Danganronpa 3: Future Arc - Episode 1 Discussion / Poll

[Triple_R]

I was a little disappointed in this first episode.

First of all, I found it very confusing. To be fair, I guess this is my own fault to at least some extent. I watched all of the original Dangaronpa anime, but I've only played a little bit of the 2nd game. It seems like there's a lot of different narratives coming together here - What would people here say are must-plays/must-watches/must-reads in order to get this story, and all of these new (to me) characters?


My other criticism is mostly visual. So many scenes in this opening episode are simply bathed in one particular color hue - Be it red, green, light blue, or whatever. It creates a certain oppressive feel for me, and it kinda causes the characters to really blur together on-screen, contributing to my sense of confusion. I guess this may be fitting given the darker feel of this show, but one thing I liked a lot about the original Dangaronpa anime was its unusual blend of dark with quirky colorful fun - pink-colored blood being a good example of this.

The original Dangaronpa also had basically normal animation/coloration - If anything, it was extra vibrant and zany. The tone was dark but nicely energetic. This first episode felt very sombre by comparison. Even Monokuma's big scene felt less amusing and colorful than usual.

[FlareKnight]

Not a bad start, all things considered.

I think this does make a solid point. True, all these people are part of the Future Foundation...but doesn't necessarily mean they are all great people. It just means they aren't ultimate despairs . And really considering they've been living in a dark world and had to fight brutally to stay alive...it's no wonder many of them are downright violent people.

Going to make for an interesting ride here. Will keep fingers crossed for certain characters to stay alive and just hope for the best.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I was a little disappointed in this first episode.

First of all, I found it very confusing. To be fair, I guess this is my own fault to at least some extent. I watched all of the original Dangaronpa anime, but I've only played a little bit of the 2nd game. It seems like there's a lot of different narratives coming together here - What would people here say are must-plays/must-watches/must-reads in order to get this story, and all of these new (to me) characters?

Playing the second game is vital since this is a direct sequel to it. There was a reference to Ultra Despair Girls too, but it's hard to tell how important it will be. I'd say playing it still can't hurt since it helps fill in the blanks between 1 and 2.

Be aware you've already spoiled yourself on massive twists by watching this episode alone.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Playing the second game is vital since this is a direct sequel to it. There was a reference to Ultra Despair Girls too, but it's hard to tell how important it will be. I'd say playing it still can't hurt since it helps fill in the blanks between 1 and 2.

Be aware you've already spoiled yourself on massive twists by watching this episode alone.

In my opinion sometimes people who know about future events will find it far far easier to see those spoilers than people who are unaware of what's going on.

I admit I haven't played SDR2 but I'm guessing that this episode isn't going to particularly spoil me because I ended up so confused and without understanding who was who that I reckon that the spoiler flew by my head.

That said, I'm off to my Vita. I've got a game to rush through

[Klashikari]

Spoiler themselves are indeed meaningless if you didn't play the game yet, but the moment you try, you will regret it by a long shot.
Just don't watch DR3 without being done with the games. There is a reason why it is called danganronpa 3.

[Freeter]

I'm going in blind on this one. If the show's direction is good enough it should be able to tell its story without needing the games as a crutch.

[Klashikari]

The series is -not- an adaptation. It is a sequel of a game.
It is like watching the second season of any other series: it isn't meant to be watched without going through the first season.

[SilverSyko]

It's kind of odd people are having trouble understanding this show has been made for the people who have played the games before.

Judge it on it's own if you like but that's not how it's meant to be viewed.

[Freeter]

Then why not just make it into a game or an OVA series? Did they explain why it specifically had to be on TV?

[Klashikari]

The game producer stated that DR3 would be more suitable with an anime series format instead of a game format.

[SilverSyko]

The creators state that they believe they wouldn't be able to tell the story they want to tell in this show well enough in a format that isn't an anime TV series. Same reason why Danganronpa 2 has no anime adaptation because they believe the story in that game wouldn't be told in a desirable way in an anime format.

Think of it like a movie trilogy like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. They all have a closely connected storyline and reference events in previous entries, only in this case the third entry in the trilogy is a different form of media than the first two.

