The All-Purpose Dangan Ronpa Discussion Thread

Opening Song

Introduction

Dangan Ronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair is a PSP visual novel with Ace-Attorney-esque murder trial segments. Fifteen super talented high school students are trapped in a prestigious high school by a robotic teddy bear, and the only way they can "graduate" is to kill another student and not get caught at the trial afterward. This game features a tense, well-written sci-fi murder mystery, batshit insane art, characters, and music, and a team of veteran voice actors, some of which are industry legends. The main character, for example, is voiced by the actress for Shinji Ikari.

Sounds cool! Where can I get it?

Bad news: There is no official English translation. If you can read Japanese though, you can get it on your PSP or the iOS version through Japanese iTunes, where the first chapter is available for free.

Good news: There is a complete translated Let's Play of it in English here. The LPer has translated every single line of dialogue in the game. He also includes music links to indicate BGM changes as well as videos for gameplay sequences.

It has an official prequel novel called Dangan Ronpa/Zero, which fills in some of the background details that go unexamined in the first game and may tie into the second game, as well as a sequel PSP game called Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Farewell Despair Academy. The same LPer is also translating and LPing both of them here.

What can we talk about in this thread?

Since there are quite a few Dangan Ronpa fans here, I decided that it would be nice to have a thread where we can talk about everything related to the series, including Dangan Ronpa/Zero and Super Dangan Ronpa 2. I'd like this to be a thread where everybody can participate, no matter how far into the LPs you are, so please spoiler everything and mark clearly what part of the series you're spoiling. For example:

Use quotes liberally so it's easier for people to follow up on conversations about specific aspects of the game and not accidentally get spoiled.

WARNING: If you're new to this series, don't google anything about it, just read the LP threads I linked and ask here if you have any specific questions. There are major spoilers for both games sprawling all over the internet. Avoid Google Images and Tumblr in particular AT ALL COST.

News

I will also try to update this first post with news and status updates for each of the Dangan Ronpa games (and novel), so let me know if there's anything interesting going on with the franchise that you think we should know about.



Dangan Ronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair

• Seiji Kishi (director of Persona 4: The Animation) is directing a Dangan Ronpa anime that will air in the summer of 2013. Here is the first PV for it.
• Orenronen has finished LPing the game proper, but we're still missing the free time events for certain characters. He's said that he'll try to get out a free time event every week, but it looks like he's currently a little too preoccupied with the LP of Super Dangan Ronpa 2 and Dangan Ronpa/Zero to stick to that promise.
• Orenronen and a small team of SA goons are working together to put together an English translation patch for the game, so you can buy the game in Japanese and use a fan-translation patch on it.
• Ryougo Narita (author of Baccano! and Durarara!) wrote an AU sidestory that was included as a bonus in the sequel game. It explores what could've happened if certain events played out differently in the original game. You can find it fully translated on this blog. Contains major spoilers for the whole of the first Dangan Ronpa game.

Dangan Ronpa/Zero

• Currently being translated by orenronen in the Super Dangan Ronpa 2 LP thread.
• Here's a summary of Volume One.

Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Farewell Despair Academy

• Currently being translated and LP'd by orenronen here.
• Twitter feed that tells you when a DR2 update is out.

Links of Interest

Super High-School Level Let's Play Dangan Ronpa: LP of the first game.
A peaceful tropical vacation with Super Dangan Ronpa 2: LP of the second game and the prequel novel.
Dangan Ronpa: Ace Attorney meets Battle Royale: The Something Awful forum discussion thread. Full of spoilers for both games.
Dangan Ronpa TvTropes Entry: TvTropes link. Proceed with caution.
Dangan Ronpa Avatars by Asterid

Please let me know if there's anything I should add to this list.

I guess I'll start with my comments on DR 2 Update 7! Since I mostly made this thread to gush about the latest Dangan Ronpa 2 updates.

There is... there is a sequel.

THERE IS A SEQUEL.

*squeals*

Yep, totally reading that one once I'm done with the first game.

I just finished chapter 3 of the first game. I wish I could read faster!

I really like the mini games, they look really hard though. I'd probably flail and reload, or just plain cheat my way through with a walkthrough.

The thing I really want to gush about is bit weird when out of context but eh.

Kaneda: in response to your post a while ago in the zafehouse thread, I love the censor on SA. I find it extra hilarious no matter how many times I see them, and then I start using them and receives all kinds of blank looks while I'm giggling to myself to death. story of my life.

