#written at 2 am so I'm not really at the top of my game

[daisynik7]

Idol Fan Wars

Masterlist

Pairing: Aoi Todo x f!reader

Rating: Mature - MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Genre: romance, comedy, canon-universe

cw: enemies-to-loves trope, fake dating trope, switching POVs (2nd and 3rd person), explicit language, sexual tension, eventual smut, fluff, slow burn

Summary: You are Tall Idol Takada-Chan’s #1 fan. You finally get a chance to attend your very first concert. There’s just one thing in your way: A himbo by the name of Aoi Todo. Worst of all, he claims to be Takada-Chan’s #1 fan. Every event you go to, he’s there, competing for the idol’s attention. Well, two can play at that game. This means war.

Aoi Todo is Takada-Chan’s biggest fan, no question. He’s got the whole summer filled with events for his favorite pop idol slash future wife. The only problem: There’s this girl who he keeps running into that also claims to be the idol’s #1 fan. Todo is always up for a little competition, so it’s on. But when Takada-Chan starts giving special treatment to them because she thinks they’re a “cute couple”, these two battling fans put their differences aside to get what they want. And maybe more than what they expect.

Author's Notes: Okay, I am FINALLY uploading this here! I published this series on ao3 November '22 and it's one of my favorites that I've written! I really love this himbo, so I'm excited to share this with you all here on Tumblr! Divider by @/saradika.

Likes, reblogs, and/or comments are always appreciated, thank you for reading!

Chapter Titles and Summaries (spoiler-free):

Chapter 1: The Takada-Chan Mall Concert - Your first ever Takada-Chan concert doesn't go as planned.

Chaper 2: The Takada-Chan Handshake Event - Takada-Chan’s first Handshake Event of the summer goes better and worse than you expect.

Chapter 3: The Takada-Chan Meet and Greet - Takada-Chan's top 2 fans are late to a Meet and Greet, but it all works out in the end.

Chapter 4: Tall Idol Takada-Chan's Birthday - You and Sara attend a Takada-Chan birthday celebration at a local café.

Chapter 5: Win a Date with Takada-Chan! Part I - You win a very exclusive contest to join in a group date with Takada-Chan! You’re able to bring a guest, but Sara is busy that day. Who else can you bring? None other than your fake boyfriend Aoi Todo.

Chapter 6: Win a Date with Takada-Chan! Part II - The second half of Takada-Chan’s big group date is underway. Or so you think.

Epilogue - All of what happens in four months of dating your new boyfriend slash past rival Aoi Todo, leading up to Takada-Chan’s “Winter Wonderland”.

Please do not plagiarize any of my works or translate without my permission!

[jsmifty]

ONE MORE NIGHT FNAF AU CHARACTERS - THE SUIT - Part 1

Above is the SpringBonnie suit from my FNAF AU/rewrite called "ONE MORE NIGHT".

More info under the cut!

This is the first of many posts showing off some of the characters designs. I will talk more about the AU itself in other posts, however since this is the first I might as well give a basic rundown, it will be at the bottom of this post. William Afton himself will get his own post but this is just about his suit.

Anyway. This is the SpringBonnie suit from my FNAF rewrite!

I never really liked the completely butt naked suits, it always looked really weird to me. Generally when i draw the other animatronics I stick to the basic canon design (without the clothes), but with Springbonnie I realllyyyy prefer the design with some clothing over the top. idk why, it just makes him look siller.

Also if those things are being worn, I can imagine they're stinking hot during the summer, and I know the three piece suit is probably no better for keeping cool but at least he looks cool while dying of heatstroke. :)

There is also an animatronic version version of the suit of course!

Axe > Knife

The suit (SpringBonnie) was made as a suprise gift for William for the opening (By Henry Emily).

The suit has two varients. The summer varient, and the other one. Specifically in the hotter seasons, the suit is only worn with the head, paws and feet + usually a purple suit.

The other version, is the full suit, which covers the full body (is featured in the small doodle to the left). The full suit sometimes features a bowtie, or an undercoat (just to decorate it a little). And you'd be suprised by how quickly it can be put on. William got springlocked in this version specifically.

When specifically William wears the suit, his hair being too long, pokes out from underneath the head of the suit. It sometimes gets tangled in the springlocks! This makes it difficult to take off, ESPECIALLY if the springlocks are released.

Some more art of him (all a bit old):

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

The rewrite, which will be uploaded to Ao3, is split into 4 to 5 parts (it will be put into an folder on Ao3 to make it more organized). The timeline follows off canon for the most part, however most of the events have been organized into a specific timeline. The order of the games specifically that I am following is below.

(if the text is unreadable: FNAF 4 → FNAF 2 + Sister Location → FNAF 1 → FNAF 3 → FNAF 6)

PART ONE is centred before the main six games, and overlaps FNAF 4. It is centred around Henry Emily and William Afton (and their families) during the early stages of their animatronic making endeavours.

The other 3-4 parts have been planned out but I won't talk about them that much right now.

The AU leans a lot more on the characters, their motivations, and their relationships with other characters. It focuses more on telling the story in full than in hints, like the games do.

It is likely not going to be completely accurate to canon, so if the timeline changes with new FNAF releases then big whomp I've already made a timeline and I'm not touching that thing again.

If anyone wants like, a clearer rundown of what the fic is about if you are interested please feel free to comment or go on my asks i really appreciate any interest shown in this project, its annoyingly important to me LMAO

IF YOU READ THIS FAR, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! like I yap so much, and this is me holding back and ive already written wayyyy to much for a singular tumblr post :( but yeah

If you'd like to see a specific character from FNAF in my AU/Rewrite, feel free to ask!!!!!!!

[jiyansthesis]

okay.. can i ask for leon cockwarming you????11&2×*×* as a punishment? I SAW THAT ONE POST THAT LEON WOULD DO THAT THINKING ABOUT IT MAKES ME WANT TO READ ONE

YOU ASKED FOR IT

LEON KENNEDY (re4) x reader

note — I GOT TO THIS REQUEST SO LATE. i don't think i've read the post of him doing that but whoever wrote it is doing a service to everyone in the world. i don't know what game leon you want me to write about so i'll do re4make (i'm holding myself back from making it id leon). + i suck at writing punishment smut especially w this type of punishment.

tags — nsfw, porn w a hint of plot, badly written smut, slight praise, teasing, fem bodied reader, cockwarming obviously, use of pretty girl and baby

i am not responsible for any minors interacting w this post - nsfw under the cut

not proofread.

"le-mmph, leon, wait," you tried prying away the hand that was currently in between your thighs, his fingers teasing your sopping cunt.

"hm?" he hummed. "what, you want me to stop?"

you shook your head quickly. "just slow down," you mumbled out. you didn't want carlos to hear, who was downstairs sleeping, staying over since he was too drunk to drive home from the bar.

"i haven't even done anything yet, and you already want me to slow down?" he cooed. his free hand trailed up and down your thigh, sending shivers down your spine.

your clothes had been discarded on the floor as soon as the two of you had made it to your room, leon still in his fitted shirt that had you staring at him longer than usual.

"you can tell me to slow down, but you can't tell carlos to keep his hands to himself?" he questioned, his hand making his way from your thigh to your chin, turning your head to face him.

"we were just talking," you struggled to get out as leon momentarily slid a finger in you, curling it before stopping.

"just talking? did you see the way he looked at you? i bet he was wishing that he was in my spot right now."

now that you really thought about it, you realized how many times he left lingering touches on the small of your back and arm, eyeing you up and down in your satin dress.

"i don't want him, i want you," you whimpered out.

"well, is that what he thinks? he probably thinks that he can get you in his bed in no time." leon furrowed his eyebrows, a shadow cast over his eyes. "i guess i'll just have to make it obvious you're mine."

he pressed your body closer to his, and buried his face in your neck, nipping at you. he finally resumed moving his fingers in and out of your cunt and a rapid pace, causing you to claw at his back.

the sound of squelching mixed with your moans and gasps had leon holding back from just outright fucking you right then and there. "let it all out baby." he praised.

"you gonna cum for me sweetheart? you gonna be loud enough so carlos can hear who you belong to?" he curled his fingers up to that certain spongey spot which led you to buck your hips up and throw your head back.

"answer me," he prodded at your g-spot, and you muffled a moan.

"y-yes leon," you stammered out.

"you want my fingers or my cock?" leon smirked as you whined when he stopped moving his fingers.

"wan' you in me." your hips grinded against his hand, which he quickly drew away to unbuckle his jeans, which he looked uncomfortably tight in, the tent obvious.

he chuckled at you clenching around nothing, and slowly he slowly pushed himself in your entrance, letting out a drawn out groan. you arched your back as leon gathered both of your wrists into his grip and held them above your head. you struggled for a bit before remembering the strength difference.

"you wanna touch me?" he teased.

you nodded, lips parted and eyes half lidded.

"mm, alright," he let your hands drop down, and you wrapped your hands around his waist, expecting him to start his typical brutal pace, but instead, he flipped you around so you were on top, as if you were about to ride him.

that's what you thought, lifting your hips up, only for leon to grip your hips with bruising strength and slam you back down, you letting out a surprised moan.

"didn't you want to go slow, baby?" he traced shapes along your hipbone and lower thigh. "you think i'd just fuck you and it'd be over?"

"please, leon, please," your voice cracked as you begged for him to let you move

"i love listening to you beg, pretty girl, but don't you think it'd be a reward? i don't think you deserve a reward." he shook his head.

you whined, moving around as much as you could, which was pretty little with his big, strong hands holding you down.

"how about this. you don't move until i say you can, and i'll do whatever you want me to do for you, alright baby?" you knew that either you agreed and get what you wanted, or disagree and he'd still make you do it and you wouldn't get anything in the end.

"fine," you said, lying down on his chest, leon loosening his hold on you.

you were trying so hard not to move, but you couldn't stop yourself from trembling and tightening around his thick cock. occasionally you'd slightly grind down on him, and you knew this wasn't going unnoticed.

"do that one more time, and i'll make sure you don't get to cum for the rest of this month," he threatened, and you felt his fingers slowly dig into your skin. you were definitely bruising after this.

it felt like hours passed. you didn't know how leon wasn't pressing your legs up against your chest and fucking the shit out of you, but he seemed relaxed. especially compared to you, tense and squirming around.

"something wrong?" he raised an eyebrow, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"want you to fuck me so bad," you murmured against his chest.

"hmm," he pretended to think. "maybe."

you pouted, eyes tearing up from not getting the pleasure that you want so bad.

"is my pretty girl about to cry? aww," he mocked you, the sweet voice he had shadowing the teasing nature of the sentence. you felt your slick pool at the base of his crotch.

"i should make it more obvious that you're mine, so you won't have to go through this again, huh? you don't want to get punished again, right princess?"

"yes, yes. just please, can you please fuck me," you pleaded, hands scrambling to the top of his shoulders.

"if i fuck you, I wanna hear my name come out of those pretty lips of yours, baby. let carlos know what he doesn't get to have."

[cooking-with-hailstones]

Statistical analysis of the most popular A:TLA fics on AO3

(All of this is accurate as of May 27 2024)

I like numbers and statistical analysis and for some unfathomable reason I find it calming. So last night I made this spreadsheet!

DISCLAIMER: This is not a judgement of the quality, value, or merits of any of the fics on this list. It's just me being curious about what's popular with the A:TLA fandom on AO3. I was genuinely surprised at some of the results!

Observations and analysis under the cut:

TL:DR, the fandom fucking loves putting Zuko into Situations.

Methodology: I'm including all fics from the first page of results from the most kudos'd, commented, hits, and bookmarks tagged under the Avatar: The Last Airbender (cartoon, 2005) tag on ao3. I am deliberately not including any larger multifandom flash fiction or drabble collections because I don't think they're super relevant. This ended up including 38 fics in total.

I put all the fics into one single spreadsheet in order to compare the differences between fics that are really high on the kudos count but not the hit count, or what has a lot of comments but fewer hits. Basically, I'm throwing a lot of things together to observe what gets engagement and looking at patterns that emerge!

Top 5 most popular fics by hit count:

Salvage - MuffinLance

Fractures - EvieNyx

Embers- Vathara

Towards the Sun - MuffinLance

The Art Of Burning - hella1975

Max: 1,407,170 (Salvage -MuffinLance)

Min: 78,168 (Risking it all - Sreeder)

Average: 349,442

Top 5 most popular fics by kudos count:

Salvage - MuffinLance

The Family You Choose - TunaFishChris

where the stars do not take sides - WitchofEndor

Fractures - EvieNyx

The beginning of a new and brighter birth - aloneintherain

Max: 59,947 (Salvage - MuffinLance)

Min: 3293 (Risking it all - Sreeder)

Average: 19,868

Top 5 most popular fics by number of comments:

The Art Of Burning - hella1975

Salvage - MuffinLance

Fractures - EvieNyx

Towards the Sun - MuffinLance

War Games - Lovely_Elbow_Leech

Max: 13,469 (The Art Of Burning - hella1975)

Min: 358 (Hallowed - Haircrescendo)

Average: 3634

Top 5 most popular fics by number of bookmarks:

absence of heat, excess of destiny - theycallmesuperboy

Salvage - MuffinLance

where the stars do not take sides - WitchofEndor

The Family You Choose - TunaFishChris

The beginning of a new and brighter birth - aloneintherain

Max: 150,317 (absence of heat - theycallmesuperboy)

Min: 430 (Risking it all - Sreeder)

Average: 9297

Highest kudos/hit ratio: Safety First - Haircrescendo (20.36%)

Lowest kudos/hit ratio: My Heart Burns For You - alwaysZutarian (0.89%)

Average kudos/hit ratio: 8.25%

Fic Ratings:

G: 9

T: 18

M: 6

E: 2

Unrated: 3

Popular authors (people who showed up more than once):

Aloneintherain (3)

Haircrescendo (5)

MuffinLance (4)

WitchofEndor (2)

Characters:

Literally all of these fics are Zuko-centric. Not all of them are Zuko-pov but every. single. one. focuses on Zuko as a main character. At least one of the following tags is on every single fic in this list: "The Gaang & Zuko", "Zuko & Zuko's Crew", "Zuko & Iroh" "Zuko & Azula" and "Zuko & [insert gaang member here]"

Relationships:

Ok this is what actually shocked me the most. I fully expected to see more Kataang, Zutara, etc in the top rated fics, but NO! Only 21 out of the 38 fics had any relationship slash tag, and of those, 20/21 were Sokka/Zuko (shoutout to My Heart Burns For You as the token Zutara fic to make it into this list). I did NOT realize Zukka was so popular! Now I'm super curious about what it would be like to run these numbers on FF.net because I know so much A:tla fanfic was written before ao3 existed and most hasn't been cross-posted, and Zukka wasn't a popular ship until more recently.

Other random observations:

There seems to be a pretty even split between post-canon firelord Zuko fics and canon-divergent "Zuko joins the Gaang early" fics.

Only one modern au as far as I could tell! (shoutout to "The Good Vanilla")

We all seem to love a Dadkoda fic

There is a very strong correlation between one-shots and a high kudos/hit ratio.

Seemingly no correlation between word count and number of kudos. The top kudos'd stories were mostly under 10k words, while all the other catergories were dominated by fics in the 100k+ word count.

I didn't really see much correlation between hits, kudos, and comments overall.

There were LOTS of fics that only showed up in one category, which was really interesting! I figured each list would look pretty much the same, and there were several fics that did show up on the front page of every category (Salvage definitely sweeps the board for overall most popular fic), but there was a lot of variation between each list! Some fics had TONS of hits but very few comments, some had truly wild kudos/hit ratios, some were just massively bookmarked.

Thank you for indulging in my nerdiness, and feel free to tell me what I missed or anything you're curious about!

Update: I did it again, this time with Legend of Zelda

[vintagelacerosette]

Tag game 🩷🎀

Hosted by the wonderful Jess @jrooc

Sorry for the lateness!! I was tagged by these twinkling starlights Kaka @stocious Dosho @doshiart Kat @mybrainismelted Pie @gallapiech Ice @spookygingerr Michelle @mmmichyyy Willow @ian-galagher Jen @wehangout Georgia @iansw0rld Cyn @ms-moonlight-inn Evie @ energievie Gigi @guinguin1984 Becki @francesroserecs Michelle @michellemisfit

Thaaankss 🥰

Name and A03 handle:

Shermyn/Myn & Dynastyria (no written works yet!💕)

Current Location:

On the lounge couch

Favourite picrew (don’t have one? you can skip this or do this one)?

So many to choose from!!!

Picrew 1 (I am obsessed with cardcaptors) , Picrew 2 (Willow made of usss & I treasure itttt 😍) Picrew 3 & Picrew 4 (bc who doesn't love a good bread bowl)

What’s one thing you want in a picrew?

I think more body size inclusively 🙌🏻

Favourite thing you’ve created (or seen created) for the fandom?

Tie between Molly's draw this in your style/Gallacrafts & 2024 gallavich valentine's!

Why is it your favourite?

It's the first time a drawing really looked how I thought it did in my head & I impressed myself. Also, I'm obssessed with the pastels in the gallavalentine. 🩷🩵💜

Did it come easily or was it hard to create? 

Hard bc I find body poses hard, then I start to procrastinate bc of that, but then I've got the deadline so it makes me stressed haha

Last ao3 fic you commented on?

from way up there (you and I, you and I) by the amazing @sam-loves-seb It was the cutest I couldn't even!!!

Biggest WIP heartache you’ve ever experienced? 

Where the Feigned Wind Falls by the very talented & missed Jenna @ianrightsonly

Thank you for sharing your story & I hope one day you'll come back 🥰

Favourite trope or head canon you like included in a fanfic?

Ohhh gotta be lust at first sight, then we fuck our way into true tender feelings!! I'm a sucker for it!! Notable writers of this are Jane @captainjowl & Kay @goodkwuestion & they are so damn good at it

Least favourite?

I haven't seen with gallavich thankfully but turning one character in a gay ship into the opposite gender to make them het!!

Secret or surprising kink or trope?

Omg it's gotta be uniform kink bc of Ray @whatthebodygraspsnot Kinktober 2022. It awoke something in me & I was like I finally get it ahaha

Describe how you feel after you’ve created something new?

I feel relief & feeling proud. Then I stress about when's a good time to post for most of ya'll to see bc of timezones 😅

Top hype man you have that always helps you get across the finish line:

My loves Benja @svltburn & Vey @look-i-love-u

I run to Ben in my art WIP bc like a kid showing art to an adult & Vey's given me amazing advice with writing that sparked inspiration 🥰

I'm in the headspace of desperately telling ppl about my fic ideas & wanting it to be a surprise so idk i may reach out for more hype men haha

It’s been a bad day, you turn to the fandom and you _____

Like Evie I mass reblog fandom works to spread love 🩷

I'm tagging these sparkling rainbow darlings if they wanna play & for anyone else consider yourself tagged 🌈

@ burninface @deedala @jademickian @sgtmickeyslaughter

@darthvaders-wife @matt404b @gallavichsbitch

@deathclassic @look-i-love-u @celestialmickey

@takeyourpillsbitchh @sickness-health-all-that-shit

@whaticameherefor @heymrspatel @gallawitchxx

@psychicskulldamage @sleepyfacetoughguy @doodlevich

@awa444 @suzy-queued @crossmydna @iandarling

@y0itsbri @michellemisfit @mikhailoisbaby @samantitheos

@pookiebearmick @reganmian @firecrxtch

@howlinchickhowl

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

Arcana Brainrot: Blog Rules, Masterlists, Playlist, & Requests Guidelines

Come chat on the Discord server!

Current MC ask game

BLOG RULES:

My inbox is always open for anybody to share their thoughts or ideas - there's a lot currently changing right now, though, so requests will quite possibly not get written (sorry!) as it's easier right now to write for original ideas.

I don't think it needs to be said but hate isn't welcome here. Of any kind.

