Danganronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair

I actually kind of liked DR2's Chapter 3 as well. 1's was eh and I didn't like V3's but I didn't really hate it any more than I did the rest of the game.

Edited by LordVatek on Jan 11th 2019 at 12:47:28 PM

DR1's Chapter 3 problem was that it was too predictable. I felt that DR2's third case is the worst in franchise history because I felt that it was a cop-out reason to kill instead of just Hiyoko being a huge bitch to Mikan in particular. While DRV3's is also predictable, I just love the tense atmosphere throughout too much for me to hate it.

Edited by Weirdguy149 on Jan 11th 2019 at 1:02:24 PM

2's 3rd case is the best of the 3. 1 is easy to figure out, and 3 could have easily been the best if it didn't waste a major opportunity WHILE opening up a massive plothole.

Edited by VeryMelon on Jan 11th 2019 at 1:18:16 PM

Not only was DR 1's case 3 predictable, the case itself was hard to follow for me, overly convoluted and after all of that Celeste's motivation isn't really a good payoff. Like yeah it makes sense for her character but Celeste always seemed self-centered enough to be the kind of person who would kill for such a petty reason. Compared to the tragedies of cases 2 and 4, it's very lackluster. It'd be like if Byakuya or Fuyuhiko eventually followed up on their boasting to kill someone, it's more interesting if they don't.

I do think there's something of a missed opportunity in letting Hiyoko's behavior towards Mikan be part of her motivation. She never really mentions it.

I don't really consider the motive a cop-out but I've been through that already so '3'

It's clear they really didn't rewrite the case when they decided to kill Hiyoko and spare Fuyuhiko. If they had Hiyoko would have been the target Mikan was going for and Ibuki would have accidentally witnessed it.

2-3's merits only exist in hindsight with chapter 6's information. That said, I think Hiyoko's behaviour bearing no weight in her murder was the best choice, as it highlights how Tsumiki was turned as cruel as the people who shaped her life (though that's a thought I had before the DR3 anime retconned the cast's Despair recruitment).

Besides, at least 2-3 had a more or less decent mystery, which is a heck of a lot more than can be said for 1-3 (Idiot Plot) and 3-3 (had probably the most poorly realized, Stupid Evil culprit in the entire series).

I think even before case 6, 2-3 has a lot more going for it than 1-3.

Mikan's turn is incredibly unsettling and memorable, and a lot of what she says is very interesting just by the implications. Why would her regaining her memories affect her personality in such a drastic way? Who's the "beloved" she's talking about? etc. Chapter 6 makes it even better though.

I mean, I guess Celeste's breakdown is fun to watch, but that's it really.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Jan 12th 2019 at 1:32:25 PM

3-3's culprit arguably works in the context of later reveals (In that after over fifty seasons of this shit, there's probably going to be at least some hack writing), though whether that was intentional is another matter. Certainly, if it was intentional in that regard, it's not something that's especially built on in subsequent cases.

In complete isolation, though, it's pretty stupid, and as has already been said, wastes a very interesting possibility. I think it could have worked better if, say, Tenko had been the one to kill Angie, maybe becasuse she was angry at exploiting Himiko. She had intended to use the séance as a way to confess, but Korekiyo killed her before she could. Therefore, Korekiyo ends up not only surviving the case, but makes it to the end, where he finds out that everything about him was manufactured.

Edited by KarkatTheDalek on Jan 12th 2019 at 12:45:53 PM

I feel like the problem with that theory is that the game never explicitly makes that connection. They do call attention to some areas where hack writing came into play with the in-universe writers (Maki and Kaito's relationship, suddenly changing the flashbacks to deal with Kokichi's interference, "Junko" suddenly turning up again), and the motives and behavior of the culprits doesn't come up during that, which probably indicates that the real, out of universe writers just had no idea what they were doing with Kiyo. I mean, sure, you could just explain it away as In-universe hack writing regardless, but its still just that. Hack writing. :P

Edited by SilentPartner on Jan 12th 2019 at 9:56:06 AM

Fair point. Still, even if it wasn't intentional, I think both 3-2 and 3-3 work in that regard - both have rather absurd backstories for their culprits (I'm not entirely sure how "Ultimate Maid" leads to "de facto Prime Minister"). As far as motives go, the rest more or less made sense.

