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.
"Malice. His entire body, nothing but raw and unfettered malice."
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is even Bloodier and Gorier than the rest of the franchise, so it should be expected that there are plenty of terrifying moments to be found.
- A few of the murders are even more horrific than the previous two games...
- Ryoma is drowned by Kirumi. Not especially gruesome, except for the way she disposes of his corpse: she hides it in a piranha tank, and when Himiko uses it for a magic show, his body is dropped into the water and almost immediately devoured by the starving fish, reducing him to nothing but bones in a matter of seconds!
- Kokichi's death rivals Nagito's in terms of sheer gruesomeness. He is shot twice with crossbow bolts, one of which was poisoned, then he willingly lies under a hydraulic press, which completely crushes him until not even the normally near-omniscient Monokuma can recognize him. It's bad enough that we get to see several times a video tape which shows the exact moment Kokichi was crushed followed by a massive blood splatter. Special mention goes for the discovery of Kokichi's remains. The crime scene is a total mess and there's literally blood everywhere. The initial shock is so great that it takes a while before Shuichi and the rest even realize that someone's crushed remains are inside the press. And even then they believe that the body belongs to Kaito since his coat sleeve is dangling from the press.
- Miu, in a rare example for this series, Dies Wide Open and completely goreless, but her corpse is particularly disturbing despite that. Her face is completely Blue with Shock and distorted in agony, with her irises horrifically shrunk down and her mouth widely agape as tears and saliva stream down her face in a manner nothing at all like some of her over-the-top sprites that are usually Played for Laughs, which makes this double as Dramatic Irony. It would be revealed later on that she was strangled in the virtual world, which killed her in real life due to her five senses being connected to it. On top of that, because the physical strength of every person's avatar was equalized, her death at Gonta's hands ended up more drawn-out than it would have been in real life, with later investigation on her corpse having made clear that she suffered a lot.
- Some of Kokichi's facial expressions are more than a little terrifying. This one
◊ in particular, however, takes the cake. Not to mention, Kokichi's expressions get gradually worse during and after the fourth trial which is often accompanied by a mad laughter. This confirms that he has gone almost completely mental because of both the guilt of manipulating Gonta into becoming the blackened and the sheer stress of the killing game.- There's also this one◊, which strongly resembles the face of Jeff the Killer.
- There's also this one
- Kokichi's reveal of Gonta's guilt in Chapter 4. When Shuichi triggers his Berserk Button by lying to him, Kokichi is pissed and goes chillingly serious, confessing the whole setup with his Jerkass behavior, because he knows that giving everyone the truth they want so much is the perfect revenge. The way he casually announces it can send chills down your spine.Kokichi: [Chillingly serious, with a Nightmare Face portrait] Now then... the culprit is Gonta.
- The executions are back as usual, and this time around, they're arguably the most absolutely brutal and agonizing executions in the franchise to date...
- Chapter 1's execution, "Der Flohwalzer". Our first culprit of the game is none other than Kaede Akamatsu. Yes, you read that right; this is Kaede's execution. For the first time in the series, the protagonist is executed by Monokuma, and following the trend of first chapter executions, it matches Leon and Teruteru's executions in terms of cruelty and brutality. Plus, after seeing it, you'll never hear the Flea Waltz the same way again. Monokuma hangs her by the neck, and then the Monokuma Cubs use a pulley system to play a giant piano with her body. Through all of this, Kaede is struggling with the rope around her neck until her face is blue and her eyes burst into spirals (not unlike those who were affected by Despair). Then her body gets rapidly smashed on the piano constantly, The execution is drawn out to make her suffer as much as possible(if the giant clock behind the piano is accurate, it goes on for hours and it's merely sped up for our benefit), and any sense of dignity is thrown out the window when an audience of Monokumas starts booing and pelting her with tomatoes and stones. Once the show is over and Kaede has gone limp, the iron maiden style keyboard cover slams shut on her and Monokid, reducing her body to unrecognizable blood stain, and decapitating Monokid. And in the final chapter, we learn the truth: Kaede was innocent. Tsumugi was the one who actually killed Rantaro, meaning Kaede's execution was ultimately pointless and unfair. If this was the first game, Game Over the Blackened got away with it. Everyone except Tsumugi gets executed and the official game ends here.
