#or I can play the first dangan

[insomnianoctem]

I need a new hyperfixation that is not my OC and is tumblr/AO3 searchable

[zaptap]

i keep forgetting to post about it but i recently discovered someone finally translated the danganronpa kirigiri light novels a few months ago (all 7 volumes!)

i've waited almost a decade to read these holy shit. i'm partway through the third one and they're pretty good so far

[noxiatoxia]

So, when Danganronpa S was released (and V3's UTDP but I'll get to that later...) Hinata and Komaeda were given noticeably different versions of their pre-existing sprites for their swimsuit versions:

If you struggle to see a difference, note Hinata's wider mouth in the swimsuit ver., and Komaeda's narrower eyes and more outlined smirk in his swimsuit ver.

I, along with many people, always wondered, why? Why change these already perfectly fine sprites and, honestly, make them worse? What gives?

Then, I stumbled across something. Back in 2012, before the Japanese release of Super Danganronpa 2, you could play an online monomono machine to win little goodies like desktop backgrounds and profile pictures. Please note these pre-release desktop backgrounds for Hinata and Komaeda:

...So, wait a minute. The sprites used in Danganronpa S aren't new edits, but beta sprites? Older than the ones featured in the original SDR2? Turns out, this website features desktop backgrounds using beta sprites for nearly every character that otherwise never saw the light of day.*

I'm going to go through them one by one, gif comparisons included. This won't be the only post, either! UTDP also has some very interesting likely beta art used in it, too. As well, some of the other sprites featured in Danganronpa S may also be reused beta sprites!

As such, this log will be broken into three parts. This is part 1.

[Part 2 - UTDP (not made yet!)] [Part 3 - DRS (not made yet!)] [Part 4 - Dangan Island (not made yet!)]

*with the exception of UTDP in some cases, as well as some other things I will get to in Part 4.

As said, semi-flashing gifs will be included in this post. They are meant to swap between the beta and final sprites at a fast pace to illustrate the differences (2 frame, half a second each). Be cautious if you have epilepsy.

Also, because of Tumblr's stupid image limit, this post will have a reblog with the rest of the sprites! So please check this post's reblogs, it should be the first one!

Firstly, how do we know these are actually beta sprites? These images are sourced from the Danganronpa fandom wiki, and while I generally trust the wiki's credibility, it's always imperative to fact-check. So, I went ahead and searched Danganronpa's old website on the Wayback Machine and uncovered this:

A character intro page for Hinata, using this same beta sprite. Now, granted, the only capture of this page is from 2015. Still a year before V3 and a few more before S, but still, it's not the 2012 original. That said, a character intro page for Mioda circa early 2014 looks exactly the same, including the usage of her beta sprite.

And, when you click on the button that says スクリーンショット(Screenshot)...

You're offered a very obviously beta trial shot. As is common with Danganronpa trials, in development, the actual character portraits are not put in until later, and to substitute, their art reference photos are used, as seen on the left.

With that out of the way, I think it's safe to say these sprite we are about to look at are indeed betas.

It's only fair, then, we focus on Hinata first.

(Please note for all the comparison gifs I had to manually size the final sprites to get them as close as possible in aspect ratio. Very minor size difference between sprites is likely a result of this and not an actual detail change.)

A lot is revealed with a simple gif. Hinata's entire face shape was changed (including ears), not just his mouth. In fact, not just the shape of his face, but the face itself is drawn very differently in the end. The neck of his shirt was raised, as well as tie being redrawn (you can actually see where the new part begins somewhat sloppily). Less notable but still apparent are his bangs being redrawn and shaded differently.

Keeping with consistency, let's check out Komaeda next.

Yet again, the differences are striking when flipped back and forth. Komaeda's face shape and ear was redone much like Hinata, but not to nearly the same dramatic extent. As well, his entire face was redrawn, notably erasing the black shading under his chin and shortening his eyelashes. Less noticeable, the hair touching his neck is shortened a bit, and the crease line on his hood is more well-defined. They also slightly changed the line art for the first fold in his shirt, the neck at the back of his shirt, as well as his leftmost bang. Interestingly, they either forgot or didn't care to fix the shading to reflect the new placement of these lines. His jacket also has some changes in line art weight.

With Hinata and Komaeda out of the way, let's touch on Kuzuryuu.

This one honestly shocked me. Besides the added detail of him spitting, I didn't notice any difference right off the bat until I overlayed the images, but the differences are night and day. His eyes are made to be less mean and more skeptical. His mole was shrunk and his nose is more 3-dimensional. Extra detail is added to his ear while his hair is redrawn in whole, including it being slightly shorter. What's most interesting is the fact the body was sized up and moved down several pixels, I imagine to change the perspective. Some minor line changes are made to the white undershirt of his suit.

It would be improper not to do Pekoyama next.

Again, just like Kuzuryuu, I didn't notice half of these changes at first. Pekoyama's whole face is slimmed. The outer outline of her hair remains the same, but almost every outline inside of it, including her bangs, changes. (Although, her right twin-tail has a slightly longer end to it.) Her outfit receives minor touch-ups, including a clothes fold on her breast and darker shading by her collarbone. Speaking of, her neck muscles and such have been redrawn. Most interesting to me is the fact Pekoyama's outline is noticeably thicker with action lines in the original beta sprite, but lack them in the final sprite as if somebody used the magic wand tool to edit the background out, editing away some of the jagged black lines in the process. She is the only character where this happens.

