Danganronpa V3's Ending: Final Thoughts and Analysis! 

Hope you guys enjoy the video! I feel a bit rusty at this, it’s been a while since I made an analysis video. Like I implied in the video a lot of things are just flat out stated by Kodaka in interviews and through tweets so there wasn’t as much for me to analyze on my own but regardless I hope it’s still interesting to watch. As for those of you interested in more LP videos I do plan on continuing that type of stuff on the channel as well! I just need some time to figure out my schedule and finish the V3 post content which shouldn’t take too much longer.

One thing that really convinced me that Tsumugi lied about their personalities being fabricated was that at the beginning of the prologue, Miu and Tenko still talk in the same way as they would in the game, with Miu using vulgar language and Tenko overreacting to the Exisals. It at least means that a big part of their personalities remained in tact, so it's not like their "real selves" and "fictional selves" would have been completely different people.

Oh my god, could you imagine if Tsumugi really wasn't the mastermind, but the memory was implanted into her mind? Think about the millions of more questions that would rise. Who really is the mastermind? And how did they come up with everything they did? Damn, I would REALLY like that to be canon

It's kinda funny how many endings you can gain from V3, depending on what you consider a lie.

I do love the idea that tsumugi was just given memories of being the mastermind

WHOA the chance that Tsumugi could've been cosplaying them and her memories being altered as well TOTALLY changed the ending for me omg Weeby you're incredible

The entire sixth class trial I was saying "I just wanted school mode, my dude" lol

If we’re going on the theory that Tsumugi was lying, then this ending is kind of brilliant. Because of this, if fans were upset, all the studio would have to do is make another game or anime series that supports the theory that she’s lying and that the killing games did happen. And if she wasn’t lying, then this conclusion could be taken at face value and this is the end of Danganronpa as a whole.

Tsumugi does lie, simply because of something obvious, apart from everything said here. If there is no Hope's Peak Academy and no ultimates, then how is Tsumugi the Ultimate Cosplayer? If you are not in a world where you can manufacture talents like Hinata's. How can Tsumugi exist?

What bugs me most is how so many of the fandom is eager to believe Tsumugi during the last trial. Like I mean I'd just like to see more people being skeptical of what they're being told.

My only issue with the ending is that Keebo died. I just wish there was another way to get out while keeping Keebo alive. Speaking of which... Keebo character analysis?

Perhaps the cast of V3 weren't fans of Danganronpa? Maybe they knew a few things about it, but weren't crazy about it. Perhaps in the real world, those who go against mob mentality (in this case, being obsessed with Danganronpa) are selected for the real fiction killing games. That may explain why Kaede didn't know who Rantaro was, but seemingly recognized the Monokubs; and perhaps this is why Rantaro told everyone his name to see if they knew him from season 52. I don't have the Japanese script on hand so I can't really cross reference the JP prologue from the English one, so maybe all of this has no supporting evidence in the JP script; but it's still something to consider.

I love Danganronpa, but I remember how crushed I felt when Tsumugi said it was all fiction, like seriously. That was way more crushing than Kaede's death was for me, and Kaede's death hit hard.

I dunno why, but for me, V3's ending didn't feel as grandiose as the ending of 2. While I believe that V3 is a better game to its predecessors, but I feel that I like the ending of 2 more than V3.

Two more possible loopholes with cospox: 1 all the characters Tsumugi cosplayed in trial six had "V" and "3" in their eyes, which may be enough to count as a fictional variation. 2 Same goes with the bleeped names in the video recordings. Basically she can essentially cosplay Shuichi's fictional twin brother. Remember in her cospox demo to Kaede she introduced herself *as* Kaede. Also one other juicy point about Tsumugi being a copycat is lost in translation: in the prologue, Rantaro asks "What's with the ridiculous theatrics?" The Japanese word translated as "theatrics" in that line ("manegoto") alternatively means "mimicry" depending on context.

I might be wrong on this, but I had a different idea of the whole 'everything is fiction' thing. I thought V3 took place in the real world, where Danganronpa 1, 2, UDG and 3 ARE fiction. They're videogames and anime. I thought that in V3's world, the games got so popular that they ended up becoming a TV show following the same lore of the games. I think that's what Tsumugi means when she says the whole Danganronpa world is fiction, because it genuinely is. I also think that's why she broke out into cospox when dressing as Kaede, because she's still technically a real person, whereas the characters she cosplays as in the final trial were all from videogames. I might be wrong, but I think this makes more sense than just saying the whole series is fake, since it clears up a few of Tsumugi's contradictions. It also feels way more satisfying too :p Oh oh oh, and I'm really glad we're getting analysis videos again. Ouma will be a lot of fun, but I really can't wait for Rantaro's analysis. I think he might actually be my favorite character in V3. Thanks for all the awesome content c:

While I didn't dislike the ending, I can't say I liked it either. My main problem with it is that it seems more concerned with being meta than actually being coherent.

