Hoo boy. If you thought Danganronpa 3 was the biggest base breaking thing to come out of the franchise, you ain't seen nothing yet... Bringing up the following issues might make Monokuma call for a Scrum Debate:
All spoilers are unmarked!
Storyline:
- Kaede's death is probably the most controversial topic in this game outside of the ending, which is saying a great deal. There are a few points of contention regarding this.
- The set-up. Some see it as a brilliant subversion of expectations, and proof that no one is safe, since they wouldn't expect a game to kill off the protagonist. Others see it as a predictable twist that makes the game too similar to previous games in the end, since in the end, like the previous two games, the main character's closest friend during the first chapter plays a role in the murder (Sayaka's attempt to kill Leon resulted in him killing her, while Nagito manipulated Teruteru into trying to kill him, resulting in Byakuya's death), and the "twist" only amounts to convincing you that Kaede will be the main character. Still others see it as a bit of an Ass Pull, since they found it hard to predict that the POV character would plot and commit murder without the player catching on, with only some clever wordplay to obfuscate the character's actions.
- Even for those who approve of Kaede's death, the decision to kill Kaede off in the first chapter is one of the most divisive narrative aspects of the entire game. Many have argued that killing her off near the end or even in the middle of the game would have better delivered the twist. Others didn't mind the timing as it let them play a more traditional protagonist for the duration of the game. Someone's opinion of this depends if they would have preferred playing the majority of the game as Kaede or Shuichi.
- Another dimension to the controversy relates to Kaede's gender. A significant portion of those who dislike the twist are up in arms over how the first female protagonist in a main series title was killed off in favor of a male character they don't find as interesting. People who like the twist, however, may point out that Komaru and Toko from Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls were also female protagonists, even if it was only in a Gaiden Game, or simply don't mind having the main character be male again.
- For a number of reasons, Chapter 3 is regarded by many fans as the best case in the game but just as many also regard it as the worst.
- The culprit, Korekiyo Shinguji has a very twisted motive that involves being a serial killer for his incestuous love for his sister. Many find it a unique, fascinating motive for an unsympathetic killer while others are squicked out by it.
- When it comes to the mystery, many are amazed by the howdunnit, which is mind blowing enough to spawn the seesaw meme. However, when it comes to the whodunnit, the culprit was too apparent throughout the whole case leading many to be disappointed in how easy it is to guess right, even if for the wrong reasons. Some people also also liked how the creators mix things up by having the guy who's obvious from the beginning be the culprit all along, which may very well be a twist in this series.
- The ending, specifically The Reveal in Chapter 6 that all of Danganronpa is fictional, In-Universe. Either it's a brilliant meta deconstruction of what makes Danganronpa what it is and serves as a surprisingly well-handled wake-up call to a certain part or the fanbase, or it's a rather jaded condemnation of the franchise and its entire fanbase that feels like a rather mean-spirited case of Creator Backlash, as well as one that makes all the previous events meaningless.
- Japanese fans argue that Chapter 6 is not only an insult to them, but also to the voice actors and actresses who try so hard to give realistic, lifelike performances, as the plot appears to make those hard-working VAs literally tell fans not to delve too much into the characters nor to fangirl/fanboy over them, contrary to the typical Japanese idol-fan relationship. This is, however, a gross misunderstanding of the game's actual message, given that Saihara goes out of his way during the final trial to refute the idea that fiction doesn't matter, while also stressing that becoming consumed by it is harmful. The reveal that V3 actually stands for 53 also lends itself easily to insults — you can also read five-three as "gomi" or "trash" in Japanese.
- In general, there are three camps.
- Camp One: The ending is overall trash; those in this group often accuse Kodaka of attempting to nuke and pave everything he established. Kodaka said that wasn't the case, but some with the latter opinion may not know about this, while others that overlap with camp three's stance argue he should have realized that this is how his message could come across or else tried to convey it more clearly.
- Camp Two: The ending is a clever Deconstruction of the Danganronpa franchise, and Camp One needs to chill out and/or is doing exactly what the ending was calling out.
- Camp Three: It's a clever idea in concept, but it was handled poorly and/or the fake spoilers would have been preferable to how the result of this concept turned out.
- Tsumugi's death at the end of the story. One group of fans likes it as it symbolizes how truly insignificant she was in the grand scheme of things and robs her of any form of glory or dignity. The other group sees her death as very anti-climactic and believes that she ultimately got off easy compared to the far more painful deaths the other students had suffered.
