After a bit of contemplation, I've decided that I'm going to rank Danganronpa cases within each game first, followed by a favorite and/or least favorite overall ranking. So, of course, we're starting with the cases of Trigger Happy Havoc.
If you have no idea what Danganronpa is, check out the video linked below, because this post will contain spoilers for the entire trilogy! (explicit spoilers for game #1, Trigger Happy Havoc, vague spoilers for the other 2)
Firstly, I mostly see people talk about ranking the trials, which are definitely part of this, but in this ranking, I'm ranking the cases as a whole. So basically I'm focusing more on the mystery, how interesting it was to investigate and solve, how complicated it was, etc. Things like the trial being long/dragged out and the mechanics of the trial aren't things I have too much interest in discussing, so they're not things that will really come into play on this ranking.
Without further ado, let's jump into the list!
6- Case #1- Sayaka's Murder
It only makes sense that this is last place-- its purpose is to be an introduction into the game, and therefore it's a pretty basic case. It's rare that I go into a class trial with a definite idea of who the culprit is, but with this one... well, the writing was literally on the wall.
Although it's in last place, I think it's actually a really good first case. It's easy to follow, easy to piece things together, and has an interesting twist in it to keep you from understanding everything. However, in the grand scheme of Danganronpa cases, it's pretty simple. The cases in Trigger Happy Havoc are the worst overall, and this is the least interesting of them all. Honestly, I think that the case might have been more interesting if Leon's name wasn't literally written on the wall behind Sayaka. We've solved cases based on much less definitive evidence, and I think there were plenty of other things that pointed toward him, such as the crystal ball. Literally anything other than his name being written on the wall would've been nice.
5- Case #2- Chihiro's Murder
This case might have placed higher on this list, if not for the fact that it always feels a little off to me. To jump right in the thick of it, I'm of course talking about the handling of Chihiro's gender. I'm still not quite sure what they were going for here. The game makes it clear that Chihiro is a boy who dressed as a girl. However, something about the way the game handles this piece of information always feels like they either A- don't have a great understanding of how to discuss gender as a complex topic or B- are hinting at it being more complex than just "he's a boy who dresses like a girl", without actually saying it. Basically, they handled the topic with the grace of a bull in a china shop. And Toko's "cross-dresser" comment is always a big yikes.
Setting that aside, however, I find this case to be one of the more clever cases within the first game, and one of the most interesting to piece together. We have the introduction of Genocide Jill and both Mondo and Byakuya messing with the crime scene to confuse the case. It adds several red herrings into the mix, and even though some of them are pretty obvious (AKA-- I never thought Toko did it, and thought it was clear the locker rooms had been swapped), others actually do complicate things further and confuse the player even more, and that's the complexity that I enjoy.
The actual murder itself has always felt a little half-baked to me. I mean, Mondo flies into a blind rage and kills Chihiro without even realizing it? It just seems kinda.... cheap. However, I do think Mondo is one of the more difficult killers to figure out, because the E-Handbook issue was my personal biggest hurdle in solving the case. How they were broken, how the killer could get into both locker rooms, etc. So IMO the E-Handbooks were the most clever aspect of the case. And as much as I enjoy the introduction of Genocide Jill, I definitely didn't enjoy the whole Byakuya/Jill red herring because I was already several steps ahead, trying to figure out what actually happened.
4- Case #3- Taka and Hifumi's Murders
I know that my placement of this case is pretty unpopular-- everyone tends to really dislike the third case in each game, especially this one. I tend to have a slightly more positive opinion of the third trials as a whole. Don't crucify me, though-- it's only slightly.
This case was one of the few I had almost completely solved before setting foot into the class trial. This one seemed very straightforward to me. Maybe I've read one too many mystery novels? But what I like about the third case in each game is that it adds some element of variety to the investigation, especially in Trigger Happy Havoc and V3. Rather than discovering a body and going into a straightforward investigation, there's always a little twist. In this one, it's the element of running all over the school, trying to figure out what's happening. Or, in reality, the murderers trying to obfuscate the events surrounding the deaths. There are so many odd twists and turns before you can even investigate, and then once you've started investigating, there are still more twists. That's always refreshing to me when it happens, and the main reason why I don't have a full-on distaste for the third chapters like many people do.
Even though I personally found it pretty easy to solve and I found the wild goose chase a bit frustrating, there's just something about the way that it all comes together that I actually quite like. I think my favorite aspect is the way they utilized the body discovery announcement to further conceal the deaths. I always think it's clever when a killer uses a rule of the game to confuse people further. Unfortunately, I think the biggest downside is that it is so easy to solve. Honestly, the trial could've been over with much more quickly. One of the first things they determine is that Hiro couldn't have committed the crime in the costume. This should immediately call into question the validity of the photo evidence & thus implicate both of the people involved in faking it-- Hifumi and Celeste. But that would be too easy. Then again, solving this case was... too easy.
