Danganronpa (video game)/YMMV


 * Awesome Ego: Celestia, Togami and Enoshima have a veritable godlike level of arrogance, and it may well be a big factor in them all being some of the most popular characters in the franchise.
 * Broken Base:
 * There are a fair amount of people who were disappointed when it was revealed that Junko Enoshima was the mastermind. This might be partly because the JUNKOS meme became a Discredited Meme on Something Awful around the time that the Let's Play reached the last trial, and people had been arguing for and against its increasing credibility.
 * The anime of the game is slowly causing this. Some fans find the adaptation disappointing since it has scenes that look like they came directly out of the game (such as executions and trial scenes) and there is nothing new, not to mention they cut down on many character-establishing scenes, while others enjoy it and are happy that it is so faithful and occasionally add up extra scenes that enhances the existing scenes (such as Leon's breakdown and desperate attempt to escape, or Kiyotaka's utter breakdown at Mondo being guilty and not defending himself).
 * The Funimation dub takes it to a new level. Mainly by replacing the main cast (bar Bryce Papenbrook) with their voice actors. The explanation as for why is that they hold the rights of the anime before the game was a success in the west. However, because Funimation didn't shy away of hiring the original voice actors from other adaptations (Neptunia, Blazblue, Disgaea), that still makes people wonder why they didn't recast the original voice actors after the fact.
 * This, however, is explained further in the Blu-Ray commentary track. Bryce Papenbrook was available to reprise his role by chance; he was already at Funimation to record for Attack on Titan, and therefore was available for the dub. However, the scheduling conflicts and cost of travel to bring every other voice actor would have resulted in the production going over-budget, so the decision was made to recast the entire dub sans Makoto.
 * The fashion sense of the Big Bad! Some think Junko fully deserves the title of the Ultimate Fashionista, and hold her up as an example of Evil is Sexy. Others dislike her wardrobe and label her a Fashion-Victim Villain.
 * Dangan Ronpa IF, too. Some people praise it for dwelling more on the relationship between Junko and Mukuro as well as making the latter an Ascended Extra. Others accuse it of making Mukuro a Mary Sue/Creator's Pet.
 * The pink blood, especially in the anime. People who aren't familiar with the game thinks that it ruins the suspense and it's not as scary as real blood, while fans of the game accept it and see it as stylistic choice for censorship.
 * The various differences in each translation, between the Let's Play, the fan translation, and the official localization. It's nigh-impossible to find people agreeing on which is better.
 * Complete Monster: Monokuma, a sadistic robotic teddy bear who's trapped Hope's Peak Accadamey in a deadly game designed to create Sanity Slippage that makes the students turn on each other and commit murder. When a murderer is found guilty, Monokuma gives him or her a twisted, torturous execution of his choosing, and throughout the game he relishes in twisting the knife in the cruelest ways possible For the Evulz. It turns out that not only is Monokuma just one of Junko Enoshima's multiple personalities, but Junko caused the Worst, Most Despair-Inducing Incident In The History Of Mankind which has turned the world into a post-apocalyptic waste. A masochist and a sadist with a fetish for despair, Junko's goal is to not only bring despair to every student in the school, but to send the world into ultimate despair by broadcasting "the game" live for the rest of the world to see, forcing everyone to abandon all hope of overcoming despair. To make this happen, she murdered the previous headmaster of the school, and also murdered her own twin sister Mukuro Ikusaba so she could pull a Twin Switch with her. And this is after she had abused Mukuro all her life, the sickest part being that she was unable to comprehend how Mukuro could not enjoy such despair-inducing treatment. While Laughably Evil and able to change her persona at the drop of a hat (some of which don't even seem too evil and are capable of Pet the Dog behavior), the severity of Junko's actions are shown to be quite serious, and she feels no remorse for any of it. Her "true self" is a blank, empty person unable to feel anything but all-consuming malice and despair. How much of Junko's Complete Monster status is a result of a dementia that's beyond her control or how much of it was her own choosing and creation due to being a bad seed is left ambiguous. What's clear is that she's definitely bordering on this trope's territory since in all her appearances, she is focused only on making things go From Bad to Worse.
 * Crazy Awesome/Love to Hate: The real Junko Enoshima.
 * Critical Research Failure:
 * In Case 2, you need to play Hangman's Gambit to prove that Toko has a split personality. However, you need to input "schizo". Schizophrenia is decidedly different from Dissociative Identity Disorder, which she ACTUALLY has and which the game correctly states before the trial starts.
 * In all fairness, the term may have been used to make the puzzle more fair. As it's the second case in the game, an answer as long as "split personality" would have likely been too long, while using an acronym like DID would have been far too short. "Schizo", while technically incorrect, is still used to refer to people with split personalities fairly often. It's likely the developers knew the difference though, as the puzzle is the only time "schizo" is used, with characters saying either split personality or DID in all other instances.