Please also keep in mind that this blog is PG-13, so whatever comments you make on it will likely be seen by minors. I take their safety seriously, so if there's anything grossly X rated in the comments (I don't see why there should be) I will delete it. If you continue to comment things like that you will be blocked :)

With my older brother rant out of the way, please enjoy the results of me trying to cope with a truly Vesuvian obsession :D

MASTERLISTS: oldest to newest, I'll do my best to update as I post.

All quotes for Arcana characters sent in have this tag: #arcana brainrot quote collection

Because of the link limit for posts, you can find the masterlist for all full headcanons below:

The Arcana HCs : Brainrot's Masterlist

The Arcana HCs : Brainrot's Masterlist, Pt 2

And here is the masterlist for all my mini-prompts, answered ask arcana style:

The Arcana Mini-HCs: Brainrot's Masterlist

The Arcana Mini-HCs: Brainrot’s Masterlist, Pt 2

The Arcana Mini-HCs: Brainrot's Masterlist, Pt 3

The Arcana Mini-HCs: Brainrot's Masterlist, Pt 4

The Arcana Mini-HCs: Brainrot's Masterlist, Pt 5

The Arcana Mini-HCs: Brainrot's Masterlist, Pt 6

A masterlist for drabbles, with an explanation at the top for how they work!

The Arcana Drabbles: Explanation and Masterlist

All the recipes posted by the originals devs from the Arcana universe, with pictures of my own creation attempts and descriptions of how it went!

The Arcana Food

Worldbuilding/character analysis essays ^.^ (not a comprehensive list atm, unfortunately)

The Arcana Essays: Brainrot's Masterlist

Finally got around to fleshing out my self-insert enough to make him a proper MC/ OC!

Bainrot's self-insert MC (Drue)

Vesuviella: my first fanfic. don't get your hopes up (updated sporadically)

Summary: Julian decided to write his own version of Cinderella to be performed in the Community Theatre, and then recruited MC to help him cast the rest of the M6 in the leading roles. Chaos ensues. (There is no determined love interest, MC is friends with the M6 and M6 are all thirsty for MC.)

Vesuviella: All Parts

Arcana Brainrot Playlist: a compilation of all character song suggestions in one Spotify playlist, kept up to date!

Arcana Brainrot Playlist (Spotify)

Arcana Brainrot Playlist (YouTube)

REQUEST GUIDELINES

Generally, I pick from what's in my asks and write what sparks inspiration. If there's an idea you'd really like to see written, you're welcome to message me directly about it! ^.^

I don't write about toxic/abusive relationships or dynamics between MC and the M6 (I get the appeal, I'm not judging, but it's not for me)

I don't write for M6 x M6 ships - side character ships are on the table, though!

All of my work is PG-13. (yes to romantic/sensual themes and references to painful experiences, no to explicit matter or glorified violence/pain/death/toxicity)

I'm willing to do research for topics I'm not familiar with, but there are plenty of things I can't write about just because I haven't lived it and I know an hour of research wouldn't be enough to be accurate (and respecting other people's experiences is important)

I am unfortunately very familiar with what it's like to have trauma/mental illnesses. That said, while I'm very happy to explore how that impacts MC and their relationships, there are some prompts I may take a very long time to do or just not write at all because they would mess me up

In general, keeping the prompt relatively short (a sentence to a paragraph) helps me organize them better! The same goes for asks sent with a visible blog - if I have questions, I can reach out to you for more details! ^.^

Both my asks and messages are open because I love hearing from new people! If you abuse that you will be blocked :)

All of the above points have reasons for them, and are therefore subject to change. If you have an idea that you'd really like to see and you're not sure about, just message me! I can either tell you why I can't do it or I can make an exception depending on the case

RELEVANT FANDOM HAPPENINGS

(I don't do drama on my page, but these are some posts that provide transparency and accountability for some of the things I've been caught up in)

To the Arcana Fandom, From Brainrot

An update on Rai/Kip

[highlordofkrypton]

Thank you so much for the tag @zenkindoflove, I freaking love being tagged in writing games!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 32 (To think I started??? This year??? Or end of last year???)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 271,982

3. What fandoms do you write for? ACOTAR & DC Comics.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Regrets (Superbats, DC Comics)

Little Secrets for my Soul (Batjokes, DC Comics)

The Lighthouse (The Aquaman Family, DC Comics)

Wildflowers (Tamsand, A Court of Thorns and Roses)

The Justice League's Mom's Book Club's Guide to Vampire Slaying (Martha Kent, Alfred Pennyworth, Hippolyta & Atlanna, DC Comics)

5. Do you respond to comments? Always! My readers made the effort to comment on my fic, so I will absolutely respond with the utmost enthusiasm. It means the world to me when I get comments.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Oh, it's absolutely Wildflowers. I mean, it's canon ending so does it really count?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I think most of them have happy endings, especially the oneshots. If they're not happy, they're some kind of tender, or sweet. I do think Regrets has the most upbeat ending.

8. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes. More and more lately. I would say I write the kind of smut that makes you question yourself (and I haven't even dived into the kinkiest kinks). Are you confused? Yes. Do you know what happened? No. Do I know what happened? No. Were we all entertained? HELL YES.

9. Do you write crossovers? I didn't name my blog home of the crackships for nothing. I LOVE crossovers. I have a few on my AO3, but so many on my to-write list.

10. Have you ever had a fic translated? No.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope! Not formally. I do roleplay with a partner. I tried to re-write one of ours as a fic, but it's soooo tricky.

12. What is your all-time favorite ship? SUPERBATS SUPERBATS SUPERBATS. At least, if we're talking something that has a fandom. If we're talking my fav ships forreal, it's Lambert x Gojo Satoru x Clark Kent, Orm Marius x Clark Kent x Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen x Hal Jordan x Komand'r, Lilith x Eskel, etc.

13. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? None that I know of. I usually circle back and/or can be swayed to finish one.

14. What are your writing strengths?

Details. I think I have a few. I get weird fixated on details that I think make the writing feel more 'lived in' and immersive.

Side characters. I think I'm very good at creating intriguing side characters that you'll get attached to. My trick is that the character is fully developed with their own story before they appear on my page. How else will I get their interactions down, even if it's for a chapter and they're never seen again?

Humour. I literally cannot be serious. I have to shitpost halfway through my story.

15. What are your writing weaknesses?  

Pacing. I am impatient, I wanna get to the juicy parts, but some stories need to cook a little before getting to the fun stuff. I tend to use the excuse that since it's fanfiction, I can #yolo and post.

I cannot write something short for the life of me. Everything needs to end up being multi-chapter, I'm TIRED.

Smut. It's not raw enough. It's not filthy enough. I need to let go and be less formal about it. Just dig right in and have a meatier writing. I just don't think my current style fits pure smut. It does fit trying to fuck an eldritch horror and soul-shattering orgasms tho 😂 But sometimes, I just wanna go to pound town, not achieve self-actualization through butt stuff, you know???

16. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I have some foreign words in my Illyrian fic, and I am fluent in french. I do hate seeing other people write dialogue in different languages SPECIFICALLY FRENCH, so I won't be doing that.

17. First fandom you wrote for? A Court of Thorns and Roses.

18. Favorite fic you’ve written? I have different favourite ones for different reasons.

I like cosmic bloom because it's unhinged smut.

I like Regrets because it's my first ever Superbats fic and got so many kudos!

I like Wildflowers because it's my first story I ever wrote from start to finish.

I like Needle & King because it's healing a lot of trauma to write it, and I get to discover my identity and explore lore/worldbuilding that I've been putting off for ages.

NO PRESSURE TAGS: @goldheartedchaoticdisaster @praetorqueenreyna @achaotichuman @arson-09 @unanswered-stars @matrixsss @watcherintheweyr @witch-and-her-witcher @chunkypossum @foxcort @positivelyruined @angelosearch @goforth-ladymidnight @themildestofwriters

[pattywagon2go]

FixTF2: What Happened, Why Did Valve Step In, And What Comes Next?

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way affiliated with neither Valve nor the people who run the FixTF2 petition. Do not treat anything I say here as any official announcement of any future plans for the movement. All my thoughts and opinions are mine and mine alone.

As of the making of this post, the save.tf has officially closed down to new signatures, racking up a generous 343,711 total signatures. I've made my thoughts on FixTF2 clear in the past, where I said that I didn't have much hope that Valve would actually do something, but to my surprise, Valve seemed to have finally stepped in and done something about the bot issue plaguing the game for 5 straight years beyond the usual half-assed band-aid fix. In light of Valve surprising me, I want to talk about what's happened, some speculation as to why Valve is potentially doing this, and what I think comes next from all of this.

So, let's clear some stuff up: Is Casual really bot-free?

From what I've seen and heard, yes!

Starting around June 25th, multiple sources reported a massive drop in the active player count for Team Fortress 2 from Steam Charts, being around 15,000-16,000 users vanishing overnight. Many people suspect this to be a large-scale ban wave Valve enacted, and there is a large amount of evidence to support this. (More info from this video by shounic here) Since then, up until the day this post is being written (July 1st 2024), people have reported that Casual servers across all regions have been fairly bot-free, with only the occasional one popping up, a far cry from a month ago, where servers were flooded with them no matter where you went. I myself even hopped on a few games and to my surprise, there were no bots to be found whatsoever. Its honestly been super refreshing to see the game be this clean, as now its actually fun to play once again. I haven't touched the game in months, but since the bots have been kicked out for a little bit, it feels good to play once more. If you haven't played the game for a while cause of the bots, now's your chance to hop in and enjoy the game. Its actually fun to play now that the bots have been squashed. On top of that, (as of the time this post is being written), Valve appears to still be actively curbing cheaters and bots from the game, even setting up a dedicated Steam support page for anyone who gets a game ban here.

So, why's Valve doing any of this?

This is where I'm going to step into speculation territory, as Valve being Valve means there's barely any information they will share with the public, but I'll do my best to come up with some logical explanations. I would say that Valve doing a ban wave has both a short-term goal and a long-term goal. The short-term goal was Valve was always intending to do a ban wave, it just took a while to do. What I think happened was Valve took a while to collect a database of known bot accounts and (presumably) their hosters, and from there, once Valve felt they were comfortable with the amount they had collected, they pulled the trigger and proceeded to wipe them out. They obviously couldn't just outright say "Hey, we're gonna do a wipe of the bots soon" because that would have given the hosters plenty of time to set up proactive measures to make Valve's job harder. The only evidence I really have for this is the dropoff of players on Steam Charts, which shows around 15k-16k players mysteriously disappeared from the game, which seems to point to Valve issuing a game ban toward said accounts/deleting them entirely. Alternatively, Valve could have banned a limited amount of accounts, much lower than the 15-16k shown by Steam Charts, but it sent a scare to hosters who deactivated their bots and took them off the game once they knew Valve was watching them, but this explanation I don't have much evidence to prove beyond scattered Discord screenshots of supposed hosters telling people to change their bot configurations due to Valve clamping down on them. The long-term goal of this, though far-fetched and lacking evidence to support, could have to do with Deadlock, their next game, as a proactive measure to prevent these same malicious actors from flooding the game on Day 1, something many people have pointed out and what's happened to CS2 not even a year into its launch.

(UPDATE: Ok I might as well address this cause it did come up while I was writing the post, but a Team Fortress 2 DLC for an upcoming Funko Pop game called Funko Fusion was announced, and people have said that the only reason why Valve squashed the bots was because Valve wanted the game to look good in time for the crossover.

Now I am by no means a fan of Funko Pop, I think they look a bit ugly and there's a myriad of other things people take issue with, but that's all outside the scope of this post. I personally don't care that this is happening to begin with, as Funko Pops are something I routinely forget about, so as far as the DLC existing, I don't care that much. That being said, if it is true that Valve only squashed bots due to this collab happening to begin with, then that is pretty sad and disappointing to see, with how Valve wasn't motivated to fix the issue until a different company came knocking and asked them to do something cause they didn't want the DLC to look bad. But since there's no confirmation this is the case, Valve does have some level of plausible deniability here, and ultimately, something good did come from this, at a (to me, cause I couldn't give a shit about Funko) nonexistant cost so I won't complain)

So now time to return to the last part of the question in the title: What comes next?

Well for one thing, the war has not been won yet.

A big mistake with SaveTF2 was once Valve tweeted that they apparently "heard" us and were working to improve things, people largely declared victory and chose to stop there. Yet things didn't substantially improve since then, only cascading into a far worse situation. This time around, we cannot give up as quickly as last time. We are on the cusp of victory, but we need to keep the pressure on Valve. Keep holding them accountable for the bot issue. Put pressure on them to get rid of the bots for good. Don't let them off the hook and give them a slap on the wrist for only repelling the bots for a little bit, because believe me, as soon as Valve stops doing anything and slinks back into the shadows, the bots will return, and they will be far worse than anything we've seen thus far. It happened two years ago, it will happen again if we just declare victory now and go home. What Valve is doing is a great change of pace and they do deserve some praise for what they're doing, but we must make sure they stay committed to fixing the issue at hand. The best time for Valve to fix the issue was 5 years ago. The second best time is here and now. For now, hop on a few games and enjoy the (relatively) clean servers. We've earned a small break after our victory, but once you're done, make sure to grab your best bot-stomping boots, because our job is far from over.

[g1amours]

hello! i'm 25, in the eastern timezone, and go by she / her pronouns. i am looking for someone 21+ to write over discord with! it’d be preferable if we were in similar timezones, or if you were active at the same times as me! i am most active from 2pm-11pm, my time. if we’ve written in the past or things never kicked off and you see something you’re interested in in this post, please reach back out! i’m always down for rekindling old connections. i’m a fan of angst - heavy plots. i am okay with smut and fluff, but i get bored if it is all fluff and no angst! do not interact if you are not going to contribute to the plotting process. i want someone who is going to actively participate in the plot and be excited about our ship(s). that being said, i’m also looking for someone that can reply frequently. real life happens and i’m a victim of that as well, but right now i’m looking for a partner that can do frequent replies and has time for rapid-fire replies at times too! because of this, i'm looking for shorter 1-2 paragraph replies. love including text threads too! all of that being said, if this sounds like we'd be a good match, go ahead and click the read more button for wanted plots! <3 all of the below plots are listed with f/m and m/m in mind, unless stated otherwise. if you're interested, like this post and i'll reach out or you can shoot me a message!

but daddy, i love him!

a plot where muse a is a celebrity (we could decide what kind) known for their awful habits. drugs, alcohol, sleeping around. cue muse b coming in like i can fix him (no really i can). muse b could be a celebrity, or an assistant, or someone working with muse a. bonus: muse b is a normal person who loves this celebrity and they happen to meet. extra bonus: a wrong number plot with this one.

i love you (it's ruining my life)

this one is specifically made with m/m in mind. muse a and muse b play on either the same or opposing hockey teams. they're both stars, and oh god do they hate each other. like really, truly hate each other. different teams can be rivals, whereas the same team can be always competing for the top spot. maybe muse a is given captain over muse b, maybe muse b refuses to give muse a a pass that could win the game. complete enemies to lovers. bonus: hockey is a very straight sport and coming out could jeopardize their careers. for this, i'm looking for one of the muses to be more hot-headed, aggressive, and more of a temper while the other is a little more level-headed. bonus points if one doesn't even realize he's gay. bonus bonus if it's the more hot-headed, temperamental one.

come back... be here

another sports based one. obsessed with hockey tropes but love basketball too. muse a is an up and coming athlete and is dating muse b. they've been dating since high school, and when muse a hits their big break and is finally drafted onto a big team, he becomes a celebrity. angst from muse a having to constantly be on the move, always be busy, and from having to leave muse b behind. it's a huge hit to their relationship. muse b can't leave because they're passionate about their career and they're established in their city. they're happy from muse a's success, but at what cost? possible tropes could include: cheating, lovers to exes to ?, tabloid scandals, accidental pregnancy, etc.

your wife waters flowers, i wanna kill her

credit to this person for this plot idea inspo! a plot where muse a and muse b are dating in high school for years but muse a gets into their dream college across the country. it was never part of the plan, muse a was supposed to stay local while muse b was supposed to take over the family business that they're oh so passionate about. muse a eventually breaks it to muse b and they try to make it work, but muse a could tell how muse b wasn't happy with long distance and they were starting to shrivel, their relationship deteriorating. knowing that muse b would never admit it and let muse a go, muse a decides to make up a lie and say that they lost feelings. maybe muse a even says they cheated. they break up. flash forward, muse a graduates and moves back to their hometown and finds muse b engaged to muse a's former best friend. bonus: wait... how old is that (four-year-old) kid holding your hand?

i can fix him (no really, i can)

double celebrity plot, muse a is america's sweetheart and is loved by all, while muse b is the opposite. muse a and muse b get connected, and while muse a wants to fix muse a, their reputation is taking a hit. scandals, tabloids, fans, muse a's awful decisions. is it worth it?

i just wanna stay in that lavender haze

wrong number plot. muse a accidentally texts muse b who is a famous celebrity. they text for a while and slowly fall for each other. will small town muse a ever be able to adapt to an international sensation muse b? what happens once reality comes crashing in like a tidal wave and they can't ignore the outside world from invading?

look at this idiotic fool that you made me

muse a is a famous musician and muse b is their partner who has been there since before muse a became famous, supporting them through their dreams and goals. muse b goes between travelling with muse a and spending time in their hometown to get away from the spotlight. it's a normal weekend of muse a's shows, who has been increasingly getting involved in more famous crowds, when muse b wakes up and sees pictures of muse a leaving the bar with someone. muse a admits to cheating and muse b ends the relationship. but no matter how hard muse b tries, they keep going back, and muse a keeps spiraling. it turns into a toxic, cheating, fucked up relationship and muse b is torn between helping them get better and finally going towards turkey. after all, this isn't the muse a they knew and loved. can't they get back to being that person? bonus if m/f: accidental pregnancy. extra extra extra bonus for this.

if i'm dead to you why are you at the wake?

muse a and muse b are married and find themselves in an accidental pregnancy situation. they're both excited, their relationship is stable, and they decide it's a good time. except when muse a gives birth (this could also be adoption if m/m), their relationship struggles. they're fighting all the time, they can't get along, they haven't been physical in months, they have different parenting styles. maybe there's even cheating on one or both sides. muse a maybe is struggling with postpartum depression or has in the past and is extremely overprotective and bossy, maybe muse b isn't adjusting the best to being a parent.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Mod Talks #2: Ranking the Danganronpa Series:

//So this ranking list might be a bit confusing to some people, since the title of it isn't exactly a dead giveaway at what I'm going to be talking about here.

//So let me just explain.

//Since the first game released in Japan in 2010, Danganronpa has become an absolutely huge franchise, spawning a fair few sequels, countless media, even more countless fan-projects, and there's so much more to it's name. Even after 14 years or so of it's lifespan, and with the series not really getting anything else lately since Kodaka left Chunsoft to form his own company with Uchikoshi, Danganronpa is still a much beloved franchise by many.

//Which is what causes all the fan-related projects like this blog to pop up. Because people cannot get enough of these characters.

//So in this ranking post, I'll be ranking each and every installment in the main series, as well as a few notable spinoffs, adaptations, and fan-projects featured on this blog. My rankings will be based on my own personal opinions first and foremost, but I'll mainly be judging these on factors like story quality, character writing, and the overall impact it had not just on me, but on the series.

//This is also going to be classified as a Mod Talks because I'm going to go more in depth than I normally do with these rankings. Beyond just a few paragraphs, I'm going to be analyzing basically everything that I possibly can.

//Let's break it down a little bit more.

This list WILL include:

Each of the mainline games - From DR1 to DRV3

The End of Hope's Peak Academy Anime - Both arcs will be counted as one.

Every Fanganronpa featured in the blog - None outside of that though, so don't expect to see Despair Time or anything like that pop up here.

All the Light Novels and Official Manga - Such as IF, Zero, and Kirigiri.

This list WILL NOT include:

Kirigirisou - I haven't played it, and so few people know what it actually is that I don't think anyone will care if I leave it out. I'll gladly give it an honorable mention though.

Magical Miracle Girl Monomi - It's a bonus minigame that adds no substance.

