Dangan Ronpa: Assassinating Friendship
brings together sixteen of the familiar cast members of the Danganronpa series into an Alternate Universe killing game. One in which all of the participants save for two already have a body count. A mutual killing game featuring an assortment of killers, with one goal set before them: kill everybody else on the pier. If there is more than one survivor left by 7 A.M. the following morning, and they don't fall under the Bodyguard Perk, then all the participants will be killed.
Bizarrely, though, this Monokuma claims that he's not looking for Despair, but for Hope. Can it be found and fostered in such a place, with murderers pitted against each other aiming to survive?
This fanfic contains instances of:
- 13 Is Unlucky: Komaeda's body count entering the game is thirteen. When informed of this, he's irritated by it being such an unfortunate number.
- Adaptational Backstory Change:
- Komaeda Nagito is the Ultimate Survivor, having participated in another killing game right before this one.
- Angie Yonaga is a cult leader who has sacrificed several victims to Atua.
- Adaptation Personality Change: The Monokuma overseeing the Vorpal Pier killing game claims to be motivated by Hope, rather than Despair. He also comes off as more of a Butt-Monkey than is usual for 'Kumas, more affected by the complete lack of respect the participants show towards him.
- All for Nothing:
- Komaeda views the events of his last killing game this way, as none of the Hope he was hoping for emerged from it.
- All of Shinguuji's plans come to a crashing halt when they accidentally kill Fuyuhiko, with Miyadera instantly abandoning him for the mistake.
- Junk Hand, Hoping for a Flush ends with a doozie: K1-B0 and the Madarais slaughter each other, each side hoping that doing so means that they will kill the Agent of Despair and earn their way off the island. Both sides realize too late that neither side contained said Agent.
- Alternate Universe: Not just in the sense of being a different mutual killing game; many of the cast come from different circumstances as well.
- Black-and-White Insanity: Komaeda subscribes to an 'all-or-nothing' philosophy when it comes to Hope. He wants to find an Ideal Hero, somebody completely unblemished by Despair, and use his Luck to help them survive the game. Anyone who wavers or compromises in any way... well, they're just trash like him, aren't they?
- Black Comedy: Runs rampant in the Kuma & Kubs Theatre segments.
- Broken Pedestal:
- Komaeda once admired Amami Rantaro, seeing him as somebody who possessed just the sort of Hope he admires above all else. After his death, however, he scorns him as being 'just another piece of hopeless garbage'.
- Celes hired Madarai Isshiki because he was the best of the best. Her regard for his handiwork takes a severe blow after Isshiki is killed, and the other Madarais start getting themselves killed as well in increasingly rapid succession.
- Junk Hand, Hoping for a Flush has another example when K1-B0 kills Sasshiki in self-defense, which Nagito sees as an unforgivable betrayal of his morals.
- Broken Tears: Celestia starts shedding them during the climax of Junk Hand, Hoping for a Flush, mistaking them for rain.
- Creator Breakdown: Monosuke discovers his father in the middle of one during Kuma & Kubs Theatre 0, having had his mind and spirit broken by the Squicky discovery of Monotaro and Monophanie keeping it in the family.
- Crime of Self-Defense:
- Gundam's body count is made up of poachers whom he slew while defending some endangered animals. Hijirihara dismisses this as being less important or impressive than any of the confirmed serial killers there.
- K1-B0 kills Sasshiki Madarai this way. Unfortunately, Komaeda immediately abandons him for compromising his morals this way.
- Death Is Cheap: A Running Gag throughout the fic is that Monokuma can't keep any of his Kubs alive for long. They just keep killing each other, or themselves.
- Deadly Game: In the vein of Battle Royale.
- Double Standard: Played for Laughs during Kuma & Kubs Theatre: Killing Harmony:Monomugi: OH, SO WHEN YOU BREAK THE FOURTH WALL, IT'S OKAY! BUT WHEN I DO IT, I'M INSANE, RIGHT!?
