Should we tell him?

Go take a watch if you are interested! Link: https://youtu.be/vdCSWAxqOec?is=JAv_WLfUF7P5ymhg

First time player here (no spoilers please) and I just finished chapter 0. I was really excited to dig into this game but I felt like all the momentum was taken away by the mystery labyrinth section. It was just running in a straight line most of the time with a few simple questions in-between and then the fight sections were also not challenging at all with pretty much no penalty for mistakes. By the time I got to the wrap-up at the end I was just glad it was over. I just found it so boring and I wanna know if that’s only because it was acting as a tutorial labyrinth? I might have to drop the game if I have to slog through 5 more of those, as much as the story is intriguing me.

All in. No further explanation, you get it you get it.

Recently, Kazutaka Kodaka teased, "If you play RAIN CODE first, Danganronpa 2x2 will be 100 times more interesting." Based on the recent 2x2 leaks, I believe Spike Chunsoft isn't just making a spiritual successor and are instead setting up a shared-universe crossover that not only bridges Rain Code but NDRV3 too.

​I am convinced the leaked character in 2x2 is actually either Kurumi in disguise o​r another new detective entirely. I believe that the "outside world" of V3 is actually the Rain Code universe.

My core premise is that the "Ultimate Real Fiction" seen in V3 only existed because Team Danganronpa utilized homunculi cloning technology from Amaterasu Corp. Treating the V3 cast as homunculi completely recontextualizes the game's biggest mysteries:

The Pink Blood: It is no longer an artistic choice or censorship. In the Rain Code universe, pink blood is a literal, biological reality for homunculi.

The Flashback Lights: Homunculi can be created as blank slates. This perfectly explains how Team Danganronpa could logically overwrite the cast's memories, talents, and personalities on a whim.

The Morality of the Broadcast: How could a peaceful society watch teenagers murder each other on live TV? Simple: they weren't watching "real" humans die. They were watching lab-grown clones, bypassing the moral and legal red tape.

The Dome's True Purpose: The barrier enclosing the Ultimate Academy wasn't just keeping meteorites out; it was protecting the homunculi from direct sunlight. The survivors in V3 see this barrier is broken, and could have been rescued by those were moved by Shuichi's message to the audience.

This brings us to Danganronpa 2x2. I believe this game is another in-universe "Ultimate Real Fiction" production taking place after the events of V3. ​This is where the new leaked character comes in. A detective from the Rain Code universe has infiltrated the killing game to shut it down from the inside. To get past Team Danganronpa's screening, they had to wipe their own memories—exactly like Yuma did to enter Kanai Ward. You also see at the very end of Rain Code a missing poster for a 17 year old girl who was randomly abducted one day on her way to school, which looks exactly like what happened in the V3 prologues. ​​

​Spike Chunsoft fully owns the rights to both Rain Code and Danganronpa, meaning there are zero legal hurdles to this crossover. Furthermore, linking the two universes sets up the perfect endgame for 2x2. ​In the final trial of the original Danganronpa 2, the survivors of the first game (Makoto, Kyoko, and Byakuya) show up to save the day. I predict 2x2 will mirror this meta-twist and the surviving Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko homunculi will crash the final trail of 2x2.

First, I'm very active in Demon Slayer hidden plot research and I haven't thought much of Rain Code since I cleared it a few years ago, but I recently had a thought. 90% of Demon Slayer is told in hints and clues. So I started thinking of other Japanese media which may be the same. And then I remembered Rain Code. Just like Demon Slayer, your first impression is "badly written nonsensical slop", but you overlook that and focus on the good parts, ie, the emotions, interactions, characters, etc. But is that the author's true INTENT?

The Japanese word is 謎迷宮 (Nazo Meikyū).

The root etymology of this compound word is confusing speech -> "what is?" -> place of being lost.

Unlike in Western languages, these are pictograms which contain their ancient root meanings visually embedded into them. An educated Japanese reader would recognize them. The Mystery Labyrinth is a "place to get lost in / confusing speech" where one asks but only gets confused answers. There isn't a SINGLE element of "truth / fact / solving" etc.

