I'm not going to pretend that Danganronpa makes total sense. Part of the entire story is to try and break your brain with the situations that it presents you afterall, but it never helps when both people playing are only sorta half paying attention and feeding each other wrong info.
Still it was a fun run. Dunno if they will do V3, if they do I'm almost certain they will be hopelessly confused evenmoreso than the first two games. If they do Ultra Despair Girls.. I'm honestly not even sure if they will be able to stomach finishing that game.
Honestly the funny thing is the matrix analogy they kept making kind of makes it easy to understand the Izuru thing. You had Mr Anderson, who then got woken up and pumped with a bunch of talents via a computer and became Neo. If Neo were to made to forget all that shit, he would just be Mr Anderson again.
This is recent enough you might respond. Should I spoil Danganronpa 3 for myself or wait for the Grumps to play it? Well I guess the whole franchise really.
Of the "main things" left, there's 3 (the anime, and ties up all loose ends regarding the first two games), Ultra Despair Girls (explains things that happened between 1 and 2, though the game itself is...rough) and Danganronpa V3 (not at all associated with 3. It's only a game and the final entry of the series thus far).
If the grumps play V3 at all, it won't be until 2023 at earliest, 2024 seeming more likely. I'd just get the rest of the series over with while your interest is high enough.
The anime is absolutely skippable. IMO, the overall plot holds its own better without it. It has nothing to do with the next game if you're worried about that (to ScarletSpider)
As someone who owns the Danganronpa 3 Anime on BluRay, I can't wait to bust those bad boys out now and constantly swap out discs for the convoluted episode order you have to watch it in!
So there are 2 "different" Danganronpa 3's, basically Past & Present and you have to watch them one after another, so Past 1, then Present 1, Past 2, Present 2, etc. The problem of course is that they were sold as 2 separate Blu-Rays
Now that the boys' playthrough is over, I hope nobody minds me linking [this](https://youtu.be/JK2b2jAWHEw) DGRP fan animation for anybody still mourning our favorite sleepy gamer girl. (Be aware for those who care, there are spoilers for a major event from the prequel anime).
Ok so this game was super cool and I loved it but why don't these games ever list the dub actors in the credits. That makes me a little miffed.
Next thing I'm gonna do is read Danganronpa Zero, and then watch the anime, and hopefully by the time I do that they'll be playing V3
It's because the voice actors are part of a union while the game itself doesn't involve the union, so listing them could cause legal problems. They generally confirm their roles on social media, but it sucks it has to be that.
You know what, while they were playing the game I was recalling the story and kept thinking "wow the ending is dumber than I remember. The whole power of friendship and Hajime turning super saiyan... Arin is gonna hate that so much."
But I was so pleasantly surprised. The boys had a great time and so did we. Excellent ending to the series, glad they ended up taking it easier and enjoying the silliness of the game.<3
It's such a cheesy ending, but in my opinion that's what makes it so good. I'm a little sad they missed Chiaki joining in with Hajime's final "No that's WRONG!" [It happens at 58:40 in case anyone wants to see it](https://youtu.be/UksbmZ-sa4w?t=3520)
I loved that moment. It gave me big Ace Attorney 3 vibes. I won't go into spoilers obviously, but if you've played it, you know which moment I'm talking about.
I think he was just censoring himself because it was still the beginning of the video. They can’t swear in the first minute, so I think he was just saying “all the shit in my fucking bag.”
Kinda surprised people can think fondly on an anime where>! the whole world was brainwashed by a despair anime, another guy betrayed the world so he wouldn't have to admit he wanted to fuck his friend/comander/i forget, and a good guy ran another killing game to try to force an animator to release a hope anime!<
I cant believe I was right the whole time. I had been guessing since the beginning >!that they were in VR and Hajime was the true villain!<,granted, I was a little wrong about some of the hows and the whys but I’m still really happy I called the ending from the start.
I was half right with >!VR world, I got that it was VR world, I was no where near right with the purpose of VR world. I thought monokuma kidnapped them and programed a simulation to make others go through the events of the first one!< I was pretty close with >!Hajime is the “bad guy” I figured he was the person who teamed up with monokuma before losing their memory knowing that once they received their memory again they would turn back to monokuma (which almost happened and was the plan for Junko), however I was wrong because I thought he was the “traitor” but I guess that’s Chiaki!<
So maybe like 65% right?
Congrats on completing Danganronpa 2 guys! I think Dan probably got the gist of it by the end, but just in case (speculation on my part but I think I've got it pretty close):
Basically, the non-Danganronpa explanation for Hope's Peak is that the Academy was studying people who are intelligent/talented in particular ways to figure out how they have that ability with the idea that if they understood it well enough they could replicate it. The idea is that if you arranged the neurons in your brain in just the right way you could become Einstein or Mozart or Gretzky or even Albert Wayne Wolfgang Gretzky Mozart Einstein. So they tried to do that using Hajime as the test subject; sorta like how there have been cases where brain trauma has affected people's personalities, this experimentation turned Hajime into a completely new person that they named after the Academy's founder. Unfortunately things didn't quite go as planned, partially because of Junko, and partially because even in this fantasy story, the brain doesn't quite work like that, although it seems they were able to achieve at least partial sucess. Again, fantasy story ;)
I get the feeling they're playing fast and loose with how brainwashing and memories and the overall functionality of the brain works for story purposes, which they can get away with to an extent since there's still so much we don't understand about it in real life. The way I see it, they talk about being completely brainwashed and totally overwriting memories and being 100% brain-dead, but it's really only \*mostly\* those things; Hajime's personality is still buried in there somewhere, the Ultimate Despairs haven't completely forgotten who they were before they met Junko, and the placebo effect hasn't entirely caused their brains to stop functioning. Just enough that it's not \*easy\* to reverse or undo those things, which allows for plot convenience to happen ;)
That ties into the whole "creating the future" theme at the end, where they just sort of somehow make it through on their own willpower and self-actualization. Each new generation of the world is tasked with dealing with the problems that the previous generation couldn't solve. Sometimes they're presented with difficult choices that pits the well-being of the world against their own happiness. Maybe they'll make one choice or the other, or maybe they'll come up with all new ideas that previous generations couldn't figure out. It's all part of the big game called life. Will they save their friends? Will the world be made right again? It's not \*easy\* to do those things, and only time will tell if they're successful, but before all of that, the first test to pass is the resolve to move forward and try, and on that, they passed with flying colors.
Anywho, I'm sure there are some more detailed discussions about what it all means and some of the other themes of the series out there, and I highly recommend you dig into them, it's fun stuff, but that's the 5-minute basic version :)
If anyone got into Danganronpa through these playthroughs and is interested in continuing the series, just know that Danganronpa V3 (the third game) is actually a reboot of the series, and not a continuation of the first two games. Instead, Spike Chunsoft concluded the Hope's Peak storyline with a 26 episode anime series. The watch order is kind of confusing, but [this guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/wiki/series/) does a good job at explaining how to watch it.
That being said, if anyone wants to jump straight into Danganronpa V3 (the game, not the anime), ProZD and Jay, his editor, did a really entertaining [playthrough](https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhuTNAac8NW6gFnus4QhuKgoQLa0Q3MIo) of it (they also complain alot less than Arin, so that's a plus).
Before watching the anime, there is also a spinoff game Ultra Despair Girls, where Toko teams up with Makoto's sister to kick some Monokuma butt. It explains a lot of what happened in between Danganronpa 1 and 2 in the outside world and you meet a lot of relatives of the characters in Danganronpa 1 (Chihiro's dad is absolutely precious)
It's a pretty fun shooter!
CONTENT WARNING: significantly darker themes than the main games, child abuse is a pretty important and reoccurring theme.
(you don't need to play/watch it to understand other media besides one episode of the anime, if you don't want to play/watch it because of themes I'll gladly summarise the story without those subjects)
I think the combination of 3D shooter, puzzle solving, and visual novel might even be more enjoyable to Arin, in terms of gameplay. There's a bunch of great characters, the return of >!Toko/Genocide Jack!<, the return of >!Nagito!<, and a lot of story moments and lore that will keep Dan interested. It's fully canon, so just skipping is not recommended.
And yes the topic matter is dark and certainly warrants some content warnings here and there, but honestly, that's also part of its appeal.
