110 Fun Facts About Danganronpa

Which company develops and owns the Danganronpa series?

Spike Chunsoft owns it; creator Kazutaka Kodaka wrote the original scenario, aiming for what he called a twisted adventure game.

On which platform was the first Danganronpa game originally released in 2010?

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc launched on the PlayStation Portable in Japan on November 25, 2010; the Vita version reached North America in February 2014 and both early games later came to Steam and PS4.

The word Danganronpa combines the Japanese words for what?

Dangan means bullet and ronpa means refutation, which is why you fire Truth Bullets at contradictions during class trials.

What kind of creature is Monokuma?

Monokuma is a robotic teddy bear, half white and half black, with a jagged red eye on his black side; he installs himself as headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy.

Monokuma's name is a mash-up of the Japanese word for bear and which English word?

Monochrome plus kuma, the Japanese for bear, reflects his black-and-white colour scheme; his English game voice is Brian Beacock.

Monokuma's original Japanese voice actress, Nobuyo Oyama, was famous for voicing which beloved character?

Japanese audiences were shocked to hear the robot cat's voice coming from a sadistic bear; Tarako took over the role later.

What is the name of the elite school at the centre of the series?

Hope's Peak Academy scouts students who are the best in the world at something and calls them Ultimates; its Japanese name is Kibōgamine Gakuen.

What is the Japanese term that Western localisations render as 'Ultimate'?

Chō-kōkō-kyū, literally Super High School Level, became 'Ultimate' in the Western localisation; Makoto Naegi's Japanese title is Super High School Level Good Luck.

Which company localised the Danganronpa games for Western release, starting in 2013?

NIS America's first two releases sold more than 200,000 copies combined on Vita in Europe and the US by April 2015.

What colour is the blood in the Danganronpa games?

The fluorescent pink is part of the deliberate pop-art look, and it also helped with age ratings.

Which filmmaker does Kazutaka Kodaka cite as a major inspiration for the games?

Kodaka has cited David Lynch, Twin Peaks in particular, as a key influence; producer Yoshinori Terasawa was thinking more of Saw and Cube, and the original concept was rejected as too gruesome before a retool.

Who composed the music for the Danganronpa games and anime?

Masafumi Takada, formerly of Grasshopper Manufacture, composed the series' music; Rui Komatsuzaki designed the characters whose look helped the first game stand out.

Who is the protagonist of the first game, Trigger Happy Havoc?

Makoto Naegi, picked by raffle as the Ultimate Lucky Student, narrates the first game; he and his classmates wake up locked inside Hope's Peak Academy.

How many other Ultimate students does Makoto meet when he wakes up inside Hope's Peak Academy in the first Danganronpa?

Fourteen others make fifteen students in total, though one of them is not who she claims to be.

According to Monokuma's rules, what is the only way to leave the academy?

If the class picks the wrong culprit at trial, everyone except the real killer is executed.

Who is the first murder victim in Trigger Happy Havoc?

Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Pop Sensation, is killed by baseball star Leon Kuwata after her own plan to murder him goes wrong.

Which student kills programmer Chihiro Fujisaki in the first game?

Mondo Owada, the biker gang leader, kills Chihiro in a fit of envy after Chihiro confides in him; his execution straps him into a motorcycle cage of death.

Which gambler manipulates Hifumi Yamada into killing Kiyotaka Ishimaru?

Celestia Ludenberg, the Ultimate Gambler, manipulates Hifumi into killing Ishimaru, then kills Hifumi too, hoping to walk out with Monokuma's cash motive.

Which martial artist takes her own life after being exposed as Monokuma's spy?

Sakura Ogami, the Ultimate Martial Artist, takes her own life in Chapter 4 after being outed as Monokuma's mole; the trial has no murderer to catch.

Who is the true mastermind behind the first killing game?

Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Fashionista, is the real mastermind; the 'Junko' killed early on was an impostor wearing her identity.

What is the name of the mastermind's fraternal twin sister who impersonated her?

Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier, is impaled by Monokuma's spears for 'breaking a rule' when she attacks him while posing as Junko.

How long had the students actually been living inside the academy before their memories were wiped?

