How to Write Better Fangan Murder Cases 

Looking at the randomized talents you gave to the DR2 cast and I'm laughing at the thought of Mikan just casually walking around with a sword.

A tip that I personally like to try to follow for my fangan is to layer information; try to make specific things clarified as you piece different parts together, but don't withhold any vital information. For example, in trial 1 of sdr2, (spoilers ahead) Nagito is eventually revealed to have been planning to kill somebody during the blackout. This explains the knife taped under the table, lamp wire, and the complicated setup needed, but that was unsuccessful due to something else happening, meaning that parts of his original plan was used for a different murderer. This explains that the glow paint under the floor wasn't part of his plan (so we know that somebody else was also planning something), why twogami was found at the table, and why the knife was clean of blood. We could easily tell at some point that Nagito was fully intending to kill somebody, but this reveal changes our perspective on the situation, so we now know that Nagito is dangerous, but there's also more foul play involved. It's not some cheap reveal that immediately makes the killer obvious (nor immediately proves nagito's innocence), but it deepens the complexity and interest in the case. Another vital tip for mystery writing is to NEVER withhold vital information from your readers that's needed to solve the case, it's a cheap tactic and nobody feels good when a "twist" like that happens. Give them enough to where they could technically piece together who the culprit is, but it's complicated enough to where it won't feel obvious from the start.

Each killer is accused based on specific contexts/arguments, and each killer has a specific LINK to the crime that draws the accusation. Reviewing the LOGIC that leads to the accusation may help aspiring writers diversify their trials: SMOKING GUNS* (a piece of evidence that is, itself, conclusive/concrete/positive proof): ーLEON: the infamous dying message which he was too reckless to notice ーMONDO: the broken handbook which only he had the knowledge of how to break ーKAEDE: the flash in the photos taken by the single camera she setup, evidence created since she never intended to escape ーKOREKIYO (Tenko): the multipurpose magic circle that only he arranged which concealed the murder method *most of the crimes in Danganronpa have smoking gun evidence, but only these killers are accused because of that evidence ex. Celestia was outed by name but Makoto did not use her handbook to accuse her ex. Mikan was caught lying about the cause of death but Hajime did not use that lie to accuse her ex. Korekiyo attacked Angie with the floorboard but Shuichi did not use the weapon to accuse him ^in each of these cases, the smoking gun evidence is instead used to further prove their guilt. ACCOMPLICE (one person's guilt involves another person) ーCELESTIA: after revealing Hifumi's guilt, proving that two people can cooperate is why Makoto accuses the only other person attacked ーJUNKO: because Mukuro was disguised when she was killed, Makoto then accuses who she was disguised as ーCHIAKI: knowledge of Nagito's involvement, target, and luck usage is why Chiaki outs herself, and proving that Chiaki knew of the bombs from Monomi is why Hajime accuses her ELIMINATION (every other option is ruled out) ーSAKURA: the locked room with the poison inside narrows the list of options to a single person ーGONTA: every other person has a full alibi leaving a single person ーKAITO: knowledge of the murder video deceptions + knowledge that Kokichi had no access to other bodies means only one person can be in the press, and it is not who the video shows CIRCUMSTANTIAL (opportunity/proximity) ーTERUTERU: the only light source during the blackout came from the kitchen, where Teruteru spent most of his time ーPEKO: Fuyuhiko bringing the bat meant Peko had to douse herself with the water bottles, and so was witnessed wet ーKOREKIYO (Angie): Angie was attacked in the same room as the seance and Korekiyo was already proved to have been altering those rooms ALIBI BACKFIRE (the setup to forge an alibi is uncovered) ーMIKAN: the hanging video misrepresents the time and place of death, and only Mikan benefited from the alibi it created ーGUNDAM: Fuyuhiko actually did not ruin Gundam's plan by sitting in the lounge... rather, knowing that the killer did not need to be physically present made it possible for Gundam to be the killer... if the class never worked out the automatic death trap, Gundam would never be accused... Fuyuhiko sitting in the lounge merely outed Gundam early ーKIRUMI: similar to Mikan, the testimonies misrepresent the time of Ryoma's death, and only Kirumi placed herself at the gym alone

One thing about Danganronpa cases is that when the trial is done, you'll realize why the culprit chose this exact victim and no one else. Think about it, almost every case obeys this logic: *(Spoilers for LITERALLY ALL CASES, be warned)* 1-1: Sayaka's plan targeted Leon, because he seemed like the type to fall for it, and obviously this led to Leon killing her out of everyone. 1-2: Mondo's kill was an impulse, and Chihiro was unlucky enough to end up as the target. No one else was nearby. 1-3: Celeste took advantage of Taka and Hifumi's rivalry, and Hifumi's willingness to obey her. 1-4: Sakura's "murder" was an act of self-sacrifice; she didn't want to kill anyone, so she chose herself. 1-5: Technically not a murder, and the mastermind did it all just to take Kyoko down. 2-1: Nagito took advantage of Twogami's resolve to protect everyone, and Teruteru, aware of Nagito's plan, tried to stop him and thus didn't go for anyone else. 2-2: The motive led up to Fuyuhiko and Mahiru's conflict, and Peko just dirtied her hands in Fuyuhiko's place. She didn't kill for her own benefit. 2-3: Arguably, it doesn't hold up that well here, but Ibuki WAS an easy target while sick. And Hiyoko's death was to prevent a witness. 2-4: Gundham wanted a fight to the death, so naturally he would choose Nekomaru, the one most capable of fighting back. 2-5: Nagito himself *made* Chiaki kill him, so we can't say she picked him as a target, but rather that Nagito picked her as the killer because she was the traitor. (Well, his luck did, since he of course didn't know who the traitor was.) V3-1: Kaede aimed for the mastermind because she wanted to end the game, not escape. Rantaro just got in the way. (Of course we learn the *real* truth later, but it still applies: Tsumugi took advantage of Kaede's plan and made it look like she succeeded.) V3-2: Thanks to Kirumi and Ryoma both having seen their own motives, they were a perfect setup for the crime: Kirumi with a strong will to live and escape, and Ryoma with none. V3-3: Once again, Angie's death was to prevent a witness, and Korekiyo killed the one who would become the "medium" for the seance - it could've been Himiko or Tsumugi, but Tenko took the part herself. V3-4: A bit unclear why Miu chose Kokichi - maybe she saw him as a threat who would figure it out. But Gonta killed Miu to protect Kokichi. V3-5: The entire plan revolved around Kokichi and Kaito. The kill attempts weren't for escaping, they were to end the game - both Maki's attempt at taking down the "mastermind" and Kokichi sacrificing himself to make an unsolvable murder. Jesus, that became an essay... But the bottom line is, there is almost always a reason why the culprit chose THIS particular person out of everyone, and didn't go for just a random kill. This will (in my opinion) make the murder feel a lot more impactful and emotional, and help you understand the culprit's motives much more!

