One thing in Super Danganronpa 2 that I think doesn't get enough appreciation is it's setting & the meta narrative that comes with it.
Rambly analysis incoming:
The setting is of course, the Neo-World Program, which takes the form of an island paradise named Jabberwock Island, which is a real place within the universe of Danganronpa outside of the NWP, but has a different function there, being a base of sorts for some Future Foundation members.
In the Neo-World Program, Jabberwock Island is designed to be uninhabited by anyone except Usami, the people put into the program, and the occasional creature here and there. This is very purposeful. When the three creators (Fujisaki, Matsuda, and Gekkogahara) of the Neo-World Program were designing it, they, being students of the ultra-pressurised and toxic environment of Hope's Peak Academy would have likely known that some of their fellow students could have used this kind of intense, all consuming therapy to help them overcome their trauma.
Enter the 77th Class, aka the Ultimate/Super High School Level Despair. What do these guys all have in common? Trauma. From various things that are incompatible with an intense school life and an imploding social environment. Stuff like bullying, struggling to fit in, lack of self confidence, terminal illness, bereavement, social awkwardness, abuse, and even more. Not only were these folks traumatised upon entering the Academy, but these traumas and weaknesses were exploited and used to manipulate them into being part of Junko Enoshima's despair-fulled, mindless, murderous cult, because they felt they had simply nowhere else to turn.
So what does the NWP and it's version of Jabberwock island have to do with this? Well, they are two things that traumatised teenagers and young people use to escape reality and soothe themselves rolled into one: a holiday paradise with plenty of wide open space and things to do, and a simulation/game world where even more things are possible. And to keep things in order, there's also the two programmed observers: Usami, the designated "teacher" who guides and instructs the group in gathering the hope fragments by working through things together and bonding with each other, and Nanami, another student, the gamer and game character within a game, who's presence is intended to gently encourage and support the others. This is all temporary by design, as they must then take these lessons learned and confidence gained into the outside world, whereby having their memories newly replaced, they'll no longer be Ultimate Despair and instead be the humans they were meant to be.
So in short: it's giving flawed and traumatised teenagers a chance to play and be themselves where the outside world wouldn't help them, in order to heal and rehabilitate them so that when they get out, they are better people and prepared to face life's challenges.
However, as we all know, Izuru Kamukura managed to implant an AI of Enoshima into the NWP, messing things up and forcing the students into a killing game instead. Worse yet, it is revealed during the 6th trial that the rest of Ultimate Despair willingly put themselves into the program, almost definitely knowing that the Enoshima AI would be present and things would get violent. Why did they do this? Well it could mainly be due to the desire to inflict more despair upon themselves, and/or to see Enoshima again. But also, due to the repeat function in the core of the program, they could abuse that function to repeat the killing school trip over and over again, refusing to leave this place behind and defeating the purpose of the NWP being a temporary program.
A metaphor for how traumatised people can get stuck in toxic patterns or escapism or both, and how these dangerous habits can loop over and over and over again.
That's why it hits so powerfully after Hinata and the other survivors decide "stuff that, we're gonna take control of our own futures, rather than having them be decided for us or dictated by the past or our fears." It's a big giant middle finger to the idea that someone's destiny is predetermined and that change is impossible. Even for those who've had their view of the world shattered or their personalities trodded on. You can always make your own future.
Back to Danganronpa Zero - the first light novel of this franchise. Last time on this Showcase saga we got a look into the eight in one Naruto case that was Madarai. So for this time, I chose someone who, while not as well known as others in her class, serves the theme of Danganronpa Zero pretty well and gives sight into another underrated aspect of the series.
...Well, that and I also want to talk about the only other prominent original female in that light novel. Look at her! Can you blame me? Presenting Zero’s representation in the Mono department: Monokuma Maid!
Summary
Not much is known about this girl’s past prior to joining the Reserve Course, but she must come from a decently well off family, since she could afford to pay the Course tuition to attend the Academy.
Things changed for her after the Tragedy of Hope’s Peak Academy – where the Student Council were forced to kill each other. Junko would send out a mass email that put the blame on Izuru Kamukura the school’s Ultimate Hope. This would anger the Reserve Course who started to riot. One for their mistreatment and the other for the funds they spent being used to, apparently, make a mass murderer. Junko would then use the footage of the massacre and edited with the knowledge of Ryota Mitarai’s brainwashing methods. Creating the Despair Video, this girl would fall prey to it and be driven insane with despair. Like with the rest of the Reserve Course, she became an underling to the Ultimate Despair.
During the events of Zero, Ryoko would wake up to find herself in the Reserve Course’s secret society and be welcomed by the girl, this time wearing her maid dress and Monokuma mask. Monokuma Maid would guide Ryoko about the base, assuming that Ryoko was testing her, and delve into the Reserve Course’s goal of getting their hands on Izuru. Notably, her own blatant insanity, creepyed Ryoko out so much that she used the excuse of needing to use the restroom to quickly leave her. But, in doing so, Ryoko would learn more about the society’s secrets as well. From how they watched the DV on repeat for thousands of times, to even holding two of the Steering Committee hostage (albeit, one dead and the other tortured before eventually being killed as well).
When Junko finally regained command in the finale, the reason the girl became Monokuma Maid was because Junko was just trying out mascot ideas, but decided that people in costumes wasn’t going to work for her next killing game.
