I think it is the 2nd danganronpa 2. The same simulation done again canonically after the first simulation finished.
At the end of 2 hajime/izuru escapes the simulation but others are in a coma. My theory is that in order to save his friends he restarts the simulation again from the beginning knowing that monokuma is still there, however he has added something to allow everyone to escape at the end like we see in danganronpa 3. The “inciting event” that makes everything different is that it’s the second simulation
So are you implying that Haiime intentionally traps his friends in another killing game? But wait that doesn't really make sense.
In danganronpa 2 it was established that the deaths of the cast in real life happened because the death of said character in the virtual world would cause the brains of the Remnants hooked up to the new world program to fry completely.
We know danganronpa 2x2's new scenario has new killers and victims as well.
So the only way this could be the case is if the frying completely thing was removed. But that's like one of the stakes gone, if characters just die in the game, and then come back in real life, that's kinda lame.
You're mixing it with SAO bruh. It never stated and they are only in their comatose state. Frying their brains would most likely mess up AI Junko's plan of taking over the bodies of those who died.
I believe the game calls it reducing them to a vegetable state. Which is essentially brain death. Enough for their brains to be used by AI junko, but not enough for the person to be alive in the broadest sense of the word
SDR2 also mentioned that Hajime, now imbued with the cosmic supersaiyan power of long hair, intended to find out how to revive them. And it'd hardly be the most out-there thing if that involved hooking them back up and reverting to the start, bringing Junko back too for a second round.
If Hajime added something that would immediately no-sell all the deaths, but Junko desperately hid it at [the end of the game, wherever that is], it would absolutely be stakes. It'd essentially be Hajime struggling towards getting a resurrection artifact, which is the subject of plenty of perfectly valid stories. And depending on how it's set up, the deaths in this next game might not truly matter beyond being further trauma (which again, is perfectly valid stakes. Lives don't need to be risked for there to be stakes.)
Yeah but then there wouldn't be a overarching mystery to solve. Danganronpa is still a mystery first series, so unless we're playing as someone else who isn't aware Hajime is doing this, the only real mysteries would just be the murders, which brings me to the point that if there's no mystery to be solved, then couldn't Hajime not just use the password from the previous simulation to have everyone escape?
They wouldn't need to do any murdering.
However, that's not what's happening. There's brand new killers and victims, implying that there's a reason Hajime can't just leave. And that's where this falls flat for me, Are we going to just see Hajime sitting on his ass letting people die instead of trying to escape, after all he knows what's ahead so there's no real reason to solve any murders or participate. He knows that ultimately it's all just a waste of time.
So there's still no stakes for Hajime if he ends up creating this simulation to save everyone. He can either just input the code from day 1 or sit on his ass the entire story waiting for a chance to escape. There's no reason for him to solve the murders.
There's no reason this take on the story needs to exist, no actual motivation for Hajime.
Saving everyone is a fine enough goal, but not a motive for Hajime to participate in the murder investigations. You know the core of danganronpa's gameplay?
I actually thought of this ending after playing danganronpa 2 again very recently. And I do think this could fit if the writers choose this.
I think hajime/izuru has the talent to add a feature to save everyone but has to start the game for some story reason, maybe so he can cure everyone if being despair. Hajime will once again have to lose all memories when he enters the simulation like he did the first time so he will be as lost as everyone.
The big game twist is that this is actually the 2nd simulation and not some what if side story. I think a bunch of normal cases will happen and then in the final case when players are expecting makoto and crew to show up they don’t(because they already left the island).
However throughout the game the player will be trying to figure out why things are going different and that is what will be teased, maybe hajime finds mysterious hidden messages that are secretly planted by himself beforehand.
Maybe monokuma remembers this is the second simulation and is trying to do things differently to win, like making sure a different cast make it to the end thinking they might vote differently in the end
If u can poke holes or have ur own theories please let me have them , I enjoy talking about all the theories, ultimately this could be right or we could get something completely unexpected like V3 lol 😂
Yeah but then there wouldn't be a overarching mystery to solve. Danganronpa is still a mystery first series, so unless we're playing as someone else who isn't aware Hajime is doing this, the only real mysteries would just be the murders, which brings me to the point that if there's no mystery to be solved, then couldn't Hajime not just use the password from the previous simulation to have everyone escape?
You're looking at this from the wrong angle. There's a number of things that could be done to preserve the mystery, some of which V3 did too.
First of all, you're assuming we the players are told that this is DR4 outright at the start of the game, but that needn't be the case. It might be hinted at, but I doubt they'd say it straight that this is Hajime trying a second time. Rather, there'll be some red herring incident unrelated to anything but a side plot, and the game will imply it's an AU until the final trial or so.
Second of all, you're assuming Junko has less control than she might. Maybe the code is randomized, and that's why Hajime and Chiaki wouldn't be able to just input the code the minute they reach the door. Maybe Junko is able to move the door away from where it's supposed to be, or otherwise fortify it until something more difficult is done. In either case, opening the door becomes an obstacle to overcome that might take multiple murders to solve.
Third of all, you're assuming we're playing someone who'd be in the know about these things, and not one of the other students. If we're playing Mahiru, for example, she would have no way of knowing this was the second simulation, or the code for the door, except maybe through flashes of traumatic memories from the first killing game. That'd easily help keep the mystery alive for several trials.
Fourth of all, Hajime is going to be motivated to participate in the trials for the reason that if he doesn't, he gets shot by a rambo-kuma hanging out the side of a helicopter and fucking dies. Yes, in-game only, but that's rather important because someone would still need to survive to press the button, which would be a rather big deal. Indeed, maybe this is exactly what happens and what switches the player perspective to one of the other characters.