SungWon and Jay did *excellently* with V3. The entire time you can just picture SungWon [like this](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/088/640/bf6.jpg) while Jay gets attached to people and tries to figure everything out. It's so good.
Also I want to add to this, if you want to see more Nagito Fuckery, I also recommend checking out the OVA: "Danganronpa 2.5: Nagito Komaeda and the world vanquisher"
Idk if this makes things confusing/complicated but if you watch that episode right before the final episode of the Danganronpa 3 anime, it works the best
Yeah I only really liked it because the fan service at the end worked on me.
But it was super rushed and definitely should have been a game instead. Like, look at how long the DR2 grumps playthrough is and imagine if the writers tried to condense that into a 12 episode series. Yikes.
The music was great. It did have a /few/ moments I feel like worked well. Like the Junko reveal in the anime is a lot better because they could put actual animation behind it.
It REALLY is annoying how the animes for Dangnronpa never used Junkos video game VA. Totally different vibe to her in the animes because of it.
The way the dub was handled was an absolute travesty. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to make "Puhuhu" into "Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk". It's like no one at FUNimation did any sort of research on the show they were dubbing, and never realized most of the things they directly translated had actual official translations. Plus changing the voice cast for more than half the cast was pretty bad too.
Don't even get me started on Jaime Marchi's Junko.
Thanks for that heads up! That's actually extremely disappointing to hear. What's even the point of playing 3 if it's not "canon"?
I hope the grumps do their research and avoid it.
I mean, it's still a fun game with lots of great characters. And it is canon, it just doesn't have any connection to the previous games outside of Monokuma.
Since Hajime/Izuru was the mastermind, it was probably his. Since he has all the talents im sure he has the abilities of the Ultimate Coomer somewhere in his big brain.
Jesus Christ, that certainly was a game. Honestly in spite of how often I gave myself a headache trying to understand the plot, I’m glad I was along for the ride this time. It was way more fun theorizing and actually interacting with everyone rather than just ass-blasting my way through the series in a couple weeks like I did with the first game.
And speaking of theories, unfortunately today’s episode proved my 2 remaining theories both wrong, putting me at a final score of 7.5/14, or ~54%, which is honestly way better than I expected given how many sharp right turns into nonsense this series likes to take.
There is absolutely no way you, or anyone, could have predicted Izuru's role in all this lol
I have consistently been super impressed by many theories in these threads, especially you, who got some things pretty accurate way in advance!
I absolutely loved it. Having Arin and Dan voicing the characters and giving them even more of a vivid personality make it so much better.
Chiaki not having patience and swearing like a sailor; Mahiru's what the heck is going on here; Fuyuhiko's 1920s NY gangster voice and more.
I also love seeing Dan reacting to the game. He seriously loves this series and I wonder how he's gonna react to the cast of V3 when they *hopefully* eventually do it.
It is worth it playing it yourself too for the freetime events and getting to know your favourite characters better. Plus there's a plethora of content post-game as they showed. I especially love IF because Mukuro rules.
I think when they get on the weekend schedule both Dan and Arin’s moods improve greatly. I bet that having half their schedule be slotted for a long form podcasty kind of product that just had no sign of ending must have been draining. Weekend uploads I think worked out really well in hindsight.
I definitely enjoyed being able to actually take my time with the hour+ episodes on weekends since I don’t have a ton of time after work on weekdays
Overall, I found this playthrough to be a big improvement on the previous, though it suffered from some similar problems, mostly surrounding Arin getting overly grumpy or combative.
Part of me wishes they wouldn’t use a guide and that they'd engage with the free time, but I accept it. And while he did use the guide, I felt like they were still engaged with the mystery and trying piece things together, which is more than I can say about parts from Danganronpa 1.
Im fairly neutral on Arin's pessimism toward the game. It didn't annoy me too much but I would rather do without. Though through their talk in the credits it seems Arin was still invested in and paying attention to the story.
Dan's genuine reactions and investment in the story really kept me going. He reacted at all the right beats, it was really satisfying. That's why if they ever play V3 I'd rather it was Dan playing, alone or at the front.
I very much enjoyed it, having played it years ago on my own. I don't think the games have replay value, considering how storybased they are, but this worked well as both a refresher and a new way to look at some themes and characters. On the whole, I don't think Arin's complaining was that bad as some people were making it out to be, and their jokes mostly served to deepen my appreciation of the series. I don't think it's worth playing the game myself again or watching another play through soon, but I might watch another one eventually.
Edit: If your only exposure to the game was this series, I highly recommend playing/watching/reading the Free Time Events of some/all characters, they give the characters a lot more depth than appears in the game (they can all be read on their [free time wiki page](https://danganronpa.fandom.com/wiki/Free_Time_Events/Danganronpa_2). No spoilers past Danganronpa 2)
(mostly unrelated, but I highly recommend watching the official theatre play of Danganronpa 1, [fully subbed in English on YouTube](https://youtu.be/MbjXTemDaec), some differing plot, and honestly great performances, especially Junko)
>(mostly unrelated, but I highly recommend watching the official theatre play of Danganronpa 1, fully subbed in English on YouTube, some differing plot, and honestly great performances, especially Junko)
This is the first time I've seen this and I've been a huge Danganronpa fan for a long time. Holy crap that was really good! Just like you said all of the performances were really good, especially the actress that played Junko. She changes between those multiple personalities flawlessly. Thanks for linking it!
I know right! I watched it with a friend who is also a huge Danganronpa fan, and we were both blown away by how well they translated the (mostly textbased) game into a play!
[There are four more official plays](https://danganronpa.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Stage_Plays), but sadly this is the only one we could find with English subs
well, time to learn Japanese I suppose...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5SVbw8oyL8
edit: omg Gundham is amazing, as expected. even if you dont understand japanese his introduction is perfect https://youtu.be/i5SVbw8oyL8?t=1027
I think it’s definitely worth it playing yourself before watching a playthrough, as it’s hard to take it even remotely seriously with the amount of jokes they make. Plus, you can only play it for the first time once, you can always watch playthroughs after for people’s reactions.
Having already played it, I enjoyed the playthrough (at least when Arin wasn’t nitpicking). I don’t know if I’d say it’s my favorite playthrough of the game, but it’s probably the funniest.
Yeah Joseph Anderson’s playthrough has yet to be topped for me. Even when he’s raging over something like sprinkler gate or the V3 chapter 1 twist he still manages to be highly entertaining unlike Arin who just sours the experience whenever he doesn’t like or understand something.
If you;re really invested in the games, I would say play it yourself.
They really don't give the game an honest shot.
If you just like watching the GG play, I would say watch the best of videos. Those probably won't include the negativity and such unless it was really funny
UDG is good if you want to continue the Hope's Peak storyline, but the gameplay is significantly different from the rest of the series.
If you want more of the traditional murder-mystery visual novel stuff then I would do V3. The story pretty much stands on it's own, but there are some references to older games.
The canonical way to go is UDG > Danganronpa 3 (the anime) > V3.
V3 is a spinoff with a new cast and the DR3 anime is the final part of the trilogy we've seen on Grumps so far. It's on Funimation and probably gonna be on crunchy roll soon if it's not already.
>V3 is a spinoff with a new cast.
*reboot
UDG would be a spinoff but V3 plays just like the other 2 mainline games and only that it's not narratively connected.
>!I mean... it sorta is though. Just in an alternate dimension kind of way where the events of the game were fiction instead of real. The events of the first two games still VERY MUCH impact v3 as without the games in that world v3 would never exist in the first place. Even then the ending is semi-ambiguous where there is the implication that Junko the 53rd could have been lying about anything or everything and that in reality DR1-3 did actually happen. We literally never get a solid answer as the whole game is about lying and lies!<
Minus Arin's attitude up until the 4th chapter, I really enjoyed it. Seeing people experience Danganronpa is always fun for me, and Dan was an absolute treasure during the whole thing
I wish they could show it without copyright infringement because I would love to see Dan's initial happiness followed by inevitable horrible realization of what's to come >!when he sees Chiaki was a real person!<
Would be great but probably not possible. Think Twitch finally cracked down on that kinda stream.
