Board 8 > The Definitive Ranking Of All Cases And Characters From Danganronpa 1/2

(+) Yeah! (+)

I can understand the ranking. There's an argument to be made that the way she was incorporated is detrimental to the actual game side of DR1, and is part of why the trials are so much less interesting. It's a case of a character's ranking being partially influenced by their impact on the actual GAME part of the game, which is fairly unique to her.

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Yeah in the grand scheme of things Kyoko is rather boring but I still think she's one of the better characters from DR1. But the logic in her ranking is fair.

For me personally it doesn't effect my ranking of her a ton because I already just don't like DR1 as much to begin with, so her negative impact on the game's structure doesn't have as much of an impact to me, I guess?

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Johnbobb posted...

Kyoko is fine

she mostly shines by being one of the only not-terrible characters at the end of the first game. They let all of the dumbest characters survive until the end, and also Kyoko (and yes, as much as I love Hina, she's a dummy)

I mean, were any of them really that smart other than Kyoko? I don't really think Hina/Yasuhiro/Toko were any dumber than the rest of the cast.

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Mewtwo59 posted...

I mean, were any of them really that smart other than Kyoko? I don't really think Hina/Yasuhiro/Toko were any dumber than the rest of the cast.

Byakuya's not dumb, but he's also not as smart as he wants to be. Sakura's capable, but she's left to be the muscle during investigations. I don't have any memories of Chihiro in the first case, but being the ultimate programmer's got to have some cache, right?

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Tag

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Mewtwo59 posted...

I mean, were any of them really that smart other than Kyoko? I don't really think Hina/Yasuhiro/Toko were any dumber than the rest of the cast.

Basically Sayaka, Chihiro, Celeste, Sakura are the only other competent ones (of non-survivors), and even then, half of those people don't really get to do much with it.

I don't know if I can agree with Sayaka being smart. Her grand plan was to assault a professional athlete with a knife.

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I can't agree with Celeste either after that terrible murder plot she did.

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Now to switch things up! Im going to do the four worst cases before I go back to characters. These four cases I consider to be in a tier by themselves as legitimately bad not fun cases. The very bottom of the Danganronpa experience for me, and the ones that just arent fun to play for various reasons.

Up next: I think this is the only case I dont have a single good thing to say about.

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if this is only the first two games and FOUR of these cases are "legitimately bad not fun cases" you had a pretty bad time nearly half the time

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Mm thats fair. I was trying to only do three tiers but that might not be fair here to how I actually feel about the cases.

Ok we have two tiers coming up before I get back to the characters. Two are in the legitimately bad not fun cases tier and then two are in the has some moments but also some significant problems tier.

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man i'm a danganronpa hater (okay mostly i just hate the first game's cast) and even i wouldn't say there are any cases i "don't have a single good thing to say about" other than 2-6

i think every other case in the series is fine, even if some of them are sort of underwhelming or have a few contrived moments.

Anagaram posted...

I don't know if I can agree with Sayaka being smart. Her grand plan was to assault a professional athlete with a knife.

I think Leon being completely ignored in chapter one really hurts the story as a whole. We know that Sayaka wanted to escape, but while Makoto would've been a MUCH easier kill, killing him would fuck up the second half of the game, aka getting away with murder. So she used Makoto as her fall guy, which meant she needed a victim. Perhaps if the game had expanded more on Leon, her choice would make more sense. My interpretation is that Leon is A. an aspiring musician who might want to team up with a pop idol, and B. the kind of teenaged guy who might fall victim to feminine wiles, unlike nearly every other archetypal guy in the cast. Sayaka wanted to lure him in and kill him, but she didn't exactly have a better means of doing so than via a knife wound. It's not a perfect plan, obviously, but given the limitations she had in place, it's reasonably clever.

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Look, I accept that Sayaka's plan required her to ambush a boy, and that Makoto wasn't an option, Mondo was too big, and Byakuya was too smart. But if your options are Leon (a pro athlete), Hiro (a full-grown man), Taka (a guy who's disciplined and in-shape), and Hifumi (a slow, fat, gullible fool), clearly Hifumi is the obvious choice.

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On the other hand, why would you want to touch Hifumi?

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Anagaram posted...

Look, I accept that Sayaka's plan required her to ambush a boy, and that Makoto wasn't an option, Mondo was too big, and Byakuya was too smart. But if your options are Leon (a pro athlete), Hiro (a full-grown man), Taka (a guy who's disciplined and in-shape), and Hifumi (a slow, fat, gullible fool), clearly Hifumi is the obvious choice.

Hifumi was already ensnared by Celestia's feminine wiles. That girl was playing the long game with her weeb.

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Dels posted...

man i'm a danganronpa hater (okay mostly i just hate the first game's cast) and even i wouldn't say there are any cases i "don't have a single good thing to say about" other than 2-6

i think every other case in the series is fine, even if some of them are sort of underwhelming or have a few contrived moments.

2-6 is your least favorite case?!?

Thats gotta be the hottest take in this topic so far.


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2-6 is far and away the worst final chapter of the franchise. It's the perfect capper on the absurd mess that is DR2.

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2-6 is fantastic.