Since she is a major character, let's do Nanami now.

I wasn't surprised to find Nanami has virtually no difference about her. Her design was pretty much set in stone early on. That said, it's not entirely the same. Though very minor, the thickness of her left eye was increased at the top. As well, shading across her pinky finger was removed. There is also a chance her body is slightly bigger, but that's more likely to be a result of me failing to perfectly match up the two images.

I want to focus on Souda now as he was the first one I did this test with.

You know, when I first played SDR2, I thought Souda looked kind of scary. His beta is even scarier looking! I can see why they changed it...Every detail on his face is redrawn including his chin, notably his pupil was enlarged and his eyebrows were quirked. Funnily, it seems the clip on his beanie was redrawn, but like Komaeda, they didn't edit the color layer to match the new outline. Some minor line art changes were made to his back hair. The lines for his neck and collarbone were lessened, and the jacket zipper is made more three dimensional. His thumb was fixed too, as well as the lines on his hand.

Also, here's a fun little thing I noticed while replaying SDR2 just a few days ago!

The sprite used for Souda in the Dangan Island opening is the exact same as the beta sprite! This would be the only time Westerners would catch a glimpse of some beta sprites until UTDP, as keep in mind, these wallpapers were exclusive to the Japanese Danganronpa website.

In fact, Souda isn't the only one with a beta sprite in the Dangan Island opening. I will also be covering that in part 4.

Moving on...

I guess it's only natural we look at Sonia's sprite next.

Changes like these ones are very interesting to me, because if you did not do a side-by-side like this, you may never see how many minor details were changed. A lot of Sonia's line art was redrawn to be more detailed, such as more lines in her hair, thinner outlines for her braid, and redrawn creases in her shoulders and bow (as well as a redrawn button). Her face is interesting as some very minor changes were made. Some detail is added to both ears (thicker outline on the right, changed line art on the left) and her left eyebrow is slightly edited. She was also given extra eyelashes on both sides. When it comes to such minor changes, it makes you wonder why they bothered at all. I wonder what the development looked like.

Anyways, please check the reblog for the second part! That's where the rest of the characters will be!

[anonzentimes]

*guy who loves talking about despair disease voice* wait can we talk more about despair disease. i have so many thoughts on despair disease and esp how it pertains to nagito

i feel like when a lot of people first play/watch the games they see nagito as someone who lies to manipulate people, which while i can’t super blame them for thinking that way bc of how hajime tries to reconcile his conflicting feelings over nagito, i get SO frustrated when ppl call nagito a liar bc no!!! no he’s not!!! you’re falling for other characters’ perceptions of him!!! nagito almost never lies and when he does he’s either really bad at it (cough cough final FTE. “i got it all from a book” you are not slick buddy) or comes clean as soon as he’s achieved his desired outcome- it’s more bluffing than actual deception, and one thing he’s especially sincere in is his beliefs and admiration for the people around him. and the despair disease PROVES this without a doubt!!

ok. i know in-text the despair disease is described as “reversing people’s personalities,” but i’ve always interpreted it a little differently. ibuki isn’t the opposite of gullible, akane isn’t the opposite of a coward, and nagito isn’t the opposite of a liar. to me, it’s always seemed like the despair disease gives its host the trait they’d most hate to have— whatever trait would instill in them the deepest despair. ibuki hates conformity- stick her with a disease that makes her blindly follow whatever she’s told. akane hates showing weakness- force her into a state of constant crying. nagito hates the idea of deceiving his classmates- make him incapable of being sincere. this interpretation makes mikan’s disease make a little more sense too imo, since remembering her brainwashing isn’t exactly reversing her personality but instead literally filling her to the brim with despair. ANYWAYS.

nagito Actively Despises not being able to tell the truth. he hates the despair disease, he sees it as a complete waste. in the ult. luck and hope and despair mangas, we actually get to see some of his internal monologue right before he passes out, and he is In Hell. he’s pissed that he can’t serve as a proper stepping stone in his state, he thinks the whole disease is stupid, and he gets so frustrated about not being able to properly encourage the group that he Literally Starts Foaming At The Mouth ????? like if you EVER wanted undeniable proof that nagito is sincere look at the despair disease. it’s basically a roundabout truth serum for him and that’s a huge part of why it’s one of my favorite motives