When playing the game, I also felt like I was the audience that was being shown. However, i didn't feel upset attacked by it. I think I related with the audience more since the audience was supposed to be this big group of Danganronpa fans who enjoyed the killing games that the students were put through. That hit home because I am a huge fan of Danganronpa and was super excited at the release of V3 that there was a point where i wanted more of Danganronpa (like another game) but that would mean i would have to watch character that i claimed to love so much kill each other. But i didnt feel victimized or anything because of thr end where they had to convince the audience to stop watching the killing games it felt like they were convincing me too. It was if the characters were saying that it's time to let Danganronpa go and take what we learned out of fiction into reality. However, I do understand why some people would feel as though being connected to the audience in the game was an insult since unlike the audience who only cared about the killing aspect, we cared about them as actual people in a sense because we were able to hear their thoughts and and grow relationships with them. Like, we were able to see Kirumi's face as she lost all hope when she fell, we saw felt Gonta' s pain when he heard he was going to be punished for a crime he didnt remember dping, we saw Kokichi who was a little shit throughout the game sacrifice himself to save everyone. We literally saw Maki and Himiko shatter over someone they didn't realize that cared about until it was too late. We were able and those are things that an audience watching this all through a tv couldn't see or feel the way we did.

One aspect that I REALLY didn't like about the finale was how easily the world gave up on Danganronpa. One minute they're begging it not to end, and then the next every single person wants the show to end since not a single person told Keebo to vote. It doesn't really instill a lot a confidence in me that they learned something. It seems more like they got bored of Hope and Despair like Monaca did in the anime. That was honestly how I felt too. When I saw the chapter 6 title, I was like "What?! No. I don't want to say goodbye to Danganronpa." Then when the game forced you to say "We will end Danganronpa with our own hands" to progress, I thought "Fine... if this is how the series is going to be, might as well say goodbye." Like you said in the video, Weeby, I felt a huge connection to the audience. (It's honestly scary how similar we were.) If my favorite TV show suddenly yelled at me, scolded me for liking it by calling me "sick and twisted", and told me it was ending, I'd feel a heavy bitterness towards it.

I just hope this isn’t the last mainline game in the series.

Well in the Last trial have some "clues" to give you the idea that you aren't the "audience" for example: -When the player (controlling keebo) shoot Dispair against naegi tsumugi said: is that what audience said?. But keebo answers that is his decision and he is gonna ignore the audience. -When tsumugi said that the audience is watching danganronpa though keebo eyes, but the player is watching though saihara eyes (exept in class trials) -And tsumugi ask for who created dangaronpa the answer is "team dangaronpa" and not spike chunsoft(the real one in our world) . But still thinking there are few clues in a trial that took 3-4 hours

I admittedly hated the ending at first because of what you were talking about, that disconnect. It was a mix between that and anger over the fact that they pulled the whole "the previous games never actually happened". Also, the inconsistencies, such as some of the stuff you pointed out about the cospox or Rantaro not being recognized in the prologue, it left me feeling super frustrated. The whole ending left this bitter taste in my mouth. But now that I look at it I'm a bit more lenient towards the ending. The inconsistencies kind of tie into the theme of what they were going for- "truth and lies" "fiction vs. reality". In other words, it doesn't matter what the answer is, because its what you decide to make of it. While I don't love the ending, I'm not as harsh as I was before. Plus, it's given me some ideas for different theories. I think these theories are a little more thought out than mine lol, but still its been fun.

I found a theory about tsumugi's cospox that she can't cosplay people on the series she's on.

Well, sadly, because of what Kaede said right before the "real" beginning of the story, we can be sure that the part about their talent being fake is true. She did say she had something she was good at but still she was not an ultimate at it, right?

This analysis was really helpful. The ending of v3 left my mind totally broken and at first I didn't like the ending at all I thought it was total ass. But then I realized that's the point and the whole plot to have the player determine their conclusion of the ending was honestly a nice touch that I came to love alot. I think V3 is the best DR game imo I just felt so much more connected wirh everyone in this cast, especially Kokichi (lbr he was the main event) I loved him dearly his whole character added so much to the game for me and honestly the ending was worth it! Thanks for the analysis weeby!! Can't wait for more vids!!