Edited by KarkatTheDalek on Jan 12th 2019 at 1:07:11 PM

Fair, though I think there is a difference between 3-2 and 3-3. With 3-2, They figured out a way to deal with Kirumi's odd backstory and motive in a way that had a logical connection to what we knew of her character up until that point (Being a perfectionist with an intense drive to do what she can to serve others), and she also came up with a very intricate, careful plan that she very nearly got away with, which made for a rather satisfying and intriguing investigation and trial. Kiyo by comparison was abruptly turned into a mustache-twirling Genocide Jack Expy for no real reason other than to continue a series tradition, the reveal doesn't really fit that neatly with what we knew of the character and saw him do before, and he had a murder plan so idiotic that it became one of the series' biggest memes for a while and the trial had to be artificially padded out by Shuichi.

Oh yeah, 3-2's definitely better written.

Eh. I dunno about all of that. If anything Kirumi's plan was even more stupid in at least one way because trying to dispose of the body is how she got caught and if she hadn't tried to dispose of the body she probably would have won because all the evidence pointing to her being the killer came from her attempt to dispose of the body. Korekiyo's plans may have been dumb but they were completely in character as was him being the killer. The only thing dumb was his motivation for killing.

Edited by Chariot on Jan 12th 2019 at 2:35:05 PM

So, if Dangan Ronpa were to get a fighting game, how would you think it would play like?

I'd say something similar to King of Fighters for most characters, where their speed is in between link combo fighters and chain combo fighters, but all the strongest characters that have athletic based talents that can actually do super human feats (Monokuma, Mukuro, Sakura, Akane, Nekomaru, Gonta, Izuru, etc) would all have chain combos ala Marvel Vs Capcom, but weaker overall damage output then link combo characters per hit for the sake of balance.

I even came up with some ideas for some of the characters:

Sakura would basically be a Lightning Bruiser to the nth degree. She's basically be a walking homage to the Satsui no Hadou powered versions of Characters from Street Fighter, with a few grab moves added in to add to her nature as a more mixed martial artist. She would have the highest combo potential of the whole cast, but each individual hit will do less damage at a faster rate then others that can use chain combos.

Nekomaru would be similar to Sakura, but more focused on Defensive moves, and usage of more heavy combos in his repertoire. If his Mechamaru self would be playable, it would be similar to Robo Ky from Guilty gear, but more focused on physcial moves instead of projectiles and traps.

Gonta, due to not having an athletic based talent like the other big guys of the series, wouldn't have as much of a combo potential, but he wouldn't need to. He would have his bug catching net as a combo canceler and anti air move similar to Mike Haggars pipe in Marvel Vs Capcom 3. He would have an install mode where he Goes completely apeshit and gaisn his yellow aura from chapter 2 of he game, and becomes a full on Berserker. His basic in this intall would be a bum rush similar to Juggernaut, with invincibility frames galore, and the mode would last about 10 seconds in game.

Izuru Kamakura would be the games SNK Boss, and would have a variation of all the athletic talents in the game, and, like in canon, would be able to use them even better then the characters in the rest of the game, similar to Mildred or Parace from Arcana Heart. As playable, similar to nerfs applied to King of Fighters bosses once made playable, he would have the lowest stamina in the game and the hardest to pull off combos, but his attack would still be unrivaled in the entire game to make up for it.

I've noticed that Kazuo Tengan (The mastermind behind Future Arc) is one of the most hated characters in the entire series. He gets more hate than the Monokubs and Haiji Towa!

Sounds fair. Haiji is absolutely terrible but at least he makes sense.

I agree. Pretty much everything in both arcs were terrible.

V3 is the beginning of a new arc. It’s also the best game in the series to date for me, so there’s that.

I'm starting to think either Kodaka is having a hard time doing a manga or that he really needs a good team to write with him.

Cause his new manga Gambler's Parade has become kind of a slog to read through. We've been stuck on this 1 match with a random evil gamble gang for 11 chapters & the series has only 13 chapters total at the moment.

He’s trying to balance it with his new Too Kyo games projects.

That, and everyone in the manga looks like crazy Komaeda.

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Jan 22nd 2019 at 12:50:10 PM

Said leader of the random gamble gang is pretty much midget Komaeda.

Wasn’t Kokichi already Modget Komaeda?

Slash only looks like midget Komaeda in design. In personality he is closer to Kamukura/Junko. But yeah, Gambler's Parade is slow and might be Kodaka's third consecutive manga to end in chapter 14.