Whilst I personally disagree with using Kaz as an example, this is very good video for people who are starting a fangan. The idea of someone killing for their talent is a brilliant one and if these are your ideas, I can't wait to see your Fangan.

Imma say this now, I love when people utilize their fangan's unique twists to create cases that'd be impossible in any other settings or casts. For example, I have an unreleased fangan with a cast consisting entirely of pokemon, and in chapter 2, while making tea, a Lurantis murders a Corviknight by splashing him with boiling water (super effective) and frames it as a Samurott using the move scald to kill him, but our protagonist manages to figure it out by realizing that scald is a jet of boiling water, not a wave!

When I tend to write cases, I tend to dip into that part of line that makes me bordering on what we would call Junko territory… each detail planned out, solvable but always shocking

I’ve had an idea kinda similar to what you described but it’d have very different results. How about a motive where all the characters are forced to be deprived of their talents entirely? For some examples: someone who’s talent is related to running could be forced to wear heavy boots, and thus can’t get anywhere quickly. Someone who’s talent is related to singing could be forced to not speak at all. Someone who’s talent is related to psychology would be constantly woken up and be deprived of sleep, and thus their sanity. Someone who’s talent that involves a weapon or a martial art would have to think of other ways to defend themselves or kill without relying on what they normally do. Someone who’s talent related to beauty could be deprived of hygiene/makeup and thus be isolated from most of the rest of the group. The list can go on and on for God knows how long.

I love the idea of fuyuhiko as a traditional dancer, that would be pretty funny tbh. Gundham the prince is very interesting though, being that he sports the “dark lord” persona.

I have an idea for an idea for a Fangan, and I want others opinion on it. Each case has “dummy” truth bullets. They aren’t used in the trail, nor are they explained. The players is lead to assume these bullets are red herrings to make the cases more difficult (which they technically are) until the last trial where they reveal the mastermind, and these “dummy” bullets are revealed to be truth bullets for finding the mastermind. The reason why they accidentally left so many clues is because instead of a despair loving mastermind, they are two people who, despite both having kept personal secrets well hidden, don’t really know how to keep this kind of secret. Although, all of these bullets combined with a little bit of evidence gathered before the trial are what helps the cast realize they’re the masterminds. They bullets are weird enough to take note of, but out of context it’d be weird to think they point to the mastermind. Which is why it took the cast so long to find out

A talent swap motive would kinda be like foreshadowing for the whole Kamakura project since they’re both messing around with talents maybe?

I personally really like it when Monokuma uses the motive to target a specific person as the blackened while still making it vague at first. Twilight Syndrome Murder Case is an amazing example of this. Also, something that would work for any character in a prestablished relationship, “if you win the trial, you get to take one person to live with you”. Better yet, this works both platonically and romantically, so you can throw in a bit of a loop.

For my own fangan, here’s my ideas for my murder cases so far: Chapter 1: I haven’t really planned this one out much, but the culprit kills mainly to leave the killing game, and selects a random victim. I’ll think on that one more, but yeah. Chapter 2: The motive that Monokuma (or another mascot, I haven’t decided) gives everyone is- if you kill someone and convince everyone you’re not the culprit (basically you win the class trial), you get to take one other person with you. The culprit in is this trio (they all have music related talents and decide to make a band together while they’re thee) and supposedly likes the one guy in the group (who likes the other girl) and she wants to escape with him. She knew he probably wouldn’t want to leave the other girl, so she kills her. Even though she was jealous, she still was friends with the other girl, so she tried to kill her painlessly and later try to cover it up by stabbing her already dead body. At the trial, when she loses, the guy is furious (as he should be) and the culprit says that she understands if he doesn’t forgive her, and that she apologizes for everything. He doesn’t know what to think about this but he lost both of his bitches in one chapter damn 💀 Chapter 3: As many chapter 3 culprits are, this one has killed people before the killing game. Not sure if she’d count as a serial killer, so we’re going with that lol. Anyway, she kills this one girl, and I’m not sure why, but I’ll think about it. Then, another girl is found on the edge of death, and reveals that someone was lying about his talent (kind of like Maki). The girl was the traitor and the guy was the mastermind, but we don’t reveal that until later. Anyway, I’m not sure if I want her to be killed by the culprit (it wouldn’t fully make sense, since the first victim was found tied up hanging from the ceiling upside down with her head cut off, and the second just had been hit really hard. It would probably make more sense if the second was actually killed by the mastermind (maybe she had been doing something risky or not according to plan, idk), and with her last breaths, she told everyone his real talent, probably as payback. That would explain the talent reveal and the difference in murder style. And since only the first culprit counts (I think? Or is it the second? Please remind me), the mastermind would get away with it. If I’m wrong about the order, I could fix up the case to work with the original culprit. About the culprit herself, I’m not too confident about the motive, but she’s the type that’s “seems really sweet and nice but will actually fucking kill you if you got in her way :)” She was always focused on looking pretty, so her execution really fucks up her face and hair and the beginning lol Chapter 4: This one is the most heartbreaking in my opinion. So, the culprit (unsure about the motive) writes a letter to the protag saying to meet them at a specific location at a specific time. Protag shows this to his closest friend who’s like “don’t go, you’ll probably get killed”, so he stays in his room for the time being. Meanwhile, the friend goes when and where the note told protag to go. The culprit, who is scared about murdering in general, doesn’t even look at the friend and kills him anyway. Shocked at what he had just done, he ran away. The culprits closest friend (or boyfriend lol, it’s a semi canon ship) sees him and goes to where he was running away from. He notices the victims dead body and realizes he’s technically still alive. So he delivers the final blow so he gets counted as the blackened and not his friend. (Kind of like Danganronpa Another trial 2) During the trial, the “culprit” is so confident that it’s him, and when the evidence starts pointing to the real culprit, he’s in denial and starts freaking out. We reveal the blackened, bestie is sad, emotional scene, execution, sadness. Yay Chapter 5: Another character (one of the smartest) figures out the mastermind, you know, is the mastermind. She and the mastermind then go off into another space to have a very dramatic fight, oh no. This case is similar to V3-5, where you know which two characters the victim and culprit are, but you don’t know which is which. The mastermind ends up being the culprit, and watches the trial without the rest knowing. At the end, once he’s known as the culprit, he’s revealed, and then gets executed. During his execution, he (being the Ultimate Arsonist) sets everything on fire, maybe killing one of the remaining students. Almost all evidence is destroyed. But, someone appears. Chapter 6: A mysterious person, currently presented as an AI/Alter Ego, sets up places for the remaining characters to see evidence to figure out the plan. It becomes clear that maybe who they originally thought was the mastermind wasn’t actually the true mastermind. During the trial, the person who was an Alter Ego before appears as an actual person. It’s revealed that they are related to the ult arsonist. [The Ult Arsonist’s cover up talent was the Ultimate Investigator. His family runs a company where they are hired as private investigators. His sister, the person here in the trial, is the true Ult Investigator - but that’s for another killing game, don’t you think ;) ] Anyway, they find out the plan, blah blah blah, former Ult Investigator gets executed, everything’s happy again, yayyyy

