By the end of the game, does Fuka really still believe she’s in a dream? Or does she know deep down that she’s dead, but absolutely refuses to aknowledge it out loud? Or is she merely Obfuscating Stupidity to get out of her promise to Valzy about going through Prinny training if she accepted her death?
Is Artina secretely a masochist? She always seems really chipper whenever Valvatorez talks about sucking her blood or bringing her to the dephts of fear and despair, almost as if she’s really looking forward to it. Not to mention that she almost always seems to take any pain and suffering she experiences in stride. And then, there’s the end of Chapter 6, where she seems pretty eager to bleed herself dry to cure the A-virus victims. Sure, those could just be the result of her being a Determinator and being an all-loving heroine, but it still makes you wonder.
For Disgaea 5:
Much of what we know about Christo's superiors is ambiguous given that Christo and his unnamed Superior are the only source on them, especially since the former eventually admits he might have deserved what they did to him after being such an Insufferable Genius.
Killia's view of Void. Because everything is told from Killia's POV, he paints Void in a negative light and blames him for everything that has gone wrong. Void appearing before Killia for the first time says its the other way around (claiming that Killia was narcissistic). Come chapter 14's flashback of Killia apologizing to Lieze, saying what he did to Void was wrong. So the question becomes did Killia intentionally push Void over the edge causing the already bad tension to worsen or was he in the right due to how Void was already antagonistic toward him?
While post-game has Void's love for his sister played for laughs, one has to wonder how much of the love is exaggerated. Void's evil heart takes it to incestual levels where he only calls his sister's name and only wants to be with her. Void himself is disgusted with the concept of the romantic implication but at the same time, doesn't do anything to change how he behaves around his sister. It doesn't help that Lieze doesn't do anything to stop her brother's clinginess. In a post-game skit, while she tells him she can't fulfill all of his requests (leaving Killia to be with him), she says she's happy that he's clingy to her.Makes you wonder if the attraction is really one-sided.
Angel/Devil Shipping: A lot, which is unsurprising given the setting. Laharl/Flonne, Valvatorez/Artina et al are the most prominent examples.
Broken Base: Prior to Disgaea D2 and 5, fans were divided on which method of gaining skills was best.
Fans of Disgaea 1 and 2's Weapon Mastery, in which characters gain skills and damage modifiers by simply using the associated weapon a certain amount of times, is much more intuitive, but its detractors don't like the inability to customize their skill set and reincarnating characters drops weapon mastery levels considerably, making it tedious for post game grinding.
On the other side, fans of Disgaea 3 and 4's Weapon Forte, in which characters are given preset skill sets and need to utilize various options to expand them, like that Weapon Forte offers more customization and gives Mana currency more utilization via the Skill Shop, but its detractors don't like how limiting Weapon Forte is early on as expanding skill sets require a lot of mana and treks through dungeons to learn the move they need. The fact that the Skill Shop changed the way damage is calculated (It favors high damage above all else, making Stone Wall characters obsolete) is also a major con for fans of the Weapon Mastery system.
The problem was solved in a very well received way in Disgaea 5 by using BOTH systems. For the first time, monster weapons and armor gain mastery. Using mana to upgrade skills to increase damage in exchange for skill level reducing SP cost for skills instead of boosting damage. This means that for the first time in Disgaea history, Stone Wall characters (and support characters via trickle down effect) are viable in post game.
Catharsis Factor: If your units are powerful enough, you can take it out on Senators who vote your bills into rejection by pounding them dead.
Complacent Gaming Syndrome: It's really common to see players have a bunch of Cannon Fodder characters in their playthroughs specifically for throwing more important characters to specific areas of the battle field. Common fodder for this role usually includes magesnote since teaching your main mage spells outside of their specific element usually involves winding up with a bunch of apprentice mages anyways, Heavy Knightsnote Since they have the best throwing distance in most games., or Wrestlersnote Added in Disgaea 5, who have an even better throwing distance.
The first game has this at chapter 12, when you start fighting EDF soldiers with way higher HP that what you have at the same level and brutal skills. Disgaea 2 has it at Chapter 11, a puzzle-themed chapter which is hard to navigate, sports strong enemies and mad geo puzzles. Disgaea 3 stops being nice midway through chapter 5 when you start facing advanced enemy classes in high numbers and get introduced to Salvatore. Disgaea 4 has it at Chapter 7 with powerful mages pelting you from everywhere.
The story stages of every game are largely possible to beat without having to do extensive grinding. Then comes the Post-End Game Content, where enemies regularly have levels in the hundreds and only get harder with each new post-game chapter you unlock.
