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Danganronpa 3 The End of Hope's Peak Academy |OT| Nagito Komaeda's Wild Ride Part Two

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Off topic but relevant to Danganronpa. (I'll remove this post if it's against the rules) Kotobukiya is doing a re-release of the 1/8 Hajime Hinata and 1/8 Nagito Komaeda.

Hajime Hinata 6,720 Yen (65.03 USD)
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-005594

Nagito Komaeda 6,980 Yen (67.55 USD)
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-006927

This is a steal! The after market on the original scales are ridiculous. If you love Danganronpa and want two amazing scale figures of Hajime and Nagito you need to pre-order these! I own both and they are so worth it. I paid 200.00 for the pair on the aftermarket because I didn't think they would be re-released. Kotobukiya proved me wrong. Just a heads up, don't miss out on these amazing Danganronpa collectables!!

What about my Junko figures? Them shits is still high as hell.
 

FluxWaveZ

Member
So, yeah - "Ultimate" is bland, inaccurate, sounds cool instead of ridiculous, and removes the satire from the text. I like a lot of things about NISA's translation, but that's not on one of them.

Those are some good points, particularly in regards to the use of the term in DR:AE and how SHSL refers explicitly to a character's abilities in regards to their academic level. I still prefer "Ultimate," but at least I've gained an appreciation for "SHSL."
 

GoldStarz

Member
Add to that the implications of the title - the students are still High School Level (that is, they're *not* the best in the entire world at what they're doing, just among their age group) - but they're *Super* that level! Then, of course, the series likes to play with that - we have the Choushogakkoukyuu (Super Elementary School Level) kids in AE, whose skills are only fit for elementary school, and in this new series everyone is titled Former-SHSL, almost as if to say high school was the highlight of their entire lives (Japan, anyone?) Not to mention that being the best student council president isn't exactly a useful skill post high school.

So, yeah - "Ultimate" is bland, inaccurate, sounds cool instead of ridiculous, and removes the satire from the text. I like a lot of things about NISA's translation, but that's not on one of them.

I mean that's not entirely true, you do have some of the kids who are only best in their age group but you have others (Chihiro, Yasuke, Touko, obviously Junko, etc) who actually are among/the best in their respective fields. It's really a case-by-case basis.

I do agree that Ultimate is a bit generic, though.
 
Cross post:

Watched the first episode of Future, is it bad I started laughing out loud when
it was revealed Chisa was impaled in the chandelier? Like maaaan, Sayaka was at least around for a couple hours of game time before they killed her off.

Also Ultimate vs. SHSL: I side with Ultimate personally; the point of the Academy isn't that they're simply the best at what they do for a teenager, it's that they have the highest potential in their area of expertise, that Hope's Peak is attempting to draw out. I think it tis into the themes of hope, despair, and free will; are some people just destined to be the best at something? How do you live in a world where you can directly quantify a person's aptitude, and implicitly their worth? I think Ultimate taps into that more, whereas SHSL to me just implies really really good as far as teenagers go.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
What do I need to read/watch/play before getting into this new series?

I've played Danganronpa 1 and 2, but not UDG.

What else there? What is Zero and IF?
Anything else I should know about?
 

GoldStarz

Member
What do I need to read/watch/play before getting into this new series?

I've played Danganronpa 1 and 2, but not UDG.

What else there? What is Zero and IF?
Anything else I should know about?

DR1 and DR2 are fine for a basic understanding, Kodaka has said that reading /Zero will help with Despair Arc, but we don't know for sure if DRAE will factor in, although it probably will since
the Warriors of Hope make a small cameo in the beginning when explaining who the Remnants of Despair are.
 
DR1 and DR2 are fine for a basic understanding, Kodaka has said that reading /Zero will help with Despair Arc, but we don't know for sure if DRAE will factor in, although it probably will since
the Warriors of Hope make a small cameo in the beginning when explaining who the Remnants of Despair are.

It IS an explanation for
why Toko isn't here though, although I don't quite remember if she technically is a member of Future Foundation or not.

Also I love the unintentional alliteration of Future Foundation.
 

