Danganronpa is a visual novel created by Spike Chunsoft. It centers around a school of students with ultimate talents. These students are locked in a school and forced to kill each other to escape, masterminded by Monokuma, the killer bear.
But you can't just kill someone and leave; you win at a class trial, in which the students have to review the evidence of the case and find out who the murderer is.
Class trials in Danganronpa are a mixed bag, to say the least: They could expand on the story, develop characters, and provide a satisfying end for the murderer and victim, or they could not do that. Trial 3 is the latter.
For a bit of context, most of the trials in Danganronpa follow a sort of formula: Trial 1 often involves the naive character who kills the person that they didn’t intend to murder. Trial 2 often has a character who kills because of inner personal reasons. Trial 3 will always have a double murder. And not always to its benefit.
But you can't just kill someone and leave; you win at a class trial, in which the students have to review the evidence of the case and find out who the murderer is.
Class trials in Danganronpa are a mixed bag, to say the least: They could expand on the story, develop characters, and provide a satisfying end for the murderer and victim, or they could not do that. Trial 3 is the latter.
For a bit of context, most of the trials in Danganronpa follow a sort of formula: Trial 1 often involves the naive character who kills the person that they didn’t intend to murder. Trial 2 often has a character who kills because of inner personal reasons. Trial 3 will always have a double murder. And not always to its benefit.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Celestia Ludenberg
|
I often give Celestia’s trial a pass because it’s the first of its kind and is genuinely engaging on a first playthrough.
You expect single murders to keep happening, but when you come across that second body, it’s a real shock. But as you keep playing, everything just comes apart. |
One of the positives I can give this trial that I can’t say for the others is that Celestia actually had a good motive. To get people to kill, Monokuma provides a motive every chapter, and this time it was 10 million dollars, and Celestia had a dream of living a lavish life in a castle with male servants. It isn’t the deepest motive in the world, but it’s very understandable in the range of her character. She’s the ultimate gambler and only became as such to achieve this dream. And let's be honest, 10 million can go a long way.
Another positive is her execution. It’s probably one of the best in the series despite the trial being the worst. It was your average witch trial of being burned at the stake, but Monokuma had to be bombastic, and instead of her just burning alive, a whole firetruck slammed into her and crushed her. It was the perfect mix of funny and brutal.
The main negative I have with this trial, and other trial 3’s, is how convoluted it is. It’s fun when you're running around the school discovering body after body, one surprise after the other, but when you actually have all the clues and put them all together, that's when it gets tedious. Because of how much stuff they had going on, it was hard to put it all into the correct timeline. And even when you put it all together, you have more questions. Celestia's plan was good in theory, but in reality, she didn’t need to do most of the stuff she did.
For context, her plan revolved around “Robo Justice,” and she used this alter ego to pin the murder of Kiyotaka on another character, Yasuhiro, with the help of another character, Hifumi, whom she also killed later to cover her tracks. And it was just so obvious that she was the one manipulating the situation. She was the first to blame Yasuhiro; she was the first to be “attacked” by Robo Justice; she was the only one who claimed to encounter him, in fact, and led the class away from wherever Hifumi needed to be then. She really could’ve just killed Kiyotaka and gotten away with it; she was just doing too much. And the fact that the name Yasuhiro gave her away is just lazy. Her real name is Taeko Yasuhiro, and nobody in the school knew that, except Hifumi, who uttered that name before he died. My only question is, how did he know that? She kept that name secret because she was ashamed of it. And by her character, she would tell her real name to Hifumi last out of everybody in that class. It feels like when Sayaka wrote Leon's name in blood on the wall, but dumber.
Another positive is her execution. It’s probably one of the best in the series despite the trial being the worst. It was your average witch trial of being burned at the stake, but Monokuma had to be bombastic, and instead of her just burning alive, a whole firetruck slammed into her and crushed her. It was the perfect mix of funny and brutal.
The main negative I have with this trial, and other trial 3’s, is how convoluted it is. It’s fun when you're running around the school discovering body after body, one surprise after the other, but when you actually have all the clues and put them all together, that's when it gets tedious. Because of how much stuff they had going on, it was hard to put it all into the correct timeline. And even when you put it all together, you have more questions. Celestia's plan was good in theory, but in reality, she didn’t need to do most of the stuff she did.
For context, her plan revolved around “Robo Justice,” and she used this alter ego to pin the murder of Kiyotaka on another character, Yasuhiro, with the help of another character, Hifumi, whom she also killed later to cover her tracks. And it was just so obvious that she was the one manipulating the situation. She was the first to blame Yasuhiro; she was the first to be “attacked” by Robo Justice; she was the only one who claimed to encounter him, in fact, and led the class away from wherever Hifumi needed to be then. She really could’ve just killed Kiyotaka and gotten away with it; she was just doing too much. And the fact that the name Yasuhiro gave her away is just lazy. Her real name is Taeko Yasuhiro, and nobody in the school knew that, except Hifumi, who uttered that name before he died. My only question is, how did he know that? She kept that name secret because she was ashamed of it. And by her character, she would tell her real name to Hifumi last out of everybody in that class. It feels like when Sayaka wrote Leon's name in blood on the wall, but dumber.
