History WMG / DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony

So the outside world is apparently a world with no despair, right? Who was trying to make a world like that? ''Kazuo Tengan.'' The world of V3 is a world where Makoto and his allies were unable to stop Ryota Mitarai from broadcasting his hope video, ridding the world of despair. However, Mitarai eventually came to regret his actions and decided to reintroduce despair to the world, but in a controlled form. He created Team Danganronpa and started to create video games and anime based on the real events surrounding Hope's Peak, but convinced the world that they were entirely fictional (rewriting the ending of DR3 to one in which his plan didn't work), before converting it into reality TV afterwards.

*** Or she's a [[CloningBlues clone]], like another WMG on this page suggests.

** '''English:''' Creator/KimlinhTran, Creator/SarahWilliams, Creator/EricaMendez, Creator/KateHiggins,

** '''English:''' Creator/SarahWilliams, Creator/EdenRiegel, Creator/SandyFox, Creator/MelaLee, Creator/ArielWinter

* TheDarkChick: Monophanie. Do I really need to elaborate on this?

* All jossed. [[spoiler:The protagonist is Shuuichi Saihara.]]
** Well, jossed from our perspective. [[spoiler: In universe, Kiibo is technically the protagonist, being the audience surrogate for this game.]]

* [[spoiler: Semi-confirmed. Ryoma kills mafia members with tennis. For one.]]

* Jossed. [[spoiler:Himiko is a survivor.]]

The Mastermind was lying about the cast being fake Ultimates, Danganronpa being a fictional series and even being the Mastermind. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/comments/f0tmnk/my_thoughts_on_v3s_ending_and_what_i_believe_is/ This thread]] I started on Reddit goes into detail, but I’d like to add onto it here because the trope pages for the character profiles seem to agree that the Mastermind was telling the truth, while there’s actually a few glaring things to indicate that’s not the case… Note, some of what I say here is somewhat different from the Reddit thread, as I’ve been replaying through the game again and re-watching things, so this version is more updated than the thread. This is a long read, but if you believe that Tsumugi was telling the truth, I have things that I think might persuade you that that isn’t the case… Tl;dr at the bottom.\\

The level of technology in V3 matches up with the level of technology from the previous games. The Flashback Lights seem to replicate the ability to alter memories that were seen in 1 and 2 (along with being able to give people talents like the Izuru Kamukura Project). Keebo is confirmed to be a sentient AI while the Monokubs, Motherkuma and Monokuma are all heavily implied to be sentient AI like Alter Ego, Alter Ego Junko, Shirokuma and Kurokuma. This seems to indicate that the level of technology in V3 is on a similar level (and possibly more advanced with the inclusion of Nanokuma, the Monokubs being so easily recreated and being able to mass produce possibly sentient Monokuma through Motherkuma) as the ones from the “fictional universe.”\\

The beginning Prologue of V3 heavily implies Ultimate Talents are a real thing in the “real world”. When asked if the characters have an Ultimate Talent when the characters are their “real, talentless selves”, the characters say, “I don’t have an Ultimate Talent.” Strange that the characters don’t say, “Ultimate Talents don’t exist” or “Those are just fiction”, instead they make it seem as if Ultimate Talents are a real thing, they just lack them in particular. This is a very odd choice of words to use if Danganronpa is a fictional story in the real world...\\\

The first part of the Prologue wasn’t them being accepted into the Killing Game. The Monokubs more or less outright say, “This isn’t in the script.” The students were supposed to have their Ultimate Talents, the Exisals weren’t supposed to show up at that point in time, and… This directly contradicts the “flashback” in the final trial where it was all just revealed to be them being shown they got into the show. So which was it? Were the students happy to get onto the show, or were the Monokubs lying for no reason in particular to people that were about to get their memories erased? That “happy reaction” we see is being told to us by a psychopath who has been lying the entire game… And speaking of Tsumugi, if this were them being accepted into the show like she claimed, there was no reasoning behind her putting on a scared front (she has noticeably different screams before and after getting her Ultimate Clothes when seeing the Exisals for the first time), not being in her Ultimate Clothes (the rest were “contestants” so… Why wouldn’t the employee just show up dressed for the part? This makes no sense...) and not bothering to tell the Monokubs, “You’re way off script! The Exisals aren’t supposed to show up yet!” The Monokubs outright say, “You guys weren’t supposed to be like this by the time you woke up.” Based on all of this… The “you got into the show” part wasn’t them being accepted into the show, as the Monokubs were clearly already “on script” and reading their lines before the show even started… And then turn around and basically say, “Just kidding! We knew you weren’t in your roles yet… Ignore everything else we said to signal we thought you were in your roles… That was a joke? You could tell…?” Even Tsumugi was asking questions, almost as though she were genuinely confused as well when this was all part of a “You got into the show!” bit… Whatever was going on in that part, it wasn't meant to be what Tsumugi claimed it was. \\\

The flashback about being accepted into the killing game also directly contradicts what happened in the Prologue. Tsumugi tells the survivors, “You were so happy to get accepted in!” Except… This makes no sense and honestly comes across as pointlessly contrived, as though this “fictional” set up makes no sense. For one, the V3 characters we see in the beginning of the Prologue are their “true selves” but Tsumugi says the Flashback Lights also helped them remember their “true selves” so… Which one of these two (or three, since apparently Tsumugi can't count... Another clue that what she's saying isn't adding up, as apparently the ones we see in the Prologue are their true selves but the ones that "suddenly remembered they were contestants" are also their true selves, but the ones we see before they get their "talents unsealed" are also their true selves but also not their true selves because the ones after getting hit with a flashback light is...? Which one is it Tsumugi?) are their true personalities? Even then, it’s unclear (if we take Tsumugi's words as truth) if the “bloodthirsty” Shuichi is his true personality, the meek, talentless Shuichi we see is the true personality, or the Ultimate Shuichia we play as in the majority of the game is the one that’s the true self (I'd have to lean towards the Ultimate version being the true one, as I've explained above and will below)… This seems needlessly convoluted, and almost like it’s something being made up on the spot… Note, Tsumugi’s saying this AFTER the characters just got hit with brain altering flashlights that can change someone’s personality… That casts serious doubt on how genuine the “happy reactions” were to them getting into their favorite show was (especially with how the Monokubs outright say that everything before the Flashback Lights appear wasn’t supposed to happen to begin with). \\\

The Monokubs more or less state, “You WERE Ultimates.” Even before they get their “false memories.” Keep in mind, this is before anyone gets hit with the Flashback Lights…

Now... This part right here is really intriguing. The Monokubs are outright saying that the characters had Ultimate Talents before the Prologue. The Monokubs have no reason to lie at this point… And I’m failing to see how they could become “generic high schoolers” when Ultimate Students apparently don’t exist, how they could forget their “true selves” and “reclaim” talents they supposedly never had to begin with and unsealing something that was apparently never there to begin with... Notably, Monotaro says that the Flashback Lights will help them "remember your amazing talents" which more or less confirms they had Ultimate Talents at some point before the game started. The Monokubs have no reason to lie here, as the characters will have their memories tampered with shortly after, and they genuinely seem to be probing to figure out what went wrong (and frustrated that they didn't have their talents yet because Monophanie didn't restore them like she was supposed to). Keep in mind that Tsumugi seems genuinely confused here as well, which she has no reason to be doing if she’s the Mastermind. My take? The cast of V3 are really Ultimates (the Monokubs outright saying they weren’t always generic high school students, that they had their amazing talents at some point before the game started and remembering their amazing talents/true selves), they just had their memories erased to keep them safe from the people in the Prologue that abducted the (memory wiped) Ultimates... It didn’t work, and it looks like they got dragged into a Killing Game run by crazy people/homicidal AI. \\\

Were the characters' backstories all fictional? Well... There's a lot of things pointing to the characters we see in the game being their true selves (in addition to what the Monokubs state), besides the planet being uninhabitable part of course. Gonta claims he's from a respectable family... The [[https://i.imgur.com/MhU9uhM.png visual dictionary]] for V3 states that the clothes we see him in in the Prologue before they get their Ultimate Clothes looks like something from a "respectable family." Shuichi (the Ultimate Detective) heard of Ryoma killing mafia with a steel ball, which makes sense for a detective to have heard of a criminal organization being destroyed. Shuichi also has a thing about not removing his hat in the Prologue as well... Which doesn't make sense if that was just something added to the character. Kaede mentions that her friends used Miu’s eye drop contact lenses invention, but never heard of Miu herself (the product can be well known, but the inventor might be unknown). These little details make me think that the characters we see in V3 are their "true selves" and their backstories are really what happened.\\

Building off of the last one, but deserving its own paragraph. Of special note is Keebo and if he was just created to be a character on Danganronpa... There’s a lot of evidence that he wasn’t created to be the Audience Surrogate. For one, he’s first seen wearing regular clothing, instead of just showing up in his Ultimate Robot attire (why bother putting him in regular clothing, then changing his clothes, then erasing his memories instead of just having him come with those clothes from the beginning?). Two, his antenna… It’s usually pointing up or at a 45 degree angle, but in the Prologue, he’s wearing a hat that would be flattening it (and likely affecting reception for the audience). Three, the [[https://i.imgur.com/MhU9uhM.png visual dictionary]] confirms he was trying to hide his metal body with the “normal” clothing we see in the beginning of the game (implying he had a life before the Killing Game started, which also makes no sense if he were created to just be the Audience Surrogate)… Based on all of this, I’d have to say he really is the Ultimate Robot and trying to blend in as a regular human being after having his memories tampered with, but was repurposed into being the Audience Surrogate (the antenna was likely placed on his body when everyone got their Ultimate Clothes).\\

