Danganronpa 15th Anniversary: Danganronpa Stage
Transcript ① Talk Session with Megumi Ogata and Masafumi Takada
This transcript is a revised version of what I hastily posted on November 29th, with additions and corrections made after reviewing the recently published archive.
Ogata: Well, originally this was supposed to be a one on one talk with the MC, but since Takada-san is here today, I selfishly asked if we could take this chance to reminisce a bit together.
Takada: I guess that means we’re talking about things from fifteen years ago.
Ogata: Right. You were involved from the very beginning, weren’t you?
Takada: Yes, from around the proposal stage. At the time, I thought of it as just one project among the many titles I was involved with, so I never imagined it would become this popular fifteen years later.
Ogata: I felt the same. When the project first started... well, I’m sure everyone here has heard this story many times over the past fifteen years, but for me, it all began when I received the initial plot to read. Back in those early days, the Dangan team was... Oh, right—why isn’t Kodaka here today?
Takada: Kodaka is in Kyushu right now. (Note: He is attending CEDEC, a conference for the game industry.) That event was scheduled earlier, so he had to go there.
Ogata: That’s how it is. I’m sure many of you were wondering why he isn’t here. I’m sorry. Please feel free to mutter a curse at Kazutaka Kodaka later. (laughs) No, but really, he left his thoughts with us.
Takada: Yes, and in terms of nurturing the next generation, he’s contributing to the industry.
Ogata: I’m sure his feelings are here with us, raining down like a curse.
🔸 Casting and Early Decisions
Ogata: Actually, the members of the early Dangan team didn’t know much about voice actors. At the time, my manager apparently went to Spike on their own initiative to pitch me directly. That led to the idea that maybe I should be the one to voice Naegi.
Takada: Well, I've heard that the voice actor casting ended up becoming reality because of something they joked about. Take Oyama-san, for example. (Oyama refers to Nobuyo Oyama, who voiced Monokuma.)
Ogata: Honestly, it’s amazing they were able to ask her at all. Approaching her after she had stepped down from voicing that nationally beloved character would have been incredibly difficult. I think the Dangan team back then was just fearless.
Takada: Exactly. I don’t think they were thinking about the hurdles at all. They probably just thought, “Wouldn’t it be perfect if Nobuyo-san voiced Monokuma?” and made the offer.
Ogata: Right. Speaking of Nobuyo-san, she always said, “Monokuma may say terrible things, but deep down he’s a good kid.”
Takada: She did say that, yes. (laughs)
Ogata: I was thinking, “In what way!?” but since she was my senior by far, I just kept nodding along and saying, “Yes, that’s true.” (laughs)
Takada: I actually learned that Oyama-san had been chosen as Monokuma’s voice actor from a television news segment. You appeared in that segment as well, didn’t you?
Ogata: Oh, yes, I did a promotional appearance with her. It was filmed at an elementary school that had been closed down. There’s still a news report from that time, so you can see photos from the event here: https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1290590595
At that event, I went on stage before her, so Oyama-san waited in the hallway. Later she told me, “You made me wait in the hallway, you know?” (laughs)
Takada: That was when its recognition really shot up, wasn’t it?
Ogata: Oh, and I just remembered—they invited a comedy duo as “support” for the event. (It was The Touch, a twin comedy duo. Most people probably didn’t understand why they brought in twins right before the game’s release, but in Danganronpa, twins carry special meaning. Perhaps that’s why they chose a duo of twins for the promotion.)
They were dressed like Monokuma and did their “out-of-body experience” gag. I remember thinking it would be pretty unsettling to have two Monokumas at once. laughs Yes, that’s how it was.
Takada: That really takes me back.
🔸 How Takada Became Involved with the Music
Ogata: How did the music offer come to you, Takada-san? Was it from Producer Terasawa-san? (Terasawa refers to Yoshinori Terasawa, who served as producer for Danganronpa: THH through Danganronpa V3.)
Takada: Yes. Actually, Terasawa-san was the very first client representative I worked with when I entered this industry. We used to joke, saying, “Let’s work together again someday,” and Danganronpa is what made that come true. That happened more than ten years after we first met. I met him when I was around 22 or 23, so it was well over a decade later.