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Super Saiyan Hajime is great

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Hajime in 2-6 is like Jack in LOST season 6 in that he manages to salvage being terrible for the entire time prior to that point. But it's still a bad chapter.

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2-6 is very good, one of the better cases in the franchise. Not the BEST, but up there.

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2-1 and 2-5 are the only cases I enjoy from DR2. 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, and 2-6 are all nonsensically bad though.

1-2, 1-4 and 1-6 are the best from DR1. 1-3 and 1-5 are bad.

DR3, meanwhile, has great cases in 3-1, 3-5, and 3-6, and acceptable cases in 3-2 and 3-3. Only 3-4 is outright terrible.

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Wow, even 2-4? Certainly a take!

That last V3 opinion is always totally insane.

To each their own!

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Wow, even 2-4? Certainly a take!

That last V3 opinion is always totally insane.

To each their own!

Well it's part of the problem with DR2's entire premise. Because it's all secretly a virtual reality program, you have a whole bunch of utter nonsense and contrivances thrown together that really don't work. 2-2, let's throw in a video game (adding an asinine mystery on top of the real murder) that only applies to like, three people (two of whom are dead by the end of the chapter). 2-3, let's give half the cast a nonsense disease to make people act out of character. 2-4, let's have the entire chapter in a single, baffling location that wouldn't work outside of a virtual reality program (oh, and duh, the victim was a robot, because of course he was). And then 2-6 is just the culmination of all that, with a bunch of wackiness being flung at the walls.

2-1 works because it feels like a real, genuine case. And 2-5 works because it's the culmination of five very fucking long chapters of the Nagito Show, and it doesn't have any special gimmicks about it. Hence why those are the only chapters I outright like.

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You must be one of those guys who likes Sherlock season 1 the best

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PunishedBen posted...

You must be one of those guys who likes Sherlock season 1 the best

Never seen it.

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Suprak the Stud posted...

2-6 is your least favorite case?!?

Thats gotta be the hottest take in this topic so far.

it's just a plot dump. you walk through hallways and read a bunch of info and then some people show up and explain the plot to you. there isn't even a case to solve.

Inviso posted...

Well it's part of the problem with DR2's entire premise. Because it's all secretly a virtual reality program, you have a whole bunch of utter nonsense and contrivances thrown together that really don't work. 2-2, let's throw in a video game (adding an asinine mystery on top of the real murder) that only applies to like, three people (two of whom are dead by the end of the chapter). 2-3, let's give half the cast a nonsense disease to make people act out of character. 2-4, let's have the entire chapter in a single, baffling location that wouldn't work outside of a virtual reality program (oh, and duh, the victim was a robot, because of course he was). And then 2-6 is just the culmination of all that, with a bunch of wackiness being flung at the walls.

2-1 works because it feels like a real, genuine case. And 2-5 works because it's the culmination of five very fucking long chapters of the Nagito Show, and it doesn't have any special gimmicks about it. Hence why those are the only chapters I outright like.

I agree with you on the motive for 2-3. And the starvation motive in 2-4 sucks for the same reason. Monokuma basically forced a murder to happen both times. It didn't happen naturally because of the murderer's tragic flaw, it was basically self-defense.

But strawberry and grape house are fine. The geometry is intentionally obscured but the building does have a specific blueprint. It's no more crazy than The Tragedy from the first game. And it still manages to be a pretty good character motive for Gundham.

But I generally agree with you that the only trials I don't have a major problem with are 1, 2, and 5. And that I don't really like 2 very much despite its lack of flaws. But I do like 4 despite not liking the motive.

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NeatoAnAccount posted...

I agree with you on the motive for 2-3. And the starvation motive in 2-4 sucks for the same reason. Monokuma basically forced a murder to happen both times. It didn't happen naturally because of the murderer's tragic flaw, it was basically self-defense.

But strawberry and grape house are fine. The geometry is intentionally obscured but the building does have a specific blueprint. It's no more crazy than The Tragedy from the first game. And it still manages to be a pretty good character motive for Gundham.

But I generally agree with you that the only trials I don't have a major problem with are 1, 2, and 5. And that I don't really like 2 very much despite its lack of flaws. But I do like 4 despite not liking the motive.

2-4 is at least interesting, despite how contrived it is. I'll give it that much. But it's still the third best case in the game, and only 2-1 and 2-5 are actually enjoyable for me.

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Yeah I think I basically agree with 3rd best. I don't understand the criticism that it's "contrived" though.

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#12: Case 1-5
Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Everything
The One Sentence Summary: The one chapter where nobody dies and nothing happens

When Im assessing cases here, Im really talking about the entirety of the chapter the case occurs in. Daily life, deadly life, and the class trial itself. And a big part of my ranking is how I felt when I first played it, bookmarked by the starting and ending points of only that chapter. Some stuff might cause me to revise it slightly, but I try to really take that into account for the individual chapter that it occurred in, if that makes sense. Something happening later on that improves my opinion of things is great, but it doesnt change how I felt about playing that case the first time and I think the chapter that contained the twist or revelation deserves more credit than the chapter where I was annoyed because I didnt fully grasp the twist just yet. I hope that makes sense even if you personally disagree. Anyway, I bring that up now for general ranking purposes so you sort of understand why some cases are ranked where they are. But I also bring that up now because that specifically pertains to the very last case on my list, case 1-5. Case 1-5, in many ways, feels incomplete. And, hey, thats because it is! Now it does finish up in the next chapter obviously, but this is the only chapter in either game that doesnt really tell a self contained story. Obviously, it is a set up for what happens in case 6 but even if I was just judging it by that metric I have issues. I dont really like the way it sets things up, I dont like the characters I am left to interact with, I dont like the daily life, we arent given the tools to solve everything, and I kinda hate the trial. Beyond that though it was great!