[Freeter]

So why not release it as an OVA instead? Is the urgency of a weekly TV format that detrimental to telling this particular story?

Sorry, but the logistics behind this move is just baffling to me. You're not promoting a new game or trying to expand your audience, so why risk going TV when an OVA will guarantee sales?

[SilverSyko]

Well if you watch both the first episode of the Future arc and Despair arc it becomes clear there's some sort of meta connection between the two and they're using the TV series broadcasting format and air dates to their artistic advantage so I don't think an OVA would work either.

It's a pretty interesting and unique move to make sure, but I think sales from fans of the games are already guaranteed at this point anyway. I know I'll buy the English dub's DVD's when they're released.~

[Traece]

Originally Posted by Freeter

So why not release it as an OVA instead? Is the urgency of a weekly TV format that detrimental to telling this particular story?

Sorry, but the logistics behind this move is just baffling to me. You're not promoting a new game or trying to expand your audience, so why risk going TV when an OVA will guarantee sales?

Why release it as an OVA? That's just as baffling and senseless. There's no advantage to doing so, when they clearly had the capability to launch two 13-episode series instead. They could afford to, and they fully believed that it was legitimate for them to do so. Evidently logistics aren't an issue here, or it wouldn't have been made it the first place. You seem to be under the impression that this whole venture was a flop, even though only a single episode from each series has been released thus far. This is the kind of thing you would only say in hindsight, so I'm completely confused as to how you feel confident in saying it after the first episode.

As far as spoilers for people who haven't played SDR2, I cannot stress this enough: Watching even two minutes of this episode will completely spoil the game. Period.

[com_gwp]

Originally Posted by Freeter

So why not release it as an OVA instead? Is the urgency of a weekly TV format that detrimental to telling this particular story?

Sorry, but the logistics behind this move is just baffling to me. You're not promoting a new game or trying to expand your audience, so why risk going TV when an OVA will guarantee sales?

This isn't the answer you wanted, but none of us can offer a concrete explanation to you. All we have are the answers from interviews to go on, which has already been relayed in the posts above. Trust me when I say that the players were just as baffled as you were, on why we didn't just get a third concluding game.

What I've inferred from the various responses that Kodaka gave was that the team was stuck in a creative dead end in making DR3; How would you continue to raise the bar, but keep everything consistent with the themes, plot and elements of the last two games? It is a rather complex balancing act, so rebooting the series (which is what we are getting with the V3 game) allowed him that freedom from being stuck in this creative rut. The audience obviously still wanted a proper follow-up after investing themselves into the games, and Kodaka also had a interest in concluding the narrative. Hence, they reworked the in-discussions DR2 TV anime (which the interviews have been rather upfront about) into this DR3 follow-up, which allows them to cater for their fanbase in a relatively straightforward format.

I want to add that I fully understand where you were coming from; I've previously argued that a shift like this would end up alienating both anime-only viewers and players of the games. Ironically enough, this last week since DR3 started has featured some of the most active community discussions that I've ever seen. Which shows that, on some level, the fanbase and audience is still very much intact.

[omimon]

I'm hoping (but at the same time pretty sure) the Ultimate Despairs from DR2 will safe everyone during the final moments of the series.

[Dengar]

I liked this. I wasn't actually expecting yet another killing game, but it makes sense in hindsight.

It seems the maid girl will get more characterization in Despair, so I'm not too worried about that.


Re: The "Why not an OVA" debate.... Is it a problem that it's a TV series?

[Nvis]

Mitarai, "dead" Chisa is now making me suspicious.

[Calca]

Ugh it was so weird to see the characters from DR2 be in their despair states. Personally I bet Sonia is among the more frightening of the bunch.

Fuyukiko looked pretty badass though.

[ronelm2000]

Guys, if you want to understand why DR2 simply can't translate into an anime, play the game. It's like... on Steam as a PC game.

Heck, you can even watch the Walkthrough on YouTube. ~.~

That being said, since I JUST finished DR2 last night (3 AM), I'm just starting to watch the series (Future Arc) so...

PS: Actually screw it, watching either arcs (especially Future) kinda spoil the ENTIRE GAME.