Danganronpa

An example of gameplay in Danganronpa. The player is in a Class Trial finding an issue in a character's comment and having to shoot a "Bullet" towards this sentence.

Gameplay in the main Danganronpa games is split into six chapters which each have three sections: Daily Life, Deadly Life, and Class Trial. Daily Life follows a standard visual novel style as players explore the school grounds, converse with characters, and progress the story. During designated "Free Time" sections, players can interact with a character of their choice, learning more about them and earning new skills that can help them in the Class Trial. Deadly Life is the post-murder investigation part of the story, in which players search for clues and gather evidence for the Class Trial.[16]

The Class Trial is the main section of the series, in which the students attempt to determine the culprit. This involves various types of mini-games, the most common of which is the Nonstop Debate. Here, the characters discuss the case in real-time, and the player must spot contradictions in their statements and shoot them using "Truth Bullets" containing the corresponding evidence. Other minigames include Hangman's Gambit, with the goal being to shoot letters to spell out a clue, Bullet Time Battle(1)/Panic Talk Action(2)/Argument Armament(V3) has the player using rhythmic button presses to argue against a character, and Closing Argument, which has the player piece together comic strips depicting the events of a murder.[16]

The spin-offs Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls and Danganronpa: Unlimited Battle use different type of gameplay. The former is a third-person shooter in which the protagonist, Komaru Naegi, uses a megaphone to issue commands at most of the electronic objects in-game, including Monokuma Robots and switches.[17] Unlimited Battle is an action game where players use touchscreen controls to fling a team of four of the Danganronpa characters at enemies.[18]

According to Kodaka, the first two games focus prominently on the ideas of hope and despair. The cast from the first game suffers the latter theme when being forced to kill each other in Monokuma's battle royale. Kodaka stated that the games were intended "to portray the disparity faced when someone has killed another person while at the same time portraying the hope of one day achieving salvation." Although the game shares traits from Koushun Takami's 1999 novel Battle Royale, Kodaka aimed to provide different ideas when writing the script. Originally, the idea was to use adults as protagonists but he instead found high school characters as more potential leads due to their immaturity through the usage of character development and how would they react to a killing game.[45] Voice actress Megumi Ogata who voices Makoto Naegi also commented on these themes; Ogata felt Makoto embodies the philosophy of hope as he brings this to the narrative and the setting.[46]

Analyzing these themes further, Ogata said Danganronpa often touches on both elements of despair and hope. The characters experience "despair" while they are trapped in the school and Makoto provides more emotional support to the cast across the story, giving the actress a far more optimistic message that the students are going to survive.[47] In Goodbye Despair a new character named Nagito Komaeda was introduced with the same Lucky Talent as Makoto. However, the staff considered them opposites based on their ideals of hope. In contrast to Makoto's heroic ideals of obtaining hope, Nagito instead embraces the idea of despair, believing that from any corrupted work the cast can find salvation.[48][49] The anime End of Hope's Peak Academy introduces a rival to Makoto named Kyosuke Munakata who shares similar ideals but is corrupted due to his friends' death, and thus contradicts Makoto's ideals. Across the story, Makoto carries the "burdens of hope" regardless of how difficult are his challenges, allowing him to redeem Kyosuke.[50]

For the third and latest game, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Kodaka decided to focus on a new theme: lie. This is represented through mysteries and surprises the player gets while playing the game. Kodaka claims that games would understand the ideals of lies when presented with the culprits. He was inspired by a mafia-like game where the answers are not provided to the player and thus wanted Danganronpa to go through this style in terms of writing. This mostly presented during the new gameplay elements from Killing Harmony as the player can enter into hidden routes when interacting with the rest of the cast. However, Kodaka had mixed feelings about it, finding it would come across as forced storytelling. Kodaka also refrained from expanding the theme of romance in the game as he felt the cast would look weak if this was implemented.[51]

The games were localized by NIS America. Due to the poor popularity of outsourced games by the Western studio-like DmC: Devil May Cry or Dead Rising, Spike wanted the Danganronpa to remain true to its Japanese release, with Spike Chunsoft CEO Mitsutoshi Sakurai saying that Western fans seemed to embrace Japanese games like the Final Fantasy series.[52] Due to delays with it being made, fan translations of the first game were present on the internet before NIS America handled the project. Minor changes were made to the characters' names but the team felt that the team aimed the project to be as faithful and accessible to the Western gamers. Spike's single request to NIS America was keeping the Monokuma's names intact. Due to the premise involving mystery, NIS America was keeping clues and at the same making the Class Trials as challenging as the original ones from Japan. While the English cast did not cause difficulties, Toko Fukawa's English voice actress was the most challenging to find as the character has a speech impediment. Monokuma was kept intact to make him look funny and at the same time threatening, something the team enjoyed.[53]