Part of the issue is who you have left to interact with. At this point were at the finale stage of the cast and we just have the survivors and Monokuma this chapter. But the survivors include Byakuya, Toko, and Kyoko, none of which I particularly like. And, of course, the game focuses very heavily on those characters this chapter (especially Kyoko) because that is all they have left. The Danganronpa games always seem lousy at picking out survivors I actually like to talk to, and the first game is particularly egregious on that end. The daily life segment is also just kind of dumb. You have Byakuya agreeing to join the group only to continue being a jerk right off the bat and forcing Kyoko to hand over her key. Then you have Kyoko disappearing to run her own investigation that you dont even find out about this chapter. And then you have Makotos random flu pop up and thats about it. I know Danganronpa writing definitely has its own weird flair and Im mostly fine with that, but this one is one of those cases that is really just kinda boring from the beginning to the end. The big exciting thing is Monokuma cheating to get Makoto killed (or Kyoko if you watch the bad ending) and everything besides that is just kinda underwhelming.

I also understand why Monokuma cheats, but it also doesn't seem to fit with the "rules" they keep blathering on about. Kyoko at multiple times in the case after this will mention how Monokuma couldn't just kill her because it would be breaking the rules so they had to orchestrate this fake murder to kill her. You know what else is breaking the rules? Straight up killing Makoto and framing him for a murder he didn't commit. The case at once wants us to believe that Kyoko couldn't have just been killed because Junko wants to abide by these rules to cause maximum despair but also that Junko is willing to just throw the rules away in order to get Kyoko/Makoto killed. It is this weird contradiction between why Junko can't just murder Kyoko and why Junko tried to make stuff up to get Kyoko killed, and it basically all comes down to "look we wanted to have one extra case here so this is how we're doing it".

I suppose you could argue that maybe Junko...blocked the video feed to the rooms she needed to go between when she was setting things up so the people she was sending out the despair live stream to couldn't tell what was going on, and in that way she was still making it look like Kyoko carried out the murder to everyone on the outside so people thought the ultimate hope was still killing each other. That's kinda how I rationalized it to myself, but I'm not sure they were ever super clear on that specific part of the case and maybe I am giving the game too much credit. But, hell, even if I am right at that point just do the same thing and kill Kyoko and frame one of the living people for it. It is this weird contrivance they half follow, half break so they can set up this extra case and the whole thing feels very sloppily executed. If you want to completely abandon the rules to get Kyoko (or Makoto?) killed, then just do it in a less roundabout, crazy way.

I think my biggest problem with this case though is it isn't a self contained story. I'm ranking these cases based on how they both feed into the narrative as a whole and how strong they are in that specific chapter, and on that last metric the chapter fails completely. This isn't really a self contained mystery here, and you don't have all the clues you need to figure things out. It is a prelude to chapter 6 really, and a lot of it winds up feeling like straight up filler. I mean, there is a portion at the very beginning here in the trial where you have to prove Kyoko isn't a ghost. It takes up multiple segments. It's honestly kind of funny so I'm not totally dragging it here, but at the same time it feels like more than half of the case here is filler where the game is just stalling to make this an acceptable length so they can end it and get on to the actual finale. It always felt like the shortest chapter in the first game to me, and I don't know if it actually was or it just felt that way because nothing of value was happening.

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I also fully admit that maybe I forgot stuff so maybe some of these upcoming complaints don't have as much bearing but there is a lot of weird stuff happening around this case that I just don't get or think is explained well. Why does Makoto get a convenient plot fever? How is it instantaneously cured the next day? Is this something that is ever explained? Did I just forget it? How the hell does Kyoko know she needs to go defend Makoto from masked Junko? I do remember at the end of the case she says she can hear the god of death's footsteps and knew something was afoot. Is that...is that really the explanation we were going with? She can hear death? Even if she can hear death's loud ass clomping down the hallway, why would she leave Makoto after she fends off Junko? Makoto is like having delusions from fever and she just fought off a murder attempt. So she just goes "well back to sleuthing sleuth sleuth sleuth sleuth gotta find them clues"?

And wasn't she on the second floor dorms looking for clues? Makoto checks that place next chapter and there are like two places of interest to look at. You shouldn't have been gone all day, Kyoko. Like she misses the entire murder investigation because she is upstairs and doesn't hear the alarm go off or whatever, but then she comes back down just in time for the trial. I get the dramatic tension of what's going on, but the game doesn't really pull it off. You know immediately that isn't Kyoko's body because it wouldn't make sense from a story perspective. So the "oh boy who could it be maybe it is Kyoko!" didn't really play well with me because I had figured out almost immediately that it wasn't. She seems to be gone just to be this dumb red herring that I'm sure literally everyone crossed off their list immediately. I mean, here is what we know: everyone has an alibi besides Makoto and Kyoko. We know we didn't murder this person and move her body up to the greenhouse, so that leaves Kyoko. So then anyone with a brain knows it can't be Kyoko because there is no way the game would give it to us that easily. I don't know a lot about what is going to happen in a Danganronpa game, but I do know this: if there is ever one suspect the game is clearly pointing at before the trial starts, it isn't them.

