Darth Wiki / Once Upon a Trial

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who’s the fairest of them all?
Certainly not you, my dear,
After all, it should be quite clear.
Excuse me, allow me to be polite.
You need to get out of my sight.

— Once Upon a Trial Promo

Once Upon a Trial is a submission-based Tumblr Danganronpa roleplay group similar to Doubt Academy that began in May of 2014. The game is set in the mysterious Märchen Kingdom, a land where fictitious fairy tales are very real. The game replaces Monobear and Usami/Monomi with characters known as Monogoose and Swanami/Monoduck.

The game is unique in that there is a much heavier focus on exploration and investigation, as well as the inclusion of several non-player characters who can be interacted with on their own blogs, similar to how players interact with each other. The game began with a roster of 31 students and is currently in its fifth chapter.

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Tropes Present in Once Upon a Trial

• Affectionate Nickname: Andre calls Ricardo dove and Kazuma sweetie.
• All a Part of the Job: Andre sees nothing wrong with killing people since it's his job.
• Anyone Can Die: One may expect Foerlie to last a while into the game, as they share the same title as Naegi Mokoto, the protagonist of the original Dangan Ronpa, but they are the first to be killed.
• An Arm and a Leg: Daichi amputates his leg to save himself from a mermaid.
• Awkward Kiss:
  • Kohaku attempts to kiss Pascal, but since Pascal is so tall and Kohaku couldn't see him, he ends up hitting his nose on his chin.
  • Mayu shares one with Ryouta. To be fair, they were dared.
• Bad Boss: Monogoose has ordered the execution of two of her staff so far. This was after crippling both Briar and Swanami/Monoduck. Not to mention how she treats the students.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Kazuma's such a sweetheart to everyone, even politely asking Mia to stop yelling at his friends. But how does he respond to the fact that Daichi uses one of their three mastermind votes to save Renee? He blows up on him!

• Cloudcuckoolander: Waka's first public investigation post includes him sniffing the corpses. He finds out they smell like blood.
• Cool Mask: Maro has various masks of mythical creatures and beasts as well as spiritual animals. Only one was shown in the game.
• Crash-Into Hello: Daichi with Persephone. During his first meeting with her, he trips and falls on her. Luckily, he doesn't knock her over, he's too busy getting caught in her chest.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Bambi gets them during the prologue and the beginning of the first chapter when he's deprived of his bow and arrows.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • Maro was killed when his head was chopped off.
  • Etnis is torn to shreds and then eaten by lake monsters.
  • Ryouta is executed for being late to the trial. They're in a car driving down a highway late at night, and they think their father is driving the car, and meanwhile, the narration is periodically noting what time it is. The driver turns out to be a mannequin, and Ryouta realizes that the car is actually their method of execution. They realize this to no avail; their seatbelt will not release them and pounding on the glass windows of the car doesn't work. A black and white semi-truck driven by Monogoose appears and heads straight at the car, which speeds up and deliberately crashes into the truck, killing Ryouta in the crash...at 11:21PM, the same time as a previous crash.
  • Momoko is tasked to find 8 notes, and the last one leads her inside a tunnel. Then a horrible monster, a Slenderman parody called "Slendergoose", appears and starts chasing Momoko. She finds more notes written on trees giving her encouraging messages, but then more creatures rise from the ground to join Slendergoose in pursuing her (it is deliberately left vague what sort of creatures they are). Just as Momoko is about to grab the very last note, a voice coming from everywhere says "Play with us, Momoko..." and Momoko's pursuers grab her and drag her into the darkness. We aren't given the exact details on what happens next, all we hear is her screaming and her bones breaking.
  • Mayu's severed head shows she was in a lot of pain when she died.
  • Mia is split in half by a sawmill. It doesn't help that Mia's number one fear is sharp objects.
  • Koe is crushed to death by several video screens showing images of horrifying instances of injustice. Her fingers are sliced off when she tries to escape. Interestingly, this was originally an execution designed for Mayu, as it fits a Diplomat more than it does an Otologist, but justified in that Koe's only executed after taking Mayu's place.
  • For Renée's execution, she is forced to dance attached to razor wires that are controlling her movements and slicing her joints. But she's actually killed when her audience throws lit bottles onto the stage, burning the curtains and causing the theater to topple onto her.
• Dark and Troubled Past: It's hinted that Ricardo was abused by his peers in his early life. Chapter Six it's revealed he was tormented by his peers for allegedly being the child of an affair, which he wasn't. His only friend ended up being hit by a car in an attempt to save him and his teacher lost an arm protecting him.
• Declaration of Protection: In response to Foerlie's death, he decides that he won't allow anyone else to die.
• Deus Exit Machina:
  • It's not explained, but Arthur and Biscuit were missing until the fourth chapter. Their absence is what lead Andre to shoot them.
  • Persephone isn't present at all after Monogoose appears. The reason is a tree fell on her and she was unconscious during the whole first trial and murders.
• The Ditz: Although she can think fast in dancing, she doesn't think well under pressure, as seen when Ricardo faints from heat exhaustion and her response is to spit in her hand and rub it on him as they have no access to water. Shown again when she suspects something of being hidden under the floorboards. Since she can't break through it, she attempts to burn through the wood.