Ogata: Most of the key people have already left Spike Chunsoft, though... (Terasawa is now freelance.)
Takada: Yes, that’s true. Ogata-san and I have been involved with Danganronpa from the beginning, and we’re still around.
Ogata: Well, organizationally speaking, we’ve always been outsiders. But you’ve been working alongside Kodaka-san all this time, haven’t you?
Takada: That’s right. Since Danganronpa was such a success, I thought that if we could do something similar one more time, maybe we’d be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement. That’s why we founded a company called Too Kyo Games, and that’s how we ended up where we are now. laughs
Ogata: Well, that’s a big misconception.
Takada: A misconception?
Ogata: Just because you have one hit doesn’t mean you can live comfortably for the rest of your life. Well, maybe the game industry is different, but in the voice acting world things are pretty tight for everyone. Even if you’re in several TV anime, you still can’t make a living. laughs I might not be making much sense, but basically, it means you have to keep working.
Takada: Well, yes... I did feel that at some point you have to take a risk and make your move.
🔸 About the Live Performance
Ogata: Anyway, Danganronpa really was a turning point in your lives, but like the music you just played earlier, when you hear this song again while standing in front of this image—gestures to the artwork on the screen behind them—it really gets you fired up, doesn’t it?
(Applause from the audience.)
Takada: It does make me happy. Honestly, since these are songs we wrote fifteen years ago, I was a little worried about how they would come across now.
Ogata: Oh, don’t say that. The song I sang (Rebuild) was also written fifteen years ago, and I’m still singing them even now!
Takada: Those were composed by Iwase-san, right?
Ogata: Yes. The keyboardist there composed the music, and I wrote the lyrics. I think many people already know this story, but for those who don’t, I’ll explain briefly. Before making Rebuild, there was a time when I felt “I’m not cut out for music” and was kind of stuck. That was when I met them—Iwase-san and the others. We started by doing covers, and then when I decided to give it another try and rebuild myself, I created the song “Rebuild” together with Iwase-kun and the band members. We made it, kept it as a kind of demo tape, and I performed it live in March in front of an audience. Then in April, I received the offer for Danganronpa. Terasawa-san asked me, “Ogata-san, do you have any demo tapes?” I gave it to him, and he said that this song was a perfect fit. That’s how it ended up being used as the ending theme for Danganronpa. It was a pretty unusual process for a tie-in.
Takada: Right, so the song already existed before Danganronpa.
Ogata: Exactly.
Takada: So basically, Danganronpa just swooped in and took advantage of a song that was already there?
Ogata: laughs Well, we released it properly together into the world, you know!
🔸 The Music Composition Process for Danganronpa
Ogata: Is composing music for Danganronpa very different from other projects? What do you focus on most when you start?
Takada: People often ask me, “How do you come up with the ideas?” but usually, I start by looking at the game screen. Once I know what kind of dialogue will happen there, the music naturally starts to play in my head.
Ogata: So was that the case with the track “Arguement -HEAT UP-” as well?
Takada: Yes. It’s hard to put into words, really. laughs When I look at the visuals, it just sort of comes down to me—this is the music that fits.
Ogata: I see.
Takada: So it always starts from the theme.
Ogata: Of course, that makes sense, since it’s music written specifically for the game. But take “Argument -HEAT UP-” for example — it’s such a well-known Class Trial track, and it really brings to mind that spinning visual during the trials, doesn’t it? Do you compose by reading the script and imagining those scenes?
Takada: Actually, I don’t really read the script that much. For Danganronpa:THH, I didn’t even look at the plot.
Ogata: So you worked while looking at the track list?
Takada: What I was told at first was just that there would be these flat polygonal images moving around, and that it felt kind of interesting. Those characters would pop up and hop around, and apparently they would kill someone. That was basically all the information I had when I created the music.
Ogata: (To the audience) Does that explanation make sense to you?! Flat things hopping around and killing someone. laughs It sounds kind of dangerous, doesn’t it?