- Drunk with Power: Implied to have happened to Gundam during Guide to Raising an Infestation, after taming the Kaiju-sized parasite.
- Empty Shell:
- Hoshi Ryoma repeatedly describes himself as such, viewing the other murderers similarly.
- Korekiyo becomes one out of shock in the wake of his Accidental Murder of Fuyuhiko and his sister's spirit seemingly abandoning him.
- Expy: The various Neo-Kubs built by Monokuma in the Kuma & Kubs segments are based off of other characters in the Danganronpa series.
- Flash Step: Ryoma is able to do this, referring to it as the Shukuchi method.
- Heartbreak and Ice Cream: Monokuma drowns his sorrows in a tub of ice cream during Kuma & Kubs Theatre 0.
- Heroic BSoD: K1-B0 goes through one upon regaining his memories of what happened to the scientists who created him.
- His Story Repeats Itself: Nagito makes several references to the Mobius Strip, comparing it to his own life and the way certain events seem to repeat themselves. In particular, by turning his back on K1-B0 at a critical moment, he ultimately loses another friend.
- Hope Bringer:
- The demise of Tanaka Gundam provides considerable motivation for Ryoma and Maki.
- Deconstructed with Komaeda, who wants to support somebody like this, but holds all potential candidates to impossibly high standards. This leads him to abandon K1-B0 after he kills in self-defense, deeming him unworthy of his luck.
- Lack of Empathy: Komaeda. His single-minded obsession with finding somebody whose Hope is worthy of being supported by his Luck renders him completely unsympathetic to anyone who fails to be anything less than dauntless and unaffected by the chaos and horror surrounding them.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia:
- Mukuro realizes that she's been subjected to this after discovering that she can't recall what war she fought in.
- K1-B0 also has missing memories, regarding how he killed the researchers torturing him as part of Project Vorpal.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Monokuma does this several times, such as noting that the story has gradually transitioned from censoring swearing by replacing letters with asterisks to leaving curse words completely uncensored.Monokuma: ...ah, yes... the swearing... remember when we censored that stuff...? It... it's friggin' weird, right?
- Pet the Dog: Though initially insulted by Angie's desire to pet the Four Dark Devas of Destruction, Gundam later permits her to do so after seeing that she has been infested by one of Rei's parasites.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Played With: Hope Springs Eternal features what appears to be the mastermind's thoughts, which include this — they have strong opinions about which of the survivors have the best potential to be the protagonist, and the only one they dismiss as not being good enough to qualify is Hijirihara Takumi. They're also upset by the demise of Fukawa Toko, whom they believe was perfect main character material despite having the second-highest body count of all the participants.
- Protectorate: Fuyuhiko, Celeste, and the Four Dark Devas of Destruction were all brought into the game as these, in order to ensure that their respective protectors weren't distracted by being separated from them. The Bodyguard Perk ensures that if they make it to the end of the game alongside their defenders, they'll be allowed to survive.
- Psycho Supporter: Komaeda served as one to Rantaro in his last killing game, aiming to ensure their survival along with the Hope he saw in them. This failed.
- Race Against the Clock: If the participants haven't been whittled down to a winner by 7 A.M. the next morning, all the participants will be killed.
- Running Gag:
- Monokuma desperately wants to put together a comedy routine with his Kubs, only for his various attempts to fail. Often involving the Kubs dying en masse.
- Monotaro repeatedly reacts to the existence of other Kubs the same way: "What?! Did you go around having affairs without our knowledge?! What would Mother think?!"
- Mood Whiplash:
- Following Fuyuhiko's tragic demise, the next Kuma & Kubs Theatre segment opens with Monomiu making an incredibly crass joke about the situation.
- The tense showdown that closes out Junk Hand, Hoping for a Flush is continously interrupted by Monokuma's frantic commentary as he tries to keep everyone updated on the rising body count.