Chapter 6 greatly influenced me to not like the game. Halfway through the trial, I found no motivation to continue to play and found it boring to continue to the end. I didn't like it! After some time, reflecting on everything that happened throughout the game, I actually grew to like it. The unanswered mysteries that will make you think of many possible truths, and to detect which are the truths and lies, was actually fun. I find Ouma a very important character in this game, not just because of the whole truth and lies theme, but Ouma actually gave a lot of clues on how everything is going to play out. Like how when you interact with him on his final FTE, he claimed that games can be beaten even when you're not participating, just like how everyone at the end, decided to do. I love the ending now, I agree that it has its own flaws here and there, but surprisingly it fits well for the game's main theme being about truth and lies. But is that really all there is to it though? That may have been Kodaka's lie. >_

10:32 It's very weird how Saihara is censored but if you check the rest of the audition tapes it says their full name... why is that?

I never thought that Tsumugi was exposed to the Flashback Light in the Prologue, and in pretty much every instance that the Flashback was used thereafter. I wonder if it really did give Tsumugi the memories of the mastermind (I like this idea because there could be some other person behind V3). On the other hand, I wonder if simply closing or covering your eyes is enough not to be affected by the Flashback Light. When Shuichi examined the Flashback Light, there were no commands to have the light affect only certain people. Unless Tsumugi had some kind of immunity to the Flashback Light, she would have been affected by it as well.

It's probably on of the best endings I've seen in media in a long time

Hey Weeby Newz, what do you think about the audience line "I've waited three years for this"? That implies that it's been three years since the last killing game, right? But there are all sorts of things about that that don't make any sense. Like, "why wait three years if this game is so popular", "how has Tsumugi been able to be in charge of more than just one or two killing games if they literally take three years", and "why isn't Rantaro noticeably older than everyone else". Also, the audience is a studio audience, right? If you look at all the comments (there are videos on youtube listing every comment) you'll notice that there are about 20 comments per camera zoom, and lots of those comments are obviously the same person multiple times. Which would imply a small audience chatroom. Plus there's the shot of the studio audience at the end credits. Plus there's no way to have people vote on Keebo's decisions unless there was an audience watching the show 24/7, but danganronpa (the TV show) couldn't possible be structured that way. PLUS, only a studio audience could possibly have all agreed not to vote for Tsumugi, since if you had the entire world voting anonymously, there's no way not a single person voted, but if everyone in a studio audience decided together not to vote, that makes more sense. In the end, I think Danganronpa V3 is a TV show, taking place in a post-Despair world. This isn't the 53rd season, it's the third season (after V and V2) and each season takes three years to create, for a total of nine years. The show is watched for its entire duration by a live studio audience before being edited down and distributed to the rest of the world. As for the audition videos, Tsumugi can't cosplay as real people, and in fact doesn't ever cosplay as a real person. Shuichi and the others are "flesh and blood fictional characters" meaning she can't cosplay as them. We *never once* see Tsumugi cosplay a "flesh and blood fictional character" so that stands to reason that she can't. However, using the flashback Lights, it would be easy to program a memory like "You're about to audition for Danganronpa" and then record their "auditions" using the equipment. Then she could use a blackout light and another flashback light for "your name is Kaede Akamatsu and you were just kidnapped" and then use a blackout light and a flashback light for "You're Kaede Akamatsu the Ultimate Pianist". Cosplaying them would be unnecessary. And whether or not they volunteered or were kidnapped would be forever unknown, as even the prologue would be a lie.

I absolutely love this ending, yet it's a bit hard to put into words why. I only first played danganronpa in 2016 but the games made me more invested in them than another other piece of media I've played/watched. When playing I felt like I was Makoto and Hajime I was always frightful of who would die next, what the big mystery is, and so on. V3 comes off amazingly meta to me because it's whole plot is basically built on the concept of how engaging and captivating the DR series is to some people. It makes the game an actual game that people consume and enjoy, it's not an in-universe rehabilitation type thing like DR2. I never felt in anyway offended or disappointed by this ending because it just does so much that I've never seen any other piece of media do. It calls itself out and really makes the player think about the concept and importance of fictional storytelling, which was something the previous games already made me do indirectly but this game is literally about that. I can understand the disconnect between the "fans" and the real world community but idk, maybe because I've been a fan for a rather short while I sorta felt the in-universe fans were enjoyably comical representations of how me and other fans sort of feel while playing these games. Also I never felt at all disappointed by the "other games being fake" because...well...to use already they are fake. Making them fake within the game's universe just sorta shows that we as players where put into the position of the "fans" in the game's universe, it just adds an extra layer, no matter how you look at it, they are just stories. I think that really benefits the overall theme and in no way subtracted from the meaning/story/characters/content of the previous games. If anything it actually adds to previous games cuse now we can theorize about "if Junko is real" or "What was Makoto like before he was put in the game", or we can just disregard this twist and continue to enjoy the stories as stories. ...but that's just my opinion. I get very overly invested in fictional media and it's amazing to me that my favorite fictional series is the first one to, out of the blue, have an amazing message like this. I love Danganronpa.