3- Case #4- Sakura's Suicide
This is a case that I appreciate much more than I actually like it. Because something about this case has never really appealed to me. For some reason, I've never found it incredibly compelling or interesting, despite the fact that it's probably one of the more complex mysteries in the game. I think the real flaw is that I found it painfully obvious that Sakura committed suicide. It was a locked room mystery, people were talking about poison, it seemed like something she would do... it just all slid into place for me.
I didn't have the case solved, per se, and I think that the details surrounding the suicide do a decent job of obfuscating it, but I never found myself compelled enough by any evidence to sway my hunch that it was a suicide. I think that if I were to remove my hunch from the equation, this would actually be quite a complex case to piece together, especially given that Hina tampered with the crime scene.
However, I think that unless you're like Hiro, Toko, and Byakuya and haven't warmed to Sakura throughout the game, I think most players are likely to quickly either suspect that it's a suicide or at least consider it as an option. And honestly, even if you didn't know much about Sakura, if you've ever tried to figure out a locked room murder mystery, suicide is probably going to come to your mind as a consideration at some point. Personally, it's never a twist that I enjoy, because it's kinda gone from an unexpected twist to a twist that's been done enough that it's no longer unexpected, if that makes sense. And given that I already suspected it, the conclusion of this mystery is just never satisfying, especially given that Sakura is one of my favorite characters, and the last thing I wanted was to lose her by her own hand.
2- Case #5- Mukuro's Murder
This is one of the most polarizing cases in the series, and I've generally had a difficult time deciding whether or not I like it. In the end, as you can tell, I've ranked it pretty high. It won't rank as high in comparison to cases from other games (because the cases in this game are probably the weakest, IMO), but in terms of the cases within the first game, I think this is where it belongs.
I like the variety that this case adds to the mix. It's purposely cut short at every turn, because Monokuma knows he's cornered and is doing everything in his power to stop the students from getting enough information to suspect him. Everything about it is purposely rushed, and you don't really fully understand that until you near the end of the class trial.
I think the most frustrating aspect of the case for me is how the suspects are immediately narrowed down to Makoto and Kyoko, without any room for anyone else. I get why this was done, but it removes several layers of mystery that could have been there. It makes it a very simple back and forth, instead of what could have been a very complex game of finger-pointing at everyone. Given that none of them actually did it, it would have been really cool to see them all suspecting everyone, until it's ultimately narrowed down. But alas, what could have been.
And, of course, the most polarizing aspect of the case-- the ending. Pursue the lie, Kyoko dies, and you get a really weird, short ending. Let Kyoko's lie slide, and you get punished and get the full ending. I've seen people say that this was counter-intuitive and that's why they hated it, but tbh every time I've seen someone go through it, they trusted Kyoko enough to let the lie slide, thus leading to the correct ending. I'm honestly pretty neutral on it, although this would've fit much better into V3, where a lot of the point of the game hinges around whether or not to trust your friends.
1- Case #6- Mukuro's Murder... for real
Firstly, yes I realize I literally just ranked these in the order that they happened in the game, but I genuinely believe each trial got better throughout the game. I don't love that it's that straightforward of a ranking, but hey, I'm not gonna fake my ranking just to make it more interesting lol.
I don't really have a clear idea of the fandom's opinions on the trials, apart from one video I watched of someone ranking their 5 favorite and least favorite trials. In that video, he mentioned the fandom was pretty split on whether the final trials are great or awful. And as you can tell, I'm more in the former camp. I don't think they're perfect, but rather, I tend to love them despite their flaws.
I also talk about books on here and on YouTube, and one of my more unpopular opinions is that I don't mind info-dumping. If I find the subject interesting (for example... a mystery I've been trying to solve all game?), I really don't care if you throw ALL OF THE INFORMATION at me. So I kinda enjoy unraveling everything all at once during the final trial. That said, though, I do think that this is the weakest final trial, despite IMO also being the least info-dump-y final trial. I think a lot of the most important clues about the mystery surrounding the school were already there to be somewhat figured out before that final trial, so solving everything truly felt more like actually solving a puzzle than having a bunch of information dropped on you.
I also enjoy the complexity of the fact that the previous trial really backed Monokuma into a corner, so now they're doing the trial for real this time, with all of the information. Despite it being the same case, the trials feel completely separate because they finally have all the information now.
Overall, despite being my favorite case of the game, it's unlikely to get super high on any favorites list simply because the cases in other games are that good.
That's all for this post! My plan is that the next few posts are devoted to ranking cases/trials, and next up is of course SDR2's cases, followed by V3. I still haven't decided if I'm going to rank all of the cases together after that, or if I'm going to do a 5 favorite/least favorite. idk. We'll see. I'm very excited about SDR2's case ranking, though, because that game might have my favorite cases overall. We'll see.
Let me know which Trigger Happy Havoc case is your favorite down in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love hearing what you thought of my posts, so feel free to let me know!