So I beat Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair this week. Its ending might even be crueller than Trigger Happy Havoc’s, and that’s no small achievement. Anyway, that would put Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School next on the list…but that’s an anime, not a game, so maybe I can’t talk about that here. But there’s a Crunchyroll app on Switch, so maybe I can? In any case, might as well share some of my thoughts on the series so far anyway. Spoilers for DR1, DR2 and DR3 (through Future/Despair Arc 3) follow:
-So Byakuya didn’t die in DR2. His very presence in the game was totally bizarre to me, and wound up being a total red herring because it was just some other student called the Ultimate Imposter. I couldn’t stop laughing at the bizarre bait-and-switch when that was revealed…and of course the real deal showed up in the final trial, alongside Makoto and Kyoko. The game played me like a fiddle there…
-That ending in DR2 was…rough. Particularly the part about the real-world Hajime not even really being the same person anymore. That scene with Hajime’s impossible decision on how to return to the real world…the writing there was truly brilliant.
-Going slightly earlier in the game than that, Nagito’s murder may very well be the best case in the series yet. (Yes, I know I said he’d die first, but dying last definitely fits this guy’s role, too…) It’s the kind of mystery I really couldn’t have made up myself, and the plot twist was among the crueller of a game already full of cruel twists. Overall, this game’s cases were probably harder than the first game’s (no painfully obvious dying messages in sight this time…), and I wasn’t really able to predict the outcome of any of them this time.
-Regarding DR3, I’d first like to start by talking about a certain favorite swimmer girl of mine who was so cruelly snubbed in DR2. They brought her back in DR3! …And immediately killed her off in Future Arc 2! ……And then she came back in Future Arc 3, because apparently the killer went to great lengths to make her look dead for a few seconds with freaking tomato juice?? What is it with this series fake-killing members of the main cast??? This series really is cruel…
-Did I mention how ridiculous the writing around that was, just to make me cry over nothing?? Don’t you dare kill her off for real, Spike Chunsoft…
-Fake Hina deaths aside…I do question what exactly the Future Arc is supposed to accomplish here. Monokuma must be one bitter bear to force half the survivors of the first Killing Game to survive yet another…and for some reason, more than one person actively wants the three of them dead. Maybe it’ll make more sense later…better not make such judgements until I’m done.
-Despair Arc is pretty good so far. It’s tough to watch, knowing how it ends thanks to DR2…so I guess it’s sort of like Rogue One, in that regard. Despair Arc 3 featured the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case itself, and also had Hajime taking his first step toward calamity, so I imagine it’s only going to get harder from here. It’s Danganronpa, so truly happy endings are out of the question, I guess…
Anyway, I’ll probably start on the final main game in the series, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, sometime next week. Or maybe I’ll play something with less heavy narrative themes first. Guess only time will tell…
So I beat Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair this week. Its ending might even be crueller than Trigger Happy Havoc’s, and that’s no small achievement. Anyway, that would put Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School next on the list…but that’s an anime, not a game, so maybe I can’t talk about that here. But there’s a Crunchyroll app on Switch, so maybe I can? In any case, might as well share some of my thoughts on the series so far anyway. Spoilers for DR1, DR2 and DR3 (through Future/Despair Arc 3) follow:
-So Byakuya didn’t die in DR2. His very presence in the game was totally bizarre to me, and wound up being a total red herring because it was just some other student called the Ultimate Imposter. I couldn’t stop laughing at the bizarre bait-and-switch when that was revealed…and of course the real deal showed up in the final trial, alongside Makoto and Kyoko. The game played me like a fiddle there…
-That ending in DR2 was…rough. Particularly the part about the real-world Hajime not even really being the same person anymore. That scene with Hajime’s impossible decision on how to return to the real world…the writing there was truly brilliant.
-Going slightly earlier in the game than that, Nagito’s murder may very well be the best case in the series yet. (Yes, I know I said he’d die first, but dying last definitely fits this guy’s role, too…) It’s the kind of mystery I really couldn’t have made up myself, and the plot twist was among the crueller of a game already full of cruel twists. Overall, this game’s cases were probably harder than the first game’s (no painfully obvious dying messages in sight this time…), and I wasn’t really able to predict the outcome of any of them this time.
-Regarding DR3, I’d first like to start by talking about a certain favorite swimmer girl of mine who was so cruelly snubbed in DR2. They brought her back in DR3! …And immediately killed her off in Future Arc 2! ……And then she came back in Future Arc 3, because apparently the killer went to great lengths to make her look dead for a few seconds with freaking tomato juice?? What is it with this series fake-killing members of the main cast??? This series really is cruel…
-Did I mention how ridiculous the writing around that was, just to make me cry over nothing?? Don’t you dare kill her off for real, Spike Chunsoft…
-Fake Hina deaths aside…I do question what exactly the Future Arc is supposed to accomplish here. Monokuma must be one bitter bear to force half the survivors of the first Killing Game to survive yet another…and for some reason, more than one person actively wants the three of them dead. Maybe it’ll make more sense later…better not make such judgements until I’m done.
-Despair Arc is pretty good so far. It’s tough to watch, knowing how it ends thanks to DR2…so I guess it’s sort of like Rogue One, in that regard. Despair Arc 3 featured the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case itself, and also had Hajime taking his first step toward calamity, so I imagine it’s only going to get harder from here. It’s Danganronpa, so truly happy endings are out of the question, I guess…
Anyway, I’ll probably start on the final main game in the series, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, sometime next week. Or maybe I’ll play something with less heavy narrative themes first. Guess only time will tell…
