The Danganronpa franchise has been on my mind for quite a while now. It used to be one of my favorite visual novels of all time, until I found better games to play. Its aesthetic and soundtrack are still worthy of my admiration, I concede, but my appreciation stops there. Everything else—from its story, characterizations, worldbuilding, and to the basic mechanics of how it presents itself—has been the object of my scrutiny ever since the aura of the games wore off of me.
One of my long-standing writing projects, then, is to critique the Danganronpa franchise and the worldview/s they reproduce. However, I haven't found the right time to mount a more sustained and concentrated critique (as my attention is pulled in ten different directions atm). Instead, what I have for now are my preliminary thoughts scattered across many fragments of text, primarily generated by interactions with other fans of the games (and anime, if chance permits).
Some of these fragments have been collected below, designated with a provisional title that indicates their main topic.
Of course, spoilers for the games and the anime abound below.
1. [On the Structure of Hope and Despair]1
Hope and despair is familiar to us, as fans of Danganronpa, but has
anyone really thought about hope in its full implications, or grasped
despair in its totality? It is tempting to collapse the hope/despair
binary into good/evil, what with their depictions by the heroic Makoto
Naegi and the capricious Junko Enoshima. But I argue that things are not
that simple. For, you see, the terms "good" and "evil" refer to acts
attributable to agents with intent, while "hope" and "despair" are words
that delineate the valuational horizon in which the trajectory of our
lives are made intelligible.
Good/evil refers to the substance of human subjectivity, while hope/despair refers to its form.
Hope/despair describes the formal structure through which we react to
major, significant events of our lives, whether it be the death of our
loved ones or winning the lottery. And by "formal," I don't mean here
something akin to logic, or the implication that emotions can be reduced
to predictable variables (something like hard materialism, which is a
whole can of worms I won't open here). The nearest comparison would be
like reading glasses, but these are glasses you can't take off. This
structure is distinguishable from ourselves, but it can't be separated
from ourselves. To quote Borges, "it is a tiger which mangles me, but I
am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire."2
It is curious that, multiple times in the series, we are constantly
reminded of "falling into despair," that we are just one push away from
being like Junko. It's easy to see Kodaka just riffing on Joker here,
what with The Dark Knight being released on 2008, and Danganronpa
releasing two years later, but there's a kernel of truth here.
Hope/despair is a formal structure, as we've said earlier, and that
means they're the two sides of the same coin.
That might sound banal, but light is yet to be shed on the implications
of this fact. Taken a bit further, this entails that hope can be
indistinguishable from despair, that the one can be flipped into the
other, that the distinction can break down.
There's a similar structure known in the philosophical literature, and
this is Hegelian dialectics. Or, to be more specific, the first "triad,"
being—nothing—becoming.3
A demonstration of the dialectic: take the property common to all
existing things, and isolate it in your mind. That would be that they
exist, right? They may have gradients of existence, from your mother to
Kiyotaka Ishimaru, but, in one sense or another, they exist. That
property is called "being." Then think about the opposite of being. That
would be nothing, right? They're opposites, right? On the one hand, there is,
or rather that we can think about the possession of property, which
here is "being" (and this is where ordinary language breaks down a bit),
while on the other, there isn't, or rather that we can think
about non-property, of lacking a possession of property. But wait (the
language breaks down here even further): problems start to arise when we
think further about being. Looking further into "being" reveals a void,
it reveals nothing at all! What does "being" contain? Nothing.
In fact, the meanings here now start to shift, with being flipping into
nothing and nothing flipping into being. Hegel identifies these moments
as "passing-into-nothing" and "coming-into-being" / "ceasing-to-be" and
"coming-to-be," respectively.
(Note: There are two types of "is" used in language, predication and
identity. The former is used in sentences like "that car is red," while
the latter is used in sentences like "Venus is the Morning Star". The
"is" is used in this analysis as predication. Makes sense? Good.)4
Somehow, the flipping stabilizes in our minds and that's when the
concept of "becoming" is born. It is our realization that things can
come to existence and fall away from existence too.
