Danganronpa - Episode 13 Discussion / Poll [END]

[Solitaired]

Here's the chain of events for better understanding :

1) Start of new school year.
2) Uneventful first year together as classmates. Prequel happens here.
3) Mankind's Most Despairingly Maleficent and Monstrous Malefaction
4) Outside world becomes unsuitable to live in. Cause will be explained in the sequel.
5) Shelter project created to protect the surviving students, live in the school forever or till the outside world resumed to normal. Thereafter, the students will rebuild the world with their talents.
6) Only 16 students and headmaster is involved in the shelter project. Reason is ultra super duper major spoilers for sequel.
7) Junko executed the headmaster via The Space Journey
8) Junko removed everyone's memories besides Mukuro. Method is spoiler for prequel.
9) Game start!

* the setting up of the plan happens thought the 2 years. Except for certain periods, which is spoiler for prequel.

Edit: Take note that the prequel consists of brand new cast just like the sequel, with some appearances of characters from DR1 and SDR2.

[Sute443]

Originally Posted by king12354

I played the game but still, there are a bunch of gaping plot holes. They all get amnesia and for some reason, all thought it was 2 years ago. Wouldn't they notice their body changing and all that? Not to mention how does Junko monitor everyone 24/7 without sleeping/eating/etc.

Considering that all of them (except Kirigiri, who got a full wipe) had their memory reset back to the day of the entrance ceremony and that everybody they encountered agreed that it was that day, and I don't think it's hard to see why they thought it was two years ago. Despite this, both Sakura and Kirigiri noticed that something was different with their bodies, so there's that, at least. And Junko probably wasn't monitoring them the whole time; they just couldn't tell when she was watching and when she wasn't.

[Hitenma]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

1) Having a bad adaptation will turn chances for a future good adaptation into nothing (series that have the luxury for remake are extremely scarce)
2) Having a bad adaptation might also lead to very bad sales, which will cut the possibility for further adaptation (the likes of Umineko got terribly shafted because of how badly the first season went due to major adaptation mishaps).

An anime adaptation for SDR2 would be great, but if it is the same director/studio, that's a big NG. Especially that SDR2 is much more difficult to adapt.

1/ How are you sure that if it didn't have this adaption, maybe it would have a better adaption in the future? The fact that it has low budget means that to most sponsors it isn't very attractive to begin with. So the chance to have a better adaption is next to none. Considering there are a lot of good stuff out there that never have an adaption, I think Danganronpa is one of the luckier. A "bad" adaption is better than no adaption.

2/ How are you sure that the likes of Umineko have bad sales because of bad quality? Quality never equals popularity. There are many good anime having abysmal sales while there are terrible one that sells like hotcakes just because they are mainstream stuff. Umineko is far from mainstream so even if it has more budget the sales won't change significantly and the sponsors just lose more money. That's why it has low quality, it's because people didn't expect it would sell well to begin with.

[Goty]

Last episode was pretty good if not a bit anti-climatic, but i really enjoyed the series, its surrealistic atmosphere and lively/unusual cast of characters. It always kept me guessing and curious for more.

Originally Posted by Solitaired

Here's the chain of events for better understanding :

I think everything that actually happened in the original game (not from a sequel or prequel) was explained or implied enough to make sense out of it.
One thing i didn't understand though, what was with that messy classroom full of blood? They thought it was connected to whatever happened in the past, but was it just a red herring?

Originally Posted by Clarami

Quite a good ending to an interesting series. I still don't understand the negativity towards those familiar with the series, but oh well, can't always be happy with how things turn out at times.

Having played every corner of Persona 4, i didn't like its anime adaptation, but i enjoyed Danganronpa a whole lot more. I think it helps not being familiar with the source, when you can't help but nitpick and expect certain things to be done this or that way.

[Solitaired]

Originally Posted by Goty

One thing i didn't understand though, what was with that messy classroom full of blood? They thought it was connected to whatever happened in the past, but was it just a red herring?

Yes. The only red herring of the main plot. Unfortunately, it is related to the most important plot twist in the sequel, so I can't say anything about it.

[ookamigirl]

Junko needs some serious help.
Things got messed up again.
That memory wipe made it harder for them to believe the truth.
Well, at least they finally found out the truth.
Final episode was good, but not impressive.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Hitenma

1/ How are you sure that if it didn't have this adaption, maybe it would have a better adaption in the future? The fact that it has low budget means that to most sponsors it isn't very attractive to begin with. So the chance to have a better adaption is next to none. Considering there are a lot of good stuff out there that never have an adaption, I think Danganronpa is one of the luckier. A "bad" adaption is better than no adaption.