Permanently A

Junior Member
What do I need to read/watch/play before getting into this new series?

I've played Danganronpa 1 and 2, but not UDG.

What else there? What is Zero and IF?
Anything else I should know about?

UDG has already had a tiny cameo. Watch a let's play or the cutscenes on YouTube. It will probably show up again.

Zero is the prequel light novel. Its sort of important, but I don't think you'll miss anything if you haven't read it.

Danganronpa IF is a what-if and non canon so not necessary to read, but its a fun read.
 
What do I need to read/watch/play before getting into this new series?

I've played Danganronpa 1 and 2, but not UDG.

What else there? What is Zero and IF?
Anything else I should know about?

For now, 1 & 2 seem to be the only stories absolutely necessary, but many expect certain things from UDG to factor in. If you started watching a play through of AE now you should be good.

Zero is a prequel that's supposed to help with Despair side. It may not be necessary, but I would recommend every DR fan read it.

I guess it's worth noting that the official timeline of the series they released on the official DR3 website includes DR 1, 2, Zero, UDG and the currently ongoing gaiden Killer Killer (which takes place before DR2, and is supplementary to the current anime).

If is a what if story that develops Mukuro, and it isn't necessary. If you have time it's short, but I wouldn't go out of my way.

It IS an explanation for
why Toko isn't here though, although I don't quite remember if she technically is a member of Future Foundation or not.

Also I love the unintentional alliteration of Future Foundation.

Last we heard, Toko is currently an intern and not a full member yet.

They're stupidly continuing the episode numbers from the DR1 adaptation

Wait, seriously? I didn't notice that yesterday, lmao.
 

NEO0MJ

Member
It IS an explanation for
why Toko isn't here though, although I don't quite remember if she technically is a member of Future Foundation or not.

Also I love the unintentional alliteration of Future Foundation.

She decided to stay in the Towa city after UDG to help rebuild. 3 seems to take place not long after that game.
 

Breads

Banned
(full disclosure: I use a different username here, but I coined SHSL oh so many years ago now)

First, it's not 3 syllables in Japanese -- it's technically 8 moras (cho-u-ko-u-ko-u-kyu-u), which is what Japanese uses in lieu of syllables, but I'll give you 4 if you can't hear the difference. "Ultimate" is 3 syllables and "Super High School Level" is 6, so we're all over the place. To my ears, "Super High School Level" fits exactly the same speech pattern as a correct pronunciation of "Choukoukoukyuu", while "Ultimate" sounds way too short.

But that's not even that important. Here's why I defend my translation (or at least a translation in its spirit, I'm not particularly tied to SHSL) over Ultimate. It's basically the same argument for why I'll defend Monobear over Monokuma forever:

Translations, at their best, have to struggle the long spectrum between lexical-accuracy and free-form rewrites in order to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to have the source and target texts have roughly the same feel (while keeping the meaning intact, of course). Those who argue that "Super High School Level" sounds awkward in English are missing an important point - "Choukoukoukyuu" is super-awkward in Japanese too. "Choukoukoukyuu Zetsubou" isn't supposed to be menacing - it's supposed to sound ridiculous.

My guess is that the term was chosen carefully. Dangan Ronpa is, among other things, a comedy and a satire. Choukoukoukyuu is exactly a satirical take on the pompous title a fancy private academy might give its students. The series does the same thing with the name of the Incident - unnecessary long and pompous, and repeated ad nauseam in the dialogue for comedic effect. Add to that the implications of the title - the students are still High School Level (that is, they're *not* the best in the entire world at what they're doing, just among their age group) - but they're *Super* that level! Then, of course, the series likes to play with that - we have the Choushogakkoukyuu (Super Elementary School Level) kids in AE, whose skills are only fit for elementary school, and in this new series everyone is titled Former-SHSL, almost as if to say high school was the highlight of their entire lives (Japan, anyone?) Not to mention that being the best student council president isn't exactly a useful skill post high school.

So, yeah - "Ultimate" is bland, inaccurate, sounds cool instead of ridiculous, and removes the satire from the text. I like a lot of things about NISA's translation, but that's not on one of them.