Danganronpa: The Animation - I understand that the DR anime adaptation is unpopular, but since it's a brief retelling of the story of Danganronpa 1 with the same characters, I decided not to include it since I'll already be covering them.

The Manga Anthologies - These are short stories written by a variety of different creators that each interpret the characters differently. I cannot judge them as a collective.

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code - Yes, it is another game by Kodaka. Yes, it has similar designs and mechanics to DR. And yes, the characters of the game are featured on the blog. But Rain Code is NOT a Danganronpa game, so I am not accounting for it.

Danganronpa Survivor, or any other Danganronpa Ask Blog that frequently gets mentioned here - This goes without saying. I'm not including the blog itself on the list because 1 - Personal bias to my own work, and 2 - It's not official enough to be classified under the content.

//Also, as one last thing, official content in the Danganronpa series will be marked orange in the title. Fan/Unofficial content will be marked purple.

//That should be everything, so let's take a despair-filled dive into the world of Danganronpa and see which titles rise to the top.

#20 - Danganronpa: Togami

//So going into this, I'm willing to reckon that a lot of you thought that I was going to put Danganronpa 3 right smack dab at the bottom of this list. Especially since I shit-talk it so much, and for good reason.

//But the true crime is that I don't talk about the Danganronpa: Togami light novel series enough, and just how much of a fucking shitshow it is.

//Now, this series isn't widely known to every fan of the series, so let me quickly summarize what this is. Danganronpa: Togami is a series of light novels written by Yuya Sato, that centres on Byakuya and his experiences with the Ultimate Despair in the Czech Republic, during his first year at Hope's Peak Academy, and prior to The Tragedy. It is unclearly canonical because it is not mentioned directly in canonical material. The Yuya Sato series saw the publication of three volumes.

//Given that Byakuya has one of the most interesting backstories in the Danganronpa series in my opinion, you'd think that a light novel that sort of shows that off, and how some of the events prior to DR1 truly played out would be really cool, and worth reading to help suck on that juicy lore.

//Well, it's not. Not even slightly.

//I've only read these novels once, having to read a fan-translation of it online, and believe me, I have no intention of revisiting them. The plot of the novels are convoluted and confusing, and even though Danganronpa CAN get very confusing in it's main storylines, it's still usually coherent enough to enjoy. But this just isn't.

//The fact that Yuji Sato truly has no idea how to write in a sane manner is one of the main problems with his work. Sato is only dimly acquainted with the idea of "making sense" and has no idea what "going overboard" entails.

//Remember how during the Death Battle event we hosted on this blog, I mentioned that Mukuro and Sakura were fast enough to instantly run from Japan to Prague in a couple seconds? This mad fucker came up with that, and Kodaka just let him.

//It also includes a lot of themes and scenes that I find...kind of disturbing? When the books get violent, they get REALLY violent. There's also a LOT of incest (which is unfortunately very common in Danganronpa) and a fair bit of suicide and fatphobia on top of that. And while Danganronpa has done all of these before, for the Togami novel series, it's just insanely gratuitous in the way that it's portrayed.

//Danganronpa isn't afraid to touch on darker themes, and that's fine. It's a series about high-schoolers killing each other. You can't really downplay that too much, so you might as well run with it. However, this novel's shift in tone is TOO dark. Too dark to the point that it feels like it's trying WAY to hard to be edgy.

//And the key difference is that even when the main series gets dark, the humor and eccentricity of the writing kind of balances it out. But we have absolutely none of that here. It's just gore, rape, death, blah!

//Sato, I'm sorry, but this isn't what "Graphic Novel" means.

//But all of this is completely putting aside what I consider to be the absolute worst part of this series of novels: The complete BUTCHERING of Byakuya's character.

//Byakuya is one of the most stand-out characters in the series. He's appeared at least once in basically every mainline iteration of the series, and because of that, he's the character who has seen the most development. He never betrays who he is, and remains a smug asshole to the end, but he still cooperates more with his peers and doesn't put himself on a pedestal above them. Even at the beginning, though he does a lot of conniving bullshit in DR1, he still holds himself to high standards.

//But the novel says balls to all of that.

//In the novel series, there are many times that Byakuya is portrayed as more vulnerable and less composed. If this took place in a time when he was VERY young, then this would make more sense, but this story takes place like A YEAR before the first game. His interactions with other characters can also be more emotional and impulsive, whereas Byakuya has always been famous for being reserved, cold, and strategic.

//Alongside all the other edgy shit that infects this series, the novels try to explore the darker side of Byakuya's character, sometimes pushing him into morally ambiguous or outright negative situations. For example, there's a point in the book where he gaslights a young girl into falling in love with him so that she'll writ his autobiography for him, and several scenes where he engages, or at least complicit in, extreme brutality.

//Not only is this the most OOC thing Byakuya has ever done, but it completely undermines the complex character that the series built him up to be. Despite his cold demeanor, he's not a violent person.

//All in all, if you do get a chance to read this novel, I personally suggest that you let it slip by. It's really not worth the read, and I'm willing to bet that almost any other fanfic writer on the internet could completely redo this.

//But now you see that even with it's stupid writing and many flaws, why DR3 didn't fall this far down, because this is somehow a billion times worse.

//But we're gonna talk about it now, right?

//Well...

#19 - Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer

//Killer Killer fucking sucks.

//There's no sugarcoating it, it's just insanely bad. And it's honestly so disappointing because this could have been something great.

//Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer, more commonly just called Killer Killer, is a bit more well-known than the Togami light novels. And this is mainly because it is actually an important part of the Danganronpa timeline.

//Somehow...

//According to the official chronology, the events of this manga take place before those of Danganronpa 2 and after those of Ultra Despair Girls. The main story revolves around Misaki Asano, a recent hire who works as a special investigator for the Special Investigations Unit of Future Foundation Branch 6; a division tasked with cracking the most unusual and difficult murder cases. One case at a time, she and her partner Takumi Hijirihara work to overcome hopelessness; the most difficult case they have is that of the enigmatic Killer Killer, a strange serial killer who preys on other murderers.

//You get three guesses as to who the Killer Killer actually is.

//Killer Killer ironically suffers from a problem that is both similar to that of the Togami novels, but also the complete opposite problem. It's easily one of the more darker parts of the Danganronpa Timeline, but even at it's darkest, Danganronpa is well-known for balancing these moments with its unique humor and over-the-top situations.

//Unlike the previous entry, Killer Killer does have these moments, but they are balanced HORRIBLY. Most of the manga focuses heavily on gore and psychological horror, which is off-putting on it's own, but even more so when you randomly throw in a stupid fucking gag in there.

//The key one I feel being Takumi Hijirihara's weird quirk where he pulls a Zenitsu and falls in love with every pretty woman he meets. Even when they're the killer.

//Speaking of Hijirihara, HE FUCKING SUCKS.

//A lot of people think the protagonist of this manga is cool because he's different, and I do agree that he's easily the furthest cry of the main protags in the series. He shares absolutely nothing in common with Makoto, or Hajime, or Kaede and Shuichi, or Komaru and Toko.

//Okay, he shares a LITTLE bit with Toko, but Toko of bearable. He isn't.

//While moral ambiguity can make a character, especially a protagonist, a lot more interesting, Hijirihara's isn't handled well. His actions are often portrayed as justified within the narrative, even though most of the time, they're questionable at best and outright unethical at worst.

//And I know how that sounds coming from the guy who wrote Kuripa Kurafto, but I should remind you that even though he is violent and rotten, Kuripa DOES believe that people can be redeemed. It's only those who don't try and relish in their homicide that deserve to be put to bed forever.

//Asano is okay, but her personality and quirks are things that Danganronpa has already done before, AND better. Though I do like that she and Hijirihara have something of a romantic connection.

//Actually, speaking of which, if Kuripa was in this novel, then he'd probably murder all the killers featured in it too. Because that's exactly what they are. Murderous psychopaths and nothing else.

//Danganronpa's two biggest strengths across the whole series are the mystery, and the characters. And the big problem with Killer Killer is that it's severely lacking in both core aspects.

//Almost every chapter of Killer Killer goes the same in that somebody dies, and Asano and Hijirihara are on the scene to investigate. But before any investigating can be done, Hijirihara figures out the culprit immediately, and every time, without fail, the culprit goes all hobo-murder-crazy, tries to kill Hijirihara, only for this guy and his unexplained insane strength and precision to humor them with an instant kill.

//There is absolutely no sense of mystery since Hijirihara solves the cases FOR the audience before any evidence can be given, and there is absolutely no complex character writing either. I don't remember a single character's name from this manga besides Asano and Hijirihara themselves; as well as the characters who are also featured in DR3, like Munakata and Kyoko.

//I even made sprites for A Student Out of Time for the girl who was super into leeches once, and I STILL don't remember her fucking name.

//(I think it's Shimizu or something?)

//Even when the format breaks, there is nothing compelling whatsoever about the plot of this manga. It lacks any sense of intrigue and it lacks and sense of depth, and to make matters worse, the writing and pacing is wholly inconsistent.

//Killer Killer is completely unessential to the Danganronpa series, even though it's portrayed otherwise. Danganronpa 3 still has the merit of at least expanding the lore of the series both before and after the addition of the Future Foundation, but in Killer Killer's case, instead of enriching the existing universe, it feels like a side project that adds no meaningful value or new perspectives to an already established narrative.

#18 - Makoto Naegi Secret File

//Yes, we're STILL not at Danganronpa 3. Crazy right?

//Turns out the anime is better than most of us expected to.

//Okay, so what can I say about this one? Well, this addition to the series is still relatively unknown, so I guess I should start by explaining what it is.

//The Makoto Naegi Secret File; sometimes referred to as "Makoto Naegi's Worst Day Ever" or something similar; is a short 25-page novella penned by Kazutaka Kodaka that describes the events leading up to Makoto Naegi's admission to Hope's Peak Academy. The first DVD/BD volume of Danganronpa: The Animation came packaged with the booklet.

//And it is basically exactly what it says on the tin. It's a story about Makoto randomly getting stuck in a hostage situation after a conga line of bad luck, where he accidently exposes and catches a jewel thief. It's a frankly ridiculous and hilarious story that you can't help but feel bad for the Lucky Student with.

//And in all fairness, the story itself is Danganronpa's cuckoo writing at it's finest. The fact that the story is a mini-precursor to the events of the first game is cool, and the direct relevance to the core narrative makes it appealing.

//So god tell me Mod! Why is it so low!?

//Well, first off, I can't really hold the Secret File in HIGH regard because it's a 25-page bonus booklet that not many people would have read, and even if they had, it hardly makes much of a difference to people's experience with the anime/game. But the major problem, which loosely ties into this, is pretty obvious.

//It's redundant.

//What tends to make the novels and side material like Zero and Kirigiri so great is that it expands on the lore of characters who you really want to know more about. Junko, Mukuro, Kyoko; they're all characters that you want to learn more about. Their backstories. Who they really are. Why they became the way they did. And yeah, Danganronpa: Togami completely failed to do that for Byakuya, but it doesn't change the fact that it's something you'd like to see.

//But...you don't NEED that for Makoto.

//Makoto Naegi is THE Danganronpa Protagonist. He appears at least once in every game, and even when he doesn't, his influence is everywhere! You play as him in the first game, and he's the one who defeated Junko Enoshima. He's a living legend across the entire franchise and a fondly remembered character from the very beginning of the franchise.

//A story like this is completely unnecessary since it doesn't teach you anything about Makoto that you either don't already know, or that is interesting or new information. Makoto's lucky being sucky is nothing new, and all the Secret File does is rehash information that we already know from the games without adding any substantial new insights.

//The story simply doesn't provide enough new or significant information to justify its existence. No major revelations about the original hero, or impactful additions to his character. And as someone who does really like Makoto, that's disappointing to me.

//Also, just like the previous two entries, this story also suffers the problem of an imperfect balance between the angst and the humor. Although in this case, it's more on the other end of the spectrum from Togami and Killer Killer, where it's too goofy and not hectic or scary enough.

//And as one last little qualm, the file focuses way to heavily on specific aspects of Makoto's character, like his talent and his backstory, neglecting other elements that I find a lot more important.

//And therefore, it detracts from my enjoyment a bit.

#17 - Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy

//We're finally here. At what is surprisingly not the worst thing Danganronpa has put out, but easily my least favorite canonical mainline installment of the series.

//Sit down for a bit if you're not already, because I do have a fair bit to say about this one. But my concerns with it are mostly the same as everyone else's.

//Believe it or not, the reason why Danganronpa 3 didn't end up smack dab at the bottom of this list isn't for the easy reason that "I just liked those other one's less." Actually, Danganronpa 3 isn't wholly irredeemable. There are some stuff about it that I like.

//But both parts of this anime, the Despair Arc and the Future Arc, suffer from the same problems. So I've chosen not to separate them, and I'll try and go through all of my major issues with this show one at a time.

//With that being said, first things first...It's plot is pretty terrible.

//Danganronpa 3's storyline is weird, incoherent, and rushed, especially in Future Arc. And this is something you'll notice as we work our way down the list of reasons, but it feels like DR3 suffers way more than it should through the simple fact that it's an anime and not another game like one and two.

//The game's would not have this problem because there'd be more time to divvy out, but for the anime, it feels like they introduced numerous storylines and character arcs, then spent a lot of the series, especially the latter parts, trying to wrap them up. Which of course, leads to a lack of depth and development for any of the characters, and an overall unsatisfying conclusion.

//The duel arcs of Future Arc and Despair Arc are also unnecessarily complex and confusing. Especially since they're two separate storylines, but you're also supposed to watch then alternately?

//One of the biggest offenders, as I'm sure everyone is already well familiar with, is the birth of the Ultimate Despair at the end of Despair Arc, when the 77th Class, AKA. The Class of Danganronpa 2, are turned into Junko's subservient despair minions.

//What we could have gotten was a show seeing this class slowly devolve and drown in despair as their lives progressively get worse and worse.

//What we got was Chiaki dying, and a brainwashing video.

//Lazy.

//Lazy.

//Lazy.

//There is no other word for it.

//Speaking of which, one of my biggest problems with DR3 and why I hate it so much is because I absolutely despise the main cast.

//Everybody in the Future Foundation is a complete dickwad at first, and most of them remain that way throughout the entire story. As I said before, I grew to really like Seiko Kimura, and I liked Koichi Kizakura and the Great Gozu too. But DR3's new characters in general are either underdeveloped, or they're written in a way that makes me absolutely despise them. I think Juzo Sakakura is the worst offender of this.

//And it's not just the new characters either. The anime also features the casts of Danganronpa 1 AND 2, and SOMEHOW BOTH GROUPS are treated really poorly, with their story and character arcs either being completely ignored, or concluded in unsatisfying ways. Again, the brainwashing at the end of Despair Arc is the worst offender of this.

//The anime also seems to prioritize fanservice of all kinds over actual coherent storytelling. Like a pandering attempt to please the fans, and massively failing, since they aren't delivering anything substantial.

//But the thing that bothers me the most is that despite being marketed as the conclusion to the Hope's Peak saga, and literally EXISTING for the purpose of wrapping up a lot of the plot points from the first 3 games, Danganronpa 3 leaves quite a few plot points unresolved or poorly explained.

//For example, what happened to the Remnants of Despair after they took the fall for the Future Foundation? How did the Remnants account for Nagito after everything he did to them in virtual Jabberwock Island? What happened to the Future Foundation after the Final Killing Game, and how did they fix the mess that Tengan and Yukizome left behind? What's going on with Makoto now that he's randomly the headmaster of Hope's Peak? What happened with Ryota, and is he ever gonna psychologically recover after he tried to brainwash the whole world?

//The blatant lack of closure on a lot of the aspects I've listed above, AND more, is just so damn frustrating. It's not a definitive end to the story; not to mention that the anime introduces changes and elements that don't align with the game; such as Chiaki randomly being a human now even though she was just an AI originally.

//To put it simply, Danganronpa 3 just...fails. It fails to live up to the standards of the games that came before it, and it fails to provide a satisfying conclusion to the storyline.

//So here's the question. Is it really all that bad?

//Actually no. There are some pearls hidden in this pile of dirt.

//When the anime really tries, it can deliver really powerful emotional punches to the gut when it wants to. In my view, the last episode, also known as the Hope Arc, which marked the conclusion of Makoto and Hajime's parallel tales and marked a crossover between the two arcs, was truly outstanding. And that's not even mentioning the emotional rollercoaster that is real Chiaki's execution. It's such a terrifying and morbid scene in the franchise that really just sticks with you.

//Speaking of which, while I do feel that the cast get done dirty a lot in the show, I can't claim the same for the main pairings of each arc. That's Kyoko and Makoto for Future Arc, and Hajime and Chiaki for Despair Arc.

//Anime Chiaki is very different from game Chiaki, but she's an equally fun and entertaining character. I would argue even more than the original, though I know that's an unpopular opinion. A lot of people think that Chiaki is a Mary Sue in the anime, but I think the anime actually shows off the imperfections with Chiaki's character more than DR2 did. She exemplifies genuine kindness and unwavering dedication to her friends, making her a compassionate and likeable character.

//Hajime even more so is handled well I think. His complex emotional journey and growth from a confused, despair-ridden individual into a determined and empathetic person who seeks to redeem his actions is enthralling, and honestly, if it weren't for the little touches that DR3 gave him, I might like him half as much as I do now.

//And Kyoko playing less of an active role in the narrative actually works to her benefit. Especially since whatever scenes she has are usually interesting, and casually reminds you that "Yes, I am the most badass female character in the series." And the compassion and care that she shows for Makoto, despite how cold and distant she is to everyone. Ship fuel aside, it's great.

//If I can give the anime one last plus, it's that I think it has one of the best soundtracks in the series. The songs in the anime aren't as well known because I think a lot of them used to be copyrighted/are copyrighted, but listen to the soundtracks of both DR3 arcs and you'll see what I mean.

//So yeah. Danganronpa 3. Bad? Yes. Completely irredeemable? No way.

#16 - Danganronpa ReBirth/DanganRebirth Voices

//Honestly, I was actually this close to putting ReBirth below DR3. I didn't quite realize how much I didn't care for it until now.

//A lot of you might be surprised to see this one on the lower levels of the list. I've mentioned before that three of my favourite characters in the blog are Akira, Narumi, and Ayumu, all three of whom come from this project. So why is it this far down the list?

//Let me give you a little bit of background on the origins of this Fangan.

//For the sake of pulling an April Fool's Day joke, online content creator and game designer Miwashiba spent 1.5 months creating and developing Danganronpa ReBirth. Miwashiba declared that there would be no intentions to develop this game beyond what had been provided once the joke ended. But after getting so much interest in their novel, they eventually started posting the prologue and first chapter in text format on their blog.

//On April 1, 2017, the official website went live along with "in-game" videos that included character graphics, music, and a fully voiced cast. Because the artwork, graphics, and website design were so similar to the Danganronpa aesthetic, there was a lot of conjecture online about whether the game was real or just a practical joke being pulled by Spike Chunsoft, especially among English-speaking fans who did not have access to the untranslated website.

//But Miwashiba retained their stance on not making a full game out of it. However, that eventually led to the creation of DanganRebirth Voices.

//Now I should clarify that Danganronpa ReBirth and DanganRebirth Voices are two completely different fan projects that use the same characters and plot points. And instead of a game, it was instead an animated web-series featuring a lot of famous Fangan voices actors that are still active in the community today.

//In order to avoid possible legal action that Miwashiba may face if Spike Chunsoft found someone creating unofficial Danganronpa works for financial gain, Miwashiba had initially agreed to allow the team to use their creations' name, characters, and materials on the understanding that it would be entirely non-profit.

//However, later on, The Voices team revealed that they were organizing a stream to generate money for a team member's cat's veterinary expenses, despite their agreement with Miwashiba. The goal of the stream was to entice viewers to give by offering a Q&A session with the team, providing voice acting requests from the ReBirth Voicescharacters, and featuring additional content that included the Danganronpa ReBirth moniker and Miwashiba's original characters.

