Trial 2 of Trigger Happy Havoc is an absolute rollercoaster of some of the best and worst writing I've ever seen.
The gut-punch of finding the gentlest person in the school dead. The answer to this minigame is a literal slur. The slowly dawning horror of Byakuya's utter lack of respect for Chihiro's body or the others' lives. This is the shittiest, most careless, most stereotypical misrepresentation of DID I've ever encountered. A powerful, aching analysis of toxic masculinity, and how it can imprison people so deeply that a good-hearted young man becomes a killer. Chihiro's gender being revealed in the most uncomfortable way possible. The only killer in three games who is both entirely culpable and entirely remorseful. Please stop showing me the booby supermodel breasting boobily. The incredible building-up of the parallels between Mondo and Chihiro. How does this portrayal of DID keep getting worse. Taka screaming and begging for Mondo's life, even as Mondo accepts his own death and quietly apologises for breaking his promise. Mondo is butter now and we will not be accepting questions at this time.
Hangman's Gambit is the universal Danganronpa minigame, but have you ever wondered what the JP version was like? The translation choices, the gameplay mechanics, and the number of letters? Which one is technically easier? A very mundane question, but I promise there's some interesting info here.
So, here's covering the Trigger Happy Havoc: Danganronpa (Danganronpa: Academy of Hope, Students of Despair) and Super Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Hangman's Gambit minigames in English and Japanese.
But first, the name itself.
In Japanese, Hangman's Gambit is called 閃きアナグラム, which translates as "Sparking Anagram". It's a bit of a pun, as 閃き means to flash for a brief moment, as in a light (Think like a sudden shock of electricity in the dark) - which references the letters that show up only briefly (in THH:DR at least) - but 閃き also means an "instant flash of inspiration", like a cartoon light bulb above your head - which encapsulates the idea for the minigame itself.
The banner in Japanese is 閃きアナグラム開始！Which means, "Begin Sparking Anagram!"
Strangely, every version, both English and Japanese, has a ！at the end of their respective titles, except the JP version of SDR2, where the minigame banner simply reads 閃きアナグラム開始 without the ！at the end.
Also strange, the PC version of THH:DR specifically does not have the darkening red-tone effect as the banner displays (or, if it does, it was way brighter than it should be).
The reasoning behind this likely has to do with an overlooked error in re-exporting the visual assets for the PC version of the game, or the light engine on the PC port. This same issue does not occur for SDR2's PC port.
Trigger Happy Havoc: Danganronpa
TRIAL 1
Unrelated to the overall topic of this post, but it's interesting to note the UI font was changes for the English release.
The answer in the JP version is かみのけ(髪の毛) Which means "hair", specifically the hair on one's head (so, it couldn't be used for leg hair, for example). It goes without saying that the English translation is perfectly accurate and has the added bonus of being the exact same amount of spaces! That is actually uncommon between the different versions, as you will see.
Anyways, how many words you start out with depends on the logic difficulty you set the game to. For example, in this particular Hangman's Gambit, there are 4 blank spaces. Depending on the "logic" difficulty, this is how many blank spaces are pre-filled for you (ENG:JP):
Gentle: 3:3
Kind: 2:2
Mean: 1:1
Overall spaces: 4:4 - both versions are of equal difficulty.
The increments of spaces you must fill yourself increase by +1 each difficulty bump in both version.
TRIAL 2
I know the question on everyone's mind instantly is, "Is it also a slur in the Japanese version?"
In Japanese, the game makes you spell out たじゅうじんかく(多重人格) This translates as "Multiple Personalities" and is the same Kanji found in 多重人格障害 or Multiple Personality Disorder.
So, no, it's not a slur. Just the outdated name for the medical diagnoses for Dissociative Identity Disorder (which is 解離性同一性障害, たいりせいどういつせいしょうがい).
I understand "Multiple Personalities" would be far too many letters, but I don't understand why they went with a slur. Likely just a product of the times xD.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Spaces filled on "Logic" difficulty...
Gentle: 3:5
Kind: 2:4
Mean: 2:2
Overall Spaces: 6:8 - the English version is technically easier.
Overall Gentle spaces: 3:3
Overall Kind spaces: 4:4
Overall Mean spaces: 4:6
Subtracting the pre-filled spots with the overall amount of letter spaces, the Japanese version has a harder Mean difficulty.
