60 Fun Facts About Danganronpa

Which company develops and owns the Danganronpa series?

Spike Chunsoft owns it; creator Kazutaka Kodaka wrote the original scenario, aiming for what he called a twisted adventure game.

On which platform was the first Danganronpa game originally released in 2010?

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc launched on the PlayStation Portable in Japan on November 25, 2010; the Vita version reached North America in February 2014 and both early games later came to Steam and PS4.

The word Danganronpa combines the Japanese words for what?

Dangan means bullet and ronpa means refutation, which is why you fire Truth Bullets at contradictions during class trials.

What kind of creature is Monokuma?

Monokuma is a robotic teddy bear, half white and half black, with a jagged red eye on his black side; he installs himself as headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy.

Monokuma's name is a mash-up of the Japanese word for bear and which English word?

Monochrome plus kuma, the Japanese for bear, reflects his black-and-white colour scheme; his English game voice is Brian Beacock.

Monokuma's original Japanese voice actress, Nobuyo Oyama, was famous for voicing which beloved character?

Japanese audiences were shocked to hear the robot cat's voice coming from a sadistic bear; Tarako took over the role later.

What is the name of the elite school at the centre of the series?

Hope's Peak Academy scouts students who are the best in the world at something and calls them Ultimates; its Japanese name is Kibōgamine Gakuen.

What is the Japanese term that Western localisations render as 'Ultimate'?

Chō-kōkō-kyū, literally Super High School Level, became 'Ultimate' in the Western localisation; Makoto Naegi's Japanese title is Super High School Level Good Luck.

Which company localised the Danganronpa games for Western release, starting in 2013?

NIS America's first two releases sold more than 200,000 copies combined on Vita in Europe and the US by April 2015.

What colour is the blood in the Danganronpa games?

The fluorescent pink is part of the deliberate pop-art look, and it also helped with age ratings.

Which filmmaker does Kazutaka Kodaka cite as a major inspiration for the games?

Kodaka has cited David Lynch, Twin Peaks in particular, as a key influence; producer Yoshinori Terasawa was thinking more of Saw and Cube, and the original concept was rejected as too gruesome before a retool.

Who composed the music for the Danganronpa games and anime?

Masafumi Takada, formerly of Grasshopper Manufacture, composed the series' music; Rui Komatsuzaki designed the characters whose look helped the first game stand out.

Who is the protagonist of the first game, Trigger Happy Havoc?

Makoto Naegi, picked by raffle as the Ultimate Lucky Student, narrates the first game; he and his classmates wake up locked inside Hope's Peak Academy.

How many other Ultimate students does Makoto meet when he wakes up inside Hope's Peak Academy in the first Danganronpa?

Fourteen others make fifteen students in total, though one of them is not who she claims to be.

According to Monokuma's rules, what is the only way to leave the academy?

If the class picks the wrong culprit at trial, everyone except the real killer is executed.

Who is the first murder victim in Trigger Happy Havoc?

Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Pop Sensation, is killed by baseball star Leon Kuwata after her own plan to murder him goes wrong.

Which student kills programmer Chihiro Fujisaki in the first game?

Mondo Owada, the biker gang leader, kills Chihiro in a fit of envy after Chihiro confides in him; his execution straps him into a motorcycle cage of death.

Which gambler manipulates Hifumi Yamada into killing Kiyotaka Ishimaru?

Celestia Ludenberg, the Ultimate Gambler, manipulates Hifumi into killing Ishimaru, then kills Hifumi too, hoping to walk out with Monokuma's cash motive.

Which martial artist takes her own life after being exposed as Monokuma's spy?

Sakura Ogami, the Ultimate Martial Artist, takes her own life in Chapter 4 after being outed as Monokuma's mole; the trial has no murderer to catch.

Who is the true mastermind behind the first killing game?

Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Fashionista, is the real mastermind; the 'Junko' killed early on was an impostor wearing her identity.

What is the name of the mastermind's fraternal twin sister who impersonated her?

Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier, is impaled by Monokuma's spears for 'breaking a rule' when she attacks him while posing as Junko.

How long had the students actually been living inside the academy before their memories were wiped?

