Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Farewell Despair Academy  (スーパーダンガンロンパ2 さよなら絶望学園, Sūpā Dangan Ronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubō Gakuen), often shortened to "Super Dangan Ronpa 2" or "SDR2", is the sequel to Dangan Ronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair, and was released on July 26, 2012 for PSP, iOS and Android.

Plot
The game is from Hajime Hinata's point of view as he starts his first year at Hope's Peak Academy. As he walks into the school building he is overcome with fatigue, when he recovers he finds himself in front of a door. He has the strong urge to open it, and once he does he finds himself in a classroom full of his new classmates.

They suddenly find themselves locked in the classroom and a pink bunny, Usami, appears before them, claiming herself the class' teacher. Suddenly the classroom around them falls away to reveal a paradise-like island. Usami tells them they are on a school trip and they are to befriend each other to gain hope shards and make their hope grow. Just as they get used to the peaceful island life, Monobear appears and takes control of the island, announcing that the students must participate in a life of mutual killing if they wish to escape.

Hinata Hajime

 * Voiced by Minami Takayama
 * Hajime Hinata (日向 創 Hajime Hinata) is the protagonist of the game. Due to being unable to remember his title, he is known as Super High School Level ??? (超高校級の「???」).

Nagito Komaeda

 * Voiced by Megumi Ogata
 * Nagito Komaeda (狛枝 凪斗 Komaeda Nagito) is an generally peaceful boy who is focused on getting the students to show as much hope as possible, even if it means for him to be killed. His title is Super High School Level Good Luck (超高校級の「幸運」)

Chiaki Nanami

 * Voiced by Kana Hanazawa
 * Chiaki Nanami (七海 千秋 Chiaki Nanami) is a laid-back girl who seems to often be sleepy. She is a heavy gamer and thus was given the title of Super High School Level Gamer (超高校級の「ゲーマー」)

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu

 * Voiced by Daisuke Kishio
 * Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu (九頭龍 冬彦 Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko) is a violent boy who is the successor of the largest Yakuza family in Japan. He is Super High School Level Gangster (超高校級の「極道」). Despite his title, he has a baby face.

Ibuki Mioda

 * Voiced by Ami Koshimizu
 * Ibuki Mioda is an upbeat, energetic girl who is the lead guitarist in a popular girl band. She goes by the title of Super High School Level Light-Club Member (超高校級の「軽音楽部」).

Kazuichi Souda

 * Voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya
 * Kazuichi Souda (左右田 和一 Souda Kazuichi) is a rather timid student who is prone to overreacting. His title is Super High School Level Mechanic (超高校級の「メカニック」).

Gundam Tanaka

 * Voiced by Tomokazu Sugita
 * Gundam Tanaka (田中 眼蛇夢 Tanaka Gundamu) is a mysterious and dramatic student who speaks in cryptic sentences. He owns four hamsters who are the 'Four Dark Gods of Destruction' and is given the title of Super High School Level Animal Handler (超高校級の「飼育委員」).

Byakuya Togami

 * Voiced by Akira Ishida
 * Byakuya Togami (十神 白夜 Togami Byakuya) is the heir to a successful family business and sees himself superior to others. He has a strong sense of responsibility to protect the other students. He is given the title of Super High School Level Heir (超高校級の「御曹司」

Mikan Tsumiki

 * Voiced by Ai Kayano
 * Mikan Tsumiki (罪木 蜜柑 Tsumiki Mikan) is an easily intimated young nurse who takes pride in her work and is often clumsy. Her title is Super High School Level Nurse (超高校級の「保健委員」)

Hiyoko Saionji

 * Voiced by Suzuko Mimori
 * Hiyoko Saionji (西園寺 日寄子 Saionji Hiyoko) is popular with men due to her cute and innocent looks. However, she has a malicious and patronizing personality. She is Super High School Level Traditional Dancer (超高校級の「日本舞踊家」)

Akane Owari

 * Voiced by Romi Park
 * Akane Owari (終里 赤音 Owari Akane) an energetic, friendly student who is quick to lose her temper. She also likes food. Her title is Super High School Level Gymnast (超高校級の「体操選手」)