Rantaro almost certainly wasn’t in any previous Killing Games. Yes, that video was compelling… But there’s a slight issue there. The Ultimate Clothes we see reflect the talents of the Ultimate wearing them (Shuichi looks like a detective, Kaede’s musical notes related clothing, Himiko looking like a witch/magician…), but the Rantaro we see in the video is wearing the exact same Ultimate Clothes that we see him in in the game. So… Rantaro was the Ultimate Survivor twice in a row…? Because of his attire, I believe this is genuinely his first Killing Game, and being exposed to the Flashback Light gave him false memories and he made that video while being brainwashed. There’s also the fact that if this were the truth, and Danganronpa is a fictional series, none of the “huge fans” didn’t recognize Rantaro immediately as being a previous character on the show. There’s also the implication that the audition tapes we see were recorded inside the school ([[https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/comments/76vxwm/v3_endgametrial_6_spoilers_v_found_something/ Tsumugi's Ultimate Lab has a floor panel that pretty closely resembles the floor of what we see from the audition tapes…]]), and going with this and the above… They were tapes the characters recorded while brainwashed into thinking they got into their favorite show, which doesn’t exist.\\

The big one... The Mastermind probably isn’t who she thinks she is. Yes, Tsumugi is supposedly the Mastermind… Except, no, there’s actually a lot of clues hinting that she’s not aware of everything that happened in the Prologue as well. [[https://imgur.com/a/jQwDRGt First, the Normal!Tsumugi we see in the Prologue screams much more genuinely (“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”) while Ultimate!Tsumugi’s screams seem less genuine (“Kyaaaaa!”) when they both see the Exisals for the first time… If this were an act, why would she choose to scream differently?]] During the Prologue, she at no point tells the Monokubs, “You’re off script! The Exisals aren’t supposed to come in yet!” when she supposedly wrote the script? Why wasn’t she already dressed for her part as the Ultimate Cosplayer, and instead came to work dressed as a regular student and chose to act the part of one for no reason? Why was she asking questions like the other students when there was supposedly no reason for her to hide her true self at that point in time? And if she’s such a huge fan of Danganronpa and wrote out everything… Why did she make such basic mistakes in regards to the lore of the series...? Her being the Mastermind at that point in time makes no sense, especially the issues with her pretending to be a regular high school student one minute then going all Team Danganronpa the next to tell everyone, “Yeah, you got into the show.” With this in mind, and factoring in that she only began acting as a Team Danganronpa employee AFTER getting hit with the Flashback Lights (note: she herself doesn't mention or recall the first time the Flashback Lights were used earlier than that when she said they were, so either she's deliberately lying about this or unintentionally lying...), her role as the Mastermind was something fabricated as well. She probably really is the Ultimate Cosplayer (much like Shuichi is the Ultimate Detective, Kaede is the Ultimate Piantist, etc.), but she’s just been brainwashed into thinking she’s a member of a team that isn’t real and to be part of a TV Show that doesn’t exist. “But Tsumugi wrote out all of the plotlines!” Keep in mind that it’s heavily implied Tsumugi was looking into the (memory altering) Flashback Lights too throughout the game with the rest of the cast, so her “writing out the plots” could very well be her just being brainwashed into thinking that’s what actually happened.\\

With all of this in mind… The reveals from the final trial don’t make too much sense, and it almost seems like things that were revealed don’t make much sense, and I strongly believe it was because Tsumugi was grasping at straws (and failing) to make a comprehensible narrative out of what was going on (not to mention, she herself probably wasn't entirely sure of what was real at the time either, as she might not even be the true Mastermind).\\

TL;DR: There’s tons of evidence that V3 takes place in the same continuity as the rest of the series, the characters are all really Ultimates, Keebo, the Monokubs and V3!Monokuma are likely AI like Shirokuma, Kurokuma and Alter Ego Junko (which fits with the technology being the same as the supposedly "fictional universe's" technology) and Tsumugi is almost certainly brainwashed into believing she’s the Mastermind when she isn’t based on how she acts in the beginning of the game.

To support this, usually these characters with similar thing with their actor/seiyuu would usually be the antithesis of the role they're famous for. Doraemon is a good-natured cat, while Monokuma is a sadistic evil bear, Makoto has two: Nagito who is batshit insane in terms of hope (both are voiced by Creator/MegumiOgata AND Creator/BrycePapenbrook after all), and Ryota who [[spoiler:attempts to spread hope by brainwashing the entire world]]. If the 'reverse' will happen in this, Kaede actually has a chance to turn out not like Junko, accepting hope instead of being a despair/suffering-inducing evil girl.

** Double Jossed, there '''is''' a traitor but not the one as people sees. [[spoiler: It's Ki-Bo.]]

* Angie was trying to revive Rantaro, and while it would have been impossible, it proved a problem because everyone was obsessed with the séances and finding out the truth. Not to mention, Angie's cult was adding extra rules to prevent murder and Tsumugi couldn't have that. Also, Tenko was an extra addition from Korekiyo, but Tenko showed Shuichi and Himiko she could read people's emotions by throwing them. Supposing Tsumugi was afraid of Tenko doing the same to her and discovering her emotions were fake?

* Survivors: Kaede (after all the BS with Aoi and Kyoko in [=DR3=], I doubt Kodaka has the balls to kill off the main protagonist), Maki (probably going to end up TheLancer), Gonta (his personality is too kind for murder, but taking him out would be another case of BigGuyFatalitySyndrome - boring!), Miu ([[InsaneTrollLogic no logical reason, I just like her design]]), Ryouma (BadassBaritone and ugly design scream killer, but he'll probably turn out to be innocent and eventually make it through)

** Original theory of not seeing the player character in promotional material yet is confirmed, but [[spoiler:Kaede Akamatsu being the protagonist is jossed. She is executed in Chapter 1 after her supposed "murder" of Amami Rantarou.]]
** [[spoiler: The true protagonist is none other than the supposed Deuteragonist, Shuichi Saihara.]]

* Confirmed. [[spoiler:Monodam pushes Monokid into the area of Akamatsu Kaede's execution, crushing him to bits.]]

[[WMG: The Final Trial will include a scrum debate of the survivors against Monokuma and the Monokids]]
* Jossed. [[spoiler: Scrum Debates never happened in the final trial.]]

[[WMG: at least one Danganronpa previews between 10 and 53 took place in a space station.]]
During the ending, we can briefly see the titles of some other installments of the fictional killing games, which appear to all be homages to other works. One could've eventually been a SpaceEpisode as a homage to ''Franchise/StarWars''. The title? "Danganronpa: A New Hope"

** '''English:''' Creator/ErikKimerer, Creator/MarianneMiller, Creator/MichaelSinterniklaas, Creator/HaleyJoelOsment,

* Kokichi probably wasn't changed to much, because if Team Danganronpa ''had'' changed things they'd probably make him less disruptive to their game. That, and with how much he lies it's hard to tell. At least, his trust issues and compulsive lying were played up to nerf him much like Shuichi's insecurities.

* Tenko was still a gullible Aikido practicioner, but the goofy man-hating was implanted by Team Danganronpa.

* Ultimate Talents aren't that important to society.

* Kokichi probably wasn't changed to much, because if Team Danganronpa ''had'' changed things they'd probably make him less disruptive to their game. That, and with how much he lies it's hard to tell.

* Personality traits seem largely the same, but the students have less 'talent emphasis'- note that the first time Kaede meets Shuichi, she doesn't mention the piano piece, but after the flashback light, she does.

* Rantaro seems to have previous knowledge of Danganronpa, as he recognizes the Monokubs.

* Confirmed. Maki is actually Ultimate Assassin. And to be honest, aside from Amami, eveyrone is actually just good, but not SHSL

** Jossed.

* Jossed. Despite the similarities to Komaeda, Rantarou is genuinely benevolent.

* Jossed. [He's the ultimate survivor.

** Alternately, she's a descendant of Junko. Would explain the voice actress, and the Japanese version of [=SDR2=] did mention that one of the Remnants implanted Junko's womb into herself to try and have her kid.

[[folder:Danganronpa 4 Speculation]]

[[WMG: Rantaro will come back in Dangan Ronpa 4.]]
The game will appear to be a prequel to V3, and expand more on what is actually going on in this universe. As such, we'll learn more about what Rantaro's deal was.

Or, in keeping with the series tradition of killing off characters we don't expect to die first, Rantaro gets killed early ''again''. Monokuma then makes a joke about how he's supposed to be the Ultimate Survivor, yet he keeps dying. And since we've already had the protagonist as a victim, the next step up is someone whose survival looked like a ForegoneConclusion.

The potential mindfuckery of this twist would be enormous. Was one of the Rantaros an Ultimate Imposter? Is this really a prequel? Or is it possible to use memory shenanigans to clone a dead student?

[[WMG:Danganronpa 4 will make references to the controversies in Danganronpa V3 and have Kaede as the protagonist]]
So, the whole reality show saga is heavily relying on leaning the 4th wall so hard you can see it leaving marks in the wall, so in the next game, they will be making meta references to the BrokenBase the fandom faced when V3 got released. The audience of the show would have the same complaints the fans had when they first reached the ending of the game, and the reality show in danganronpa 4 would be based on trying to WinBackTheCrowd by PanderingToTheBase, so they will do things the most annoying fans complained about and wanted done.

They'll in universe {{Retcon}} Kaede's death. Kaede will have become a popular character and people watching the show will be unhappy she was killed, so they decide to bring Kaede back and make her the protagonist. How? Kidnapping someone who looks like her(probably her sister, the game would imply that it is Kaede's sister but never outright confirm who the body she is using belongs to) and forcing Kaede's memories and personality into her. They will also create a Saihara {{Expy}} in the second game and make him the first victim to answer to Saihara haters complains and make an Ouma {{Expy}}(or an Amami one) the deuteragonist, as a nod to his popularity.