 * Hagakure shells out 100 million yen (roughly 1.3 million US dollars) for a crystal ball that he claims was used by Napoleon, Genghis Khan and George Washington. And it's not even made of real crystal.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: Pretty much every track qualifies, as the music was done by Masafumi Takada (of No More Heroes and God Hand), but Monokuma's theme is consistently a fan favorite.
 * Cry for the Devil: Celestia's four manga chapters expend a lot of effort to show the level of her insecurity about her past, such as the shot of her younger self perched on a Trauma Swing when Makoto asks what her real name is. The final scene punches this one home where she's narrating that she has to die as Celeste while she's giving her Motive Rant; it says a lot that the first thought on her mind is staying in-character instead of the fact that she's about to die.
 * Draco in Leather Pants:
 * Fans tend to forget that regardless of the situation pushed by Monokuma, Celestia still is responsible for two premeditated murder- manipulating Hifumi into killing Taka, then killing him herself (unlike Leon, who killed Sayaka in response to her own attempt to kill him, and Mondo, who killed Chihiro in a fit of rage), making her one of the most depraved characters in the game, but she carries herself in such an elegant, amusing manner that even her Freak Out! is often considered a plus point instead of showing how sociopathic she is. Even aside from her actions in Chapter 3, fans also generally overlook the fact that she callously victim-blamed Chihiro for being murdered simply because he broke the unofficial nighttime rule that the group had previously agreed to.
 * There's also Genocide Jack, who's unabashed in her status as a Serial Killer. Her reason for not killing anyone in the game is solely for Pragmatic Villainy instead of Even Evil Has Standards (though that trope does come up when she discusses the mastermind's actions), making her someone you would not want to meet in an alley alone, especially if you're a hot guy. Of course, when you're under the grip of Monokuma, it's easy to get fans tone down your depravity, and fandoms being obsessed with fictional serial killers simply on the logic that being a serial killer is hot is far from new.
 * Similarly, more than one Leon fan completely excuses his murder of Sayaka. Truth is, while he's not evil, in the original VN and the anime, he could have just left her inside the bathroom that had its door jammed in, and then gone to denounce her, but he chose to kill her instead. The manga interpretation kinda helps this camp though, see Alternate Character Interpretation above. Absolute Despair Girls saved him further when he showed his genuine tender side on Kanon in spite of constantly rejecting her and cemented some of the personality traits introduced in the manga.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: If the Let's Play polls are anything to go by, is very popular with fans. Sakura, too.
 * Evil is Sexy: Junko again. Looking that good probably didn't hurt her chances at being the Ultimate Fashionista.
 * Friendly Fandoms: With Persona 4, since they're both high-school set murder mysteries, have talking teddy bears, and some of the same voice actors. Also with the Zero Escape series, which is also a Visual Novel series about a Deadly Game and solving an Ontological Mystery, and their creators merged.
 * Hype Backlash: The game went memetic long before it was available in English. It's inevitable that people who were never going to like the game would go in with unrealistic expectations and be underwhelmed.
 * It's Popular, Now It Sucks: "Eww, there are ROLEPLAYERS?" Though mentioning that anyone roleplays anything is something of a Berserk Button for Something Awful.
 * Magnificent Bastard: Many characters are candidates for this trope, but Junko Enoshima herself most of all.
 * Memetic Hair: Mondo Owada's bosozoku pomp tends to be his most striking physical trait, to say the least.
 * Misaimed Fandom: Some Western fans continue to insist that Chihiro Fujisaki is male-to-female transgender in spite of it having been explicitly Jossed.
 * Non Sequitur Scene: The "Monokuma Theater" segments at the end of each ordinary day. It's Monokuma giving speeches about topics that are seemingly irrelevant.
 * One-Scene Wonder: The real Junko Enoshima only appears for a brief time, but is utterly unforgettable.
 * One True Threesome: Chihiro, Mondo and Kiyotaka are a prime example of this when they're not depicted as a Power Trio.
 * Paranoia Fuel: The entire premise of the game thrives on this, and Monokuma exploits it for all it's worth whenever he can.
 * Player Punch: If you got all of Chihiro's Free Time conversations, you'll tell him that Mondo is the strongest. Now skip to Chapter 2's trial and feel like an asshole.
 * Every murder/execution can easily become this depending on how much you liked the victim.
 * Portmanteau Couple Name:
 * "Chishimondo" is often used to describe Chihiro, Kiyotaka and Mondo together (Japan calls it 大和田サンド/"Owada Sandwich" instead), while just Kiyotaka and Mondo tends to be "Ishimondo".
 * There is also "Naegiri" or "Naeyouko" for Makoto/Kyoko and "Naegami" for Makoto/Byakuya.
