Danganronpa: Summing Up Possibilities

Keep it up, author! There aren't many Danganronpa fanfics these days, and even fewer that truly capture the essence of Danganronpa. Keep updating; people are reading!

Keep up the good work, author!!! I love Danganronpa!!!

The interactions between the different characters in this book are truly captivating. I started reading it after it was finished, so I binged up to chapter 3 in one go. The suspense is palpable, the pacing is tight, the plot is engaging, and the twists are quite brilliant—it definitely surprised me! However, it's a bit of a shame that some characters weren't developed enough, like the painter (but I really liked him). Maybe it was the part where he told a corny joke that really struck me; I couldn't stop laughing.

It's really good! The genius character setting is also very interesting, and I felt really sorry for the character after understanding it. I'm also very curious about the characters of the painter and the thief, but unfortunately, neither of them is described in much detail. (I'm also very interested in what it would be like if the police and the thief interacted.) I hope to see more clever performances that combine ingenious plot twists with well-developed character traits!

I spent the whole afternoon on Qidian.com reading three Danganronpa fanfics. This one is still the best written. (Perhaps because the atmosphere is the most oppressive, there are fewer awkward parts. It has its advantages and disadvantages, and the writing style is always very comfortable to read.) I've been following this book for half a year now, but I'm just a miserable college student, busy to the point of exhaustion every day. So, I haven't really done much to support this book. But when I saw the book was gone last month, I really panicked. I was relieved to see that the author reposted it today. Too few people are reading this book; it's still too highbrow for the masses. Detective fiction has long lost its mainstream entertainment status, and Danganronpa fanfiction is also slowly losing popularity (it seems the recent Steam sale has attracted quite a few young readers). The author shouldn't have too high hopes for it to become popular. I'll type a few more words to show my support. (Mainly because I saw that some people also wrote long reviews)

Keep it up! (ง •̀_•́)ง

For this topic alone, all my recommendation votes are for you today.

