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orenronen
Nov 7, 2008



Dangan Ronpa (ダンガンロンパ) is a series of mystery adventure games for the PSP, released by Spike-Chunsoft, written by Kazutaka Kodaka with character design by Rui Komatsuzaki.

At this point in time, there are no known plans to localize and release the games outside of Japan, unfortunately. You can, however, read a slowly growing translation of the first game on Something Awful's very own Let's Play subforum. This thread is, in fact, a spinoff from the LP thread, made so people have a proper venue to discuss newly revealed details about the sequel, and also for anyone who has actually played the first game to completion (or indulged themselves in spoilers despite not understanding moontalk).

Please use common sense and make use of the spoiler tag liberally, as you would do in any other thread on this forum. I'd advise covering any big revelation from either game, whether it was already covered in the LP or not.

Currently under the franchise canon:


Dangan Ronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair (ダンガンロンパ:希望の学園と絶望の高校生)
Ace Attorney meets Battle Royale. 15 exceptional kids are trapped in a locked down school building by a mischievous teddy bear, and told only a murderer can escape. Cue murder trial scenes where you find contradictions in suspects' speech by SHOOTING THEM WITH BULLETS and playing a RHYTHM GAME.


Dangan Ronpa/Zero (ダンガンロンパ/ゼロ)
A canon prequel novel set in Hope's Peak Academy before the events of the first game. Features a (mostly) all new cast. Some revelations and open questions may be connected to the second game.


Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Farewell Despair Academy (スーパーダンガンロンパ2:さよなら絶望学園)
The forthcoming sequel game, scheduled for release in July. Set on a remote island, though details are still hazy.
The official site, which includes a trailer, information about the characters and potential spoilers is here.

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Jeek
Feb 15, 2012
A warning: Even the character page of the sequel site contains major spoiler for the first game.

VVV That's right.

Jeek fucked around with this message at 14:16 on May 22, 2012

homeless snail
Mar 14, 2007

By "translation" you just mean LP, right? There's still no way to actually play this game in English?

slowbeef
Mar 15, 2005

Will Harvey hates you, and everything you stand for.
Pillbug

homeless snail posted:

By "translation" you just mean LP, right? There's still no way to actually play this game in English?

That's right. I think orenronen is working on it with another LPer to actually make a fan translation (and they posted a tech demo), but right now, you can't play it unless you speak Japanese.

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER
Can someone give my non-Japanese speaking arse a broad overview of the DR2 spoilers? Don't say 'So-and-So lived", but if you say "Someone from the previous game survived to this one" that'd be all right by me. That said, it's ultimately orenoren's call.

orenronen
Nov 7, 2008

CommissarMega posted:

Can someone give my non-Japanese speaking arse a broad overview of the DR2 spoilers? Don't say 'So-and-So lived", but if you say "Someone from the previous game survived to this one" that'd be all right by me. That said, it's ultimately orenoren's call.

It takes place on a remote southern island, during a Hope's Peak Academy "school excursion". The basic scenario is the same - the students are trapped on the island and only a murderer can escape. The protagonist lost his memory from before arriving on the island, and doesn't even know what his SHSL ability is. There are indeed survivor/s at the end of the first game, and the trailers imply some of them are also in this one, but nothing is made conclusive. One of them is such a blatant "clue" that most commentary I've read about it on Japanese boards agree it has to be some kind of misdirection.

orenronen fucked around with this message at 16:30 on May 22, 2012

Jeek
Feb 15, 2012
Your spoiler makes things more interesting, orenronen.

If there is another group of Hope's Peak Academy student hanging in an island (on an excursion no less), that means the current majority speculation of an apocalypse outside the school would not hold. That or the sequel happened before the first game, since I don't think this kind of thing will go away on its own.

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER

Jeek posted:

Your spoiler makes things more interesting, orenronen.

If there is another group of Hope's Peak Academy student hanging in an island (on an excursion no less), that means the current majority speculation of an apocalypse outside the school would not hold. That or the sequel happened before the first game, since I don't think this kind of thing will go away on its own.