//Although they had been able to work out a compromise and negotiate their way out of problems with Miwashiba in the past, the team explained in their public statement about the project's cancellation that the stream had been the "last straw" in a list of concerns that Miwashiba had had since the project's inception. As a result, they felt that in order to respect Miwashiba's wishes and avoid legal issues, they had to cancel the project.

//I remember being pretty bummed and annoyed when I first heard about it, but looking back, I don't blame Miwashiba. ReBirth was always meant to exist as a joke, and Chunsoft's legal action team was fierce back in the day. But the fact that this never got a solid conclusion and only two incomplete projects knocks it down by quite a bit for me.

//While I do love the characters I listed above, my interpretation of them is only loosely based on ReBirth Voices original outline for them. They share only a few things in common; for example, the reason why Narumi and Akira are bad guys is because they were confirmed to be a pair of Mastermind's in ReBirth Voices. And I kept Ayumu's gender politics as part of his character, but downplayed them massively.

//However, even outside of that, I have quite a few issues with the ReBirth games. For one, the writing in both versions is pretty subpar, and whatever nuanced storytelling and engaging dialogue they're trying to get across to me, they're failing to do so.

//The second big issue is that a lot of what DanganRebirth does is recycled concepts from previous entries without offering new or innovative elements, taking away any sense of freshness.

//Not only that, but it typically tends to do these concepts worse. In both versions, Ayumu's gender politics plot point is treated with disrespect, in a way that Kodaka would never have done for Chihiro in the original game.

//And as a last fault, the quality of the voice acting in ReBirth Voices is wholly inconsistent.

//On the one hand, bblackroses as Narumi, and HarenaVA as Kazuomi are pretty on point and good for the characters; but in contrast, something like Kel as Ayumu and Bostoboy as Akira don't really do it for me.

//Rebirth is good because it showed what was possible, and what the community were capable of with just a bit of effort. Something that we'll be sure to go over with the rest of the fangames on this list.

#15 - Danganronpa Blowback

//Blowback is unfortunately not one of those.

//In all honesty, a lot of what I said about ReBirth is equally as true for Blowback.

//For one, Blowback never got finished before the team behind it disbanded, and we only managed to get two full chapters out of it before it went goodbye forever.

//Unlike ReBirth though, this one suffers from being an exclusively Korean fangame with translations for it being really hard to come across. I definitely found one and played it, but I cannot find that original link or play it anymore, so most people don't even know this game exists.

//One of the things that I really liked about Blowbakc is how official the sprites look. Genuinely, if you put a character like Akeru, or Mai in front of me, I genuinely would believe that Komatsuzaki made them.

//And there are quite a few characters in the game, namely the likes of Kana Ise and Akeru Yozora who I think are really fun and I really enjoy.

//But beyond that, there are some problems. And they mainly have to do with the same characters and the story. And that's that this game feels less like it's own fangame, and more like a retelling of Danganronpa 1.

//In the original game, Seina Datenashi is a prim and proper pretty girl who's also a bit of a gadfly, just like Sayaka was in the first game. However, she ends up being the killer, so her trial feels like what COULD have happened if Sayaka had successfully killed Leon in the first chapter of the first game.

//Secondly, the second killer, Mikihiko, in the original game, is a boy who wears clothes that make him appear effeminate. Which is exactly like Chihiro, except in a more cynical format, since he was forced to wear those clothes by his sisters. So it's really a killer-victim swap there as well, imagining Chihiro WAS desperate enough to hide the secret.

//Third, the "rival" character in the game is Shozo Asayoru. And in almost every way, he is exactly like Byakuya, from his sprites to his attitude, to his expressions.

//For me, that spells a lack of originality. Even though it does have it's own original plot points and characters that I really like, Blowback relies too heavily on already existing Danganronpa content without introducing any meaningful elements or ideas.

//Unlike ReBirth however, I really would have liked to see this one to the end, even if just to see how far we got with it, and what they could have changed it up to be.

#14 - Hyper! Danganronpa H20: Abandon All Hope

//It was always my intention to introduce Maya Canzanilla and her friends from this game into the blog because I really enjoyed her and her content, but for those who were around when Into the Ocean first released, you may remember that prior to the arc starting, I made a full length post explaining why I was adding these characters, where I've never really done that before for any other Fangan featured here.

//There was a reason for that. Several in fact.

//I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but for the uninitiated, I will have to explain a few key points about this game to give you a better idea as to why my choice to add it was controversial.

//English-language fangame Hyper! Danganronpa H20: Abandon All Hope, also referred to as Hyper! Danganronpa H20 and HDRH20, was made by US developer Milkpunches. This game was the first fully functional English fan game that had ever been published by an developer.

//It's also the most controversial and widely despised Fanganronpa.

//And for reasons that I think are pretty justified, despite how much I've come to care for Maya. What are those reasons?

//First off, the character writing is incredibly shallow. I like the character designs a lot, but unlike most Fangans, you cannot tell what each characters Ultimate Talents are based on their appearance. This Fangan was originally based on a roleplay, but in the execution of the game, somehow, they come across as less developed than Danganronpa 3.

//One one end of the spectrum, you have Maya, Ashe, August, Four, Hunter, Kokona, Oliver, and Victoria. All of whom are varying degrees of douchebag.

//On the other end, you have Chet, Kami, Kouji, Leona, Marie, and Ricardio, all of whom are varying degrees of nice.

//And then meshing about in the middle, you have Tamako who is just weird and creepy, and Cesar who...has NO personality for most of the game.

//And that's about it.

//A lot of the characters don't change, which for me has always been alright because the MAIN one's that I actually give a shit about do. But it's still a qualm that needs to be covered.

//Speaking of qualms, another big issue is that the trials, cases, and gameplay of this fangame suck total ass.

//HDRH20 was made in OHRRPGCE; an extremely dated game design software, that clearly does not cater well to Fanganronpa's AT ALL.

//The "Trials", if they can even be called that, are garbage, you can't view the Truth Bullets (or at least the game never explains how to do so), and the endless debates are similar to Ace Attorney but far less thrilling because you have to go through the text instead of picking a bullet and shooting it.

//Not to add the annoying mess that appears—once—as Hangman's Labyrinth. Throughout the entire game. You only play the minigame once, and it's in the first trial. The creator just forgot about the minigame between chapters.

//Speaking of the creator, Milkpunches, while I won't go into specifics, is, or rather was, a notoriously toxic person back when they were making HDRH20. And this is by far my biggest issue with this game, and what the creator was trying to do with it.

//Now, what I'm about to say could potentially come across as offensive to some parties, but given how relevant it is, it needs to be said. I'm not trying to go out of my way to make anyone feel attacked for their identity or their likes. We don't do that here.

//The reason I bring this up is because I want to make an observation, in that every character in this game falls somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. And this game was written and created with the intention of basically forcing pride ideas into the player's heads.

//This is what is known as "Tokenism." If LGBTQ+ characters are included just to fulfil a diversity quota without meaningful development or integration into the story, it can come off as superficial or insincere.

//Tokenism can undermine the authenticity or representation and fail to contribute to a compelling narrative. And relying on sterotypes or cliches when portraying characters who are gay, or trans, or lesbian, or bi, etc. can be harmful and reductive. It creates one-dimensional characters that don't reflect the complexity of real individuals and can perpetuate harmful misconceptions.

//Which is exactly what the cast of HDRH20 are.

//Focusing solely on a characters queer identity without exploring other aspects of their personality or role in the story can limit their depth. A well-rounded charater should have a multifaceted identity, where their LGBTQ+ status is just one of many elements.

//Don't take my words out of context: Pride representation itself is not detrimental to storytelling. It just needs to be approached with care to ensure that it adds to the narrative in a meaningful and respectful way, and here it just...doesn't. The ideas are forcefully shoved down your throat in a toxic way.

//And as for Milkpunches themselves, they attack anybody who criticizes them in the way that I've just done, so I'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole.

//But regardless, I still really like Hyper Danganronpa, and here's a few reasons why.

//For one, the character designs and art style are cool even if they're not wholly "Danganronpa-like." And even if the personalities are sorted into two basic sets, unlike a certain other fangan that we'll get to, these characters DO develop and change.

//One of the biggest criticisms people have for this game is that Maya as a protagonist is so unlikeable and annoying. But I think she's only like this for the prologue at least and Chapter 1 at most. Over time, she changes and becomes less stand-offish, and opens up to Hunter and Four.

//And it's not like the characters are completely one-dimensional. They have well-written backstories, and honestly, a lot of the storytelling is only held back by the game engine, not the actual writing.

//As abundant as the pride inclusion is, some of it, especially with Four, is detailed and handled well.

//And I do generally think that once you seperate content from creator, Hyper Danganronpa H20 has it's own charms. The problems are still there and still need to be accounted for, but looking past them, this is something special at its sweet center.

#13 - Super Danganronpa Another 2 ~The Moon of Hope and Sun of Despair~

//I've personally always seen DRA and SDRA2 as so in-line with the original Danganronpa, that I've subconsciously considered them as Danganronpa 5 and 6.

//Or I guess it would be 6 and 7 if we're forming a timeline.

//If you got into the Danganronpa fanbase and started to peruse the fanmade content, there's a pretty high chance that the first major project you came across was this Korean fangame by creator LINUJ; with it's own original theme of Process and Result.

//This is by far the most famous fangame in the entire fanbase, and chances are you've played it if you were able to get your hands on a translation.

//I think SDRA2 is probably the most solid Fanganronpa out there, and it's easily the most recognizable AND recommendable. As time has passed, it's become much easier for Western audiences to get their hands on, though still not easy by any means, and it's a good experience for any fans of the Danganronpa series, new, or old.

//It does the enjoyable thing of realizing what it is and messing with your expectations at every step, all the while remaining satisfying and not catching you off guard.

//Most of the challenges and riddles you solve in each chapter rank among the best of the entire series. Especially compared to the cases of DRV3.

//So the question is why is it so low?

//The first of the reasons is that Utsuroshima is hardly an original concept for a setting.

//Yes, it does different things than Jabberwock Island, such as the snowy island, but it's still a tropical island inside a virtual reality that everyone is trapped in.

//Secondly, the actual story of SDRA2 is poorly paced. Maybe I'm missing a couple of stuff, but you don't actually figure out any of the major plot points until you get to CHAPTER 5, with a few hints to it in Chapter 4.

//Danganronpa has always had an issue with pacing, but fangames are made to fix the mistakes that Kodaka and the team keep making, and the fact that this game doesn't is very annoying.

//The third and main reason is that while this might be a hot take, I actually don't like most of this game's cast.

//At their most basic, I can't stand characters like Nikei, Yuri, Syobai, and a few of the others. And compared to the cast of the previous game LINUJ made, most of them are easily passable for me. In fact, the only three who I know aren't are Sora, Setsuka, and Yoruko.

//Sora, I even admitted, is my favorite Danganronpa/Fanganronpa protagonist, and I still stand by that.

//Mod Bubbles from ASooT explains this better, but LINUJ as a writer is a very cynical person. Throughout SDRA2, there are many segway's in the writing process where it feels like prime opportunity for a character to emotionally develop. To reflect on their mistakes, and to become stronger.

//Kodaka does this a lot in the original games. Characters like Byakuya, Fuyuhiko, Komaru, Shuichi, and many others are completely different by the end of their games than they are at the start, and the progression tends to feel natural.

//But LINUJ's characters never seem to be able to take the first step, and remain the way they are. And for a lot of them who are scummy shitheads, this is to their unyielding detriment.

//While I'm more aware as to why things the way they are with this game, a writer's outlook on life can help or hinder a character's development in several ways. A lot of the characters in SDRA2 especially are overly negative, and prevents them from being well-rounded and enjoyable people with good motives and potential for growth.

//It also makes me wonder how LINUJ can even empathize with his own characters. If you have a character, especially one that's on the good side, that nobody can relate or connect to, then that's a bad thing.

//Since the writer seems to believe that people are inherently flawed or incapable of change, that in turn makes a lot of this game's cast static, and stops them from experiencing meaningful development, or necessary redemption arcs.

//As one last little slight, SDRA2 may be more accessible to people these days, but DRA1 isn't. And in order to get the full experience out of this game, you kind of have to know the plot of game 1 first.

#12 - Ultra Despair Hagakure

//Yasuhiro Hagakure is my least favourite character from the original trilogy of Danganronpa games.

//Had it not been for the likes of Haiji Towa and similarly fuckwad characters existing, he'd be my least favourite in the series.

//His constant laid back demeanor and frequent use of nonsensical or absurd statements. The fact that he's easily the most unhelpful and useless character in the main series. His repeated cowardice. How out of touch he is with everything else that's going on in the game.

//There are so many reasons why I loathe this guy, so when I found out there was a novella centered around him exploring Towa City just as Komaru and Toko did throughout Ultra Despair Girls, suffice to say, I was not happy to hear it.

//So what did I think of it?

//...It was actually alright.

//I'll say right out of the gate that what I think is the absolute coolest part of this little story is how Hiro's journey through it mirrors the journey of Komaru and Toko in UDG. Ultra Despair Girls is a story about a cowardly main character who gets stuck in Towa City, surrounded by danger, and finds an unlikely companion in a perverse and strange, yet powerful ally. The two butt heads occassionally, but their bond remains strong enough to fight through the turmoil so that they may escape and see the sun tomorrow.

//Toko and Komaru's dynamic is almost the exact same as Hiro and Kanon's, and I think that's actually pretty clever.

//However, another thing I'll say right out of the gate is that if you're expecting to get any good character development out of Hiro with this story, then be prepared to be disappointed.

//It really shows the moral difference between the characters when Toko and Hiro go through the same experience, and one of them grows from it and the other doesn't.

//Toko originally aids Komaru because she wants to rescue Byakuya, but her goals change after she spends time with Komaru and becomes a true friend with her, wanting to protect her too.

//Hiro originally aids Kanon because he hopes that her rich father will handsomely compensate him, and he still believes that in the final chapters of the story.

//This just goes back to what I was saying about the cast of SDRA2. Hiro may be a comic relief character, but it annoys the everloving fuck out of me that he just WON'T change, no matter what hell he's put through, he never learns a scrap of humility for his scamming and bargaining.

//Unfortunately, Kanon isn't exactly the right character to teach him it either.

//Kanon is...fine. She's fine. There's nothing outwardly wrong with her besides her creepy weird lust for her dead cousin in the story.

//But as far as I'm aware, love rules in Japan are lenient with cousins, plus Kanon didn't know that Leon was dead, so...

//The reason why Ultra Despair Hagakure is this high is because even though it features two characters that I'm...at best, very on the fence about, the way they interact is a fun time, and the fact that they make just as good a team as Tokomaru makes it even more fun.

//Also, while Hiro, again, doesn't change from the events in the story, this is the best example in the series that shows he CAN step up and be brave if he needs to, which is why he's less of a coward in Survivor as a result.

//This one for me is the middle ground for the novels. It's not as bad or as mundane as Byakuya's and Makoto's, and it's still not wholly necessary, but it's an enjoyable read.

#11 - Danganronpa: Kirigiri

//Kyoko is one of the most outstanding characters in the entire Danganronpa series. Like Makoto and Byakuya, her partners in crime, she's one of the most commonly appearing and influential faces in the series and franchise.

//Like Byakuya, she also had an interesting backstory shrouded in mystery, but unlike Byakuya, her own novel series portrayed it in a really unique fashion.

//Danganronpa: Kirigiri is the benchmark for me, and the definition of what the DR light novels should be. As I said before, Makoto and Hiro, while there was nothing outwardly wrong with their stories, didn't really need to happen since a lot of the information shown in the stories is stuff that was already known. For Byakuya, it was backstory stuff that was interesting and should have elaborated on the mysterious past of the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, but failed to do so in a meaningful and fun way.

//But when you have a character as elusive and mysterious as Kyoko Kirigiri, who remains that way throughout the entire main series, these novels really shine. Bonus material like this SHOULD be giving more lore and information on elusive characters like Kyoko, and while the others I think do it better than hers, she's still the low bar, and that means something.

//Takekuni Kitayama is the author of the light novel series, which centers on Detective Library members Kyoko Kirigiri and her history with colleague investigator Yui Samidare as they investigate the Duel Noir cases. Kitayama joined the series as a co-writer starting with V3, and his novel ran for seven years, in seven volumes.

//Unlike Killer Killer, the stories shown in these novels continue the DR series tradition of making intricate mysteries and thrills. Where Killer Killer failed to build up their crimes and make anything meaningful of the story, Kirigiri is able to maintain the suspense and psychological intrigue that the fans of the series appreciate.

//And it's especially interesting to see a younger, more starry-eyed Kyoko solving the cases. Even as a kid, she's the perfect protagonist for this kind of story.

//Also, surprisingly, Yui, Kyoko's sidekick and the main protagonist for this story, is a pretty well written character in her own right.

//Her existence in the story shows me that Kitayama understood the assignment. Even while younger, Kyoko's aloof and elusive nature makes her hard to connect with for general audiences, so he wrote Yui as the main heroine to fix that issue.

//However, even with the relatability aspect playing a huge part, Yui is a multi-dimensional character with a good blend of strength and vulnerability shown through her actions. Her interactions with the other characters, especially with Kyoko, adds richness to the narrative that really helps it move along.

//Also, the way that these novels casually make the Danganronpa universe bigger, even if some of it isn't all that relevant, is pretty impressive. And unlike the Togami novels, these one's are well-written with a fun narrative style that complements the existing series.

//With all that said, I definitely have my issues with the Kirigiri light novels, and ironically, a lot of them are shared with Killer Killer.

//Like Killer Killer, the only characters in this story who I remember the names of are Kyoko, Yui, Licorne, and Fuhito. Every other character is so irrelevant to me, I just block them out of my mind.

//Furthermore, as interesting and brain-wracking as the novels are, the plotlines can sometimes be too complicated, and the mystery elements can be challenging to follow, especially for readers who aren't as familiar with the Danganronpa style as long-time fans.

//And again, it's hard to find these novels in English.

#10 - Danganronpa Zero

//Like I said in the previous entry, Kyoko was one of the biggest characters, at least in the first game, who really benefitted from having her own light novel series to better explore the intricacies of her character. But she is one of three characters in the first game who are in this boat.

//ANOTHER one was JUNKO.

//As a prequel to Danganronpa 1, and by extension the entire series, Danganronpa Zero provides a deeper understanding of the series lore in a way that ACTUALLY WORKS, particularly the origins of the first Killing Game, the science behind it, and the backstory of one of it's most key characters.

//Junko is the main antagonist of the Danganronpa franchise, and just like her arch-nemesis Makoto, her influence is EVVEERRRYYYWHEEEEREE across this franchise. Even MORE than Makoto's is, easily.

//So it's amazing to me that she's still such an enigmatic character despite this central role in the storyline. As well-known as she is as the Mastermind of the Killing Game and as the Ultimate Despair, her true motivations are shrouded in mystery.

//While not fully, the Zero light novels help to elaborate on some of it. And they do it in a unique and twisty way too that is really fun to experience. And not just for Junko, but for the DR series as a whole.

//I'll be the first to say that Zero introduces a lot of random ass characters that no one, including me, seems to like very much, and for reasons that I think are fair. But I'm also mostly fine with that, because unlike some stories like Killer Killer, I think Ryoko and Yasuke handle the story well enough on their own.

//The mystery of who Ryoko really is, and the reveal near the end of the story's are masterful. And the fact that it remains such a dramatic and well-built-up mystery is awesome. As a character, she is fairly standard, but her actions and decisions are driven by strong, personal motivations. The depth makes her relatable and fun and her choices more impactful within the narrative.

//Matsuda too. The series has it's fair share of stone-faced snarkers before he showed up, but his character is marked by hidden personal struggles and more emotional depth than he lets on. And his decisions are not always black and white, adding some nuance to the tale.

//Couple all that with the fact that Zero has an actually engaging plotline and set of mysteries that don't overwhelm you as much as they would in Kirigiri, it's quite easy to get invested into this story as you put the pieces together.

#9 - Danganronpa ~Another Despair Academy~

//So I understand that this is a very hot take when it comes to taking a look at the Another series, because there aren't many out there who would put the first game above the second, especially not four spots higher. But let me break down just why I like this one so much.