[[WMG:Danganronpa 4 will appear to be a prequel to V3.]]
To amalgamate the theories above: The end of V3 suggests that if Hope wins, two of the survivors will carry over to the next game. Thus, the next Danganronpa game will appear to be a "V2" game, with the "returning" players being Rantaro and Kaede (technically, they'd have carried over ''to'' V3).

Of course, since this appears to be a prequel that would mean Rantaro and Kaede would be guaranteed to survive. So one of them will be the first to die. This would, of course, raise further questions.

Perhaps, as the above theory suggests, the "Kaede" in this game is a fake: another person who's been given her memories. As a further MindScrew, they might make Kaede the Ultimate ??? for this game. It would seem pointless since we already know Kaede's talent, but if she really isn't Kaede, then it's possible her real talent is something different.

[[WMG: Danganronpa 4 will be a re-filming of Danganronpa V3]]
Killing what would be the equivalent of the show host and letting the survivors escape freely into the world while destroying their base is not something you want to show to your viewers, so the Danganronpa Team decides to make a bunch of [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of the characters and delay the release of the 53rd season, giving them time enough to film what would be Danganronpa 4 and pass it as the 53rd season in hope that no one would ever see what happened in the end of Danganronpa V3
* Can this be considered Jossed already? The whole point of Kiibo was ''audience participation''. That means V3 was aired live, with no chance to delay its release. This should've been clear after Chapter 6 when we, you know, ''perform Argument Armament against the audience?''

[[WMG: Danganronpa 4 will feature Team Danganronpa and the mastermind will be Kodaka.]]
The real mastermind will be Kodaka while the other team members will be loosely based off of the real life Danganronpa team. It will also reveal that Kodaka is done with Danganronpa and that fans should move onto other games

[[WMG: Danganronpa 4 will NOT be done by Kodaka, thus becoming a standalone game.]]
The man behind it would be the Danganronpa Kirigiri author, Takekuni Kitayama. Kodaka said V3 would be his last game to make(can't find source at this moment) and it seemed as if he encouraged somebody else to step up and make the next game in the series. Spike Chunsoft likely knows the game is a hit in Japan and would want more.
* [[GodNeverSaidThat Kodaka never actually said he was done with the series]]; that was a mistranslation. (Anyone with a link to the original interview, please add it below.)
* It could very well be factual with the whole opening [[https://www.polygon.com/2018/9/11/17845946/too-kyo-games-danganronpa-zero-escape-creators-studioforming his own indie studio recently]]. Even though they seem to be collaborating with Spike Chunsoft on one project.

[[WMG:Danganronpa after [=NDRV3=] will be LighterAndSofter, or at least not based around murder mysteries.]]
After Saihara and co. convince the audience that they don't need any more killing games, Dangan Ronpa will shift gears into something drastically different.
The Monokubs in the Space Mode also say that audiences now prefer dating sims. Of course, that mode is just an alternate reality.

Of course, Dangan Ronpa turning into a flat-out dating sim is highly unlikely, but it was just a thought. When was the last time anyone actually listened to and followed (for more than a week) the morals of a story?

[[WMG: The ending of [=NDRV3=] leads to an in-universe BrokenBase as divisive as the real world's.]]
Which, if there will ever be a future installment for the series, would be a point in the next game.

[[WMG: If DR4 is an AlternateContinuity, there will be a DiscontinuityNod to the Ending]]
One of the students will wonder if they're just in some crazy reality show after finding out they're in the killing game, only for Monokuma to dismiss that as a "really stupid plot twist."

[[WMG: The next game will RetGone V3 or instead RetCon it.]]
Just so the fandom can be put at ease, but Kodaka (if he does the next game) is not the type to do so. He wants the player to feel the despair and have no hope.

[[WMG: Tsumugi's "Cosplay Pox" was a bluff to hold up TheMasquerade of fictionalizing Hope's Peak.]]
In Chapter 6 the crux of the reveal of the supposed "illusion" comes upon the argument that Tsumugi's ability to imitate the Hope's Peak students is only possible due to her inherent inability to use her cosplay abilities to replicate non-fictional characters. Of course, throughout the entire story, the only time this handicap comes up is her attempt to replicate Kaede's look to rule her talent out as a potential murder method. Come Chapter 6, Tsumugi pulls no punches in hammering home that the students of the Academy were themselves fabrication, asserting that "Kaede" herself was fictional which casts tremendous doubt whether this "Cosplay Pox" is even a real thing or just yet another work of disguise on her part which then adds additional doubt to the authenticity of the audition tapes themselves as well.

[[WMG: Danganronpa V4 will have two survivors.]]
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc had 6 survivors. Super Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair apparently had 5 before the anime. Similarly, we were initially led to believe at the end of Side: Future that only 4 people survived the killing game. New Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony had 3 survivors. Why not continue the trend? Maybe, due to the new rule introduced in this game, every except two people will die and they will be released.

[[WMG: A future game may have no survivors]]
Just to twist the knife in the wound and exploit our despair even further.

[[WMG: The next game will be called "Danganronpa IV".]]
The "I" will be stylized to resemble a number 1, so it will be impossible for the audience to tell whether the title means "4" or "15". [[TrollingCreator Just to mess with the audience yet again.]]
* Alternately, IV won't be a number at all and instead represent the series dying, but being kept barely alive as if by an IV drip.

[[WMG: Danganronpa 4 will reveal that V3's big reveals were a lie.]]
There are a lot of versions of this theory drifting around, but the simplest explanation is that Tsumugi was a psychotic fangirl who, in a desperate attempt to emulate the game she witnessed in ''Danganronpa 1'', kidnapped 16 random students and forced them to participate in a killing game of her own.
After all, what could be more despair inducing than the TomatoInTheMirror? It would be something like this, "You're not innocent victims and I'm not a villain. You volunteered for this. All the death and pain is your fault, YouMonster." Is it any wonder that Shuichi Saihara tottered on the DespairEventHorizon? Perhaps she wanted to take Junko's idea and do some post-modern meta spin on it.

The game will also explain how she got the resources to do this, possibly as a result of ties to Junko (remember, that second AI from ''Ultra Despair Girls'' hasn't shown up yet...), and show Shuichi and the other survivors interacting with actual Hope's Peak Era characters.
There might even be a scene where the three survivors encounter Future Foundation members as they leave the area of the school. It will be something like this:
-->One of the survivors: "I thought you guys didn't exist!"
-->Future Foundation member shows a badge or something:" I'm pretty sure we do."

[[WMG: Adding onto the above, "Team Danganronpa" will be revealed to be real, but as the main antagonists of the game.]]
Even if Tsumugi was the Mastermind in V3, it's unlikely she could set up all of this on her own. Junko had Ultimate Despair, while Tsumugi had Team Danganronpa. This may lead into the reveal that the 'audience' in V3 were actually people working for Team Danganronpa posing as the audience in an attempt to back up Tsumugi...and get some of that "sweet" despair for themselves.

[[WMG:There will be no more installments of ''Danganronpa'']]
Not in ''Danganronpa'', and not in real life for us.
* As much as V3 seemed to be indicating this to be the case, jossed - they've already confirmed a new action game (like Despair Girls).

[[WMG:There will never be a Danganronpa 4, but...]]
Because Danganropna 4's logo is shown in V3 and is the beginning of the franchise's hypothetical descent into what it became in V3's world, actually continuing along those lines (especially after V3's "We will end Danganronpa!" ending) would be incredibly hypocritical and make V3's message pointless. However, a new action game has already been confirmed, so perhaps Danganronpa will continue under a totally different path that doesn't follow the same patterns that have been used up till now. V3 represents saying goodbye to the series' past hangups, such as hope and despair, Junko, etc. by showing a BadFuture in which they never let go. Now OUR world will proceed along a better timeline, and future games in the series will break new ground.

[[WMG:The in-universe Danganronpa series was based off in-universe real events...]]
... but were radically fictionalized, like how some movies are "based off true events". At the end of the sixth trial, Tsumugi calls herself a "copycat" and a "cosplaycat criminal." Perhaps something similar to the Hope's Peak saga did happen in the "real world", and the "Dangan Ronpa" games were based off that event. However, characters like Enoshima Junko, Naegi Makoto, etc. either: 1.) do not exist and are completely fictional, or 2.) did exist but the "Dangan Ronpa" characters based off of them are completely different from the "real people" involved in the event. This is why Tsumugi is able to cosplay as the 78th class.

The events of ''Danganronpa 2'' and onward, however, are completely fictional.

[[WMG:The upcoming SpinOff game will feature Kaede's twin sister trying to sabotage the ''Danganronpa'' reality show.]]
It will take place before or concurrently with ''V3'', and like ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'', there will be other family members of killing game participants who are opposed to the killing game and want to save their relatives (whether they actually volunteered was ambiguous, seeing as Kaede and Shuichi both remembered being kidnapped). The other protagonist could be Korekiyo's sister, who is actually alive and was never in an incestuous relationship with him.

[[WMG: The outside world has the ability to bring people back from the dead at the cost of another person's life.]]
Considering the world has the technology to completely change a person's personality, abilities, and memories just by shining a light in their eyes, and having VR headsets that can hurt or kill the wearer despite having no surgical connection, it's not out of the question that they would have the ability to bring people back from the dead. If Angie had successfully completed the ritual in Chapter 3, Rantaro would have indeed been resurrected, but they would be given, say, an hour to kill someone as a sacrifice, or else one of them would have been killed at random by the Exisals.