Honestly my take on Tsumugi is this: Since she references a lot of shows over the course of the game, I think that she wanted to be the mastermind due to her obsessivness to be someone who matters - either the hero.... Or the villian. That desperation was her motivation to be the main villian. Honestly the thoughts on the ending was not a positive one. I felt as though a lot of these things just felt forced, I cant exactly describe it, but it just felt really wonky how the ending was portrayed. I'll say it again, I can't describe what exactly made me feel this way, but that, and the counter argument felt really flat and uncomfortable tbh. I'm not really a big fan of V3 in general, so yeah...

Until I watched this video I was mad at V3 ending. Now I understand the message and I feel less angry about it.

They should have continued the Gofer Project story smh

yes!!! i also noticed that part with shuichi´s named being like censored, and in the prologue he introduced himself with the same name, and that theory of Tsumugi being implanted with memories of being the mastermind would be so cool!!

I'll just be here, rocking in a chair till the Ouma analysis comes. Though Koreki's my second favorite character in v3 so l'm completely fine with that coming before

I liked the ending. Makes me wonder about what happened in Rantaro's previous game. The people he met, the things that went down... Would that game have used a similar plot to V3, or perhaps every new season has a new plot?

I'm glad that you think the rest of the series is real too. In the past when I tried saying how I felt, I had a few people call me desperate for it to be canon. I think the fact that Shuichi says that his theory is probably wrong ironically indicates this as well, because in Danganronpa 2, Byakuya says that it's unlikely that the dead remnants will wake up. But we know what happened.

So, I did a rant on this subject a few days ago. I have some things I really don't like in the ending. First of all, I feel like they continuously break the fourth wall until it's really just uncomfortable and annoying. Like how they kept saying the name, and as you said, feeling like the game is calling me out. And how they spend nearly two hours repeating that Danganronpa is fake and everything is fictional. Another thing is how they changed some of the voice actors, which sometimes is *very* noticeable. Specifically, Sakura Ogami and Sayaka Maizono. I also have an unpopular opinion, which is that I don't like how at the end, suddenly Kiibo is the protagonist. It seemed kinda weird that it's such a quick change from Kaede dying in the first chapter, to switching to Shuichi for 5 chapters, then suddenly you switch to Kiibo for half an hour. Then when it immediatly switches back to Shuichi, the game's over. That's most of my list, the rest are just me getting mad over Kokichi.

This is literally one of the best video game endings ever. I love meta fiction and how it can get the audience to rethink their perspectives. Danganronpa 1-3 were videogames within the v3 world and inspired a series of real killing games. It was such an amazing plot twist. A lot of the peiple who hate this ending just dont like storiesnthat make them think.

Thank God I wasn't the only one to notice these things. (Notice how the eyes of who Tsumugi cosplay says V3?)

can you make a video talking about the necronomicon. i dont know about other people but i havnt been able to find any solid reasoning to what would happen if they used the book

The way I've come to understand this: this is a series of logic puzzles with Kokichi at the heart of it. Kokichi is the walking talking representation of a logic trap aka Liar's Paradox, and decoding him is the key to decoding the whole game situation and its implications. I should also draw your attention to the fact he does indeed have a brother as per his FTE, and 'twins' comes up in the password for the vault. The fact that Kokichi's *last* name is also used is very notable, too. Since Kokichi and DICE are obviously chasing someone connected to Monokuma, and he talks about an organisation [he] inherited that has an extremely powerful influence over the world, we're talking something along the level of Big Brother in 1984, brainwashing and torture included. The suggestion here is the one Kokichi impersonates, and the one he's chasing, is his own twin brother, and the 'head' as it were, of Team Danganronpa itself: the 'Big Brother' of this game. If the organisation was operational long before the brother inherited it, it definitely had an impact on the brothers, and in the worst sense. Kokichi's made reference to torture a number of times, and suggests that the organisation involves torturous games, while he has a trigger towards bugs, while looking extremely pale and at times sickly- heavily implying he himself has been tortured. He even says that 'food sleep and sex' will be given to you, while his Love Hotel heavily implies that he was raped, as he demonstrated the fact to Shuichi quite bluntly. And.. given who he masquerades as - his brother - this only gets so much worse, not to mention the suggestion that detectives would even do that, on top of torture people. The implications of torture and rape - not to mention the spear and shield crest on Kokichi, the whole 'horse' shtick and straitjacket symbolising insanity - are references to Cassandra of Troy - a seer determined on saving her country from a disaster no one believed - who was similarly treated, ousted as a liar, and also has a twin. Kokichi also has an uncanny habit of reading peoples' lies, even reading peoples' minds and predicting events with ridiculous accuracy. He also evidently knows the group (as he tells Kaede that he remembers her!), and suggests overall that he knows far more than they, about the outside world. Additionally, Tsumugi's birthdate is the same as 'Victory over Japan Day', while Kodaka has confirmed the V to mean 'Victory'. 'Victory' is also a brand in the novel 1984, known for the 'Big Brother' I mentioned earlier. Make what you will of that, but yeah there's a **lot** more to this.. "fiction" under the surface, Kokichi's 'lies', and the true state of the outside world. Kodaka's vague commentary about making what you will of it.. basically saying the puzzle is yours to work out.

