Franchise Spectacle creep is a hell of a drug.
Let's start on an up note. The original Danganronpa (or at least, the Vita remake) was a pretty great self-contained story that ended perfectly but still left plenty of mystery and concepts for sequels to explore. It had well-written characters, some of whom were exactly who they appeared, some of whom were imposters, plants, or otherwise had ulterior motives, and some of whom were good people who snapped under the pressure of the situation and did terrible things. While some characters got cut down too soon, a few additional game modes, while grindy, gave the player the chance to see them fully explored. Even the most unlikable characters were interesting enough to carry engagement. And, of course, the trials were fun logic puzzles that dripped with style, a few clunky minigames and the usual quirks of the genre aside.
But, unfortunately, that's not what made it famous and popular. Lots of unexpectedly brutal and gritty violence and a series of whacked-out, surreal twists that often forced the player to completely rethink earlier events did.
The sequels have mostly refined the gameplay of that first installment to make the trials and adventure game elements more fun, and while some have doubled-down on making the cast more-ridiculous and silly, they at least usually manage to get some actual emotion out of the reader.
But, unfortunately, they have *also* chosen to take those final twists further and further, more and more surreal, and, well... Inevitably, putting in twists for twists' sake and trying to shock the audience rather than tell them a good story leads to an audience that feels cheated and lied to rather than excited by a good surprise.
Plus, they pushed the setting, stories, and characters into darker and darker places, turning more and more background characters and setting elements monstrous and corrupt, until, even after a reboot in the most recent title, almost literally the whole world, except for a very small number of victims, is decadent and rotten through. Worse, they sometimes try to one-up the on-screen violence and depravity with uncomfortable results that are not only bad storytelling but just plain bad taste.
In addition, while the first game's themes weren't exactly the most complex thing in the world, they were well-presented and well-linked to the narrative. Subsequent games have gotten... weird with it. Things like trying to equate hope to being just as bad as despair, that sort of thing. It doesn't work, and it reeks of trying to add thematic depth and heft without really knowing how to.
I won't say the series has gotten bad, but it's certainly failed to evolve in a way that causes it to improve, and the reason is clearly trying to one-up previous titles' content rather than making theirs interesting on its own terms.
Franchise Good, but Nothing Incredible
I'm probably going to Accentuate the Negative in this review, but I'd like to make clear that despite my reasons for having only bought the first two games, my overall opinion of Dangan Ronpa is still positive.
There are two very significant aspects of this series that effectively make it what it is and contribute immensely to its appeal, but could be deal-breakers if you've got issues with one or both of them. The first is that Dangan Ronpa is dark; the main villain of the series is motivated exclusively by a desire to cause as much despair as possible, and to that end, they'll go to great lengths to make the protagonists suffer. The cruelty exhibited by the main villain came off as senseless at times, and that's because it was supposed to be. The second is that Dangan Ronpa is very over-the-top; the characters are often caricatures, the villain is ridiculous, and the story, while starting out reasonable, eventually reaches a point at which it is in danger of breaking Willing Suspension of Disbelief. The latter, while usually good for humor, ultimately played a role in my decision to just read synopses and watch Let's Plays after completing the second game.
Dangan Ronpa has more than its share of funny moments, alternating between Black Comedy and more lighthearted gags. Personally, despite its reliance on the absurd, I think it does a better job with the former. That's not to say I wasn't able to laugh in the lighter moments, simply that I believe I would have enjoyed them more were I not expecting someone to be murdered soon after.
As a fan of the Ace Attorney series, I was able to enjoy the mystery aspect of Dangan Ronpa, feeling right at home investigating and solving the murders that happen in the games. Like the Ace Attorney games, the characters are often good for a laugh, if nothing else, and there were some I was able to grow legitimately attached to.
My main problem with the series, as I mentioned earlier, stems from its over-the-top nature. While it worked well for the moments meant to be funny, problems arose for me when the series applied this formula to something it took far more seriously. I found the finale of the first game annoyingly heavy-handed in its delivery of the "hope vs. despair" theme. I also think that while the villain's character was well-written, the developers made a critical mistake regarding the villain's actions that severely restricted where they could go with the series after the first game. To avoid spoilers, I will not name the mistake. All I will say is that it involves spectacle creep
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Franchise A Lazy Masterpiece
There's a lot to say about Danganronpa, so in order to try and condense my general sentiments on it into this review, I'll stay vague, consequently avoiding spoilers.
So, I'll talk about the four main concepts that make up a piece of fiction, I'll start with the biggest strength and go down to aspect that has the most dubious sides to it.
The characters.
Although each of them offers something to the narrative or thematic core in their own right, what truly makes them so great, at least the standouts, is that they're alive. Dialogue, consistency, progression, the backstory, their actions, all of these aspects are tied into one another and ingrained into the character, forming a character that feels complete, a person. Byakuya in particular, I find he's one of the best examples of this from all of fiction. Personally, some of my most beloved characters to whom I'm obsessively attached to, come from Danganronpa.
The atmosphere.
The premise, OST, design, etc, are things that build up the stellar atmosphere that the series has, alongside actual writing. And the atmosphere is just appropriate, it's gloomy, restrictive, claustrophobic, hopeless. But the tone is also dynamic, counteracting the misery with rays of hope and lighthearted moments when characters form bonds, which often are there for further tragedy later on. It's a journey of emotions.
The themes.
While conceptually ideas such as: despair/hope, luck/talent, reality/fiction, might seem shallow or silly, they're tackled rather well, being tied into the story and not stacked on top of it. Unlike some other series they aren't pretentious either and the series presents them with a liberal attitude. It doesn't try to force anything on the audience and it doesn't hold anything as outright righteous, only some very common-sense things. (Side note: common sense is also a thing tackled in this series and it's very thought-provoking) And the the core question of the series: is guilty the one who pulled the trigger or the one who handed the gun and the motive? I'm just bringing it up specifically because it's one of the most well executed themes in a series that I know.
The story.
Blatantly, it's a mixed bag. The concepts are fantastic. Execution can be, too, but sometimes it's riddled with plot-holes, sometimes it's not fleshed out, sometimes it's both. In truth the biggest problem with the series comes from Kodaka's apparent laziness. He's an amazing writer and everything he writes holds potential at the very least, which often comes to fruition when talking about Danganronpa, but not always. Occasionally it might even feel like a first draft.
Gameplay isn't always something to write home about either, especially the mini-games, they can get really exhausting.
To conclude this snippet of a review, it's a series I highly recommend as it's my favourite. There are only few series that have made me go through similar amounts. of emotions and which have managed to talk to me on such a deep level.