Main installments: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc | Danganronpa Zero | Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair | Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School | Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Spin-offs: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF | Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
Adaptations: Danganronpa: The Animation
Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Not all Monokumas have to be cute.
- Two examples in the first 20 minutes.
- The Monokuma attack. Considering the comically demented Monokuma everyone is familiar with, it is very jarring to watch these Monokumas—silent, murderous robots who massacre people with explicit gore.
- What's more, there's the implication that this is what Monokuma would be doing to the victims of his Killing Games if he wasn't bound by the school rules. If he decided to, he could have slaughtered the DR1 cast with barely any effort.
- The Warriors of Hope's broadcast. What they're saying is bad enough, but the way they treat a dead man's corpse like a children's toy is incredibly frightening.
- The Monokuma Kids period, with creepy helmets, identical appearances and the fact that they never speak. They also constantly have children's tune accompanying them when they appear.
- "Let's Play With Monokuma," the Ironic Nursery Rhyme the Monokuma Kids sing is creepy even if you don't understand Japanese and know that the lyrics
are about how they'll murder all the adults, with lyrics like "Can we make a mountain with a thousand corpses?" and "Set fire to a corpse and it becomes a campfire. Wow, so pretty!" The fact that it's sung by an actual children's choir makes it even worse. It's especially shocking when you hear it out of nowhere in the dark hallways in Towa Hills, with teeth from Kotoko's denture launcher everywhere. - It's revealed late in the game on that most of the kids wearing helmets are actually being brainwashed. Think about the implications of that.
- "Let's Play With Monokuma," the Ironic Nursery Rhyme the Monokuma Kids sing is creepy even if you don't understand Japanese and know that the lyrics
- Monaca, period. While at first glance she's the wheelchair bound Nice Girl of the group that Nagisa has a crush on, she's implied to be from the very beginning what she really is, an amoral Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who will do anything in her pursuits. Nothing is too bad for her, whether it be triggering Utsugi's rape trauma or inferring that she'll grant Nagisa sexual favors if he pleases her. And by the end she's become the full fledged successor to Junko Enoshima. One just has to imagine what everything will be like now...
- Junk Monokuma, pictured. It's a defective unit with elongated, mangled limbs and a disturbingly human-looking eye. If that weren't enough, it's also covered in blood, and not the same pink blood used throughout the series.
- Actually, the few times red blood is used in the series is to show dried blood. That means the blood on the Junk Monokuma is actually dry. Eugh.
- The cutscene introducing it is pretty creepy, too. Komaru and Toko are exploring a creepy Abandoned Hospital, and wander into the operating room. After a shot of surgical tools covered in fresh blood, Komaru comments that it feels like something's going to pop out any second now, and sure enough... they hear something banging on the door of a nearby closet, and this... thing bursts out of it.
- Getting a Game Over sequence in general since you get Swallowed Whole by the Monokuma unit.
- Masaru Daimon and Jatarou Kemuri getting ripped apart by a mob of people in Monokuma helmets after losing their respective fights against Komaru - all that remains of the two are Masaru's headphones and Jatarou's mask. Thankfully, the credits revealed that they both survived.
- Kotoko is only spared from this fate by Jack's intervention.
- Masaru shows off just how twisted the Warriors of Hope are when he reveals a giant mound of corpses in his "Killesseum", then brags about how they're the "demons" he killed. "It's worth one trillion brazillion points!"
- Jatarou's "masterpiece" shown in Chapter 2, full stop. It starts out innocently if not a bit eerie with a bunch of adults dancing around a giant Monokuma, but reaches full nightmare fuel when it's shown that the adults are really blood-smeared corpses screwed to boards and being manipulated by the Monokuma like puppets, complete with nightmare music. He's probably not going to get a gold star for that.
- During the entire cutscene, Jatarou alternates between being his usual Talkative Loon self, and being actually threatening. It makes you ask yourself how much of his weirdness is genuine and how much is an act.
- At the start of Chapter 3, it's implied that Kotoko is a rape victim, but later we find out the sordid details: Kotoko was actually forced into child prostitution by her parents, and was most likely raped by those involved in the production of her shows. Her mother felt that it was the best way to help Kotoko's career, and she even prostituted herself along with Kotoko while believing that it was all for her daughter's best interest. Her father, however, just used the money earned from all of this for his own gain, and was even having an affair with his dental hygienist. To make matters worse, he was planning to sell her off into sex slavery once she got older and the gravy train slowed down. The whole experience was so traumatizing that just hearing the word "gentle" causes her to have a breakdown, as she was constantly told that the people she was being prostituted to would be gentle with her. It is especially upsetting when Toko says she is confused with how Junko got to convince the Warriors of Hope that she was "some sweet, gentle girl," in which she tearfully yells at Toko and Komaru that she'd rather be killed than have anyone be "gentle" with her.
- It went From Bad to Worse very soon, when we start seeing the sequels such backstory left in Kotoko's mind. It's as much of a Tear Jerker as it is Nightmare Fuel to know she sees rape and sexual assault as a form of punishment towards "cute female demons." There are few things scarier than seeing such a young child trying to sexually assault Komaru in chapter 3. It got EVEN worse in Ultra Despair Hagakure, where she tries and successfully sexually assaults Kanon Nakajima the same way she did to Komaru in the game proper, describing gleefully how she wants to make her into a "living urinal" while heavily implying she's inflicting on Kanon the same things that were inflicted on her. It's Nightmare Fuel, Squick, and Tear Jerker at once, and getting to read Kanon's thoughts while it happens it's much more terrifying.
- Monaca forcibly kissing Nagisa and making comments about her plans to go further with it. The way Monaca plays with Nagisa's feelings towards her while grooming him into thinking that he's getting a reward if she does what she says is disgusting, and a terrifyingly realistic moment of a young kid being puppeteered by a greater authority, even if that authority is a kid his age.
- The Reveal that the Warriors of Hope were a bunch of kids from abusive families that were pushed by Hope's Peak Academy's elementary branch until they broke and became suicidal. Any belief that the school was a pleasant institution is pretty much dead. The fact that this project was done by Nagisa's own father makes it far, far more unsettling.
- After the Boss Battle with Genocide Jack in Chapter 4, Komaeda casually walks over and dumps a shaker full of pepper in her face, making her sneeze and bring Jack back out. It really drives home that he won't be satisfied until something gives. And what ends up giving is Jack slicing his knees open.
- The Sadistic Choice that Komaru faces in Chapter 5: does she break the controller that will destroy all the Monokumas, which will also make the brainwashing helmets all the Monokuma Kids are wearing explode? Or does she refuse, allowing the Monokumas to keep rampaging and further riling up the angry mob of adults who are demanding the kids' demise? Even worse, it's not a cutscene. It is you who has to make that decision multiple times!
- Then it's revealed that the plan all this time was to fill Komaru with so much despair, that she'll turn into Junko Enoshima's successor. As Monaca put it, what better way to break Makoto Naegi than by turning his own sister into his sworn enemy?
- Haiji's insistence on destroying the controller in spite of the prospective deaths of the kids. Goodness...
- Monaca's Room Full of Crazy containing photos of Junko is deeply unsettling. Especially when you look up at its ceiling...◊
- The revelation that Komaru and Makoto's parents were subjected to Cold-Blooded Torture before their offscreen deaths by hanging.
- The epilogue's cutscene, where Kurokuma and Shirokuma's still-active heads are being carted away by a man in a dark outfit.
- For the sake of creating hope by any means necessary, Nagito swears to raise Monaca into being Junko's successor after admitting that he set himself up to be captured by the Warriors of Hope. As she's already a Manipulative Bitch obsessed with despair much like her mentor, just imagine what her personality could be like years in the future...note
- In a conversation between Kurokuma and Shirokuma, it's initially "revealed" they were co-conspirators working together the whole time.Shirokuma: Well, when you think about it, the plan was flawed from the beginning. Trying to create a successor while the original still exists?
Kurokuma: I know this was kind of my idea, but kids sure are stupid idiots!
Shirokuma: Not just the kids! The adults are idiots too. Just by causing a little unrest... just pushing them a teeny bit—I had them spinning around in the palms of my hands!