I’ve never really created a Fangan, but I really would like to at some point

Personally I think my favorite Danganronpa murder case is actually Chapter 3’s from the fangame Super Danganronpa Another 2. I don’t think this will be much of a surprise, but I really have to applaud LINUJ for making such a phenomenal Class Trial that met and exceeded my expectations. The murder was extremely creative. The body discovery itself was especially memorable and creative in the way it was shown. It didn’t rely on the double victim trope that Chapter 3s tend to do most of the time. The Blackened was unexpected. The actual murder itself was really thought out. And it had so many twists, turns, contradictions, and makes you rethink everything that you thought about the case. This single Chapter had everything that I wanted in a Danganronpa game even if the Blackened made me feel *incredibly* uncomfortable when they snapped. Probably the most uncomfortable I felt playing a Danganronpa game. The Blackened was so messed up. Their motive is just… holy crap…

Thanks so much for making these kinds of videos Aeris! You are the best!! ❤️

Ideas for your murder cases: 1. An already-eliminated participant is guilty for the accidental murder of a classmate, possibly due to leaving poison in food somewhere or left-behind traps somewhere the already-deceased killer was planning on hiding prior to their death. 2. Someone prepares a corpse as a meal while nobody's watching. 3. Someone uses a hidden contraption to drop a body into a pool with nobody nearby after drowning the victim elsewhere (such as a sink) to make it seem like the victim was drowned in the pool. 4. The killer murdered two people, both victims being participants who already killed one or two people before the living blackened killed both of them, unaware of who murdered the other students. Useful if you want a short chapter with lots of murder. 5. Someone unintentionally, indirectly murders someone without their own knowledge. Happy killing.

i would like to see nekomaru as a nurse rn please

I did have my own cases said up, had how my victims were killed, who they were killed by, where they were killed, and when they were officially dead. I didn't know how to make evidence of the cases so this helps a lot. Thanks Aeris!

another tip i personally hold up really high : let the characters write the plot , dont let the plot write the charcters . if the character is more likely to not do somethig , dont change the character to be more likely to do it , change the action thay the character does .

Funny enough, I'm actually working on a video about fanganronpa tips and pet peeves! This is a pretty good video, but I wanna add one more piece of advice that may help when it comes to creating the mystery, and that is creating the actual murder plan (which you would work backwards) and the way the gang solves the mystery (which you would work forwards) at the same time. Your point about how things the culprit would reasonably leave behind as evidence is a REALLY good one, and makes for a good starting point. However, I feel like you should have this evidence initially point to your first (of many) red herrings. Then ask yourself some questions and kind of debate yourself: why does the evidence point to this red herring as a culprit? What makes it that the red herring is innocent. If X is true, what does that change about Y, and is the red herring really in the clear? Things like that have personally helped me write my own case. Also, integrate non-murderer subplots in the case. This gives the trial more memorabilia, increases the mystery, and develops lesser known characters. Also, for every red herring, they HAVE to be lying about/hiding SOMETHING. What that is, you'll have to find out

Trigger warnings: death Not to tute my own horn but here are some motives of my own (this fangan will never come to fruition so here.) Chapter 1: The Reminder motive RELAYS on the fact that at least half the cast knows something negative of the other and it should be obvious from here.(remind students of negative things each day, each one worse than the last.) Chapter 2: Loved ones roulette, Russian roulette every hour but you know how much time you have(everyone is different time) and it’s not a gun but something personalized to a student, ie. Electric Chair, poison, ect. Chapter 3: despair disease, no that’s not my name for it. This is a very specific version of this, everyone that is effected by this motive has a hidden persona that if one thing is removed they show it. Examples that were in the fangan: analytical person=impulsive word and action, Quiet, inside have a lot to say=Chatter box, stuffing emotions?= Emotional kids(this was done twice, both positively and negatively), you get the idea? Ok. Chapter 4: Spy. If you have ever heard of the game ‘Spy’, you know that is it a role play game where high end people are at a party and one is a killer. This killer could be either the traitor themselves or (in my case) a brainwashed student. Chapter 5: Reasonings. In my game every student had a specific reason to be there. Most weren’t even in the same class, this would reveal these reasons to the normal student and one random student.

