Danganronpa: Under New Hope
, or simply Under New Hope is a Danganronpa fanfic done by Chrono Silverpen (ILoveTheTalkingClock) with major assistance of their girlfriend DinoOfLight76 (Kyorkari76 on Wattpad)
The series takes place in an odd form of a “Semi-Despair” AU, in which after The Tragedy is prevented, Hope’s Peak is a much better place featuring original characters being the faculty, and yet a plot for a different form of Ultimate Despair unravels that both teachers and students must solve and thwart.
Spoilers for canonical Danganronpa events will be unmarked.
Tropes for Danganronpa: Under New Hope include...
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Teruteru no longer has a gonky appearance and is more in line with his beta design.
- Hifumi is also less gonky, but that’s mainly due to the artistic style.
- Adaptational Curves: Some bodies have been more diversified, for example Chiaki’s body is notably fatter than in canon.
- Adaptational Gender Identity: In canon, the elements of Chapter 2 of Trigger Happy Havoc were excused with Chihiro being a crossdressing cis guy. Here, as Chrono and Dino both acknowledge the whole thing as problematic, Chihiro initially sees themselves as genderfluid before discovering herself to be a trans girl in “Egg Hatching”.
- Adaptational Karma: In canon, it’s usually left vague on what happened to any abuser of most of the characters. Here, Tokei mutilates them in retribution.
- Adaptational Nonsapience: Kiyondo Ishida was simply an alternate form of Taka implied to be soulbound with Mondo. This version on the other hand is MUCH more feral and werewolf-like, even confirming that Taka doesn’t remember his actions.
- Adaptational Villainy: Taichi Fujisaki is re-imagined as turning a blind-eye to his wife’s treatment of his kids at best. "Further Bloodlines" reveals that that wasn't the real Taichi.
- Alternate Identity Amnesia: Played with in Tokei’s case. While they’re usually lucid in werepire form, there are times that if angry enough they can’t recall their actions.
- Taka only has the vaguest memories of his actions as Kiyondo.
- Alternate Universe Fic: The Tragedy, an apocalyptic event from the series, along with events of the original games never happened, and a main goal is to avert a rehash of it.
- And I Must Scream: "Loose Threads" has Kaede turned into a plushie, still able to think and talk, but unable to move or emote.
- Artistic License – History: While usually keeping things chronologically accurate, there are occasional slipups.
- "Masters of Horror" ends with Shuichi mentioning Murder Drones as a costume suggestion for him and Kaede. While Murder Drones was released on October 2021, the month and year the chapter is set in, it wouldn't be until two weeks after when the chapter is.
- Author Appeal: Silverpen is a sucker for monsters, but especially werewolves. Guess what happens to half of the cast as the fic progresses?
- Author Avatar: Tokei and Hikari are not only based on Chrono and Dino respectively, but are also Danganronpa counterparts to the TechToons based off of them
- Ax-Crazy: Gaikotsu Tokei. While she only acts out on particularly despicable people, she still mutilates them and reacts with morbid glee regarding the punishments. That being said, she anguishes over the intrusive thoughts she has of killing and/or traumatizing her own family members.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Subverted. “Pink Moon” establishes that the Werepire curse started when Tokei’s Ancestor, Jinro Tsuki, asked the Komori-Onna for the ability to bear a child, but in exchange, they would turn into a bat-wolf monster with the urge to raise tormented individuals as their children as a form of therapy. The subversion comes when they fully embrace this.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: One of Shokogun's later games in "The Twilight Syndrome Murder Case" involved doing unspeakable things to a goat.
- Big Eater: The Ultimate Imposter (later Sagishi Tokei), Akane Owari, and Aoi Asahina as per usual, but “A New Classroom” also introduces Ultimate Competitive Eater Tsuyoi Kuchi, who has made it her goal to make her talent and size combined not to be seen as a stereotype, but a form of confidence to help people be allowed to love whatever food no matter what size they are.
- Black Comedy: It definitely did not forget it was a Danganronpa fanfic, with half of its morbid elements told in a fairly humorous manner.Kazuichi: Wait. We sure this is legal?Mikan: It’s only illegal if we get caught!Kazuichi: …fair ‘nough.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Tsumugi is well aware that she is in a fanfic.
- Bungled Suicide: Rather than use it to kill Chihiro, Mondo uses the dumbbell as an attempt to take his own life in “The Curse of Kiyondo”. Thanks to the love potion giving him the lycanthrope's ability of super healing, he survives this and makes a full recovery.
