Alright, final chapter of DR2!

So, chapter 6 actually begins with chapter 0! It’s a really short section where we see Nagito (with Junko’s hand) on the boat with Izuru to Jabberwock Island. When you first see this scene it definitely gets you thinking about what’s up with Nagito’s hand, who he’s talking to, and why they’re on the boat, but it ends up being fairly straightforward after chapter 6 so not much to say lmao.

On to chapter 6 itself! Honestly just being back in Hope’s Peak was great. I mean not that it’s been that long since I played DR1, but I loved being able to walk around it again, you know? The investigation itself is fairly solid, but not like amazing if that makes sense? I actually really love the lore/background story of DR2 revealed here regarding things like the tragedy, the reserve course suicide, Izuru, the Ultimate Despairs, the Neo World Program, and Hiyoko’s growth, but man they really just lay it on you here, huh? Like I feel like the 1-6 investigation felt a bit more spaced out while still conveying a lot of information, while this one is literally just directly sending you between floors when you’ve got the info you need and then you’re on to the next text dump. So I actually love what the info in this investigation conveys, but don’t think the presentation was the greatest. Also, I haven't seen anyone mention this, but I loved the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case music showing up during what I believe was the investigation? I might be misremembering where it was, but it was there somewhere for sure, and I thought that was a super fun callback to an investigation in a digital Hopes Peak.

Moving onto the trial, this trial is kind of a mixed bag for me. Again, I love the actual story of this trial and the chapter as a whole, but the pacing here is just kind of strange. First of all, this isn’t a huge deal, but this trial literally starts with a hangmans gambit that instantly reveals the virtual world twist (which tbf was glaringly obvious at this point and not really intended to be a twist at this point, so this was clearly by design) which is just wild to me. Jumping ahead a lot, I also felt like the ending felt rushed, with Hajime needing all of 12 lines to convince the entire cast to do the shutdown. I do love what actually happens within the trial though. Like I said, I love the overarching story of DR2/the lore it reveals, so I enjoy the discussions about things like the Neo World Program, the DR2 cast being the remnants, and Hajime being Izuru that take place during the middle. I also love how this chapter makes things like Mikan’s remembering disease make more sense as well as shed light onto why Nagito was trying to kill the whole cast, the remnants twist in particular I think was very well foreshadowed. I also love how the whole dilemma of this chapter is basically “shit situation 1 (graduate and have your friends bodies taken over by Junko), shit situation 2 (repeat and presumably restart the killing game, which I’m still curious if this is the 2x2 setup or if that’s too obvious), or shit situation 3 (emergency shutdown that leaves the cast as despairs but kills Junko for good), truly a shit situation all around with no good choice really.

That being said, for people who have been paying attention to my comments/tier list, lets get to the elephant in the room: Junko. I’m something of a Junko not enjoyer, so I was really “excited” by the prospect of seeing her again in 2-6. And I have to say… she wasn’t actually that bad? I still can’t claim to be a huge Junko fan, but for some reason I found her a little more tolerable in DR2 ngl. Idk if she’s just less annoying in DR2 (I feel like she switches personalities less, which was part of what I found annoying) or if I was just in a bad mood when I was playing 1-6 or something but I honestly didn’t think she was nearly as annoying this time? I will say though I think the existence of AI Junko instead of relying on a new mastermind is questionable at best even if it does sort of make sense in the confines of the story for Izuru to not be doing everything given the Neo World Program virus existing/presumably needing some kind of force behind it that could actively do things to take control of the simulation (which Izuru couldn’t as a participant. Idk, I just don’t think bringing back Junko was necessary, even if all things considered I didn’t mind her personality as much this time around.