The problem with hope/despair is that, unlike being/nothing, there is no
certain "third term" that can stabilize the distinction. There is,
however, an uncertain one: "future."
In phenomenological analysis pioneered by Husserl, the human being is
characterized as "essentially transcendental." Heidegger's word for
this, in his existential analytic, is "ek-static".5 What this means is
that the human being is defined by going outside itself, of being moved
and moving. This moving is entirely outside of our volition, as we are
first thrown into the world and hurled into the future. Future, in this
case, is not a specific point in time but a trajectory uncertain in its
substance. We receive the future in our capacity for openness, which
means we can either turn away from it or face it in its alien fullness.
Hope/despair is inevitably bound up by time. It is "horizonal," which in
this case is understood in its original Greek meaning, as referring
both to the possibilities open to the human being, and its limitations.
(Another binary: open/closed.) To hope means to look back at your past
with a smile and walk into the future with open arms, while to despair
means to weep at the past and turn yourself away from the future,
certain that tragedies will inevitably repeat.6
Future as a "third term" is uncertain because it cannot be absorbed by
hope/despair, or that hope/despair is not structurally identical to it.
We cannot be certain of the future, since it is literally not within our
grasp (we are yet to invent time travel, after all). Future, as it
exists, necessarily remains outside the horizon that is hope/despair.
We are talking about hope/despair as if there are events in our lives
that are worth celebrating, that fills us with joy and happiness. But
what if the opposite is the case? What if your culture is on the brink
of extinction, that your people are being systematically massacred, that
your friends by your side are dying one by one... all these things
happening, and there's nothing you can do about it?
What if there's nothing left to hope for, but still you must?
The twentieth century is defined by a singular event, and that is the
Second World War. This horrifying event, or a cascade of tragedies,
amplified the pessimism brought about by the First World War, the
so-called "War to End All Wars." To paraphrase Theodor Adorno, "there
can be no poetry after Auschwitz." This sums up not just WWII, but also
the general trajectory of Western civilization ever since the
Industrial Revolution. Great leaps in technology has brought about a
monumental increase in the human capacity for war and slaughter, the
export of suffering on the entire globe. Plenty Coups, the last great
chief of the Indian American tribe of the Crow, faced the total
extermination of their way of life by the colonizing Europeans. The
future these two events open are bleak for those who are there to
experience it. On the latter, Plenty Coups
counsels the Crow that instead of fighting to preserve their way of
life, at least as they understood it up until the latter half of the
19th century, the Crow had to be willing to renounce everything they
held dear, everything that confers sense and meaning upon their lives.
Only by first embracing the devastation of their culture could the Crow
then glimpse a future beyond catastrophe and “hope for the emergence of a
Crow subjectivity that did not yet exist”.7
What ought one to do when there is nothing left to hope for? It is to embrace the future with despair.
The twentieth century opened up the greatest perversion not yet possible
to mankind until now, and this is "radical hope" and "virtuous despair"
(or, in Nietzsche's words, "Dionysian wisdom").8 Radical hope risks to
justify catastrophe in the face of an uncertain future, while virtuous
despair is an embrace and celebration of the suffering that has wrought
mankind. This distinction is the worst kind of distinction, a
distinction that never sees these two things as essentially the same.
Pushed to its utter limits, hope becomes despairful, and despair becomes
the only way to hope.
This is hope in its fullest implications, despair in its totality.
2. [An Ideology-Critique of Danganronpa]
B: You know, I think like this timeline of Japan would be a bit less socially conservative because, well, Ultimates exist.
I don't know how to describe it because I lack the terminology but basically, like, Ultimates break the mold when it comes to their talents and skills and stuff, right? They're the proverbial "nails that stick out", and they haven't been hammered down yet - they've actually been encouraged by places like HPA - and, I'm pretty sure they would inspire more people to hone their talents and be different instead of just caving into societal expectations.
