Unleash the bees

This is where I post fandom stuff, mostly Danganronpa. Currently in my V3 phase.

[pumpkinhimiko]

Since I've heard so many sort-of-similar but conflicting opinions about it, and I don't really trust the "unconditionally hate NISA" crowd due to the misinformation they spread - is it okay for me to ask you how Gonta speaks in the JP version, exactly?

I know it's not a Tarzan speech, but I've heard anything ranging from "polite and formal" to "informal and casual" to "like a typical teenager" to "eloquent and almost poetic" to "stiff but grammatically correct".

Obviously those don't add up, and there's so much agenda and self-righteousness behind this discussion, that I'd rather just ask someone I actually trust.

These posts say Gonta talks like a polite kid. Not just in 3rd person, but uses simple vocabulary too. x.com/bossu_osu/status/2052960734338764836 x.com/bossu_osu/status/2052962395685892512

And to me it makes more sense than most. OP is someone who I trust more as well, since they debunked some "mistranslations" gossip regarding Kaito.

I think I also saw a claim that Gonta's lines are mostly written in hiragana and avoid kanji to convey that simplicity? That'd be really interesting writing technique, but take my words with a grain of salt, I can't find it and I'm worried I must be misremembering.

But if that's not a trouble, I'd like to know your opinion, even if based only on a selected scene (asking about the whole game would be too much, haha)

Right off the bat, "informal and casual" "like a typical teenager" or "eloquent and almost poetic" are not words I'd use to describe Gonta's Japanese speech pattern. Not even close lol.

It's true that he doesn't use complicated words (the times in English he struggles to pronounce something are all from the Japanese version), but is still polite and uses proper grammar. So him talking like a "polite kid", as 22fuka22 says in that screenshot, is pretty apt. Also, 22fuka22 is an actual native speaking Japanese person so I'm going to take their word on it above all.

Grammar aside, Gonta also just has some cutesy vocal mannerisms that you'd expect from a child, like calling bugs 虫さん/mushi-san (roughly Mr./Ms. Bug), while in English he calls them "bug friends". Using this example, I feel like the overall vibe you get is that JP!Gonta is childlike but in a polite, earnest way, while ENG!Gonta's way of speaking gives off the vibe of being, well, kind of slow. This doesn't really contradict the thread's point though, which is about Gonta being infantilized; which, I believe even if the translators leaned harder into the JP version's vibe of childishness, of course you'd still have people treating him like a child.

Also, the amount of people I've seen acting like if you just played the Japanese version of the game you'd never get the vibe that Gonta's naive or easy to manipulate is ridiculous. His being raised in the woods by aliens wolves and therefore incredibly gullible doesn't mean he's stupid, but it's a canon character trait. I've seen plenty of comments from Japanese fans where they fully blame Ouma for Chapter 4's events and see Gonta as his victim, for the record.

TBH I think where a lot of this misunderstanding of Gonta's Japanese speech pattern stems from (other than how the fandom likes to play telephone about the localization and exaggerate what they hear with every phone call) is due to people that are only beginner-intermediate at Japanese failing to recognize "simple" speech when they see it. If a few months ago you were using children's books to learn Japanese, then childish speech is going to look like the norm to you.

[pumpkinhimiko]

Hey, since I'm not able to read Japanese, I was always wondering whether Kaito's impersonation of Kokichi seems more accurate in Japanese or if the English version was actually quite faithful to the original. I've seen some people pointing out how obvious Kaito's impersonation seemed because of his intonation and certain word choices, but from what I've heard, Kodaka wanted to keep people guessing until the very end, so... I'm not sure

(I was also wondering about the moment where Kaito was singing Frank Sinatra with Himiko indirectly calling him old. In Japanese, Kaito was surely referencing something or someone else)

P.S. I really appreciate how you keep clearing up misconceptions, especially when it comes to people spreading misinformation about DRV3's translation. I can only imagine how exhausting that can be =_=

Comparing all of Kaito's dialogue in that trial would take me hours so I can't say if that's true or not, but it felt like an accurate impersonation to me in Japanese. This is why people should give specific examples when making claims about the localization, instead of vague, generalized statements.

Instead of singing Frank Sinatra, in Japanese Kokichi screams "I WON'T DIE! BECAUSE I LOVE YOU ALL!" which is a famous line spoken by actor Tetsuya Takeda in the drama "The 101st Proposal".

