History WMG / Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchoolPreRelease

[[WMG:[[center:[-'''Pre-Release Theories''' | [[WMG/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchoolTheoriesFromDuringTheAnime Theories from During the Anime]] | [[WMG/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchoolPostAnimeTheories Post-Anime Theories]]-]]]]]

The reason why her class is unknown is because Yasuke deleted her data in order to replace it with [[LightNovel/DanganronpaZero Ryouko]]'s. She was chosen specifically because it be weird to have two students with psychology-related talents attending the same class.

* Wouldn't work, ''LightNovel/DanganRonpaKirigiri'' makes it clear Kyouko was born after Jin left his family and, had she had an older sibling, Fuhito wouldn't have had to drag Jin back when she was born.

* [[spoiler: This would not shock me after seeing the end of Future arc episode 7. He could be the mastermind, or even the attacker. This also would reveal that Hajime was the first to wake up and second was Nagito]]
* [[spoiler:Ruruka's]] death suggests that ''somebody'' with influence is aware of what happened in [=SDR2=], because the method of death is almost exactly like Nagito's. After what happend to [[spoiler:Izayoi]], perhaps Nagito combined his off-kilter sense of justice with his twisted sense of humor in order to punish them: the other victims were clean, quick kills who were probably murdered as they slept, but [[spoiler:Ruruka]], like Nagito, was tortured and DiesWideOpen (suggesting that unlike the other victims, they were aware and suffering at their time of death). He may have been disgusted by their despair [[spoiler: or, if his moral compass has adjusted slightly, feels responsible for it...]] so he gives them the same death he gave himself. If it isn't Nagito or one of those were were in the simulation, it's one heck of a coincidence.

* [[spoiler: They all wake up, so confirmed.]]

He may try his best to help the survivors even if he is ill. He could even be a heroic sacrifice during a situation. [[spoiler: He's confirmed alive and well in Ultra Despair Girls]]

* Episode 4 of ''Side:Future'' [[spoiler:confirms that Monaca is definitely involved in the killing game.]]
* [[spoiler:{{Jossed}}, Monaca controlling Miaya had nothing to do with the killing game.]]

** Confirmed. [[spoiler: Ruruka Ando had been recruiting junior members into her circle, and is planning to splinter off into her own organization.]]

* [[spoiler:Confirmed.]] [[spoiler:But there was a real Miaya, she was just killed before the game began.]]

* Jossed, [[spoiler:while Gekkogahara is Monaca, she's a robot remotely controlled by Monaca rather than being an AgedUp version.]]
** [[spoiler:Monaca murdered the real Miaya and created an android based off of her to emulate. It looks as if the similarities in appearance were all just coincidental. Also completely jossed that there was a time skip.]]

The reason why her class is unknown is because Yasuke deleted her data in order to replace it with [[Novel/DanganRonpaZero Ryouko]]'s. She was chosen specifically because it be weird to have two students with psychology-related talents attending the same class.

* Jossed. [[spoiler: The only member of Ultimate Despair who was in the FF was a full on member.]]

* Not looking likely, as Chiaki was a real person, but [[spoiler: was killed by Junko to brainwash class 77-B, and the Reserve Course committed suicide due to an anime Junko made.]]

* Confirmed, she cameos at the end of Despair Arc Episode 11, and [[spoiler: appears as a manifestiation of Hajime/Izuru's memories or something at the end of Episode: Hope.]]

* Might be jossed now that we know Chiaki is [[spoiler: a class rep. But maybe instead of being killed by Izuru in the first killing game, she just gets really hurt and ends up in a wheelchair? There were other survivors of the first killing game, even if they did get killed shortly afterward.]]
** But Chiaki [[spoiler:was not a participant in the First Killing Game, so this could be possible, though if this is true she gets killed by Monaca anyways.]]
* Jossed, [[spoiler:it's Monaca.]]
** [[spoiler: Some people speculate that there might be a real Miaya in addition to Mecha-Miaya. There's some hope still.]]
*** You were right, however [[spoiler: the real Miaya was found dead.]]
*** Adding onto this, the real Chiaki [[spoiler: died quite brutally.]] It's safe to say this has been Jossed.

* Not very likely since [[spoiler:Gekkogahara is an android controlled by Monaca.]]
** In Episode 6, [[spoiler: we find out there was a real Miaya, but she is dead now... However, just because two characters look alike does not make them related.]]

** [[spoiler:She wasn't present at the First Killing Game making this theory much more likely.]]

* Somewhat confirmed. [[spoiler: The attacker were forced to relive their fear and guilt before killing themselves off. In the case of Ruruka, who dislike her own actions, it led to her self-torture.]]

** Completely Jossed as of Side:Despair Ep. 10. [[spoiler: Unless robots can bleed to death...]]

** [[spoiler: Confirmed. She is the first to die in episode 1 of the Future arc.]]

[[WMG: [[spoiler: Juzo Sakakura will get his chance to have a NoHoldsBarredBeatDown with Makoto.]]]]
[[spoiler: Spoilers for the first episodes of the Despair and Future arc [[https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/comments/4rqpeq/spoilers_heres_what_happens_in_the_first_episode/ were]] posted on the Dangan Ronpa subreddi showing he does land a few punches to him. Maybe he will get a chance to take it to the extreme when the others are not around. He IS the ULTIMATE Boxer, so he does have expertise.]]
* [[spoiler: Jossed, he died before he had the chance.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theories from during the anime]]
[[WMG: The mastermind has downloaded the Junko AI into their head]]
In the second game, the Junko AI's plan was to download herself into the minds of the comatose students. UDG reveals that there is a second Junko AI unaccounted for. This seems like a ChekhovsGun just waiting to happen. Maybe this game's mastermind has downloaded the Junko AI into their head, effectively becoming Junko.
* Jossed.

[[WMG: One of the Class 77 students will be converted to Despair through ColdBloodedTorture.]]
They will initially refuse to have anything to do with Junko's crap, so she'll resort to kidnapping them and just whaling on them until their HeroicWillpower finally breaks.
* But the question is: Who will it be?
* Confirmed... Kind of [[spoiler:Chisa isn't a student, but she's tortured while watching Junko's Brainwashing video to get her to fall into despair]].

[[WMG: AI Junko is behind the final killing game as the mastermind and murderer, and Kyoko and Makoto are her pawns]]
This theory [[https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/comments/4sfm83/theory_whos_behind_monokuma_in_dr3_dr2_spoilers/ was]] over on the Dangan Ronpa subreddit, and it's worthy of being posted here.

They were both in the virtual simulation. When they shut it down, AI Junko wasn't purged completely; she somehow got herself onto Makoto and Kyoko's minds and through them escaped into the real world. When they fall asleep or faint, she wakes up and kills the person.
* Evidence: in the OP, halves of Makoto and Kyoko's faces replace the halves of Monokuma's face, foreshadowing what lurks within them. Also, Monokuma says in the first episode that this will be the conclusion of his and Makoto's story, implying it has to be someone he knows (as opposed to a character he's never met like Monaca). Who fits better than Junko?
* Jossed.

[[WMG: There will be a fake-out death.]]
Because it's a new type of death that hasn't been done yet. And it will allow Dangan Ronpa to actually pull a generally-surprising twist.
* Confirmed, it was [[spoiler:Aoi's]].

[[WMG: Two people will kill each other at the same time.]]
Again, it's something that Dangan Ronpa has never done before. [=DR1=] had a murderer kill another murderer. [=DR2=] had a murder victim stumble in accidentally on another murder. It's tradition that at one point in Dangan Ronpa, two people die at once, and this is the only original way left to kill two people simultaneously. Plus it makes sense with everyone on-edge about the traitor. Two people each believe the other one is the traitor. So they both go at it with the intent to kill. I just watched the first episode subbed, and I believe that the characters most likely to do this are Sakakura (Boxer) and Gozu (Wrestler)
* Impossible. There is only one killer. They are always the same.
** Not impossible. The people who are not the traitor must find and kill the traitor to end the game, but they are completely capable of accusing and executing the wrong person.
** It's possible. There are going to be 12 episodes, and maybe it will be used once more. It maybe could be used to get the anime by faster too without rushing too much. Perhaps this would be best used toward the 10th episode or so?
*** With Gozu gone, it's likely Andou and Kimura are the two most likely to kill each other off. Though Kizakura acts like it was something pretty petty.
*** Considering their NG Actions, I'm fairly sure that if this happens, it will be Juzo and Asahina. Their fight in episode 5 is simply {{Foreshadowing}}
* Jossed

[[WMG: Two Deaths will be revealed out of order.]]
Dangan Ronpa is a franchise that is driven by two main elements: Characters and surprises. I can't think of something more intriguing that having a character disappear for a period of time only to show up as dead only for them to have been revealed as dead before even the last victim shown. It's sorta like Trial 3 in Dangan Ronpa 2, only with a large delay in between the two bodies.
* Sort of confirmed, [[spoiler: Izayoi died before Seiko.]]

[[WMG: Sakakura lost a loved one to the remnants of despair]]
...which explains why he holds such a grudge against Makoto for saving them. The former Ultimate Boxer's penchant for violence seems a bit too thick to be mere outrage against a potential turncoat. Something tells me that there's something [[ItsPersonal personal]] at stake for him.

Perhaps he had a close friend or family member who got killed by the Remnants of Despair, and he's blinded by vengeance. His grudge against Makoto might be because sparing the despair students denied him his chance for revenge.
* But Sakakura hates despair most probably because Munakata hates despair, and he's extremely loyal to him. Now, if MUNAKATA lost someone to despair.....
* Unlikely. KillerKiller reveals that Munakata already disliked Makoto much before this incident.
** KillerKiller takes place during the Tragedy. All of the main characters are actually members of the Future Foundation working under Juzo's division. Do we know for sure that the events of the [=SDR2=] aren't lining up at that point in time? Maybe Makoto has already stolen away with the Remnants.
** ''Side:Despair'' shows that Juzo was always pretty violent, but more importantly, he was a close personal friend to Yukizome, who ended up being the first victim of the killing game.
* While it is still unknown whether he lost a loved one to the Remnants of Despair, this being the reason he hold a grudge against Makoto, even before Makoto went against protocol and place them in the Neo World Program, is [[spoiler:jossed. His dislike of Makoto is actually a form of self-loathing due to his giving in to Junko's blackmail and thus failed to stop Junko carrying out his plan, while Makoto is able to defeat Junko Enoshima.]]

[[WMG: Chiaki pulled a HeelFaceTurn Early in the Tragedy.]]
* The AI version her was either put in because she'd know how the members of Ultimate Despair tick thus could potentially help them through the rehabilitation with little risk to Chiaki herself. Alternatively she died, but not before helping make her AI.

[[WMG: Chiaki will be Hajime/Izuru's MoralityChain.]]
Because Chiaki is the only member of Class 77 to know Hajime before he became Izuru, she might end up recognizing Izuru's true identity and being the only student to reach out to him. There might even be a HopeSpot that some part of Hajime's humanity could have survived the process, and Izuru will start off more outgoing than we've been led to believe.

But then the first killing game with the student council happens. It's likely that Junko will exploit this trope and arrange for Chiaki to get locked up with Izuru and the other student council members. When Chiaki gets killed, that will be the catalyst that causes Izuru to snap and start the massacre that kicks off the Most Despairing Incident, abandoning the last vestiges of his humanity.
* [[spoiler: Jossed. Chiaki is not a part of the first mutual killing game. Turns out Izuru wasn't even a real participant. She might still end up his morality chain, however.]]
** Jossed, though not necessarily in a bad way. [[spoiler: She's actually his MoralityPet, not his MoralityChain, and her death doesn't cause Izuru to fall into despair; rather, it's what causes him to ''reject'' despair.]]

[[WMG: Usami's personality is based off of Chisa Yukizome.]]
Yukizome is revealed to be the teacher of Class 77 in the Despair Arc, and Usami declares herself to be the teacher of the same cast. Not only this, but in hindsight Usami seems oddly adamant in maintaining the fact that she is their teacher, not because she is denying the truth, but in fact that she truly used to be their teacher when she was Yukizome. Also, Usami is meant to give Class 77 hope and by the end of Episode 1 in the Despair Arc, Yukizome says that there is one thing even more important than talent: hope. Both of them appear to have a deep care and responsibility for their students. Also, given that Usami has a relatively mysterious backstory compared to say Monokuma, this will be revealed to be her origin later in the anime.
** Side: Hope suggests this is entirely possible. [[spoiler: We learn that AI Chiaki evolved from a "blank slate" AI based on the memories and emotions of the Remnants, who all held strong feelings for the real Chiaki. Usami could possibly have been designed in a similar way - and if this is the case, it might help explain why Hajime was so uneasy about her where the others seemed more willing to go along with what Usami was saying. Hajime wasn't part of Class 77 so he wouldn't hold the same sentiments towards Chisa, thus he would have less reason to trust a Chisa-proxy than the others. The rabbit form could just have been to introduce an obviously suspicious element as a target for the initial confusion and distrust so that the students wouldn't turn on each other before they could get to know one another.]]

[[WMG: The Remnants of Despair will pull a BigDamnHeroes moment for the survivors in Side:Future]]
Kodaka's tweet is a red herring and the Remnants will appear to help complete the circle between both sides started with Yukizome, validating Makoto's decision to save them in the most complete way possible.
** Adding that maybe Byakuya, Touko, and Komaru will show up to help with the BigDamnHeroes moment as well.
*** It's looking real good for all of these to come true.
* Sort of confirmed. [[spoiler: The Remnants don't appear in Side:Future, but in Side:Hope, and Toko and Komaru do not contribute to the BigDamnHeroes moment.]]

[[WMG: Yukizome is the real mastermind.]]
Danganronpa is full of [[{{CallBack}} call backs]] and [[{{MythologyGag}} mythology gags]], so it wouldn't be too crazy. My evidence:
* She taught the Remnants, so she has motivation not to see them killed (Which would not explain why she's seemingly wanting Makoto dead)
* The death music DOES NOT PLAY when they find her body. It does when Hina finds the guards, so the anime is using it, and some form of death music plays when [[spoiler: Aoi]] dies.
** She also died during said episode. Back in the first game, who else died in the first chapter and not being accompanied with death music (unlike the actual victim, Sayaka)? Junko/Mukuro. The two ended up as masterminds.
** Also it turns out [[spoiler: Aoi didn't really die. It was only a fakeout]].
* In episode 1 of Despair Arc, she is shown watching her dead body fall from the roof from a theater. Either this is some weird fourth wall break (wouldn't be too surprised from DR.)
* Yukizome is a main character in Side:Despair... This would've been a pretty big clue on where she's stationed at, when the other arc that starred Makoto is called Side:Future.
* More evidence to come as the other episodes come out.
* Anecdotal evidence: In Episode 5, Tengan [[spoiler: says something shocking to Munakata that causes him great despair. The reveal of who Tengan thinks is the secret attacker is muted to the audience, but Munakata's eyes go wide. He then gives a hollow laugh and states, "Did you think that would suffice to make me waver?" Implying that it's someone Munakata cares about deeply, and that we're not talking about Monaca here.]]
* Kirigiri notes that the game is set up to favor Munakata, which would make sense if Chisa's running things.
* There's also an [[http://toffeemadness.tumblr.com/post/147611482524/my-danganronpa-3-future-side-theory interesting theory]] that Chisa is behind things because she's using a simulation -- akin to the Neo World Program -- to show the Radical faction that ''anyone'' can fall to despair (as they all have). She's trying to stop them from slaughtering the Remnants, who are her ex-students, without murdering her friends. In the Despair Arc, she makes it clear that she's prepared to defy Munakata to defend them, but she couldn't stand against Munakata's militia. Instead, she might be trying to crowbar some empathy into her comrades. Munakata's been left until last either to keep him out of the way, or because he needs to suffer most in order to learn the lesson.

Those are the pro evidences. Now let us see the cons:
* Unusually for murder victims, Yukizome's eyes were filled with tears as a corpse. This might not make a convincing 'set-up murder masterminded by self', if that's the case.
* Is there a motif, should Yukizome be the mastermind, that she set herself up as the first victim? Back when Mukuro was killed, it served as nothing but shock value by Monokuma, which parallels more to Bandai. But by looking at the Despair arc, we know there is an effect on Yukizome's death: She is pretty much TheHeart and the MoralityPet towards both Munakata and Sakakura, and she was advocating for Makoto to get along with Munakata. If she dies, this will set both Munakata and Sakakura to a warpath, having losing one part of their childhood friends. Thus, if the mastermind is not Yukizome, that means the mastermind knows their relationship and sought to ruin it by eliminating Yukizome at the first round for the first strike.
* Danganronpa might be full of call backs and mythology gags, but they never repeat the same event twice exactly the same. For example, Impostor!Byakuya in [=SDR2=] did not come BackFromTheDead and revealed to be the mastermind like Junko/Mukuro. And coming from the 2nd episode, it doesn't seem likely that [[spoiler:Aoi]] was being a body-double only revealed to be alive much like Byakuya in [=SDR2=]. Therefore with this, it would seem unlikely that Spike Chunsoft would repeat '1st victim becoming a mastermind' on Yukizome much like Mukuro/Junko.