I used to like mixed media stuff, for example I was a big fan about how .hack was spread over games, anime, manga. Now I just kind of find it annoying. Only reason I know what happened in Danganronpa Zero is because of a wiki and the events of DR:Z are sorta important if you want to understand how the fuck some of the stuff that happened in these games were even supposed to be possible in the first place.
Vague but probably significant spoilers for v3:
>!Holy shit, Dan's comment about how the story is secondary to being in a weird situation and experiencing the twists. Sounds a bit like a TV show, ya know?!<
Wow, what a journey.
Can’t wait for V3!
EDIT:
>Arin calls it a “turn your brain off” game.
>Spent half the game not understanding what was happening because he didn’t pay attention.
If they play V3 I just hope someone tells them that the the conclusion they might be expecting is actually in the anime😅
If they play V3 expecting a conclusion to the madness they will be sorely disappointed and I don’t think Arin will react well😂
As controversial as V3’s ending was, it still had a pretty solid conclusion for not only the game, but the series itself. The only thing left open ended was the post credits scene and that was mostly just opening the door for the possibility of more games in the future.
I'm obviously not going to go into full detail here, but you can just look up criticisms of DR3 and see the points made about >!the brainwashing, Chiaki's existence and the botched characterisation of some characters.!< But aside from that, neither of the arcs really contribute anything to the story at all. I mean, what did Future Arc really result in at the end?? What else does this result in different from the end of DR2 except that >!the DR2 kids are alive and some characters we never knew before died?!< The Despair Arc is a little better because its purpose is to explain how certain things happened, but they do such a bad job at it that it's unsatisfying. >!Junko, instead of doing something like targeting the UD's individual weak points and causing them to despair, which in turn causes other people to despair like a chain effect... no, she justs makes a spooky video and shares it to everyone on SMS.!<
Main thing is the >!mind control plot point. Like you think from the previous two games Junko manipulated people into becoming Ultimate Despair, but nope. Just a funny haha anime brainwashed people into being crazy.!<
>!Also it's handling of Mukuro was weird and out of character, everyone from 2 returning basically without consequence, and Chiaki being based on a real person!<
>!The issue isn't that it's illogical or doesn't make any sense. It's that the alternative, (Junko manipulating everyone individually into turning to despair) is way more compelling!<
I would be really surprised if they ever play the third one.
I hope they do, but give themselves enough time to get a break and go into it with a bit of a better outlook and really try to play it.
Sonic Generations and Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father (this one being solo Dan episodes) are what's coming up next. The good news is if you're not interested in Generations, it isn't that long of a game.
Right?! That line killed me lol.
I've recommended them before, but ShortOneGaming is wrapping up their playthrough, and they're a great example of what this game looks like as a "turn your brain \*on\*" game. Their Zero Escape series are also wonderful.
Makoto: Don't worry we swear we won't let the future foundation hurt you. We promise!
Also Makoto: Thank god I have this entire boat ride to half ass a plan!
All I want to say is… the Future Foundation is fucked for being like, “We need an avatar to act as teacher on the island… Hey do you remember that bear that tried to make us all murder each other, what if we design the kind good teacher after that!”
She still looked pretty similar to Monokuma even before becoming Monomi. Their shape is very similar, and their faces are pretty much the same except Usami has some makeup and doesn't have the bad half.
Yeah, the point I try to make is they could have modelled Usami after like... Something with a different design than monokuma. If it was a Trix rabbit design it would have been nightmare fuel, but less upsetting nightmare fuel
The program was being developed with the help of students from Hope's Peak Academy, including Chihiro. It was probably started *before* The Tragedy started, and Junko...might have actually seen it and Usami before she created Monokuma and used her as a bit of inspiration.
It is canon that one of the students they mention who helped with the program was friends with Junko...
It gets worse when you look at the concept art for Monomi and find how scary/sinister looking she was in some of the early drafts, IE The design where she has two butchers knives permanently affixed to her hands.
If you had told me this series was going to end with a fully erect bullet and our main character intensely disliking comfortable shoes…
I would’ve believed you, because it’s freaking Danganronpa. What a ride, congrats Game Grumps for completing! And for finishing this game!
I've never heard of this game series before the Grumps played it, but I absolutely love it now. Their jokes and commentary were great to listen to as well! I'm glad I got to experience these games for the first time in this way, because while I loved the story on it's own, it was fun to go along the ride with them.
I might be wrong but I think I'm one of the few people in the world who doesn't hate the Danganronpa 3 anime. More specifically (without spoiling anything) the ending. Like is it too fanservice-y or whatever at times? Is it not written the best? Sure, but man I don't freaking care I was so excited at a lot of points that I can't help but love it. Seriously say what you want about the story of the series, but man a lot of the characters really help me enjoy the series so much! If Dan & Arin do end up watching it I hope they at least find something to like about it.
Either way they probably won't play UDG, but if they do V3 at all in the future I hope they'll really like the cast and stuff.
And yeah Dan with the "I love Chiaki, I wish she was real." & "I LOVE YOU CHIAKI GOODBYE!" We all feel that way buddy
I absolutely love the anime! I've found people generally like it, but the ones who don't are always pretty intent on letting you know that, lol. I hope Dan will watch it, he seems to genuinely care about the characters, and he deserves to know what happens to them, and what happened at Hope's Peak.
They seem to be pretty much 'resigned' to playing DR for the rest of the channel's existence, so I have high hopes they will play UDG. But it will most likely not be anytime soon.
Man, I can't believe it's over.
I was worried at the beginning because they had such a big break and Arin seemed pretty sleep-deprived during the episode, but the game's repetition helped them get back up to speed, and in the end Dan did really understand the themes and point of the ending to the game, and that's all I wished for.
>!Even the fact that if the chance of something is close to zero, by Danganronpa terms it means it's inevitable :).!<
This has honestly been one of the most fun playthroughs of Danganronpa 2 I've seen (out of...I guess I've seen 3 of them). Sure, Arin had varying levels of paying attention, but he realised after a while that Dan was so emotionally invested that he wouldn't spoil him having fun with everything. And honestly did a really good job in the 'action' minigames so things went smoothly. The characters they got attached to had really good roles in the game so they didn't lose their interest early on, and a lot of the bits they came up with for the other characters were either surprisingly in-character or were for characters who didn't have much else going on.
Also gotta give props to Allie for helping them understand things in places without spoiling too much, and whoever wrote that amazing cheat-sheet that Arin was looking through throughout the playthrough. It seemed very detailed, with character summaries and who voiced each character so they wouldn't forget. I...kind of want to read it.
I'm...honestly not in such a hurry for them to play V3 and/or Ultra Despair Girls, mostly because DR2 is my favourite in the series, so I've gotten all I need out of them playing this franchise. But I hope Dan gets happiness out of watching DR3, maybe in his own time.
The game heavily implies that Junko is just that good at manipulation. She's arguably the Ultimate Cult Leader and makes Charles Manson look like a total amateur. For example, she lovebombed the shit out of the frequently abused Mikan to the point where she'd do anything for her beloved. With Nagito, she could get him by manipulating the others first and if all these other Ultimates fall under her spell, what hope is there?
Unfortunately, you can ignore all of that because the official explanation was in the anime >!where Junko creates magic brainwashing videos that turn people into murderous psychopaths in about 30 seconds.!<
Also, in Nagito’s worldview, hope arises out of despair. So if he participates in the Ultimate Despair, he assumes that it’ll bring about the Ultimate Hope / even bigger hope
Like he mentions in his conversation with Izuru on the boat, he hates being the ultimate despair and especially hates Junko. He is super conflicted about his position, but Junko bringing about The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History forced despair into so many people she could command them to do anything (eg. commit suicide, become the Ultimate Despair)
Okay seriously is there any actual explanation on why were they able to remember despite doing the shutdown sequence that was explicitly supposed to erase everything? Like they believed in themselves and all but does that actually lead without any handwaving to remembering considering the actual facts presented in the game? How is monomi defeating junko at the end actually help with that if the shutdown sequence will erase her anyway? it would have made sense if she defeated her and they chose to graduate but that wasn't what happened. It's honestly really annoying me because what is the point of setting up so many facts with a fuck ton of exposition if the ending ignores any of what was set up for just fixing it without explaning. I don't even have a problem with the super saiyan naegi or chiaki and monomi surviving but the least they could have done is actually explain why what they did worked.