Holy crap. That guy in the top right in the school girl's uniform.

broooo. Sakura-chan is a girl <3

That's Sakura, and SPOILERS (not really), she is a girl. :D Here, have some official art:



The following image is bonus material from the official artbook and shows her evolution from an adorable little baby girl to the walking machine of destruction she is now. Recommend that you look at this after you've at least been introduced to her properly in the LP.

This game is amazing... Like, seriously. It's dialogue and writing are fantastic, unlike a number of VNs which has lots of boring and over-descriptive narrations which makes me ragequit 30 minutes into the game.
The characters, too, are simply well-written. There isn't a character in this game that I actually dislike, HOW RARE
I'm currently reading the novel, but..... it's so difficult to continue...(not in a bad way, just...)

Yeah, so anyone who hasn't played/read this game really should go do so. You won't regret it. Not. One. Bit.

The entire cast is amazing and absolutely bonkers, but there are actually two characters I dislike.

And yeah, I'm a huge fan of the tight, snappy, concise dialogue and how vibrant the characterization is. The synergy from an amazing artist and an amazing writer is really what makes this game so brilliant.

-fangirl screams- cute overload.

I wonder if I can marathon my way to endgame so I CAN CLICK ON THE SPOILERS. this is how i spend my christmas. or i could play ib, or p4.

okay, to add some substance to my post, my favourite character at the beginning of the game (which means I just judge them by appearance) was Kirigiri, Celes and Junko. I am shallow.

and and, this particular image of Aoi

which reminds me of


I don't know what to think.

For what it's worth, that looks like a generic cutesy anime pose to me.

If we're talking about first impressions, I found Celes's design to be the prettiest (I love goth loli fashion, so), but Sakura's design was the one that really grabbed my attention and made me think of this game as not just your run-of-the-mill mystery VN. The art in general looks incredibly unique; I mean, just look at the cast:



Here's an interesting quote from the translated creator interview about the art style and character designs. Kodaka is the writer, Komatsuzaki is the character designer, and Saitou is the producer.

I like that Dangan Ronpa has this perfect blend of cartoonish, gleeful insanity and a serious, at times heart-rending murder mystery, and the art really gets across that tone perfectly.

(Note: Adventure game refers to visual novel-type games, not point-and-click adventure.)

Sakura, in particular, looks more like she belongs in a Capcom fighting game than a visual novel.

I'm really glad that they went with her current design. I love that we have a capable warrior woman who doesn't look all pretty and sexualized like your typical female anime fighter, and that she has some depth beyond a simple warrior/caricature of masculinity.

You can find the early character designs here (WARNING: This link contains endgame spoilers). It's fascinating to see how the designs evolved and the rationale behind them.

Which is your favourite? Mine is:

Me too! I've used it in real life as well! "Gently caress" and "surprise sex" are really fun phrases to throw about. <3 It can get a little immersion-breaking when somebody says "shit" (poo poo *snerk*) in a serious, tense immersion, but for the most part I find it incredibly amusing.

holy poo poo is the best phrase ever. -crosses arm-

GUESS WHAT. I FINISHED IT. YESSSSS. Mastermind is the best. <3

My mind is all jumbled and I can't really say anything that resembles a decent summary of anything. so have some ARGHHHHHHHHH <33333333

In case anybody's interested in the translation and localization process of Dangan Ronpa, the LPer/translator did a podcast where he talks about Dangan Ronpa here.

Also, I just found out that somebody translated a Dangan Ronpa AU sidestory that was included as a bonus in DR 2. It's basically official AU fanfic written by Ryougo Narita, the author of Baccano! and Durarara! You can find the full story in English here, but it contains spoilers for the entirety of DR 1, so don't click on that link unless you've finished the first LP.

I love how we SA lurkers keep gravitating to SA emoticons in our minds. xD

Those trial videos were mindblowing. Definitely my favourite mystery mastermind after Umineko's Beatrice.

NOW GO READ THE SEQUEL!

I can't decide who has the most awesome hair. I really can't.

It's just to portray the nyah face. but April May was the first character I thought of when I saw it, and I kind of imagined Asashina like that and uhhhh. yeah let's not go there.

I love some of their emotes. The smug face is just perfect and nothing else is close to it.

the voice acting! I am really bad picking up subtle differences and can't even pick a favourite voice actor but that performance was amazing.

DON'T MAKE ME READ UMINEKO TOO. sob. I haven't even started Higurashi Kai, and Umineko is just long, super long and intense.

ANYWAYS. I caught up! Yayyy. after nap, and wreck-it-ralph and a lot of popcorn.