* Jossed for mastermind. [[spoiler:It's Tengan.]]

[[WMG: Chihiro Fujisaki and the real Chiaki Nanami are closely related.]]
With Chiaki being revealed as a real person, most of our understanding from her character in the last game goes out the window... UNLESS her father happens to be Taichi Fujisaki. (Chihiro Fujisaki's father whom Komaru and Toko meet in Absolute Despair Girls.)
It would make sense. She became the Ultimate Gamer because she playtested her father's and her brother's programs. The reason for the different last names? Paternal divorce with Chihiro going with his father and Chiaki going with her mother. As for the last name difference, well, Hiyoko mentions in one of her free-time events from the previous game that her father gained the last name Hiyoko by marrying into the family. And the fathers of Leon Kuwata and Kanon Nakajima are brothers. (Confirmed in Ultimate Despair Hagakure)
* One problem. Taichi indicates that he's still married in an easy-to-miss note in DRAE.
** Doesn't have to mean that the woman Taichi's married to, and Chihiro's mother (and by extension, Chiaki's) are one and the same....But maybe it's a Junko Enoshima/Mukuro Ikusaba scenario. (Those two are twins... and yet they have different last names.) Plus Chiaki's free time events don't ever bring up her mother. It's a topic that Dangan Ronpa 2 (by virtue of Hajime's thought process) pointedly avoids. And look at the sheer oddity of Toko's mother situation. Divorce and remarriage seems straightforward by comparison. Adding to that, in the photo featuring Chihiro and Taichi that you can find on Taichi's body, the mother is absent.
** Or maybe Chiaki and Chihiro are cousins. It's a bit of a common {{Fanon}} going around in Non-Despair AU's by fans as an explanation to Chiaki's appearance.

[[WMG: Kizakura will die saving Kyouko.]]
The personality test on the website has Kizakura go "Yes" in response to the question of whether one would make a HeroicSacrifice for their loved ones. ''Side:Despair'' establishes that Kizakura and Jin Kirigiri are best friends. No better way to die saving a loved one then daughter of your best friend, right?
* [[spoiler: Confirmed. He opens his left hand, which is his forbidden action, to save her in episode 8.]]

[[WMG: The Ultimate Class Presidents started off with another talent.]]
Since, in most schools, the student council is elected after the school year starts, I wonder if the same applies to Hope's Peak. We've had students with multiple talents before(such as Toko/Genocide Jill and Junko herself), as well. So it's possible that the Student Council Presidents were originally scouted for another talent. When we meet the present Student Council President in the Despair arc (before the Despairing Incident happens), we might learn what his original talent was as {{Foreshadowing}} that the same might apply to Munakata.

So what is Munakata's original talent? For maximum irony points, I'm thinking he was a Lucky Student just like Makoto and Nagito. However, he might be ashamed of his humble origins and tries to keep his original talent a secret(which only Yukizome and Sakakura, and possibly Tengan if he was still headmaster while the 72nd class was still in school know about).

[[WMG: Chiaki sought out Future Foundation after the rest of Class 77 became ultimate Despair.]]
In [=SDR2=], when Mikan reverts back to Ultimate Despair they mention of there being a traitor, who turns out to be Chiaki. However, many originally thought that Chiaki was the traitor through process of elimination (if she was the only student that didn't really exist or attend Hope's Peak, then it could only be her.) In light of episode 1 of Side: Despair, however, she is very real. So when Mikan is talking about the traitor, they actually mean that Chiaki refused to fall to despair and joined the Future Foundation to become an agent.
* If you pair this theory with the idea a member of Class 77 is Branch 13's actual leader, this could work.
** Jossed. [[spoiler: Chiaki is dead as of Despair Ep. 10, with her death serving as the catalyst for the 77th class turning into Ultimate Despair]]

[[WMG: Everybody's NG Actions]]
List your guesses here!

* Kyoko is not allowed to speak to Makoto
** Alternately, she's not allowed to inspect bodies. Kirigiri should be savvy enough to be inspecting the bodies, and yet she isn't...
*** Safe to say this is probably jossed. [[spoiler:She went to go investigate Chisa's body in Episode 4]]
** Or she cannot reveal the traitor's identity. (Which would then suggest that... she is the traitor... Irony)
** Or it's blank. If anyone found out, she'd look an awful lot like the traitor. But she isn't. It'd be just like Monokuma to throw in a blank NG Action just to fuck with people.
** Adding onto the first idea, it's possible she can't speak to men, as she doesn't respond when Tengan tries to reassure her.
*** She manages to speak to Mitarai in Ep. 3, so this might be jossed. Unless we have another Chihiro situation and Mitarai is actually a girl.
*** Yep. Jossed. Episode 4 shows her capable of talking to Tengan.
** Kyoko's forbidden action is showing her bracelet to the others participants.
** Maybe her action is "don't be alone", referencing her habit of wandering off to solve the mystery by herself in the first game. It might explain why she's keeping Mitarai around.
** Jossed. It's much crueler than that: [[spoiler: She is not allowed to let Naegi live beyond the fourth round of knockout gas. That's probably why she was avoiding him: in case he realised her NG Code and tried to do something self-sacrificing. She probably kept Ryota around so that he could report her findings to Naegi if she couldn't escape by Round 4.]]
* Munakata is not allowed to open doors. (I think most people could guess this one)
** Because I'm wondering if it can really be the obvious answer, I offer: He isn't allowed to kill Makoto. He'll try to do it anyway, but he fully plans on making that sacrifice.
** Or: [[spoiler: He wasn't allowed to let Juzo survive pass a certain point. Just like Kyoko with Makoto.]]
** Episode 10 confirms that his NG code is opening doors.
* Izayoi can't take Ando's candies.
** Or, going one step further, Izayoi can't eat and/or drink anything at all. (Just imagine him getting weaker and weaker, and Ando can't do ''anything'' to help what seems to be her only friend. A perfect [[JustForPun recipe]] for despair, yes?) [[spoiler:Confirmed in Episode 8.]]
* Sakakura can't punch anyone.
** "More or less" confirmed in Episode 4.
** Pretty much fully confirmed in Episode 8; while we still haven't actually ''seen'' his bracelet, it would be little more than a formality.
* Mitarai can't allow women being harassed in his presence.
** What if Mitarai can't reveal that he was member of 77-B?
** Ryota can't be alone.
** Jossed. [[spoiler: He cannot use his talent.]]
* Kimura can't argue with Ando.
** Looks like this is jossed, as they argue in Episode 3.
** She's not allowed to let people step on her shadow. This is actually really symbolic because [[spoiler:it can be a metaphor for surpassing a person at something, is also a version of tag that children play, and- for some superstitious people- the act of stepping on a person's shadow is a sign that you will cause them great suffering or perhaps death.]]
* Gekkogahara cannot touch anyone directly.
** Seemingly Jossed, she can't turn right. But we never actually saw her bracelet, so there's the possibility she's lying.
*** Adding to that, Episode 2 at 16:50 you can quite clearly see her shift her chair to the right. Looks like someone can lie?
*** In Episode 4, she also turn right when Tengan ask her to take Makoto and Asahina away from Munakata.
** [[spoiler:Seeing as she's a robot controlled by Monaca, it's possible she has no NG code.]]
* The traitor cannot kill Makoto or allow him to die
** This one makes a LOT of sense.
* Aoi is not allowed to get into physical altercations. When Sakakura threatens her, she backs off and looks at her wrist. She also avoids directly intervening in the Munakata/Gozu fight. The fire extinguisher does not make contact with either of them. [[spoiler:Not sure it matters anymore, though...]]
** Partially confirmed, her NG Action is that she can't get punched or kicked.
* Tengan's NG action is confirmed to be: don't answer with a lie. [[spoiler:Makes his death far more tragic. Until he's reveal to be mastermind]]
* Gozu's NG action was that he could not take off his mask. Kyoko removes his mask to find a sheet underneath hiding his face. Perhaps the killer killed him by removing the mask while he was knocked out, and put the sheet there.
** Didn't Kyoko put that sheet on him, though?
** If the theory about the attacker killing by triggering forbidden actions is true, Gozu's NG Action might be either having his body suspended in mid-air or having his mask/eyes damaged.
** Jossed, it's "being pinned to the ground for a three-count." While moot, being revealed long after he's murdered, it's oddly straightforward for a wrestler like him.
* Kizakura's NG action may be that he's not allowed to tell the truth, as a contrast to Tengan's. He did point out Miaya as the traitor, which takes on a new light[[spoiler: now that we know Monaka isn't the mastermind]]. Perhaps he knows something about the true mastermind that the others don't, but cannot tell anyone because of his code? It would certainly put the few things we've heard him say into a new light.
** Kizakura [[https://imgur.com/a/3Zg99 can't take his hand out of his pocket]].
** Episode 8 confirms his NG code to be [[spoiler:that he can't open his left hand.]]
* Andou's NG Code is revealed to be that [[spoiler:she can't let anyone escape the game arena]] in Episode 8.
* Chisa's NG code was that she could not let Munakata die. Seems appropriate, though it's moot since she died first. Unless she didn't die...

[[WMG: There is a "sixteenth student" in the building.]]
It's a little strange that Yasuhiro is still counted as a survivor even though he managed to miss the despair game entirely. It's possible that he's being used to conceal the fact that there's another person in the building that the other Future Foundation members don't know about. Just like Mukuro in the first game, there's a hidden sixteenth participant.

Some possible guesses to the identity of the "sixteenth student":

* Monaca, who is hiding her identity by switching places with Miaya whenever the participants are knocked out (taking advantage of their similar appearances and Gekkogahara's muteness). It'd be funny if the answer to the question "Is Gekkogahara Monaca or Chiaki?" turned out to be [[MathematiciansAnswer "Yes."]]
** [[spoiler:This is actually possible, seeing as Miaya is controlled by her.]]
** [[spoiler: But less possible when her bio on the website says "Taking the place of Gekkogahara to participate in the killing game". This suggests that Maiya and Monaca are considered to be the same participant.]]
* Nagito, because we all know if any of the Class 77 students are going to wake up, it's going to be this lucky asshole. Plus, they seemed to be foreshadowing the possibility of Makoto vs Nagito in UDG.
* Yukizome's look-alike/twin sister. Though everyone seems to be expecting Yukizome to be the mastermind and pulling a Junko, it seems a bit too predictable.
* Yasuhiro. Turns out he ''didn't'' escape the despair game after all, and he'll turn up like a bad penny midway through. Or it's his body that will turn up. Or Yasuhiro was the mastermind all alo... Nah, that can't be possible.
** Jossed. Hagakure is outside and not part of the game.
* Byakuya. There's no explanation for where he is, and it's inconceivable that they'd [[PutOnABus put such an important character on a bus]] without so much as a [=WORD=] of his whereabouts.
* The leader of Branch 13. Why mention him if he doesn't play some sort of a part? Why not make Aoi the branch leader if you're going to make an unknown branch leader that we never see?
* [[spoiler: The real Miaya Gekkogahara. Now that we know that the current Miaya is a robot made by Monaca, then that leaves the (potential) REAL Miaya unaccounted for.]] [[spoiler: She's, uh, accounted for now and it was not a happy shot.]]

[[WMG: There is no traitor, or at least they’re not killing anyone.]]
The entire thing’s just a witch hunt as the title of episode 2 denotes.
I’m sure translations vary, but Monokuma doesn't explicitly say that the person who wakes up has to kill anyone, just that they’re allotted time to. It's also entirely possible that all the deaths have been triggered by the victims' forbidden action and that [[spoiler: Yukizome and Aoi’s]] deaths have just been set up to look like murder without actually being so. (Notably, [[spoiler:Yukizome's]] death in the opening explicitly shows her wristband going off but doesn't include the chandelier or any other wounds.) It also follows the series’ tradition of having a surprisingly benevolent “traitor”. Besides, what's more despair-inducing than killing each other for no genuine reason?
* But the characters don't seem to have forbidden actions before the first knockout (due to not having the bracelets. [[spoiler:Bandai]] not dying because Sakakura attacked Makoto supports this), thus, ruling out [[spoiler:Yukizome's]] death. And as we see with [[spoiler:Bandai's]] death, assuming the poison is the same for everyone, an extreme amount of blood will start coming out of their eyes. [[spoiler:Aoi]] didn't show any signs like that.
** On that hand, there's always the chance that the 'traitor' isn't even among the gathered heads locked in at all.
** Possibly Jossed. While [[spoiler: Aoi]] turns out to actually be alive, [[spoiler: Great Gozu]] is found dead afterwards.
** Jossed. Kirigiri says all victims of the attacker were killed with a single stab through the heart.
** Actually partially confirmed in that there is no traitor in the sense of a unique person that attack its victim, but whether there's a unique mastermind that kickstart the killing game is a different story. See below for details.
** Confirmed in a round-about way: [[spoiler: Yes, there are two traitors and one imposter in the group, but none of them actually ''kill'' anyone other than themselves. All of the deaths during the sleep-phases are suicides due to brainwashing, and of the deaths that happen between sleep phases, none are committed by the traitors or the imposter. One of the traitors (Chisa) is the first brainwashing victim, and the second traitor (Tengan) and imposter (Gekkougahara) are both killed by Munakata.]]

[[WMG: EVERYONE is a traitor: they just don't know it.]]
On the other hand, it's possible that the bands do far more than Monokuma has claimed. It's very possible they're enough to control the 'traitor' who wakes up and force them to kill before they fall asleep again. Just because one person wakes up after the sleeping drug is administered doesn't mean it's always the same person, and just because there's ''a'' traitor doesn't rule out the possibility of more.
** One of the other theories says that it's confirmed that there's only one traitor overall.
** Their bracelets should tell them how much time they have left before they get knocked unconscious. Couldn't they just check those and if anybody's bracelet had a significant difference in time that would automatically tip the rest of them off who the traitor is?
*** Not likely. Monokuma isn't an idiot. They're just going to decrease the dosage in the traitor's bracelet relative to the others, but still inject them all the same.
*** But they haven't bothered to check it yet, so who knows?
** Confirmed in that everyone is an attacker. [[spoiler: More precisely speaking, the person who is closest to a Monokuma Monitor is woken up by the bracelet, and then forced to watch a brainwashing video that will made them kill themselves.]]

[[WMG: The final mutual killing is meant to be a parallel to the first.]]
When the Despair arc finally gets to the very first mutual killing, it will turn out to have been very similar to the scenario in the Future arc. Izuru and the student council members will get locked in the school building and told there is a traitor amongst them who will pick them off one by one until killed.

The big twist is... Izuru ''wasn't'' the traitor. Each of the killings will point to him, however, driving him to the point where he finally snaps and kills everyone else. And thus Izuru will fall into despair and cause the Despairing Incident.

Perhaps the mastermind in the future arc has the same goal - to make the Ultimate Hope fall into despair. If Makoto were to be driven to the point where he kills everyone else, and this is broadcast to the world, it's likely to cause an even more despairing incident and result in the ultimate victory of Despair.
* Jossed as the [[spoiler: student council mutual killing game does not go like that. Each member is blackmailed. Izuru is not a participant so much as an observer and a scapegoat for Junko.]]

[[WMG: Mitarai is the traitor.]]
To expand on this - Mitarai as the traitor would make some sense, since he was supposedly part of Class 77 before being replaced by the Ultimate Impostor. Perhaps the Impostor is, once again, a RedHerring.