Takada: But that really was about all the information I had, and I wrote almost all the tracks based on that. There were no retakes. The game was released just like that, and I thought, “Well, that turned out okay,” and that would be the end of it. We even had a wrap-up party, thinking, “It didn’t sell that well, but it was fine.” Danganronpa didn’t sell very well in its first week.
Ogata: That’s true. Danganronpa really spread through word of mouth from fans, little by little.
Takada: Was the reaction on Twitter already good back then?
Ogata: Twitter wasn’t that widespread yet at the time. But at Spike, there was one person in the PR team who was a huge otaku, and we spoke the same language, so to speak. There was someone named T-san. (On stage, Ogata referred to them as K-san, but since K joined around the time DR2 was close to release, it was likely T who had been there from the beginning.) He really took the lead and kept suggesting things internally, like “You should do a radio show,” or “You should hold events.” That led to radio programs with voice actors as guests—and the guests were incredibly high-profile every time, weren’t they?
I mean, Oyama-san, for example, and also Sasuga-san, who voices Monomi — she said at the time that she had been in the industry for sixty years, yet she told us, “This is my first time ever appearing on a radio show.” After sixty years! And I remember thinking, is it really okay that her very first radio appearance is because of Danganronpa? But that’s how we ended up inviting so many different people.
Takada: And that’s how it gradually became popular?
Ogata: Yes. The listeners spread the word for us. Back then, Spike wasn’t very experienced with promotional events yet, and with a single word from President Sakurai — “We’re doing an event next month” — it was suddenly decided that there really would be an event the following month. (Sakurai refers to Mitsutoshi Sakurai, who was the president of Spike at the time of Danganronpa’s development and is currently the CEO of Spike Chunsoft.)
Everyone was like, How are we supposed to pull this off by next month!? We all went through a lot trying to make those events happen. But by repeating that process over and over, more and more people helped spread the word, and that’s how it gradually grew, I think.
Also, there were quite a few people in the anime industry who actually played Danganronpa. A lot of them told us it was interesting, and when it came time to make the anime, the director, Kishi-san, and the producer, Higa-san, were already extreme fans — they’d practically played through it multiple times. So they were like, “Leave it to us!” And that’s how the anime adaptation came to be. (Kishi refers to Seiji Kishi, who served as the director for both Danganronpa: The Animation and Danganronpa 3. Higa refers to Yuji Higa, who was the producer for both Danganronpa anime projects.)
🔸 Thoughts After 15 Years
Ogata: So, after all that, how does it feel to be standing on stage like this now, fifteen years later?
Takada: Well... if the popularity can just keep going for another ten years or so, I think that would be enough for me.
Ogata: laughs That’s a very broad answer.
Takada: I’ve composed music for a lot of games, but I never really cared whether something became a hit. I thought, as long as I write music, get paid, and can make a living, that’s fine. And then Danganronpa suddenly became hugely popular. After that, all the offers I started getting were for projects where “someone dies” or things along those lines. Honestly, I’d actually like to write more peaceful music.
Ogata: That’s all Kodaka-san’s fault, isn’t it?
Takada: Yeah, that’s true. laughs
Ogata: We’ll just blame everything on Kodaka-san. Sorry, Kodaka-kun — just joking.
Anyway, I’m sure you’ll continue working on many different projects, and someday, maybe we can do another Dangan live concert. We did one briefly before, after all.
Takada: Yeah, that would be nice. At this point, it feels like we’re in the phase of just making memories, doesn’t it?
Ogata: laughs Like something to look forward to in retirement?
Takada: Exactly. I kind of feel like I don’t need to push myself too hard anymore. From here on out, I just want to focus on enjoying things. Today has been fun too, and if we can keep making memories like this, that would be great.
Ogata: (to the audience) If we did a full-scale Dangan live concert, would you all come?
(Applause from the audience)
Ogata: Thank you! I remember your faces now, okay? You all better buy tickets next time. laughs Thank you very much. I hope we’ll continue to have opportunities not only to enjoy many different works, but also to perform and listen to music like this together.
Takada: Yes... I’ll do my best, more or less.
Ogata: Once again, that was Takada-san!
Next: Transcript ② Ogata Q&A