That's because having this possibility is better than having that opportunity wasted with a bad adaptation. It is simple as that: not having an adaptation doesn't void any possibility of having a proper adaptation even if you don't even know if it will be done in the future. Having a bad adaptation just turn it to null. Ergo, having the possibility of a good adaptation is always better than having a certain bad adaptation.

And no, I'm sincerely from the opposite perspective: imho, "no adaptation" is better than "bad adaptation". That is to say: having a bad adaptation not only prevent a possible good adaptation to be done, but can also alienate those who didn't know the source material (if I were to watch the umineko series before reading the VN, I wouldn't even bother with the VN because the anime was nonsensical at "best" for the mystery and clues being awkward as hell. The same goes for Tsukihime, having an underwhelming cast and plot going).
However, I don't see any issue with "decent" adaptation as I don't expect VN/Game adaptation to have special treatment like a few got. But adaptations that changes things to abnormal proportions? Nope.

2/ How are you sure that the likes of Umineko have bad sales because of bad quality? Quality never equals popularity. There are many good anime having abysmal sales while there are terrible one that sells like hotcakes just because they are mainstream stuff. Umineko is far from mainstream so even if it has more budget the sales won't change significantly and the sponsors just lose more money. That's why it has low quality, it's because people didn't expect it would sell well to begin with.

That's because you can correlate that with the -source material- popularity. Umineko and Danganronpa had a very strong popularity to their respective game. It is even more obvious for Danganronpa because both games were in top 5 PSP sales for each iteration, leading to a semi cult state over there. Hell, not a lot of games can boatst having an anime adaptation considering how it is risky to begin with. The fact they did it while pairing with the vita release on october pretty much demonstrates the producers expect a decent income from this.
Also you seem to think that budget make everything: that's wrong. A competent director can, to some extent, salvage a series even if the number of episodes is bad or anything, and likewise, an imcompetent director can crash and burn a series that had the luxury of 25 episodes with a beyond decent budget. In fact, Umineko had the very opposite treatment than Danganronpa: following Higurashi immense popularity, the producers provided a better budget and planning considering 26 episodes for the first half (Higurashi had 6/8 for the first season) even though the animation wasn't stellar, it was still "fine" compared to a real bad quality series (higurashi). Guess what? The problem was the director making the most dubious decisions for the investigations and debates parts.

I rarely even complained the quality of the adaptation (even if it is obviously below average), and while having 13 episodes was a glaring mistake, the major problem was the damn directing, going all over the place (character develpments changed for no good reason, cutting critical clues while introducing useless ones, trial setup awkward with game gimmicks etc). Devil Survivor 2 is another good example of such issue, and conveniently done by the same director, Kishi.

[Martin Chong]

Ｉ　ｔｈｉｎｋ　Ｉ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｖｏｔｅ　８－９／１０

[Gohan78]

Well, I was certainly disappointed by the explanations in this finale episode.
The calamity that befall humanity wasn't even explained. At least call it World War III or something!

The game was just the sick plan of a psycho-bitch with self-destructive tendencies. If the world went to the shitters, how did she manage to get fresh food every day? Where did she get the money? How did she make all those weird contraptions?
I doubt that bolting the windows and doors is enough to keep the crazy people outside.

They didn't even explain how they got their memories wiped out. Are you telling me that Junko sneaked up on each one of them, put them to sleep and then used some weird device to delete their memories??? Sorry, the level of suspension of disbelief required by this anime is too much for me...

[Solitaired]

God. Anyone here ever read all other posts?

Memory wipe method is explained in the prequel.

EVERYTHING ELSE is explained fully in the sequel.

Enoshima Junko is not human, she is despair.


Also, to those complaining that the outside world is not shown. The outside world itself is Schrodinger's Cat. It can be all a lie by Junko, and is very peaceful as always. Or it can be destroyed as Junko shown them. For the latter, what is the point of showing the outside world then? Everything is just as expected : People rioting, murders everywhere, despair everywhere. The game/anime ends with hope's victory, there is no point to show the despaired world.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Gohan78

Well, I was certainly disappointed by the explanations in this finale episode.
The calamity that befall humanity wasn't even explained. At least call it World War III or something!

The nature of the disaster was a bit more exposed as in: a despair tendency crippling people to the point they had a destructive behaviour, which was purposedly done by Junko.
Beyond these details, the rest is explained in SDR2.

The game was just the sick plan of a psycho-bitch with self-destructive tendencies. If the world went to the shitters, how did she manage to get fresh food every day? Where did she get the money? How did she make all those weird contraptions?
I doubt that bolting the windows and doors is enough to keep the crazy people outside.

