First Impression – Danganronpa 3: Mirai Hen
It’s despair time again!
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Monokuma has a new voice, but it seems like it’s the same plot of killing off all of the characters! Hooray! |
Aaand right away, Danganronpa 3 spoiled a huge plot twist from the 2nd game. It seems like playing all of the games is kind of necessary in order to understand the plot (plus they’re not going easy on the spoilers, obviously). Maybe the second game is less necessary, but the Ultimate Despair Girls one covered a lot on the outside world and how it’s even possible for Monokuma to be functioning without Junko. Depending on how the Zetsubou/Despair Volume goes (I haven’t gotten to watching it quite yet), maybe it will be possible to watch this without most of the 2nd game, but it might not quite explain why Naegi is in trouble with the Future Foundation or his motives behind his actions that led him here.
That being said, despite being on the same side, it’s interesting how Naegi’s survivor group doesn’t really get along with the other members. They’ve been violent and threatening towards Naegi’s group, and don’t even believe that he was on hope’s side when he killed Junko. It would be a crazy plot twist if this was true, but from what the games have shown (which in the first one, was even from Naegi’s perspective), he’s pretty genuine in his hope and Monokuma has it out for him. It probably also doesn’t help that Naegi has nothing to really show for his actions. Sure, Hajime’s group kind of decided to stay hopeful and rejected Junko, but the rehabilitation plan didn’t really work as they wanted it to. Even if it had worked too, from the reaction of the Future Foundation, they might not have trusted Hajime and the others anyways.
Obviously, this is going to be Kugimiya’s greatest tsundere waifu role yet
The new group of characters seem interesting though. Seeing how they’re not all high school kids this time, there’s a lot more diversity. It’s interesting how they’re all Former Ultimate students, but I suppose that it wouldn’t be Danganronpa without them, and also it makes sense that the greatest leaders of hope came from that school. It’s kind of a shame that Yukizome died so soon, since she seems like she would have been the best peace keeper of the group, but maybe that’s why the writers decided she would be the best one to kill. Plus it might change something in Munakata like Maezono and Nanami changed the protagonists through their deaths. It’s also interesting that the blood is red now, but there aren’t game censors to get past this time, and things seem a bit more dark this time.
Of course, with Monokuma trying to get the Hope side to kill each other off, it begs the question as to what the Despair side wants from this. They might easily be able to just kill off the Hope side, but instead they decided to do the same murder game all over again, so there seems to be a motive behind it all. The first Danganronpa had them kill each other to broadcast it, but since the Hope side owns the building, it might not be possible. The second game was to lure Naegi in there from what I remember. So is this all just to tick Naegi off? Monokuma did mention this being the close to both of their stories, so that seems to be part of it. Another part (and maybe the most obvious reason) is to get rid of Hope, but again, it seems like there’s something more here.
Though are there actually going to be the usual mystery and trial parts? Because that would mean that someone already killed Yukizome, which would be a mystery in itself as to why someone would do that. It wouldn’t really be Danganronpa without the trials (or the punishments), but at the same time, the creators chose an anime for the medium of this story because they wanted to do something that they could only do in an anime, so there might be some kind of twist from how it usually works.
This is already so much better than the first anime. There’s no game script to follow so despite the director being the same, the character’s motions aren’t restricted to whatever the game sprites did, or whatever the game script said. Since this story was made for anime too, hopefully that means that things will be way less crammed into the allotted episodes. Mostly, I guess I’m just enjoying this because it’s all new and seems like a promise to finally conclude what the first game started. There’s also the V3 game coming out apparently, but Monokuma said that this was the conclusion to Naegi and his story, so at least something should be concluded.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yep, because, unfortunately, the original seiyuu Nobuyo Ooyama was diagnosed with dementia. Therefore, the role’s been passed to Tarako. Apart from the noticeable difference in Monokuma’s laugh, the voice is almost an exact match.
I haven’t played any of the Danganronpa games, much less the second one, so what was said at start will serve as a brief report. And like D.Gray-man Hallow, I’ll be trying my luck understanding the story with the limited support available.
Nostalgic it is seeing the survivors from the first season again, though I notice some are unaccounted for, like Touko Fukawa and Byakuya Togami.
Maybe there’s discord between the characters because of a lack of mutual understanding and experience. The rest haven’t gone through what the survivors did with Junko, not to mention not being present when she was beaten, which would be the reasoning they can’t see eye to eye and for the hostility level. To further this theory, the rest weren’t even aware of Monokuma’s existence before he showed up again and with Junko already gone, I doubt the survivors felt it necessary to talk about him.
Yeah, it was a curve ball killing Yukizome right at the gate when my interest in her character was beginning. Reminiscent of Sayaka Maizono being the killing game’s spark off for the first season. I didn’t think the writers would try that option again. When given some thought, it’s always the aspiring peace keepers who get clipped first. However, seeing how the same rules won’t be applied, it should be interesting which way this genocide will go. Some gratitude to rectifying the blood color issue. That will add to the general atmosphere.
Monokuma said the Despair side’s been on a losing streak so this might be a ploy to even the playing field. Since their motivation is to spread despair, hardly a shock if they want the Hope side to suffer first.
By now, I imagine you’ve already seen the first episode of the secondary arc that’s also airing, so it shouldn’t pose a problem laying down some of my thoughts.
After watching the joining arc’s first entry, I can see why both Mirai-hen/Future Arc and Zetsubou-hen/Despair Arc are airing in the same season, for a sense of completion and closure. It’s the same choice used for the Seraph novels. First, you have the main story, Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign (Owari no Seraph) (Which already has an anime adaptation), with its current events while having the prequel, Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose – Catastrophe at Sixteen (Owari no Seraph: Ichinose Guren, 16-sai no Catastrophe), give its period story and feeding information to fill the main story’s blanks at the same time. Mirai-hen/Future Arc is the current story.
More Danganronpa is a pleasure, so I’m onboard but you’ll have to pull double duty if you’re covering both arcs, Kara.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Hmmm… Monokuma did say that but it doesn’t necessarily mean the Danganronpa franchise has to end there. If so motivated, there’s nothing to obstruct making a game/story centered on completely new characters.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
A squeaky, girly voice for a big burly character. It gives me the creeps! Almost as off putting as the first season’s Sakura Oogami. *shivers*
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Interesting, some of the characters from the first game are carried over?
I never watched the anime, but reading play-by-plays of the game was very entertaining. I tried playing the game but the 3d aspect gave me headspins.
Speaking of, maybe I should check out a Danganronpa 2 play-by-play if it was as entertaining as the first.
I’m undecided if I should pick up these, given I never watched the first or second(?) anime. I saw spoiler in your post and I did a quick wheel down =D
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
And I don’t want to spoil myself, but is there a non-spoiler ish review of why there are two Danganronpa series this season and how they are linked all together?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
There’s no second anime. Just the adaptation of the first Danganronpa and the two arcs of Danganronpa 3 both airing this season. The most you’ll get concerning Danganronpa 2 is a brief report at the start of Mirai-hen/Future Arc’s first episode.