- Bury Your Gays: Inverted. In “Lifted Spirits”, Sachiko was established to be killed by delinquents in a homophobic hate crime as she was a lesbian, but the chapter starts with her being resurrected and her ghost turning back into a human.
- Character Catchphrase: In some trial stories, Byakuya often says for character to “Tell ‘em, (Character’s surname)” when it comes to certain pieces of evidence. This is actually a reference to the “Tell them, Naegi” meme in the Danganronpa fandom.
- Chubby Chaser: Goro Ogawa almost immediately attempts to flirt with an uninterested Tsuyoi when seeing her size and realizing her talent. Ultimately, the source of detraction is not regarding his preference, but his lack of respect when it comes to it.
- Company Cross References:
- The staff members are all human (well, mostly human) counterparts of the cast from Silverpen’s prime series concept TechToons.
- In “Happy Birthday, Tokei!”, Chiaki finds a unicorn stuffie modeled after the character Radiella Rainbowstar from Silverpen’s series Horsies of Anarchy.
- “Liar’s Truth” reveals that Tokei’s prime quaternary for her class is Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula, which alludes to the original version of Silverpen’s series Nightmarish and how those four were initially the only main cast members.
- Cursed with Awesome: The Werepire curse is this for its afflicted members, being capable of turning into a bat-wolf hybrid with Emotional Regression venom.
- When Nagito is turned into a werewolf as a side-effect of Dr. Haikawa’s surgery, he ultimately loves what it did to him, and everyone else agrees that it was “better than nothing”.
- Denser and Wackier: While the stakes are still high with a new form of Ultimate Despair, the series not only relies more on Toon Physics, but also makes a major step-up in the supernatural side, with half of the characters even becoming Vampiric Werewolves.
- Early-Bird Cameo: This is technically the second appearance for Timepires in media counting an Inanimate Insanity animatic done by Silverpen years prior, but they’re officially original to the TechToons series (which has yet to see the light of day).
- Easily Forgiven: While Tokei does get briefly reprimanded by Ibuki for mutilating their aggressors at best and possibly killing them at worst, they otherwise are still in good terms with everyone in the family and is even off the hook for turning Nagito into a werewolf on the account that it was “better than nothing”.
- Easy Amnesia: In “Welcome to Hope, Section 2”, Rantaro is introduced via having a head injury that he recovers from, but is unable to remember his talent as a result.
- Emotional Regression: The effects of the Timepire venom have this, primarily as a way to represent the coping mechanism as Silverpen detests to see it so stigmatized.
- Fate Worse than Death: The Ultimate Despairs found guilty aren't killed in their punishments… but they're left in states that make them wish they were.
- Fix Fic: Several characters get redesigns to be more appealing, and some even get personality changes in order to either fit with the more slice-of-life style story or to just make them more likable. Example of the former is Genocide Jack, who goes from the Ultimate Murderous Fiend to the Ultimate Guro Artist.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: “The Strange Swap” has multiple characters switch bodies after Yurei’s invention, the neuron signal-swapper, accidentally misfires. Examples include Nagito in Chiaki’s body, Kokichi in Shuichi’s, Ibuki in Ryoma’s, and Byakuya in Hiyoko’s being embarrassed by Hiyoko in Byakuya’s
- Halloween Episode: "Hope's Peak Horrors: All Together Now", where thanks to a spell by Himiko, the students are turned into monsters based on another Danganronpa fanfic Silverpen made, but is now getting reworked into an original series.
- Happily Adopted: This series LOVES this trope.
- Inverted with Mikan. Her adoptive family was cruel to her, while her birth family reunites with her to treat her much better.
- The Ultimate Imposter is taken in by Tokei and Hikari and even given a name.
- Nagito also gets adopted by the Gaikari couple later on.
- After his uncle dies, Shuichi is taken in by Sachiko.
- Heel–Face Turn: In “Return to Hope”, Mukuro is revealed to be the Despair who was helping them in a few trials. She eventually reveals in “Mightier than Steel” that she defected and was redeemed by her love for Chihiro.
- Hurt/Comfort Fic: So many chapters involve the cast being helped out with their traumas.
- Informed Deformity: Hifumi underwent Adaptational Attractiveness, and yet at least one point calls him “llama face” as a nod to his canon design.
- Knew It All Along:
- Mikan already had high suspicion that Tokei was the werepire that comforted her, and she's actually more than excited when it's all but confirmed in contrast to most others' horrified reactions.
- When Mukuro confesses to be the Despair helping them in the Trials, Chihiro confesses that she had figured it out a while ago.