Spoiling to be safe: Or maybe the Academy wasn't the only shelter; if the authorities really were focused on saving Super High Schoolers, then they'd try place said High Schoolers into situations or places they'd feel comfortable with. Perhaps Naegi's lot were all close friends who met in school (which makes DR 1's events all the more tragic), hence they were placed there, while DR2's lot were strangers, so it was thought that the relaxed atmosphere of a resort might bring them closer together.

This also rasises the possibility that 'Monobear' is an AI himself, like Chihirobo. Depending on the tech level of the DR world, perhaps AIs aren't really all that hard to create if one is a Super High School Programmer, or has the resources of a major government.

Jeek
Feb 15, 2012

CommissarMega posted:

Spoiling to be safe: Or maybe the Academy wasn't the only shelter; if the authorities really were focused on saving Super High Schoolers, then they'd try place said High Schoolers into situations or places they'd feel comfortable with. Perhaps Naegi's lot were all close friends who met in school (which makes DR 1's events all the more tragic), hence they were placed there, while DR2's lot were strangers, so it was thought that the relaxed atmosphere of a resort might bring them closer together.

This also rasises the possibility that 'Monobear' is an AI himself, like Chihirobo. Depending on the tech level of the DR world, perhaps AIs aren't really all that hard to create if one is a Super High School Programmer, or has the resources of a major government.


Spoiler tag for safety:

Between the Leon/Mondo/Chihiro photo and Yamada's last words, I think it is all but certain that the DR1 cast are all friends before some memory and/or time lapse. (I think Yamada knew Cele's real name and used to call her by that before the time skip, by the way. Why would he not say "Celes" otherwise?)

It would be interesting if the DR1 cast member get referred to in DR2.


And from what we have seen in the school (Monobear teleporting at will, spears from nowhere, an "old" laptop that is somehow capable of housing a strong AI), it should be safe to assume that the technology level in the DR universe is far higher than the real world, which would make your hypothesis workable at the very least.

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER

Jeek posted:

Between the Leon/Mondo/Chihiro photo and Yamada's last words, I think it is all but certain that the DR1 cast are all friends before some memory and/or time lapse. (I think Yamada knew Cele's real name and used to call her by that before the time skip, by the way. Why would he not say "Celes" otherwise?)

It would be interesting if the DR1 cast member get referred to in DR2.


New crackpot theory:

Assuming that Monobear is not an AI but a controlled entity, as in controlled by someone (be it the 16th student, the ex-headmaster, government super-soldier scientists or the Nitro Lord of the Nipponese Wasteland), perhaps DR2's antagonist(s) is/are the survivors of DR1, driven crazy by the revelation that they killed their friends, and now want to spread the misery :tinfoil:

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS
Dec 21, 2010
Oh, this looked fun but I figured it was a traditional VN where you don't do anything but press O to see the next line of dialogue, so I lost interest. If there's actual gameplay I might have to check it out.

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:

Oh, this looked fun but I figured it was a traditional VN where you don't do anything but press O to see the next line of dialogue, so I lost interest. If there's actual gameplay I might have to check it out.

Read the LP; there's a lot more gameplay than you might think.

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS
Dec 21, 2010

CommissarMega posted:

Read the LP; there's a lot more gameplay than you might think.

Oh. Well, I mean, if it's something like AA that's all I really need to hear. I'll try it.

likecnsnnts
Jun 16, 2008

SPLINTER CELLULITE

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:

Oh. Well, I mean, if it's something like AA that's all I really need to hear. I'll try it.

Like AA, but arguably more gameplay, and a little more varied.

orenronen
Nov 7, 2008

likecnsnnts posted:

Like AA, but arguably more gameplay, and a little more varied.

I will say, however, that while most of the gameplay takes place during murder trials just like AA, the game puts its narrative focus not on those trials but on the story between them. And that story is a high-concept sci-fi thriller that often steps into the bizarre.