- Chapter 2's execution, "Strand of Agony", is possibly one of the most brutal and torturous executions in the entire franchise. This time, Kirumi's up on the chopping block, and unlike most of the other culprits, she actually makes an effort to escape... before she gets surrounded by an angry mob. She's given the option of climbing a rope to safety... except the rope is a thorny vine that cuts her hands every time she grabs it. And that's not even getting into the buzzsaws whirling around the rope, shredding her clothes and her body as she climbs, screaming in immense pain. Kirumi narrowly survives the Death of a Thousand Cuts and nearly reaches the escape hole... but this is Monokuma we're talking about, so the "hole" is just a childish drawing taped to the ceiling. As she realizes that there was never a chance for her to escape, the rope snaps, and Kirumi falls several stories to her death, crushing Monosuke in the process. And to top it all off, this is likely the only execution in the games where you actually hear the victim screaming .
- Chapter 3's execution, "Cultural Melting Pot". While Korekiyo had it coming, it doesn't make it any less horrifying. To start, the remaining Monokubs rapidly spin him around until he's crying, before a samurai cuts down the ropes he hanging from, sending him into a pot of water. From there, the Monokubs proceed to boil him alive, even causing him to bleed from his eyes. Once Monodam runs into the fire to finish the job, Korekiyo emerges as a ghost and is seemingly about to reunite with his sister. But then his sister and Monokuma begin pelting him with salt, causing him to seemingly melt, effectively killing him twice.
- While Korekiyo's mask in the game doesn't exactly allow us to see his emotions until he becomes a ghost, the storyboard for his execution in the official artbook reveals his facial expressions under the mask. He is absolutely terrified all the way through.
- While Korekiyo's mask in the game doesn't exactly allow us to see his emotions until he becomes a ghost, the storyboard for his execution in the official artbook
- Chapter 4's execution, "Wild West Insecticide". A fair word of warning for this one: if you have a crippling case of entomophobia, you will not like this execution, as poor Gonta ends up facing the darker sides of entomology in the most extreme fashion Monokuma can think of. Tied to a post with no chance of escape, Gonta finds himself being shot at by Monokuma, using robotic wasps as ammunition for a custom-made tommy gun, and each wasp that hits him stings his face to the point that he looks horribly swollen and deformed by the time Monokuma stops firing. To make matters worse, Monophanie is writhing on the ground in pain the whole time with her body steadily getting more and more swollen until a giant, unsettling clawed insect that resembles a praying mantis bursts out of Monophanie's stomach and slices Monotaro in two the moment it pops out. It then flies over to Gonta and gores him on one of its claws, piercing the laptop tied to him, his chest and the post he's tied to. Monokuma then finishes the job with a flamethrower, engulfing Gonta and the insect in a fiery blaze as he walks away in satisfaction.
- Korekiyo Shinguji. At first glance, he seems to be the Gundham-analogue for this game; unsettling appearance but mostly harmless. However, Chapter 3 kicks in and not only does he murder both Tenko and Angie in cold blood, but he lets out one of the most repulsive motives in the entire series. And if his execution is to be believed, even Monokuma finds him disgusting. The way he acts in his trial is more than off-putting, alternating between him and his split personality based on his sister once he is caught, and actively relishing the feeling when being found out. Also worth noting is how he sees absolutely no wrong in his actions, justifying his quest of killing 100 females with his great love for his sister. And before his execution, his only regret was that he died so close to the 'promised number' of 100 friends for his sister. Meaning that his number of victims almost reach three digits. To top it off, his Love Hotel scene has him ready to rape Shuichi, all for his pet theory of human beauty. Not even in the bonus modes does this let up since being in love with his sister and a serial killer is still very much canon in both the Talent Planner and the dating sim. His ending in the latter even seems to indicate that he might make an exception to his no boys rule and murder Shuichi so "Sister" can meet him after all. As shown in "Ultimate Talent Development Plan", even Genocide Jack hates him!
- It's rather disturbing to see the audition tapes of Shuichi, Kaede and Kaito play out showing how they were before being brainwashed and had less then noble goals for wanting to participate. Special mention goes to Kaito outright saying that he was only interested in killing people. Shuichi might be the most horrifying, as not only is he planning a gory murder just because an Ultimate Detective has never been a culprit before, he's also gleefully imagining his own Execution.
- There is evidence that even the audition tapes might have been faked via Flashback Light-induced brainwashing (contrast them with how everyone was confused and scared and very much not voluntarily present in the prologue), meaning that Team Danganronpa kidnapped everyone and brainwashed them into looking like they were active participants. Both possibilities are horrifying.
