History TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / Danganronpa

* One of the reasons Hiyoko is hated is because of a blatantly squandered opportunity to develop her character. Much like Kiyotaka in the previous game, Hiyoko suffers a huge loss, there's build-up to her character growing from the incident, but then she unceremoniously gets killed in the very next chapter with the circumstances surronding her death [[OutOfFocus being completely overshadowed by Ibuki's death]] (although this is mostly because Ibuki's death has more clues leading to the murderer than Hiyoko's). This is actually because [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Hiyoko was meant to be one of the survivors]], but the game developers believed that they had a much more likable DefrostingIceQueen character in Fuyuhiko(despite him being as much (or even more) of a {{Jerkass}} as Hiyoko prior to his development and causing not one but two deaths) and if he died it would make Peko's sacrifice pointless, completely ignoring the fact that killing Hiyoko made Mahiru's murder pointless despite Mahiru not bringing her death on herself unlike [[AssholeVictim Peko]]. Even Kodaka expressed regret at her portrayal, saying that he felt that he overplayed her harsh {{Jerkass}} side too much while not showing what she was really like BeneathTheMask.

* One of the reasons Hiyoko is hated is because of a blatantly squandered opportunity to develop her character. Much like Kiyotaka in the previous game, Hiyoko suffers a huge loss, there's build-up to her character growing from the incident, but then she unceremoniously gets killed in the very next chapter with the circumstances surronding her death [[OutOfFocus being completely overshadowed by Ibuki's death]] (although this is mostly because Ibuki's death has more clues leading to the murderer than Hiyoko's). This is actually because [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Hiyoko was meant to be one of the survivors]], but the game developers believed that they had a much more likable DefrostingIceQueen character in Fuyuhiko(despite him being a complete HateSink prior to his development and causing not one but two deaths) and if he died it would make Peko's sacrifice pointless, completely ignoring the fact that killing Hiyoko made Mahiru's murder pointless despite Mahiru not bringing her death on herself unlike [[AssholeVictim Peko]]. Even Kodaka expressed regret at her portrayal, saying that he felt that he overplayed her harsh {{Jerkass}} side too much while not showing what she was really like BeneathTheMask.

* Ryoma Hoshi. Despite his ''particularly'' goofy NonStandardCharacterDesign, he has the personality and backstory of an utter badass as a death row inmate who murdered {{yakuza}} members with ''a custom-made steel tennis ball'' [[OneManArmy all by himself]], on top of being one of the most cool, collected, and outright selfless members of the cast during the killing game, as is demonstrated when he volunteers his own life shortly after learning that the first chapter's motive would kill everyone if no bodies were discovered, needing to be talked down from it by Kaede. His first free time event also demonstrates a gentle KindheartedCatLover side of him. All this on top of being voiced by none other than [[Franchise/MetalGear the Japanese Solid Snake himself]], ''[[Creator/AkioOtsuka Akio freaking Ohtsuka!]]'' He easily could have contributed to a much larger portion of the game, either as a survivor or as a pint-sized Nekomaru/Sakura parallel, but perhaps ''only'' [[StrictlyFormula to fulfill the tradition of characters with odd designs dying early on]], ends up being the second victim (in a parallel to the second case of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', no less, except with...[[CruelAndUnusualDeath far more]] [[NightmareFuel brutal results]]).

* Similarly to Mikan above, fans of Kazuichi and Akane were not pleased with the fact that even though they survived, they were basically Flanderized in the story as one-note characters, even though their FTEs reveal them to have lots of depth within them. Namely, Kazuichi’s reveal him to have trust issues and a complex and tragic past of being bullied and having to change himself to look cool, and yet all we see of him in the story (especially in the later trials) is a creepy StalkerWithACrush to Sonia.

* One of the reasons Hiyoko is hated is because of a blatantly squandered opportunity to develop her character. Much like Kiyotaka in the previous game, Hiyoko suffers a huge loss, there's build-up to her character growing from the incident, but then she unceremoniously gets killed in the very next chapter with the circumstances surronding her death [[OutOfFocus being completely overshadowed by Ibuki's death]] (although this is mostly because Ibuki's death has more clues leading to the murderer than Hiyoko's). This is actually because [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Hiyoko was meant to be one of the survivors]], but the game developers realized that they had a much more likable DefrostingIceQueen character in Fuyuhiko(despite him being a complete HateSink prior to his development and causing not one but two deaths) and if he died it would make Peko's sacrifice pointless, completely ignoring the fact that killing Hiyoko made Mahiru's murder pointless despite Mahiru not bringing her death on herself unlike Peko. Even Kodaka expressed regret at her portrayal, saying that he felt that he overplayed her harsh {{Jerkass}} side too much while not showing what she was really like BeneathTheMask.

