History BrokenBase / Danganronpa

* The escalating [[DarkerAndEdgier grit and edge factor]] with each successive game, and attendant attempts to play with the "hope overcomes despair" motif of the first game. Those who like it argue that these things deepen and enhance a clunky first title's relative simplicity and bring maturity and nuance to the issues they explore. Those who don't argue that these things are only "mature" in [[RatedMForMoney the most crass, tasteless way]], resulting in a setting [[TooBleakStoppedCaring too hopeless and bleak to bother investing in anymore]], and that attempts to play with the "hope versus despair" themes almost always result in an incoherent word-salad of [[ConceptsAreCheap esoteric concepts]] and MeaninglessMeaningfulWords. There's also a variety of sub-camps that disagree about which entry, exactly, went too far and caused the series to lose its way; that disagreement starts with basically every game and spin-off after the first.

* The escalating [[DarkerAndEdgier grit and edge factor]] with each successive game, and attendant attempts to play with the "hope overcomes despair" motif of the first game. Those who like it argue that these things deepen and enhance a clunky first title's relative simplicity and bring maturity and nuance to the issues they explore. Those who don't argue that these things are only "mature" in [[RatedMForMoney the most crass, tasteless way]], resulting in a setting [[TooBleakStoppedCaring too hopeless and bleak to bother investing in anymore]], and that attempts to play with the "hope versus despair" themes almost always result in an incoherent word-salad of MeaninglessMeaningfulWords. There's also a variety of sub-camps that disagree on which entry, exactly, the series went too far and lost its way on.

* ''The fashion sense of the BigBad!'' Some think Junko fully deserves the title of the Ultimate Fashionista, and hold her up as an example of EvilIsSexy. Others dislike her wardrobe and label her a FashionVictimVillain.
** It might have something to do with both a translation issue and a culture clash issue. Junko in the original Japanese wasn't a Fashionista so much as she was a Gyaru who was extremely popular. And since Gyaru is itself a subculture in Japan, it makes sense that it wouldn't be considered a popular look in mainstream American sensibilities.

* Hoo boy, to say Chihiro's gender is controversial among Western fans is an understatement! Like [[VideoGame/Persona4 Naoto Shirogane]] before him, there are a group of fans [[TransAudienceInterpretation who prefer to see Chihiro as a trans girl]]. Even considering how Chihiro's arc ties in to Japanese sexism and gender roles, fans still heavily disagree on [[ValuesDissonance whether such context translates well to Western ideas of gender]], if it's even a valid explanation in the original game, or if there are really are implications of being a trans girl in Chihiro's arc. Most of the transphobia accusations stem from the UnsettlingGenderReveal scene, which happens before we get context for why Chihiro is dressed as a girl and sees the entire class ''instantly'' switch to referring to Chihiro with male pronouns solely on the basis of his physical sex. This has lead to huge arguments among Western fans, to the point that even today you can't go into the Chihiro Fujisaki tag on tumblr without finding people on both sides insisting he's a trans girl or a cis boy, with accusations of transphobia and sexism being thrown on all sides. [[TakeAThirdOption Many fans use they/them pronouns for Chihiro just to avoid ire from either side]], but even that can have the opposite effect.

[[folder:''Danganronpa Zero'']]
* The book split fans pretty evenly. Plenty of fans like the book, seeing it as a well written entry in the franchise that clears up certain plot points from the first game and opening later plot threads for the franchise while focusing on one of the most complex relationships in the franchise. Others hate the book, citing the unlikable characters, relentlessly bleak tone and the massive plot holes.
[[/folder]]

* Hoo boy, to say Chihiro's gender is controversial among Western fans is an understatement! Like [[VideoGame/Persona4 Naoto Shirogane]] before him, there are a group of fans who prefer to see Chihiro is a trans girl. Even considering how Chihiro's arc ties in to Japanese sexism and gender roles, fans still heavily disagree on [[ValuesDissonance whether such context translates well to Western ideas of gender]], if it's even a valid explanation in the original game, or if there are really are implications of being a trans girl in Chihiro's arc. Most of the transphobia accusations stem from the UnsettlingGenderReveal scene, which happens before we get context for why Chihiro is dressed as a girl and sees the entire class ''instantly'' switch to referring to Chihiro with male pronouns solely on the basis of his physical sex. This has lead to huge arguments among Western fans, to the point that even today you can't go into the Chihiro Fujisaki tag on tumblr without finding people on both sides insisting he's a trans girl or a cis boy, with accusations of transphobia and sexism being thrown on all sides. [[TakeAThirdOption Many fans use they/them pronouns for Chihiro just to avoid ire from either side]], but even that can have the opposite effect.

* Hoo boy, to say Chihiro's gender is controversial among western fans is an understatement! Like [[VideoGame/Persona4 Naoto Shirogane]] before him, there are a group of fans who prefer to see Chihiro is a trans girl. Even considering how Chihiro's arc it ties in to Japanese sexism and gender roles, fans still heavily disagree on [[ValuesDissonance whether such context translates well to Western ideas of gender]], if it's even a valid explanation in the original game, or if there are really are implications of being a trans girl in Chihiro's arc. Most of the transphobia accusations stem from the UnsettlingGenderReveal scene, which happens before we get context for why Chihiro is dressed as a girl. This has lead to huge arguments among Western fans, to the point that even today you can't go into the Chihiro Fujisaki tag on tumblr without finding people on both sides insisting he's a trans girl or a cis boy, with accusations of transphobia and sexism being thrown on all sides. [[TakeAThirdOption Many fans use they/them pronouns for Chihiro just to avoid ire from either side]], but even that can have the opposite effect.

