Dangan Ronpa General

[\gunther]

Good morning, you bastards! We're here to talk about this beary exciting game of mine!

 

 

 

Dangan Ronpa (literally "Bullet Rebuttal") is a PSP game that was released in 2010. It’s mainly a murder mystery adventure game with some shooting and rhythm game elements thrown in. The game has a diverse and large ensemble of characters, all of which get their moments in the spotlight. It's also got a twisty as fuck plot and amazing music by the dude who did No More Heroes' soundrack. 

 

The game takes place at the prestigious Hope’s Peak Academy High School, an illustrious institution that only accepts “super” students via invitation. To classify as super, you need to be a total master of your area of expertise. You can be something like a Super High School Level Swimmer, Hacker, Fashionista, or even a Gang Leader. No matter what, if you’re the best of the best and also happen to be a high schooler, you’ll get an invite.

 

…That is, unless you happen to be Makoto Neagi, the protagonist, who is ordinary by every standard. Makoto was chosen at random by the academy’s staff to enter and was given the title “Super High School Level Good Luck”. His given title turns out to be the very opposite, however, as upon entering the school, he loses consciousness.

 

When Makoto awakes, he finds himself among 14 other students that are sealed within the academy walls with every exit sealed. Suddenly, a sadistic stuffed bear named Monobear reveals himself as the “headmaster”. He gives the students two options: they can either live out the rest of their lives peacefully within the school, or attempt to escape by "graduating".

 

To "graduate", a student has to commit a perfect murder by killing another student and getting away with it. A class trial is then held amongst the survivors, who investigate the case then vote on who they think the murderer is. If they are correct, then the perpetrator is executed. If they are wrong, then the murderer "graduates" and is allowed to leave the school, while everyone else is killed in their place. 

 

In addition, to help ignite a spark for the potential killers, Monobear gives various “motives” for the students to kill each other. As tensions rise and bodies fall, it’s up to Makoto to find the killers and to discover the dark mystery of Hope’s Peak Academy.

 

As of now, there is no western localization. However, fret not! There is a comprehensive LP of the game over on Something Awful that was recently completed. When I say comprehensive, I mean it. Every nook and crazy is shown; tthere are translation notes, all the music is shared (which is AWESOME, like I said btw), and there are numerous video clips, so you more-or-less get to see all the game has to offer. A translated patch is also underway, but personally, I'd still go for the thread. Like I said, you get the experience. The plot is the main draw here.

 

If you are interested in starting it & want to discuss it, keep in mind that the game is twisty as hell. Even some minor fanart or a mentioning of specific tropes can spoil an entire chapter. USE SPOILER TAGS AND STATE WHICH PART OF THE LP YOU ARE AT. I  CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. THE STORY DESERVES TO BE UN-SPOILED!

 

In addition to this game, there is a Dangan Ronpa Zero (a novel) and a sequel, Super Dangan Ronpa 2, both of which are in the process of being translated by the same SA user who did the first one. This topic on this board is also for discussion regarding those, but remember to keep it in spoiler tags!

 

Also, an anime adaptation has been announced for 2013, so look forward to that!

 

Time to discuss this lovely despair-filled high school life of mutual killing! Upupupupu~!

Edited December 26, 2012 by gunthetra

[Conando]

Tired right now but, I had to get this out at least. Dude, is that character on the far left a terrifyingly buff chick? I think I need to look at this game just due to the sheer ridiculousness of the characters.

[\gunther]

Tired right now but, I had to get this out at least. Dude, is that character on the far left a terrifyingly buff chick? I think I need to look at this game just due to the sheer ridiculousness of the characters.

Myes. That is The Super High School Level Wrestler: Sakura Oogami, a master of mixed martial arts. Def. one of the more unique characters. 

 

Mind you, she's got quite a bit more depth to her character beyond her attention-grabbing design.

Edited December 26, 2012 by gunthetra

[Blue Wisp]

For some reason Monobear reminds me of the Shadow Teddie from Persona 4.

 

Either way I do love the character designs of this game, specially that girl with the white top and red jacket. Eh sads that it's PSP exclusive.