sidenote i feel like the despair disease has a shit ton of analysis potential in general just bc of how it turns characters into what they hate the most!! i loveeee brainstorming what symptoms certain characters would have gotten were they to get infected. hajime especially. maybe he’d get a fawning disease where he starts praising everyone nagito-style (this would highlight their bystander parallels and also make hajime feel MISERABLE bc he fucking hates when nagito points out how similar they are lmao). or maybe he’d get an apathy disease that’d essentially izuru-fy him (wonderful foreshadowing potential there, not to imagine the incredible angst of izuru being the thing hajime would hate to be most in the world.) alas i am not a fanfic author so i will sit with my concepts but it is a wonderful daydream with any dangan characters i’d highly recommend it :]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSS!!!!! I SCREAM IN UNISON WITH YOU I LOOOVEEE THE DESAIR DISEASE!!!!! MAN… I’M SO OBSESSED WITH HOW YOU INTERPRET AND ARTICULATED THE DESPAIR DISEASE💗💗💗 The Despair Disease is genuinely so good for analyzing I really do believe Danganronpa 2 Chapter 3 is the best Chapter 3 out of the franchise. I think the reserving of their personalities truly meaning the traits they would hate to have is soo good I’m eating up, sealing it in my heart, and using it forever such a delightful way to explain it. The interpretations on what disease Hajime would get is so fun, I’ve seen some people interpret him getting the honesty disease which is fun in concept but I don’t think it works as well as other ideas could, y’know? Your ideas for a potential apathy or fawning disease are really fun to me, I like the idea of the fawning disease tapping into how much of a realist he is and giving him the opposite attitude Lol. Thank you so much for sending this it’s so fun I’ll be thinking about this forever, I wish I was a fanfic writer aha! I really want to become a fanfic writer, soon with time I suppose. Thank you again for sharing your daydreams with me, you’re very right it does have a lot of analysis potential! :D

[apollowhoo]

Greetingsssssssssssss!! I was wondering if I could some headcanons for (Dangan) Kazuichi, Leon and Kaito with a little brother reader? I kinda just wanted reader to be going through one of *those* days, and the boys are just trying to make then feel better. (It'd nice if you could include cuddling and use he/him Pronouns ^^)

(Like…I didn’t understand if you wanted them together or separate. So i just wrote them all separately, i really hope i got it right, if i didn’t PLEASE tell me)

Male!Little Brother!Reader x Kazuichi Soda, Leon Kuwata, Kaito Momota (SEPARATE)

Kazuichi Soda

Ngl i feel like he wouldn’t notice your gloomy mood immediately but when Kazuichi does notices it, he would IMMEDIATELY go into action.

He's determined to cheer you up and tries doing anything he can to distract you from your troubles.

Kazuichi is a great listener, so firstly if you feel like talking about what's bothering you, he’d listen to you for hours and he would give you a word of advise.

Then he’d offer you to to fix or build something together. It’s his passion and he thinks that you would enjoy it or better, it would help take your mind off things. If you get bored or get tired of making repairs, he’d suggest a cozy movie night!! He would set up a blanket fort and cuddles with you while watching terribly made movies that are somehow funny. His purpose is to make you laugh though:)

Leon Kuwata

Leon will notices your mood immediately and just takes you outside to play some sports. He’d encourages you to let loose and have fun. Leon wouldn’t care if you're not good at sports; he just wants you to cheer up a little.

Afterward, Leon would take you for ice cream. Both of you would walk around the park and then Leon would finally would ask you what was bothering you.

Back at home, you’d be exhausted from being outside all day! Leon does understand this and allows you to rest.

Kaito Momota

Kaito's first instinct is to give you a big, warm hug. He wraps his arms around you, assuring you that everything will be alright.

To lighten your mood, he would suggests a game night! He can’t think of any other way to make a child feel better. You two play video games together, and Kaito makes silly little jokes creating a lighthearted atmosphere.

Kaito would also tells his own failure stories in attempt to make you laugh. Which doesn’t really work out so he just apologizes.😭

As the day comes to an end, Kaito would offer to stargaze with you!! He brings blankets outside and shows you the constellations, sharing their stories and encouraging you to dream big. You lie down with Kaito, feeling comforted by the peacefulness of the night sky.

That’s all sooooo byeeeee:>>

[yakool-foolio]

While Rain Code is a great game, I’ll admit….I’m not sure if I can recommend it to a lot of people who haven’t played DR or doesn’t like DR in general?

I think the best way to go about introducing Rain Code to anyone who hasn't played Danganronpa, yet shows interest, is to play through the Danganronpa trilogy first before playing Rain Code in order for the blood plot twist to have a lot more impact. That revelation isn't anywhere near as impactful as it is without the taught acceptance of the pink blood being natural. It's easy to tell that this specific plot point was written for people who've played Dangan (it might even classify as an unconventional type of fanservice), so having that background knowledge can enhance the experience in that regard.

It's a much harder sell for people who dislike Danganronpa to be introduced to Rain Code. If they don't like Kodaka's writing, there's a decent chance they also won't like his writing here. Rain Code shines brightest with its characters and their dynamics, it's probably the game's greatest feat along with the voice acting and soundtrack. So if nothing else, it's worth attesting to that as the main selling point. I think it's at least worth letting people give it a try. There are plenty of playthroughs out there for people to give it a watch, and if they don't like it, there's no harm in stopping. I can see how chapter 0 could cause people to turn away from it, as it basically pulls a 'Kaede' by killing off characters that are presented to have potential arcs. However, from what I've seen, chapter 0 functions as shock value to those who followed the game during pre-release. But to those who haven't been familiar with the game and its characters at that time, they may actually not be as turned off by it. But that's just a theory, a GAYME THEORY!

Sorry.

Anyway, overall, I personally think it's best to showcase Rain Code with the notion that it definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea and is meant for a pretty niche audience of people who enjoy these types of wacky murder mystery games. I would say to tell them that chapter 4 is what makes going through a majority or all of the game worth it, but ya don't want to sour that experience if they never get attached to the characters. Chapter 4 is the best mystery in the game by a long shot, but it's even better if the player is actively attached and cares for the characters. Spread the good word of Rain Code's highs while remaining aware of its lows.