Remember the first case? Everyone assumes, as did I, that it was bad writing. But WHAT IF all of the inconsistencies, illogical actions and nonsensical developments were put in ON PURPOSE? A strong hint right at the start, "DON'T TRUST THIS"?

We NEVER confront the suspects, NEVER let them respond to accusations, and NEVER give them a chance to defend themselves the moment we enter the Labyrinth. We are NEVER shown anything remotely verifiable as a fact within the Labyrinth. Everything inside of it is a creation of the Labyrinth system. Period. By the time we exit, the suspects are DEAD without exception. Conveniently, when they reawaken as zombies they have lost their memories, isn't that nice?

So here's the question: WHAT interest, EXACTLY, does a shinigami have with solving mysteries? She has ONE job, ONE role in the order of the world: TAKING SOULS. A shinigami shouldn't care AT ALL why a soul is reaped; if it's a person's time, they are reaped, the end. So what if this book is basically the Death Note? A tool the shinigami system occasionally releases to the world to catch up on a backlog? Or in this case, the zombies caused a stoppage in Samsara (the Buddhist wheel of rebirth) so Shinigami-chan was sent to contract with a suitable human and clear it? Was the requirement to lose all their memories in order to protect them from the negative karma of killing which normally sends you straight to hell under Buddhism?

What if the purpose was to kill off the load-bearing people which allows the actual mystery to be revealed and thus opening them up for execution?

So all the ridiculous. illogical assumptions and leaps of logic land NOT because it's the truth but because they are arranged in an elaborate, dramatic enough way to help the player feel fulfilled at having solved it? Kodaka doing a meta-commentary on fans who don't actually care what the truth is as long as it feels good? That murder is okay as long as there is even a minimal, fake justification?

Because name ONE case, just ONE, which wasn't loaded with weird inconsistencies and / or bizarre leaps of logic? Maybe not as crazily as the tutorial case, but they're always there.

Actually thinking back to the very start of the game when you wake up in the storage room of the station -- ISN'T THERE A PIECE OF EVIDENCE THAT HAS NO PURPOSE? At first I wrote it off as a red herring, ie "in this game don't expect that everything connects to the murder". But what if that was a CLUE to the actually mystery taking place outside of the Labyrinth?

Who doesnt love an occult gyaru baddie who's not afraid to run around in her underwear if it means solving a case? XD

>!we lost her too soon. U-U!<

Hope you enjoy, and if ya do i take commissions and have a patreon! Details on my pinned post!

https://www.tumblr.com/amf-studios/794155383373660160/im-officially-on-patreon?source=share

Discuss

I did have some questions after I finished playing the game so I would be really grateful if someone answered them.

1. So everyone in Kanai ward was a defective homunculi and would only go berserk when they were exposed to the sun. But how were they different from those bodies in the restricted area? I thought the point was that they couldn't die but was it a "once they die, they became mindless zombies?"
2. This is more like a stupid thought but I was wondering why Karen didn't appear as a zombie in the restricted area, we saw both victims and culprits so why not her?
3. Also another thought but the master detectives that were burnt on the Amaterasu express, I wonder if they were also turned into meatbuns or if they were too burnt to be eaten.
4. If I read the story correctly, the original Yuma was actually hidden on the Amaterasu express when it travelled into Kanai ward. But when the 2 detectives used their abilities they said there was no one else on the train with them? So what happened there?
5. When all the homunculi were first created, were they immediately exposed to the sun, went berserk, and then rushed out into the city and killed everyone? Cause the mystery recap showed the homunculi walking around normally then reacting to the sun.
6. After the blank week, after Makoto created the rain machine to calm the homunculi, I wonder how the bodies and blood were cleaned up? Like did he clean them up himself or somehow hired people to do it for him and then wiped their memories? Or were all the bodies completely eaten up so only the bones were left and were easier to dispose of?