Actually, Junko discovered her "masochist" tangeant only when she realized she is about to die. In fact, she solely focus on despair in a general sense, so it is also applied there (although the anime didn't put enough emphasis that Junko is actually despairing for even being born).

As for the rest, it is only implied, but Junko is part of an organization (it doesn't make sense that every person going batshit conveniently use Monokuma as their mascot), the SHSL Despair. As such, while they are bunch of crazies, they obviously still need their source of food etc, so she basically have her comrades supply her.
The game also made Monokuma explains that money (or rather, the currency prior the disaster) has no value at all, so it is either a new kind of currency, or based on trade/organization.

They didn't even explain how they got their memories wiped out. Are you telling me that Junko sneaked up on each one of them, put them to sleep and then used some weird device to delete their memories??? Sorry, the level of suspension of disbelief required by this anime is too much for me...

That's because the memory wipe was "explained" by breaking the 4th wall in a weird fashion: with all the crazy stuff happened there, having the memory wipe explained doesn't change the fact the students were just killing each other despite being good friends to begin with.

Due to the setup, this plot point can potentially be explained in any fashion, be it a hypnosis technique, a drug, a surgical intervention etc. In fact, stretching any of these speculations can explain how Junko did that by the franchise standards.
That said, this is actually explained in DR 0.

[Celestia Ludenberg]

Originally Posted by Dengar

They didn't fall unconscious. It SEEMS like they lost consciousness because that's where their memory ends.


Anyway, I'm glad there are at least some anime only watchers who enjoyed the ride.

I've been spoiled by the game so I can't enjoy it as much.

I did enjoy all of the characters being animated though. Monokuma was the perfect troll, they at least got THAT right, and to me that is the most important part.

Alright, thanks. I get it now, it's just that in the game Naegi wakes up in a classroom. That's just where my confusion comes from.

[Dengar]

He DOES wake up in a classroom. Two years later. AFTER having his memory of the past 2 years erased.

Anyway, I've played only the first game and haven't read any of the supplemental materials. And I don't believe I have to have read any of the other games to understand everything there is to know about the first game.

-The despair event is a thing that happened. The details and what it is aren't clear, but it's clearly a thing that happened.
-Some kind of massacre happened in the bloody room.
-Their memories were altered through some means.
-The Despairification of Mankind obviously isn't just a 2 people effort. That's probably where they got the funding from, either that, or they just plundered the school's bank account. Or both.

Everything else that is explained in supplementary materials is nice and all, but only has superficial relevance to the events of the first game. It's fine.

[Preciize]

Who was the masked person that tried to kill Naegi with the knife while he was sleeping in episode 10? I always thought it was the 16th high schooler but then later Junko explains her twin had been dead since the beginning from getting speared through and it was later revealed that the corpse the group found in the garden was a decoy and not the real body. In fact, if I remember correctly the decoy body used was Junko's twin.

[zetsubo666]

Originally Posted by Preciize

Who was the masked person that tried to kill Naegi with the knife while he was sleeping in episode 10? I always thought it was the 16th high schooler but then later Junko explains her twin had been dead since the beginning from getting speared through and that the corpse the group found in the garden was a decoy and not the real body.

The masked person was always Junko as Mukuro had been deceased since she attacked Monokuma and was impaled with Gungir.

[Preciize]

Originally Posted by zetsubo666

The masked person was always Junko as Mukuro had been deceased since she attacked Monokuma and was impaled with Gungir.

Okay, that's who I was thinking but it seemed to imply that the masked person was killed by Kirigiri? Since Kirigiri appeared beside Naegi right after Junko did. I wonder how Junko hid all her hair behind that mask xD

[Alucard24]

great, now I REALLY want to know if the world really is destroyed or not. Just a yes or no will be enough.

Anyone ?

[Alucard24]

thanks pal !

Now just wait to see the S2 I guess

[HandofFate]

Not a fan of the TV/Doomsday twist.
Its such a copout easy way to explain just about anything in a story.

I'm glad at least it didn't going into yet another time travel twist like the past few animes with some kind of 'mystery/twist' to them.

[Gohan78]

Originally Posted by Solitaired

God. Anyone here ever read all other posts?

Memory wipe method is explained in the prequel.

EVERYTHING ELSE is explained fully in the sequel.

Enoshima Junko is not human, she is despair.

I think that the anime must be judged only on its own merits.
If all these things are explained in outside sources then it doesn't suddenly make it all right.
Not to mention that those explanations sound retarded as hell. A Despair epidemic? Really?