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Executions
Monokuma tailors each of the executions to fit the victim in ways beyond the immediately obvious.
- The meaning behind "Blast Off!" with the one being executed being the former headmaster and Kyoko's father can be found in one of the Monokuma Theater scenes, far sooner than one would be able to decode it. Specifically, Chapter 4, long before we discover who the victim was. Remember, the headmaster was the one who came up with the idea of sealing everyone inside the school to begin with. Monokuma uses a spaceship as a metaphor for the school in Chapter 4, saying everyone is on a trip in space and is far away from the earth. What is the headmaster sealed inside? A spaceship.
- To add to that, it's stated in later material that Jin Kirigiri was inadvertently responsible for letting Junko get away with everything due to his love for talent. His death literally has him being shot into the stars and then forcibly pulled back to earth.
- While the main connection between the first murderer and "The 1,000 Blows" is blatant, spending Free Time with Leon reveals another layer: Leon frequently skipped practice, feeling he didn't have to go because of his natural talent. Monokuma literally drags him into the batting cage and forces him to stay there until he's finished.
- "The Cage of Death": Mondo is basically a person built on weakness and lies, which are the entire point of his character arc. He was looked down upon for being in his brother's shadow, he lied about his mistake getting his big brother killed, and he couldn't overcome his weakness and finally snapped when Chihiro could. So what does Monokuma do? His punishment, forcing Mondo to ride a motorcycle at speeds that turn him into paste, basically strips Mondo of any presence he has, even his corpse, which Monokuma eats. Even in death Mondo's presence is ineffectual and eventually erased from existence.
- Additionally, Mondo can't even kill people from a position of strength. He didn't kill his big brother directly; his big brother died saving his life from a truck he was about to crash into. And he didn't even kill Chihiro on purpose; he lost control of his emotions and doesn't even remember bringing the dumbbell down on Chihiro's head. And, he couldn't even frame another person, Genocide Jack, by himself. The main reason Chapter 2's trial was so hard was because Byakuya interfered with the crime scene for his own reasons that had nothing to do with Mondo. Finally, he's not even the opponent of the Bullet Time Battle in Chapter 2's trial; Kiyotaka has to jump to his defense and fight you in his place. Mondo's influence on the world might as well be pancake butter, even as a murderer!
- Alternatively, Mondo's worst fear was becoming soft. Monokuma makes this fear come true in the most literal way possible by liquifying his body into a butter-like substance, with room temperature butter being known for its softness.
- A slightly more meta example: the execution is based on
The Story of Little Black Sambo, which, incidentally, is very popular and well-known in Japan. A tale, mind you, about how the humility of the boy prevails over the strength of the tigers.
- Similarly, "The Burning of the Versailles Witch" execution makes more sense in light of the murderer's character: Celeste presents a romanticized front, and wished to go out in a blaze of darkly dramatic glory, an image she tried to maintain at the very end. Monokuma deliberately plays on this, making her believe she's going to die in a suitably Gothic fashion — before pulling a bait and switch at the last moment.
- There's another possible brilliance if one also reads the manga. Monokuma going for bait-and-switch at Celeste was supposed to pull on the despair of Taeko by nailing the fact that she's such a plain person who's hiding behind the romanticized lie of 'Celestia Ludenberg' that her death would be something that's more befitting of a plain person: truck crash.
- Also, the setup is historically inaccurate- the only historical witch burning at Versailles was the people implicated in the Affair of the Poisons, and they were burned for poisoning, not witchcraft (though some of them did admit to being witches). The history Monokuma uses to execute her is as real as Celestia's gothic delusions.
- There's another possible brilliance if one also reads the manga. Monokuma going for bait-and-switch at Celeste was supposed to pull on the despair of Taeko by nailing the fact that she's such a plain person who's hiding behind the romanticized lie of 'Celestia Ludenberg' that her death would be something that's more befitting of a plain person: truck crash.
- "After School Lesson":
- Chapter 5's execution (or at least the "Bad Ending" version of it) is called "Detention" in the Japanese version. As in, a punishment you give to a bad student. And what is the nature of the execution? Being crushed to death by a huge block. What else does a student fear, besides being put in detention by her teacher? Being grounded by her parents! Monokuma sadistically made a child's fears of being "grounded" real, by crushing Kyoko into the ground!note
- There's also the fact that Kyoko was late to the trial, so she gets sloooooooooowly carried off to the giant piston. Her secondary "crime" fits the "Detention" name as well.