[sleepdepravity]

Basically with sussing out how likely it is for a character to survive there’s two ways to work from I think. One is to work from, I guess, “who makes narrative sense to live” and the other being “who makes narrative sense to die”

For the first, it’s mainly about the endgame character dynamics. And sure you could say that’s hard to judge at the very beginning of the game because there could be character development, however, dangan ronpa has the free time events. Those events basically make it mandatory to not have much character change, because that means the events would have to account for how far a player is in a story or not. Which is why you can’t have a free time event with Ishida (if I remember correctly). Because otherwise, the game would potentially need separate free time event branches, based on whether you hit an ishimaru event before or after he becomes ishida. Therefore, barring any late-game character development (after any possibility of a free time event), these characters are staying basically the way they are.

So, in effect, you know the character dynamics from the very beginning. Which means you can use that to try to think of what the survivor dynamic would be like. Ideally, you don’t want everybody to be the same personality type, and ideally you want at least a little tension. A bit of clashing personalities. But not so much that the character seems out of place or undermines the Plot Reveals at the end. So, that’s why the inventor is somewhat of a high likelihood of survival for me, because she’s got high energy, as opposed to low-energy protag. And since there’s only three survivors this time, you probably want the high/low energy balance. That’s the reason I ruled out caregiver early, because I don’t feel like she would contribute enough variety to character dynamics. But now I’m changing my mind because what she lacks in energy she does contribute in terms of tension. Having a stand-offish character in endgame can do that quite well. Especially if the last trial has to begin with a lot of arguing and distrust and accusing each other first before working towards the actual answer.

The second consideration, “who makes narrative sense to die,” is partly about pathos and partly about surprise. You want your audience to care about the victims and (to a certain extent) the culprits and be sad when they die. There’s also the amount of “tragic irony” that the case brings to the table, but that’s less about characters and more about actual plot, so that can’t work. (For example of tragic irony, I haven’t gotten to the actual trial for the first case yet but I do imagine there’s probably going to be a lot of talk about “trust” and communication, how kaede (I know she’s the first killer) said she fully trusted detective but instead went out of her way to secretly adjust the plan without him knowing, and potentially irony about how amami not communicating his idea and kaede not saying anything to him resulted in his death somehow probably. Tragic irony.)

With that in mind, this makes the entomologist a huge death target, because he’s too nice and huggable. The witch might be a good “surprise murderer,” considering her stature and general personality. (She also is an unlikely survivor precisely because her personality doesn’t contribute well to a high stakes endgame setting.)

Dangan ronpa’s executions also possibly gives a way to guess because there’s certain talents that might lend itself better to execution design than others. (Astronaut versus Child Caregiver, for example.) Or certain character traits to play the execution off of. (The artist’s obsession with god could potentially be played off of for execution irony, such as her own effigies for her god being the thing that kills her.)

But of course the main decider for who dies is: how much I’m care about them :( :( :(

[ceyarma]

Just finished Chapter 0 of MASTER DETECTIVE ARCHIVES: RAIN CODE - Review

(No Spoilers)

I've been a Danganronpa fan since mid to late 2021 to early 2022, I find genuine fun in the franchise and the first one and the series, despite all of its glaring flaws, has always been greatly meaningful to me and helped me through a particularly terrible time in my life.

It is why I decided to check out "RAIN CODE", and as of right now I do not regret it at ALL! It feels so refreshing and nice to have the Danganronpa aesthetics back in what is essentially a new one of these with a completely new setting, genre, characters and a new game engine.

Everything about it feels distinctly Kodaka/Danganronpa to the point where I'd call it a spiritual successor, while the soundtrack has not been anything to write much about as of right now, Masafumi Takada has composed a wonderful theme for the game and that motif plays consistently throughout the "Class Trial" equivalent of the game which is the Mystery Labyrinth as well as background tracks in the main dialogue sections as well.

The gameplay I'd describe to be literally Danganronpa but fully in 3D with more quick-time events, this might be divisive for some, but for me, a player with no real expectations, I was pleasantly surprised at how it was.

The game is quite lighthearted and fantastical in tone, but don't let that fool you, this is still Kodaka, barely into Chapter 1 into the game, this game hits you with a murder plan good enough to rival a V3 one with ease while being distinct enough to feel like it has its own cohesive identity that goes beyond Danganronpa, even under that franchise they were constrained, there's none of that here, they can go fantastical as they want. They are definitely not at all holding back and you'll be able to tell going in, I was definitely not prepared for them to throw the curveball they did it when the game had barely just begun.

Even with the Unreal Engine upgrade, it seems they have stuck to a good visual style that matches that of Danganronpa in both 2D and 3D aspects of it.

It maintains enough style and flourish for me to like it even in the 3D Engine, which I was pleasantly surprised by.

To conclude, this is gonna be fun as hell and I'm truly kind of blown away by what they did here. It seems Dangan is back on the menu, bros.

BONUS: And of course, they reference it!