Two years: the class had sealed themselves inside Hope's Peak after the Tragedy, then the mastermind executed headmaster Jin Kirigiri and erased their memories.

How many students survive to leave the academy at the end of Trigger Happy Havoc?

Six survive: Makoto, Kyoko, Byakuya, Toko, Aoi and Hagakure walk out into a world they know nothing about.

Which class-trial mode has you shooting down specific letters to spell a word?

In Hangman's Gambit you shoot the right letters out of a stream to spell a key word; the Nonstop Debate and the rhythm-based Bullet Time Battle are the other shooting modes.

In which trial mode do you assemble a comic strip showing how the crime happened?

The Closing Argument ends every trial by filling the missing panels of a manga-style strip; the sequel added the snowboarding Logic Dive and sword-swinging Rebuttal Showdown.

How many copies did the first Danganronpa sell in its first week in Japan?

Famitsu charted 25,564 copies in the PSP original's first week in November 2010, a modest start; the Vita remake Danganronpa 1·2 Reload followed in 2013.

Where is Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair set?

Jabberwock Island's tropical setting turns out to exist only inside a virtual-reality program.

Who is the amnesiac protagonist of Danganronpa 2?

Hajime Hinata learns he was Izuru Kamukura, the artificial 'Ultimate Hope' created by Hope's Peak's Kamukura Project.

Which rabbit mascot greets the students in Danganronpa 2 before Monokuma takes over?

Usami, the 'Magical Miracle Girl', hosts the field trip until Monokuma hijacks it and reduces her to a powerless mascot renamed Monomi.

Which Danganronpa 2 character shares Makoto's Ultimate Lucky Student talent?

Nagito Komaeda is calm but mentally unstable, and his obsession with hope drives much of the plot.

The 'Byakuya Togami' who turns up in Danganronpa 2 is later revealed to hold which talent?

The Ultimate Impostor, whose real name is never revealed, has been posing as the Togami heir; he dies in the game's first case.

Which chef is the culprit in the first case on the island in Danganronpa 2?

Teruteru Hanamura, the Ultimate Cook, stabs the Impostor by mistake in the blackout; he had meant to kill Nagito, who was plotting a murder of his own.

Which nurse kills both Ibuki Mioda and Hiyoko Saionji in Danganronpa 2?

Mikan Tsumiki, the Ultimate Nurse, kills Ibuki and Hiyoko in Chapter 3 after the Despair Disease revives her old despair-infected personality.

Which animal breeder kills team manager Nekomaru Nidai in Danganronpa 2?

Gundham Tanaka, the Ultimate Breeder, kills Nekomaru in Chapter 4; the two tacitly agree to fight so the starving group trapped in the Funhouse can be freed.

The students trapped on the tropical island in Danganronpa 2 are revealed to be surviving members of what?

They are the Remnants of Ultimate Despair, Junko's brainwashed followers; the island is the Neo World Program, a rehabilitation simulation meant to undo that brainwashing.

What genre is Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls?

It is a third-person shooter: Komaru Naegi fires Truth Bullets from a megaphone-shaped Hacking Gun at Monokuma robots.

Where is Ultra Despair Girls set?

Towa City, an artificial island built by the Towa Group, is the setting; Monaca Towa wants to make Komaru into Junko's successor.

Toko Fukawa, Komaru's partner in Ultra Despair Girls, has a scissor-wielding alternate personality called what?

Genocide Jack, Toko's scissor-wielding serial-killer persona, surfaces when she sneezes or is shocked; the Warriors of Hope, five abused children who want a world without adults, are their opponents.

Which apparent protagonist of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is executed at the end of the first chapter?

Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist, hands over to Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective, after her trial.

Who is the first victim in Danganronpa V3?

Rantaro Amami is found dead in the library in Chapter 1; the class is led to believe Kaede's shot-put trap killed him, though the final trial reveals otherwise.

How many Monokubs assist Monokuma in Danganronpa V3?

Five Monokubs, Monotaro, Monosuke, Monophanie, Monokid and Monodam, squabble constantly and are destroyed one by one over the course of the game.

Who is revealed as the mastermind of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony?