i personally do love the ending. it has some flaws but i think a perfectly executed ending is nearly impossible for any games. i do understand what they wanted us to see in the ending and by watching this vid, i came to understand fully. but whether i like or dislike the ending, it won’t change the fact that danganronpa changed my life and i won’t hate the whole series by one ending(but i like the ending so..yeah)

how i see the ending is that if everything was really made up, then the claim of it all being fiction could just as easily be made up, similar to the claim that the students were the only remaining people alive from whatever world they’re from. i feel like there’s way too much backstory (junko, the ultimate despair, towa city, the neo world program, etc) for it to be part of the killing game show. there are too many contradictions, like you mentioned. great video, you pretty much covered everything that i’ve considered. i haven’t done any research or anything, so here are the questions i have regarding the ending. if anyone knows feel free to reply!! 1. where does something like ultra despair girls fit into this? it’s not a killing game, so how does it tie in? a spinoff series? if this is all fiction, is the real world in the same state as towa city? UPDATE: in sdr2 there’s a poster with komaru holding a hacking gun and hajime calls it a movie poster so maybe drae is a movie spinoff, though i feel like it was more of an easter egg than proof for the sixth trial of ndr3 2. how does the anime fit in? the hope and despair arcs also don’t follow the killing game storyline, so if it’s fiction then why are the survivors of the first killing game the only ones to end up at future foundation? what was the point of coming up with the future foundation in the second game as well? 3. do ultimates exist outside of the world of the killing game? 4. if this is an official season of the killing game, then did everyone from the others actually survive since this is claimed to be an imitation by tsumugi? do the viewers know?

It just hurts that the 1st and 2nd game was not real

Personally, I believe that tsumugi was lying about their personalities being altered. In the prologue, Miu and rantaro had the same personality as during the game, so it would make sense if their personalities were never altered.

I was kind of confused about the ending, but your analysis helped clear everything up, thank you Weeby keep doing what you're doing!!!

The best thing this game did in my opinion was the characters, not that one given character was the best in the franchise but rather very few members of the cast felt irrelevant. The only ones whom I felt fell flat were Kirumi, Tsumugi, and to a degree Ryoma. As to the ending it was my least favorite of the 3 games although I don't think it was horrible. I really liked Saihara as the MC, but I'd still put him second to Hajime. I think the main 4 characters, Shuichi, Kaito, Maki, and Oma, were also some of the best out of the other games. In terms of the trials overall I felt that they were a bit too complicated, not that they were hard, but a teenager would not come up with something like what they did #seesaw.

I've got to admit I was one of the players who felt wildly insulted by the ending, but came around to liking it alot after giving it more analysis. I do think the whole concept of the ending is actually really cool, but I don't think it was executed very well and that's where a lot of players fell into the trap of feeling grouped in with the audience and not with Saihara and the other survivors. It's easier to feel attacked then to give deep analysis on the spot. Especially in games where the time your given to think about what is being said is limited. Not to mention I was comically getting triggered by the excessive number of times the characters said 'Dangan Ronpa'. lol.

I cryed my heart out when kokichi died I still cry it really impacted me in multiple ways especially because I relate to him so when he died I cryed so hard

Honestly about tsumugi cosplaying as kaede I always assumed that when she asked kaede to turn around that she ate a pill or something that'd make her swell up I mean she did say that just the though could make her burst out in cospox

I definitely thought Tsumugi was lying in the last trial! I couldn't quite piece it together though.

my theory is that hopes peak and the remnants did exist, and team danganronpa made a tv show based off those events. Also the kidnapping scene during the prologue was fabricated and people sent in bios and pictures about themselves so they could have a persona of them in the tv show, without actually dying, kinda like a experiment to see how far and how they would react to certain events