And, again, maybe some of this stuff was explained better in chapter 6 and I just forgot so forgive me if I am omitting something important here. But the truth is even if everything in those past two paragraphs was wrong, it wouldn't' change my ranking. I still do not like the set up and I do not like the trial and I do not like all the padding and I do not like how this feels like an intro to case 6 and nothing else. You get no resolution in this chapter, and of course you can argue this chapter is important because it is where Junko traps herself. But again I would've preferred them to do that all in one continuous case rather than give us one case which is basically a tease and then another case that actually resolves all the loose ends this case leaves behind. I honestly can't think of anything I like about this case. Maybe Alter Ego saving Makoto at the last second and Monokuma looking panicked as it is going on. I guess that would be the highpoint for me, but I don't really have anything else positive to say about what happened here other than "chapter 6 tries its best to make up for it".

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Re: convenient plot fever:

I've had two instances I can remember in my life where I randomly got a fever+chills+delirium for literally no reason whatsoever, that went away after a night of rest, and had no other flu symptoms or whatever with them and it was the strangest damn thing. So that part isn't implausible.

I do agree about the whole "the rules are sacred" thing being hinky with her getting herself killed by following to the letter at the end, but let's face it: with as overly analytical as they try to make her, that "I let myself be seen for a despair orgasm later" motive I got from it just clashes with her whole long game plans.

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Up next: The dumbest plot in either game

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gee i wonder what that could be

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I agree that Junko's willingness to cheat sucks. If she's willing to cheat, why does she kill herself at the end? It just feels arbitrary. The villain just decided you got to live. They could've made this story way better by just having one character ask "why should I believe you, when you just attempted to execute Makoto under false pretenses?" But it kind of makes every character look stupid that this massive hole is never addressed.

There are so many resolutions the game could've had. Kyoko actually figures out how to know when Monokuma can see her. Maybe she could figure out a way to beat him even when he's cheating. Or maybe Junko never cheats, and the ending where she voluntarily kills herself doesn't feel arbitrary. Or maybe the killing game actually ends with 3 people remaining. You know, so you can solve more murder mysteries in the game where the gameplay is solving murder mysteries

MrSmartGuy posted...

gee i wonder what that could be

obviously 1-4. didn't sakura know she'd die when she killed herself? that's not a very good plan you fricken moron

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I thought I remembered something about Junko somehow causing Makoto to get sick, but I have no idea why. Probably just a misinterpretation on my part though.

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Suprak the Stud posted...

I suppose you could argue that maybe Junko...blocked the video feed to the rooms she needed to go between when she was setting things up so the people she was sending out the despair live stream to couldn't tell what was going on, and in that way she was still making it look like Kyoko carried out the murder to everyone on the outside so people thought the ultimate hope was still killing each other. That's kinda how I rationalized it to myself, but I'm not sure they were ever super clear on that specific part of the case and maybe I am giving the game too much credit. But, hell, even if I am right at that point just do the same thing and kill Kyoko and frame one of the living people for it. It is this weird contrivance they half follow, half break so they can set up this extra case and the whole thing feels very sloppily executed. If you want to completely abandon the rules to get Kyoko (or Makoto?) killed, then just do it in a less roundabout, crazy way.

Yeah, that's how I rationalized it too. She messed with the feeds/knew about potential blind spots/whatever and orchestrated the whole thing to frame Kyoko for the purpose of deceiving the outside world. I'd say that maybe Kyoko was just too paranoid/on-guard to target directly but with the resources at Junko's disposal it's hard to believe she couldn't handle it. idk maybe worried that a struggle would spill out into too big an area and she couldn't/didn't want to black out an entire area of cameras and make it obvious she was tampering?

OTOH, even when she succeeds in pulling it off and gets Kyoko... the bad end shows the killing game stops, albeit because the survivors agree to just live in the school.

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Earthshaker posted...

Re: convenient plot fever:

I've had two instances I can remember in my life where I randomly got a fever+chills+delirium for literally no reason whatsoever, that went away after a night of rest, and had no other flu symptoms or whatever with them and it was the strangest damn thing. So that part isn't implausible.

I do agree about the whole "the rules are sacred" thing being hinky with her getting herself killed by following to the letter at the end, but let's face it: with as overly analytical as they try to make her, that "I let myself be seen for a despair orgasm later" motive I got from it just clashes with her whole long game plans.

Well it was more "plot convenient" because of when he got it and how it lasted only long enough for the game to do what it needed to to muddle the story. It felt silly and isn't ever really addressed. Unless Junko got him sick but I have no clue if that was ever mentioned or not.

NeatoAnAccount posted...

