As these are WMG, all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned!
- Jossed.
- But the question is: Who will it be?
- Confirmed... Kind of Chisa isn't a student, but she's tortured while watching Junko's Brainwashing video to get her to fall into despair.
over on the Dangan Ronpa subreddit, and it's worthy of being posted here.They were both in the virtual simulation. When they shut it down, AI Junko wasn't purged completely; she somehow got herself onto Makoto and Kyoko's minds and through them escaped into the real world. When they fall asleep or faint, she wakes up and kills the person.
- Evidence: in the OP, halves of Makoto and Kyoko's faces replace the halves of Monokuma's face, foreshadowing what lurks within them. Also, Monokuma says in the first episode that this will be the conclusion of his and Makoto's story, implying it has to be someone he knows (as opposed to a character he's never met like Monaca). Who fits better than Junko?
- Jossed.
- Confirmed, it was Aoi's.
- Impossible. There is only one killer. They are always the same.
- Not impossible. The people who are not the traitor must find and kill the traitor to end the game, but they are completely capable of accusing and executing the wrong person.
- It's possible. There are going to be 12 episodes, and maybe it will be used once more. It maybe could be used to get the anime by faster too without rushing too much. Perhaps this would be best used toward the 10th episode or so?
- With Gozu gone, it's likely Andou and Kimura are the two most likely to kill each other off. Though Kizakura acts like it was something pretty petty.
- Considering their NG Actions, I'm fairly sure that if this happens, it will be Juzo and Asahina. Their fight in episode 5 is simply Foreshadowing
- Jossed
- Sort of confirmed, Izayoi died before Seiko.
Perhaps he had a close friend or family member who got killed by the Remnants of Despair, and he's blinded by vengeance. His grudge against Makoto might be because sparing the despair students denied him his chance for revenge.
- But Sakakura hates despair most probably because Munakata hates despair, and he's extremely loyal to him. Now, if MUNAKATA lost someone to despair.....
- Unlikely. Killer Killer reveals that Munakata already disliked Makoto much before this incident.
- Killer Killer takes place during the Tragedy. All of the main characters are actually members of the Future Foundation working under Juzo's division. Do we know for sure that the events of the SDR2 aren't lining up at that point in time? Maybe Makoto has already stolen away with the Remnants.
- Side:Despair shows that Juzo was always pretty violent, but more importantly, he was a close personal friend to Yukizome, who ended up being the first victim of the killing game.
- While it is still unknown whether he lost a loved one to the Remnants of Despair, this being the reason he hold a grudge against Makoto, even before Makoto went against protocol and place them in the Neo World Program, is jossed. His dislike of Makoto is actually a form of self-loathing due to his giving in to Junko's blackmail and thus failed to stop Junko carrying out his plan, while Makoto is able to defeat Junko Enoshima.
- The AI version her was either put in because she'd know how the members of Ultimate Despair tick thus could potentially help them through the rehabilitation with little risk to Chiaki herself. Alternatively she died, but not before helping make her AI.
But then the first killing game with the student council happens. It's likely that Junko will exploit this trope and arrange for Chiaki to get locked up with Izuru and the other student council members. When Chiaki gets killed, that will be the catalyst that causes Izuru to snap and start the massacre that kicks off the Most Despairing Incident, abandoning the last vestiges of his humanity.
- Jossed. Chiaki is not a part of the first mutual killing game. Turns out Izuru wasn't even a real participant. She might still end up his morality chain, however.
- Jossed, though not necessarily in a bad way. She's actually his Morality Pet, not his Morality Chain, and her death doesn't cause Izuru to fall into despair; rather, it's what causes him to reject despair.
- Side: Hope suggests this is entirely possible. We learn that AI Chiaki evolved from a "blank slate" AI based on the memories and emotions of the Remnants, who all held strong feelings for the real Chiaki. Usami could possibly have been designed in a similar way - and if this is the case, it might help explain why Hajime was so uneasy about her where the others seemed more willing to go along with what Usami was saying. Hajime wasn't part of Class 77 so he wouldn't hold the same sentiments towards Chisa, thus he would have less reason to trust a Chisa-proxy than the others. The rabbit form could just have been to introduce an obviously suspicious element as a target for the initial confusion and distrust so that the students wouldn't turn on each other before they could get to know one another.
- Adding that maybe Byakuya, Touko, and Komaru will show up to help with the Big Damn Heroes moment as well.
- It's looking real good for all of these to come true.
- Adding that maybe Byakuya, Touko, and Komaru will show up to help with the Big Damn Heroes moment as well.
- Sort of confirmed. The Remnants don't appear in Side:Future, but in Side:Hope, and Toko and Komaru do not contribute to the Big Damn Heroes moment.
- She taught the Remnants, so she has motivation not to see them killed (Which would not explain why she's seemingly wanting Makoto dead)
- The death music DOES NOT PLAY when they find her body. It does when Hina finds the guards, so the anime is using it, and some form of death music plays when Aoi dies.
- She also died during said episode. Back in the first game, who else died in the first chapter and not being accompanied with death music (unlike the actual victim, Sayaka)? Junko/Mukuro. The two ended up as masterminds.
- Also it turns out Aoi didn't really die. It was only a fakeout.
- In episode 1 of Despair Arc, she is shown watching her dead body fall from the roof from a theater. Either this is some weird fourth wall break (wouldn't be too surprised from DR.)
- Yukizome is a main character in Side:Despair... This would've been a pretty big clue on where she's stationed at, when the other arc that starred Makoto is called Side:Future.
- More evidence to come as the other episodes come out.
- Anecdotal evidence: In Episode 5, Tengan says something shocking to Munakata that causes him great despair. The reveal of who Tengan thinks is the secret attacker is muted to the audience, but Munakata's eyes go wide. He then gives a hollow laugh and states, "Did you think that would suffice to make me waver?" Implying that it's someone Munakata cares about deeply, and that we're not talking about Monaca here.
- Kirigiri notes that the game is set up to favor Munakata, which would make sense if Chisa's running things.
- There's also an interesting theory that Chisa is behind things because she's using a simulation — akin to the Neo World Program — to show the Radical faction that anyone can fall to despair (as they all have). She's trying to stop them from slaughtering the Remnants, who are her ex-students, without murdering her friends. In the Despair Arc, she makes it clear that she's prepared to defy Munakata to defend them, but she couldn't stand against Munakata's militia. Instead, she might be trying to crowbar some empathy into her comrades. Munakata's been left until last either to keep him out of the way, or because he needs to suffer most in order to learn the lesson.
Those are the pro evidences. Now let us see the cons:
- Unusually for murder victims, Yukizome's eyes were filled with tears as a corpse. This might not make a convincing 'set-up murder masterminded by self', if that's the case.
- Is there a motif, should Yukizome be the mastermind, that she set herself up as the first victim? Back when Mukuro was killed, it served as nothing but shock value by Monokuma, which parallels more to Bandai. But by looking at the Despair arc, we know there is an effect on Yukizome's death: She is pretty much The Heart and the Morality Pet towards both Munakata and Sakakura, and she was advocating for Makoto to get along with Munakata. If she dies, this will set both Munakata and Sakakura to a warpath, having losing one part of their childhood friends. Thus, if the mastermind is not Yukizome, that means the mastermind knows their relationship and sought to ruin it by eliminating Yukizome at the first round for the first strike.
- Danganronpa might be full of call backs and mythology gags, but they never repeat the same event twice exactly the same. For example, Impostor!Byakuya in SDR2 did not come Back from the Dead and revealed to be the mastermind like Junko/Mukuro. And coming from the 2nd episode, it doesn't seem likely that Aoi was being a body-double only revealed to be alive much like Byakuya in SDR2. Therefore with this, it would seem unlikely that Spike Chunsoft would repeat '1st victim becoming a mastermind' on Yukizome much like Mukuro/Junko.
- Jossed for mastermind. It's Tengan.
- One problem. Taichi indicates that he's still married in an easy-to-miss note in DRAE.
- Doesn't have to mean that the woman Taichi's married to, and Chihiro's mother (and by extension, Chiaki's) are one and the same....But maybe it's a Junko Enoshima/Mukuro Ikusaba scenario. (Those two are twins... and yet they have different last names.) Plus Chiaki's free time events don't ever bring up her mother. It's a topic that Dangan Ronpa 2 (by virtue of Hajime's thought process) pointedly avoids. And look at the sheer oddity of Toko's mother situation. Divorce and remarriage seems straightforward by comparison. Adding to that, in the photo featuring Chihiro and Taichi that you can find on Taichi's body, the mother is absent.
- Or maybe Chiaki and Chihiro are cousins. It's a bit of a common Fanon going around in Non-Despair AU's by fans as an explanation to Chiaki's appearance.
- Confirmed. He opens his left hand, which is his forbidden action, to save her in episode 8.
So what is Munakata's original talent? For maximum irony points, I'm thinking he was a Lucky Student just like Makoto and Nagito. However, he might be ashamed of his humble origins and tries to keep his original talent a secret(which only Yukizome and Sakakura, and possibly Tengan if he was still headmaster while the 72nd class was still in school know about).
- If you pair this theory with the idea a member of Class 77 is Branch 13's actual leader, this could work.
- Jossed. Chiaki is dead as of Despair Ep. 10, with her death serving as the catalyst for the 77th class turning into Ultimate Despair.
- Kyoko is not allowed to speak to Makoto
- Alternately, she's not allowed to inspect bodies. Kirigiri should be savvy enough to be inspecting the bodies, and yet she isn't...
- Safe to say this is probably jossed. She went to go investigate Chisa's body in Episode 4.
- Or she cannot reveal the traitor's identity. (Which would then suggest that... she is the traitor... Irony)
- Or it's blank. If anyone found out, she'd look an awful lot like the traitor. But she isn't. It'd be just like Monokuma to throw in a blank NG Action just to fuck with people.
- Adding onto the first idea, it's possible she can't speak to men, as she doesn't respond when Tengan tries to reassure her.
- She manages to speak to Mitarai in Ep. 3, so this might be jossed. Unless we have another Chihiro situation and Mitarai is actually a girl.
- Yep. Jossed. Episode 4 shows her capable of talking to Tengan.
- Kyoko's forbidden action is showing her bracelet to the others participants.
- Maybe her action is "don't be alone", referencing her habit of wandering off to solve the mystery by herself in the first game. It might explain why she's keeping Mitarai around.
- Jossed. It's much crueler than that: She is not allowed to let Naegi live beyond the fourth round of knockout gas. That's probably why she was avoiding him: in case he realised her NG Code and tried to do something self-sacrificing. She probably kept Ryota around so that he could report her findings to Naegi if she couldn't escape by Round 4.
- Alternately, she's not allowed to inspect bodies. Kirigiri should be savvy enough to be inspecting the bodies, and yet she isn't...
- Munakata is not allowed to open doors. (I think most people could guess this one)
- Because I'm wondering if it can really be the obvious answer, I offer: He isn't allowed to kill Makoto. He'll try to do it anyway, but he fully plans on making that sacrifice.
- Or: He wasn't allowed to let Juzo survive pass a certain point. Just like Kyoko with Makoto.
- Episode 10 confirms that his NG code is opening doors.
- Izayoi can't take Ando's candies.
- Or, going one step further, Izayoi can't eat and/or drink anything at all. (Just imagine him getting weaker and weaker, and Ando can't do anything to help what seems to be her only friend. A perfect recipe for despair, yes?) Confirmed in Episode 8.
- Sakakura can't punch anyone.
- "More or less" confirmed in Episode 4.
- Pretty much fully confirmed in Episode 8; while we still haven't actually seen his bracelet, it would be little more than a formality.
- Mitarai can't allow women being harassed in his presence.
- What if Mitarai can't reveal that he was member of 77-B?
- Ryota can't be alone.
- Jossed. He cannot use his talent.
- Kimura can't argue with Ando.
- Looks like this is jossed, as they argue in Episode 3.
- She's not allowed to let people step on her shadow. This is actually really symbolic because it can be a metaphor for surpassing a person at something, is also a version of tag that children play, and- for some superstitious people- the act of stepping on a person's shadow is a sign that you will cause them great suffering or perhaps death.
- Gekkogahara cannot touch anyone directly.
- Seemingly Jossed, she can't turn right. But we never actually saw her bracelet, so there's the possibility she's lying.
- Adding to that, Episode 2 at 16:50 you can quite clearly see her shift her chair to the right. Looks like someone can lie?
- In Episode 4, she also turn right when Tengan ask her to take Makoto and Asahina away from Munakata.
- Seeing as she's a robot controlled by Monaca, it's possible she has no NG code.
- Seemingly Jossed, she can't turn right. But we never actually saw her bracelet, so there's the possibility she's lying.
- The traitor cannot kill Makoto or allow him to die
- This one makes a LOT of sense.
- Aoi is not allowed to get into physical altercations. When Sakakura threatens her, she backs off and looks at her wrist. She also avoids directly intervening in the Munakata/Gozu fight. The fire extinguisher does not make contact with either of them. Not sure it matters anymore, though...
- Partially confirmed, her NG Action is that she can't get punched or kicked.
- Tengan's NG action is confirmed to be: don't answer with a lie. Makes his death far more tragic. Until he's reveal to be mastermind
- Gozu's NG action was that he could not take off his mask. Kyoko removes his mask to find a sheet underneath hiding his face. Perhaps the killer killed him by removing the mask while he was knocked out, and put the sheet there.
- Didn't Kyoko put that sheet on him, though?
- If the theory about the attacker killing by triggering forbidden actions is true, Gozu's NG Action might be either having his body suspended in mid-air or having his mask/eyes damaged.
- Jossed, it's "being pinned to the ground for a three-count." While moot, being revealed long after he's murdered, it's oddly straightforward for a wrestler like him.
- Kizakura's NG action may be that he's not allowed to tell the truth, as a contrast to Tengan's. He did point out Miaya as the traitor, which takes on a new light now that we know Monaka isn't the mastermind. Perhaps he knows something about the true mastermind that the others don't, but cannot tell anyone because of his code? It would certainly put the few things we've heard him say into a new light.
- Kizakura can't take his hand out of his pocket.
- Episode 8 confirms his NG code to be that he can't open his left hand.
- Kizakura can't take his hand out of his pocket
- Andou's NG Code is revealed to be that she can't let anyone escape the game arena in Episode 8.
- Chisa's NG code was that she could not let Munakata die. Seems appropriate, though it's moot since she died first. Unless she didn't die...
Some possible guesses to the identity of the "sixteenth student":
- Monaca, who is hiding her identity by switching places with Miaya whenever the participants are knocked out (taking advantage of their similar appearances and Gekkogahara's muteness). It'd be funny if the answer to the question "Is Gekkogahara Monaca or Chiaki?" turned out to be "Yes."
- This is actually possible, seeing as Miaya is controlled by her.
- But less possible when her bio on the website says "Taking the place of Gekkogahara to participate in the killing game". This suggests that Maiya and Monaca are considered to be the same participant.
- Nagito, because we all know if any of the Class 77 students are going to wake up, it's going to be this lucky asshole. Plus, they seemed to be foreshadowing the possibility of Makoto vs Nagito in UDG.
- Yukizome's look-alike/twin sister. Though everyone seems to be expecting Yukizome to be the mastermind and pulling a Junko, it seems a bit too predictable.
- Yasuhiro. Turns out he didn't escape the despair game after all, and he'll turn up like a bad penny midway through. Or it's his body that will turn up. Or Yasuhiro was the mastermind all alo... Nah, that can't be possible.
- Jossed. Hagakure is outside and not part of the game.
- Byakuya. There's no explanation for where he is, and it's inconceivable that they'd put such an important character on a bus without so much as a WORD of his whereabouts.
- The leader of Branch 13. Why mention him if he doesn't play some sort of a part? Why not make Aoi the branch leader if you're going to make an unknown branch leader that we never see?
- The real Miaya Gekkogahara. Now that we know that the current Miaya is a robot made by Monaca, then that leaves the (potential) REAL Miaya unaccounted for. She's, uh, accounted for now and it was not a happy shot.
- But the characters don't seem to have forbidden actions before the first knockout (due to not having the bracelets. Bandai not dying because Sakakura attacked Makoto supports this), thus, ruling out Yukizome's death. And as we see with Bandai's death, assuming the poison is the same for everyone, an extreme amount of blood will start coming out of their eyes. Aoi didn't show any signs like that.
- On that hand, there's always the chance that the 'traitor' isn't even among the gathered heads locked in at all.
- Possibly Jossed. While Aoi turns out to actually be alive, Great Gozu is found dead afterwards.
- Jossed. Kirigiri says all victims of the attacker were killed with a single stab through the heart.
- Actually partially confirmed in that there is no traitor in the sense of a unique person that attack its victim, but whether there's a unique mastermind that kickstart the killing game is a different story. See below for details.
- Confirmed in a round-about way: Yes, there are two traitors and one imposter in the group, but none of them actually kill anyone other than themselves. All of the deaths during the sleep-phases are suicides due to brainwashing, and of the deaths that happen between sleep phases, none are committed by the traitors or the imposter. One of the traitors (Chisa) is the first brainwashing victim, and the second traitor (Tengan) and imposter (Gekkougahara) are both killed by Munakata.
