Don't touch that dial kids!
Danganronpa: Despair Time is a fan-made Danganronpa spinoff video series that has no affiliation with Spike Chunsoft, NISA, or the Danganronpa brand. The story follows Teruko Tawaki as she and her fifteen classmates try to survive a brand new killing game which, to their confusion and horror, is being broadcast on television for public entertainment.
Episodes will be uploaded on their Youtube channel Danganronpa: Despair Time
but you can follow the series on Twitter at DespairTime or on Tumblr at danganronpadespairtime.
Tropes in Danganronpa: Despair Time include:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The first
Bonus Episode reveals that the series takes place around three decades after the Tragedy. The world has largely recovered and a United States branch of Hope's Peak Academy has opened, with the East Coast Division on its 27th class.- A Q&A from the creator has also confirmed that the series is set around 70-80 years after the Tragedy. In Chapter 2, Veronika states that the Tragedy happened nearly a century earlier.
- Alternate Reality Game: Going to the characters' profiles on the official Tumblr page and inspecting certain parts of their bio will reveal a series of cryptic messages and quotes, including a hidden character bio.
- Art Shift: The CG scenes vary in art styles depending on the mood of the situation.
- As You Know: In Episode 4, J Moreno mentions how Hope's Peak Academy began to expand its school system on an international level, meaning that every major country has its own HP Academy. But Teruko cuts her off saying that they already know that.
- Badass Boast: In Chapter 1, Episode 5, after Xander stabs Teruko."Because... I'm Teruko Tawaki... The Ultimate Lucky Student... And I can't be killed, no matter what."
- Breaking Old Trends: More than half of the cast members have diverse ethnic backgrounds rather than being primarily Japanese.
- The cast does not include an Ultimate with a ??? talent or a student with a Non-Standard Character Design.
- subverted: Mai Akasaki, the hidden 17th student, is the Ultimate ???
- The Ultimates are made aware of how much time has passed since they last woke up.
- The cast is explicitly told at the beginning that the killing game is being broadcasted as a TV show to the outside world.
- The first chapter features the protagonist being attacked by a student-turned-killer.
- A murder occurs before the first motive is released.
- Rather than being depicted as a nondescript figure in the closing argument, the culprit is fully portrayed and referred to by name.
- At the end of the first trial, the protagonist renounces any friendly relations with their classmates and decides to separate themselves from them.
- The protagonist doesn't have a desire to leave the school for the outside world, preferring to live in the facilities of the building they're trapped despite the killing game continuing.
- The cast does not include an Ultimate with a ??? talent or a student with a Non-Standard Character Design.
- Call-Back: This being a Fanganronpa series, DRDT contains references to Danganronpa.
- In relation to Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, the killing game is portrayed as a television show.
- After MonoTV's introduction, Levi tries to destroy him and narrowly avoids being killed for his actions. Much like Mondo.
- At the end of the prologue, MonoTV confesses that one of the students is the mastermind.
- Teruko and Charles discover a "My First Murder" kit in her room, just like the ones Monokuma gave to the DR1 kids.
- Just like in SDR2, a group of girl Ultimates come together for a baking session.
- The first case features a presumed friend trying to commit murder only to end up as the first victim.
- Minigames such as Scrum Debate, Hangman's Gambit and Argument Armament are featured in the trials.
- The motive in the second chapter involves exposing the cast's darkest secrets.
- Crapsaccharine World: While it's established in the Bonus Episodes that the world has recovered to its Pre-Tragedy state, there are still shades of this. Hope's Peak Academy has not only survived despite everything they've done, but spread beyond Japan, setting up branches all over the world. And this is without even getting into the fact that the Killing Game here is said to be a popular Sadistic Game Show.
- "The History of Hope's Peak" reveals that Hope's Peak performed an experiment where they announced that they'd be giving an entrance exam for someone to attend as the Ultimate Student. The catch is that this was announced twelve years ahead of time, which drove an entire generation of kids to devote themselves to studying for it. Min was successful, but speculates it wasn't even about finding who had the highest grades, but who best fit their idea of the Ultimate Student. She doesn't know what else she can do with her life after she graduates.
- In "Visiting Graves", Xander references the Chariton Incident, where a poor American town was hit with a horrible disease that caused people to rot from the outside in, losing control of their limbs and being unable to move as they felt themselves dying. There was only one understaffed hospital around, which couldn't handle the incident and so most of the bodies were left where they fell. The source was a contaminated river, and was implied to be due to the actions of someone called Duke Spurling, who he feels got off too easy. Xander swears he'll never let a disaster like that happen again, suggesting this is what lead to him becoming the Ultimate Rebel.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Even by Canon standards, the execution of Min Jeung: Thrown to the Dogs seems unnecessarily cruel. She has a broken hand and leg and one of her arms is cut off for failing a test. When she fails, she is knocked down meters below and is torn apart by savage wolves.
- Despair Event Horizon: The aftermath of the first execution shakes everyone to their core and leaves them in a state of shock and terror. Even the more abrasive students can't help but feel disturbed by the brutal process of the execution.
- Distant Sequel: A fan-made one, set around 30 years after the Tragedy.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: During the first trial's voting, the results show that while a majority voted Min Jeung, only two people voted for Teruko Tawaki instead.
- High-Voltage Death: Xander is revealed to have been killed by accidentally touching an open electric circuit while drenched in water.
- Killing in Self-Defense: Min's reason for killing Xander. Due to her seeing him with Teruko's bloody body, Xander tried to attack her to keep his murder a secret. Min managed to one-up him by splashing him with a bucket of water and then turning off the lights with her pen knife. Xander would then reach for the switch only to be electrocuted by the circuits thus ending his life.
- Lost Common Knowledge: In Chapter 2, when Teruko and Veronika come across a Monokuma spring ride in the playground, she goes on a long explanation about the creature and its association with the Tragedy, as well as the psychological and cultural impact its had on later generations. Yet she doesn't seem to know that other Killing Games happened before their own.
- Metafiction: The series is a television show both In-Universe and in real life, or much rather a web show.
- Multi National Team: The cast includes a variety of characters of distinct foreign backgrounds.
- Mythology Gag: While discussing the assigned weapons in the first trial, Veronika suggests that a megaphone can be used to take down violent bears.
- Recurring Element: Several of the characters follow familiar DR archetypes.
- Teruko is the average protagonist with a luck-themed talent.
- There are two dark skinned girls participating in the forms of Eden and Rose.
- Regarding Rose, she also has a criminal-themed talent.
- Levi is the Big Hearted Muscle of the group.
- Hu is a girl with a music-themed talent.
- Nico follows the popular color scheme of having black hair, light skin, and red eyes.
- Arei is a girl with a sports-themed talent.
- Ace is the Hot-Blooded person that swears like a sailor.
- Sadistic Game Show: The theme for this killing game is a television program where the students are pitted against each other for the enjoyment of viewers like you.
- Wham Episode: Episode 5. Teruko decides to meet with Xander in the computer room only for the rebel to pull out a knife and stab her in the gut. Despite being gravely wounded and Xander not even knowing why he did it, Teruko smugly boasts that she can't be killed so easily.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Despair Time's Bonus Episodes, which give the viewers a peek into the lives of the deceased students before the events of the story, all through the eyes of an unnamed classmate.