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
Mikan Tsumiki
|
This is literally the worst trial in Danganronpa, and it’s not even close.
Everything about this trial is done terribly. From the victims to the motive, the killer, the trial itself, and the execution. It is unenjoyable to the very end. It’s a shame because Mikan could’ve been a good character, but they messed it all up. |
I really only have negative things to say about this case, and the only positive I can say is what they didn’t do, because originally Fuyuhiko was supposed to die instead of Hiyoko, and I’m so glad they didn’t do this because he only just started his character arc, and cutting it short like that would’ve made me hate this chapter more.
Ok, sit tight; there are a lot of negatives to go through. Let's start with the motive: the despair disease. It’s just so boring. Students get sick with certain weird diseases, like the gullible disease and the liar disease. Mikan gets infected with the remembering disease and regains all the memories she’d previously lost, and remembers her true love. And goes on a killing spree to reciprocate their love for them. Just a whole bunch of nonsense. We don’t even find out who the true love is (it's revealed in the anime, but not everyone who’s played the games has even watched it) or what exactly she remembered. The whole despair disease barely even played a part; it was really just filler to make the chapter longer, as I had to take care of sick patients. There’s filler in the other chapters, too, but that had something to do with the case itself or built up to it; the patients had nothing to do with the case. It is honestly just a stupid way of getting Mikan to go on a killing spree. Next, the victims. They just have no impact at all. When you find out it’s Hiyoko and Ibuki who died… It feels empty. I liked Ibuki, but not enough to care when she died. And I hated Hiyoko, so I jumped for joy, honestly. But still, even with Celestia’s trial, I at least felt something when Hifumi died; for this, I just couldn’t bring myself to care. And the thing is, this case didn't have to be a double murder: Hiyoko only died because she walked in on Mikan killing Ibuki, so she really died for no reason.
Like Trial 3’s, they’re all nonsensical, and this is the most nonsensical of the bunch. So for this game, instead of being in a school, they’re on an island. And the thing that irks me about this case is how fast Mikan got around. She started at the hospital, then the music venue, then the hotel, then back to the music venue; all of these places are a considerable distance away from each other, and she got there before even I did. She isn’t the ultimate track star; how is she running from place to place so fast? And the crazy thing is, for such a convoluted murder, it was figured out so easily that it’s almost laughable. All this running from place to place just for the evidence to be staring me right in the face. It’s the opposite of Celstia’s: it’s too easy.
And the execution… Along with the trial, it is one of the worst in the Danganronpa franchise. Mikan was only sexualized the entire time, and we don’t even get to see her die because she was shot into the sky. She escaped, if anything. I’m still wondering what made them go with that.
And the worst thing about all of this is that you could skip this chapter entirely and lose nothing of value. No characters grow or change at all. The people who died are seldom mentioned again—just a big waste of time.
Ok, sit tight; there are a lot of negatives to go through. Let's start with the motive: the despair disease. It’s just so boring. Students get sick with certain weird diseases, like the gullible disease and the liar disease. Mikan gets infected with the remembering disease and regains all the memories she’d previously lost, and remembers her true love. And goes on a killing spree to reciprocate their love for them. Just a whole bunch of nonsense. We don’t even find out who the true love is (it's revealed in the anime, but not everyone who’s played the games has even watched it) or what exactly she remembered. The whole despair disease barely even played a part; it was really just filler to make the chapter longer, as I had to take care of sick patients. There’s filler in the other chapters, too, but that had something to do with the case itself or built up to it; the patients had nothing to do with the case. It is honestly just a stupid way of getting Mikan to go on a killing spree. Next, the victims. They just have no impact at all. When you find out it’s Hiyoko and Ibuki who died… It feels empty. I liked Ibuki, but not enough to care when she died. And I hated Hiyoko, so I jumped for joy, honestly. But still, even with Celestia’s trial, I at least felt something when Hifumi died; for this, I just couldn’t bring myself to care. And the thing is, this case didn't have to be a double murder: Hiyoko only died because she walked in on Mikan killing Ibuki, so she really died for no reason.
Like Trial 3’s, they’re all nonsensical, and this is the most nonsensical of the bunch. So for this game, instead of being in a school, they’re on an island. And the thing that irks me about this case is how fast Mikan got around. She started at the hospital, then the music venue, then the hotel, then back to the music venue; all of these places are a considerable distance away from each other, and she got there before even I did. She isn’t the ultimate track star; how is she running from place to place so fast? And the crazy thing is, for such a convoluted murder, it was figured out so easily that it’s almost laughable. All this running from place to place just for the evidence to be staring me right in the face. It’s the opposite of Celstia’s: it’s too easy.
And the execution… Along with the trial, it is one of the worst in the Danganronpa franchise. Mikan was only sexualized the entire time, and we don’t even get to see her die because she was shot into the sky. She escaped, if anything. I’m still wondering what made them go with that.