Goodbye Despair was more challenging to localize than the original game due to how much longer the narrative is. The original team tried to work together again on the project to keep themselves familiar with the concepts of the series. In regards to changes NIS America made, Spike Chunsoft was supportive of the ideas they provided. The producer and assistant producers were in direct contact with the original creators of the series, making the interaction between the team to be done quickly. Sonia Nevermind's traits were altered due to how in the Japanese version she was using terms from the 1980s and 1990s in Japan. The team was concerned if her catchphrases should be kept intact for the Western version. Fuyuhiko was also challenging to dub as a result of his initial harsh personality. The casting was made with the help of Bang Zoom!. Similarly, Nagito Komaeda was difficult to dub as a result of his multi-faced personality. Since in the Japanese version both Makoto Naegi and Nagito were voiced by Megumi Ogata, in the English version they decided to also use the same actor: Bryce Papenbrook.[54]

The first Danganronpa has received two manga adaptations. The first adaptation, illustrated by Saku Toutani, was published in Enterbrain's Famitsu Comic Clear web magazine between June 24, 2011, and October 18, 2013, and is told from the perspective of the other students.[55] The second, illustrated by Samurai Takashi and based on Danganronpa: The Animation, began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Shōnen Ace magazine from July 2013. An official fanbook and comic anthologies based on both the game and the anime have also been published.[56] A mini light novel written by Ryohgo Narita, titled Danganronpa IF: The Button of Hope and the Tragic Warriors of Despair (ダンガンロンパIF 希望の脱出装置と絶望の残念無双, Danganronpa IF: Kibō no Dasshutsusōchi to Zetsubō no Zan'nen Musō), is unlockable in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair after clearing the game once. The story takes place in an alternate universe where Makoto manages to find an alleged escape switch.[57]

The prequel, Danganronpa Zero, takes place in Hope's Peak Academy shortly after the events of "The Tragedy", following an anterograde amnesiac protagonist, Ryoko Otonashi, while detective Kyoko Kirigiri searches for its perpetrator, the mysterious Izuru Kamukura. The light novel series Danganronpa Kirigiri, which takes place before the events of the first game, follows a young Kyoko Kirigiri and her assistant Yui Samidare over the course of several years as they set out to become private detectives, rising through the ranks of the Detective Shelf Collection (探偵図書館, Tantei Toshokan).[58][59]

Kirigiri Sou, which takes place before the first game and after the events of the light novel series Danganronpa Kirigiri, follows college student Kouhei Matsudaira and Kyoko Kirigiri, as both of them investigate a mysterious mansion ruled by the influence of a plant hybrid doppelgänger of Kyoko (known as Kyoka) created by Santa Shikiba and her "siblings", the Rhinogradentia.

The light novel trilogy Danganronpa Togami, which takes place before and during "The Tragedy", follows Byakuya Togami and his secretary and biographer Blue Ink after he is stranded naked in Prague with her by the Ultimate Despair organization, as the Ultimate Imposter takes over the Togami Conglomerate and announces worldwide that lest he (the real Byakuya) be assassinated within the following 24 hours, the Ultimate Despair group will "end the world." The second volume also focuses on a younger Byakuya and the Imposter as they compete against fifteen of their siblings in the Togami family competition for the position of Togami heir, which quickly devolves into a killing game. The manga series Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer, which takes place between the events of the first two games, follows rookie and veteran Future Foundation agents Misaki Asano and Takumi Hijirihara, the latter of whom leads a secret parallel life as a vigilante serial killer obsessed with Mukuro Ikusaba, who only kills other murderers.

A short story booklet titled Danganronpa: Makoto Naegi Secret File – The Worst Day Ever (ダンガンロンパ Makoto Naegi Secret File 苗木誠、人生最悪の日, Naegi Makoto, Jinsei Saiaku no Hi), written by Kazutaka Kodaka, was included with special editions of the first Japanese Blu-ray and DVD release of Danganronpa: The Animation, serving as an origin story relating how Makoto came to be selected as the "Ultimate Lucky Student" of Hope's Peak Academy.[60]

Alongside the next anime, a manga spin-off illustrated by Mitomo Sasako, titled Killer Killer, began serialization in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine from March 9, 2016. Initially released as Killer Killer, in its third chapter, published on May 9, 2016, the manga series was revealed to be a side-story of Danganronpa 3.[61] The series focuses on Misaki Asano, a young woman assigned to the Future Foundation's sixth branch. She specializes in murder investigations, and is teamed up with fellow investigator Takumi Hijirihara, who, following "The Tragedy", has secretly become a serial killer, known as the "Killer Killer", obsessed with killing other serial killers the pair are tasked with apprehending. Two comic anthologies were released on September 9, 2016,[62] and another was released on October 25, 2016, by Kadokawa Shoten.[63]