This is funny to me, since I arrived at a diametrically opposite conclusion: that the existence of the institution that is Hope's Peak Academy can lead Japan to becoming more socially conservative, not less. Let me explain.
There are two sides to my argument that we must consider: the subjective and the objective (to put it in Hegelian terms). The "subjective" side here are the concepts the inhabitants of the Danganronpa universe use to conceptualize their identity and self-understanding, while the "objective" side will be the consideration of the social, cultural, economic, and historical effects that the institution that is Hope's Peak engenders. We'll talk about these two separately. (This is only an analytic distinction made for my convenience; the one can have an effect on the other, as we'll see.)
To start with the subjective side, there are two notions that, I think, are operative within the Danganronpa universe: a Nietzschean "metaphysics of the soul"9 and the quantification-valorization of all human capacities. What I mean by the former is that the Academy is founded on a hierarchy: the "Talented" and the "Talentless". This is a cultural construct that is "proven" and reinforced by the latter: that all capacities of the human being can be measured, has been measured, and can be replicated (as with the case of the Ultimate Hope Izuru Kamukura).
The implications of these two notions are as follows: (1) like all hierarchies, one side of the pair is judged as more valuable than its other (in this case, the "Talented" is praised while the "Talentless" is considered superfluous).10 As to the question of whether this hierarchy is rock-solid and can't be overcome, the Danganronpa franchise is notoriously indecisive about it. There are some who have attained a "Talent" through sheer effort, while there are others who have entered the Academy by either being filthy rich or having their Talent "flow naturally" through their actions. However the stance of the games are, the point is that the Talented are seen as ideals that are separated from, and must be revered by, the masses. (An example of this would be the forums and threads created specifically for the potential inductees of the Academy, mentioned in the first game.)
(2) The quantification of all human capacities has led the Talented to have an impoverished picture of their own self. Take for instance the Ultimate Swordswoman, Peko Pekoyama. The tragedy of her character lies in the fact that she only sees herself as a weapon, and not a human being worthy of feeling emotions for her master. I consider this an instance of the alienation that is created by limiting what being human means to what they can do: "to be is to do." What's worse is that this (ideological) understanding is amenable to quasi-industrial reproduction of Talents, as was the case with Izuru. The alienation is doubled: you are your own talent, and that talent isn't even unique to you!11
To continue, the "valorization" I've gestured earlier is a concept I've lifted from Marx: this is the process by which an object-producing activity becomes absorbed into the matrix of circuit of capitalist production, which makes it become a value-producing (or non-value-producing) labor.12 The Talented are "valorized" by moulding the enrolled students into "ideal" employees and laborers. This is basically the same thing as Althusser's analysis of the school as an "ideological state apparatus" (which means institutes that legitimizes and reproduces the conditions of capitalism),13 but with the added computational bonus that the data gathered from the measurement of the Talented is thrown back into the production circuit of capitalism.
Which leads us to the objective side of things. Let us never forget this one fact: Hope's Peak Academy is a private institution driven by the profit motive and is beholden not to the Japanese government but to their stakeholders (by this, I mean the Steering Committee). As such, the Academy is not an inherently progressive institution, but a profit-making machine that does not care what happens to the commodities (i.e. Talented/Ultimates) it produces. Hope's Peak exacerbates the contradictions of capitalism by extending the logic of capital into the capacities of [being human] itself.
To elaborate further, the prestige that is attached to the name of Hope's Peak creates a feedback loop that legitimizes its operations and the waste they create. This is the reason why the Reserve Course exists: to extract more value from the populace, and especially the Talentless who want to feel that they're a part of the Academy. Because the Academy doesn't give a shit, the curriculums they provide to both Talented and Talentless are of only the bare minimum (the Talented are treated like free-range chickens, while the Reserve Course is the epitome of soul-sucking business-oriented student-to-laborer pipeline).
