Board 8 > Zelda continues to play Danganronpa (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

You could possibly get by UDG by simply watching an All Cutscenes video.

I personally liked the game, but I absolutely understand why more people disliked it than liked it. And I am not sure if I recall anything from V3 that leaned on UDG. Honestly, if money is an issue, dont bother with it.
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I'm ranking the main 16, plus Monomi, and Junko/Monokuma (who again will be the same character). I'm not ranking the DR1 trio because they are more like fanservice cameos than real characters.

#18: Akane Owari

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned other strong candidates for this position before, but not Akane. Well, those awful people eventually died, and maybe did something cool before going down. Akane had to be endured from start to end, and I can't name one reason to like her at all. So she wins the "welcome overstaying" award.

Akane is one of the worst cases of misused talent in this franchise. Not only she never puts what would be a very convenient talent into use, but the game makes no effort to connect her character to it. She is a gymnast because some old dude convinced her to and she doesn't even like it much. Fuck, she doesn't even like anything, except eating like a pig, yelling at people and starting fights.

Ok, so she is a brawler, right? Wrong. Brawler is not a very useful skill in this setting, unless you are Sakura. Because Sakura had two things Akane doesn't: actual super-human strength, and an IQ in the triple digits.

The first time Akane tries to solve something with her strength, she gets Nekomaru's body destroyed for the trouble. The second time, she almost kills Nagito if it wasn't for Chiaki stopping her. Which is ironic, because if she had succeeded, she would be executed in Chiaki's place, and Nagito would die in either case. She doesn't even that job (saving Chiaki) done.

As for the IQ, Akane is very stupid, and she doesn't make up for her stupidity with an useful skill, or a likable personality. Hina had the likable personality, Kazuichi had the useful skill, etc. She is a stereotypical shounen protagonist with all the bad traits, none of the good ones, and very little development. The game's attempt to develop her using Nekomaru's death is pretty swallow, because while she suffers a bit, she never learns anything or does anything to help solve the case.

And yet she is better than at least 2 characters from DR1. Because at least she doesn't spam unintelligible phrases about aliens or has random orgasms in the middle of trials. This game's cast is really an improvement.

#17: Monomi

Man, I want to like Monomi. I feel bad for her. She just wanted to do a good job as a teacher.

She never really does it though, except for that scene where she takes down Junko. Which is, admitelly, pretty cool. Otherwise, she can be normally found lamenting about her impotence and refusing to reveal lore because her programming forbids her from doing so. Meh.

But the real problem with her is the English Voice Acting. What... the fuck... was that? That is not a professional VA, at all. It's emotionless, it misses tone all the time, and it's just plain annoying to hear. Maybe this would have been acceptable in the early years of gaming where characters became memes for having bad voice acting, but this is the 2010s. There is no excuse anymore. Not when they can do a great job on Hiyoko's voice, of all people. This is the game's mascot, and they botched her voice, hard.

She's intentionally supposed to sound annoying and cheesy is the likely answer here
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the real shame is that Usami's design is legitimately cute as heck and then she goes and spends most of the game as Monomi which is just. why. why the diaper
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Even when she's in the Final Dead Room and is supposed to be the NPC guide, Nagito is the one who guides her. Sad.

Yeah I'd def recommend just youtubing the UDG cutscenes or something because... hoo boy that gameplay is some hot and utter shite.
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Akane at least has a solid design and a great VA. I mean its not much since her character is absolutely wasted, but I still ranked her 6th just because she offended me less than a lot of the others lol. She was also funny sometimes even though her stupidity was really overdone to the point where she literally seemed too stupid to function >__>

#16: Hiyoko Saionji

Ok, first of all, let's say Hiyoko's VA is fantastic. She really captures the "bitch" feel.

Hiyoko is a bitch. She likes to crush "Mr. Crabs" and "Mr. Ants". She bullies anyone who tries to interact with her, and Mikan's case, anytime she says anything.