Yoooooooooo.

I don't think people give you enough credit any more for popularizing Dangan Ronpa outside of Japan and possibly being responsible for the series surviving past the second game~
 

Azuran

Banned
What do I need to read/watch/play before getting into this new series?

I've played Danganronpa 1 and 2, but not UDG.

What else there? What is Zero and IF?
Anything else I should know about?

Just watch a let's play of UDG. Game is garbage anyways.
 
(full disclosure: I use a different username here, but I coined SHSL oh so many years ago now)

First, it's not 3 syllables in Japanese -- it's technically 8 moras (cho-u-ko-u-ko-u-kyu-u), which is what Japanese uses in lieu of syllables, but I'll give you 4 if you can't hear the difference. "Ultimate" is 3 syllables and "Super High School Level" is 6, so we're all over the place. To my ears, "Super High School Level" fits exactly the same speech pattern as a correct pronunciation of "Choukoukoukyuu", while "Ultimate" sounds way too short.

But that's not even that important. Here's why I defend my translation (or at least a translation in its spirit, I'm not particularly tied to SHSL) over Ultimate. It's basically the same argument for why I'll defend Monobear over Monokuma forever:

Translations, at their best, have to struggle the long spectrum between lexical-accuracy and free-form rewrites in order to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to have the source and target texts have roughly the same feel (while keeping the meaning intact, of course). Those who argue that "Super High School Level" sounds awkward in English are missing an important point - "Choukoukoukyuu" is super-awkward in Japanese too. "Choukoukoukyuu Zetsubou" isn't supposed to be menacing - it's supposed to sound ridiculous.

My guess is that the term was chosen carefully. Dangan Ronpa is, among other things, a comedy and a satire. Choukoukoukyuu is exactly a satirical take on the pompous title a fancy private academy might give its students. The series does the same thing with the name of the Incident - unnecessary long and pompous, and repeated ad nauseam in the dialogue for comedic effect. Add to that the implications of the title - the students are still High School Level (that is, they're *not* the best in the entire world at what they're doing, just among their age group) - but they're *Super* that level! Then, of course, the series likes to play with that - we have the Choushogakkoukyuu (Super Elementary School Level) kids in AE, whose skills are only fit for elementary school, and in this new series everyone is titled Former-SHSL, almost as if to say high school was the highlight of their entire lives (Japan, anyone?) Not to mention that being the best student council president isn't exactly a useful skill post high school.

So, yeah - "Ultimate" is bland, inaccurate, sounds cool instead of ridiculous, and removes the satire from the text. I like a lot of things about NISA's translation, but that's not on one of them.

Awesome post, thanks for clearing this up for me.
 
Cross post:

Watched the first episode of Future, is it bad I started laughing out loud when
it was revealed Chisa was impaled in the chandelier? Like maaaan, Sayaka was at least around for a couple hours of game time before they killed her off.

Also Ultimate vs. SHSL: I side with Ultimate personally; the point of the Academy isn't that they're simply the best at what they do for a teenager, it's that they have the highest potential in their area of expertise, that Hope's Peak is attempting to draw out. I think it tis into the themes of hope, despair, and free will; are some people just destined to be the best at something? How do you live in a world where you can directly quantify a person's aptitude, and implicitly their worth? I think Ultimate taps into that more, whereas SHSL to me just implies really really good as far as teenagers go.

That's probably what hope peak was doing.. Their research to make the ultimate hope led them to look for those and bring them to hope peak
 
Going back to my Ultimates vs SHSL post; does anyone think I'm reading too much into SDR2? I felt that game did a lot to put a grounding in what the conflict of Hope vs Despair actually meant. In the first game it felt like a standard Manichean dichotomy, Good vs Evil, Light vs Dark, etc. In contrast I felt SDR2 had more to say about what Hope and Despair actually mean (in it's own hyperbolic way, obviously); the ways hope can be corrupted for example, either warped to be incomprehensible like Nagito or systematically imposed like Hope's Peak. And in turn I think Despair represents a nihilistic rejection of the idea we can have any meaningful control of our lives, to give into our darkest, most animalistic impulses because really why be any better?