[lostcausedsoul]

On the effect of the despair disease

Ok so i was kind of in doubt about the despair disease inverting personalities in 2-3. Because my first impression upon playing the game is that the people who are under the effect of the disease become kind of...realer with themselves, saying what they truly think despite it being "out of character". Logically Akane should feel more upset by Nekomaru's "death", and she only recovered so quickly bc it was more in her optimistic, upbeat character to do so. Mikan remembers her "lover," and despite being meek, she went on to kill people and want to reunite with Junko under the effect of the disease. Poor girl had been through so much in her life that it's only natural she wants a break from all that misery, and she was fascinated with horror movies bc of the blood and gore...the disease seems like a push towards the direction of her true, dangerous desires, right?

one could argue that Ibuki went from being rebellious to gullible and completely compliant, and that's clear evidence for a personality shift. But we can see Ibuki going along with the friend group, both in the case of Twilight Syndrome and when Hiyoko bullied Mikan, and she never did anything upfront to challenge her friends' decisions. Her musical genius is presented as iconoclastic, yes, but does she really strike you as a "doesn't listen to what other says and bravely raises her own point and does her own thing" person? I love Ibuki, but what i see in the game makes me think my girl isn't a rebel in anything besides music.

But a more obvious problem is that we know Nagito's symptom was compulsive lying when he said "I'm not Nagito Komaeda", and here what does it say?

Technically he's not Nagito Komaeda, and definitely not someone who is Makoto Naegi, right? So at least Nagito's not telling a full lie.

Then what do we make of him not wanting Hajime to stay in his room? There are certainly shippy interpretations, but I want to expand on the possibility of Nagito recognizing "the hope inside" Hajime, aka the Ultimate Hope, Izuru Kamukara. Nagito talks all about upholding hope, yet in the OVA, in his inner world he said he would rather live a normal life in a world without talents, right?

That would mean deep down, Nagito doesn't really think hope will solve everything, that a world saved by Ultimate Hope would be the perfect world. Hence he behaves kind of negatively to Hajime under the effect of the disease, hajime who had helped everyone reach the correct conclusion in every trial and seems to harbor a secret that directly links him to hope; also, on a meta level, Nagito's talking to us players, right? It's only because we played and watched danganronpa that the killing game as well as hope vs despair continued. Something to consider here.

Now i do think the OVA rushed Nagito's character and isn't very well executed in exposing his true motives and such, but at least it adds another possibility to what Nagito really wants. And I think not being as confident in hope as he seems to be, and fully revealing that insecurity when he caught the despair disease, could be interesting interpretation of Nagito's character and behaviors in 2-3. After all, the disease really do just cause them to go OOC, but that would on a surface level mean they are going against their own tropes and/or the tropey way the game had made them to be, and not completely subverting their own character. If you think about it, they are teenagers in a killing game, and Akane sure should've mourned Nekomaru a little bit longer and felt more in despair after seeing a friend dying for her, if dangan is less psychopop and more realistic and gruesome, which she was given an opportunity to do because of the disease, riiiight?

(a last point: we see how Junko, by leading herself into situations of despair, broke the consistency of her character and subverted the trope of gyaru. We also see how at the end of v3, by revealing the fictionality of the dangan world, Tsumugi plunged everyone into despair, making them wonder who they really are and have been. At first glance despair makes ppl go ooc, but it also makes dangan characters more complex and nuanced, reaching into the realm of fiction and calling them out in a way, bc people irl would have contradictions instead of sticking to a personality trope.)

[cheetahdash]

AU IDEA - Danganronpa x OutsiderSSMP

oh I should have been working on the animatic but I do what I do.

- TW// DEATH AND OTHER SERIOUS TOPICS

- AND SPOILERS FOR OUTSIDERSSMP IF YOU HAVENT WATCHED

So hello everyone! I don't usually post stuff like this because I'm not much of a writer however after brainstorming a drawing I thought that it seemed an awful like a danganronpe execution... So I present to the people of Outsiderssmp tumblr. My little brainstorm for an AU based around Danganronpa and its killing game. For the scrunkies who practically did that without a monokuma.

MCs - Owen and Magic

Trial one -

Note: I support woman and gay crimes /hj (PLEASE ITS /HJ) I also figured since they never had a good relationship in the first place that Guts would like to get the first blood on someone they would find annoying, and I think Mohwee's character is very out there even in the canon. I just think they would argue and something would go wrong.

Verdict: Guts || Victim: Mohwee

Trial two:

Note: Oeca kills for revenge for Mohwee's death however its mixed with his own loneliness convincing Squidney to let him kill her. I would imagine this to be the loudest murder yet the quietest. I feel like people tend to forget the second trials in Dangan games, and I feel like this would have the same vibe. Still heartbreaking though.

Verdict: Oeca || Victim: Squidney

------------------------------------------

Note: Apo gets accused at first of killing him and after trial people still suspect him -> Isolated from rest of group -> Owen kills him after “???”

I really like the idea of sticking with the canon with this, they dont find out about Apo's death until MUCH later.

-------------------------------------------

Trial three -

Note: I like this one simply because it plays along with the actual canon, except its people who LIVED after Bek's show but die here due to Bek's desperation to leave. She kills people she was close by proximity to but actively decides to spare Magic despite her being the most obvious target for her.

Verdict: Bek || Victim: El and Ayngel

Trial Four -

Note: Apo is finally found after the events of Bek's trial and they find him in a unlikely yet peaceful spot. This is the part of the AU where we would find out Owen's true identity and how his perspective would slowly turn,, a bit strange. Suspicious and Magic can sense it but glosses over it until the last moment when Owen reveals himself and faces no remorse until the last second when he is faced with Rasbi and eventually Apo as he dies.