* One of the reasons Hiyoko is hated is because of a blatantly squandered opportunity to develop her character. Much like Kiyotaka in the previous game, Hiyoko suffers a huge loss, there's build-up to her character growing from the incident, but then she unceremoniously gets killed in the very next chapter with the circumstances surronding her death [[OutOfFocus being completely overshadowed by Ibuki's death]] (although this is mostly because Ibuki's death has more clues leading to the murderer than Hiyoko's). This is actually because [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Hiyoko was meant to be one of the survivors]], but the game developers realized that they had a much more likable DefrostingIceQueen character in Fuyuhiko and if he died it would make Peko's sacrifice pointless. Even Kodaka expressed regret at her portrayal, saying that he felt that he overplayed her harsh {{Jerkass}} side too much while not showing what she was really like BeneathTheMask.
* Mikan. She has a dark side, with her Free Time events implying that she became a nurse because she enjoys having power over other people for once and that her falls into vulnerable positions are a ploy born from a desperate need for any kind of recognition. Her attention-grabbing falls even got the spotlight in Case 1, giving her a good foundation to either learn to love herself more over the course of the story or kill someone due to her hidden desires overwhelming her. Instead, she murders Ibuki and Hiyoko because of a disease that changes the personality of anyone who catches it and even in-universe was distributed out of nowhere just to make the story more interesting. Even worse, 1) literally anyone could have gotten the "Remembering" symptom and killed the pair due to their past as Ultimate Despair, which renders Mikan's natural potential for growth/violence meaningless, and 2) it also manages to end the Hiyoko/Mikan conflict without any payoff despite ''Mikan murdering her bully.''

* While Natsumi and Sato were DoomedByCanon, many had hoped that the anime would at least flesh out their characters more before killing them off. Unfortunately, the two only had half an episode's worth of screen time.

* Most of Class 77-B, excluding Chiaki, Nagito, and to a lesser extent Mikan and the Imposter get shoved to the side after the first two episodes, and are generally underutilized. The lack of screentime means only their most general traits are shown or that we only get surface reactions to on-going events, losing out on complexity.

* Kaede Akamatsu. After months of build up of her being the protagonist, many people were looking forward to playing as her. The reason for this is that she was hardly anything like [[TheGenericGuy Makoto]], [[OnlySaneMan Hajime]], or [[AudienceSurrogate Komaru]], being more reminiscent of Sayaka or Chiaki, meaning the usual ''Danganronpa'' formula would have been stirred just by her being the main character alone, as well as how she was the first female PlayerCharacter in the main series. Instead, it was all a lie, Kaede dies in the first chapter, and Shuichi Saihara, who fits all the tropes linked to the previous protagonists, becomes the main character in her place. The fake spoilers have only intensified this reaction, which implied that Kaede pulled a HeroicSacrifice in a clever ThanatosGambit to outsmart the mastermind, which mollified many who were upset about her death. When fans found out she actually had no role beyond getting executed in Chapter 1 to make room for Shuichi, fans were ''livid'', and this was not helped by the opinions that given his title and similarities to the previous main game protagonists that ''he'' would have made for a more effective DecoyProtagonist instead.

* Rantaro Amami. Initially hyped up as an important character, he ends up the first victim, and even before then gets far less screentime and development than other first victim characters got before perishing. He may very well be the most undeveloped student in the main game series. This is especially frustrating since Rantaro was allegedly the survivor of the 52nd killing game, and his backstory and actions could have given more insight on the reality TV portion of the plot, especially if retained his memories of the previous game.

* Ryoma Hoshi. Despite his ''particularly'' goofy NonStandardCharacterDesign, he has the personality and backstory of an utter badass as a death row inmate who murdered {{yakuza}} members with ''a custom-made steel tennis ball'' [[OneManArmy all by himself]], on top of being one of the most cool, collected, and outright selfless members of the cast during the killing game, as is demonstrated when he volunteers his own life shortly after learning that the first chapter's motive would kill everyone if no bodies were discovered, needing to be talked down from it by Kaede. His first free time event also demonstrates a gentle KindheartedCatLover side of him. All this on top of being voiced by none other than [[Franchise/MetalGear the Japanese Solid Snake himself]], ''[[Creator/AkioOhtsuka Akio freaking Ohtsuka!]]'' He easily could have contributed to a much larger portion of the game, either as a survivor or as a pint-sized Nekomaru/Sakura parallel, but perhaps ''only'' [[StrictlyFormula to fulfill the tradition of characters with odd designs dying early on]], ends up being the second victim (in a parallel to the second case of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', no less, except with...[[CruelAndUnusualDeath far more]] [[NightmareFuel brutal results]]).