I agree that Junko's willingness to cheat sucks. If she's willing to cheat, why does she kill herself at the end? It just feels arbitrary. The villain just decided you got to live. They could've made this story way better by just having one character ask "why should I believe you, when you just attempted to execute Makoto under false pretenses?" But it kind of makes every character look stupid that this massive hole is never addressed.

There are so many resolutions the game could've had. Kyoko actually figures out how to know when Monokuma can see her. Maybe she could figure out a way to beat him even when he's cheating. Or maybe Junko never cheats, and the ending where she voluntarily kills herself doesn't feel arbitrary. Or maybe the killing game actually ends with 3 people remaining. You know, so you can solve more murder mysteries in the game where the gameplay is solving murder mysteries

obviously 1-4. didn't sakura know she'd die when she killed herself? that's not a very good plan you fricken moron

Yep I agree with all of that! There are so many other ways to make this less dumb and I could think of a bunch right off the top of my head too.

xp1337 posted...

Yeah, that's how I rationalized it too. She messed with the feeds/knew about potential blind spots/whatever and orchestrated the whole thing to frame Kyoko for the purpose of deceiving the outside world. I'd say that maybe Kyoko was just too paranoid/on-guard to target directly but with the resources at Junko's disposal it's hard to believe she couldn't handle it. idk maybe worried that a struggle would spill out into too big an area and she couldn't/didn't want to black out an entire area of cameras and make it obvious she was tampering?

OTOH, even when she succeeds in pulling it off and gets Kyoko... the bad end shows the killing game stops, albeit because the survivors agree to just live in the school.

Yeah, however I was ratinoalizing it was leaving holes and honestly felt maybe more than the game deserved? If the game isn't going to say it, I feel kind of weird trying to fix the plot for it in a way that makes the most sense. I do agree this is the best explanation though that makes the most sense with what they do tell you, at least.

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#11: Case 2-2
Strengths: That final execution scene hits hard, Kazuichi recruiting you to ogle girls has a Porkys vibe to it
Weaknesses: The motive, Pekos plot, the game trying to get you to feel bad for Fuyuhiko
The One Sentence Summary: The one chapter where youre worried the second game might suck.

I dont think it is a very controversial take to say that Danganronpa 2 is vastly superior to the first one. Like, not even close. The overarching story is much better and the characters are better and the writing is better and, perhaps most importantly, it is just a better game. Looking back at the first game without the consent mechanic feels very archaic and a lot of the trials have really stupid segments because of it. There is no logic drive and no consent, so the game really struggles to point you in the right direction sometimes without just straight up giving you the answer. So, all things being equal, Im likely to favor a case in the second game over the first one just because of how much more I like the second game. And that fondness for the second game is the absolutely only thing saving this case from the bottom. I abhor 2-2. There is almost nothing I like in this entire case and it is so bad that after I finished it I was literally worried that this game might be bad. I was two cases in and I had a very real worry that everything I heard was wrong and Danganronopa 2 actually sucked. Thats how bad this case is.

What is amazing is how many things this chapter gets wrong. The biggest for me is how targeted the motive is here. The motive (which is awful by itself) is the fact Mahiru was involved in the coverup of the murder of Fuyuhikos sister. So you have a motive that would only motivate one specific person and would only make them want to murder one other specific person. I cannot describe how utterly disappointed I was when I saw that was what the motive. Remember in the first game when the motives were something along the lines of I will reveal everyones secret! so everyone had a reason to murder and no specific person was targeted for the crime. This felt so incredibly lazy compared to what I was expecting and I soured on the case immediately because of it. After getting to the ending, it makes sense for several reasons. It hints at these people being Ultimate Despair and even gives a reason why some of them mightve joined the group. It is a lazy motive because Junko doesnt care about spreading despair here and just wants the murders to start happening and it was the path of least resistance. Like, I get that. It still sucks. It especially sucks in the moment when I am four chapters away from having any sort of reason why the game went ok so Fuyuhiko you should try to kill Mahiru this chapter and the rest of you are off the hook.

The trial is also horrible from a strictly gameplay perspective. The swimsuit full of gravel is far and away the worst piece of evidence in either game. But Suprak, you say, forgetting this is a computer and I cant actually hear you, what about evidence x? Isnt evidence x bad too? My response would be X! X!? Youre not looking at the big picture here! And my less joke-y answer is that youre wrong. Youre forgetting how stupid the swimsuit full of gravel was. It doesnt make sense. It isnt close to making sense. It is this absurd solution to a problem you dont even need to solve. Why are we figuring out HOW the murder occurred? That doesnt matter. Like at all. It doesnt impact this case in any way. We need to know the who of it to understand the motive, but the how is immaterial. Fuyuhiko was driven to almost murder because his sister was killed. He wasnt driven to almost murder because the murder weapon was stupid as hell. That wasnt why he was mad. He wasnt yelling at Mahiru because your friend used the dumbest weapon possible YOU BITCH so why the hell should we care? In fact, the whole Twilight Murder Syndrome thing sucked. It sucks when youre playing it and it sucks when youre using it in the trial. Everything about it is dumb and I hate it so much. I dont care if you want to be an indy game dev, Monokuma. Do that shit on your own time.

