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Interview: Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka




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DigitalScratch





PostPosted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:13 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I felt like the most dangerous thing about Junko would be that she doesn't have any reason to do the things she does. So I incorporated that into her character all the way through the game, as thoroughly as possible.


Got to say, I really appreciate this. I was worried that one day they will reveal Junko's "woobie" past because I preferred the idea that she's a horrid person solely because she loves having a Despair fetish. A villain like hee doesn't need too much depth, she's more fun and frightening that way.

I mean it's implied during a Free Time event that Junko and her sister had a rough life on the streets when they were kids, but I guess that's how bad it got for them.

My appreciation also stems to how they handled the characters in SDR2 because of the big reveal that spoiler[they were a part of Ultimate Despair and commited numerous acts of crime that drove the world to destruction.] Even with that reveal they were all still so lovable that the most you can do is pity them- but not outright blame or hate them. They wanted you to see them in a different light than Junko and it worked.
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings



Joined: 04 Jul 2013
Posts: 998
PostPosted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:34 pm Reply with quote
DigitalScratch wrote:
Quote:
I felt like the most dangerous thing about Junko would be that she doesn't have any reason to do the things she does. So I incorporated that into her character all the way through the game, as thoroughly as possible.


Got to say, I really appreciate this. I was worried that one day they will reveal Junko's "woobie" past because I preferred the idea that she's a horrid person solely because she loves being one.

I mean it's implied during a Free Time event that Junko and her sister had a rough life on the streets when they were kids, but I guess that's how bad it got for them.


Danganronpa Zero manages to humanize her. While normally I wouldn't be a fan of this, it doesn't take away what makes her so fantastic. She's still a horrible monster with a downright abnormal philosophy who whole-heartedly embraces everything wrong with her (or in her mind, everything right with her), and she isn't given some kind of tragic backstory either, but through spoilers I won't mention, she manages to somehow be a person that can be pitied, but NOT sympathetic, and that last bit is important.

I sort of want to say it does to Junko what The Killing Joke does for the Joker (since those two characters are really similar I feel), but that wouldn't be accurate at all.
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Akane the Catgirl



Joined: 09 Oct 2013
Posts: 1091
Location: LA, Baby!
PostPosted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 1:06 pm Reply with quote
As someone who has read Zero (which is...interesting), I feel I should go a bit in depth with Junko. SPOILERS BELOW.

spoiler[It's heavily hinted that there was something wrong with Junko from the start. Basically, you know how most serial killers or psychopaths tend to come from completely ordinary backgrounds? Yeah, that's Junko. If what Matsuda said was true, than Junko's been a bad seed since her very early childhood. My guess is that nobody noticed something was off until it was too late.

Ryouko represents what would have happened if someone did notice and made sure Junko grew up sanely. She's a bit ditzy (what with having anterograde amnesia and all), but she's well-adjusted. Of course, given that this is a prequel and all, it doesn't last.]
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GlassesMan



Joined: 19 Jun 2015
Posts: 217
PostPosted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 2:51 pm Reply with quote
This was a very interesting article. I especially liked Kodaka's line about making bad guys loveable. It makes you all the more conflicted when you want to hate them when there are aspects to them you enjoy. Lot more similar to real life. Oh, as a side note, does ANN have an official translator for their interviews or do the interviewees already have one accompanying them?
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shamisen the great



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 658
Location: Oregon, USA
PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 3:18 am Reply with quote
I don't know what you guys are talking about. Junko was totally sane Laughing
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WatchforMoons7



Joined: 19 Mar 2009
Posts: 529
PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 9:17 pm Reply with quote
Junko is Dio, folks.


Quote:
Death by not creating a game scenario on time. Overworking, writing continuously until I fall apart.


That reminds me of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B3ZkoYsyiI
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GhostStalkerSA



Joined: 17 May 2015
Posts: 425
Location: NYC
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2015 7:28 pm Reply with quote
ThatGuyWhoLikesThings wrote:
Danganronpa Zero manages to humanize her.

Akane the Catgirl wrote:
As someone who has read Zero (which is...interesting), I feel I should go a bit in depth with Junko. SPOILERS BELOW.

For what little I've read of Zero when orenronen and Fedule were still translating it during their aborted LP of Dangum Ronpaul 2 on the Something Awful Let's Play forums (which they stopped once it was made clear that they were bringing the games over here to the US and they didn't want to run afoul of copyright due to their translating the game on they fly), Junko spoiler[seemed like she was always a bit (well, a lot) off her rocker]. No details, since I can barely remember them, but the first couple of bits that orenronen and Fedule translated seemed to go out of their way to say that heavily. I think they only got through the first book before they stopped...

Man, I remember when Danganronpa was first hitting it big on the SA forums, and how orenronen all but brought the game to western attention. at least in terms of the fandom, translating the first game by hand when neither English or Japanese is his first language. The whole "Junkos" meme thing a couple updates into the thread and how it would up being pretty much true and the amount of shocked posting that managed to generate... Man, those were the days...

I still remember when tumblr got wind of the game, and then mass bought and shared SA accounts to read the LP, and the resultant purge by slowbeef after the account sharing was discovered. Also, people coming into the thread and acting like they were still on tumblr, and getting probated for low-effort posting. I'm pretty sure I remember him saying that moderating the whole Dingle Rumpus thread was one of the reasons slowbeef burned out after a while and stepped down as mod of Let's Play...

And then when the paywall went up, resulting in a flood of tears for tumblrites who were following the LP, so much so that I think it became a minor fandom in-joke. Wasn't there some guy who walked into a Danganronpa character photoshoot at some anime con or another wearing a sunglasses and a t-shirt with the Something Awful; "Register an account" message on it, waving stacks of :10bux:? That was hilarious.
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