** The Funimation dub takes it to a new level, mainly by replacing the main cast (bar Bryce Papenbrook) with their voice actors. The explanation as for why is that they hold the rights of the anime before the game was a success in the west. However, because Funimation didn't shy away of hiring the original voice actors from other adaptations (''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}, Franchise/BlazBlue, Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'') that still makes people wonder why they didn't recast the original voice actors after the fact. This is not also helped that, with the exception of Creator/JoshGrelle as Byakuya and Felicia Angelle as Aoi, the replacement cast sounded like a goofy caricature of how they sounded in the game's english dub.

* ''Danganronpa IF''. Some people praise it for dwelling more on the relationship between Junko and Mukuro, as well as making the latter an AscendedExtra. Others accuse it of making Mukuro a CreatorsPet.

* Mitarai's brainwashing techniques. Either it's an effective MindScrewdriver to a number of old plot points, or it's a lazy cop-out explanation that diminishes the power of the BigBad, makes the 77th Class' feelings and backstories feel meaningless and contradicts [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Csa7RxOXYAAMt2T.jpg previously established canon]], albeit canon that was said by Junko, a known liar. Those who dislike them argue that prior to their introduction, it was stated that Junko used MoreThanMindControl to convert people to despair, and making it so she merely uses brainwashing absolves the Remnants of Despair from guilt, deteriorating their characters and cheapening the message that the game established, as well as making Junko less of a charismatic villain. The rest point out that even for someone as powerful as Junko, it would have been unrealistic for her to personally break the minds of thousands or millions of people through simple rhetoric or terrorism (although there are others who, while they agree that brainwashing would be necessary for the masses, think it shouldn't have factored into Class 77); more [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Doylist-minded commentators]] point out that effectively portraying the gradual fall into despair of fifteen separate students would have been impossible in just eleven episodes. Others have noted that the previous games have outright stated that the Remnants were indeed brainwashed through unknown means until now, as [[http://despairman.tumblr.com/post/150456559201/to-those-mad-that-danganronpa-3-is-supposedly this post shows here]]. That it basically takes a plot point from ''LightNovel/DanganronpaTogami'' (a much hated spin-off) doesn't help.

* There are two views on ''Side:Hope'' among the fanbase: either it was a good way to keep the fans happy, or a bad example of PanderingToTheBase that came across as a cheesy fanfic, thanks to many divisive decisions such as Class 77 (excluding Chiaki) being resurrected (defenders of this idea point out the ending of DR2 had already set this up, with the survivors staying on the island to work on restoring their friends who died in the simulation back to life), with the cast having stayed on the island to work on , Kyoko's death revealed as just having been yet ''another'' fake-out, and Hope's Peak Academy being re-opened, either creating a BrokenAesop or offering the school a chance at redemption. A third camp also feels that if Kodaka was going to go for a HappyEnding, he should have gone all the way and brought back Chiaki and the Future Foundation branch leaders as well, since reviving only Kyoko and the Remnants of Despair gave only Makoto and Mitarai a happy ending while screwing Munakata over completely. Bringing up ''Side:Hope'' in general is a good way to start a very heated debate.

* There are two views on ''Side:Hope'' among the fanbase: either it was a good way to keep the fans happy, or a bad example of PanderingToTheBase that came across as a cheesy fanfic, thanks to many divisive decisions such as Class 77 (excluding Chiaki) being resurrected, Kyoko's death revealed as just having been yet ''another'' fake-out, and Hope's Peak Academy being re-opened, either creating a BrokenAesop or offering the school a chance at redemption. A third camp also feels that if Kodaka was going to go for a HappyEnding, he should have gone all the way and brought back Chiaki and the Future Foundation branch leaders as well, since reviving only Kyoko and the Remnants of Despair gave only Makoto and Mitarai a happy ending while screwing Munakata over completely. Bringing up ''Side:Hope'' in general is a good way to start a very heated debate.

* Hoo boy, to say Chihiro's gender is controversial among western fans is an understatement! Like [[VideoGame/Persona4 Naoto Shirogane]] before him, there are a group of fans who prefer to see Chihiro is a trans girl. Even considering how Chihiro's arc it ties in to Japanese sexism and gender roles, fans still heavily disagree on [[ValuesDissonance whether such context translates well to Western ideas of gender]], if it's even a valid explanation in the original game, or if there are really are implications of being a trans girl in Chihiro's arc. Most of the transphobia accusations stem from the UnsettlingGenderReveal scene, which happens before we get context for why Chihiro is dressed as a girl. This has lead to huge arguments among Western fans, to the point that even today you can't go into the Chihiro Fujisaki tag on tumblr without finding people on both sides insisting he's a trans girl or a cis boy, with accusations of transphobia and sexism being thrown on all sides. [[TakeAThirdOption Many fans use they/them pronouns for Chihiro just to avoid ire from either side]].

* The Motivation Machine sequence. Its defenders see it as a sobering look into Kotoko's mindset, [[PromiscuityAfterRape warped by her frequent child sexual abuse]]. Its detractors see it as an utterly tasteless part that essentially [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnFemale treats a girl sexually assaulting another girl as a joke]]. Needless to say, bring it up at your own risk.

* Junko in general, to an extent. There's no ambiguity on how heinous her actions are among the fanbase, but she's either a vile HateSink or an entertaining walking meme factory on par with the likes of [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]] or [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Dio Brando]], with little or no middle ground.

* Junko in general, to an extent. There's no ambiguity on how heinous her actions are among the fanbase, but she's either a vile HateSink or an entertaining walking meme factory on par with the likes of [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]] or [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Dio Brando]], with little or no middle ground.

!!Main installments: