Board 8 > Rankings from a Lurker: Danganronpa (heavy spoilers for DR, DR2, and DRV3)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hi Board 8 - welcome to the inaugural edition of "Rankings from a Lurker!" I'm your lurker, colliding. I suppose I was more active on this board a few years ago. I've done a few ranking topics before, but it's been a long time since I've been inspired to undertake something like this. This morning, I finished Danganronpa: V3 and I could feel those old nerd gears turning. Which brings us to this ranking of all 48 killing-game participants in the Danganronpa video game series.

What it is: an individual-based and tiered ranking of characters from DR, DR2, and DRV3, based on their in-game stuff only (free time events, mangas, anime spinoffs, anime sequels and video-game side stories are not covered). Yes, I played Another Episode. No, it wasn't that good. No, I never watched the Future or Despair Arcs, and I have no plans to. I don't care if you discuss that stuff here, but you might want to mark your spoilers.

My rankings are based on nothing but my feelings. Please argue and debate: that's the point, right?

However, there will be UNMARKED SPOILERS from here on for the main plotlines of DR, DR2, and DRV3. If you are in the middle of playing V3: LEAVE. If you normally aren't bothered by spoilers but still plan to play V3 someday: STILL LEAVE.

The first tier is the Box of Tissue tier and both characters are straight garbage.

48. Hiyoko Saionji
Appeared in: Danganronpa 2
Ultimate Talent: Traditional Japanese Dancer or something
Most Endearing Quality: Her potty mouth

Quick survey: How many people here cared when this one died? No one? Okay, moving on then.

Our first introduction to Hiyoko is her squishing bugs while saying "Squish! Squish!" Yeah. Plus, she's a loli, so that hurts her in my book too. If she were real and not just a fictional character in the world of Danganronpa, she'd probably call me pig barf. Fine, I'm pig barf, but you're still super boring.

47. Leon Kuwata
Appeared in: Danganronpa 1
Ultimate Talent: Baseball Player
Most Endearing Quality: His gifts are punk-rock themed? I guess?

Maybe the worst murderer of all time (with much respect to Frank Sahwit). Before you scream "tutorial case" at me and before you scream "it was harder to figure out in Japanese" let me just say that regardless, the murderer name in blood thing has got to go. First, it's not even decisive evidence. Just because a person writes a name before they die doesn't mean they're saying who killed them. Secondly... just stop. Stop it!

Another thing that makes Leon the worst murderer of all time: why even take the risk with the incinerator? Just hide the bloody evidence in your room you idiot! Wash it in the sink or something! Wait until you're on garbage duty! I guess DR would be boring/unsolvable if every murderer just kept their bloody evidence hidden in their rooms, but still. Bad form!

Finally, he could have just, I don't know, NOT killed Sayaka after she failed to kill him. I can buy that he was enraged, but the fact that he had to go back to his room, get his tools and them come back and somehow didn't cool down to think "maybe I shouldn't kill this person".... that's a bit far-fetched.

All that being said, I do feel bad for the guy. He probably thought he was going to hook up with Sayaka and next thing he knows he's the series' first blackened

Pointless Recap:

Box of Tissues
48. Hiyoko Saionji
47. Leon Kuwata

New Tier Unlocked: Monkey Paw

46. Mahiru Koizumi
Appeared in: Danganronpa 2
Ultimate Ability: Photographer
Endearing Character Trait: Pseudo Lesbian Vibes?

Mahiru left very little of an impression on me, I'll be honest. Like, I'm having trouble thinking of anything interesting about her. She got killed by Peko because Fuyuhiko couldn't go through with it, I think? I don't quite remember the details of the case, but I know Mahiru pretty much got killed "just because."

Oh, now I remember something about Mahiru. Hiyoko really liked her. Well, birds of a feather get murdered together, I guess.

Good list so far imo I can't wait to be disappointed eventually
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not gonna lie

I don't like Mahiru, and basically for literally the exact reason you gave

But a flat zero really isn't bad enough to be only above Hiyoko and Leon tbh
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That's an absolutely absurd ranking for Mahiru. The number of characters worse than her is extensive, unless you're claiming that shit > unimpactful.
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45. Celestia von Ludenberg
Appeared in: Danganronpa
Ultimate Identity: Gambler
Endearing Character Trait: Drill Hair + Goth Loli

Celeste squanders her decent character design by being predictable and annoying. Yup, she's totally not a murderer guys! Celeste has some good sprites, particularly when she's breaking down, I'll give her that. It's too bad DR takes the trope of "fake accent that disappears during breakdown" and reuses it to better effect later.

Like Mahiru, she's kind of a boring character, in that I can't remember much about her aside from the fact that her voice was annoying and she made Hifumi her butler for a while. Unlike Mahiru, she at least has the decency to be a blackened and not a victim. All the other characters involved in her case are more interesting than she is though. Plus, as soon as Taka and Hifumi both croak, it's basically impossible for the culprit to be anyone else - even on someone's first playthrough, no one's going to buy that it was Yasuhiro in a voltron suit.

One argument that people can make in her defense is that Celeste is a prototype for later chaotic agents in the killing game like Kokichi and Nagito. If she is, she obviously lacks the same sense of guile and intelligence that these later characters have.

Her cat is pretty cool though.

Up next: Our first character from V3.

LapisLazuli posted...

That's an absolutely absurd ranking for Mahiru. The number of characters worse than her is extensive, unless you're claiming that shit > unimpactful.

Fair enough. I have no rubric for any of these rankings besides gut feelings, impact, and relevance to the plot. I've played through the first game 4 times and the second one 3 times. Still can't remember anything about Mahiru, sorry. I firmly believe this list will make me lose friends - if I had any.

don't worry dude you have certified good opinions so far because shes so fucking forgetable and who cares that if you omitted her from the list from sheer irrelevancy then i'd be like oh okay

dont let the haters get you down
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greengravy294 posted...

if you omitted her from the list from sheer irrelevancy then i'd be like oh okay

This would actually be better than ranking her below legitimately bad characters
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i mean okay sure she's definitely better than buttmouth fatboy ultimate gamer

but surely esteemed user colliding lists him soon so it's really a mundane exercise in distance.
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44. Korekiyo Shinguji
Appeared in Danganronpa V3
Ultimate Identity: Anthropologist
Endearing Character Trait: N/A

Kiyo's best moment is when he silently seethes while Kokichi fiddles around in his ultimate lab. Other than that, this guy is just straight up discomforting! I guess the team deserves some recognition for crafting such a weird dude.

Also, I actually really enjoyed figuring out his murder plan (or at least, the one he originally planned to do to begin with and not the one he improvised). The atmosphere was suitably creepy, what with the magic circles and hanging wax effigies. It was a cool moment in the series, having a murder be committed during the investigation for a prior murder - a variation on Celeste's plan, if you will. I think the game missed an opportunity though - imagine if the gang finds Kiyo guilty for Tenko's murder, but someone else had killed Angie? Then the group would've had to live with Kiyo knowing he straight up killed someone and got away with it. I'm just saying... it would have been interesting.

Why is Kiyo so low? He's a flat character. He fits the model of "highly creepy suspicious looking character" but unlike others, most notably Gundham, there's nothing else there. He actually is exactly what he looks like - which some might say is refreshing, but I'll stick with boring. The incest/sister stuff thrown in at the end is tacked on and whatever.

Next: You're gonna have to take a really close look below my belt to see who's next.

I guess it's wierd to me that you say you've basically forgotten her deal even after playing three times. Maybe it's just a difference in how much the series means to us (DR2 and V3 are currently at a standstill in my mind for my favorite game), but I can recall pretty much every single event in the game from Mahiru including the totally throwaway stuff.
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Also I'm just completely fucking stunned that Hifumi isn't here yet. I mean wow.
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Kiyo is second to last on my V3 ranking (only earned because he killed two of the weaker characters in the game). Which is a real shame because I was liking him up to that point.

Also I agree him only killing Tenko would've been fantastic.

