Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
| Video game fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc |
| Japanese name | ダンガンロンパ 希望の学園と絶望の高校生, lit. Dangan Ronpa: The Academy of Hope and the High School Students of Despair |
| Abbreviation(s) | DR1, THH |
| Developer(s) | Spike Chunsoft |
| Publisher(s) | Spike Chunsoft |
| Release date | 25 November 2010 (JPN) 11 February 2014 (NA) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation Portable exclusive before coming to various platforms. |
| Genre(s) | Visual Novel |
| External link(s) | https://danganronpa.fandom.com/wiki/Danganronpa:_Trigger_Happy_Havoc |
| See also | Dangan Ronpa |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
![The Japanese logo for Dangan Ronpa: The Academy of Hope and the High School Students of Despair.]]](/wiki/File:Dangan_Ronpa_THH_logo_JPN.png){kind=logo}
This article or section needs expansion. |
Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is the first entry of Dangan Ronpa. It starts 16 students, who must get away with murder if they wish to escape Hope's Peak Academy.
Listed alphabetically, the students are Aoi Asahina, Byakuya Togami, Celestia Ludenberg, Chihiro Fujisaki, Hifumi Yamada, Junko Enoshima, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Kyoko Kirigiri, Leon Kuwata, Makoto Naegi, Mondo Oowada, Mukuro Ikusaba, Sakura Oogami, Sayaka Maizono, Toko Fukawa and Yasuhiro Hagakure. Fukawa's alter Genocider Syo also must survive the game. Monokuma hosts.
Shipping
The most popular pairing for Trigger Happy Havoc is Kirigiri x Naegi. On Archive of Our Own, this position is held by Ishimaru x Mondo instead. Other popular ships include Maizono x Naegi and Naegi x Togami.
Remaining common pairings include Asahina x Oogami, Fukawa x Togami, Celeste x Kirigiri, Kuwata x Maizono and Ikusaba x Naegi.
Fan Translation Community
Originally, the game was released only in Japan. Until 2013, the game was largely unheard of in the west. Following the release of Goodbye Despair in 2012, several fan translators stepped up to the challenge of localizing the game for English audiences.
The first was helmed by Project Zetsubou, who translated the original PSP version of the game from Japanese to English and published the full patch on June 23, 2013[1], almost two years after starting the project[2]. They notably worked with the Super Duper Script Editor, a software they created to handle the game's text format as well as giving as much context as possible to the translators.
By 2023, at least 7 fan translations of the first game were either released or being worked on for the following languages: Turkish, Italian, Spanish, French, Russian, Thai, and naturally English (before it was released officially in the West). Those fan efforts contributed considerably to a global expansion of the fanbase, as the group's Discord servers and other spaces of discussion became nexuses where the fans could gather, get introduced to the franchise or introduce other people to it, discuss it, theorize and meme about it in their native language.
For a while, Let's Plays of the first game were usually made with a PSP fan translation, even a year or two after the official translation was released, as it was easier to play through, (it was available on PC through Emulation when the official release was, at first, stuck on the unpopular Playstation Vita).
Nowadays, the English fan translations are more something fans check out by curiosity, rather than necessity. It hasn't stopped fans from comparing the various translations, naturally.
orenronen's Let's Play
orenronen's Dangan Ronpa Let's Play was completed on December 30th 2012, before an official English localization of the game was available. This was a text-based let's play originally posted on the somethingawful forums, supplemented by screenshots and short video segments to show cutscenes and minigames alongside the game's translated text. This let's play also featured some notes on aspects of Japanese culture referenced in the game.
Polls were posted in the forum thread for followers to vote on which characters they wanted orenronen to spend free time with, though the remainder of a character's free time events were also posted as "Extra Study Material" after their fate in the game was revealed. orenronen also began a let's play of Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair after completing their let's play of the first game, though this was discontinued during chapter 3, when the official English localization was announced.
The Project Zetsubou translation team hadn't heard of orenronen's Let's Play until they were more than 50% done with their project[3].