- One of the other theories says that it's confirmed that there's only one traitor overall.
- Their bracelets should tell them how much time they have left before they get knocked unconscious. Couldn't they just check those and if anybody's bracelet had a significant difference in time that would automatically tip the rest of them off who the traitor is?
- Not likely. Monokuma isn't an idiot. They're just going to decrease the dosage in the traitor's bracelet relative to the others, but still inject them all the same.
- But they haven't bothered to check it yet, so who knows?
- Confirmed in that everyone is an attacker. More precisely speaking, the person who is closest to a Monokuma Monitor is woken up by the bracelet, and then forced to watch a brainwashing video that will made them kill themselves.
The big twist is... Izuru wasn't the traitor. Each of the killings will point to him, however, driving him to the point where he finally snaps and kills everyone else. And thus Izuru will fall into despair and cause the Despairing Incident.
Perhaps the mastermind in the future arc has the same goal - to make the Ultimate Hope fall into despair. If Makoto were to be driven to the point where he kills everyone else, and this is broadcast to the world, it's likely to cause an even more despairing incident and result in the ultimate victory of Despair.
- Jossed as the student council mutual killing game does not go like that. Each member is blackmailed. Izuru is not a participant so much as an observer and a scapegoat for Junko.
With Byakuya, we assumed he was real before he was revealed to be the Impostor. Mitarai might be the opposite; we're led to assume that he's the Impostor, but the Ryota Mitarai in the Despair arc is the actual Ryota Mitarai. It's not inconceivable that he lost weight during the despairing incident, and because of the confusion caused by the Impostor, he was overlooked as a possible Remnant of Despair.
- To expand on this, why is the Impostor disguised as Byakuya instead of Mitarai when he's in the simulation? Togami is part of Class 78, not 77. If his memories were reset to just before he entered Hope's Peak, why would he have the persona of a student who hadn't entered the school yet? I'm thinking it's because the Impostor is actually part of Class 78, not 77, and he disguises himself as Mitarai later. This would mean that the Mitarai we see in the Despair arc right now is the real Mitarai.
- But wasn't it stated that he was disguised as Byakuya before he was revealed as an actual Ultimate, and then he switched to Mitarai?
- No, it was never stated, it was just a logical conclusion. The simulation used their memories from the day they were supposed to join Hope's Peak and the first episode is set 2 months after the class started, so we are meant to assume the Impostor switched disguises on that timeframe.
- But they had to have been in the school for at least a year. Junko is in the class after them, and she's the reason they fell into despair. Class 78 would naturally get into the school one year after Class 77.
- The part involving the "impostor" being the real Mitarai is jossed, but Mitarai could still be the traitor.
- But wasn't it stated that he was disguised as Byakuya before he was revealed as an actual Ultimate, and then he switched to Mitarai?
- In Side: Despair episode 6, Junko runs into the real Mitarai and hugs him, suggesting that she plans on corrupting him too.
Semi-Jossed. Tengan set up the game, but is designed to push Mitarai to brainwash the world.
- Theory A: What qualifies as the inside? We're told that it's within the computer system. It's possible that Gekkogahara's laptop is still connected to the Neo World Program on Jabberwock Island. [What an excellent way to bring in the DR2 characters if that's the case], If that's true, a Junko AI (remember there's still at least one floating around) could have merged the remnants of Chiaki's AI to control the new Monokuma. Support includes the fact that Monokuma was able to remodel Usami into Monomi the exact same way again.
- Theory B: The real human Chiaki did fall into Despair. Unlike her other classmates, she was never in custody of Makoto Naegi and the 14th Branch to go into the Neo World Program. It's possible that a Despair Chiaki (who isn't shown on the board with the rest of her classmates) is still out there. Talk about a gut-punch.
- Jossed.
- Should this happen, here's another guess: They will attempt an Alas, Poor Scrappy on Sakakura.
- Confirmed, katana straight through the heart. Not certain why Munakata killed him though other than him obviously going insane.
- The reason Munakata turned on Sakakura is because he discovered that Chisa was a Despair. As both Chisa and Juzo had said Junko was not responsible for the Tragedy of Hope's Peak, Munakata came to the conclusion that both had become Despairs.
- As of the end of the anime, this is zig-zagged. Juzo survived the supposed fatal injury that Munakata inflicted but later died from blood loss, and although the wound he took from Munakata certainly contributed to that, the fact that Juzo cut off his own hand to get the bracelet off could be seen as the bigger reason for the blood loss.
- Well guess what's been confirmed.
- Not fully confirmed. Yes, Gekkogahara turned out to be Monaca, but we don't know to which extent "Gekkogahara" helped work on the Neo World Program and thus Usami. In Episode 2, Kyoko refers to her as "one of the developers". She might just be using Usami's likeness to appear harmless or for the irony. But, yeah, that aside, the theory is still looking really strong.
- Gekkogahara might have been a real person before this. Kizakura- a former talent scout for Hope's Peak- would have potentially noticed a fake student. It's an exclusive school, right? Monaca might have just decided that Gekkogahara was the easiest person to emulate with a robot and switched out with her. Thus, Usami could have been created by a different Gekkogahara than we see in this show.
- It has been confirmed that Gekkogahara was a real person who was murdered before the killing game started. So most of this theory is probably jossed now.
This is to create an antithesis with Despair Arc, which started out lighthearted and cheerful, but will end miserably as the fates of the students are set in stone to become Ultimate Despairs. So for those saddened with the deaths of Yukizome, Bandai, Gozu... try not to lose heart. It might get better in the future.
- Possibly Jossed as Gozu is dead.
- Definitely Jossed. They're both dead.
- Unlikely in that Monokuma never shows up is his robot form. He hardly shows up at all, and when he does it's always on a monitor.
- Jossed. We get a nice shot of Hajime on Jabberwock Island in Episode 6.
- Jossed on Yasuhiro's part. He's shown being still stuck outside trying to reach the others and doesn't have a bracelet.
- As of Episode 6, seems to be Jossed for Byakuya as well.
- There was a mention of Celeste in passing during Episode 2, so if nothing else there might be passing references.
- Maizono shows up briefly in a sexy calendar promotion.
- Seemingly confirmed as of Episode 5. Looks like they might be bigger players than just cameos, too.
- Also adding to that. At some point, while running away from danger/the radicals, Makoto's allies pass him around as they're running down the halls in hot potato-like fashion.
that the flower Makoto is holding during the ending song is the gerbera, which in the language of flowers means hope, and to pay attention to it closely.There are eight petals still attached to the center of the flower at the end, and some fallen petals (or is that just a stylized stem?) are still holding on to the flower. All these petals, fallen or attached, represent everyone in all the koroshiai games (the student council, DR1 kids, SDR2 kids, and the FF members). Maybe the ones still attached to the center are the ones who are going to survive the current koroshiai game, with the small ones being the DR1 kids in Future-arc who's going to survive (if so, one of the DR1 kids is going to die), and the petals which already fell off but still attached were the survivors of the previous games, their falling off symbolizing they're no longer involved in the current koroshiai game, and the ones no longer attached to the flower and scattered around Makoto are the dead kids.
- Semi-confirmed with Aoi's fake death.
- Tempting, but it would become too obvious. Sakakura haters probably should just hope he becomes a victim instead, seems more likely.
- Most likely Jossed.
- Confirmed, the knife was fake.
- Confirmed
- He was shown in Episode 3 trying to reach everyone from the outside, so it's not like he's just sitting around doing nothing.
- He's still running away from helicopter fire in Episode 5. So don't forget he's still out there.
- He's fishing now! Oh, I hope Byakuya finds him.
- Bowling into two troops that allow Byakura to command his own troop to save Makoto counts right? Right? Can I have a confirm now?
- Confirmed, and how!
To add to this, perhaps there's actually 25 episodes in DR3. The final episode, a combined finale for both the Future and Despair arcs, will be called Side:Hope.
- Confirmed with the last episode of Side:Despair, and is even called Side:Hope. Though it's still 24 episodes, as Side:Despair is only 11 episodes long.
- Jossed
- It was implied she is one of the creators of the Neo World Program, along with Chihiro and Matsuda. If she is part of the 79th class, it will be seem very strange for this troper, given Matsuda dies during Chihiro's first year in HPA.
- Actually, if I remember the timeline correctly, the events of Zero take place during Chihiro's second year, so it's possible that Gekkogahara could have still met Matsuda.
- It's also possible Miaya was scouted early because of her work on the project (especially since Hope's Peak students were involved).
Maybe he knew the original Izuru Kamukura, the founder of the academy. Perhaps the original Izuru wasn't the ubermensch uber-talented genius the staff of Hope's Peak Academy thought he was, but rather an optimistic everyman who wanted to bring talented people together for the good of the world. Perhaps this is why Tengan was willing to hear Makoto out(which the other Future Foundation members noted was unusual for him); something in Makoto reminds him of the original Izuru, and Tengan feels that Makoto could be the hope that the Future Foundation needs.
- Original poster here. This gets confirmed with episode 10 of side despair. Somewhat. In fact her death is the reason they were pushed further to despair.
To twist the knife further? Sakakura's appearance there will take place after meanwhile in the Future Arc, either he's revealed as the traitor, or is murdered and dying ignobly. The fans would probably be like partying when that happened, only to be revealed that in the past, Sakakura wasn't always this violent brute and quite decent at that, prompting the same partying fans to have an aneurysm.
- He does appear in Episode 3, but he's just as much of a Jerkass as in Future Arc. However, he's only a jerkass to Hajime to prevent him from getting killed by the school for learning too much, so there's that.
Thus the ultimate goal would not be to drive the members into despair through death, but through living with themselves when they realize none of it had purpose. They will wake up, all of them, to a place where they now must confront the friends and colleagues they murdered meaninglessly. (We already know that you can survive death in the virtual world thanks to DR2.) Not even mentioning the credibility the Future Foundation will lose to any watching the broadcast.
Bonus points if Makoto or Kirigiri make a heroic sacrifice before we find this out.Double bonus points if somehow they managed to change the rules for this game.
There's already some evidence for this:
- After being gassed and waking up, the environment is drastically changed. The building is more derelict and darker. Even the bombing raid did not seem to do so much damage as to smash up the conference room. The windows have been boarded up as they were in the games. There are multiple Monokuma monitors installed in the hallways.
- In episode 2, Kyoko notices that the hole in the wall left by Izayoi's knife throw is missing.
- Also, Monokuma crawling under his desk to appear on Usami's screen might be a neat hacking trick, or it might be a bit too supernatural for the "real world".
- In episode 3, we get a shot of Hagakure stuck outside. This is important because it gives us a frame of how long the game has really been going on for. We've been in play mode for about 2-4 hours, but how long was everyone out cold before hand? Hagakure does not seem so worried as to have been there for too long. How then did the mastermind set up all of the monitors, and the Mono Lisa paintings? Just the whole environment shift should have taken about a day's worth of time.
- It's becoming apparent to me that there are no security cameras in the building. How does Monokuma or the mastermind or whoever know when someone breaks their NG Code if they're not constantly watching them? How do they know anything? If it's all a simulation, the coding tells them.
- In Episode 5, Izayoi finds a secret door with Monokuma's likeness. This could have been there the whole, and evidence that the mastermind is high up the food chain. But it works solidly here as well.
- Also in Episode 5, Hagakure is still out being chased by helicopters. This seems like comic relief until, a blast shakes the building, obviously effecting everyone inside. This seems like evidence against a simulation until you realize this proves they did not switch buildings. So what happened with the knife damaged wall?
- It was revealed they were moved underground, built exactly like the main building.
- In Episode 6, Byakuya makes comments that imply he knows Monaca's location. He appears to give Komaru and Toko instructions to go hunt her down. If that's true, then she's not even on the same premises as the killing game. While some people have taken to believing that Monaca physically went out and reset Miaya when she got kicked, all she says is she "rebooted" her.
- This leads to the question of why even use an android if it's all a simulation? Yeah, that's not the simplest solution, but Junko always gave herself a place to fail. Robots are Monaca's expertise and where she is most comfortable. Putting a layer between her and the world also means she doesn't have to worry about being killed or acting. It's not as if Chiaki's AI was particularly realistic, y'know', in hindsight.
- As for why Byakuya could speak to Makoto and Aoi, he's talking to a computer screen. Literally and figuratively. He does not see them in person, he sees their faces on a screen. It's all hooked up to the internet (thanks to Monaca), so if anyone knows how to make it work it's her. Imagine if this is all true and we get to see the look on Byakuya's face when he finds everyone in pods.
- Jossed. They met Makoto in Episode 12.
- Jossed.
The mastermind might have given Bandai a NG Action that was guaranteed to take him out early because he was an accomplice, or he knew something that would be able to ferret out the traitor's identity too quickly. Or he's the traitor, and Kimura is an accomplice who successfully cured him with the antidote but lied and pretended he didn't make it. No one would expect the goofy-looking gag character to be the bad guy.
- But this doesn't take place very long after the second game. The Impostor should be in a coma. Even if he DID awaken from it in the small amount of time, there's no way they'd make him, a FORMER ULTIMATE DESPAIR MEMBER, a Branch Leader.
- Emphasis on "another". They're not implying the Ultimate Impostor from the second game is the 13th Branch Leader. They're suggesting it might be two people with the same talent. Which is a thing we've sort of seen before.
- Jossed as of episode 4.
- If you look over all the picture in the ending credits, you can see that Chiaki seems to interact with Sonia more than any other character, with the two usually right beside each other, much like Mahiru and Hiyoko, or Fuyuhiko and Peko. Besides Chiaki, Sonia would normally be near Tanaka, who was Sonia's closest friend in the second game.
- In first game, the pictures are used to identify Junko as the mastermind. They were also used to hint at Mukuro's feelings for Makoto, as she is always seen staring at him, and would only look at the camera if he was the one taking the picture. So it is possible the pictures contain clues to major plot points.
- In episode 2, Sonia gives Chiaki an affectionate hug after Chiaki revealed that she asked Teruteru to a cook a meal for everybody, implying a possible closeness beginning to form. Sonia was also the first person in the class to agree with Chisa's idea to appointing Chiaki as Class Rep.
- Currently, the biggest hint to this friendship is the fact Sonia desperately argued for Chiaki's innocence during the 5th trial of the second game, going as far as to place suspicion on herself. Although Sonia and Chiaki didn't have much onscreen interactions during the game, Sonia has made it clear that she thought of Chiaki as one of her closest friends. Sonia trying to protect AI Chiaki is a possible hint that she and the real Chiaki were extremely close.
- Byakuya would be the most likely candidate. He's intelligent, he's a born leader, and he's the only member of the class who's whereabout we don't know.
- Byakuya is not in 77th class. He also identifies as part of the 14th branch when introduced in Absolute Despair Girls.
- Episode 6 confirms that Byakuya is still part of the 14th branch, so him being the 13th branch head is jossed.
- If that's true, the only member of the 77th class that isn't confirmed to be in Despair (and thus could be head of a Future Foundation branch) is... Chiaki Nanami... I think the OP is onto something here.
- Now that the real Miaya's death is confirmed, I'm thinking Chiaki has to be the 13th branch head. If they're not important, why would their identity be hidden?
- You've got a point there. Aside from Chisa, nobody knew Class 77 better than Chiaki. And no one in all of Hope's Peak Academy knew Hajime better than she did. She was able to recognize him as Izuru just by looking at him! She would be just the person to help Makoto and Miaya with the Neo World Program, specifically resetting the Remnants of Despair's memories to who they were before Junko made them fall into despair.
- Jossed as of Despair Episode 10. Chiaki's dead
- Byakuya is not in 77th class. He also identifies as part of the 14th branch when introduced in Absolute Despair Girls.
- While not referencing the opening credits, there's another way this could happen. Sakakura has shown to be perfectly willing to attempt assaulting Aoi. Twice, in fact. Given that he now is set on the goal of eliminating Makoto's friends, he may attempt to attack Aoi again. If he does, Aoi's NG Action will be violated and she will die.
- At least she won't be killed due to NG code, as the bangle fell off
- Other evidence: Kyoko mentions that Tengan seemed unworried that he would be killed by the traitor. This statement only makes sense if one of them was the traitor. It's an easy-to-miss line.
- I think you're going to wrong direction with that traitor line. You're right, her line only makes sense if one of them is the traitor. She's implying that Tengan is suspicious, not hinting that she is.
- Other evidence: Kyoko mentions that Tengan seemed unworried that he would be killed by the traitor. This statement only makes sense if one of them was the traitor. It's an easy-to-miss line.
- Jossed
- In a double twist, Kyoko is not the one actually doing the killings, she has to choose who dies, and the actual murder is executed by someone else. (Sort of a deadly 1 Person Heads-Up 7-Up) (It would explain Aoi's situation quite nicely too.)
- And (I'm the same poster as the rest of the theory so far), triple twist, she's having the rest of the Future Foundation leaders killed to protect Makoto. Think about it, most of them want to execute him. The nicer ones wanted to arrest him for the treason. (Granted, that's fair from their perspective), but still. Kyoko saw what the Remnants of Despair became in the Neo World Program. She would agree with Makoto 100%.
- But if that was the case, then she wouldn't have Gozu killed, as he had just HELPED Makoto get away from certain death.