Nekomaru Nidai

 * Voiced by Hiroki Yasumoto
 * Nekomaru Nidai (弐大 猫丸 Nidai Nekomaru) is a strong and muscular student who is passionate about sports. His title is Super High School Level Manager (超高校級の「マネージャー」)

Teruteru Hanamura

 * Voiced by Jun Fukuyama
 * Teruteru Hanamura (花村 輝々 Hanamura Teruteru) is a talented cook who is known for his lewd remarks. He is given the title of Super High School Level Chef (超高校級の「料理人」)

Sonia Nevermind

 * Voiced by Miho Arakawa
 * Sonia Nevermind (ソニア・ネヴァーマインド Sonia Nevermind) is a polite and cheerful girl who is a princess from overseas. Her title is Super High School Level Princess ((超高校級の「王女」)

Mahiru Koizumi

 * Voiced by Yū Kobayashi
 * Mahiru Koizumi (小泉 真昼 Koizumi Mahiru) is a sensible girl who likes to take photographs. She was given the title of Super High School Level Photographer (超高校級の「写真家」).

Synopsis
WARNING: Spoilers beyond this point!

Prologue
The game opens with Hinata Hajime standing outside of Hope Peak's Academy, after he explains a little about himself he enters the building. He then finds his fellow classmates inside a classroom, but before proper introductions can be made their teacher Usami appears and transports them to an island environment using her magical staff.

Everyone is naturally shocked and suspicious of Usami's motivation and reasoning for bringing them here but Usami tries to calm them down, telling them that they are all safe and were brought to the island to collect hope shards by befriending one another. Hinata faints from the shock of the sudden change of environment and later wakes up on the beach, with Komaeda watching over him asking him if he's alright.

Hinata isn't too interested in talking to Komaeda but Komaeda is able to explain the situation and some things he missed while he was unconscious. Komaeda reveals his Super High School Level talent to be Good Luck and asks to know Hinata's but Hinata is unable to answer him due to not being able to remember it himself. Komaeda reassures him that his memories are gone due to shock, but they will return with time. Deciding to meet his class mates, Hinata heads off with Komaeda to find them.

Once Hinata introduces himself to everyone, Usami calls them to the beach to give them all presents for being friendly to one another. While her first gift goes unappreciated (it was an Usami keychain) her second gift are swimsuits which seem to win the students over, even Hinata who was very suspicious of her intentions. However just as everyone is having fun in the water the sky darkens.

A silhouette of a bear appears on one of the nearby tv screens telling everyone to gather at Jabborwock park. Usami appears frightened but asks the students to allow her to go on ahead to deal with the problem. Everyone is left feeling uneasy but decide to head to Jabborwock park where they are introduced to Monobear. Usami attempts to fight Monobear but is taken down easily, has her magical staff destroyed (which causes her to lose her powers) and is transformed by Monobear into Monomi. Monobear takes control over the island now that Usami has been left powerless, and introduces his rules: Monobear creates giant robots to keep areas of the island closed of from the students. Monomi says she will take on Monobear and protect the students at all costs, even if it means sacrificing her own life. Monobears shoots her Monobear's "little sister" down with a machine gun in front of the students leaving only her ribbon behind but just like Monobear she has back ups so she returns slightly later. Hinata goes to his cottage and screams in frustration before going to bed.
 * To leave the island, you must kill someone.
 * If someone is killed, there will be a school trial.
 * If the murderer is exposed, s/he will be punished and everyone else will continue living on the island.
 * If the murderer is not caught, s/he gets to leave the island and everyone else will be punished.

Chapter 1
The next day everyone assembles at the restaurant and, deciding the group needs a leader, Togami appoints himself one. He also shows everyone a weird statue like device that showed up at Jabborwock park, it has a huge timer that's counting down to something that will happen in about twenty-one days.

That night Monobear calls for everyone to assemble at Jabborwock park again, where he and an unwilling Monomi perform a comedy routine. Monobear reveals to the group that Monomi is working for an organisation called the Future Foundation and that they are the ones responsible for erasing their memories of their school life. Monomi does not deny this but is reluctant to explain the reasons behind these actions. Monobear also tells the group there were only supposed to be fifteen students, but there are currently sixteen present, meaning one of them is a mole for Monomi.