And thanks for the support. It feels like a losing battle, honestly, and one I'm tired of fighting with how eager this fandom is to make up/believe straight bullshit. It's often someone repackaging and heavily exaggerating @/oumakokichi's post on the localization for some internet clout, acting like they have some profound hidden knowledge about the original Japanese game when as soon as you ask them how the translation was fudged, they can't answer and would probably cry if you showed them hiragana.

[altiegg]

Oumotitas 💜

[pumpkinhimiko]

i meant what do you mean when you say they're whitewashing flaws

I'm referring to when he gets written like a misunderstood softboi and if another character doesn't like/understand him it's treated like a moral failing. I don't think this is even controversial to say, I see plenty of fans complain that Kokichi gets woobified in fanfiction.

The Japanese fandom being better about this isn't even specific to Kokichi or Danganronpa. Western fandoms are just really hung up on black and white morality and strictly assigning characters the labels Good Person or Bad Person.

[pumpkinhimiko]

no i mean when you say that western fans whitewash his flaws

That the woobification of Kokichi is more common in English fanworks...?

[mordhiobhail]

the naegiri proposal

[pumpkinhimiko]

(unlike western fans that tend to whitewash his flaws) what do you mean by this?

That the woobification of Kokichi isn't as common in Japanese fanworks.

[osddakito]

self indulgent stuff

[pumpkinhimiko]

bless you for doing god's work and calling out people who fish for cheap clout through "v3 translation bad" posts. there's been too much misinformation or overblown stuff circulating for literal years, because people parrot things that only FEEL researched without fact-checking anything. and that post particularly felt like a bait, considering that despite claiming to be obsessed with franchise for 10 years, they have ZERO dr related posts, aside from what they just wrote.

also funny how folks who deliberately spread misinformation, or at the very least extremely biased and debatable takes, always hide behind weak "just let us have fuuuunnn :((((" excuses when predictably faced with valid criticism. I dunno, but I don't see the fun in sensationalized misconceptions and its blind supporters, in fact debunking those like you do is what restores my enjoyment of this fandom!

Oh, is that what they said? I didn't see because they blocked me immediately, but yeah, often the response to being called out is "why can't you just let me spread misinformation in PEACE, ugh >:(".

There's way too many (cough Kokichi cough) fans that read a decade old blog post, regurgitate it ad nauseam, and then feel smart and enlightened because they're the only ones that truly understand the real V3... even though 9/10 times they've never actually touched the Japanese version they're glazing so hard because they don't know the goddamn language. And don't hold your breath waiting for an explanation for how the dialogue was mistranslated or what line was changed to what, because they have no idea. They're just repeating what they've been told, no proof necessary. And because they don't know anything about the language or the localization process, they think anything that isn't a 1:1 literal translation is a "mistranslation".

There's always an agenda behind it, too, honestly--none of these whiners want to speak on the honest to God actual mistranslations in the game like Kokichi saying he gets ganged up on. Or the "Trustworthy?" on Kokichi's whiteboard. Or how Kokichi isn't the only character who can come off harsher in dialogue. Funny how these are never brought up in their long list of grievances.

But anyway, yeah, thanks for the message! It's seriously an uphill battle combatting all the misinformation and lies surrounding the localization, especially since everyone's so happy to eat up the narrative that "NISA RUINED V3!!" without question. Even in that post there's a depressing amount of comments thanking the OP for spreading more misinfo. But if I can convince even one person of the truth, that makes me happy.

[liarvibe]

-raises hand-

As someone who is trying to learn Japanese (it's a slow go aha), I really want to know more about the original translation of the game and what differences it has vs the English translation.

I've heard that the English translation has been really bad, and I have seen other examples of mistranslated lines (IE. Kaito telling Maki "You'll be killed!" When she was choking Kokichi for the second time was actually mean to be "You'll kill him!", this was told to me by a friend who says the line was actually mistranslated as they spoke Japanese and all) but I don't actually know the differences because I can't fact-check it myself.

Are there any resources that you think would be helpful for fans like me who want to engage with the original text, but can't (at least atm) due to the language barrier? And even if the language barrier wasn't there, there's definitely some cultural barriers as well (Like how, at least as far as I'm aware, "www" is hiw Japanese people say LOL and how there is slang "grass grows" that means "that's funny" or something akin to it) so any ideas as to how we can learn about the language and cultural references behind the text with as little bias as possible?