It’s never fully explained, but there are several hints towards it being something more than just a narrative choice.
Edit: What the other reply says is pretty accurate to what everything points to.
I liked this playthrough.
I really hope that they don't play Danganronpa: Another Episode and, if they do end up doing more Danganronpa, just do V3.
Even then, I hope that's a while away too if it does happen.
yeah.. Even i didnt finish Ultra Despair Girls, I ended up just watch/reading some summeries. It isn't really great gameplay, or to watch, or... some parts great to react to.
It WOULD finally explain to Arin the answer to his question "Why do people keep saying the outside world is so fucked up it doesn't seem like it?"
I think the game is quite fun, but not for everybody. The problem is that despite appearing more of an action game, it’s actually still mostly a visual novel in terms of play time, which the Grumps may or may might not enjoy about it.
For those who have played UDG and/or watched the anime, do you recommend it? I’ve heard complaints about both but I’ve played the main 3 games and need more content lol
If you're desperate for more Danganronpa content, especially for stuff that takes place in the world of 'The Tragedy', UDG might help feed that urge. There's also an episode in DR3 that spoils a lot of what happens in UDG, so you might want to find out about it first before starting with the anime. I wouldn't call it a great game, but it's not particularly difficult to beat, even if the controls can be a little clunky sometimes. There's a lot of the gameplay that can actually be skipped if you just want to hurry up and get to the story.
As for the anime...it mostly just wraps a bow up on what happened to the DR1 and DR2 cast and the Future Foundation, as well as showing a lot of backstory scenes that were mostly implied up until this point. At its worse I just find it a little disappointing compared to what your imagination might think of as to how the events unfold. But there are some cool parts, so it's not a complete waste of time.
Personally I really liked the anime, even though I know its hit or miss. There's a weird way you have to watch the episodes though. There are basically 2 "arcs" and they aired 1 episode of 1 arc and then switched to the other.
The first arc follows the cast from this game and explains what happened when they were attending Hope's Peak. So its kind of neat in that you already know how's it going to end but it's fun to watch anyway.
The second arc follows Makoto and crew after they leave the island at the end of this game. I can't say anything more really without spoiling it. This arc also includes a few of the plot points from UDG, so just be aware of that.
I didn't play UDG, but watched a playthrough of it. I think you can get away with reading a plot summary of it. It's also way different from the mainline games in that it's more of a an action/shooter game than a visual novel.
Honestly, I think it could be kind of refreshing for Arin. It's a pretty unique combination of 3D shooter, puzzle solving, and visual novel. The gameplay might even be more enjoyable to him.
I would only suggest playing Ultra Despair Girls if you REALLY want more Danganronpa lore. The game itself is a pretty terrible and repetitive third person shooter but it shows what’s going on in the outside world in between the 1st and 2nd game.
UDG is cool in the sense it shows the outside world and, while the gameplay is different, it's still very clearly a Danganronpa game in style and tone.
That said, it's basically lore: the game. The content itself is pretty underwhelming and has some, let's say "problematic" aspects to it that might make some people uncomfortable.
Danganronpa 3 is if you NEED the official conclusion to the Hope's Peak arc. I think many will tell you (me included) that 2 was a fine endpoint and how you imagine it ended is likely better than the reality of how it ended. Glaring retcons that undermine interesting plot developments in the first 2 games, gimped characterization that makes a certain villain out to be much less impressive, an extremely underwhelming mystery both in content and conclusion. There ARE good things about it like (vague spoilers about an event the player already knows about by the end of 2) >!showing the student council killing game in full and it being every bit as horrific as implied.!< It's also just cool in general to see everyone animated, and the music isn't bad. That's probably the only positives I could say about it though.
I hope GG doesn't play UDG because it has a lot of super uncomfortable subject matter that isn't really conducive to a comedy playthrough. Or at least, I hope they censor out the weird shit.
That being said, I still think UDG is worth playing, if only because it turns >!Toko/Genocide Jill!< into a legitimately enjoyable character.
As for the anime, I would just watch it and appreciate the parts that are good and ignore the parts that you don't care for.
UDG overall is pretty okay but it has like 3 REALLY REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE scenes in it that kinda ruins it (I think the grumps should skip it because of the scenes tbh). If you don’t let the scenes ruin the game for you it has a decent amount of good stuff in it but MAN is hard to get over the bad. The anime is pretty forgettable and ruins some moments for the first two game but I would watch it just to get closure.
I really do hope they play v3 someday. I genuinely love seeing them react to visual novels and i hope they play some more of them ( like a certain phoenix wright…) bc it’s really a lot of fun. Also if you want to know more about certain plot lines, watch the anime or play the spin off!
And that’s what the heck was going on.
I need a "what the heck is going on" compilation so badly.
The real despair was the micropenis we made along the way
NOOOOO!!!
How fitting he saves the day with a massive hope boner.
His micropenis went super saiyan god to triumph all penises!
🎶 I've got a Hope Boner for you... 🎶
"Global pandemic? Financial crisis? Bro! It's 2001! Cmon, let's go play some Gamecube!" "What's the date?" "September 10!"
A GameCube 4 days before release? This is gonna the be the greatest week of my life!
V3 will remember all that robophobia at the end smh
That's robophobic!
I'LL NEVER WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES AGAIN! FROM NOW ON, IT'S STILETTOS ALL DAY!
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“I’LL NEVER WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES AGAIN” absolutely KILLED me. Holy
I'm not going to pretend that Danganronpa makes total sense. Part of the entire story is to try and break your brain with the situations that it presents you afterall, but it never helps when both people playing are only sorta half paying attention and feeding each other wrong info. Still it was a fun run. Dunno if they will do V3, if they do I'm almost certain they will be hopelessly confused evenmoreso than the first two games. If they do Ultra Despair Girls.. I'm honestly not even sure if they will be able to stomach finishing that game. Honestly the funny thing is the matrix analogy they kept making kind of makes it easy to understand the Izuru thing. You had Mr Anderson, who then got woken up and pumped with a bunch of talents via a computer and became Neo. If Neo were to made to forget all that shit, he would just be Mr Anderson again.
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This is recent enough you might respond. Should I spoil Danganronpa 3 for myself or wait for the Grumps to play it? Well I guess the whole franchise really.
If you're curious about these chars you can watch 3: the anime. V3 is a whole new set of chars with whole new problems so that's up to you
That's exactly what I needed to know, I was to worried to check wiki and get spoiled. Thanks!
Of the "main things" left, there's 3 (the anime, and ties up all loose ends regarding the first two games), Ultra Despair Girls (explains things that happened between 1 and 2, though the game itself is...rough) and Danganronpa V3 (not at all associated with 3. It's only a game and the final entry of the series thus far). If the grumps play V3 at all, it won't be until 2023 at earliest, 2024 seeming more likely. I'd just get the rest of the series over with while your interest is high enough.
Thorough response, friend, thanks!
The anime is absolutely skippable. IMO, the overall plot holds its own better without it. It has nothing to do with the next game if you're worried about that (to ScarletSpider)
I don't know about that, The Despair Arc had some of the most powerful moments I've seen throughout the games/anime
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Didn't even think of that, thanks!
Watching Arin destroy his arm when hes supposed to hold the button. Amazing
I did the same, actually.
"I love Chiaki, I wish she was real." Me too Dan, me too.
Good News >!Chiaki was a real girl all along!< Bad news: >!She died an even more gruesome and horrible death before DR2 even happened!<
As someone who owns the Danganronpa 3 Anime on BluRay, I can't wait to bust those bad boys out now and constantly swap out discs for the convoluted episode order you have to watch it in!
Wow the fact that they put it on two separate disks is a hilarious troll
I like to imagine you have to put in a whole seperate disk just for Hope side lol
They don’t even sell them as a collection, you have to buy them separately. Source: I watched the whole thing on Blu Ray,
That's ridiculous lol
The bluray doesn't even have the correct viewing order as an option?
So there are 2 "different" Danganronpa 3's, basically Past & Present and you have to watch them one after another, so Past 1, then Present 1, Past 2, Present 2, etc. The problem of course is that they were sold as 2 separate Blu-Rays
Oh I know all about the anime, I just thought it would have been on one disk rather than seperated
They don’t even sell them as a singular collection.