My favourite character is GUNDAM. He's just all sorts of what the what.

I don't know what to comment because we just started! For Zero, I quite like Ryouko's personality even though it comes off annoying to others. She's energetic but not stupid energetic, if that make sense.

jordantigers: the guy in the top left obviously! how does he even sleep?!

Oh dear.

The SA paywall is currently up. You'll have to be a registered SA member to view those LPs now.

Aaah, I was just coming here to ask about that. I saw this thread the other day, started reading the LP, got totally engrossed, made it to the first trial and then BAM! Blockage. At the worst possible time! ;3; Is this permanent?

No, it's just something SA does periodically to, ahem, encourage people to register for an account, which requires a credit card and costs a one-off fee of $10. You can probably expect this to last for about a month, or a week at the very very least. It's going to take a while, from the looks of it, for orenronen to finish LPing the free time events, so it's not going to be archived in the SA LP Archive (which is always open to the public for free) any time soon either. For now you have to either wait or pay up the $10, unfortunately. :(

Aw man, I am way too stingy for that. Whelp, guess I'll have to wait it out. :/

Yeah, unfortunately.

In other news, Jvii's Monobear avatar really freaks me out whenever I see it, especially since she's LPing a game where you stalk a child through a CCTV camera on her bedroom ceiling.

I never made that connection before! Cannot unsee.

Hope the SA paywall goes down soon, I think it was up for like a month or two in October (?), but it would temporarily open randomly, and closed off again.

I'll just go play all those games.

Dude. At least the paywall didn't go up just before you read the very last update.

I did manage to see the last trial though, since I left all of the updates loading before the paywall and then took a nap. I won't spoil anything, but... holy gentle caress, that shit's insanely awesome.

On other news, only now did I come to realize just how legendary the VAs are. I mean yeah, I knew about Megumi Ogata and Doraemon's voice that was ruined forever, but there are many others! The VA for Asahina, for example, voiced dandere kuudere tsundere?TUNDRA Hitagi in Bakemonogatari, which I would never have guessed.

Leon's VA also voiced Berserk's Griffith, Mononoke's Medicine Seller, and this certain BL's series main uke protag. Yes.

And those are only two. I'm torn between squealing and sobbing. Stupid Lowtax.

GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE!

SA appears to have once again opened up to us stingy, penny-pinchers as I am able to view the thread once more!

EDIT: In regular speak, the thread should now (hopefully) be available to folks who don't have a an SA account.

HOLY SHIT LAKJSDLAKJSDA YES YES YES YES OMFG MSHEEP ILU THANKS SO MUCH FOR TELLING US AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH *screams all the way to the SA forums*

I highly reccomend that those reading through the SA Dangan Ronpa LP give the last post on page 55 a good read, by user Terry van Feleday. It contains some fascinating dissection of the game revealed thus far and is worth reading if only for the writings on the Rationality=Violence section. Some interesting Monobear ponderings abound as well.

Edit: He has another interesting tidbit on the game's surreal look on page 58, comment 17 (assuming I counted correctly)

Yay, I can finally see how the first trial ends!

...whelp, I'm not gonna sleep tonight.

Okay. Chapter two is amazing.

That is all.

FTFY

HRARGLEBLAGH I am forced to like that comment, because DANGA RONPA 2 UPDATE, but I cannot yet read it for fear of spoilers.

Well, played, Miss Banana. Well played.

Also, in case you didn't know, there's a Twitter that tells you when a new DR2 update is out. I added a link to it in the OP.

my reaction to update: skdjfhskdjfhsk SOB.

I'd figure I might as well share this here and you guys would get a kick out of it. Contains spoilers of the second game... I think? I wouldn't know.

Ah, I just finished chapter two the other night, and there are no words to describe how I felt.
Yanno, other than going, "FEEEEELS!" because there was some of that.

Have to say, though, SA's word censor thing is a little jarring when there's an intense moment and then a character yells "Poo poo!"
Also I keep seeing pictures of old ladies, what's up with that?

You monster.

Yeah, I agree on the word censor being a bit jarring at times, but you just get used to it. Then the paywall pries you apart from it and you have to get used to it again. *sigh*

"Gently caress you, you loving rear end in a top hat!"

Well, it wasn't all feels! Some of it was WTFness.
So...I guess there are words to describe how I felt, just not proper ones. x3

I am dreading that paywall. I would love to finish the LP before it goes up again, but I've just now gotten to the third murder. Knowing my luck, I'll get locked out during another trial again. :angryfistshakingemote:
I do love SA's emoticons, I'll give them that