Jeek
Feb 15, 2012

orenronen posted:

And that story is a high-concept sci-fi thriller that often steps into the bizarre.

So Monobear is definitely not of supernatural origin then. Well, I was kind of hoping that the DR series has a magic/science hybrid setting like Toaru Majutsu no Index, but I guess you can't have everything.

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER

orenronen posted:

I will say, however, that while most of the gameplay takes place during murder trials just like AA, the game puts its narrative focus not on those trials but on the story between them. And that story is a high-concept sci-fi thriller that often steps into the bizarre.

AHA! So Monobear really IS the Nitro Lord of the Nipponese Wastes! Man, I am posting so many spoilers! :smug:

Seriously though, apart from Hagakure (who might be a clueless doof of a conman), there really hasn't been anything outright magical happening- everything that's happened could be explained via technological means.

Jeek
Feb 15, 2012
Speaking of which, I don't quite understand how Hope's Peak Academy pick their students. At least I have never heard of a prestigious school would pick gang leaders, charlatans (assuming fortune telling has been proven to be pseudoscience in DR universe like the real world) or gamblers (when gambling is illegal in Japan).

And the counselor would have had tons of troubles with them as well. Look at what we already have:

- Someone with a strength complex and constantly feeling guilty for his brother's death
- Someone with a strength complex and crossdressing because of that
- Someone with a severe persecution complex (and a second murderous personality)
- Someone who goes super saiyan and dangerously unstable after trauma that others have withstood
- Someone who is deprived of normal human relationships enough to fall for an AI


tl;dr - What were the recruiting team of Hope's Academy smoking when they get this batch of student?!

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER
They were Super High School-Level [Insert talent here], and that's all that matters :colbert:

Jignx
Feb 17, 2006
~♥Bringer of Light♥~
I thought this thread was made because a localization is confirmed or something. Now I am sad again. :(

ConanThe3rd
Mar 27, 2009
To be fair, I can only dread to think what happened when Atlus et all suggested to their investors that they translate a game where Someone who commits manslaughter is litterly creamed into butter by way of g-forces in a cage'o'death

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER

ConanThe3rd posted:

To be fair, I can only dread to think what happened when Atlus et all suggested to their investors that they translate a game where Someone who commits manslaughter is litterly creamed into butter by way of g-forces in a cage'o'death

Then don't say it! Say something like "Hey, those kids seems to be into those Phoenix Wright lawyer games! This one's just about like it!"

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER
Bumping with a question and a quote from the LP:

orenronen posted:

:siren: Warning :siren: Leak scans from tomorrow's issue of Famitsu shows an article revealing tons of new information about the sequel. I can tell even from the very blurry scans I've seen that there are now real spoilers for the first game's ending in there, so take notice. The official site will also probably be updated with the new information this weekend, so avoid it if you want to stay clean.

I remind that all discussion about the second game should be done in the Games thread and not here.

Is it something we have to read in Japanese to understand? Or are there stonkin' huge pictures like, say, Aoi talking to the new protagonist, or Junko getting speared with a comical "Not again..."?

orenronen
Nov 7, 2008

CommissarMega posted:

Bumping with a question and a quote from the LP:

Is it something we have to read in Japanese to understand? Or are there stonkin' huge pictures like, say, Aoi talking to the new protagonist, or Junko getting speared with a comical "Not again..."?

I'm not sure - it's mostly confirming something suspected before. The actual confirmation is in the text, but it's text that's probably easy to grasp (when you know what you're looking for) even if you can't read Japanese.

Also, voice actor spoilers: Ami Koshimizu and Kotono Mitsuishi

Jeek
Feb 15, 2012
They are really going all-out for voice actors, aren't they?

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER

orenronen posted:

Also, voice actor spoilers: Ami Koshimizu and Kotono Mitsuishi

:psyduck: + :circlefap: Did DR1 sell that well in Japan? Or do VAs there work for peanuts and oxygen? 'Cos WOW.