Tsumugi Shirogane, the Ultimate Cosplayer, reveals that the students are contestants on a long-running lethal reality show and that she had been posing as one of them.

According to V3's ending twist, the killing game is which season of the Danganronpa television show?

It is the 53rd season, hence 'V3'; K1-B0, the robot student, has been serving as the audience's camera, steered by viewer votes.

On what date was Danganronpa V3 released in Japan?

V3 launched in Japan on 12 January 2017 for PS4 and Vita; NIS America brought it West on 26 September 2017.

Which studio animated Danganronpa: The Animation in 2013?

Lerche produced the 13-episode series in 2013; the same studio returned for Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School in 2016.

What is Byakuya Togami's Ultimate talent in Trigger Happy Havoc?

Byakuya Togami is the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, heir to the Togami conglomerate; Ishimaru is the Moral Compass, Hagakure the Clairvoyant and Toko the Writing Prodigy.

Which Danganronpa board-game spin-off, subtitled 'Ultimate Summer Camp', launched for the Switch in 2021?

Danganronpa S grew out of the board-game mode bundled with V3 and reunites the casts of all three main games.

What was the working title of Kodaka's original, too-gruesome pitch that became Danganronpa?

Distrust was the darker, more realistic prototype; its grim tone was rejected and it was retooled into Danganronpa with pop-art colours and pink blood.

Which cult Sega Dreamcast game did Kodaka reveal in 2014 had inspired Danganronpa's story?

Kodaka named Illbleed, the 2001 Dreamcast horror oddity, saying he loved how 'crazy' it was; Danganronpa itself began as a plain visual novel before its trial gameplay was added.

Which roguelike rhythm game features remixed Danganronpa music and skins of Makoto and Junko?

Crypt of the NecroDancer's Japanese console release, published by Spike Chunsoft, added remixed Danganronpa tracks and character skins; Monokuma has also appeared in Terraria's Japanese console versions and NetEase's Identity V.

Who is the anterograde-amnesiac protagonist of the prequel novel Danganronpa Zero?

Ryoko Otonashi, who forgets everything that happens and lives by her notebook, narrates Zero; Kodaka wrote it alongside Goodbye Despair and recommended reading it before the sequel.

In the light novel trilogy Danganronpa: Togami, where is Byakuya stranded naked with his biographer?

Byakuya wakes up naked in Prague with his biographer Blue Ink; meanwhile the Ultimate Impostor seizes the Togami Conglomerate and demands the real Byakuya be killed within 24 hours.

The manga Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer follows a Future Foundation agent who secretly kills whom?

Takumi Hijirihara's alter ego Killer Killer murders other murderers; he is obsessed with Mukuro Ikusaba, and the manga was later revealed as a side story of Danganronpa 3.

Which author wrote the unlockable mini light novel Danganronpa IF, found in Goodbye Despair?

Ryohgo Narita, author of Baccano! and Durarara!!, wrote IF, an alternate-universe story in which Makoto finds an alleged escape switch in the academy.

Which director helmed both Danganronpa: The Animation and Danganronpa 3 at studio Lerche?

Seiji Kishi directed both series; Danganronpa 3 aired as two interleaved arcs, Side: Future and Side: Despair, in the summer of 2016.

Why did the team make an anime, rather than a game, to conclude the Hope's Peak storyline?

An anime of Danganronpa 2 had been planned, but Kodaka felt those characters' story had already ended.

Which voice actress performs the first game's ending theme 'Playback -rebuild-'?

Megumi Ogata, who voices Makoto Naegi, sang the ending theme, known in Japanese as 'Saisei -rebuild-'; it was reused as the anime's final ending theme.

What does Gundham Tanaka call the four hamsters he keeps in his scarf?

Gundham Tanaka's hamsters San-D, Jum-P, Maga-Z and Cham-P are the Four Dark Devas of Destruction, carried in his scarf throughout Danganronpa 2.

A 2019 controversy erupted when a drag queen in a Monokuma costume was refused entry to which chain?

Whataburger apologised after an Austin branch turned away Erika Klash, who had performed as Monokuma at the city's drag festival for years.

Kodaka likened his pause on the series after Killing Harmony to which three-part film saga?