- I agree with the poster before me. Also, Kyoko is a very popular character. It'll just result in another argument like Aoi's fake kill scare from the fanbase if Kodaka really pulled that card.
- He's already shown that he's in the troll mood with the Asahina situation. He's putting on a show and trying to top the previous entries's events. And I can't think of anything more of a show than this.
- Safe to say that this is jossed. Kirigiri had been investigating the bodies instead. Kirigiri had been investigating the bodies instead. And since she is also allowed to make a deduction in Episode 8, she wouldn't have been a traitor.
- This is very likely. Izuru is shown in a ruined classroom, and it's customary in Japanese schools to leave flowers on a students desk after they've died. The flowers also look pretty fresh, meaning that they were placed there recently. And while we don't know how Izuru felt about Chiaki, there doesn't seem to be anyone else he would leave flowers for.
- His parents?
- Siblings?
- Cousins?
- For being the main mover of the franchise's events, we sure don't know a lot about Hajime's regular old life, his family situation, or his parents. We knew Makoto had a younger sister from the first chapter in the 1st game, but Hajime? We've got zip. No idea about personal relationships away from Hope's Peak.
- Not sure if this is really applicable or canon, but if you ask SpikeChunsoft on their facebook, they reply that Hajime did not have a great relationship with his family and imply that they used money as a substitute for love. (Even if the show does imply they were cutting him off.) That very well might be as much of his family life we get to see.
- Confirmed. The white flower was definitely placed by Izuru, and the yellow one probably was as well, as it's too fresh to be from the bouquet years ago in Episode 11.
Some possible ways around the bracelets:
- Kimura has an antidote to the poison, though it failed to save Bandai. This could be a potential Chekhov's Gun. Perhaps it only failed because she didn't get to Bandai in time, and someone could potentially avoid dying to the poison by taking the antidote at the moment they break their codes or their bracelets.
- One of Kimura's last thoughts is lamenting that her medicine couldn't help anyone during the game. This seems like massive foreshadowing that her medicine will be used to save someone's life after her death. Just like how Alter Ego helped the DR1 survivors after Chihiro bought it.
- Might not be foreshadowing what you think it is. The timing sets it up for the stinger at the end of the episode where Munakata is shown using the serum or one like it. Maybe more heartbreaking that all she wants to do is help people, but even in death bad things happen in her name.
- Confirmed as of Side:Hope. Munakata didn't use Kimura's antidote. But Kyoko did, and it kept her alive even after her Forbidden Action triggered.
- One of Kimura's last thoughts is lamenting that her medicine couldn't help anyone during the game. This seems like massive foreshadowing that her medicine will be used to save someone's life after her death. Just like how Alter Ego helped the DR1 survivors after Chihiro bought it.
- The bracelets, like the ID cards in the games, have a weakness that causes them to malfunction or break, such as heat or cold. It's possible that Makoto or Kyoko will end up discovering this by chance.
- If the power to the building is knocked out, then it's possible that the traitor/Monokuma's monitoring system to enforce the NG Actions will break down, as well. The traitor would then have to try to get the backup power working to continue the game, leaving a window of opportunity for the group. Maybe Hagakure will be the one who causes the power outage, serving as the Spanner in the Works for the mastermind's plans.
- Confirmed. It was Juzo who does it, and when he does so all the bracelets fall off.
- The bracelets are machines, right? We do know Future Foundation made Komaru's hacking gun. One good aimed Break bullet might be all that it takes.
- Maybe someone will get desperate and chop their bracelet arm off.
- Confirmed. Juzo cuts his arm off for this reason.
- Episode 7 brings in a new possibility: Miaya, who is now proven not to be knocked out during the murder phase and is now being controlled by Komaru. Maybe she can be used to learn who the attacker is, and maybe even prevent them from killing anyone and end the game by time-out. However, since Monokuma was lying about the game being broadcast, who knows if he was lying about any of the other rules...
- Jossed.
His irrational hatred towards Makoto goes as far back in time as during Killer Killer (set before the Danganronpa 2). This has set up a lot of speculation since this clearly goes beyond the crime of treason. So instead of hating Makoto for his actions, he hates him for his luck.
What if Sakakura had someone special in the Mutual Killing Game? Maybe it was family, or a friend, or a family friend. So here he is, watching helplessly from outside the walls of Hopes Peak, as this person and their fellow students are killing each other. In the chaos, this person dies or is executed. Sakakura is understandably upset and wants blood.
Maybe he blames Makoto for the investigation. Or because he didn't stop the murder in time. Or maybe he hates Makoto because when Makoto gets sentenced to death, he miraculously survives his execution. Somehow this one kid manages what no one else has up until this point. He comes back, defeats Junko, and rallies everyone else around him over hope.
Did he manage this because it was designed all along? Or was he just a lucky bastard when everyone else had to die? Either way, it leaves a bitter taste in Sakakura's mouth.
- Barring that, maybe it has to do with Izuru Kamakura winning the first game. Anyone who wins a mutual killing game, either by falling the rules or not, is suspicious and worrying in its own right.
- Semi-correct. He was upset Makoto defeated Enoshima.
Possibly hinted by the opening with all the other Future Foundation members falling and Makoto reaching down grab Kyoko's hand.
- Jossed, Kirigiri's dead.
- Jossed again. Kirigiri's alive, but several Munakata, Asahina and Mitarai also survive.
No real evidence for this, just a wild guess. Andou's confections have been compared to drugs several times by different sources. Maybe back when she and Kimura were on good terms, they combined talents. The result: a tasty prescription candy. Using this, Andou makes people warm up to her or can control them with it. Assuming Izayoi's NG code is related to not eating, or not eating these candies, this will come to affect his relationship with Andou. Maybe he will even start despising her as time goes on?
- She did seem mildly distressed that he's not eating the candy.
- Considering in later episodes she's shown to have an inferiority complex, she's probably distressed for different reasons. She thinks making sweets is the only good thing about herself. She doesn't trust people who won't eat them. Plus other things this seems to be foreshadowing Izayoi's death at the hands of Andou.
- The latter part is jossed. Izayoi kicked the bucket in Episode 6 with Kimura.
- How is it jossed? If anything, it was confirmed. They were thinking this would foreshadow Izayoi's death, and now he's dead.
- Considering in later episodes she's shown to have an inferiority complex, she's probably distressed for different reasons. She thinks making sweets is the only good thing about herself. She doesn't trust people who won't eat them. Plus other things this seems to be foreshadowing Izayoi's death at the hands of Andou.
- Pretty much confirmed as of episode 8.
- Not really. There's more evidence against it than for it, and with Ruruka's death it's ultimately left to interpretation.
A troper can dream, can't she?
- I mean, you remember Hajime becomes Izuru Kamakura and helps end the world, right?
- I said Mirai. This troper suspect the Remnants of Despair might show up later on, to tie the two story arcs. Also, I said Hajime, given Izuru won't remember their conversation, and even if he did, why would he care what Juzo said for some random guy? But I'll be surprised if this moment hasn't burned itself into Hajime's memory forever.
- If Hajime appears in Mirai-hen, I don't think he'll punch Juzo. Just dropping the bombshell that Juzo's speech was what caused him to agree to the Kamukura project in the first place would be enough of a gut-check.
- Jossed, unless he punches Sakakuras' corpse.
More of a observation than a wild guess. Natsumi likely wanted to be friends with Hajime due to their shared desire of wanting to be in the main course, and possible felt a connection with him. During her first conversation with Hajime, she brags about her status of a member of the Kuzuryu family and her self-proclaimed title of the Ultimate Little Sister. Although the ways she said it, kind of make it sound like she was saying "Imagine all the perks you will get if you become my friend". Hajime is only person that Natsumi seems to open up to, revealing to him how deeply insecure she felt about having no talent, and actually briefly cried in his presence, something she wouldn't do if it were anyone else. It's heavily implied that the two did become something close to friends as Hajime was extremely upset at the news of her death.
- Specific Corrollary: Natsumi wanted Hajime to eventually be her hitman in the future. Hey, if Fuyuhiko has Peko, who does Natsumi have?
In the third episode, Sato didn't seem to be very "sane", with her Madness Mantra and the fact that she truly believe that Natsumi will kill Mahiru. It's possible that Junko actually gotten to her, and drove her crazy with the idea that Natsumi will eventually kill Mahiru, all in an attempt to drive several of the students in Class 77-B to despair. Remember Junko did drive all the reserve course students to despair, so her influence should be starting to spread at this point, but won't taking full effect until the first killing game.
- Only problem with that theory is that Junko shouldn't be a student yet. She's part of Class 78, and they don't turn up until a year later. How would she have gotten on campus to manipulate things?
- It's entirely possible that future Hope's Peak Academy come to around to tour before actually attending in order to get an idea about the facilities and such.
- Actually, if you read Danganronpa: Zero it's implied that Junko was setting up for her plan about almost one year before coming to Hope's Peak. If you recall, Yasuke Matsuda, the Ultimate Neurologist and one of Junko's accomplices, was part of the 77-A class, meaning she would have her eyes set on Hope's Peak at this time.
As seen from his speech in Episode 3 of the Despair arc, Juzo seems to have a grudge against "normals" like Hajime. It's possible that Juzo has a complex against being "normal", and is projecting his own insecurities on Hajime. The root of this could be that Juzo has "lost" his talent, being forced into early retirement due to a career-ending injury or scandal. This could serve as a deconstruction of Hope's Peak policy that encourages its students to laser-focus on their talents to the exclusion of all else; once that talent is gone, they have nothing left. Juzo feels that an Ultimate without his ultimate talent is nothing, and takes out his self-loathing on everyone else.
Juzo's loyalty to Munakata could partially stem from Munakata giving him a position at Hope's Peak and a new purpose in life. This might also be why Juzo has such a grudge against Makoto; seeing a mere Lucky Student, barely an Ultimate in Juzo's estimation, rise up to take down Junko may be a painful reminder of Juzo's own failings. Finally, if Juzo's NG code is indeed a prohibition against punching anyone, this is exactly the sort of ironic mockery that Monokuma would pull.
- Except it's highly likely that none of what Juzo said was what he actually felt. It's like he said when talking with Chisa, he was trying to stop him from dying a meaningless death, and he'd say and do whatever necessary to accomplish that goal, even if it's nothing but brutality and lies. Although, otherwise, it is an interesting theory.
- In Episode 6 of Future Arc, you find out Juzo has gone as far to beat the World Series. He seemed pretty happy to just go along with Munakata in that scene. Actually, he did not seem very angry at all.
- Corollary: It would be really Hilarious in Hindsight (see Island Mode with Peko) if Natsumi was secretly trying to get HAJIME to be her hitman for the future. (Is that Izuru recruits Fuyuhiko? 'I'm Hajime Hinata./ You're the guy my sister wanted to be her hitman!')
However, the academy seems just as adept at covering up any shady happenings at the school(as seen in their handling of the twilight incident).
So what if, in a desperate bid to break the power of the steering committee, Munakata does something unthinkable - he tries to use Junko. Allow her to cause an incident that the steering committee can't cover up, and use the opportunity to take over and reform the school.
Needless to say, this goes horribly right, and leads to the despairing incident and global collapse. So, when Monokuma tried to blame the despairing incident on the Future Foundation, he wasn't wrong.
This might be the reason for the founding of the Future Foundation - Munakata realizes how badly he screwed up, and is trying to correct his mistake by destroying Despair. Since the events of the final killing game are being broadcast, perhaps one of the mastermind's goals is to expose the dark secret of the Future Foundation's leaders, in order to destroy the FF's credibility and reverse all their efforts to rebuild the world.
- The sentence in the heading is confirmed in a technical way.
- Tengan and Kizakura is part of the cover up that leads to The Parade
- Mitarai's skill is used to brainwash people into despair and/or suicide
- Juzo is the reason that Junko got off scott free
- Chisa is actually a Remnant of Despair that purposely pushed the Future foundation's Knight Templar to bring about Despair on Munakata
- However, Jossed for on the part of Munakata's atonement; he is atoning only for failure to stop despair.
◊ Bandai
and Gozu
◊ (although it's harder to tell.) I'm not quite sure how this fits together, but it's an interesting observation. Perhaps the traitor forces people to do their forbidden action, killing them that way, then covers it up.- Jossed, all victims of the attacker were killed with a single stab through the heart but this did happen to Izayoi
- Confirmed. The real Miaya is dead, and Monaca isn't the traitor
- Confirmed, Miaya was a real person, but was killed by Monaca.
Also of note is that Miaya is standing in the initial promotional materials introducing the Future Foundation leaders. Maybe that's a hint that the real Miaya is capable of walking?
As for why Monaca wouldn't just kill her, it's possible she wants to drive Miaya into despair. Perhaps the theory that Miaya actually is Chiaki is true, and Monaca-Miaya's goal is to get exposed as the mastermind. She would claim to be the previously-thought-dead Chiaki Nanami, and that she actually did fall into despair with the others, and manipulated Makoto into saving the Remnants of Despair so that they could escape to wreak more havoc.
Of course, the fact that Miaya was replaced by a robot would mean that Miaya isn't the traitor, and that Monaca is an accomplice to the real traitor, who helped her capture and replace Miaya.
- Appears to be jossed as of Episode 6.
- Actually, this is starting to make a lot of sense to me. Mostly because, if Monaca were the mastermind, she would already know what everyone's bracelets say. She wouldn't need to trick anyone into showing her their NG Codes.
- This theory meshes well with a lot of popular theories. Like Chisa secretly being the mastermind, or that the whole game takes place in a simulation. But does this apply that the game was set up to create hope instead of to create despair?
- This is reminiscent of the second game when Chiaki was the traitor. Even though that was case, she was not on Monokuma's side. But since Monaca would obviously be the despair side, that would make the controller of Monokuma the hope side? Or just an opposing despair? Since he's just a mascot who can be used by anyone, this isn't necessarily impossible. It doesn't always have to be Junko.
- Confirmed
- Considering Kizakura's dialogue as he watches Kimura give chase to Andou, perhaps he's the one who set them up?
- Semi-confirmed? But since Nagito Komaeda was involved, it wasn't actually intentional.
When the timer times out and everyone is knocked out, the only casualty is Tengan, who already looks like he's mortally wounded. Monokuma tends to thrive on Exact Words, so he counts it as a kill for the traitor even though Miaya was knocked out of her wheelchair and couldn't have done it. Miaya/Monaca may then try to cover for this by accusing Munakata of being the traitor, claiming that he killed Chisa first to deflect suspicion from himself. His motive would have been to solidify control of the Future Foundation by removing the moderate members who opposed him, using Naegi and Despair as a scapegoat. When Munakata reveals his NG Code, which would exonerate him from Gozu's murder, the rebuttal will be that since he was involved in the construction of the building, he would have known about all the air vents and secret passages, and so his code against opening doors would be no hindrance to him.
Meanwhile, Kizakura will finally let Kyoko in on his "hunch" about "Miaya", and they'll figure out she was the culprit and get the information to Naegi in time to expose Miaya as the traitor.
The traitor will be defeated and the game will apparently be over, giving the Future Foundation a Hope Spot. Though not as much of a hope spot for Naegi, who has lost most of his allies in the Future Foundation. With Munakata officially in charge, Naegi's fate looks pretty bleak. But then the bracelets knock them out one last time... and when they wake up, there's another body. There was a second traitor!
- Jossed, Komaru is in control of Miaya now and makes no attempt to hide it, which makes Robo-Miaya being an enemy very unlikely.
- Jossed, Monaca launched herself into space and possibly committed suicide.
- That's still ambiguous, though. It's still Jossed, however, seeing as Sakakura's dead.
- Confirmed.
She killed the real Miaya and put that robot in her place to make everyone believe that everything was fine some time ago, with the idea of destroying the Future Foundation from the inside. BUT she is actually playing the Killing Game, which is not her idea: the actual mastermind discovered that Monaca was behind Miaya and is using it to his/her own advantage. 'Miaya' (aka Monaca) killed the dead players so far and she has to kill everyone else except for the real mastermind and Naegi. I don't know the reason why she is obeying someone else, though.
- Looking likely. In Episode 5, Tengan tells Munakata who he thinks the attacker is. The answer is muted to the audience, suggesting it's someone we don't already know about.
- Jossed in terms of attacker. All deaths are suicide caused by watching a brainwashing video. Also jossed in the mastermind, as only Tengan planned the game.
- Kyoko. She's insanely smart, and would see through whoever it is fairly quickly. Also, considering all the Ship Tease she got with Makoto in the first game, it would emotionally wound him and make him even easier to manipulate.
- Alternatively, Asahina would also prove to be a deep emotional wound for Makoto to deal with, although probably not quite as nasty.
- Juuzuo. He's too loyal to Munakata, and if Munakata died before Juzo, Juzo would probably try his best to carry on his friend's legacy.
- Kouichi. This guy figured out Miaya was suspicious so chances are the traitor will want him out of the way. (If this guy was a student of Hope's Peak before becoming a talent scout for the school, he was probably the Ultimate Talent Scout or something like that)
- Sonosuke. Killing him would probably drive Andou to despair, especially if they managed to frame it on Seiko.
- Alternatively, killing Andou and framing it on Seiko would probably work too.