- It goes beyond that. Kyoko went through the game with a calm and collected presence no matter what happened. Always looking ahead without fear or hesitation. So what does Monokuma do? Puts her on a slowly moving conveyor belt facing away from a very loud, constantly moving crusher. Notice how at first she seems to be her usual unshaking self, until you keep hearing the crusher, and seeing the screen vibrate with each crush, as it gets closer and closer but she can't turn around to see it. Watch how her expression changes from stoic, to worried, to terrified, and finally to quiet acceptance. The entire thing was meant to finally break Kyoko's composure.
- He also literally crushed Makoto and co.'s chances of solving the mystery and escaping Hope's Peak, via taking away the assistant that helped Makoto to solve the cases when he was stuck.
- And even more so: Who created Hope's Peak, gathered the kids first, and then disappeared? Jin Kirigiri aka the Headmaster. And now his daughter and Makoto's closest ally, Kyoko, is the one being executed. That is Monokuma's ultimate "fuck you" to both Kirigiris: the one killing the daughter via using a punishment that's very similar to a child's fear of being grounded... is the father's murderer!
- When Makoto's strapped into it, the whole thing doesn't fit him nearly as well... which is probably why it doesn't actually kill him at all.
- With Makoto on the conveyor belt, you could say that Monokuma was trying to crush the students' hope.
- Even the fact that Makoto doesn't have a special Execution is quite suitable when remembers that Makoto had a complex over not being as special as the others. A number of alternative/concept executions (for all of the non-executed students) were released in the official fanbook (which can be seen on the Danganronpa wiki, and are explained in further detail below), but Makoto's wasn't among them.
- There's more to it! If you look at the board on which the execution name is written, it clearly states that the date of Detention is April 1st — that is, April Fool's day, a day on which people pull tricks on each other. This would point towards the fact that this trial was just devised to fool the students into thinking that Kyoko was guilty through this trick, when the guilty party is actually Junko.
- Also, the fact that Alter Ego was able to save Makoto but not Kyoko can be attributed to one simple explanation: Makoto got lucky. His talent saved him from death once again, just like when his ill-fitting bathroom door acquitted him of Sayaka's murder.
- The diagram of sexual reproduction in the execution is a Visual Pun. Monokuma is basically telling Kyoko/Makoto that they're fucked.
- Chapter 5's execution (or at least the "Bad Ending" version of it) is called "Detention" in the Japanese version. As in, a punishment you give to a bad student. And what is the nature of the execution? Being crushed to death by a huge block. What else does a student fear, besides being put in detention by her teacher? Being grounded by her parents! Monokuma sadistically made a child's fears of being "grounded" real, by crushing Kyoko into the ground!note
- Mukuro's execution is also ironic. She was the Ultimate Soldier, who had never received a single wound on the battlefield. Her Execution involves being wounded so many times she dies. Also, she was a soldier betrayed by her comrade.
- Doubly so when you consider that it's not uncommon for soldiers to refer to themselves as brothers-in-arms. Who betrayed Mukuro? Her own sister!
- The Ultimate Soldier was killed by friendly fire.
- Even the unused executions manage to drip with cruel irony:
- Sayaka is forced to utilize every one of the skills she sacrificed so much for in making her idol career, only for the points counter to get smashed so she can be mangled by a giant bear-trap. As if to imply the fragility of fame...
- Chihiro's plays upon his fear as he's chased down by Monokumas in a scenario straight out of a Creepypasta. To add insult to injury, the machine is of his own creation (hinting at the sequel's method of killing).
- Hifumi finally gets to be a part of the anime worlds he loves so dearly, and the realistic outcome of a giant robot fight kills him.
- Kiyotaka, who places the value of effort above all else, is suddenly (and satirically) handed his ultimate goal: an inauguration as prime minister, through no effort of his own (before a Cold Sniper ends it all). One imagines he would absolutely despise every second of it.
- (Different troper for this and the rest of the unused here) Sakura was known as the strongest human on Earth, and with her honorable nature, would have preferred to die having been defeated by a worthy foe. Instead? Monokuma calls upon an alien invasion to do her in, and despite winning every single fight, she loses the battle when the corpses of her defeated foes crush her.
- For Asahina, she was known for her love of donuts and is a fierce competitor when it comes to sports. So it would be fitting to have the biggest eater of them all be devoured by one of the hungriest and most naturally competitive predators in the deep blue: sharks.
- Also, magicians frequently perform feats that are merely elaborate tricks. Asahina was known to be one of the more kind-hearted and idealistic students, believing they could all make it out together. By making her 'disappear', it was Junko's way of saying her positive outlook she always tries to bring is nothing more than an 'illusion'.