That's not a bad concept. Someone has to be an asshole. But an asshole has to hit the "love to hate" status at some point (see Byakuya in DR1). Hiyoko doesn't for a reason: she is an elementary school bully. Her insults are very weak and childish, and only really work on someone like Mikan. She has a tendency to be anti-social and unhelpful at serious times, a trait she inherited from Toko which did not need to appear in this series again. She instantly cries whenever things don't go her way. It's more annoying than it has to be.

She does get a tentative character arc, though, when she builds a shrine for Mahiru. Shows she is not some psychopath/narcissist, just someone who may have had a spoiled life. She could have developed somewhere from there. But someone needed to be 2-3's second kill, and Hiyoko goes down before she gets to have that development. This is a decent character whose presence helped the game more than it harmed it, but who is nearly impossible to like.

swordz9 posted...

Akane at least has a solid design and a great VA. I mean its not much since her character is absolutely wasted, but I still ranked her 6th just because she offended me less than a lot of the others lol. She was also funny sometimes even though her stupidity was really overdone to the point where she literally seemed too stupid to function >__>

I dunno, I feel like I laughed from all of Akane's jokes in 2006, when I first watched Naruto. If you are going to do anime cliches, at least bring something new to the table.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

But someone needed to be 2-3's second kill

Did someone need to be 2-3's second kill
there's other ways to establish commonalities with 1-3 other than double murder
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I understand why most people aren't into Monomi. There is one thing about her I think deserves credit though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9R5mpVVuQ8" data-time="
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Dark Young Link posted...

I understand why most people aren't into Monomi. There is one thing about her I think deserves credit though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9R5mpVVuQ8" data-time="

Oh yeah I'll give you that. This song is so weird, but it's really good.

Man, I don't hate Monomi. But... she can't really compete againt those more human characters. I almost didn't rank her. But then I decided to rank Junko who is not part of the main cast either, and that sealed the deal.

I wouldve liked if Peko had killed Hiyoko instead of Mahiru. It wouldve given some added character stuff with Fuyuhiko & Mahiru since he wouldve either had to develop to forgive her part in the past or something and I liked Mahiru way more anyways. It also wouldnt have hurt Hiyoko doing this because she never gets the chance to really develop after Mahiru dies anyways...so wouldve been a win-win to me.

Oh, also, the REAL reason the murders were forced wasn't because of it echoing DR1. It was because she needed to get the number of students in the game as low as possible so there was less chance of a forced shutdown once the FF members hacked in.
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She just needed a number below 8. That's why 2-5 didn't actually have a motive- Nagito did his killing without being prompted by Monokuma.
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I understand and accept your basis for Akane being last, but I disagree. I actually liked her at first, and she gradually went downhill, but I never actually hated her so much as just didn't find anything redeeming about her. That's still better than most of DR2's cast, though. (You and I also disagree about the quality of the DR2 cast by a considerable margin.)
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DR2 cast is legit super solid
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I'm not sure about the middle or the bottom, but if I had to blend the two casts, the top three for me are all from the original. I'm not sure how far I'd actually have to go down the line before I picked someone from DR2. I guess I'm appreciating Nagito a little more after reading this playthrough topic, but I absolutely loathed him during my own sessions. Chiaki is...okay at best? And she's probably who I would have put at the head of the class. Based on design, I really liked Peko, but she went out in a really bizarre fashion with sudden backstory I didn't care for. There was simply nobody from DR2 that I wanted to root for.
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So did you really never think that Nagito was Makoto? The game tries to bait you into thinking this pretty hard. They look similar, they have the same VA, they're both Lucky Students, they're both associated with hope, their names are anagrams of each other

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azuarc posted...

I understand and accept your basis for Akane being last, but I disagree. I actually liked her at first, and she gradually went downhill, but I never actually hated her so much as just didn't find anything redeeming about her. That's still better than most of DR2's cast, though. (You and I also disagree about the quality of the DR2 cast by a considerable margin.)