In December 2012, Kadokawa Shoten's Newtype magazine announced that there would be an anime television series adaptation of the first game, titled Danganronpa: The Animation, produced by Lerche and directed by Seiji Kishi.[64] The series aired between 4 July 2013 and 26 September 2013 on MBS' Anime-ism programming block. The final Blu-ray/DVD volume, released on 26 February 2014, features an extended final episode.[65] Funimation simulcast the series as it aired and released it on Blu-ray/DVD in North America on 10 November 2015, while Manga Entertainment released the series in the UK on 9 November 2015.[66][67] The anime is licensed by Muse Communication in Southeast Asia and aired on Animax Asia in Japanese audio with English subtitles.[68]

A second anime series, titled Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, aired between July and September 2016. The series is split into two simultaneously airing parts; Side: Future, which serves as a conclusion to the "Hope's Peak Academy" storyline, and Side: Despair, which serves as a prequel to the first two games; Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair. Seiji Kishi once again directed the series at Lerche, while Norimitsu Kaihō wrote the screenplay.[69] The Danganronpa development staff have stated that, while difficult to work on both titles simultaneously, they are giving it since the opportunity to do something like it does not come up often.[37] Initially, an anime adaptation of Danganronpa 2 had been planned, but in the end the development staff opted for making an anime that takes place after Danganronpa 2 instead,[37] as Kodaka felt that the Danganronpa 2 characters' story had ended within that game and that he could not write another about what happened to them afterward very easily.[70] While class trials had originally been considered, it was thought that it would have been too painful for the characters to sit through another one, which was what led to the decision to make the conclusion into an anime.[37]

The series was licensed for simulcasting by Funimation.[71] Despite episodes alternating between the Future and Despair arcs when it originally aired, Funimation groups the episodes by arc on its streaming service.[72] An original video animation titled Super Danganronpa 2.5: Komaeda Nagito to Sekai no Hakaisha, was bundled with Danganronpa V3 in Japan on 12 January 2017.[73]

The original soundtracks for both the games and the anime are composed by Masafumi Takada. The soundtrack for Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc was released in Japan by Sound Prestige Records on 14 February 2011, with the ending theme, "Saisei -rebuild-" (再生 -rebuild-, Playback -rebuild-), performed by Megumi Ogata, which is also used as the anime's final ending theme. The soundtrack for Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair was released on 31 August 2012. The soundtrack for Danganronpa: The Animation was released by Geneon Universal Entertainment on 28 August 2013. The opening theme for the anime series was "Never Say Never", performed by TKDz2b with Jas Mace, Marchitect and Tribeca, the single of which was included with the first Blu-ray/DVD volume of the anime released on 28 August 2013. The ending theme is "Zetsubōsei: Hero Chiryōyaku" (絶望性：ヒーロー治療薬, Despairity: A Hero's Treatment) by Susumu feat. Soraru, the single of which was released on 4 September 2013. There have also been drama CDs, as well as bonus soundtracks included with limited-edition releases of the games.

Monokuma appears in some downloadable content for Spike Chunsoft's role-playing game, Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars.[74] Costumes of Monokuma and Monomi also appear in the Japanese PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions of Terraria, which are published by Spike Chunsoft in that region.[75] Another Spike game developed for the PlayStation Portable, Gachitora: The Roughneck Teacher in High School, allows a player to wear a Monokuma costume if a Danganronpa save file is present upon playing Gachitora.[76] Downloadable outfits based on Monokuma and Monomi also appeared in the Super Sonico game, Motto! SoniComi.[77] Characters from Danganronpa appear as downloadable content in Fushigi no Chronicle: Furikaerimasen Katsu Madewa.[78] The roguelike rhythm game Crypt of the Necrodancer features remixed music from the Danganronpa series, as well as character skins of Makoto Naegi, Monokuma, Monomi, Hajime Hinata, Junko Enoshima, Chiaki Nanami, Ibuki Mioda and Sayaka Maizono.[79] Costumes of Makoto, Kyoko, Junko, Monokuma, Hajime, Chiaki, Nagito and Mikan, as well as a pet of Monomi appear as part of a crossover in the NetEase survival mobile game Identity V.[80][81]

The franchise had a theatrical play dubbed Danganronpa The Stage 2016 (ダンガンロンパ THE STAGE 2016.) The play follows Makoto Naegi as he and his classmates must kill each other without being caught by the other students. The play features all the characters from the anime and game. The game is localized to Japan only. A stage play based on the anime Future Arc was made with InnocentSphere's Hideyuki Nishimori directing and writing the scripts. It premiered on 20 July 2018.[82]

