri (the fact that she isn't is purely because Enoshima was also willing to settle for Naegi as both have been thorns in her side) and a lot of the discoveries made during the chapter 6 investigation are specifically attempts to break her down. During the trial, Enoshima places all of her pressure on the one thing she knew for sure would cause Kirigiri to side with her: Her father would have wanted her to stay in the building. That's the read that is explicitly stated by him in the tapes, and Enoshima goes down hard on this.

The OP playing during the last endless debate is about as cheesy as playing sorairo days during the final battle of Gurren Lagann, but fuck it, it works. When you finally get to Kirigiri in this section and shoot the hope bullet, it's cheesy, but the sequence that follows is so much worth it. Because, even if Kirigiris father would have wanted her to stay, how much does Kirigiri really know him? How much can Enoshima even claim to be right here, with the stakes being as they are?

And that's when the game just explicitly says that Enoshima is wrong. Because even when she plays what she thought was her ace-in-the-hole card, places all her cards on one person to be able to win and she still can't do it, then it must mean that Despair is just wrong. And as much as some people hate being directly told some of this stuff, in this case it's not just told, it's also shown.

I really like this ambigious theming and it's a shame the series never followed through on it.
--
Let's get to Danganronpa 2. Danganronpa 2 reset the definitions of Hope and Despair. Despair in this case is pretty much puppy-kicking evil. If you fall into despair, you're evil. That's the messaging that DR2 wants to firmly send. Despair means you are evil and should be deried for being evil. Nowhere is this more clear than with Mikan Tsumikis Despair state. This character is at it's core Despair in it's purest form is what the game says. If you fall in Despair, this is what you become.

And... it sucks. Gone are the more abstract concepts of Despair and Hope, in with the easy moral allegiance that is easy for people to characterize. Then we get Nagito Komaeda. I like Nagito, I really do. But his Hope spiel characterizes the way DR2 has redefined Hope: Now it is the force of good, but y'know don't go overboard or else you'll end up like Nagito. That's the message the game sends about Hope here. And... it's just so weak.

Then finally, Junko. Junko also has been recharacterized and fit in with the puppy-kicking evil and it clearly just shows in how poor her plan is in this game. I'll quickly summarize the options for the survivors: Download own memories, let Junko inhabit dead classmates and restart the tragedy, reset the game doing it all over or shut down the game, hoping for the best. At no point is Junko able to win, her position here is to provide a clear "evil" answer to the other two options. They recharacterized Junko from being an excellently build-up character to the mustache twirling evil.

And... that's all there is to DR2s Hope and Despair. Hope is good (but don't be Nagito), Despair is unambigiously evil.

--
End of Hopes Peak more or less runs with Danganronpa 2s themes, although I'll commend them for at least keeping Naegis characterization consistent (and I'll criticize the fact that they made real Chiaki nothing short of a Hopey Mary Sue). Fully related to any mention of End of Hopes Peak: I ship Naegiri hard.

--
V3 takes a completely different approach with it's themes. Hope and Despair aren't the focus, it's Truth vs. Lies. Or is it Fiction vs. Reality? Who really knows.

V3 can't seem to make up it's mind about what it wants to be. The first five chapters of the game build a very solid foundation with very solid characters embodying the concepts of Truth vs. Lies, with Kaito and Kokichi basically representing them. And that's the issue, because both Kaito and Kokichi have their arcs ended in chapter five, with no real resolution. Maybe this is accurate, after all, Truth and Lies can't have a real conclusion since white lies are a thing and the truth can be painful.

Then V3 goes into it's final arc and suddenly it all becomes Fiction vs. Reality. Whilst there's minor grounding for this theme in the prologue, it never pops up again after the prologue and comes mostly accross as shock writing with the message that V3 sends here being just phenomenally stupid: "Fiction can change those around us". Well uh... fucking yes??? I sure as hell hope so. I've dabbled in writing articles and doing investigative work to change peoples minds, I sure as hell hope that my writings, both real and fictional, influence the world around us. It's just a super weak message and so... on the nose sensible it feels like it comes out of a self help book.

Not to mention that any of the characters that could have worked as great examples on the Reality end of things are all dead by the end of chapter 1, with only Fiction surviving until the end, where they have to rewrite Shucihi, whose arc so far involved Truth vs. Lies (and I'll spare you my personal thoughts on Shuichi, I really don't like him) and the other survivors to fit the Reality part of this.

I don't like V3.