EDIT: Eh, might as well start speculating: Naegi is the new Monobear, Kirigiri is Pinkbunny, and they're doing this to seperate the weak from the strong, so that the repopulation of Wasteland Earth can be done at maximum efficiency.

I don't know how the Nitro Lord fits in, but s/he will, somehow.

CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 10:50 on May 30, 2012

orenronen
Nov 7, 2008

CommissarMega posted:

:psyduck: + :circlefap: Did DR1 sell that well in Japan? Or do VAs there work for peanuts and oxygen? 'Cos WOW.

More voice actors. Some may not be accurate, as people are trying to figure out blurry scans, but I think most are pretty spot on. We'll know more tomorrow, or today if a better scan comes up.

Tomokazu Sugita
Jun Fukuyama
Yu Kobayashi
Romi Paku
Suzuko Mimori
Yoshimasa Hosoya
Minako Arakawa
Kana Hanazawa
Hiroki Yasumoto
Kishio Daisuke
Ai Kayano

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER

orenronen posted:

More voice actors.

I think I am going to need a cold shower, a long liedown, and a lot of yoga exercises, as it seems imagining the Golden Girls naked in the snow isn't helping by itself.

SingerOfW
Feb 28, 2012

I shall admit my wickedness.

orenronen posted:

I'm not sure - it's mostly confirming something suspected before. The actual confirmation is in the text, but it's text that's probably easy to grasp (when you know what you're looking for) even if you can't read Japanese.
Does that have anything to do with Nagito?

And man, those CVs are glorious. I suppose working on the game was as fun for them as it's going to be for us to play it.

EDIT: Found those scans, and they seem innocent enough to me. Guess I'm lucky that my Japanese is not that good.

SingerOfW fucked around with this message at 13:44 on May 30, 2012

Jeek
Feb 15, 2012
Good news regarding VA: Akira Ishida is returning for DR2.

However, do not search for any information regarding the DR2 students if you want to stay unspoiled for DR1 - I stumbled upon a major DR1 endgame spoiler while googling for a list of them.

And for a sci-fi story, we are not having enough science people in either game. In fact, there is only one DR2 student with a science-related talent.

Jeek fucked around with this message at 16:52 on May 30, 2012

SingerOfW
Feb 28, 2012

I shall admit my wickedness.
The article is now up on Famitsu website:
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201205/31015393.html
drat, that Togami-Ultragoon hybrid actually is a SHSL Heir! And he's voiced by Akira Ishida! And he's called Byakuya Togami! I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's the same Togami, though.

And I like that they gave Kobayashi one of the least dangerous jobs, making her into a SHSL Photographer. Makes her inevitable crazy antics fit Dangan Ronpa better.

Jeek
Feb 15, 2012

SingerOfW posted:

The article is now up on Famitsu website:
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201205/31015393.html
drat, that Togami-Ultragoon hybrid actually is a SHSL Heir! And he's voiced by Akira Ishida! And he's called Byakuya Togami! I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's the same Togami, though.

Let's hope he is not the DR1 Togami.

By the way, the SHSL gangster looks like an incarnation of Ishida.

SingerOfW
Feb 28, 2012

I shall admit my wickedness.
Actually, quite a lot of the characters look like reincarnations of one or more DR1 characters. Aoi+Sakura, Togami 2.0 and Kirigiri+Maizono were already known, but now we also have Mondo+Sakura, Ishida, Junko+Maizono, Fukawa+Togami+Kirigiri, new versions of Leon, Chihiro, Celes... Or maybe their faces are just too similar, and we know too little of them to recognize them as proper, original characters. At least the Cook, the Photographer, the Sugita (not sure about his SHSL trait) and the Nurse look quite fresh.

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER

SingerOfW posted:

Actually, quite a lot of the characters look like reincarnations of one or more DR1 characters. Aoi+Sakura, Togami 2.0 and Kirigiri+Maizono were already known, but now we also have Mondo+Sakura, Ishida, Junko+Maizono, Fukawa+Togami+Kirigiri, new versions of Leon, Chihiro, Celes... Or maybe their faces are just too similar, and we know too little of them to recognize them as proper, original characters. At least the Cook, the Photographer, the Sugita (not sure about his SHSL trait) and the Nurse look quite fresh.