Honestly Nekomaru as an ultimate Nurse is strangely fitting

Oh wow, I've been waiting for someone to make a video about this! This video is great, super useful to have information for like, arguably the main thing Danganronpa is known for. I think the point about starting with the motive is especially smart, because I think it's definitely true that a really well-designed case will be hurt a lot by bad characters. It's not an approach I would have thought of myself. That's because I mostly play these games for the mystery solving, the insane twists and turns and overly complicated murder setups. If anyone else is like me and LOVES the stupidly complex killings, here's a rough idea of the way I think about them: (SPOILERS BTW) A good case is centered around a "mechanic," a large-scale usually physical feature that the killer can use to obfuscate their guilt. You can pinpoint one in just about every case: 1-1 has the room swap, 1-3 has Celeste's diversion, 2-1 has the blackout AND the floorboards, 2-4 has the elevator, 3-3 has the seance... you get it. All of these things create opportunities for the killer and add complexity to the case. (Personally, as amazing as 2-2 I find that its (imo) lack of a central mechanic weakens it a LOT because it just doesn't get my gears turning like other cases.) Figure out even a fairly simple mechanic and your case will really feel like Danganronpa, I think. Be creative and try to think of something that could majorly change the way the viewer is thinking about the events. Even if your mechanic is a liiiittle plotholey, idk, I think it'll still be really fun to read and try to solve.

I love the talent swap motive. I had the same idea when I was imagining my own. I made a character who was secretly enraged that the victim became so talented despite not working for it.

This is some really good advice for fangan writers who are new or aren't confident in their ability to write murder cases. My best advice is to just make a couple test cases, even if you only get to the planning stage, and see which elements of each case your friends find the most interesting. The way I like to write murder cases is to focus on one key misunderstanding that the entire cast is led to believe. Then, through investigating the other elements of the case further, the cast learns the truth about the initial misunderstanding which leads them to the culprit. It's not patented or anything, but I like to call this the Core Mystery method.

Here is a case that I made for a fan game I’m making. Everyone was invited to an surprise event by a character (Ultimate Stagehand) in the movie room and everyone besides him and 1 or 2 other people are waiting at the door. Player character realizes that it’s suspicious that they have not been told to enter, and as they slowly open the door…. *BANG* A shotgun goes off at the door hitting the Player and 2 other people. One of the others dies instantly and the Player dies after a few seconds. New Player and the others burst through the door and see a shotgun on the floor and a cloaked figure moving to the back. When they follow it they find a startled Ultimate Stagehand cloaked in black fabric. Ok what actually happened is that killer (Ultimate Clothesmaker) knocked the Ultimate Stagehand out before draping him in black cloth that they got from their room, after that they hang some of the same black cloth on this movable bar on the ceiling (used to change where the projector is for movies) and tapes a shotgun shell to the cloth. After this they plant a shotgun in front of the door and primed the shell to go off if someone turned the handle, then she left and when the shell went off the blast sends the cloth flying to the back and once it reaches the back the rope falls off the bar next to the Ultimate Stagehand. The one thing that proves their guilt is that on all of their cloth at the bottom left of it all is a very small symbol of a needle and thread which they can see on a thing of clothing they made (Like a scarf that the new Player got during the daily life).

Step 1 murder Step 2 " oh no murder " Step 3 " it was I dio who murder " Step 4 " no dio shut up and stop being weird , you're boyfriend is calling " Step 5 " *Thinking* " Step 6 " it was actually you [ insert least suspicious character) , you murder " Step 7 " omg" says everyone Step 8 ???? Step 9 " it was I [ insert least suspicious character ] Step 10 profit Step 11 hot gay action And congratulations you have written an amazing class trial

Thanks for the advice yo! I plan on making a murder case for my fangan as someone getting framed and it working, ending up with the framed one being dead SINCE the actual murder was the mastermind. I got the motive down (the person killed was the ultimate theorist and they were conducting a theory on who was, and who is currently the mastermind) the person being framed is actually someone who the mastermind trusted (childhood friends and such) and is now stabbing their back so far it's my favorite case actually

A talent swap in the first chapter would actually be super cool cuz seeing everyone for the first you immediately look at their talents to decide their personalities but then out of nowhere it’s all swapped and you’d either see that some of them actually fit better with their new roles or some feel like they don’t qualify and depending on that it would be cool to see if those new roles stick the entire way through

Watched this for advice and I'm glad to hear that I was doing some things right, thanks for the confirmation

At least for the first 2 games (Haven't seen a playthrough of V3 yet.), there are common repeating things that I notice other than just "Trial 3 = 2 victims.". Trial one: The victim is someone who canonically the main character has spent a lot of time with, the ultimate imposter not as much, but still more than most others at the time. Trial 2: The murders are more personal than the rest and someone's closest friend is the killer and/or victim (DR2 did both, while DR1 did Mondo and Taka.) Trial 3: Two murders, the killer shows true colors during the trial. Trial 4: A theme of self-sacrifice for others. Trial 5: Always a trial that is important to the next, builds up to emotional and plot advances for the most important surviving characters, and leaves the player in emotional damage. Chiaki is out of nowhere and shoots through your heart, and having to choose between yourself and Kyoko, with two endings might leave people in pain. Trial 6: EXPOSITION! EXPOSITION! E X P O S I T I O N! I can not stress enough that this needs the despairful intense amount of exposition that was hinted at before. Both games give this amazing treatment, and I would never change this trend. Boom, you got a Danagronpa checklist for accomplishments that these trials need.