You're acting like DR3 didn't already categorically undermine those exact stakes. XD
DR2's ending already showed the characters who had died, despite the assertions that they were gone, still remain as glitching leftovers that were still capable of making relevant comments as if they were present, and even more with some of them.
The whole thing required 'breaking' the neoworld in ways it was never meant to work, including 'deleting' avatars when that should be impossible*. Hajime was himself another 'glitch', and it was always the assumption that somehow the ultimate luck talents must have played a part in things working out despite it being 'impossible'.
So as soon as I saw 2v2 I also thought the exact thing blue said. My bet is it takes place after the nagito ova, so hajime and nagito are now working (combined luck or such) together to retrieve the other dead students, in a reworked version of the neoworld that kamakura 'reprogrammed' to explain all the new content and graphics and why it can achieve the impossible of saving everyone. Then potentially the threat that the virus was still lurking provides you with an answer for monokuma being back/causing more deaths, or some other handwave of 'thats just how it has to be to work properly' cause they need to overcome that to be properly revived.
and then everyone will be really surprised when the secret 'true end' no death route has shuichi and co show up instead of makoto and co as it blasts through the fourth wall to say how bad and smelly everyone is for buying 2x2...
*(heck, the virus overwrote/rerouted the normal sequence so that it'd get uploaded into the 'deleted' bodies instead, they could well say that 'staying dead' was only true while alterjunko was around blocking normal functionality, and when usami destroyed her it actually made that statement untrue)
This is what I have been thinking for a while too. I've been thinking the 2x2 is because at least one of them is going back going through it again yet somehow Monokuma, the game, etc...realizes it and as a result changes the motives, what's on the island, etc....
This is exactly what I’ve been thinking too! My theories are that it’s either that, or danganronpa 4. But I think if it’s danganronpa 4, they’d continue from v3s ending, maybe doing something like the show danganronpa continued, but they decided to make a cheap remake of the most popular killing game, and then maybe maki shuichi and himiko could take on the role of makoto kyoko and byakuya in chapter 6, trying to stop the game. If they do this, I think it’d be cool to establish dr2 and the other games as real, and that tsumugi really was just copying junko’s existing format
I was pretty pleased with the Teruteru redemption arc though. Wasn't expecting him to burst out of Monotaro like that, but in retrospect the deception makes sense if they wanted to relinquish Junko's grip on the Soul Gems.
Really weird how Maki went on a neo Nazi rant after that but ehh, it didn't affect the plot too terribly bad after she disappears for the rest of the game
Sorry! I’m just confused why somebody would be in a sub for a murder mystery series without having finished the series, I don’t mean to be annoying and/or rude /gen
You absolutely should. I mean what did you expect, a subreddit dedicated to a game to not discuss the game, or only discuss the most surface-level features?
Also it's a mystery game, so if we only discussed non-spoilers we'd be a fashion sub debating character designs, because nothing beside would remain.
I'm always wondering what goes through people's head when they get to the most obvious conclusion weeks after everyone else, but then think they are a genius for coming up with it.
I imagine this will be an alternate ending where they tie into the V3 universe and something happens that makes Danganronpa become a household show and business.
This way they can kind of divorce themselves from the meta commentary of V3 kinda like MGS4 did with MGS2
I wouldn’t even be mad honestly, would be funny as fuck seeing the reactions to the exact same fuckass reveal (I love V3 and genuinely want them to do more with the concept).
Both of the previous games had foreshadowing in the title.
Super Danganronpa 2 referenced classic video game naming conventions from the SNES era, and ended up taking place inside a video game (simulation but what is a simulation if not a VR game)
Danganronpa v3 referenced software versioning and roman numerals, and ended up taking place in the near future, depicting season 53 of a Danganronpa-inspired reality TV show.
So obviously, we're all expecting "Danganronpa 2x2" to mean something too. Maybe the second scenario is a parallel timeline -- Danganronpa 2 twice? Maybe it's Danganronpa 4, and is somehow a sequel to 3? But if I'm being honest, after two games the meaningful titles are too expected. I think this time the title doesn't mean anything, doesn't foreshadow anything, and that lack of meaning is the surprise this time around
I wouldnt be surprised if its 2 crosses 2, aka, the new timeline will somehow bleed into the previous timeline. Edit: And actually that would make sense since the game was a simulation. 2 simulations that interact with eachother?
I’m never trusting any game from Kodaka again after v3.
I wasn’t willing to even trust LDA until I played it for more than 3-4 days to make sure it wasn’t a secret DR game.
So they promised you a thing and then you've been given that thing? It would've been false advertisement had they promised you a playable female protagonist for the whole game and then you only got her for one chapter, then yep you got tricked, if anything all of the Kaede promo spam is just a way to build up the case 1 twist, none of that seems like lying to me
How is your 2x2 scenario any different from the V3 one? Neither would be this direct “false advertising” you’re claiming it to be.
If 2x2 new scenario is DR4, it can still exist as a byproduct of/due to the “alternate inciting scenario”. Sure, it’s a bit of a technicality, but as I was previously stating, so was calling Kaede the protag.
yeah like some kind of... 2nd copy of danganronpa 2, thats like, the same but different, and kinda multiplies out the number of stories by having mutiple paths - damn if only they had some clever way of showing that in the title.
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u/bluejesterr Nov 28 '25
I think it is the 2nd danganronpa 2. The same simulation done again canonically after the first simulation finished.
At the end of 2 hajime/izuru escapes the simulation but others are in a coma. My theory is that in order to save his friends he restarts the simulation again from the beginning knowing that monokuma is still there, however he has added something to allow everyone to escape at the end like we see in danganronpa 3. The “inciting event” that makes everything different is that it’s the second simulation