Verdict: Owen || Victim: Apo

Trial Five

Note: Oh, it's the reverse this time, now that we know that Krow isn't all that powerful I would like to imagine that its Kyle that finds this out by trying to kill it and succeeding thinking he did a good thing. When in reality it would lead to his downfall -> Kyle and Acho ending once again the same but in a different way

Verdict: Kyle || Victim: Krow

------------------------------------

Survivors

Magic, Graecie, Red, Acho, Spidey, Eryn and Rasbi (yes rasbi survives, shocker)

I don't have much to say about the survivors really, most of them are either way too nice for anyone to have killed them off or managed to slip through by not making too many enemies (cough red). Specifically, Graecie was always going to survive with Magic,, girlbossduo will live on.

If this gets enough attention, I will be considering writing more for it or if anyone would like to pick up the AU idea you can message me cause I would be willing to help out!

But for now I have other work to attend to o/

[lockpickingliar]

FAQ

So what are your muses exactly?

You can think of them as whatever, I don't really care what people think or believe about it. However, if you're looking for a genuine answer, they are technically soulbonds.

Okay, then what's a soulbond?

A soulbond is when you make a spiritual connection with someone from another universe, and pull them into your headspace. My partner and I have a knack for it, to the point it can sometimes happen by accident when we get too into role plays or engaging in source material. Fuyuhiko and Clover, for example, came when I got too animated talking to the character onscreen during an FTE and got too into the headspace of the character while playing from their perspective, respectively. However, some were pulled on purpose, either to provide them some solace from their situation, to give them an opportunity at a comfortable afterlife, or just because we want to get to know them.

Can they go back?

Yes, as long as they aren't a DOA, they have the freedom to come and go as they please. Time is relative to wherever they are to perceive it, so it's kinda like no time has passed whenever they do go back. Most daytrippers like to go back and forth when they go to bed each night to keep things straight.

What's a DOA?

DOA, or Dead On Arrival, is a descriptor for soulbonds that we pulled from death. Functionally that makes this their afterlife. DOAs typically come with residual mental and emotional trauma to their souls, which manifest as chronic pain and complications reminiscent of how they died. The more they heal from that trauma, the more those symptoms fade.

Does this mean you're an endogenic system?

Technically speaking, I'm a mixed system. It's just that all the Dangan kids here are soulbonds. None of my traumagenic alters are Danganronpa-related, and so they didn't want to encroach on the space.

Why so many Kokichis?

I play Kokichi in role plays a lot and am particularly enthralled by his character. The narrative did him so dirty, and I just want to give him nice things. As many of them as I possibly can.

Your muse is acting strangely! Why are they talking like a child?

They're probably age regressing, just let them be. If you want an answer from them specifically when they're big, say so in your ask and they'll hold off until they've come back out of it.

What's age regression?

Age regression is a nonsexual coping mechanism where someone regresses to the mindset of a child. Most of the people here are vent regressors, which means they regress in response to or to cope with trauma, but they may also regress sometimes for fun or to relax. If you want an answer from someone specifically when they're regressed, say so in your ask and they'll pick it up at a time when they're small. However, if you'd prefer not to engage in the regression content, then you can block the tag #lil ultimates.

What's up with your Talent?

When Clover first got here, one of the first things he did was observe my partner and I extensively. He was kind of dismayed at the idea of a universe where Ultimate Talents didn't exist and insisted that Ultimates were definitely out there, we just didn't go looking for them or giving them titles. After a while I guess he determined we both were and gave us each a title. Initially, he dubbed me the "Ultimate Learner," but then Mae came along and said that didn't feel quite right. Being a Talent Scout himself, he then spent the next half and hour pondering over it until he settled on Ultimate Archivist.

What does Ultimate Archivist mean?

I just really like to gather and hoard information and skills. I want to learn all I can about as much as I can, and apparently Clover and Mae think I'm fairly good at it. It goes beyond just being a traditional archivist in a professional sense, although I do have a passion for it and want to work in that field one day.At it's core I just have a knack for understanding things and have a drive to do that with anything and everything.

[96percentdone]

When looking at games with obvious metafiction elements in their stories, you always see this "deny and condemn the meta" response crop up. In Undertale/DeltaRune I think it's a relatively small scale phenomenon; most people over there are obsessed with the meta, if maybe in a way that's divorced from the text of games, but you still see people determined to wish it away? And it just got me thinking about why that is. What is it about metafiction that makes people so angry they want it gone?

I'm saving my analysis of Nirvana Initiative for the essay, but the backlash there has a lot in common with the response to NDRv3. New Dangan Ronpa v3 is a Dangan Ronpa title about Dangan Ronpa. In typical DR fashion, the meta-commentary is in your face, and at least half the fanbase fucking hates it. There is a loud contingent of DR fans who constantly complain about chapter 6, and how it ruined the entire series by making everything that came before it including the HPA saga unimportant and not real, and they try super hard to negate it, and when they can't, they just criticize the game even harder. That used to be me too! I used to be unbearable back then, but you can find old posts on this blog of me poking holes in it as an in universe plot element/mystery solution, or criticizing its inclusion of a mean-spirited audience depiction that reads like a criticism of the actual DR fanbase, or for wasting my time and telling me I shouldn't care.

