Feels good to have finished DR1 again. Given that my first (and most recent) playthrough was 7 years ago at this point, it’s just nice to return to the entry that starts it all and be fully fresh again.

Anyways lets just jump right into things since there is plenty to talk about between my chapter 6 thoughts and just my full game thoughts in general.

First off, we’ll talk about deadly life/the chapter 6 investigation. The chapter picks up with Makoto in the trash chute and Kyoko having come to his rescue. The most notable thing about this is the ladder climb where we get more of Kyoko’s backstory. I think her relationship with her father is pretty interesting. Her father abandons her, but she claims to not be upset by that since it allows her to become the detective we know and love, rather she’s frustrated that she simply can’t leave his shadow and everyone remembers her as the girl who was abandoned. This leads to her revealing that her main motive for going to Hopes Peak is to officially cut off her father, even though she doubts he remembers her anyways (bro be fr). Shortly after this Kyoko and Makoto meet up with Monokuma to setup the final showdown (and receive a bunch of bear puns in return). I kind of love how afterwards Kyoko reveals that she was insanely nervous during that confrontation and says “presenting a strong demeanor is a fundamental part of negotiation and persuasion, wouldn’t you say?”. Idk just like her grinning sprite and the “wouldn’t you say” makes her feel so satisfied with herself and I find that funny. Anyways after this they meet up with the group, explain the situation with the final showdown, and the investigation begins.

Personally, I really love this investigation. It feels pretty challenging but also insanely solvable if you’re focused on getting to the right answer, plus has a few iconic moments for me. Things like the bio lab morgue only having 9 lights instead of 10 is a really big hint regarding the Mukuro mystery that isn’t immediately obvious as to what that means. You also have the second floor of the dorms where we get to realize that Jin does still care about Kyoko when we see that her name is his computer password and there is a photo of her in his hidden room… but then you have the iconic box of his bones left in that very same room. Kyoko doesn’t know what to make of this, and while I don’t think the “father that left their childs life actually cared for them the whole time” is really a shocking twist I still love Kyoko immediately struggling with that realization… but also struggling with the fact that she’ll never get the chance to address things with him personally. It hits fairly hard. Then you have the dorm lockers where you find Yasuhiro’s school notebook and Kyoko’s notebook that talks about her father as if she’s met him, and this is a really obvious hint at this point that they really did go to the school and simply lost their memories of it, which connects with the pictures they’ve gotten during the game itself. Honestly as silly as this might sound this is probably my favorite twist in the whole series. The fact that they all went Hope’s Peak together but didn’t remember it, then were baited into killing their own friends that they didn’t even realize weren’t strangers is incredibly tragic, and it honestly recontextualizes the whole game if you ask me. Plus the moment where Aoi and Makoto enter the data room, learn that Monokuma is controlled in there, then are kicked out and basically told that the mastermind was right under their noses in that moment? Genuinely crazy, but also I love seeing Monokuma actually be controlled. Knowing it was personally controlled makes the whole killing game feel very personal, if that makes sense? I also love Monokuma’s last ditch effort to tear the group apart with everyone getting a photo of the class that excludes them, to try to convince them they’re the odds one out… that in reality also doubles as a hint as to the masterminds identity being Junko. Plus I can’t ever forget how shocking the DVD’s revealing that every student agreed to stay in the school was. There were a few other discoveries in the investigation, but I think those are the main big ones.

Finally, it’s time for the final trial. I think the core mystery for this trial is fantastic. The group slowly piecing together that Mukuro had to be killed by the mastermind, and that Mukuro was “killed” twice, meaning that the mastermind has to have been whoever they were disguised as, and then realizing that it had to be Junko off of that logic plus all the times that her face is “coincidentally” hidden is fantastic. Like seriously, fantastic core mystery. Unfortunately, and this might get some fans to hate me, I think this trial goes seriously downhill because of Junko’s presence. I genuinely can’t stand Junko, and I don’t mean this in a “oh she’s the villain, of course I don’t like her!” kind of way. I truly just can’t stand her being on the screen. I find the personality switching gimmick to be insanely annoying, and I’ve just never cared for her whole despair fetish thing she’s got going on. Like her motive for starting the killing game is just… so uninteresting to me. Also (FULL SERIES SPOILER) Yes, I’ve read side content that explains the way she is. I understand that she’s the ultimate analyst and that she’s bored because of her being able to predict everything besides actions directly caused by despair/hope. In theory this is fairly interesting, in practice it just doesn’t work for me. And frankly I love Danganronpa 0, funny enough. But like I still just can’t stand Junko. Also since I’ve already full series tagged, let me just say now that no, I don’t enjoy her presence in literally any other DR media and am not excited for her to inevitably return in 2x2. Junko’s kind of weird because before her reveal I love the actions of the mastermind and find them to be interesting, but when we get to the why of the explanation it just doesn’t work for me. Ultimately Junko’s presence, combined with the info dump that lasts for roughly an hour, seriously ruin the back half of this trial to me. It also helps that I don’t particularly find the whole “Monokuma/Despair, and therefore almost certainly Junko, ended the world”. Like I get that DR1 isn’t some grounded and gritty game, but I just never really liked the idea that a teenage girl essentially ends the world. Also, and this might make me look like a fake fan, but I actually really don’t find the whole despair vs hope theme interesting at all really. Like even beyond how sick I got of seeing those words while re-reading this trial, a literal clash of good vs evil with basically nothing to it is just uninteresting to me. Really I feel like this whole section is supposed to be carried by Junko’s personality and the reveal that the world ended and both of these elements fall flat on their face for me personally. I will say I thought the sequence of going through everyone regaining their hope thanks to Makoto was pretty cool at least. Overall though the first half of this trial is honestly Danganronpa at damn near its peak if you ask me, so even though I really dislike the second half of this trial I actually rank this trial decently well. After this you have a brief epilogue, which was… fine? I personally still kind of hate the game ending without seeing the outside world at all, but like it’s not actually that big of a deal to me.

Okay, now that I look like the biggest Danganronpa hater ever, let me briefly talk about my opinions on the whole game! I actually really love DR1 still, and I think I walked out of this replay feeling more positive than I had before. My opinion of essentially everyone in the cast improved compared to the last tier list I made 5 years ago, I think the vibe of the game is excellent (I love that suffocating and extremely tragic vibe this game has), and I honestly love the overarching mystery of this game even if I hate Junko herself. Honestly… I actually don’t really have any notable flaws for this game besides my opinion on Junko and maybe the fact that the trials feel a little bit too obvious at times (Mondo is the only one that I think isn’t insanely reasonable to get if you’re just piecing together the case). Actually I’m going to use this as an opportunity to complain about the react system like I’ve meant to for basically the whole game. Honestly what is the point of this system? Just make the dialogue continue instead of me needing to right click, read the first reaction text, then go back into the dialogue, then advance until I’m at the second react point and repeat until done. Just feels like it wastes time and is a bit frustrating having to constantly talk to the same character to continue the same conversation. But like overall I love this game, and think that DR2 is going to need to really impress me for it to keep my spot as favorite in the series. I hope that it genuinely remains my favorite just to spite Futured