So yeah, I maaaaay be overthinking Danganronpa a little, but I found it cool personally.
 

Permanently A

Junior Member
(full disclosure: I use a different username here, but I coined SHSL oh so many years ago now)

First, it's not 3 syllables in Japanese -- it's technically 8 moras (cho-u-ko-u-ko-u-kyu-u), which is what Japanese uses in lieu of syllables, but I'll give you 4 if you can't hear the difference. "Ultimate" is 3 syllables and "Super High School Level" is 6, so we're all over the place. To my ears, "Super High School Level" fits exactly the same speech pattern as a correct pronunciation of "Choukoukoukyuu", while "Ultimate" sounds way too short.

But that's not even that important. Here's why I defend my translation (or at least a translation in its spirit, I'm not particularly tied to SHSL) over Ultimate. It's basically the same argument for why I'll defend Monobear over Monokuma forever:

Translations, at their best, have to struggle the long spectrum between lexical-accuracy and free-form rewrites in order to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to have the source and target texts have roughly the same feel (while keeping the meaning intact, of course). Those who argue that "Super High School Level" sounds awkward in English are missing an important point - "Choukoukoukyuu" is super-awkward in Japanese too. "Choukoukoukyuu Zetsubou" isn't supposed to be menacing - it's supposed to sound ridiculous.

My guess is that the term was chosen carefully. Dangan Ronpa is, among other things, a comedy and a satire. Choukoukoukyuu is exactly a satirical take on the pompous title a fancy private academy might give its students. The series does the same thing with the name of the Incident - unnecessary long and pompous, and repeated ad nauseam in the dialogue for comedic effect. Add to that the implications of the title - the students are still High School Level (that is, they're *not* the best in the entire world at what they're doing, just among their age group) - but they're *Super* that level! Then, of course, the series likes to play with that - we have the Choushogakkoukyuu (Super Elementary School Level) kids in AE, whose skills are only fit for elementary school, and in this new series everyone is titled Former-SHSL, almost as if to say high school was the highlight of their entire lives (Japan, anyone?) Not to mention that being the best student council president isn't exactly a useful skill post high school.

So, yeah - "Ultimate" is bland, inaccurate, sounds cool instead of ridiculous, and removes the satire from the text. I like a lot of things about NISA's translation, but that's not on one of them.

Dude, awesome post. You would totally be the SHSL Translator!
 

PK Gaming

Member
Going back to my Ultimates vs SHSL post; does anyone think I'm reading too much into SDR2? I felt that game did a lot to put a grounding in what the conflict of Hope vs Despair actually meant. In the first game it felt like a standard Manichean dichotomy, Good vs Evil, Light vs Dark, etc. In contrast I felt SDR2 had more to say about what Hope and Despair actually mean (in it's own hyperbolic way, obviously); the ways hope can be corrupted for example, either warped to be incomprehensible like Nagito or systematically imposed like Hope's Peak. And in turn I think Despair represents a nihilistic rejection of the idea we can have any meaningful control of our lives, to give into our darkest, most animalistic impulses because really why be any better?

So yeah, I maaaaay be overthinking Danganronpa a little, but I found it cool personally.

I got that impression from SDR2 as well
 

GoldStarz

Member
I haven't seen anyone talk about this image from intro.

For context, an image of a knife appears, first showing bars then flashing and showing Monokuma behind the bars, then the girl behind the bars w/ eyes closed, monokuma again, and finally this image which appears on the word "liar". It looks like it could be Junko, but I think it could be Mukuro since the girl doesn't have her hair up and the eyes look more like the shape of hers than Junko's plus knives have generally been associated with Mukuro.
 
I haven't seen anyone talk about this image from intro.

For context, an image of a knife appears, first showing bars then flashing and showing Monokuma behind the bars, then the girl behind the bars w/ eyes closed, monokuma again, and finally this image which appears on the word "liar". It looks like it could be Junko, but I think it could be Mukuro since the girl doesn't have her hair up and the eyes look more like the shape of hers than Junko's plus knives have generally been associated with Mukuro.

