Danganronpa: The Engine is an insta-ronpa (an Instagram-based "Danganronpa" fan project) created by salup_, aka Blue, based on a murder mystery party game they had stumbled across. It centers around an abnormally small cast of 8 Ultimates trapped inside a train and forced into playing a killing game by the Conductor of the train, whose name isn't told until the final chapter. It can be read here.
Danganronpa: The Engine contains examples of:
- Anyone Can Die: This is a Danganronpa series, after all.
- Ambiguous Ending: It's left to the reader to decide on what happened to the survivors after stopping the train. Did they even actually kill the Conductor, as we never see his body?
- Black Blood: It's neon pink, actually.
- Breaking Old Trends:
- The main character, Lorde,'s Idiot Hair isn't the usual geometric or thin type like the original protagonists.
- There are only 8 students rather than the usual 16. Justified since the other half of the class is dead before the game even starts.
- To accommodate for the small class size, there are only 2 cases and no final class trial.
- The executions are not animated, rather, they're slides.
- Blue with Shock: Present in some sprites.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: On par for Danganronpa, the executions are brutal.
- Deadly Game: Danganronpa is home to this in every game, after all.
- Deadly Graduation: How to escape the train ride.
- Elsewhere Fic: The canon characters aren't even mentioned.
- Empty Chair Memorial: The class trial portraits of the deceased. Like the second and third installments in the official franchise, some people get customized portraits.
- Tsukisae's has an electric symbol, mirroring how she was electrocuted to death.
- Poruka's was two thin lines, like her talent of tightrope walking.
- Nao's unused one has the word "Bankrupt" instead of an X.
- Everybody Cries: The ending, of happiness, except Joan.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Granted, their memories of each other were lost, but they remember the activities they did.
-
Fandom-Specific Plot: It is a Fanganronpa, it's gonna have a killing game. - Love Hurts:
- Chouya and Lorde were very clearly interested in each other. Three guesses as to what happens to Chouya.
- Tsukisae and Poruka are also victim to this, as Tsukisae is executed first.
- One-Woman Wail: The body discovery track, per usual.
- Recurring Element: There are many archetypes seen in this as well as in the official franchise.
- Lorde is the protagonist with Idiot Hair.
- Nao is the antagonistic character, much like Togami, Komaeda, and Ouma.
- Daidai is the character who supports the protagonist in the investigations like Kirigiri, Nanami, and Harukawa.
- Chouya is the character who gets close to the protagonist quickly, only to be killed off first, much like Maizono or, to an extent, Akamatsu.
- Public Execution: Once again, it's Danganronpa.
- You Wake Up in a Room: The story starts with Lorde waking up in the passenger car.