3. [Clowie's Bulletin: Why Do Some People Include Danganronpa Players on DNI Lists? — An Excerpt]
Red Monaca: The level of surprise you exhibit is palpable with these replies,
alongside your breathless haste to show your credentials in... what was
it, Japanology? Anyway, seeing how limited your experience is with the
fandom (the privilege of your naivete is almost enviable) let me explain
why I have my perception of the fandom.
My experience with the fandom dates back to 2016, and is primarily
online, joining many communities here and there. I was an enthusiastic
roleplayer back then, excited to talk about my favorite characters. I
was most active on Reddit, Tumblr and Discord, back when the latter was
not as mainstream as it is now. (I also joined Amino, but the layout
alienated me and left quickly.)
Anyway, this means that I was in deep with the discourse of that time
(centering around the characters of Komaeda and Chihiro), which left a
sour taste in me. Couple that with many of the fandom communities
disintegrating due to multiple causes (conflicts between the moderation
team and the other members, or within the moderation team itself; lack
of activity; death threats, which was surprisingly common back then;
conflicts due to contradictory headcanons held by the members; etc.),
and you can see why I have chosen to distance myself from them (deleting
all of my roleplaying-related accounts).
Still, I have an attachment to the franchise, as you can see by my
profile picture and name. But it's not the kind of attachment that is
blind to the shortcomings and failures of the games, far from it. The
games are infamous for the [two-dimensionality] of the characters (a flaw
created by the presence of Daily Life segments), the far-fetchedness of
the plot at times (making the players lose their suspension of
disbelief), and the flawed ideology it perpetuates (and which is most
present in Danganronpa 3).
It's cool that you have made friends with common interests, but do you
really wanna attach yourself to a group of people that includes a Junko
Enoshima cosplayer who planned to organize a real-life killing game over
at Instagram, another cosplayer who killed her partner, hordes of stans
who will quickly and forcefully send you death threats when what you're
saying contradicts their headcanons, and a developer who openly
expresses his pedophilic inclinations (check Kodaka's Twitter, if it
still exists)?
UkeBLCatboy: To be honest, I just played and really enjoy the games (the suspension
of disbelief thing was never a problem for me as the plot is so out
there I couldn't believe it happening anyway. I consider the games
completely insane but in a fun way. And yes, the characters are kinda
one dimensional, but in this game I kinda like that as theyre all
supposed to be. So yeah, those aren't negatives for me lol, I just
consider it part of the weirdness).
[Y]eah those two cosplayers DO sound insane. I see no reason to assume
ones I'll keep meeting are though after I've met over a hundred over the
years who are all totally normal and chill and the same as any other at
a con ;) so I don't consider them part of the same group, if that makes
sense. Because I and the fun other cosplayers I meet of it everywhere
are just chill and enjoy the game and would *not* murder someone
I believe you, I understand why you would have a bad impression if that
was your primary exposure to the fandom, but I've never had anything but
fun cosplaying him, chatting with fellow fans, going to that dr panel
etc, and all the people I meet who like it are awesome like everyone at
the cons I go to, I've no reason to believe that would suddenly change
after over a year, so I'm not going to stop doing the cosplay that I
enjoy suddenly because apparently a few others I don't know and have
nothing to do with were weird.
Uke: I do have one final thought though that's not really about the dr at all but more in general...
To be honest, I don't think our different experience have to do with danganronpa, but simply with being online vs offline.
Like I said, with 15 events a year (and also a manga library/hangout
place that was open for 11 years in the Netherlands, multiple clubs, and
smaller events and cosplay meets), I never had a reason to primary meet
everyone online. So my "important" experiences are all offline at
conventions, with online only being an extra (chat with friends I mostly
made offline on discord, read some fanfic, watch some twitter fanart,
watch some cool cosplayers on insta, yada yada).
This means the people I meet are mostly. Like, those cosplayers I talk
about are just random danganronpa cosplayers at my favorite convention
(mondocon in Hungary XD) or here in the Netherlands or anywhere, who are
just having a good time like the other 10000 people there.