I found some people that were sharing motive ideas and I wrote a small fragment of a case for an oc (name is Oka). Basically, the motive was that each of the remaining members have someone important to them held hostage by monokuma and if a killing didn’t happen in a specific timeframe then the hostages would be in their own killing game. Oka’s little brother was the hostage related to Oka so Oka kills somebody to protect her brother and the other hostages.

This is a great video! I really like the advice that you give to people that want to make fangans or just killing game center games is really helpful and I'll certainly use that for my future projects! One thing I have noticed that you didn't really touch on in the video is from the main Danganronpa games, there is the use of patterns in each of the chapters especially related to the motive (personal or from Monokuma). For the first chapter it would be have to be the intercepted murder attempt either by the intended victim or a third party, the killer or/and victim will be different than originally expected showing the dangers of the killing game and showing how much people want to get out of a killing game before things getting really out of hand. While the second cases seem to only have the victim getting head trauma as it's only connection, I would argue these are the chapters is when the killing game gets more personal between the characters. Instead of murdering simply for getting out, the characters are building off of each other and the motives being handed out are mixing together terribly with someone ending up dead to someone's rage or devotion to a cause they believe in. The third case other than being a double murder, is where we have the the killer that the creator doesn't want you to like. They have a selfish motive, wanting something like money or to spread despair, making them unsympathetic compared to the other blackens in the case. Once they are caught they freak out in order to make them more disliked and over all, not have the strongest case of why they killed two people. The fourth case will always change up the murder in some way or another, but no matter what, it'll always be a sacrifice in one way or another due to the closeness of the group. The characters are stuck in a impossible situation in some way and someone decides to take action so everyone can keep on going. Because of this, these cases are more of the saddest in the games. The fifth case is the one last trick up someone's sleeves before the ending comes be it trying to get someone out their way, everyone except one, or trying to stop the killing game itself, this is the last hurrah in trying to change the course but failing due to the protagonist. Then finally the sixth chapter which mostly boils down to the reveal aka the plot dump. The big bad is revealed and now the characters are faced with one last stand off as they reflect on the game that just happened along with the uncertain future. Over the course of the three games, we see these patterns getting established, twisted around in some way, and taken to their natural extremes making them interesting to see how they are done in the games. While you don't have to follow these patterns after all, they don't matter compared to the core of the story, the characters, these are cool things you can use to spice up the stories by creating a personal twist to it and switching patterns out or creating your own patterns if you have multiple fangans. Over all, I hope everyone has a great day and happy writing your future fangans!

Peko as the Ultimate light music member playing music to fuyuhiko absolutely slay dancing as the Ultimate traditional dancer.

This is some really nice advice to hear, I don't have a fangan rn but i do hope to make one later on, and this vid really help, Thank you Aeris

This video’s super informative, definitely mentioning the important things coming to danganronpa deaths and motives. As the creator of totalronpaisland, I will admit that the trial 2 motive is DEFINITELY the most rushed compared to the rest. For the other trials, we had a clear motive that we made surround the trials, but for the second trial was created during the creation of the trial rather than prior, and also I didn’t know Bridgette and Geoff’s characters super well and I look back on it and admit it feels a bit of a stretch for the two of them. I’m really excited to see your own fangan, you very talented with planning the linguistics of murder cases. Keep up the great work!

Ok so I have an idea. The motive is after a certain amount of time their trauma will be exposed by triggering it. The murderer is the ultimate ??????, they have been SA and they are horrified at the thought of it happening again. The ultimate ????2 is stress eating from the idea that they could die, the ultimate ???? has gloves on and asked the ultimate ????2 for a pen, the ultimate pastry chef gave the ultimate singer a pen and the ultimate ??? stuck the pen inside the ultimate ???2 neck and put a bloody suicide note in the ultimate ????? hand and runs to clean their clothes, the last Nall in the coffin for the ultimate ???? is the a scrap cloth, it was stuck in the washing machine

I’m working on a Fanganronpa campaign, and this video is definitely useful.

unrelated, but i love the dress you gave mukuro.

I love that disclaimer about murder research. And that randomised talent swap list making Nekomaru a nurse. Also you wouldn't happen to still have (a link to) that epicmafia document would you? EDIT: Ah, I see someone else asked about it already. I'll wait patiently then.

Funny how a video about writing comes out on Toko’s birthday

I like to add fun twist to my fangans, one of my characters named Mei. (The Ultimate Therapist) was attacked by another character named Shai (the Ultimate bodyguard) but I decided to make it where Shai knew how to defend someone more than attack because of his bodyguard position and when needing to defend someone he’d scare most people away. So I had it where Shai knocked out Mei but assumed she was dead only for the antagonist to spice up the killing game during the investigation to go to Monokuma and convince him to keep Mei alive to make the killing game interesting. So towards the end of the trial Mei just pulls up in the middle of the trial extremely confused. Shai’s motive was to get out of the killing game because there was still people he needed to protect and Mei was an easy target because a huge bodyguard targeting a smol 4’10 (yes, Mei is that small) would be a pretty reasonable choice. (Also, if there is something I should redo or improve please say so!)

Aeris, The Ultimate Adviser (It's official) This videos is very helpful!, thanks for giving tips with this kind of stuff, really, your work is awesome (also, I would like to see that Mukuro drawing complete)

This has really helped me with Murder cases that I’m writing. Especially when you said not every case needs to be complex. Thanks

AERIS OMG You literally come exactly as I writing y fangan THANK YOU

This really helped me a lot! Well, I'm not making a traditional Fangan I needed desperate help with the murders. Really helpful :>

As someone who is writing one myself and has been for about 2 years, adding more and more details every time I go back to it as I become a improved writer, you hit the nail on the head for how you should be thinking about it. Not just about the murder cases, but for the entirety of a Fanganronpa. Intricate layers of details, motivation, character development (whether subtle or actively stated) should be shown in various ways throughout the chapter. Whether it be dialogue between Characters or through the actions done by said characters, until it finally culminates into the end result of a emotionally charged trial. After that’s over, pack the new details up, and go for another spin with them in mind. This is very nice video for beginning writers who want to try their hand at writing a Fanganronpa, that or writers who need a quick tip or two on how to improve their already written fan project. Having read and enjoyed the original piece, I look forward to how you put this into perspective in the new version of your fangan, and I will definitely be checking it out.

