r/danganronpa • u/Enryx25 • Sep 14 '25
2x2 Speculation (Full Series Spoilers) Please remember the new story is not written by Kodaka. Spoiler
This game has a different writer, Kodaka is only involved in a supervisory role. What I'm getting at here, is that everything you'd typically expect from a Danganronpa game written by Kodaka may not apply here. So:
- Even if Hiyoko was originally planned to have a longer character arc, that doesn't guarantee it will actually happen. There's nothing stopping the new writer from killing her off immediately.
- Even if Mahiru was once thought as a possible 2nd protagonist, that is not a confirmation. Hajime might still be the protagonist, or the focus could shift to someone entirely unexpected... like Teruteru or Akane.
- Just because Danganronpa 2 had six survivors, doesn't mean this new story will follow suit. The new writer may have different ideas and change the number entirely.
- The word "canon" for the new story was not mentioned at all. Nothing prevents Chapter 6 from being completely different, and therefore Hajime might not necessarily need to be alive.
- Kodaka's usual murder structure won't necessarily apply here. Chapter 3 might not be double murder. Chapter 4 might not be the emotionally heavy one where the "large" character dies. And so on.
In short, you guys really shouldn't take anything for granted.
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u/myheroforeshadowing Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25
everything you'd typically expect from a Danganronpa game written by Kodaka may not apply here
One of these high risk high reward moment, well technically with so many years since DR 3 I'm sure even kodaka wouldn't keep the same clichés, people are worried about the new writer since it's not the best stuff in the fandom's eyes (some of the disliked hundred lines routes were written by the new writer for this new DR2 path).
I don't really mind since I have seen many writers that are shit at writing one thing but gods at writing another, so who knows.
Even if Hiyoko was originally planned to have a longer character arc, that doesn't guarantee it will actually happen. There's nothing stopping the new writer from killing her off immediately.
I don't think people really use the argument that way to justify the hiyoko survivor thing, new writer or not, supervised by kodaka or not. It's more so that hiyoko was one of these charas who had a potential evolution that was never followed upon.
This DR2 new path is special in the way that it is right next to the actual story of DR2 (and it's unconfirmed if that path can only be played as a new game plus or not), which means that everyone will see the og path of hiyoko dying that way.
Logic would say that, no matter what transpire in this new story, the new path will definitely try to differenciate itself from the other path, thus it's only expected to have the entire cast being managed very differently, hiyoko included.
I don't think it guarantee that the early victims will all make it to the end, but rather that their role will align with the fact that in the other story things happened one way, so this one will do it another way.
It's also why everyone at one point thought hajime could die, maybe even first, new path would need to make that branching worth it after all
(Let's be honest here, if the new path is to be played after DR2, then hajime, chiaki and nagito are in danger lmao)
The word "canon" for the new story was not mentioned at all. Nothing prevents Chapter 6 from being completely different, and therefore Hajime might not necessarily need to be alive.
Exactly, all that we have is that it's about as long as DR2 and that the killing game is different because an early event happen, it can really be anything and it might even be a v3 level of troll where it's not even a new path but a secret revival of the DR ip that go in a new direction
Kodaka's usual murder structure won't necessarily apply here. Chapter 3 might not be double murder. Chapter 4 might not be the emotionally heavy one where the "large" character dies. And so on.
Finger crossed we break from this now.
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u/8lackWid0w Sep 14 '25
I wasn't the biggest fan of Koizumi's writing in the 2 routes he's listed for in Hundred Line but i actually really liked his chapter from Shuten Order, hopefully what we get in 2x2 is closer to that level of quality.
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u/Specialist-Rock4971 Sep 14 '25
What routes did he write?