Fans inspired by orenronen's let's play often use the naming conventions and terminology found in their let's play when creating fanworks rather than using those found in the official English localization.
Is it Super High School Level or Ultimate?
When localizing the game, the students' special talent titles proved challenging. The titles are 超高校級の [talent], (lit. Super High School Level [talent].) While many fan translations localized this into "Super High School Level," the official English translation chose to call them "Ultimate" titles. Whether fans call the titles one label or another depends on when the joined the fandom and personal preference. Earlier fans are more likely to refer to these titles by Super High School Level, most modern fans use Ultimate.
The talents themselves are often specific to Japanese subcultures, and localizing often changed the meaning of these talents. Junko Enoshima's talent of gyaru was localized as "fashionista," for example. Kiyotaka Ishimaru went from Super High School Level Public Morals Committee Member to Ultimate Moral Compass, in another example.
One notable change was Hifumi Yamada's, discussed more on his page. This talent localization carried over to Goodbye Despair, though much lesser so to Dangan Ronpa V3: Killing Harmony.
Fan Opinions of Trigger Happy Havoc's Fandom
On Social Media
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
In Steam Reviews
Danganronpa's fanbase preceded the game itself and turned me off from playing it for years. When I played it myself, I was quite surprised to discover that it is actually really fun! The mysteries are written pretty well and most of the dialogue (which is most of the game) kept me eager to read more because it would be funny, progress the plot, or offer clues useful for solving a future mystery. That being said, a non-negligible chunk of the dialogue was pretty cringe, commonly featuring immature jokes about boners, boobs, "doing it", off color kinks, etc. Sometimes this stuff was so bad it got a laugh out of me, but plenty of it did nothing but make me embarrassed to be playing this game, so I can see this making the game much less appealing to some people.If you can handle some cringe dialogue and enjoy other visual novels/text focused games I would really recommend playing this game, despite whatever impression its fanbase may have left on you!
Kirbyster[4] Nov 23rd, 2023
Think of Ace Attorney, but full of fast paced and action oriented arguments. As a person that finished it on the PSP (through unconventional methods) I am very satisfied that it's on steam so I don't have to feel guilty!Also it's another game that is full of spoilers, so Googling is very, very risky. Wanna search up your favorite character but without spoilers? Good luck. Searching up fanart? Goodbye.
Zlandael[5] February 16th, 2016
Example/Notable Fanac
Fanfic
- And Again by Riona, an English groundhog day canon divergence one-shot. It is the most kudos'd work in Archive of Our Own's Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc tag as of December 2023. It has held this position for many years.
- Affected by Laurea. After being repeatedly challenged by Naegi in the class trials, Togami finds his mind unduly focused on the boy. He thinks Naegi should be equally focused on him - but his plan doesn't go quite the way he expects. His miscalculation affects not only himself, but the entire course of the killing game. This is the most popular fic for Naegi x Togami on Archive of Our Own. This work is in English and a work-in-progress.
- Never Say Never by the Hunter of Comedy, an English Canon Divergence AU. The Hunter of Comedy is a BNF in Dangan Ronpa fandom, and several of their stories are very influential, including Never Say Never and The Ultimate Hope.
Fanart
- ダンガンロンパ10周年 by qosic, a fan-made poster drawn for the series' tenth anniversary. qosic is a BNF in Dangan Ronpa fandom.
- ダンガンロンパ by yosumi, just one of many fanarts for Dangan Ronpa by yosumi. She is also a Doujinka.
- 死線のオペラ by cheavy/zip.
- Sayonara, Zetsubou-Students by princelupin.
Other Main-Series Dangan Ronpa Games on Fanlore
References/Further Reading
- ^ https://danganronpa.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/release-danganronpa-english-translation-v1-0/
- ^ https://fuwanovel.net/2013/06/danganronpa-100-english-translation-patch-released
- ^ https://danganronpa.wordpress.com/faq/
- ^ https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198088012393/recommended/413410/
- ^ https://steamcommunity.com/app/413410/reviews/?browsefilter=toprated&snr=1_5_100010_