With Byakuya, we assumed he was real before he was revealed to be the Impostor. Mitarai might be the opposite; we're led to assume that he's the Impostor, but the Ryota Mitarai in the Despair arc is the actual Ryota Mitarai. It's not inconceivable that he lost weight during the despairing incident, and because of the confusion caused by the Impostor, he was overlooked as a possible Remnant of Despair.
* To expand on this, why is the Impostor disguised as Byakuya instead of Mitarai when he's in the simulation? Togami is part of Class 78, not 77. If his memories were reset to just before he entered Hope's Peak, why would he have the persona of a student who hadn't entered the school yet? I'm thinking it's because the Impostor is actually part of Class 78, not 77, and he disguises himself as Mitarai later. This would mean that the Mitarai we see in the Despair arc right now is the real Mitarai.
** But wasn't it stated that he was disguised as Byakuya before he was revealed as an actual Ultimate, and then he switched to Mitarai?
*** No, it was never stated, it was just a logical conclusion. The simulation used their memories from the day they were supposed to join Hope's Peak and the first episode is set 2 months after the class started, so we are meant to assume the Impostor switched disguises on that timeframe.
*** But they had to have been in the school for at least a year. Junko is in the class after them, and she's the reason they fell into despair. Class 78 would naturally get into the school one year after Class 77.
*** The part involving the "impostor" being the real Mitarai is jossed, but Mitarai could still be the traitor.
* In ''Side: Despair'' episode 6, Junko runs into the real Mitarai and hugs him, suggesting that she plans on corrupting him too.

Semi-Jossed. [[spoiler:Tengan set up the game, but is designed to push Mitarai to brainwash the world.]]

[[WMG: Chiaki is the one controlling Monokuma.]]
I know, this seems like a strange one. However, of all the theories here, it would be the one that's the most MindScrew-y, (remember the original [=JUNKO=]s theory was in the same position), but it's confirmed that the whole incident was started by someone on the 'inside'. There's two variations to this theory:
** Theory A: What qualifies as the inside? We're told that it's within the computer system. It's possible that Gekkogahara's laptop is still connected to the Neo World Program on Jabberwock Island. [What an excellent way to bring in the [=DR2=] characters if that's the case], If that's true, a Junko AI (remember there's still at least one floating around) could have merged the remnants of Chiaki's AI to control the new Monokuma. Support includes the fact that Monokuma was able to remodel Usami into Monomi the exact same way again.
** Theory B: The real human Chiaki did fall into Despair. Unlike her other classmates, she was never in custody of Makoto Naegi and the 14th Branch to go into the Neo World Program. It's possible that a Despair Chiaki (who isn't shown on the board with the rest of her classmates) is still out there. Talk about a gut-punch.
*** Jossed.

[[WMG: Munakata will be responsible for Sakakura's death]]
The opening animations show Sakakura cut in half and Munakata uses a katana as his weapon. Either through an accident, an argument that spirals out of control, or a genuine FaceHeelTurn, he could be responsible for Sakakura's death.
* Should this happen, here's another guess: They will attempt an AlasPoorScrappy on Sakakura.
* [[spoiler: Confirmed, katana straight through the heart. Not certain why Munakata killed him though other than him obviously going insane.]]
** [[spoiler: The reason Munakata turned on Sakakura is because he discovered that Chisa was a Despair. As both Chisa and Juzo had said Junko was not responsible for the Tragedy of Hope's Peak, Munakata came to the conclusion that both had become Despairs.]]
** As of the end of the anime, this is [[spoiler: zig-zagged. Juzo survived the supposed fatal injury that Munakata inflicted but later died from blood loss, and although the wound he took from Munakata certainly contributed to that, the fact that Juzo ''cut off his own hand'' to get the bracelet off could be seen as the bigger reason for the blood loss.]]

[[WMG: Usami was created by Monaca as Gekkogahara.]]
As an expansion of past Monaca-as-Gekkogahara theories, there is a fair bit to get into with the focus on how Usami came to exist and how this whole system came to be. For instance, Usami's official title and role as a magical girl directly connects to Monaca's title during her Warrior of Hope days; Mage. As mentioned, Gekkogahara has no listed voice actress and a similar, if grown up by comparison body. If one takes the potential height discrepancy as a growth spurt, this then directly connects to her being stuck in a wheelchair; apparently paralyzed for real, exactly as how Monaca was left during her last appearance after getting trapped under rubble. Further, Gekkogahara being the traitor/mastermind would easily allow for something otherwise feasibly impossible; Monokuma being able to be controlled remotely by a participant in the game itself. Whether by the text-to-speech programs Gekkogahara apparently uses to voice Usami, or by an AI she created to respond to commands, Gekkogahara appears the only one able to have control of Monokuma in plain view of the others. On top of that, it would further cement Monaca as the "new Junko Enoshima," given it would mean she's playing the new version of Monokuma. All it would take is young Monaca showing up on the Future Foundation's doorstep with forged records as an Ultimate Student, and to not speak for years. [[OrgyOfEvidence In summation, Gekkogahara has no established backstory, more hidden data than any other character, the only true technical skill (if we don't include the specialized sector of Animation) able to create such an attack, and fits snugly into the canon of a potential loose thread of a villain.]] [[TooGoodToBeTrue Can't wait for this to be jossed completely.]]
* [[spoiler:Well guess what's been confirmed.]]
* [[spoiler:Not fully confirmed. Yes, Gekkogahara turned out to be Monaca, but we don't know to which extent "Gekkogahara" helped work on the Neo World Program and thus Usami. In Episode 2, Kyoko refers to her as "one of the developers". She might just be using Usami's likeness to appear harmless or for the irony. But, yeah, that aside, the theory is still looking really strong.]]
* [[spoiler:Gekkogahara might have been a real person before this. Kizakura- a former talent scout for Hope's Peak- would have potentially noticed a fake student. It's an exclusive school, right? Monaca might have just decided that Gekkogahara was the easiest person to emulate with a robot and switched out with her. Thus, Usami could have been created by a different Gekkogahara than we see in this show.]]
** It has been confirmed that [[spoiler: Gekkogahara was a real person who was murdered before the killing game started. So most of this theory is probably jossed now.]]

[[WMG: Future Arc starts out REALLY bleak, but will gradually get better and hopeful.]]

This is to create an antithesis with Despair Arc, which started out lighthearted and cheerful, but will end miserably as the fates of the students are [[DoomedByCanon set in stone to become Ultimate Despairs]]. So for those saddened with the deaths of [[spoiler:Yukizome, Bandai, Gozu]]... try not to lose heart. It might get better in the future.

[[WMG: Sakakura or Great Gozu will fight Monokuma.]]
In the original Dangan Ronpa it was Sakura who got into a scuff with Monokuma, and in the second it was Akane. Sakakura is the ULTIMATE BOXER, and his personality so far reveals he'd not be afraid to fight Monokuma. Gozu is the Ultimate Wrestler, so he'd likely team up with Sakakura to fight Monokuma to only fail or get murdered by him.
* Possibly Jossed as [[spoiler: Gozu is dead]].
** Definitely Jossed. [[spoiler: They're both dead.]]
* Unlikely in that Monokuma never shows up is his robot form. He hardly shows up at all, and when he does it's always on a monitor.

[[WMG: Makoto is actually a disguised Hajime.]]
Apart from now sharing a similar hair style and suit, we know that Hajime is alive, conscious, functioning as Ultimate Hope following merging his two personalities. We know that the opening of the Future arc is a direct sequel to [=SDR2=]'s ending, but it's possible Hajime decided to take the opportunity to switch with Makoto. There always seems to be one character who is secretly disguised as someone else, and the biggest suspect for that role is Miaya Gekkougahara. Both games used this twist to hide the identity of the villain from the player, but what if this time the heroes are using this trope to help protect Makoto? It also wouldn't be the first time someone used a false Makoto, and while it's not necessarily his style, we don't actually know that much about what Makoto, Kyoko, Byakuya think of the other future foundation members.
* Jossed. [[spoiler:We get a nice shot of Hajime on Jabberwock Island in Episode 6.]]

[[WMG: Byakuya and/or Yasuhiro is/are the 16th players.]]
We know Yasuhiro is actually there but seems locked out of the loop. If you count up all of the FF members involved you get 15 without Yasuhiro. But if [=DR3=]'s opening is a direct sequel to [=SDR2=], then Byakuya should have been on the helicopter with Makoto and Kyoko but we have heard barely anything about him which is odd since Byakuya is a good foil to Kyousuke Munakata AND Makoto.
* Jossed on Yasuhiro's part. He's shown being still stuck outside trying to reach the others and doesn't have a bracelet.
* As of Episode 6, [[spoiler: seems to be Jossed for Byakuya as well.]]

[[WMG: The characters from the original game will make cameos in Despair Arc.]]
Junko has to appear in the Side:Despair in order to corrupt the class of 77, and it's likely that Mukuro will appear as well. Because of that, it wouldn't be a stretch to see the rest of their class at least in passing.
* There was a mention of Celeste in passing during Episode 2, so if nothing else there might be passing references.
* Maizono shows up briefly in a sexy calendar promotion.
* Seemingly confirmed as of Episode 5. Looks like they might be bigger players than just cameos, too.

[[WMG: Someone will pull a BridalCarry on Makoto.]]
We've already had Makoto being carried piggy-back style and over the shoulder style, the standard BridalCarry is all that's left, and this troper's willing to bet that Kyoko's going to do it. Additionally, since Makoto's forbidden action is running in the hallways, being carried around by other Future Foundation members will become a RunningGag.
** Also adding to that. At some point, while running away from danger/the radicals, Makoto's allies pass him around as they're running down the halls in hot potato-like fashion.

[[WMG: The petals of the flower in the ending song symbolizes everyone who's ever been in the Killing Games.]]
Kodaka said in [[https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/comments/4si1qw this tweet]] that the flower Makoto is holding during the ending song is the gerbera, which in the language of flowers means hope, and to pay attention to it closely.

There are eight petals still attached to the center of the flower at the end, and some fallen petals (or is that just a stylized stem?) are still holding on to the flower. All these petals, fallen or attached, represent everyone in all the koroshiai games (the student council, [=DR1=] kids, [=SDR2=] kids, and the FF members). Maybe the ones still attached to the center are the ones who are going to survive the current koroshiai game, with the small ones being the [=DR1=] kids in Future-arc who's going to survive (if so, one of the [=DR1=] kids is going to die), and the petals which already fell off but still attached were the survivors of the previous games, their falling off symbolizing they're no longer involved in the current koroshiai game, and the ones no longer attached to the flower and scattered around Makoto are the dead kids.
* [[spoiler: Semi-confirmed with Aoi's fake death.]]

[[WMG: Kiyotaka is the mastermind]]
Sorry, I had to make a 'no running in the hallways' joke.

[[WMG: Sakakura is the mastermind]]
No real evidence, just thought I'd make the obligatory the {{Scrappy}} is secretly evil theory.
* Tempting, but it would become too obvious. Sakakura haters probably should just hope he becomes a victim instead, seems more likely.
* [[spoiler: Most likely Jossed.]]

[[WMG: [[spoiler: Aoi Asahina isn't really dead]]]]
[[spoiler: It's a stunt double who took Hina's place before the sleeping gas took effect. The actual Aoi is busy hiding somewhere and will come out the next episode. /end being in denial]]
* Confirmed, [[spoiler:the knife was fake.]]

[[WMG: At some point, Sakakura will do a HeelFaceTurn]]
It could be because Munakata has reasons to suspect someone other than Makoto is the traitor and Sakakura will just go along, albeit begrudgingly or something happens that causes him to ultimately break down and be humbled and/or traumatized enough to at least cooperate with Makoto. This will also result in him being RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.
* [[spoiler: Confirmed]]

[[WMG: Yasuhiro does something useful]]
A few episodes will go by with no information on what happened to Yasuhiro and the attacker will keep killing. Finally at after the traitor is found out and everything is solved more or less, the survivors will wonder how will they get out. Cue Yasuhiro, who had been working the whole time to remove the rubble from the entrance, and had also managed to flag down the helicopter they had flown in on. Bonus, if they don't know he manage to free them and he just walks into the room excitedly and everyone flips their shit.
* He was shown in Episode 3 trying to reach everyone from the outside, so it's not like he's just sitting around doing nothing.
** He's still running away from helicopter fire in Episode 5. So don't forget he's still out there.
** He's fishing now! Oh, I hope [[spoiler:Byakuya finds him]].
* Bowling into two troops that allow Byakura to command his own troop to save Makoto counts right? Right? Can I have a confirm now?
** Confirmed, and how!

[[WMG: The two arcs will merge together at the end.]]
Since the way the series is structured, it will end with the last episode of Side:Despair, I suspect the timeline on the Despair arc will eventually catch up to the Future arc. Maybe the series ends with the former Remnants of Despair showing up to save the surviving Future Foundation members, as suggested in an earlier WMG.

To add to this, perhaps there's actually 25 episodes in DR3. The final episode, a combined finale for both the Future and Despair arcs, will be called Side:Hope.

* Confirmed with the last episode of Side:Despair, and is even called Side:Hope. Though it's still 24 episodes, as Side:Despair is only 11 episodes long.

[[WMG:Byakuya or Kyoko are going to give an epic ReasonYouSuckSpeech to Munakata]]
As a CallBack to the fourth trial of the first game. Probably Byakuya, since he's the one that understands proper leadership.

[[WMG: Chiaki will be a victim of the First School Life of Mutual Killing.]]
As the Class Rep, she is part of the Student Council.
* [[spoiler:Jossed]]

[[WMG: Yasuhiro will survive once again.]]
Since he is one of the six survivors of the original game, he can't be carelessly killed off by the writers... yet at the same time, Byakuya and Toko aren't involved in the killing game, Aoi [[spoiler:was already used as the SacrificialLion]], and him dying wouldn't have as much emotional impact as [[TheHeroDies Makoto]] or [[TheLostLenore Kyoko]] would. These factors combine to make him the perfect MauveShirt. He's the perfect combination of expendable and invincible.

[[WMG: Gekkogahara is part of Class 79.]]
That's the reason why there's no record of which class Gekkogahara was part of. It's possible that Kizakura and other scouts had already started scouting students for Class 79 before the Despairing Incident hit and the school closed. Since the school closed before Class 79 would have arrived at Hope's Peak, Gekkogahara would have had her talent, but never would have gotten into any classes.
* It was implied she is one of the creators of the Neo World Program, along with Chihiro and Matsuda. If she is part of the 79th class, it will be seem very strange for this troper, given [[spoiler: Matsuda dies during Chihiro's first year in HPA.]]
** Actually, if I remember the timeline correctly, the events of Zero take place during Chihiro's second year, so it's possible that Gekkogahara could have still met Matsuda.
** It's also possible Miaya was scouted early because of her work on the project (especially since Hope's Peak students were involved).

[[WMG: Tengan is part of Class 1 of Hope's Peak.]]
The old guy has lasted longer than most people expected. Perhaps he's here in order to provide exposition on the history of Hope's Peak Academy, since it's unknown when (or even if) he was a student of Hope's Peak. Since there's been 78 classes in the academy's history, it's possible he was part of the very first class, and he's currently in his nineties.

Maybe he knew the original Izuru Kamukura, the founder of the academy. Perhaps the original Izuru wasn't the ubermensch uber-talented genius the staff of Hope's Peak Academy thought he was, but rather an optimistic everyman who wanted to bring talented people together for the good of the world. Perhaps this is why Tengan was willing to hear Makoto out(which the other Future Foundation members noted was unusual for him); something in Makoto reminds him of the original Izuru, and Tengan feels that Makoto could be the hope that the Future Foundation needs.

[[WMG: Chiaki is TheHeart to the 77th class students and a partial reason to why the 77th class fell to despair.]]
With the 2nd episode up, Chiaki is starting to shape up as TheHeart to class 77 and Hajime's voice of reason. They couldn't have possibly fallen down to despair that fast if Chiaki's helping the students to recover (Especially if you take account of the upbeat and positive students like Ibuki and Akane) and her possible death under Junko's hand may just be one of the catalyst, asides the DarkAndTroubledPast issues for some of the students to how they become Ultimate Despair.
** Original poster here. This gets confirmed with episode 10 of side despair. Somewhat. [[spoiler: In fact her death is the reason they were pushed further to despair.]]

[[WMG: Sakakura will appear in Despair Arc]]
Since he's the last of the ThreeAmigos between him, Munakata and Yukizome, he might make an appearance. And contrary to his bastardly appearance in Future Arc, he will be a decent man, or a bro-level friend like Great Gozu, seeing that even Munakata is shown to be very decent in that arc.

To twist the knife further? Sakakura's appearance there will take place after meanwhile in the Future Arc, either he's revealed as the traitor, or is murdered and dying ignobly. The fans would probably be [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing like partying]] [[TakeThatScrappy when that happened]], only to be revealed that in the past, Sakakura wasn't always this violent brute and quite decent at that, [[AlasPoorScrappy prompting the same partying fans to have an aneurysm.]]
* He does appear in Episode 3, but he's just as much of a {{Jerkass}} as in Future Arc. [[spoiler:However, he's only a jerkass to Hajime to prevent him from getting killed by the school for learning too much, so there's that.]]