Oh and this isnt even talking about the horrible introduction to the trial where you literally are given like six multiple choice questions in a row about which character is what role. Yeah I know its like three minutes long, tops, but what a hilariously boring way to start a trial. I felt like I was playing Dora the Explorer. This character says PIG BITCH. Do YOU know which character says PIG BITCH? . .. Who says PIG BITCH? . Thats right! And then it goes from there to some pretty basic boring stuff, culminating in a Sparkling Justice aside which also makes no sense. Like it doesnt belong in the trial. There is no reason for it, other than for the game to wink at the serial killer reveal of the first game. It is a misdirect that serves no purpose other than to make the writing seem dumb. There is no evidence in this entire trial Id consider clever. Hey the shower is broken no fuck you. What a thing that is obviously going to come back later. I knew the shower was involved literally the moment Monokuma popped up to say that. Its so dumb, and made even dumber by the fact THIS IS A DAMN COMPUTER SIMULATION WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE SHOWER IS BROKEN? You have a missing semicolon somewhere, Monokuma. Find that.

Also, I cant even begin to describe how monumentally stupid Pekos plan was. Like this is far and away the dumbest in either game and I will hear no other arguments. Sure, there are other cases where this is dumb or silly, but no part of what she was trying to pull off made any sense at all. Zero. Her goal here is to protect Fuyuhiko, or have him escape the island. So, with things playing out as they were, she had two options. Let Fuyuhiko kill Mahiru and then do everything else exactly the same so it looks like Peko killed Mahiru. Or, once she kills Mahiru, walk to the diner holding the bloody bat while carrying Mahirus corpse and a giant sign that says hey I killed her. She is trying to FRAME HERSELF for a MURDER SHE COMMITTED. Do you know how easy it is to do that? Her goal is to convince everyone she killed Mahiru so Fuyuhiko goes free. She goes about this by framing Hiyoko, doctoring the crime scene, placing a fake mask to implicate Sparkling Justice, and using her ninja skills so she leaves no footprints. Again, in a plan to implicate herself, she hides her footprints showing her leaving the scene of the crime. This is the opposite of framing. In order to make it look like she did it, she made it look like she didnt do it. She washed the blood off of her body and hid the footprints. Peko, what the hell are you doing? You did the murder. Tool or not, you are the one who swung the bat and were the thing that killed Mahiru. The last thing you should be doing is hiding the evidence pointing to you if you want people to believe it is you. Her goal is to implicate herself in a crime she herself committed, and she FAILS IN A WAY THAT SHOULD BE FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE.

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I mean, Monokuma is 100% clear that regardless of what Peko says that she is the one responsible for Mahirus death. What was her plan if her Hiyoko distraction worked? Everyone votes Hiyoko and then Fuyuhiko, the person she loves and has sworn to protect, dies with everyone else. By going along and making it look like Hiyoko did it, she is possibly dooming Fuyuhiko to death. This is a rule clarification she absolutely needed like right after she killed Mahiru. Going boy I sure do hope Monokuma thinks I am a tool and not a person ho hum while doctoring the crime scene to point to someone else is a level of stupidity that blows away anything Hiro or Akane ever did. The successful execution of her plan results in her escaping, not Fuyuhiko. And, say she was smart enough to at least realize that and her goal was to make it look like she was framing Hiyoko so they'd catch her. Then it is even dumber, because SHE DID DO IT. There is no convincing needed. No need to make it look like you are Sparking Justice. All she has to do is tell them she did it. I have literally idea what is going on in this case because of how stupid the whole thing is, but I know whatever it was that Peko severely messed up in some way.

This is an absolutely convoluted mess of a plan that seems to confuse that Fuyuhiko and Peko have different plans and motivations. Fuyuhiko is the one who wants to frame Hiyoko when he is setting up the murder. Peko is the one who wants to just get Fuyuhiko off of the island. Both of these tend to get wrapped into Pekos overall plan though in a way that just doesnt make sense. A lot of this is the fault of how terrible the motive is. The motive targets literally one person in Fuyuhiko. Of course, that is too obvious. So instead, they have to come up with some reason why someone else might want to kill to help Fuyuhiko. And then they have to figure out a way why this person would want to kill for Fuyuhiko but then at the same time rationalize why this person would be ok with Fuyuhiko dying if they win the trial. And their solution isthis. This horrible, convoluted mess of a plot and murder plan where almost nothing makes sense.

Oh, and then the game has the AUDACITY to give us the BS line about how Fuyuhiko just wanted to talk to her. Like, he tells that to us during the trial. I really only wanted to talk to her or something like that is the line. Yeah, you know what you do when you just want to talk to someone? Im asking because Fuyuhiko sure as hell doesnt. Because just talking to someone doesnt involved writing notes to separate your target from their friend, drugging someone and hiding them in the back room, and hiding a murder weapon under a bench before your target gets there. If the game had just said that Fuyuhiko was planning to commit the murder, it makes more sense. Instead, they try to frame it as a crime of passion because Mahiru told him murder was bad. But obviously this makes absolutely zero sense considering the stuff Fuyuhiko had to do before hand. Like I said before, it is a mess. I cant tell if the game forgets who did what between Peko and Fuyuhiko, but the way it switches between the two of them and wanting Fuyuhiko to have some semblance of innocence so the last scene hits hard makes the case so monumentally stupid.

