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[PsionBolt]

I wrote a big blob about how DR3 is dumb in all the same ways as 1 and 2, but I erased it because a screenshot says it better.

For real though, I'm surprised to see so many folks talk about how DR3 is changing their perception of the series. I'd say it's about equal in all respects other than there being no class trials.

...Though to be fair, the trials are 99% of what makes the games good.

 

[ScherzoPrime]

The whole "It was all just a brainwashing anime" thing is lame, and it doesn't seem like they'll cover Zero stuff, but more than anything what's been bothering me is how scattershot the narrative has been. There hasn't been a strong main character through-line since Hajime became Izuru (who has since been nothing but a prop), and since Junko's arrival she's just been eating up screentime with her inane brainwashing plot. So I mean, at this point I think it can be best viewed as giving some context to Future, but I don't think it stands up as it's own narrative.

 

[Breads]

Oh no the speculation was more interesting than the truth.

Yep - it's a Kodaka story alright.

Fun though, right?

 

[Red Frost]

Mukuro got what was coming to her in DR1. Sorry DR:IF, you can't make her sympathetic anymore.

 

[The Bankslammer]

Mukuro got what was coming to her in DR1. Sorry DR:IF, you can't make her sympathetic anymore.

dr4 will reveal junko and ryota were actually childhood friends and junko despair anime'd mukuro as a prank

 

[Permanently A]

look at this face

mukuro did nothing wrong

 

[ULTROS!]

I dunno, I enjoyed the anime but

Spoiler

that does solidify that Chisa is an Ultimate Despair.

 

[Shouta]

Mukuro got what was coming to her in DR1. Sorry DR:IF, you can't make her sympathetic anymore.

That's one of my biggest peeves. Mukuro was kind of a grey character to me in DR1. Not innocent but certainly not a monster like Junko was. DR3 kinda erases any sort of sympathy she might have garnered.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

On the pure evil scale, Mukuro is behind Junko but ahead of the Ultimate Despairs. I don't really feel any sympathy for her. But I'm just going to pretend like the Ultimate Despairs didn't get brainwashed/mind hacked into being super evil because that kind of ruins DR2 and DR3 Future

 

[Sophia]

I don't have a problem with the brainwashing, but it definitely would have been a little bit better to see it tailored to each student over multiple episodes, instead of an "All at once" approach.

 

[Amani]

I feel like/am vehemently hoping that there's still a big twist to this Mind Hack™ anime thing.

Also, throw Mukuro into the Griffith "Did Literally Everything Wrong" dungeon. No Makoto dick for her. Only bats to the head.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Y'know people joke about how bad the Despair book in DR Togami is but the mind control stuff is like the same shit.

 

[A Link to the Past]

I'm not too bothered that we didn't get the "Junko preyed upon people who were filled with despair thing," because really that isn't her angle. Even in the first game, she took away the students' memories just to be able to encourage them to kill one another in the hopes of escaping. Similarly, it wouldn't really work if she was preying upon despair, because she preys upon hope. It's why she is so interested in Class 77, because they have such strong unity between them. It's (part of) why she noticed Mitarai - she likely noticed his talent, but Ryota was absolutely one of the most hopeful (or desperately hopeful, anyway) characters in the series, so it's inevitable that Junko would have wanted to break that hope.

I can definitely appreciate how people feel that the brainwashing thing wasn't the best way to expand the lore, and perhaps if it was in a different format (maybe twice the length) I could see Junko slowly tearing the group down piece-by-piece being a cool way to do it, but to have the class fall as a unit - well, minus Mikan and Ryota - is still kind of interesting to me, thematically.

 

[Matt Attack]

The Reserve Course saw scene and the Chisa brainwashing scene were hard to watch.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Them falling into Despair via brain washing isn't interesting and it kind of ruins DR2 and Future by changing it from "These good people that you like were exploited by Junko via their personal weaknesses to fall into despair" to "Junko just fuckin brainwashed em so its really not their fault"

 

[kewlmyc]

Y'know people joke about how bad the Despair book in DR Togami is but the mind control stuff is like the same shit.

