All spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned!
open/close all folders
Main installments:
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
- Kiyotaka had seemingly taken on the spirit of his fallen friend, learned how to cope with Mondo and Chihiro's deaths, and appeared to be coming out of his catatonic state he was in at the beginning of the chapter. However, you can't engage in a Free Time Event with him as Kiyondo, and he all but disappears until you abruptly find his body mid-chapter, with the other students barely paying any attention to his death.
- Leon in particular gets hit hard with this. He's not even the first to die (but the first to be executed), yet the roles of the two characters who died before him get more emphasis. Given that he ended up being the first killer partly due to factors beyond his control, some players think there could have been a lot more to him than there ended up being. Possibly because of that, he's featured prominently in the "Ultra Despair Hagakure" story that comes with Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls.
- Some of the readers believe that Celeste's motive made her too one-dimensional, while others believe that was precisely the point - the motive of the chapter was simple cash and some people in real life do murder simply for that. Other still point out that either reading is missing the point of Celeste being a lying liar who lies, meaning everything about her from her allegedly shallow motive all the way to the name "Celestia Ludenburg" is not supposed to be taken at face value, with the game providing several hints that there is more to her than she wants others to see. The manga capitalizes on this by explaining how her motivation came to be and slightly made her into a Jerkass Woobie instead. Unfortunately, the canonicity of the manga isn't clear, although the official AU "School Mode" seems to run with this characterization through a Defrosting Ice Queen arc, and the canonical Another Episode: Ultimate Despair Girls also makes a point of showing how lonely her life outside of Hope's Peak Academy was.
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
- One of the reasons Hiyoko is hated is because of a blatantly squandered opportunity to develop her character. Much like Kiyotaka in the previous game, Hiyoko suffers a huge loss, there's build-up to her character growing from the incident, but then she unceremoniously gets killed in the very next chapter with the circumstances surronding her death being completely overshadowed by Ibuki's death (although this is mostly because Ibuki's death has more clues leading to the murderer than Hiyoko's). This is actually because Hiyoko was meant to be one of the survivors, but the game developers believed that they had a much more likable Defrosting Ice Queen character in Fuyuhiko(despite him being as much of a Jerkass as Hiyoko prior to his development and causing not one but two deaths) and if he died it would make Peko's sacrifice pointless, completely ignoring the fact that killing Hiyoko made Mahiru's murder pointless despite Mahiru not bringing her death on herself unlike Peko. Even Kodaka expressed regret at her portrayal, saying that he felt that he overplayed her harsh Jerkass side too much while not showing what she was really like Beneath the Mask.
- Mikan. She has a dark side, with her Free Time events implying that she became a nurse because she enjoys having power over other people for once and that her falls into vulnerable positions are a ploy born from a desperate need for any kind of recognition. Her attention-grabbing falls even got the spotlight in Case 1, giving her a good foundation to either learn to love herself more over the course of the story or kill someone due to her hidden desires overwhelming her. Instead, she murders Ibuki and Hiyoko because of a disease that changes the personality of anyone who catches it and even in-universe was distributed out of nowhere just to make the story more interesting. Even worse, 1) literally anyone could have gotten the "Remembering" symptom and killed the pair due to their past as Ultimate Despair, which renders Mikan's natural potential for growth/violence meaningless, and 2) it also manages to end the Hiyoko/Mikan conflict without any payoff despite Mikan murdering her bully., if anything it would have been more cathartic if Mikan called out Hiyoko for all of her past crimes during her break down in the third trial instead of a pointless murder that Mikan doesn't acknowledge.
- Similarly to Mikan above, fans of Kazuichi and Akane were not pleased with the fact that even though they survived, they were basically Flanderized in the story as one-note characters, even though their Free Time Events reveal them to have lots of depth within them. Namely, Kazuichi’s reveal him to have trust issues and a complex and tragic past of being bullied and having to change himself to look cool, and yet all we see of him in the story (especially in the later trials) is a creepy Stalker with a Crush to Sonia.
Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School
- After three games of being the Series Mascot, Monokuma is significantly Demoted to Extra this time around. The first episode of Side:Future implied that he would be returning back to his role as killing game host, but he disappears for most of the series and acts as Mr. Exposition to the viewers, giving recaps about everything that happened thus far and later turns out to have just been a pre recorded message by Tengan. He doesn't even appear in Side:Hope, despite it being the Grand Finale to the Hope's Peak Academy Saga.
- This has been the feeling of fans concerning Daisaku Bandai. Many people felt relegating him to basically the role of the Ninth Man wasted what otherwise could have been an interesting character. To make matters worse for poor Bandai, he's one of the only new characters (along with The Great Gozu and the real Miaya Gekkougahara, who are covered further down) who doesn't make any appearance at all in Side:Despair.