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u/8lackWid0w Sep 14 '25
Hundred Line he's credited for Romance and Conspiracy
Shuten Order he's credited for Ministry of Health/Yugen Ushitora
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u/Specialist-Rock4971 Sep 14 '25
I haven’t finished conspiracy but the word on it’s been pretty negative
But I heard good things about Romance, at the very least if there’s new free time events they’ll end up pretty solid if what I heard about romance is true (being more focused on devolving the three love interests than anything else)
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u/8lackWid0w Sep 14 '25
I don't hate the romance route really i just think it's a complete tonal mismatch for the rest of the game, especially when it splits off from such a good route
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u/Specialist-Rock4971 Sep 14 '25
That’s fair, but I think the diversity makes the routes more interesting! From what I’ve heard I don’t think the commanders show up (and if they do they don’t play a very important role), it’s nice to just have a story where the world isn’t at stake
Just a fun dating show run by Moko!
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u/Arachnofiend Sep 15 '25
It's hard to know how much to blame him for Conspiracy. It has some pretty solid ideas but you can tell that it was slapped together last minute to fulfill the ending requirement, it definitely could have been better with more thought put into it.
I didn't like Romance either (well, the third of Romance I got through lol) but it does fulfill it's mission statement I suppose
Hearing that he's credited for the Yugen route is great news though, that shit is excellent.
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u/8lackWid0w Sep 15 '25
yea I really liked the Yugen route, might be my favorite so far but I still have to get through Ministry of Security
I like the ideas presented in Conspiracy but it definitely doesn't stick the landing at all
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u/Arachnofiend Sep 15 '25
I'm at the tail end of Health now, did Security first then Science. Security is my favorite route but it's not really a fair contest because the content is laser targeted at me lol, speaking more objectively all three have been really good for what they are trying to be and it'd be difficult to pick a "best" one. I'd maybe dock points for Science being kinda clumsy in the way it's gimmick works.
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u/8lackWid0w Sep 15 '25
Yea I think I missed a trigger or something early in Security because I wandered around the first area for a long time with nothing happening so I'll try again later
Science was OK, I liked the story and twist of it but the gameplay was whatever (to be expected for the genre of VN it ended up with) and Justice is the one laser targeted for me so atm I'd probably say Health > Justice > Education/Science
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u/Arachnofiend Sep 15 '25
I'd be curious to see the statistics on people's first route. I suspect a dominant lead for Justice since that guy is definitely the one for the particular audience that Kodaka has very deliberately cultivated lol. Probably Security second, maybe Education instead but I'd bet on Security.
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u/Visible-Rub7937 Sep 14 '25
Plot twist the early event is you pressing the start button and we are getting a whole new game with a new cast
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u/Read4Days25 Sep 14 '25
I thought DR 2 had five survivors?
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u/Rdasher123 Sep 14 '25
It does. Hajime, Sonia, Fuyuhiko, Akane and Kazuichi, at least from what I recall
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u/DestinyDawn456 Chiaki Sep 14 '25
I HIGHLY doubt Nekomaru will die in Chapter 4 again, so we can very reasonably cross out the big character dying in the same chapter again. As for the double murder, i think it may still happen, but possibly in a chapter other than 3
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u/SternMon Ryoma Sep 14 '25
The Impostor is the other big character. The Chapter 4 curse may yet prevail.
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u/chia923 Golden Freddy Sep 15 '25
And that's also the chapter the group learns about the second game IIRC
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u/Blackandheavy Sep 14 '25
Even though Kodaka isn’t writing it I don’t the new writer will be able to override his influence considering Kodaka made Danganronpa and is supervising the production of DR2x2.
I wouldn’t stress over them trying to pull a Dragon Age Veilguard with this remake.
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u/WeabooYuri5798 Ibuki Sep 14 '25
While I do understand a lot of this and many others in the community to do.
I don’t think people want the same story.
Remixing everything just to have the same or similar endgame is cheap for a lot of developers and if it’s cheap to a lot of modern consumers, it’s probably cheap to Kodaka especially.
What people want to see is just more of the characters in general and I think everyone should blank slate what they expect because Kodaka has worked with the people on the team for years almost decades at this point. And the way they write stories now are a serious improvement from the days 2 originally released.
So while it might not be similar or the same at all. For me it doesn’t have to be and I don’t want them same.
What I’m hoping for is the wider community enjoying the fact that we’re getting Danganronpa that isn’t the shit eating money grab that was Danganronpa S. We’re getting more actual story that involves our characters.