- Jossed as of Future Arc Episode 11. The target is simply picked based on proximity to a monitor, in which they are wakened up and forced to watch a Brainwashing Video, which caused the target to suicide. Even Makoto fell into Despair until Sakakura intervene. Also jossed as to who the mastermind wants to survive. Tengan want everyone except Mitarai dead, while Mitarai is pushed to broadcast his brainwashing video.
- This would be a really interesting if it turns out that Monaca is just a player in the game and Monokuma is being controlled by someone else. It also highlights how suspicious it is that the "Despair Team", if you will, bothered to put up Monokuma paintings and monitors but not carmeras. That aside, Monaca has been shown to be a robotics expert. You bring up a good point about Miaya's robot being fragile. That is strange, right?
- Alternatively, Robo-Miaya could also be used as a possible scapegoat, if there are multiple traitors then revealing Miaya as a robot controlled by Monaca everyone would assume that she was the traitor. They separate her from her chair and scrap her, they go to sleep and no one dies, the Future Foundation would believe they have won while the actual killer walks among them. I mean, Munakata called it but still, it is what the mastermind wants.
- Confirmed, Monaca has nothing to do with the organization of the killing game, and her being a participant is just a coincidence.
- The theory goes like this, Natsumi and Mahiru were friends that took pictures together. However, after Mahiru was accepted in Hope's Peak, Natsumi grew jealous of her and starting growing apart from her. When Mahiru try to talk it over with Natsumi, this end resulting in an argument. Sato intervenes, but only makes things, and as result Natsumi turns into a full blown bully toward Mahiru. While Natsumi wanted Mahiru to drop out of Hope's Peak, she never actually want to physically hurt her.
- Many have pointed out that Natsumi tend to act a lot like Hiyoko, one of Mahiru's closest friend. For this reason, Mahiru likely had a similar relationship with Natsumi.
- During Natsumi and Sato's first fight in the Episode 3, Natsumi was about to throw a punch at Sato, but stopped herself once Mahiru got between them. If Natsumi truly hated Mahuri that much, she would have hit Mahiru anyway.
- Wasn't it said that Sato got her scar before going to Hope's Peak?
After episode 4 showed that Kimura, Andou and Izayoi are also appearing and it also explained their backstory and why they're at each others' throats, and Yukizome, who died in the first episode make a lot of appearances, there's also a good chance that we'll also be seeing Bandai, Great Gozu and the real Gekkougahara in future Side:Despair episodes. Gozu would continue being his awesome self, of course. Gekkougahara will be able to talk, maybe. Also, we might even see Bandai actually having PROPER voice for someone of his stature as a black dude, only for some incident to happen and he ended up getting stuck with a young girl's voice for life.
- The biggest problem with this theory is that Bandai and The Great Gozu are long since out of Hope's Peak, and they're not working for Munakata, so they don't have any reason to be there.
- No, but The Great Gozu worked for Tengan. Maybe Bandai, too. The Future Foundation branch leaders were able to get organized because they already knew each other. It would make sense to see that connection.
- But why would Tengan need to have Gozu or Bandai go in when he himself is already there, and in a very high position, considering he was a former headmaster, he's able to easily see Jin, and he's even in on the Izuru Kamakura Project. Anything that he could have Gozu do, he can just do himself, unlike Munakata, who's busy on the construction of the overseas branch.
- You can always use more allies.
- Well, there is one reason they could show up. With Kizakura's probation and Yukizome's transfer, the 77th class needs a new homeroom teacher...
- No, but The Great Gozu worked for Tengan. Maybe Bandai, too. The Future Foundation branch leaders were able to get organized because they already knew each other. It would make sense to see that connection.
- Jossed, none of them appear in Side:Despair.
- Well, Monaca is an excellent robotics engineer. It does make sense that she would be able to build an android. There's not much reason to assume Chihiro could. He was a programmer, not an engineer. Also, I think a lot of people would know. Like Kizakura or even Tengan. It's just, if any other character would have known about it, it probably wouldn't have been kept a secret after the Tragedy. Or even after the killing game started. That's too valuable a piece of information.
- Semi-confirmed. Togami is aware that the real Gekkougahara is dead and that Monaca is taking her place.
- For example, there is no reason for Gekkogahara to trick Naegi into telling her his NG Code. The mastermind would have already known what it was. Although you could argue that it was a happy accident. Maybe she faked her NG Code in order to gain his trust and his reveal was just icing on the cake. It just feels contradictory, is all, if the Mastermind wants Naegi to survive.
- Besides, if Monaca really wants to be like big sis Junko, she would follow Junko's lead in creating fair fights that she can lose. Monaca does not have a bracelet and presumably no NG Code. If Gekkogahara is a robot, how can she die of poison? Kyoko makes a point of saying the game is skewed against the traitor, but Munakata thinks the game is a plow so the traitor can earn everyone's trust. So it makes sense that the traitor can't die. It just does not feel like something Junko would have done. Itt's all too easy. She likes to set herself up for the possibility of loss. Unless Monaca is doing her own thing and doesn't want to be just like Junko after all?
- Confirmed
- subverted, since episode 7 she claimed to only kill Gekkouhagara, but she's not the mastermind
- Except Izuru was never a part of Class 77. When he was Hajime, he was a Reserve Course student. After he became Izuru, he was kept secret by the school.
- While Izuru wasn't Class 77's rep, he was present at the First Killing Game, and Chiaki wasn't.
- Monokuma claims that three peoples are dead. If Gozu is alive, the third victim is either Asahina's superior or the real Miaya Gekkougahara.
- In episode 2, he choose to help Makoto escape even through his job is to protect Kazuo, as his bodyguard. If one of the victims is Faking the Dead (like Hifumi did in the first game), Gozu has more likely to do so, as he was "killed" in a different room than the other two victims. And since Kyoko is in the room with the corpse of Chisa and Bandai, she must be able to tell if one of them is alive.
Except there are a few problems with this, starting with your first point:
- It's most likely just re-used animation, considering the rest of Monokuma's recap also has the EXACT same animation used for Chisa's death which means your second point is moot
- Even though yes he did abandon Tengan to protect Makoto, it's likely he knows Tengan could survive a fight.
- Plus, Gozu is protrayed as being nice and caring, it'd be out of his character to kill someone, he'd most likely kill himself instead of killing an ally.
Technically Confirmed regarding him as attacker. Just like all attackers, he was woke up by the Monokuma Monitors and forced to kill himself after watching a brainwashing video.
In Chihiro's first year, he met Chiaki Nanami and they got along very well, probably due to their shared interest in technology. Maybe Chiaki even helped him with his interest in artificial intelligences. When Chiaki was murdered (or whatever happened to her) Chihiro created an Artificial Intelligence with her appearance and her personality to cope with her loss. Then he stored this AI somewhere, and it was later modified by Alter Ego and introduced in the Neo World Program, as Alter Ego would know how close all the Ultimate Despairs were to Chiaki and how her loss contributed to their fall in despair.
After being the focus of last Side:Future and especially last Side:Despair's episode, one of the trio (Seiko, Andou or Izayoi) will be murdered by the traitor, making the other two paranoid.
- If Izayoi is murdered, Andou will think that Seiko killed him to get back at her, so she will try to avenge her boyfriend by killing Seiko.
- If Andou is murdered, Izayoi will think that Seiko is the traitor. Seiko will get paranoid and will think that Izayoi is guilty and that he was the one that destroyed her friendship with Andou and then killed her.
- If Seiko is the one getting killed, Izayoi will start to think that Andou is not as sweet as she seems and that maybe she killed Seiko out of frustration and fear. Andou will be scared of Izayoi, thinking that he killed Seiko to make her happy when she didn't want her friend to end like that.
- Confirmed in that Seiko dies in Episode 5. It's not clear yet if it will hurt Izayoi and Andou's relationship, though.
- Don't think we'll ever get to see if the relationship would've been hurt or not - since Izayoi is dead in Episode 6.
- This WMG is getting Hilarious in Hindsight, considering Munakata's VA is voicing the Trope Namer of the trope... (Thank you so much for telling me this. -OP)
- Confirmed.
Perhaps the forces of Despair are not responsible for the killing game after all. Munakata set the whole thing up in order to draw out his enemies and destroy them, having become paranoid after spending so long fighting against despair.
Confirmed. Tengan planned the killing game to push Mitarai into broadcasting his brainwashing hope video.
- Turns out it's an exit to the building.
- Not necessarily. It's implied heavily to be a red herring. Kyoko doesn't seem to think it's real.
- And it wasn't, it just leads to a dead end.
- Ironically the key to end the game is actually in the room.
- Confirmed to have a Disc-One Final Boss. Jossed in the Disc One Boss: it was Tengan himself, with Mitarai taking over being the Final Boss for Side Hope.
while browsing the subreddit. As the user points out, the next death is likely to be somebody sacrificing themselves for someone else. My theories are:- Asahina will die defending Naegi. Just because she had a fakeout earlier does not mean she's still safe.
- Juzo will die, either defending Munakata or defending someone from him.
- Andou or Izayoi defending the other.
- It could also possibly be Kizukara who dies protecting both Kirigiri and Mitarai (or just Kirigiri). In the website, when asked if he would die for a loved one, he responded "yes". He and Jin Kirigiri were best friends, so it would make sense he'd have no problem dying to protect the daughter of his best friend.
- Confirmed. In episode 8, Kizakura dies via activating his NG Code (Opening his left hand) to save Kyoko from a trap set off by Ruruka.
- Jossed
- "Both dolphins and deer live inside pine trees."
- This refers to the fact that the cast have been transported to the underwater building, and this is where the game unfolds. This is discovered in episode 9.
- "A strawberry seed only shows it's face three times."
- The strawberry seed could be Andou. Another translation for this quote is to "give up its seed three times". Maybe a reference to how many different people she will try to drug with her candies?
- "A chanting monk doesn’t know his parents, right?"
- "A dancing wolf needs no sake, right?"
- Might be Juzo and a reference to Andou drugging him in Episode 8. He went under its effects for a little while, but he eventually shakes it off. He doesn't need her "encouragement". Rage is enough. Needs no sake, indeed.
- "A divorce note from an imp"
- I think there was another, but I'm not sure...
- I started thinking about this and have some very vague suggestions. I'll add them where appropriate. I really encourage others to build on them.
. This reddit post [3] points out that Mitarai does seem to be a combination of Naegi and Kirigiri's features. It's possible Mitarai is their son from the future, and came back to try and prevent some event happening.- We've seen the real Mitarai in the Despair arc, so this theory is looking even less likely. Unless the real Mitarai dies in the Tragedy and the time traveler assumes his identity.
- She says she wants Munakata dead in episode 5. Isn't that something the traitor would say?
- Not disagreeing exactly, but there are plenty of reasons to want anyone dead at this point. She might have been just taking her best guess at whose death she thought would end the game.
- She seems to be awake before Izayoi in (Episode 3? The scene with the Monokuma Lisa in the library). While it could just be Izayoi sleeping normally, not affected by the gas, it's a bit fishy...
- Seemingly being betrayed by your best friend and getting expelled from the best High School in the world sounds like a pretty good reason to fall into despair...
- Well, in Episode 6 Izayoi is found dead. Andou accidentally killed him by triggering his NG code in an attempt to stop him from triggering hers.
- Episode 9 had the traitor kill her, so safe to say this is Jossed.
- If we consider "traitor" as the one that plans the game, it's still Jossed. If we consider "traitor" as the one that kill others, it's confirmed: She was induced to suicide.
- Because that's apparently what Tengan says to Munakata.
- That...actually could be a very interesting twist. It could also explain why Munakata's Laughing Mad and using Kimura's stimulant to go One-Winged Angel and probably go on a rampage: so he could kill everyone and be done with it. I think the only thing that needs to be questioned is whether or not the sentence fits with Tengan's style of speech (I'm unsure if he speaks casually, keigo or whatever), but since the Japanese fans were the ones who thought that up, I won't question it. Let's see where this goes.
- There's one problem with this theory, though. If every character so far have been killed by different people, why were all of them hanged? Are they trying to imitate each other? All characters killed during sleep time seem to have a wound that made them bleed to death and then they were hanged in some way, which is similar to how a serial killer would act. Maybe it's the mastermind who prepares the scene of the crime and not the attacker?
- Either it's the latter, and the mastermind is the one to set up the crime scene after the murder is committed, or the attacker is being forced to prop them up. Let's be honest, if they weren't being forced to kill them, very few would actually want or try to kill anyone.
- Confirmed. Except the attacker is the victim themselves.
- We've already been shown in SDR2 (kinda) that robots are immune to sleeping gas, and presumably they're immune to poison as well. Monaca herself is shown without a bracelet indicating that she has no reason to fall asleep. However, this doesn't make her the designated attacker, who is woken up by the bracelet after the fact so they can do their thing. She instead tricks her way through the game like so and either performs killings alongside the attacker or supports the attacker with info on the locations of the targets.
- Just adding a bit to what you said, as of Episode 6, there's reason to believe Monaca isn't even on the island. Togami implies he knows her location is still Towa City. This doesn't really effect what you said about the robot, though.
I assume that there is a secret faction or organization within Future Foundation on who wants to reign at the top and run it, with Andou and Izayoi being part of it. It's clear that there is tension with many of the heads, and noticeably, all the people who were nice, decent, not antagonistic or against Naegi are all dead (minus Mitarai and Kizukara, though I fear the latter might be our Heroic Sacrifice death).
Andou, Munakata, Sakakura and Izayoi are all part of the Radicals, and though Tengan was the chairman, Munakata was the one who was really running things and supposedly, that makes him The Leader. Andou was the head of 8th division and Izayoi, the 9th, so they're nowhere close to the top. With everyone else dying, the only ones standing in the way to run the top are Kizukara (head of 3rd division), Sakakura (head of 6th division and The Lancer to Munakata), Miaya (head of 7th division, though because she's Monaca, I'll bet someone offs her later), Kirigiri (head of 14th division), and Munakata himself (head of 2nd division). Noticeably, with the people in the death list offed, the option to who leads Future Foundation starts narrowing down especially with Tengan's death (Nice Girl Chisa and her demonstrations of being a great and accepting teacher as shown in Side:Despair; Nice Guy Bandai and his ability to grow and harvest food which makes him crucial; honourable and reliable Gentle Giant Great Gozu; and The Medic Kimura who's both useful and quite compassionate).
I'm unsure if Andou herself would want to lead Future Foundation, or if she wants Izayoi to lead and she'll tell him what to do via feeding him her drug candy, or if they're both working as underlings to the real leader there (which could be the 13th division's head since we have not seen them yet). Kirigiri and Naegi would probably be the most viable candidates to run Future Foundation (unless Kizukara and Mitarai survive without being the traitor), I'd think, but again - people want Naegi dead, and again, nobody's really safe.
However, since Munakata's gone Laughing Mad, and apparently like all of the previous killing games, this is all broadcasted: everyone would see that the wise, old leader, Tengan, was not only killed, but he was mercilessly killed by none other than Munakata. How do you think that would look to the rest of Future Foundation? How would that look to everyone else? A full-grown man killing an already wounded senior citizen in cold blood. Especially regarding Japan's culture where senior citizens have priority, that would be a demonstration of appalling behaviour.
This, in turn, would cause huge uproar, because I do think that though a lot of people in Future Foundation respected and admired Munakata and his leadership, there'll probably be an equal amount who are firmly loyal to Tengan and see Munakata as a raging lunatic that does not deserve to lead. As a result, this will cause a rift, and the hidden faction or organization that wanted to usurp the power to rule Future Foundation will take it as a chance to declare war against Munakata and his followers, while masquerading it all as being in the name of Tengan.
- The part about the broadcasting is false since the whole thing isn't being broadcasted.
- Actually semi-confirmed. Episode 8 had Kizakura reveal that not only was Andou nastier than she appeared, but apparently there are rumours that there are people in Future Foundation who wanted to get younger members to their side. However, they wanted to separate and become independent. Probably again, because Munakata had no faith in Tengan. It definitely does seem like Munakata, Juzo, Andou and perhaps Izayoi and perhaps Kimura might've been part of it.
- Confirmed. Pretty much everyone have different idea of how to restore the world to hope, leading to Tengan set up the killing game to wipe the slate clean, giving Mitarai the push to forcefully brainwashing people into Hope.
- Jossed. Togami apparently found the real Miaya Gekkogahara who is dead, but definitely not behind the Monokuma Door since he wasn't even aware that the Killing Game was taking place. The door is actually a secret exit to the building. Maybe. Or maybe it's just false hope.
- Double-Jossed. The door's a fake.
- Already seen and possibly exploited. Episode 5 had Sakakura and Asahina get in a fight with pipes as their weapons so no fisticuffs came into play. Asashina even got scratched up by Sakakura, but her bracelet didn't activate. However there'll probably be more in future episodes, too.