//For starters, the more colorful character designs appeal to me massively. And personality wise, Another 1 has a much more solid cast of characters than the second game does.

//While Yuki is still a fairly standard protagonist for most of the game, borrowing aspects from both Makoto and Hajime, characters like Tsurugi, and Kakeru, and Satsuki, and quite a few others are one's that I'd never really seen the likes of before. And unlike SDRA2, most of them are likeable to me.

//They aren't perfect of course. There's still traces of LINUJ's pessimistic attitude, but there's less here than there was there for me.

//I also like the mysteries and the class trials more. Even though they are more contained, and borrow some things from the main game, (i.e. the first culprit being the sports jock and the fourth case being a trapped house) I still think the mysteries of this game are enough to stand out, even in the fierce competition.

//I can't comment much on the environment because like Utsuroshima, it's just a recreation of the setting of Danganronpa 1.

//But unlike SDRA2, Another 1 has a lot of the things that I look for in a fangan. It's pacing is well-managed, and the investigations, trials, and character interactions run smoothly and keep players engaged throughout.

//But even with that, there's more of a respect for the source material here than in the sequel. I know that on LINUJ's part that was intentional, and he wanted to set SDRA2 apart, but while innovation is key, I do like it when the tone of the original is respected.

//Now if only we can have an actual not-shitty translation for this.

#8 - Project: Eden's Garden

//This is not only the most recent Fangan to be added to the list, but also the most recent Fangan to be created in general on the list.

//Even though we've only gotten one character from Eden's Garden in the blog so far, I still wanted to include this because I've yet to thoroughly talk about this game.

//My general opinion on it is that I don't fit in with the hype surrounding Eden's Garden, and I'm not as excited for it's production as most other people, but I generally still think this is a really solid fangan.

//Well, I say "fangan" but Eden's Garden isn't explicitly a Danganronpa game. Apparently it's just "inspired."

//Which is a load of horseshit. You're trapped in a location with 15 other students, you all have Ultimate Talents, the bad guy, while not Monokuma, is black and white.

//It's a Danganronpa game, no matter who tells you otherwise.

//That being said, Eden's Garden DOES deserve to stand on it's own merits.

//First of all, even though it's currently just a prologue, the story features a beta Class Trial to show it's player base what's in store for the future, which I think is a clever tactic. Most fangans leave their audiences high and dry while they wait for the first trial to release (still been waiting 3 years for Chapter 1 of Coward's Paradise).

//This beta trial also shows off how Eden's Garden's mysteries and system are unique to itself, and while it has a similar spirit, it does take what Danganronpa laid down and runs with it in a way most fan projects don't.

//Right from the get go, the narrative is compelling to me, and the characters are done very creatively. I like that Damon Maitsu, the protagonist, is an asshole to everybody because he genuinely thinks he's so much better than them. It's like playing Trigger Happy Havoc, but Byakuya is the protagonist instead of Makoto.

//The quality of the game is unbelievable too. Not just the characters themselves, but the backgrounds of this game are absolutely gorgeous, even if they are simplistic. But that's always been the case for Danganronpa as well, and Eden's Garden replicates that simple beauty perfectly.

//One of the biggest selling points for Eden's Garden for me though doesn't actually have to do with the game itself, but the people who are making it. There is nothing more satisfying to me in the universe than a developer team that actively engages with their community.

//I do understand why it's important to make sure you keep your closest fans and followers at arms length. You don't want to get too personal to people who you don't know. But in the case of a project like Eden's Garden, it relieves a lot of my worries about the game's future because the dev's listen to their fanbase, and actively accept the criticism to make sure the final cut of this game turns out exactly as the fanbase wants it to, which is more than I can say for most entries on this list, especially number 14.

//That said, I do have a couple of minor issues that bump the current state of Eden's Garden down a bit. It suffers from a lot of standard problems that fangans tend to, like varying quality at different sections. For example, depending on the version, their might be problems with the quality of voice acting or dialogue. This was a big issue for RebirthVoices.

//For this game in particular, I can narrow my issues down to 3 things.

//One: The game is currently just the prologue. As good as the prologue to this game is, it is not anywhere close to a complete game, therefore I cannot judge it as such.

//Two: While many of the characters are appealing right from the get go, be it for their interesting personalities or the mystery surrounding them, there are one or two that I feel are lacking depth. It's hard to say how I feel about this new group when I have so little to work with.

//And three: my own personal experience of this was detracted from with the numerous technical issues I suffered playing it, like bugs, glitches, and performance problems. I'm sure this is just a me thing because I haven't got a strong enough computer, but the problem is still a problem.

//But these are all ultimately minor qualms, and they don't detract my TOTAL enjoyment of this project. This is something special, and I really hope it goes places.

#7 - DanganFanfic V2: New World Order

//For those who are uninitiated in this entry, this is the game that Mona, Mii-Yu, Eden, and a couple other side characters are from originally.

//As well as, personally, one of the most underrated Fanganronpas ever that doesn't nearly get enough attention and that actually bothers the fuck out of me.

//Okay, so let me get my issues with this out of the way first and foremost. I do have some pretty big critiques for this game, starting with it's gameplay.

//This game was made in the Ren'Py Engine, and for those who don't know, that is the same engine that was used to make Doki Doki Literature Club.

//And unfortunately, it does NOT work well for Danganronpa.

//The gameplay of the Class Trials in this are my biggest issue with this game. Like H20, there are many minigames that you only ever play once, and the one's that you DON'T play once tend to be very annoying and tedious with horrible UI's.

//The Daily Life segments are fine, but as soon as you get into the Deadly Life stuff, that's when the games tend to take a HUGE drop in quality.

//Speaking of, the Daily Life, Investigation, and Class Trial are all split up into separate downloadable files, which means it just fills up your PC unless you delete each file after playing them. Which is what I tend to do.

//The game itself is made by like, three people, so I can't exactly complain, but I feel like it could be better.

//My other huge issue with this is not really any fault of the game's or the developers, but something that gets on my nerves regardless.

//This game, as the 2 in it's title implies, is a sequel to a Danganronpa fanfiction that the creators wrote a short while ago. It was a personal story amongst them and was never released to the public. When they started working on the game, they weren't originally planning on making it a publicly downloadable Fangan, until they "succumbed to the pressure" as they put it.

//The annoying thing is that the original fanfic never got released, and yet the game's plotline is based entirely on the events that happened in that. The reasons why Monokuma is randomly called Killmore Bear, the victims of the game that the new characters all associate with, and so many other things can't be answered because the external lore that answers the plot points is not wholly available. Only brief guidelines are.

//So that frustrates me. But that's basically all the issues I have with this game. Everything else is absolutely stellar.

//First off, these are some of the most creative character designs I've ever seen. All the sprites ARE traced from the original series, but I don't give a shit about that. The game itself is basically made on a budget of zero anyway, and if it works, it works.

//And despite how incomplete the full backstory of the game is, the plot and mystery element of it is fucking fantastic. The Class Trials are written superbly well, even though they stick to the same tropes that the original series have done before, and the psychological drama is so original and interesting.

//A lot of the humor is unfortunately inside jokes that only the developers understand, but once you hear it enough times, you start to make sense of the weird phraseology and it doesn't feel wholly out of place.

//And the character writing, while again, a lot of tropes of the original DR cast are still there (such as Zeke and Kokichi being VERY strikingly similar) the characters in this game are really fun, wacky, and oftentimes reach ABNORMAL levels of silliness and confusing. From a British dictator, so a barista who is usually polite but becomes rude and foul-mouthed when he's on coffee withdrawals, to a missionary that missionaries for EVERY religion.

//A lot of these are blatantly unrealistic and stupid, but that's the charm of this.

//If you haven't had a chance to play DanganFanfic V2, PLEASE give it a go. I promise you, you won't regret it. To this day, I still genuinely believe that it is among the best of the best Fanganronpa's out there.

#6 - Ultimate Talent Development Plan/Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp

//Hoo boy, where do I fucking begin with this one?

//So Danganronpa S is currently the most recent official title in the main series of Danganronpa Video Games, and there are two things I need to clarify first and foremost.

//Firstly, I will be counting the full Danganronpa S game, as well as Ultimate Talent Development Plan from Danganronpa V3, as the same entry. Danganronpa S is an expanded version of the original UTDP game mode, with more features and characters, and on top of that, the game is also part of the same storyline. While Talent Development is a bonus minigame that shows a Non-Despair Alternate Universe of the cast of 1, 2, and V3 being students at Hope's Peak Academy and living out three years there before graduation, Summer Camp is both an expansion and a sequel of the original game mode, taking place at the end of the three years, and showing 50 days of the cast of 1, 2, V3, and now Ultra Despair Girls, living out their lives on Jabberwock Island in the virtual world.

//Secondly, Danganronpa S was released as part of Danganronpa's 10th Anniversary celebrations in 2020, and while it is a spinoff game with a marginally different gameplay focus, it expands on the universe at present by providing additional character integrations, backstories, and scenarios that are officially recognized as part of the series lore.

//Basically, what I'm saying is that even if you disagree, I do count this storyline as an official Danganronpa title, so it gets to be on the list. That said, if you were to include it, and you asked anyone what their favourite game in the series was, chances are high that it would NOT be this one.

//So let's go over all the reasons why this game is widely criticized and outright hated by the Danganronpa audience.

//Exhibit A: The gameplay is notoriously repetitive.

//Sure, being a visual novel series, Danganronpa has never been widely recognized for it's gameplay over it's storytelling, but even so, the gameplay loop of UTDP/DRS is mind-numbingly repetitive, and lacks a clear feel of depth and engagement that all previous titles lacked.

//Speaking personally on the matter, I do not like that it's a basic requirement to make your characters strong enough to fight in the RPG gamemode, using the boardgame mode, where their stats and abilities are mostly delegated to random chance.

//And I know how that sounds coming from someone who plays Hoyoverse games, but even the Hoyoverse games don't REQUIRE you have good artifacts. You only need them if you want to run the endgame dungeons, which I don't.

//For DRS, it is basically a REQUIREMENT, otherwise you can't beat the gamemode.

//Exhibit B: Gacha Mechanics and Microtransactions.

//Okay, so personally speaking, I think this is overblown. Yes, the gacha mechanics are dumb, and the fact that you have to roll for your characters is annoying, but the way the system works means that you're going to get one card at least once with no repeats; at least in DRS.

//But in DRS, the game also features microtransactions where if you're struggling to get a character, you can buy them on the Nintendo EShop.

//Now, this has never bothered me, because one character regardless of rank is less than 45p where I'm from. However, that's not the point.

//Putting gacha elements in any game that isn't a free purchase is frustrating and exploitative. These sorts of mechanics can make progress feel slow and contingent on spending real money, and that detracts a massive amount of enjoyment from an audience.

//Exhibit C: The plot is contrived and ex-machina as fuck.

//Danganronpa S in particular, with it's whole setting on Jabberwock Island in the virtual world, is ridiculous and nonsensical in the way it carries itself, and I feel like it didn't need to happen. The cast could have easily gone to a real island in real life. It would mean that the team didn't have to make ridiculous logical leaps to make the technicalities of it work.

//For example, you can bring souvenirs back from the island because they get 3D printed in the real world after you buy one.

//Why not just buy a real souvenir on a real island!? Because Monokuma needed magic powers to introduce your mcguffin BULLSHIT! This bear has done ridiculous shit in the real world! He doesn't need video game powers to be OP!

//It would have made so much more sense for this to take place on the REAL Jabberwock Island, not just because it avoids these stupid leaps, but because it might give the fans a chance to actually SEE the real world location the Killing Island in DR2 is based on.

//And Exhibit D, which I think is by far the biggest issue: This is not the Danganronpa we wanted.

//Ever since DRS came out, Spike Chunsoft have left Danganronpa as a franchise on the shelf to rot. And for me, this is a MASSIVE missed creative opportunity.

//Danganronpa is one of the biggest fanbases that Spike Chunsoft owns, and there are so many ways the franchise can explore new themes, settings, and gameplay mechanics. But instead, we just get this.

//Expectations for Danganronpa S were high when it first released, mainly due to the popularity and critical acclaim of games like DRV3 before it, but the dramatic shift in gameplay and focus combined with all the factors I've already listed, means this game is just an outright disappointment. And Chunsoft just left it at that.

//By not capitalizing on the potential of this series, regardless of how V3 tried to put it to bed, Spike Chunsoft misses out on the opportunity to expand and evolve Danganronpa in creative ways that could attract both existing fans and new players. Something that I would really like to do with a blog like Survivor.

//With all that being said though, Danganronpa S is up this high for a reason. Personally, even though I acknowledge that the issues are important and need to be addressed...I still like the game a lot.

//Mainly because UTDP/DRS knows exactly what it is and knows exactly what it needs to deliver to be sufficiently enjoying.

//It's a fanservice game.

//It was made to provide fanservice.

//And it gives you, SURPRISINGLY, fanservice!

//Again, I don't like the gameplay loop and the grinding, but that isn't what I'm here for. Even then, as monotonous as the gameplay is, that's okay, because this to me is one of those "fuck off" games where if you literally have nothing better to do in your life, you just sit down and play this for a bit.

//What I'm REALLY here for is the primary appeal of these games. The fact that you can see the main game characters interact with each other in ways that the main series wouldn't allow, while also in an AU where there's nothing bad happening, meaning they can be their truest selves.

//But at the same time, the characters who get development KEEP their development, which is good because I wouldn't like this game half as much if Hajime and Komaru were bitching over everything, and Fuyuhiko was acting all stand-offish.

//This game is the nostalgia punch of the series, and seeing one's favourite characters from a whole franchise interact in new ways is always a plus. As someone who has a strong attachment to this cast, it's a delightful experience seeing them all together.

//Also, these bonus game modes, Summer Camp especially, are designed well and retain the style of the characters throughout, even giving them whole new outfits in Summer Camp. Admittedly some of the swimsuits are better than others, but they all have their own aesthetic charm that I, as a fan, appreciates.

//And as contrived as the virtual Jabberwock Island is, it's still nice to see the island in a not depressing deadly perspective.

//Danganronpa's character driven content has always been the best part of it for me. And these titles deliver it in spades, so I will defend these games despite their flaws.

#5 - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

//It was tough deciding which between Ultra Despair Girls and V3 should kick off the top 5, being my two least favorites of the main installments of games, barring Summer Camp. But ultimately, I decided that Ultra Despair Girls fell a little bit shorter.

//Let's explain why.

//First off, unlike every other mainline game in the Danganronpa series, Ultra Despair Girls is not a murder mystery visual novel. It is an action-adventure game with elements of third-person shooter in it.

//This immediately puts it on another plane of existence from the main series because the two genre's are so remarkably different; it doesn't matter that there are similar elements between them like the fact that both focus on using certain types of bullets to defeat certain obstacles. And if there are players out there who played the main series, the discrepancy between it and Ultra Despair Girls is jarring for those who prefer the investigative and narrative-driven style of the main trilogy.

//What do I think of it?

//Well, as I mentioned in previous posts, I really want to see Danganronpa branch out into other genre's, with action-adventure being the main one, and Ultra Despair Girls is by far the most outlandish, while also keeping the character and narrative writing of the previous games intact.

//But...I'd also like those games to be good?

//Personally speaking, Ultra Despair Girls' game mechanics, like the aiming and shooting element, and the puzzle solving stuff, is clunky and repetitive at best, and it's not an enjoyable game to actually PLAY. Not to mention that compared to Rain Code, and now the 100 Line, the animation and 3D models just feel so dated in comparison.

//But the biggest issue is all to do with the narrative.

//There's nothing wrong with Ultra Despair Girls story. It's unique, and that's about all I can say on the matter. But my problems mainly lie in the tone, themes, and character.

//Another Episode is very easily the darkest game in the Danganronpa series; far more graphic than it's predecessors. And if I'm being totally honest, I don't like how the writing brings up ideas like child abuse, pedophilia, and psychological trauma just so casually.

//I'm not opposed to these ideas being in Danganronpa; it adds a touch of darkness to the story to remind you that this franchise is fucked up and it's supposed to be that way. I'd just personally like them to be handled better.

//Especially since Ultra Despair Girls has the weakest cast of the main series by a country mile. Yes, I said that Danganronpa 3 had a weak cast, but the majority of the main cast are characters that have already been shown in the series in DR1 and DR2. Like that, Ultra Despair Girls has characters from the first two games in it (Toko and Nagito being the most prominent examples) but they don't take up the majority of the cast.

//And that majority, all things considered, is pretty weak. Even as the most abused characters in the series, I find it hard to care about most of the Warriors of Hope because their actual personalities are so dry and simple compared to the rest of the main cast of the series. And in general, the characters development is less compelling compared to what was shown possible in DR1 and 2.

//I love Kodaka and his work, don't get me wrong, but his writing has always been pretty hit or miss for me, and the way that a lot of this is handled feels...kind of insensitive? I don't know how best to put it.

//With all that being said, you'd think that Ultra Despair Girls should have fallen a lot lower than it is here, but the truth is that Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, is an underrated gem as far as Danganronpa is concerned.

//Even though most people regard it as the worst of the main games...

//...which is right...

//that doesn't mean it's bad. It's actually pretty incredible.

//As I said before, my own personal issue with UDG's gameplay is how clunky it is. The actual shift in gameplay is pretty fun honestly, and even though it's not EXACTLY what I want, it's still a step towards it.

//And even though I have some very major qualms with the writing of this game, putting those issues aside, the story itself is pretty great. The way that Komaru and Toko come together to fight this threat, and how they become such tight-knit friends feels so natural.

//Speaking of, while I do generally dislike the underdeveloped cast of this game, Komaru and Toko are not part of that problem.

//For many years, I had my issues with Komaru because I felt her character progression was too slow, and even in the end, I felt it didn't amount to much. But getting to write her in Survivor and Phantom Thieves of Hope, I love this absolute insane gremlin of an MC.

//I understand looking back that what makes Komaru so appealing compared to the other protags is, putting it not so delicately, is that by comparison to Makoto, Hajime, and later Shuichi...She's just so fucking stupid!

//There are times in the story where Komaru shows that she has the same observation skills and eye for detail as her brother, which is cool, but most of the time, when she's not crying her eyes out in the face of absolutely horrible and traumatic imagery, her interactions with Toko range from heartfelt to absolutely goddamn hilarious.

// "Kangaroo Meat and Tuna Eyeballs," and "Respeculate your elders," are a few good examples.

//Speaking of Toko...Holy shit, I fucking love Toko.

//As I mentioned before with Ultra Despair Hagakure, Toko and Hiro are in similar positions in their titles. They are the returnee from DR1 who I didn't like very much, and get a chance to have more character development.

//But while I feel Hiro kind of missed the mark, Toko hit it DEAD ON.

//She has one of the most compelling redemption arcs/character development stories in the whole series, to the point where I made an entire essay for it here on the blog.

//But, as to not repeat myself, I'll break it down by saying that I like mainly how Toko becomes more open and communicative without betraying her prickly and sarcastic nature that was developed in the first game; which is also handled far better here. Her interactions with Komaru help her come out of her shell, and she shows signs of caring and forming a genuine friendship, something she struggled with in her previous appearance.

//She's also the perfect character to bring back for a narrative like this, since she's easily the most thoroughly abused character in the first game, and that helps create a connection between her and the experiences the Warriors of Hope went through. They both were hurt as children, and those experiences led to them hurting and killing a lot of innocent people. And knowing she can't just brush off this connection, Toko begins to confront and deal with her past traumas, and her experiences in Ultra Despair Girls push her to acknowledge and work through her issues rather than just repress them. And it works very very well.

//And of course, while her feelings for Byakuya remain, Toko’s obsession diminishes, and she starts to define herself outside of this one-sided relationship. Her growing bond with Komaru helps her find value in herself beyond her fixation on Byakuya.

//This is why I don't mind the poor character writing of Ultra Despair Girls because all the good character writing went into these protagonists and their relationship, and it's excellent.