I think the difference is simply that offline, I meet random people, and
99% of the people are probably fun. For any fandom. So if you just meet
randos at events, you're (almost) never going to have bad experiences -
it s not that I dont let bad experiences stop me, its that I have never
had any in 13 years almost!
I think the reason we have such different experiences is that *online*
the outliers (negative AND postitive both) are always going to be what
you see. Especially if there is an algorithm and the site wants you
glued to your screen for as long as possible, but also if not, because
people will boost (mastodon) or link etc extremes. That fun Komeada
cosplayer with a free hug sign who I cuddled in Budapest and then took a
picture with is never going to be seen by anyone who wasn´t there.
But *online* if there is ONE cosplayer who is crazy like a murder like
you mentioned, THAT'S what you will see. And not the 10.000+ normal
people like me and that other one who just chat about the game at a
local con act out their character and take some photos. But those are
obviously going be 99% of the group! It's just that they won't become
*famous*, so you won't see them. Whereas if like me most of your fandom
[interactions] are offline conventions/events, it's almost exclusively
those fun normal people you will meet. There is no way to filter out
"the grey masses", you just mingle and are one of them~
I think the difference in our experience is the same as with people
following the news everyday very often thinking that crime has never
been worse. It's been going down for 20 years, but everytime something
happens, it's news, so they see it.
But statistically, if *most* or even a [significant] part of the fans were
crazy, I MUST have met one by now, I have literally spoken to dozens if
not hundreds over the past few years, and they were all sweet! So I
feel, the explanation is *not* the fandom, but *offline vs online*.
Especially since I hear some people complain about other fandoms too
like MHA for example, but I have never met any non-cool fans/cosplayers
of that either?? And it's *always* the people who are mostly online...
Red: These are all cogent points you're making; you pointing out how we
approach the fandom via the lens of "offline vs. online" is a good
argument. However, this doesn't mean that these are immune to further
critique, but this would lead us to veer off into more general
philosophical matters, which is not the intended subject of this
bulletin post. All I have to say for now is that your move of pitting
the "offline" way of interacting with the fandom against the more
antagonistic "online" mode risks condemning those people who derive
their enjoyment from said online interactions, those who do not possess
the money and privilege to travel around and go to conventions like you.
No offense, but it almost reeks of class-based discrimination. (Yes, I
know you didn't intend this, you championing "the gray masses" is
evidence of this; but you're reproducing a set of values and tropes that
puts down many Danganronpa fans outside of Europe as "lesser" fans,
which I can't help but point out.)
Uke: I just point out the fact that online you WILL see the extremes, meaning
that could EXPLAIN WHY our impressions are different. It's not a value
judgement at all - would also be weird, because I am on the internet all
the time at home chatting with friends and such! :D
Off course, online also 99% of people are fine. My point is that due to
the nature of the medium you won't notice that as much - that has
literally nothing to do with the people. That's why I started with "I
don't think its about danganronpa or the fandom" - *obviously* the
people are going to be the same. But due to the medium, the middle part
will be noticed less, and the super bad (murderer) [and] super good
(awesome cosplayers, artists, etc) both will be noticed more :)
Obviously there is nothing wrong with not having many cheap cons near
you or simply IDK not liking them or whatever, I just (and only) tried
to think of an explanatiion why our impressions were so different D:
Just for fun lol. Obviously the people are the same, and obviously,
neither is superior over the other.
Also, it's not like I am rich lol. Cons here are just ridiculously cheap
because they're all 100% volunteer run and non-profit, and so is travel
(like, me going to paris next week might make me appear like I have the
dough, but keep in mind the bus I take there is 30 euros roundtrip, and
the convention is 17 euros for the whole weekend!). I am not [exactly]
high income, but even the poor students here can go to at least 6 or 10+
events a year, because . I have given events at cons here too, just for
fun, it's all volunteer work, even the core staff. :)
[M]y point was *not* that anyone is less for being online a lot, , or that
online fandom is less, I was just thinking that maybe this is why
feels so different for us, precisely because it cant be the people: I
assume they are the same.
