Danganronpa; Despair! Despair! Despair! Mania (D!D!D! Mania) takes place in a fictional gaming academy labeled 'オタクゲーマーアカデミー', aka 'Otaku Gamer Academy'. 16 students and 2 staff members had been gathered through a field trip to the academy, and confined by themselves only to be forced into a killing game and bossed around by the 'Final Boss Assistant'; aka Chiyoko Manami.
The trapped students and staff are informed they’d be resting in some of the academies dorm rooms, resulting in a bit of cries and horrified comments. Chiyoko overlooks the remarks and hands them all tablets designed for them and focused, theme-wise, on the person and their talent, giving them a map of the academy, and a small chat room where they may speak to the Audience at times. Some of them attempt to find answers, but truly only find anonymous people chatting and fangirling over the fact they maintained contact with an ultimate. Afterward, they’re left alone to explore the academy by themselves, lead by the two staff members who had hoped to ease them.
LOCATIONS:
- Main Lobby, labelled in the Tablet as 'Game Start!'
- Arcade Room, labelled in the Tablet as 'Fun Fun Fun!'
Characters and Tropes:
Ultimate Game Programmer.
Chiyoko is a passionate teenager and a stubborn one at that. Her upbeat behavior and her childish manner rank her to be one of the most optimistic of the killing game. She speaks openly about the games she has developed but bitterly speaks against any other game developers who haven’t achieved as much as her: a total of 45 games as she declares. She's highly competitive when it comes to her talent and says she's won many awards but lacks the real ability prove them. She often poses as though she is going to be taken a photo of, and uses many hand gestures when explaining herself. She shows interest in the concept of talents and speaks as though they're hobbies rather than deemed talents. Her experience has led her to be a loud mouth since she's had to speak up multiple times at gaming events and interviews. Her loud mouth can lead to quick speaking and bickering though, arguing proving to be one of her strong points thanks to her ability to analyze other's behaviors, as needed in games that involve multiple main characters. Her confidence can lead her to her downfall though, on occurrences addressing so highly of herself that it irritates others to be around her. Her ego does prove to be a highly problematic factor to her personality, but she still has the belief that most should go her way, the same view of life seeming to drive her motives throughout the game.
Story Development
Starting off the killing game, Chiyoko introduces herself as the ‘Final Boss Assistant’ whose only motivation is to prove herself worthy towards the mastermind. She explains to the students that she is not allowed to harm them, but they will be entitled to participate in the killing game whether they’d like to or not.Tropes
- Slave Collar : She wears a tight collar with a game coin stuck to the front as part of the design, fitting the game theme of a gaming academy and such.
- Good All Along : It is revealed during chapter six's trial that Chiyoko was just an innocent programmer enforced to listen to Miyuki through brainwashing, and although she did help the mastermind she is one of the survivors of the killing game.
- Genki Girl : She is highly energetic and can tend to speak quickly when ranting.
Ultimate Chronic Nightmare Resource Helper
female, one of the staff members
Tropes
- The Cutie : She is adored among the students even though she is one of the staff, she is one of the youngest and most optimistic staff (as said during Miyuki's freetime events) and is highly liked and trusted by most of the students that got trapped, even managing to get Chiyoko and Aya to trust her innocent speech and leadership throughout the killing game. During chapter four, Mayu is called untrustworthy by a few students and framed for being the killer, which causes Chiyoko to give Michiko a more brutal execution.
- The Nicknamer : Rather then referring to the students by their name, she has a nickname for all of them. An example would be 'Mimi' for Mickie.
Ultimate FX Makeup Artist.
femaleTropes
- Master of Disguise : Carter is shown a few times having the ability to use make up to disguise as any person, as questioned in the fourth trial. She says that she is very uncomfortable in others clothing though, so she lacks the ability to fully disguise as anyone comfortably.
- I Should Write a Book About This : She is revealed to have a journal in her dorm room with writing about her experience and her honest opinions on the others, some being rude and some being more praising. There is shown to be three full pages about her and Hayate's relationship. The journal showed a bit more of her girly side the others didn't know about.
- Secretly Wealthy : Although some of the others brag about being wealthy, specifically Hayate, Carter is quiet about her personal life and prefers that others don't point out her last name. Due to this weakness, Anastasia uses her secret of wealth as a reason to pit against her during chapter fours trial, stating that she possibly just wanted to leave and become rich with Hayate.
Ultimate Mad Scientist
Kenji is a very intelligent student, resulting in him being the second smartest student in the cast, under Miyuki. His intelligence, as stated in his free time events, is all taught to him by his adoption father, who had adopted him to help with projects. He is very straight forward when it comes to the investigations but can sometimes go too into detail which causes the other characters to be unsure about hanging around him during investigations and trial. Him and Miyuki are seen as the smartest students out of the cast and rely on each other a lot to back each other up. He isn't much of a talker, but does enjoy being asked questions and does try to speak optimistically in most situations.