- Yasuhiro often boasts about his predictions, which he claims have an accuracy of 30%. So his end forces him to prove it by giving him a 1/3 of choosing death, and he guesses wrong twice and escapes death both times. But then, when he finally gets it right (not choosing the door that will kill him), he dies anyway. As if to say how little his predictions affect others, right or wrong, in the grand scheme of things.
- Toko is head over heels about Byakuya and constantly thinks of him as her 'White Knight' no matter how much he tells her otherwise. So of course, her execution rolls it (and her) flat to show just how paper-thin her relationship with him actually is. And of course, she's a writer, so she becomes paper.
- Byakuya's final moments have him, the proud, pristine, perfect heir of the Togami Corporation who possessed a high status in life and disliked those who were not on his standing, being treated worse than a hobo before finally dying alone in the snow. Basically, a living example of 'pride goeth before a fall', and how despite his status, his fate was exactly akin to the very person he detested: a commoner.
- Another interpretation is that it references what happens to the Togami siblings (all
10815 of them, to be precise) after they are cast out of the family. Stripped away of their status, name, and reduced to basically nothing. Something a certain affluent progeny tried to avoid at all costs. - And the requisite bad puns: Not only was the execution a pun on Togami's name (white night), he was literally cast out into the cold.
- Another interpretation is that it references what happens to the Togami siblings (all
Other
- Neither Chihiro nor Sakura have the usual body discovery music. While usual body discoveries have a despair inducing yell, Sakura and Chihiro have only ominous music in the background. This is the first sign that neither case actually counts as murder; Chihiro's death is manslaughter, while Sakura committed suicide.
- In Chapter 3, Celeste is very obvious about being the murderer. It seems odd when she is supposed to be a good liar and have overall decent luck, what with her being a "Ultimate Gambler". However, this makes much more sense when you realize she's up against Makoto, who is specifically stated to be the "Ultimate Lucky Student". To put it in poker terms, she just got dealt only a pair of twos while Makoto has a royal flush — you can only bluff so far with that. In one of Celeste's Free Time conversations, she discloses to Makoto that the most important thing behind being a Ultimate Gambler is luck. So, when she came against someone said to have luck as his one and only talent, she lost.
- Also, Celeste was the only one who actually planned her killings. The major complications in the first two cases occurred through circumstances out of the culprit's control — for Leon, Sayaka pre-framed Makoto, and for Mondo, Byakuya tampered with the crime scene. Maybe most high school students just aren't that good at plotting murder.
- In light of the fact that Celeste is the Ultimate Gambler and also a Consummate Liar, you would think that she'd be able to put together a murder scheme that wouldn't fall apart so easily. It's overly convoluted with far too many chances for things to go wrong, and forces her to emotionally manipulate and/or deceive everyone else perfectly to succeed, and Celeste blows it almost immediately by how overly defensive she is whenever the narrative she crafted is called into question. Surely she could've come up with a more viable plan without so many moving parts, right? Well, yes, she could have. But when you consider her personality hangups, she wouldn't. Her whole personality is built around the fact that she believes herself to be too plain and boring, so she made up a more interesting persona to hide behind, and that persona demands a dramatic and complicated scheme. Taeko Yasuhiro might be willing to sneak up behind someone out at night and clobber them, but Celestia Ludenberg wouldn't tolerate such dull nonsense; the Queen of Liars must manipulate and deceive her way through the Killing Game. It also explains why Celeste protests so much when she's questioned: it's the exact same response she has when anybody questions the validity of her name or her backstory. If her convoluted murder plot falls apart, it's forcing her to acknowledge that her whole "Queen of Liars" persona is a facade, so she overreacts when anyone questions it.
- Celestia's plan failing is also a despairingly ironic commentary on her Control Freak nature. The reason why all the other deaths were difficult to solve is circumstances completely out of the culprit's control; Leon didn't know Sayaka had planned to frame Makoto, Byakuya messed with the crime scene after Mondo left, and Aoi switched the poison and protein bottles after Sakura was dead. Celestia's scheme, on the other hand, went exactly as she'd planned it to, and nobody interfered... which is why she lost.
- Once you come to the end of Chapter 3 during your first playthrough, you might be questioning why Celeste would give Hifumi her real name, especially since this is what would later lead to her downfall. Cue the finale, and you realize that there's a chance that Hifumi may have in fact regained his memories before he died, hence why he remembered Taeko Yasuhiro and that "he met everyone before he met everyone"...
- At the start of Chapter 4, Hiro makes a prediction that no more murders will occur. Since this is around the halfway point of a murder mystery game, most players probably laughed it off as blind optimism. It actually ends up being closer than you'd expect. From that point on, no more homicides occur. The fourth case ends up being a suicide, the fifth case's victim died weeks ago, and the sixth case has no victim. Meanwhile on the execution side, the 4th and 5th executions both failed and the only person Junko has to blame for her death is herself.