Kodaka compared stopping at three to the Back to the Future trilogy; the 'V3' in the title was chosen to set the game apart from the Danganronpa 3 anime made at the same time.

Danganronpa's creator asked for the dark half of Monokuma to resemble which Marvel anti-hero?

Venom was the brief Kazutaka Kodaka gave artist Rui Komatsuzaki: a bear half white and half dark, the dark side echoing the Spider-Man foe. The finished design took about 15 minutes.

Which everyday reflex flips Danganronpa novelist Toko Fukawa into her murderous second personality?

Sneezing flips the switch, as does fainting at the sight of blood. The two sides share feelings, including a crush on Byakuya Togami, but keep entirely separate memories.

The biker gang leader's cage execution in the first Danganronpa spins him until he turns into what?

Butter is the grisly punchline of 'The Cage of Death', which whirls the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader round a cage on a motorbike so fast that he liquefies.

Danganronpa's gameplay is often likened to which Capcom series?

Ace Attorney is the usual comparison, though Danganronpa puts the emphasis on speed: instead of cross-examining at leisure, you shoot statements down mid-debate with evidence loaded as ammunition.

Some staff pushed for Danganronpa's Ultra Despair Girls to be a racer like which Nintendo series?

Mario Kart was the model a few developers pushed enthusiastically. Producer Yoshinori Terasawa firmly refused, later laughing: "I was like, no way we should do that."

Which comic-book hero and villain inspired Kazutaka Kodaka when he created Danganronpa 2's unsettling rival?

Batman and the Joker were Kodaka's inspiration for a rival he found impossible to label. The rival also shares the first hero's talent and Japanese voice, so some players wondered if they were one person.

Kazutaka Kodaka said Danganronpa 2's world would be like which American TV drama in terms of scale?

Lost was Kodaka's comparison for the sequel's scale. To get away from the mystery trope of a cast shut in a small space, he put them on an island instead of in a building, and things grew from there.

Which film about a talking bear was promoted in Japan in a campaign with Danganronpa's Monokuma?

Ted, Seth MacFarlane's foul-mouthed bear, shared a 2013 Japanese poster and TV campaign with Monokuma, promoting the Blu-ray and DVD releases of both the film and Danganronpa: The Animation.

Which food is swimmer Aoi Asahina famously devoted to in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc?

Donuts are the great love of the Ultimate Swimming Pro, nicknamed Hina in the English version. She is among the handful of classmates who leave the school alive.

Which Western adventure game's creative director called Danganronpa his game of the year?

Life Is Strange had just launched when Dontnod's Jean-Maxime Moris said, 'For me Danganronpa is my game of the year,' adding that the sequel had the better writing and the biggest surprise.

Which baseball star, who would rather be a punk musician, becomes the first killer in Danganronpa?

Leon Kuwata stabs the class pop idol with her own kitchen knife after she tries to kill him first. She writes his name in blood before dying, and he is executed by a high-speed pitching machine.

Which AI left by programmer Chihiro Fujisaki saves the first Danganronpa hero from execution?

Alter Ego speaks with its creator's face and voice, and is crushed by an excavator once Monokuma finds it. A virus it left in the school network still halts the hero's execution.

Which sleepy Ultimate Gamer in Danganronpa 2 turns out to be an AI built to protect her classmates?

Chiaki Nanami confesses to an accidental killing so that the others can live, and is crushed by a giant Tetris block in an execution titled 'Please Insert Coin'.

Danganronpa 2's hero learns he came from which fee-paying department for talentless students?

Reserve Course students paid substantial fees just to attend the famous school. The first mastermind later brainwashed them into rioting, the spark for the worldwide collapse known as the Tragedy.

Danganronpa 2's hero is revealed to be which figure, surgically implanted with every known talent?

Izuru Kamukura is who the talentless hero became after volunteering for his school's experiment, which lobotomised him. The same figure first appeared in the prequel novel Danganronpa Zero.

Which reserved Ultimate Detective becomes the playable lead of Danganronpa V3 after the first trial?

Shuichi Saihara inherits the lead once the apparent heroine is executed. He doubts he deserves his title, believing he solved cases as his uncle's apprentice only by chance.