* Leon in particular gets hit hard with this. He's not even the first to die (but the first to be '''executed'''), yet the roles of the two characters who died before him get more emphasis. Given that he ended up being the first killer partly due to factors beyond his control, some players think there could have been a lot more to him than there ended up being. [[AuthorsSavingThrow Possibly because of that]], he's featured prominently in the "Ultra Despair Hagakure" story that comes with ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls''.

* Ryoma Hoshi. Despite his ''particularly'' goofy NonStandardCharacterDesign, he has the personality and backstory of an utter badass as a death row inmate who murdered {{yakuza}} members with ''a custom-made steel tennis ball'' [[OneManArmy all by himself]], on top of being one of the most cool, collected, and outright selfless members of the cast during the killing game, as is demonstrated when he volunteers his own life shortly after learning that the first chapter's motive would [[KillEmAll kill]] ''[[KillEmAll everyone]]'' if no bodies were discovered, needing to be talked down from it by Kaede. His first free time event also demonstrates a gentle KindheartedCatLover side of him. All this on top of being voiced by none other than [[Franchise/MetalGear the Japanese Solid Snake himself]], ''[[Creator/AkioOhtsuka Akio freaking Ohtsuka!]]'' He easily could have contributed to a much larger portion of the game, either as a survivor or as a pint-sized Nekomaru/Sakura parallel, but perhaps ''only'' [[StrictlyFormula to fulfill the tradition of characters with odd designs dying early on]], ends up being the second victim (in a parallel to the second case of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', no less, except with...[[CruelAndUnusualDeath far more]] [[NightmareFuel brutal results]]).

* Some of the readers believe that Celeste's motive made her too one-dimensional, while others believe that was precisely the point - the motive of the chapter was simple cash and some people in real life ''do'' murder simply for that. Other still point out that either reading is missing the point of Celeste being a [[ConsummateLiar lying liar who lies]], meaning everything about her from her allegedly shallow motive all the way to the ''name'' "Celestia Ludenburg" is not supposed to be taken at face value, with the game providing several hints that [[HiddenDepths there is more to her than she wants others to see]]. The manga capitalizes on this by explaining how her motivation came to be and slightly made her into a JerkassWoobie instead. Unfortunately, the canonicity of the manga isn't clear, although the official AU "School Mode" seems to run with this characterization through a DefrostingIceQueen arc, and the canonical ''Another Episode: Ultimate Despair Girls'' also makes a point of showing how lonely her life outside of Hope's Peak Academy was.

* The absence of characters from ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' and ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'' in the bonus modes has gotten this reaction. This would have been the perfect opportunity to add in all of the characters from ''[=DR3=]'' and the Warriors of Hope; seeing them interact with the characters in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan would have given them more depths and layers to their characters and backstories, which in turn would've assuaged the same complaints people had with ''Future Arc'' and its own lack of character development. That said, the characters from ''Future Arc'' appear in events on the unlockable Future course (albeit only in pixelart form), and it was understandable due to the lack of sprites for anime-only characters and the sprites from ''Ultra Despair Girls'' not being the same size. However, the ''[=DR3=]'' cast could have at least been playable in 'Despair Dungeon: Monokuma's Test'' since the aforementioned pixelart was the only thing they would've needed for that mode. But while (most of) the ''Ultra Despair Girls'' cast did eventually appear in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaSUltimateSummerCamp'', the ''[=DR3=]'' cast were omitted from that game altogether.

* The absence of characters from ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' and ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'' in the bonus modes has gotten this reaction. This would have been the perfect opportunity to add in all of the characters from ''[=DR3=]'' and the Warriors of Hope; seeing them interact with the characters in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan would have given them more depths and layers to their characters and backstories, which in turn would've assuaged the same complaints people had with ''Future Arc'' and its own lack of character development. That said, the characters from ''Future Arc'' appear in events on the unlockable Future course (albeit only in pixel form), and it was understandable due to the lack of sprites for anime-only characters and the sprites from ''Ultra Despair Girls'' not being the same size. But while (most of) the the 'Ultra Despair Girls'' cast did eventually appear in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaSUltimateSummerCamp'', the ''Danganronpa 3'' cast were omitted from that game altogether.

* The absence of characters from ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' and ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'' in the bonus modes has gotten this reaction. This would have been the perfect opportunity to add in all of the characters from ''[=DR3=]'' and the Warriors of Hope; seeing them interact with the characters in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan would have given them more depths and layers to their characters and backstories, which in turn would've assuaged the same complaints people had with ''Future Arc'' and its own lack of character development. That said, the characters from ''Future Arc'' appear in events on the unlockable Future course, and it was understandable due to the lack of sprites for anime-only characters and the sprites from ''Ultra Despair Girls'' not being the same size.