The next day Togami announces that they're going to have a party that night after Monobear's night-time announcement, to help everyone get to know each other. Komaeda suggests they have their party at an old lodge next to the hotel which the group agrees to.

Monomi happily gives them permission to use the lodge (which was previously off-limits) for their party. However the lodge needs to be cleaned. To decide who will clean it Komaeda suggests they draw straws that he brought with him. Komaeda himself is made to clean the lodge and Hanamura agrees to do the cooking for the party.

That night Hinata arrives at the party, Togami checks him for any possible weapons and then lets Hinata through. Hinata notices two duralumin cases next to Togami, one is for dangerous objects he finds and he won't say what's in the other. Togami suggests the meat skewers are dangerous as well and confiscates them. Not satisfied with the safety standards of the lodge he investigates the kitchen where he confiscates all the knifes, forks, skewers and anything sharp. There's a list of utensils in the kitchen but upon inspection it is revealed there is still a skewer missing. Hanamura reassures him that it has been missing all along so Togami ignores it. The only other thing of interest in the kitchen is a large piece of meat with a large bone in it that apparently isn't getting served to the group.

The group decides that the sharp weapons must be kept in a safe place, so Pekoyama volunteers, saying she can watch over the weapons in the lodge's office. Grabbing some food she heads off to the office with the weapons. Komaeda suggests someone stand guard outside the lodge in case Monobear decides to show up, so Nanami and Monomi volunteer to stand guard. The remaining duralumin cas is guarded by Togami. With the preparations made the party begins.

Everyone is enjoying themselves at the party, eating the great food and socialising. Nidai attempts to go to the bathroom several times but is unable to due to the door being locked since the beginning of the party. Mahiru takes a bunch of pictures of the group at the party. Incidentally the only person absent from the party is Kuzuryuu but he is later seen talking to Nanami after he decided to take a walk. While everything is going great at the party, the lights

suddenly go out, leaving everyone freaked out. They come back on not to long after, and Akane complains of a strange smell coming from the back of the room.

They lift the table cloth of the table at the back of the room and discover Togami's corpse laying face down in a pool of his own blood, having been stabbed to death. Lying next to him are a bloody knife with a strange luminous green liquid on the handle and a pair of night-vision goggles. Monobear arrives and gives them the case file on the victim. And so the first murder investigation begins. Eventually Monobear calls them to the elevator to be taken to the class trials.

At the class trial the evidence begins to incriminate Komaeda more and more. Eventually he reveals that while he did plant the knife under the table and did plan on murdering someone his plan was foiled by Togami using his night-vision goggles (that were in the duralim case he was guarding). Togami was able to disarm Komaeda but in doing so accidently attracted the attention of another murderer. Someone who knew of Komaeda's plan and chose to wait for the moment Komaeda would attack, using the luminous green paint on the knife as a marker. So as it turns out Togami was not stabbed with the knife but with the missing skewer that was placed inside the large piece of meat in the kitchen, disguised as a bone.

Hinata is able to deduce that Hanamura is the killer. Hanamura explains that he found out that Komaeda was planning to murder someone from the beginning and using his good luck was able to be chosen to clean the lodge which allowed him to plant the knife. Hanamura saw him and asked that he explain himself. Komaeda says that he wants to bring hope to the group, it doesn't matter if it is to a killer or the survivors just as long it will bring them hope, even if it where to result in his death. Despite Hanamura's pleas, Pekoyama brings up that while he may not have meant to kill Togami he still planned on killing someone.

Hanamura is voted the culprit. Despite Hanamura's claims that he killed to try to protect his classmates from what Komaeda was planning, it is revealed that he was worried about the "motive" that Monobear had presented to them before: their missing memories. In a flashback, it shows that Hanamura's mother is sickly and he was concerned about her being left on her own when he had left to attend Hope's Peak. While Hanamura claims that he hadn't believed that their memories were gone, Hinata thinks that he actually believed it the most. If a few years had indeed passed, then what happened to his mother and their restaurant?