- Additional Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you realize that this is one of three predictions Hiro makes (the other two being that he and Makoto's kid will have the same mother, and that leaving the academy will only bring suffering). Hiro mentions that 1 out of 3 predictions of his come true, and this is that one. Plus, in the bad end where it doesn't come true and Kyoko is killed by Junko, the second prediction comes true and Makoto and Hiro both have kids with Hina. So, no matter what, Hiro maintains his 1/3 success rate.
- All the way back in Chapter 1, Junko broke a rule, and Monokuma killed her by summoning spears of Gungnir. This notably happens before the first execution, where we find out that Monokuma tailors the executions to the culprit. Given that Junko didn't murder anyone and got killed in such an unfitting way can be chalked up to that it's not a trial, and any other inconsistencies (such as her choice of words) can be explained away. However, if "Junko" was a soldier who took part in a mercenary group called Fenrir, and conspired with the mastermind as a fellow Ultimate Despair, then this is put into a whole new light! Leon wasn't the first execution: Mukuro Ikusaba is! And given her choice of words, it's likely that she was betrayed by the mastermind.
- Especially fitting is the name of the weapon. Gungnir. The spear of Odin, which he is fated to use in the battle of Ragnarok to stab Fenrir.
- Then, to delve further into Norse Mythology, Fenrir's sibling Hel is half-living and half-dead... or, in some versions, half black and half white.
- Also, in some versions of the myth, Gungnir is said to never miss its target. Ever. Even the Ultimate Soldier, who dodged everything thrown at her, couldn't dodge a weapon that would relentlessly hunt her down until it finally struck home.
- Also, how was the ultimate soldier, who survived every battle she was in during a time where there was worldwide conflict, killed? In a violent ambush that, by her reaction, she never even considered the possibility of.
- Fridge Nightmare Retardant? In Chapter 6, we find the cold storage where all the mutilated corpses of the victims are stored... which must include that tub of Mondo butter.
- Mondo may not have actually been turned into butter. It's possible that Monokuma just took him out of the cage before he got turned into butter, and he just put a regular tub of butter with Mondo's face on it in there.
- Or maybe the butter was made just with Mondo's fat tissue. That probably would be enough to produce a tub of butter, that comparing with the size of Monokuma would be small.
- The final execution pauses at the very last second before killing its victim. Why? Junko has a fetish for despair. She was smiling throughout all the executions, but she has a puzzled expression when the crusher doesn't fall on her. The pause was for getting rid of all the accumulated despair before going for the kill.
- Adding to this, the pause is very short, only long enough for Junko to get that puzzled expression. If it had waited any longer, she likely would have begun to feel despair over not being killed. Similarly, it mirrors the way Mukuro Ikusaba was killed, as both of them felt confusion before they died; Mukuro because she didn't think she would be killed, and Junko because she thought she would.
- Also, one could call this little pause a hope spot.
- In Chapter 3, Kiyotaka goes through a massive Heroic BSoD after it was revealed in the previous chapter that Mondo was the murderer, and was executed as a result. In a Free Time segment, Kiyotaka reveals to Makoto that he's never managed to make a single friend or even carry a regular conversation with anyone before. When you take that into account, it's no wonder that Kiyotaka was so affected by Mondo's death; Mondo was the first real friend Kiyotaka had ever made, he turned out to be a murderer, and was subjected to a Cruel and Unusual Death immediately afterwards.
- During trial 5, you have a chance to throw Kyoko under the bus or bluff for her. Should you point out her contradiction, you get the bad ending. If you bluff, Makoto is nearly executed but you get the good ending. It might seem like
unfortunate implications at first, but if you think about it, what is Makoto's Ultimate title? - On the bad ending; Makoto, Byakuya, Yasuhiro, and Aoi are all shown being alive and with children, with Toko being the only one who is shown as passed away. On an initial playthrough, this may just seem like an arbitrary choice... until you get to Chapter 6, where it's revealed that Genocide Jill actually remembers the circumstances of The World's Most Despair-inducing Incident in the History of Mankind. So what would the best way to keep that secret from being revealed to the surviving students? Murdering Toko, and thereby killing Jill at the same time, thus preserving the secret!
- Dwelling further into that, it is possible the picture symbolized the death of Toko, but not Jill.
- Despite being a serial murderer, Genocide Jill never murders anyone, despite the others' fear of her — because she knew about the current state of the world and didn't actually want to leave the school.
- Plus, she herself says that the point of murdering inside the school is to NOT GET CAUGHT. Killing the way she always does would mean they will surely know it's her real quickly, and she doesn't want to kill any other way.