* After three games of being the SeriesMascot, Monokuma is significantly DemotedToExtra this time around. The first episode of ''Side:Future'' implied that he would be returning back to his role as killing game host, but he disappears for most of the series and acts as MrExposition to the viewers, giving recaps about everything that happened thus far and later [[spoiler:turns out to have just been a pre recorded message by Tengan]]. He doesn't even appear in ''Side:Hope'', despite it being the GrandFinale to the Hope's Peak Academy Saga.
* This has been the feeling of fans concerning [[spoiler:Daisaku Bandai.]] Many people felt relegating him to basically the role of [[VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors the Ninth Man]] wasted what otherwise could have been an interesting character. To make matters worse for poor [[spoiler:Bandai]], he's one of the '''only''' new characters (along with [[spoiler:The Great Gozu and the real Miaya Gekkougahara]], who are covered further down) who doesn't make any appearance at all in ''Side:Despair''.
* [[spoiler:The Great Gozu. He was, by far, the most powerful ally on Naegi's side, capable of destroying the floor with a simple elbow and standing his ground in a fight against Kyosuke (you know, the guy capable of clashing in a swordfight with '''Peko'''). He truly believed in Naegi, and many people expected to see him die while [[HeroicSacrifice defending him]]. Instead, he's given the axe three (technically two, given the fake-out with Asahina happens at the end of Episode 2) episodes into the series with little fanfare.]]

* [[spoiler:As of Episode 6, Sonosuke Izayoi. We don't see much [[SatelliteCharacter characterization]] with him other than his devotion and [[ChildhoodFriendRomance relationship]] to [[AlphaBitch Andou]], and being able to hold his own in a fight, though Despair episode 4 does provide some details as a FreezeFrameBonus. Though it was theorized and expected he'd probably kick the bucket, it was still disappointing to not see him develop, learn or grow as his own character.]]
* Monaca's plotline reeks of this for some fans. After over a year of speculation (or two, for those who followed the game starting with its Japanese release) on what her role post ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' would be, [[spoiler:she ends up being little more than a RedHerring that gives up and gets PutOnTheBus a bit past the halfway point. She did not even return for the final episodes except for a brief cameo!]] Considering many were hoping she'd be the next BigBad, this came off as a tad underwhelming.
** This also extends to [[spoiler:the redeemed members of the Warriors of Hope]]. [[spoiler:All four of them survived VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls]] due to an AssPull [[spoiler:(except for Utsugi)]] [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools that most didn't complain about]], as fans were excited to see what else could be done with them. But when it came time to an episode dedicated to [=ADG=] in ''Side:Future'', they ended up being little more than just cameos (''unvoiced'' cameos, no less, save for [[spoiler:Nagisa]]). Assuming there are any further stories dedicated to the Hope's Peak saga (which would go back on the promise of the show being the GrandFinale to the aforementioned saga), with how little difference they made on the plot of ''Side:Future'', [[spoiler:it's made some fans wonder why they survived ''Absolute Despair Girls'' if nothing was going to be done with them beyond that game.]]

* [[spoiler:As of ''Side:Future'' episode 11, a lot of fans have accused Chisa's character of being this. Any character development she had received in ''Side:Despair'' (notably her being a Remnant of Despair) was thrown out the window when it was revealed she was brainwashed '''yet again''' in order to kill herself.]]
* Even though there was a [[spoiler:real]] Miaya Gekkogahara, she ended up being nothing more than [[spoiler:both a PosthumousCharacter and a BitCharacter]]. Many had hoped that [[spoiler:the real Miaya would a least make an appearance in Side:Despair]], but this never comes to pass.
* Ruruka Ando has started getting this, considering [[spoiler:her death added nothing to the plot, and the time she spent dead could have been better used allowing her to try and atone for her mistakes, and fix her horrible trust issues.]]

* A lot of people wish that all of the deceased Class 78 students (aside from Junko and Mukuro) would at least have some role in ''Side:Despair''. In spite of the potential that could have been explored with them interacting with Class 78 and the ''Side:Future'' cast, they only received very brief cameos in Episode 5 and Episode 11, during which they are never shown to interact with any major characters in the show (in fact, most of them barely appear on-screen). The worst example is Chihiro Fujisaki, which is ''especially'' jarring; him interacting with Chiaki and working on the Neo World Program with Miaya and Yasuke was implied to have played a huge part in the backstory of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', so to see him flat-out ignored here is off-putting to fans.