[FourCartridge]

 Dude, is that character on the far left a terrifyingly buff chick?

 

 

Anyways, the plot sounds kinda like Shin Megami Tensei or Persona(maybe drawing more comparisons like BW's post above me XD) should be a wild ride for fans of that sort of thing. Might pick up the localization.

 

Though I have to ask how did no one notice a school which only one person graduates and the others are never hard from again? OFF TO SA!

[\gunther]

Anyways, the plot sounds kinda like Shin Megami Tensei or Persona(maybe drawing more comparisons like BW's post above me XD) should be a wild ride for fans of that sort of thing. Might pick up the localization.

 

Though I have to ask how did no one notice a school which only one person graduates and the others are never hard from again? OFF TO SA!

Well, the school's changed, to say as little as possible without giving anything away. As stated, it's only those students and a faux headmaster present; no other students or staff. You figure out what happened as the story progresses.

 

Also, SA decided to be a dick and won't let anybody without registered accounts view threads. Apparently, it's just temporary to incite people to join, but man am I going crazy not being able to read the Dangan Ronpa 2 updates. Kinda shitty that it happened the day that I made this thread to introduce it to the SSMB folk, too. 

[\gunther]

GUYS

GUYS

SOMETHING AWFUL IS DONE BEING BIGGER BILDOES THAN USUAL

 

YOU CAN WITNESS THE LP WITHOUT AN ACCOUNT NOW

 

SO GET TO IT

 

pls start reading I want my SSMB bros to get hooked like me. uwu

 

Also, on the merch side of the spectrum, Monobear's getting a Nendoroid figure

 

[\gunther]

Bumping with news of some progress in the game translation!

 

Cockteasing with the title screen:

 

 

They're "in the home stretch" apparently, but still not into it enough to give a estimated release. Still, excellent to hear that progress is being made!

 

...Also bumping with hopes that someone else has or will read the LP?

 

sob

Edited February 6, 2013 by SuperHighSchoolLevelAsshat

[\gunther]

Bumping with merch news. Here's a colored Monobear/Monokuma prototype from Winter Wonderfest 2013:

 

 

Will def. be on of the few Nendoroids I go out of my way to own.

[Carbo]

My name is Commander Carbo and this is my favorite visual novel on the citadel.

No really though, everyone should read this. It's a lovely fresh new take on the "escape from the room" and "you can't trust anyone" genres and I would say it's better than 999 even. It's also got a killer soundtrack.

I'm really loving this and all the characters.

[Diogenes]

Why aren't you bastards reading the LP?

 

No seriously though Dangan Ronpa is good shit, unless you plan to wait for the patch and play it yourself you should totally read the LP.

[\gunther]

Carbo & Diagnoses like this c'mon YOU GUYS NEED TO READ THE LP C'MOOOON

 

In the offchance that someone besides me is reading Dangan Ronpa 2, didja catch the last update? I smell a murder coming very soon.

 

And I assume it's going to be Fat Togami since the story is really building him up as a keystone to the group. Everyone will probably suspect it to be Kuzuryuu's doing, do to his unwillingness to cooperate with Togami (and that whole "I won't hesitate to kill" thing. 

 

I wish it would be Hanamura, though. Perverted molester pizza shit. He's seriously the only character in the series thus far that I totally dislike. He'd better go through some major character development or get killed early on. 

 

I'm gonna throw a hissy fit if he touches Nanami. 

Edited February 11, 2013 by SuperHighSchoolLevelAsshat

[Lady Soniko]

 

Hi.

[\gunther]

Aha ya beat me to it! I got my preorder in. It’s due out around June this year! I can't weait. Those interested can preorder it from the following:

 

• Hobbylink Japan
• AmiAmi
• HobbySearch

 

Also, anyone (coughDIOcough) read the last few SDR2 chapters? I'm so upset...

 

TOGAMI FUCK! RIP You suddenly obese heir of my heart.

 

tghyygfh Why didn't fucking Hanamura die first? Dude's the only Dangan Ronpa character thus far that I totally dislike.

[Diogenes]

It's kind of a shame, but it wasn't too hard to see it coming.