The increments of spaces you must fill yourself increase by +1 each difficulty bump, except on Mean, where it stops incrementing for English players but instead adds +2 (instead of +1) for Japanese players.
TRIAL 3
This one confuses me. うでどけい(腕時計) is indeed "wristwatch", but in English, most people just shorten that to "watch". The Japanese version was already 5 spaces, "watch" would have fit perfectly. Why make it longer?
In any case, here are the stats for this one.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Spaces filled on "Logic" difficulty...
Gentle: 6:3
Kind: 4:2
Mean: 2:1
Overall Spaces: 10:5 - the Japanese version is technically easier.
Overall Gentle spaces: 4:2
Overall Kind spaces: 6:3
Overall Mean spaces: 8:4
Subtracting the pre-filled spots with the overall amount of letter spaces, the English version has a harder difficulty on all levels.
The increments of spaces you must fill yourself increase by +2 each difficulty bump for English players, while for Japanese players it is only +1.
TRIAL 4
Pretty straightforward: ちぇすのこま(チェスの駒) translates as "Chess piece".
Stats (ENG:JP):
Spaces filled on "Logic" difficulty...
Gentle: 7:4
Kind: 4:3
Mean: 1:1
Overall Spaces: 10:6 - the Japanese version is technically easier.
Overall Gentle spaces: 3:2
Overall Kind spaces: 6:3
Overall Mean spaces: 9:5
Subtracting the pre-filled spots with the overall amount of letter spaces, the English version has a harder difficulty on all levels.
The increments of spaces you must fill yourself increase by +3 each difficulty bump for English players, while for Japanese players it is only +1, with the exception of Mean, where it is +2.
The English version changes this one. ぷろていんのようき(プロテインの容器) means, literally, "container housing protein [powder]". I think most in English just call it "protein powder" and leave it at that, though.
The English version decided to call it "Protein Drink" in reference to what ultimately killed Oogami. However, right after you spell it, Naegi talks about how the poison was inside the "Protein can", referencing not the drink itself but the container housing the protein powder...which makes sense as that is what you spell in the JP version. But in English, you're meant to spell the tangentially related drink.
This isn't a big deal by any means. "Protein drink" makes more sense in English, I think, than "protein can", as I said earlier, I think most don't refer to stuff in bottles as "protein cans/bottles/bags" but just "protein powder", and "protein powder" is even longer than "protein drink" already is.
But it also makes the multiple choice moments later a little redundant, as Togami prompts the player to select what the culprit gave Oogami that would make her drink the deadly poison hidden in the protein can without caution, since, obviously, nobody drinks straight up protein powder (I hope!). In English, since you already spell this word "protein drink", Togami then making you, seconds later, point it out like its a new revelation can seem a little dumb, but again, this is very minor stuff.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Spaces filled on "Logic" difficulty...
Gentle: 6:6
Kind: 5:5
Mean: 3:3
Overall Spaces: 12:9 - the Japanese version is technically easier.
Overall Gentle spaces: 6:3
Overall Kind spaces: 7:4
Overall Mean spaces: 9:6
Subtracting the pre-filled spots with the overall amount of letter spaces, the English version has a harder difficulty on all levels.
The increments of spaces you must fill yourself increase by +1 each difficulty bump in both versions, with the exception of Mean, where it is +2 in both versions.
TRIAL 5
Not much to say, おおかみ (狼) is indeed "wolf".
Stats (ENG:JP):
Spaces filled on "Logic" difficulty...
Gentle: 3:3
Kind: 2:2
Mean: 1:1
Overall spaces: 4:4 - both versions are of equal difficulty.
The increments of spaces you must fill yourself increase by +1 each difficulty bump in both version.
TRIAL 6
Another one where the space miraculously match up! きおくそうしつ(記憶喪失) indeed means "amnesia".
Stats (ENG:JP):
Spaces filled on "Logic" difficulty...
Gentle: 4:4
Kind: 3:3
Mean: 1:1
Overall spaces: 7:7 - both versions are of equal difficulty.
The increments of spaces you must fill yourself increase by +1 each difficulty bump in both version, with the exception of Mean, where it is +2 in both versions.
"Replaced" works just fine, but the Japanese version is a bit more specific. いれかわり(入れ替わり) means "swap [out]", and in fiction is used to refer to the trope of two characters either swapping identities or whole bodies.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Spaces filled on "Logic" difficulty...