I still think that the Hopes Peak trilogy was still real in terms of the Danganronpa lore. Whereas V3 was as they said, a fictional world. It was confirmed that V3 was never meant to continue the original trilogy, instead being it's own story. Kodaka even said that "They're (the viewers in NDRV3) from completely different world. That world's viewers aren't our players. It's really popular in the world over there. In the world over here its not... (laughs)" I took two different meanings from this. One of them is that the ending was not meant to hate on the fans. The other meaning is that V3 is not only fictional, but also set in an alternate timeline where people actually liked the killing games so they never stopped. My theory is that the other part of the twist was V3 being a completely different storyline from DR1, 2, and the anime. In conclusion, the plot twist revealed two timelines of the Danganronpa lore. The Hopes Peak timeline where the events taking place during the killing games really did happen, and the V3 timeline where the killing games were real, but people enjoyed them so they never ended until the 53rd killing game. Whether or not V3 is the final game, I honestly doubt it's the last game.

My first playthrough I came away thinking that the creators just really didnt want to make any more Danganronpa games

I have a pretty good memory, so when I played the game, I immediately saw all the inconsistencies and immediately came up with the theory that what Tsumugi was saying wasn't true before I even got to the epilogue. Of course, they could have done what they did with the prologue so that it wasn't given away too soon that the killing game was a show since some players, including myself, would have figured out the truth way too soon

I've watched so many V3 ending analysis videos, but I haven't come across one that captures my own feelings perfectly (I mean everyone has different opinions so that's alright I guess). I was even planning to make a video myself 'cause the ending kept occupying my thoughts lol But now there is no need for that anymore. Thank you Weeby for this perfection. If anyone asks for my personal thoughts on the ending I will just show them this video xD I really love the ending and I believe it has an incredibly powerful message, especially for people who are quite immersed in fiction, like me for example

I understand the meaning of ending but I still hate it. It sounds neat on paper but the execution was rather sloppy

"There is only ever one absolute truth. Whether that truth serves justice or suffering... Whether it's the greatest truth or the worst... Even if the truth you uncover leads to hopelessness, you still can't give up hope." I still have a hard time believing the same person that wrote the first two games created this and betrayed that theme. It was such a huge point in the other games that the truth is concrete regardless of whether we like it or not, and the best we can do is to accept it for what it is and keep pushing forward. Now we get this mess that tells us it's okay to live in denial and believe whatever we want. Had this simply turned into a matter of distinguishing the truth from the lies, as any self respecting mystery should and it was initially on track of doing, it could have easily been salvaged.

I was so confused on how to express my feelings about the ending, and I feel like you nailed it. While I was playing, I was seriously conflicted- I did feel like the audience represented me, and that I was being indicted for playing and enjoying the game by the characters. I felt seriously sour about the entire series for days afterward, because I felt it was really unfair in the context of the game. I doubt many of us would be okay with a game in which real teenagers killed one another for our viewing entertainment. Of course there would be plenty of people who would- but it wouldn't be a world obsessed the way it's depicted in the game, and definitely wouldn't include me. It pushed me away entirely. I felt despair not because I connected with Saihara's desire to reject the audience, but because something I loved was almost certainly ending in front of my eyes, and not only that, but I was being criticized for loving it in the first place. I don't hate the ending after sitting on it and having read Kodaka's statements, I fully understand and appreciate what he was going for, but I unfortunately sometimes feel I love the game despite the botched delivery of their intent, versus the actual intent itself.

#Weeby For some, there is a confirmation in-game about HPA being real. Looking at how the 52 books in the shelf differ, the older ones have illustrations, the newer ones photos. If it started using real people after DR3 established HPA was up and running mere 8 months after its arc conclusion, the first two games were real, thus no photos, but from then onwards they turned out to be killing games. That is the theory running around Tumblr, at least. Thanks for crediting Comun's work! :)

I love this video btw I can't wait for Gonta's character analysis

Great Video as usual! Since Kodaka mentioned this world where Killing games are popular, I'd like to see if they're going to develop this thing further. The ending was confusing, but that's probably what they were aiming to do: there are a lot of uncertainties and unanswered questions like in DR, and all we can do is to speculate.

When you replay the game you actually find yourself shouting together with shuichi at least in my case

This make Kokichi line "there many possibilities for lies" make sense

4:30 that's *exactly* how I felt while watching the last trial. The reality of the game itself telling me it's all fiction made me feel despair, especially since it came from the characters themselves, even if it was just Tsumugi cosplaying as them. In 1 and 2 we saw Makoto, Hajime and the rest of the characters experience it, but for the finale it was our turn. I can't speak for everyone but he definitely nailed it trying to making me feel despair.