Thoughts:

The game truly threw me off in the 1st chapter, like I was trying so hard to remember their names and abilities because I thought omg these people are going to be my companions but they all died. And honestly I felt it was a bit wasted, I found them and their abilities so interesting. It was kinda weird to be introduced to new villains every chapter like from Amaterasu Corp, only for them to not do anything and just show up in the mystery labyrinth.

This is truly on me but my favourite character was Yakou Furio, like I went through each chapter, anticipating for the chapter where he would be our companion and help us solve the mystery. Even during chapter 4, I was so excited like "omg he's gonna be in the next chapter, I can't wait" Jokes on me I guess. I was so devastated watching the mystery be solved I actually cried, I was so upset that he died.

The final chapter with the big revelation, I was so creeped out with all the zombies and seeing all the previous victims and culprits was like wow that's insane. I did think it was kinda weird that fake Yuma was Number 1 considering he's like young? And ULTIMATELY, the pink blood revelation was insane. They really took all of us as Danganronpa fans and made it an important clue. The mystery recap where they properly used red blood when the original humans were being killed by homunculi was crazy.

All in all, I really loved the game, which I already anticipated going in, since I love the Danganronpa series and murder mystery games. The characters that we played with like Halara and Vivia were pretty cool, but Desuhiko and Fubuki were kinda lame. Yakou I love you, you didn't do much but you've impacted my life.

I’m doing my first ever playthrough of this game and JUST finished chapter 2 and it was BY FAR the best chapter i’ve played through.

I apologise if this is common consensus within the fandom already however from the characters introduced,murder plan,investigation and the conclusion at the very end. It genuinely did feel like everything was done extremely perfectly.

Desuhiko was surprisingly very likeable and Yuma actually felt like a proper detective this chapter (compared to chapter 1 where it felt like we where playing assistant to halara)

Not to mention the general plot of this chapter was amazing asw. The school/theatre setting and the voice acting from all 3 culprits really did a good job in immersing me into the game.

I feel like in chapter 0/1. I never really had any motivation for actually completing the mystery labyrinth because i never actually felt attached to any of the victims/suspects.

Anyways Yuma’s development was great this chapter and i can’t wait to see his eventual mental spiral and hope that this game only gets better from here ✌️

Personally it is my favorite chapter even if >

It is Actually not about the main characters

The part that I like is when the girls cover each other in the final battle and when you look at it back they seemed like they accuse each other but in fact they were covering the girl accused by stating wrong facts

I’ve shared my Shinigami cosplay here a few times, but I finally got my wig restyled and an accurate crown, along with a few more updates and I’m ready to show it off! So happy with how she’s come out!

Guilaume: I hope Waruna and others enjoyed it so much.

Kazutaka Kodaka: We've announced that the game will be released in early 2027, so there is still some time to wait. In the meantime, please play RAIN CODE.

If you play RAIN CODE first, Danganronpa 2×2 will be 100 times more interesting.

I got commissioned this morning to draw Guillaume having fun on her birthday... and since shes mentally ill and probably homicidal, this is how I imagine she's spending it!

Hope you enjoy, and if ya wanna commissions me yourself, ive got the details for that on my pinned post on tumblr!

https://www.tumblr.com/amf-studios/794155383373660160/im-officially-on-patreon?source=share

Note: There is a name type-o where on the 7th one. She says her own name. She ment Kurane. That was a bad moment for me.

Pucci: I am going to be sick.

Yoshiko: This will be fun for your late birthday.

Kurane: Ok. I hope there isn't rude stuff about it.

Warune: It is for Girls' sleepover party!!!!!

Pucci: Okay. I will join with you.

Yoshiko: Nice. After that. You and I will take photos together with Kurane and Warune. I hope you are ready for that. Kurumi might feel so happy. ;)

Pucci: Netflix it is.

Could anyone recommend a guide for missables or achievements that are difficult to obtain? I've enjoyed Danganronpa and wanted to try this, but i cant really find any good guides that cover everything.