[[WMG: The Gifted Inmates Saga will be a trilogy... going backwards.]]
Considering that the Academy was destroyed at the end, if the saga were to continue it would have to focus on the killing games that happened before V3. Perhaps the next main series game won't be focusing on season 52, but season 51. That way we get an entirely new cast of characters, but have some buildup toward [[ForegoneConclusion Rantaro and season 52]] near the end. Perhaps the cap to this trilogy will be [[WhereItAllBegan the first season of the Dangan Ronpa TV Show, or at least early in it's life.]] This last game will answer any unanswered questions left by V3 and the hypothetical prequel, but makes you wonder what happened in-between.

[[WMG: Rantaro escaped one of the killing games he participated in by graduation.]]
If the next game in the series is a "V2" game, this seems like an obvious twist for the Ultimate Survivor. We haven't really seen what happens in the event that the blackened wins the trial. Perhaps Rantaro will be TheAtoner in the V2 game, and chooses to win via Hope as a result of his experiences in the V1 game. I also expect that Monokuma will reveal that Rantaro graduated as part of a motive in order to try to turn the other students against him.

[[WMG:Annoyed by the killing game that was created for the sake of a reality show, Shuichi, Maki and Himiko will begin to organise their own ironic game for the people who viewed the previous 52 versions without irony, starting with one school and then many more, before leading into the school that the game will be set in. Knowing Danganronpa, that school will be the last school they infiltrate.]]
The idea: [Danganronpa has ended. College students are full of despair after this, wanting their television show to return. The narration never mentions this because everyone wants to suppress the memory of the show ending.] There are three protagonists here, the main one being an exact representation of a college student, and the other two being their only friends. No one in the cast has an Ultimate talent due to them being college students who were entertained by a reality show (that they don't mention the direct name of and implicate minimally, as they act like it doesn't matter in the Killing Game they've been set in), Kaede Akamatsu has a gothic twin sister with similarities to Chiaki Nanami, and one of Rantaro's siblings has an involvement here, and the format of Daily Life, Deadly Life, Class Trial is still the same. This subtly reveals that Tsumugi was apparently telling the truth about how everything is a reality show based off the Killing School Life, the Killing School Trip, and the "Final" Killing Game, but also shows that the students were also based off characters of the real world. The mastermind is either a Future Foundation member, or the three survivors of the Killing School Semester: Shuichi Saihara, Maki Harukawa and Himiko Yumeno. The mascot in question isn't Monokuma, but the animal represented is similar to Monokuma, like...a cat. We've already had a rabbit (Usami), cats are interpreted to be just as adorable as rabbits, but cats are domesticated and dominant, like Shuichi is now. The mascot subtly switches between the three personalities of Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko, all of them being ambiguous under the guise of Monocat.\\
The prologue: When the main protagonist is about to enter the college site they're so pessimistic about to complete a workload, they're verbally abused by someone hiding in a shadow who knocks the protagonist unconscious with words due to how fragile they are. Like Nagito Komaeda in Danganronpa 2's prologue, he/she walks up to the unconscious body and sprays it with Soporil β from Zero Escape to instill a random but long amount of amnesia. When the Soporil defuses, he finds himself on the interior of the college, confused like every protagonist would be, specifically in the classroom they were supposed to first visit on the day they were sprayed unconscious. He woke up multiple times beforehand, finding himself in many different situations, only to be sprayed by the culprit every time. The main protagonist finds two of their friends, naively and brashly assumes their the culprit, with one of them denying it and saying "I know just as much as you do" with the second saying "It might have been me, but can you really be sure when I say that?" They all investigate the college campus. This is where we meet the...12 other participants, because this game has reverted back to the format of 15 students, and the entire group slowly gathers as one. When searching the campus, they go to their traditional dining room and find that it has been reconstructed as a trial arena, prompting them to wonder where their diner was relocated to. After exploring, they find that all of the rooms have been transformed and shifted. With all 15 students gathered, Monocat appears in front of them physically and announces all 15 of them to go the gymnasium, which conveniently hasn't been relocated, which they all find out when they search for it splitting up from one another. One of the least reliable acquaintances of the protagonist finds its location, and is prompted to locate and tell everyone, giving them vague names like "left hall" and "college entrance." What the player has to do is search places near those vague names, instead of being given specific directions. The protagonist ends up being the 15th to enter the gymnasium. Monocat announces the new Killing Game they're involved in, the rules being explained as such: Basically exactly the same as 1, 2, and V3... Great vengeance, Shuichi, but why would these particular 15 college students be your main target for this torture? Spike Chunsoft can solve that problem. Everyone in the campus is weak, and they all collapse over in discomfort, wondering why they have to participate and get trapped in a game "similar to the reality show they were once addicted to." The prologue ends, and the first chapter begins with everyone standing up, gaining the will to do this correctly, following the orders of Monocat so they continue to live.\\
What the formatting of these deaths will be like: Well...you know how every official Danganronpa game involves characters having completely awkward, brutal plans that highly implicate specific people? This will be nothing like that. Everyone lives a particularly normal life here, so they don't know how to kill using methods they've witnessed in the series. Instead, they take inspiration from "the reality show they once watched," and begin to notice that all of the death involves complex mechanisms and psychological exclusions. So, they use basic methods to murder, like simple stabbing, lacerations, or violence using the structures around them, where the phrase "anyone could have done this" appears very frequently. The students would mainly use alibis and accounts to find out who the culprit is, each investigation would take an average of 1 hour and 30 minutes due to how little evidence implicating a specific person there would be, and the trials would take an average of 3 hours like V3, since the protagonist operating those trials prior has the potential to be the mastermind. The protagonists switch between all three of them in the investigation, and the trials, as they're the only students willing to cooperate with each other in the betrayal game (Well, until Chapter 4, 5, and 6, where the mastermind does something that dissuades them from cooperating with each other. Yes, Chapter 4, the time in which everyone is intended to cooperate, is the chapter where everyone stops cooperating. That means that whatever Chapter 6 incurs causes everyone to attempt to cooperate against the mastermind, like an identification problem). Oh, the motives that would cause that? They would be using human connections very frequently, and will go as such between each chapter: Saving the environment, younger siblings, older siblings, parents, grandparents, posthumous promises + important possessions having the potential to be destroyed. 6 chapters for each motive, the 7th being the one where they attempt to battle against the masterminds. The masterminds won't enter through smoke like Junko did...twice. Instead, they would disable Monokuma, walk all the way from the control room into the trial room (the player would have to ponder about what happened to them), and be revealed as demented individuals, but not in the same way Junko is demented; it's more like, demented due to being too euphoric. Danganronpa will deviate from the lack of realism it has, and amplify the "truth and lies" theme V3 has, because this one is set in a more realistic residence and education centre than the other times prior.

[[WMG: The next game will be [[DarkerAndEdgier the darkest in the franchise yet.]]]]
* FourIsDeath, after all. Expect a more cynical and gruesome game on par with D3. For bonus points, it could even be stylized like the original beta ''Distrust''.
** Adding onto this, the game will be HotterAndSexier too; the {{fanservice}} was amped considerably between [=SDR2=] and V3. Expect this and the above to intersect significantly, creating nasty FanDisservice.
*** Maybe we'll finally get a ''[[MrFanservice male]]'' bathhouse peeping scene!

[[WMG: The next entry in the series will feature Makoto as the protagonist.]]
No, not ''[[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc that]]'' Makoto—[[ThisLoserIsYou the other one.]] It'll be a massive dose of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor for him.

[[WMG: The next entry will be a proper reboot to the franchise.]]
New continuity, new school, Hope and Despair no longer being the main theme and no returning cast outside of the Talent Development Program, the only actual returning things that will be in Danganronpa 4 will be Monokuma and the students being Ultimates.
[[/folder]]

--> Future Foundation member shows a badge or something:" I'm pretty sure we do."

[[WMG:There will be no more installments of ''Dangan Ronpa'']]
Not in ''Dangan Ronpa'', and not in real life for us.

[[WMG:The in-universe Dangan Ronpa series was based off in-universe real events...]]

The events of ''Super Dangan Ronpa 2'' and onward, however, are completely fictional.