[[WMG: The Future Arc Killing Game takes place in a distorted Neo World Program]]
As ironic punishment for Makoto rehabilitating the Remnants in the Neo World Program, the Mastermind has set the Future Foundation up in their own simulation. Since many of the radical members are fine with killing in the name of hope, the act of killing alone is not necessarily despairing to them in the way Junko would have wanted.

Thus the ultimate goal would not be to drive the members into despair through death, but through living with themselves when they realize none of it had purpose. They will wake up, all of them, to a place where they now must confront the friends and colleagues they murdered meaninglessly. (We already know that you can survive death in the virtual world thanks to [=DR2=].) Not even mentioning the credibility the Future Foundation will lose to any watching the broadcast.

Bonus points if Makoto or Kirigiri make a heroic sacrifice before we find this out.
Double bonus points if somehow they managed to [[YourMindMakesItReal change the rules for this game.]]

There's already some evidence for this:

* After being gassed and waking up, the environment is drastically changed. The building is more derelict and darker. Even the bombing raid did not seem to do so much damage as to smash up the conference room. The windows have been boarded up as they were in the games. There are multiple Monokuma monitors installed in the hallways.
* In episode 2, Kyoko notices that the hole in the wall left by Izayoi's knife throw is missing.
* Also, Monokuma crawling under his desk to appear on Usami's screen might be a neat hacking trick, or it might be a bit too supernatural for the "real world".
* In episode 3, we get a shot of Hagakure stuck outside. This is important because it gives us a frame of how long the game has really been going on for. We've been in play mode for about 2-4 hours, but how long was everyone out cold before hand? Hagakure does not seem so worried as to have been there for too long. How then did the mastermind set up all of the monitors, and the [[IncrediblyLamePun Mono Lisa]] paintings? Just the whole environment shift should have taken about a day's worth of time.
* It's becoming apparent to me that there are no security cameras in the building. How does Monokuma or the mastermind or whoever know when someone breaks their NG Code if they're not constantly watching them? How do they know anything? If it's all a simulation, the coding tells them.
* In Episode 5, [[spoiler: Izayoi finds a secret door with Monokuma's likeness. This could have been there the whole, and evidence that the mastermind is high up the food chain. But it works solidly here as well.]]
* Also in Episode 5, Hagakure is still out being chased by helicopters. This seems like comic relief until, [[spoiler:a blast shakes the building, obviously effecting everyone inside. This seems like evidence against a simulation until you realize this proves they did not switch buildings. So what happened with the knife damaged wall?]]
** [[spoiler: It was revealed they were moved underground, built exactly like the main building.]]
* In Episode 6, [[spoiler:Byakuya makes comments that imply he knows Monaca's location. He appears to give Komaru and Toko instructions to go hunt her down. If that's true, then she's not even on the same premises as the killing game. While some people have taken to believing that Monaca physically went out and reset Miaya when she got kicked, all she says is she "rebooted" her.]]
** This leads to the question of why even use [[spoiler:an android if it's all a simulation? Yeah, that's not the simplest solution, but Junko always gave herself a place to fail. Robots are Monaca's expertise and where she is most comfortable. Putting a layer between her and the world also means she doesn't have to worry about [[YourMindMakesItReal being killed]] or acting. It's not as if Chiaki's AI was particularly realistic, y'know', in hindsight.]]
** As for why [[spoiler: Byakuya could speak to Makoto and Aoi, he's talking to a computer screen. Literally and figuratively. He does not see them in person, he sees their faces on a screen. It's all hooked up to the internet (thanks to Monaca), so if anyone knows how to make it work it's her. Imagine if this is all true and we get to see the look on Byakuya's face when he finds everyone in pods.]]
*** [[spoiler:Jossed. They met Makoto]] in Episode 12.

[[WMG: Bandai is more important than he appears.]]
[[spoiler:If series such as ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'' and this one have taught me anything, it's that the guy who dies early without doing much of anything is always more important than he seems. (For example, see the Ninth Man or "Junko" from [=DR1=]) Everyone's so focused on Yukizome that they might end up overlooking Bandai, which could prove hazardous.]]
* Jossed.

[[spoiler:The mastermind might have given Bandai a NG Action that was guaranteed to take him out early because he was an accomplice, or he knew something that would be able to ferret out the traitor's identity too quickly. Or he's the traitor, and Kimura is an accomplice who successfully cured him with the antidote but lied and pretended he didn't make it. No one would expect the [[BewareTheSillyOnes goofy-looking gag character]] to be the bad guy.]]

[[WMG: The unknown 13th Branch head is another Ultimate Impostor]]
It was claimed that they sent Aoi in their place, but instead they showed up disguised as Aoi. Disguised as one of Makoto's close friends, they'd be able to get information on the Remnants of Despair that he wouldn't trust other Future Foundation members with. [[spoiler:I don't think they'll use the same trick twice; killing off a [=DR1=] character only for them to be revealed as an impostor later. But the possibility is there. Besides, if Makoto and friends knew the 13th branch head was an Impostor, they might have been more suspicious when Aoi showed up in his place.]]
* But this doesn't take place very long after the second game. The Impostor should be in a coma. Even if he DID awaken from it in the small amount of time, there's no way they'd make him, a FORMER ULTIMATE DESPAIR MEMBER, a Branch Leader.
** Emphasis on "another". They're not implying the Ultimate Impostor from the second game is the 13th Branch Leader. They're suggesting it might be two people with the same talent. Which is a thing we've sort of seen before.

[[WMG: Kimura's betrayal to Andou has something to do with the Kamukura Project]]
When Andou and Izayoi discussing about the traitor, the discussion naturally comes back to Kimura. But afterward, the discussion almost non-sequitur becomes how the Hope's Peak and by proxy Future Foundation are in inherently rotten. It's possible that, just like Matsuda, Kimura also has hand on the project, and Andou who knew about it connecting her as one of the reason why the Tragedy happened. Kimura's compassion toward her comrades and her hatred toward the Ultimate Despairs is actually her being TheAtoner. When Andou passive-aggressively pointing out Kimura as a possible traitor, Kimura never talks back because in someway, she agrees with Andou.
* Jossed as of episode 4.

[[WMG: Sonia will become Chiaki's best friend]]
While all of Class 77-B loves Chiaki, Sonia will likely become Chiaki's closest friend, besides [[ShipTease Hajime]]. This friendship will play a significant role in Class 77-B fall to despair.
** If you look over all the picture in the ending credits, you can see that Chiaki seems to interact with Sonia more than any other character, with the two usually right beside each other, much like Mahiru and Hiyoko, or Fuyuhiko and Peko. Besides Chiaki, Sonia would normally be near Tanaka, who was Sonia's closest friend in the second game.
** In first game, the pictures are used to identify Junko as the mastermind. They were also used to hint at Mukuro's feelings for Makoto, as she is always seen staring at him, and would only look at the camera if he was the one taking the picture. So it is possible the pictures contain clues to major plot points.
** In episode 2, Sonia gives Chiaki an affectionate hug after Chiaki revealed that she asked Teruteru to a cook a meal for everybody, implying a possible closeness beginning to form. Sonia was also the first person in the class to agree with Chisa's idea to appointing Chiaki as ClassRep.
** Currently, the biggest hint to this friendship is the fact Sonia desperately argued for Chiaki's innocence during the 5th trial of the second game, going as far as to place suspicion on herself. Although Sonia and Chiaki didn't have much onscreen interactions during the game, Sonia has made it clear that she thought of Chiaki as one of her closest friends. Sonia trying to protect AI Chiaki is a possible hint that she and the real Chiaki were extremely close.

[[WMG: The leader of the 13th branch is someone from Class 77]]
Why else would they not reveal who it is? Obviously, if it's someone we don't know, it wouldn't be so important to keep it secret for so long.
* Byakuya would be the most likely candidate. He's intelligent, he's a born leader, and he's the only member of the class who's whereabout we don't know.
** Byakuya is not in 77th class. He also identifies as part of the 14th branch when introduced in Absolute Despair Girls.
*** Episode 6 confirms that Byakuya is still part of the 14th branch, so him being the 13th branch head is jossed.
** If that's true, the only member of the 77th class that isn't confirmed to be in Despair (and thus could be head of a Future Foundation branch) is... Chiaki Nanami... I think the OP is onto something here.
*** Now that [[spoiler:the real Miaya's death is confirmed]], I'm thinking Chiaki has to be the 13th branch head. If they're not important, why would their identity be hidden?
*** You've got a point there. Aside from Chisa, nobody knew Class 77 better than Chiaki. And no one in all of Hope's Peak Academy knew ''Hajime'' better than she did. [[spoiler:She was able to recognize him as Izuru just by '''looking at him'''!]] She would be just the person to help Makoto and Miaya with the Neo World Program, specifically resetting the Remnants of Despair's memories to who they were before Junko made them fall into despair.
*** Jossed as of Despair Episode 10. [[spoiler: Chiaki's dead]]

[[WMG: [[spoiler: Aoi still isn't safe]]]]
[[spoiler: During the opening credits, she's shown as being stabbed in the abdomen while not wearing her jacket. Also notice that the knife is stabbed into her abdomen and not her chest like the initial fake-out, AND the knife is a different type than the one that was used on Great Gozu. In other words, she's not safe in any way.]]
* [[spoiler: While not referencing the opening credits, there's another way this could happen. Sakakura has shown to be perfectly willing to attempt assaulting Aoi. Twice, in fact. Given that he now is set on the goal of eliminating Makoto's friends, he may attempt to attack Aoi again. If he does, Aoi's NG Action will be violated and she will die.]]
* [[spoiler: At least she won't be killed due to NG code, as the bangle fell off]]

[[WMG: Kyoko is the traitor.]]
After rewatching Episode Two, I found something quite interesting. Dangan Ronpa is a stickler for the details. Seemingly inconsequential things come back into play. Monokuma may have given away the traitor's identity during his own explanation. The pixeled sprite used to represent the traitor is similar to Kyoko, and it overlays on top of her after the mysterious person 'kills' Yukizome. Follow the link for photos. [[http://anotherstatsguy.tumblr.com/post/147972455194/look-at-these-four-photos-i-now-believe-the]]
** Other evidence: Kyoko mentions that Tengan seemed unworried that he would be killed by the traitor. This statement only makes sense if one of them was the traitor. It's an easy-to-miss line.
*** I think you're going to wrong direction with that traitor line. You're right, her line only makes sense if one of them is the traitor. She's implying that Tengan is suspicious, not hinting that she is.
* Jossed

** In a double twist, Kyoko is not the one actually doing the killings, she has to choose who dies, and the actual murder is executed by someone else. (Sort of a deadly 1 Person Heads-Up 7-Up) (It would explain Aoi's situation quite nicely too.)
** And (I'm the same poster as the rest of the theory so far), triple twist, she's having the rest of the Future Foundation leaders killed to protect Makoto. Think about it, most of them want to execute him. The nicer ones wanted to arrest him for the treason. (Granted, that's fair from their perspective), but still. Kyoko saw what the Remnants of Despair became in the Neo World Program. She would agree with Makoto 100%.
*** But if that was the case, then she wouldn't have Gozu killed, as he had just HELPED Makoto get away from certain death.
*** I agree with the poster before me. Also, Kyoko is a very popular character. It'll just result in another argument like [[spoiler: Aoi's fake kill scare]] from the fanbase if Kodaka really pulled that card.
*** He's already shown that he's in the troll mood with the Asahina situation. He's putting on a show and trying to top the previous entries's events. And I can't think of anything more of a show than this.
*** Safe to say that this is jossed. Kirigiri had been investigating the bodies instead. Kirigiri had been investigating the bodies instead. And since she is also allowed to make a deduction in Episode 8, she wouldn't have been a traitor.

[[WMG: The flower vase is for Chiaki's grave]]
Possibly. The third episode of Side Future shows Makoto first meeting Hajime as Izuru looking at a vase. The only person Hajime had been close to was Chiaki herself. Which would mean that she had possibly died in the first school life of mutual killing...
* This is very likely. Izuru is shown in a ruined classroom, and it's customary in Japanese schools to leave flowers on a students desk after they've died. The flowers also look pretty fresh, meaning that they were placed there recently. And while we don't know how Izuru felt about Chiaki, there doesn't seem to be anyone else he would leave flowers for.
** His parents?
** Siblings?
** Cousins?
** For being the main mover of the franchise's events, we sure don't know a lot about Hajime's regular old life, his family situation, or his parents. We knew Makoto had a younger sister from the first chapter in the 1st game, but Hajime? We've got zip. No idea about personal relationships away from Hope's Peak.
*** Not sure if this is really applicable or canon, but if you [[LineToGod ask SpikeChunsoft on their facebook]], they reply that Hajime [[ParentalNeglect did not have a great relationship with his family]] and imply that they used money as a substitute for love. (Even if the show does imply they were cutting him off.) That very well might be as much of his family life we get to see.
* Confirmed. [[spoiler:The white flower was definitely placed by Izuru, and the yellow one probably was as well, as it's too fresh to be from the bouquet years ago in Episode 11.]]

[[WMG: The survivors will figure out a way around the bracelets in the endgame]]
It's possible that the remaining Future Foundation members will set a trap to catch the traitor by pretending to be knocked out and ambushing the traitor when they arrive to kill someone. And it's also possible that they'll find a way to break their NG Actions without dying at a crucial moment.

Some possible ways around the bracelets:
* Kimura has an antidote to the poison, though it failed to save Bandai. This could be a potential ChekhovsGun. Perhaps it only failed because she didn't get to Bandai in time, and someone could potentially avoid dying to the poison by taking the antidote at the moment they break their codes or their bracelets.
** [[spoiler:One of Kimura's last thoughts is lamenting that her medicine couldn't help anyone during the game. This seems like massive foreshadowing that her medicine will be used to save someone's life after her death. Just like how Alter Ego helped the [=DR1=] survivors after Chihiro bought it.]]
*** Might not be foreshadowing what you think it is. The timing sets it up for [[spoiler: the stinger at the end of the episode where Munakata is shown using the serum or one like it. Maybe more heartbreaking that all she wants to do is help people, but even in death bad things happen in her name.]]
*** Confirmed as of Side:Hope. [[spoiler: Munakata didn't use Kimura's antidote. But Kyoko ''did'', and it kept her alive even after her Forbidden Action triggered.]]
* The bracelets, like the ID cards in the games, have a weakness that causes them to malfunction or break, such as heat or cold. It's possible that Makoto or Kyoko will end up discovering this by chance.
* If the power to the building is knocked out, then it's possible that the traitor/Monokuma's monitoring system to enforce the NG Actions will break down, as well. The traitor would then have to try to get the backup power working to continue the game, leaving a window of opportunity for the group. Maybe Hagakure will be the one who causes the power outage, serving as the SpannerInTheWorks for the mastermind's plans.
** [[spoiler: Confirmed. It was Juzo who does it, and when he does so all the bracelets fall off.]]
* The bracelets are machines, right? We do know Future Foundation made Komaru's hacking gun. One good aimed Break bullet might be all that it takes.
* Maybe someone will get desperate and chop their bracelet arm off.
** [[spoiler: Confirmed. Juzo cuts his arm off for this reason.]]
* Episode 7 brings in a new possibility: Miaya, who is now proven not to be knocked out during the murder phase[[spoiler: and is now being controlled by Komaru]]. Maybe she can be used to learn who the attacker is, and maybe even prevent them from killing anyone and end the game by time-out. However, since Monokuma was lying about the game being broadcast, who knows if he was lying about any of the other rules...
** Jossed.

[[WMG: Sakakura hates Makoto because Makoto survived the Mutual Killing Game]]

His irrational hatred towards Makoto goes as far back in time as during Killer Killer (set before the Danganronpa 2). This has set up a lot of speculation since this clearly goes beyond the crime of treason. So instead of hating Makoto for his actions, he hates him for his luck.

What if Sakakura had someone special in the Mutual Killing Game? Maybe it was [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs family, or a friend, or a family friend]]. So here he is, watching helplessly from outside the walls of Hopes Peak, as this person and their fellow students are killing each other. In the chaos, this person dies or is executed. Sakakura is understandably upset and wants blood.

Maybe he blames Makoto for the investigation. Or because he didn't stop the murder in time. Or maybe he hates Makoto because when Makoto gets sentenced to death, he miraculously survives his execution. Somehow this one kid manages what no one else has up until this point. He comes back, defeats Junko, and rallies everyone else around him over hope.

