October Magazine

REVIEW
Danganronpa
Another Episode:
Ultra Despair Girls
BIG SPOILER WARNING: THIS
REVIEW WILL SPOIL VITAL
PARTS OF DANGAN RONPA.
According to what I’ve heard, the
world is round… But is that really
true? Earth might have the shape of
rock candy, like that spiky lump of
sugar your grandma would wrap in
a tissue.
But I don’t really know for sure.
It’s not like I’ve actually seen the
shape of the Earth. In the same
way, I’ve never actually seen most
things that are considered ‘common
knowledge.’ Common knowledge
and what we take for granted… We
base our lives around such uncertain
things.
Well, not that it matters for me.
I mean, my world isn’t even big
enough to worry about stuff like
the shape of the Earth or common
knowledge. In fact, it’s pretty small
– so small that it’s actually a little
funny.
This is my world. This two-bedroom
apartment that I live in is my world.
My life doesn’t extend beyond these
walls. But it’s not like I’m a shut-in
or anything! I am actually… imprisoned
inside this room.
With those words, the tale of the
Ultra Despair Girls begins. After being
imprisoned for a year and a half,
Komaru Naegi – little sister to the
protagonist of the first game, Makoto
Naegi – suddenly receives a
knock on the door of her apartment/
prison. Rather than a saviour, however,
what greets her is something
entirely different: a Monokuma.
This evil robotic bear (just go with
it) is the main villain of the series,
now a mass-produced murderbot,
and extremely ready to disembowel
poor Komaru. Her story looks to be
a very short one until, all of a sudden,
the bear is blown clean away
by Byakuya Togami, a survivor of
the first game. He wields a Hacking
Megaphone, a kind of gun capable
of firing program codes that can
damage the bear-bots. Freed from
her confines, Komaru is given her
own megaphone and sent out into
the world.
You think that’s weird? You ain’t
seen nothing yet.
Different from the visual novel style
of the last two Danganronpas, Ultra
Despair Girls is an action-shooter
hybrid. Komaru emerges into Towa
City, one of the few remaining areas
untouched by the Tragedy – an
apocalypse-level crumbling of society
which plunged the whole world
into destruction and anarchy. Soon
enough, though, this bastion falls
too. All of this is due to the Warriors
of Hope: a group of five children
who recruited all the kids of Towa
City to their side, commanding them
to slaughter every adult and create
a paradise only for children. (Again,
just go with it.) With nothing but her
Hacking Megaphone and a newlyfound
companion, Komaru must
navigate this destroyed city, avoiding
death by children and Monokuma
at every turn.
How this actually shakes out is very
linear. Komaru progresses through
areas, defeating Monokumas and
solving puzzles while trying to work
out how to escape, how to survive,
and plenty of other things that
would be big ol’ spoilers. Most of
these puzzles take place in special
arcade rooms, restrictions placed
on your Bullet usage for added
challenge. Others are challenges
issued to you by the myriad children
ruling over the city. Though there
are plenty of brain-teasers and the
action segments contain some fairly
hectic shooting, fans of the earlier
games need not worry: cutscenes
plentifully abound, resonating with