Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School: Despair Arc
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Marimo0
Posts: 186 |
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Except he clearly wasn't an Ultimate Despair, he was just some guy whose body had to do what Junko said. Even Junko says they'll become even more despairful than him. The Remnants of Despair seemed to have a lot more autonomy in what they did, like Mikan obviously does not have the same effects as this. She's not the same as she always was but is just carrying out despair now, she went through a major change in her character. Plus, they were doing things on their own, like Nagito and his assisting the Warriors of Hope seemed to be following his own plan, or them coming up with something to help bring Junko back after she had died rather than being able to completely break free with her no longer giving commands. So whatever it is will probably not quite be the same.
Danganronpa likes to make its references. And I only really noticed anime references for episodes 2 and 4. There are other references to other works like even Western stuff, like episode 8 of Future being titled after the poem Who Killed Cock Robin and one of the chapter titles for DR2 being "Do Ultimate Robots Dream of Electric Clocks?" a clear reference to "Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?" |
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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If this latest one is a reference to an anime, then it sounds to me like the title for Boogiepop Phantom (ブギーポップは笑わない - Boogiepop doesn't laugh), though it's a common enough phrase that it could be used elsewhere. |
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Iriliane2
Posts: 6 |
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It's definitely a reference to Boogiepop. But 笑う can be either laugh or smile when translated, and since Yukizome "smiled" right before it cut to that subtitle, the incongruity there was probably more important than making sure everyone got the reference. |
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rizuchan
 Posts: 976 Location: Kansas |
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I interpreted the brain-washing process in a completely different way. It seemed to me like there was just the one brain-washing video, but Mukuro was using those rods to stimulate Chisa's pleasure centers and therefore associate euphoria/sexual stimulation with the despair presented in the video. This would explain why Mikan keeps... rubbing herself on everything and why the Remnants did such depraved things in order to make themselves closer to Junko/Despair.
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wolf10
 Posts: 907 |
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Well, my pet theory I thought was too crazy to share turned out to be true: spoiler[the true nature of the Future Foundation love triangle is that both Chisa and Sakakura are in love with Munakata. While I'm always grateful to see a gay male character (or even just the single-target variety) in a general-audience series who isn't a horrifying gay stereotype, I wish the reveal wasn't just a last minute bid to add sympathy to a character who is already presumed dead in Future Arc.]
As for the rest of the episode... spoiler[I think any reservations anyone may have had about the magic brainwashing excuse can be laid to rest now. Along with Chiaki.] T^T |
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Marimo0
Posts: 186 |
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Well spoiler[I think my interpretation as they just became addicted to despair may have been wrong. Unless it was a detail that just wasn't shown, it didn't seem like they were ever getting stimulated (besides Mikan, who was already like that, and Nagito, but that's the norm for him when it comes to hope and despair), just brainwashed. Hopefully we'll get more from them next episode to get a better grasp on how transitioning into Ultimate Despair is for them.
At the very least this set up a parallel for their fates in DR2. Chiaki's death was used by Junko to despairify them and change them into people like herself, and later on the spirit of her AI counterpart will help save them from AI Junko taking over their bodies fully.] |
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Vannil
 Posts: 240 |
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this episode was just way too heavy. I knew it was coming, just not in that capacity.... http://imgur.com/gallery/vPD5S87
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justsomeaccount
 Posts: 471 |
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I was confused about that because spoiler[gay panic jokes are not unseen in Danganronpa (especially Teruteru, and not only because of being a pervert, in the first episode they're grossed out specifically for being a boy what he finds hot) so I'm not sure how sympathetic is this for the creators when the reveal is presented as a "gotcha!" for not liking what is usually expected, it's seen as shameful and something Munakata should never listen to the point of lying about Junko, and with the background public laughing about it (and no, I doubt this is social commentary of some kind). It's still better than what we had before, but I'm not going to the "yay great!" boat.] I feel like a killjoy for usually commenting when I'm so nitpicky (sorry, it's too easy for me to point out negative stuff than positive!), but while I liked this episode I wasn't as gripped into the drama as I should?  spoiler[the scenes are overall well executed and effective, but there was some things that didn't make me completely get into this horror. If I had to guess, for one, I knew bit by bit what was going to happen, step by step, so every second I saw was recommiting my assumptions and thinking "welp, there's no way out, I guess I'll acept the conclusion it's coming right now", even when the final door comes you know it's a trap and before she's opened you've already said "well bye!". And since it involves Chisa and Mikan being simple-minded as puppets of the big plan (which for Mikan I think it's a little unfair since in the end it doesn't give her a drop of sympathy), the first part of the punishment is skipped (which in my opinion hurted the middle a bit since you feel you didn't have the full context of the growing pain and horror she and their classmates felt, even though the rest surely tries to earn it well), the brainwashing part on the trial with the Remnants I found it not very well done (part of it is I can't take those despair eyes seriously, they are too cartoony and silly for me )...]