The series was a commercial success. As of 7 November 2018, the game series had sold over of 930,000 units in Japan.[97] The best-selling Danganronpa game in Japan is Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, which sold a total of 258,250 units on the PlayStation Portable.[97] In Europe and the United States, combined sales of the first two games on PlayStation Vita, Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair, have surpassed 200,000 copies sold as of April 2015.[98] Spike Chunsoft reported in March 2018 that the two games each sold an additional 200,000 units through Steam.[99] By 2021, the series reached 5 million copies sold worldwide.[100]

Cosplay of the series has been popular due to the characters' distinctive traits.[101]

USGamer claimed that the popularity behind Danganronpa not only comes from the plot and gameplay but also the "zany, multifaceted characters" based on how expressive and distinctive they are. The tension provoked by the trials was said to be the most important part of the gameplay as the player feels confused about what character could have been the murderer of a case.[102] Hardcore Gamer said it has an "uncanny ability to leave its players slack-jawed at the sights of the unraveling plot points."[103] Destructoid praised its art style and well thought out story.[104] The media focused on the art style and character designs, which they felt helped to easily tell apart characters and enjoy their interactions with leads.[104][105][106][107][108] A major praise in regards to the narrative are the twists revealed through class trial like Nagito Komaeda's true character in Goodbye Despair or Kaede Akamatsu's last action in Killing Harmony.[109] This also led to articles focused on the game's strongest characters based on intelligence or major role in the series.[110][111] However, the trials have often received criticism for being easy to solve.[112][107] The latest game, Killing Harmony, attracted divisive comments from fans due to its ending which involves the characters being aware of their fictional nature and the emotional catharisis they have suffered as a result of the series' popularity.[113][114][115]

The cast in general was well received with several of them often being the subject of cosplay based on their distinctive designs, with multiple favoriting Junko Enoshima and series' mascot Monokuma.[101] In November 2019, a Monokuma costume created controversy in Austin, Texas, after drag queen Erika Klash was denied entry to a Whataburger while dressed as the character, after performing in-character at the Austin International Drag Festival at the club Elysium for five years. Klash later received an apology from a Whataburger representative over the incident, both in-person and on Twitter.[116][117] The reveal of the true gender of one character in the first game received mixed reception from some critics, who called the discovery "a cheap plot device".[118]

The series has won multiple awards, including the first one: GameFan as Game of the Year, Best Sony Portable Exclusive Game, and Best Adventure Game.[119] Game Informer awarded it Best Vita Exclusive,[120] Best New Character (Monokuma) while RPGFan gave it the "Best Story",[121] and "Best Graphic Adventure",[122] while Goodbye Despair received Famitsu's Game of the Year (Readers),[123] Hardcore Gamer's Best PS Vita Game,[124] "Best New Character" (Monokuma),[125] and "Best Adventure Game",[125] while in the Japan Game Awards it won the "Award of Excellence".[126] In 2017, Famitsu readers voted Danganronpa among the top four adventure games of all time, along with Steins;Gate, 428: Shibuya Scramble and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.[127] Killing Harmony won the Excellence Prize at the Famitsu Awards[128] and the award for "Best Plot Twist" in Game Informer's 2017 Adventure Game of the Year Awards.[129] In a Famitsu poll celebrating the franchise's tenth anniversary, the series remained more popular within female players than male players. The survey also included the fact that Danganronpa is mostly popular within young adults despite the magazine claiming the game were created to appeal to older gamers.[130]

In 2014, The 19th Animation Kobe committee chose Seiji Kishi to receive their Individual Award for the stretch of his career including Danganronpa: The Animation, Arpeggio of Blue Steel, and Hamatora.[131] GamesRadar writer Kenneth Shepard acclaimed the End of Hope's Peak Academy series, stating that despite the franchise changing media from games, the narrative was appropriate for the television series. He added that he felt that the anime managed to bring closure to Makoto's story arc and felt his story easy for newcomers rather than just returning players.[132] The finale of the series' Hope Arc earned positive reception for how it handled the respective finales of Makoto's and Hajime's/Izuru's journeys, despite lacking the appeal the original games had in the usage of antagonists.[133][134]

According to Kodaka, Ace Attorney's success in North America was due to how it distinguished itself from most visual novels with its gameplay mechanics, which Danganronpa later built upon and helped it also find success in North America.[135] He further noted that the team behind the games were surprised by the popularity of the three games, claiming they were not aiming Danganronpa to be a popular game. As a result, he found that the franchise was so successful that it rivaled Atlus's role-playing game series Persona.[136] Anime director Tomohisa Taguchi was impressed with Kodaka's work at Danganronpa and it inspired him to make a new work together: the anime Akudama Drive.[137]