So yeah, that's just one aspect of the series analyzed. I like the series quite a bit, even if it's got some serious flaws and don't think that my criticism and analysis of the theming here is all encompassing about what I think about these games. There's also the excellent characterization, the phenomenal character designs and it's amazing approach to overall style. But those are for another time. I hope that those who already played the series will enjoy this little analysis and if you didn't play the series yet, I highly recommend you do and don't you dare read the spoiler mark before you do. Otherwise I'll send you pictures of Ball Monokuma. And nobody wants pictures of Ball Monokuma.
 
Last edited by Ev1l0rd,

Mr.Faq2015

/ˈmɪstə ˈfæk/
Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2015
Messages
330
Trophies
0
Location
Rhizome 9
XP
1,673
Country
Argentina
I approve as well. I got through the DR series mid-last year and overall I recommend it. It has its ups and downs, but overall it's more than entertaining. My favourite will always be the first game because of how its plot develops over the course of the chapters.
Also, dropping this: 1 -> 2 -> 0 -> UDG -> 2.5 -> 3 -> V3

Sent from my 1DS with B9S using Discord Nitro
 
D

Deleted User

Guest
After so many recommandations I tried DR1 and HO BOY I hated it.
I can understand why it is popular, but it is definitely not for me. It even put me out of the VN genra for several years.

But one day, I tried S;G and that was something else.
 

relauby

Idiot Child
OP
Editorial Team
Joined
Sep 21, 2017
Messages
1,097
Trophies
1
Age
28
Location
Newfoundland
XP
17,579
Country
Canada
Ah yes, Danganronpa.

A series I hold an interest in to say the least (it's not like my profile picture has been a character from the franchise for the past year or anything, no siree).

I've analyzed this franchise to death, so I obviously like it. That said, reviewing something you really really like is kinda hard, since it means it's easy to overlook flaws in it.

Luckily for me, I'm someone who loved Trigger Happy Havoc, is mild on 2, kinda liked 3 and quite disliked V3. I never played UDG but it seemed decent.

So I suppose to examine this properly, I'll pick one thing from this and I'll examine it in detail. Specifically, let's talk about theming.

[SPOILER SNIP]

So yeah, that's just one aspect of the series analyzed. I like the series quite a bit, even if it's got some serious flaws and don't think that my criticism and analysis of the theming here is all encompassing about what I think about these games. There's also the excellent characterization, the phenomenal character designs and it's amazing approach to overall style. But those are for another time. I hope that those who already played the series will enjoy this little analysis and if you didn't play the series yet, I highly recommend you do and don't you dare read the spoiler mark before you do. Otherwise I'll send you pictures of Ball Monokuma. And nobody wants pictures of Ball Monokuma.

Very interesting analysis! I never liked how vague the concepts of hope and despair are in this series (like I said, it felt like good vs. evil just slightly redressed to me) but I really like your interpretation of how the first game portrays it. I've also always kinda thought Trigger Happy Havoc was the weakest, but you're making me want to go back and play it again.
 

Ev1l0rd

(⌐◥▶◀◤) girl - noirscape
Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Messages
2,004
Trophies
1
Location
Site 19
Website
catgirlsin.space
XP
3,441
Country
Netherlands
. I've also always kinda thought Trigger Happy Havoc was the weakest, but you're making me want to go back and play it again.
I get why people say it, it's a much more muted game in terms of how extreme some characters from later games can get and a lot of the characters are more mature compared to the SDR2 and especially the V3 cast due to it's more reality-grounded setting. The focus with THH is really the group dynamic and how each character functions in said group (and what happens when one decides that another student is best aliven't).

SDR2 and V3 put more focus on the individual characters, but this comes at the cost of making a number of characters (pretty much all in V3, a reasonable amount in SDR2) just completely disfunctional in the group itself, having very little interactions outside of one or maybe two other characters who aren't the protagonist (see for example Nekomaru, whose character is best summed up as "Akane's best friend" in terms of the group dynamic).
 

relauby

Idiot Child
OP
Editorial Team
Joined
Sep 21, 2017
Messages
1,097
Trophies
1
Age
28
Location
Newfoundland
XP
17,579
Country
Canada
I get why people say it, it's a much more muted game in terms of how extreme some characters from later games can get and a lot of the characters are more mature compared to the SDR2 and especially the V3 cast due to it's more reality-grounded setting. The focus with THH is really the group dynamic and how each character functions in said group (and what happens when one decides that another student is best aliven't).

Yeah, I generally like more low-key characters but where THH didn't focus on any one person super hard, I never got all that invested in them.
I also think the game suffers from the lack a great rival like the other two. People usually cite Byakuya, who I like as a character, but aside from the shit he pulls in chapter 2 I don't really remember him being actively disruptive. He increases the tension by not co-operating and by saying he'd be willing to kill to get out, but he never felt like something you'd have to contend with the same way Nagito or Kokichi did, he was just some dickhead hanging around.
 