Came here to hear some advice for fangans Stayed to see that awesome fanmade Mukuro 10th anniversary outfit

As a person who wants to make there own Danganronpa fangame I found this very helpful so thank you and hopfuly I can plain the trials for my fangame better

One small thing I always enjoy with a murder case or solving a murder case is using your cast's talents to their advantage (or disadvantage as certain bits of a case could hint towards stuff they would be more knowledgeable on)

This sounds like some solid advice. Here's hoping I can use for my own stories.

I love the examples used with kazuichi. I am trying my best to control my impulses of making a fangan about it because I have 0 experience with anything related to it!

I have to re comment, because my first one I is outdated. This sounds like something a lot more realistic and better then most of the danganronpa cases. A murder can hard to solve regardless of how complex it is. Characters panicking, trying to talk over each other, accusing one another, all are things that make trial harder. I think one or two complex murders are fine, but no more than two. Also this perfect info for my own original (fangonronpa, but a tad more original) story.

Although my fangan isn't following the typical danganronpa tropes, far from it. This video was helpful and full of solid advice that I'll remember when I flesh out my cases 👍✨

gah thank you sm for this!! i'm currently writing case 1 for my first crossover fangan, and this helped!!

Thanks for making this video, I’ve always wanted to make a fangame but I never knew how to make murder crimes so this helps. Also I love the mukuro’s anniversary design

i've been playing with the idea of a fangan for a while so this is a fun vid to listen to and inspire myself, thanks!

Oh wow, this helps a lot! I'm making my own fangan right now, and we just got started with how the actual cases are set up, so this information is very helpful. Thanks!

Great tips, but I really felt that moment in the sprite edit video when you realized you were doing line art on the wrong layer after trying to erase a mistake and ending up erasing some of the skirt instead, followed by the long pause afterwards.

I think this may've touched on a problem with my fic Danganronpa Showa, that I made the cases too complicated too quickly. For the first case I on impulse added a whole thing with a tank to hide the exact cause of death. Even though it made a cool set-piece, if I rewrote the case I probably wouldn't bother with the tank *Spoilers for later in* Then in Case 2 I not only have a double-murder (not by the same killer), but also a 'find who the spy is' on top of that. Think it'd better if I stuck with Case 4 fordoing a double murder somewhere other than Case 3

FUUUUUUUCK YEAH AEEEEEERIS I NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD MAKE THIS VIDEO BUT I'M SO GLAD YA DID

I don't usually comment on your videos, but I just want you to know how creative you are. With the sprite edit, and the story. You created something so complex and hard to figure out off the bat, but it would give one that perfect "Ah!" feeling once the puzzle starts to make sense. This genuinely helps me with my fangan, and I hope you have an incredible day.

This actually helped more then I expected, thank you Aeries.

The motive of the students talents being switched around is such an amazing motive, but like you said it needs to be executed properly

I’m crazy late but I wanted to add some advice of some kind: A murder case that requires the characters to painstakingly work out a bunch of guidelines before they can get to the actual murder part is almost always a bad idea. In other words, a murder based around structural, mathematical, or geometrically pieces of evidence. It’s so not fun to struggle through especially when the answer becomes obvious. (How many sides does an octagon have? How does an elevator work? Spend thirty minutes figuring out an extremely common and basic mechanic in hundreds of video games. How many times can we show the same picture of the same signboard before you want to gouge your eyes out?) That’s not to say a case can’t involve a structure or mechanism of some kind. Kaede’s Rube Golderberg, Kirumi’s ropeway system, Korekiyo’s Seesaw Bullshit, Nagito’s suicide machine - these are all fantastic cases that involve certain rigged setups but don’t center around them. And actually, it is possible to make a good case where the structure of the crime scene plays a crucial role. Almost half of the cases in Danganronpa Kirigiri (the light novel) work this way, and in my opinion, they’re all extremely good. (This is partially due to the fact that you don’t have to watch a ton of amateur detectives struggle through it- Kyoko (or Yui) will always figure it out before the reader, and then explain it efficiently to provide a very satisfying conclusion.) But unless you’re VERY familiar with writing murder cases this way, I seriously don’t recommend trying it. To be fair, cases like 2-4 and 3-4 are so complex that I don’t imagine fangan writers who are struggling to write cases would attempt to replicate them. (I absolutely wouldn’t be able to.) but for whomever it might concern, just don’t go down that route.

I can't wait to do some practical research!

I orginally was gonna make a fan game but i gave up. I actually had 3rd case has the greatest idea. Basicly the culprit was gonna be this guy Vincio Shiko the ultimate Game Dev. He would kill the ultimate biologist Mareo Masahito with a broken test tube in his own research lab. (Vincio is kinda of a cocky and smart character so he had a perfect plan to dispose the body) He basiclly then sabotaged the swimming pool turning it into a acidic solution to disolve Mareo's body but he would slip and fall into it while trying to toss him into the swimming pool. So the 3 chap would be a douple victim scenary one is acidental another is a murder.

I was unaware there was a monokuma file template, i appreciate this a lot. Very helpful for future fangan writing.

This was really helpful to me!! I don’t have a fangan but I do own a dr discord rp server(..I guess a dr version of dnd In a way?) where I have to make murders so it still means a lot!! Also I do have some extra tips to anyone who needs them!! 1. Try thinking of the way your trial will flow. I tend to go off by : Framed participant -> Cleared/Evidence pointing to ANOTHER participant -> culprit (of course, can easily be altered!!) it helps a lot having what you need to do!! 2. ALWAYS add frames..it gets pretty boring otherwise!! 3. This is specific to places where your with..REAL people trying to figure them out other than you writing them, however I suggest you keep some of the evidence relatively easy at the start so your friends will know where to go from there!! 4. Accounts!! No idea what to do? Grab someone and give them an Account!! They can be a witness, have experienced something a little out of the ordinary or something else!! Also gives you an idea of where to go sometimes!! Those are just my tips!! they’re just what I tend to go by when I make a murder!!