The idea: [Danganronpa has ended. College students are full of despair after this, wanting their television show to return. The narration never mentions this because everyone wants to suppress the memory of the show ending.] There are three protagonists here, the main one being an exact representation of a college student, and the other two being their only friends. No one in the cast has an Ultimate talent due to them being college students who were entertained by a reality show (that they don't mention the direct name of and implicate minimally, as they act like it doesn't matter in the Killing Game they've been set in), Kaede Akamatsu has a gothic twin sister with similarities to Chiaki Nanami, and one of Rantaro's siblings has an involvement here, and the format of Daily Life, Deadly Life, Class Trial is still the same. This subtly reveals that Tsumugi was apparently telling the truth about how everything is a reality show based off the Killing School Life, the Killing School Trip, and the "Final" Killing Game, but also shows that the students were also based off characters of the real world. The mastermind is either a Future Foundation member, or the three survivors of the Killing School Semester: Shuichi Saihara, Maki Harukawa and Himiko Yumeno. The mascot in question isn't Monokuma, but the animal represented is similar to Monokuma, like...a cat. We've already had a rabbit (Usami), cats are interpreted to be just as adorable as rabbits, but cats are domesticated and dominant, like Shuichi is now. The mascot subtly switches between the three personalities of Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko, all of them being ambiguous under the guise of Monocat.\\\
The prologue: When the main protagonist is about to enter the college site they're so pessimistic about to complete a workload, they're verbally abused by someone hiding in a shadow who knocks the protagonist unconscious with words due to how fragile they are. Like Nagito Komaeda in Danganronpa 2's prologue, he/she walks up to the unconscious body and sprays it with Soporil β from Zero Escape to instill a random but long amount of amnesia. When the Soporil defuses, he finds himself on the interior of the college, confused like every protagonist would be, specifically in the classroom they were supposed to first visit on the day they were sprayed unconscious. He woke up multiple times beforehand, finding himself in many different situations, only to be sprayed by the culprit every time. The main protagonist finds two of their friends, naively and brashly assumes their the culprit, with one of them denying it and saying "I know just as much as you do" with the second saying "It might have been me, but can you really be sure when I say that?" They all investigate the college campus. This is where we meet the...12 other participants, because this game has reverted back to the format of 15 students, and the entire group slowly gathers as one. When searching the campus, they go to their traditional dining room and find that it has been reconstructed as a trial arena, prompting them to wonder where their diner was relocated to. After exploring, they find that all of the rooms have been transformed and shifted. With all 15 students gathered, Monocat appears in front of them physically and announces all 15 of them to go the gymnasium, which conveniently hasn't been relocated, which they all find out when they search for it splitting up from one another. One of the least reliable acquaintances of the protagonist finds its location, and is prompted to locate and tell everyone, giving them vague names like "left hall" and "college entrance." What the player has to do is search places near those vague names, instead of being given specific directions. The protagonist ends up being the 15th to enter the gymnasium. Monocat announces the new Killing Game they're involved in, the rules being explained as such: Basically exactly the same as 1, 2, and V3... Great vengeance, Shuichi, but why would these particular 15 college students be your main target for this torture? Spike Chunsoft can solve that problem. Everyone in the campus is weak, and they all collapse over in discomfort, wondering why they have to participate and get trapped in a game "similar to the reality show they were once addicted to." The prologue ends, and the first chapter begins with everyone standing up, gaining the will to do this correctly, following the orders of Monocat so they continue to live.\\\
What the formatting of these deaths will be like: Well...you know how every official Danganronpa game involves characters having completely awkward, brutal plans that highly implicate specific people? This will be nothing like that. Everyone lives a particularly normal life here, so they don't know how to kill using methods they've witnessed in the series. Instead, they take inspiration from "the reality show they once watched," and begin to notice that all of the death involves complex mechanisms and psychological exclusions. So, they use basic methods to murder, like simple stabbing, lacerations, or violence using the structures around them, where the phrase "anyone could have done this" appears very frequently. The students would mainly use alibis and accounts to find out who the culprit is, each investigation would take an average of 1 hour and 30 minutes due to how little evidence implicating a specific person there would be, and the trials would take an average of 3 hours like V3, since the protagonist operating those trials prior has the potential to be the mastermind. The protagonists switch between all three of them in the investigation, and the trials, as they're the only students willing to cooperate with each other in the betrayal game (Well, until Chapter 4, 5, and 6, where the mastermind does something that dissuades them from cooperating with each other. Yes, Chapter 4, the time in which everyone is intended to cooperate, is the chapter where everyone stops cooperating. That means that whatever Chapter 6 incurs causes everyone to attempt to cooperate against the mastermind, like an identification problem). Oh, the motives that would cause that? They would be using human connections very frequently, and will go as such between each chapter: Saving the environment, younger siblings, older siblings, parents, grandparents, posthumous promises + important possessions having the potential to be destroyed. 6 chapters for each motive, the 7th being the one where they attempt to battle against the masterminds. The masterminds won't enter through smoke like Junko did...twice. Instead, they would disable Monokuma, walk all the way from the control room into the trial room (the player would have to ponder about what happened to them), and be revealed as demented individuals, but not in the same way Junko is demented; it's more like, demented due to being too euphoric. Danganronpa will deviate from the lack of realism it has, and amplify the "truth and lies" theme V3 has, because this one is set in a more realistic residence and education centre than the other times prior.\\\

No, not ''[[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc that]]'' Makoto—[[ThisLoserIsYou the other one.]] It’ll be a massive dose of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor for him.

*** [[spoiler: But Jossed to being SHSL Hope.]] [[spoiler: This is later un-jossed.]]

* All jossed. [[spoiler:She lies about being SHSL Nursery School Teacher to deflect suspicion from herself and is actually SHSL Assassin.]]

*** [[spoiler:Later Jossed as SHSL Hope]]

*** [[spoiler:Later revealed to be lying about her talent to avoid suspicion; she is actually SHSL Assassin.]]

*** [[spoiler:Later revealed to be the SHSL Survivor, who has survived two killing games before this one.]]

Instead it's just a reference to her voice actress Sayaka Kanda, who sings the OP and ED of [[Anime/DanganRonpa3 Dangan Ronpa 3 Side:Future]]

* Actually Confirmed. [[spoiler:Just like Dangan Ronpa 1, everyone know each other before being mind wiped by the Big Bad]]
** Sorry, Jossed... possibly. Depending on interpretation. [[spoiler: The flashback lights made them think they knew each other before the events of the game. Tsumugi claims that they all auditioned to be part of this, but we don't know for certain [[UnreliableNarrator how much we can believe her words]]. As such, we can't say for certain if they auditioned or not, or even what their real pasts are. As such, we don't know whether they knew each other or not.]]

Perhaps ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' will end with Naegi going back in time to prevent the Despairing Incident from happening. This game might therefore take place in a new timeline where Ultimate Despair failed, and the creation of this new school might be a consequence of that failure. The creators did cite ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' as an influence in the new game during interviews.

* [[spoiler: The alternate universe part is confirmed but not in the way you would think.]]
* [[strike:Now jossed since the idea is confirmed a false information.]] It was more like still unknown. Based on the current ending it is [[spoiler:confirmed for alternate reality; jossed for what happened (i.e.: nothing to do with the Despairign Incident]], BUT with the possibility that explaination itself is a lie.

* Jossed. [[spoiler: Danganronpa 3 most likely doesn't take place in the same universe as V3 because, according to the mastermind, all of Danganronpa 1, 3 and everything in between is fictional.]]

* [[spoiler: Not only that, their talents were just implanted to their brain.]]

Since ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' will be wrapping up the stories of Hope's Peak and Naegi, I'm guessing this game will take place in the future after the world has recovered enough from the Despairing Incident for a new school for talented students to open. Some of the new students here might be descendants of characters from the last two games.

* [[spoiler:By the ending it is a mere alternate universe with no relationship to the Tragedy, but even then there is a possibility the explaination is a lie itself. Not confirmed nor jossed.]]

* Confirmed. [[spoiler: [[DecoyProtagonist Kaede Akamatsu]] accidentally kills Rantarou Amami while she was trying to kill the Mastermind.]]
** Subverted. [[spoiler: Kaede is framed by the true killer, the mastermind.]]

* Depend what you mean by "unexpected". [[spoiler:Amami is the "victim", and the "protagonist" Kaede is the Culprit and executed.]]

* [[spoiler: Jossed. In fact you play as him.]]

** You could probably add Kiibo, Maki, and Kaito to this list, the teaser images made them all look really important, with Kiibo, and to a lesser extent, Maki, serving as [[DecoyProtagonist Decoy Protagonists]]
* Confirmed. [[spoiler: Amami is the first victim, while Kaede is the first culprit and got executed. Then Amami is discovered to be actually alive.]]
*** Jossed. [[spoiler: He's truly dead.]]
** [[spoiler: Amami is also not as important as he's made out to be, despite his ??? talent, so that is at least confirmed. Jossed however on all other accounts.]]

* Confirmed. [[spoiler:Culprit of Chapter 2]]

[[WMG: Ryouma Hoshi will survive the game.]]

* [[spoiler:Jossed.]]

* Depend on your point of view... [[spoiler:Jossed. It followed the AdvertisedExtra, Self-Sacrifice led to culprit, Chapter 5 brutal corpse disposal, Chapter 3 double murder...]]
** [[spoiler: Not entirely Jossed. Chapter 1 has Kaede as the killer, and Saihara survives. Chapter 4 does have the big guy as the killer, so that's confirmed. And he got the main trio two thirds right: except instead of Kiibo, it's Saihara. Also, to add to this whole idea of subverting tradition, Ultimate Hope isn't part of the power trio and dies, the rival isn't part of the power trio, and only two of the power trio survive (as opposed to all three in the first game, and only one in the second).]]

* [[spoiler:Jossed. In fact it fits to the Tee.]]

* [[spoiler: Jossed. She's the Mastermind of the game.]]

*** [[spoiler: Half Jossed, Half Confirmed, it was revealed that Ki-Bo was used but not as a weapon of murder but as a Cameraman. But he was unaware of it, until the mastermind told him on the 6th Trial.]]

** [[spoiler: Confirmed, sorta. You do play as her for the Prologue and Chapter 1, but she's later revealed to be the culprit and is executed.]]

** Jossed. [[spoiler: He becomes the main protagonist after Kaede dies.]]

*** [[spoiler:Confirmed.]]

*** [[spoiler: Jossed. Ki-Bo is the last person to die and Maki is the survivor.]]

** Some are confirmed, most are jossed. [[spoiler:Kaito was a culprit, Kokichi was a victim, and Maki survived. 18.75% success rate - that's worse than Hagakure!]]

** Jossed. [[spoiler: It's Shirogane.]]

** Jossed. [[spoiler:He's the SHSL Survivor and saves the students at the end of the game.]]
** [[spoiler: Double Jossed. He didn't survive and Ki-Bo sacrificed himself to save the students to finally end the game at the cost of his life.]]
* [[spoiler:Jossed. Kaede died in the first chapter.]]