FriendlyHacker

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Oct 19, 2018
Messages
82
Trophies
0
Age
26
Location
127.0.0.1
XP
386
Country
Italy
Ah yes, Danganronpa.

A series I hold an interest in to say the least (it's not like my profile picture has been a character from the franchise for the past year or anything, no siree).

I've analyzed this franchise to death, so I obviously like it. That said, reviewing something you really really like is kinda hard, since it means it's easy to overlook flaws in it.

Luckily for me, I'm someone who loved Trigger Happy Havoc, is mild on 2, kinda liked 3 and quite disliked V3. I never played UDG but it seemed decent.

So I suppose to examine this properly, I'll pick one thing from this and I'll examine it in detail. Specifically, let's talk about theming.

The OP makes mention of Hope and Despair and how some players feel it's repeated ad nauseam. Whilst this holds true to some degree, it's mainly a symptom that has started to appear from 2 onwards. In the first game, despair and hope are more abstract concepts than they are in later games. In Danganronpa 1, hope is the force of change, the desire to not give up in the face of hardship. In Trigger Happy Havoc, this takes two main forms. Aside from the general desire to survive the killing game, the most common way the game references hope is when someone refuses to abide by the rules of the killing game (ie. Fujisaki going open about their secret, Oogami not playing along with the mole role) and it's masters. Despair acts as the opposite of this, lying down because lying down is what you're told and it's convenient, accepting your situation as it is. A really good example is with Mondo. Both Fujisaki and Oowada were essentially dealt similar cards during the motive case that involved them, as they were major elements of their past they clearly weren't comfortable sharing. But as said before, while Fujisaki managed to defy expectations and decide to not play into the motive, Oowada essentially gave up and decided that his secret not coming to light was more important (whilst Mondo is more or less absolved to some degree as it is a crime he did out of rage, this is a consistent factor).

Now to talk about Enoshima. Junko Enoshima is the Ultimate Despair, but I'll go and argue she's only a good character in DR1, with her appearance in SDR2 being the characters absolute low-point and in 3 it not being entirely terrible. But why is it that she works so well in Trigger Happy Havoc? To understand this, it's important to understand that Danganronpa 2 onwards actually redefines Hope and Despair as being two concepts that are similar to the first game, but they differ enough to make a huge difference in how they work. Enoshima works in DR1 because she's essentially a huge element of the theming that DR1 has. Enoshima is essentially despair by DR1 standards. She caused the end of the world on a whimsy, she wanted to see everyone else fall into despair, and even when she's defeated, she instantly accepts it because it's convenient -> she gets to enjoy her own despair at being killed.

Makoto Naegi is the anti-Junko (and whilst later entries made him more or less her personal nemesis, he in this game isn't that personal of a nemesis to her plans and goals, Kirigiri fits this role better), and it's for a very simple reason. As he says himself: Naegi is just a little more optimistic. DR1s ending is often derided for being the moment where the game just Mary Sues Naegi in making everyone not lose hope, but that's entirely incorrect. Naegi doesn't Mary Sue, he just reminds everyone of a quality most people have: the ability to cling to anything, even if it's delusional. Look at what he says to his classmates, they're not assurances, they're scraps. For example, with Togami he just reminds him that even if his family is entirely dead, he can still build his own empire. He gives his classmates scraps to cling to, reminds them that even if just accepting Enoshima is the easy way, it doesn't make it the right way. Enoshima on the other hand is entirely about pressuring down on them, reminding them of all their issues and insecurities.

Kirigiri in particular stands out here, because a lot of the previous and current case focused on her. Enoshima's nemesis during THH is pretty much Kirigiri. Her mind is extra harshly wiped since Enoshima knew that if she didn't, Kirigiri would trivialize the entire game, and Chapter 5s sham trial is specifically to execute Kirigiri (the fact that she isn't is purely because Enoshima was also willing to settle for Naegi as both have been thorns in her side) and a lot of the discoveries made during the chapter 6 investigation are specifically attempts to break her down. During the trial, Enoshima places all of her pressure on the one thing she knew for sure would cause Kirigiri to side with her: Her father would have wanted her to stay in the building. That's the read that is explicitly stated by him in the tapes, and Enoshima goes down hard on this.

The OP playing during the last endless debate is about as cheesy as playing sorairo days during the final battle of Gurren Lagann, but fuck it, it works. When you finally get to Kirigiri in this section and shoot the hope bullet, it's cheesy, but the sequence that follows is so much worth it. Because, even if Kirigiris father would have wanted her to stay, how much does Kirigiri really know him? How much can Enoshima even claim to be right here, with the stakes being as they are?