And something really strange that I noticed. Remember the bug in the 4th execution? Tsumugi did talk about it in the first trial at some point. O.o So she basically thought about it from this point?

I really love the ending. Even when i first thought they were portraying the audience like obsessive fangirls xD The thought of them taking jabs at some of the audience just made me genuinely laugh. Especially since the game was making fun of itself like - it's always Junko even if it's repetitive. And the thought that it's up to us to decide how true the story was, just sounds amazing to me. (And it fits the theme perfectly) At first i really didn't like that the 3 of them survived because it felt like it made their speeches about sacrificing themselves kinda redundant. But i understand that they had to explain that everything possibly isn't as it seems. So okay, i can live with that. + i really liked that they took the risky way of trying something new other than - it always ends in hopebagels. Honestly, that would have pissed me off more than anything. Though after playing through i was really confused about the ending just as many people were. I guess that's pretty common :D I appreciate you taking Kodaka's actual tweets to clarify, thanks, Weeby!

I understand the intent of the ending but I don't care. This is a game, games are fun. The reason people play games with stories is to get immersed in a world separate from our own, to say that it was all fake broke my immersion into little pieces and only made the world of Danganronpa feel immensely empty and I can't bring myself to care for the characters. I understand that, that was for despair's sake but frick team Danganronpa; I wouldn't get immersed in the world of the game if they were going to pull this, and now playing it feels like a waste of time.

I loved the ending. My interpretation is that Tsumugi became the mastermind after the first flashblack light and that team danganronpa made her think that she was. I think its all just one complex lie.

I loved what you said in this video Weeby! I personally can't say that I hated the ending, but I don't love it either, I felt that the ending was alright or just ok and left me satisfied with how it ended in a way. I do understand the people that either hated this ending or loved it, but I do certainly respect and appreciate Kodaka on what he did in Chapter 6 for the ending since it is something we don't see very often. I do look forward to some of the character analysis videos you will do in the future especially for Kokichi Ouma. Keep up the good work Weeby and thanks!

First off, I’ve delved head deep into Danganronpa for the past month. I’ve watched through Trigger Happy Havoc (plus I watched DR: The Animation just to see how that was), Goodbye Despair, Ultimate Despair Girls, The End Of Hope’s Peak High School Anime, and then Killing Harmony. I purposely stayed away from reviews and stuff like that so I could go in fully blind (plus I voice Makoto, Hajime/Izuru, & Shuichi while I watched everything, lol). Second, even though the final chapter of Killing Harmony was absolutely wack as hell to the point where I thought where there was a LOT of unnecessary stuff in the trial, specifically with Junko’s sUdDeN appearance (I literally groaned when she showed up) and the fourth wall destroyed to the point where it was uncanny, the epilogue calmed those outrageous moments and gave it a decently satisfying ending... Now, looking back at everything, personally, I think everything in the Danganronpa games actually happened in their universe and them breaking the fourth wall signifies their characters coming into reality rather than being emotionally tormented like they were during the killing game.

I am totally opposite from most people! I felt that the game was telling me off, and I loved every second of it! It just made sense to me, in an amazing meta way.

I wonder what would happen if you went back to the beginning and picked tsumugi as the killer for the first trial

I agree with you with the analysis of the finale. The audience, to me, felt like it was a direct representation of the real-life audience of Danganronpa rather than a satire. If they would have made the disconnect more clear, then I believe the finale would have been better in my opinion.

Now that we know what the ending means we can figure out that one death had to happen to get this great ending Kaede’s. Reviewing her character she is constantly pushing for hope to triumph despair meaning if she had made it to the trial then hope would’ve continued to beat despair and by extension the show goes on Having a character like shuichi who ends up denying hope AND despair (something I don’t think kaede could do) we get this end

I try to see it as DR having 2 different cannons. 1 where it's reality (DR1, DR2, UDG, DR3) and 1 where it's all fictional. Great ending, but just way too confusing, imo, to be the "true" cannon.

Did they ever alaberate on kaede's sister ? I am very confused

Great video, everything makes sense in my head now! Thx a lot! This great video made me go back to Danganronpa universe and rethink everything of the game Please continue making videos And for the plot, I relly dont know what is true or false,what is fiction or reality, but I just HOPE that will have more game Danganronpa games. =D

Ah, nice video Weeby! I feel similar; when I played V3, I disliked the ending at first, but after thinking about it more I found that I ended up really liking it. One thing that I liked about the epilogue and the whole "fiction" aspect is that it's the epitome of the theme of the game. The entire game is built off of the theme "Truth vs. Lies", and the epilogue really kinda hits that home, imo. Like, the ending opening the possibility of it being a lie, or a truth, or whatever helps support the idea of each player "choosing their own reality and perspective from a lie", like CH.4 and CH.5 did, and I think that's a really beautiful part of it all.