Gentle: 4:3
Kind: 3:2
Mean: 2:1
Overall spaces: 8:5 - the Japanese version is technically easier.
Overall Gentle spaces: 4:2
Overall Kind spaces: 5:3
Overall Mean spaces: 6:4
Subtracting the pre-filled spots with the overall amount of letter spaces, the English version has a harder difficulty on all levels.
The increments of spaces you must fill yourself increase by +1 each difficulty bump in both versions.
でんぱじゃっく (電波ジャック) means to hijack a signal (any sort of reception wave such as radio or tv) - shortening it to just "hijack" makes sense.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Spaces filled on "Logic" difficulty...
Gentle: 4:4
Kind: 4:4
Mean: 2:2
Overall spaces: 6:7 - the English version is technically easier.
The increments of spaces you must fill yourself increase only on Mean, where it is +2 on both versions.
RESULTS
Out of all 9 Hangman's Gambit segments, 4 are easier in Japanese, 2 are easier in English, and 3 are of the same difficulty. This makes the English version harder overall technically, but only by a difference of 2.
The ratio of total spaces throughout the whole game from ENG:JP is 67:55, meaning there are 12 (or approx. 22%) more spaces in the English version of the game.
Super Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
The sequel game no longer has any pre-filled spaces regardless of difficulty, making you have to spell the full word(s) out. Therefore, there will sadly not be any extra stat information beyond the differences displayed by the base anagram itself.
Which, therefore, slides into what I think is possibly the funniest demonstration of this difference.
TRIAL 1
That's right. Where Western players have to spell out the whopping 13 character phrase "Under the Floor", Japanese players of the original game only had to piece together 4.
For Trial 1, this is a hilarious jump in difficulty compared to the original game, but it does make some amount of sense from a purely translation perspective: ゆかした (床下) does literally mean "under [the] floor".
That being said, that is wildly shorter than spelling "under the floor" letter by letter in English, so I wonder why they didn't just modify the question asked a tiny bit so the answer could be something shorter. Like, instead of, "Where did the killer hide during the murder?" it could have been "Where was the killer positioned during the murder?" and the answer could have been "below", which is much shorter.
I mean, we literally just looked at THH and they did this exact thing with the Protein Drink, not necessary for length reasons but to make it more understandable. And it could be argued with the "Hijack" anagram that they did shorten it, and did not write "TV Hijacking" for this very reason.
Either way, it's a really funny start. And as you'll see, this is far from the only instance...
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 13:4 - the Japanese version is technically easier (making the English version, by space count alone, a whopping 225% longer).
This one is also ridiculously long for little reason. てつぐし (鉄串) does literally mean "iron skewer", but I see no reason why this couldn't be shortened to just "skewer". It would have still been longer, but not egregiously so.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 10:4 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by 105%.
TRIAL 2
By now, I think you get that most of the English versions of these segments are a bit ridiculous in length compared to their Japanese counterpart. But this particular case is interesting to me personally, because it displays a mild domino effect in NISA's translation changes.
Pekoyama is not the Ultimate Swordswoman in the Japanese version; her original talent was "Ultimate Kendoist". Kendo, in Japan, is a sword-based martial arts.
I won't get into a great amount of detail as 1) it's not super relevant and 2) I am far from an expert on the art of Kendo and the history of it. But, gathering that Kendo is a martial arts involving a "practice sword" (the shinai, a bamboo sword), and the fact it is an evolution of Japanese swordsmanship, factoring in Pekoyama's role as the right-hand to a crime leader and their overall emphasis on tradition, it's easy to hand-wave "Kendo" into "Swordswoman" for an English translation.
But, this does ultimately come with a few ramifications. Minor cultural nods to Pekoyama being a Kendoist is lost, as well as her shinai being called merely a "Bamboo sword". My guess is this was done as most Western players would not know what a shinai is and would struggle to remember it. It's not like the "one-edged sword", or katana, which many casual anime/manga fans already know about. That, and perhaps by changing her talent to "Swordswoman", they felt the need to outright name that what she carried was a type of sword.
Nevertheless, this change dominoes into this Hangman's gambit being a 11:3 ratio. Wow!
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 11:3 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by approx. 266%.
TRIAL 3
Not much to say here, honestly. かべがみ（壁紙）means "wallpaper".
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 9:4 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by 125%.