Two years: the class had sealed themselves inside Hope's Peak after the Tragedy, then the mastermind executed headmaster Jin Kirigiri and erased their memories.

How many students survive to leave the academy at the end of Trigger Happy Havoc?

Six survive: Makoto, Kyoko, Byakuya, Toko, Aoi and Hagakure walk out into a world they know nothing about.

Which class-trial mode has you shooting down specific letters to spell a word?

In Hangman's Gambit you shoot the right letters out of a stream to spell a key word; the Nonstop Debate and the rhythm-based Bullet Time Battle are the other shooting modes.

In which trial mode do you assemble a comic strip showing how the crime happened?

The Closing Argument ends every trial by filling the missing panels of a manga-style strip; the sequel added the snowboarding Logic Dive and sword-swinging Rebuttal Showdown.

How many copies did the first Danganronpa sell in its first week in Japan?

Famitsu charted 25,564 copies in the PSP original's first week in November 2010, a modest start; the Vita remake Danganronpa 1·2 Reload followed in 2013.

Where is Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair set?

Jabberwock Island's tropical setting turns out to exist only inside a virtual-reality program.

Who is the amnesiac protagonist of Danganronpa 2?

Hajime Hinata learns he was Izuru Kamukura, the artificial 'Ultimate Hope' created by Hope's Peak's Kamukura Project.

Which rabbit mascot greets the students in Danganronpa 2 before Monokuma takes over?

Usami, the 'Magical Miracle Girl', hosts the field trip until Monokuma hijacks it and reduces her to a powerless mascot renamed Monomi.

Which Danganronpa 2 character shares Makoto's Ultimate Lucky Student talent?

Nagito Komaeda is calm but mentally unstable, and his obsession with hope drives much of the plot.

The 'Byakuya Togami' who turns up in Danganronpa 2 is later revealed to hold which talent?

The Ultimate Impostor, whose real name is never revealed, has been posing as the Togami heir; he dies in the game's first case.

Which chef is the culprit in the first case on the island in Danganronpa 2?

Teruteru Hanamura, the Ultimate Cook, stabs the Impostor by mistake in the blackout; he had meant to kill Nagito, who was plotting a murder of his own.

Which nurse kills both Ibuki Mioda and Hiyoko Saionji in Danganronpa 2?

Mikan Tsumiki, the Ultimate Nurse, kills Ibuki and Hiyoko in Chapter 3 after the Despair Disease revives her old despair-infected personality.

Which animal breeder kills team manager Nekomaru Nidai in Danganronpa 2?

Gundham Tanaka, the Ultimate Breeder, kills Nekomaru in Chapter 4; the two tacitly agree to fight so the starving group trapped in the Funhouse can be freed.

The students trapped on the tropical island in Danganronpa 2 are revealed to be surviving members of what?

They are the Remnants of Ultimate Despair, Junko's brainwashed followers; the island is the Neo World Program, a rehabilitation simulation meant to undo that brainwashing.

What genre is Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls?

It is a third-person shooter: Komaru Naegi fires Truth Bullets from a megaphone-shaped Hacking Gun at Monokuma robots.

Where is Ultra Despair Girls set?

Towa City, an artificial island built by the Towa Group, is the setting; Monaca Towa wants to make Komaru into Junko's successor.

Toko Fukawa, Komaru's partner in Ultra Despair Girls, has a scissor-wielding alternate personality called what?

Genocide Jack, Toko's scissor-wielding serial-killer persona, surfaces when she sneezes or is shocked; the Warriors of Hope, five abused children who want a world without adults, are their opponents.

Which apparent protagonist of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is executed at the end of the first chapter?

Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist, hands over to Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective, after her trial.

Who is the first victim in Danganronpa V3?

Rantaro Amami is found dead in the library in Chapter 1; the class is led to believe Kaede's shot-put trap killed him, though the final trial reveals otherwise.

How many Monokubs assist Monokuma in Danganronpa V3?

Five Monokubs, Monotaro, Monosuke, Monophanie, Monokid and Monodam, squabble constantly and are destroyed one by one over the course of the game.

Who is revealed as the mastermind of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony?

Tsumugi Shirogane, the Ultimate Cosplayer, reveals that the students are contestants on a long-running lethal reality show and that she had been posing as one of them.

