Danganronpa 52: Despair From the Heart is 5 YEARS OLD TODAY!!!!!
I've been meaning to make an anniversary animatic for at least the past 2 years but every time I tried I lost motivation to finish it on time, but now I finally buckled down and did it!! Yippee!!!!
I never thought that I'd EVER get this far with DFTH so THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT!! <3
...Okay ever since I fell into the CR3 hole we all knew this was inevitable
This is pretty long even not counting the spoiler quotes because holy fuck this series is so quotable-
(...What. No. I’m not indoctrinating you into falling into Critical Role with me. What’re you talking about.)
~~
Haruto: Perhaps we should introduce oursel-
Jasper: SHRHSAHSHHHH.
Haruto: WHY ARE YOU-
Haruto: Wh y i s yo u s o m ea n t o m eeee...?
~~
Sachiko, in a posh accent: Would that be considered piercing, bludgeoning or slashing damage?
Jasper, also in a posh accent: It doesn’t matter, you have not taken your turn to rage yet.
Sachiko:
Sachiko, still in a posh accent: oh fucking shit
~~
Saiko: I'm going to...Slowly make my way...
Kokoro and Haruto: Mmmaaaaakiiiiing mmmyyyyyyyyy wwwaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy
Saiko: You’re welcome.
~~
Jasper, to Rantaro: You’re not a burden, by the way. You shouldn’t have said that. You’re quite the asset.
Jasper, immediately jumping at Haruto: YOU, YOU LITTLE FUCK-
~~
Rantaro, putting his hands on Haruto’s shoulders: Words of affirmation. I believe in you and think that you’re great. Pat pat.
Haruto: Are you...Giving me some sort of inspiration?
Rantaro: …Do you feel inspired?
Haruto: No...?
Rantaro:
Rantaro: Well I did my best.
~~
Kaoru: Ah fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffluff.
Kaoru:
Kaoru: I work with kids.
~~
Sachiko, kicking down a door: SURPRISE, BITCHES!
Jasper: You aren’t raging.
Sachiko: ...Oh.
Sachiko: Surprise, gents.
~~
Rantaro: How hurt are you?
Haruto: …How what?
Rantaro: How h-
Jasper, barely containing himself: How hard are you???
Rantaro: How HURT! No, how HURT! How HURT!!! HUUUUUUUUURT!!!!!!
Jasper, wrapping an arm around Haruto: How hard are you right now~? From a scale of like spruce to oak~?
Rantaro, holding his head in his hands: I hate you so much...!
~~
spoiler quotes under the cut
Jasper: You’re all rushing up on me like you know me! I could be a criminal!
The rest of the cast: Are you?????
Jasper:
Jasper: probably
~~
Tsumugi: Wait, I thought you said there were no points. Now there’s points?
Slade: No, not points. XP.
Tsumugi: ...What does that stand for?
Slade:
Slade: Xylophone playaaaaaaaazz
~~
Saiko: Did you say anything? Nice words?
Rantaro: I did say some things...That I probably should not share with you, Saiko.
Saiko: …Like bad words or something?
Rantaro: …Something like that.
Saiko: You cursed at my funeral!?
Rantaro: I didn’t have a funeral for you.
Saiko: I DIDN’T EVEN GET A FUNERAL!? EVERYBODY ELSE DID!!!
Rantaro: I didn’t know if you were actually gone!
Saiko: EVERYONE GOT A FUNERAL BUT ME!?
Rantaro: NO!!! NONE OF YOU DID!
Saiko: OH MY GOD!!! YOU DIDN’T GIVE ANY OF US FUNERALS!?!?!
~~
Tsumugi: Jasper was doing drugs!? Slade! You sold Jasper DRUGS!?
Slade: No! I...Procured them for him at his request.
Tsumugi: ...Is this why you weren’t in the main cast after the Hope’s Peak arc?
Slade:
Slade: Nooo...?