And that's when the game just explicitly says that Enoshima is wrong. Because even when she plays what she thought was her ace-in-the-hole card, places all her cards on one person to be able to win and she still can't do it, then it must mean that Despair is just wrong. And as much as some people hate being directly told some of this stuff, in this case it's not just told, it's also shown.

I really like this ambigious theming and it's a shame the series never followed through on it.
--
Let's get to Danganronpa 2. Danganronpa 2 reset the definitions of Hope and Despair. Despair in this case is pretty much puppy-kicking evil. If you fall into despair, you're evil. That's the messaging that DR2 wants to firmly send. Despair means you are evil and should be deried for being evil. Nowhere is this more clear than with Mikan Tsumikis Despair state. This character is at it's core Despair in it's purest form is what the game says. If you fall in Despair, this is what you become.

And... it sucks. Gone are the more abstract concepts of Despair and Hope, in with the easy moral allegiance that is easy for people to characterize. Then we get Nagito Komaeda. I like Nagito, I really do. But his Hope spiel characterizes the way DR2 has redefined Hope: Now it is the force of good, but y'know don't go overboard or else you'll end up like Nagito. That's the message the game sends about Hope here. And... it's just so weak.

Then finally, Junko. Junko also has been recharacterized and fit in with the puppy-kicking evil and it clearly just shows in how poor her plan is in this game. I'll quickly summarize the options for the survivors: Download own memories, let Junko inhabit dead classmates and restart the tragedy, reset the game doing it all over or shut down the game, hoping for the best. At no point is Junko able to win, her position here is to provide a clear "evil" answer to the other two options. They recharacterized Junko from being an excellently build-up character to the mustache twirling evil.

And... that's all there is to DR2s Hope and Despair. Hope is good (but don't be Nagito), Despair is unambigiously evil.

--
End of Hopes Peak more or less runs with Danganronpa 2s themes, although I'll commend them for at least keeping Naegis characterization consistent (and I'll criticize the fact that they made real Chiaki nothing short of a Hopey Mary Sue). Fully related to any mention of End of Hopes Peak: I ship Naegiri hard.

--
V3 takes a completely different approach with it's themes. Hope and Despair aren't the focus, it's Truth vs. Lies. Or is it Fiction vs. Reality? Who really knows.

V3 can't seem to make up it's mind about what it wants to be. The first five chapters of the game build a very solid foundation with very solid characters embodying the concepts of Truth vs. Lies, with Kaito and Kokichi basically representing them. And that's the issue, because both Kaito and Kokichi have their arcs ended in chapter five, with no real resolution. Maybe this is accurate, after all, Truth and Lies can't have a real conclusion since white lies are a thing and the truth can be painful.

Then V3 goes into it's final arc and suddenly it all becomes Fiction vs. Reality. Whilst there's minor grounding for this theme in the prologue, it never pops up again after the prologue and comes mostly accross as shock writing with the message that V3 sends here being just phenomenally stupid: "Fiction can change those around us". Well uh... fucking yes??? I sure as hell hope so. I've dabbled in writing articles and doing investigative work to change peoples minds, I sure as hell hope that my writings, both real and fictional, influence the world around us. It's just a super weak message and so... on the nose sensible it feels like it comes out of a self help book.

Not to mention that any of the characters that could have worked as great examples on the Reality end of things are all dead by the end of chapter 1, with only Fiction surviving until the end, where they have to rewrite Shucihi, whose arc so far involved Truth vs. Lies (and I'll spare you my personal thoughts on Shuichi, I really don't like him) and the other survivors to fit the Reality part of this.

I don't like V3.

So yeah, that's just one aspect of the series analyzed. I like the series quite a bit, even if it's got some serious flaws and don't think that my criticism and analysis of the theming here is all encompassing about what I think about these games. There's also the excellent characterization, the phenomenal character designs and it's amazing approach to overall style. But those are for another time. I hope that those who already played the series will enjoy this little analysis and if you didn't play the series yet, I highly recommend you do and don't you dare read the spoiler mark before you do. Otherwise I'll send you pictures of Ball Monokuma. And nobody wants pictures of Ball Monokuma.