Kurokuma: Despite how you look, you sure are wicked inside! Even if the outside's white, the inside's pitch black! You a rice ball or something?
Shirokuma: I may be wicked, but you are too. After all, we are!
Kurokuma: No! Not we. Maybe I... or maybe... - Right after Kurokuma's last line, "Dso_new World Order" plays as the whole truth is clarified. To elaborate, Alter Ego Junko has a conversation with herself detailing how she posed as both Kurokuma and Shirokuma in order to spread despair in Towa City by turning its children and its adults against each other. There's also her subtle confession to her plan for revenge against three of the Future Foundation's members for their roles in her first defeat.Junko: It's me! Puhu! Puhuhuhuhu! Well, they're pretty much the same. White despair. Black hope. In the end, neither won... but I guess that works too. I mean, I didn't really give a damn about this town from the beginning. The fact that those guys will take an interest in this place will yield a much more fruitful harvest. Hey! Don't you think so? Personally, I think they did a pretty good job for a group of kids. Hey, hey! Don't you think so? Thanks to them, the preparations are nearly complete! Laying the foundations for the final match—it's so despairingly perfect! Hey, hey, hey! Don't you—
- During Junko's expository spiel, we see the man dragging Shirokuma and Kurokuma's heads away punch through them like it's nothing, all without saying anything, and we see he is none other than Izuru Kamukura. His facial expression doesn't even change whatsoever. Badass as it may be, remember that this is the guy who unwittingly helped Junko start the Tragedy.
- To be more specific, he collects the chips containing the data of Alter Ego Junko, thus leading to the events of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, confirming that Shirokuma and Kurokuma were each one half of Alter Ego Junko.
- Remember that this guy used to be Hajime Hinata. A cynical but caring Nice Guy is already long gone, having been replaced by... something else. What drives it home is that it's all thanks to the academy he admired so much.
- Any time a character makes Nightmare Face, period. Monaca has one where it's it looks like her eyes are vanishing into her face and the one that Haiji makes makes him look batshit insane.
- Nagito unsurprisingly has one too. His seems to be based on the face he makes during the first trial of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. The marker on his face helps mitigate the effect a little but it's still rather frightening. Wanna make it even worse? Here's an edit that takes away all the marker◊. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that, without all that scribbles all over his face, you're forced to notice how absolutely creepy his eyes are or maybe it's the fact that you can clearly see how he isn't actually smiling without all the scribbles but the expression just looks off.
- Nagito unsurprisingly has one too
- Komaru getting possessed by Tokuichi Towa in Chapter 5. Bear in mind that, at no point in any Danganronpa media prior to this had ghosts or possession ever been even hinted at to have been real things in this universe. So, yeah, it's a little absolutely terrifying when, out of nowhere, a really creepy voice speaks up and a shot of an ethereal wisp is shown (along with Komaru's horrified expression). It doesn't help that the ghost's "talking" sprite is Komaru, except with a dead, "eyes-lulled back" expression that never changes, complete with his voice overlapping with Komaru's.
- Not to mention how Tokuichi treated Monaca back when he was alive, as described below. Yikes.. no wonder she decided to kill him.
- Just why were Komaru and the rest of the Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc cast's family and friends still being held hostage? Because Junko was planning on using them again as a motive in the first game. She would've shown the kid's loved ones murdering one another, and likely would've only made it stop should another murder occur. The only reason this wasn't used was because things came to a head before another motive was needed. She was planning on creating another killing game just to keep the main killing game going! Who knows what horrific things would have happened had this actually occurred in the first game...
- The descriptions of The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History can be pretty horrific at times. Komaru at one point tells Toko that several of her classmates went missing at one point, with their fingers later turning up in the mail.
- Yasuhiro finding Kanon's notebook in Ultra Despair Hagakure. The contents are nothing but "Leon Onii-chan" repeated until the ink runs out. The chapter then ends with Kanon discovering Yasuhiro is a Future Foundation member and trying to choke him to death.