 

Dude was too close to revealing juicy information. Can't ruin the overarching mysteries so early, so he had to go.

 

I'm wondering how exactly the murder went down, tho'. Seems most likely that he was stabbed from below, through the gaps in the floorboards, with the missing skewer, and I would guess there's a hole or trap door in the bathroom that the killer used to get under there and back...but I'm not quite sure how the knife fits into things. And I honestly don't have a clue who's responsible either.

 

e:

Hm, maybe the knife was bait. Togami needs a reason to run halfway across the room; say he spots a suspicious glow underneath the table (which no one else spots since he's the only one with night vision goggles), runs over to check, sees a knife taped up and crawls under to get it before anyone else does, and...

Edited February 27, 2013 by Diogenes

[\gunther]

Yeah, it was obvious that he'd go first, but I wasn't ready aha. He really changed since the start of DR1/ It'll be interesting to see just how he got in that condition after the first game, and what happened to the rest of the survivors.

 

Nagito's the most obvious culprit thus far, since he had time to set anyone up... but that's too easy to guess. As of now, there's not enough evidence to make me think it's someone else unless I'm just taking less logical guess (i.e.: Hanamura and Kuzuryuu don't have as much fanart as the rest of the cast, so they might go early on. Also, both have a bone to pick with Togami (Kuzuryuu for unwilling to be led by him and Hanamura for removing his cooking tools. Although Kuzuryuu is kinda too obvious, like Nagito. Plus he has an alibi.
 

The anticipation is eating at me

 

Your theory about the killing tool def. sounds logical to me, by the way. I stupidly never considered that.

Edited February 28, 2013 by SuperHighSchoolLevelAsshat

[Diogenes]

Well someone got real suspicious real fast.

 

They could be softballing it a bit since this is the first case of the game, but Nagito is basically carrying around a big flashing I AM THE KILLER sign at this point. Dude starts skitzing every time we find something suspicious. Pekoyama seems like the red herring suspect...Souda says none of them could've reached the circuit breakers, then accuses her of doing just that.

 

A lotta evidence confirming how the breaker was tripped, a bloody tablecloth...well that would solve my concern about someone stabbing Togami from underneath getting covered in blood, though I'm not sure why they'd bring it back up with them (unless they didn't want any evidence down there in case someone decided to check...). Given the irons, the tablecloth, and how Nagito doesn't want anyone hanging out in there (he was quick to shoo Hinata out during the investigation and he didn't want Pekoyama guarding the box o' weapons there) I'm wondering if maybe that's where there's a way under the lodge, instead of the bathroom...though I'm not sure what the deal is with the bathroom then, in that case.

 

The food...supposedly only Pekoyama and Owari ate any, and Pekoyama's sick...but Owari seemed fine, last we saw her, and she ate a hell of a lot more.

 

No idea what the deal is with the fire doors.

[buba]

I knew someone made a topic about this.

Anyway, a Dangan Ronpa Vita game got teased in a Dengeki ad:

 

Edited March 17, 2013 by Tmsp

[Carbo]

A Vita re-release of the second game judging from the ad.

I finished up reading the first one recently, the finale got incredibly tense but I'm quite relieved about what characters lived to see the end of the story since they all ended up being my favorites of the cast. The two ending twists I can't say were that convincing though, one of which felt like an ass pull.

There is an insane amount of "willing suspension of disbelief" to put up with in the last hour of the game. I buy that Junko ended up being the main antagonist of the game, hell most people reading the game spun that theory from the get go and quite a lot of hints pointed to it. The twin sister argument felt a bit out of nowhere in a sense.

What miffed me the most was the amnesia/you've forgotten the last two years/the world has gone to shit argument. It feels a lot similar to Virtue's Last Reward's twist but unlike that game I'm not a particular fan of how it seems like it's just "out of nowhere". Junko's explanation is just "it was an idea" when asked how the entire world got fucked but for a game that's mostly made sense up until now it feels like it just wanted to do that for the sake of "Monobear is fucking over the world".