When I first saw Side:Future's episode 1, I assumed that Yukizome was crying when she died because she was scared and afraid of dying, but that doesn't fit Yukizome's portrayal in Side:Despair. There, she is shown as a brave, strong woman who is capable of fighting back most of her students (which include a Yakuza boss and a man twice her size) and isn't even remotely scared of being punched by former Ultimate Boxer Sakakura. So, why the hell was Yukizome crying when she died? I think that the reason is that she knew her attacker and she felt betrayed. That would exonerate most of the cast of being the attacker (why would she feel betrayed by Monaca or Asahina, for example?) and would leave us with the most obvious answers: the attacker is Munakata, Sakakura, her former boss Tengan (Jossed by him being killed in last episode), Naegi (she would feel betrayed if she was killed by the Ultimate Hope) or one of her former students (maybe Komaeda, or even Chiaki Nanami if we follow some of the theories that we have here).
- Or she was crying because she was IMPALED IN A CHANDELIER! That sounds like kind of a painful experience, and it wouldn't be too crazy to assume that someone would cry after that.
- But given that the weight of the body caused the chandelier to fall, most people assume that she died before being hung. If not, she would have struggled before dying (she woke up, as she died with her eyes wide open) and the chandelier would have fallen before. And even then, Chisa is not portrayed as someone fragile or weak in Side:Despair, so if they made such an emphasis on her face and her tears I don't think that it was only because she was in pain.
- Her tears comes from The induced despair from both the despair brainwashing and suicide brainwashing.
- Theory jossed. It was induced suicide.
. Other reasons to believe that come from thinking how the death scenes happen and the characters' characterization.- As noted in the theory Gozu would have killed Chisa, which is exemplified by the chains in his Death Scene and the chains in the candelier where she was. Tengan would have killed Gozu, who was found wrapped in electric cables, which was his death scene. Izayoi would kill Seiko, she would be his primary target as she endangers Andou, she is crucified with water falling on her, a very interesting parallel to his death scene of being crucified upside down and set in flames.
- Makoto, Chisa and Munakata kill themselves as the attacker. There are no direct rules stating that the attacker can't kill themselves. Makoto and Chisa would refuse to kill someone else and would probably die as a result, while Munakata might actively kill himself, as he would be insane going after the killer.]
- Seiko is shown with syringes all over her body. If a Ultimate Pharmacist would kill anyone, the best way they could do it, is by overdose. She clearly walks around with an unknown number of hidden drugs and could easily know which of them have deadly effects together and in high doses.
- Sakakura is shown cut in half by Munakata's blade. Sakakura is heavily implied to be unable to punch things due to his NG Action, and considering his personality, his way to kill would be by beating someone to death, as he can't do that, he would resort to the closest weapon he could find: the katana of someone who is around him most of the time.
- Semi-confirmed. He confess to Makoto he hated him, because he defeated Junko Enoshima without any harm, while himself was blackmailed into not denounce her. He doesn't deny his actions contributed to spread hope, however.
Nothing more despairing than being forced to fight your friends and allies to the death. And then to have to lie to everyone else about it. It could explain a lot of strange details. Such as why each murder looks like a battle took place. If everyone's supposed to be asleep, there would be no need for a struggle. It would also explain why there were tears in Chisa's eyes. Maybe she chose not to fight back? Or even why Aoi's death was faked. Also, if this is really what Tengan told Munakata, he would know why it happened because he was one of the blackened for one of the rounds.
- What Tenagn said is that everyone is an attacker. What actually happen is that they are all induced suicide.
- Confirmed. It's Izayoi.
This ties into some of the WMGsic above, where the actual rules seem to be two (or maybe more) people are awakened during each sleeping period and forced to kill each other (and apparently not allowed to talk about it afterwards). Tengan was trying to tell Munakata this by constantly saying "Is that a question? Then I'll have to answer it.", IE "I can't lie! Ask me a question about this game so I can hint the truth to you!". When Munakata finally gives Tengan a question about the game, Tengan figures out how to get around being unallowed to say the specifics (that he was forced to kill Gosu) with his "The attacker alternates" answer, which allows Munakata to put two and two together and realize the truth that the game's rules were a lie (Unfortunately Tengan apparently didn't expect the revelation to unhinge Munakata so much). Possibly the most despairing thing about this truth (and maybe what drove Munakata mad) is that it means there is no actual way for the survivors as a group to win. The game only ends when everyone but one person is dead, and now Munakata intends to be that one person.
This also neatly explains why Tengan was telling him Chisa was a sacrifice to Munakata's goal. Munakata's goal included Munakata surviving, so by saying Chisa died for his goal, Tengan was trying to tell Munakata that only one person will survive this game. Again, Tengan was probably hoping it would spur Munakata to figure out a solution rather than go crazy and decide to kill everyone. Oops.
- I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say here. But some of your details are wrong, I think. A lot of people have speculated that, based on Monokumo's phrasing, the traitor and attacker were always two distinct entities. And it is never stated that there is only one traitor or only one attacker. That "the attacker alternates" does not actually mean Monokumo lied. It's just manipulation. Or is that what you meant?
- Sorry, guess I should have gone into more depth on what "The Attacker alternates" could mean to Munakata. First of all, I'm assuming Munakata is a genius because he's the super high school student council president so he could figure this out in seconds. When Tengan said "The attacker alternates", the logic follows like this: Tengan was one of the attackers (it's the only way he could know), Tengan was forced to do it ("Unfortunately, I'm not one of the remnants of despair"), Tengan is being forced to divulge this answer in an indirect way (otherwise he would have said it more directly). From this, Munakata can infer that the attacker is always anyone at any time and also being forced to kill someone against their will (the fact that Tengan went through with killing someone possibly implies that the blackmail is "Or else Monokuma will kill EVERYONE if they don't" or something like that). Thus the lie in the rules is "The survivors can win as a group by killing the attacker(s)". The truth is "Only one person will survive because ALL of you are the attackers" (The game ends at one winner because by that point there's no one else left to kill). Tengan was probably hoping this would make Munakata realize "No one here is a Remnant of Despair so you killing everyone is just what the mastermind wants", but all it did was make Munakata say "Do you really think that would suffice to make me waver?" and decide to kill everyone else to survive (because now everyone is a potential threat to him.).
- The rules is a lie is somewhat confirmed. Despite no one got killed in the 5th time limit, the game actually continues. In fact it's Unwinnable by Design.
- Monokuma was never a character. He was always a mascot used by another person- mostly Junko. So to create a "false Monokuma" would never be a possibility because there isn't properly a "real" one. Also, Monaca would never have to resort to piecing one together from various sources. She created the vast majority of the Monokuma robots we see and is implied to have created many of the weaponry used by Junko and the Despair Team. Besides, the Monokuma we see might just be another Junko AI- and we know where it came from if that's the case.
- CONFIRMED. While not Monaca, everything about the Death Game aspect is completely faked, from the broadcasting, to that there's a murderer stalking them, even to the fact Monokuma is even present!
- Confirmed in the sense that The attacker is everyone/no one. All "kills" are induced suicide.
- I agree, and for one good reason; fake blood. If you are going to change the colour of blood, then you also need to change the colour of fake blood to match, and having a blood substitute be changed to florescent pink to match the florescent pink blood just gives away that it's going to be used as fake blood at some point. By keeping the blood red, it allows for much more convincing fakeouts. And before anyone brings up Hifumi from DR1, I'd like to remind you that in that case, the blood was real, the wound was not.
- Kodaka probably wouldn't do the exact same thing twice in a row.
- It's a common theme in every Dangan Ronpa piece. They did it for every trial in DR and SDR2, for every death in Another Episode, all of the side material, and even a few times in the anime already. It wouldn't be "twice in a row", it's just what this franchise does.
- Jossed thanks to Izayoi biting it. Mitarai has escaped death... for now.
- If you mean the next victim of the attacker, than this is still possible. Otherwise, the foreshadowing is still setting him up for something major. I'm thinking a psychotic break where he goes semi-villain.
- Jossed as well, Ruruka was the attacker's next victim.
- It's a common theme in every Dangan Ronpa piece. They did it for every trial in DR and SDR2, for every death in Another Episode, all of the side material, and even a few times in the anime already. It wouldn't be "twice in a row", it's just what this franchise does.
- The Mastermind, the Big Bad and the Traitor are all the same person, and they are all Monaca Towa
- The 16th member of the Final Killing Game is the 13th Branch Leader
- Gekkougahara was killed before the game started
- The attacker alternates
- Tengan: Killed by Munakata after relaying a crucial piece of evidence about the attacker to him, presumably he saw Munakata choosing to kill him afterwards as a huge shock. His OP death has him electrocuted with wires.
- Seiko: Her OP death shows lots of syringes stuck into her body, this is likely to do with her and Andou's friendship slowly deteriorating over the years
- Bandai: His OP death is liquid flowing down over his body. I'm not not sure what this means, but feel free to add your own guesses below.
- Gozu: His OP death shows him bound in chains. Perhaps this is due to the fact that he needed to protect Naegi,and was chained to that need.
- Chisa: Her OP deaths shows her slit wrists. Possibly a sign that Chisa's bubbly personality was a facade, and she may have actually had depression. Considering that the class she teaches and loves fell into despair and became some of the worst terrorists in human history, that would not be unexpected.
- Mitarai: His OP death consists of 3 arrows stuck in his chest. I'm at a loss for ideas on this one.
- Maybe he dies saving someone via shielding them from an attack? Impostor's line about it being pointless for Mitarai to die before he has a chance to save someone sounds like foreshadowing.
- Sonosuke: His OP death has him crucified while burning. Perhaps this is a sign that he will end up becoming a martyr, but for the wrong reasons, seeing his hopes and dreams go up in flames.
- Ruruka: Her OP death has her frozen and shattered. Perhaps Sonosuke's going to break her heart?
- Miaya: Her OP death has her cut in half, and looking completely hollow inside. This is probably significance for her status as a robot. She's completely devoid of emotions, and therefore hollow inside
- Kizakura: His OP death shows him bound, gagged, and wrapped inside what seems to be plastic. Perhaps he knows more than he's letting on, but has been given a 'gag order' if you will.
- Juzo: The Ultimate Asshole's OP death shows him cut in half, by a sword, from the looks of things. Perhaps this one is more literal, and Munakata will be the one to do Juzo in.
- Hagakure: Despite not being involved in the killing game, Hagakure's OP death shows him wrapped in thorny vines. This is the only death that could not occur inside the building, perhaps symbolising that he's been left outside
- Hina: She's shown with a knife in her gut, and looks the most peaceful out of the dead survivors. Perhaps she's going to end up sacrificing herself or something similar. Or perhaps the knife is just a Red Herring, and that's where she will be punched or kicked.
- Kyoko: Kyoko's shown hung, with lots of other nooses around her. To me, this image screams "Gallows!", and I believe that, at one point, Kyoko's going to be accused of being the traitor, possibly even killed because of that accusation.
- Munakata/Naegi: Both of them blow their brains out in the OP. I'm almost certain that for Munaktata it will mean the death of his public image destroyed through his own actions. Now, I'm no expert on Japanese Culture, but I believe that elders are well respected there. Since Munaktata killed Tengan, it is likely that would paint him as a monster in the eyes of many if that got out. Not to mention that The Stinger in episode 5 implies that he's gone and Jumped Off The Slippery Slope. Perhaps for Naegi, it will mean the same thing, by the end of the killing game his public reputation will be in tatters.
- The death of public image idea is jossed since episode 6 of Mirai-hen revealed that the broadcast was a lie.
- DR Zero seems to take place post-tragedy, though. I'm guessing that up next will be the build-up to the first mutual killing game, ending with the tragedy itself.
- DR Zero leads up to and experiences the tragedy. Have a DRZ plot take place towards the middle-end would line up perfectly in the timeline. That way the end can show us class 77 turn into the Remnants and go murder their families. Which is where I'm assuming they're heading with this.
- For references sake here's the timeline I've went off of to theorize that Zero may get a small mini plot or arc.
- Jossed. It was skipped.
- Jossed. He was killed by Ruruka.
- If the structure is anything like the games, I'd have to disagree. I'm guessing Episode 11 (and perhaps 10) will have no deaths, instead being devoted to reasoning out the identity of the traitor (and then the traitor dies in the last episode). There might also be one or two "close calls" where someone narrowly escapes death, and the reveal of a hidden participant that raises the number of survivors. My guess would be closer to 5-6 survivors, like in DR1 and 2.
- Adding to that, if it keeps to structure Monaca won't survive. Whether she is the mastermind or the traitor or the attacker or both. That archetype never (properly) survives a Danganronpa story.
- Big Hand to the OP for being a better Clairvoyant then Weedman.
- A lot of people seem to think he has to be fully one or the other. But I always assumed that at the end of SDR2, the person that woke up was a person with both Hajime and Izuru's memories. I never really thought of Izuru as being a 100% completely different person either. Just a warped version of Hajime that was so warped he became a different person, but had all his memories and whatever. I took the ending of SDR2 to be that he would start living more optimistically and to try and find more joy in life. Besides, I remember a lot of people drawing fanart of awake!Hajime with the darker hair and red eyes because they assumed he would wake up looking like he did when he went in the program. Now suddenly he looks that way and everyone's changed their minds. I don't buy it.
- Called it. By the time he starts getting real screentime in Side: Hope, he's clearly got Izuru's abilities and Hajime's personality, to the point he actually has heterochromia. He's got bits of Izuru's personality as well, or at least a penchant for his Catchphrase.
- Probably jossed as of Episode 7.
This is a pretty extended theory at this point, but most people are guessing that Izayoi's real murderer is in fact Ruruka, because this death doesn't follow the attacker's Modus Operandi (the body wasn't hung, for example). The most reasonable explanation is that she activated his NG code by accident and, horrified, tried to hide it making it look like he was killed by the attacker, using the knife with which Seiko was murdered and which was missing when Kirigiri and the others found the body.
- Confirmed. Ruruka accidentally activated his NG code as speculated above.
- Considering Robo-Miaya can access the security cameras, Monaca should be able to capture at least some of the events of the killing game.
- They could be planning to use the footage as blackmail in case they're in danger of losing the game.
- They could edit the videos to make the players look even worse.
- Part of their plan requires the killing game to stay secret to their enemies, at least until episode 6.
- perhaps, she says she can't trust anyone who doesn't eat her candy, and he's refused her twice I believe...which would make her very petty indeed
- Confirmed as of episode 8. The reason for this is to to drug him in order to keep him from exiting the building through the secret door he found, as that would activate Ruruka's NG action.
- Well, maybe. It's a bit early to say to what extent he is Izuru. Even taking into account other parts of the franchise, we don't really understand how the whole Izuru thing works. If we take SDR2 into consideration, he might be equal parts Hajime and Izuru.
- Jossed: After SDR2, Hajime/Izuru is firmly on the side of Hope. Makoto does do this to Munakata, though.
- Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls pretty much states that Hagakure actually does get prophetic visions. As for this particular prophecy coming true, what's 30% of 15? 4.5. So, who's going to be half the person they used to be?
- If we go with 16, the actual number of people in the building, the number is 4.8.
- Wait, are you trying to use his 30% success rate to determine how many people will survive?
What this means is that Nagito has met Mukuro and Junko. And now he's the first recruit from Class 77 to join the fledgling Despair movement.
- Jossed, he was in a plane crash (again) and is now stuck on an island.
Perhaps Monaca started out as an accomplice to the true mastermind, and decided to help Naegi with the intention of betraying him when he let down his guard in order to drive him into despair. But, along the way, Monaca begins to get influenced by Makoto's kindness, and starts to question her commitment to becoming the next Ultimate Despair.]
Monaca then starts to become the mask of Miaya, and ends up doing something significant to put a wrench in the mastermind's plans and put an end to the tragedy. To add drama, perhaps this is the point where Naegi and his allies start to realize that something is suspicious about Miaya...
This could be a very interesting twist, and would be the perfect book-end to cap off the Hope's Peak saga. In the very first killing game, the person who was supposed to be the Ultimate Hope ended up being corrupted by the Ultimate Despair into causing the Tragedy. Perhaps the final killing game will end with the opposite result; the Ultimate Hope "corrupts" the Ultimate Despair and causes her to turn her back on Junko's philosophy, resulting in the ultimate triumph of hope over despair.
- Confirmed However she's not the mastermind and basically got bored of hope and despair because of Nagito.
"I entrust the hope of the world to you."
It was a long message and it was written nicely all things considering. Tengan had his throat slashed, just finished giving his last breath speech, and then had a minute before the sleep drugs kicked in. Besides, his last message to everyone could have been a lot more useful. There was no reason for him to play mind games with the other players.
- Jossed. He did write it, and it is helpful.... to his plan. He wrote it to purposely push Mitarai into brainwashing others.
"I entrust the hope of the world to you."
Potential other theory to my own above, the message he wrote in the blood was so strange because it was a password to something. Instead of writing the traitor's name or the attacker's name, he wrote the one thing he knew could end everything. Whether or not it goes to the Monokuma door, or shuts down the whole enterprise, I don't know.]]
- Maybe he did write it but the message wasn't for Makoto. Maybe it was for the Mastermind? Or for Hajime?
- Jossed
- Jossed.
- Nope, she got killed before any of this could happen.
Note that this even further explains Munakata's complete breakdown when Tengan reveals the identity of the traitor. It's not just one, but both of his best friends.
- But killing all of the kindest and most stable people? That would be counter-productive. Bandai and Gozu were both kind, uncorrupt people, and they kill them first. That wouldn't make any sense. You'd think they'd START with Munakata, then go onto the 76th trio, and then their job would be over since none of the other leaders seem corrupt as of now.