Before his execution he calls out for his mother.

Hanamura's execution starts out very reminiscent of Leon's in the first game. A large chain comes out of nowhere and grabs Hanamura by the neck dragging him outside onto the

beach where he is chained to a post. Monobear appears piloting a helicopter and fires a bunch of missiles at Hanamura, they explode covering him in beaten eggs, then Monobear fires a huge missile at him which explodes, this time covering him in flour. With the chain that's attatched to Hanamura revealed to be attatched to the helicopter Monobear is piloting, he then proceeds to fly off into a volcano (filled with oil) where he drops Hanamura turning him into a crispy snack. The survivors are shown to have seen the whole thing via a projector and just stare in silence and horror.

Chapter 2
After the execution, Monomi is able to destroy one of Monobear's robots that were defending one of the islands. The group head to the new island to investigate. There they find a building that looks like a ruined Hope's Peak Academy, interestingly both Monomi and Monobear both say they can't enter. Other locations on the island are a pharmacy, a library and a diner, near which there is a small path that leads to the beach with a small beach house.

At the library Hinata speaks with Sonia and Pekoyama: Sonia who is enthused about the occult and horror tells Hinata about a serial killer by the name of Kirakira, who kills in the name of justice. She even translates the killer's speech for Hinata. The three of them also investigate a brochure of the island and are interested to find that in Jabborwock park where the statue was there used to be a building and yet there is no trace of it now.

Afterwards Hinata heads to the beach and is shocked to hear Ibuki scream. He rushes to find out what happened but only finds Akane and Nidai in an intense but friendly sparring match. After a few days Monobear calls for everyone to assemble in the park where he gives them their new motive. The new motive is an arcade game called Twilight Syndrome, naturally everyone claims they just won't play it.

The group, feeling uneasy around Komaeda because of his murder attempt, subdue him and tie him up in the old lodge. Mahiru asks Hinata to bring Komaeda food so he doesn't starve to death, so Hinata heads off to the lodge and speaks with Komaeda for the first time since the first class trial. Komaeda tries to tempt Hinata into playing Twilight Syndrome so he can find out this trial's motive and Hinata leaves the lodge angrily. However Hinata's curiousity gets the best of him and he decides to play the game.

The game involves a few girls - A, B, C, D and E. Before the game starts there’s a disclaimer saying that this is nonfiction and involves actual events and people. It starts on Day 2; D shows A, B and C some photos. One of them rips up the photos and tells her to delete the data for the others. They were at the crime scene before the police were; it’d complicate matters if they were to get involved. The game then skips to Day 4 - The girls enter a classroom and find E lying dead against a wall, killed by a blow to the head with a baseball bat. Oddly, it gives a game over here with the words “gokaishita” in hiragana. (Reads as “you’ve misunderstood”.) Hinata is understandably confused and heads back.

The next day or so, Souda tells Hinata to meet up with him alone at the supermarket because there’s something he wants to discuss. He heard that the girls were going to have a girls-only beach party later that day at the beach near the diner and he wants Hinata to go with him, because he doesn’t want to be alone and none of the other guys were likely to go with him. He even swimming trunks for Hinata. Hinata agrees to go with him, so they start waiting it out at the diner one hour early. Souda’s plan is to catch the girls heading towards the beach and say it’s a coincidence that they’re going to the same place and if he and Hinata could go with them.

Before they enter the diner, they meet Kuzuryuu who says he just happened to be passing by, both Souda and Hinata decide not to press the issue further. Sometime later both Hinata and Souda spot Hiyoko crying and running past the diner at full speed, coming from the direction of the beach. Later, Pekoyama walks in drenched though still with her sword equipped, saying she’d gone for a short swim. According to her she’d swum for 3 hours trying to look for any way to get to the other blocked-off islands, but didn’t manage to get anywhere. Later, Akane walks in covered in blood, she’d been sparring with Nidai so it's no big deal. Nanami walks in, wearing her swimsuit, alone - apparently she’d walked all the way in her swimsuit because changing in the beach house isn’t allowed and she didn’t want to have to carry the extra clothes later. She brought a board game for everyone to play with, though…then Sonia finally walks in, and destroys Souda’s expectations because she shows up in a wetsuit. Souda manages to convince the girls to let him and Hinata join in the beach party, and Souda dashes off to the beach house to prepare the drinks and whatnot.