** [[spoiler:Jossed.]]

** [[spoiler:Jossed.]]

** [[spoiler:Confirmed.]]

** [[spoiler:Confirmed.]]
** [[spoiler: But Jossed in the end.]]

** [[spoiler:Confirmed.]]

** [[spoiler:Jossed.]]

* [[spoiler: Survivor: Shuichi, Himiko and Maki]]

* [[spoiler: Confirmed for Amami being Chapter 1 victim. Also correct for KI-BO]]

** [[spoiler: Jossed. The third culprit isn't female.]]
*** [[spoiler: The third culprit is Korekiyo Shinguji.]]

* [[spoiler:Jossed for all. It's Tsumugi]]

** But then again, I've seen Kurokuma being used as stand in for males and Shirokuma for females, if there are equal number of males and females in the game, then the Monomi might represent the pigtail girl. Then again, it could also mean any given character of the plot.

* [[spoiler: Jossed, he's also caught in the killing game.]]

[[WMG: Kaede Akamatsu and Rantarou Amami knew each other before the game started]]

* [[spoiler:confirmed. That's why the BigBad wipe their mind, and even then it didn't stick.]]

* confirmed for [[spoiler:Ultimate Survivor. Got it by involving in both DR51 and DR52 game.]]

* [[spoiler: Jossed, he's the leader of a prankster group.]]

* Confirmed. [[spoiler:Maki is actually Ultimate Assassin. And to be honest, aside from Amami, eveyrone is actually just good, but not SHSL]]

* [[spoiler: Partly confirmed. In the fourth trial a glitched Gonta avatar works for him but outside the simulator nobody really likes him.]]

* [[spoiler: Jossed.]]

* [[spoiler: Jossed.]]

** [[spoiler: Jossed. He is the Naegi of the game.]]

* [[spoiler: Confirmed.]]

* [[spoiler: Slightly confirmed. He is actually a group of pranksters and not a dictator. However, he isn't actually insane as he was more or less pretending to be insane.]]

[[WMG: Rantarou genuinely isn't suspicious, but an actual nice guy]]

* Jossed. [[spoiler: Despite the similarities to Komaeda, Rantarou is genuinely benevolent.]]

* Jossed. [[spoiler: He's the ultimate survivor]].

* [[spoiler: Jossed. Himiko survived.]]

* [[spoiler:Confirmed. He is built as important, but dies in the first chapter, but his title of SHSL Survivor and his death is what used to discover the mastermind.]]

* [[spoiler: He may be a RidiculouslyHumanRobots like a Synth, but he's not literally one from Fallout4.]]

*** [[spoiler:Jossed. He is the final victim, not culprit.]]

*** [[spoiler: Depending on how you view it after Kaede's death, Ki-Bo is the SHSL Hope and became the final main character to play.]]

*** [[spoiler: Jossed for the victim part.]]

* Jossed. [[spoiler: The PowerTrio were Kaede, Shuichi, and Ki-Bo as the three "main" characters.]]

[[spoiler:Well, Shuichi is out, except he took up the spot of Protagonist after Kaede got executed.]]
[[spoiler:And Ki-Bo was a temporary Protagonist in the finale.]]

* [[spoiler:Jossed. The mastermind is a participant: Tsumugi.]]

* [[spoiler:Confirmed but to Shuuichi Saihara, not to Kaede because she is not the protagonist. ]]

And he's lying about being the Ultimate Supreme Leader (or if he does have an organization, it's just as a cover like Junko had Ultimate Fashionista). He talks a lot about how he doesn't want to be bored; he's incredibly smart and cunning, to the point he can correctly predict Kaede's FatalFlaw, [[spoiler:Tenko's death]], and everything about the Fifth Trial, in a short amount of time; and he tells Shuichi he finds him the most interesting person there because he doesn't know what to make of him. In short, he hates being bored, can almost perfectly foresee events around him, and takes an interest in something or someone he can't predict. Sounds an awful lot like [[AwesomenessByAnalysis Junko and Izuru]].

[[spoiler:Incidentally, if this theory is true, and Munakata doesn't survive the end of [=DR3=], this person would be a good candidate for a potential mastermind. While Despair probably isn't hereditary, it's possible the despair-ified Chisa left behind something that would make her child think that Naegi had killed her parents to take over the Future Foundation, and thus manipulates her into becoming the next mastermind.]]

* Mitsu Iruma: Likely the child/descendant of Kazuichi and Sonia, her talent is Ultimate Inventor, she wear flashy clothing like Kazuichi, and her appearance is pretty similar to Sonia.
* Korekiyo Shinguji: Possibly one of Gundham's and Sonia's. His appearance is a bit similar to Gundam's, like the bandages around his arms. Plus what better way to have someone interested in folklore than being the son/descendant of a princess? Although this could make Korekiyo the half-brother/cousin of Mitsu.

* Gonta Gokuhara: Possible descendant of Nidai and Akane? His wild haircut looks similar to Akane's, and he has a massive build similar to Nekomaru.
* Rantarou Amami: Descendant of Nagito and an unknown woman. His laughing portrait is ''[[http://powtripfalldieyay.tumblr.com/post/151442174096/uh-oh-everyone-is-locked-up-in-that-prison-school exactly like Nagito's]]'', his hair is similarly messy, and they both have green color schemes.

* [[spoiler:Jossed]]

* [[spoiler:Confirmed. She's the 53rd Junko.]]

* [[spoiler:Jossed.]]

* [[spoiler:Jossed. [=NDRV3=] doesn't even happen in the same universe/timeline as DR and [=SDR2's=].]]

This contains spoilers for the ending, so read at your own risk… [[spoiler: But the Mastermind was lying about the cast being fake Ultimates, Danganronpa being a fictional series and even being the Mastermind. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/comments/f0tmnk/my_thoughts_on_v3s_ending_and_what_i_believe_is/ This thread]] I started on Reddit goes into detail, but I’d like to add onto it here because the trope pages for the character profiles seem to agree that the Mastermind was telling the truth, while there’s actually a few glaring things to indicate that’s not the case… Note, some of what I say here is somewhat different from the Reddit thread, as I’ve been replaying through the game again and re-watching things, so this version is more updated than the thread. This is a long read, but if you believe that Tsumugi was telling the truth, I have things that I think might persuade you that that isn’t the case… Tl;dr at the bottom.]] \\\

[[spoiler:The level of technology in V3 matches up with the level of technology from the previous games. The Flashback Lights seem to replicate the ability to alter memories that were seen in 1 and 2 (along with being able to give people talents like the Izuru Kamukura Project). Keebo is confirmed to be a sentient AI while the Monokubs, Motherkuma and Monokuma are all heavily implied to be sentient AI like Alter Ego, Alter Ego Junko, Shirokuma and Kurokuma. This seems to indicate that the level of technology in V3 is on a similar level (and possibly more advanced with the inclusion of Nanokuma, the Monokubs being so easily recreated and being able to mass produce possibly sentient Monokuma through Motherkuma) as the ones from the “fictional universe.”]] \\\

[[spoiler:The beginning Prologue of V3 heavily implies Ultimate Talents are a real thing in the “real world”. When asked if the characters have an Ultimate Talent when the characters are their “real, talentless selves”, the characters say, “I don’t have an Ultimate Talent.” Strange that the characters don’t say, “Ultimate Talents don’t exist” or “Those are just fiction”, instead they make it seem as if Ultimate Talents are a real thing, they just lack them in particular. This is a very odd choice of words to use if Danganronpa is a fictional story in the real world…]]\\\

[[spoiler:The first part of the Prologue wasn’t them being accepted into the Killing Game. The Monokubs more or less outright say, “This isn’t in the script.” The students were supposed to have their Ultimate Talents, the Exisals weren’t supposed to show up at that point in time, and… This directly contradicts the “flashback” in the final trial where it was all just revealed to be them being shown they got into the show. So which was it? Were the students happy to get onto the show, or were the Monokubs lying for no reason in particular to people that were about to get their memories erased? That “happy reaction” we see is being told to us by a psychopath who has been lying the entire game… And speaking of Tsumugi, if this were them being accepted into the show like she claimed, there was no reasoning behind her putting on a scared front (she has noticeably different screams before and after getting her Ultimate Clothes when seeing the Exisals for the first time), not being in her Ultimate Clothes (the rest were “contestants” so… Why wouldn’t the employee just show up dressed for the part? This makes no sense...) and not bothering to tell the Monokubs, “You’re way off script! The Exisals aren’t supposed to show up yet!” The Monokubs outright say, “You guys weren’t supposed to be like this by the time you woke up.” Based on all of this… The “you got into the show” part wasn’t them being accepted into the show, as the Monokubs were clearly already “on script” and reading their lines before the show even started… And then turn around and basically say, “Just kidding! We knew you weren’t in your roles yet… Ignore everything else we said to signal we thought you were in your roles… That was a joke? You could tell…?” Even Tsumugi was asking questions, almost as though she were genuinely confused as well when this was all part of a “You got into the show!” bit… Whatever was going on in that part, it wasn't meant to be what Tsumugi claimed it was.]] \\\