Tropes
- Technicolor Science : Once Kenji's dorm is openly revealed to the students, it is shown that he has multiple projects displayed to help the others escape. But due to this, the other students begin distrusting him thanks to the fact the first motive contained deadly gas, which the dorm proves he is capable of making- pointed out by Miyuki.
Ultimate Lepidopterist
Daichi is a straight A goodie goodie student, a shining star as you would call. His optimism causes him to be trusted among the students, but he does have a horrible tendency to go on rants about butterflies when he means to be talking about hope. He compares many things to butterflies, even the students and staff and their unlucky situation. He is a very creative person and attempts to help during trials by stating possibilities, often getting shamed for some confusing or unrealistic ideas. He's always adored butterflies and their habits, as he states, and his optimistic and encouraging speeches originating from them just proves it. He is a determined, courageous boy but he is too interested in butterflies to truly show his optimism and encouragement to the others.
Tropes
- Big Brother Instinct : Daichi is seen mostly focused on comforting Mayu, since she is one of the smallest and more emotionally unstable of the cast. Due to this, he earns the title 'Brother Daichi', and he sticks with it proudly.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her... : His highly protective demeanor to Mayu gets to him, and he threatens Chiyoko during the fourth trial after she states she could just execute Mayu and Michiko if they wouldn't relax.
Ultimate Spirit Medium
Anastasia is one of the creepiest students among them, and although she is intimidating, she does her best to help the cast even though it's through unusual and mysterious ways. Her voice is almost always like a whisper, and she doesn't get too much sleep. Restless and peaceful, she says she can speak and see ghost among them, who wish to help as well but cannot. She even goes as far as to apologizing for the spirits that pass throughout the killing game. She has a limit though, and if she dislikes the person who the spirit is apologizing to she will refuse. She seems to be selfish when it comes to spirit-related deeds, but outside that she is a very selfless person and is usually unable to help during trials under force by Chiyoko.
close to Hideyoshi
Tropes
- Clawing at Own Throat : In situations where she is especially excited or coming to a conclusion, she begins scratching at her own throat in order to focus on her thoughts.
Ultimate Ocularist
femaleOne of the staff members trapped as well
Tropes
- Evil All Along : Miyuki is revealed to be the mastermind during Aya's (Chapter 6's) trial, stating she killed Aya as well for comedical and shock reasons, leaving the audience, specifically Admin Hitoshi, furious.
- The Stoic : Her lack of expressions causes the cast to deem her as 'emotionless', even though she states in her free times that it is because she's been focused on her studies most her life.
Ultimate Lolita Event Coordinator
Hayate is a very straightforward person when it comes to speaking, resulting in him coming off as more sour then intellectual aspect of the students. He is very smart though, and is very useful during trials alongside Shigeko in explaining how the murder occurred. Although they work alongside like partners during trials, Hayate is very strict and crude to Shigeko and many of the others, excluding his significant other Carter. He is often teased and teases back carter, which results in arguments among the students or them sometimes. His bluntness causes him to lack many trustworthy friends in the killing game, but he tries his best to open up with a few of the students and in the end, he becomes much more understanding and thoughtful of his statements.
Tropes
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other : During chapter four, Hayate appears to be much more emotional due to the accusations towards Carter. When asked afterwords why he got so mad, he openly spoke about how much she truly meant to her, minus the teasing the two constantly were known for. Carter then apologizes for not being able to defend herself as properly during the time, but Hayate shakes it off and places a kiss on her forehead as a motion that it was alright.
- Affectionate Nickname : He's called 'sweetheart' by Carter on multiple occasions.
- Embarassing Nickname : Given by Mayu, Hayate is nicknamed 'tsutsu' thanks to his last name 'Itsuki'. He states he doesn't like the nickname, but bares with it anyways.
Ultimate Vocal Mimic
Michiko Shika is manipulative and selfish, although she is talented for her perfections in voice mimicking. She relies on self-importance over others, believing she’s much higher, and sometimes even purposefully going as far as to start fights by using her talent to persuade others in a terrible way. She was only accepted into Hope’s Peak due to her peaked grades and high talents, aside from that, she was one of the least likely to be accepted due to her negative behavior. Michiko, unlike highly assumed, does not come from a wealthy family, her confidence is brought by years of being praised, and being treated and brought to believe that she was a princess. Although she doesn't believe the princess part anymore, she does believe the rest.
Tropes
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Although she does dress and talk like a 'princess', she's shown no remorse for others and has proved multiple times throughout the series how rude she is.
Main Members consist of ‘Magical Girl Nika~!☆’, ‘Admin Hitoshi’, and ‘Xena~chan!! ♡’.
Tropes
- Fiery Redhead : Admin Hitoshi is revealed to be a redhead thanks to his icon of himself, aside from that there are some scenes showing that his anger can easily be clicked; specifically at phrases about helping the cast.