Did he manage this because it was designed all along? Or was he just a lucky bastard when everyone else had to die? Either way, it leaves a bitter taste in Sakakura's mouth.

* Barring that, maybe it has to do with Izuru Kamakura winning the first game. Anyone who wins a mutual killing game, either by falling the rules or not, is suspicious and worrying in its own right.

* Semi-correct. He was upset Makoto defeated Enoshima.

[[WMG: Makoto and Kyoko will be the only survivors of the Final Killing Game]]

Possibly hinted by the opening with all the other Future Foundation members falling and Makoto reaching down grab Kyoko's hand.
* [[spoiler:Jossed, Kirigiri's dead.]]
* [[spoiler:Jossed again. Kirigiri's alive, but several Munakata, Asahina and Mitarai also survive.]]

[[WMG: Izayoi is being drugged by Andou]]

No real evidence for this, just a wild guess. Andou's confections have been compared to drugs several times by different sources. Maybe back when she and Kimura were on good terms, they combined talents. The result: a tasty prescription candy. Using this, Andou makes people warm up to her or can control them with it. Assuming Izayoi's NG code is related to not eating, or not eating these candies, this will come to affect his relationship with Andou. Maybe he will even start despising her as time goes on?

* She did seem mildly distressed that he's not eating the candy.
** Considering in later episodes she's shown to have an inferiority complex, she's probably distressed for different reasons. She thinks making sweets is the only good thing about herself. She doesn't trust people who won't eat them. Plus other things this seems to be foreshadowing [[spoiler: Izayoi's death at the hands of Andou.]]
*** The latter part is jossed. [[spoiler:Izayoi kicked the bucket in Episode 6 with Kimura.]]
*** How is it jossed? If anything, it was confirmed. [[spoiler:They were thinking this would foreshadow Izayoi's death, and now he's dead.]]
* Pretty much confirmed as of episode 8.
** Not really. [[spoiler: There's more evidence against it than for it, and with Ruruka's death it's ultimately left to interpretation.]]

[[WMG: Hajime will get his chance in [[TheDogBitesBack punching Sakukura back]] in a future Mirai episode]]

A troper can dream, can't she?

* I mean, you remember Hajime becomes Izuru Kamakura and [[DisproportionateRetribution helps end the world, right?]]

** I said Mirai. This troper suspect the Remnants of Despair might show up later on, to tie the two story arcs. Also, I said Hajime, given Izuru won't remember their conversation, and even if he did, why would he care what Juzo said for some random guy? But I'll be surprised if this moment hasn't burned itself into Hajime's memory forever.
** If Hajime appears in Mirai-hen, I don't think he'll punch Juzo. Just dropping the bombshell that Juzo's speech was what caused him to agree to the Kamukura project in the first place would be enough of a gut-check.
* Jossed,[[spoiler: unless he punches Sakakuras' corpse.]]
[[WMG: Natsumi wanted to be friends with Hajime.]]

More of a observation than a wild guess. Natsumi likely wanted to be friends with Hajime due to their shared desire of wanting to be in the main course, and possible felt a connection with him. During her first conversation with Hajime, she brags about her status of a member of the Kuzuryu family and her self-proclaimed title of the Ultimate Little Sister. Although the ways she said it, kind of make it sound like she was saying "Imagine all the perks you will get if you become my friend". Hajime is only person that Natsumi seems to open up to, revealing to him how deeply insecure she felt about having no talent, and actually briefly cried in his presence, something she wouldn't do if it were anyone else. It's heavily implied that the two did become something close to friends as Hajime was extremely upset at the news of her death.
** Specific Corrollary: Natsumi wanted Hajime to eventually be her hitman in the future. Hey, if Fuyuhiko has Peko, who does Natsumi have?

[[WMG: Sato was being controlled by Junko]]

In the third episode, Sato didn't seem to be very "sane", with her MadnessMantra and the fact that she truly believe that Natsumi will kill Mahiru. It's possible that Junko actually gotten to her, and drove her crazy with the idea that Natsumi will eventually kill Mahiru, all in an attempt to drive several of the students in Class 77-B to despair. Remember Junko did drive all the reserve course students to despair, so her influence should be starting to spread at this point, but won't taking full effect until the first killing game.
* Only problem with that theory is that Junko shouldn't be a student yet. She's part of Class 78, and they don't turn up until a year later. How would she have gotten on campus to manipulate things?
** It's entirely possible that future Hope's Peak Academy come to around to tour before actually attending in order to get an idea about the facilities and such.
** Actually, if you read Danganronpa: Zero it's implied that Junko was setting up for her plan about almost one year before coming to Hope's Peak. If you recall, Yasuke Matsuda, the Ultimate Neurologist and one of Junko's accomplices, was part of the 77-A class, meaning she would have her eyes set on Hope's Peak at this time.

[[WMG: Juzo was forced into early retirement in his boxing career, and this is the source of most of his issues.]]

As seen from his speech in Episode 3 of the Despair arc, Juzo seems to have a grudge against "normals" like Hajime. It's possible that Juzo has a complex against being "normal", and is projecting his own insecurities on Hajime. The root of this could be that Juzo has "lost" his talent, being forced into early retirement due to a career-ending injury or scandal. This could serve as a deconstruction of Hope's Peak policy that encourages its students to laser-focus on their talents to the exclusion of all else; once that talent is gone, they have nothing left. Juzo feels that an Ultimate without his ultimate talent is nothing, and takes out his self-loathing on everyone else.

Juzo's loyalty to Munakata could partially stem from Munakata giving him a position at Hope's Peak and a new purpose in life. This might also be why Juzo has such a grudge against Makoto; seeing a mere Lucky Student, barely an Ultimate in Juzo's estimation, rise up to take down Junko may be a painful reminder of Juzo's own failings. Finally, if Juzo's NG code is indeed a prohibition against punching anyone, this is exactly the sort of ironic mockery that Monokuma would pull.
* Except it's highly likely that none of what Juzo said was what he actually felt. It's like he said when talking with Chisa, he was trying to stop him from dying a meaningless death, and he'd say and do whatever necessary to accomplish that goal, even if it's nothing but brutality and lies. Although, otherwise, it is an interesting theory.
* In Episode 6 of Future Arc, you find out Juzo has gone as far to beat the World Series. He seemed pretty happy to just go along with Munakata in that scene. Actually, he did not seem very angry at all.

[[WMG: Natsumi had her own hitman.]]
If Fuyuhiko had Peko as his hitwoman, it's entirely possible that Natsumi, the younger sister has a hit person as well. This begs the question... where is (s)he? Speaking of which, while it's implied that either Fuyuhiko or Peko murdered Sato in Dangan Ronpa 2... it's entirely possible that it was Natsumi's hitman that murdered Sato in revenge instead. (Said person was not introduced because it would complicate the game mystery) If someone even looks like they could hurt Fuyuhiko, Peko would not hesitate in harming the offender.
** Corollary: It would be really HilariousInHindsight (see Island Mode with Peko) if Natsumi was secretly trying to get HAJIME to be her hitman for the future. (Is that Izuru recruits Fuyuhiko? 'I'm Hajime Hinata./ You're the guy my sister wanted to be her hitman!')

[[WMG: Munakata (and/or other Future Foundation members) had a hand in the Despairing Incident.]]
In the Despair arc, we see that Munakata, Juzo, and Chisa are trying to investigate the corruption that has taken hold of Hope's Peak Academy. Munakata's goal seems to be to take over the academy to try to steer it away from the dark path it has taken.

However, the academy seems just as adept at covering up any shady happenings at the school(as seen in their handling of the twilight incident).

So what if, in a desperate bid to break the power of the steering committee, Munakata does something unthinkable - he tries to use Junko. Allow her to cause an incident that the steering committee can't cover up, and use the opportunity to take over and reform the school.

Needless to say, this goes [[GoneHorriblyRight horribly right]], and leads to the despairing incident and global collapse. So, when Monokuma tried to blame the despairing incident on the Future Foundation, ''he wasn't wrong''.

This might be the reason for the founding of the Future Foundation - Munakata [[TheAtoner realizes how badly he screwed up]], and is trying to correct his mistake by destroying Despair. Since the events of the final killing game are being broadcast, perhaps one of the mastermind's goals is to expose the dark secret of the Future Foundation's leaders, in order to destroy the FF's credibility and reverse all their efforts to rebuild the world.

* The sentence in the heading is confirmed in a technical way.
** [[spoiler:Tengan and Kizakura is part of the cover up that leads to The Parade]]
** [[spoiler:Mitarai's skill is used to brainwash people into despair and/or suicide]]
** [[spoiler:Juzo is the reason that Junko got off scott free]]
** [[spoiler:Chisa is actually a Remnant of Despair that purposely pushed the Future foundation's KnightTemplar to bring about Despair on Munakata]]
* However, Jossed for on the part of Munakata's atonement; he is atoning only for failure to stop despair.

[[WMG: Everyone has died to poison.]]
Everyone who has died so far has had blood dripping out of their eye. Take a look: [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/joJxBFK6j1k/maxresdefault.jpg Chisa]] [[http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/danganronpa/images/0/04/Bandai_Death.png/revision/latest?cb=20160719204519 Bandai]] and [[https://67.media.tumblr.com/24f94267714b8162bc95493e53b6ca61/tumblr_inline_oavu1hxf541tq3lqz_540.png Gozu]] (although it's harder to tell.) I'm not quite sure how this fits together, but it's an interesting observation. Perhaps the traitor forces people to do their forbidden action, killing them that way, then covers it up.
** Jossed, all victims of the attacker were killed with a single stab through the heart [[spoiler: but this did happen to Izayoi]]

[[WMG: Miaya is not the traitor]]
[[spoiler: Obviously, Maiya is a robot being controlled by Monaca. But this was revealed in Episode 4. If she really was the traitor, that would kill a lot of suspense.]]
* Confirmed. [[spoiler:The real Miaya is dead, and Monaca isn't the traitor]]
[[WMG:[[spoiler:Miaya used to be a real person, but Monaca stole their likeness to gain the Future Foundation's trust]]]]
[[spoiler:Or maybe she was always a robot. Just saying, infiltrating the Future Foundation would be a lot easier if you offed one of the already established members and stole their identity.]]
* Confirmed, [[spoiler:Miaya was a real person, but was killed by Monaca.]]

[[WMG:[[spoiler:The real Miaya is still alive and inside the building.]]]]
[[spoiler:Monaca knocked out the real Miaya before the game started and replaced her with a robot duplicate. The real Miaya is hidden away in some remote part of the Future Foundation HQ. Perhaps her real NG Code is "Don't leave this room", to prevent the other participants from finding her. Perhaps Kizakura noticed something wrong with "Miaya", leading to his "hunch" about her being the traitor.]]

[[spoiler:Also of note is that Miaya is standing in the initial promotional materials introducing the Future Foundation leaders. Maybe that's a hint that the real Miaya is capable of walking?]]

[[spoiler:As for why Monaca wouldn't just kill her, it's possible she wants to drive Miaya into despair. Perhaps the theory that Miaya actually is Chiaki is true, and Monaca-Miaya's goal is to get exposed as the mastermind. She would claim to be the previously-thought-dead Chiaki Nanami, and that she actually did fall into despair with the others, and manipulated Makoto into saving the Remnants of Despair so that they could escape to wreak more havoc.]]

[[spoiler:Of course, the fact that Miaya was replaced by a robot would mean that Miaya isn't the traitor, and that Monaca is an accomplice to the real traitor, who helped her capture and replace Miaya.]]
* [[spoiler: Appears to be jossed as of Episode 6.]]

[[WMG:[[spoiler:The person controlling Monokuma is not Monaca]]]]
[[spoiler:Maybe Monaca has an accomplice. Or maybe this is an inverse from what we've seen before? Maybe the person controlling Monokuma is using his likeness to inspire the Future Foundation to do something hopeful, and Monaca doesn't like that. It's funny because then Monokuma=Hope and Usami=Despair.]]
Super unlikely though.
* Actually, this is starting to make a lot of sense to me. Mostly because, [[spoiler:if Monaca were the mastermind, she would already know what everyone's bracelets say. She wouldn't need to trick anyone into showing her their NG Codes.]]
* [[spoiler:This theory meshes well with a lot of popular theories. Like Chisa secretly being the mastermind, or that the whole game takes place in a simulation. But does this apply that the game was set up to create hope instead of to create despair?]]
* This is reminiscent of the second game when Chiaki was the traitor. Even though that was case, she was not on Monokuma's side. [[spoiler:But since Monaca would obviously be the despair side, that would make the controller of Monokuma the hope side? Or just an opposing despair? Since he's just a mascot who can be used by anyone, this isn't necessarily impossible. It doesn't always have to be Junko.]]
* Confirmed

[[WMG:Andou and Kimura's hatred of each other is a PlayingBothSides scenario.]]
Someone simply set them both up to think they betrayed each other.

* Considering Kizakura's dialogue as he watches Kimura give chase to Andou, perhaps he's the one who set them up?
* Semi-confirmed? But since Nagito Komaeda was involved, it wasn't actually intentional.

[[WMG:[[spoiler: Robo-Miaya will be a DiscOneFinalBoss.]]]]

[[spoiler:When the timer times out and everyone is knocked out, the only casualty is Tengan, who already looks like he's mortally wounded. Monokuma tends to thrive on ExactWords, so he counts it as a kill for the traitor even though Miaya was knocked out of her wheelchair and couldn't have done it. Miaya/Monaca may then try to cover for this by accusing Munakata of being the traitor, claiming that he killed Chisa first to deflect suspicion from himself. His motive would have been to solidify control of the Future Foundation by removing the moderate members who opposed him, using Naegi and Despair as a scapegoat. When Munakata reveals his NG Code, which would exonerate him from Gozu's murder, the rebuttal will be that since he was involved in the construction of the building, he would have known about all the air vents and secret passages, and so his code against opening doors would be no hindrance to him.]]

[[spoiler:Meanwhile, Kizakura will finally let Kyoko in on his "hunch" about "Miaya", and they'll figure out she was the culprit and get the information to Naegi in time to expose Miaya as the traitor.]]

[[spoiler:The traitor will be defeated and the game will apparently be over, giving the Future Foundation a HopeSpot. Though not as much of a hope spot for Naegi, who has lost most of his allies in the Future Foundation. With Munakata officially in charge, Naegi's fate looks pretty bleak. But then the bracelets knock them out one last time... and when they wake up, there's another body. There was a second traitor!]]

* [[spoiler:{{Jossed}}, Komaru is in control of Miaya now and makes no attempt to hide it, which makes Robo-Miaya being an enemy very unlikely.]]

[[WMG:Sakakura will be the one to finally do in [[spoiler:Monaca Towa]]]]
His entire characterization up to this point has been as a violent thug. However, this was all intentional - to create a character on the heroes' side who could believably kill [[spoiler:a grade-school child, even one as batshit insane as Monaca]].
* {{Jossed}}, [[spoiler:Monaca launched herself into space and possibly committed suicide.]]
** That's still ambiguous, though. It's still Jossed, however, seeing as [[spoiler:Sakakura's dead]]

[[WMG:Mitarai is the traitor]]
From Monokuma's point of view. Mitarai is in the same class as all the other despairs, so it would be a safe assumption that he fell into despair himself, even if he hasn't appeared in Side:Despair yet. But maybe he got over the despair on his own after seeing Makoto beat Junko, Makoto replaced Junko as his idol, and sold out the rest of the despairs, which is how they were found and subsequently captured. Monokuma did the same thing in [=SDR2=] when describing Future Foundation. He said that they ended the world, when really, they ended the despairs world.

[[WMG: Episode 4 of the Despair arc will explain the cause of the feud between Kimura and Andou.]]
Since whatever incident happened between them led to their expulsion from Hope's Peak, I'm thinking that we'll be seeing the Class 76 students in the Despair arc. And given the fact that the plot probably won't hit full stride until the next year when Junko shows up, it will probably be soon. I'm guessing Episode 4, maybe 5 depending on how this is paced.
* Confirmed.

[[WMG:[[spoiler:Monaca is the traitor but she's not the Mastermind.]]]]