Anyhow, you're right this is not what the bulletin is for, so lets keep
it this okay? I just wanted to clear up that I don't feel less of anyone
lol
(And with grey masses, I meant average fans, like myself and the
majority lol. Like average-intensity fans, I played the games, have a
cosplay/figure/plushie/posters, but it's still one out of a 100 other
fun things for me lol. I assume that goes for most - casual fan, if you
want. But my point was only that those are going to be largely unnoticed
online where off line there are going to be most of your interactions
and friends due to simply how they both work, even though the people
are the same. And off course both are fine, I like a mix of both. I
would be supremely [unjoyful if] I lost online fandom tomorrow, even I
have horrific spells of like 6 weeks sometimes without cons, imagining
not being able to weeb out that long, the horror!).
4. In Lieu of a Conclusion: A Summary
Looking back, these three selections pave the way for an overarching architecture to be used for any future critique of Danganronpa. I will try to bring out and elucidate this architectonic.
The structure consists of three layers, with each layer building up on the insights gathered by the previous one. The first layer consists of an analysis of the games' internal logic, of what concepts and tropes are used to drive its central conflict; this analysis will make visible what is often submerged in the presentation of the games. This logic, shorn off of its decorative garnish, will be then subjected to a rigorous deconstruction, one that pushes the logic underlying the games to the limits, to see which spaces and terrains the games refuses to trudge through. The first selection itself is an example of this analysis.
The second layer would revolve around the analysis of the worldbuilding that props up the games, of seeing how the standing elements of the games interact with the ground and surroundings upon which the former stands upon. If there is sufficient verisimilitude between the internal world of the games and the so-called "real world" outside of them (or, at least, the trope
Like Reality, Unless Noted is in effect, reinforced by either the text or subtext), then one can be permitted to apply the dynamics of the real world to the dynamics of the games' internal world. This would also mean that one should closely scrutinize how the internal world of the games reproduce the current situation of the real world, and also how the former seeks (unwittingly or not) to justify the current state of affairs of the latter; hence, the necessity of an ideology-critique. The second selection is an (incomplete) example of this.
Finally, the third layer will be a questioning of the player's positionality in relation to their consumption and understanding of the games. This isn't just about answering the simplistic question of whether or not the player "likes" or "dislikes" the games (and/or the anime and manga, if the other parts of the franchise is also taken into consideration), but a much deeper analysis of the materiality of causes that motivates the player to "like" or "dislike" the Danganronpa games (and franchise). It must be the kind of questioning that leaves no stone unturned, a questioning of a psychoanalytical sort. Similarly to how one is unable to smell one's own scent and smell, one is also blind to the material positionality, presuppositions, desires, and prejudices that drive one towards any and all objects of attention and affection; thus, this questioning must not be conducted alone, but must instead become a dialogue. The third selection is the closest example of this.
The movement that the critic takes through these layers can be likened to a radial, outward motion, from the innermost core that is the first layer, moving outwards through the second layer, and finally to the outermost third layer enveloping the preceding layers. Such a description must not imply to you that this is solely a one-dimensional movement; for, alongside an outward movement, this also implies a downward one. The image of our critic's movement, then, must be extended from a one-dimensional plane to a three-dimensional cube. Much like Dante's journey into the depths of Hell in order to escape it, one must sometimes go through the whole thing so that the crux of the matter can be grasped thoroughly and disposed of properly.
All in all, these are my thoughts on Danganronpa for now. Like with every other project I've had, it became larger than what was initially planned. However, I (or anyone else attempting the same thing) shouldn't be intimidated by the breadth and rigor demanded, but instead use this as an opportunity to scale the intellectual abilities one possesses, like how one might climb a mountain. For what we are facing here, my dear reader, is such a mountain.
1. The following reflection is inspired by Ryan Coyne's paper "An Elegant Hope: Despair as a Virtue after Nietzsche," which can be accessed
here. This paper fleshes out the ideas introduced here much more thoroughly than I ever could, and I recommend you check it out.