//As a few other notes on why I like this game, I really like the setting.

//Towa City is one of the most interesting settings for these games because of how open it is. Yeah, it's not exactly an open world, but having the Demon Hunting Game take place in an apocalyptic city is not only a far cry from DR1 and DR2, but it's a much welcome one.

//This is the kind of expansion of universe the series needed, both physically and narratively, providing more background and depth into the events between the first and second game, filling in the gaps and adding some context, and as someone really interested in series lore, this is a really good addition.

//As one last note, Ultra Despair Girls has quite possibly the best soundtrack in the main series as well. A lot of the music Takada made for this game stands out from the others, even the tracks that are remixed from those games.

//Overall, despite it's very big problems, I love this game. It's character development for it's MC's, it's unique gameplay experience, and how far Kodaka branched out for the story are really appealing and underrated as far as I'm concerned.

//Fortunately, Ultra Despair Girls is really the only game in the series that is this divisive!

//Right?

//...

//...Right...?

#4 - Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

//UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH-

//Danganronpa V3 suffers from what I like to call the "Marmite Effect."

//What is that, you ask?

//Over the course of my life, I've found that most people who have eaten Marmite go one of two ways. Either they love it and have it as much as possible on every slice of toast, or they won't touch it with a 5 foot pole.

//V3 is that for the Danganronpa series. And it's really not hard to see why.

//V3 went back to the series origins with a good ol' tride and true Killing Game, and as expected, people who played the earlier entries in the franchise took a critical look at it to see if it measured up.

//Opinions on whether it did vary, but my personal stand on the matter is...V3 has the worst mystery element of the main trilogy by far.

//The cases and the mysteries themselves are fine, but it's in execution that a lot of them fail for me. Like the rest of the game, there are 6 cases, and a new killer each case, but of those 6 killers, only the first one in the first case interested me.

//It's incredibly disappointing because V3 had such a high bar to jump. Danganronpa's 1 and 2 set that bar, and V3 just failed to jump it for me. As fresh a take on the Killing Game formula it is, what sets it apart is not the big problems with this game.

//So like I did with Summer Camp and Ultra Despair Girls, I will quickly go over everything I don't like about this game, then go over everything that saves it and allows it to get this high on the list. Because despite how much of a Negative Nancy I'm being, I do like V3 a lot.

//First of all let's talk about the characters, since that's the biggest issue for me.

//In Danganronpa 1, I can confidently say that of it's main cast of 16 students, there are 10 characters who I love, 4 characters who I still like but not a lot, and 2 characters who I didn't enjoy at all.

//In Danganronpa 2, I can confidently say that I liked EVERY character in it, regardless of whether I felt more strongly about others.

//Ultra Despair Girls I've already said had a weak cast, but most of those characters are side characters, with Toko and Komaru being the only main two that you need to worry about.

//And V3?

//I like roughly about half of V3's cast, and the rest of them, I either dislike, or find incredibly boring or annoying.

//To name a couple of examples, I like Kaede and Shuichi, the two protagonists, and I also like Kokichi, the antagonist, a lot. I like Kaito, I like Maki, and a few others like them.

//On the other end, you have characters like Keebo, Kirumi, Tenko, Kiyo, Tsumugi, and the rest who all suffer in my bad books.

//And the main reason is because the character writing of V3 is so monotonous and not-thorough than the other games. Every character has a personality that can be summed up by one or two words of dialogue they speak on the regular, and hardly any of them change or develop.

//In fact, of the class trials in this game, I only gave a shit about ONE killer, and that's the first one, mainly because she was a protagonist and that was a pretty good plot twist. Everything that came after just declined in quality for me.

//With a few main exceptions, most of the cast just feel pointless and unsatisfying, and while I can forgive that in UDG, I can't forgive it here, where everyone is supposed to get a chance to shine on their own merits.

//As the third main game in an already established and beloved series, expectations for V3's main cast were high. Many fans had specific hopes for how the characters would be and and how it would tie back into the previous games. When the game took a different direction than it should have, it led to disappointment and backlash from those people who's expectations were not met.

//And following up on this, there are characters in the game, with Ryoma, Rantaro, and Kirumi in my opinion being the three biggest examples, who were developed in ways that made their deaths feel like they shouldn't have happened. Ryoma was geared up for a really cool arc that ended the very minute it started; Rantaro still has barely any lore to his name even with the bonus content, and Kirumi is NOTHING. Just a complete blank sheet of a character that serves no fucking narrative purpose whatsoever other than to be a mcguffin killer in Case 2.

//A lot of the writing is also frankly ridiculous with it's leaps in logic, and there are many things that I take issue with. Kirumi randomly being the President of Japan, Kiyo being in a weird relationship with his sister, who is also dead, and Tsumugi...Holy goddamn fucking hell Tsumugi is such a shitshow of character.

//Speaking of which, as one final point, let's go over one last point, and what I believe is by far the biggest source of controversy for this game and it's general audience.

//The ending.

//Danganronpa games don't always have completely climactic endings, at least not with the main trilogy. They all suffer from the same issues, like being general plot dumps, full of dramatic anime-esque nonsense, and being ridiculously long and difficult.

//But V3 has all these issues in absolute spades upon spades compared to the first two games. And as I said already, it's perhaps the most significant aspect contributing to it's hate.

//The twist reveals that the game's events are part of a reality show, suggesting that everything is fictional, and calling into question the reality of the previous games as well.

//This meta-narrative approach just completely ruins mine and every other fan's emotional investment meaningless, and even if this is a little bit dramatic, it makes me feel frustrated and betrayed by the writers.

//As time has gone on, it's become widely accepted that V3 takes place in a completely separate canon timeline from Danganronpa 1 and 2, and thankfully, that takes the edge off for me. It allowed me to maintain my enjoyment of the previous games, and enjoy V3 as a standalone one, even with the timeline split.

//However, if it hadn't been for the timeline split, I would not have enjoyed Danganronpa as a series as much as I do now, so I still can't exactly forgive it. It undermines the emotional investment I've put into these stories and characters; like the game is making fun of me for having stuck with it for so long.

//I am impressed by it's audacity, but equally as frustrated by it's attempt to negate the series integrity.

//Okay *wipes brow* now let's talk about what makes this game stand out, and why it DOESN'T suck ass.

//As I said before, the characters that I don't hate, I do love a lot. Kaede is my favorite in the whole series, and she, Kokichi, Shuichi, and Kaito are all in my top 10. While V3 has the series most mundane characters in it, it also supports some of it's absolute best.

//V3 I feel is also the major contributing factor to why Danganronpa has such a wide audience. The game's themes and twists generate extensive discussion and debate within it's fan community, and even if the ending is controversial for all good reasons, it's also very bold and creative. It gets people talking about it, and the active engagement and ability to share theories, interpretations, and the emotional responses from it are the very reason why Danganronpa's fandom is still alive today despite this game coming out 7 years ago as of writing this.

//Also, though I admitted I don't like the killers of V3, the Class Trials are very explorative, and an upgrade of logic from the previous titles. The plot twists and turns are intricately managed, and keep you engaged and constantly guessing, and constantly immersed.

//One of the biggest factors of what makes V3 stand out is that it really feels like it's own standalone game. Danganronpa 1 and 2 shared a lot of aspects between each other, like similar styles with UI and characters, and sharing a soundtrack. But V3 throws all of that out the window.

//V3 is easily the most stylized game, possessing a really unique UI as far as VisNov's go, and barely any of the original soundtrack is reused here.

//Speaking of stuff that isn't reused, the established theme of Hope Vs Despair is also foregone for most of the game. They bring it up during the ending, but sort of as a faux way of poking fun at the fanbase, like the rest of the ending does.

//Instead, V3 focuses on different contrasting themes like the value of Truth and Lies, the importance and impact of fiction and reality, and what's more important between the facts or the beliefs.

//Now, these are equally as divisive. For long time fans, they might feel that these themes are poorly executed or overly convoluted, and as mentioned, the meta-physical stuff can be pretentious or unnecessary.

//I don't agree with that. Not fully at least.

//I like that the game is making it's fans experience a different kind of philosophical question other than "should you give up? Yes or nah." And through the characters, this is executed well, especially with Shuichi and his dynamic with Kokichi.

//So despite the controversial ending for this game, the journey through it is filled with emotional highs and lows that put it a tiny bit above Ultra Despair Girls for me, but lower than the other main series entries. It features intense moments, heartfelt scenes, and some pretty awesomely executed revelations. Which leaves us with a rollercoaster of emotions that have a lasting impression on us.

//And the good news is that for every entry above this one, I have basically nothing bad to say about any of them.

#3 - Danganronpa IF: The Button of Hope and the Tragic Warriors of Despair.

//Gonna be honest, I didn't know that IF had such a long title before I made this.

//I talked about the light novel series and the bonus novels of the Danganronpa series before. And I mentioned that one of my biggest wants for these sorts of bonus materials are insight into a characters true nature, and their background that wasn't explicitly stated in the main game.

//So basically, what I want most is lore expansion.

//This is why I liked Danganronpa Kirigiri, and Danganronpa Zero. They gave that lore expansion to Kyoko and Junko; characters who deserved it because of how mysterious and interesting they were.

//But my fucking god, if there was one character that needed that more than anything, it was MUKURO FUCKING IKUSABA, the Ultimate Soldier from the first game.

//Mukuro, widely recognized as the 16th student in the academy, the one they call the Ultimate Despair, exists in the first game as little more than to serve as a narrative twist. One that I think was done well and handled well, but ultimately came with some sacrifices.

//Mukuro was introduced in the first game, but never got to show off her real character. As part of the Mastermind's plan, she masquerades as her sister, Junko, at the start of the game, while the real Junko is manipulating events from behind the scenes, all to throw the other students off her trail.

//But then Mukuro, disguised as Junko, is killed early in the game by Monokuma, who impales her with multiple spears. At the time, it was done to demonstrate the deadly seriousness of the killing game and Monokuma’s control over it, but it’s later revealed that Mukuro’s death was orchestrated by Junko to further her plan and maintain her disguise, at least until that all gets blown open in Cases 5 and 6.

//This is the reason why a light novel that takes this context and adds a "What-If" scenario to it, where Makoto saves Mukuro in the nick of time, is so important.

//Because it single-handedly turned this McGuffin character into, no joke, one of the best characters in the series.

//Mukuro doesn't have the same depth and character development as other characters in Danganronpa because of her short screen time. Less information about her intentions, past, and personality is available to players outside of her function in Junko's schemes. As a result, she comes out as less of a developed character and more of a story device.

//Establishing a connection between characters and the audience requires meaningful screen time. The protagonist and other characters rarely interact with Mukuro, at least not as she is when she's being herself, and not disguised as Junko, trying to play off as her. Therefore it's difficult for players to develop an emotional connection with her. Compared to other characters who possess greater presence and growth, her detached nature renders her less noteworthy and influential.

//Not even UTDP and Summer Camp fix this, since Mukuro's disguised as Junko there too, and for no real reason other than budget.

//They got Komatsuzaki to make swimsuit sprites for her, but couldn't pay him to take off that fucking wig.

//Speaking of things that certainly don't fix the issues with her character, Danganronpa 3 sure as fuck doesn't.

//Mukuro’s portrayal in the anime is easily her worst, and doesn't even align with her established character traits from the game. For instance, her skills as the Ultimate Soldier are not adequately showcased, and her relationship with Junko is...

//Well...

//"Oversimplified" is as nice as I could put it.

//I'm not saying that Mukuro being Junko's dog doesn't make sense given what type of character Junko is, but it completely betrays this stone cold warrior that Mukuro is supposed to be, and lacks nuance on top of that.

//Mukuro's character there is also another big example of how DR3 fails to do what it's supposed to do that I forewent mentioning in it's segment. The anime had the chance to delve into Mukuro’s psyche, her loyalty to Junko, and her own personal struggles, but it largely ignored these aspects. This oversight diminishes the complexity and potential intrigue surrounding her character.

//Aside from that, Mukuro hasn't had any content of her own until recently when she was added to ShiroPro as her own character. That really puts into perspective just how little a shit the DR writers give about this character.

//And it's because it fixes basically all of these things that I've just discussed that is the reason why Danganronpa IF is my third favorite entry in the franchise, despite being bonus material.

//Unlike the other novels/bonus content that expands on the main series lore, IF instead offers a What If scenario where Mukuro survives her execution, and thereby takes her own central role in the story.

//Since this was a bonus story that was released in the pack that contains the first few games, it lets the true fans explore a different narrative path from the main series, and provides fresh insight and excitement on a formula that they've already experienced.

//But it goes beyond that, for several reasons.

//First off, for those who don't know, IF was written by both Kodaka himself, AND Ryōgo Narita.

//For those who do not know who this guy is, he is the man behind two very famous Japanese crime novels: Baccano and Durarara.

//Baccano, by the way, is one of my favorite anime of all time. Please watch it if you get the chance, and watch it dubbed in English too, because they knock it out of the park with that dub.

//So needless to say, this simple bonus novel is on a whole other level of quality than the others, and I love that Narita is also the original Naekusaba shipper.

//IF really highlights WHY Mukuro is the way she is in those because she feels like Junko is all she's got, and the only one she can be comfortable around. And then proceeds to realize that that isn't the case.

//Before I get into the actual story quirks, I want to mainly talk about Mukuro herself and why she's such a stellar lead in this. Since the novel is about her, it gives her more depth and development than she ever has in any of her other appearances. And trust me, there aren't many.

//First and foremost, this novel provides more insight into Mukuro’s background and her relationship with Junko. It delves into her history as the Ultimate Soldier, her experiences in various war zones, and how those experiences shaped her personality and skills.

//This exploration of her background gives her character more depth and makes her actions more understandable; as well as showing off just exactly HOW she managed to survive in war for so long without a single scratch to show for it, and not in a way that feels ridiculous or convoluted for the series like how Hijirihara was in Killer Killer.

//I also love Mukuro's conflict and internal struggle, since it makes a lot of sense. The story explores Mukuro’s internal struggle between her loyalty to Junko and her own moral compass.

//It shows that she is not just a mindless follower but has her own doubts and desires, and above all else, her own CHARACTER. And not just that, but a complex and sympathetic character at that.

//And putting the ship fuel aside, her relationship with Makoto in this story makes perfect sense two.

//Makoto and Junko are two sides of the same coin. In terms of their characters, they cannot be more polar of opposites, but they are both influential and powerful people who advocate, and represent opposing ideals in a similar way.

//Even though she's spent most of her life with Junko, being part of her path of Despair, it doesn't feel unnatural for Mukuro to then be inspired by Makoto and decided to defy Junko to protect the other students. This shift in her actions from antagonist to protector highlights her capacity for change and redemption in a way that few DR characters have shown to this degree.

//Through her interactions with other characters, especially Makoto, Mukuro shows emotional growth. She starts to care about the well-being of the other students and begins to see a life beyond her sister’s influence. This growth makes her more relatable and multidimensional.

//While Mukuro is the absolute highlight of this story, there are other things about IF that put it this high on my list.

//The novel has a lot of features that will appeal to readers who have been following the show for a long time, like going back to see beloved characters and locations and delving into possible futures that have sparked fan theories.

//Kodaka deserves credit on this story too too. Since he has an active involvement in this, it also means that none of the characters in the story deviate too much from their portrayal in the original series. And for that matter, neither does Mukuro. She still exhibits traits she showed in DR1 and DR3, but not to the degree that makes her a blank-slate obedient servant; just someone who cares about her sister despite the fact that she's an evil lunatic.

//And through it's own existence, by offering many outcomes and developing the emotional arcs of well-loved characters, the story evokes strong emotional reactions in me. It's based on an already existing experience that we all would have gone through it we played the main games of DR1 and 2, but it leaves us with a lasting and profound experience nonetheless.

//Mukuro’s journey in Danganronpa IF is one of redemption. By the end of the story, she takes significant risks to help the other students escape the killing game. Her actions demonstrate her desire to atone for her past and protect those she once helped endanger.

//God dammit I'd love to see the DR3 equivalent of this world.

#2 - Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

//What can I say about the original Danganronpa that started it all that hasn't been said already.

//While I don't think it's aged spectacularly, Trigger Happy Havoc deserves more credit than anything because without it, literally nothing on this list would exist.

//Now, the thing is, since this is the first game, I could take a lot of compliments I gave to the other titles and just carry them over, so I kind of want to bullet point this one if possible.

//The other games ran with it, but Trigger Happy Havoc was very unique when it first came out, due to how it first showed the combination of visual novel storytelling with investigation and courtroom drama. Take the gameplay elements of Ace Attorney, and the mystery and context elements of Zero Escape, and you basically get Danganronpa, resulting in a distinctive and captivating experience as you gather evidence, work through riddles, and take part in rigorous class trials.

//This was also the introduction to the widely known narrative that isn't only applicable in Fanganronpa's, but mystery games akin to and inspired by it. The story revolves around a group of high school kids who are imprisoned in a school by Monokuma, a vicious bear. To graduate, they are made to play a deadly game in which they have to kill each other and get away with it. The story delves deeply into the dark themes of Hope vs Despair, trust, and betrayal.

//But these are things we've talked about endlessly, so the real question is this: How does the first game stand out from the rest of the series.

//Besides being the very introduction to the core concepts, Danganronpa 1 is the most true to it's function. There's no gimmicks, no outlandish shit involved in it's narrative, not nearly as many wacky cartoonish antics, etc. It is the most tride and true Killing Game story of everything that's come out of it.

//Also, despite being the first, and the namesake of the series, Hope's Peak Academy is above and beyond one of the most unique settings in the series. I said before how much I liked Ultra Despair Girls open environment of Towa City, but even though Danganronpa 1 is the complete reverse of this, it really helps to work with the darker tone of the story.

//An issue I had with the Ultimate Academy is that it felt TOO open and expansive, especially with it's courtyard. It completely lost the feeling of isolation that Danganronpa 1 had with Hope's Peak. The first game REALLY makes you feel like you're trapped with how claustrophobic and intense the atmosphere of the school is right from the very start.

//It is both a literal AND metaphorical prison.

//THH also has the most important case of characters in it.

//Junko is obviously introduced as the series face of evil and main villain, who appears/is mentioned in in literally every iteration at least once. But you could say the same for Makoto, and Kyoko, and Byakuya.

//These characters set the tone for the entire franchise; every single Killing Game cast that comes after are defined by this game's lineup of characters.

//And of course, there's also Monokuma.

//Monokuma is introduced in the game as a recognizable and terrifying adversary to the main cast. Though he eventually becomes a series main character, and it's mascot, his initial appearance in Trigger Happy Havoc stands out in particular.

//Especially since he no longer has anyone around to help, or rather HINDER, him.

//DR1 is the best Monokuma is in the series, and there are issues with him in every other iteration. He's fine in 2 and V3, but the real issue comes from the introduction of the other mascot characters, Monomi, and the Monokubs.

//I'm not saying Monomi is bad, even though I will openly admit to despising most of the Monokubs, but neither does a lot for the bear in their games. With the presence of other stuffed animals, the narrative of those game's focus is divided. Monokuma's character is less central to the story as these guys bring about their own dynamics and conflicts, diluting the impact of his presence and actions.

//And then in UDG and DR3, he's reduced to just a mindless sentry robot.

//In Danganronpa 1, he suffers no such setbacks. Hence why this is the best appearance he's had in the series.

//The first game is also the pioneer of the series' aestehtic and mechanics. It creates the series' unique visual and aural aesthetic, with its vibrant, exaggerated artwork, chic text and menu display, and unique soundtrack, establishing Danganronpa's distinctive and identifiable brand.

//And While later games introduce more complex mechanics and deeper layers to the narrative, DR1 offers a more straightforward experience. This simplicity allows new players to grasp the core mechanics and themes without being overwhelmed.

//And that's basically all I have to say on this game. It's simplicity as the first game in the series, but it's influence on the world at large, as well as it's many sequels and fan projects is so important.

//Danganronpa 1 is crucial to the series as it lays the foundational elements that define the franchise's identity. As the inaugural title, it introduces the innovative blend of visual novel storytelling, murder mystery investigation, and intense courtroom drama that distinguishes the series.