There are only a few things that save this case from the basement. Like I said, I like the cast in the second game and at this point most of them are still alive. It still has the fun early game energy where so many people are around and you can talk to them and figure out their personalities, and you just have the gnawing sense of dread that half of them are going to die very soon. I love the early chapters in Danganronpa games just for the setup, which I still think is one of the most fun in gaming. Also, Kazuichi wanting to spy on the girls had BIG PORKYS energy, which was kinda fun. And the execution scene was excellent. That was probably the determining factor getting this all the way up to 11. I love Peko and Fuyuhiko struggling to get words out before Pekos time is up, and this wouldve been an all time ending if the game had the guts to kill Fuyuhiko at the same time for his role in things. The whole scene was amazing, and it pretty much saved me from absolutely hating the entirety of this chapter. Unfortunately, the rest of the chapter is straight up awful. I was very excited to get into the game after the introduction, and this whole chapter did so much to take the wind out of my sails. What an awful way to start an otherwise very good game.

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I didn't really consider this when writing it up, but it also feels silly for Fuyuhiko to go "wah wah I just wanted a friend" but have taken out a series of actions to get Peko killed. Not even anticipating she would take the bat. But setting up the frame job on Hiyoko, getting Mahiru alone, and hiding the murder weapon. He was planning to murder Mahiru and have Hiyoko take the fall. That's what all that set up was for. And if this works, Peko dies with everyone else. Fuyuhiko gets the kill and Peko dies. "Cool"? It isn't completely incongruous with his character, but upon reflection it does make his insistance that he cares about Peko feel slightly hollow.

Again, not important. Just something I thought about when I was almost done with that write up.

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2-2 made me thankful at least that I had spent every opportunity to talk to Mahiru prior

Rip best girl

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Back to characters!

Up next: considering my absence this past week or so was because I just had a kid, this character's appearance in my rankings seems to fit.

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Congrats!

...Chihiro/Alter Ego for the hint?

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Well it could be A reference to the DR1 bad ending too

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#30: The Headmaster a.k.a. Kyokos Daddy a.k.a. Might Have A Real Name But I Was Too Afraid To Google It For Spoiler Reasons
Side Character Ranking: 5/8
Ultimate Ability: Dont think he has one
Actual Ultimate Ability: Ultimate Deadbeat Dad

This is the one character on the list where I dont actually know their name. I was afraid to google it in case it wound up leading me to spoilers since I havent seen the anime yet and dunno if he is going to appear in it or not. He is referenced a ton in the game, but his actual appearances are very limited. He appears in the opening scene to get murdered by Monokuma and then in the flashback tapes in the end. I think he actually does have a line of some sort where he is telling all of them that they probably cant leave the school and are they ok with that, but Im not 100% positive on that and dont feel like looking it up so maybe Im lying. That is the jist of what happens, at least. Other than that, he spends most of the game as a mystery and we dont know all that much about him. There is this mysterious aura around him up until the 5th case or so where Kyoko reveals that he is her father and the headmaster is not the mastermind, but before that you are trying to figure out who he might be and why he is doing this to you. So you dont find out all that much about him during the game. All I know about him is that he is the headmaster of Hopes Peak and Kyokos dad, and he is really, really bad at both of these jobs.

Let me see if I can rattle off some of this guys greatest accomplishments. Ill go into more of these in a moment but I think its important we see these all one after another. He abandons his daughter because he wants a different job. He doesnt speak to his daughter for years, forcing her to enroll in his stupid school just so she can talk to him in person to tell him to fuck off. He admits the following students into his school: Ultimate Despair, Ultimate Soldier (and despair), Ultimate Bike Gang Leader, Ultimate Yakuza, Ultimate Serial Killer. He forces them all into the school, bars them from leaving, and for some reason erases their memory so they dont know why theyre doing this. He lets Junko and Mukuro overpower him, getting himself killed in the process. And, either before, after, or during this, he allows them to install high tech security murderbots, surveillance feeds, and the sort of equipment needed to handle these right under his nose. I have played a lot of video games. I am not quite sure Ive encountered a character who has failed in every single way theyve tried to before like this guy has.

And I dont even know which one of his failings to elaborate on first. Maybe his chosen roster of students? Like that always stands out to me as insane. You have guys like the Ultimate Fanfic Creator walking around with someone like the Ultimate Soldier. In two classes this guy intentionally let in the Ultimate Yakuza, the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader, and the Ultimate Soldier. What kind of school are you running where you let in THE FUCKING YAKUZA? Do you know what the Yakuza does? Like best case scenario this kid is going to be trafficking drugs to like half the students in your school. Two murders actually occur at his school BEFORE the killing game happens because the yakuzas sister was bothering people and then the yakuza got mad and killed someone out of revenge. Can you imagine if your principals admission policy caused two different people to get murdered in the span of a year? How fast would they be fired? At the very least, maybe dont let in Mukuro, the Ultimate Soldier and Probable War Criminal into your class. After youve killed like your first dozen targets for your elite mercenary group, maybe high school life isnt for you. Skip geometry. This dude is just letting ANYONE in if they have an ultimate ability it feels like. Research that shit, man. Skip on the Ultimate Gang Leader and maybe just do boring stuff like the Ultimate Flutist. Itll be safer there.