- Kanon Nakajima herself may count as Nightmare Fuel for some. Danganonpa is not strange to obsessive characters with a Single-Target Sexuality, but Kanon's case is the first one that is not Played for Laughs in any way and is instead meant to be as disturbing as it should be. Since half the chapters in Ultra Despair Hagakure are from her point of view, we get to see how her crush on Leon is the only thing she seems to think about, with him being her sole motivation for doing anything. Since Leon himself never saw her as a romantic prospect (as they are first cousins) and she admitted to have some violent thoughts against him when she saw him on dates during her stalking, it makes you wonder if she would have eventually snapped in a true Yandere fashion had the Tragedy never happened.
- The Torture Cellar, if not for obvious reasons. Hundreds of adults were tortured to death in gruesome ways by the Warriors of Hope. You get the walk into the room during Chapter 5, and it's not pretty: various torture devices are laid around the room, all freshly stained with blood. Not to mention, the room has a camera which streams video to a TV in the Adults' secret base. While you never watch any of the torture, you see the other adult survivor's reactions to the footage...
- Monaca sees absolutely nothing wrong with deliberately triggering her teammates' trauma in order to get what she wants. Bear in mind that she's about 11 years old.
- She also wasn't planning on killing herself. She just thought watching the other four jump to their deaths would be a funny prank.
- It's worth mentioning that this may not be true. Monaca claims she wasn't really going to jump, but as mentioned below, her home life was just as terrible as the other Warriors of Hope's, to the point where faking a paralyzing spinal injury was necessary to protect herself from further abuse- not to mention her story was believed by her abusive family. It's easy to imagine she really was that suicidal, and that claiming she was just playing a prank on the others might be an attempt to save face.
- Near the end of the game, inside Towa Hills, we read journals glimpsing into the minds of the parents of the Warriors of Hope, and they are utterly disgusting. Makes it hard to feel any kind of sympathy for their deaths.
- Jataro's mother regretted ever having him because she felt he limited what she could do with her life, to the point where she wished he'd disappear or that she'd wake up one morning and he'd be dead. As if that wasn't bad enough, she was jealous of her son's beauty so she convinced him that he was ugly and made him wear a mask, to the point where he starts freaking out and claiming people's eyes will explode whenever anyone tries to convince him to take it off.
- Masaru's father forced his son to go out and get alcohol and tobacco for him. When Masaru couldn't buy them and tried to steal them instead, his father beat him for humiliating him in front of the police. Masaru learned to smile instead of crying when he was beaten, but that only made his father angrier.
- Kotoko's mother believed that prostituting her own daughter would be in her best interests and that she could "sparkle forever." She refused to believe any of what she was doing was wrong, even prostituting herself along with her as a "mother and daughter set." Meanwhile, her father was busy stealing money, cheating on his wife with his dental assistant, and planned on selling Kotoko into the sex trafficking industry once she hit puberty.
- Nagisa was subjected to human experimentation by his own parents, where they wanted to see just how far a child's mind could be pushed before it snapped. They forced him to study for days on end, stick IVs into him to keep him awake, and keep him under surveillance at all times. His father describes him in cold, clinical terms, referring to his son as "the subject." And in the end, disappointed with the results, he's debating switching subjects.
- Monaca's mother dumped her off with her biological father and half-brother, who treated her like an alien in their own home. They hated hearing her laugh or smile, and even hit her on regular occasions. Eventually she started pretending to be paralyzed to garner some sympathy from them- and they bought it. It really makes you wonder just what they were doing to her to make that seem like a plausible excuse.
- The documents that can be found in the room where you meet Haiji Towa for the first time are disturbing as all get-out: The first one is an adult describing how the "newbies" who are being brought to the hideout are deeply traumatised and keep going mad, making them feel hopeless; the second one is an adult ranting about how evil the children are, and going into very graphic detail about how he wants to murder them all; and the last one is simply a list of the dead and missing, two lists that Komaru notes are very long. Even though the Resistance hideout is a relatively safe place for our heroines to (temporarily) stay in, it becomes obvious from the start that keeping all these traumatised, scared adults in one place was never going to work out in the long run...
- In Masaru's room, there's a book of laws for the "children's paradise." One is that children are to commit suicide if they feel themselves "turning into demons" (i.e. growing up).