Wait what? There's more side novel stories other than Zero and the Kirigiri prequel stuff?

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Wait what? There's more side novel stories other than Zero and the Kirigiri prequel stuff?

Yeah but I don't think Togami is canon

 

[Matt Attack]

When I think of the brainwashing anime, what always comes to mind is during DR2's final trial, when Byakuya says something like "You guys were the ones who fell into despair". It really gives off the vibe that it was either fully or in part their fault, but I guess not anymore.

 

[Debirudog]

Anime is a mistake, it's nothing but trash.

Stick to writing visual novels, Kodaka.

 

[A Link to the Past]

From what I can guess, the only people who knew about the anime were Ryota, Mukuro, Junko, Chisa, and (most or all of) Class 77. It stands to reason that none of these people would be in a position to reveal the details.

 

[Chase17]

Did Ryota actually make the despair anime, or did Junko just whip that up after seeing his hope one? Since I remember him stumbling across it. Or maybe that was just the raw footage of the student council.

 

[A Link to the Past]

The best part about Despair is that it fixed the perception of Mukuro that people got from If

Turns out that Mukuro is crazy evil and a horrid monster, no better than Junko

Did Ryota actually make the despair anime, or did Junko just whip that up after seeing his hope one? Since I remember him stumbling across it. Or maybe that was just the raw footage of the student council.

I'm pretty sure Junko just analyzed Ryota's anime and applied these principles to hers

 

[PK Gaming]

I don't really have to say anything else, do I? While fun, the show's direction is comically bad. It plays out like bad fanfiction (Hell, at least bad fanfiction would at least try to develop the DR2 kids) Junko is somehow being able to mind control all those Reserve Course Students in such a short amount of time is just... ugh.

After this episode, DR fans can no longer mock ZE escape series fans.

Take that!

It's been really hard for people who are fans of both of those series, I tell you what.

 

[Sapientas]

The anime is still not done, so some things can change, but so far Despair side has been a mess and the brainwashing shenanigans is just the icing.
It feels like the anime was supposed to show the class fall onto despair but instead they just showed Junko and Hinata moving the plot along in the most bland way possible. If brainwash was the best idea they could come up with, why bother showing it? DR2 did it perfectly and this kinda ruins it.


Future side has been pretty fun though. I don't even mind all the Hope vs Despair insane tech babble.

 

[A Link to the Past]

Eh, I could see it. The show definitely portrays the reserve course students as being particularly weak-minded and weak-willed. Natsumi and Hajime had severe inferiority complexes, and Sato was driven to murder.

 

[The Silver]

They had the template for how Junko manipulates people with the Warriors of Hope

They laid the groundwork and backstories for the DR2 characters in the game.

Then they decided to make an anime with only 11 episodes that has to tie in to some other anime............

 

[Chase17]

In theory brainwashing shouldn't bother me anymore than selectively removing memories or a hope rehabilitation simulator...but it does.

I wonder if I just have different expectations between games and anime.

 

[Maebe]

I can't accept things really played out this stupidly. Junko literally walks around proclaiming her evilness, multiple faculty members are aware of her evilness, students are aware yet no one one is doing a thing until the very last minute and to make matters worse they send one guy when she's walking around with a whole posse in the open.

I can't believe Nanami would so dumb as to take her entire class back to that obviously dangerous place unless she actually wants them to be hurt. I can't see her character from the game being like this. The fact that it is brainwashing is the worst, though. I wanted to see Junko abuse their weaknesses and manipulate them to the point where they are willing to commit atrocities. I don't mind if some brain fuckery is done to amplify their feelings but not for them to go straight from good to evil like that.
I would be fine with brainwashing just being used for the blue masses though.