According to V3's ending twist, the killing game is which season of the Danganronpa television show?

It is the 53rd season, hence 'V3'; K1-B0, the robot student, has been serving as the audience's camera, steered by viewer votes.

On what date was Danganronpa V3 released in Japan?

V3 launched in Japan on 12 January 2017 for PS4 and Vita; NIS America brought it West on 26 September 2017.

Which studio animated Danganronpa: The Animation in 2013?

Lerche produced the 13-episode series in 2013; the same studio returned for Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School in 2016.

What is Byakuya Togami's Ultimate talent in Trigger Happy Havoc?

Byakuya Togami is the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, heir to the Togami conglomerate; Ishimaru is the Moral Compass, Hagakure the Clairvoyant and Toko the Writing Prodigy.

Which Danganronpa board-game spin-off, subtitled 'Ultimate Summer Camp', launched for the Switch in 2021?

Danganronpa S grew out of the board-game mode bundled with V3 and reunites the casts of all three main games.

What was the working title of Kodaka's original, too-gruesome pitch that became Danganronpa?

Distrust was the darker, more realistic prototype; its grim tone was rejected and it was retooled into Danganronpa with pop-art colours and pink blood.

Which cult Sega Dreamcast game did Kodaka reveal in 2014 had inspired Danganronpa's story?

Kodaka named Illbleed, the 2001 Dreamcast horror oddity, saying he loved how 'crazy' it was; Danganronpa itself began as a plain visual novel before its trial gameplay was added.

Which roguelike rhythm game features remixed Danganronpa music and skins of Makoto and Junko?

Crypt of the NecroDancer's Japanese console release, published by Spike Chunsoft, added remixed Danganronpa tracks and character skins; Monokuma has also appeared in Terraria's Japanese console versions and NetEase's Identity V.

Who is the anterograde-amnesiac protagonist of the prequel novel Danganronpa Zero?

Ryoko Otonashi, who forgets everything that happens and lives by her notebook, narrates Zero; Kodaka wrote it alongside Goodbye Despair and recommended reading it before the sequel.

In the light novel trilogy Danganronpa: Togami, where is Byakuya stranded naked with his biographer?

Byakuya wakes up naked in Prague with his biographer Blue Ink; meanwhile the Ultimate Impostor seizes the Togami Conglomerate and demands the real Byakuya be killed within 24 hours.

The manga Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer follows a Future Foundation agent who secretly kills whom?

Takumi Hijirihara's alter ego Killer Killer murders other murderers; he is obsessed with Mukuro Ikusaba, and the manga was later revealed as a side story of Danganronpa 3.

Which author wrote the unlockable mini light novel Danganronpa IF, found in Goodbye Despair?

Ryohgo Narita, author of Baccano! and Durarara!!, wrote IF, an alternate-universe story in which Makoto finds an alleged escape switch in the academy.

Which director helmed both Danganronpa: The Animation and Danganronpa 3 at studio Lerche?

Seiji Kishi directed both series; Danganronpa 3 aired as two interleaved arcs, Side: Future and Side: Despair, in the summer of 2016.

Why did the team make an anime, rather than a game, to conclude the Hope's Peak storyline?

An anime of Danganronpa 2 had been planned, but Kodaka felt those characters' story had already ended.

Which voice actress performs the first game's ending theme 'Playback -rebuild-'?

Megumi Ogata, who voices Makoto Naegi, sang the ending theme, known in Japanese as 'Saisei -rebuild-'; it was reused as the anime's final ending theme.

What does Gundham Tanaka call the four hamsters he keeps in his scarf?

Gundham Tanaka's hamsters San-D, Jum-P, Maga-Z and Cham-P are the Four Dark Devas of Destruction, carried in his scarf throughout Danganronpa 2.

A 2019 controversy erupted when a drag queen in a Monokuma costume was refused entry to which chain?

Whataburger apologised after an Austin branch turned away Erika Klash, who had performed as Monokuma at the city's drag festival for years.

Kodaka likened his pause on the series after Killing Harmony to which three-part film saga?

Kodaka compared stopping at three to the Back to the Future trilogy; the 'V3' in the title was chosen to set the game apart from the Danganronpa 3 anime made at the same time.