Doesn't Mukuro have freckles?
 
(full disclosure: I use a different username here, but I coined SHSL oh so many years ago now)

First, it's not 3 syllables in Japanese -- it's technically 8 moras (cho-u-ko-u-ko-u-kyu-u), which is what Japanese uses in lieu of syllables, but I'll give you 4 if you can't hear the difference. "Ultimate" is 3 syllables and "Super High School Level" is 6, so we're all over the place. To my ears, "Super High School Level" fits exactly the same speech pattern as a correct pronunciation of "Choukoukoukyuu", while "Ultimate" sounds way too short.

But that's not even that important. Here's why I defend my translation (or at least a translation in its spirit, I'm not particularly tied to SHSL) over Ultimate. It's basically the same argument for why I'll defend Monobear over Monokuma forever:

Translations, at their best, have to struggle the long spectrum between lexical-accuracy and free-form rewrites in order to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to have the source and target texts have roughly the same feel (while keeping the meaning intact, of course). Those who argue that "Super High School Level" sounds awkward in English are missing an important point - "Choukoukoukyuu" is super-awkward in Japanese too. "Choukoukoukyuu Zetsubou" isn't supposed to be menacing - it's supposed to sound ridiculous.

My guess is that the term was chosen carefully. Dangan Ronpa is, among other things, a comedy and a satire. Choukoukoukyuu is exactly a satirical take on the pompous title a fancy private academy might give its students. The series does the same thing with the name of the Incident - unnecessary long and pompous, and repeated ad nauseam in the dialogue for comedic effect. Add to that the implications of the title - the students are still High School Level (that is, they're *not* the best in the entire world at what they're doing, just among their age group) - but they're *Super* that level! Then, of course, the series likes to play with that - we have the Choushogakkoukyuu (Super Elementary School Level) kids in AE, whose skills are only fit for elementary school, and in this new series everyone is titled Former-SHSL, almost as if to say high school was the highlight of their entire lives (Japan, anyone?) Not to mention that being the best student council president isn't exactly a useful skill post high school.

So, yeah - "Ultimate" is bland, inaccurate, sounds cool instead of ridiculous, and removes the satire from the text. I like a lot of things about NISA's translation, but that's not on one of them.

Wow, this is informative, especially the part about the similar awkwardness in Japanese. I always though the ending (U)s counted as a single syllable when used in that manner. That's partly why I assumed it was a case of bringing across a similar meaning without making it awkwardly complex in English.

(Also, mad respect, you're the reason why Danganronpa has a presence today.)
 
Had a weird thought, some speculation about the new series.

People seem to think these are going to be two independent series, with Future being the conclusion and Despair being mostly fanservice (in describing the backstory of the Tragedy I mean, though with Akane there...~). However, I think with how these Arcs are airing, it's at the very least going to be more complicated than that, like revelations in one series mattering in the other.

But to go further down a crazy rabbit hole... what if the series are even more connected than that? Like, time travel connected? Kodaka has joked, I think, about doing it before, but you never know. I know the 'Future' in Future Arc could potentially just refer to the Future Foundation, but what if one of the principal characters attempts to go back in time to prevent the Tragedy from ever happening, creating parallel action in the future and past? (It could be Days of Future Past rules where changes don't happen until the time travel is complete, or Looper rules which play hard and fast with what actions affect the timeline and how)

This is probably insane, but I totally think this is something he would do. I think trying to stop the Tragedy is like the logical extreme of Naegi trying to reverse the Despair Disease in the Ultimate Despairs.

Also I love the idea of Hagakure Die-Hard-ing his way into the tower; I could totally see that happening in his own klutzy way.
 
However, I think with how these Arcs are airing, it's at the very least going to be more complicated than that, like revelations in one series mattering in the other.

Kodaka confirmed as much to Famitsu in the lead up to the series. It makes sense too, with Chisa, the Ultimate Imposter copying Ryota, Ryota being in the same class as the UDs, and of course the traitor, Side Despair is probably going to give a lot of context to what happens in Side Future. Vice versa as well, as I could see Kazuo, Koichi and others revealing stuff about the DR2 cast.
 