Predix: Teruteru is next
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Teruteru about 5 spots too high then...!

Agreed on the missed opportunity with the new double murder rule not being used, and the creepy sister stuff easily makes Kiyo the worst of the V3 cast. What a waste of a neat Ultimate talent!
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korekiyo's sickle murder is probably my favorite outside of nagito's suicide by police
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43. Teruteru Hanamura
Appeared in Danganronpa 2
Ultimate Identity: Cook
Endearing Character Trait: Nosebleeds

You're right - this guy probably shouldn't be ranked higher than characters who survived long enough to form legitimate friendships and relationships like Mahiru and Celeste, but he is. Though he was only around for a single case, his gimmicks are extremely memorable, due almost entirely to the high quality of his voice acting. From sexually harassing Sonia to devolving into a deep-south babbler, listening to this guy speak is a delight. His killing of Fat-kyuya is basically due to a mental lapse in judgment.

Let's not sugarcoat it though - Teruteru's a bad dude and I feel bad about liking him. You could also probably guess from looking at him that he's not long for the killing game. A weird, misshapen dude under three feet tall with messed up eyes... probably won't see another one like him in DR ever again, amirite?

But while were here...

42. Ultimate Imposter
Ultimate Identity: See above
Endearing Character Trait: He's Byakuya, but he's fat

Think back. You've finished Danganronpa. Byakuya is your favorite character, because you're a man of taste. You can't stop thinking about DR. You want more. You need more. You await news of a sequel with baited breath. A character trailer is uploaded to the youtubes. You watch and you relish in the new characters, the new gameplay additions, and the new... Byakuya?

I don't quite remember what my thoughts were, aside from "that's obviously not Byakuya." However, the gag of fat Byakuya was executed well, I thought. They played it so that it could "conceivably" actually be Byakuya, caught up in another killing game. It was just a great moment for the fans to see a Byakuya who was at once so similar to and so different from actual Byakuya.

That being said, glad he's dead. There wasn't much to the Ultimate Imposter in the original game. I know he has a sizable role in the anime, but again, didn't watch it and don't really care to.

Next Up: I know what you're thinking...

good bye Despair
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colliding posted...

Byakuya is your favorite character, because you're a man of taste.

This list is all downhill from here, huh.
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byakuya is cool

he aint no kyoko kirigiri, but not everyone can be a waifu. some just have to be a cool guy
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You know how Kokichi lied all the time but he knew the actual answers and had the proof when things went to far?

Byakuya made a fake lie of a crime scene for fun and DIDN'T have any actual evidence to weasel out of it and almost got everyone killed for shits and giggles.

Ever since I've considered him one of my most hated characters ever.
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yeah but hes cool and not annoying which is cool
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He's pretty damn annoying.

Also notably has the worst english VA in the series.
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Tag.

No strong objections so far - I like Mahiru but mainly for her FTEs and a few of her animations. Hifumi, Akane and Angie are all too high already though
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I do think it's wierd that you aren't considering FTEs here. That's main game stuff. I'd understand not including V3's love hotel, but....
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Byakuya is pretty awful, but Kokichi is probably even worse. Kokichi loses points for copying Byakuya too. I like the impostor way more than regular Byakuya.

Mahiru is really lame. I'd put her the bottom five.

colliding posted...

Quick survey: How many people here cared when this one died? No one? Okay, moving on then.

I did! I always liked Saionji a lot. Her and Mioda were my two favorite girls in DR2, so chapter 3 was pretty painful.

I liked Celeste a lot too, actually. Just my type of lady.

Incidentally, are you not ranking Mukuro? I can understand skipping her since she didn't do much in the first game. I liked her a lot in the Despair anime though. The first game didn't really do a very good job of portraying how evil she is.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

The first game didn't really do a very good job of portraying how evil she is.

I prefer pre DR3 where she wasn't really evil before that got retconned.

I also prefer when Danganronpa Zero being canon still made sense......especially since DR3 had cameos of them...that didn't make sense...
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Kokichi is a top 5 DR character I think, I haven't gone through my combined series rankings yet.
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LapisLazuli posted...