And the worst thing about all of this is that you could skip this chapter entirely and lose nothing of value. No characters grow or change at all. The people who died are seldom mentioned again—just a big waste of time.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Korekiyo Shinguji
|
The more I think about it, the more I think they ran out of ideas for the third class trials, and this is proof of that. It just feels like a copy-paste of Miken's trial: killing for a loved one, one person died that didn’t need to, and the motive was just awful and had almost nothing to do with the actual murder. But this case wasn’t as unbearable as Mikan’s.
And again, I can’t think of a single good thing that came out of this case besides annoying characters dying. And there’s another Mikan similarity. |
Y’know, I think the Necronomicon, which had the power to revive students from the dead, may be the dumbest motive in Danganronpa history: in and of itself, and the fact that it literally did not affect the murders. I feel like the motive could’ve been anything else, and it would have ended the same.
So, Korekiyo wants to gift a hundred friends to his beloved, his sister. That’s another problem, but that’s not the main point here. And his sister is dead, so he plans to kill Tenko to send her to the afterlife with her with this whole elaborate plan of a seesaw trap—we’ll get into that later—and Angie happens upon him while he’s preparing, looking for a candle to burn the Necronomicon; it’s part of the ritual to revive someone, so he kills her and, the next day, Tenko too. And it’s revealed later that both Tenko and Angie would’ve made good friends for his sister, so why did he kill both of them? You’re just putting more evidence on your head. He says it’s because he didn’t want to waste the seesaw trap he made, but I just think the developers just wanted to continue this stupid trend of double murders. By V3, you knew what to expect, so a double murder just wasn’t as shocking as the first two times; it was just getting old.
And getting back to the seesaw trap, Korekiyo wanted to mask it under a seance, and they just found Angie’s dead body, so he says, “Why don’t we summon her and find out who killed her?” We have so many better things to do right now, like, I don’t know, looking for evidence. This whole seance just feels like a waste of time, and I can’t fathom why anybody agreed to this when we have a limited amount of time to look for clues. We have to get our priorities straight.
The most disappointing thing about this trial is that it teased an amazing idea. Monokuma says that if there are two different murderers, only the first will receive punishment, so when we found out Korekiyo killed Tenko, he could just roam free if another person killed Angie. But then you find out he killed both, so that idea isn’t even entertained. This chapter is filled with wasted potential: a student could come back from the dead, but nothing comes of it; there could be a murderer walking around, but nothing comes of it; Angie basically started a cult, and it goes nowhere. And along with the seesaw trap, Korekiyo just had to create a locked room mystery when it came to Angie, making the class trial unnecessarily harder. Not only am I confused, but I’m also disappointed.
But at least the execution isn’t half bad. It’s not top 5, probably not even top 10, but it is funny when Korekiyo gets salt thrown at him when he becomes a ghost. By his beloved sister, no less.
But I think the one saving grace of all these trials is the crashout all these characters have. You’ve heard “I don’t know whether to laugh or spit,” or “It’s not fair,” or “Apologize” somewhere before. They’re honestly iconic. Too bad the trials couldn’t live up to it.
So, Korekiyo wants to gift a hundred friends to his beloved, his sister. That’s another problem, but that’s not the main point here. And his sister is dead, so he plans to kill Tenko to send her to the afterlife with her with this whole elaborate plan of a seesaw trap—we’ll get into that later—and Angie happens upon him while he’s preparing, looking for a candle to burn the Necronomicon; it’s part of the ritual to revive someone, so he kills her and, the next day, Tenko too. And it’s revealed later that both Tenko and Angie would’ve made good friends for his sister, so why did he kill both of them? You’re just putting more evidence on your head. He says it’s because he didn’t want to waste the seesaw trap he made, but I just think the developers just wanted to continue this stupid trend of double murders. By V3, you knew what to expect, so a double murder just wasn’t as shocking as the first two times; it was just getting old.
And getting back to the seesaw trap, Korekiyo wanted to mask it under a seance, and they just found Angie’s dead body, so he says, “Why don’t we summon her and find out who killed her?” We have so many better things to do right now, like, I don’t know, looking for evidence. This whole seance just feels like a waste of time, and I can’t fathom why anybody agreed to this when we have a limited amount of time to look for clues. We have to get our priorities straight.
The most disappointing thing about this trial is that it teased an amazing idea. Monokuma says that if there are two different murderers, only the first will receive punishment, so when we found out Korekiyo killed Tenko, he could just roam free if another person killed Angie. But then you find out he killed both, so that idea isn’t even entertained. This chapter is filled with wasted potential: a student could come back from the dead, but nothing comes of it; there could be a murderer walking around, but nothing comes of it; Angie basically started a cult, and it goes nowhere. And along with the seesaw trap, Korekiyo just had to create a locked room mystery when it came to Angie, making the class trial unnecessarily harder. Not only am I confused, but I’m also disappointed.
But at least the execution isn’t half bad. It’s not top 5, probably not even top 10, but it is funny when Korekiyo gets salt thrown at him when he becomes a ghost. By his beloved sister, no less.
But I think the one saving grace of all these trials is the crashout all these characters have. You’ve heard “I don’t know whether to laugh or spit,” or “It’s not fair,” or “Apologize” somewhere before. They’re honestly iconic. Too bad the trials couldn’t live up to it.
Morgan Clarke