- A related bit of Fridge Horror is addressed in Genocide Jill's free time events — why Genocide Jill didn't kill Byakuya (or anyone else, for that matter) during the two-year time gap. She mentions that Byakuya is the first person she's fallen for who she hasn't had an urge to kill, and that she'd give up killing if she could be with him.
- Also, after the cast discovers Chihiro was a boy, Jill exclaims that she "should have killed him first." This comes after arguing that she wouldn't have killed anyone while trapped in the Closed Circle of the school. It seems with The Reveal that she was actually wishing she'd killed Chihiro during the "normal" time at Hope's Peak.
- Monokuma, at the beginning, comments how girls can be killed with sharp objects and boys with blunt ones. Students that are murdered follow this rubric.
- It winds up setting the fact that Chihiro is a boy when we find him killed with a dumbbell.
- Sakura wasn't killed with a sharp implement... because she wasn't murdered.
- A couple involve the trial decor:
- Ch. 3's courtroom is decorated with with blue wallpaper and moons. Of course there would be a celestial theme to the trial where Celestia is the culprit.
- Ch. 5's courtroom is eye-searing, being colored with a clashing checkerboard of hot pink and puke green. Considering that the Ch. 5 murder was staged, it only makes sense that there'd be something "off" about its corresponding courtroom.
- In the final Class Trial, it seems that Junko is copying some of the surviving students' personalities. When she is in her "princess" personality, with a Cool Crown to boot, it's similar to Byakuya's (Ultimate Affluent Progeny) arrogant personality, her punk persona is similar to Genocider's loud and aggressive personality (don't forget the tongue), when she puts on glasses and becomes Ms. Exposition, her tone and how she says it is similar to Kyoko's analytic personality, then followed by Aoi's cutesy personality (when she talks about donuts and proteins), and afterward has Toko's depressing personality.
- The ones that doesn't fit are her "Dio Brando" personality, her Monokuma personality, and her final one, a blank, emotionless one; plus her Villainous Breakdown expressions. Now, the first two are respectively something that could scare Yasuhiro, and (obviously) Monokuma; but the third one is used in response to Makoto declaring that nobody will fall into Despair. This is when Junko stops playing charade and assumes a truly "Despair" persona: it's Hope vs. Despair, and she's going against the Ultimate Hope. The blank Ultimate Despair persona may very well be the true self. It's the equivalent of The Joker dropping all humor and theatricality in his behavior and showing the emptiness and raw, hateful malevolence that's always been at the core of this sick, sick person.
- At first, Junko Enoshima's death seems weird, and not just because she's the only student who is neither murdered by another student or executed. Of course, this strange death foreshadows who the mastermind is, but there's something else. Monokuma is the one who charged at Junko and she just held him down with her foot. It really doesn't seem like an act of violence against the headmaster. Then, at the end of the game, we learn that the "Junko" back then was really Mukuro Ikusaba, Junko's twin sister. When asked by the others why she killed her own sister, Junko flippantly remarks that it was because she was a bad actress. Junko murdered her sister on a whim, in order to prove a point to the others. No wonder Monokuma instigated the whole thing! Also, according to IF, Junko would've had the trial rules explained on that day even if nobody had been murdered yet (though one would think that the murders she wanted would be more likely before anyone knew that graduating would cost everyone else's lives) and gave Mukuro a script to follow that involved stomping on Monokuma and didn't end in impalement. There was quite a bit of premeditation involved.
- The end-of-day Theater where Monokuma rambles on about how things like war and pollution immediately sound better when you tack a -chan on the end. Once revealed, Junko occasionally refers to her dead sister as "Mukuro-chan." What does that come out to, given her Meaningful Name? "Corpse-chan."
- In Chapter 6, when photographs are given out containing all students but the ones that they were given to, the reason that they aren't in them is that they were the ones taking the photos.
- The reason that Junko's surname is different from her sister may be that it is a stage name. Enoshima is also the name of a 'Picturesque island' near Tokyo. It's also quite possible that Mukuro Ikusaba is another code-name. "Mukuro Ikusaba" can translate to "Corpse Warblade;" Mukuro was a highly skilled soldier who worked for the mercenary group Fenrir. The fearsome and cool-sounding "Mukuro Ikusaba" could be an alias or a nickname she went by during her days with Fenrir.