 

[PK Gaming]

Eh, I could see it. The show definitely portrays the reserve course students as being particularly weak-minded and weak-willed. Natsumi and Hajime had severe inferiority complexes, and Sato was driven to murder.

So you're saying Junko was able to gather up the 1000+ reserve students in the span of one day, brainwash every single one of them and make them into her personal murder slave squad? Even brainwashing 100 of them would be time consuming.

When did she find the time?

 

[lazyproblems]

The brainwashing thing is still lame. Even though it's been clear for weeks that this is where things were headed, I'm still disappointed that they've gone down this road for the DR2 cast. Especially considering all of the (now mostly moot) ground work in the games. This is all at the cost of actually compelling writing.

Despite a couple fun episodes and several flashes of promise, I've been mostly disappointed by Despair Arc. I think it's done more to take away from several good stories and characters (like Junko) rather than add to or build them up. There's still 2 episodes left, but I don't have much hope for this side. Despite that, I've enjoyed Future Arc, and I'm still interested to see how that ends up.

Other than all of that... The Chisa torture/lobotomy scene was gruesome to watch. Jesus Christ. I expect the Chisa reveal in the next Future episode based off of how these episodes have gone.

Going by the artwork, I'm assuming V3 is set in the far off future or something.

Spoiler

Which will you give you plenty of reasons for Junko to return, like being cloned or she's a robot now.

That gives Monaca a chance to return from space!

Spoiler

Pls no.

I'm starting to think I'll have to pull the "not canon card" on Despair arc. The ambivalence the player feels toward the class in Danganronpa 2 when you realize they're actually complete monsters despite being totally likable kids just like the original class is so meaningful. But that was only because you naturally assumed they hadn't been forced into it by bullshit lame 30 second video. It's a fantastic idea for the Danganronpa world ruined.

For full context on things that happen in Future you need to watch Despair. You might as well cast aside the whole anime.

 

[The Bankslammer]

So you're saying Junko was able to gather up the 1000+ reserve students in the span of one day, brainwash every single one of them and make them into her personal murder slave squad? Even brainwashing 100 of them would be time consuming.

When did she find the time?

she replaced all the bill nye vhs tapes in the reserve course with her despair video

 

[Shouta]

I still wonder if the brainwashing anime is just the stepping stone to full on Ultimate Despair. Mikan was still relatively normal but under Junko's control these last few episodes. She wasn't causing havoc though. Maybe the brainwashing dissolves their solidarity as a class and then their weaknesses are exploited by Junko to make them go all Goku Black and shit.

I can only hope that's what happens because that'd make the brainwashing angle a little less lame, lol.

 

[properpropaganda]

Wait, so are Makoto and everyone at HPA yet? Aren't Junko and Mukuro in their class? Shouldn't it have been easy for them to find Junko? How does Jin not know about Junko when he locked everyone in, or did he not lock Junko and Mukuro in and they just short of snuck in?

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

I still wonder if the brainwashing anime is just the stepping stone to full on Ultimate Despair. Mikan was still relatively normal but under Junko's control these last few episodes. She wasn't causing havoc though. Maybe the brainwashing dissolves their solidarity as a class and then their weaknesses are exploited by Junko to make them go all Goku Black and shit.

I can only hope that's what happens because that'd make the brainwashing angle a little less lame, lol.

Theres like 3 episodes left and Zero hasn't even happened yet so I doubt it

 

[Sapientas]

In theory brainwashing shouldn't bother me anymore than selectively removing memories or a hope rehabilitation simulator...but it does.

I wonder if I just have different expectations between games and anime.

I think it's because the memory manipulation and hope rehabilitation program were plot devices that existed to add interesting elements to the story in a quick way, while the brainwashing seems to be here to cover up bad writing and lack of a creative background.

 

[Shouta]

Theres like 3 episodes left and Zero hasn't even happened yet so I doubt it

It would just need to be implied in the eps instead of shown to work. We wouldn't get the content we want but at least it would look like less of a slopfest than it is right now.