~~
Jasper: This is what I do. The lock’s pretty old, hold on...
Spec: There is no lock, actually-
Jasper: Oh, I rolled a natural 20. Does that help?
Spec:
Slade:
Slade: SUDDENLY A LOCK APPEARS
~~
Sachiko: NANCY!!!! WE’RE LEAVING!!!!!!!
Flora: ...?
Sachiko: I’ve lost my toddler, Nancy. Have you seen her?
Flora: Oh my g- oh my god...!
Sachiko: I know. Her name is Nancy. She’s...…Four.
Flora: EXCUSE ME, THIS WOMAN IS LOOKING FOR HER CHILD NANCY!!!
[everyone starts looking towards Sachiko]
Sachiko: Shit, uh...! *notices Yuuma* Oh, there she is!
Yuuma: Wait, what the f-
Sachiko: NANCY! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?
Yuuma:
Yuuma: mother.
Tsumugi:
Tsumugi: NO...! NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT...!!!
~~
Tsumugi: WHO’S JASPER!? Oh, sorry. Who’s Jasper?
Jasper:
Jasper: Me. I was first.
Tsumugi: ...You look like a Jasper.
Jasper:
Jasper: Joke’s on you.
Tsumugi: *confused*
Slade, in the execs room: *laughing hysterically*
~~
Miko: We could do...Boulder parchment shears?
Rantaro: Who am I doing it with?
Miko: Not me!
Tsumugi: The dumbass and Sachiko.
Sachiko: Yeah yeah yeah, okay. You ready?
Haruto: Wait, all of us!?
Rantaro: We could do-
Sachiko: No, threeway!
Haruto: This feels like a dumb idea- just us two-?
Sachiko: NONONO. THREEWAY.
Rantaro: Okay, ready? One, two, three!
[they all proceed to throw different things]
Rantaro:
Haruto:
Sachiko: ...UH.
Slade, in the execs room: PFFAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
Haruto: Wait!...That’s why it doesn’t work with three people!
Jasper: I know threeways. That is not how you accomplish them.
Slade, dying of laughter: HOW HAVE THEY ALL SURVIVED TO CHAPTER 4!?!?
Aka: I found some of my old DFTH notes from when I started it in 2019 and wanted to share some of my findings
Looking at them gave me secondhand psychic damage because. Fuck. In some areas god 18 year old Mew didn’t know what she was doing
Also I figured some people might be curious about DFTH’s development?
Maybe? No?...Okay then
Anyway time for a magical mystery ride into DFTH’s past!
(this contains spoilers obviously but none for the future obvs)
Talents
I don’t really remember much of here but for a while people had different talents. The ones I remember the most clearly is that Kaoru was originally the Ultimate Geologist, Yuuma was originally the Ultimate Gemologist and Haruto was either the Ultimate TV Personality or Show Host.
The reason I changed them was because there was too much overlap between geologist and gemologist (though ngl Yuuma’s current talent lines up a lot with her previous one). Idk why I changed Haruto’s, but I guess disaster theatre kid Mew jumped at the chance to have a theatre kid character.
Character designs
Not a lot really changed character design wise at all. But the reason I put this here was because of a fun fact:
I actually came up with most of the character designs for DFTH from using CharaT! Baby Mew was not good at character design (you can see from looking at my old RWBY OCs, oh god oh fuck) so CharaT was a good springboard. (but on the other hand if the character designs for DFTH make no sense that’s why lmao) The only characters that I didn’t use CharaT for were Amai because she already existed kinda (I made a sprite for her randomly to experiment) and Rantaro for obvious reasons.
These obviously aren’t all of them but they’re the best looking ones I could find
Voiceclaims
...Idk why I’m putting this here, I just remembered some old voiceclaims I had for some of the cast and thought they’d be neat to put here
Kaoru - Zach Callison (actually Itsuru’s current voiceclaim now!)