- The motive might be wrong, but the masterminds correct. Besides, straight killing the corrupt leaders would be execution (or assassination) with little to no need for a killing game. It would be easier to think that this was a revenge plot or an attempt to collapse the Future Foundation completely.
- Jossed. Tengan is the matsermind of the game.
- Not saying he doesn't have survivors guilt, but in Despair Arc Episode 6, Junko gets her mitts on him. There is a strong chance he did fall into despair. But maybe he defects early? Or maybe he's the traitor...
- Confirmed and Enforced by Junko herself to bring about Despair upon him. Also the reason why he decide to forcifully brainwash everyone into Hope.
- Partially jossed as according to the airing Schedule, Despair Arc will end at 11 episodes, and Future Side will end at 12, meaning Future Side's last episode is "technically" the last episode to Danganronpa 3. This is still possible for Despair Side's ending though.
- Looking more jossed then before, as Despair Arc ends at Episode 11 with no Jin's Execution. All that left for the show is Future Arc episode 12 and Side: Hope.
- And officially jossed.
In Episode 7 of Future Side, Monaca states that all she knows of the Final Killing Game (aside from who the mastermind really is), is that one of the "Survivors of Junko's Killing Game" will die by Makoto's actions regardless of what he does. It's heavily implied she's not lying because she had already given up in contributing to the battle of Hope and Despair at the time she said this.]] Makoto and Asahina naturally think that the ones in immediate peril of this are themselves and Kirigiri, the survivors of the 78th Class Killing Game who are currently locked into the Final Killing, but, [[spoiler: Junko had had more than One Killing Game in the past. In the First One that started the Tragedy of Hopes Peak, the only survivors were Izuru Kamakura, and Council Student Murasame, who's long dead before this point. Monaca never stated "which" Killing Game the survivor who will now die, had lived through.
And if this turns out to be the case, it could mirror the heavily implied death of Chiaki Nanami in Despair Side aswell, in multiple ways. While it's implied Chiaki will die and her death will be the tipping point that drives the 78th class to become Ultimate Despair, Hajime/Izuru's death could do the opposite. He could die protecting his friends on the island, and give them Hope to fight for their Future like he'd found the resolve to at the end of DR2, in a similar vein to Sakura's death in the first game uniting the remaining Survivors to stop the Killings, and with Gundam and Nekomaru's Fight to the death in order to let the rest of the class leave the Grape/Strawberry Houses and live on. To further argue this, it's possible due to Naegi's actions of saving the class prior to DR3, he unwillingly set them up in the right position to be attacked by Future Foundation's forces on Jabberwock island.
- Jossed. Monaca said that one of the 78th would die due to Kyokos' NG code, that guarantees that either her or Makoto (or possibly both) would be dead by the end of the 4th Time Phase. Tragically, it was Kyoko, who didn't actually die. (Although Monaca had no idea that Kyoko had something to combat the poison.)
Chisa will open her eyes in this last OP to show that she also has red eyes all along, confirming the speculation that she became the Monokuma Maid who shows up in Dangan Ronpa Zero.
Chiaki will probably fade out, as would Hinata, unless the finale is a Time Skip to the DR2 kids who were in a coma finally waking up, in which case, Izuru disappears completely and Hinata will have the frame all to himself.
Mitarai and the Impostor will switch places, revealing that Mitarai has startlingly gold eyes in sharp contrast to everyone else's red, symbolizing he is the real Ultimate Hope for Class 77. That is, if he didn't become a Remnant of Despair himself, in which case his eyes will also be red.
- Jossed, unfortunately.
This will leave Makoto with a Sadistic Choice as to who to kill. Komaru, who as Miaya's controller cannot be knocked out, will suggest that Makoto "kill" Miaya. Robo-Miaya isn't a real person, so no one will have to die, even if Makoto's link with the outside will be terminated.
However, Monaka's words about Makoto being responsible for the death of his friend will haunt him. If Munakata, who has gone off the deep end, is left alive, he might end up killing one of Makoto's friends. Thus, that will fulfill Monaka's prediction, since sparing Munakata might lead to tragedy. But killing Munakata, even to save his friends, would be abhorrent to Makoto, and admitting that Munakata's philosophy wasn't wrong.
- Not sure when the OP wrote this, but he was purposely picked to see if Kirigiri's theory of induced suicide in Episode 11. Lo and behold, the theory is right, and he almost off himself if Juzo didn't show up.
- Considering that he said in promo material that he'd sacrifice himself for a loved one, this would make sense.
- While he does die protecting Kyoko, it's actually from performing his forbidden action, which is opening his left hand.
- Confirmed.
- The death count being at 10 in Episode 6 and 7 is correct. Episode 6 counted Izayoi's death. In Episode 5, the survivors remaining are 13. Seiko and Tengan die, then Episode 6 has the death count at 10.
- it did? Huh...well never mind then. Well while we are on the countdown subject, what was with the 16 survivors, if there is only 15 people there? Was that explained yet? Or am I looking at it wrong?
- There is a 16th person in the building. That's what it means. It even has its own WMG above as to who it could be.
- it did? Huh...well never mind then. Well while we are on the countdown subject, what was with the 16 survivors, if there is only 15 people there? Was that explained yet? Or am I looking at it wrong?
Some possible symbolic foreshadowing of this;
- As noted on the character page, Mitarai is a Foil to Yamada, and has similar elements to Mikan and Nagito. Yamada was used as a cat's paw to commit a murder and was then killed himself - thus, his Foil may be using someone else to murder for him. Mikan both ended up murdering someone horribly, and note how Andou dies in the same gory way as Nagito died. If this killing game is some twisted and roundabout way of supporting Naegi (by eliminating those who "hold him back" or his rivals in the FF, for instance), that would make him similar to Nagito "supporting" Hajime.
- He has had close contact with Junko, and he wasn't all that stable to begin with, including an obsession with "hope". Just like Nagito.
- Monaca specifically makes a reference to a popular ANIME.
Ryouta may or may not be spared the same fate. If he doesn't get brainwashed as well, it's entirely deliberate on Junko's part — she wants to see him fall into Despair unassisted as he realises what he's unintentionally created, making him The Atoner in the Future Foundation.
- This is starting to seem very likely given what happen in Episode 8 of Zetsubou Hen.
- Kind of confirmed, Junko did use Mitarai's brainwashing techniques
It's either Ryouta or the Imposter. She's been building a healthy relationship with both of them, and they are, according to her, the first people to ever be nice to her. In SDR2, she mentioned that her beloved was already dead. This would make sense if she was referring to the Imposter (even though he's just comatose, she'd have no way of knowing that virtual death doesn't necessarily mean real death, and even so, she'd probably just consider him dead anyways). If it's Ryouta, Enoshima could've just told her that he was dead to cause her despair.
The first issues deal with the title of "ultimate student council president". The title is what put Kyosuke in the main course. I propose that Kyosuke [and later Murasame] were originally reserve course students that were transferred to the main course after being given their title.
Chisa asks Hajime if he has some sort of option to transfer over to the main course. This could mean nothing or it could be Chisa mentioning that transferring from one course to the other possible [like Kyosuke would have done].
the next issue is that Chisa stated the reserve course was founded the previous year [when class 76 first entered]. Official material states that Chisa, Kyosuke, and Juzo were part of class 74. This could break the theory if Kyousuke started in the 74th year. I propose Kyosuke attended a different high school than hopes peak until his final year when the reserve course opened up. He transferred to Hopes peak, then somehow was given the title of "ultimate student council president" [maybe through elections] and moved in with the 74th graduating class.
Because the student council seems to not have any connection to class 77 or 78, i would conclude that it is mostly connected to the reserve course and might even be how the reserve course is supposed to be controlled. The council would supposedly be given powers to plan events for the reserve course. it would be filled with ordinary students with at least one being upgraded to ultimate status and might convince some they could be upgraded into the main course.
Junko refers to the reserve course as "victims" when sending them the footage of the post massacre which could imply that the student council is composed of reserve course students that are essentially no different from them.
- The Reserve Course was established and began operations the same year that Hinata and the 76th Class began attending, making it impossible for Kyousuke to be a former member. In DR Zero, it's firmly established that there was no way for Reserve Course students to transfer into Hope's Peak. The staff and Steering Committee lied to them, claiming they would be watched for developing talents while never having any intention of following through. Just like how they lied to Hinata to get him to sign his life and identity away. Murasame and the other members are simply from other classes aside from 77-B.
- Jossed. Gekkougahara went auto-pilot.
- Confirmed, to an extent
And here are the illogical assumptions:
1) Makoto Naegi, Kyoko Kirigiri, and Byakuya Togami are the only Future Foundation members on Jabberwock Island. The Neo World Simulation is a big project, and those 3 would need help to maintain the simulation and the pods the Remnants of Despair reside in.
2) Nagito Komaeda wakes up from his coma and leaves Jabberwock Island without the Future Foundation (or the Survivors) noticing. Even if he managed to somehow grab a boat without anyone noticing, it would not take long for someone to notice. Either someone directly notices that he's missing, or someone notices a missing boat and alerts the Island.
3) Nagito Komaeda is the mastermind behind the Final Killing Game. Komaeda's character is all about hope, and how despair will lead to an even greater hope. The killing game is not breeding hope, or even despair; it's breeding fear, paranoia, and distrust. There is no hope being provided to crush for despair. In the School Life of Mutual Killing, there was hope. There was hope that a new day will bring a stop to the murders, there was hope that they could leave the school/island and rejoin the outside world, there was hope that things could go back to normal. The Final Killing Game is just a matter of survival, which is breeding fear and paranoia, which in it of themselves are not despair. Hopes are clashing, but not being crushed. There is no hope being provided, and there is little to no hope being crushed for despair. How could this situation create an even stronger hope like Komaeda desires? And here's the last part of this: Komaeda would not want to harm the Ultimate Hope. Makoto Naegi is the embodiment of Komaeda's philosophy, and killing him would basically crush that philosophy.
- To object, the issue with addressing the illogical fallacies that exist when suggesting that Nagito Komaeda is the mastermind is his talent, or rather natural attribute of luck. Saying that his luck allowed him to escape the island unnoticed or get out of the coma early (which he would have been able to having realized the true nature of the NWP) is easy due to the fact we know how strong his luck is. Nagito's luck basically allows him to escape any real issues in plot about him being the mastermind. Also, the fact of the matter is that while he does consider Naegi an ultimate hope, several people consider Munakata their hope, and as we saw earlier, those two were in direct conflict. Having two hopes fight for a bigger hope to be born is exactly what Nagito would wish for.
- Saying Komaeda’s luck would allow him to escape the island unnoticed isn’t really enough. Komaeda’s luck essentially controls his life, so he needs to plan around it, like in DR2’s Chapter 4. But that scenario had something the idea of “Komaeda escapes and becomes the mastermind because of his luck” lacks: specific results and odds for the result he wants. In that scenario, the specific results were either Komaeda kills himself, or he lives. The odds that he would live were 1 in 6, and his luck allowed him to survive. Komaeda escaping the island isn’t really specific enough. Not only that, but any plans Komaeda creates around his luck are not perfect. Komaeda’s actions in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 are the only examples we have of his plans created around his luck going perfectly. With a plan like “escape Jabberwock Island, and force the heads of the Future Foundation to kill each other”, he’d have people coming after him the moment they notice he’s gone, especially forces under Munakata, which were sent to kill the Remnants of Despair anyway. Komaeda would not have the chance to do anything before being caught and possibly killed.
- Anyway, “Having two hopes fight for a bigger hope to be born” is not Komaeda’s philosophy. Yes, in the class trials of DR2, he observes the clashes of hope, but ultimately his goal is to create hope by overcoming despair. This we see in his appearances outside of the game. Take his actions in Danganronpa Another Episode, for example. He helps create a successor to Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair, because he believes that overcoming this would create a stronger hope. Komaeda’s goal is realized in Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Hope who was created by defeating the Ultimate Despair. Also, it’s likely that when Komaeda wakes up, he will not act like he did when he was in Despair, if the “fusion” of Hajime Hinata and Izuru Kamukura is anything to go by. And while Komaeda as we know him has always held his beliefs about hope, he did not actively create despair before the Tragedy, making it unlikely that he would create a situation like this.
- Jossed. The victim/attacker of the induced suicide is picked merely by proximity to the monitor.
- Jossed, the survivor count has already dipped below 8.
- Sakura sacrifices herself so that the others will stop killing each other. Nobody kills after her death. Same goes for Chiaki.
- Peko sacrifices herself so Fuyuhiko will live. The third murder case was rewritten specifically to make sure her sacrifice didn't go to waste.
- Nekomaru and Gundam sacrifice themselves so that the others can make it out of the Strawberry and Grape houses. They do.
- And now, Kizakura has sacrificed himself so Kyoko can live. This to me seems to point that Kyoko will live. Of course, I could be wrong, and she will die in order to induce more despair.
- Sad to say, but Jossed.
- Actually Un-Jossed in Hope Arc.
- Then this could lead to the potential of someone not being restricted to their aaction, since they never actually looked at it and it didn't activate
- Jossed. The reason they do not know each other is that Kamukura request his meeting with Nagito and the rest of Class 77 be erased in order to increase unpredictability, as show in Despair Episode 11.
- Almost. He did know about her NG Code and alerted her when he found the door, hiding it as best he could and laying traps to prevent anyone from escaping. Then, terrified of being betrayed by the one person she had left, Andou took advantage of his NG Code to kill him. Apparently, she learned it between then and the last time she tried to feed him and he prevented her from doing so.
- Confirmed.
- You're a wizard, Munakata
- Chisa's dead because you are the traitor
- The ever popular "the attacker switches" theory
- Juzo was the attacker when Chisa died, if taking the "attacker changes" theory]]
- Chisa is the mastermind
- All jossed. Tengan says "Everyone is and will become an attacker.
It would also quell the last lingering remnants of the theory that Miaya is Chiaki, though I expect that they will have some sort of connection.
As a corollary to this theory, if Miaya doesn't appear next episode and Chiaki appears to die at the end, then I'll be even more convinced that the Miaya = Chiaki theory is true, and that the twist will be revealed in the next episode.
- Jossed.
So I predict that Junko will pretend to be a hostage and make it look like Izuru is the mastermind. Then, after all the resulting drama dies down, she'll slip away and go to Matsuda to erase her identity until the heat dies down. Cue the events of Dangan Ronpa Zero.
- Jossed. Chisa does get brainwashed and tortured. Junko readily admits to being the mastermind to many people. A file reveals that the Committee personally chose Junko without Jin or Kizkura's knowledge. Munakata and Juzo read that file. And speaking of Danganronpa Zero, they hint in there that Jin and others knew Junko was doing horrible things. They just considered it another talent worth studying and kept it quiet. Whether or not they knew just how involved she was is another thing...
- Jossed. He was brainwashed and affected by Chiaki's Cruel and Unusual Death along with everyone else, but he still works the despair into his obsession with hope.
In this scene, Komaeda talks about how he’s going to shoot Enoshima, and if she can make it out of this alive, it means she’s worthy of being absolute despair, right? So what if his luck caused this event, thus proving she was absolute despair. Here’s what I think. Komaeda can’t shoot her because Kamukura shows up, as a result, Enoshima makes it out alive, and is thus the absolute despair Komaeda needs. This is the result of Komaeda’s luck. Good luck.
The gun jamming was also a case of Komaeda's luck. I don’t think Komaeda’s luck stopped at proving Enoshima is the despair he needs. Kamukura shows up, and the gun jams (bad luck), however Kamukura smoothly disarms and shoots him, and Komaeda gets to see someone who radiates hope in action. Komaeda gets to witness the Ultimate Hope. He may not know that, but judging by his reaction, he felt it. And that’s Komaeda’s good luck.
In other words, Komaeda's plan didn't go the way he intended it to, but the end results were even greater than he anticipated. And that lines up perfectly with how Komaeda’s luck works. Komaeda is satisfied and happy (among other things) before he passed out, because things worked out better than he could have dreamed. And that’s all his luck.
- While it makes sense, I have to question why Kamukura would say "If it's good luck, I have that, too." If this is true, then why did Kamukura say that?
- I did some thinking about that, and as a result I think Kamukura does have luck, like he says (even if I still don't get how they gave it to him), I just think it functions differently than Komaeda's. This scene is a result of them coexisting.
- Kamukura's luck is based off of Komaeda's. We know this because 1) Naegi's luck isn't particularly "Super High School Level" and 2) In the side story "Makoto Naegi's worst day ever" Jin Kirigiri only provides one example of luck being real when the board is claiming that the quest to find luck has had no results. So Komaeda's luck can be the only real basis. But... Komaeda's luck has a lot of undesirable aspects. His luck cycle is one of them, as a result, when HPA gave Kamukura luck, they probably left that out giving Kamukura solely good luck. Kamukura's luck is "everything works in my favour no matter the odds."
- As a result Kamukura's good luck and Komaeda's bad luck both exist in this scene when the gun jams. Kamukura's luck is still good because Komaeda was stopped, and Komaeda's luck is still ultimately good for the reasons I've already said.