She killed the real Miaya and put that robot in her place to make everyone believe that everything was fine some time ago, with the idea of destroying the Future Foundation from the inside. BUT she is actually playing the Killing Game, which is not her idea: the actual mastermind discovered that [[spoiler:Monaca]] was behind Miaya and is using it to his/her own advantage. 'Miaya' (aka [[spoiler:Monaca]]) killed the dead players so far and she has to kill everyone else except for the real mastermind and Naegi. I don't know the reason why she is obeying someone else, though.
* {{Jossed}}

[[WMG: There are two traitors.]]
Note: I'm the troper who posted the "Everyone's died to poison" theory above.
[[spoiler: We know that Monaca is controlling Miaya, who is a robot. My theory is that she's not the one who killed Chisa or Gozu, but since CreepyChild is an understatement for Monaca,]] it fits her character to stab the corpses and hang them from the ceiling, just ForTheEvulz. And after all it's only Episode 4, they wouldn't reveal the mastermind this soon. Probably. The real killer is simply triggering the poison inside the forbidden action bracelets.
* Looking likely. In Episode 5, [[spoiler: Tengan tells Munakata who he thinks the attacker is. The answer is muted to the audience, suggesting it's someone we don't already know about.]]
* Jossed in terms of attacker. [[spoiler: All deaths are suicide caused by watching a brainwashing video. Also jossed in the mastermind, as only Tengan planned the game.]].

[[WMG: The Killer's Targets]]
Munakata raises the excellent point that the killer probably doesn't want to kill them all, and wants some of them to use as puppets. Therefore, I believe their targets are as follows: (This is excluding Munakata himself, as he states the killer probably wants him dead, and Tengan, [[spoiler: Who's probably going to be dead before too long.]]
* Kyoko. She's insanely smart, and would see through whoever it is fairly quickly. Also, considering all the ShipTease she got with Makoto in the first game, it would emotionally wound him and make him even easier to manipulate.
** Alternatively, Asahina would also prove to be a deep emotional wound for Makoto to deal with, although probably not quite as nasty.
* Juuzuo. He's too loyal to Munakata, and if Munakata died before Juzo, Juzo would probably try his best to carry on his friend's legacy.
* Kouichi. This guy figured out [[spoiler: Miaya was suspicious]] so chances are the traitor will want him out of the way. (If this guy was a student of Hope's Peak before becoming a talent scout for the school, he was probably the Ultimate Talent Scout or something like that)
* Sonosuke. Killing him would probably drive Andou to despair, especially if they managed to frame it on Seiko.
** Alternatively, killing Andou and framing it on Seiko would probably work too.
I doubt they would want to kill Makoto or Ryouta, as Makoto is a big symbol, and as long as he's alive, Ryouta looks up to him, so as long as they can manipulate Makoto, they'll likely have Ryouta under their thumb too. As I pointed out above, framing Seiko for killing Sonosuke or Andou would work out really well in the traitor's favor.
* Jossed as of Future Arc Episode 11. [[spoiler:The target is simply picked based on proximity to a monitor, in which they are wakened up and forced to watch a Brainwashing Video, which caused the target to suicide. Even Makoto fell into Despair until Sakakura intervene.]] Also jossed as to who the mastermind want to survive. [[spoiler:Tengan want everyone except Mitarai dead, while Mitarai is pushed to broadcast his brainwashing video.]]

[[WMG: [[spoiler: Monaca is using Miaya as surveillance]]]]
While there are plenty of screens, there doesn't appear to be any surveillance cameras making it entirely possible that Monokuma has limited view of what's happening. To counter this [[spoiler: Miaya]] has been implemented to record everything. Additionally because it only took a [[spoiler: kick from Juzo to force Monaca to reboot the system. Robo-Miaya is likely fairly fragile and cannot move very much, hence the chair, and is used mainly to keep track of Naegi and the others. Because of this, Miaya seems unlikely to be the one actually committing the murders and the real traitor is in cahoots with Monaca.]]
* This would be a really interesting if it turns out that [[spoiler:Monaca is just a player in the game and Monokuma is being controlled by someone else.]] It also highlights how suspicious it is that the "Despair Team", if you will, bothered to put up Monokuma paintings and monitors but not carmeras. That aside, [[spoiler:Monaca has been shown to be a robotics expert. You bring up a good point about Miaya's robot being fragile. That is strange, right?]]
* Alternatively, [[spoiler: Robo-Miaya]] could also be used as a possible scapegoat, if there are multiple traitors then revealing [[spoiler: Miaya as a robot controlled by Monaca everyone would assume that she was the traitor. They separate her from her chair and scrap her, they go to sleep and no one dies, the Future Foundation would believe they have won while the actual killer walks among them. I mean, Munakata called it but still, it is what the mastermind wants.]]
** Confirmed, [[spoiler:Monaca]] has nothing to do with the organization of the killing game, and her being a participant is just a coincidence.

[[WMG: [[spoiler:Monaca is Makoto's TokenEvilTeammate and is trying to ''help'' him against the second AI Junko, the real BigBad.]]]]
Because the series loves crazy twists like this. '''Spoilers for multiple games ahead:''' [[spoiler:In the ending of ''Absolute Despair Girls'', Izuru ripped ''two'' copies of AI Junko out of Shirokuma and Kurokuma, respectively. The first was found and defeated in ''Super Danganronpa 2'', but there's been no sign of the second. Through the work of the traitor, that second AI Junko may have orchestrated the Final Killing Game. As for Monaca, she might be [[TheStarscream taking issue with the person she's trying to succeed still being around]] and could have her own plans for Makoto, but AI Junko #2 struck first, necessitating an EnemyMine. She'll immediately resume trying to be the BigBad after AI Junko is beaten for the final time.]]

[[WMG: Natsumi and Mahiru uses to friends when they were in middle school.]]
* The theory goes like this, Natsumi and Mahiru were friends that took pictures together. However, after Mahiru was accepted in Hope's Peak, Natsumi grew jealous of her and starting growing apart from her. When Mahiru try to talk it over with Natsumi, this end resulting in an argument. Sato intervenes, but only makes things, and as result Natsumi turns into a full blown bully toward Mahiru. While Natsumi wanted Mahiru to drop out of Hope's Peak, she never actually want to physically hurt her.
* Many have pointed out that Natsumi tend to act a lot like Hiyoko, one of Mahiru's closest friend. For this reason, Mahiru likely had a similar relationship with Natsumi.
* During Natsumi and Sato's first fight in the Episode 3, Natsumi was about to throw a punch at Sato, but stopped herself once Mahiru got between them. If Natsumi truly hated Mahuri that much, she would have hit Mahiru anyway.

[[WMG: Sato was lying about her scar.]]
Going back to [=DR2=], Sato claimed that her act of killing Natsumi was cause to due to moment of intense anger, resulting in her strangling Natsumi unconscious. Fearing the Natsumi would try to take revenge after she wakes up, Sato decides to kill her by hitting in the head with a school swimsuit stuffed with gravel, and made into a makeshift weapon. She would get rid of the weapon and claim that a local pervert took it. The problem with Sato's claim is that her act of caring out the murder and getting rid of the evidence, just feels too premeditated. Her plan was too well thought and occurred at a time when no other students were around. As we see in the anime, likely decide to kill Natsumi the day before the murder, imply that her claim to Mahiru was actually a lie. As we can see Sato has a knack planing things out and lying to Mahiru. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Sato cut herself and lie to Mahiru that Natsumi was the one who cut her to win her sympathy.
* Wasn't it said that Sato got her scar before going to Hope's Peak?

[[WMG: Side:Despair will see the appearance of Bandai, Great Gozu and [[spoiler:the real Gekkougahara]]]]

After episode 4 showed that Kimura, Andou and Izayoi are also appearing and it also explained their backstory and why they're at each others' throats, and Yukizome, who died in the first episode make a lot of appearances, there's also a good chance that we'll also be seeing Bandai, Great Gozu and [[spoiler:the real Gekkougahara]] in future Side:Despair episodes. Gozu would continue being his awesome self, of course. [[spoiler:Gekkougahara will be able to talk, maybe.]] Also, we might even see Bandai actually having PROPER voice for someone of his stature as a black dude, only for some incident to happen and he ended up getting stuck with [[Creator/RieKugimiya a young girl's]] [[CrossdressingVoice voice for life.]]
* The biggest problem with this theory is that Bandai and The Great Gozu are long since out of Hope's Peak, and they're not working for Munakata, so they don't have any reason to be there.
** No, but The Great Gozu worked for Tengan. Maybe Bandai, too. The Future Foundation branch leaders were able to get organized because they already knew each other. It would make sense to see that connection.
*** But why would Tengan need to have Gozu or Bandai go in when he himself is already there, and in a very high position, considering he was a former headmaster, he's able to easily see Jin, and he's even in on the Izuru Kamakura Project. Anything that he could have Gozu do, he can just do himself, unlike Munakata, who's busy on the construction of the overseas branch.
*** You can always use more allies.
** Well, there is one reason they could show up. [[spoiler:With Kizakura's probation and Yukizome's transfer, the 77th class needs a new homeroom teacher...]]
* Jossed, none of them appear in Side:Despair.

[[WMG: [[spoiler: The REAL Gekkogahara was killed, but her death was not reported to security or the police.]]]]
[[spoiler: As the above theory says we will see the real Gekkogahara during Side: Despair, but she will killed by someone. Somehow someone (maybe Chihiro) built an android version lookalike to cover up her death. Hope's Peak cannot deal with another death happenning, so asked the Ultimate Programmer to build an android to cover up the death.]]
* Well, [[spoiler: Monaca is an excellent robotics engineer. It does make sense that she would be able to build an android. There's not much reason to assume Chihiro could. He was a programmer, not an engineer.]] Also, I think a lot of people would know. Like Kizakura or even Tengan. It's just, if any other character would have known about it, it probably wouldn't have been kept a secret after the Tragedy. Or even after the killing game started. That's too valuable a piece of information.
* Semi-confirmed. [[spoiler:Togami is aware that the real Gekkougahara is dead and that Monaca is taking her place.]]

[[WMG: [[spoiler: Monaca is not the Mastermind, Another Editon of]]]]
This pairs well with all of the other theories related to this. There were just so many popping up I didn't know where to add it. Basically, a lot of [[spoiler: Monaca's]] behavior and actions contradict them being the Mastermind.
* For example, there is no reason for [[spoiler: Gekkogahara to trick Naegi into telling her his NG Code. The mastermind would have already known what it was.]] Although you could argue that it was a happy accident. Maybe [[spoiler: she faked her NG Code in order to gain his trust and his reveal was just icing on the cake.]] It just feels contradictory, is all, if the Mastermind wants Naegi to survive.
* Besides, if [[spoiler: Monaca really wants to be like big sis Junko, she would follow Junko's lead in creating fair fights that she can lose. Monaca does not have a bracelet and presumably no NG Code. If Gekkogahara is a robot, how can she die of poison?]] Kyoko makes a point of saying the game is skewed against the traitor, but Munakata thinks the game is a plow so the traitor can earn everyone's trust. [[spoiler: So it makes sense that the traitor can't die. It just does not feel like something Junko would have done. Itt's all too easy. She likes to set herself up for the possibility of loss. Unless Monaca is doing her own thing and doesn't want to be just like Junko after all?]]
* Confirmed
** subverted, since episode 7 she claimed to only kill Gekkouhagara, but she's not the mastermind

[[WMG: Chiaki will not be present at the very first killing game.]]
Considering that it is fairly certain that Izuru was present at the student council meeting and that he should be part of Class 77, it's possible that Chiaki either resigned from her position or was usurped by Izuru, and therefore wouldn't have any reason to go to the student council meeting. Her class representative status could possibly be a RedHerring to take advantage of the fans' foreknowledge of future events.
* Except Izuru was never a part of Class 77. When he was Hajime, he was a Reserve Course student. After he became Izuru, he was kept secret by the school.
* [[spoiler:While Izuru wasn't Class 77's rep, he was present at the First Killing Game, and Chiaki wasn't.]]

[[WMG: The Great Gozu is the attacker or the mastermind.]]
During Monokuma's recap in Episode 4, [[spoiler:his character sprite appears as alive at the "GAME CLEAR" image (Chisa and Bandai are absent and Makoto is dead at the center).]]
* Monokuma claims that three peoples are dead. If [[spoiler:Gozu is alive, the third victim is either Asahina's superior or the real Miaya Gekkougahara.]]
* In episode 2, he choose to help Makoto escape even through his job is to protect Kazuo, as his bodyguard. [[spoiler:If one of the victims is FakingTheDead (like Hifumi did in the first game), Gozu has more likely to do so, as he was "killed" in a different room than the other two victims. And since Kyoko is in the room with the corpse of Chisa and Bandai, she must be able to tell if one of them is alive.]]

Except there are a few problems with this, starting with your first point:
* It's most likely just re-used animation, considering the rest of Monokuma's recap also has the EXACT same animation used for [[spoiler: Chisa's death]] which means your second point is moot
* Even though yes he did abandon Tengan to protect Makoto, it's likely he knows Tengan could survive a fight.
* Plus, Gozu is protrayed as being nice and caring, it'd be out of his character to kill someone, he'd most likely kill himself instead of killing an ally.

Technically Confirmed regarding him as attacker. [[spoiler:Just like all attackers, he was woke up by the Monokuma Monitors and forced to kill himself after watching a brainwashing video.]]

[[WMG: Chisa is actually the Monokuma Maid from DanganRonpaZero]]
This theory is starting to pop up now. Considering Chisa is now [[spoiler: teaching the Reserve Course]] it is possible Junko corrupted Chisa and moulded her into the Monokuma Maid that appears in DanganRonpaZero

[[WMG: Chiaki Nanami and Chihiro Fujisaki developed a close friendship.]]

In Chihiro's first year, he met Chiaki Nanami and they got along very well, probably due to their shared interest in technology. Maybe Chiaki even helped him with his interest in artificial intelligences. When Chiaki was murdered (or whatever happened to her) Chihiro created an Artificial Intelligence with her appearance and her personality to cope with her loss. Then he stored this AI somewhere, and it was later modified by Alter Ego and introduced in the Neo World Program, as Alter Ego would know how close all the Ultimate Despairs were to Chiaki and how her loss contributed to their fall in despair.

[[WMG: One of the 76th class trio will be killed off in next episode, making the other two suspicious of the other]]

After being the focus of last Side:Future and especially last Side:Despair's episode, one of the trio (Seiko, Andou or Izayoi) will be murdered by the traitor, making the other two paranoid.

* If Izayoi is murdered, Andou will think that Seiko killed him to get back at her, so she will try to avenge her boyfriend by killing Seiko.
* If Andou is murdered, Izayoi will think that Seiko is the traitor. Seiko will get paranoid and will think that Izayoi is guilty and that he was the one that destroyed her friendship with Andou and then killed her.
* If Seiko is the one getting killed, Izayoi will start to think that Andou is not as sweet as she seems and that maybe she killed Seiko out of frustration and fear. Andou will be scared of Izayoi, thinking that he killed Seiko to make her happy when she didn't want her friend to end like that.

* [[spoiler:Confirmed in that Seiko dies in Episode 5. It's not clear yet if it will hurt Izayoi and Andou's relationship, though.]]
* [[spoiler:Don't think we'll ever get to see if the relationship would've been hurt or not - since Izayoi is dead in Episode 6.]]

[[WMG:[[spoiler: Munakata will go OneWingedAngel after his HeroicBSOD]]]]
In Episode 5, [[spoiler: there is a [[TheStinger stinger]] that shows Munakata doping himself. It looks like it might be one of Kimura's serums. I wonder if she gave it to him in case of emergency, or if he killed her and took it? I'm betting he's about to go on a rampage. Look out everyone!]]
* This WMG is getting HilariousInHindsight, considering [[spoiler:[[Creator/ToshiyukiMorikawa Munakata's VA]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII is voicing the]] TropeNamer [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII of the trope...]]]] (Thank you so much for telling me this. -OP)
* Confirmed.

[[WMG:The final killing game is a FalseFlagOperation.]]
In Episode 5, [[spoiler:when Munakata asks Tengan whether he knows who the traitor is, Tengan says something that we don't hear, but apparently seems shocking to Munakata. Given Munakata's actions afterward, perhaps what Tengan said is that Munakata himself is the traitor.]]

[[spoiler:Perhaps the forces of Despair are not responsible for the killing game after all. Munakata set the whole thing up in order to draw out his enemies and destroy them, having become paranoid after spending so long fighting against despair.]]

[[spoiler:Confirmed. Tengan planned the killing game to push Mitarai into broadcasting his brainwashing hope video.]]