The thing you said about being dragged and its like Saihara and the gang and rejecting US the players is so correct. It feels like being shamed for something I love and in the end I was not given a consolation in the end.

Still my favourite channel!

i think the reason they didn’t know who rantaro was is because they didn’t have their talents yet, they were all just normal people. but when they got their talents, they were given fake memories so maybe rantaro wasn’t actually a survivor of the last killing game but that memory was just implanted in him so that he could think he was the ultimate survivor

V3's ending was my favorite from the moment I experienced it. I'm really good at putting myself in the place of the character, so I got the meaning of the ending right away, and didn't feel at all like I was being slighted as an audience member.

Thank you so much for this. When i finished the game i truly felt like i was being thrown into despair because of the 'reveal' of Danganronpa just being a live show in their universe. Even if Tsumugi actually told the truth and nothing but the truth i feel much more comfortable with the idea that the future foundation and the remnants of despair existing. So i am willing to accept it even if it is a lie, because it makes me happier than what Tsumugi told me does. Again thank you for putting these thoughts in my head, truht or not.

I feel like the best disconnect between the audience and us that could've been used was barely skimmed over. Celeste and Taka briefly explain how the world was so peaceful, and that the resulting boredom made them go mad for excitement when Danganronpa happened. Kinda reminds me of, oh I don't know, JUNKO ENOSHIMA. Namely, the mindset of "growing boredom = killing game attachment". But again, they skim over it, so most probably don't think on that part long enough to get this form of disconnect.

If Tsimugi was the ultimate cosplayer, it would've been very easy for her to make up cospox as part of her alibi... I believe it was a tv show and tsumigi was the mastermind, but she cosplayed as a different person/ultimate in every season so the audience had to guess who the mastermind was as well, and just a coincidence that this time she was someone who had an ultimate of transforming like cosplaying... so anyway they beat her and the killing game show and will go into an outside world that hopefully will help them recover...

I don't think the V3 audience was realistic. In the real world, there would have been twitch chat comments like "Don't kill Monodam again. BibleThump " And more seriously, we are talking about a world that allowed ~50 reality shows where people killed each other, and people were obsessed with it. Personally I think we were supposed to reject that world and not think we were a part of it.

I felt just like you. I was unsure if the game was criticizing me or an fictional audience.

Please dont hate Shirogane, I like her as an antagonist.

I was waiting for this Queen W 💜

I liked the ambiguity of the ending since is really emphasizes the concept of fiction bleeding into reality. It almost forces us to make theories to make sense of all the inconsistencies, unresolved points, etc.

I kinda got that the DR 'real world' was different to our real world. Mostly from the hangman's gambit answer being "Implant" I kinda got that it was a show in the DR universe, and that it was real people who were implanted with a fictional person's memories

Can't wait for the characters analysis's. Going back and seeing the characters speculation after and before is going to be fun.

I think their first memories and talents were real along with the kidnapping thing. People might be really, really, really, desperate for entertainment out there but there's no way they'd let kids go on a show where they'd have to kill or be killed by one another. Child services would be on that in seconds. After reading a good handful of fanfics of the characters post-game going through both mental and physical therapy it brings ups also the big hole that people abusing themselves to that extreme would in no way be aloud past 3 episodes let alone 53 seasons. It's like willingly going into a toxic chemical chamber in a group and whoever passes out last wins, winning by being the last one surviving after 5 days despite gaining a lethal cancer in the process then someone giving you medical coverage for life. Your life has been shortened, you've likely had to both watch and possibly participate in cannibalism to survive, you'll be in constant terrible pain from the disease each doctor visit along with horrible nightmares but hey look you got a cash prize........ Even if you were mentally unstable to begin with you wouldn't do that once let alone twice like Rantaro's video implied.

Thanks, this video made me a bit more comfortable with this ending

I am so thankfull to you for being able to put words on what i felt during this last trial. I am among the numerous people that felt akward seeing the (or so i thought) total 4th wall break, and ashamed by being told that i'm enjoying watching people suffer.

Do Rantaro character analysis

I also feel like this was also made a change in my life ever since V3 came out through personal situations, I also find that part when Tsumugi broke out in Cospox while dressing up as Kadae, what I do predict in my opinion, Tsumugi was telling the truth regardless, and like you said it's likely possible that everyone and everything else is fictional, but from the lack of evidence it's difficult to say, I did however that I felt amazed at the end for them breaking through the fourth wall like that, but also very irritated and upset as well from the confusion in the ending, overall, I had ALLOT of mixed emotions about this and allot of thought after watching the gameplay ever since