It could be recency bias. In this case, negative bias. But I don't joke when I say I don't find any specific reason to like Akane. There is none. Every dialogue with her is a waste of time. This can hurt a character more than having a few highs and a lot of lows, imo.

azuarc posted...

I'm not sure about the middle or the bottom, but if I had to blend the two casts, the top three for me are all from the original. I'm not sure how far I'd actually have to go down the line before I picked someone from DR2. I guess I'm appreciating Nagito a little more after reading this playthrough topic, but I absolutely loathed him during my own sessions. Chiaki is...okay at best? And she's probably who I would have put at the head of the class. Based on design, I really liked Peko, but she went out in a really bizarre fashion with sudden backstory I didn't care for. There was simply nobody from DR2 that I wanted to root for.

My Top 1 from this game is above anyone from DR1.

But after that person, I think the next 3 are from DR1. Probably.

DeepsPraw posted...

So did you really never think that Nagito was Makoto? The game tries to bait you into thinking this pretty hard. They look similar, they have the same VA, they're both Lucky Students, they're both associated with hope, their names are anagrams of each other

Hmm not really, Nagito's personality is very different. Didn't think they'd twist Makoto's character like that.

#15: Teruteru Hanamura

AVRIL LAVIGNE!

Japanese media likes to portray perverts. It's something the Japanese people seem to enjoy, for some reason. They like their nose bleeds, their female bath sneaking scenes, their panty thieves, etc.

But it's possible to make a pervert palatable to a Western audience. I think the key is in giving them some sense of shame, so that the depravity is implied rather than shown. Make them more of a gentleman who is thinking about dirty stuff than a guy who is openly boasting it. Some good examples are Sanji from One Piece and Jiraya from Naruto.

Teruteru does not do that. He's just disgusting. Half of his lines are trying to get some girl, any girl, to touch him or let him touch her. That's it. It seems he had a boner for his entire presence in this game, and needed to act on it over and over and over. His nose bled so much I'm not sure how he didn't faint. This is a person who, if existed in real life, would need an eletronic anklet to walk in public. He's the most off-putting character in 2-1, by far, and having him die early was a relief.

Ok, so why he is not last place? Because he has some decent highs. The part when he loses his cool during the trial and starts speaking in a funny accent is absolutely hilarious. Suddenly people can't understand him, then they can and it's amazing. That's a legit good work with VA, and dialogue writing.

Plus he has the best motive in the game, after 2-5. His backstory is legit sad. Dude just wanted to see if his mom was alive or not. That makes his execution scene particularly sad, too. And his kill plot is pretty solid, even it is somewhat tainted by Nagito's interference. It took DR1 three cases to have a premeditated kill, and Teruteru did it in the first one. Gotta give it to him for that.

I never realized their names were anagrams and didn't pick up on them being the same VA initially, but even so, once the 2-1 Nagito reveal happens it really feels like they weren't trying to convince anyone they were the same person anymore. At best, he could be like a demented Makoto fanboy or something.
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I don't really get liking DR1 cast that much, but different strokes, etc.
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#14: Mikan Tsukimi

I once said Chihiro was a bad character and was only saved by Alter Ego. Mikan is this game's Chihiro. What does she have in place of Alter Ego? She gets to be the only character to show her Despair self, outside of that little flashback scene with Hajime and Nagito. Let's see what that amounts to.

For 99% of her presence, Mikan is just sad. She is another Monomi. Her self-esteem is so low she can't believe people would even say good morning to her, she constantly moans about her uselelessness, and the way she talks is pretty annoying. Her skill is put to use, but even then it doesn't help her much because she does it while crying about how useless she is.

Then she gets to be her Despair self, near the end of 2-3, and she turns out to be quite interesting. Her monotonous voice is very creepy, particularly in the Nonstop Debate where you are trying to pick between different phrases of hers. But it's a bit too short and it's very unexplained so it's actually more confusing than cool. It gets explained in the final case, but the fact Mikan got picked to be the one who shows her Despair side by random kind of cheapens the whole thing. And really, the main problem with those Despair characters is that it's impossible to empathize with them in any way. They are just crazy. Cool, but crazy.