As of the latest NIS poll, Asagi is the second most popular character of all of NIS' creations, clocking in just behind Laharl.
Female archers, one of the only generics that clock in about as popular as main characters (#10 in one of the recent ones). In particular, they are known for their signature giant drill twintails.
Raspberyl is the most popular character from Disgaea 3 by a large margin, to the point that she was available in the base game of Disgaea 4 as the game's rep, whereas Mao, the main character, was paid DLC. Likewise, in Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness, she was available for download much earlier than Mao and Salvatore, and could be obtained for free with a promotional code.
The Prinnies. While not especially important to the plot, fans still love them.
Clergies (Male Healers), due to being feminine boys who wear what are effectively dresses.
Its implied that it was simply his crazy high power level that made him so terrifying. Valvatorez was a Tyrant Overlord and possibly a netherheart overlord (and doesn't know it) given 5.
A more comedic example in the first game with what exactly Laharl's embarrassing picture depicts. Many fans are convinced he was cross-dressing.
Evil Is Cool: Many characters, both heroes and villains, which is inevitable given the franchise is set in (an admittedly comical) take on a World of Badass. Laharl is notable for attempting to achieve this status In-Universe.
Evil Academy is an inversion, however. You're a badass rebel if you break the rules, which a demon does by becoming a goody-two-shoes.
The actual villains in the games mostly avert this, either by being impossible to root for due to being actually evil unlike most demons (namely Vulcanus, the fake Overlord Zenon, Super Hero Aurum, Void Dark), by not being evil at all (namely Seraph Lamington and Xenolith). Only a couple villains ( Judge Nemo and Majorita) have it both ways, with *very* depressing backstories that in no way excuse their actions.
Fan-Preferred Couple: All things considered, Laharl/Flonne is probably the most popular flagship of the franchise.
First Installment Wins: Many fans say that the original Disgaea has the most iconic storyline and characters out of all of them. The fact that the Disgaea trio are always the top three on almost every Nippon Ichi poll is proof of that. It should be noted, though, that this does not apply to gameplay, which just keeps getting better and better as the series goes on, whereas the original installment is widely considered to be the most bare-bones in terms of gameplay mechanics.
The Developers seem to have acknowledge this trope as well; every sequel in the series have featured the iconic trio in one way or another.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Pleinair, Asagi, and female archers have a huge fandom in Japan. Raspberyl is the most popular main character of the third game in Japan. Champloo is also more popular in Japan than in America. Sapphire seems to be one the most popular main characters in America. Also since the Affectionate Parody is more spot on in America, Captain Gordon sees more fanbase in America than Japan (he considerably has less fanarts than Laharl, Etna, Flonne, Mid Boss, etc.)
Good Bad Bugs: In the PSP port of the game, the Foresight and Tainted Staff items are glitched. They often come with specialists subdued like Brokers and Armsmasters, and when the Foresight is equipped it lowers Jump to negative digits, but when a second is equipped their effects cancel out and Jump is higher than normal. Additionally, the Item Worlds in each consist of the highest-level enemies in the game starting in the hundreds and reaching into the thousands, making it an excellent place to level grind and steal good items. The catch is what those level-thousand enemies are — Laharl clones — but if you can take them...
He's Just Hiding: King Krichevskoy got a lot of this, which was vindicated.
Hilarious in Hindsight: All the Prism Rangers battles become outright hilarious when you realize that in each game, they've been fighting a former Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers cast member. In the first game, they fight Rita Repulsa in order to claim the throne. In the second game, they fight Scorpina in a tournament in order to face Overlord Zenon. In the third game, Prism Red comes face to face with the former Black Ranger. Then, it all comes full circle when said former Black Ranger returns as the Blue Prism Ranger in the fourth game's Fuka and Desco Show.
The chhhing! sound that indicates that a unit has upgraded their Class Proficiency, learned a new skill, or gained an Evility slot.
So you're traversing the Item World when suddenly...DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! Congrats, you found a bonus room!
The slowly-accelerating sounds of Geo Panels changing, when you manage to get a really long Geo Chain, is really satisfying, especially if you manage to clear all the Geo Panels and kill all enemies with it.
Never Live It Down: The Disgaea RPGMobile Phone Game will sadly always be known as "the game that nearly killed Nippon Ichi". Despite doing much better since then, the server and financial issues that plagued the initial Japanese launch always come up whenever the game is brought up.
Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Captain Gordon is a straight-up parody of American sci-fi hero characters. He is also much more popular in America than he is in Japan.