2. Jorge Luis Borges, "A New Refutation of Time," in Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings (Canada: McClelland and Stewart, Ltd., 1964). The full quote is "Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire" (p. 221).
3. The following analysis is derived from Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Science of Logic, translated and edited by George di Giovanni (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 59–82. I am especially helped by Richard Dien Winfield's book Hegel's Science of Logic: A Critical Rethinking in Thirty Lectures (UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2012); see also Stephen Houlgate, The Opening of Hegel's Logic: From Being to Infinity (USA: Purdue University Press, 2006).
4. Bertrand Russell, "On Denoting," Mind 14 (October 1905): 479–493.
5. Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, translated by Joan Stambaugh (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010), p. 314: "Temporality is the primordial, "outside of itself" in and for itself. Thus, we call the phenomena of future, having-been, and present the ecstasies of temporality. Temporality is not, prior to this, a being that first emerges from itself; rather, its essence is temporalizing in the unity of the ecstasies. . . . [T]he future has priority in the ecstatic unity of primordial and authentic temporality, although temporality does not first originate through a cumulative sequences of ecstasies, but always temporalizes itself in their equiprimordiality."
6. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, translated by Josefine Nauckhoff (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001): §341, p. 194:
"What if some day or night a demon were to steal into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: ‘This life as you now live it and have lived it you will have to live once again and innumerable times again; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unspeakably small or great in your life must return to you, all in the same succession and sequence — even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned over and over again, and you with it, speck of dust!’ Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: ‘You are a god, and never have I heard anything more divine.’ If this thought gained power over you, as you are it would transform and possibly crush you; the question in each and every thing, ‘Do you want this again and innumerable times again?’ would lie on your actions as the heaviest weight!"
7. Ryan Coyne, "An Elegant Hope". Coyne is here discussing a passage from Jonathan Lear's Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008), p. 104.
8. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, translated by R.J. Hollingdale and Walter Kaufmann (New York: Random House, 1968), p. 224.
9. The phrase "order of rank" is more appropriate in this section. See Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, p. 457: "What determines your rank is the quantum of power you are: the rest is cowardice."
10. In a similar vein, Derrida points out that "Rousseau and Saussure grant an ethical and metaphysical privilege to the voice. Both posit the inferiority and exteriority of writing in relation to the 'internal system of language' (Saussure)". Jacques Derrida, "The Linguistic Circle of Geneva," in Margins of Philosophy, translated by Alan Bass (UK: Harvester Press, 1982), p. 148.
11. See Marx's early analysis of alienated labor in Karl Marx, Selected Writings, edited by David McLellan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 85–95.
12. Karl Marx, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, vol. 1, translated by Ben Fowkes (England: Penguin Books, 1982), pp. 1019–1023; see also Stephen Kline, Nick Dyer-Witheford, and Greig de Peuter, Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003), pp. 30–59.
13. Louis Althusser, On the Reproduction of Capitalism: Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses, translated by G.M. Goshgarian (London: Verso, 2014).
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UkeBLCatboy
Thanks for asking permission to use part of my replies! :D (via muffin/clowie :D)
Having said that - as I expected, my braincells are currently *ouchie* and my eyes becoming square (and somehow still spinning*).
You know that anime meme gif of the character that has a loading circle in lieue of their brain? That's me right now XDDDD
As I said before - I am not one to think too deeply about games or anime or anythin I like. I just enjoy it, ship characters, headcanon, read yaoi doujins, cosplay, etc, but I would never try to dissect something like this xD. I get that for some people it is fun, it deepens their fandom I guess, I understand that, but for me it would feel like labor/work instead of a hobby lol. So yeah, I still like danganronpa, simply because the aesthetics are pretty, the story is interesting, the plot is intriguing and exciting, the characters are cool, and it makes for fancy cosplay. :D Never thought of the soundtrack as that special to be honest...