But that last one is what I think lies at the heart of it. A lot of the criticisms of the meta for all the titles I mentioned boils down to this: people, or at least gamers, really chafe against metafiction because to them being reminded it's fiction is the same as being told 'it's not real so you should not care. I am wasting your time.' They get really attached to the characters, and the story--they get immersed in the world like it is as real as the PC they play it on, and then they are reminded that it's just a video game, and that hurts. It feels like getting trampled on. I know when I first played v3 I felt the same way.

I understand where this response comes from, but I have since grown up a little. I still believe that the execution of v3's meta needed revision, but the way I used to talk about it, and the way many of its detractors still do, is unearned. Kodaka is not a subtle writer about communicating his thesis. "Even if something is a lie, even if it's fiction.... If it has the power to change the world, then it must contain some kind of truth." It was just a story, with characters in a scripted plot constructed by writers and developers, but you cared about the illusion as though it were real life, right? You got attached to characters, invested in the plot, you cried or laughed or screamed--it spoke to you. "Was this lie able to change something? Was this lie able to change someone? If it was able to change even the smallest thing......Then the story isn't over." Fiction will always matter because it did something, however small, for wonderfully real you. All it evoked, every thought and feeling and comment and criticism, everything that story meant to you lives within your visceral beating heart.

All narratives are a humble wish that you leave changed if only in a tiny way. Metafiction is just a tool. It calls to you, makes you think about the work as fiction, so creators can speak directly to you about art. How do you engage with it? What are you getting when you do so? What is it about art that draws us in time and time again? I love metafiction because I love art. I love all the ways it provokes something in people; I think it's magical beyond compare. That's why I write! Art is a gift from the artist/s to their audience. What does that gift mean to you?

[noxiatoxia]

I discovered this the other day and while I should probably cover it in the Dangan Island part of my 4 part post, it's killing me enough that I need to talk about it now.

So, in this post I talked about how Danganronpa S and Danganronpa UTDP use beta sprites and they were the only Danganronpa games to used beta sprites (besides the Dangan Island opening in SDR2).

I was wrong.

Because not one, but five of Komaeda's beta sprites are used constantly in SDR2. And I never noticed until the other day when I was replaying trial one and saw one of his beta sprites and went, that's not right!!

This is from the PSVita version of SDR2, not the PSP original, so it's not like this was an oversight that was patched out.

If you're confused, this is the final sprite:

Which may be hard to tell at first glance, but let me do a gif comparison for you:

The reason these beta sprites only show up during the trials and not during normal game play is because the trials use their fullbody sprites and not the half-portraits. It seems that the team fixed the half-portraits but forgot to go back and replace the fullbody sprites with these new updated ones before releasing the game.

Below are all the beta fullbody sprites I caught (excluding the one I just showed). I won't be doing a comparison gif for all five because DRS actually uses all of these beta Komaeda sprites and more, so I'll do it when I get around to making that post. But here are the sprites in question:

As far as I can tell, Komaeda is the only one who's fullbody sprites weren't updated...but there's a very good chance that I could pick out other characters if I combed through every fullbody sprite.

[mugenloopdalove]

Self Ship Imagine/Headcanon Requests!!!

Self shippers!! Do you want some headcanons or imagines with your f/os? I've been working on my writing lately and I'd love to offer headcanons and imagines to the community!!

I can do romantic, platonic, familial, and anything else!! I'm also open to kin-related f/os of any kind!! I can do NSFW as well!!

I will not do romantic or NSFW imagines or headcanons for underage characters, incest-related writing, or anything like that! I also will not be doing ANYTHING for proshippers/comshippers or people that are neutral. Fuck off.

I'll list the fandoms I'll do under the cut!! If you don't see your fandom listed feel free to ask, I can't make promises but I'll see what I can do!!

Fandoms:

Catherine

Ace Attorney (only up to AA6!)

Baldur's Gate 3

Crash Bandicoot

Dangan Ronpa (first two games only)

Disney (depending on the movie)

HLVRAI

Fables/The Wolf Among Us

Full Metal Alchemist

Idolmaster (all branches, I may not be quite as good with Gakumas however!)

Mystic Messenger

OFF

Overwatch

Persona 4/5

Portal

Promare

Saints Row

Sonic the Hedgehog

The Adventure Zone (Balance, Amnesty, Commitment, and Dust)

Undertale (not Deltarune or UTY tho sorry ;; still have yet to play)

Welcome Home (I will NOT being doing NSFW for WH!)

[lunatenais]

I’m realizing as I’m writing I don’t know my own interests! Wahoo! Anyway I’ve had such a wonderful 2 years in TOA, and I’m so excited to be here for many more years to come!!

Tagging: You. [grabs you]

Name: Eleven/Emil

Pronouns: He/they

Birthday (no year): June 19th

Where are you from? What is your time zone? AST :) I’m in Atlantic Canada

Roleplay experience: I think it’s been like 10-11 years? My first RP was for like Sonic OCs but I mainly did DR OC :]

---

Got any pets? Yes! I have a cat named Jerrie! I also live with 3 cats who belong to my roommate.