As Hinata’s heading towards the beach house however, the announcement sound plays... A dead body has been found. The person who found the body was Souda, and the victim this time was Mahiru, who’d refused the invitation to join the beach party. She was found leaning against the wall next to a blood-covered baseball bat, just like E was in the game...

Due to Mahiru’s position looking very similar to E’s in the game, Hinata figures that he needs to look into Monobear’s game further and asks Nanami to help since she’s a Super High School Level gamer. Of course, she’s played this game before and tells Hinata that “gokaishita” doesn’t read as “you’ve misunderstood”, but rather “five times down”. That is, hit down five times at the start screen to access the missing days and reach the true end.

On the way to the arcade machine they bump into Komaeda, who just finished playing the game himself. And so, they uncover the missing days. Day 1 starts showing A, B, C and D at the school entrance. D takes a photograph at random and the four of them walk down the corridor. There’s the sound of breaking glass coming from upstairs and they run up, meeting E who’d come from the other side. The sound came from the music room, but the door’s locked, so they send a girl down to the staffroom to obtain the key. When the door’s opened, they send A in to have a look, and in the far end of the room they find a girl collapsed against the wall, an overturned fish tank, and a broken window.

The girl is dead, killed by a blow to the head. They all knew her; apparently her swimsuit had been stolen a short while ago. There were rumours that there was a pervert going around so they figured that he must have been the one who did it - he killed her after he was spotted, locked the door and escaped through the window. On day 3, D shows E a photograph of a broken vase. She says she knew E was the one who did it, and she cleared up the broken vase for her. E did it to protect a friend who was constantly being bullied by the victim… D throws the photograph away, and a guy F picks it up after he leaves, and is angry that they did something like this to his sister.

The credits roll, and this is where Nanami says Hinata would probably be most interested. The names of the people involved scroll: Tsumiki, Saionji, Mioda, Koizumi, Kuzuryuu, Kuzuryuu. The names of their classmates... Hinata meets Komaeda again, who, having asked the relevant people to gather at the airport, invites Hinata and Nanami to talk to them. Tsumiki (Mikan), Saionji (Hiyoko) and Mioda (Ibuki) are present. Mikan and Ibuki say that Koizumi (Mahiru) had asked them to meet up. Hiyoko denies it and runs away. Hinata and Nanami decide to check out Mahiru’s room for clues, and there they find a familiar envelope containing the presents for the first person who cleared the game.

These are photographs…and they’re exactly the same photographs that D took inside the game. The one on the first day at the school entrance shows Mikan, Hiyoko and Ibuki. There’s a photo of the dead first victim. There’s a photo of the broken vase. And finally, there’s a photo of E’s body, in exactly the same pose as in the game. Hinata heads back to the beach house, with Komaeda still following him. Mikan tells Hinata that from the state of the body, she understood that Mahiru died immediately on being hit, so the body must have been moved. She also found a note in Mahiru’s pocket, supposedly from Hiyoko, telling Mahiru to meet her at the beach house at 2.30pm, and also to keep it a secret and not meet her before the stated time.

On the floor near the body is a cartoon mask and a  yellow gummy. Komaeda shows Hinata a gummy packet he got from Hiyoko’s room, which is supposedly filled to the brim with these. It contains 4 flavours, though not lemon.

And so, the second school trial begins... Eventually Hinata is able to deduce who the killer is in this case and suprisingly it's Pekoyama. Pekoyama sent both Mahiru and Hiyoko notes, seemingly from each other. She asked Mahiru to come to the beach house at 2.30pm and Hiyoko at 2:00pm. Hiyoko arrived at the beach house at 2:00pm. She was made to sleep by some medicine from the pharmacy and stuffed in the closet. Mahiru arrived later. Pekoyama beat her over the head with a bat, she then washed the blood off her body with bottled water from the fridge. She then hid inside a surfing board bag until Hiyoko woke up and left crying.