It's just fun! and exciting! and a "dialogue box turner" so to say. Bluntly put, "this pleases the ape", and I rather keep it that way. :D
If I interact more deeply with something, it's to appreciate all the awesome fanart people make (some of which is on my wall from conventions xD), the cosplay, the yaoi (smut) fanfics :D, etc. - not to spend 100000 hours academically analyzing everything about it (from ANY perspective, IDC if it's liberal, marxist, capitalist, social-democrat, or spaghetti monster church lol, it just feels like work and I just wanna focus on enjoying the cool game and the fandom and the cool stuff in it like the art and cosplay and stuff xD). It's like a vacuum cleaner sucking out all the joy for me XD
But like I said - I understand why someone would find it just deepens their fandom for them or find it interesting. And again, thanks for asking permission! :D
But for me -I will just keep liking it because it looks cool, the characters are fun, the plot is exciting, and there is lots of cool fanart and cosplaying Nagito and meeting all the fellow fans at events was a lot of fun as I said before :D
I'm happy you enjoy writing these things though xD And again, thanks for asking, it's fine! :D It's a public site after all!
Now, if you excuse me, I am going to try the genshin card game, I am so so so so so so SO hyped! :D And also going to look more at my Nagito figure this afternoon probably, as I had totally forgotten about all this, now I am reminded of DR once again, and he deserves all the love <3
I must admit: I may have jumped the gun when I published this without first getting explicit confirmation of your permission with regards to reproducing your words here. I hastily assumed that your inactivity will stretch on for quite a while, and I am pressed to publish something of importance for my blog. For that, I offer my apologies. I'm sorry.
It bears repeating that each and every one of us have different ways of enjoying works of art, that everyone is at liberty of doing so,and that no one has the right to condemn anyone else's ways of enjoyment (unless one has sufficient, predominantly moral reason to do so). Your way is conventions and cosplaying, mine is analysis and critique supported by a history of critical thought. Both are legitimate and commendable.
If you so wish to separate this stuffy work from your engagement with the entertainment of the games, then that's cool with me. (In fact, I implore you to do so, since the "fun" in what I'm doing here is scarce and honestly frustrating.) I interpret this to be an act of drawing lines, of respecting the differences between us, and of maintaining it in the spirit of camaraderie and shared experience of the Danganronpa franchise.
In short, you are epic for reading through that patchwork of texts and coming out relatively unscathed. I've had worse reactions when I've shown them my thought processes, and seeing yours made me deflate from my 24/7 seriousness. For that, I thank you.
Also, thanks for giving your permission!
by Red Monaca; ; Report
Doctor-Frankenstein's_Roadkill
I agree with you, there is much to be scrutinized about the series and the fanbase. Even though I do appreciate the aesthetics of the game and the aesthetic choices I have adopted into my everyday life because of the series, I do not identify with the fanbase. I cosplay monokuma, but only because it's my favorite cosplay out of the ones that I have. I use the handle Kuma_Kub because I like the name and the aesthetics associated, but that's about it.
Glad someone gets it.
nekomimiswitch
this is truly what i consider to be the quintessential marxist critique and analysis of the danganronpa franchise. your application of hegelian dialectics to danganronpa is truly unique. appreciate your thoughts
Thank you, thank you very much! This analysis is open and incomplete, I must admit, so any contributions building up on this is appreciated!
by Red Monaca; ; Report
eden ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
this was a fun read!
i used to be hyperfixated on danganronpa and unfortunately got caught up in a lot of online discourse since i can't afford to go to conventions so online stuff was my only contact with the fandom, which kinda distanced me from it even then.
now that my main hyperfixation is pokemon and i don't have those rose-tinted glasses when looking at dr, i only really like the music and a small few of the character designs now. i wouldn't call myself a fan or anything, it was just a franchise i loved years ago and don't anymore haha
i do agree with a lot of the points you made here, you always do a great job with explaining your thought process even if i can't understand *all* of it, but that just makes me want to study these concepts more when i have time so that i eventually can ^^ thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading! If you're curious with some of the concepts I've used here, you can follow the footnotes attached, or just ask me directly! :D
by Red Monaca; ; Report