THANK YOU IM STILL WORKING ON MY FANGAN WHITCH HAS 26 STUDENTS AND CHAPTERS THANK YOU ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

I’ve never actually written a fangan but this is super helpful advice if I ever decide to try it for myself, thanks Aeris

3:52 oh god I can't stop laughing at the thought of Chiaki being a yakuza and Fuyuhiko being a traditional dancer. I would love to see a game (official or fanmade) featuring an all-star cast where all of the characters' talents are swapped tho

I enjoy planning out stuff for a Fangan, but this video made me wonder if I made my first case too complicated. Here’s how it goes: There are a few “Danger Rooms” that have a risk associated with exploring them but could wield valuable rewards if you can find them within. Two people agree to go in at the same time from different sides of the room, but the soon-to-be-killer, really wanting to get back to a place where he feels “needed”, overhears this. Before the duo get there, the soon-to-be-killer sets the clock on one side to be running 5 minutes late in order to de-sync the times the two people enter. When the person whose side’s clock wasn’t de-synced enters, he gets a knife shot at his back. Then the person on the other side would enter, being framed for the crime. On the crime scene, the knife has a part of its bottom carved out, as it was shot from a bow by the Ultimate Archer. I’m not confident on that last sentence in particular because it feels a bit too campy and unrealistic for what I’m aiming for. There are a couple murders later on that I’m more confident about, but I don’t want to spoil that much.

I love this case! And this is a good breakdown of the thought process of writing one

Thank you so much! This is incredibly helpful! Have a wonderful rest of your week!

At least for me, if the thing you want to stand out is the way of murder you could use something "common" like poisoning and change it or use it in a unique way, for example using plant based poisonig or a victim being poisoned in small dosis on the course of days or weeks

A buddy of mine is making his own fangan! I'm just gonna pass this one to them.

if i would come up with a murder case it woulda been Someone getting stabbed but not pulling the knife out the killer walks out, a few minutes later some unknowing person walks into the room and the person is on the floor those 2 happen to be friends, the unknowing person pulls the knife out and tries to do something but they fail and they die from blood loss. So technically the unknowing person killed them, not the person who stabbed them.

Thank you for this video. I’m planning to making a multi-fandom fangan and your video was a lot of help.

Good writing tips and amazing Mukuro fanart, as far as these shorter videos go it's already great on those alone!

Awesome video, really enjoyed it. It'll help with my own fangan too! - Ibuki

Great video, though it does mostly focus on the motive which while fine, isn't what I expected since motive plays a much smaller part of my murders than it seems to for yours. For my murder cases, I first come up with a motive (like you), then I try to think of what happens and if it is reasonably solvable first, and then think of who could have done the murder physically and would be affected by the motive enough to kill. Then I change some things to better fit the killer, whether it be something they would need to do that I never specified, or something they would do to frame someone else. For an example of all this, in one of my murders, which I will be vague about, involves a character being poisoned in the previous chapter, but only dying from it in this one. The reason is due to the last chapters motive, which I will also not specify since I do plan on using this murder. When the person does eventually die from the poison, the killer moves their body to another location, dropping them a large distance in the process, before stabbing them to make that look like the cause of death. The reason they dropped the victim a large distance and knocked over many things at the scene was to frame another character that couldn't enter that area due to circumstances. However, there are 2 complications. One is the victims blood having already dried in the location that truly died, and the other is the Monokuma File not specifying a cause of death, which would imply that the murder wasn't as simple as it originally seemed.

This is very helpful, and I really like the Mukuro drawing!

Uncharacteristically good video.

I've been planning on making a fangan for a while and this really helps. Thank you.

One thing I notice with some fangans is folks making murders more gruesome than they honestly *need* to be. While there are occasions where a body having a more horrifying state would make sense, some folks have characters absolutely brutalizing someone for literally no reason, they just do. If your character isn't in some severe emotional state I doubt they're gonna dismember or skin someone(exaggerating) for their murder method. Another thing but I think a fun bit is foreshadowing or hinting at the killer before a murder even occurred. One fun detail from a fangan I read about had an offhand mention about a character leaving the kitchen with their bag they carried around and later on it was discovered they had hidden a knife they took in their bag.

Thank you this actually really helps for making cases for my own fangan!

This is what I exactly needed. thank you for posting this, and keep doing what ya doing

A talent-swap motive? How have I not thought of that.

My murder cases were a mess and most likely be solved because of how crazy they were. One case the second one had two characters attempt murder the victim is dowsed in boiling water then stabbed and put in a fridge the true killer takes a doll. Coats it in blood hangs it in the dining hall takes a photo and puts it on the protags door with a knife goes back to the body in the morning and adds blood and pours more boling water on the victim than leaves and I left out a few key details too my fangan is a mess.

Just now watching the video, I'll edit this video once I've actually finished it :)

Thanks aeris this helps a bunch ^^

I really like Fanganronpas and I really want to do a Fanganronpa one where multiverse characters are in a Killing Game. I was thinking about Noah from Total time being the protagonist. Had to repost thr comment because I had to read all of Total Ronpa Island.

I currently am making a fanganronpa on Wattpad (called Danganronpa Negative) which is almost fully completed with 5 cases, and they’re approaching the last trial. I have had all the cases planned out from start to finish and I think it’s going pretty well, but these are some pretty useful tips! Thanks for these, Aeris! Each chapter has their own motive. Chapter 1: Secrets Chapter 2: Truth Serum Chapter 3: No motive (due to early murder) Chapter 4: Despair Disease Chapter 5: NG Bracelet Chapter 6: Final Trial Danganronpa Negative has a lot of cases, with several motives. Some are from other games, others are just because I couldn’t think of one. For instance, in case 2 (SPOILERS IF YALL DONT WANNA KNOW) the culprit accidentally said something to another student despite wanting to keep it secret and wanted to shut that student up because they were driven by the thought of it slipping out, and kills them by drowning them and trying to frame another student with the weapon used to knock them out. Another murder, in chapter 4, which was revealed to be a second Sakura situation, was due to the culprit/victim wanted to save the person inflicted by the despair disease. They’re all interconnected, leaning to a deeper dive into the culprits reasoning (except for chapter 3, that’s a whole other story). It’s something that I love because I’ve put so much time on it.