- Lemony Narrator: The stories are told in third person, but regardless the text is not afraid to express emotion even when just narrating.Thankfully, [Chiaki] was just about to finish up, so she made sure to do that before trying to find out what in the name of sweet heavenly fuck made that noise.
- LGBT Awakening:
- “Egg Hatching” involves Chihiro and Hikari both finding themselves out as trans women.
- “A New Lover?” has Toko having a lewd dream that helps her realize that not only is she bisexual, but she has feelings for Komaru.
- Lighter and Softer: Subverted. Initially coming off as a silly Non-Despair AU, it eventually unveils a plot to foil a new set of Ultimate Despair.
- Malicious Misnaming: In “Salt On The Wound” Mikan starts her declaration of cutting contact with Junko by calling her “Junkie Emetophilia”.
- Original Character: A lot have been introduced for this series.
- Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious: Timepires are said to be a form of cryptid, known to society, but rarely seen. Interestingly enough, outside of the story, Silverpen established them to be of alien origin.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Chrono Silverpen made this, after all.
- Initially for the series, Kiyondo is reimagined as a mostly humanoid werewolf-like form of Taka after a love potion gone awry.
- Hinted at previously in “Stories” and “The Purple Milk”, “The Tails Are True” reveals that Tokei is a werepire, someone capable of turning into a beast resembling the lupine Timepire. It then turns out that Mikan carries this curse too, and thanks to an enchanted artifact Hikari is a variation of it known as a “lightpire”, that eventually applies to Sagishi, Chihiro, and initially Chiaki before the latter decides to become a full-fledged werepire.
- Thanks to a genetic/surgical procedure by Dr. Haikawa to cure his ailments in “The Beast Of Hope”, Nagito becomes a true werewolf, turning into a lupine creature every night and only regaining his sapience when his hunger is satiated. It’s implied the same thing happened to another patient of Dr. Haikawa, but whether or not said character is going to appear is currently unknown.
- Polyamory: “Triple Threat”, initially starting with Mukuro and Celeste developing a rivalry for Chihiro’s affection, ultimately becomes this when Chihiro confesses she loves the both of them. Mukuro and Celeste form a truce and admit their own feelings for one another and Celeste joins the partnership.
- Queer Establishing Moment: As expected from queer authors, this happens frequently.
- “Welcome to Hope, Section 1” has Komaru revealing herself as a lesbian by bringing up Makoto’s crush with “there’s so many cute girls around”.
- “The Curse of Kiyondo” uses a reimagining of the sauna scene in Trigger Happy Havoc to show Mondo’s feeling for Kiyotaka.
- “Salt on The Wound” starts with Mikan having a crush on Junko. It doesn’t last.
- “Mama’s Little Sodapop” has Kazuichi revealing himself to be a trans man.
- “A New Classroom” starts with Hikari and Tokei interviewing two newly introduced characters Kosuke Nakamura and Tsuyoi Kuchi. In these interviews, it’s quickly said that Kosuke is non-binary while Tsuyoi is a trans girl.
- At the end of “Mightier than Steel”, Nagito immediately deduces that Byakuya is gay by not only him brushing off Toko’s affection, but also his fashion choices. How does he realize this? He's gay himself.
- “Hope’s Peak Horrors: All Together Now” reveals Chiaki to be trans fem and Hajime as trans masc.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Fittingly enough, Tokei's red eyes fit her gothic style and violent behavior.
- Related in the Adaptation: Chiaki and Chihiro had no true relation in canon, Chihiro only having made an AI based off of her. Here, they’re said to be twins. In the official Tumblr blog Ask-Gaikari, it’s revealed that Chihiro is older by 15 minutes.Chihiro: Just so everyone knows, i’m the older sibling!Chiaki: ...by like 15 minutes.
- Running Gag: During the regression stories, it’s always clarified that the changing table is “FOR CLOTHES MIND YOU”, as while Silverpen acknowledges that some regressors wear diapers for safe reasons, she’s personally not comfortable with portraying them anyway.
- Script Fic: The trials are told in this form, primarily for simplicity’s sake.
- “Group Chat Chaos” also technically counts
- Setting Update: In canon, the events of Danganronpa pre-Tragedy take place around 2013-2014. In Under New Hope, it takes place around 2021, specifically an alternate universe where the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t as bad as it got in reality.
- Shout-Out: Multiple throughout the story
- Silverpen directly based the Werepire transformations off of An American Werewolf in London.