[pumpkinhimiko]

Unfortunately, there's just no way around it: the hard answer is that the only way to experience the game 100% authentically without culture or biases interfering is to learn the language and play it. A lot of this localization misinfo is spread by people who are only intermediary in Japanese, touting their translation as the "true" translation when they're actually doing a worse job than NISA. So you have to really buckle down and learn if you want a more authentic experience than the one NISA has already given.

I know that doesn't help much, but yeah. Since obviously I think I'm right, I'll also point you to my translation tag where I've collected discrepancies between the localization, source material and the fans, but even I will admit I'm not a totally unbiased source and that may bleed into my translations. Not just my opinions on the game but also my experiences in Japan have colored how I view certain parts of the language.

But honestly... I don't think it's necessary to go that far. I know people that only played the English translation and still understood the characters and themes perfectly well, even if they didn't pick up on every single cultural reference and even if a poorly translated line misled them at certain points. There's plenty of good, in-character fics by authors that never played the original Japanese. To use Kokichi as an example, so many say he's a "totally different character" when 99% of the time he's just been adapted to speak in English--a very direct and explicit language--from Japanese, an indirect and often-difficult-to-be-rude-in language. English players aren't so stupid that a few lines of dialogue not being totally 1:1 leaves them blind to all the other aspects of his character that were carried over just fine. I mean, both Japanese and westerners react to him the same. He's still massively popular in both cultures, with the same top ships, the same divisiveness over chapter 4, generallyyyyyyy the same depiction in fanworks (ironically Japanese fans have a much easier time writing him as an asshole, unlike western fans that tend to whitewash his flaws--when you'd think it would be the opposite if Japanese!Kokichi was really so much kinder). I would just say ask for receipts whenever you see someone bemoaning V3's translation. When I'm making a claim, I always try to back it up with screenshots and an explanation of where the translation went wrong. If they can't do that, they're probably not worth listening to.

[pumpkinhimiko]

bless you for doing god's work and calling out people who fish for cheap clout through "v3 translation bad" posts. there's been too much misinformation or overblown stuff circulating for literal years, because people parrot things that only FEEL researched without fact-checking anything. and that post particularly felt like a bait, considering that despite claiming to be obsessed with franchise for 10 years, they have ZERO dr related posts, aside from what they just wrote.

also funny how folks who deliberately spread misinformation, or at the very least extremely biased and debatable takes, always hide behind weak "just let us have fuuuunnn :((((" excuses when predictably faced with valid criticism. I dunno, but I don't see the fun in sensationalized misconceptions and its blind supporters, in fact debunking those like you do is what restores my enjoyment of this fandom!

Oh, is that what they said? I didn't see because they blocked me immediately, but yeah, often the response to being called out is "why can't you just let me spread misinformation in PEACE, ugh >:(".

There's way too many (cough Kokichi cough) fans that read a decade old blog post, regurgitate it ad nauseam, and then feel smart and enlightened because they're the only ones that truly understand the real V3... even though 9/10 times they've never actually touched the Japanese version they're glazing so hard because they don't know the goddamn language. And don't hold your breath waiting for an explanation for how the dialogue was mistranslated or what line was changed to what, because they have no idea. They're just repeating what they've been told, no proof necessary. And because they don't know anything about the language or the localization process, they think anything that isn't a 1:1 literal translation is a "mistranslation".

There's always an agenda behind it, too, honestly--none of these whiners want to speak on the honest to God actual mistranslations in the game like Kokichi saying he gets ganged up on. Or the "Trustworthy?" on Kokichi's whiteboard. Or how Kokichi isn't the only character who can come off harsher in the localization. Funny how these are never brought up in their long list of grievances.

But anyway, yeah, thanks for the message! It's seriously an uphill battle combatting all the misinformation and lies surrounding the localization, especially since everyone's so happy to eat up the narrative that "NISA RUINED V3!!" without question. Even in that post there's a depressing amount of comments thanking the OP for spreading more misinfo. But if I can convince even one person of the truth, that makes me happy.

[erlgry]

Y'know what? I'm gonna say it: I hate the way that the Western side of the DR fandom writes Kokichi.