 

[NeonZ]

In spite of the revelations of this episode,

Spoiler

I don't think Chisa

is the mastermind of the final death game. The lack of broadcast and Monokuma's limited appearances really make it seem different from Depair's games. So, I don't think Junko or a Junko wannabe will be the culprit.

Spoiler

Also, how in hell did Junko got scot free after all the shit she has pulled?

Spoiler

I believe she said in DR1 that nobody knew she was involved until the reveal in the final trial, and she was of the few people that was saved by Jin Kirigiri when closing the school and converting the old building into a shelter. It doesn't make sense when you consider Munakata's investigation and her parading her exploits like it is nothing important. Hell, why would Matsuda be allowed to interrogate her when his connection to her may have been also revealed by Kyosuke?

I'd guess

Spoiler

Juzou will cover Chisa and Junko from Munakata, probably in order to protect Chisa, which is the reason that Munakata kills him in Future arc after learning the truth from Tengan.

 

[A Link to the Past]

That's a good point though - Mikan had humanity to her still. She felt bad that she was doing wrong by Chiaki.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Welp, that's that. It's what people have been worried about for a while now, and there's a reason this episode was the breaking point for many. I had strong ""hopes"" for this series when it started, but they're not sticking that landing at all. It's a real mess.

I can't emphasize how much I'm glad Nagito wasn't affected by the writing. Greatest DR character, with so much depth, so much entertainment value, so much personality. He's fantastic, and DR3 couldn't remove that from him.

I don't mind if some brain fuckery is done to amplify their feelings but not for them to go straight from good to evil like that.

The problem. It isn't simply the part where people are being brainwashed against their will to do things that they wouldn't want to do, availing them of real personal responsibility and really just pinning it all on Junko, when even the games depicted it with more subtlety than that.

The problem here is that, there is absolutely no nuance here. It's straight "good to evil," with no development at all behind it. Very, very uninteresting. ANY interest in the mystery behind how Junko got people to follow her is gone. The concept of people falling to despair and being influenced by her charisma has a ton of possibilities and storytelling potential. When that's literally all reduced to "video + brain needles for arousal," it's all gone. Junko has been retroactively made a far less compelling character.

 

[Sapientas]

I'm guessing the anime is only part of the brainwashing considering what happened there at the last scene with Chiza and Chiaki. Not sure what will happen exactly, but Chiaki is sure to be used in their transformation.

 

[The Silver]

Man when this was announced I was much more interested in Despair than Future, I prefer character driven stories over plot driven ones. Getting some dark compelling character writing about how this class of good people(well besides 2 or 3) would break down to become ultimate despair? Sign me up.


then i heard 12 episodes(actually 11) and now we're here........bring on Future I guess, though if they reveal the screens are brainwashing people..............oh boy.

 

[A Link to the Past]

If it is brainwashing, then I'm absolutely expecting that Ryota will be the next to wake up and we will see him struggling with fighting the brainwashing that he created.

 

[TWILT]

Just saw the new episode and man, I really really do not like the direction the Despair arc has went. It's such a mess. The whole brainwashing anime is one of the most dumbest things I've ever seen for reasons people have already stated. I'll keep watching the show because I love the first two games so much and whatever, there's only like 2-3 episodes left, but damn am I not disappointed by this whole thing.

 

[dakkumauji]

that was kinda dull
gotta say the appeal of the despair side has really worn off while i'm still pretty interested in the mystery part of the future side (though if its just brainwashing monitors that's kinda dull too)

i guess if you just look at despair side providing all the backstory to future, it's not too bad but i guess the whole part about stories about the DR2 gang made it seem appealing when they were basically dropped to the background halfway through

 

[Sky Interloper]

From the writing this last couple of weeks, it seems that Kodaka is tired of the overarching conflict in Danganronpa.