[[spoiler:The flashback about being accepted into the killing game also directly contradicts what happened in the Prologue. Tsumugi tells the survivors, “You were so happy to get accepted in!” Except… This makes no sense and honestly comes across as pointlessly contrived, as though this “fictional” set up makes no sense. For one, the V3 characters we see in the beginning of the Prologue are their “true selves” but Tsumugi says the Flashback Lights also helped them remember their “true selves” so… Which one of these two (or three, since apparently Tsumugi can't count... Another clue that what she's saying isn't adding up, as apparently the ones we see in the Prologue are their true selves but the ones that "suddenly remembered they were contestants" are also their true selves, but the ones we see before they get their "talents unsealed" are also their true selves but also not their true selves because the ones after getting hit with a flashback light is...? Which one is it Tsumugi?) are their true personalities? Even then, it’s unclear (if we take Tsumugi's words as truth) if the “bloodthirsty” Shuichi is his true personality, the meek, talentless Shuichi we see is the true personality, or the Ultimate Shuichia we play as in the majority of the game is the one that’s the true self (I'd have to lean towards the Ultimate version being the true one, as I've explained above and will below)… This seems needlessly convoluted, and almost like it’s something being made up on the spot… Note, Tsumugi’s saying this AFTER the characters just got hit with brain altering flashlights that can change someone’s personality… That casts serious doubt on how genuine the “happy reactions” were to them getting into their favorite show was (especially with how the Monokubs outright say that everything before the Flashback Lights appear wasn’t supposed to happen to begin with).]] \\\

[[spoiler:Coming off of the last one... What Tsumugi claims happened in the Prologue and what we see in the Prologue... There's a huge contradiction there that heavily implicates that what she's saying is a lie. In the Playable Prologue, the order of events go: Characters get Ultimate Clothes > Seem confused when they're told they look like Ultimates > Get hit Flashback Lights. In the Prologue as Tsumugi tells it, the order of events go: Characters get Ultimate Clothes > Characters seem confused then happy they got into the game > then get hit by the Flashback Lights. These two things directly contradict each other, like the "Happy we got in" part was just ungracefully shoved into the events of what actually happened, not to mention that Tsumugi is conveniently leaving out, "Yeah, you guys only started acting like that after getting hit with the Flashback Lights... Except, no, I literally just said the Flashback Lights are what helped you remember you were in the Killing Game... Except, no, you didn't need them to remember... And what you remembered was fake all along." Yeah, which one is it Tsumugi? Because these statements directly contradict each other. Either the characters were given their ultimate clothes then immediately hit with the Flashback Lights (as we see in the actual Prologue) or they got their clothes, THEN got happy they got into the game THEN got hit with the Flashback Lights... Either they got hit twice with the Flashback Lights in short succession for some reason (and Tsumugi conveniently left this out and made it seem like the Flashback Lights weren't used at that point yet), which also means they got their "first memory" twice (somehow?????) or Tsumugi's lying about when they got hit with the Flashback Lights (has to be one or the other, and I think I'll trust the portion we play as over the recollections of a liar who has plenty of holes in her story). Even more, the way she's phrasing it makes it very uncertain if the "Ultimate Talents" part is what she meant by remembering or "You got into the game" part is what she's referring to, and this whole segment becomes an incomprehensible mess, almost like it's being hastily thrown together at the last possible moment and makes no sense when placed under scrutiny...]]\\\


[[spoiler:The Monokubs more or less state, “You WERE Ultimates.” Even before they get their “false memories.” Keep in mind, this is before anyone gets hit with the Flashback Lights…]]

* [[spoiler:Monosuke: Youse all forgotten your talents and become generic high school students.]]
* [[spoiler:Monotaro: The first thing we need you guys to do is remember your true selves.]]
* [[spoiler:Monophanie: Yeah! You guys need to reclaim your sealed talents by regaining your memories!]]
* [[spoiler:Monotaro: Now then, after the Flashback Lights help you remember your amazing talents.]]

[[spoiler:Now… This part right here is really intriguing. The Monokubs are outright saying that the characters had Ultimate Talents before the Prologue. The Monokubs have no reason to lie at this point… And I’m failing to see how they could become “generic high schoolers” when Ultimate Students apparently don’t exist, how they could forget their “true selves” and “reclaim” talents they supposedly never had to begin with and unsealing something that was apparently never there to begin with... Notably, Monotaro says that the Flashback Lights will help them "remember your amazing talents" which more or less confirms they had Ultimate Talents at some point before the game started. The Monokubs have no reason to lie here, as the characters will have their memories tampered with shortly after, and they genuinely seem to be probing to figure out what went wrong (and frustrated that they didn't have their talents yet because Monophanie didn't restore them like she was supposed to). Keep in mind that Tsumugi seems genuinely confused here as well, which she has no reason to be doing if she’s the Mastermind. My take? The cast of V3 are really Ultimates (the Monokubs outright saying they weren’t always generic high school students, that they had their amazing talents at some point before the game started and remembering their amazing talents/true selves), they just had their memories erased to keep them safe from the people in the Prologue that abducted the (memory wiped) Ultimates... It didn’t work, and it looks like they got dragged into a Killing Game run by crazy people/homicidal AI.]] \\\

[[spoiler:Were the character's personalities all fictional? No, not really. If you pay attention to the Prologue (before their memories were altered by the Flashback Lights), you'll notice... Shuichi acts the same as he does in the game (even keeping on his hat), Kaede acts the same (if slightly more cynical), Rantaro (from what little we see) acts the same, Maki is still as cool as a normal person as when she's the Ultimate Assasin, Miu's still rude and swears in the brief moments we see her, Tenko still has her panicking sprites, and notably Korekiyo is wearing his mask BEFORE seeing the Flashback Light and pretty much everyone else (except Tsumugi) seem to act the same (or not wildly different compared to) the ones we see in the game. I'd say the depictions we see in the game are how they naturally behave (sans maybe Tsumugi, which I'll cover down below... But I suspect her personality (minus the mastermind bit) is how she naturally acts as well).]] \\\

[[spoiler:Were the characters given fake names? No, they did not have fake names. Shuichi and Kaede both have the same names in the Prologue, and the Japanese audio of the final trial strongly sounds like the "real" Shuichi in the audition tape is saying his name is "S-(Static) S-(Static)", making me believe Shuichi Saihara is his true name. For more evidence that they have the same names as the "fictional characters" they're playing... Rantaro Amami is supposedly a fictional character with a fake name, yet the "real one" we see in the beginning of the Prologue is also named Rantaro Amami...? With all this in mind... Kaede, Shuichi and Rantaro are all using their real names, not the names of fictional characters they were given. With the audio from the Japanese version, I'd even say it's likely the Shuichi we see there is using the name Shuichi Saihara as well.]] \\\

[[spoiler:Were the character’s backstories all fictional? Well... There’s a lot of things pointing to the characters we see in the game being their true selves (in addition to what the Monokubs state), besides the planet being uninhabitable part of course. Gonta claims he’s from a respectable family… The [[https://i.imgur.com/MhU9uhM.png visual dictionary]] for V3 states that the clothes we see him in in the Prologue before they get their Ultimate Clothes looks like something from a “respectable family.” Shuichi (the Ultimate Detective) heard of Ryoma killing mafia with a steel ball, which makes sense for a detective to have heard of a criminal organization being destroyed. Shuichi also has a thing about not removing his hat in the Prologue as well... Which doesn't make sense if that was just something added to the character. Kaede mentions that her friends used Miu’s eye drop contact lenses invention, but never heard of Miu herself (the product can be well known, but the inventor might be unknown). These little details make me think that the characters we see in V3 are their “true selves” and their backstories are really what happened.]]\\\


[[spoiler:Building off of the last one, but deserving its own paragraph. Of special note is Keebo and if he was just created to be a character on Danganronpa… There’s a lot of evidence that he wasn’t created to be the Audience Surrogate. For one, he’s first seen wearing regular clothing, instead of just showing up in his Ultimate Robot attire (why bother putting him in regular clothing, then changing his clothes, then erasing his memories instead of just having him come with those clothes from the beginning?). Two, his antenna… It’s usually pointing up or at a 45 degree angle, but in the Prologue, he’s wearing a hat that would be flattening it (and likely affecting reception for the audience). Three, the [[https://i.imgur.com/MhU9uhM.png visual dictionary]] confirms he was trying to hide his metal body with the “normal” clothing we see in the beginning of the game (implying he had a life before the Killing Game started, which also makes no sense if he were created to just be the Audience Surrogate)… Based on all of this, I’d have to say he really is the Ultimate Robot and trying to blend in as a regular human being after having his memories tampered with, but was repurposed into being the Audience Surrogate (the antenna was likely placed on his body when everyone got their Ultimate Clothes).]] \\\

[[spoiler:Rantaro almost certainly wasn’t in any previous Killing Games. Yes, that video was compelling… But there’s a slight issue there. The Ultimate Clothes we see reflect the talents of the Ultimate wearing them (Shuichi looks like a detective, Kaede’s musical notes related clothing, Himiko looking like a witch/magician…), but the Rantaro we see in the video is wearing the exact same Ultimate Clothes that we see him in in the game. So… Rantaro was the Ultimate Survivor twice in a row…? Because of his attire, I believe this is genuinely his first Killing Game, and being exposed to the Flashback Light gave him false memories and he made that video while being brainwashed. There’s also the fact that if this were the truth, and Danganronpa is a fictional series, none of the “huge fans” didn’t recognize Rantaro immediately as being a previous character on the show. There’s also the implication that the audition tapes we see were recorded inside the school ([[https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/comments/76vxwm/v3_endgametrial_6_spoilers_v_found_something/ Tsumugi's Ultimate Lab has a floor panel that pretty closely resembles the floor of what we see from the audition tapes…]]), and going with this and the above… They were tapes the characters recorded while brainwashed into thinking they got into their favorite show, which doesn’t exist.]] \\\