Saiko - Jonathan Young (yes, he was always planned to have a deep voice) and before anyone asks why because of this
Ayano - Carrie Manolakos (solely because of the Death Note musical)
Haruto - for a while it alternated between Anthony Ramos and Todrick Hall, and I’m pretty sure at one point really early on it was Nathan Sharp/NateWantstoBattle (who is now a potential voiceclaim for Hide)
And fun fact, I didn’t actually decide Kokoro’s voiceclaim until I made that video for my DFTH voiceclaims. And ngl I’m still kinda rocky about it.
As for why?
Because...I actually imagine Kokoro’s voice being my own voice. (it’s actually the same for Hotaru too!)
Which is really weird for y’all to imagine since you don’t know what I sound like.
Maybe at one point I could record myself reading some Kokoro (and maybe Hotaru) lines to show what I mean? No promises though.
The executions
The only people I can really talk about here are Saiko and Miko.
Rikona’s was the first execution I ever came up with for DFTH. Seriously, the moment I had her talent down (and before I had her down as a killer mind you) my brain just went “the Wizard Chess scene but if Ron actually fucking died”. BOOM EXECUTION DONE NEXT PLEASE
As for Ayano, I also had her’s mostly down. My past notes for her execution essentially amounted to “uh impossible math problem blah blah blah wrecking ball-ed by a big fuckoff Newton’s Cradle”. So her’s was pretty easy.
Saiko’s was a fucking ordeal to come up with. (...Jesus christ I didn’t even realise I made that joke)
Seriously for a long time I was banging my head against the wall going “how the fuck do I execute a fucking h i s t o r i a n”
The only alt executions I remember having are him being sent through different historical torture methods before eventually being decapitated at a guillotine, and at some point I just decided “fuck it, throw him in the bottom half of an hourglass”
Miko’s on the other hand.
...Uh. His was so fucking hard to come up with.
I remember at one point a previous one was similar to the leadup to the current one, but he was pitted against an army of Monokumas and, despite actually being able to make a bunch of solid weapons, all of them broke and he was outnumbered easily.
The main thing I did want for his execution still stayed though, which was him dying from being impaled multiple times over. So that’s a plus I guess.
The cases
The death order hasn’t really changed much, mainly because I built the characters from the ground up based on the death order. Though I do remember a point where Ahmya was the chapter 4 killer instead of Miko, but that changed into what we have now. (and ngl her unused execution was actually pretty damn sick, but I’ll probably get into those at a later point)
The only other non-future-spoiler chapter I remember changing was chapter 3. Originally the motive was something along the lines of “Monokuma infected everyone with a disease that causes them to fall unconscious at certain points and a cure will be put through the air supply when someone dies”.
Yeah. You can tell past Mew had no clue what she was doing, huh?
Literally the only reason why that was the motive was so I could bullshit Ayano an alibi. Like literally Rantaro and Kokoro would go in and see Amai missing and Ayano unconscious on the floor and be like “oh. Huh. Must be Monokuma’s thing” when she was. Just. Pretending to be asleep I guess
And also because of that Ayano actually killed Ahmya on purpose here. Kinda. She still wasn’t part of her plan, but she actually did make the effort to kill her. This was still in the stage where Ayano was gonna pull a Celeste and fucking snap during the trial, so that was disposed of along with that whole thing.
But the other case that changed the most here was...
Chapter 4
This’ll probably be the longest one.
...And it will mostly consist of me yelling at my past self for my bad writing choices sdsdsds
But holy fuck the chapter 4 case changed a lot.
The only things that stayed the same were:
Haruto was the victim and Miko was the killer
Jasper would trick Miko into killing Haruto somehow
Miko wouldn’t actually be able to see the death happen
The cause of death was electrocution
I wanted the cause of death to be electrocution because that’s a cause of death that’s rarely ever used in Fangans. Like, the only times I’ve seen it used are in DRA and Dreadnought Despair (check out Dreadnought Despair by the way it’s fucking dope) so past Mew wanted to be unique.