Maki Harukawa enters Danganronpa V3 as the Ultimate Child Caregiver, but what is her real talent?

Assassin is the truth, exposed in the second chapter. The orphanage that raised her sold her to a group of killers, which is why a cover story about looking after children held up.

Which Danganronpa V3 gadget is exposed in the final trial as a brainwashing device?

Flashback Light is the name of the torch, which works much like the neuralyzer in Men in Black. The mastermind uses it to write the cast's memories, talents and even personalities.

After two Danganronpa games about hope and despair, which theme did Kazutaka Kodaka choose for V3?

Lies run through Killing Harmony's design as well as its story: in a debate with no clear contradiction the player can deliberately lie, and doing so at the right moment opens hidden routes.

Rule-loving Kiyotaka Ishimaru, who dreams of high office, holds which Ultimate title in Danganronpa?

Moral Compass is the English title; the Japanese is closer to 'disciplinarian'. He wants to lead the country one day to make up for his grandfather's failures in government.

Danganronpa's Ultimate Gambler kills for graduation prize money she plans to spend on what?

A European castle is the dream of the self-styled 'Queen of Liars', whose grand name is itself an invention. Her execution begins as a witch-burning and ends under a speeding fire engine.

The hidden sixteenth student of the first Danganronpa, a soldier, served in which mercenary unit?

Fenrir is the mercenary group she fought with before posing as her own twin, a fashion model. The mastermind then killed her on a whim, simply because the original plan had grown boring.

Why does detective Kyoko Kirigiri always wear gloves in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc?

To hide burn scars is the reason revealed late in the game. The spin-off novels named after her show the injury: her hands burn as she tries to pull her assistant from an explosion.

Sonia Nevermind, the Ultimate Princess of Danganronpa 2, hails from which fictional kingdom?

Novoselic imports so much Japanese media that its princess grew up fascinated by Japan, which is why she enrolled. She also swears in her native tongue and adores horror films.

Which Danganronpa 2 swordswoman kills a classmate to shield the yakuza heir she secretly serves?

Peko Pekoyama, a kendo master and servant of his family, strikes with a baseball bat so that he will not. She then insists she was only his tool, hoping the verdict will free him.

Danganronpa V3's Ultimate Maid kills after a motivation video reveals she secretly holds which role?

Prime Minister of Japan is her job in all but name, with the official one a mere stand-in. Fearing for the nation without her, she drowns a classmate who has given up on living.

In Danganronpa V3, artist Angie Yonaga claims to be the earthly vessel of which island god?

Atua is also her muse: she credits the god with every artwork she makes. In the third chapter she founds a Student Council that strips her classmates of most of their freedoms.

Which tiny tennis pro in Danganronpa V3 was on death row for wiping out a mafia organisation?

Ryoma Hoshi speaks in a startlingly deep voice for his size. His motivation video turns out to be blank: nobody outside is waiting for him.

The first victim of Danganronpa V3 forgets his talent, later revealed to be the Ultimate what?

Survivor is the title because he had already lived through an earlier killing game. Unlike his classmates, he can coolly interrogate Monokuma and the bear cubs who assist him.

Which Danganronpa trial mode has you fire Truth Bullets at contradictions as classmates argue?

Nonstop Debate is the most common trial segment in every main game. Weak points glow as the talk scrolls past, and a wrong shot costs the player some of their standing with the class.

Which Danganronpa 2 trial minigame sends the hero snowboarding down a tube towards a conclusion?

Logic Dive debuted in the sequel alongside the Rebuttal Showdown, a sword duel in which a classmate's objections are slashed apart. Obstacles and pitfalls litter the snowboard course.

In Danganronpa's killing games, what does Monokuma call a student who has murdered a classmate?

The blackened must then get through a class trial: if the others vote correctly, the killer alone is executed, but a wrong verdict frees the killer and dooms everyone else.

Komaru's Hacking Gun in Danganronpa's Ultra Despair Girls takes the form of which everyday object?

A megaphone fires lines of code rather than lead: Break damages the robot bears, Dance stuns them by making them boogie, and Link lets the player take control of one.