Favorite time of year: Autumn

Some interests and things you like: Flowers/gardening, magical girls, classic literature, pink things tm, stuffed animals, idols

Some fun facts & trivia about you: I have no idea

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Dangan Ronpa, Granblue Fantasy, Love Live, Ensemble Stars, Genshin Impact, League of Legends, been on a visual novel kick recently also EDIT I FORGOT PERSONA AND HARVEST MOON

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: Fairy type & my fav pokemon is Lilligant!

---

How did you get into Fire Emblem? I bought Awakening because a friend of mine (N) liked it so much, and then I didn’t play it for almost a whole year after that! But I decided to try it out while I was on a road trip and quickly became obsessed.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? (In order): Awakening, Sacred Stones, Fates, like 1/4th of Gaiden, SoV, Three Houses, Genealogy, like half of Shadow Dragon, Binding Blaze, Blazing Blade.

First Fire Emblem game: Awakening!

Favorite Fire Emblem game: Sacred Stones :)

Any Fire Emblem crushes? a Frederick, Niles, Leon, Seth, Linhardt, Henry, Ced, Donnel, Duessel, JOSHUA

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? - Awakening: Frederick, Fates: Niles, Three Houses: Linhardt, Engage: ?

Favorite Fire Emblem class: Mage :)

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? Probably Cleric or Pegasus Knight

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Golden Deer

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? EIRIKAAAA

---

How did you find TOA? My good pal N was talking about it and I was interested in it! I often follow him to different rp groups like a dog.

Current TOA muses: Eirika, Lugh and (hopefully soon) Tharja!

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Knoll! I have highly entertained the thought of bringing him back, though I worry about the interest in him a lot!

Have you had any other TOA muses? a Knoll, Julia, Patty, Olwen, Peri, Ingrid, Nanna, Lute, Leon, Hisame, Florina, Panette (am I forgetting someone??)

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? I love thieves, though it doesn’t show from my list since Patty stuck around so long— I also love quieter, mysterious characters a lot or characters with some sort of image issue tm especially in the vein of growing up too soon

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? I love anything I can put some fucking angst on happy characters going through something tm is my fav ever.

Favorite TOA-related memory: Uh yeah that bitch explodes

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? Nótt, Clarine, Ced, Tethys, Virion, Nina, Seadall, Marni, Maribelle

[silvernevermind]

there should be a word for this level of dedication to bits that ""humour"" is derived from the perceived weirdness of the bit. like this dude doesn't actually care for Maizono. that's just not actually what this is about. I emberassingly dedicated myself to role-playing as a DR character for most of my middle school life, i can say with full confidence that there simply isn't enough to Maizonos character to "love". shes literally the first to die in game about murder mysteries. he doesn't actually love her, or care about her, at least any more than any other fictional character (with more screentime) that he enjoys. he chose her, likely at least partially on a whim, to ride or die for the spectacle of it.

and like, that's what this is for. it's for the spectacle. if you actually loved an anime character, if you actually enjoyed her writing and her personality and daydreamed all the time about getting to meet her and date her, you wouldnt act like this. because if you did for even a minute youd realizd that taping her face to a printer would make her like you less. so your not doing it "for her". if forced to switch into a new life where he could never publicly display "affection" for her, he'd forget about her within a week, likely just doing the exact same thing with a different anime girl. 99% of the reason he does any of the this is because he enjoys the feeling he gets when someone perceives him as odd for doing it. and like, yeah duh, everyone's like that at least a little. but when it gets to the point that your spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars just to continue to one up your "weirdness", it's too late. because now every dollar spent, every picture taped up to the wall, every foot of cardboard is now a raw number that you can keep track of your "dedication". it's like a cookie clicker effect on your brain, everytime the number goes up you get some enjoyment out of it, but eventually that enjoyment dwindles until you get a REALLY big poster and that makes it go up again, so on and so on.

so you pick a bare bones character to publicly go crazy for and never actually care for her. going back to what I said about her barely having any story/character, that probably helps the perceived spectacle of it all in his eyes. like there are genuinely interesting characters in dangan ronpa, ones with unique and interesting stories, characters whose actions are compelling and make for a good story. there are fans of Komaeda who could write real, not a meme essays about him and his character. but if this tiktok dude picked an actually interesting character, he'd be in trouble. his image wouldn't be maintainable. him printing 100 pictures would be put next to someone who could actually discuss and analyze their fav for hours and then the jig would be up, people would recognize the other person as "the bigger fan" and he wouldn't get the bordering-on-an-exhibitionism-fetish rush that he does now.

so, like, sure. I hope this guy gets a kick outta the attention. i hope people follow him on tiktok and he keeps spending 100 dollars on shit that doesn't make him happy. and then when the attention dwindles, when he runs out of people to flaunt his ugly fucking house to like a MLM runs out of idiots to sell to, I hope he realizes how stupid it was. i hope he sits around for months, no longer posting photos of his printers and no longer buying new cutouts, but doesn't take the old ones down. because taking then down is admitting the bit was never that funny, was never worth the cost. and then I hope he finally does decide to actually throw it all out. take down the shitty tape on his walls and just get rid of it. I hope he has to awkwardly avoid the topic around his friends cause he knows they'll tease him about it, know they'll remind him of buying a useless cardboard cutout for hundreds of dollars for a character he doesn't like. and then I hope enough time passes that all of it is truly behind him and all that's left is a mild regret. or none of that could happen, I don't really care except I do know for sure he's going to hell when he dies.