I prefer pre DR3 where she wasn't really evil before that got retconned.

Eh, even in DR1 she's considered to be Ultimate Despair who killed a ton of people. Not really a retcon.
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Hiyoko 30+ spots too low

I just want Junko to have freckles OK.

All girls are better with freckles.

Mahiru bonus points.
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41. Sayaka Maizono
Appears in: Danganronpa
Ultimate Identity: Pop Sensation
Endearing Character Trait: She's psychic.

Sayaka's death in the first chapter really sets the tone for the rest of the series. At first, you might think she's going to be the Maya to Makoto's Phoenix- she is psychic, after all. These thoughts are quickly dashed, not only by her early murder, but also by the fact that she died after a botched attempt at becoming a killer herself. Sayaka's death establishes that "no one is safe," and that if you start having feels for a character at the beginning of the game, chances are they're not gonna make it.

Sayaka is okay, I guess, but she basically exists solely to serve that function. She was the first person to act on a motive video, so I guess that's another way she fits into DR lore. The world may never know if she actually remembered/liked Makoto or if she was using him. Which is fine - Makoto dodged a bullet with that one.

Next: A new tier is unlocked, and the rains in Spain fall gently on the plain.

I'm starting to worry that the fat monkey man is gonna get a high spot on this list.
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Unnecessary recap:

Box of Tissues
48. Hiyoko Saionji
47. Leon Kuwata

Monkey Paw
46. Mahiru Koizumi
45. Celestia von Ludenberg
44. Korekiyo Shinguji
43. Teruteru Hanamura
42. Ultimate Imposter
41. Sayaka Maizono.

New Tier Unlocked: Secret Boots

40. Tsumugi Shirogane
Appears in: Danganronpa V3
Ultimate Identity: Cosplayer
Endearing Character Trait: Occasionally, but rarely, makes a reference that I get

Last chance. If you haven't finished ALL of V3, get out now.

For 5 out of 6 chapters, Tsumugi is the worst character of all time. She's not helpful, she's not funny, she's not (very) fan service-y. She's plain. That's the whole point of her, to be the ironically plain cosplayer. Okay, whatever, she's Sonia except not funny. Next.

Then in the last chapter, we find out that she's the mastermind (I told you to leave). That our beloved Kaede actually failed to kill Rantaro and that she actually finished the job. It's a great reveal that should be one of the defining moments of the series. Except, it isn't - for reasons that can only be explained by getting into a long, drawn-out debate over the ending twist of DRV3.

I really don't want to get into the V3 ending, because I honestly don't care about it too much. People are either going to like it or they're going to hate it. It is what it is. Personally, I don't like it, because I really don't like anything that goes overtly meta. All that I'll say here is that instead of having a satisfying character arc for Tsumugi, we get a deconstruction of the series itself. Tsumugi is abruptly replaced with a stand-in for Team Danganronpa. Great job writers! You took what was a pretty good story and skipped over writing a satisfying ending in favor of a metafictional gesture. I'm so glad you were here to remind me that I was playing a fictional story.

Tsumugi uses her cosplay skills to great effect in the final act, and that's kind of cool, but again... where is Tsumugi herself? What is her character? Ironically, in making her "real," Team DR essentially replaced her character with a philosophical debate that really isn't as interesting as they think it is. Therefore, there's some weird disconnect between the Tsumugi "pre-Junko cosplay" and the Tsumugi afterwards, who ends up getting crushed by debris in the most anti-climactic death scene in the series.

Imagine this alternative scenario: you reveal Tsumugi as Rantaro's true killer. There's an abrupt break. You assume the role of Rantaro in DRV2. You reach the same sort of conclusion there, where Rantaro and Tsumugi become sacrifices. You return to Shuichi and reach the same sort of "abstain" solution that the current ending reaches. This makes Tsumugi seem like more of a villain and is less preachy.

Tl;dr: Boring for 5 cases, still boring despite being the mastermind.

Next: "Mr. Naegi!"