And that isnt even counting the people he accidentally lets in. BOTH the Ultimate Despair and the Ultimate Serial Killer. These guys have like the two greatest kill counts of all time. These were at least by accident, so you come off as incompetent rather than intentionally malicious here. Your entire school is filled with criminals, murderers, and psychopaths so you cant just *shocked Pikachu meme* when the whole thing goes to hell. If you douse a bunch of dry branches with gasoline and lighter fluid, you are fully to blame when the arsonist that lives two doors down sets the whole thing on fire. If your specific goal was to get a group of high school kids murdered, Im not sure you could do a better job than what Kyokos dad did. Sure this was all done for the fun cast of characters that needed to appear in the game, which is fine, but it makes Kyokos dad look like an incompetent moron who is letting in the Ultimate Child Murderer and Ultimate Sex Offender because as long as they are the best at what they do, morality and safety and not getting everyone killed dont matter!

Im also a bit confused, and maybe the game just doesnt explain it, but why was he such a horrendous dad to Kyoko? Kyoko makes it sound like he just drops her off in a box at the fire station and nopes out so he can bea high school administrator? Why the hell does he need to give away the kid for that? I know he doesnt want to be a detective and that is some sort of shame to the family, but couldnt he at least hang on to the kid? Also imagine having a kid and then deciding nah I would much rather work at a high school with a bunch of other kids who arent mine AFTER having the kid. Like let me entertain some sort of wild idea where he thought you know I dont want to be a detective and it would be best for my daughter to be raised by the Kirigiri clan so she can still be a detective or whatever. But this dude apparently had the kid, then thought that, then thought the best solution was to cut of ties to his daughter forever. Like this wasnt a hey Kyoko I love you and miss you and I will visit and call but for your future you need to be raised by these people who can do what I cant. This was a BYE! and chucking Kyoko at the front door before speeding off in his 1997 Mercury Cougar so he could live that sweet life of running a school.

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Like, follow your dreams dude, but Kyoko makes it super clear that she has had zero contact with her father before she arrives at the school. Like no phone calls or letters or birthday presents or even that thing that Will Smiths dad did in Fresh Prince where he would promise to take him on trips and then just not show up. She didnt even get that. She didnt get even the pretense of caring about her. He neglected her for her entire life, and he did so for a job at a high school. She wants to find him so she can tell him that she hates him, which is probably a sign you have messed up as a father in some way. How awkward was that first meeting with Kyoko at the school? ALSO, he had to have seen she was admitted. Her last name is Kirigiri and he is the headmaster of the school. He still didnt contact her after he saw her name on the enrollment? He was like oh boy this could be awkward Im going to hope this is a different Kirigiri? I know Kyoko lost a large chunk of her memories, but she doesnt say I dont remember talking to my father but rather I remember specifically not talking to him and I remember my goal was to tell him I hated him. I almost feel like I have to be missing something here. Is Kyokos dad really this bad at dad-ing? If so, he is like first ballot hall of fame bad dad across all of fiction. It is hard to even come close to this level of bad dad.

Im also not entirely sure I follow his plan to save the students. The catastrophe is going on outside, which I would argue he is very responsible for since he let in both members of the Ultimate Despair into his school and let them recruit a bunch of people. He even says in some journal entry Kyoko finds something along the lines of jeez Mukuro seems like trouble and she is connected to the Ultimate Despair I better keep an eye on her oh jeez oh man what do I do? Well, maybe keep more of an eye on her so she and her sister dont recruit half of your school and get nearly the entire reserve department killed because of the inhumane experiments going on at your school. I also dont know how the research on Hajime is connected to Kyokos dad, but I have to assume he was at least aware of what was going on at his school and how they were experimenting on someone to change them into another person for the sake of a project that would never be funded by any agency and violates like six different ethical rules of research. But, again, ignoring that and how this is all his fault why does locking them in a building AND erasing their memories help them? I never fully understood the erase their memories part. Like, it makes 100% sense in the second game. But in the first gamewhy? He wants them in there to keep them safe, so he erases their memories so they dont know why theyre in there or why they want to stay in there? Like a full two years, POOF, gone. Replaced with absolutely nothing apparently so everyones first thought upon waking up is how did I get here. What was he even going to tell them? Maybe show them their videos they recorded? But then why go through the trouble of erasing their memories if he is just going to paraphrase stuff they knew? Did he just not get to Junko and Mukuro? Were they the last two? Thats some terrible luck if thats the case.

The only reason he wasnt even lower is the mystery of the headmaster was at least interesting from a story perspective (even though Id argue it fizzled out), and apparently he was at least trying to do what was best for his students (outside of Kyoko, who he probably continued to ignore). And, probably the biggest reason, for as large as the headmaster looms for a lot of the game, he is easy enough to ignore. He doesnt constantly get in my way or be an out of place serial killer or be a condescending jerk every time he talks to me. Hes just incompetent at his job and a horrible father, and most of this Im just extrapolating from what other people tell me. He is someone I dislike, but I dont really have to actively dislike him because hes never around. Hey, now at least I know how Kyoko feels!

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