- Celeste said that if she's reincarnated, she'd be Marie-Antoinette... and it actually held more than 'ending up getting executed again'. Celeste must have been trying to invoke the image of Marie-Antoinette even throughout her life, starting from her extravagant life and dream, as well as doing horrible things that would cause her to be hated and vilified by those around her (as seen by Aoi in the game), and decided to Face Death with Dignity. And it even goes meta: when Celeste's reasoning was first revealed, a lot of fans would accuse her as a shallow murdering bitch, like how Antoinette got all those... degrading insults. However, as time passed, with Monokuma doing a lot more despicable things and other interpretations of Celeste (the manga, especially) were revealed, opinions on Celeste has softened up, kind of like how the more recent discoveries that Antoinette wasn't as much as a bitch she was accused of, and how her executors also doing worse things than what they accused her for... helped fixing her reputation.
- The barred windows and vault to the main entrance. It's understandable that the students, having just woken up in an unfamiliar building and been told that someone locked them in, would accept that as truth. But if you look closely, all the locking mechanisms (nuts, bolts, the lock on the big vault door) are on the inside, providing a neat little hint that they locked themselves in.
- There are actually two hints very early on that Mukuro is posing as Junko Enoshima and assisting her. When the students all first assemble in the gym, Mukuro is the one to point out that the students' cellphones are missing. The second hint comes when Makoto tells Mukuro that she doesn't look the same as Junko Enoshima does in the magazines. Mukuro laughs this off and states that the pictures in the magazines are photoshopped, and the issue isn't pressed any further. In retrospect, maybe Junko made the right decision in killing Mukuro because she wasn't a good enough fake.
- This goes further if you take in consideration Mukuro's free time events as Junko. Even if you only get the two that are possible through the first play through, her second one is clearly her telling Makoto her real story, disguised as Junko's. The sprite that appears when she's telling the truth is the one where she's pulling at her ponytails, which she's not used to as Mukuro. But when she's lying, she puts a more convincing Junko pose.
- According to one of the side-stories, Makoto wasn't actually the initial winner of the lottery, that being a girl whose pass into the Academy was inadvertently destroyed by Makoto's actions, forcing them to redo the lottery. Seems irrelevant until one realizes that this creates a dark Call-Forward to the Chapter 5 Trial, where something very similar happens between Kyoko and Makoto. And, like before, the trial has to be redone, this time with Makoto winning.
- One could also say that this incident proves the initial lottery winner to also be a worthy Ultimate Lucky Student... because her luck kept her firmly away from Hope's Peak- and thus, safe from the killing games.
- At first, Toko's sudden infatuation towards Byakuya comes out of nowhere, especially since there had been no hints towards it bar them standing next to each other in crowd scenes. Then I read Danganronpa Zero and it hit me when, at the end Junko states her love for Matsuda was so strong that it survived even her losing her memories. Who's to say the same thing isn't true for Toko? Better when you realize that it's indicated she was in love with him during the students' normal time at Hope's Peak.
- Yasuhiro's Tohoku accent is largely associated with country bumpkins. In one free time event, though, Celeste maintains her parents were European, she admits she was raised in Tochigi, another comparatively rural part of Japan. Then her chapters in the manga show her desperation to escape the "mediocrity" of her life as Taeko Yasuhiro by reinventing herself as a glamorous sophisticate. No wonder she dislikes Yasuhiro so much — even his first name's a reminder of what she's trying to leave behind.
- During the talk between Monokuma and Sakura Oogami about the 16th student, Monokuma jokes about not giving his three sizes. At first, it seems like another stupid joke of his. But then, Fridge Brilliance kicks in during Case 6; it was Junko Enoshima's and Mukuro Ikusaba's three sizes that put a connection between those two and helped Makoto realize Mukuro is the one who died instead of Junko during her supposed death.
- It's also, in retrospect, a clue that the mastermind is a girl, since that sort of thing doesn't seem like the sort of thing Monokuma would bring up if it was a guy behind the bear.
- The cafeteria is always locked at night. Probably because it's when Junko is getting her meals. This also explains why Monokuma is almost never seen at night.
- Monokuma mocks Makoto for getting the room with the bathroom door with the unaligned doorknob, calling it ironic that the so called "Ultimate Lucky Student" would have that kind of room. Later, this bit of "bad luck" is what not only proves his innocence in the first trial, it helps reveal the real culprit. This entertains the idea that Makoto's "bad luck" may really be "good luck" in disguise.
- When you stop and think about the remaining students, they all have one major thing in common. They were all accused of murder at least once. Makoto was accused in the first trial, Genocide Jill and Byakuya in the second, Yasuhiro in the third, Aoi in the fourth (including Yasuhiro and Touko), and Kyoko in the fifth. An interesting deduction to make that you probably wouldn't catch your first time around.
