Follow TV Tropes

Following

Values Dissonance / Danganronpa

Go To

All spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned!


    open/close all folders 

Main installments:

    Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc 
  • Western fans may be confused about Aoi Asahina's insecurity regarding her femininity during her Free Time events. While not a problem at all in western countries, in Japan women that are not "feminine enough" are shamed by society and may also get told that they will never get married. Makoto, the protagonist, tells Hina that she is fine the way she is however.
  • The debate about whether Chihiro is transgender is also based on Western dissonance from a plot based on Japanese gender norms. Chihiro is a cisgender boy (he confesses as such to Makoto in his School Mode ending) who was always bullied for being small and weak, so he started presenting as a girl to make bullies leave him alone; unfortunately, this just made him feel weaker than ever because he wasn't able to stand up to them and tell people the truth. This is intended to be a commentary on Japanese emphasis on strict gender roles; Chihiro found it easier to try to not be a man at all than to be a non-traditional man. America is somewhat more accepting of feminine men, so while American fans could understand getting bullied for not being manly (Kids Are Cruel wherever you go), the idea that Chihiro would be pushed to cross-dressing by said bullying didn't take to some, who instead headcanon Chihiro as a trans girl who lacked the language to express herself.
  • Most of the humor and drama involving Kiyotaka, like many similar characters of his kind in Japanese and East Asian media, involve the fact he is a parody of the stereotypical Public Morals/Ethics Committee member, which, by default, he is supposed to be The Paragon of morals among his fellow students. In most Asian countries, especially eastern ones from the Sinosphere, like Japan, both Koreas, China, etc, Public Morals/Ethics are supposed to be a very Serious Business, even in non-religious backgrounds, as the role of that subject is to teach younger people the social values of their culture, along with regular ethics. This is in stark contrast with many western countries, like those from the Americas or Southern Europe, when the topic of both Public Morals and Ethics are supposed to be taught on either in your home by your family, or in a religious school, while ethics are normally taught on higher school levels, such a high school or college, compared to Asia, where the subject is taught since elementary school. In some countries, both subjects are even treated as an afterthought at worst. This can make Kiyotaka sound somewhat old-fashioned for some western players and viewers. With that said, it hasn't stopped him from gaining many fans on both sides of the Pacific, as his overall compassion, hammy upholding of the rules, and wholesome Odd Friendship with Mondo (that made the latter's execution even more tragic) have made him quite popular regardless of if one understands what his talent is supposed to be- especially as Kiyotaka makes a point that he has no real innate talent; he's just very motivated to excel.
    • This also led to some problems translating his title, as Western audiences wouldn't understand right off the bat what 'Public Morals Committee Member' meant and how it would count as a talent. The official translation was 'Moral Compass', but 'Hallway Monitor' and 'Prefect' also saw use.

    Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair 
  • Hiyoko Saionji is a fairly popular character in Japan, but western audiences tend to loathe her although she's become more of a Base-Breaking Character in recent years. The main reason for this is that Hiyoko spends most of her screentime bullying Mikan Tsumiki. Bullying in Japan doesn't have as much awareness as it does in most western countries, and many of Hiyoko's insults to Mikan (such as "trashy skank" or "nasty pigbarf") are tame in comparison of what Mikan says she had to go through when she was younger. Plus, Hiyoko doesn't exclusively target Mikan, she is just the only one who really reacts to her insults as the rest of the class (sans Kazuichi, who reacts to Hiyoko's insults as much as Mikan does, and Mahiru, who is the only one Hiyoko never mocks) tend to either ignore her or laugh at her antics (Hiyoko, in spite of being a teenager, has the appearance of a child). So where Japanese players may see a funny (if unsympathetic) moment, western players can't help but see a bully heaping more emotional trauma on The Woobie.

    Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School 
  • Daisaku Bandai, the Ultimate Farmer, has a Nonstandard Character Design with somewhat cartoony African features. In the US, which has a long history of discrimination and mean-spirited caricatures of black people, this comes off as horrifically racist. In Japan it's considered a complete non-issue since Japan never participated in the African slave trade and there aren't many black people in Japan even in the modern day.

    Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony 
  • In Chapter 2, Kirumi's motive for killing Ryoma is that as the Prime Minister of Japan, the lives of millions of people are worth more to her than the ones of her thirteen remaining classmates, who sympathize with her but still find her actions inexcusable nonetheless. While this is understandable for a Japanese audience, who are taught to respect politicians and see them as figures of authority, this doesn't translate well in other countries, especially in American and European ones, where politicians are disrespected by the population in general and are usually the subject of criticism and mockery. It doesn't help much that Kirumi tells her classmates to spare her in order for her to serve the country, as politicians putting themselves above others is one of the reasons why they are looked down upon by the general public in western countries.
  • Kaito's beliefs about gender roles can fall into this trope. He tells Shuichi that he must get physically stronger in order to overcome his problems when said problems are more on the emotional and psychological side of things and don't involve brute force at all. He also encourages Maki to give up her talent as the Ultimate Assassin because he views her as a cute girl and "girls shouldn't use weapons". In fact, Kaito's beliefs about gender roles were greatly toned down for the English localization of the game (for example, in the original Japanese version, he accuses Korekiyo of being an "okama", a Japanese slur for gay men, gender non-conforming men, and trans women. In the same chapter, he calls Kokichi and Ryoma "sissies" for using the honorific "-chan" with all of his classmates and for losing the will to live respectively). Given how modern Japanese society still encourages gender roles, Kaito's behavior would be seen as somewhat insensitive Old-School Chivalry, since he was raised by his grandparents. But in the West, he comes off as intolerant and suffering from toxic masculinity.
  • The final trial features a massive example of this. An important theme of the final trial is that people who obsess over fictional media are doing it as coping mechanism against the unhappiness of their own lives, to the point of being Lost in Character. This is extremely relevant in Japan, due to the nature of otaku culture (which Tsumugi is part of) and the often negative results of such a mentality, but is very alienating in the West, where people who do that are often treated with scorn and distrust. However, fiction being used as an emotional crutch is a growing problem in the west in the form of "basement-dwellers" and the like, with the rise of the internet bringing an age where entertainment can be accessed more and more easily.

Spin-offs:

    Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls 
  • Kanon being in love with her cousin. The story only draws the line when she begins stalking him, although Leon points out that while cousin relationships are legal, that doesn't mean they're right. In the western world, on the other hand, this is more or less seen as outright incest.
  • Chapter 3 contains numerous sexual jokes revolving around the child sexual abuse survivor Kotoko, ranging from the Motivation Machine to her claiming that she's Totally 18. While Japan, with its more laissez-faire attitudes towards Lolicon and Shotacon, would regard it as criticizing said attitudes via Black Comedy, to Western audiences far more likely to see pedophilia and child sexual abuse as a horrifically serious issue, the jokes come across as shooting the intended message at best, and outright glorification at worst.
  • Haiji (who, mind you, is certainly not meant to come off as sympathetic) openly admitting to being a Lolicon. In Japan, this can be seen as a fetish at best or creepy at worst; to western people, it's him essentially admitting to being a pedophile.

Top