Now, hear me out! I usually don't like to police how people write characters in fics, as developing and expanding on an existing character is one of the many joys of fandom works. But for the love of god, I hate the way people write Kokichi.

Why, you ask?

The English translation for NDRV3 was... awful.

During the localisation, the NDRV3 team had four separate translators working on the script. And in a Reddit AMA, it was revealed that they were dividing the 16 main characters between themselves, with each translator being assigned four characters.

Having more translators working on a game might sound like a good idea, but it’s not. The more translators that are assigned to a work, the harder it is to provide a consistent translation. In situations where there are multiple ways to translate the same word in a conversation, communication between translators is essential in making sure the script flows well.

However, the NDRV3 English translators apparently couldn't be bothered to do the most basic of communication within their team. It's blatantly clear that they did not reference each other’s work, and the translation suffered because of it. This is clear in the many lines of dialogue that were made confusing to read when the same word was translated two separate ways during conversations between two characters.

Some of the translators were able to pick which characters they wanted to translate for, creating a clear bias that influenced their work. Because translators were assigned four characters each, this meant that whilst they were enthusiastic about translating for one character in particular, they were less enthusiastic for others. This is obvious in most characters, though I'll be focusing on Kokichi here.

One of the most frustrating things for me, is that the translators decided to make Kokichi (and Miu) say incredibly rude and downright offensive terms. These were not present in the original Japanese script.

Miu only ever refers to Gonta as “ばか” (idiot) or occasionally, “あほ” (a slightly ruder way of saying idiot, though can be used affectionately amongst friends in certain regions). However, her translator decided to add multiple instances of her calling Gonta a r***** and a “Mongoloid,” which are both incredibly offensive and outdated terms.

Kokichi’s translator similarly took lines and decided to insert insults like “bitch” and “whore.” Like Miu, he never says anything remotely like this. It's as if they couldn't be bothered to do their jobs and decided to come up with their own narrative for each character.

Consequently, these translations have become the sole personality for these characters when it comes to English-speaking fans writing fanfiction.

Kokichi actually speaks in a very unique and interesting way. He uses the very masculine pronoun “オレ” (ore), whilst referring to almost every other character by their surnames and the childish honorific “ちゃん” (chan).

“ちゃん” is usually seen as a very feminine way to refer to someone else. It's usually used amongst school girls, but can also be used by older people when talking to a child, and when referring to other things they find cute, (such as pets).

The fact that Kokichi uses “ちゃん” to refer to almost everyone is very notable. Boys don’t use this term to refer to other boys unless they're very young. Using “ちゃん” to refer to anyone you’ve just met or don’t know very well is frowned upon, but a boy using it to refer to other boys is especially rare. This immediately establishes Kokichi's character as someone who is incredibly casual with others (something that is uncommon in Japanese culture). Considering Kokichi values his childish and light-hearted traits and how much emphasis is put on him having “a very innocent, childish streak,” it makes sense then that he would be written to talk like this.

Kokichi also refers to a few characters as “大好きな___ちゃん” (daisuki na ___-chan), a phrase which can be translated as “my beloved.” He uses this phrase with Shuichi most often, but does also use it with Rantaro, Kaito, and Kaede on occasion. This is the phrase he's using on most occasions when he is translated as saying “because I love you” or “because you’re my favourite.”

In chapter 4, Kokichi refers to Shuichi as “好きになった人” (suki ni natta hito), meaning: “the person I fell in love with.” This line was changed in the translation to, “when there’s a person I like.” Though I wouldn't say this is correct, as ““好きになった” has explicit romantic implications. It is often used in Japanese love songs and manga/anime love confessions.

A mistake often made by non-Japanese speakers is that "好" only means "like." However it is almost exclusively romantic when referring to people, especially the full phrase, "好になった人."

I think it should also be noted that this is the exact same phrasing Maki used when describing her romantic feelings for Kaito. Since Maki’s feelings for Kaito are considered canonically confirmed, I don't see why Kokichi’s feelings aren't considered to be equally canon. Though I suppose you can't blame people for not knowing, considering how awful the translation is.

This translation issue even stems to the fact that Kokichi's motive video was completely mistranslated and provides a very poor idea of what his motivations and ideals were like for the player. This includes them straight up omitting a line stating that Kokichi and DICE have a rule against murder.