[[WMG:[[spoiler:The Door Izayoi Found is a Trap]]]]
In Episode 5, [[spoiler:Izayoi finds a door with Monokuma's likeness that reads "Congratulations! You found the secret entrance!". My first instinct was to think that the mastermind or Monaca is hiding behind it, like in the first game. But now I'm starting to suspect it was always meant to be found. I'm guessing that it's a copy of the Final Killing Room from [=SDR2=].]]
* [[spoiler: Turns out it's an exit to the building.]]
** Not necessarily. It's implied heavily to be a red herring. [[spoiler: Kyoko doesn't seem to think it's real.]]
** [[spoiler: And it wasn't, it just leads to a dead end.]]
** [[spoiler: Ironically the key to end the game is actually in the room.]]

[[WMG:[[spoiler:Munakata's EyeScream Marks His Descent into Despair]]]]
Tengan does a number on [[spoiler: Munakata when he gauges his right eye out with rebar. It makes him mirror Monokuma. Monokuma's right eye is the eye that represents hope. Bonus points if later on Naegi loses his left eye for similar reasons.]]

[[WMG:The traitor is a DiscOneFinalBoss]]
Whatever Tengan told Munakata in Episode 5 drove him completely over the edge. Eventually, the group will defeat the traitor, only for Munakata to turn on Makoto and his faction and decide to kill them, since [[KnightTemplar only he can decide what "hope" is]]. Munakata will be the FinalBoss.
* Confirmed to have a DiscOneFinalBoss. Jossed in the Disc One Boss: [[spoiler:it was Tengan himself, with Mitarai taking over being the FinalBoss for Side Hope.]]

[[WMG: The next death will be someone sacrificing themselves.]]
Found [[https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/comments/4wqxsn/entire_series_spoilers_future_ep_5_spoilers/ this]] while browsing the subreddit. As the user points out, the next death is likely to be somebody sacrificing themselves for someone else. My theories are:
* Asahina will die defending Naegi. Just because she had a fakeout earlier does not mean she's still safe.
* Juzo will die, either defending Munakata or defending someone from him.
* Andou or Izayoi defending the other.

* It could also possibly be Kizukara who dies protecting both Kirigiri and Mitarai (or just Kirigiri). In the website, when asked if he would die for a loved one, he responded ''"yes"''. He and Jin Kirigiri were best friends, so it would make sense he'd have no problem dying to protect the daughter of his best friend.
** [[spoiler:Confirmed. In episode 8, Kizakura dies via activating his NG Code (Opening his left hand) to save Kyoko from a trap set off by [[AlphaBitch Ruruka]].]]

[[WMG: Juzo will kill himself and Asahina.]]
Specifically, Juzo will punch Asahina, triggering both their forbidden actions and therefore killing them both.
* [[spoiler: Jossed]]

[[WMG: Bandai's {{Ice Cream Koan}}s have some significance.]]
* "Both dolphins and deer live inside pine trees."
** This refers to the fact that the cast have been transported to the underwater building, and this is where the game unfolds. This is discovered in episode 9.
* "A strawberry seed only shows it's face three times."
** The strawberry seed could be Andou. Another translation for this quote is to "give up its seed three times". Maybe a reference to how many different people she will try to drug with her candies?
* "A chanting monk doesn’t know his parents, right?"
* "A dancing wolf needs no sake, right?"
** Might be Juzo and a reference to [[spoiler: Andou drugging him in Episode 8. He went under its effects for a little while, but he eventually shakes it off. He doesn't need her "encouragement". Rage is enough. Needs no sake, indeed.]]
* "A divorce note from an imp"
* I think there was another, but I'm not sure...
** I started thinking about this and have some very vague suggestions. I'll add them where appropriate. I really encourage others to build on them.

[[WMG: Mitarai is a time traveller, and possibly Naegi and Kirigiri's son.]]
A very wild guess, I know, but stick with me. Kodaka has said that he wants to incorporate time travel into the DR universe [[http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/New_Danganronpa_V3:_Everyones_New_Semester_of_Killing]]. This reddit post [[https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/comments/4wyvvk/dr3_spoilers_why_cant_i_be_like_naegi_why_naegiri/]] points out that Mitarai does seem to be a combination of Naegi and Kirigiri's features. It's possible Mitarai is their son from the future, and came back to try and prevent some event happening.
* We've seen the real Mitarai in the Despair arc, so this theory is looking even less likely. Unless the real Mitarai dies in the Tragedy and the time traveler assumes his identity.

[[WMG: Andou is the traitor]]
* She says she wants Munakata dead in episode 5. Isn't that something the traitor would say?
** Not disagreeing exactly, but there are plenty of reasons to want anyone dead at this point. She might have been just taking her best guess at whose death she thought would end the game.
* She seems to be awake before Izayoi in (Episode 3? The scene with the Monokuma Lisa in the library). While it could just be Izayoi sleeping normally, not affected by the gas, it's a bit fishy...
* Seemingly being betrayed by your best friend and getting expelled from the best High School in the world sounds like a pretty good reason to fall into despair...
* Well, in Episode 6 [[spoiler:Izayoi is found dead. Andou accidentally killed him by triggering his NG code in an attempt to stop him from triggering hers.]]
* [[spoiler: Episode 9 had the traitor kill her, so safe to say this is Jossed.]]
* If we consider "traitor" as the one that plans the game, it's still Jossed. If we consider "traitor" as the one that kill others, it's confirmed: [[spoiler:She was induced to suicide]]

[[WMG: [[spoiler: The attacker alternates.]]]]
* Because that's [[http://super-high-school-level-tanaka.tumblr.com/post/148692232844/freakysandra1995-freakysandra1995-cleaned apparently]] what Tengan says to Munakata.
** That...actually could be a very interesting twist. It could also explain why Munakata's LaughingMad and using Kimura's stimulant to go OneWingedAngel and probably go on a rampage: so he could kill everyone and be done with it. I think the only thing that needs to be questioned is whether or not the sentence fits with Tengan's style of speech (I'm unsure if he speaks casually, ''keigo'' or whatever), but since the Japanese fans were the ones who thought that up, I won't question it. Let's see where this goes.
** There's one problem with this theory, though. If every character so far have been killed by different people, why were all of them hanged? Are they trying to imitate each other? All characters killed during sleep time seem to have a wound that made them bleed to death and then they were hanged in some way, which is similar to how a serial killer would act. Maybe it's the mastermind who prepares the scene of the crime and not the attacker?
*** Either it's the latter, and the mastermind is the one to set up the crime scene after the murder is committed, or the attacker is being forced to prop them up. Let's be honest, if they weren't being forced to kill them, very few would actually want or try to kill anyone.
* Confirmed. [[spoiler: Except the attacker is the victim themselves.]]

[[WMG: Gekkogahara/Monaca is not considered the attacker but is able to move around during the sleeping period due to using a robotic body]]
* We've already been shown in [=SDR2=] (kinda) that robots are immune to sleeping gas, and presumably they're immune to poison as well. Monaca herself is shown without a bracelet indicating that she has no reason to fall asleep. However, this doesn't make her the designated attacker, who is woken up by the bracelet after the fact so they can do their thing. She instead tricks her way through the game like so and either performs killings alongside the attacker or supports the attacker with info on the locations of the targets.
* Just adding a bit to what you said, as of Episode 6, [[spoiler: there's reason to believe Monaca isn't even on the island. Togami implies he knows her location is still Towa City. This doesn't really effect what you said about the robot, though.]]

[[WMG: There's not just a traitor, but a hidden faction in Future Foundation that wants to run it.]]
Andou had a line she mentioned towards Kimura that she'll save the latter if she [[spoiler:kills Munakata]]. Though someone noted that definitely must make Andou the traitor, I actually think it's something else entirely.

I assume that there is a secret faction or organization within Future Foundation on who wants to reign at the top and run it, with Andou and Izayoi being part of it. It's clear that there is tension with many of the heads, and noticeably, all the people who were nice, decent, not antagonistic or against Naegi are all dead (minus Mitarai and Kizukara, though I fear the latter might be our HeroicSacrifice death).

Andou, Munakata, Sakakura and Izayoi are all part of the Radicals, and though Tengan was the chairman, Munakata was the one who was really running things and supposedly, that makes him TheLeader. Andou was the head of 8th division and Izayoi, the 9th, so they're nowhere close to the top. With everyone else dying, the only ones standing in the way to run the top are Kizukara (head of 3rd division), Sakakura (head of 6th division and TheLancer to Munakata), Miaya (head of 7th division, though because she's Monaca, I'll bet someone offs her later), Kirigiri (head of 14th division), and Munakata himself (head of 2nd division). Noticeably, with the people in the death list offed, the option to who leads Future Foundation starts narrowing down especially with Tengan's death (NiceGirl Chisa and her demonstrations of being a great and accepting teacher as shown in Side:Despair; NiceGuy Bandai and his ability to grow and harvest food which makes him crucial; honourable and reliable GentleGiant Great Gozu; and TheMedic Kimura who's both useful and quite compassionate).

I'm unsure if Andou herself would want to lead Future Foundation, or if she wants Izayoi to lead and she'll tell him what to do via feeding him her drug candy, or if they're both working as underlings to the real leader there (which could be the [[TheFaceless 13th division's head since we have not seen them yet]]). Kirigiri and Naegi would probably be the most viable candidates to run Future Foundation (unless Kizukara and Mitarai survive without being the traitor), I'd think, but again - people want Naegi dead, and again, nobody's really safe.

However, since Munakata's gone LaughingMad, and apparently like all of the previous killing games, this is all broadcasted: everyone would see that the wise, old leader, Tengan, was not only killed, but he was ''mercilessly'' killed by none other than Munakata. How do you think that would look to the rest of Future Foundation? How would that look to everyone else? A full-grown man killing an already [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice wounded]] senior citizen in cold blood. Especially regarding Japan's culture where senior citizens have priority, that would be a demonstration of appalling behaviour.

This, in turn, would cause huge uproar, because I do think that though a lot of people in Future Foundation respected and admired Munakata and his leadership, there'll probably be an equal amount who are firmly loyal to Tengan and see Munakata as a raging lunatic that does not deserve to lead. As a result, this will cause a rift, and the hidden faction or organization that wanted to usurp the power to rule Future Foundation will take it as a chance to declare war against Munakata and his followers, while masquerading it all as being in the name of Tengan.

** The part about the broadcasting is false since the whole thing isn't being broadcasted.

** Actually semi-confirmed. [[spoiler:Episode 8 had Kizakura reveal that not only was Andou nastier than she appeared, but apparently there are rumours that there are people in Future Foundation who wanted to get younger members to their side. However, they wanted to separate and become independent. Probably again, because Munakata had no faith in Tengan. It definitely does seem like Munakata, Juzo, Andou and perhaps Izayoi and perhaps Kimura might've been part of it.]]

** Confirmed. Pretty much everyone have different idea of how to restore the world to hope, [[spoiler:leading to Tengan set up the killing game to wipe the slate clean, giving Mitarai the push to forcefully brainwashing people into Hope.]]

[[WMG: The Monokuma Door is where the real Miaya Gekkogahara is being held]]
Assuming that there is a real Miaya, and that Monaca replaced her immediately prior to the events of the anime, a secret room behind a bookshelf would be a good place to hide her, alive or dead.
* Jossed. [[spoiler:Togami apparently found the real Miaya Gekkogahara who is dead, but definitely not behind the Monokuma Door since he wasn't even aware that the Killing Game was taking place. The door is actually a secret exit to the building.]] [[spoiler:Maybe. Or maybe it's just false hope.]]
** Double-Jossed. [[spoiler: The door's a fake.]]

[[WMG: LoopholeAbuse will come into play]]
If you notice, the wording on most of the forbidden actions is quite specific: "Answer a question with a lie". "Be hit with a punch or a kick" "Run in the hallways". Therefore, theoretically, Makoto can run as long as he's inside a room, Asahina can be hit with a chair, Tengan could have lied as long as he wasn't answering a question, and, as we've seen (although we don't know what the exact wording of Juzo's action is, it's presumably "Hit someone with a punch") Juzo can still attack people. This will come into play as a plot point sooner or later.
* Already seen and possibly exploited. Episode 5 had Sakakura and Asahina get in a fight with pipes as their weapons so no fisticuffs came into play. Asashina even got scratched up by Sakakura, but her bracelet didn't activate. However there'll probably be more in future episodes, too.

[[WMG: The reason behind Yukizome's tears]]

When I first saw Side:Future's episode 1, I assumed that Yukizome was crying when she died because she was scared and afraid of dying, but that doesn't fit Yukizome's portrayal in Side:Despair. There, she is shown as a brave, strong woman who is capable of fighting back most of her students (which include a Yakuza boss and a man twice her size) and isn't even remotely scared of being punched by former Ultimate Boxer Sakakura. So, why the hell was Yukizome crying when she died? I think that the reason is that she knew her attacker and she felt betrayed. That would exonerate most of the cast of being the attacker (why would she feel betrayed by [[spoiler:Monaca]] or Asahina, for example?) and would leave us with the most obvious answers: the attacker is Munakata, Sakakura, her former boss Tengan ([[spoiler:Jossed by him being killed in last episode]]), Naegi (she would feel betrayed if she was killed by the Ultimate Hope) or one of her former students (maybe Komaeda, or even Chiaki Nanami if we follow some of the theories that we have here).
* Or she was crying because she was IMPALED IN A CHANDELIER! That sounds like kind of a painful experience, and it wouldn't be too crazy to assume that someone would cry after that.
* But given that the weight of the body caused the chandelier to fall, most people assume that she died before being hung. If not, she would have struggled before dying (she woke up, as she died with her eyes wide open) and the chandelier would have fallen before. And even then, Chisa is not portrayed as someone fragile or weak in Side:Despair, so if they made such an emphasis on her face and her tears I don't think that it was only because she was in pain.
* Her tears comes from [[spoiler:The induced despair from both the despair brainwashing and suicide brainwashing.]]

[[WMG: Assuming the attacker alternates, who killed each character?]]
If we assume the attacker alternates each time, these could be each attacker:
[[spoiler: Chisa killed by Gozu]], [[spoiler: Gozu killed by Tengan]], and [[spoiler: Seiko killed by Izayoi]].
Reasoning detailed [[http://thecatgirlyang.tumblr.com/post/148730576889/hope-x-despair-what-if-the-killer-switches here]]
* Theory jossed. [[spoiler:It was induced suicide.]]

[[WMG: The Death Scenes in the OP [[spoiler: describe how the the characters kills other, as the alternate attacker, and not how they die]]]]
Going from this theory above that the deaths in the OP [[spoiler:actually would describe how they would, as the attacker, kill rather than how a victim is killed]], as described [[http://thecatgirlyang.tumblr.com/post/148730576889/hope-x-despair-what-if-the-killer-switches here]]. Other reasons to believe that come from thinking how the death scenes happen and the characters' characterization.
* As noted in the theory [[spoiler: Gozu would have killed Chisa, which is exemplified by the chains in his Death Scene and the chains in the candelier where she was. Tengan would have killed Gozu, who was found wrapped in electric cables, which was his death scene. Izayoi would kill Seiko, she would be his primary target as she endangers Andou, she is crucified with water falling on her, a very interesting parallel to his death scene of being crucified upside down and set in flames.]]
* Makoto, Chisa and Munakata [[spoiler: kill themselves as the attacker. There are no direct rules stating that the attacker can't kill themselves. Makoto and Chisa would refuse to kill someone else and would probably die as a result, while Munakata might actively kill himself, as he would be insane going after the killer.]]
* Seiko is shown with syringes all over her body. [[spoiler: If a Ultimate Pharmacist would kill anyone, the best way they could do it, is by overdose. She clearly walks around with an unknown number of hidden drugs and could easily know which of them have deadly effects together and in high doses.]]
* Sakakura is shown cut in half by Munakata's blade. [[spoiler: Sakakura is heavily implied to be unable to punch things due to his NG Action, and considering his personality, his way to kill would be by beating someone to death, as he can't do that, he would resort to the closest weapon he could find: the katana of someone who is around him most of the time.]]
Jossed

[[WMG: The traitor is Hijirihara from Killer Killer ]]
...and his goal is to weed out the murderers among the future foundations leadership

[[WMG: Juzo will give a big TheReasonYouSuck speech to Makoto]]
And that will be when we learn why he hates Makoto so much
* [[spoiler: Semi-confirmed. He confess to Makoto he hated him, because he defeated Junko Enoshima without any harm, while himself was blackmailed into not denounce her. He doesn't deny his actions contributed to spread hope, however.]]