//Its distinctive art style, memorable characters, and unexpected plot twists set a high standard for narrative complexity and engagement, left a lasting impression on the world and paved the way for the series' subsequent success and expansion.

//...Speaking of which...

#1 - Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

//How could it NOT be this!?

//Even though Trigger Happy Havoc established the core concept of the series, it only took one more year before evrything that Danganronpa is is perfected and presented in the sequel.

//It takes the premise of the original and introduces a new setting: Jabberwock Island, which provides a fresh and vibrant backdrop compared to the claustrophobic Hope’s Peak Academy. While I do generally think Hope's Peak worked better to make you feel trapped and afraid, this new environment enriches the gameplay and narrative opportunities that were already established for the mystery element.

//It's not nearly as isolated, but the only other entry in this list that tried to do the island setting was SDRA2, and it only did it half as successfully.

//The game also refines and expands upon the gameplay mechanics introduced in the first installment. It adds new elements like the Island Mode and improves the trial system, enhancing the overall experience while maintaining the core gameplay.

//You know... "Improved" Hangman's Gambit notwithstanding.

//Fuck that minigame.

//All my homies hate that minigame.

//Goodbye Despair also builds on the themes of hope and despair with a more intricate storyline, adding layers of psychological depth and surprising twists that keep players engaged. The narrative complexity is heightened by the exploration of new themes and connections to the original game.

//But while it introduces new elements, DR2 effectively ties back to the events of the first game, creating a sense of continuity and expanding the lore of the series. This connection enriches the overall narrative and rewards fans with deeper insights into the series’ overarching plot.

//The sequel refines the pacing of investigations and class trials, making the gameplay smoother and more engaging. The visual and auditory presentation is also polished, enhancing the overall immersive experience.

//Basically, take everything I said about Danganronpa 1, and know Danganronpa 2 did ALL of it better.

//As to not repeat myself, let's talk about the reasons DR2 stands on it's own merits, and why compared to every other Killing Game in this, it's the best one.

//I already talked about the change in setting and how that affected it, but the second game also explores themes of hope and despair with new twists and connections to the original game. Its narrative complexity, including a deeper focus on psychological and existential themes, sets it apart by expanding the series’ lore in innovative ways.

//Especially with the final trial, and what Hajime goes through, but we'll get to that.

//The sequel builds on the narrative foundation of the first game but adds layers of complexity, including connections to the broader lore of the Danganronpa universe. This deeper storytelling and thematic exploration contribute to its standout status.

//And then...there's the cast.

//Oh boy, the cast of this game is fucking fantastic.

//As I said already, the casts of Ultra Despair Girls and V3 were lacking in some departments, even if the latter had some of my favorites. And even though THH's group was solid overall, there were still some I didn't take too kindly to.

//I can't say the same for DR2. I love EVERY SINGLE ONE of these characters!

//Sonia, with her blend of regal charm, intellectual depth, funny dialogue, and genuine empathy leaves an engaging persona to watch.

//Kazuichi, with his endearing clumsiness, earnest ambition, and surprisingly sad underlying depth, adding the main source of humor, but also the emotional resonance.

//Fuyuhiko with his stellar character development and evolution from a tough, abrasive brat to a more vulnerable and honorable soldier, with a good head on his short shoulders.

//Peko, with her unwavering loyalty, yet also an unexpected human side to her stoicism.

//Akane, with her fierce determination and carefree attitude, masking some insecurities and a caring personality.

//Nekomaru with his larger-than-life enthusiasm and kindness, and unyielding commitment to his friends, as well as the comic relief he offers.

//Mikan being such a tragic figure, contributing massively to the emotional complexity of the story.

//Ibuki doing basically the exact opposite of that, lol.

//Hiyoko being an abrasive and snotty bully, yet eventually revealing this vulnerability adds a portrayal of personal growth and social dynamics.

//Gundham, easily one of my favourite's in the series overall, with his dramatic personality, and love for his pets; perfectly balancing eccentricity with genuine depth.

//Teruteru, with his passionate and flamboyant personality, yet carrying underlying struggles and honest motivations, becoming a character that is deeply flawed, but empathetic and entertaining.

//The Ultimate Imposter, and the mystery around his true self, yet the honesty of his motivations and conduct.

//Mahiru, my absolute series best girl, with her blend of practicality, strong sense of responsibility, and her genuine care for others that make such a steadfast character.

//And of course...Hajime, Chiaki, and Nagito.

//Though they lack the interaction potential that was shown with Shuichi, Kaito, and Maki, they are easily the best lead characters in the series proper.

//Hajime is a fantastic protagonist, even though I can't confidently claim if he's better than Makoto, Shuichi, or any of the other protags, because his journey from uncertainty to self-discovery is fascinating, well-handled, and compelling on ideas like identity and growth.

//Chiaki stands out for her combination of quiet kindness and hidden strength, being a comforting presence, a crucial source of support, and a universally loved character in the fanbase.

//And then there's Nagito. A character so interesting that I've never seen or played any other video game that has somebody quite like him. His unpredictability, complex motivations, and his philosophical views on the series themes add a profound and unsettling dimension to the narrative at large that never quite went away.

//As iconic and important as the cast of Game 1 are, the sequel features a fresh cast with memorable and distinctive personalities, each contributing to the story in unique ways. Not to mention this new group of characters offers a different dynamic from those in the first game, providing new kinds of interactions and relationships.

//Danganronpa 2 isn't without issues. No DR game is. It features what is widely considered both the best case and worst case in the series. But in general, I think this game has the most compelling mystery element to it.

//As mentioned already, the trials are a lot more fun than in the first game, because even though the Hangman's Gambit gamemode is absolute dogshit, the rest of the new gamemodes like Rebuttal Showdown and Logic Dive are series staples.

//The actual cases themselves and the mystery element is a lot more complex and layered than the first game too, requiring a lot more critical thinking and analysis, and therefore, more satisfying and rewarding when you finally solve them, which is more than I can say for V3.

//But the best part about it is that they're much longer.

//DR1's trials are good, but they're too short to allow ample opportunity for character development and interaction. But by making the trials longer, the personalities of the new cast are explored in greater depth during the trials, making them more compelling by default.

//And as one last note, I also think Danganronpa 2 has by far the most satisfying story and conclusion.

//As I mentioned before, the final trials of these games always end up sharing the issues of being plot dumps, having a lot of anime bullshit in it, and being massive in length and difficulty. This game's final trial suffers especially with the second one.

//But it is actually raw and awesome as fuck, so I can't complain.

//Goodbye Despair's conclusion, like a lot of the final trials, delves into meta-narrative territory, but not in a way that felt insulting like V3, nor a way that felt anticlimactic like THH. The philosophical approach here in contrast to then is less straightforward and more unique, and the final twists, especially with the Remnants of Despair and Izuru Kamukura is quite possibly the most shocking, heart-crushing, and impressive the series has offered.

//The conclusion also ties together the themes and character arcs of not only this game, but the first game too, in a way that is powerful and thematically coherent. The resolution of the story, and with it, the conclusion of Hajime's very well-crafted character arc, provides closure, while also leaving the audience with just enough questions end reflections about the nature of Hope and Despair.

-Mod

[lutawolf]

My Dear Gangster Oppa Commentary Ep 2

This episode will be much or of a reactionary commentary than a synopsis, cause I'm playing around with how I prefer to write things.

Anyway, Episode 2 starts off where the episode 1 ended. Guy in his drunken sleepiness had pulled Tew to him. Tew finds himself waking up in that position. I admit to feeling gooey inside. Clingy Guy and unsure Tew are adorable.

When Tew tries to remove himself from the octopus, he finds himself dragged back. Where he lays for just a minute, indicating to us that he is reluctant to leave the position. I think this confuses him.

I mean, look at that face. It has confusion written all over it. With a touch of want.

Thanks to the gangster storyline, we now know that Tew is a boss. So no low lever gangster. The conflict is that some thugs are being sent to try and find Tew because he beat up a rich daddy's son for getting handsy with one of his employees. Unlike Tew, she was not appreciative of the groping, valid.

Wahl is freaking because he doesn't know where Guy is. I've seen a few people say this red flags him, but I'm withholding judgment at this time. I am just as possessive of my friends and if I didn't know they were safe, I'd freak too.

When Guy wakes up, there is no longer a big guy on top of him. And all indications point to him not even knowing he slept with the big guy. He is confused about where he even is until Tew walks into the room to clue him in. We learn that Tew carried Guy!

You know, completely normal behavior for a gangster. Tew is super friendly this morning. There are smiles and he even makes Guy hangover food. I think the cuddle time really had an effect on Tew, who was likely touch starved.

If Tew wasn't already a goner, having Guy feed him broke the camel's back.

👀 Tew asks Guy if he likes whales because he mentioned them in his sleep. Oh, no Guy! Don't bring up Wahl. But inner dialogue says Tew isn't scared off. Awkward moment where Guy sees Tew's back scars, but then we are in the vehicle and heading home.

You guys, this face says it all. My boy is all in. Guy don't know what he has gotten himself into. The way we see Wahl watching Guy and Tew as they talk does give creep vibes. Wahl giving third degree does scream possessive, but again, I'm withholding judgment because third degree is common in close friendships. We want to know everything.

Guy explains that Wahl wouldn't know his friend because he's an online gaming friend. I find it interesting that Guy is asking Wahl if he is okay with Guy being friends with Tew. Then Wahl says, "Of Course Not!" like a petulant child. This feels very double standards to me. Okay, but then he explains that he was worried sick about Guy, which is valid. And he has some valid points as to why getting drunk and staying with a stranger is dangerous. While I respect that Guy is trying to set some boundaries between them, so he can have his own life. A friend isn't really a friend if they aren't concerned about your well-being. Even if you are grown.

Then to Tew driving and thinking about Guy. Oh yeah, he is smitten. But he has to put that aside to get back to gangster business.

Wahl and Guy are back to being friendly and Wahl invites Guy to each with him. Dude, Wahl, I've been trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, but right after inviting Guy, you're busy. He has to fit your schedule. Not cool.

More troupe gangster shit. I'm gonna be honest. The gangsters are laughable. Especially permed hair, dude.

Guy really doesn't want to go to Wahl's, but he goes. And the gf is there. They are being so cute it makes me want to gag, but thankfully his guild start contacting him. Then he reaches out to Tew to once again try to tempt him into meeting up with all them. Guy is being clearly flirtatious and Tew is eating it up. Then Wahl interrupts and is clearly jealous of this gaming friend. Ugh, all the signs point to Wahl going to look at Guy's phone. Not fucking cool.

The smile Guy gives when Tew agrees to meet. Too cute.

Now we meet the gamer gang.

They are hysterical and I already love them. Coconuts, the bunch of them. The way Guy is describing Tew, awwww. The way Guy adjusts his clothes to make sure they are laying right when he sees Tew. Yeah, boy is feeling Tew as well.

The look they both give muffin when she offers for Tew to sit next to her. 🤣🤣🤣

The accident hand touch troupe.

She is me. Furthermore, once she notices, she calls Muffin out on her flirting. I really like her. And now the whole table knows about Guy being drunk, hahaha. Oh no, your drinking again, Guy. Just say no. 🤣🤣🤣 Around the six drink, you can see Tew getting concerned. He even tells him to slow down or he'll end up like last time.

Me again. 🤣🤣🤣

Tew was right. I feel like we are meeting an awful lot of troupes in just one episode.

It should feel cheesy but oddly enough, doesn't. It's coming off too natural to be cheesy, if you know what I mean.

I snort laughed when Guy offers to demonstrate that he can in fact stand up straight. The way Tew backs away with a nod is so "yeah, go ahead dumbass, I'd like to see this."

See, I told you. Wahl looked at Guy's phone. Otherwise, how else did he know that Guy would be there. Did he really just ask him why he was that drunk? Bitch, no. A bestie's job is simply to help out, not be unsupportive and ask why. I know he also didn't accuse Tew of doing this to Guy. There is an instant change to Tew's face. He does not like Wahl.

Look! It's males in the wild having a pissing contest!

And once again, they end on an element of suspense. I'm excited about the next episode!!! Hope you guys enjoyed this 💜💜💜

[they-reap-what-we-sow]

20 questions for writers

thank you for the tag @fanfictiongreenirises I finally managed to finish a tag game!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

168- with 44 podfics and the rest are regular fics!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

346,848. unfathomable number who is she where did she come from

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Batman (Batfam) my love my life, but 9-1-1 is a close second with one-offs for a lot of my other passing interests.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Floppy Bird - crack fic that was meant to be an angst fic that I never understood why people liked so much asfhjs

cocoa on a cold night - a classic timby holiday fic that I wrote in the middle of summer, talk about environmental storytelling

secrets un(revealed) - the only purposeful long fic I've ever written, and also the most trope mashing I've ever done with reverse robins, magical realism au, and delicious delicious miscommunications (in my head the only fic that deserves to be in the top five :wheeze: )

Eggshells - vent fic alert !! very embarrassing that people like this I try not to think about it ":)

taking the blade (for you and yours) - a round robin fic written with the server and CHOCK full of Damian suffering.

5. Do you respond to comments?

NO PICTURES. NO COMMENT. I DONT KNOW HOW TO READ.

no jk jk I really really try to but once I start getting behind it's just a whole spiral. these days I have a better chance of replying to a comment on an old fic than a brand new one because I dont want leave them half replied

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

any of my death fics probably? I think with DC a death is a little more inconsequential than other fandoms just because of how often it's unpermanent, so as a concrete answer, I'll say for you (i would cross the line). nothing quite like parental grief.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

happy ending wink-wonk or XD

probably Who The Hell Is Red Hood? - I've done things there with growth and healing that DC HQ would shudder to imagine

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not regularly, thank everything, but the one controversial three-some I posted needed comment regulation lmao

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes and uh, the kinky kind? idk take a look for yourselves I guess

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yes, and they're ALWAYS unserious- Buck from 9-1-1 dating Emma from Friends (yes Ross and Rachel's kid) anyone?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Uh, not by a person? as far as I know? but I have found my fic on those like, document websites??? which is weird lmao just read them on your phones guys not everything needs to be uploaded

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

weee yes! round robin my beloved, and also every fic @canonicallyshort and I have written in our threads. those count. to me. emotionally.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I WILL GO DOWN WITH MY MULTISHIP (which really means I'm never going down at all) but really I dont think I will ever get over Merthur... or Buddie... or- you see what I mean?

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

oh god I have so many wip that I am holding out hope for but my biggest WIP is an unpublished hellhole affectionately entitled "Death Pit" by everyone who is working on it- most notably because it features a literal Death Pit, every horror, angst, whump, and trauma trope you can think of, and a cast of characters and a plot thread so long we have 20+ page outline documents that aren't even fully updated... I shudder to think what will become of it one day, I imagine sentience isn't very far off

16. What are your writing strengths?

why is this an interview question. I dont know my strengths really?? um. I have good ideas, that one I'll say. execution is a different story (likely one that will never get told. like the rest of my good ideas)

I also think I do fairly well with scene descriptors. I really like to set a scene because I'm seeing a movie in my head and you all should too!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm down to clown globally! I dont like to use google translate though, so if im writing in another language it's only because SOMEONE on the server is a native speaker and can vouch for my text.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

oh god one direction. head in hands. it was an 'adopted by 1d' fic that I made my mom beta, and turned it in to my 6th grade English teacher as my creative writing assignment. then I made a poem about it. then I wrote a song about it. thankfully it never got published and is trapped in the cursed purple file folder it was 'hidden' in since 7th grade. my first published fic was almost 7 years later with a Gomens fic!

20. Favourite fic you've written?

AHh um. favorite child scene here, but top contenders include: lithium + 5 for its graphic design and medical accuracy, fiery veins on speechless days for its emotional whump that makes me hurt every time I reread it, [PODFIC] wither on the shore which is not a fic I wrote but one of my favorite podfics of @silk-scarlet-ribbons 's works.

tagging (if you wish to participate!) @canonicallyshort @silverandsunflowers @selkienight60 @crows-murder

[lakemojave]

Mojave's Top Ten Games of 2023 (3 of which actually came out this year)

I figured I should make a list like this at some point, but I didn't actually play many new games this year. Well, I played tons of games for the first time and loved so many of them, but few of them were new releases. At my current stage as a game critic, I'm playing a lot of catchup, trying to get context for current games, playing the classics and the seminal franchises of the medium. I do not have a game of the year pick. Even though I was behind the curve, I still wanna talk about the experiences that moved me this year.

Honorable mentions:

Baldur's Gate 3 (2023): One of the densest, fleshed out, satisfying narrative RPGs the gaming industry has seen in years. Immersive, well written and charming, no two people can have the same experience with this game because of how much variance and player choice is accounted for in the gameplay and script alike. It's for that reason it's not on the list though--not only have I not finished it, I'm also not doing it singleplayer, and am missing out on much of that juicy story content in favor of me and my group's meta-narrative.

Black Mesa (2020): The remake of the first half life is sharp, smooth, and immersive, combining what was visually and narratively compelling about Half Life 2 back into the original story. It has some of my favorite setpieces of the entire half life catalogue now, which is saying a lot. It's off the list in favor of the original.

Dead Space (2023): A triumphant return to the horrors of the Ishimura incident, with insidious twists to the game design and story that disrupt a fan's familiarity with the game world time again. It scared the fuck out of me so many times, but the bittersweet feeling I get thinking about the fate of the Dead Space franchise means RE4 gets its spot.

10. Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals (2023)

The long awaited sequel to 2016's Oxenfree caught me by surprise after playing the first game just before it. Playing the original teen horror, I'm struck by how grating some of the dialogue can be, how sophomoric and cheap it can feel without drinking deep of the content. What makes this version of teen horror so compelling, though, is that through sympathetic participation with Alex, you catch yourself from griping at the young characters for making foolish choices, which is very effective.

What's stunning about this sequel is that in the 7 year gap between games, it's not just the team and the audience that has matured, it's the writing all around. Your character, Riley, is in her early 30s, returning to her hometown and feeling very existential as she peers into the past, the future, and the unknown in between time and space. The world of Camena and Edwards Island is expanded on those lines, the thematic focus becomes resonant and emotionally devastating, and the dynamic with young characters, familiar or not, demonstrates how strong this second chapter to the oxenfree story really is.

9. Resident Evil 4 (2023)

Look. I love a horror game. 2005's Resident Evil 4 may be among the best of them, and it may be timeless in its own right, and it may be foundational to so many other games I love today, but god damn is this remake fun. With sharper visuals and atmosphere than the original, intricate new resource systems like knife durability and parries, and some updated character work, it's safe to say this is a categorically different game than the original. Plenty of material was cut from the main game, like the IT fight or the laser hallway, which found their way into the DRASTICALLY improved Separate Ways expansions, starring Ada Wong. It's not my favorite Resident Evil, and it's far from the scariest, but it's the one with Leon's spin kick, and there's nothing more satisfying than that.

I do maintain a lot of early gripes I had with the remake. When Resident Evil 8: Village came out in 2021, it borrowed a lot of mechanical, narrative, and aesthetic tropes from RE4, updating them to a new game in the wake of the remakes of RE2 and 3. Those remakes were truly transformational masterpieces, blending all of Resident Evil's best aspects to create new, distinct experiences. RE4, the original, didn't really need much updating, it's been ported to hell and back already and is so ubiquitous that there was no real need to bring it back into the zeitgeist. Nothing can really be gained by this remake except for a victory lap for Capcom.

Cynicism aside, FUCK YEAH, TWO CAKES!

8. Mass Effect (2006)

I should say that the version of Mass Effect I'm playing is not the one that came out in 2006. The Legendary edition does a bit of graphical and mechanical tweaks to update some of the dated aspects. That's kind of a shame, because the dated aspects are what's so fascinating about Mass Effect. Between Baldur's Gate 3, Disco Elysium, and now the early Fallout games, I find myself taken by classic CRPG design, which accommodates such a wide variety of player choice. Mass Effect doesn't have too much choice in it--the progression and ending are pretty much fixed from the beginning, you basically choose what flavor of the script that you want.