- Mr. Exposition: Monokuma, mostly. But Hijirihara also steps into this role when invited, detailing the crimes of most of the other participants. Played With in that he doesn't recognize everyone, and is dismissive of Gundam because of the circumstances surrounding his crime.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Ryoma blames himself for Gundam's kaiju parasite rampage, believing that he could have prevented them from following a path he finds disturbingly similar to his own.
- Nagito has a moment of this after hearing K1-B0's final message and realizing that he can't quite dismiss him as another piece of hopeless trash.
- Never Suicide: Angie concealed the ritualistic killings of the Childen of Atua as suicides in the forest.
- Number of the Beast: When combined, the kill count of all of the participants adds up to 666.
- Sidetracked by the Analogy: Rei refers to Ryoma as a 'silly little farmhouse', spinning an increasingly convoluted and bizarre series of metaphors that leaves even her questioning where she's trying to go with this.
- Sole Survivor:
- Komaeda was the only one to make it out of his previous killing game alive.
- Played for Laughs with Monodam, who slaughtered all of his siblings off-screen and is the only one to respond to Monokuma's summons.
- Played for Laughs again with the Kuma & Kubs Theatre: Goodbye Despair segment, with Monoaki slaughtering the rest for the EXP gain.
- Take a Third Option:
- Several of the participants who aren't keen to slaughter everyone else are attempting to find some alternate means of escape from the pier.
- Monokuma himself offers an alterative win condition when he reveals that an Agent of Despair infiltrated the pier, declaring that anyone who takes out the Agent will be free to go.
- Taking the Bullet: Kuzuryuu jumps in and takes a fatal blow to shield Pekoyama during Hearts Ablaze! Fight Until Extinguishment!
- Taking You with Me: While Ryoma has no intention to kill anyone, he still plans to do this by simply staying under the radar, avoiding everyone long enough for the time limit to run out.
- Tempting Fate: While observing Tanaka's rampage from afar, Komaeda sneers at their descent into Despair, reassuring himself that Kiibo's hope is so radiant that he will never falter himself.
- There Can Be Only One: With one exception: the Bodyguard Perk allows those with somebody they wish to protect, such as Pekoyama and Madarai's charges or Tanaka's Dark Devas, to survive the game alongside their protectorate.
- Toilet Humor: Kuma & Kubs Theatre 0 opens with Monosuke returning in a search for toilet paper, while his BSODing father notes that he didn't build him with any need to defecate. Using cruder terminology.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Junk Hand, Hoping for a Flush features a series of these. In short, the surviving Madarai siblings start targeting one of the other survivors out of the belief that they must be the Agent of Despair. This leads to Sasshiki Madarai's death, and Nagito immediately ditching K1-B0 for breaking his Hope by killing in self-defense. This, in turn, spirals into K1-B0 and the Madarais facing off, each convinced that the other side must be the Agent of Despair.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Komaeda survived his previous killing game due to the self-sacrifice of Amami Rantaro. Rather than being grateful, however, he regards their memory with no small amount of frustration, as he feels that their Hope should have proven stronger than it turned out to be.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Played With; Fuyuhiko asks Peko why she hadn't mentioned the fact there was a giant slug rampaging through the amusement park. Peko admits that she noticed it (as it was hard not to), but didn't inform him immediately because he was in the bathroom at the time, and he'd asked her not to talk to him while he was in there.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- Shimizu Rei goes Laughing Mad after Gundam has the parasite he tamed devour the other four she launched at him.
- Shinguuji Korekiyo spirals increasingly out of control as he finds himself arguing with the voice of his sister inside his head, struggling to meet her demands, and finally shattering entirely after he accidentally kills Fuyuhiko and is seemingly abandoned.
- We see this with Madarai after Isshiki and Nisshiki are both killed, exposing the octuplets' secret to the world.
- Monokuma himself goes through one after being forced to make a series of humbling announcements.