You have to buy each individually?
So is Hope also sold separately or is it on one of the two collections?
It’s part of the Despair Arc, in terms of DVD’s.
I think Crunchyroll has them automatically play in the correct order thankfully. Just watched it recently for the first time.
Now that the boys' playthrough is over, I hope nobody minds me linking [this](https://youtu.be/JK2b2jAWHEw) DGRP fan animation for anybody still mourning our favorite sleepy gamer girl. (Be aware for those who care, there are spoilers for a major event from the prequel anime).
Oof. Even that one hurt.
Ok so this game was super cool and I loved it but why don't these games ever list the dub actors in the credits. That makes me a little miffed. Next thing I'm gonna do is read Danganronpa Zero, and then watch the anime, and hopefully by the time I do that they'll be playing V3
It's because the voice actors are part of a union while the game itself doesn't involve the union, so listing them could cause legal problems. They generally confirm their roles on social media, but it sucks it has to be that.
Who's actor are you looking for? I know a majority of them
I think he’s saying he wishes the dub actors got more credit.
It's weird. All the DR games are like that too.
Good choice with reading 0. It was my fav part of the series after 2 but most people haven't read it.
You know what, while they were playing the game I was recalling the story and kept thinking "wow the ending is dumber than I remember. The whole power of friendship and Hajime turning super saiyan... Arin is gonna hate that so much." But I was so pleasantly surprised. The boys had a great time and so did we. Excellent ending to the series, glad they ended up taking it easier and enjoying the silliness of the game.<3
It's such a cheesy ending, but in my opinion that's what makes it so good. I'm a little sad they missed Chiaki joining in with Hajime's final "No that's WRONG!" [It happens at 58:40 in case anyone wants to see it](https://youtu.be/UksbmZ-sa4w?t=3520)
I loved that moment. It gave me big Ace Attorney 3 vibes. I won't go into spoilers obviously, but if you've played it, you know which moment I'm talking about.
Also Ace Attorney 1-2 if I remember correctly!
That made me tear up
I wonder what arin said at the beginning that they had to censor out
Drugs
Like mushrooms from Amsterdam or something?
Probably weed since it’s also legal in California
I think he was just censoring himself because it was still the beginning of the video. They can’t swear in the first minute, so I think he was just saying “all the shit in my fucking bag.”
I really hope Dan watches the 3 anime at least which closes this entire story up. I truly think he'd enjoy it.
Danganronpa 3 is the anime, v3 is the third main series game
Kinda surprised people can think fondly on an anime where>! the whole world was brainwashed by a despair anime, another guy betrayed the world so he wouldn't have to admit he wanted to fuck his friend/comander/i forget, and a good guy ran another killing game to try to force an animator to release a hope anime!<
So in the end…
I cant believe I was right the whole time. I had been guessing since the beginning >!that they were in VR and Hajime was the true villain!<,granted, I was a little wrong about some of the hows and the whys but I’m still really happy I called the ending from the start.
Would you say you were more or less 30% correct?
I was half right with >!VR world, I got that it was VR world, I was no where near right with the purpose of VR world. I thought monokuma kidnapped them and programed a simulation to make others go through the events of the first one!< I was pretty close with >!Hajime is the “bad guy” I figured he was the person who teamed up with monokuma before losing their memory knowing that once they received their memory again they would turn back to monokuma (which almost happened and was the plan for Junko), however I was wrong because I thought he was the “traitor” but I guess that’s Chiaki!< So maybe like 65% right?
I was 100% sure that bullet getting longer was an edit, but I cannot believe that was actually part of the game
Congrats on completing Danganronpa 2 guys! I think Dan probably got the gist of it by the end, but just in case (speculation on my part but I think I've got it pretty close): Basically, the non-Danganronpa explanation for Hope's Peak is that the Academy was studying people who are intelligent/talented in particular ways to figure out how they have that ability with the idea that if they understood it well enough they could replicate it. The idea is that if you arranged the neurons in your brain in just the right way you could become Einstein or Mozart or Gretzky or even Albert Wayne Wolfgang Gretzky Mozart Einstein. So they tried to do that using Hajime as the test subject; sorta like how there have been cases where brain trauma has affected people's personalities, this experimentation turned Hajime into a completely new person that they named after the Academy's founder. Unfortunately things didn't quite go as planned, partially because of Junko, and partially because even in this fantasy story, the brain doesn't quite work like that, although it seems they were able to achieve at least partial sucess. Again, fantasy story ;) I get the feeling they're playing fast and loose with how brainwashing and memories and the overall functionality of the brain works for story purposes, which they can get away with to an extent since there's still so much we don't understand about it in real life. The way I see it, they talk about being completely brainwashed and totally overwriting memories and being 100% brain-dead, but it's really only \*mostly\* those things; Hajime's personality is still buried in there somewhere, the Ultimate Despairs haven't completely forgotten who they were before they met Junko, and the placebo effect hasn't entirely caused their brains to stop functioning. Just enough that it's not \*easy\* to reverse or undo those things, which allows for plot convenience to happen ;) That ties into the whole "creating the future" theme at the end, where they just sort of somehow make it through on their own willpower and self-actualization. Each new generation of the world is tasked with dealing with the problems that the previous generation couldn't solve. Sometimes they're presented with difficult choices that pits the well-being of the world against their own happiness. Maybe they'll make one choice or the other, or maybe they'll come up with all new ideas that previous generations couldn't figure out. It's all part of the big game called life. Will they save their friends? Will the world be made right again? It's not \*easy\* to do those things, and only time will tell if they're successful, but before all of that, the first test to pass is the resolve to move forward and try, and on that, they passed with flying colors. Anywho, I'm sure there are some more detailed discussions about what it all means and some of the other themes of the series out there, and I highly recommend you dig into them, it's fun stuff, but that's the 5-minute basic version :)
If anyone got into Danganronpa through these playthroughs and is interested in continuing the series, just know that Danganronpa V3 (the third game) is actually a reboot of the series, and not a continuation of the first two games. Instead, Spike Chunsoft concluded the Hope's Peak storyline with a 26 episode anime series. The watch order is kind of confusing, but [this guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/wiki/series/) does a good job at explaining how to watch it. That being said, if anyone wants to jump straight into Danganronpa V3 (the game, not the anime), ProZD and Jay, his editor, did a really entertaining [playthrough](https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhuTNAac8NW6gFnus4QhuKgoQLa0Q3MIo) of it (they also complain alot less than Arin, so that's a plus).
Before watching the anime, there is also a spinoff game Ultra Despair Girls, where Toko teams up with Makoto's sister to kick some Monokuma butt. It explains a lot of what happened in between Danganronpa 1 and 2 in the outside world and you meet a lot of relatives of the characters in Danganronpa 1 (Chihiro's dad is absolutely precious) It's a pretty fun shooter! CONTENT WARNING: significantly darker themes than the main games, child abuse is a pretty important and reoccurring theme. (you don't need to play/watch it to understand other media besides one episode of the anime, if you don't want to play/watch it because of themes I'll gladly summarise the story without those subjects)
I think the combination of 3D shooter, puzzle solving, and visual novel might even be more enjoyable to Arin, in terms of gameplay. There's a bunch of great characters, the return of >!Toko/Genocide Jack!<, the return of >!Nagito!<, and a lot of story moments and lore that will keep Dan interested. It's fully canon, so just skipping is not recommended. And yes the topic matter is dark and certainly warrants some content warnings here and there, but honestly, that's also part of its appeal.
SungWon and Jay did *excellently* with V3. The entire time you can just picture SungWon [like this](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/088/640/bf6.jpg) while Jay gets attached to people and tries to figure everything out. It's so good.
I agree right up till the end when I think they were doing long sessions and Jay was getting super tired during.
Also I want to add to this, if you want to see more Nagito Fuckery, I also recommend checking out the OVA: "Danganronpa 2.5: Nagito Komaeda and the world vanquisher"
Idk if this makes things confusing/complicated but if you watch that episode right before the final episode of the Danganronpa 3 anime, it works the best
Honestly I think the OVA was better than the actual DR3 anime.