This is one of the first lines in his motive video. The Japanese version makes it very clear that DICE were forbidden to kill people, and that abiding by this rule is extremely important to them. In contrast, the translation just talks about him committing “petty nonviolent crimes and pranks.”

Saihara later references Kokichi’s motive video as evidence in the chapter 6 trial and states that Kokichi and DICE “have a rule against killing people,” despite the game… never mentioning it up until that point. This not only completely changes Kokichi’s character at a crucial moment, but also just lies to the localisation players and expects them to be able to work through the shitty translation errors to come to the same conclusion. It could also give off the impression that Shuichi was lying to cover for Kokichi, leading localisation players to assume this plotline instead.

To end this long rant, I will include one of my favourite lines here:

“Come on, it’s not a big deal! I’m like a fairy, so it’ll be fine!”

And its disappointing translation:

“Come on, would I lie to you?”

...Did they even try?

[pumpkinhimiko]

What in the world do you mean Kokichi wasn't vulgar?? I can only assume you're referencing his interactions with Miu, because I'm pretty sure those are the only instances he ever used "bitch" or "whore" in the localization. And let me assure you, this was not a mistranslation.

あの密室トリックは誰にでも実行可能なんだからさ。 変態肉便器女ちゃんはそんな事もわからないの? / Anyone could pull off that locked room trick. Doesn't a flesh toilet of a perverted bitch like you know that?

This is only one example, but let's break down the vulgar term in question here, 変態肉便器女.

変態/hentai = pervert

肉/niku = flesh 便器/benki = toilet bowl. Together, 肉便器/nikubenki becomes meat toilet, sometimes translated simply as slut, whore or cumdumpster.

女/onna = most commonly used word for woman, however it can also mean bitch when said with enough harshness... such as in this situation. If you saw him call Miu an onna before and thought he was just calling her a woman, he wasn't.

Honestly, I find a lot of this post to be overly nitpicky (is it really so terrible Kokichi doesn't call himself a fairy when the average player probably doesn't know the myth of fairy=can't tell lies?), but that's my own personal feelings. But claiming Japanese!Kokichi wasn't vulgar as hell is ironically a deep mischaracterization.

(Also am I crazy or doesn't he literally refer to the characters as his "beloveds" in the localization. Like, I'm pretty sure that this was translated over.)

[makiburger]

You'll get to live forever, thanks to me.

[nanonezmayonez]

More more

[nanonezmayonez]

Forgot to post these here i think

[danganronpa-shipping-galore]

❗I know for a fact that this poll is going to have a lot of competition and likely discourse, so I'll say this right here and now: reblogs are allowed but do NOT reblog more than once or beg your followers to vote since that can cause a lot of the discourse and cheating.❗

What is your favorite of the following Kokichi Oma ships? (There will be 3 winning ships 🥇🥈🥉)

Kokichi/Angie

Kokichi/Gonta

Kokichi/Himiko

Kokichi/Kaede

Kokichi/Kaito

Kokichi/Keebo

Kokichi/Korekiyo

Kokichi/Maki

Kokichi/Miu

Kokichi/Nagito

Kokichi/Rantaro

Kokichi/Shuichi

Voting ended onNov 19, 2025

[curiousreadmore]

In Maki’s Lab:

Next Dining Hall Meeting:

According to Kokichi’s own words, it's implied that he initially revealed Maki’s talent and tried to isolate her from the group because he saw her as a potential threat. 

Keeping that in mind, I find it interesting how Kokichi didn't seem convinced yet somewhat intrigued by Kaito’s approach.

I can’t say for certain that Kokichi was already thinking that way at this point, but later on, he openly acknowledged that the change in Shuichi’s attitude was “all thanks to Kaito.” 

If we apply that to this situation, it’s possible that Kokichi might've wondered whether Kaito could achieve something similar with Maki… even though he strongly doubted it.

Also, judging by what Kokichi speculated after the dining hall meeting, he really did seem to be thinking about Kaito’s intentions—and whether they were truly as sincere as they appeared to be.

(I just really like the thought that Kaito might've been as much of a mystery to Kokichi as Kokichi was to Kaito.)

[mao-chick-a-wow]

can we get this Fucking Twink off of the screen please