The way past Mew wanted to pull it off though.
...Uh. It made no fucking sense.
So instead of the labs and the extra room being the only stuff on the fourth floor, there was originally gonna be a swimming pool. (why the fuck would anyone put a pool at the top of a building? WHO FUCKING KNOWS I WAS A DUMBASS) And in that swimming pool room there was like...A lifeguard’s office? Is there a word for it? You know how some indoor pools have like a room looking over the pool where the lifeguard would be? That. And the pool had a localised sprinkler system (for some reason) that could be turned on and off from that office.
So to basically tl:dr Miko’s plan here. He arranged to meet Jasper at the pool, and set up his trap by dropping one end of a live wire (connected to a light? In the ceiling???? Do you see why I hate my past writing choices now) into the pool and heading to the lifeguard’s office where the sprinkler switch was, and drew the blinds on the window because he didn’t want to see his victim die. Essentially his plan was to hit the sprinkler switch when he heard the door open, and that would in turn electrocute whoever came in...SOMEHOW??????
Okay I actually have to give my past self this. Having Miko rely solely on audio cues for the murder and have the main clue towards him being the killer being the fact that the killer shut the blinds on the window was pretty smart.
EVERYTHING ELSE WAS FUCKING DUMB JESUS CHRIST WHAT WAS I THINKING GOD FUCKING DAMMIT PAST ME WHY DID I THINK THAT ANY OF THIS BULLSHIT MADE FUCKING SENSE
...Okay rant over. For now.
Misc. stuff
Okay this bit is for stuff that didn’t really fit in the above categories so I put ‘em here
I think at one point the academy was just gonna be the Gifted Inmates Academy again? Or maybe Hope’s Pass? (listed as Rantaro’s previous highschool in V3 because haha Hope’s Peak Academy joke)
And I guess past Mew was like “nah I can’t take the name from V3 that’s not creative enough. Hmm...Ooh starlight is a fun word” and just went with that despite how dumb Starlight Academy sounds on reflection lol
Originally, the way Miko’s parents died was gonna be completely different. For a long time it was gonna be that the village they lived in was destroyed in a natural disaster (I think it was a volcano?) and they died, with Yusuke having to take him in as a result. I eventually decided that having his parents actually be murdered instead would explain Miko’s pacifism and aversion to conflict even better than what I originally had.
For a long time, Slade and the execs didn’t even exist. Honestly it’s weird to think of that. At some point I just figured “hey Tsumugi’s writing decisions could cause some friction within TDR, so why not show that?” and thus the bastard business man was born.
Kenshiro didn’t actually exist for a while either. Those flashback scenes with him in chapter 3 and onward originally weren’t meant to happen, and Rantaro’s relationship with him was originally gonna be more of an implication. But then I remembered that “show, don’t tell” exists and figured it’d be a good way to go into Rantaro as a character.
And while we’re on the topic of things not existing, Haruchiko didn’t actually exist for a while either. Literally I just thought “haha they could actually be cute together but that’d never happen...Oh shit”
There was originally gonna be a scene where Kokoro’s whole side-gig as an idol would actually be important and she’d perform a song for the cast to raise their spirits. (aka: past Mew had recently discovered SDRA2 chapter 2)
There was originally gonna be a formal party/ball scene in chapter 4 before Jasper did his heel turn, with formal outfits and everything. Rankari would have a thing there, Haruchiko would have a major thing there, and there would even be a slight hint at Shionnade. (aka: past Mew had recently discovered DRA chapter 4)
Rankari was actually going to happen. No joke, it actually was.
But then I thought it’d be more fun to deconstruct the ‘best girl/sidekick/love interest’ trope entirely so now we have what we have now, and honestly I prefer what we have now to having Rankari actually happen.
I don’t think past Mew even had an explanation for Jasper’s skin colour. Like, I saw it was an option on CharaT and the explanation was literally just “purple looks cool so deal with it I guess”.