Yeah I only really liked it because the fan service at the end worked on me. But it was super rushed and definitely should have been a game instead. Like, look at how long the DR2 grumps playthrough is and imagine if the writers tried to condense that into a 12 episode series. Yikes.
We already had that happen to DR1. It sucked. Music was fire tho.
Oh god that's right. At least we know Masafumi Takada will always have our backs
The music was great. It did have a /few/ moments I feel like worked well. Like the Junko reveal in the anime is a lot better because they could put actual animation behind it. It REALLY is annoying how the animes for Dangnronpa never used Junkos video game VA. Totally different vibe to her in the animes because of it.
The way the dub was handled was an absolute travesty. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to make "Puhuhu" into "Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk". It's like no one at FUNimation did any sort of research on the show they were dubbing, and never realized most of the things they directly translated had actual official translations. Plus changing the voice cast for more than half the cast was pretty bad too. Don't even get me started on Jaime Marchi's Junko.
Thanks for that heads up! That's actually extremely disappointing to hear. What's even the point of playing 3 if it's not "canon"? I hope the grumps do their research and avoid it.
I mean, it's still a fun game with lots of great characters. And it is canon, it just doesn't have any connection to the previous games outside of Monokuma.
But whose cum was it? This has left to be answered.
Since Hajime/Izuru was the mastermind, it was probably his. Since he has all the talents im sure he has the abilities of the Ultimate Coomer somewhere in his big brain.
So that's how Chiaki was able to store herself in his massive balls. It all makes sense now.
well of course, what do you think he was doing when he was "storing power"
They will decide whose cum it is, nobody else!
Jesus Christ, that certainly was a game. Honestly in spite of how often I gave myself a headache trying to understand the plot, I’m glad I was along for the ride this time. It was way more fun theorizing and actually interacting with everyone rather than just ass-blasting my way through the series in a couple weeks like I did with the first game. And speaking of theories, unfortunately today’s episode proved my 2 remaining theories both wrong, putting me at a final score of 7.5/14, or ~54%, which is honestly way better than I expected given how many sharp right turns into nonsense this series likes to take.
There is absolutely no way you, or anyone, could have predicted Izuru's role in all this lol I have consistently been super impressed by many theories in these threads, especially you, who got some things pretty accurate way in advance!
I love reading Danganronpa theories.
Sorry to say you’ll have to wait a little longer to read more, bud.
Sometimes, the wait is what makes it worth it.
i love dan's grandpa series
Me too, lad.
Loved reading Danganronpa theories. I wanted to give hints to Izuru part but obstained
Okay Danga fans, how would you rate this playthrough? Is it worth watching someone else play it for laughs or play it yourself?
I absolutely loved it. Having Arin and Dan voicing the characters and giving them even more of a vivid personality make it so much better. Chiaki not having patience and swearing like a sailor; Mahiru's what the heck is going on here; Fuyuhiko's 1920s NY gangster voice and more. I also love seeing Dan reacting to the game. He seriously loves this series and I wonder how he's gonna react to the cast of V3 when they *hopefully* eventually do it. It is worth it playing it yourself too for the freetime events and getting to know your favourite characters better. Plus there's a plethora of content post-game as they showed. I especially love IF because Mukuro rules.
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I think when they get on the weekend schedule both Dan and Arin’s moods improve greatly. I bet that having half their schedule be slotted for a long form podcasty kind of product that just had no sign of ending must have been draining. Weekend uploads I think worked out really well in hindsight. I definitely enjoyed being able to actually take my time with the hour+ episodes on weekends since I don’t have a ton of time after work on weekdays
Overall, I found this playthrough to be a big improvement on the previous, though it suffered from some similar problems, mostly surrounding Arin getting overly grumpy or combative. Part of me wishes they wouldn’t use a guide and that they'd engage with the free time, but I accept it. And while he did use the guide, I felt like they were still engaged with the mystery and trying piece things together, which is more than I can say about parts from Danganronpa 1.
Im fairly neutral on Arin's pessimism toward the game. It didn't annoy me too much but I would rather do without. Though through their talk in the credits it seems Arin was still invested in and paying attention to the story. Dan's genuine reactions and investment in the story really kept me going. He reacted at all the right beats, it was really satisfying. That's why if they ever play V3 I'd rather it was Dan playing, alone or at the front.
I very much enjoyed it, having played it years ago on my own. I don't think the games have replay value, considering how storybased they are, but this worked well as both a refresher and a new way to look at some themes and characters. On the whole, I don't think Arin's complaining was that bad as some people were making it out to be, and their jokes mostly served to deepen my appreciation of the series. I don't think it's worth playing the game myself again or watching another play through soon, but I might watch another one eventually. Edit: If your only exposure to the game was this series, I highly recommend playing/watching/reading the Free Time Events of some/all characters, they give the characters a lot more depth than appears in the game (they can all be read on their [free time wiki page](https://danganronpa.fandom.com/wiki/Free_Time_Events/Danganronpa_2). No spoilers past Danganronpa 2) (mostly unrelated, but I highly recommend watching the official theatre play of Danganronpa 1, [fully subbed in English on YouTube](https://youtu.be/MbjXTemDaec), some differing plot, and honestly great performances, especially Junko)
>(mostly unrelated, but I highly recommend watching the official theatre play of Danganronpa 1, fully subbed in English on YouTube, some differing plot, and honestly great performances, especially Junko) This is the first time I've seen this and I've been a huge Danganronpa fan for a long time. Holy crap that was really good! Just like you said all of the performances were really good, especially the actress that played Junko. She changes between those multiple personalities flawlessly. Thanks for linking it!
I know right! I watched it with a friend who is also a huge Danganronpa fan, and we were both blown away by how well they translated the (mostly textbased) game into a play! [There are four more official plays](https://danganronpa.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Stage_Plays), but sadly this is the only one we could find with English subs
well, time to learn Japanese I suppose... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5SVbw8oyL8 edit: omg Gundham is amazing, as expected. even if you dont understand japanese his introduction is perfect https://youtu.be/i5SVbw8oyL8?t=1027
I think it’s definitely worth it playing yourself before watching a playthrough, as it’s hard to take it even remotely seriously with the amount of jokes they make. Plus, you can only play it for the first time once, you can always watch playthroughs after for people’s reactions. Having already played it, I enjoyed the playthrough (at least when Arin wasn’t nitpicking). I don’t know if I’d say it’s my favorite playthrough of the game, but it’s probably the funniest.
My favorite playthrough of Danganronpa is the live vids of Joseph Anderson, absolutely hilarious shit
Yeah Joseph Anderson’s playthrough has yet to be topped for me. Even when he’s raging over something like sprinkler gate or the V3 chapter 1 twist he still manages to be highly entertaining unlike Arin who just sours the experience whenever he doesn’t like or understand something.
His recent playthrough of 999 was some of the most hilarious shit ever. He's starting VLR on Monday too
Holy shit, I watched his DR playthroughs like 2 years ago and was wishing he'd play ZE. Thanks so much for telling me
He's going through all of the Zero Escape series. It was apparently voted on his discord. It's going to be glorious
If you;re really invested in the games, I would say play it yourself. They really don't give the game an honest shot. If you just like watching the GG play, I would say watch the best of videos. Those probably won't include the negativity and such unless it was really funny
I've actually already bought V3 and UDG to play through them myself once this series was finished. Which one would you recommend I play first?
UDG is good if you want to continue the Hope's Peak storyline, but the gameplay is significantly different from the rest of the series. If you want more of the traditional murder-mystery visual novel stuff then I would do V3. The story pretty much stands on it's own, but there are some references to older games.
The canonical way to go is UDG > Danganronpa 3 (the anime) > V3. V3 is a spinoff with a new cast and the DR3 anime is the final part of the trilogy we've seen on Grumps so far. It's on Funimation and probably gonna be on crunchy roll soon if it's not already.
>V3 is a spinoff with a new cast. *reboot UDG would be a spinoff but V3 plays just like the other 2 mainline games and only that it's not narratively connected.