• Expository Hairstyle Change: In the third chapter, Émeric dyes his hair black to go along with the him he's suppose to be.
• Expressive Mask: To show emotions, Maro's mask will sometimes either get anime-style "tics" around it (such as throbbing veins or flowers), or change colors.
• Eye Scream:
  • In the third trial Hikaru turns up to the trial with a black eye later revealed to have been an accident while trying to get to the still injured Daichi. A rock he had thrown to wake him up fell back and hit him in the face.
  • Pascal's eyes are ripped out in the beginning of Chapter Six by Yuki.

• Fanservice: Momoko strips during chapter one's trial. Again during the second trial but it ends up being Fan Disservice for her because it reveals that she has an injury on her shoulder, tying into her involvement in the murder.
• Fingore: Koe attempts to reach to safety during her execution but her fingers are cut off.
• Follow in My Footsteps: Her mother's career seems to have been one of the key factors Renée began ballet.
• Fortune Teller: Hikaru does in fact do Tarot Card readings in canon, one of which apparently had predicted something along the lines of Pascal and Ricardo's plot. It specifically read that Pascal would desire "Bad News", and a classmate's execution was the worst news, he of course didn't realize this until after the fact.

• Groin Attack: Mia threatens this to Etnis during the first trial. Later fulfills this by kicking Ricardo in the groin.
• Heroic BSoD: Yuki enters one in chapter six when Kazuma, their roommate, Daichi, their friend, and Anaki, their best friend, are murdered.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Koe's open titles are either references to her deafness (Soundless Voice and It's Too Quiet) or instrumental songs.
• Interrupted Suicide: Ricardo. This could also double as interrupted murder since the suicide was attempted by his other self Death's Judgment. This happens again in Chapter Six. Overcome by the guilt being put on him by his classmates, he attempts to jump out the window.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
  • Ricardo helps Pascal come up with the murder plan for Mayu and Persephone's death, but when Pascal becomes the murderer and gets to leave the Kingdom, he urges him to go without him.
  • This is what leads to Koe sacrificing herself to save Mayu.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Simon can be pretty bitter towards almost everyone, but he shows compassion on and encourages Yuki during the second chapter.
• Kleptomaniac Hero Found Underwear: In Chapter Six Yuki finds Andre's man thong.
• Late to the Tragedy: Thanks to the nature of the announcements Koe's been missing motives and body discoveries constantly. In the first chapter she wasn't aware anyone was dead until she nearly walked into their bodies, and missed the second motive completely. Averted by chapter three when she gets a transcription of the motive since she can't hear any terrified shrieks.
• Laughing Mad: Pascal's reduced to laughter to this when he finds Kohaku, his sort of boyfriend, dead in the third chapter.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Apparently, Foerlie was so named because when they were born, a Four-Leaf Clover blew into their mouth and they choked on it.
  • Maro's nickname "Momotaro" means "Peach Boy", a popular hero from Japanese folklore. The first name "Maro" is an older, ancient word refitted to a name that means "myself", and the last name "Moto" is coined to mean "base","root" or "origin". Together, Maro's name could be taken to mean "myself who explains the origins of things" or "myself, the origin", a clever name for a SHSL Folklorist.
• Mercy Kill: Daichi considers doing this to Renee after she turns out to be chapter 4's culprit, his reasoning being that if he takes out a gun and shoots her right in the courtroom, Renee would at least die quick and thus be spared one of Monogoose's painful executions. But then Daichi decides against it and puts his gun away, figuring that Monogoose would probably make his plan backfire somehow anyway.
• The Mole: Yuki was blackmailed by the mastermind into becoming this or else their grandfather would be killed.
• Mommy Issues: The details are never given, but Renée has a lot of stress built up from her mother. It was actually hearing her mother's voice that drove her to kill Ayuta.
• Mythology Gag:
  • During the first trial, Mia replies to Mayu's comment with her sprite depicting the NPC "You've got that wrong!" sprites from Dangan Ronpa 2.
  • During the first trial, Renée interrupts Etnis' confession with an "Um, excuse me", while her sprite parallels the NPC "You've got that wrong!" sprite from Super Dangan Ronpa.
  • During chapter two's trial, Ricardo uses a sprite that is based off on the NPC "You've got that wrong!" sprites from Dangan Ronpa 2.
• Nightmare Fetishist:
  • Waka to a certain degree. He describes Foerlie's death as being beautiful.
  • Besides the obvious, Mongoose has no problem and even seems to enjoy being coated in Foerlie's blood after they're crushed.
• No Face Under the Mask: In game, there has yet to be any scene depicting Maro without his mask. As it turns out, he does have a face under his mask, but it has only been seen on his mun's multimuse account and it could not be cannon in Once Upon A Trial.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Mia comes to realize this with Momoko. This leaves her fearing what she may be capable of since Momoko murdered her friend so cruelly.
• Older Than They Look: At 17 Koe's at the older end of the cast and yet ends up the designated little sister every time.

• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Mia delivers one in chapter four's trial because she's frustrated that no one will listen to her unless she yells at them.
  • Anaki:
    • Delivers one in the third trial when everyone criticizes Mayu for killing Kohaku and Sani and Yuki for helping her when in reality they were just trying to save their loved ones.
    • She again delivers one to Pascal and Ricardo who killed Mayu and Persephone, let Mia die in Pascal's place, and then refused to take the spoils of their murder and leave the kingdom to get help.
    • Later delivers another one to Daichi for using one of their three mastermind votes to save Renee.
• The Rival: Pascal with Sani. It's more like the two of them trying to out-flirt the other and both claiming they're better at sex.
• Robotic Reveal: Possibly. When Monogoose rips out Briar's wings, it's shown they were attached by wires, making this trope possible.
• Rule of Cute: As Monoduck, almost everything he does is adorable. His main threat to people is that he will molt on them, he's smaller than his crown, and during the party in chapter one, he sleeps in Chiyo's hair.
• Sanity Slippage: With the dual murders, the graphic content of said murder, and the feeling she's not really made any progress in the investigation, Min-Yun suffers a bit of a breakdown.
• Self-Harm: Etnis revealed in chapter two that they've been cutting their arms and stomach. They never say they did it, but there are tags for self harm on the post.]]
• Shipper on Deck: Mongoose mentions in the third trial that she ships Koe and Mayu. In fact, the reason she allowed Koe to die for Mayu was so she could have the joy of knowing she ripped them apart.
• Shout-Out:
  • To Metal Gear Solid when Momoko references the exclamation point sound effect after Etnis strips.
  • Momoko's execution is in parody of Slender in which she is tasked to find eight pages before being caught and killed by Slendergoose.
  • One of the items pulled from the well was a kazoo, with Kazuya Hirayama, from Doubt Academy 2 White on it.
• Slasher Smile: When Swanami asks Mongoose why she's doing this, she gets one of these. It's super unsettling given the fact that her smiles have always looked so warm and sweet before. Obviously that was a lie, though. She does this again when she cuts off Ricardo's fingers and later Mia's hands.
• Slept Through the Apocalypse: In Chapter 2, it is revealed that Persephone was injured shortly after meeting two of the students during the prologue. It seems she was hit on the side by a falling tree and wasn't able to dodge the blow to her left arm, shoulder and chest in time. Pascal finds her on a bed at the Resting Bears location.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Shortly after Foerlie is killed, Etnis begins making jokes about it.
• Split Personality: Whether this is the case or not has yet to be seen. But Etnis' two genders seem to have very similar yet slightly different sets of personalities, and when Etnis looks back on Etna's actions, it se
• The Stoic: August was unusually calm during the first trial, especially when her roommate has just been accused of murder.
• Stress Vomit: Mia in chapter two's trial after explaining the graphic details of how carefully Min-Yun's eyes were removed.
• Surpassed the Teacher: Mia's grandfather taught her how to swing dance, but she ended up surpassing him in ability.
• Take Me Instead:
  • Koe trades places with Mayu when Mayu is sentenced to be executed.
  • Chiyo attempts to take Mia's place and be executed in Chapter Five.

• The Tease:
  • Etna strips down to their underwear then removes their bra in the first trial just to make Ricardo uncomfortable. It gets worse when they're told to apply water to their tattoo and insist Ricardo do it.ems to imply he had no control of the events that transpired.
  • Min-Yun flirts with Sani to get some of his food.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: By chapter 1, Ricardo has worn five different outfits. This feat is also accompanied by the fact that his outfits are so complicated to begin with.
• Unstoppable Rage: Yuki attacks Pascal in the beginning of Chapter Six for killing Mayu and Persephone and letting Mia get executed.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: After the first trial in which Etna stripped down to her underwear and then took off her bra after Etnis had previously fought so hard to keep his shirt on, Etnis is mortified to remember that he did take off his shirt.
• When She Smiles: Not Momoko's usual creepy smile, but a genuine smile like she gives Koe in chapter two.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: It's revealed that Mia is deathly afraid of sharp objects, hyperventilating when near them and even throwing up when referring to one in extreme detail.
• Wingding Eyes: Leilani's eyes get stars in them when Ricardo offers to make her his partner and when Min-Yun gives Lei a cactus.

• Youngest Child Wins: While never stated in character from narrative one can get Hikaru is the youngest of his siblings, as well as the most successful. It's implied one of them didn't like this, while the other appeared to not care as much

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