- Monokuma was not counting Miyaya as a member, which means that the sixteenth participant is a FF member. Suspects include: (Feel free to add your own guesses)
- The Thirteenth Branch Head
- Monokuma was counting Miyaya as a member, for whatever reason, which means the sixteenth participant is not a FF member. Suspects include:
- Nagito Komaeda
- Chiaki Nanami
- Monokuma was lying about the numbers and this WMG means nothing at all.
- Not quite what you expected, but Kirigiri's notebook enabled the survivors to understand what was going on - she'd figured out that Chisa, Gozu, Seiko and Ruruka had all committed suicide because of the monitors.
- I've played Mafia several times before where people are given cards from a standard playing deck and red were the innocent while black were the Mafia. However, red also had various roles like the Doctor/Angel. The Doctor/Angel is an Innocent who has the duty of being able to pick someone and prevent them from death (even his or herself) if the Mafia chose to kill them. However, they can also die just like the other Innocents. Adding from your theory, Kimura might've possibly served that role due to her talent fitting with it, and her failure to prevent the deaths of Bandai and ultimately herself. Usually there's less Mafia and more Innocents, so I do believe Munakata and Kirigiri are part of the Mafia while Kimura, Bandai and Naegi are innocent. I'm unsure about everyone else's role, but if we're going by Mafia, then that means Great Gozu and Andou are also Innocent since they got murdered and thus picked as targets. With Chisa, it's debatable since she could've either been an Innocent, or she was part of the Mafia and refused, so that ended with her dying. Though the circumstances might be unsure (one of the NG codes Munakata found was "keep Kyosuke Munakata alive" which might've been her code, so perhaps she committed suicide in the end being unable to bear the thought of killing someone or watching the man she loves kill someone). Though, that also begs the question - in Mafia, when asked who they want to kill, the Mafia group choose who to kill off as a group. How were the victims chosen? I do like this theory mainly because I love the game, but I can't help but wonder on this.
- Now that we know everyone's NG code, sadly it is Jossed. Revealing all NG would make it seems Ando, Chisa, and Miaya is a traitor, thus not helpful in the end.
When the bracelets activated, Kyoko appears to fall forward after she's knocked out. But after the others wake up, she's on her back. That suggests that she woke up first and moved. That means it's possible that she was able to save herself from the NG Code, but she's pretending to be dead to throw Munakata off her trail so she can save the others.
Remember back to before Seiko's death, when she was carrying her W-Cure medicine. We saw her try to save Bandai with the medicine (but fail), and we saw that it's capable of healing severe wounds. Since Munakata only seemed to have her super strength serum with him (and Juzo noticed his wounds), it's possible he didn't take the W-Cure. And that means it's possible that Kyoko found it during her investigation, and used it to save herself.
There's also some confusion as to how many rounds have passed. Is it based on the attacker's kills, or is it based on the number of times the participants wake up? If it's the latter, then we're on Round 4, which would mean Kyoko still has until the end of the round to end the game (since her bracelet says that it activates when the fourth round passes). Maybe she faked her death to make Munakata assume the rounds were based on the attacker's kills?
Of course, this could all be wishful thinking, but they did fake us out with Hina earlier...
- Your theory might hold some water, actually. Look closely at the bottom-right corner of the screen during the scene where Naegi, Hina and Mitarai run over to inspect Kyoko's body. You can see a bottle rolling away past Hina before they notice her bracelet going off. It's quite possible that Kyoko took Cure-W before the poison completely overtook her and killed her (which would explain why she her body is still scarred by the poison; the poison was already trying to take effect before Kyoko took the medicine). There's still hope that Kyoko is indeed still alive after all.
- In addition Kyoko's last words to Naegi are basically to trust her no matter what happens afterwards. This is an obvious callback too the first game, where in order to beat Junko, Naegi had to trust Kyoko despite there being evidence linking her to a murder.
- It links back to the first game even more than that. Kyoko's trap for the mastermind in the first game involved Makoto Faking the Dead. If any of the above is true, she may very well be the one faking this time, ready to spring another such trap after all eyes are off of her. She might even have been trying to get Makoto in on it by using her "last" words as a sort of hint that she's not really dead.
- Also, it's hard to believe that she would die one episode after Kizakura sacrificed himself for her. Sacrifices in Danganronpa are taken very seriously; Chapter 3 of SDR2 was rewritten because it violated this basic principle.
- In Episode 10, when Makoto wipes the blood off her face, you can see that the part above her left eye isn't purple◊. Every other victim of NG code has the poisoning from chin to brow, so just maybe...?
- Holy shit, CONFIRMED. The end of Side;Hope reveals that she was saved by Cure-W.
- Confirmed in Episode 11, up to a point. Turns out he did survive being stabbed by Munakata, and went on to save Naegi's life, but he ended up dying of his wounds. And even then, he managed to survive long enough to shut off the power. What a guy.
- The death sort of mirrors Nagito's from SDR2. If you compare the images there are a lot of similarities: stab wounds in the legs, mouths gagged, lacerations all down the arms, and judging by the eyes- poison. I couldn't tell you, though, if it's foreshadowing or a sign of rage.
- Jossed. Ruruka killed herself. As with everyone else; an induced suicide caused by a brainwashing video
- Chisa's body was found with her eyes open too, and we can't really comment on Gozu. While Andou's murder was undoubtly different, she was still stabbed in the heart(?) with the Monokuma dagger. It's different, but only so much in that the body was not hung and treated far worse.
- See above. Theory on why it was so different is that Chisa may actually want it, while Gozu and Seiko was trying to restraint themselves, leading to their suspension (and as noted with Gozu, he gorged his own eyes. Ruruka probably have self-loathing due to her actions, and thus the torture.
- It's possible the nightmare sequence Makoto had about Kyoko may come true as well. She had a lost eye in that nightmare.
- With respect to the brainwashing being a polarizing plot point, there was never really that much evidence Enoshima had charisma. Everyone who meets her for the first time can practically smell the danger on her. Besides, don't you think she'd get bored trying to manipulate everyone individually? She can't even maintain a single personality for one episode, let alone talk 14 people into become monsters. (And strictly speaking, they'd have to tack on a whole second season just to have the time to do it.)
- Jossed
I'm seeing a lot of shippers fight over who Juuzo was trying to confess his love for, but I didn't see it that way at all. (Besides, terrible timing for love confessions.) I thought he was going to admit to Munakata about the attacker alternating: because he had been one.
Munakata kills him and tells him "You know why." And they both do, because Tengan would have already explained. Munakata then goes on to show regret because he killed him out of duty, not out of want. I got the impression that Munakata feels he must kill everyone, including those he cares about and probably eventually himself, because the attacker alternates. They are now all tainted by despair and can never leave.
I also feel the context would imply that Juuzo did not kill Chisa. I don't think he would be capable of it, and I don't think he would tell Munakata if he did. That said, I think Munakata's reaction would have been more severe had he thought that. (More severe than it already was.)
Most of these features don't have much of a reason to be there — the flower was a joke, but the camera focused on it for an unnecessarily long time, Nagito's fanservice scene is similar to Naegi's, but still wasn't particularly necessary for any other reason than to show us that he's still alive (and he didn't have to be naked for that), and the constant money shots get in the way of a scene which is setting up Junko's master plan. The mushroom is downright bizarre — it comes from Junko's head, and up until now it's been safe to assume that it's just a figurative marker for her "bored/despondent" personality. Yet as far as symbolism goes, it's not subtle: anyone with a vague awareness of literary/media analysis can spot it (provided they haven't been distracted by the bloodbath). So why is it there? Is it linking sex and death? Is it foreshadowing something (and if so, what in the world is it trying to tell us?)? Did someone on the staff get drunk and watch too much Revolutionary Girl Utena, tying in with the "we're deconstructing anime itself" theory? (Someone has definitely been binge-watching that show - just look at Touko's fantasy in the Future Arc)? Or is it a deliberate red herring, and Kodaka is just waiting for someone to spot it so that he can mock them?
- As of the horror that was Chisa's torture/lobotomy in episode 9, it looks as though the Interplay of Sex and Violence is the specific subliminal theme, not just one of many. Which makes it even more likely that the anime is lining up for a Take That, Audience! finale — basically, "You terrible people are getting a kick out of watching these characters suffer, aren't you?"
- Since Danganronpa I, despair has been equated with having orgasmic like appeal. Junko has her moments in the final trial. It comes up again in SDR2 with Mikan. I think there were moments even in Zero and Despair Girls? (Even Nagito's turn ons by Hope seems to come from Despair). I think the reason it's becoming more and more uncomfortably obvious in Despair Arc is because we're getting closer to the moment where everyone falls from grace.
My guess is that Makoto tells Munakata about the secret exit, and tells him the game doesn't have to continue. Munakata will naturally have none of it, and will once again try to kill him and his friends so the despair can't escape. That's when Makoto retreats and gets Munakata to chase him to the secret exit. Only once Munakata is inside will he realize he's been lured into a trap. And since the fake secret exit is the one place we know of which can only be accessed through a door, it'd be the perfect prison to keep Munakata holed up.
Of course, when Makoto tells Munakata the game is over and accuses him of being the attacker, Munakata will laugh at how naive he is. "You actually think I'M the attacker?" That's when Munakata reveals what Tengan told him about the identity of the mastermind.
- Semi-confirmed. It didn't happen exactly as written, but Makoto did manage to trap Munakata so he could talk him down from his insanity.
A reveal will show that Seiko's Cure W will have saved Kyoko's life. She'll be in bad shape because that poison was still a rough trip. The viewer will start to think this is like with Aoi's reveal and let their guard down in confusion or bitterness about whether or not Plot Armor is a thing. That's when we'll lose Makoto for real.
- Jossed, she does get revived (by Mikan of all people), but she's perfectly fine, and doesn't die.
- To expand on that, it's possible the Ultimate Impostor prepared a Chisa latex before entering the Neo World Program, which the real Chisa could apply to a hapless bystander with similar proportions.
- Maybe not by the Imposter, but by the SHSL Make-up Artist because remember Killer Killer is meant to tie into DR3.
The "Final Killing game" is just that... a "Game".
Chiaki herself is the Ultimate Gamer who always "´´wins´´" whatever game she´s playing, hence her title "Ultimate" (Yes, dating sims is a weak-point but this is not a dating sims now, is it?) So what if the Ultimate Gamer decides to expand her horizon and expertise into not just "playing" the games, but "make" one instead?
The "Despair game".And what happens if the Ultimate gamer decides to play her own game? She sets things up so it ends up with her "winning" it of course..
If Chiaki is the Mastermind in the Future Arc, then she would not be a member of the Future Foundation, (otherwise she would have stopped Naegi´s trial right then and there if she was the unseen boss for the branch for example.) but as a "Member of Despair" and the last member of her class still on the loose.
How would she end up as such?
The reason for the lack of red eyes of foreshadowing in the Despair opening,is that her Despair would not be induced through the brainwash, but be truly genuine from watching her friends and teacher crumble into Junko´s despair anime. As her despair would be genuine, Junko would not have any need to show her the anime and let her be (Just as she let Ryota go after invoking true despair into his mind in episode 9, she makes no distinction between "forced" and "true" despair, as long it´s "despair", she´s fine with it.)
However, as a "True Despair", Chiaki would not be bound to Junko´s will and be able of "Independent Action", she would be capable of making her own decisions and have a agenda of her own.(and spare her of the self-mutilation and heinous acts her classmates ends up doing under influence for example.)
Due to her talent being one completely useless to the purpose of spreading "Despair", (seriously, what could a "Ultimate Despair Gamer" possibly do?) She would retreat into the shadows and background, allowing her to remain anonymous to the Future Foundation and also get time to put her knowledge into practice, by indulging into the game-making arts to evolve her ultimate talent even further. (as she´s still sane enough to improve, in contrast to the rest of Class 77th.) Which means, that at the moment she was ready, she pointed Naegi in her class´ direction, had him pick them up, put into the Neo World program, in hope of the faint hope of being able to save and get her friends back as they were once more, and set things up to ensure the success of her scheme in both eliminating any threats to it and ensure the safety of her friends and the one that could guarantee it.
All that matters for Chiaki/Mastermind, is saving her friends, and she´s "desperate" enough to make "sacrifices" of others to do so (including her already "broken" homeroom teacher/"Accomplice"/"Player 2" for example who was too far gone to be saved at that point.) All in ensuring her victory in this "game" of hers.She not of class 78th or the Future foundation members herself, hence why they can be sacrificed like pawns in a game of chess, (with the exception of Naegi, who actually have a worth and purpose to her as insurance of her friends´ safety and rehabilitation.)
So Chiaki being the Mastermind, would mean that she didn´t started the "Killing Game" for the purpose of "Vengeance", "Malice", "Entertainment" or to "free the remnants of Despair" or the like...But for the purpose of "Protecting her friends" (Hajime as well) and fulfilling her final duty as the "Class Representative of Class 77th".
Despair and Hope, perfectly blended together in the harmony of Yin and Yang (or a Monokuma), as Chiaki becomes both the final "Villain" and "Hero", (the "Anti-Hero"="Anti-Villain"/"True Despair") in her desperate quest of finding even the smallest hope of reuniting with the class she bonded with so dearly before the "Despair" destroyed her world and reality.
A longing for the "Hope of Happiness" at long last.
Just a thought.
- Jossed. Chiaki's executed by Junko in order to turn Class 77-B to despair. And it worked.
In Despair episode 9, we saw that the brainwashing video made by Junko is powerful enough to make people kill themselves against their will. Each of the murder scenes so far has had one of the Monokuma monitors nearby. Perhaps this is how the mastermind is killing people; the bracelet wakes up the victim as the "attacker", their attention is drawn to the monitors by Monokuma's voice-over, and then the brainwashing video plays, making the attacker kill themselves.
It might explain why Ruruka's death was more brutal than the others: she attempted to resist the brainwashing by eating her candy to counteract it, but failed.
It doesn't explain, though, why all the victims except Ruruka were hung up. Perhaps someone else (the mastermind themselves?) did that after the victim's death. Since Ruruka wasn't hung up, that suggests that whoever was hanging up the bodies isn't around anymore. That suggests it could be one of two people.
It could have been Chisa, whose body was stabbed by Munakata after the third death. If she was faking her death, then she might have been killed then. Or it could have been Monaca, who had been coerced into helping by the mastermind. Perhaps she allowed Makoto to contact Togami as an excuse to flounce out of the game, since she had gotten tired of trying to be despair. Or Monaca was lying about the extent of her involvement, and she'll return as the mastermind in the endgame. Either way, since Miaya-bot is no longer available, Ruruka's body could not be hung up.
- Confirmed. They killed themselves, though we weren't shown how they hung themselves up. Seiko seems to have impaled herself on the wall somehow.
Somewhat of a response to the above theory. Maybe it's not always suicide. The brainwashed victim gets told who to kill and then kills them based on the same M.O. It could explain a lot of strange background details, such as why some people wake up in very different positions than when they went to sleep.
Also, consider that maybe the victim wakes up for this as well. All of the murders so far have had signs of a struggle. It could be the victim fighting back, or the murderer trying to resist the impulse to kill. Also some victims were found with eyes opened, tears, emotion frozen on the face- things a person who dies in their sleep would not do.
As for Ruruka: she would have been a suicide, incapable of fulfilling the MO to perfection. Or perhaps her murderer had it out for her, not requiring subliminal messages to convince them to kill her. A sign that someone is resisting the brainwashing powers in favor of their own rage- like how Juzo rejected Andou’s candies in favor of his own motivations.
- Jossed in terms of killing others.
Or, one will live and one will die. Due to the Unfortunate Implications of killing off both heroines from both main storylines, probably at least one is guaranteed to survive to the end. But considering that this is Danganronpa and we all wore our despair suits today, that means that one is marked for dead. Or, at least, something that implies death.
While it is true that by Episode 9 of Future Arc, we have seen Kyoko die, many people speculate that she will turn out to be alive along. So I propose two theories based off of both possibilities. If she turns out to be alive but in a coma for the rest of the series or if the Final Mutual Killing Game turns out to be a simulation, I consider that close enough to death. If Chiaki turns out to be not real (an AI or a robot) this entire time, I consider that close enough to death.
That is to say, if Kyoko is alive but in a coma, Chiaki's survival chances go up. If Chiaki is an AI or robot, Kyoko's survival chances go up. One does not necessarily have to die, just be removed.
Assuming Kyoko remains dead makes the most sense parallel-wise. She and Chiaki played similar roles in their respective games. However, Kyoko survived hers whereas Chiaki sacrificed herself for everyone.
The parallel would come full circle with Kyoko’s death. She would have survived her game only to make her own sacrifice in the show. She dies by refusing to kill Makoto and helps him out posthumously with her notebook of clues. By knowing her time was limited, she prepared assistance for her friends in advance. She did not leave them in spirit, she is still solving mysteries through them.
Chiaki would have died in her game and supported her friends after her death, only to shockingly survive the show. She has raised so many death flags just by existing that each new episode becomes a waiting game of when. Everyone assumes that she has to die in order to fulfill her emotional role. But she has already done that once in SDR2. Killing her again is expected and anticipated because we assume that is the only role she is good for. Having her survive would be the most surprising twist of all. Especially if she shows up in Future Arc.