I SO agree with the distinction you made between Hope&Despair in DR1 and Hope&Despair post-DR1. And "mustache twirling evil" made my day, thank you! XD
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ev1l0rd

Ev1l0rd

(⌐◥▶◀◤) girl - noirscape
Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Messages
2,004
Trophies
1
Location
Site 19
Website
catgirlsin.space
XP
3,441
Country
Netherlands
SPOILER SNIP
The thing with Byakuya as "the rival" is that he's not meant to be disruptive. It's again a sutble difference in how rivals have changed from 1 onwards. Byakuyas rival status as you say mainly comes from his building up of tension, but it also comes heavily with his smug attitude and tendency to steer cases into certain directions for his personal gain (the entire Genocider thing and Byakuya was a major part in chapter 5 ending up deadlocked like it did.)

In a sense, he's the Miles Edgeworth to Makoto's Phoenix if you want to go to this comparison. He doesn't oppose the protagonists ideals directly, so much as he works under a different standard entirely (and like Edgeworth, he ends up appreciating the protagonists standard near the end, whilst still keeping his own standards in a more matured fashion.)

The later games do have better rivals, Komaeda and Kokichi are excellent rivals in their own right, but end up contributing very little to the group dynamic (Komaeda is really obvious since Hajime is basically the only one he talks with, whereas Kokichi only really has interactions with Miu and Kaito, with the rest being used for cheap jokes or one-liners.)

That's my take on it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: relauby

FriendlyHacker

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Oct 19, 2018
Messages
82
Trophies
0
Age
26
Location
127.0.0.1
XP
386
Country
Italy
Yeah, I generally like more low-key characters but where THH didn't focus on any one person super hard, I never got all that invested in them.
I also think the game suffers from the lack a great rival like the other two. People usually cite Byakuya, who I like as a character, but aside from the shit he pulls in chapter 2 I don't really remember him being actively disruptive. He increases the tension by not co-operating and by saying he'd be willing to kill to get out, but he never felt like something you'd have to contend with the same way Nagito or Kokichi did, he was just some dickhead hanging around.

The thing with Byakuya as "the rival" is that he's not meant to be disruptive. It's again a sutble difference in how rivals have changed from 1 onwards. Byakuyas rival status as you say mainly comes from his building up of tension, but it also comes heavily with his smug attitude and tendency to steer cases into certain directions for his personal gain (the entire Genocider thing and Byakuya was a major part in chapter 5 ending up deadlocked like it did.)

In a sense, he's the Miles Edgeworth to Makoto's Phoenix if you want to go to this comparison. He doesn't oppose the protagonists ideals directly, so much as he works under a different standard entirely (and like Edgeworth, he ends up appreciating the protagonists standard near the end, whilst still keeping his own standards in a more matured fashion.)

The later games do have better rivals, Komaeda and Kokichi are excellent rivals in their own right, but end up contributing very little to the group dynamic (Komaeda is really obvious since Hajime is basically the only one he talks with, whereas Kokichi only really has interactions with Miu and Kaito, with the rest being used for cheap jokes or one-liners.)

That's my take on it.

If I may put in my own two cents, I think Byakuya doesn't stand out too much compared to Nagito and Kokichi because he's not a "symbol" of anything. Since the games often seem to associate symbols with characters, the most memorable characters end up being those who symbolize something, such as Naegi = Hope, Enoshima = Despair, (maybe) Hajime (Kamukura) = Hope-induced-Despair, (also maybe) Nagito = Despair-induced-Hope, Chiaki = Future, and so on...
 
Last edited by FriendlyHacker,
  • Like
Reactions: Ev1l0rd

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    [He will] only make $1.5 million per night after taxes. Poor guy
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    My stupid computer chair keeps slowly going down, but I don't notice it goes down, until I'm like reaching up to my desk. I just bought this f er last year.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    Does Bruno Mars is gay?
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    K3nv2 would know...
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Only for Bakers
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    I heard he has a Wario fetish, but only if no Wizards are around.
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    jk with you Bakerman, much love. fist bump.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    He really knows how to kneed the dough
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Man. I can't wait til CTGP 8 comes out on Switch, been waiting forever.
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Boners Makes me wanna play Duck Hunt NES
    +1
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Pooping nice
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    What is a "Poop de Boop"? I've heard it mentioned several times now but have no idea and can't find anything online bout it. Is it a British term for restroom/bathroom or something?
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    It is a perfume
    +1
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Why do we have virgin islands if it's populated
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    They should change the name to K3Nv2's Mom islands. (Or before he responds, My Wifeys Islands)
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Nah me saying that's more predictable than you talking about my mom
    +1
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Hence urewifes so predictable she'd buy every man on the virgin islands
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Or they buy her
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    true dat, on that note I'ma try go get some myself, peace!
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Guess she doesn't need to be bought she has your money
    +1
    K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2: https://youtube.com/shorts/-GDjDECLDG0?si=MNEjk8rkmioj1xE2