...I’m glad I came up with an actual explanation for it. Yes it’s kinda nonsensical but it’s better than “purple looks cool so deal with it I guess” sdsdsdsh
And that’s most of what I remember.
Why did I do this?...I don’t know, but going into DFTH’s past was fun.
And cringeworthy. Very cringeworthy.
God fuck just reading my past chapter 4 notes made me want to bleach my eyes
I hope you enjoyed this brief dive into DFTH’s development! If you wanna talk things more my inbox is always open ^v^
So I started watching SBI recently-
(some of these are the members of SBI but with other people so please don’t come at me for it)
~~
Jasper, pointing to 3 anchors: So you know the start of Pokémon? You gotta choose which one of these three you wanna have-
Haruto: *immediately picks one up and gets launched upwards* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-
Jasper: AHAHAHAHAHAHAH-
~~~
Rantaro: Unfortunately each hope fragment requires exponentially more resources than the last, so I did what any self-respecting Ultimate student would do, and sat in the rec room buying Monomono Machine pulls for 30 minutes.
Rantaro:
Rantaro: I’m having fun.
Rantaro:
Rantaro: I dropped out of college for this.
~~~
Rikona: I went easy on you! Fine, I’m gonna be toxic next round!
Rantaro: I don’t even think that was toxic.
Everyone:
Kokoro: Rantaro, you said you were gonna beat her with a belt.
~~~
Miko: This is...Bigger than I was expecting. Okay...How long have you spent here?
Ayano: …Uuuuuh…I haven’t logged off.
Miko:
Miko: …Wait. You…You haven’t logged off the server since last night???
Ayano: Yeah I’ve just been here.
Miko:
Ayano:
Miko: THAT’S FOURTEEN HOURS, AYANO!!!
Ayano: Revolution waits for no man.
~~~
Rikona: I don’t like the coral.
Rantaro: I know you don’t. But I do.
Yuuma: I quite like the coral Rantaro, I’ll be honest with you, it does have a really nice-
Rikona: You’re such a- stop sucking up to dad!
Yuuma: I’M NOT SUCKING UP, I LIKE THE CORAL!
Rantaro: *dying laughing*
~~~
Saiko: It's gonna be scary, but it's only Haruto and Haruto’s never done anything good, so it's fine.
Jasper: Exactly. Well y’know Saiko, I'm just saying, back up plan.
Saiko: Yeah?
Jasper: If we don't win but the idiot's team wins, you can just go to his house and steal his mail.
Saiko: To be fair, I have a crowbar.
[everyone laughs]
~~~
Jasper: You wanna be a hero, Hikari~?
Jasper: THEN DIE LIKE ONE!!! *flicks a switch*
Jasper:
Jasper: wait why isn’t this working
~~~
Miko: A ZOMBIE JUST CRUSHED TWO EGGS!!!
Ayano, not giving a shit: Oh yeah they do that.
Miko, absolutely horrified: FOR FUN!?!?!?!?
~~~
Spoiler quotes under the cut
~~~
Jasper, as he’s taking over the KG script: YOU’RE ALL LOSING TO A DROPOUT! HAHAHAHAHAHAH
~~~
Jasper: It just seems so rude. Do I barge into your house and just start looking through your stuff and commenting on your suspicious to-do lists on your wall?
Jasper: …Actually, do you even have a house? I’ve never seen you in a house.
Tsumugi:
Tsumugi: I do have a house. It’s very very far from here.
Jasper:
Jasper: Are you homeless?
Tsumugi: NO, I’m not homeless! I do have a house-!
Jasper: Do you sleep outside, Shirogane?
Tsumugi: I HAVE A H- I don’t even sleep, but I do have a house.
Jasper: Prove you have a house. Bring me to it.
Tsumugi:
Jasper:
Tsumugi: I’m not gonna take you to my house-
Jasper, turning to the camera: Guys she doesn’t have a house.