I don't agree with your stance on the V3 ending, but I do agree with Tsumugi being a waste.
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39. Hifumi Yamada
Appears in: Danganronpa
Ultimate Identity: Ultimate Board 8'er
Endearing Character Trait: Extremely Fat

You all can stop wondering when this guy will show up. Here he is, the Ultimate Fanfic creator. The most striking thing about Hifumi is his weight, clearly. With DR characters, there's always one on the cast that makes you question whether or not they are the same species. Hifumi is like the unholy spawn of Robotnik and Candy Kong. His grotesque character design adds to the overall shock of his murder: the images of him in the nurse's office and in the art room are lasting.

Aside from killing Taka right when he started to get interesting (classic DR move), Hifumi doesn't contribute much. Like I mentioned in Celeste's write-up, he has a brief recurring gag as her slave. His infatuation with Alter Ego is both amusing, pathetic and terribly sad.

So why exactly is Hifumi all the way up at 39, when he's basically useless? If Hifumi is not particularly likeable, he is memorable to me in a way that earlier people on this list aren't. He also serves his function - to be annoying comic relief - for half the game.

Honestly, I probably just like the way he says "Mr. Naegi!"

Up next: Say it ain't so, bro!

I thought Hifumi was pretty funny. Maybe he's less annoying with JP voices?
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38. Kiyotaka Ishimaru
Appears in: Danganronpa
Ultimate Identity: School Morals Committee? Hall Monitor?
Endearing Character Trait: Generally a good dude

I really didn't plan on ranking Hifumi and Taka side-by-side; just a fortuitous coincidence that the series' first double-murder victims are both here, smack dab in the not-quite-middle.

My favorite Taka moment is when he gets really into Monokuma's morning workouts. He might be taking instruction from a homicidal bear, but Take plays by the rules! Even though Taka is meant to be a straight-laced stick in the mud type, I thought he was kind of cool too. For the first two chapters he genuinely seems like a good leader.

His friendship/rivalry with Mondo was really well executed, I thought. From their competition in the steam room to them being all smiles at breakfast the next morning, I found their bond quite endearing. Mondo's guilt and execution in the following trial hits him like a ton of bricks (or a weight, I guess) and I won't lie - I felt bad for the dude.

His evolution in the next chapter as a kind of Mondo / Taka hybrid was kind of strange. I don't really get what they were going for there. Was he really possessed? Was he crazy? We'll never know, because he ended up getting merc-ed by #39.

Up next: Spirit of Justice.

37. Peko Pekoyama
Appears in: Danganronpa 2
Ultimate Identity: Swordswoman
Endearing Character Trait: Red eyes

Before V3 came out, I would have told you that Peko's execution was the best in the series. Not only for what it is, but for its actual importance to the story itself. Now that V3 is out, it's still a great execution, but not the best - or second best.

Peko's got depth to her behind her rather pedestrian design. DR2 is short on genuine "feels" at the beginning, but her commitment to Fuyuhiko was both surprising and believable. The sense of loss is well-earned. It's a shame those crazy kids couldn't make it work! Before V3 came out, I would have told you that she and Fuyuhiko were the most tragic romance. Now that V3 is out, it's not the most - or second most.

I have my problems with Case 2 itself - the videogame sucked, I didn't care about the victim, and the whole "stand on the sword" thing seemed very implausible, but Peko herself was good. Except for the Sparkling Justice stuff. In fact, her adopting the persona - while a nice throwback to the first DR - was kind of out of character, stupid, and pointless in the end.

She also, as far as I know, starts the recurring motif of me feeling awkward as the game harps on girls taking dumps. Before V3 came out, I would have told you that she is the female character most likely to talk about her dumps. Now that V3 is out... yeah, you get the point.

Next: Don't make fun of his hair... that wouldn't be a great idea.

