SO YOU WANT TO GET INTO DANGAN RONPA?
Alright, so every other day i’m getting an ask requesting where to find this mysterious game that tumblr has been obsessing over, so I figured I would make a masterpost for your convenience! Here I will answer every question you may have on what Dangan Ronpa is and how to get into it.
Dangan Ronpa (DR), full name “Danganronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair”, is murder mystery visual novel type adventure game developed and released by Spike in 2010 for the PSP. It centers around 15 high school students who attend Hope’s Peak Academy, a special high school only for students who are extremely gifted in their field of expertise (each having the title “Super High School Level” followed by their talent i.e. Gambler, Baseball Player, Idol, ect). The school is said to give anyone who graduates a golden ticket for life and success. However, just as each student enters on their first day, they suddenly lose consciousness and wake up in a locked down school, kept there by the mysterious antagonist toy bear, Monobear. The only way to escape and “graduate” the school…is to kill another student, and get away with the murder. The game is currently only in Japanese, and is theorized to never see an English release due to it’s difficulty to localize.
WAIT, IT’S IN JAPANESE? HOW DO YOU PLAY IT?
Well well well, there’s where people get confused! You don’t play it! You read it! Dangan Ronpa has been completely screencaped, recorded and uploaded in a Let’s Play (LP) thread on the Something Awful forums, even with the accompanying soundtrack! Because the game is in a visual novel style, there is very little “gameplay” other than hitting next. Therefore, it’s perfectly suited for a Let’s Play, and because the translator is so thorough, nothing is really missed by reading rather than playing the game yourself.
Nope! The Dangan Ronpa series contains the original game, a sequel game, two light novels and a manga adaptation! All of which can be found translated online.
SO WHERE DO I FIND IT ALL?
The first thing to note is that nearly all of the following links are on the Something Awful forums. These forums will, on occasion, block the threads with a paywall to make money. BUT DON’T BE ALARMED! If you click the link here and see “you must be a user to see this page” just sit back and wait about two weeks. The threads will unlock and you will be able to read them! Or, you could just pay the one-time fee of $10 to never have to deal with this problem again. Now, that being said, here are links to everything DR you could possibly need!
Here is the link to the Let’s Play of Dangan Ronpa! Simply click each link and read in order. Each chapter will average you about two hours at a moderate pace. I don’t suggest going through the thread, as there may be spoilers!
Super Dangan Ronpa 2 (SDR2), full name “Super Danganronpa 2: Farewell Despair Academy” is the sequel to the original game released for the PSP in 2012. It has a similar premise, except the game takes place on a deserted tropical island called Jabberwock. This is currently being translated by the same person who translated and uploaded the original Dangan Ronpa LP, and at the time of posting this, has just finished Chapter 1 and started on Chapter 2. It is also hosted on the Something Awful forums.
Dangan Ronpa/Zero (Up) is a light novel written by the creator of the original game. This light novel serves as as a prequel to the original game, and also does some setting up for SDR2! However, even with it’s “prequel” status, I don’t suggest reading it first, because it does contain spoilers for the first game. You can find the translation of this novel in the same Let’s play thread as SDR2, as it is being translated alongside it. Links are in the OP. Volume 1 is currently fully translated, however, it is not necessary to read before you begin SDR2 because-
Dangan Ronpa/Zero (Down) is the second and final part of the DR/Z light novel. This is currently untranslated, but will be translated alongside SDR2 just as Volume 1 was. Keep checking the SDR2 thread for translation updates!
Dangan Ronpa IF is an AU written by a well known Japanese Light novelist named Ryogo Narita (most well known for Baccano! and Durarara) which was included as a bonus to SDR2. It contains heavy spoilers for the first game. The link brings you to part one, the other parts can be found in the sidebar.
The Dangan Ronpa Manga is a manga adaptation of the first game! While it follows the first game in terms of plot so there’s nothing new there, it reveals new interactions between the characters, and because it’s not restricted by the view of the gameplay, it fleshes out a lot of relationships and personalities not really explored by the original game and gives more depth to characters who may not have been touched on.
Dangan Ronpa Beta is a name used for the beta (original) drawings, character designs and animations for the Dangan Ronpa game before it’s release. There’s even an entire execution sequence using these designs that was used to pitch the game. I’m really only including this because I saw it once and got confused myself.
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