Permanently A

Junior Member
Had a weird thought, some speculation about the new series.

People seem to think these are going to be two independent series, with Future being the conclusion and Despair being mostly fanservice (in describing the backstory of the Tragedy I mean, though with Akane there...~). However, I think with how these Arcs are airing, it's at the very least going to be more complicated than that, like revelations in one series mattering in the other.

But to go further down a crazy rabbit hole... what if the series are even more connected than that? Like, time travel connected? Kodaka has joked, I think, about doing it before, but you never know. I know the 'Future' in Future Arc could potentially just refer to the Future Foundation, but what if one of the principal characters attempts to go back in time to prevent the Tragedy from ever happening, creating parallel action in the future and past? (It could be Days of Future Past rules where changes don't happen until the time travel is complete, or Looper rules which play hard and fast with what actions affect the timeline and how)

This is probably insane, but I totally think this is something he would do. I think trying to stop the Tragedy is like the logical extreme of Naegi trying to reverse the Despair Disease in the Ultimate Despairs.

Also I love the idea of Hagakure Die-Hard-ing his way into the tower; I could totally see that happening in his own klutzy way.

Makoto goes back in time and makes Danganronpa IF canon. This introduces the concept of alternate timelines. Enter stage: Danganronpa v3.
 
Had a weird thought, some speculation about the new series.

People seem to think these are going to be two independent series, with Future being the conclusion and Despair being mostly fanservice (in describing the backstory of the Tragedy I mean, though with Akane there...~). However, I think with how these Arcs are airing, it's at the very least going to be more complicated than that, like revelations in one series mattering in the other.

But to go further down a crazy rabbit hole... what if the series are even more connected than that? Like, time travel connected? Kodaka has joked, I think, about doing it before, but you never know. I know the 'Future' in Future Arc could potentially just refer to the Future Foundation, but what if one of the principal characters attempts to go back in time to prevent the Tragedy from ever happening, creating parallel action in the future and past? (It could be Days of Future Past rules where changes don't happen until the time travel is complete, or Looper rules which play hard and fast with what actions affect the timeline and how)

This is probably insane, but I totally think this is something he would do. I think trying to stop the Tragedy is like the logical extreme of Naegi trying to reverse the Despair Disease in the Ultimate Despairs.

Also I love the idea of Hagakure Die-Hard-ing his way into the tower; I could totally see that happening in his own klutzy way.

We going full
zero escape
in this business?
 
I don't really believe
time travel
will be involved, but i'm quite sure the series will be connected. They are airing them at the same time for a (complex) reason.


Also, i'm totally in the
Chisa is the traitor wagon. I know she genuinely seemed to like the SHSL President and seemed somewhat honest when talking to Naegi but it's still quite possible.
 

Permanently A

Junior Member
MgjtzN1.jpg


speaking of nagito's wild ride part 2...
 

Flunkie

Banned
1) The original voice actress retired because she was suffering from dementia and continued working well into her illness, friggin' chill dude.
2) The new VA is fine, interviews make it sound like they put a lot of thought into how they were going to take over the role and there's even a point where they sounded pretty identical. Give it more than five minutes.

Oh damn. Did not know this...
 

NEO0MJ

Member
The last one doesn't really apply since Chiaki didn't need or want to be 'saved', Komaeda was acting totally on his own to force his values upon the situation again.

Yeah. It wasn't about saving Chiaki so much as it was about stopping the Despairs and Junko. In his mind probably an act of redemption.
 

Breads

Banned
Hey now that's treading into
deleted
territory

And here I thought this would be a Dangan Ronpa spoiler. You know. Considering the thread.

Thanks for spoiling a series I didn't even play yet. If this fact is up front in the series then never mind and I apologize.
 

Flunkie

Banned
Just watched the first episode. Wow. Loved it. Can't wait for more. First time watching an anime "live" as I'm pretty new to it all...
...and I prefer dubs (as a filthy casual anime person)
.
 
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