Maybe they're all clones! Or children of the previous cast, assuming any survived, and are being placed into some fight to the death or something!

On a more serious note, what are the kanji/hiragana/strange foreign letters used to spell out the new heir's name? Sure, it looks the same in regular Roman lettering, but maybe it looks different in Japanese?

SingerOfW
Feb 28, 2012

I shall admit my wickedness.

CommissarMega posted:

On a more serious note, what are the kanji/hiragana/strange foreign letters used to spell out the new heir's name? Sure, it looks the same in regular Roman lettering, but maybe it looks different in Japanese?
It's exactly the same, down to the last kanji. You can compare it to Togami's name in DR1 and see that there's no difference.

orenronen
Nov 7, 2008

DR1 Spoilers: Of course it's DR1's Togami..

Non-DR1 spoilers: I like how SHSL Light Music Club Member's name is composed of four kanji taken from the K-On! girls' names.

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER

orenronen posted:

DR1 Spoilers: Of course it's DR1's Togami..

Whoa hey wait what :psyduck: Is that an actual SPOILER spoiler, or are you just messing with me? How could that happen?!

That said- new theory! Assuming you're serious, orenoren, maybe DR1 is a 'preliminary stage' of some, well, Battle Royale-like contest, and DR2's the next stage. I can't read the Japanese, but I'll assume that Aoi (who beefed up after her DR1 adventure, maybe in honour of a murdered Sakura), Togami and Naegi (no way that flaky-looking dude next to DR2's main character isn't a slightly older Naegi) are the only survivors of DR1, then? Either Kirigiri or Hagakure was the mole, and one died fighting the other, I'd also assume.

orenronen
Nov 7, 2008

CommissarMega posted:

Whoa hey wait what :psyduck: Is that an actual SPOILER spoiler, or are you just messing with me? How could that happen?!

You're in the general thread. If I put a spoiler tag after "DR1 Spoiler", there's going to be a DR1 spoiler inside.

CommissarMega
Nov 18, 2008

THUNDERDOME LOSER

orenronen posted:

You're in the general thread. If I put a spoiler tag after "DR1 Spoiler", there's going to be a DR1 spoiler inside.

So Togami DOES survive, haha! It seems my cunning plan has foiled YOUR cunning plan! Seriously though, are Aoi and Naegi joining the DR2 cast? Would a name list of the new dude/ettes be okay?

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orenronen
Nov 7, 2008

CommissarMega posted:

So Togami DOES survive, haha! It seems my cunning plan has foiled YOUR cunning plan! Seriously though, are Aoi and Naegi joining the DR2 cast? Would a name list of the new dude/ettes be okay?

DR2 newly announced cast, sans any DR1 spoilers:


SHSL Gymnast Akane Owari (Romi Paku)
SHSL Gangster Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu (Daisuke Kishio)
SHSL Photographer Mahiru Koizumi (Yuu Kobayashi)
SHSL Traditional Japanese Dancer Hiyoko Saionji (Suzuko Mimori)
SHSL Mechanic Kazuichi Souda (Yoshimasa Hosoya)
SHSL Princess Sonya Nevermind (Miho Arakawa)
SHSL Animal Trainer Gundam Tanaka (Tomokazu Sugita)
SHSL Nurse Mikan Tsumiki (Ai Kayano)
SHSL Gamer Chiaki Nanami (Kana Hanazawa)
SHSL Sports Team Manager Nekomaru Nidai (Hiroki Yasumoto)
SHSL Cook Teruteru Hanamura (Jun Fukuyama)
SHSL Swordswoman Peko Pekoyama (Kotono Mitsuishi)
SHSL Light Music Club Member Ibuki Mioda (Ami Koshimizu)

orenronen fucked around with this message at 18:23 on May 30, 2012

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