Danganronpa
Super Danganronpa — dangit grandpa, dingle rumpus, dingdang Ron Paul. If you’re on any type of social media and follow anime or video game lovers, you’ve probably seen at least one variation of Danganronpa. What the heck does that mean? Danganronpa’s literal translation from Japanese is “bullet rebuttal.” It’s the latest craze among anime-game fans everywhere.
Super Danganronpa is a Japanese PSP game, though that doesn’t explain the huge buzz surrounding it. The game has never been translated fully to English, though as of now there is a fan-made English patch (the game is supposed to get an English version next year). Screen caps and videos of the game with text translation were posted on Something Awful forums. The first game has been posted in its entirety and the second game is in progress.
The game is often described as a mix between popular Japanese movie Battle Royale and Capcom’s Ace Attorney series. The player, Naegi Makoto, is a boy admitted to Hope’s Peak Academy, a school for teens who excel at a certain task. He is simply the “SHSL Luckster,” or the one talentless kid who was randomly picked to enter the school. However, upon entering, something goes horribly wrong. He wakes up among his new classmates with memory loss. A talking bear named Monokuma (or Monobear) appears and tells them that they’re locked inside the school and if they want to get out, they have to kill one of their classmates — but it’s not that simple. After a murder occurs, a trial will commence to find out who did the deed. If the classmates accuse the correct person, the murderer is executed. If they guess the wrong person, the murderer is set free and the remainder of the classmates are executed. Things get morbid very quickly. That being said, it’s up to you to find out the mystery of Hope’s Peak Academy and solve each trial.
It’s a point and click game, though during trials, you have to fire bullets at contradicting statements to prove who the murderer is. The second game follows the same style, with a slightly different story.
As of now a Super Danganronpa anime adaption has aired, so spoilers are everywhere. (I recommend reading it and then watching the anime, since the anime is so condensed, it skips out on a lot of information!) If you plan on reading it and want a spoiler free experience, I recommend staying away from Google Images since most pictures will show deaths and murderers.
The series has become a smash hit, with detailed figurines popping up in Japan and an abundance of cosplayers popping up in the U.S. You can read the first game here and the second game here. Please be aware that neither of these are the original Something Awful threads — they’re mirrors to host the posts. Something Awful often puts up pay walls to force people to buy an account in order to browse their forum. Thankfully, the translator has given permission to rehost his posts so everyone can enjoy them! There are other translations floating around, like ones that start from the second game’s fourth chapter, but Orenronen’s are the most in-depth. A fair warning to you: be careful with the characters you get attached to. They might die.
Do you need somebody to discuss Danganronpa with? Or maybe you want to play Fortune Street with me? Comment below or e-mail me at dahrae@terpmail.umd.edu.