#13: Kazuichi Soda

Man, this one is complicated. Kazuichi is, so far, this series' worst case of a character assassination.

The first time you see him in the airport, he seems like a chill and likable dude. Further appearances confirm that impression. He's not heroic or badass, not with that silly voice at least, but he is a nice, cheerful character who helps balance out the cast's natural pessisism. He has that scene where he tries to spy into the girl's beach party, but he seems embarassed enough about it that it didn't really bother me. His crush on Sonia was kind of cute, and I was rooting for them. He even devised a communication system in 2-3, which made him look cool and reliable.

Then 2-4 absolutely destroys his character.

He is now defined by his massive Sonia crush, and jealously of Gundham. He licks her feet, he fiercely attacks anyone who disagrees with her, he even turns into a masochist when she starts criticizing him. Later cases reduce the frequency of the Sonia-related dialogue, but it's always there, and when it's not, it's just him being a coward or a pointless skeptic. The chill dude is gone, all that is left is an awkward nerdy teenager. I've been that nerdy teenager before, but truth be told, it's a kind of sad thing to look at and after a while it just made me uncomfortable.

And fuck, after all his trouble, he doesn't even get the girl in the end. Danmit, Kazuichi.

He could have been another shot at this game's Hina, but at the end of the game, he's just unbearable. Meh.

But I gotta give it to him, Kazuichi has the best faces in this game. The fear ones and the crying ones are great. It made his 2-4 rejection arc funny, a bit of the time.

#12: Hajime Hinata

We now hit the fodder line. If you are worse than Hajime, you suck.

Hajime is the audience surrogate, bland enough for the player to identify with him, yada yada. He does that job well. He is also basically Makoto 2.0. Just agree with Makoto in a debate and you'll see they even have the same face. He is slightly more pessimistic, and has a less annoying voice.

Oh, and a very cool backstory. Darth Hajime looks badass. Does that help normal Hajime much, though? Not much, because as the game estabilishes, they are completely different people and Darth Hajime doesn't even influence his virtual self.

He gets to become a white-haired Ultimate Whatever in the end, which was... uhhh... very anime.

Good job, Hajime. You can go home now.

I'm downloading DR3 and I just randomly clicked a scene from one of the early Despair arc episodes to see if the file is not broken and the subs work.

Eh... why is Chiaki in a school setting?

I feel like when I first saw Fat Byakuya in DR2.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I'm downloading DR3 and I just randomly clicked a scene from one of the early Despair arc episodes to see if the file is not broken and the subs work.

Eh... why is Chiaki in a school setting?

cuz DR3 sucks and ruins the canon!

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Why test out a middle episode instead of the first episode?

If you really wanna know why she is there, click the spoiler tag at your own discretion:

The Despair Arc is a prequel to the events of DR1 & DR2. In it, we discover the Chiaki was in fact a student at Hopes Peak Academy, along with the others from DR2.
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Eh it's Episode 3, I'll get there soon enough.

Ep. 1 took longer to download for some reason.

Hajime is one of my favorite VN protagonists. He was waaaaay more relatable than Makoto, and that helps tremendously in a game like this. Makoto flat out doesn't work as a protagonist, because he can't believe anything he's seeing and continues to spout friendship and love and lollipops well beyond its welcome. In a death game, he is completely ineffectual, only getting to the truth because of the other characters in the game *coughkyokocough*.

Meanwhile, Hajime is one of the only characters that questions the cast's situation from the very beginning. His internal struggle about who he is and why he's here lends a ton to intrigue into an already interesting story, and the way he handles it all when it comes to a head in 2-6 is fantastic. Johnny Yong Bosch's VA work in that chapter was incredible.
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Well I give it that at the end, he's the only guy holding those people from playing straight into Junko's hand, because the people who were capable of doing that are all dead now. But I think it says more about the low quality of the endgame cast than about Hajime. Makoto would do the same in that situation, he only doesn't do it himself because he has a separate agenda.