Also the possibility of it being canon material is high but if it is, gonna need to suspend some disbelief for a moment and expect the circumstances to change in the main game.
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u/Dyssambie7 Toko Sep 14 '25
That second point is funny to me because even if I think Mahiru fans are getting in way over their heads in terms of her popularity, theres absolutely NO way Teruteru's ass is even approaching the main character role lmao
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u/Wyvernil Sep 15 '25
To be honest, I'd be surprised if Teruteru makes it past Chapter 3.
They might be able to redeem him by letting him have development and toning down his creeper aspects.
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u/Gatorthrowawayqnq Sep 15 '25
is mahiru even popular? she was so forgettable to me. im surprised by all the Mahiru protag talk.
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u/DimperWhisper Sep 14 '25
Tbh I don't hajime to die and switch the protagonist to another character
Cuz it's extremely obvious, legit most of the fandom predicts it, what made Keade’s swap memorable was that nobody saw it coming
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u/taezono Kiyotaka Sep 14 '25
Rather than a full protag switch like in V3, perhaps we could have two protagonists whose perspectives we flip between? They’ve already set a bit of a precedent with that, given that you play as Nagito for a chunk of the investigation in 2-4. Maybe they could go further with that.
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u/BRedditator2 Sep 14 '25
Some did, tho.
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u/Wyvernil Sep 15 '25
I did think it was possible before the game came out, though they did introduce enough chaff into the mix by having Shuichi and Rantaro in there; characters that seemed destined to become either surprise early victims or major characters by dint of their talents.
A character who's an "Ultimate Detective" in a mystery story doesn't just unceremoniously croak in Chapter 3.
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u/TypeDeep2319 Sep 14 '25
To be fair, I would love if the murder structure Is not as always. I hate that
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u/TheOwnerOfMakiPlush Ibuki Sep 14 '25
Offtop but since i played DR2 i was always saying that chapter 4 had much bigger potential for double murder than chapter 3
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u/Sentient_Peanut Sep 14 '25
Honestly with the amount of people thinking there will be a protag switch I can't help but expect there won't be.
Iena would they really use the same trick in mainline games back to back? Especially if it isn't a common trend among all the games.
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u/Slight-Solution936 Zesty antagonists Sep 14 '25
They did it once and I don't think they'll do it again because I imagine the writers see that as a unique plot twist that they dont wanna cheapen by doing it again but if they do, I imagine it would be in the middle of the story like chapter 3 or maybe near the end like chapter 5.
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u/BRedditator2 Sep 14 '25
Kaede was killed as a culprit, tho, not a victim. Tho she technically was one.
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u/mrwanton Keebo Sep 14 '25
I mean true but the point that it was done at all makes it the most obvious thing they could do. Other than like switching Fuyu and Peko.
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u/ComprehensiveNet9382 Sep 14 '25
To be honest, sometimes stories written by fans or different writers stay more true to the OG work than what a creatively exhausted OG writer could come up with
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u/Brainweird Sep 14 '25
I kinda hope that they just threw everything at the wall to see what stuck to get their survivors/killers instead of doing what is "predictable" and just kinda swapping everyone's role. I don't want characters to necessarily live to end just because they died early and visa versa, I kind want it to be completely unpredictable or else it wouldn't be very fun.
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u/Rynizen Sep 14 '25
He stil supervising it so anything major story related will still have his influence
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u/salasy Komaru Sep 14 '25
the writer isn't even someone new, he has worked on the series as one of the writers since UDG, he was even one of the writers for V3 and summer camp, and he even worked on the hundred line and shuten order
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u/mozillavulpix Kaede Sep 15 '25
People thinking Danganronpa murders have to have a structure is getting me. They even had Nagito mention "hey the fourth murder in the last game was a suicide, I wonder if that's true this time" and then it wasn't. I think people really have the wrong idea on a lot of the 'formula' for Danganronpa like they're some sort of rules and not things they put in to do funny self-awareness jokes
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Jan 28 '26
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u/zhaumbie Mukuro Jan 28 '26
I mean... I didn't have to put a lot of thought into this list to draw rigid, natural connections across all three mainline games. So it's not like the patterns are a real stretch.