Eventually, like with the rest of the Reserve Course that hadn’t died yet in DR3 or became Izuru, Monokuma Maid would meet her on end on the day the Reserve Course invaded the Main Course side, slaughtering every student that wasn’t in Class 78 or apart of the Ultimate Despair. The RC students would commit suicide after Junko would send them Monokuma’s Gloomy Sunday, otherwise known as the Suicide Video. Be it jumping out of the Main Course building or running into its burning wreckage, Monomaid would have killed herself. The Reserve Course mass suicide would go onto the catalyst for the Tragedy that would end the world.
While polite, quirky and eager to please at first, Monokuma Maid is a girl that’s utterly insane, being prone to violent ranting and cursing over her plight as a Resrve Course student. She is bitter and disdainful to the school she’s affiliated with it, being utterly disillusioned with it. She holds fierce loyalty to Junko, but laments that she feels that she isn’t capable of truly being Monokuma.
Rundown
I mentioned that Danganronpa Zero’s theme is one of ‘identity’ or, rather, a ‘lack of identity’. Yuto’s whole thing is that he lacks so much presence that people don’t notice him, the Madarai are octuplets that make an effort to be completely indistinguishable from each other to the point people could mistake them as being one person. Monokuma Maid serves this theme from the get-go by way of her own design and name...or lack of it. She is only known as the Monokuma Maid, with her real name being unknown. Her face is complete obscured by her Monokuma mask and her own identity as a maid hammers in the point that she is but a servant. Someone that lives to assist someone else’s life instead of their own. Monomaid’s status compared to the other Reserve Course (that aren’t the Trio most are aware of) is also something to take note of. Sure, while her identity that we know of is literally just a Monokuma Maid, it still marks her as unique compared to the other members of the Reserve Course who get no names, nothing to make them stand out and, in the anime, are depicted as being transparent, near faceless, nobodies. She is unique from the metaphorical faceless crowd solely because she took up a mask to become a literal faceless henchman.
Monokuma Maid easiest point of comparison would be to Mukuro Ikusaba herself. Similarity wise, both are devoted followers of Junko that done disguises or other forms on behalf of their boss. They are also more than willing to go about illegal or immoral actions for the sake of Junko’s plans being completed, with an eagerness to serve her. Though, how they differ, is in their motivations which, strangely enough, Monomaid is more of the autonomous of the two (despite, you know, being brainwashed).
Mukuro’s whole life desire is to serve Junko and make her happy, no matter what, even if it costs the world. Her entire identity is wrapped up in that one desire. Monokuma Maid on the other hand, while essentially being nameless and apart of the masses of underlings involved with Junko, her desire (and by extension the Reserve Courses’s main desire) is to get their hand on the Ultimate Hope and ‘crush him’ as payback, which is why they’re rioting and working with Junko (with video shenanigans for good measure). It's a nice reminder that, despite probably being the least regarded people both in and out of universe in Danganronpa, the Reserve Course’s goal prior to their mass suicide did come from a genuine independent grudge beyond Junko and persists even as they became her underlings.
Personal Thoughts
I really loved Monokuma Maid in terms of design and what aspect she brought to the prequel to the original game. The idea that concept of Monokuma needing to go through stages before becoming the bear that we all knows and, probably, love is a great addition to the world.
Monokuma Maid also serves as a great gateway to a rather undertalked about aspect of Danganronpa, that being the Reserve Course. It’s easy to dismiss them as just ‘Junko’s brainwashed puppets’ ( + three named others of varying importance) and call it a day (DR3 certainly chalks it up to just that), but Zero’s inclusion of Monomaid, and really the other RC students that get depicted in it, really helps flesh out that aspect of them.
Monomaid isn’t a bluefaced nobody that Junko can chuck at a repressed boxer, she’s a perky, unstable, girl with a clear chip on her shoulder in face of an actual injustice. She’s passionate about taking down Hope’s Peak and (while Junko wasn’t herself), this maid actually had the gall to go right up in Junko’s face to yell at her about her grievances. Sure, her being so crazy is due to watching the video, but its an exaggeration of her very real issue with the system.The same goes for the other minor students that got some page time. One of the talking Monohead students (in a very depressed and bitter state) is able to wax philosophical about the mutual killing that transpired in Zero and, when Ryoko runs to the old school building, one of the students disguised as a guard, smirks at her and let’s her in.
They’re proof that even the ‘talentless’ crowd had personality and charm to them just as much as the Ultimates that we all love. Even with the knowledge of them being brainwashed in Zero, you get the feeling these aren’t just zombies Junko can order about and treat willy-nilly, but thinking people that you have to take into consideration. Heck, even Junko and Mukuro talk about them in the end as if they were your regular minions that one needs to work with and around if you want stuff done (which makes DR3′s usage of the DV more annoying but that’s neither here nor there at the moment) It’s characters like the Monokuma Maid that really helps make the DR world message and themes come alive, and why I do wish she got remembered more. Kind of makes me sad that, despite being the sole survivor of the original DR0 cast, DR2 just has the Reserve Course kill themselves without any utilization of her. Makes me sort of wish she took the place of AI!Junko in a way, but what can you do.
With that, DR0 is down once more! Next up is back to the detective side of things with Danganronpa: Kirigiri!