- In “Welcome to Hope, Section 1”, Chihiro’s name reminds Komaru of the main character in Spirited Away, which she remembers watching as a kid.
- When Byakuya arrives in "The Forbidden Doors of Despair", the reaction he gets from Makoto mirrors JohneAwesome's reaction to the Ultimate Imposter.
"WAIT… BYAKUYA?!"- “Lifted Spirits” introduces Sachiko, an expy of Sarah from the Needlem0use series, all the way down to her spirit possessing a “Hedgipiggu” game.
- In addition, Ishiro Ifukube, the Ultimate Nuclear Physicist, is named after both Ishiro Honda and Akira Ifukube, who both worked on the original Godzilla.
- When bringing up Ishiro’s death, it’s brought up that he died horribly instead of “turning into the Green Giant on roids”, referencing The Incredible Hulk.
- “Caretakers” has Hikari turn out to have been working on a game in the style of Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, Chiaki and Chihiro play Mario Kart Wii, the family watches Encanto and Chicken Little, Chiaki is shown playing Minecraft to cope with her trauma, and when Chiaki, Chihiro, Mikan, and Sagishi play “Space Swashbuckling”, Chiaki and Chihiro re-enact the I Am Your Father scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
- “Happy Birthday, Tokei!” not only namedrops various actual werewolf movies (specifically The Cursed, the aforementioned An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, Teen Wolf, Good Manners, and Bloodthirsty), but when getting some plushies, Chihiro gets a sheep plushie that looks a lot like Chirin’s adult form, while Chiaki gets a bat colored after Fluttershy, mirroring her transformation in “Bats!”
- “I Agree With That” has Kyoko bringing up that Tokei suspects a local candy store clerk is a werewolf. This alludes to Silverpen’s theory about Kevin from Spooky Month.
- “Group Chat Chaos” reveals the group chat for the students adopted by the Gaikari couple is called “Mx. Tokei is a Wolf-Based Bruce Wayne”
- “The Strange Swap” and “Mightier Than Steel” both reference JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stands.
- “Return to Hope” has Chihiro and Mukuro reenacting Beauty and the Beast with Pokémon Plushies, with additions inspired by The Gaston Trilogy.
- “A New Classroom” has Tsuyoi’s introductory scene have her scroll through The Owl House fanart on her Tumblr dashboard.
- Nero Nomura, introduces herself in the exact same manner as James Bond. Fitting for the Ultimate Secret Agent.
- Shurei Niji’s Animal Motif is swans as an obvious reference to Swan Lake, alluding to her talent as the Ultimate Ballerina.
- Towards the end of “The Masters of Horror”, Kaede and Shuichi talk about couple costumes, which include Frankenstein’s Monster and the Bride, Chucky and Tiffany, and even a namedrop of Glitch Production’s Murder Drones.
- “Liar’s Truth” reveals that Gin, as the Ultimate Horseback Rider, is a My Little Pony fan along with being a collector of Breyer and Schleich horse models. In a twist opposed to other bronies, his favorite generation is actually the first rather than the fourth.
- Surprisingly Creepy Moment: “Hope’s Peak Horrors: All Together Now” has a particular bit with an enchanted Mikan holding a grotesquely mutated Junko that is only good for torture, a big swerve in Black Comedy compared to a relatively lighthearted story in the chapter.
- Take That!: In “Triple Threat”, Hikari sees Chihiro, Mukuro, and Celeste in a polyamorous relationship, and notes “It’s better than Celeste falling in love with you and Mukuro’s baby”, a clear jab at Jacob’s… Imprinting in Breaking Dawn.
- Toy Transmutation: "Loose Threads" has Kaede getting turned into a plushie thanks to a backfiring spell.
- Vampiric Werewolf: As the name suggests, werepires have the qualities of both vampires and werewolves, although they’re actually the lycanthropic equivalent to the Mix-and-Match Critter Timepires.
- Villainous Harlequin: Warai Namida, as the Ultimate Comedian, wears facepaint reminiscent of scary clown makeup and is a maniacal jerkass.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Kazuichi's reaction to one of the Saw rip-off deaths in "The Summer Blockbuster Killer", which is best described as "letting his fear exit his esophagus".
- Werewolves Are Dogs: Played with. While Kiyondo is usually in the feral beast mindset, "Bad Puppy" has Taka transform while regressed, which instead has Kiyondo have the mindset of, as the title suggests, a rambunctious puppy.
- Yōkai: The Komori-Onna (Bat Woman), created exclusively for this story.
