Danganronpa V3 Controversy - Should We Be Pissed?

Written by Shiggins

I love Danganronpa.

I own all the games. I have like ten waifus from the series alone, including Nagito Komaeda, Chihiro Fujisaki and even Peko Pekoyama, who has a very silly name but wears a thong and could slice me open with ease! I love this series so much, from its characters and plot twists to its themes and references, I adore the thing... but now something has come up.

Note: SPOILERS AHEAD! If you wish to avoid spoilers, do NOT click this article!

Another group of gorgeous fuck-ups.

For those of you who are unaware, a quick recap on what Danganronpa V3 actually is. After the conclusion of Makoto Naegi's story in the divisive Danganronpa 3 anime, fans were eager to start anew and so, it seemed, were Spike Chunsoft. They quickly announced Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, and began development. The game was released in Japan in January, and we are to be given the game in September. As is standard for Danganronpa, translators and spoilers got to work and now almost every fan out there knows at least one spoiler about the game.

After being bombarded with spoilers despite my best efforts, I eventually gave up and started just watching the videos themselves to find out what's going on and, more importantly, why fans were suddenly gritting their teeth. Something was going on and I had to find out what it is. Now that I know exactly what has angered them, I might just be on the fans' side for once.

Speaking of things I utterly despise... It's like the game wants you to hate it immediately by dropping these bastards in it.

Let's be fair and start with what I like about the newest game. Some of the characters, especially the Supreme Leader/Ruler Kokichi Oma, are tons of fun and well-written by Danganronpa's usual standards. The designs of each character is also great, and while they do start to get somewhat formulaic, I enjoyed the murder mysteries as always.

The story however is where everything falls apart. Like the other Danganronpa games, there is an arc that carries on throughout the chapters and connects them all together, until the final reveal with who the major villain is and why they're doing all this and blah blah blah. In Danganronpa 1, the reveal was Junko Enoshima with the world being destroyed by Despair. In Danganronpa 2, they were in a virtual reality and were once Despair themselves.

Heh... I'll admit the Fanta is clever.

And in Danganronpa V3... Team Danganronpa.

Yes, you read that right. The series that often tickles the fourth wall just smashed it apart and have made their own company the villains. In this game, Team Danganronpa are a tv reality series where they run season after season of "The Killing Game" for a bloodthirsty audience who wanted nothing more than to see these characters do nothing but murder each other for their amusement.

To make matters even more obvious if they're being too subtle for you, the game is called "V3" because the V is a Roman numeral. It's season 53 of the "Killing Game" series, and is being portrayed as a cash cow, milking the premise as much as possible to get more money and going to more outlandish and ridiculous levels to keep things interesting... like having an actual robot be part of the main cast.

Oh that reminds me! Doing what you did with the first female protagonist of the main series is what we classy members of society refer to as a "dick move". 

So, this is how the franchise responds to us wanting more games with beloved characters. They call us bastards who want to milk their franchise to oblivion and desire nothing but blood and death, even going so far as to make themselves (and us too!) the villains of the game to prove their point. And honestly, fuck off!

Let me tell you what makes me love Danganronpa so much. I love the characters of Danganronpa, and their relationships with each other as they grow and develop together through the harsh, psychological struggles endears me to them so I hope that as much of them survive as possible. The idea that Hope will always trump Despair, even in the bleakest of times and there is always something to fight for. And yes, I like a good murder mystery too but only a sociopath wants to feel nothing but pain and insults thrown at them!

Give this context. I dare you!

And yet, that's exactly what V3 does. It thinks it's being clever, this little game, by being "meta" and poking fun at itself and their own fans but that's the problem with satire. Either you do it right like South Park and everyone thinks you're a genius, or you fuck up and make everyone think you're a complete knob-head without a clue. And right now, Danganronpa V3, you look like a knob-head. A smug one.

The only sign during this finale that the creators aren't trying to insult the people that gave them money in the first place is when the robot Ki-Bo hears a voice from outside the Academy that is apparently meant to be the fans. In response to this, he encourages everyone not to vote and thus Danganronpa is put to an end because that's what literally every character except the obsessive otaku villain wants to see happen. Yes, the characters in the game are actually saying they want Danganronpa to end, while a cosplaying fan of the Danganronpa franchise is portrayed as the villain because she's against it ending.

I swear I thought this guy was Naegi for months!

This brings me to what exactly I think has happened; They got arrogant. Danganronpa is a beloved series all over the world and someone asked them to keep going after the end of Naegi's story. In defiance, they made this game but made sure to make it 100% clear that they want the series to end and threw a huge attention-seeking party to make it happen.

Time to let the shit-show begin!

Buddy, if you don't want to make Danganronpa anymore then don't make Danganronpa anymore! You could have ended it with the anime of Danganronpa 3 and everyone would have nodded in thanks. Instead, you made me and many others want you to fuck off and think about what you've done. You clearly don't have a clue what anyone likes about the series if you think it's because we're bloodthirsty and you're acting like you're being held hostage over it because we demand more pink blood.

I've got a bitter taste in my mouth, guys and there are probably others who see this differently than I do. If so, please let me know because right now I could do with someone else's perspective. I can't remember the last time a franchise got on my nerves like this... I'm going back to my Komaeda porn.

I wanted to end this article on a positive note. So here is Komaeda tied up and waiting for me.

NOTE: As requested by the comments, and for my own mindset as well, this article will be getting updated in September after the official release of Danganronpa V3. If the official translation sends a different message than the fan translations and other sources do, then I will gladly take back my words. Danganronpa is love. Danganronpa is life. And so is Komaeda porn.

Shiggins:[Admin]
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Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,. You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/