- Near the end of the final chapter, Ki-bo was hacked by the Danganronpa audiences. Along with the Occult Blue Eyes and the Voice of the Legion, it's incredibly disturbing that the player was going against "Ki-bo" while telling themselves at the same time that the person they're fighting wasn't really Ki-bo at all, but rather, the audiences controlling him. The health gauge doesn't even have Ki-bo's name, instead consisting of a glitchy, illegible mess that signifies that they're not only fighting against one person, but a million people who wanted Danganronpa to continue. It makes the BTB with Junko in the first game look completely normal in comparison.
- Instead of "Ki-bo" saying the traditional Argument Armament lines like the previous chapters, most of the lines spilling out are various reactions from the audience about how Danganronpa shouldn't end at all.
- The Madness Mantra includes the crowd chanting for "hope!" and "despair!", and the Voice of the Legion gets increasingly harder to understand when they're saying things at the same time.
- Ki-bo's "armour" is him in 3D with numerous chains surrounding him. The disturbing part was when those chains showed that Ki-bo was trapped in a puppet-like fashion and being controlled by the Outside World. The poor robot couldn't catch a break.
- Ki-bo's screams are both heart wrenching and horrifying at the same time. It hurts even more when you realize that the Argument's really against his will when he got hacked in the first place.
- The expression on Tsumugi's face before her death. Or more specifically, the lack of expression. She's just blankly staring into space as she waves goodbye before getting crushed by falling debris. When she said she doesn't want to live in a world without Danganronpa, she clearly meant it, as she is hollow and empty without it.
- The (fake) reveal at the very end of the Chapter 5 trial. In the aftermath of Kaito's heartbreaking execution, Shuichi manages to draw strength from the fact that Kaito and Kokichi's sacrifices weren't in vain: the group has drawn ever closer to exposing the true mastermind. And then, without any warning, the screen fades into an unknown location, where a giant Monokuma head (with half its covering apparently ripped off) is floating in a tank of liquid... and in front of it stands the silhouette of a familiar teenage girl. She then declares (as "New World Order V3", normally the protagonists' theme, begins playing) that as long as she exists, the killing games will never end, but will repeat over and over, before imitating Monokuma's trademark laugh and declaring "Such despair." Cue Mass "Oh, Crap!" from the players. The revelation in Chapter 6 that it's not the real Junko only slightly lessens the impact.
- The "reveal" of the Gofer project and the outside world. It almost makes you glad the whole thing was a fabrication.
- The world was threatened by a series of meteor impacts so severe that the Earth's destruction seemed unavoidable. The nations of the world came together and came up with the Gofer Project, selecting the 16 students to send into space in order to colonize a new planet. At the same time, a cult arose that believed that the meteors heralded the end of days and that mankind deserved extinction. They tried to put a stop to the Gofer project and began hunting these students across every corner of the world. With no other choice, the Gofer project's leaders spread misinformation that the students had died and covertly sent them into space. Unfortunately, the cult's leader had already infiltrated the group and set about sabotaging their mission as they went into cold sleep.
- And when the survivors finally open the door and get a look out at the outside world? All that's awaiting them is an utterly desolate wasteland. There's no life, no oxygen, and nowhere left for any of them to go. Everyone they've ever known and loved has been dead for hundreds of years. All the deaths that they dealt with? Absolutely pointless. And now the last remnants of the human race are a mere seven people aboard a ship with no way back into space. Many of the survivors fall far past the Despair Event Horizon and begin contemplating suicide.
- Ironically, the fact that the people in this game died for a fabrication just makes it more terrifying, because what they fought for is All for Nothing.
- While the Love Hotel is either heartwarming or tearjerking, some events can get pretty freaky. As stated above, Korekiyo’s has him about to rape Shuichi, but so does Miu’s and Angie’s. Tsumugi’s event is also really squicky, given the Brother–Sister Incest roleplay that goes on between Tsumugi and Shuichi. Keep in mind these are the students’ ideal fantasies.
- The alternate ending of Chapter 1, if the kids manage to make it all the way to the end of the Death Road of Despair, has an unsettling vibe for something that should be a positive outcome. We can't see what Kaede is seeing, and while it's probably not the false destroyed world (since nobody is asphyxiating), she sounds worryingly confused. And knowing what the truth of their situation is, Monokuma telling everyone to "please take flight and re-enter society" is downright ominous.
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