[[spoiler:The big one… The Mastermind probably isn’t who she thinks she is. Yes, Tsumugi is supposedly the Mastermind… Except, no, there’s actually a lot of clues hinting that she’s not aware of everything that happened in the Prologue as well. [[https://imgur.com/a/jQwDRGt First, the Normal!Tsumugi we see in the Prologue screams much more genuinely (“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”) while Ultimate!Tsumugi’s screams seem less genuine (“Kyaaaaa!”) when they both see the Exisals for the first time… If this were an act, why would she choose to scream differently?]] During the Prologue, she at no point tells the Monokubs, “You’re off script! The Exisals aren’t supposed to come in yet!” when she supposedly wrote the script? Why wasn’t she already dressed for her part as the Ultimate Cosplayer, and instead came to work dressed as a regular student and chose to act the part of one for no reason? Why was she asking questions like the other students when there was supposedly no reason for her to hide her true self at that point in time? And if she’s such a huge fan of Danganronpa and wrote out everything… Why did she make such basic mistakes in regards to the lore of the series...? Her being the Mastermind at that point in time makes no sense, especially the issues with her pretending to be a regular high school student one minute then going all Team Danganronpa the next to tell everyone, “Yeah, you got into the show.” With this in mind, and factoring in that she only began acting as a Team Danganronpa employee AFTER getting hit with the Flashback Lights (note: she herself doesn't mention or recall the first time the Flashback Lights were used earlier than that when she said they were, so either she's deliberately lying about this or unintentionally lying...), her role as the Mastermind was something fabricated as well. She probably really is the Ultimate Cosplayer (much like Shuichi is the Ultimate Detective, Kaede is the Ultimate Piantist, etc.), but she’s just been brainwashed into thinking she’s a member of a team that isn’t real and to be part of a TV Show that doesn’t exist. “But Tsumugi wrote out all of the plotlines!” Keep in mind that it’s heavily implied Tsumugi was looking into the (memory altering) Flashback Lights too throughout the game with the rest of the cast, so her “writing out the plots” could very well be her just being brainwashed into thinking that’s what actually happened.]] \\\

[[spoiler:With all of this in mind… The reveals from the final trial don’t make too much sense, and it almost seems like things that were revealed don’t make much sense, and I strongly believe it was because Tsumugi was grasping at straws (and failing) to make a comprehensible narrative out of what was going on (not to mention, she herself probably wasn't entirely sure of what was real at the time either, as she might not even be the true Mastermind).]] \\\

[[spoiler:TL;DR: There’s tons of evidence that V3 takes place in the same continuity as the rest of the series, the characters are all really Ultimates, Keebo, the Monokubs and V3!Monokuma are likely AI like Shirokuma, Kurokuma and Alter Ego Junko (which fits with the technology being the same as the supposedly "fictional universe's" technology) and Tsumugi is almost certainly brainwashed into believing she’s the Mastermind when she isn’t based on how she acts in the beginning of the game. ]] \\\

* [[spoiler:Confirmed. Shuichi become the new protagonist after Kaede was executed. Kibo become playable in Chapter 6]]

** [[spoiler: Jossed. There is no confirmed same sex couple in the game.]]
** [[spoiler: Actually, I'd say that was confirmed. Many Love Hotel scenes strongly imply the existence of homosexual romance between the characters, and some of them directly delve into sexual elements. If that's not considered forward enough with LGBT themes, I do not know what would be considered as such.]]
*** [[spoiler:There is also the fact that Tenko has a very obvious crush on Himiko.]]

* [[spoiler:Confirmed except for Miu. Kaede is playable in chapter 1, Shuuichi is playable from then till he has a HeroicBSOD, during which KI-BO takes over.]]

* [[spoiler:Confirmed. Shuichi became the new protagonist once Kaede is revealed to be the first killer.]]

* [[spoiler: Jossed. The Tragedy never took place in the universe of Danganronpa V3. Some characters have done terrible things, though. Like murdering or defraud...]]
** [[spoiler: but all these terrible things are fake memories implanted in their mind.]]

** [[spoiler:Jossed. Kaede faked being a culprit, failed to defend herself, and was executed.]]
*** [[spoiler: Double jossed. Kaede didn't fake being a culprit but it turns out she wasn't the real culprit to begin with and was framed by the mastermind/the real killer of the first trial.]]

* [[spoiler: Jossed.]]

* [[spoiler: Jossed. Junko does not physically exist in the universe V3 takes place in.]]

** [[spoiler: Jossed.]]

** [[spoiler: Jossed.]]

** [[spoiler: Confirmed, but there's a twist: the videos with the personal details on them are shuffled around so that every student gets the video of someone else. Except Kirumi, that is.]]

The traitor angle hasn't been mentioned yet, but it's likely that there will be another one. To wit, our last two (not counting [[spoiler:Gekkougahara]]) were female, lovable, were "benevolent" traitors who had everyone's best interests in mind, and who were only outed as the traitor shortly before their death. Some guesses:

** [[spoiler:Technically confirmed. All of the students were given fake memories and personalities.]]

* [[spoiler:Monotaro also briefly joins the students' side in the Chapter 4 investigation due to his amnesia.]]

[[WMG: Rantarou will end up being just a red herring.]]

* [[spoiler:Confirmed.]]

** Jossed. [[spoiler: It's Tsumugi, but she does use KI-BO as a mole. Specifically he's the TV Camera.]]

As per Dangan Ronpa tradition, the [[AdvertisedExtra one of the most heavily advertised characters]] among the cast is killed off early in the game. Kaede is easily the biggest contender for this. Going with the theme of lies, Kaede is actually lying about her status as a protagonist. At some point Kaede is killed and Shuichi takes her place. Evidence to support the theory:
** Shuichi Saihara fit the description of a typical Dangan Ronpa protagonist, a prominent ahoge and a lack of confidence in themselves.
** During the trial in the demo, Shuichi's stand has him facing Monokuma, a stand normally reserved for the protagonist.
** On one leak sound clip, Angie ask Shuichi to be her husband, a request normally given at the end of a free time event.
*** Interestingly, the [[https://www.exophase.com/game/%25E3%2583%258B%25E3%2583%25A5%25E3%2583%25BC%25E3%2583%2580%25E3%2583%25B3%25E3%2582%25AC%25E3%2583%25B3%25E3%2583%25AD%25E3%2583%25B3%25E3%2583%2591%25EF%25BD%2596%25EF%25BC%2593%25E3%2580%2580%25E3%2581%25BF%25E3%2582%2593%25E3%2581%25AA%25E3%2581%25AE%25E3%2582%25B3%25E3%2583%25AD%25E3%2582%25B7%25E3%2582%25A2%25E3%2582%25A4/trophies/ trophies]] for the game have Saihara in there with his hat off instead of Kaede anywhere at all, and the award showing the survivors at the final Trial has [[spoiler:Saihara, Tsumugi, Himiko, Maki, and Kibo]] in the elevator. So it's more than likely that Saihara is the true protagonist.
* [[spoiler:Confirmed. He took over from Chapter 2.]]
* [[spoiler: While Kiibo temporarily took over Shuichi's role in Chapter 6.]]

- Rantaro was the Ultimate Survivor and he already understood the rules of the Killing Game and could have ended it very early had he lived longer. Tsumugi took advantage of the fact he was alone in the library (and the death trap planted by Kaede earlier) and killed him, thus eliminating the one person who understood the situation fully and, as an added bonus, killing Kaede not only put the spotlight on the far more weak-willed Shuichi, but it shattered the previous unity of the group. In short, Kaede was being ''too competant'' as a leader to be allowed to live. If she had continued to rally the students, they might have been unlikely to want to kill.

- Hoshi was the only person who pointed out that Tsumugi had an opportunity to kill Rantaro, but his line of questioning is shot down because nobody knew about the passageway in the girl's bathroom. However, this is the ''only'' time in the trials Tsumugi is ever put in the hot seat and she couldn't allow the participants to notice her too closely or they might start to get suspicious. So, it's likely that Tsumugi specifically made Hoshi's motive video blank in order to push his depression into a DespairEventHorizon, making him too apathetic to fight back. Like with Kaede, killing TeamMom Kirumi was also a bonus because Kirumi was another person the other students trusted and relied upon, so adding enough pressure to make her snap turned another seemingly-trustworthy person into a killer, thus driving everyone closer to despair.

- Angie was trying to revive Rantaro, and while it would have been impossible, it proved a problem because everyone was obsessed with the séances and finding out the truth. Not to mention, Angie's cult was adding extra rules to prevent murder and Tsumugi couldn't have that. Also, Tenko was an extra addition from Korekiyo, but Tenko showed Shuichi and Himiko she could read people's emotions by throwing them. Supposing Tsumugi was afraid of Tenko doing the same to her and discovering her emotions were fake?

- Miu was the one who always fixed Kiibo, the camera into the Killing Game and she improved him several times over the course of the story. There was an increasing likeliness that either Miu would realise what Kiibo was really in the killing game for, or she might have ended up tampering with Kiibo's RestrainingBolt antenna. Plus, her know-how with computers and ability to have total control over her surroundings in the Killing Game's virtual simulator mean that had Miu not decided to target Kokichi, she could have killed Tsumugi effortlessly and end the game.

- Kokichi is the only victim who chose to die and browbeat Kaito into helping him, with his explicit intention to throw the Mastermind off and make an unsolvable murder. And even this worked to Tsumugi's advantage as Kokichi was the last remaining person, besides Shuichi, who could have exposed her as the Mastermind.

[[folder:Post Release (Unmarked Spoilers)]]

[[folder:Danganronpa 4 Speculation (SPOILERS FOR V3 INSIDE)]]

* It could very well be factual with the whole opening [[https://www.polygon.com/2018/9/11/17845946/too-kyo-games-danganronpa-zero-escape-creators-studioforming his own indie studio recently.]] even though they seem to be collaborating with Spike Chunsoft on one project.

[[WMG: Dangan Ronpa after [=NDRV3=] will be LighterAndSofter, or at least not based around murder mysteries.]]