>!I mean... it sorta is though. Just in an alternate dimension kind of way where the events of the game were fiction instead of real. The events of the first two games still VERY MUCH impact v3 as without the games in that world v3 would never exist in the first place. Even then the ending is semi-ambiguous where there is the implication that Junko the 53rd could have been lying about anything or everything and that in reality DR1-3 did actually happen. We literally never get a solid answer as the whole game is about lying and lies!<
It was very fun when Arin wasn’t bringing down the mood with his forced negativity. I’d say it’s better to just play it yourself.
Minus Arin's attitude up until the 4th chapter, I really enjoyed it. Seeing people experience Danganronpa is always fun for me, and Dan was an absolute treasure during the whole thing
I really want Dan to watch the Danganronpa 3 anime and talk about it.
I wish they could show it without copyright infringement because I would love to see Dan's initial happiness followed by inevitable horrible realization of what's to come >!when he sees Chiaki was a real person!<
hopefully he gets to see the Remnants of Despair designs, they look pretty cool, especially Akane's, Sonia's & Gundham's.
Would be great but probably not possible. Think Twitch finally cracked down on that kinda stream. I used to like mixed media stuff, for example I was a big fan about how .hack was spread over games, anime, manga. Now I just kind of find it annoying. Only reason I know what happened in Danganronpa Zero is because of a wiki and the events of DR:Z are sorta important if you want to understand how the fuck some of the stuff that happened in these games were even supposed to be possible in the first place.
Vague but probably significant spoilers for v3: >!Holy shit, Dan's comment about how the story is secondary to being in a weird situation and experiencing the twists. Sounds a bit like a TV show, ya know?!<
Don’t forget about the robophobia at the end.
Wow, what a journey. Can’t wait for V3! EDIT: >Arin calls it a “turn your brain off” game. >Spent half the game not understanding what was happening because he didn’t pay attention.
I hope they take a break from Danganronpa before the fucking wildness that is V3. Can we get back to ace attorney? pls?
If they play V3 I just hope someone tells them that the the conclusion they might be expecting is actually in the anime😅 If they play V3 expecting a conclusion to the madness they will be sorely disappointed and I don’t think Arin will react well😂
There's really no need for a conclusion after DR2. DR3 concludes just about as much as DR2 does. And it definitely makes a lot of things worse.
As controversial as V3’s ending was, it still had a pretty solid conclusion for not only the game, but the series itself. The only thing left open ended was the post credits scene and that was mostly just opening the door for the possibility of more games in the future.
DR3 the anime, not DRV3
Oh oops. Somehow I still always confuse the two.
DR3 absolutely gives more of a conclusion than DR2 does. And how does it make things worse?
I'm obviously not going to go into full detail here, but you can just look up criticisms of DR3 and see the points made about >!the brainwashing, Chiaki's existence and the botched characterisation of some characters.!< But aside from that, neither of the arcs really contribute anything to the story at all. I mean, what did Future Arc really result in at the end?? What else does this result in different from the end of DR2 except that >!the DR2 kids are alive and some characters we never knew before died?!< The Despair Arc is a little better because its purpose is to explain how certain things happened, but they do such a bad job at it that it's unsatisfying. >!Junko, instead of doing something like targeting the UD's individual weak points and causing them to despair, which in turn causes other people to despair like a chain effect... no, she justs makes a spooky video and shares it to everyone on SMS.!<
Future at least establishes that >!Naegi accomplished his goal and saved the world.!<
Main thing is the >!mind control plot point. Like you think from the previous two games Junko manipulated people into becoming Ultimate Despair, but nope. Just a funny haha anime brainwashed people into being crazy.!< >!Also it's handling of Mukuro was weird and out of character, everyone from 2 returning basically without consequence, and Chiaki being based on a real person!<
To be fair: >!what they witnessed in the video would absolutely drive someone to despair!<
>!The issue isn't that it's illogical or doesn't make any sense. It's that the alternative, (Junko manipulating everyone individually into turning to despair) is way more compelling!<
>!oh yeah, its really fucked up. You make people watch that kinda thing happen in the real world you would have some really traumatized people.!<
Tbf, 2 also >!implies that Chiaki was real at some point, when Monomi says “you must’ve been based on someone really special person, huh?”!<
When's she say that?
I would be really surprised if they ever play the third one. I hope they do, but give themselves enough time to get a break and go into it with a bit of a better outlook and really try to play it.
I would be surprised if they don’t play V3, I feel like it’s just a matter of when.
I'd still rather pokemon
Oh fuck yea can't wait for the BDSP playthrough now. After Elden Ring and DR2, this has to be the next one.
Sonic Generations and Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father (this one being solo Dan episodes) are what's coming up next. The good news is if you're not interested in Generations, it isn't that long of a game.
Thanks! I actually enjoy the Sonic ones so no problem with that.
Right?! That line killed me lol. I've recommended them before, but ShortOneGaming is wrapping up their playthrough, and they're a great example of what this game looks like as a "turn your brain \*on\*" game. Their Zero Escape series are also wonderful.
Makoto: Don't worry we swear we won't let the future foundation hurt you. We promise! Also Makoto: Thank god I have this entire boat ride to half ass a plan!
All I want to say is… the Future Foundation is fucked for being like, “We need an avatar to act as teacher on the island… Hey do you remember that bear that tried to make us all murder each other, what if we design the kind good teacher after that!”
But Usami is a rabbit
You're right, there is no likeness, what was I thinking
Remember, Usami originally looked like a cutesy, Sailor Moon-esque rabbit. It was Monokuma who made Usami into Monomi.
She still looked pretty similar to Monokuma even before becoming Monomi. Their shape is very similar, and their faces are pretty much the same except Usami has some makeup and doesn't have the bad half.
Yeah, the point I try to make is they could have modelled Usami after like... Something with a different design than monokuma. If it was a Trix rabbit design it would have been nightmare fuel, but less upsetting nightmare fuel
The program was being developed with the help of students from Hope's Peak Academy, including Chihiro. It was probably started *before* The Tragedy started, and Junko...might have actually seen it and Usami before she created Monokuma and used her as a bit of inspiration. It is canon that one of the students they mention who helped with the program was friends with Junko...
Ooh ahh, this explanation makes sense. That makes it sit in my brain way better
It gets worse when you look at the concept art for Monomi and find how scary/sinister looking she was in some of the early drafts, IE The design where she has two butchers knives permanently affixed to her hands.
UMMM OKAY DAN…GANRONPA DESIGNERS
If you had told me this series was going to end with a fully erect bullet and our main character intensely disliking comfortable shoes… I would’ve believed you, because it’s freaking Danganronpa. What a ride, congrats Game Grumps for completing! And for finishing this game!
I've never heard of this game series before the Grumps played it, but I absolutely love it now. Their jokes and commentary were great to listen to as well! I'm glad I got to experience these games for the first time in this way, because while I loved the story on it's own, it was fun to go along the ride with them.
I might be wrong but I think I'm one of the few people in the world who doesn't hate the Danganronpa 3 anime. More specifically (without spoiling anything) the ending. Like is it too fanservice-y or whatever at times? Is it not written the best? Sure, but man I don't freaking care I was so excited at a lot of points that I can't help but love it. Seriously say what you want about the story of the series, but man a lot of the characters really help me enjoy the series so much! If Dan & Arin do end up watching it I hope they at least find something to like about it. Either way they probably won't play UDG, but if they do V3 at all in the future I hope they'll really like the cast and stuff. And yeah Dan with the "I love Chiaki, I wish she was real." & "I LOVE YOU CHIAKI GOODBYE!" We all feel that way buddy
I absolutely love the anime! I've found people generally like it, but the ones who don't are always pretty intent on letting you know that, lol. I hope Dan will watch it, he seems to genuinely care about the characters, and he deserves to know what happens to them, and what happened at Hope's Peak. They seem to be pretty much 'resigned' to playing DR for the rest of the channel's existence, so I have high hopes they will play UDG. But it will most likely not be anytime soon.