Ok, yeah if this is your idea of a trial I’m very interested in seeing your fangan, I’m actually writing one myself at this moment so this will definitely help me

Well I'm making a Danganronpa reddit event where you partake in a killing game online, and here is one idea for one of the submitted stuent blackend OC's: Rebecca Remington (Ultimate Gunsmith) So she cuts up John Smith (Ultimate Everyman)'s body into several pieces and then runs into the hall with the pieces of his body. She did this because she knew there was a room with an industrial meat grinder just behind iron bars. She was able to throw the pieces of John Smith through the metal bars into the meat grinder cause she was so used to shooting, her eyes were basically target circles. She frames Joseph Marsch (Ultimate Geographer) by painting one of his maps with pink paint, and hiding John's severed head in his closet. Unfortunatley she makes 4 mistakes: She dropped her hairband in Joseph's room, the paintbrush is missing from the art room, her shoe gets covered in blood, and the knife she used was covered in blood and has her fingerprints on it. So the evidence pointing to her is: Hairband in Joseph's room, missing Paintbrush, bloody shoeprints in the hall, bloody knife with her fingerprints, and the fact she contridicts herself in the class trial by saying "I was sleeping and woke up when I heard slicing" and later saying "I was taking a walk through the hall and stepped in some blood" which both were supposed to happen at the same time.

This video really helps with figuring out the perspective of a case. Lovely video Aeris!

I’ve always had an idea for a murder case, I don’t have a idea that’s to clear, but I want to explain it in the comments anyways lol. Okay, so I don’t have a clear idea for a motive yet, but this would probably be a chapter 2 case. A few details that would be needed to explain this, 1 the position of the laundry room and the nursing room are going to be a conflict in this case (Because they are on separate floors and it will be confirmed that something was brought to the laundry room from the nursing room), 2 night time hours are from 10 pm-8 am, there’s also a new night time rule I added, all shutters will close at nighttime hours (the school has giant metal shutters in front of the windows), the doors to the laundry room also closed at this time, 3 it is allowed to destroy property if it’s to murder someone, 4 a party is happening at the time the murder is happening. The body will be found in the laundry room the night after the party, the hands and feet of the body will be tied with bedsheets in a “inverted sitting position” to the frame of a broken window that is there, one of the sheets from the laundry room will be covering the body and the head will be decapitated on the floor with a wash cloth in the mouth of the victim. The wall where the body is closest to will be covered in blood, and later in the investigation it will be discovered that there was an empty blood packet hidden in the room. The syllabus will say that the victim was murdered at 10:00 pm from severe trauma to the neck. What happened is that during the party, the blackened would have lured the victim into the laundry room and knocked them out (Probably with there fists, therefor the blackened would need to have good physical stature, this would also be a good clue to figure out who the blackened is), the blackened would then hide the unconscious body and go back to the party, the blackened would say that they left something in there room as an excuse to get a blood packet from the nursing room(Which is right next to the dorms btw), they would then go to their room and and the throw blood packet down the laundry shute to get it to the laundry room, then they would go back downstairs to cover the wall with the blood to cover up the blood stain that will soon be above the window when the murder happens and hide the empty packet. Then the blackened would break the window and tie the body to the window with bedsheets in the room and put a cloth in the victim’s mouth so they couldn’t scream for help. They would also put a bed sheet over the body to cover up how the murder happened to some degree. The blackened could return to the party like nothing happened. At nighttime hours, the shutters would close, decapitating the victim. This would give the blackened an alibi until the class figures out how the murder happened. Even then, that practically makes everyone a suspect until they can figure out when the preparation for the murder happened. I just want to see what RU-vid thinks of my dumb case idea lol :P

I have a murder case already (idk if I’m actually gonna make a fangan but more so this is just a concept) it starts off with the motive that being the betrayal of the others outside. Stan (the victim) being unsure who he could trust. The 4 people he could trust were benson, Jake, Alexis, and Vil. This motive broke up the group because well you can’t trust anyone are culprit is smart being the ultimate scientist. He knew the brake up in the group he could use to kill, but unfortunately benson the ultimate leader is able to make the group semi trust each other and everyone has breakfast in the morning to regain trust. So Gabe (the culprit) knew he had to kill, that night he went to Stan’s room and used the acid he had been making in his room. Unfortunately Stan heard him breaking into the room and waited by the door. when the door falls and Gabe walks in Stan smashes a glass on his head and ran. Gabe followed Stan and threw the axe he had brought to kill and threw the axe into Stan’s back paralyzing him. He dragged Stan back to his room (without noticing the blood being trailed to his room) laid him on his bed then started a fire under the bed while he ran from the scene, while blocking the light of the fire with the door he put back up In the hall. The morning the fire is out and almost everyone is at breakfast but 3 people are late benson, rev, and Gabe, the reason he is late is so he could light a bomb in the hall way and re lighting the fire in Stan’s room. Some evidence that suggests he is the culprit is the missing axe in the storage room at night and the bomb being missing in the morning, fire wood being burned under the bed, blood stains in the hall way, Darrick’s account. “He heard a struggle in the hall and saw the culprit drag Stan back to Stan’s room. He didn’t follow because he didn’t know what to do”, the time on the file not being given (this could imply he got killed at night) residue on the door and door hinges (from the acid), a blood X next to Gabe and darricks door. The 3 late people. The 4 people Stan trusted. With this benson was blamed for Stan’s murder but the dying message gave Gabe away same with the sticky residue that could only be made by Gabe the ultimate scientist.