- The Great Gozu. He was, by far, the most powerful ally on Naegi's side, capable of destroying the floor with a simple elbow and standing his ground in a fight against Kyosuke (you know, the guy capable of clashing in a swordfight with Peko). He truly believed in Naegi, and many people expected to see him die while defending him. Instead, he's given the axe three (technically two, given the fake-out with Asahina happens at the end of Episode 2) episodes into the series with little fanfare.
- While Natsumi and Sato were Doomed by Canon, many had hoped that the anime would at least flesh out their characters more before killing them off. Unfortunately, the two only had half an episode's worth of screen time. In addition the actual events of twilight syndrome aren't seen which would have been interesting to compare to how events played out in twilight syndrome.
- Sonosuke Izayoi. We don't see much characterization with him other than his devotion and relationship to Andou, and being able to hold his own in a fight, though Despair episode 4 does provide some details as a Freeze-Frame Bonus. Though it was theorized and expected he'd probably kick the bucket, it was still disappointing to not see him develop, learn or grow as his own character.
- Monaca's plotline reeks of this for some fans. After over a year of speculation (or two, for those who followed the game starting with its Japanese release) on what her role post Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls would be, she ends up being little more than a Red Herring that gives up and gets Put on the Bus a bit past the halfway point. She did not even return for the final episodes except for a brief cameo! Considering many were hoping she'd be the next Big Bad, this came off as a tad underwhelming.
- This also extends to the redeemed members of the Warriors of Hope. All four of them survived Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls due to an Ass Pull (except for Utsugi) that most didn't complain about, as fans were excited to see what else could be done with them. But when it came time to an episode dedicated to UDG in Side:Future, they ended up being little more than just cameos (unvoiced cameos, no less, save for Nagisa). Assuming there are any further stories dedicated to the Hope's Peak saga (which would go back on the promise of the show being the Grand Finale to the aforementioned saga), with how little difference they made on the plot of Side:Future, it's made some fans wonder why they survived UDG if nothing was going to be done with them beyond that game.
- The Hope's Peak Student Council. A couple fans have pointed out that the First Killing Game would have been a lot more heartbreaking if they'd gotten to know some of the participants before it began.
- Some have accused Mukuro of this. While the character is very popular among fans, it's mainly because of her portrayal in IF, not to mention implications in the original game's Free Time Events. This left many disappointed when the anime neglected to show a sympathetic side to her as the novel had and instead portrayed her as little more than a one-note henchman to her sister.
- After episode 11 of Side:Future, a lot of fans have accused Chisa's character of being this. Any character development she had received in Side:Despair (notably her being a Remnant of Despair) was thrown out the window when it was revealed she was brainwashed yet again in order to kill herself.
- Even though there was a real Miaya Gekkogahara, she ended up being nothing more than both a Posthumous Character and a Bit Character. Many had hoped that the real Miaya would a least make an appearance in Side:Despair, but this never came to pass.
- Ruruka Ando has started getting this, considering her death added nothing to the plot, and the time she spent dead could have been better used allowing her to try and atone for her mistakes, and fix her horrible trust issues.
- Most of Class 77-B, excluding Chiaki, Nagito, and to a lesser extent Mikan and the Imposter get shoved to the side after the first two episodes, and are generally underutilized. The lack of screentime means only their most general traits are shown or that we only get surface reactions to on-going events, losing out on complexity. In particular Hiyoko is shown to be a lot nicer in later episodes yet we get zero reason why she developed(although its hinted that time at hope's peak with friends warmed Hiyoko's heart). Also Fuyuhiko and Mahiru lost someone close to them with Natsumi and Sato respectively yet outside of a one minute scene, we get no real reaction from either.
- A lot of people wish that all of the deceased Class 78 students (aside from Junko and Mukuro) would at least have some role in Side:Despair. In spite of the potential that could have been explored with them interacting with Class 78 and the Side:Future cast, they only received very brief cameos in Episode 5 and Episode 11, during which they are never shown to interact with any major characters in the show (in fact, most of them barely appear on-screen). The worst example is Chihiro, which is especially jarring; him interacting with Chiaki and working on the Neo World Program with Miaya and Yasuke was implied to have played a huge part in the backstory of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, so to see him flat-out ignored here is off-putting to fans.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
- Kaede Akamatsu. After months of build up of her being the protagonist, many people were looking forward to playing as her. The reason for this is that she was hardly anything like Makoto, Hajime, or Komaru, being more reminiscent of main girls Sayaka or Chiaki as well as Mahiru, meaning the usual Danganronpa formula would have been stirred just by her being the main character alone, as well as how she was the first female Player Character in the main series. Instead, it was all a lie, Kaede dies in the first chapter, and Shuichi Saihara, who fits all the tropes linked to the previous protagonists, becomes the main character in her place. The fake spoilers have only intensified this reaction, which implied that Kaede pulled a Heroic Sacrifice in a clever Thanatos Gambit to outsmart the mastermind, which mollified many who were upset about her death. When fans found out she actually had no role beyond getting executed in Chapter 1 to make room for Shuichi, fans were livid, and this was not helped by the opinions that given his title and similarities to the previous main game protagonists that he would have made for a more effective Decoy Protagonist instead.