- Makoto's Due to the Dead moment near the end of chapter 6's investigation. Kyoko, who was just taunted with her dead father's bones by the mastermind, says Mukuro reaped what she sowed, but then begrudgingly gives in to Makoto's pleas and closes the body storage drawer. Kyoko calls him naive at the time, but during the trial, you find out that Junko killed her own sister on a whim and probably would've found it hilarious to see the corpse left out in the open. One imagines she instead must have been seething at Makoto treating his enemy with such respect. This serves as an early indication that nothing she does will be able to bring out his despair.
- A tiny case with Sayaka's free time trophy, "Psychic." It's a single non-compound word, so it's a little less obvious than the spoofed movie titles of the other trophies; at face value, it's a reference to her "intuition." Then recall the Decoy Protagonist of Psycho, Marion Crane — a bird Sayaka is associated with — and the most infamous scene in the movie. Also, Marion ended up at the motel because she was on the run after stealing a large amount of money; Sayaka fled into the bathroom after trying to kill Leon.
- So how did the boys manage to avoid a Megaton Punch or a slap after spying on the girls during their bath (like would normally happen in this situation)? Because Toko was in the midst of slipping through the air on a bar of soap and probably distracted everyone when she landed in the water.
- Although, Kyoko is looking directly at the screen with a surprised look on her face, near enough confirming she can see the boys peeking in. However, she likely didn't care or simply hid her angry emotions from the boys.
- Actually, the door is on the other end of the washroom. Kirigiri was looking at the wall where the sauna door was, but the boys were looking into the room from the opposite wall.
- Keeping surveillance on students would be a very tiresome task, even for Junko. However, the Monokuma doll in the courtroom comes back to life after her execution and presumably contains her AI self. If she has an AI version running the show, she can easily keep the killing game going while having enough time to take care of her health.
- Hina's celebrity crush on Jason Statham makes a lot more sense when you consider that Statham is a former competitive diver (who represented England at the Commonwealth Games, no less).
- You probably wouldn't notice it at first glance, but in School Mode, the game is pretty specific about how it places two characters in your list of who to go see.
- Chihiro is placed either at the end of the boys or at the start of the girls, fitting for a character who lets everyone assume he is a girl.
- Monokuma, which is controlled by a girl, is at the very end of the girls.
- One of the better ranking items you can give to Junko during free time resembles an army ration. She appreciates it so much because she is actually Mukuro, the ultimate soldier and would most likely be used to living on this kind of food normally.
- At first, I thought it was kind of unnecessary that Genocide Jack refers to herself as "Genocide Jill" after her identity is revealed, since Syo was always just Syo in the Japanese version. But it makes sense — of course she'd prefer a girl's name she picked herself to a guy's name slapped onto her by the media. (And it's made clear to be just a personal preference, because the other students call her Jack half the time anyway.)
- In the beta, DISTRUST, Beta!Junko was executed via guillotine after killing Beta!Kirigiri. At first, this doesn't seem like much other than to show off the beta's grim atmosphere. However, it makes sense given the symbolism of the guillotine back in France in which during the 18th century the use of the guillotine by the Revolutionaries was meant as a symbol of a person being equal in death as of life and there were no special privileges, in a contrast to their previous rule. Compared to the other Ultimates, Junko was a celebrity among celebrities and with her beta execution it was meant as a message that no matter how popular, famous, rich or powerful you are just a human under it and you can (and most likely will) face the consequences of your actions if you commit a crime, status be damned. Considering the tone for both the beta and DISTRUST, this was more than fitting.
- In the climax, Junko often drops her manic energy and just stands and stares blankly at someone. While she did this once to Kyoko, the person she does this mostly to is Makoto, usually after he outright defies her. While this could be seen as her dropping her "crazy" persona and revealing her true colors, Danganronpa 3 shows a different reason why she would be doing this: Junko is devoting all of her brainpower to trying to analyze Makoto. But due to the contradiction of the most ordinary, usually most cowardly person also being the one that stands against her constantly: She simply CAN'T understand him.
- In discovering the dead body the title of the chapter changes from Daily Life to Deadly Life. In Chapter 3, when you first discover Hifumi's body this change surprisingly didn't happen. It is when you discover Kiyotaka's body the title changes. Why? Because at that time Hifumi was Faking the Dead.
- Dissociative Identity Disorder isn't too well-understood, but it's believed to generally occur as a result of childhood trauma, with the alternate personalities - "alters" - coming into existence as a way of coping with said trauma. Toko seems to have been pretty badly bullied and mistreated throughout her youth, with her most formative moment being humiliation at the hands of a boy she had a crush on. Genocide Jill is a murderer who exclusively targets men she finds attractive: in other words, it's very likely that Jill was born from Toko's bottled-up hurt and rage at the people who hurt her.