I understand that writing a compelling plot for a franchise that has 3 games, 2 light novels and a manga is difficult, but the revelations about the origins of the main causes of the Tragedy are underwhelming. It looks like we are only reaching milestones with no organic development towards them, and it is making the characters suffer. I had no hopes for an individual fall from grace story the moment it was confirmed that the Despair side would only get 12 episodes and it would cover the entire period since the 77th Class entered the school to the beginning of the Tragedy. But reducing Junko's character from a master manipulator to an inteligent girl that got lucky with her circumstances is a shame. It doesn't contradict anything we knew earlier, but it makes for dull writing.

Probably Kodaka wanted out of the established plot threads, but it feels like he is kind of phoning it to give a conclusion to the fanbase. I hope that V3 really is a departure from the Hope vs Despair conflict - enough to have a reinvigorated writer behind it.

 

[Rich!]

Man when this was announced I was much more interested in Despair than Future, I prefer character driven stories over plot driven ones. Getting some dark compelling character writing about how this class of good people(well besides 2 or 3) would break down to become ultimate despair? Sign me up.


then i heard 12 episodes(actually 11) and now we're here........bring on Future I guess, though if they reveal the screens are brainwashing people..............oh boy.

of course they are.

1. *traitor* wakes up. Is forced to kill themselves via a monitor broadcast. I mean, who else would have killed Seiko with the absolute force that she was killed with...other than seiko? Similarly, Ruruka's death is eerily similar to Nagito's insane suicide.

2. Mastermind/accomplice arranges the body and puts a monokuma dagger into their heart before scurrying away and hiding again.

chisa is the one behind it all most likely along with Nagito and I do think the aoi switch makes sense. Or even, the junko switch in DR1 could even be possible now considering Chisa's full on brainwashing last episode and the fact that she looks EXACTLY like Junko here:

poor chisa. ah well. hopefully she still likes beethoven

 

[TheGeniusArcana]

Wow. Wow I really hated this episode. I've enjoyed everything up until now so much, but this was just terrible. I might write more about this later, but I need to let the despair sit for a while.

All I really want to say right now other than "it sucks" is that the Chisa lobotomy and the student suicide were extremely out of place in Danganronpa. The Chisa scene was really hard to watch. I think they went too far with that one.

I just don't know. I haven't experienced anything this garbage since Zero Time Dilemma.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Back when this was started everyone was like

First DR3D episodes - "Omg too much happy stuff bring on the despair"

Latest DR3D episodes - "Can we go back to the happy things"

AND ITS TRUE BUT NOT FOR THE REASONS WE THOUGHT

 

[A Link to the Past]

Wow. Wow I really hated this episode. I've enjoyed everything up until now so much, but this was just terrible. I might write more about this later, but I need to let the despair sit for a while.

All I really want to say right now other than "it sucks" is that the Chisa lobotomy and the student suicide were extremely out of place in Danganronpa. The Chisa scene was really hard to watch. I think they went too far with that one.

I just don't know. I haven't experienced anything this garbage since Zero Time Dilemma.

To far in terms of squicky content?

 

[Rich!]

All I really want to say right now other than "it sucks" is that the Chisa lobotomy and the student suicide were extremely out of place in Danganronpa. The Chisa scene was really hard to watch. I think they went too far with that one.

the hell? Not sure if you've followed danganronpa at all. have you literally only watched this and the anime adaptation of 1 or something?

Chisa lobotomy is exactly what happened with izuru - we just saw it first hand here. Student suicide out of place? Remind me, didn't 1,220 members of the reserve course commit suicide in gruesome ways due to Junko, or is DR2 not canon anymore? How is that scene any worse than anything we saw in Danganronpa 2 or the tragedy of hope's peak massacre? How it is any worse than this:

Also this is a series where this happens:

rape, necrophila, mass murder, self mutilation

and lets not get into the sheer fuckery of child abuse and rape and the broadcast torture and dismemberment of parents in Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls

watching this episode and coming to your reaction is the equivalent of being shocked and dismayed that my little pony contains a surplus of magic ponies.