Discussion: Dangan Ronpa's theme (SPOILERS, DUH)

This is a question that has been bugging me for a long time: Does anybody else besides me agree with how poorly the theme of Dangan Ronpa was portrayed? I mean, by no means do I hate this series, but it leaves me feeling very conflicted because of...you know. I wanted to know if anybody else felt the same way as me, and if not, why?

I don't want to write another long rant on my POV for this, so I'm just gonna copypasta me wordbarfing to about the same thing (And no Lizzy, I have not watched SDR2 yet):

"Well, to me, Dangan Ronpa is the very definition of the phrase, "There's no such thing as bad characters or bad story, just bad storytellers". The premise, I feel, is actually rather interesting once you consider that in real life, similar science experiments are carried out. You gather a couple of otherwise sane individuals and put them in a situation where it's Kill or Be Killed, and you get one hell of a crazy pickle. And the fact that Junko BROADCASTS all of this and memory wipes them just to carry it out and cause maximum despair is rather diabolical. The characters? Yeah, okay, they START OUT as annoying stereotypes, but as you said, through Free-Time events and the plot, you realize that they are really more than meets the eye, and I do feel for them at times. MONDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! DD8

What bugs me though is not the theme of Hope/Despair itself, but how many times they shove it into your faces. The academy is called HOPE'S Peak, Monokuma says Desbearpair so many times you could be rich if you got a penny for everytime he said that, and that's not all. It really bugs me how, as cool of a villain as she is, we never find out why Junko's mind is so FUBAR that she'd have a fetish for despair. That's another thing: For all the times DR mentions Hope and Despair, it never really delves into it so much. I mean, it's not as bad as, oh I dunno, how freakin' Moulin Rogue was with LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE! But it's still visible. You got Makoto shouting YOU MUSN'T GIVE UP HOPE! and Junko all LOL NOPE DESPAIR IS AWESOME YOU'RE SCREWED LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL and neither of them really delve into everything behind it, just that humans are very easily influenced by it and each, somehow one way or another, controls your life. Okay, well, it DOES show why humans would despair and stuff, but it never goes into the how as much as I would expect.

Inversely, I like Madoka because while it had the same theme, it let the tragedy play out and quietly watched as the audience took it in. Mami's death, Sayaka's wish, the Reveal about Magical Girls being liches and WILL turn into witches, Sayaka's Despair Event Horizon, Homura's Past, all of it was played quietly (as quiet as the madness can be...) and it let it all sink in as we took in the tragedy. It didn't go LOOOOOK! HOPE AND DESPAIR! like DR did, it simply nodded its head and went, "Yeah, being a Magical Girl is like that". Oh, and yes, it DID delve nicely into the reasoning behind the Hope and Despair, that people frivolously make wishes for their own good, not realizing the consequences, whether it will solve their problem, and how selfish the wish can actually be. Again, it wasn't forced into our heads, it was just laid before us and we kinda let it mess with our brains ourselves.

And yes, I should probably talk about the ending to both. Yeah, both of them are kinda weird. For Madoka's, how did Madoka snap IMMEDIATELY out of her depression and go full 100% hope mode so fast? How did she have the knowledge to make such an ingenious wish? You can go on and on with how weird it is for Madoka to make such a hopeful wish, especially since her hope was very much crushed throughout the whole series. But you know what? I overlooked it and for the moment I watched it, I believed it. I believed that yeah, the tragedy was real, but so was the solution. It felt so much like reality, that no matter how bad things got, that things can always change if YOU put in the effort, and that's what Madoka did. Perhaps it was Homura's story, the idea that someone else other than her was desperately trying to believe fate could be changed, and for the greater good, Madoka made a wish that benefited ALL, not just herself and Homura, and sure enough, it brought hope to everyone. I love how the Hope/Despair theme also ties in with a theme of Short-Term and Long-Term solutions, but you can check out 's tumblr Madoka review for that. My point is that as weird and somewhat illogical the ending was, I took it in and I was satisfied because it felt well-deserved, especially considering all the crap that was laid before me, but not shoved, throughout the rest of the series.

DR's ending...come on, you're just taking ONE WORD from Makoto's mind and shooting it at everyone else. That doesn't sound very convincing, how did he do that? I should also talk about Makoto here, he IS a bland character. Okay, not Gary Stu bland, but for one thing, I don't know why he's supposedely so optimistic, nor do I see the optimism really taking over his character. When the trials happen and he sees the horror his own classmates do, sure, he's shocked, but he never really challenges it with his optimism. I never see him saying why they should continue pressing forward and keeping hope, I never see him stepping out and making it clear why they should keep it alive and-- You get the idea. I can't even give any examples, he's just...that bland. I never know why he is why he is, and why he feels so strongly about Hope that he would challenge Junko's despair. He doesn't say anything beyond YOU MUSN'T GIVE UP HOPE!...but why? In fact, when the other students regain hope, they do the talking for him! And even then, it's kind of shallow and not delved into much. It sounds a bit unfair, but I was really hoping that they could portray the Hope/Despair theme in the same way Madoka did, showing exactly why humanity reacts the way they do to Hope/Despair, what is the right decision in the end, and how is it that Hope triumphs so much.

Bottom line, DR bugs me because for all the times it shoves HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE DESPAIR DESPAIR DESBEAR into your faces, it never goes deep into it and makes you consider the relationship behind it all, why it is important etc. etc. Which is a pity, because I think it has a more interesting concept than Madoka: Trapping the world's best...ranks into a school and make them kill each other! That's pretty neat and eerily realistic, and as I said, the characters do show their depth as the story goes on (MONDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!). I just really wish it had the same cleverness and subtlety that Madoka had. So really, saying I hate or even dislike Dangan Ronpa is wrong, I'm just really conflicted and disappointed."