I have a really hard time consolidating my thoughts on the characters. I have grievances, especially when it comes to some of their motives, but they can all be countered by the "it's all a lie script!" twist. While I like the moral of the story looking forward to and enjoying a DanganRonpa game is kind of fucked up I fear they might have pushed their luck too far by writing the whole experience as being entirely artificial.
That said, taking the characters at face value, my thoughts :
Shuichi : The best protagonist in the main games thanks to how his character develops, but that's not saying much. Really like how he channeled his inner "fuck you I won't do what you tell me" in the finale. Bonus points for the snazzy outfit.
KAITO MOMOTA, LUMINARY OF THE STARS : Cool dude. Stupid dude. Only part of going along with Kokichi's plan that made sense is protecting Maki. Not much else to say really. Minus points for wearing fucking slippers, like what the hell dude.
Rantaro : Wasted character. The whole "mysterious dude hiding behind a smile" could have been a really cool juxtaposition to Kokichi. One of the best designs in the cast too.
Ryoma : Really cool and chill dude, but he didn't have much else going on either. Could have been a voice of reason in class trials, but the game wasn't exactly lacking in this department anyway.
Gonta : The Sweetest Soul of them all. Sure he was a bit one note, but who cares. His chapter was pure bullshit.
Kibo : Eh. Some humorous moments, but a bit of a mess of a character. A real kid turned into a robot? Or not? Who got his personality erased at the end? But not entirely? Otherwise, useless for most of the game. Pretty cool facial expressions though!
Korekiyo : Another waste of a character. Dude was a bit of a nutjob but he seemed like he had a very good head on his shoulders during class trials without being nefarious. Could have went against expectations that shady looking characters MUST be killers.
Kokichi : Oh man. I was on board with him being a wild card until chapter 4. Pushing Gonta to commit a murder though? That made no fucking sense, especially considering his backstory. Dude was supposed to be the ultimate supreme leader of a band of tricksters. This whole chapter is a big shit stain mark on both the game and his character, completely derailing him from "shady dude fighting his own way" to "you know what, fuck his murderous ass". A shame for what is one of the best written characters in the game.
Angie : Creepiest character with zero redeemable feature. The cult brainwashing student council plot went nowhere fast, and her with it.
Kirumi : Like Kiyo, a cool-headed character (with a much less interesting personality) wasted on a really stupid motive that was a lie. The only good execution in the game.
Tenko : Got fridged the second she started developing an actual personality. Source of a few humorous jokes at least.
Himiko : I really like the parallel between her and Shuichi. A character introduced as being meek and uninvolved (one because of laziness, the other because of self-depreciation) that starts to grow once their love interest gets fridged. Sadly, that's the only thing of note for her.
Maki : Nice character, with an actual arc, and a good surprise in seeing her not fall for the MC (though even that gets nullified because it's all a lie).
Miu : An acquired taste, but I found her absolutely hilarious. Her love key scene had me in stitches. Sadly, she was one of the main characters in the worst chapter, with a non-existent motive and a pointless death.
Tsumugi : A boring "good" character before the reveal, but that was on purpose because it was a lie. A boring antagonist after the reveal. Bonus point for letting me appreciate how the artstyle of the characters improved since the first game, I guess.
Kaede : Waste, once again I invoke thy name. Setting aside how fridging the first female protagonist in the mainline games is a bad look, they did her so fucking dirty. Breaking the rules of narration, sure, but breaking the rules of their own game? On the first trial? With zero repercussion in the grand scheme of things? First grade bullshit, for a cheap protagonist switcheroo twist. If the writers wanted me to feel angry at how unfair this bullshit is, I guess they got what they wanted, but not necessarily toward the intended recipient. If you want to write a killing game and have me care about the characters, you have a single rule to respect above all else : life is precious. You can't throw it on the ground and trample it just for the sake of a twist. I've always disliked how Mukuro died in the first game, and Kaede is that turned up to eleven.
With all that said, here's my issue with this cast : not enough actual antagonists. For a narrative built around the theme of truth vs lies, almost everyone was straightforward, trusting and on the side of truth except for a single little asshole (and the culprits of each case, but even then that's not consistent.)
Compare that with the first cast, full of assholes, shady characters and hot-blooded morons, which created an ambience of distrust and paranoia.
The game isn't helped by the abysmal motives of each blackened. We went from :
- I almost got killed and decided to take my chance to get out of this hell
- I snapped from the pressure
- I did it in cold blood for money
- I snapped from the pressure and killed myself
to
- I snapped from the pressure (but didn't actually kill anyone) / I broke the rules just becuz
- I did it to MAKE JAPAN GREAT AGAIN
- I did it TO SEND SOULS TO MY DEAD SISTER THAT INHABIT MY BODY
- I wanted to do it because...? / I was suggested to do it at the exact time I was conveniently brainwashed by accident / I suggested someone to do it instead of defending myself from a plan I knew beforehand because...? (Seriously, this case is the worst)
There's a reason why the murders in the first game were so heartwrenching : they were the results of people being pushed past their breaking point. They were relatable. They were fundamentally human. The only one that works in DRV3 is Kaede's, but it was actually bullshit. And again, all my criticism is meaningless, because it was all a lie anyway.
Man, the more I think about this game, the more bummed I get. The story of a bunch of mostly nice people getting killed for bullshit reasons. It was aesthetically pretty dope at least.
. Chiaki was brutal too, especially because I had all that time to spend my free time with her up until that point.