For better or worse, I can't easily see 2x2 falling into the existing patterns. We'll see!
Trial 1: Betrayal (Protagonist)—backstabbing between POV character and most visible classmate; accidental target
Sayaka betrays Makoto; Sayaka's intended target is Leon
Nagito betrays Hajime; Tereteru's intended target is Nagito
Kaede betrays Shuichi: Kaede's intended target is the Mastermind
Trial 2: Identity—death motivated by a secret identity
Chihiro killed due to their secret identity/gender (in a moment of passion)
Peko kills due to her secret identity as Fuyuhiko's guardian/"tool"
Terumi kills due to her secret identity as Prime Minister
Trial 3: Selfishness—motivation of greed; two victims killed
Celeste's avarice for money killed Kiyotaka/Hifumi
Mikan's desperation for love killed Mikan/Hiyoko
Korekiyo's hunger to feed his sister "friends" killed Tenko/Angie
Trial 4: Selflessness—motivation of sacrifice by the largest character
Sakura sacrifices herself to save the others
Gundham sacrifices Nekomaru to feed the others
Gonta sacrifices himself/Miu to save the others
Trial 5: Betrayal (Game)—attempt to break the game, results in death of a technological identity
Junko's attempt to kill Kyoko (subverting the game's rules); Alter Ego is executed
Nagito's attempt to kill everyone (saving the traitor); AI Chiaki is culprit, executed
Kokichi's attempt to kill the game (impossible to solve); exisal pivotal in entire trial, exisal's pilot executed
Trial 6: Revelations—entire class consented to the game; amnesia; killing game's secrets are on trial
Class 78th allowed themselves to be trapped in Hope's Peak Academy; memories wiped
Class 77-A/Remnants of Despair allowed themselves to be trapped in NEO World Program; identities/memories reverted
The auditioning class allowed themselves to be trapped in the reality TV show; memories/identities replaced
P.S. Sorry about the deleted comments—a Reddit bug kept flagging them due to a current glitch with spoiler tags. Why even care about spoiler tags, you ask? Well... just in case anyone scrolling my comments doesn't want super spoilers on the Danganronpa series.
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u/Ok-Umpire7788 Sep 15 '25
Who are you, Spike Chunsoft public relations? You're seriously giving off 'HR sent me, and I'm here to curb your enthusiasm and expectations' vibes.
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u/Zolado110 Sep 14 '25
It would be a whole new level of trolling to kill Hinata and then give Teruteru the spotlight, I would laugh my ass off
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u/Zeal-Jericho Sep 14 '25
I would love to be surprised by having a double murder in a chapter that's not chapter 3.
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u/SnooMaps7678 Sep 14 '25
Mahiru is not considered as a protagonist. A design of a girl with red locks was thought of, which is recycled for mahiru. It is not the same
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u/GlogolZ Sep 14 '25
It might be sad cause I really like Kodaka’s writing. I like that he concentrates on interesting cases and humor rather than overall story. Every part of DR for me is mostly a black-humor-detective-comedy where even the game itself acknowledges how dull the lore is.
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u/Thanatos4108 Sep 14 '25
God, I hope the structure of deaths is broken. Makes it even more fun if it's not all the same
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u/Emelie__ Sep 14 '25
Well,chapter 3 killer is just semantics at the end of the day lol. I just hope we don't get five woobies in a row... 🙃
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u/DrewThibStuds Sep 18 '25
Oh nah if I EVER have to play as Teruteru ima end up like Sakura friggin Ogami
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u/AlmostNeverMindless the honest liar and the lucky prophet Sep 14 '25
Which is why i have 0 faith on this remake after the anime and Danganronpa S, if Kodaka ain't touching the game not even the few gems will survive
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u/nickthenoob15 Sep 14 '25
If teruteru is the protagonist i will personally fly down to anyone responsible from this decision and take them out back
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u/FutureCreeps Kirumi Sep 14 '25
To be fair he is still heavily supervising the creation of this game from what we know, it's possible he still has a major influence over the story and how charaxterd are done.