"Filming Location" is a perfectly apt translation of さつえいばしょ (撮影場所). However, if you want to be very technical, 撮影 means "shooting", as in, the concept of "shooting" a photo, video, movie, etc. with a camera. Meaning, this phrase could equally also read as "photography location", since this word can refer to still photos, among other interpretations involving any sort of camera shooting. But, obviously, given the context of the case, it makes total sense to refer to this solely as "filming".
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 15:7 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by approx. 114%.
The English version truncates the answer of this one for obvious reasons, as "conference room" is already long enough! The Japanese version, びょういんのかいぎしつ (病院の会議室), is more specific, explicitly reading, "Hospital's conference room".
Again, given how long this would be, cutting out the "hospital" part only makes sense. And context is plenty enough that having to reiterate the hospital part is unnecessary.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 14:11 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by approx. 27%.
TRIAL 4
Really nothing to say here. エレベーター is quite literally "elevator".
What there is to talk about is the hint you are able to read, which was changed. The official English version says:
What is a device that moves to different floors inside a building…?
But the Japanese version says this:
弐大の死体が移動した理由…同じ建物の別の階に移動する装置とは…？
How Nidai's body was moved [is related to] that which lets us travel between stories in the same building... [what is it called]?
This is a very literal translation. I chose to write it this way as SDR2's translation is quite literal in many cases. As you can see, it's very clunky, because this type of sentence structure is really tricky to write into English without breaking it down into your own words. If it were me, I would just rewrite this as:
What structure in the building can explain Nidai's body being moved?
Why this was ultimately changed, I can only assume it's because the team found it perhaps inconsequential to mention the first part, when the essence of the question lies in having to answer what structure lets you move from floors. Technically, the Nidai thing isn't needed to gauge the answer at that point, but I wish it was kept regardless.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 8:6 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by approx. 33%.
"Deluxe Room(s)" is a pretty good translation. In Japanese, it's a combination of ごうかな (豪華な), meaning "luxury/lavish" and きゃくしつ (客室), meaning "[commercial] guest room". Hotel room would be a pretty basic translation I think as it's used for that context.
Therefore, "Deluxe Rooms", which is what high-end hotel rooms are called, makes sense. Obviously, if you referred to them as, say, "Luxury Rooms", that would work just fine.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 11:9 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by approx. 22%.
TRIAL 5
Straight-forward; しいん (死因) is "cause of death". But, ouch, that letter length in the English version...The last few were somewhat closer to being on par, so I nearly forgot for a moment that the English version can be 4x as long. Look at the score/time in these respective screenshots, wow.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 12:3 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by 300%.
The most interesting part of this one is not really the translation, but the cultural difference. "Fire grenade" is an accurate translation, and is a real thing. (Though direct translation of しょうかだん (消火弾) is "fire-extinguishing bullet").
It was a device used in numerous countries to extinguish fires. It typically came in a bulb shape, and was made of glass, so when thrown at a fire, it would shatter and the liquid inside would be released.
However, its main component, carbon tetrachloride, is incredibly toxic to humans. In 1954, they were officially banned by the NFPA, which mostly governs the US.
Japan, however, never quite stopped using this technology. Of course, none that I know of still use carbon tetrachloride because of the aforementioned toxicity, but modern replacements with safer ingredients are made, and are commercially sold alongside other fire extinguishing devices, such as the design most familiar in the west with the nozzle and handle. All this is to say, I think those of you reading will find this general design to be familiar...
Anyways, just some neat trivia, I guess.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 11:6 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by approx. 83%.
TRIAL 6
This one was actually changed slightly, and I think I know why.
The original text reads プログラム, or "Program", and to this effect, the hint is also slightly different.
OFFICIAL ENG:
"What kind of world are we actually in?" -> VIRTUAL
ORIGINAL:
俺達がいるこの世界の正体は…？-> プログラム
"What's the true identity of this world we are in?" -> IT'S A PROGRAM
I assume they couldn't find a way to word the question where the answer would just be "Program", as to make that conclusion above work grammatically, I had to make it a full sentence.
So, they seemed to tweak it slightly. It still gets the point across just fine, that being that the world they inhabit isn't the real world. So it's an inconsequential change.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 7:5 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by 40%.
And, finally, we come to our last one. "Kill us all" is a hilariously literal translation of ミナゴロシ (皆殺し), which is a combination of the Kanji "everyone" and "kill". Unlike in other cases where Kanji can be a little misleading to the word's true meaning, this is actually spot on. I just find it funny how literal it is.