Bonus Ranking: Trial Mini-Games

13. Any of the rhythm stuff - Particularly bad in V3.
12. Mind Mine - Why? Just why.
11. Psyche Taxi - Our sweet, innocuous, snowboarding game gets replaced with this misogynist crap.
10. Rebuttal Showdown - Great idea in theory, but swiping/slashing like an idiot while cycling through truth bullets sucks, A LOT.
9. Mass Panic Debates - These were all easy, except for K1-B0's at the very end of V3, which was way too hard.
8. Improved Hangman's Gambit - Not only not improved, but at points maddeningly difficult.
7. "Absorbing" comments in NSD - I'm glad this aspect was removed. Always more tricky than it needed to be.
6. Original Hangman's Gambit - Whatever.
5. Hangman's Gambit v. 3.0 - It's either super obvious or so specific a phrasing that you lose half your influence trying to figure it out.
4. Non-Stop Debates - Consistently fun. Pros always let them cycle through at least once.
3. Lying/Back Routes - Great idea. Excited to playthrough again and find more of these.
2. Debate Scrum - These needed to be more difficult, but pretty epic/satisfying.
1. Logic Dive - So good that Ace Attorney basically copied it.

Back to the character list tomorrow.

36. Mondo Owata
Appears in: Danganronpa
Ultimate Identity: Biker Gang Leader
Endearing Character Trait: That hair.

I only watched Jojo for the first time this last summer, so I didn't realize that Mondo was a walking talking Jojo reference the first time through. I always associated that hair with Kuwabara (YYH). I guess in the end there's not that much difference between them: they're all delinquents, they all have great hair, and they're all deceptively simple characters.

Mondo's backstory and attitude in general is pretty whatever. He's pretty much just an angry idiot in the first case and in the second case he's too busy being a culprit to be helpful. However, like I talked about in Taka's post, I enjoyed their rival - turned - brother relationship. I also thought the dynamic between he and Chihiro was interesting. The game did a good job of illustrating the confusion that was going through Mondo's head when Chihiro asked to be "strong." So yeah, there was a bit more to him than stereotypical delinquent, which bumps him up a little bit.

One thing I never understood was the "Crazy Diamond" pickaxe. Is that just a pun or what? Why does he have a pickaxe?

Next: Not your typical student council president.

35. Angie Yonaga
Appears in: Danganronpa V3
Ultimate Identity: Artist
Endearing Character Trait: Only Atua Knows.

Let's talk about Angie.

First and foremost, she is super annoying. Let's get that out of the way. Her poses, her voice, her constant deferring to Atua... she's just the worst. She's the Ultimate Artist but she may as well have been the Ultimate Cult Leader (in fact, I was half expecting that revelation the entire game).

In case 3, when she gets Himiko, Gonta, Tsumugi and even K1-B0 to "convert" to the Church of Atua, I thought the game was going to reveal she had some sort of brainwashing power through hugging. This revelation never comes. I guess the cast of V3 are just suckers.

Atua, and Angie herself, were both built up to be rather nefarious forces. One reason I like Chapter 3 of V3 is the division of the gang into factions, one explicitly fascist and the other more freedom-centric. I thought for sure that Angie was evil, but it turned out she was just really creepy.

In light of the ending, you can look at back at certain Atua prophecies as actually being true, notably that Rantaro's killer was in the hidden room. So that's cool.

But she's just so annoying, oh my god. I was happy when I opened the door to her lab and saw that she was dead.

Next: A living, breathing "If they mated" offspring.

uhhh, anybody out there?

Oh good, I wasn't the only one who was actually happy to see Angie's corpse
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Taka and Hifumi are actually likely my two least favorite characters in the first Danganronpa... and Celeste was actually one of my best liked.

I liked Mahiru too and feel sad about her death.

For DR3, about to finish chapter 3 and Kokichi and Himiko are likely my least liked. Favourites are Miu, Gonta, Kaede and Shuichi.
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I wish Kirigiri and Naegi were gone already. Bland as hell, getting by only because they're main characters.
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Sceptilesolar posted...

I wish Kirigiri and Naegi were gone already. Bland as hell, getting by only because they're main characters.

Shuichi falls into that way harder than those two do.
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Sceptilesolar posted...

I wish Kirigiri and Naegi were gone already. Bland as hell, getting by only because they're main characters.

Stay tuned.