- Ryoma Hoshi. Despite his particularly goofy Non-Standard Character Design, he has the personality and backstory of an utter badass as a death row inmate who murdered yakuza members with a custom-made steel tennis ball all by himself, on top of being one of the most cool, collected, and outright selfless members of the cast during the killing game, as is demonstrated when he volunteers his own life shortly after learning that the first chapter's motive would kill everyone if no bodies were discovered, needing to be talked down from it by Kaede. His first free time event also demonstrates a gentle Kindhearted Cat Lover side of him. All this on top of being voiced by none other than the Japanese Solid Snake himself, Akio freaking Ohtsuka! He easily could have contributed to a much larger portion of the game, either as a survivor or as a pint-sized Nekomaru/Sakura parallel, but perhaps only to fulfill the tradition of characters with odd designs dying early on, ends up being the second victim (in a parallel to the second case of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, no less, except with...far more brutal results).
- Rantaro Amami. Initially hyped up as an important character, he ends up the first victim, and even before then gets far less screentime and development than other first victim characters got before perishing. He may very well be the most undeveloped student in the main game series. This is especially frustrating since Rantaro was allegedly the survivor of the 52nd killing game, and his backstory and actions could have given more insight on the reality TV portion of the plot, especially if retained his memories of the previous game. Rantaro also had a highly appealing personality and was genuinely very intelligent and level headed, which would have made him a valuable addition to the trials and even a counterweight to Kaito and Kokichi as he wasn't as blindly naive as the former nor ruthlessly cold as the latter.
- The absence of characters from Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls and Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School in the bonus modes has gotten this reaction. This would have been the perfect opportunity to add in all of the characters from DR3 and the Warriors of Hope; seeing them interact with the characters in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan would have given them more depths and layers to their characters and backstories, which in turn would've assuaged the same complaints people had with Future Arc and its own lack of character development. That said, the characters from Future Arc appear in events on the unlockable Future course (albeit only in pixelart form), and it was understandable due to the lack of sprites for anime-only characters and the sprites from Ultra Despair Girls not being the same size. However, the DR3 cast could have at least been playable in Despair Dungeon: Monokuma's Test since the aforementioned pixelart was the only thing they would've needed for that mode. But while (most of) the Ultra Despair Girls cast did eventually appear in Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp, the DR3 cast were omitted from that game altogether.
- After Monodam's demise, the Monokubs' role in the story halts in its tracks and they become little more than a source of comic relief and for someone to pilot the Exisals. It's very telling that the game basically gives up on them and offs the last two in the fourth execution.
- Many fans felt that Tsumugi should have been the one pulling all of the strings throughout the killing game. Instead, she ended up being a puppet to Team Danganronpa, making her come off as a Big Bad Wannabe. It doesn't help much that you spend the entire game with her, unlike previous masterminds like Junko and Izuru, so there was potential to build her relationship with Shuichi and the others to make The Reveal sting more... yet she was largely Out of Focus for almost the entire game.
Spin-offs:
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
- A common complaint is that, if a character isn't a protagonist or one of the Warriors of Hope, they're mostly a minor character who either dies shortly after debuting or gets very little screentime. Haiji and Nagito are the only two who subvert this.
Danganronpa Togami
- The Mystery Club, while derided for being obvious expies of the Warriors of Hope, still had an interesting concept and possible room for expansion. Unfortunately, thanks to the cluttered pacing of the first volume, the trio get very little development to their motives and backstory and end up lacking as much as individual personalities or even names before they're all abruptly killed off by Ootsuki towards the end.
- Similarly, the Chief of the Hokkaido Branch of the Hasegawa Institute and her assistant have barely been introduced before they also get slaughtered by Ootsuki.
- Due to the huge cast, compressed pacing and Foregone Conclusion, a lot of the Togami siblings in Volume 2 suffer this. Eyumi is the worst; early on she states that her ambition is to become heir and cause The End of the World as We Know It, which sounds like she'll be relevant, only for her to do basically nothing for most of the story, then gets killed by Jirou to show that he's gone crazy.
- Byakuya himself ends up Out of Focus and rarely if ever gets much in the way of screen time. Considering the people interested in the novel were mainly his fans, this pissed off a lot of people.