Or maybe not. Maybe Chiaki will continue to defy death flags up until the last possible moment. The audience now is wondering “Will she survive? Can I get my hopes up?” But no, your hopes were only raised to get crushed. Your suspicions were right all along. She is killed off. The following episode of Future Arc shows Kyoko opening her eyes.
- Safe to say, this is probably jossed as of the most recent episode
- Confirmed as of Side:Hope. Kirigiri lives.
- Jossed
Not my theory, but one I noticed wasn't posted here. The idea is that there are several inconsistencies between Asahina before and after Episode 6. She gets taller, her mannerisms change, the way she refers to people changes, and her design changes a bit. So there's been speculation that, assuming Chisa is the mastermind, she switched places with Asahina while everyone was knocked out. Whether or not this means she's dead or just locked up somewhere, I don't know. Apparently it's a theory popular in Japan and, since being translated, gaining traction in the West. Its translation can be found on this reddit page.
- Jossed
This is very unlikely, and I hope it's wrong as it seems unlike Danganronpa to do that, but I'm just leaving this here just in case. Hopefully this gets jossed.
- Seems to be confirmed, as we're never informed about an extra participant.
This conveniently hides the fact that Chisa's death is a lie, since we're all led to believe that the number deducted from the survivor count was hers. Thus, Chisa (who is likely to be the mastermind) is able to hide the fact that she survived from the audience as well as the other Future Foundation members.
- I'm thinking that the Class 77 kids will end up at the Future Foundation HQ in the last episode. They'll keep us guessing whether they're going to pull a Big Damn Heroes moment or have fallen back into despair up until the last minute.
- Jossed.
At the start of Chapter 9, the survivor count was at nine. Once chapter 10 came around, it turned out to be six. There were four deaths in Chapter 9: Miaya, Juzo, Ruruka, and Kyoko. The obvious conclusion to take away from all this is that one of these people is still alive: only three deaths were recorded. But who survived?
- Miaya: Robo-Miaya was completely scrapped - there's little-to-no chance of her being put back together. But it's still possible that she never counted as a participant because she was a robot, so her destruction did not reduce the survivor count. I find this unlikely, though, because Monaca claimed that she doesn't know who the mastermind is. Thus, it's likely that the mastermind didn't know about Miaya being replaced, and so continued to count her.
- Ruruka: I think her survival is the least likely, given the state of her body. Plus, I can't see what more her survival would add to the story.
- Juzo: It's possible he survived being stabbed by Munakata; he's taken a lot of punishment before. But with Kyosuke having come to his senses, it's hard to say what more Juzo would add to the story. Unless he turns out to be the mastermind. We'll have to see how his confrontation with Junko in Despair Episode 10 will shake out.
- Confirmed. Juzo survived. He does bite it two episodes later, sadly.
- Kyoko: The most likely survivor, in my opinion. Episode 10 of Future arc didn't do much to debunk the theories regarding her survival(involving the Cure-W that Seiko had). Plus, having her turn out to be alive and reunite with Makoto would end the series on a happy note.
- Also confirmed, though she doesn't get revived until after the Killing Game ends.
- Jossed.
- Unlikely. Bandai was given the antidote not long after the poison got into him, and there's still no sign of him being alive.
Now, I'm thinking the theater is an actual place within the Future Foundation HQ. It's actually some sort of viewing room from which the mastermind is broadcasting the brainwashing videos. I'm thinking its original purpose has to do with Tengan's "project". His plan was to have Ryota complete his hope-inducing anime, and then broadcast the anime worldwide from the viewing room in order to pull the world out of despair. His knowledge of his project might have been how he knew the identity of the attacker: he realized the despair video was missing and figured out the mastermind had hijacked his plan.
Assuming Chisa is the mastermind, her plan is to broadcast the final killing game in order to brainwash the world into a fresh wave of despair. Despite what Togami said, Monokuma wasn't lying when he said the game was being broadcast; it just wasn't being broadcast live.
I'm guessing that in Episode 11, Naegi and friends will end up in the viewing room in order to shut down the brainwashing videos, since they figured out the attacker's technique. That's when Chisa will be revealed as the mastermind, and unveil the final part of her plan. Munakata and Naegi have come together as two hopes combined into a bigger hope. Now she's going to show the world just how powerless that hope is in the face of despair; by playing the brainwashing video on the theater screen to make the remaining survivors kill themselves or fall into despair. This is probably where Ryota makes himself useful; because of his knowledge of the brainwashing technique, he'll realize what Chisa is planning and shout out a warning in time for the others to look away and avoid getting hit by the brainwashing.
- Kind of confirmed. Episode 10 of Despair shows that Junko coerced him into telling Munakata that she was innocent in return for not outing his secret attraction to Munakata.
- Doesn't that make it jossed then? Because Juzo was never brainwashed, he was blackmailed instead into lying to Munakata about Junko
- Despair video brainwashed them into attacking themselves/hurting themselves.
- Once the person has hurt themselves sufficiently, Chisa would then come along and stab the person through their heart with the Monokuma dagger.
- Chisa would then hang suspend the person off the ground in what ever possible way she could.
- In Ruruka's case, it can be assumed that by this point, Chisa has become severely deranged, so her mental stability has go out the window (Notice that the murders get more and more brutal...maybe Chisa is brainwashing them to hurt themselves in progressively worse ways). This is why Ruruka may have been forced to hurt/torture herself a lot more when compared to the others...add to the fact that Ruruka is pretty guilty about killing Seiko and Izayoi directly and indirectly and you've got a reason as to why Ruruka's death was a lot more brutal than the others.
- Jossed in terms of Chisa delivering the final blow. The victim did everything to themselves.
- I know this is suppose to be a joke, but actually confirmed! Induced suicide by brainwashing video!
- Sidenote: between that our joke actually become real and the dub that is worse than the abridged dubs, I am worried about Danganronpa franchise.
- More than that, he seems to have remembered her at the very end, so he would actually have a basis for her personality, unlike Chihiro Fujisaki, who never met her.
Theories on what'll happen below! Some may seem out of place for the series, but still it's just a WMG.
- Makoto will cry his eyes out and scream if Kyoko is truly Killed Off for Real. Hajime will do the same for Chiaki as well. Munakata may do the same with Chisa if he doesn't die before then.
- There will be a final sad moment where Makoto gets to see Kyoko's spirit one final time before she moves onto the afterlife
- Someone will argue technicality here... if we go with straightly "Despair Arc"/"Future Arc" then it's jossed for Despair Arc.
- Half-confirmed for Hope Arc: Hajime has a final conversation with the spirit of AI Chiaki on the boat. Makoto doesn't get a final word with Kyokos' spirit, however. As she's not dead.
- First, he would need to acquire AI Junko.
- Second, he gather all the Ultimate Despairs from Class 77-B in one place, either by convincing them or forcing them. Since the Ultimate Despairs are from Class 77-B, Izuru knew an AI Chiaki would be created by Alter Ego and used as a monitor.
- Next, he would contact Naegi, knowing he would be the only Future Foundation that would be willing to put them through the Neo World Program. He would then insert AI Junko into the program. AI Junko's purpose was to cause a forced shutdown and rewrite the Neo World Program so that the data of AI Chiaki and the Ultimate Despair that killed would be saved. Evidence of this is the "deceased" character appearing while the program was glitching, AI Chiaki appearing within Hajime's mind, and her final goodbye at the end DR2.
- After the force shutdown Izuru would have both the memories of both Hajime and Izuru, the data of AI Chiaki and the other "killed" Ultimate Despairs, and the technology of the Neo World Program in his possession. Using the the comatose Ultimate Despairs as guinea pigs, he would figure out who to use the Neo World Program to restore a brain dead person.
- Finally, he would retrieve Chiaki's body and use his finding to upload the data of AI Chiaki and original Chiaki's memories into her comatose body, ultimately reviving her mind.
- Adding on to this, it's possible Izuru may have had a more active hand in creating the AI Chiaki. Now, it's very unlikely anyone from the Future Foundation would use anything offered by the Remnants of Despair, so how could he do this? By contacting Chisa and asking her to suggest using Chiaki as the basis for the AI. That way he doesn't just have to gamble she'll be in the Neo World Program, he can guarantee it.
- What reason would he use to convince Chisa to do it, though?
- Something along the lines of "it's for the sake of despair", probably. Considering Junko was able to get people to commit all sorts of atrocities, including suicide, with that line, using it to convince someone to make an AI doesn't seem far-fetched.
- But how would that cause despair?
- It would cause Chisa the despair of seeing her favorite student and sending her off to die again (assuming she knew about his plan to upload AI Junko).
- In Episode 11, Izuru reveals that he set up the events of DR2 to see which is more unpredictable, hope or despair, with Izuru siding with the winner. Izuru states what he will act as proxy for Chiaki's wishes, and orchestrated the events to see if Chiaki's hope can over come Junko's despair. Remember if AI Junko won, then Junko would have been resurrected by taking over the remnants of despair. If this theory is true, then Izuru set up so that if despair won, the person he views as the embodiment of despair would return, but if hope won, Chiaki, the person he views as the embodiment of hope would be brought back instead. Additionally, what was Chiaki's dying wish? To save her friends and be with Hajime and her classmates. Izuru would fulfill this wish if Chiaki's hope won.
- Partially confirmed. The ending of Episode 11 heavily implies Izuru was behind the creation of AI Chiaki.
- Kind of jossed. AI Chiaki was just a blank AI slate before it was filled by the remnants and Izuru's wish to see Chiaki.
- Adding on to this, it's possible Izuru may have had a more active hand in creating the AI Chiaki. Now, it's very unlikely anyone from the Future Foundation would use anything offered by the Remnants of Despair, so how could he do this? By contacting Chisa and asking her to suggest using Chiaki as the basis for the AI. That way he doesn't just have to gamble she'll be in the Neo World Program, he can guarantee it.
- Jossed.
- This WMG has already been made, there isn't a Despair episode 12, and there's probably not gonna be enough time to do it
- Adding to that, it's possible that AI Junko hacked into his cell phone or maybe she was in his cell phone from the beginning.
- Jossed. Time delayed video that is sent once the Killing Game is over.
- Just a hunch. To be honest, I imagine a reveal so massive to encompass everything about Hope's Peak Academy, from the first game, and I figure Junko, in a sense, being a sort of pawn(with much sway) would be pretty surprising. The fact she wasn't scouted by Jin or Kizakura makes it suspicious, since it seems she was "scouted" for her fashionista talent, when in reality, her stronger and more lucrative talent of SHSL analyst is the real reason why she was admitted. Having also admitting her sister, who is an incredible soldier; high combat skills, always follows orders, works as a safeguard for Junko, protecting her and her talent. As for who I think the mastermind is...I dunno, maybe there's an AI of Kamukura or something...
- Confirmed, it's not Junko for once. It's Tengan.
- Going based of episode 11 of the Future Arc, but perhaps this not just directed towards Munakata, but for Tengan himself.
- Confirmed but also apply to Mitarai.
- Kyoko is plainly dead, and the fifth spot on the survivor counter is reserved for the mastermind.]] Boring and tragic, but the most likely scenario... which could end up being exactly why it could get subverted, since the author's "every episode will surprise you" tagline has succeeded with flying colors so far. [[spoiler:It worked with Juzo after all.
- Kyoko is alive, and the mastermind is someone that doesn't appear on the survivor counter. It would be a big case of I Knew It! and Like You Would Really Do It if the mastermind does indeed turn out to be AI Junko, who isn't technically alive and thus wouldn't appear on the survivor counter, but it would be a nice answer to the "second AI Junko" plot thread from Absolute Despair Girls. More boringly it could be done simply to hide a living mastermind, but it's just as likely.
- This is impossible. There were 16 participants at the beginning.
- The counter has been off by one for a while now, even before the Juzo or Kyoko discussion.
- Kyoko is alive, but the mastermind - like the viewer - doesn't know that and isn't adjusting the survivor counter accordingly as a result. It would require the mastermind Painting the Medium by being in direct control of the survivor counter, but we've seen Monokuma go Breaking the Fourth Wall many times before, in this very installment no less. It would be a climactic twist worthy of the series allowing any combination of a surviving Kyoko, AI Junko or a live mastermind.
- Since the counter only shows up in the opening credits and is never discussed in show, I assumed it was non-diegetic. Or, just there to cause the audience to worry, but not anything the characters (including the mastermind) are aware of.
With the revelation that Tengan was apparently the mastermind behind the Monokuma hunter game, a likely motivation for him was he sought to eliminate the remaining people who possessed Super High School Talents, since it was those very same talents that caused Hopes Peak to become so corrupt and allow Junko's rise to power. He wanted to ensure that the world rebuilt by the Future Foundation would not be ruled by talent like the old one, so his only solution was to eliminate the talented leadership or at least cull them until the most suitable leaders remained. This would make the brainwashing videos a rather extreme Secret Test of Character. Whoever could resist them would clearly be worthy of leading the new world.
- Semi-confirmed.
- It currently appears that the Hope Side will serve as the combined finale for the Hope and Despair Sides.
- Jossed
Once the credits have stopped rolling, there will be a short animeted teaser for the new game, likely featuring Kaede Akamatsu, the protagonist of New Danganronpa V3
- Jossed
- Impossible. The survivor count only showed one survivor from Episode 10. That survivor was [[spoiler:Juzo. Kyoko cannot be alive.
- As an above theory pointed out, it's possible that Kyoko really is still alive, but isn't showing up on the counter. Even with only Side:Hope to go as of Episode 12 of Side:Future, there's still a chance that she might show up alive in Side:Hope. Not to mention, she wasn't seen among the montage of deceased Future Foundation members in Episode 12 of Side:Future. So there's still a chance that Kyoko is still alive and the writing team is waiting until the very last possible episode to reveal her status (especially considering all of the inconsistencies surrounding her death). Sure, this prediction might be jossed come Side:Hope, but one can at least hope that she is indeed still living on some level.
- But there's no reason for her to not be counted on the counter.
- Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't there be two available slots on the counter? Four for Makoto, Aoi, Ryota, and Munakata, one for Juzo, and one freebie. It could be for Hagakure, but seeing as he doesn't have a bracelet and wasn't included among the little montage of how the killing game would work, it's more likely that he doesn't count and isn't taking up the last slot. So she actually could be an additional survivor.
- Wrong. That extra slot was there since the beginning of the series. Prior to Episode 10, there was only one extra participant. Thus, Juzo is the only survivor, as the counter was off by two for that episode alone, and was off by one everywhere else.
- I think too much is being read into the counter, especially when the game is being run by an Unreliable Narrator.
- Confirmed, Mikan gives her an antidote to the poison and recovers.
Thinking about Mitarai's NG code, it's "Cannot use your talent." This raises even more questions on who this person is. Perhaps Tengan was able to either improvise or purposely made an NG code that can fit both Mitarai and the 13th Branch Leader. Either way, I hope we get to see who they are at least in Side: Hope.
- But Asahina went to the meeting in the place of the Thirteenth Head, so there was no reason for Tengan to believe they were there.
- But what if he never realized that the Thirteenth Leader wasn't coming? It wouldn't be that hard for him to predict that Aoi and Yasuhiro would want to come to the hearing out of loyalty to Makoto. In addition, it would be easy for the Future Foundation Chairman to know that Bayuka would obviously be staying behind to cover for Kirigiri because he was her second-in-command. It's possible that Tegan was planning for all the heads to be there and expecting Makoto's friends to come with to support him, hence Aoi's bracelet and Yasuhiro not being allowed to enter the hearing. What if, for whatever reason, the Thirteenth Head agreed to let Aoi go in their place but Tegan had either expected Aoi to sneak away to come on her own, or the Thirteenth Head allowing Aoi to accompany them? The Thirteenth Head possibly thought that they would get in trouble for bringing someone who wasn't a Branch Head to the secret meeting and decided to let Aoi take their place because of her being Makoto's friend.
- Another possibility is that, since Mitarai was somehow informed of the meeting when he wasn't even supposed to be there, someone screwed up when summoning the leaders and summoned Mitarai instead of the Thirteenth Branch Head. The Thirteenth Branch Head would have either learned from Aoi or guessed why the meeting was happening and, since they apparently weren't supposed to come, sent Aoi in their place because it was such an important hearing. Aoi would been more likely to be allowed in because of her relationship to Makoto and, that way, the Thirteenth Head would have a trustworthy set of eyes from the 13th branch inside the meeting.
- It's also possible that the Thirteenth Head didn't want to get involved in Makoto's trial or, given how many of the other Heads were unstable and infighting by this point, was concerned about how the hearing would go and took advantage of Aoi wanting to go. Tegan was probably expecting both of them, but The Thirteenth Head used Aoi going in their place as an excuse not to go so that they wouldn't have to get involved.
- It is far more plausible that the Thirteenth Head was expected to be at the meeting than the theory below of Yasuhiro being intended as the 13th participant. Think about it; Aoi had a bracelet with a fitting NG code, but it was flat-up stated by Yasuhiro himself that he was barred from the hearing and kicked out of the building. He clearly wasn't intended to be there in the first place, likely due to his status as The Friend No One Likes making him a worthless target at best and a possible hindrance to Tegan's plan at worst.