spoiler[I don't know, there were a bunch of little details that while didn't make me cold to the situation, I was still gripped, but I wasn't into it as much as I should. And I guess one of the things is that, well, I wasn't as invested on the characters because for the most part they've been treated very simplistic as we've said before, so these whole events are less character-wise or thematic and more just simply emotional, and that means if the emotional aspect isn't executed great then it suffers. But still, overall a solid episode. Though now I wonder how she will be turned into a AI and by whom? Are there one or two episodes left of Despair Arc?] |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15510 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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It was somewhat compelling that the brainwashing process was spoiler[more than just the footage we saw earlier, that Chiaki was the real tool to be used]. It did lose some strength as we as the audience spoiler[know that they are going to fall, that Chiaki is done for as soon she was in that dungeon]. But the ED spoiler[showing all the happy images making her image], did kind of complete the picture in some of the tragedy.
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Vannil
Posts: 240 |
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The question of how will Chiaki be made into an AI is something that bothers me as well. In Danganronpa 2, Chiaki AI was created by Alter Ego and to some extent Chihiro. However, the future foundation should have no knowledge of her importance to class 77/ the remnants of despair. The only person who really knows about Chiaki's influence over class 77 is Chisa, who was already despaired, not be trusted by the FF and had no knowledge of the neo world program, as shown at the beginning of future arc.
The only real explanation i could think of for this plot hole is maybe Izuru became a mole for the future foundation to defeat/ get revenge on Junko, then gave Naegi, Byakuya, Alter Ego, and Kyoko the information needed to create Chiaki AI, so the remnants of despair could be rehabilitated in the neo world program and essentially grant Chiaki's wish of her saving her friends. |
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Marimo0
Posts: 186 |
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Pretty sure the AI Chiaki was just something the New World Program made based on the data they could get of her from her school records. Nothing more special than that. It did have everyone else's school records in its data. It's just through the power of an AI becoming more than just a machine that the AI Chiaki was also able to become a figure of hope that could help class 77.
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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I think that the recent Despair episodes have switched from Danganronpa's typical tragedy to horror.
Most of the death and despair in other Danganronpa stuff is of the "tragic flaw leads to disaster and tragedy" aspect. (Sometimes someone gets saved, like Munakata with Nagito.) Occasionally deaths are because of some really well-thought out trap. Chisa's fall is much more just an inexplicable body-snatching, a "got attacked and turned into a zombie" kind of death. It lacks even the "well, can she be unDespaired?" thanks to the beginning of the Future arc. Normally with Invasion of the Body Snatchers or zombification or mind control you can at least wonder if the original person is still there, but we know that there's no hope there. So you might as well treat it as Chisa got killed when that image of Munakata in her mind burned up, and it's a doppleganger replacing her. In the end it's certainly more absolutely despair-inducing, but being overwhelmed and zombified isn't really tragic in the same way, which hurts the emotional impact. (I suppose the tragic flaw is just "thinking that ordinary hope could overcome Junko's despair.") |
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GeneStriker
Posts: 156 |
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No one's brought it up in this forum yet, but others have pointed out that both of Chiaki's death sequences are tied to the deaths of the Despair Sisters. In DR2, she was crushed to death like Junko, and now in DR3, she's been impaled by countless spikes like Mukuro.
Anyway, I mostly agree with the review here. While the 'brainwashing' route is still disappointing, they gave it the best execution they possibly could (pun very much intended), and I appreciate that greatly. |
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JadeDahlia
 Posts: 70 Location: New York, NY |
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I definitely found myself spoiler[reading Sakakura's feelings for Munataka as romantic, but I mostly wrote it off as me reading too much into subtext since that's what happens almost every time. So I was pretty pleasantly surprised that it was confirmed as actually canon. While it's not 100% ideal LGBT+ representation-wise, it's still one of the better cases I've seen in anime.]
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GlassesMan
Posts: 217 |
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This episode felt like taking a full speed magnetic-line train to the balls. Goddamn this was sad. Props to Kana Hanazawa and Junichi Sawabe for how they did Chiaki and Juzo. Freaking A. Also, because it's been done to death, I won't make a joke about Munakata's NG Code and Munakata being in the closet.
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