It's partially why I'm not too excited delving into the sequel because from what I'm seeing it's a lot less grounded even though it's a faithful continuation. The ending left the slight possibility that it's just Junko trying to mess with their minds and that the world might still be alright. But from what I understand it's following off of the premise that everything really did get fucked. In some respects it'd have been nice leaving it up for player interpretation.

With that said I did enjoy it enough to make me a fan of the series, and I'm actually rather tempted to start with the sequel as well. Probably won't be until Something Awful wraps up the playthrough though, I need a bit of a break.

In the meantime though, I'm off to pre-order the Monokuma Nendoroid.

[\gunther]

Dangan Ronpa anime news!
 
-Will begin this July
-13 episodes
-All of the original voice actors will reprise their roles
 
I'm curious/worried to see if they can do 13 episodes without making it feel rushed. Maybe they'll go the Persona 4 Animation route and make the bad ending

with dead Kirigiri & double baby daddy Asahina

into the anime's last episode, while the last chapter and true ending will be a movie or OVA or something.
 
 

There is an insane amount of "willing suspension of disbelief" to put up with in the last hour of the game. I buy that Junko ended up being the main antagonist of the game, hell most people reading the game spun that theory from the get go and quite a lot of hints pointed to it. The twin sister argument felt a bit out of nowhere in a sense.

What miffed me the most was the amnesia/you've forgotten the last two years/the world has gone to shit argument. It feels a lot similar to Virtue's Last Reward's twist but unlike that game I'm not a particular fan of how it seems like it's just "out of nowhere". Junko's explanation is just "it was an idea" when asked how the entire world got fucked but for a game that's mostly made sense up until now it feels like it just wanted to do that for the sake of "Monobear is fucking over the world".

It's partially why I'm not too excited delving into the sequel because from what I'm seeing it's a lot less grounded even though it's a faithful continuation. The ending left the slight possibility that it's just Junko trying to mess with their minds and that the world might still be alright. But from what I understand it's following off of the premise that everything really did get fucked. In some respects it'd have been nice leaving it up for player interpretation.

A lot of your criticisms,

especially the amnesia thing and Junko/Super High School Level Despair's rise to power

, is explained in the prequel book, apparently. That said, I can see why one would feel that way, but the mastermind's performance in the last chapter was enough to make me not care, aha.

Edited March 18, 2013 by shimapun

[Nintendoga]

This game sounds pretty interesting. Read the first couple of updates, will probably try to read at least a third of a chapter per day if I have the free time. Really liking what I'm reading so far though.

Hope the translation comes out soon. Would rather play games like this to experience them first hand, but I'll take what I can get.

[Salamander]

Dangan Ronpa anime news!

 

-Will begin this July

-13 episodes

-All of the original voice actors will reprise their roles

 

I'm curious/worried to see if they can do 13 episodes without making it feel rushed. Maybe they'll go the Persona 4 Animation route and make the bad ending

with dead Kirigiri & double baby daddy Asahina

into the anime's last episode, while the last chapter and true ending will be a movie or OVA or something.

 

A thought I just had about the anime: The demo of the game had a different victim in the first murder.  If the anime is only thirteen episodes, what I'm wondering is if they've also rescripted the murders - to be fewer in number, and perhaps to have completely different victims and murderers?  That way, even those who've played the game (read: Read the LP) would be surprised.

[\gunther]

That could be possible, but I doubt it. The demo's different victim was for the purpose of not spoiling the story of a game that wasn't out yet.

[Salamander]

I agree that it's more or less wishful thinking on my part.  It's just that compressing the game into thirteen episodes strikes me as being a bit of a challenge.

 

That's, what, one episode for the prologue, then two for each chapter, one being the lead-in to the murder and the other being the investigation and trial?  Could work, I suppose.

 

I guess that they'll just target the character development more carefully and generally trim the dialogue.

[\gunther]

yoooo Dem last two Dangan Ronpa 2 LP updates

 

Komaeda's in deep shit. Dude's fucking nuts. All that fanart I've seen of him all yandere-esque makes sense now.

 

I assume that he wasn't the killer though... it's too obvious. The game's gonna throw a curveball at us, I hope.

 

And omg just look at Nanami

 

 

Awww cute! My gamer girl waifu thinks she's the protagonist.