I guess the only noteworthy point is the fact that "Kill us all" is a phrase, whereas 皆殺し is a noun. Of course, it just means "mass murder", so it makes no real difference. Much like above, I feel the change was made so the hint leading to the answer remained grammatically correct in English.
Stats (ENG:JP):
Overall spaces: 9:5 - the Japanese version is technically easier. The English version is longer by 80%.
RESULTS
Out of all 12 Hangman's Gambit segments, all are easier in Japanese. Sorry, English players!
The ratio of total spaces throughout the whole game from ENG:JP is 130:67, meaning there are 63 (or approx. 94%) more spaces in the English version of the game. That's brutal.
In terms of sheer numbers, the Hangman's Gambit with the greatest length for an answer goes to Filming Location, at 15 characters. Ratio wise, between English and Japanese, the Hangman's Gambit that was longest in comparison to its Japanese counterpart was Cause of Death vs. しいん, putting it at a 300% increase.
COMPARING THH:DR to SDR2...
ENG: DR1:SDR2
67:130; this actually matches the amount of spaces in the JP version of SDR2, meaning that the increase between the English versions of DR1 -> SDR2 for the amount of character spaces used is the same at approx. 94%.
JP: DR1:SDR2
55:67; again, since the amount of spaces for the English version of DR1 is the same as the JP version of SDR2, we get the same stats that we did in our DR1 section. Therefore, between JP DR1 -> SDR2, we see an increase of approx. 22% in length.
Unsure what use this information is, other than highlighting just how bad English players got it. But it was fun to calculate nonetheless. Hope you enjoyed reading!
I feel like Makoto x Byakuya is both sexual and romantic.
I feel like Hajime x Fuyuhiko is mainly romantic with occasionally sexual.
I feel like Shuichi x Kokichi is solely sexual with romantic-annoying tension, if that makes any sense.
I feel like Kaede x Shuichi is mainly romantic, with minimal sexual tension.
I feel like Komaru x Toko is very intimate and romantic, but not completely and explicitly sexual.
I hope some of what I wrote is making at least SOME sense to someone. I hope someone understands what I'm saying and what I headcannon... Please? SOMEONE?!
Toko Fukawa (Danganronpa series) vs Mr. Robert House (Fallout TV; Fallout New Vegas)
Toko
Mr. House
Voting ended onMar 1
Info & propaganda under the cut!
Toko
“She’s a very reclusive writer, even before the killing game. After that, she mostly keeps to herself, of fear of her dark secret (bad DID rep) being revealed.
Toko is A Mess. She don’t shower, her hands are tiny, she takes everything as an affront to her and she’s very cruel to everyone around her. But she gets better (she also gets a girlfriend)” - @moirailsupport
Mod note: I would like to add that as well as it being generally conveyed that she was reclusive pre-canon, Touko also spends the prologue and first chapter of the actual game mostly hiding in her room according to the wiki. Also, like several of our shut-in contenders, she was severely abused by her parents as a kid.
Mr. House
“I don't know much about his game counterpart, but in the TV show he notably sends out a body double to all corporate meetings and parties. So he can stay in his office predicting when the world will end with his super calculator.
Granted, in the show he goes out to make an ominous appearance at a military ceremony, and I think that was also him picking a fight with some randos to test his latest device. If no one else submits Mr. House, I'll let this double as the Fallout: New Vegas iteration of the character.
[Propaganda]: I mean sending a body double to do social appointments for you is peak hermit behavior. Also I get a feeling he found a creative way to hole up in his office until whatever century Fallout: New Vegas and the show take place." - anonymous submitter
“Mr. House controls a damn-near invincible robot army and the entirety of Las Vegas. The only way he could be killed is by sneaking into the Lucky 38 (which could only happen with Houses permission), getting up to the penthouse, breaking into the secret chamber and fighting past the aforementioned invincible robot army. Mr. House wins.” - @govermentcheesecaves
“Mr house never goes outside so hard that for over 200 years he’s hiding in a cryogenic chamber with his consciousness uploaded and controlling thousands of practically indestructible robots. He was so paranoid of being assassinated that he had body doubles for public appearances. He’s controlled the Las Vegas Strip Area from the distant pre-war era to the current fallout timeline all from his gamer den with his stupid little VR headset. The guy solos” - @guillotinedream