Which Monokuma-made illness alters the personalities of infected students in Danganronpa 2?

Despair Disease takes a different form in each patient. In the meek class nurse it becomes the 'Remembering Disease', which brings back her old self as a devoted follower of the first mastermind.

After Monokuma hijacks Danganronpa 2's school trip, what name does he force on the rabbit teacher?

Monomi is the name Monokuma gives her after restyling her as his sister. Stripped of her authority, she still does what she can to help the students.

Which gang of gifted schoolchildren commands the Monokuma army in Danganronpa's Ultra Despair Girls?

Warriors of Hope members each take a role-playing-game class, from Hero to Mage, and call the city's adults 'Demons'. All were abused children, talked out of a suicide pact by the first mastermind.

Mobile game Danganronpa: Unlimited Battle had you shoot characters at enemies like which sport?

Billiards was the model: fighters rebounded off walls and foes until their momentum ran out. The free-to-play game drew over 700,000 sign-ups, yet closed within a year of launch.

Danganronpa producer Yoshinori Terasawa says he was inspired by Cube and which other horror film?

Saw and Cube both lock strangers inside a lethal game, the template for the school. Kazutaka Kodaka's first, grimmer pitch was turned down before the idea was reworked and approved.

Kazutaka Kodaka has said Danganronpa's theme is similar to which Japanese novel and film?

Battle Royale, Koushun Takami's 1999 novel, strands a school class on an island. Kodaka says his theme was similar but not directly inspired by it, and that he used teenagers because they are less mature than adults.

Which studio did Danganronpa's creator co-found after finishing Killing Harmony?

Too Kyo Games blends Tokyo, its home, with kyō, so the name reads as 'Too Crazy Games'. Its core members include the series' artist and composer and the creator of Zero Escape.

Which game about an amnesiac trainee detective reunited Danganronpa's writer, artist and composer?

Rain Code, in full Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, sends trainee Yuma Kokohead and a death god called Shinigami to solve murders in a city where the rain never stops.

Which Pierrot anime did Danganronpa's writer and character artist devise together in 2020?

Akudama Drive began after a Pierrot producer, Kodaka's old university classmate, met him again at a Danganronpa stage play in 2014. Its criminals were drawn by series artist Rui Komatsuzaki.

Which English-dub actor voices the Ultimate Lucky Student in each of the first two Danganronpa games?

Bryce Papenbrook was cast in both parts on purpose, mirroring the Japanese versions, where one actress voices the two. Localisers felt the shared voice made the pair's link more interesting.

Minami Takayama, the Japanese voice of Danganronpa 2's hero, stars in which famous detective anime?

Case Closed, known in Japan as Detective Conan, has her voicing its boy sleuth. The sequel's snowboarding trial minigame nods to the turbo skateboard he rides.

Which game by Goichi Suda did admirer Kazutaka Kodaka place inside Danganronpa 2 as a homage?

Twilight Syndrome was Kodaka's tribute to a designer he admires: in an interview with Suda himself, he said the games had inspired him and his colleagues.

Guinness named Danganronpa's first mastermind the most popular game character for what?

Cosplay earned her an entry in the 2018 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition. Fans dress as many of the cast, thanks to artist Rui Komatsuzaki's distinctive designs.

Which children's-book bear does Kazutaka Kodaka cite as an influence on Danganronpa's Monokuma?

Winnie the Pooh fed into a mascot built on contradictions. Monokuma's white and black halves stand for innocence and guilt, fitting his role as judge and executioner.

Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka, a video game shop worker as a student, earned a degree in what?

Film studies at Nihon University College of Art was his route in: he first planned to write screenplays, then decided an original story would be easier to get made as a game.

Which company simulcast Danganronpa: The Animation and dubbed it with an almost entirely new cast?

Funimation recast almost every role for its dub, keeping only the lead actor from the games. It streamed the thirteen episodes as they aired in Japan, then issued them on disc in 2015.

Danganronpa artist Rui Komatsuzaki designed Cleopatra and Edmond Dantès for which mobile game?

Fate/Grand Order invited him as one of its many guest artists. Danganronpa had been his first job as a character designer; before that he had graduated in sculpture.