- The epilogue is one among Japanese Fans. Some like it as otherwise there would be an implicit Downer Ending where Everyone Dies and raising the possibility that the controversial TV show twist may not be true, while others would have preferred it didn't exist.
- It has branched in a way with the western fans too. Some are upset by the twist since it means nothing we learn about any of the characters means anything, as they are just "written" that way and we have no way of knowing what they were "originally" like leaving the question of how much of the game really "matters" as it's one of the biggest draws of the series. Others still think this element is interesting and prime Fanfic Fuel or think it's good that it leaves the possibility the characters we met in the game were being their genuine selves even if so many of them died this time. And then there are the fans who would have been more open to the idea if it was also stated that if it was indeed a show that this would mean none of the characters in the game who "died" in it were actually dead, like a less ambiguous and more positive spin on the second game's "hopeful" ending possibly even extending it to the first game's cast, as a means of making everything that happened feel a little less pointless.
Free Time Events and Bonus Modes:
- Kaede's Free Time Events with Shuichi as the Player Character. Quite a few people dislike how the events mainly focus on Kaede and Shuichi's romance, rather than further developing her as a character; by contrast, Kaede's events with Shuichi reveal a little about his backstory and talent. This, combined with the aforementioned protagonist swap and Kaede being unplayable in Love Across the Universe, lead some critics to conclude that the writers consider Kaede to be nothing more than a Satellite Love Interest to Shuichi, rather than a protagonist in her own right. On the other hand, a lot of Kaede/Shuichi shippers love seeing them spend time together. Some of them appreciate the Lighter and Softer nature of their Free Time Events, free of backstory-related angst, especially since said events are only accessible in Love Across The Universe, meaning they don't have to worry about killing each other.
- Surprisingly enough, the Love Hotel events have managed to be this in the West for reasons you wouldn't expect. Specifically, how they deal with certain characters and their potential sexualities. Tenko's is hit the worst with this, as the Love Hotels being the characters biggest fantasies leads hers to be shown to show attraction to a guy, in this case Shuichi, with people decrying it as non-canon because they believe her to be a lesbian and that her event erases that entirely. Other people have brought up that she can still be bisexual with a preference for girls, and bring up the fact that her misandry, a trait that makes her base-breaking already, would actually have huge
Unfortunate Implications if she were a lesbian. Rantaro's is another one that causes arguments, as being the only Love Hotel event to not have any hint of sexual or romantic leanings is enough evidence, combined with his other moments shooting down romance, for some fans to speculate he's aromantic/asexual, with others vehemently shooting the idea down in favor of him being gay or bisexual. Then there's the fact that other characters who show same-gender attraction only in their Love Hotel events, such as Kokichinote and Korekiyonote , are widely accepted as evidence of their sexualities by the same people who decry events like Tenko's and Rantaro's.
Miscellaneous:
- Is Kokichi really all that similar to Nagito? Some treat Kokichi as essentially a retread of Komaeda's character, as both serve as an unreliable, unpredictable, and incredibly intelligent rival character, but others see this comparison as very unfitting and greatly undersells Kokichi as a character since his actual intentions aren't anywhere near as malicious as the genuinely unstable Komaeda's are and relies on his actual skills to manipulate others to achieve his goals whereas Komaeda always had his "Luck" to help things go his way in the end and instead prefer looser comparisons to characters like Kyoko. What doesn't help matters is how incredibly popular both characters are, which was already an issue with Nagito as a character since it resulted in him showing up more often in things like Ultra Despair Girls and overstaying his welcome for some fans, and that both are also implied to have romantic feelings for the main character. The accusations that Kokichi was given a case of Adaptational Villainy in the official English dub has only made things worse.
- NISA's decision to recycle literally all of the characters' voice actors from the three previous games. For some, the complete exclusion of any new actors seems ungenerous at best and downright hostile at worst, while others view this as NISA throwing the cast a bone after a good number of them—including some of the surviving cast of Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair—weren't called back for the Danganronpa 3 dub (which is base-breaking in and of itself), and point out that the actors have done fine jobs of differentiating themselves from their previous roles in the series. Fans of the choice also enjoy the interesting parallels it can create or strengthen between the character the voice actor is currently portraying and who they had done previously, some of which are mentioned on the trivia page. The fact that they also reappear as their own familiar characters (or at least cosplays of them) in the final trial has only added further fuel to this debate. Though that does present the possibility that the casting was done for the sake of convenience, so that they wouldn't have to bring in the entire cast of the previous games for what amounts to only a few lines in addition to new voices. Especially considering that the voice acting scene in America is far less glamorous than it is in Japan.