Tsumugi: I HAVE A HOUSE!
Jasper: SHE’S THE MASTERMIND OF THE KILLING GAME-
Tsumugi: I HAVE A HOUSE!!!
Jasper: SHE’S THE MASTERMIND OF THE KILLING GAME AND SHE NEVER BUILT A HOUSE!!!
~~~
Haruto, as Jasper single-handedly solves the chapter 3 trial: …Sachiko?
Sachiko: Yeah?
Haruto:
Haruto: Are we side characters, Sachiko?
Sachiko: PffahAHAHAHA-
~~~
Jasper: Slade. Slade...!
Slade: Yeah?
Jasper: I gave you that book...THREE MONTHS AGO, SLADE!!!
Slade:
Slade: You said three months!
Jasper: NO I DID NOT! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA TAKE LIKE TWO DAYS TO READ THAT BOOK, SLADE! IT’S BEEN, LIKE...90 DAYS! I ALMOST DIED!
Slade: YOU SAID THREE MONTHS!
Jasper: I DID NOT SAY THREE MONTHS!!!
Slade: Wait wait wait
Slade:
Slade: oh my god you said three days.
Jasper: Bruuuh.
Slade: Oh I- *dies laughing*
Jasper: Bruuuuuuuuuuuuh.
~~~
Kokoro: WAIT. WAIT. MAIN CHARACTER QUESTION.
Jasper: Hm?
Kokoro: Do you know who your parents are?
Jasper:
Kokoro:
Jasper:
Jasper: Well they died so-
Kokoro: OH GOD, HE’S THE MAIN CHARACTER! NOOOOOOOOO!
What your favourite DFTH ship says about you (THIS IS THE LAST ONE I PROMISE)
Rankari - Two possibilities. One: you think what happened in Twilight would totally be okay if the genders were swapped, or two: you ship Tokogami.
Either way, you are heterosexual.
Haruchiko - Your top priorities are keeping things canon and keeping things wholesome.
Mikayano - You just wanted good things for Miko. And that is a universal sentiment.
Jastaro - You’re just here for some yaoi.
Ranharu - Your top priorities are keeping things gay and keeping things canon.
Saitaro - This is just the same joke as Ranharu, but you just want more Saiko content. And really, who wouldn’t?
Harusai - You are a firm believer in *clap* MEN *clap* GETTING *clap* PEGGED
Ranharusai - You just want good things for Rantaro. And honestly, everyone does at this point.
Shionnade - You ship Oumasai.
...
No, no punchline. That’s the only reasonable explanation I can think of for you still shipping this after chapter 4.
Jasharu - This is the same joke as Shionnade but, like, 100x more so.
Ranchiko - Either you are a firm believer in the inherent eroticism of stealing someone’s girl, or are just trying to cope after chapter 4. And really, who isn’t?
Yuumakona - If you told me you weren’t gay, I would not believe you.
Kokoharu - You are a firm believer in the inherent eroticism of “FINE I’LL FUCK YOUR BEST FRIEND INSTEAD”
Saikoro - This is just the same joke as Kokoharu but even more so.
Rankaoru - You just wanted good things for Kaoru. Press F to pay respects
Ranahmya - You’re just here for some wholesome platonic sarcasm buddies.
Rantayano - You are a firm believer in the inherent sexual tension present in framing someone for murder.
Sachikoro - This is just the same joke as Kokomai but even more so.
Shiongane - You are a firm believer in the inherent eroticism of wanting to kill each other.
Jaskoro - I’M SORRY, YOU SHIP WHAT!?
Jaslade - Despite that it’s been debunked in canon multiple times over, you took the “Jasper works for Team Danganronpa” theory way too far.
…Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you. *FBI, OPEN UP!!!*
Ranmugi - I’ve said it many times before, I’ll say it again. You are reading the wrong fanfiction.