Since I only started reading Danganronpa during the 2024 Winter Sale, it's understandable that I only saw the book at the end of the year and only wrote a review on the last day of the year. However, from another perspective, if I had started reading earlier, I might have been deterred by the infrequent updates. So, being able to see such a well-developed fanfic right away is quite fortunate, isn't it? While I don't think the author will necessarily see this, I do have a habit of discussing good works, and if there are any new fans of Danganronpa, I can recommend it to them—I'll try to get as many people as I can (just kidding). Also, as a reader, the only way I can think of to support the author is to write a long review (especially since this book is free). Whether the author sees it or not, as long as I write it, there's a possibility the author will see it, right? (Laughs) ●Overall impressions of the book, personal recommendations, and reading order I believe that to create a truly amazing work, the creator must undoubtedly give their all. And to create excellent fan fiction, the creator needs to wholeheartedly integrate their most compelling ideas into someone else's worldview. I think this book embodies that. I saw this realization in the author's words and witnessed it firsthand during my reading. For those familiar with Danganronpa, based on my overall viewing experience, the highlights I found to be: Interesting cases and plausible criminal methods (the foundation of mystery novels); An unexpected process of infighting and class trials where students defend themselves against each other (if you've watched Danganronpa, surely no one would dislike this). Before participating in the program, high school student Saihara Shuichi's experience (the familiar people in the original work are intertwined with the characters related to the self-destruction line in this work, which has a sense of destiny). Generally, novels can be read chapter by chapter in order, but since this book has multiple parallel storylines, and I personally prefer reading it in its entirety, I'd like to offer some recommendations for those with similar tastes: Possibility A, Possibility B; Saihara Shuichi's investigation records, a meaningless past; Side stories, possibilities, and affection storylines; Reverse investigation records of Saihara Shuichi and scattered chapters related to other detectives, including Saihara Shuichi; Possibility Ω, :Ⅱ, Epilogue. Manual divider line. Below is my reading experience, which contains spoilers. Please proceed with caution if you are sensitive to spoilers. ●Regarding the Genius Cube plan Personally, I feel that the genius's plan was "not enough." After all, everyone was talking about fighting the conspiracy, but in the end, the real conspiracy achieved a perfect ending. Although the genius and Ohma sacrificed themselves to pull out the fog to further analyze the truth of the world, and their purpose in the class trial was "the existence of a cyclical game, guessing that the rule of the cyclical game is to eliminate those with low popularity, so they boosted their own popularity and continued to compete with the conspiracy in the next cycle," in the end... All these actions became stepping stones (the first line) for the real conspiracy (the second line). It can be said that not only did they have no effect, but they even helped the other side to build up their strength. And this was something that the genius (who can be said to be the protagonist who replaced the prophet and drove the plot) and Ohma (those who have read the original work know what I mean) and others worked together to do! Although it is logically plausible, and comparing the conspiracy in a game of mutual destruction does have limitations, it does not prevent me from still having (very! Huge!) Resentment. ●About Loop Games While the explanation given is that the cyclical game is a gimmick for the 50 episodes of *Danganronpa*, eliminating one person each time and then sparking endless discussions of possibilities, from a viewer's perspective, it feels somewhat tedious. Just as the text states that the prophet's predictions are based on the understanding of infighting and information from previous cycles, the cyclical game inevitably suffers from repetitive content. While showcasing the conflict within a single cycle is certainly engaging, the thought of nearly identical members engaging in infighting three times before makes the timeline feel too long and the number of variables too small (only one new member added). If I were a viewer, I probably wouldn't even need the genius to use the same methods to get bored with the repetition (as a viewer, I felt I'd want more new characters added, which would mean eliminating even more people—and thinking about it now, I realize I'm the cruel one. Jpg). Besides, the cruelty of the loop game setting far exceeds that of the original episode-by-episode show (constantly looping without escape), but it lacks a lot of freshness (repeated characters). I personally feel that "newness" is a very important aspect of the original Danganronpa (whether it's the meta development of the first and second games or V3). I personally feel that the loop game format is not suitable for Danganronpa, but since this is only the premise of this article, it is relatively less important. ●Personal impressions of the characters appearing in the book According to the author's setting, the first tier includes detectives, prisoners, geniuses, kings, and puzzle solvers (I'll also include the three great detectives, Higashino, Saihara, and Kirigiri, in this group). The second tier includes prophets, collectors, lucky ones, acting club members, hypnotists, and thieves. As a reader, I'll just share my thoughts based on the novel's expressiveness. While the detective received some highlights in the third volume, he essentially plays a deductive role, leaving me with an impression similar to that of the prophet. The prisoner's early murders were practically common knowledge, and with little plot development later on, he felt rather average. The thief's schemes were indeed impressive, and the collector was neither particularly good nor bad; although all are intelligent, I'd probably categorize them as second-tier. The Lucky and the Acting Club members, while possessing decent intelligence, felt closer to the average person's level. The Hypnotist starts by stirring up trouble and remains consistently strong throughout, easily placing him in the top tier. The Genius, in a later episode, practically steals the spotlight from the Prophet to drive the plot, and his performance is also quite impressive. The Mystery Solver and the Mist Cutter are similar in that they excel in puzzle-solving and deduction. Ohma's actions—finding the mastermind behind the "meaningless past" in a single day, his keen observation as an armchair detective after joining issue 50, and his deductions about the fake conspiracy—though he quickly fades from the scene, his accomplishments in such a short time are worthy of the high bar set in the original work. In the "Mutual Killing" storyline, the hacker is probably the only other character who left a deep impression on me. Whether it was using his superhuman talent to leave a bug in the previous round to help the genius discover things about the virtual world in advance in this round, or planning to harm himself and ask the seer to stop the mutual killing (this really touched me, it felt a bit like the original work), I personally feel that the character is quite well-developed. Enoshima's luck led to the execution of the acting club, thus ruining the genius's plan. But if we consider that he was trying to destroy the game of killing each other, then although it led everyone to point the finger at Higashino, he was just a part of the other's plan. Is that lucky or unlucky? (Manual sarcasm) Although I know that the painter/Shirogane Tsumugi's original intention was not like that and his record is verifiable, when I think about how Shirogane Tsumugi caused Saihara Shuichi when Higashino was in charge of the 50th issue, and how the painter was killed in the 50th issue while Higashino was dealing with Saihara Shuichi's matter, causing the rhythm of the infighting line to collapse completely... I inexplicably feel a bit like Zhuge Liang and Feng Xiao (laughs). Detective Saihara is one of my favorite characters in the original work, and in this book, he was undoubtedly outmaneuvered by Higashino's detective mindset. The atmosphere when Saihara spoke up during the class referee's meeting was genuinely awkward for me, and it made me truly understand Higashino's statement, "You lost the moment you agreed to my request." But what were Saihara's true feelings before accepting Higashino's invitation? Let's talk about High School Student Saihara. The High School Student Saihara storyline is one of my favorite parts of the book. The appearance of characters from the original work (Hyakuta, Ohma, Amami, Akamatsu) gives the story a strange sense of destiny. Saihara and Shikatani cleverly connect the self-destructive storyline between the original work and this book, while Shikatani's experiences in the Nightmare Mansion also supplement the characters in this self-destructive storyline. Of course, I also really like High School Student Saihara himself. He's somewhat of an ordinary person but unwilling to conform to reality, possessing some idealistic qualities, ultimately merging into *Danganronpa*, and reflecting on the detective Saihara as two sides that are similar yet different. Finally, we arrive at our true mastermind, Higashino Keigo. After reading it, I felt he was, in some ways, equivalent to the original author, Saihara. Just as Saihara said, "I want to deny *Danganronpa*," in reality, the game's claims that "viewers like to see infighting," "viewers like to see hope triumph over despair," and "the show will only continue because viewers like it," along with Kodaka's resignation giving the impression of a hasty escape, made it seem as if *Danganronpa* had no chance of continuing. The lies not only broke through the reality of the game but also seemed to have shone into real reality. Higashino's initial motivation for being created in this book was to defeat Saihara. His own philosophy was that reality outside the show was also false, and he wanted to construct a false reality to keep the story going. The part of this book about reality outside the show happens to be the Nightmare Mansion, which is precisely Higashino's construction of "realistic *Danganronpa*." Higashino's philosophy was perfectly presented to me through the novel. I personally feel that Higashino's meta and the story as a medium are perfectly integrated. Whether this is an overinterpretation or not, I found this point incredibly insightful. ●Regarding the case Although I personally read mystery novels and have read Ayatsuji Yukito's "The Decagon House Murders," I am the kind of person who doesn't care whether the crime method is actually feasible in reality as long as it is generally plausible. I also have a rather poor sense of space. So when I read mystery novels, I am generally satisfied as long as they can make my eyes light up, without paying too much attention to the details. Therefore, this book meets my requirements, and the class trial is exciting enough. ●About the conclusion I've written over three thousand words about this book, and I think I've said my piece. While it includes some criticisms and isn't entirely positive, I believe this is my honest feeling as a reader. Perhaps these are just meaningless ramblings, but after finishing it, I felt the urge to share them with others, simply because I encountered a story that moved me.

Sigh, this is my favorite Danganronpa fanfic.

To be honest, this is great! Looking forward to the next chapter.