After that, she got out and laid a gummy on the floor. She left via the window in the toilet stall, using her sword to give her the height boost to climb out and retreiving it with the sword case. As she wasn’t able to dry off in such a short time, she pretended she’d been swimming. Everyone asks Pekoyama why she did it, her response? A speech about justice and a declaration that she is the serial killer Kirakira! This is why there was a cartoon mask left at the crime scene.

At this revelation everyone asks to start the voting. Sonia has her doubts, however but does not bring them up until after the voting is finished. Kirakira was presumably Spanish because the magazine she translated from was in Spanish. There’s no way Pekoyama could be Kirakira…and of course she isn’t. It was all in her plan to have everyone vote as soon as possible, because the vote can’t be changed after the culprit’s been voted for.

The truth according to her, is that she was working for Kuzuryuu the entire time; Kuzuryuu should be the real culprit and she was just his tool. They pretended to have nothing to do with each other up until this point, but in actual fact, she was taken in by Kuzuryuu’s family when she was a child to be his sword and shield. They grew up together, and she will do anything to protect him. If Kuzuryuu claims at this point to have ordered Pekoyama to kill Mahiru, making him the killer, then Kuzuryuu leaves the island. The remaining students including Pekoyama will be executed for making the wrong choice. If Kuzuryuu doesn’t, Pekoyama is the killer, and she’ll be the only one executed, but the remaining students cannot leave the island.

In essence, Kuzuryuu will live in either case, Pekoyama dies, and depending on his choice he has the possibility of leaving the island. So here is the actual series of events: Kuzuryuu played the game and is the first person to clear it. He receives the photos and gets angry, particularly because he remembers nothing and is shocked to see a photo of his sister, dead. Kuzuryuu sends the photos to Mahiru.

Mahiru thought about playing the game, and on the occasion she visited Komaeda to give him food, Komaeda tempted her into playing it. Mahiru felt uncertain about how to make amends if the video turned out to be true and wanted to talk to Mikan, Hiyoko and Ibuki about it. She was invited to the beach party but turned it down because she wasn’t in the mood to go. Kuzuryuu, not receiving any kind of reply from Mahiru, got frustrated. He sent both Mahiru and Hiyoko notes, seemingly from each other. He asked Mahiru to come to the beach house at 2:30pm and Hiyoko at 2:00pm. Hiyoko shows up at 2:00pm. She was knocked unconscious by some medicine from the pharmacy and stuffed in the closet. Mahiru arrived later. She spoke with Kuzuryuu over what had happened with his sister: she apologised for her death but said that he had been wrong to kill the girl if he indeed had.

Pekoyama, however, was the one who killed her. Kuzuryuu told her to escape, and Pekoyama said she’ll take care of it. She’ll probably be found out, but she’ll take care of it. Kuzuryuu leaves before Pekoyama blocks the door with Mahiru’s body. She then prepared the crime scene, body and escaped in the way Hinata previously deduced.

Kuzuryuu is unable to say he ordered Pekoyama to kill Mahiru, however… He feels like he’d be really treating Pekoyama as a tool if he did that. And he says that through all these years, Pekoyama never realized that he never wanted her to be his tool, he just wanted her to be by his side. He starts to cry and begs her not to leave him by himself. Pekoyama’s execution begins. She’s surrounded on all sides by soldiers. Monobear controls hermovements like a puppet and has her cut them down one by one with her sword. Kuzuryuu, concerned, tries to push his way through, but Monobear stops controlling just as she cuts through a soldier and to him, slashing the right side of his face while cutting through one of the soldiers. Kuzuryuu faints. She drops her sword and holds him, kneeling on the ground (presumably protecting him with her body). Multiple soldiers surround them and start to attack and Pekoyama dies. All the other students are horrified because Kuzuryuu was involved too. Monomi declares, however, that he’s still alive if gravely injured…and according to the school rules, Monobear is responsible for seeing to it that he lives because only the culprit should be executed. Kuzuryuu is sent off to some unknown hospital.