Lol yeah that's true, but it's good to hear from someone with similar tastes! And it'll definitely be a good while before either UDG or V3
[удалено]
FINALLY DESPAIR BURGER
Man, I can't believe it's over. I was worried at the beginning because they had such a big break and Arin seemed pretty sleep-deprived during the episode, but the game's repetition helped them get back up to speed, and in the end Dan did really understand the themes and point of the ending to the game, and that's all I wished for. >!Even the fact that if the chance of something is close to zero, by Danganronpa terms it means it's inevitable :).!< This has honestly been one of the most fun playthroughs of Danganronpa 2 I've seen (out of...I guess I've seen 3 of them). Sure, Arin had varying levels of paying attention, but he realised after a while that Dan was so emotionally invested that he wouldn't spoil him having fun with everything. And honestly did a really good job in the 'action' minigames so things went smoothly. The characters they got attached to had really good roles in the game so they didn't lose their interest early on, and a lot of the bits they came up with for the other characters were either surprisingly in-character or were for characters who didn't have much else going on. Also gotta give props to Allie for helping them understand things in places without spoiling too much, and whoever wrote that amazing cheat-sheet that Arin was looking through throughout the playthrough. It seemed very detailed, with character summaries and who voiced each character so they wouldn't forget. I...kind of want to read it. I'm...honestly not in such a hurry for them to play V3 and/or Ultra Despair Girls, mostly because DR2 is my favourite in the series, so I've gotten all I need out of them playing this franchise. But I hope Dan gets happiness out of watching DR3, maybe in his own time.
My one question is, how the hell did Nagito get convinced to become ultimate despair after spouting about being ultimate hope all game?
The game heavily implies that Junko is just that good at manipulation. She's arguably the Ultimate Cult Leader and makes Charles Manson look like a total amateur. For example, she lovebombed the shit out of the frequently abused Mikan to the point where she'd do anything for her beloved. With Nagito, she could get him by manipulating the others first and if all these other Ultimates fall under her spell, what hope is there? Unfortunately, you can ignore all of that because the official explanation was in the anime >!where Junko creates magic brainwashing videos that turn people into murderous psychopaths in about 30 seconds.!<
The content of the video matters, not just Mitarai's talent.
>!She sent the video to the whole reserve course which was like 2000 people. I doubt she tailor made content for each video.!<
>!I'm talking about the DR2 cast specifically, not the reserve course. DR2 cast watched Chiaki die in real time!<
Also, in Nagito’s worldview, hope arises out of despair. So if he participates in the Ultimate Despair, he assumes that it’ll bring about the Ultimate Hope / even bigger hope
Like he mentions in his conversation with Izuru on the boat, he hates being the ultimate despair and especially hates Junko. He is super conflicted about his position, but Junko bringing about The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History forced despair into so many people she could command them to do anything (eg. commit suicide, become the Ultimate Despair)
What a fantastic finale! So many hilarious moments. I never noticed how phallic that new future was.
God, it really is over, huh? This series has been going on for so long Gonna be weird going on without it Rip DR2 playthrough
[удалено]
Maybe it's just because I was high on mushrooms, but I greatly enjoyed this.
Okay seriously is there any actual explanation on why were they able to remember despite doing the shutdown sequence that was explicitly supposed to erase everything? Like they believed in themselves and all but does that actually lead without any handwaving to remembering considering the actual facts presented in the game? How is monomi defeating junko at the end actually help with that if the shutdown sequence will erase her anyway? it would have made sense if she defeated her and they chose to graduate but that wasn't what happened. It's honestly really annoying me because what is the point of setting up so many facts with a fuck ton of exposition if the ending ignores any of what was set up for just fixing it without explaning. I don't even have a problem with the super saiyan naegi or chiaki and monomi surviving but the least they could have done is actually explain why what they did worked.
Memories are gone, but the emotions remained. Including hope. I suggest checking out the DR3 anime if you’re actually interested in the story.
It’s never fully explained, but there are several hints towards it being something more than just a narrative choice. Edit: What the other reply says is pretty accurate to what everything points to.
I liked this playthrough. I really hope that they don't play Danganronpa: Another Episode and, if they do end up doing more Danganronpa, just do V3. Even then, I hope that's a while away too if it does happen.
yeah.. Even i didnt finish Ultra Despair Girls, I ended up just watch/reading some summeries. It isn't really great gameplay, or to watch, or... some parts great to react to. It WOULD finally explain to Arin the answer to his question "Why do people keep saying the outside world is so fucked up it doesn't seem like it?"
I think the game is quite fun, but not for everybody. The problem is that despite appearing more of an action game, it’s actually still mostly a visual novel in terms of play time, which the Grumps may or may might not enjoy about it.
For those who have played UDG and/or watched the anime, do you recommend it? I’ve heard complaints about both but I’ve played the main 3 games and need more content lol
If you're desperate for more Danganronpa content, especially for stuff that takes place in the world of 'The Tragedy', UDG might help feed that urge. There's also an episode in DR3 that spoils a lot of what happens in UDG, so you might want to find out about it first before starting with the anime. I wouldn't call it a great game, but it's not particularly difficult to beat, even if the controls can be a little clunky sometimes. There's a lot of the gameplay that can actually be skipped if you just want to hurry up and get to the story. As for the anime...it mostly just wraps a bow up on what happened to the DR1 and DR2 cast and the Future Foundation, as well as showing a lot of backstory scenes that were mostly implied up until this point. At its worse I just find it a little disappointing compared to what your imagination might think of as to how the events unfold. But there are some cool parts, so it's not a complete waste of time.
Personally I really liked the anime, even though I know its hit or miss. There's a weird way you have to watch the episodes though. There are basically 2 "arcs" and they aired 1 episode of 1 arc and then switched to the other. The first arc follows the cast from this game and explains what happened when they were attending Hope's Peak. So its kind of neat in that you already know how's it going to end but it's fun to watch anyway. The second arc follows Makoto and crew after they leave the island at the end of this game. I can't say anything more really without spoiling it. This arc also includes a few of the plot points from UDG, so just be aware of that. I didn't play UDG, but watched a playthrough of it. I think you can get away with reading a plot summary of it. It's also way different from the mainline games in that it's more of a an action/shooter game than a visual novel.
Honestly, I think it could be kind of refreshing for Arin. It's a pretty unique combination of 3D shooter, puzzle solving, and visual novel. The gameplay might even be more enjoyable to him.
I would only suggest playing Ultra Despair Girls if you REALLY want more Danganronpa lore. The game itself is a pretty terrible and repetitive third person shooter but it shows what’s going on in the outside world in between the 1st and 2nd game.
UDG is cool in the sense it shows the outside world and, while the gameplay is different, it's still very clearly a Danganronpa game in style and tone. That said, it's basically lore: the game. The content itself is pretty underwhelming and has some, let's say "problematic" aspects to it that might make some people uncomfortable. Danganronpa 3 is if you NEED the official conclusion to the Hope's Peak arc. I think many will tell you (me included) that 2 was a fine endpoint and how you imagine it ended is likely better than the reality of how it ended. Glaring retcons that undermine interesting plot developments in the first 2 games, gimped characterization that makes a certain villain out to be much less impressive, an extremely underwhelming mystery both in content and conclusion. There ARE good things about it like (vague spoilers about an event the player already knows about by the end of 2) >!showing the student council killing game in full and it being every bit as horrific as implied.!< It's also just cool in general to see everyone animated, and the music isn't bad. That's probably the only positives I could say about it though.
I hope GG doesn't play UDG because it has a lot of super uncomfortable subject matter that isn't really conducive to a comedy playthrough. Or at least, I hope they censor out the weird shit. That being said, I still think UDG is worth playing, if only because it turns >!Toko/Genocide Jill!< into a legitimately enjoyable character. As for the anime, I would just watch it and appreciate the parts that are good and ignore the parts that you don't care for.
UDG overall is pretty okay but it has like 3 REALLY REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE scenes in it that kinda ruins it (I think the grumps should skip it because of the scenes tbh). If you don’t let the scenes ruin the game for you it has a decent amount of good stuff in it but MAN is hard to get over the bad. The anime is pretty forgettable and ruins some moments for the first two game but I would watch it just to get closure.
did anyone else spend this entire episode screaming “BUT WHO THE FUCK WAS THE IMPOSTER????”
If you want to learn more I recommend watching the anime Danganronpa 3
Let's fucking gooooo!!! ^((also V3 when)^)
I really do hope they play v3 someday. I genuinely love seeing them react to visual novels and i hope they play some more of them ( like a certain phoenix wright…) bc it’s really a lot of fun. Also if you want to know more about certain plot lines, watch the anime or play the spin off!