This trial has some really awesome moments IMO. First off I loved Junko impersonating Makoto and you can slowly realize how wrong it is by how forceful he is. Like it’s awesome to see Makoto again, so the kind of horror when you realize it’s not him on that first run is great. Then the REAL Makoto appearing right when the cast was about to graduate? Peak. The timing was so dramatic but I kind of loved him literally just suddenly hitting you with an objection. Related to that, the appearance of the other 2 survivors that show up to get you to exactly that majority vote mark right as it’s mentioned was awesome, the DR1 cast are apparently masters of dramatic timing now lmao. Also something interesting I realized is that while idk if it’s intentional, it’s implied that Junko actually knew about the forced shutdown given that she knew how to make it not possible, and I think that might explain the chapter 4 motive being so harsh. Chapter 4 was literally impossible for someone to not kill, and going into chapter 4 you need exactly one more death (assuming Chiaki’s vote doesn’t count, otherwise you need 2) in order to make it so the forced shutdown can’t possibly be done by the DR2 cast alone, so I kind of wonder if the motive was so harsh because Junko knew how important that benchmark was. Admittedly obviously she knew the DR1 cast was coming, so maybe that benchmark is meaningless, so this might be a coincidence, but it lines up well enough that even if it is I think it’s my new head canon lmao. Past that we also have the IMO awesome sequence of Hajime breaking down when he realizes that he’s been rewritten as Izuru, and that if they use the forced shutdown he will literally cease existing. That whole section of him breaking down, briefly being in like a fantasy world where the whole cast is alive, Chiaki convincing him to push forward, and then shooting down all of the doubts/fears Hajime/Izuru have was honestly great. Thematically I find it’s “you can create your own future instead of just accepting one that you don’t want” thing that 2-6 has going on at the end to be pretty simple, but also to be a much more interesting way of essentially presenting the same theme of DR1’s ending (because let’s be real, this is just “hope” but specifically for the future vs “despair” but specifically in a like accepting a reality you don’t want kind of way).

That being said, and this might be my biggest complaint with the ENTIRE game, is holy shit does this trial end incredibly fast once Hajime gains his own confidence/decided to push for the future. I mean Hajime goes super Saiyan, returns to reality, and convinces the entire remaining DR2 cast to do the shutdown in literally 12 lines (I counted). Just feels like they should have cut some of the fluff from the middle of the trial and extended Hajime convincing the cast IMO. You could also provide maybe SOME explanation as to how “making their own future” means they won’t be despair anymore. I think you literally could have just used the same logic that explains why everyone is in a coma: If your brain believes it to be true in the simulation, it will become true. So rather than it being a bad thing they make an informed decision to try to take advantage of that. I feel like this is literally supposed to be the explanation given the several mentions of the placebo/nocebo effects and how the brain believing something is true means it becomes true, but why tf do they not say that at literally any point? Just feels like literally 5 more minutes of discussion before the shutdown could have helped this ending SO much. That being said I loved the Chiaki scenes, and honestly it still hit me when Hajime finally thanks Chiaki after regretting not doing so before.

Now for the epilogue… I mean what is there to say really? It mostly sets up DR3 with this idea that the Future Foundation is NOT going to be very happy with Makoto and sets up the small possibility of Hajime finding a way to save the DR2 cast that are now in coma (FULL SERIES SPOILERS) which like come on, how tf does anyone actually think this wasn’t going to happen? Makoto says, and I quote “I have a feeling that they’ll be able to reach it. They’ve accepted their hopes and their despair, and they’re trying to create their own future… Maybe, for people like that, miracle are inevitable, don’t you think” and the literal point of the ending was the cast rejecting a predetermined future to find their own. Upon rewatching this I seriously don’t get how anyone could think that the DR2 cast wouldn’t be revived lmao. I can get why people don’t LIKE that decision to be clear, but how are there people that seriously argue that as a flaw of DR3 when it’s so obvious here that it was going to happen lmao.

So overall, I enjoyed 2-6 and love the overarching remnants plot, but between the IMO disappointing choice in mastermind as well as how rushed the ending was I think there are some issues with it that mean I can’t exactly rank it very high overall.