In that way, I like Mass Effect as a transitional piece--an attempt to bring the aspects of early CRPGS into the modern, console games market, with all the budget EA would give them. The writing and design are...satisfactory. The shooting could be more robust, the characters could have more personality, and to the series' credit those things do come about in Mass Effect 2 (which I'm sure I'll gush about when I finish it).

It's the presentation I love here. Mass Effect has maybe one of my favorite sci fi settings I've ever seen. A vast array of alien civilizations, a rich history filled with interesting lore, a competent portrayal of intergalactic politics, all delivered by characters that are deep and interesting. The voicework is also some of the best I've ever seen, and although there are many standouts, Jennifer Hale's Shepard is just tremendous. Actually playing Mass Effect may be a slog, completionist play might require some of the worst loot grinding I've ever seen, but that is all secondary to the way I was captivated by Mass Effect's version of the final frontier.

7. Half Life (1998)

I did a whole ass 5 hour video essay about Half Life, and I don't wanna belabor how much I like this game and series too much more. I loved Half life 2 and the portal games for years, but it was only for that project that I actually got around to playing this. It's a real bonafide classic, containing so many tropes of modern immersive action games WAY ahead of their time. The setting of Black Mesa is deep and engaging, the environmental storytelling is strong, and the voicework is natural and believable (for the most part.) Sometimes as a game critic I have to give some allowances to an older game for some of its jank and some of its rough edges, let myself see the thing just for what it is without all my modern hangups. I don't have to do that with Half Life like I do for other games. There's parts of it that are rough, like the Interloper and On a Rail chapters, but Half Life feels just as good to play now as it did 25 years ago.

6. Dredge (2023)

There's an old tumblr post that proposes a fishing game that's secretly a horror game. That post imagines a game that starts out normal and comfortable, but as the game goes on the player would catch stranger species of fish, soon finding monsters lurking in the deep and hidden secrets. It got a lot of peoples' imaginations going and engaged a lot of fan artists and even more comments riffing on this idea.

Dredge is that game. I was so gleefully surprised to see this game go through every single one of those steps in the first region alone. The game has a strong atmosphere and great art, leading to some real weird and nasty fish to catch and fill out the weird and spooky encyclopedia. Fishing at night gives you different and weirder fish, but it also raises your panic meter, which can cause hallucinations and open you up to monster attacks. It's a pretty ambiently scary game for the most part, and I almost chalked it up to being more horror themed than actual horror, until this one lagoon where a giant tentacle suddenly shot up at me out of a sudden drop in the ocean floor. I fuckin yelped, actually screamed in a way only two other games have gotten me to do this year.

5. Alien: Isolation (2014)

I have never, in my life, felt more powerless in a game than when I played Alien: Isolation. I'm used to games like Resident Evil, where you have a toolset for survival that is limited, but allows you to give actual pushback towards the zombies trying to get you. I played Amnesia: The Dark Descent this year too, the opposite of this dynamic, where you have NO means of resistance whatsoever, and the binary outcomes of monster encounters of that game completely broke my immersion.

Alien: Isolation actually gives you myriad crafted tools to overcome your obstacles, from human scavengers to androids to the xenomorph herself. Yet, the impossible speed and predatory senses of the monster means that one slip up means instant death, and the death animations are pretty brutal. Through cunning and cautious play, you can slip past the Alien enough times to where you get a flamethrower, which will repel her in a pinch. However, her AI is advanced to the point where she will learn your habits between deaths, look for you in lockers if you hide in them a lot, resist certain tricks like noisemaker bombs or flares. It's in keeping with how the 1979 movie presents her: a perfect killing machine. In fact, its the way so much of the Sevastopol resembles the aesthetic of that early film that not only helps the atmosphere, but makes the alien's power more believable. Immersive and terrifying, Alien: Isolation is a horror triumph.

4. Undertale (2015)

Yeah that's not actually a joke. I really did only play Undertale this year, and I was really actually completely blind going into it. Of all the games I'm happy I got to experience fresh, it was this one. Undertale seems tropey in its game design, story beats, and writing style 8 years later, but that's because so much of its design has been cannibalized by indie developers going after this aesthetic. As a bullet hell, it's...fine. As a meta commentary on retro RPGs and on the act of violence in video games in general, it's incredible. It legitimately gave me immense joy to reach the end and have my stubborn insistence on pacifism challenged even further, and then rewarded in the best possible way. I got to experience it on stream, too, with some friends who had played it previously and one who did not, and we all did the common thing and did funny voices for everybody. It's created some real cherished memories for me, memories that wouldn't have hit as hard if I did not wait to play Undertale.

3. Metal Gear Solid (1998)

Now here's a game I truly thought I'd never get around to. I'm a big fan of the Metal Gear series and when I learned that konami was releasing the master collection pack of the first 3 games, I was fuckin' stoked. If there's one other game that dictated the trajectory of storytelling and presentation of modern games like Half Life did, it's this one.

Having played the first two metal gears, the 2D ones from the late 80s, I was struck by how much of the basic design beats of Metal Gear come directly from the early titles. Seeing them translated into 3D is just incredible--all the prototypical stealth design transcribed so seamlessly into a much more legible visual language to me. The shooting may feel like ass and the bosses may have healthbars the size of Alaska, but the moment to moment sneaking in this game is so intricate and thorough that you really do feel like a tactical master as you go about it.

None of that touches on what's most memorable about Metal Gear Solid, and that's the presentational aspects. The animations and models might be worse than Half Life's, but the writing and voice acting is just world class. David Hayter as Snake, Cam Clarke as Liquid, Christopher Randolph as Otacon, and Patrick Zimmerman as Ocelot (hell even an early Jennifer Hale role) are astounding performances, even today. The cutscenes and dialogue are certainly oversaturated and long, but goddamn if I don't like watching and listening to them. I love this damn game.

2. Bloodborne (2015)

Bloodborne has been more of a myth and less of a game for me. I played some bits at a friend's house in 2017 and never owned a PS4 so I never thought playing it would be possible for me. I obsessively watched lore videos and playthroughs which got me into Dark Souls 3, then Sekiro, then Elden Ring, which has fueled much of my activity on twitch and as a game critic in general. It was only this year that that same friend lent me her PS4 and I played Bloodborne 3 whole times until I 100% the game in a matter of months. The experience was so meaningful to me that I ended up scrapping my first bloodborne video and starting from scratch, this time with Bloodborne Kart dev Lilith Walther as a guest.

I have never been more immersed in a game world than I have been in Bloodborne's. Yharnam is not only such a dense and intricate city, it is drop dead gorgeous in such a grotesque and macabre way. Many words and many writers have already described the surreal hypergothic smokescreen shrouding the insidious cosmic beings steering the terror and bloodshed from out of sight, so I won't repeat them here. You don't forget the sights and sounds of Bloodborne--they linger in your imagination, the visual language shapes your own ability to conceive of images and ideas in horror fiction, twisting the familiar into stranger shapes and forms.

Plus it just feels so fucking good to play. I like From Software titles and their style of combat, and I like how fast combat works in Sekiro and Elden Ring, but neither of those games accommodate brutality like Bloodborne does. You're meant to attack recklessly, cravenly, no blocking, just press the attack again and again until you're drenched in the gore and blood of your foes. You feel like one among the beasts--after all, what difference is there between a predator and the man that hunts them?

1. Signalis (2022)

I have not stopped thinking about Signalis since I played it the first time. The game is like a fucking honeypot for me. It's got Resident Evil style tank controls as an option, with similar combat and inventory management, themes and presentation similar to Silent Hill, and a sci fi flourish akin to Dead Space. So what, it's every great horror game jammed into one retro style amalgamation? Sounds like a great time for me!

That's just the surface, the hook of it all. While the game certainly uses this familiarity to pull you in and make you comfortable and excited for its own terrors, there's a creeping feeling of unease as you continue to revel in the horror and gore that's taken over these halls. Your character, Elster, is a special ops android in a fictional fascist regime, who has abandoned her post to search for her human partner, whose identity eludes her as she slips into delusion. After reaching the depths of the first area, where the space mine turns into a hall of flesh and viscera, the very walls pulsing and dripping, the world suddenly resets, and you find yourself back in the very first zone, now covered in the same blood and gore. The characters cry out in pain at you, begging you to stop, to turn back, to stop prolonging their hell with your own pursuit of an ending. A chalkboard in a classroom with a pretty frivolous note early on now reads "YOU'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE."

If I go on I'm gonna spoil the whole game, but that part there is the essence of Signalis to me. Many games will challenge your own enthusiasm for playing, question the time you spend in the game rather than like, going outside or something. Few games will actively blame you for prolonging the suffering of the game's inhabitants and creating a self contained digital hell. Few games will ask you "why do you want terror?" in the way that Signalis does.

Signalis is a triumph of horror game design. The imagery is horrifically cryptic, the worldbuilding is dense, the monster design and soundscapes are creepy and effective, the gameplay feels desperate and every bullet fired feels like a scream for help. Signalis is my favorite game I played this year, hands down.

[oodlyenough]

I've been pretty critical of AAI so far but I'm mid 1-4 and enjoying the bit I'm playing right now so I feel I should give credit where it's due

Calisto Yew is hilarious

finally... someone willing to laugh in edgeworth's face. lmfao. deserved. sometimes I worry this game has forgotten miles edgeworth is a ridiculous person. calisto yew never has. god bless her

i'm with her, that was hilarious. bully those (post)minors ms yew

This post got really long so here's a cut. More on Yew & Franziska below:

it also meant we got to hear edgeworth and franziska talk about how awful and disgusting defense attorneys are, how could they defend someone who might be GUILTY, the HORROR, because in this universe the actual role of a criminal defense lawyer is arcane knowledge lost to time.

i've found myself wishing AAI got into the defense/prosecution philosophical debate more, the mainline games spend a lot of time positioning the prosecution as the enemy and i thought the alternate perspective here would be compelling. but so far it's mostly been edgeworth "inspecting every nook and cranny" while court has no role to play at all. so this is nice.

2. baby franziska

a lot of why I wanted to play this game at all is because I am obsessed w Franziska and hoped it would continue her story after it kind of unceremoniously ends in AA3. then I ... wasn't thrilled with how she was written in the airline case, so my hopes for baby franziska were not high.

But I'm liking her actually. Her put-on maturity and insane competitive streak really suit a 13 year old, lmao. And I don't have to wonder why she has fire extinguisher amnesia re: everything with her father and DL6. She and Miles are pretty funny, but there's some nice moments too. I really loved this one:

I cut the MVK/Franziska exchange in between for readability, and I'd seen that first screenshot float around plenty before, but I'd never seen the follow up. The progression of MVK is a huge dick to Miles for no reason -> Franziska intervenes in a way that makes MVK change his mind, but, crucially, without revealing any particular sentimentality -> Edgeworth recognizes it for what it is and thanks her anyway -> Franziska brushes it off in a way that lets them go back to competing in lieu of talking about their feelings, phew. Really good and felt very true to the relationship I think these two would have and the ways I think Franziska would demonstrate her care. The rituals are intricate but she loves her idiot little brother.

Also: matching sprites. Hehe.

3. This MVK line specifically, in response to why he wants Edgeworth to be a "top tier prosecutor"

Cracked me the fuck up. What an insane thing to say, and no one in-universe even knows what he's talking about. An inside joke to himself about his 15 year elaborate 5d chess child abuse revenge plan. Nobody's doing it like MVK. His ridiculously circuitous plan is 1/4 complete

Anyway, I'm not done this case yet, but it's the most I've enjoyed AAI so far so I felt I should give it a shout-out, lol. I wish Franziska could be my weird girl all the time 😔

[wizard-finix]

Ao3 tag game!

THANKS @ragecndybars FOR THE TAG I APPRECIATE IT

*cracks knuckles* lets do this

How many works do you have on AO3?

24 works! I would have never expected to have that many 5 years ago, hahaha

What's your total AO3 word count?

186,291! oh wow, almost 200k!! (unsurprisingly PT minato takes up over a third of that LMAO)

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

10 fandoms! I'm counting Persona 3, 4, and 5 and separate, but I'm grouping all the Zelda fandoms together since it's all Linked Universe fic.

Here's the breakdown!

The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms (6)

Persona 5 (5)

Persona 3 (5)

SPY x FAMILY (Anime) (3)

Wizard101 (Video Game) (3)

SPY x FAMILY (Manga) (3)

Runescape (Video Games) (3)

Pirate101 (Video Game) (3)

Persona 4 (2)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom (2)

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga (1)

Star Wars - All Media Types (1)

The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors (1)

Top five fics by kudos:

The Ghost of Mementos/Stygian Ringlet (Persona3/5) - to the surprise of absolutely no one, since this is currently my longest fic. I'm very happy with Stygian Ringlet being the top because I love my boys :)

True Crime Special on the Midnight Channel (Persona 4/5) - my Ren has a TV Dungeon fic! also very proud of the dungeon concept for this one, I really need to finish the last two chapters

Dark Clouds on the Horizon (Linked Universe/TOTK) - I feel like this one got a lot of momentum partially because it was directly in the wake of TOTK's release, but I'm happy with how it turned out :)

Strangers Are Just Friends You Haven't Met (Persona 3/SPY x FAMILY) - this was a collab series with mewrose and a few others in the marigolds discord! we were throwing ideas at the wall to see what stuck and I really had a lot of fun with Shinjiro-related prompts, because I LOVE him and hitting him with the isekai baseball bat into a universe with Anya brings me great joy

Salt Tears and Raindrops (Linked Universe/TOTK) - directly related to Dark Clouds, and I'm glad people enjoyed good ol' fashioned angst >:) (I do need to post more of my wips, I do have a couple more roleswap AU wips that I want to post)

Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I almost always do because I really appreciate them and its my way of saying thanks for the comment! If I don't comment it's because I lost track of it or because I can't think of a response.

What's the fic with the angstiest ending you've ever written?

Probably Salt Tears and Raindrops. I was in a Mood and decided to go for the tried-and-true method of putting fictional characters I like through the emotional wringer. That's how I got the rough draft for this fic :)

Do you write crossovers?

*looks at my persona fics and recent LU fics*

...I think it's safe to say most of my fics these days fall under crossovers lmao

Have you ever gotten hate on a fic?

I wouldn't say I have? One or two comments that came off as rude, but no actual hate, thankfully. If I did, I forgot about it. I've been blessed by wonderfully nice readers <3

Do you write smut?

Nope. I don't read it, so I wouldn't know how to write it anyway.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of? I sure hope not.

I have seen a couple short fics slightly imitate Ghost of Mementos though, which I thought was really sweet that they liked it enough to inspire their own writing.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, but I'd definitely be open to it!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

RYOMINA. Hands down. I love them so much, I am so mentally unwell about these two

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

My two Runescape fics, Whispers in the Temple and Welcome to the Jungle. I absolutely loved going hogwild with rewriting old quests in Runescape, but I psyched myself out of Welcome to the Jungle because I got overly anxious about accidentally doing bad representation.

(in hindsight, it probably wouldn't have been as big a deal as I thought; it's hard to make it worse considering how bad Legend's Quest was with the british-african stereotypes. that quest DID NOT age well.)

I also want to finish Snake in the Grass; that was my first attempt at a genuine mystery plot and I really liked playing with Warriors in that fic in the context of the gang trying to figure out who the heck is trying to murder him.

What are your writing strengths?

I feel like I'm pretty good at dialogue! I try to make sure it matches the character's speech patterns and personality. Really well-written dialogue can tell you who's speaking without actually telling who it is. (For example, the way I write them: Minato speaks as few words as possible and has very little filter with his observations when he does share them, and Shinjiro is pretty rough around the edges, with shortened words and the occasional swear. Warriors is good with words and wit, but he has a certain military-esque directness and doesn't dance around the topic.)

I do try hard to keep the plot clear and understandable over everything else, so probably that as well.

Also, now that I think about it, maybe fight sequences? I don't do them much, but I do enjoy the challenge of making a clear sequence of what happens in a fight and trying to make it understandable. Fight sequences are easy to skip or gloss over, but I think of them like their own miniature plot. What happens? What surprises are there? What are their movesets? How do they get the upper hand? (and of course, what looks cool as fuck)

What are your writing weaknesses?

Time management. I tend to over-proofread since I beta my own work, and often I'll go back to tweak stuff if I had additional thoughts to add to it, or extra insight. Lately, it takes longer to write chapters than I'd like.

Also, dialogue-heavy scenes often get very chaotic in my WIPs because of the way I rough out fics. I'll throw together a bunch of dialogue bits I think would be cool to include, and sometimes they'll clash or get really messy, especially if there's lots of characters (looking at the latest two chapters of Stygian Ringlet)

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?

I think it's cool! It adds flavor to fics. If it's more than one short phrase though, or if it's story important, then I do prefer that there is a translation in the author's notes. I haven't done any non-English dialogue in fics, save for one memorable adventure into trying to figure out how Latin grammar structure works for a character that didn't speak English.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Wizard101 and Pirate101. I was obsessed with those two for YEARS. I really, really liked pirate stories in high school, and having a cast of crewmates that accompany you throughout the game really inspired me to write my first fic featuring my OC. (I was also into One Piece at the time, but I never wrote for it.)

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written so far?

Stygian Ringlet. It's really dear to my heart. I have poured so much love and effort into that fic, and the reception on it has completely blown me away.

THANKS FOR THE TAG!! Uhhhmmm for tags I'm going to go with @skyward-floored, @catreginae and @breannasfluff (but only if you want to!! no obligation of course)

and of course any other writers that want to do it as well!! go forth

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for tagging me @timetravelingpenguin1066 <3

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

111.

2. what's your total AO3 word count?

413,187.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Actively: House of the Dragon, The Last Kingdom and Ewanverse characters. Previously: Vikings, MCU, Game of Thrones, and a few miscellaenous characters played by the Skarsgård brothers.

4. top five fics by kudos

Who Taught You How to Love Like That?, Unbearable, Ride, Mine, Perzys se Rūkla (wow, I am popular with the Daemon crowd on AO3, who'd've thunk it?!)

5. do you respond to comments?

For a really long time I didn't, simply because I am a creature of procrastination and AO3 isn't a platform I check often. I think it got to something ridiculous like 400 unread comments, so I wiped them all and started fresh and since then I make a point to go in once a week and reply.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Either Careless Words or My Body is a Cage

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably The Shielded Heart.

8. do you get hate on fics?

I did for As the Gods Intended - this person was really bent out of shape about the incest and abusive dynamic within the fic, but I went onto their page and all of their fics were Lucemond ones, which seemed hypocritical to me, so I blocked them!

9. do you write smut?

Yes.

10. craziest crossover?

I don't really do crossovers - I did a Tom Bennett/Billy Taylor cross over once. That's my only one. It's called Body Electric.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not an outright copy and paste, but I have fallen prey to mosaic plagiarism, and it feels equally violating. Especially when the person admits to it, but then refuses to rewrite the portions they've lifted from you.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, Unbearable was translated into Portuguese for Wattpad (with credit).

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, the unpublished Socussy fic - @bottlesandbarricades @targaryenrealnessdarling @em-writes-stuff-sometimes and I all created something nightmarish. It lingers in Google docs, like a beating heart beneath the floorboards.

14. all time favorite ship?

Floki and Helga from Vikings (I have previously written fics for this) and Tifa and Cloud from Final Fantasy VII (never written fics for this and never will)

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have yet to leave a WIP unfinished!

16. what are your writing strengths?

Characterisation, clear and concise prose.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Sometimes I can be too objective.

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Love it. I never use a translator, as I prefer the challenge of figuring it out myself. Particularly High Valyrian.

19. first fandom you wrote in?

Vikings.

20. favorite fic you've written?

I'm currently very proud of Cozened Indigo.

No pressure tags: @vampire-exgirlfriend @emilykaldwen @targaryenrealnessdarling @moris-auri

@flowerandblood @barbieaemond @superprincesspea @exitpursuedbyavulcan