Nightmare Fuel: Many players have shat their pants the first time they laid eyes on Baal's stupidly high stats. The stages he's fought on are lined with mysterious runes on the floor that only amp up his unholy factor. And he never stays dead; he'll simply move from one body to the next to stay alive, ensuring that it's going to take another Game-Breaker army to keep him down and prevent him from effortlessly destroying the entire Netherworlds.
Paranoia Fuel: The first time you trigger a fight in an Item World's Mystery Room, you will never trust an Item World NPC again. More often not, these fights will put you against enemies that are far more powerful than what you can reasonably handle. Some NPCs are generous and will only fight you if you talk to them to the point of an Overly Long Gag. Others will fight you because you talked to them a second time.
Polished Port: So long as Sony continues to release portable consoles, there will always be a portable port of a main series game on said Sony portables. Said portable ports will be Updated Rereleases that're exactly like the original releases, but with additional story content added in (and, as of the post-PS3 entries, all DLC integrated in the game by default).
Ditto with the Nintendo Switch port of Disgaea 5, though there wasn't any new content released with the port beyond the {DLC}s.
Some fans consider Disgaea DS to be this. Pixelated graphics, removal of most voice acting, and sluggish performance compared to the PS2 and PSP versions. Of course, in trying to fit a PS2 game onto the DS, some may say this was inevitable.
The PC Ports have some issues as well. Many of these have been patched, but some still remain, such as Disgaea 2 replacing all text with black boxes if you don't have the right graphics drivers, or crashing to the desktop if a controller is disconnected. (The control scheme is not keyboard/mouse friendly, so a controller is strongly recommended.) Did you spend 30 minutes levelling up in the Item World, left to take a bathroom break, but put down your controller too hard? Too bad, all that progress is gone, try again.
Replacement Scrappy: There is a sizable amount of fans who are very vocal about how they prefer Laharl over nearly all of the sequels' protagonists.
Somewhat averted with Valvatorez in Disgaea 4, as he's been generally well-received by fans. These days arguments about who the best protagonist is usually come down to a tie between him and Laharl.
Should Laharl end up with Flonne or Etna? It doesn't help that there's ample Ship Tease for both ships across the games and other Expanded Universe works (the first game and the novels tends to favor Laharl x Flonne while D2 and the Disgaea 2 manga tends to favor Laharl x Etna). Some, however, take a third option.
Valvatorez is also a victim of this, in regards to both Fenrich and Artina. Artina's history with Val and subsequent interactions alongside heavy hints of their relationship in the opening favor Artina, but the heavy dose of Ho Yay and Fenrich's animosity towards those who get close to Val is hard for fans to ignore.
It's surprisingly easy to get addicted in to gaming the Dark Assembly. Perhaps the easiest way to farm for items in the item worlds, which can power level your equipment and your characters, and gives you the mana to try even more fun bills...
The item world, in general, can eat up a major amount of players time. Sure, you could do the main story now but your weapons and armor also could use some buffs as well...
Slow-Paced Beginning: The games start off heavy in exposition and with tedious but necessary tutorial stages that explain the many game mechanics present. Once you unlock the Item World, putting the game down becomes very difficult.
Unpopular Popular Character: Asagi is treated as the biggest loser in the entire series, earning pity from almost everyone who comes across her. She has a legion of fans among the playerbase.
Laharl to a lesser extent. Polls have shown him to be the most popular character in the series, but in most of his appearances he suffers from Dude, Where's My Respect?.
The Prinnies are of the series main icons, and get almost no respect in universe, which admittedly is part of why fans like them.
The Woobie: Some fans find Asagi's suffering hilarious. Others want to wrap her in a warm blanket and assure her that she'll get a game of her very own someday.
Extra woobie points in that, if she DOES get her own game, her entire reason for being in these situations disappears. She is officially doomed to suffer forever, or achieve happiness once, and then never appear again.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Playing Etna mode on the PSP and DS versions of Disgaea 1, and watching the Next Episode Previews must have felt a little strange. For those not in the know, the scene was a mail-in, and several 6-8 year old children were sending letters to Etna and Flonne. The scene itself didn't feel particularly out of place, particularly as the scenes were still fairly satiric and self-parodying, but it was not entirely unusual to wonder why the letters skewed so young. The answer? The Disgaea series itself, despite having their fair share of Fanservice, swearing and plenty of Black Comedy, is rated the equivalent of the E-rating (ESRB), 3-7+ (PEGI) and G-PG (Australian Classification Board) in Japan.