 * Sakuhina or Sakuraoi is used for Sakura/Aoi.
 * "Togafuka", or "Tofu" for Byakuya/Toko.
 * Ron the Death Eater: While this trope does not happen to the extent of certain characters from sequels, it can be still apparent with Hifumi and Sayaka. The issue with Hifumi is already listed above while Sayaka tends to be portrayed as a huge Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who never once cared about Makoto Naegi despite the fact that her voice actress confirming that she does have feelings for Makoto as well as the manga confirming that Sayaka wrote the dying clue out of remorse.
 * Sacred Cow: Be prepared to be constantly attacked for saying you don't like this game.
 * The Scrappy: A lot of people don't like Yamada.
 * Naegi also gets some flak for being a standard ordinary protagonist.
 * Ship-to-Ship Combat: Surprisingly averted most of the time. Despite the frequent instances of Broken Base and Fan Dumb and the fandom's penchant for Shipping, major fights over who should end up with who are relatively uncommon. This may be because romance isn't a big focus of the game, or it may be because most characters die anyway.
 * Signature Scene:
 * Sayaka's body being found.
 * Leon's execution. Not only is it the first, but it's also one of the most brutal, which makes it the one people remember the most.
 * The Reveal about Junko being the Mastermind.
 * Stoic Woobie: For all the work Kyoko puts into convincing Makoto of her dislike for her father, her reaction to the family photo leaves him unconvinced. When he sees her later on, she calls their heart-to-heart discussion on her regrets surrounding his death "rambling" (though the fact she was even willing to openly ask for his help with this issue marks some pretty serious Character Development).
 * That One Boss:
 * The Bullet Time Battle against Hina in the fourth trial. Not because of the BTB itself, but because you already had two Bullet Time Battles against Hiro and Toko. Unless you are very skilled, it's likely you aren't going into the BTB against Hina with much health left, leaving very little margin for error.
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
 * It's easy to feel this way about the victims of the game. In particular, Kiyotaka was abruptly killed mid-game shortly after seemingly taking on a fallen friend's spirit.
 * Leon in particular gets hit hard with this. He's not even the first to die (but the first to be executed), yet the roles of the two characters who died before him get more emphasis. Given that he ended up being the first killer partly due to factors beyond his control, some players think there could have been a lot more to him than there ended up being.
 * Some of the readers believe that Celestia's motive made her too one-dimensional, but others believe that was precisely the point - the motive of the chapter was simple cash and some people in real life do murder simply for that. Other still point out that either reading is Completely Missing the Point of Celeste as lying liar who lies, meaning everything about her from her allegedly shallow motive all the way to the name "Celestia Ludenburg" is not supposed to be taken at face value, with the game providing several hints that there is more to her than she wants others to see. Fortunately, the manga gives hints or Alternate Character Interpretation on how her motivation came to be and slightly made her into a Jerkass Woobie instead. Unfortunately, the canonity of the manga isn't clear as of yet, although the official AU "School Mode" seems to run with this characterization through a Defrosting Ice Queen arc.
 * Unpopular Popular Character: Kiyotaka. Most of the other students consider him either intimidating or irritating, it's made very clear that Mondo is his Only Friend, and barely anyone reacts when he's killed. Even the writers admit he was supposed to be unlikable in the main story provided one didn't read his Free Time Events. And yet, he's well loved by the fandom and scores highly in polls. Many appreciate his earnest attempts to uphold the group dynamic and keep people working together towards a common goal, while yaoi artists in particular like the copious amount of Ho Yay he has with Mondo.
 * Values Dissonance:
 * Chihiro's reason for crossdressing is because he was constantly belittled for not fitting Japanese gender norms, being frail, shy and not very masculine by Japanese standards. He tried to escape the bullying by crossdressing because his weaknesses were viewed to be more fitting for a girl than a boy, and he was left alone. But he didn't find himself happy because all he wanted was to be acknowledged as a boy, and he believed that the only way that would happen was if he was stronger. Such an idea would go over the heads of, and is misunderstood by, many Western fans, especially since gender roles in the West are nowhere near as strict or enforced as they are in Japan.
 * Though not given as much focus as Chihiro's issues, Aoi's insecurities in her Free Time events about not being feminine enough ties into Japan's strict gender roles as well, as girls who aren't feminine enough by Japanese standards will be told they're "unworthy women" or that they won't be able to get married. However, Makoto tells her that she's fine the way she is.
 * Though not given as much focus as Chihiro's issues, Aoi's insecurities in her Free Time events about not being feminine enough ties into Japan's strict gender roles as well, as girls who aren't feminine enough by Japanese standards will be told they're "unworthy women" or that they won't be able to get married. However, Makoto tells her that she's fine the way she is.