[[WMG: The Attacker Alternates Theory but Why]]
This theory has been brought up on here and elsewhere before, but I want to take a stab at what exactly that means. Why would it matter if the attacker alternates? Just because everyone has a fair shot at being the killer that round does not explain why they would. So to the point: each round, two people wake up and are expected to kill someone, and if they don't they both get killed by the poison. Or, one person wakes up and has to kill someone else or they get killed by the poison. Either way, Monokumo is blackmailing them into it.

Nothing more despairing than being forced to fight your friends and allies to the death. And then to have to lie to everyone else about it. It could explain a lot of strange details. Such as why each murder looks like a battle took place. If everyone's supposed to be asleep, there would be no need for a struggle. It would also explain why there were tears in Chisa's eyes. Maybe she chose not to fight back? Or even why [[spoiler: Aoi's death was faked.]] Also, [[spoiler: if this is really what Tengan told Munakata, he would know why it happened because he was one of the blackened for one of the rounds.]]

* [[spoiler:What Tenagn said is that everyone is an attacker. What actually happen is that they are all induced suicide.]]

[[WMG: There was a third death in Episode 5 we did not see]]
Just a hunch but if you stick around until after the credits, [[spoiler: you see Munakata with a sword that is not his own, I think. It might be the sword Izayoi we originally going for before deciding on the gun. Just saying I wouldn't be surprised if by Episode 6, we find Izayoi's dead body as well. How despairing for Andou.]]
* [[spoiler:Confirmed. It's Izayoi.]]

[[WMG: Monokuma is lying about the rules, and what that implies.]]
This is foreshadowed by Munakata's conversation with Naegi. Munakata tells Naegi that Junko had rules in the original killing game, but Munakata himself had to deal with the Remnants of Despair who followed no rules. Unknown to either of them, this new killing game is either a case of the latter, or a case of the former where the rules as they know them are a lie, or both where the mastermind changes the rules as he or she pleases (a fact which hits Munakata hard when Tengan reveals who the traitor is, which, going by [=WMGs=] above and reading his lips, is that there is no traitor but instead the attacker alternates)

This ties into some of the [=WMGs=]ic above, where the actual rules seem to be two (or maybe more) people are awakened during each sleeping period and forced to kill each other (and apparently not allowed to talk about it afterwards). Tengan was trying to tell Munakata this by constantly saying "Is that a question? Then I'll have to answer it.", IE "I can't lie! Ask me a question about this game so I can hint the truth to you!". When Munakata finally gives Tengan a question about the game, Tengan figures out how to get around being unallowed to say the specifics (that he was forced to kill Gosu) with his "The attacker alternates" answer, which allows Munakata to put two and two together and realize the truth that the game's rules were a lie (Unfortunately Tengan apparently didn't expect the revelation to unhinge Munakata so much). Possibly the most despairing thing about this truth (and maybe what drove Munakata mad) is that it means there is no actual way for the survivors as a group to win. The game only ends when everyone but one person is dead, and now Munakata intends to be that one person.

This also neatly explains why Tengan was telling him Chisa was a sacrifice to Munakata's goal. Munakata's goal included Munakata surviving, so by saying Chisa died for his goal, Tengan was trying to tell Munakata that only one person will survive this game. Again, Tengan was probably hoping it would spur Munakata to figure out a solution rather than go crazy and decide to kill everyone. Oops.

* I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say here. But some of your details are wrong, I think. A lot of people have speculated that, based on Monokumo's phrasing, the traitor and attacker were always two distinct entities. And it is never stated that there is only one traitor or only one attacker. That "the attacker alternates" does not actually mean Monokumo lied. It's just manipulation. Or is that what you meant?

** Sorry, guess I should have gone into more depth on what "The Attacker alternates" could mean to Munakata. First of all, I'm assuming Munakata is a genius because he's the super high school student council president so he could figure this out in seconds. When Tengan said "The attacker alternates", the logic follows like this: Tengan was one of the attackers (it's the only way he could know), Tengan was forced to do it ("Unfortunately, I'm not one of the remnants of despair"), Tengan is being forced to divulge this answer in an indirect way (otherwise he would have said it more directly). From this, Munakata can infer that the attacker is always anyone at any time and also being forced to kill someone against their will (the fact that Tengan went through with killing someone possibly implies that the blackmail is "Or else Monokuma will kill EVERYONE if they don't" or something like that). Thus the lie in the rules is "The survivors can win as a group by killing the attacker(s)". The truth is "Only one person will survive because ALL of you are the attackers" (The game ends at one winner because by that point there's no one else left to kill). Tengan was probably hoping this would make Munakata realize "No one here is a Remnant of Despair so you killing everyone is just what the mastermind wants", but all it did was make Munakata say "Do you really think that would suffice to make me waver?" and decide to kill everyone else to survive (because now everyone is a potential threat to him.).

* The rules is a lie is somewhat confirmed. [[spoiler:Despite no one got killed in the 5th time limit, the game actually continues. In fact it's UnwinnableByDesign ]]

[[WMG:Monokuma and the whole Death Game is FAKE]]
Now, we know that Monokuma only appears in very rare occasions in Zetsubou-hen, and not in person. I have the theory that Monaca created a fake Monokuma, using material cribbed from various sources. The Monokuma/Monomi sequence was created by her to give the impression of good old semi-omnipotent Monokuma. Tying into the above WMG, that's why the rules are pretty much rubbish.
There's elements of Danganronpa 1, in the 'extra contestant who is unlikely to lose', and Danganronpa 2, where there's one person who doesn't belong. We only have one death, easily set up since her mole in the room, due to the Forbidden Actions, and the knock out bands, which allow even more to happen outside of their knowledge.
Munakata has even become just what she desired... An Ultimate Hope who now is Ultimate Despair. All she needs to do now is kill off Naegi and Kyoko, then she's won.
* Monokuma was never a character. He was always a mascot used by another person- mostly Junko. So to create a "false Monokuma" would never be a possibility because there isn't properly a "real" one. Also, Monaca would never have to resort to piecing one together from various sources. She created the vast majority of the Monokuma robots we see and is implied to have created many of the weaponry used by Junko and the Despair Team. Besides, the Monokuma we see might just be another Junko AI- and we know where it came from if that's the case.
** CONFIRMED. While not Monaca, everything about the Death Game aspect is completely faked, from the broadcasting, to that there's a murderer stalking them, even to the fact Monokuma is even present!

[[WMG:The attacker is everyone/no one.]]
The attacker alternates, but the person chosen to be the next one doesn't realize that they are the attacker. Through some means, the players are tricked into believing they are just trying to kill the attacker without realizing that they actually are said attacker. Perhaps they forget about this due to memory drug injections from the bracelets. Ultimately, there is no single "attacker", just everyone being chosen for the role without realizing it.
* Confirmed in the sense that The attacker is everyone/no one. [[spoiler: All "kills" are induced suicide.]]

[[WMG:The red blood is meaningful.]]
I don't know how; seeing Tengan bleed fresh blood makes the idea that the deaths actually happened a long time ago impossible, as well as Yasuhiro's presence outside suggesting a non-false time scale. But it could be meaningful in some way.
* I agree, and for one good reason; fake blood. If you are going to change the colour of blood, then you also need to change the colour of ''fake'' blood to match, and having a blood substitute be changed to florescent pink to match the florescent pink blood just gives away that it's going to be used as fake blood at some point. By keeping the blood red, it allows for much more convincing fakeouts. And before ''anyone'' brings up [[spoiler:Hifumi]] from [=DR1=], I'd like to remind you that in that case, the ''blood'' was real, the ''wound'' was not.

[[WMG:Munakata will kill himself]]
In his attempts to destroy despair, Munakata is creating more of it while clinging to the belief that the end justifies the means. The mastermind has probably picked up on that and is going to avoid killing him for it. In one of the final episodes the mastermind would probably gloat to Munakata and make him realize that in an attempt to stop despair he became it, leading him to committing suicide to.

[[WMG: [[spoiler:Why Monaca is helping Naegi and Aoi]]]]
[[spoiler: She wants to lure them into a sense of trust, even more than they already do. Once they get to a situation where the survivors have hope she will reveal herself to them to crush their spirits as she unveils her trap.]]

[[WMG: Mitarai will be the next victim]]
Sorry, I really hope not, but calling this now. Despair Episode 5 [[spoiler: raised too many death flags for him. It's just like before with Seiko. The cycle of character development to death spins right round.]] Barring that, this might also be a set up for him to have some sort of massive breakdown that reminds us all of Nagito in the first trial.
* Kodaka probably wouldn't do the exact same thing twice in a row.
** It's a common theme in every Dangan Ronpa piece. They did it for every trial in DR and [=SDR2=], for every death in Another Episode, all of the side material, and even a few times in the anime already. It wouldn't be "twice in a row", it's just what this franchise does.
*** [[spoiler:Jossed thanks to Izayoi biting it. Mitarai has escaped death... for now.]]
*** If you mean the next victim [[spoiler: of the attacker, than this is still possible.]] Otherwise, the foreshadowing is still setting him up for something major. I'm thinking a psychotic break where he goes semi-villain.
*** [[spoiler: Jossed as well, Ruruka was the attacker's next victim.]]

[[WMG: The Remnants of Despair(in particular Mikan).]]
This is just personal speculation, but the anime has thrown alot of things I assumed from the games, and after episode 5 of the Despair arc, I have this idea about Mikan's "beloved", and I want to go off the assumption that she, in a twisted way, is referring to the impostor. I'm basing this off of the fact that in [=SDR2=] when she talks about her "beloved", she's very vague about it, and you don't really get an idea of what she means until Enoshima remark of people being slavishly and hopelessly obsessed with her. That being said, seeing the impostor treat her kindly and her crying tears of joy from their kindness, I speculated that, while it's a fact they all have come into contact with Enoshima, Mikan states about how people bullying her left her in the state she's in, and yet we have one of her fellow classmates treat her kindly(which I would assume she remembers). And we know that she tends to get attached, if not a bit obsessed, to those who treat her kindly. So to sum up, I feel that Enoshima manipulates that aspect of Mikan to become more obsessed with despair.

[[WMG: The real intentions of the Mastermind]]
Ok, this one is a wild shot, because it requires the following theories to be also true:
* The Mastermind, the BigBad and the Traitor are all the same person, and they are all [[spoiler: Monaca Towa]]
* The 16th member of the Final Killing Game is the 13th Branch Leader
* [[spoiler:Gekkougahara]] was killed before the game started
* The attacker alternates
So, it goes like this: surely, spread despair is always the intention of a Killing Game, but this one would have a secondary point: destroy the Future Foundation from inside out. The game is a way to both make people fall in despair from watching the attacker alternating and the leaders killing each other, but also a way to guarantee that the last survivor will be the new symbol of the Future Foundation and the sole remaining leader and that survivor is the traitor. As Kyoko said, the rules do not benefit the traitor, if they play all the way to the end of the game, but if the traitor actually has control over the game, over who gets their chance to kill the others, they only need to keep themselves from getting killed, which would be easy as [[spoiler: Gekkogahara is a robot, therefore, even if they aimed for her, she wouldn't die, and the attacker would die in the end of the time, since they didn't really kill anybody]]. With the 13th branch Leader in the game, they could kill them as well and finish the only Branch leader that wouldn't be there. In the end, the traitor would be left with the last survivor, they would only need to put on a show to the cameras, of how the last survivor is actually the true traitor and kill them. The traitor then becomes the sole survivor of the final killing game and a Symbol to what's left of Future Foundation and the sole resistance against despair.

[[WMG: The Mirai-Hen OP's character deaths are metaphorical]]
* Tengan: Killed by Munakata after relaying a crucial piece of evidence about the attacker to him, presumably he saw Munakata choosing to kill him afterwards as a huge shock. His OP death has him electrocuted with wires.
* Seiko: Her OP death shows lots of syringes stuck into her body, this is likely to do with her and Andou's friendship slowly deteriorating over the years
* Bandai: His OP death is liquid flowing down over his body. I'm not not sure what this means, but feel free to add your own guesses below.
* Gozu: His OP death shows him bound in chains. Perhaps this is due to the fact that he needed to protect Naegi,and was chained to that need.
* Chisa: Her OP deaths shows her slit wrists. Possibly a sign that Chisa's bubbly personality was a facade, and she may have actually had depression. Considering that the class she teaches and loves fell into despair and became some of the worst terrorists in human history, that would not be unexpected.
Now for those who have not yet died:
* Mitarai: His OP death consists of 3 arrows stuck in his chest. I'm at a loss for ideas on this one.
** Maybe he dies saving someone via shielding them from an attack? Impostor's line about it being pointless for Mitarai to die before he has a chance to save someone sounds like foreshadowing.
* Sonosuke: His OP death has him crucified while burning. Perhaps this is a sign that he will end up becoming a martyr, but for the wrong reasons, seeing his hopes and dreams go up in flames.
* Ruruka: Her OP death has her frozen and shattered. Perhaps Sonosuke's going to break her heart?
* Miaya: Her OP death has her cut in half, and looking completely hollow inside. This is probably significance for her status as a robot. She's completely devoid of emotions, and therefore hollow inside
* Kizakura: His OP death shows him bound, gagged, and wrapped inside what seems to be plastic. Perhaps he knows more than he's letting on, but has been given a 'gag order' if you will.
* Juzo: The Ultimate Asshole's OP death shows him cut in half, by a sword, from the looks of things. Perhaps this one is more literal, and Munakata will be the one to do Juzo in.
* Hagakure: Despite not being involved in the killing game, Hagakure's OP death shows him wrapped in thorny vines. This is the only death that could not occur inside the building, perhaps symbolising that he's been left outside
* Hina: She's shown with a knife in her gut, and looks the most peaceful out of the dead survivors. Perhaps she's going to end up sacrificing herself or something similar. Or perhaps the knife is just a RedHerring, and that's where she will be punched or kicked.
* Kyoko: Kyoko's shown hung, with lots of other nooses around her. To me, this image screams "Gallows!", and I believe that, at one point, Kyoko's going to be accused of being the traitor, possibly even killed because of that accusation.
* Munakata/Naegi: Both of them blow their brains out in the OP. I'm almost certain that for Munaktata it will mean the death of his public image [[spoiler: destroyed through his own actions. Now, I'm no expert on Japanese Culture, but I believe that elders are well respected there. Since Munaktata killed Tengan, it is likely that would paint him as a monster in the eyes of many if that got out. Not to mention that TheStinger in episode 5 implies that he's gone and JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope.]] Perhaps for Naegi, it will mean the same thing, by the end of the killing game his public reputation will be in tatters.
** The death of public image idea is jossed since episode 6 of Mirai-hen revealed that the broadcast was a lie.
If you have any contributions to add to this, please feel free to do so!

[[WMG: Dangan Ronpa Zero is going to be the next mini plot.]]
It'll last a few episodes, and then perhaps move onto the events that caused the Dangan Ronpa 2 kids to fall into despair, etc.
* DR Zero seems to take place post-tragedy, though. I'm guessing that up next will be the build-up to the first mutual killing game, ending with the tragedy itself.
** DR Zero leads up to and experiences the tragedy. Have a DRZ plot take place towards the middle-end would line up perfectly in the timeline. That way the end can show us class 77 turn into the Remnants and go murder their families. Which is where I'm assuming they're heading with this.
** For references sake [[http://danganronpa-timeline.tumblr.com/ here's the timeline]] I've went off of to theorize that Zero may get a small mini plot or arc.
* Jossed. It was skipped.

[[WMG: Munakata killed Izayoi]]
We see in the post-credits sequence that Munakata has the sword from the room Izayoi was in. Munakata could havecome across and killed Izayoi in his insanity, and taken the sword.
* [[spoiler:Jossed. He was killed by Ruruka.]]

[[WMG: There will be 4 survivors by the end of Future Arc]]
The way things are going, they seem to be killing off one character an episode (or, if they don't kill a character in an episode, they make up for it with two in the next) My guesses are Naegi, Kirigiri, Juzo (just to piss people off) and either our sixteenth player or Monaca.
* If the structure is anything like the games, I'd have to disagree. I'm guessing Episode 11 (and perhaps 10) will have no deaths, instead being devoted to reasoning out the identity of the traitor (and then the traitor dies in the last episode). There might also be one or two "close calls" where someone narrowly escapes death, and the reveal of a hidden participant that raises the number of survivors. My guess would be closer to 5-6 survivors, like in [=DR1=] and 2.
** Adding to that, if it keeps to structure Monaca won't survive. Whether she is the mastermind or the traitor or the attacker or both. That archetype never (properly) survives a Danganronpa story.
* Big Hand to the OP for being a better Clairvoyant then Weedman.