- When the students are preparing to head to the third trial (where Taka and Hifumi were the victims), Monokuma shows up... with a duplicate. He tries to get the students to guess which is the real one, before he gets shut down and forced to get on with it. This turns out to foreshadow the trial's results; there were two killers, but the students have to figure out who the "real" one is, i.e. the one that masterminded the whole ordeal.
- After it's revealed at the end of the game that the world outside the school is effectively post-apocalyptic, all of Monokuma's motives for murder turn out to be All for Nothing:
- The main motive, of course, is getting out. But before Monokuma reveals the nature of the outside world, anyone who became blackened and escaped would likely be confused and quickly die anyway.
- The first motive from Monokuma is some videos of the various students' loved ones... then horrific implications as to what's happened to them. This motive is meant to spur the students into trying to get out quickly to go help, but since it's been a year since the Tragedy and the students got sealed inside the school, there's little to no chance that them getting out now would allow them to save their loved ones.
- The second motive is embarrassing secrets. While it's up in the air how much the students themselves would judge each other with their secrets revealed, it's highly unlikely that anyone left in the outside world would care about the secrets, or even understand their significance, since they have more important things to worry about (i.e. survival) and it's been so long since the students were sealed inside.
- The third motive: money. Pretty simply, even if money still has a use in the outside world, its importance has dropped significantly, and such a huge amount of money is dead weight at best.
- The fourth motive is a bit different, being about outing Sakura as the traitor so people would kill her in revenge. By now however, Sakura has turned against Monokuma; killing her would do nothing except get rid of an ally. An ally who, considering the state of the world, could be very useful if they got out.
- A joke one, but the last remaining seven students correspond to seven deadly sins in Christianity: Hiro is greed, Toko is lust, Hina is gluttony, Byakuya is wrath, Kyoko is pride, Makoto is envy and Junko is sloth.
- On another note, some sects of Christianity have an eighth deadly sin, Despair! While this doesn't match the numbers, it does feel apt for the Big Bad to represent two sins over everyone else's single sin.
- Actually, it does; the reason mainstream Christianity doesn't consider 'despair' as its own sin is that it is considered to be part of Sloth. Junko is still Sloth; in her case, she is slothful because she refuses to even try to seek out a way to find real joy in life, instead distracting herself by obsessing over despair.
- On another note, some sects of Christianity have an eighth deadly sin, Despair! While this doesn't match the numbers, it does feel apt for the Big Bad to represent two sins over everyone else's single sin.
- One of the skills from Yasuhiro's Free Time Events is Crystal Prediction, which makes Nonstop Debates only have three truth bullets. Like his predictions, one out of three is correct.
- In one of the Monokuma Theatres, Monokuma talks about his tendency to stare at cute girls. However, this veers into a tangent about how he was looking at himself in the mirror. Considering the one controlling him is Junko Enoshima, it could be a vague bit of foreshadowing to her being the mastermind.
- Back in DISTRUST, some believe that Kyoko would have been the mastermind. Before Danganronpa was created, Kyoko's name was Gyaru Kirigiri. What was Junko's title in the Japanese version? Super High School Level Gyaru.
- How come there are several Idiot Ball moments during the investigations, trials and even when plotting a murder? The characters are High School students, what do you expect? That they would just flip a switch and be super-competent investigators/murderers? Add the fact that they're probably not on their right mind since they just found a dead body/murdered someone.
- And the exceptions of this? Byakuya, who is extremely twisted, and Kyoko, who is the Ultimate Detective (even if she doesn't know that yet). All said, this all makes Makoto look much smarter...
- The title of the chapters have an actual meaning.
- Chapter 1: To Survive - Everyone truly starts to believe that they must survive and get out of the academy no matter what.
- Chapter 2: Boy's Life of Despair - It hints at how Mondo feels tormented because of his secret until he starts to spiral into despair and kill Chihiro.
- Chapter 3: A Next Generation Legend! Stand Tall, Galactic Hero! - Robo Justice obviously. But the second part is about how the costume can't bend and can only stand tall, like whoever is inside.
- Chapter 4: All Star Apologies - Sakura apologies to all of her classmates for being a mole.
- Chapter 5: 100 Mile Dash; Pain of a Junk Food Junkie: The first part is most likely because both the investigation and the trial are very rushed so that Monokuma could execute Kyoko/Makoto. The second part is probably about Mukuro, who has shown to be basically a junkie for her abusive sister Junko.
- Chapter 6: Ultimate Pain, Ultimate Suffering, Ultimate Despair, Ultimate Execution, Ultimate Death - The truth is revealed and it causes pain and suffering. Junko, the Ultimate Despair, executes herself to the Ultimate Execution.