I feel like he showed more personality than Makoto just in that opening scene at the beach, where everyone is swimming and he's like "Something is wrong here, I'm not sure what and maybe I'm a great big idiot for not just fucking swimming and having fun"
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I'm saying low quality but I really like Fuyu and Sonia. But Sonia is more of a side character and Fuyu is caught deep in sorrow about Peko to be rational in the end.

hajime is better than about 13 of the 16 of dr1's cast
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I think it's better to watch the anime in English in this case since you're getting the same voices from the games *shrug*
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I've got Hajime above 16 of the 16 of DR1's cast, but I admit I'm kinda weird in that regard.

Nagito (speaking of being weird) > Hajime > Asahina > etc.
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Oh God, you absolutely have to watch the anime in English. It's one of the best dubs I've ever seen. You can tell immediately that they just wanted to have fun and didn't let anything hold them back.
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Don't think I've ever watched anime in English. It's either Portuguese dub, or subbed Japanese.

I watched Korra in English so it almost qualifies, I guess. Didn't want to wait for the Portuguese dub to come out.

Maybe I'll look for it.

If you have Hulu (w/ a subscription i guess), the Huluween content includes the English Dubbed version of the Danganronpa anime in its Anime section.

Not sure if I should watch it (posssibly your thought as well) because I'm under 18.
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AvaGames posted...

If you have Hulu (w/ a subscription i guess), the Huluween content includes the English Dubbed version of the Danganronpa anime in its Anime section.

Not sure if I should watch it (posssibly your thought as well) because I'm under 18.

It doesn't have any content the games don't have lol
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profDEADPOOL posted...

It doesn't have any content the games don't have lol

Heavy disagree. The despair anime alone has like 4 scenes that are way more fucked up than anything in any DR game.
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The future arc is probably worse than the games just because it has red blood. Though I'd say some of V3's executions are worse than the stuff in the despair arc.

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I'm super happy to see so much Hajime support here - he's actually one of my favorite characters in the series! After Makoto being an extremely stock (and dumb) shonen protagonist it was so fantastic to have a main character who is actually pretty smart and capable of solving mysteries on his own. The fact that he's doing it all as (effectively, considering everyone's memories were taken) a completely normal dude just using basic logic to keep up with such a ridiculous cast is even better.
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#11: Peko Pekoyama

If you know how to access DR2's sound settings, it's probably's Peko's fault. Her voice is just. So. Low.

I like Peko. She's cool. Her murder setup with the water bottles and escaping through window was very well-thought of, and it's part of why I really liked 2-2. Her stunt with the fighter of justice thing was awesome, especially considering she is such a stiff person so it was intentionally written to look forced.

But Peko's problem is that she is so one-dimensional. The fighter who only exists to protect their master is an old trope, and this game didn't twist it in any way. The one who got developed from it, and who got twists, was Fuyu. He is the star of 2-2. Peko is the vehicle to make Fuyu more human, but Peko herself never understands what being human actually means. She remained blindly loyal to him until the very end.

Cool but one-dimensional, with no really big flaws. Enough to put you above the fodder line, but not further than that.

The really funny/sad thing for Kaz is the point where Sonia is disappointed when he isn't the killer.

I don't recall which trial that is, but damn when your crush low-key hopes you get executed....
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#10: Ibuki Mioda

Ok, hold the stones please. I know everybody likes Ibuki. But we are approaching the point where everyone is a good character and you have to do better to break away from the middle of the list.

Remember when I said Celestia was more style than substance? Ibuki is 100% style, and zero substance. Now, truth be told, she does the style thing very well. She doesn't land all of her jokes, but does for most of them. She brightens every scene she is in. She is the kind of person I would love to meet in real life.

But seriously, no substance. She doesn't have any glaring character flaws, or backstory, or an arc. She doesn't have any important relations to anyone in the cast. She's just there, being funny and random. She is Hiro, except she is actually funny. Other characters do better.