Danganronpa/Zero 2

Danganronpa/Zero #2

by Kazutaka Kodaka

Danganronpa/Zero is a light novel that serves as a prequel to Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, featuring events between Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc and the game. There are two known volumes, which were written by the creator of the series, Kazutaka Kodaka.

Genres: Light Novel, Manga, Fiction, Mystery, Novels, Crime, Japanese Literature

143 pages, ebook

First published October 14, 2011

About the author

Kazutaka Kodaka (小高和剛) is a Japanese video game creator and writer. He is the creator and scenario writer of the Danganronpa series. He is a former employee of Spike Chunsoft and the co-founder of TooKyo Games game developer studio.

Reviews

[Vendea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, my heart... all I can say is that I feel so much despair... Brilliant.
Also in love with Mukuro. Always and forever.

5/5*

[Aneko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well thanks Kodaka, that was my brain that you just blew up.
It's actually pretty funny, because I wanted to rampage here about how I hate Kamishiro even more than Komaeda. And what's even more funny is the fact that I was just yesterday telling my friend how I like the way Ryouko's Ultimate was dealt with, like her not being OP and forgetting everything.
No, really, did Kodaka just made me sympathize with Junko? fUCKIN JUNKO??? I WANTED TO GIVE HER A BLANKET AND HOT COCOA. TO JUNKO. YES, THAT ENOSHIMA JUNKO. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, I DESPISE JUNKO. IT'S HER FAULT THAT EVEN NOW ARE MY CHILDREN IN PAIN. AND DYING. MY CHILDREN ARE DEAD BECAUSE OF HER. THEY DED. THEY ALL DED.
...Uf, I needed to get that out of my system.

Okay, and now seriously. I loved the second novel. It was psychotic, despair-inducing and the end was absolutely amazing. I will probably read it again, just so I can see what did I miss that led to the main plot-twist.
And yes, the characters. Those characters that I've been kinda bashing in the review for the first volume.
They are alright. In the end very... Danganronpa like. I liked them... except for Kamishiro. Fuck Kamishiro.

[Overlady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danganronpa/zero 2

A direct continuation of the first volume.

I'm honestly surprised how good it ended up being.
Danganronpa does really well in every medium so far. As a game/anime/manga and now a novel.

The ending is great! Such despair.

(A free translated copy is available online. No official english release)

[Alex Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is yet another amazing book that will bring the reader through all kinds of emotions like adrenaline and suspense and there is a small amount of adult jokes thats makes the book a bit humorous and most importantly it will show the reader what true despair is.

I recommend that people who are reading this book to play the first game or watch the anime based on the game otherwise you will not get the concept. This is just a wonderful prequel to the original game showing curious people how it all started.

I recommend this book too anyone who is looking for a good book that are just bored out of their minds because this book will take you through an amazing journey of despair and how hope was crushed.

[Geraa · Rating 3 out of 5]

quiero vomitar.

[maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

[read an English fan-translation]

just finished playing UDG and just finished reading this wow. these 2 books are crazy legendary, and I'm not just saying that as a DR fan, but also as a reader

[Joseph Tavernier · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're a Danganronpa fan you can go ahead and skip this book. Read a summary if you want to know the backstory but just save yourself the time and skip it. I don't know if it was the translation or what but this book was so hard to get through. Unlikeable characters, confusing scenarios and didn't really explain much. It goes a bit into how the antagonist from the first game accomplished what they did, but they already have some impressive accomplishments before this series starts and you are still wondering how they acquired so much power.

After nearly every scene I read I thought I would look at what the scene accomplished and thought that it progressed well. Like, the outline of this book is pretty interesting, but the actual dialogue and writing is just dull at best, confusing at worst. Again, maybe my translation was too literal and an official translation would take some liberties to make the scenes flow better, but if you are an english speaker, just skip these books.

[den · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t really know how to give this an accurate numerical rating considering there’s no official translation (and the fanslation doesn’t seem to take itself very seriously) so I’ve decided to give it a neutral 3 until a better translation arrives or I’m fluent enough in Japanese to read the original.

But onto the actual contents, I did enjoy the insight into Junko’s motivations and character that is severely lacking in canon. I feel like this light novel is integral to getting the full picture of her character. It really fills in for what Trigger Happy Havoc lacks.

I also like the other characters that are introduced or elaborated on, with the exception of Kamishiro, this story’s “obligatory pervert”, that seems to be found in every Danganronpa media.

The writing for the fanslation is like. Really bad though. So I’m not sure I’d recommend this to anyone no matter how much insight it gives on the characters and universe of the game.

[Zakdj · Rating 4 out of 5]

While far from perfect, this novel sets out with a really fascinating premise and delivers a really really satisfying ending. The gaps this fills in the canon of Danganronpa is much appreciated, and the fleshing out of established and new characters are great additions. There still some plot points and characters I find questionable in quality, but it’s greatly outweighed by the positives.

The fan translation is serviceable but lacking in fine polish, but I won’t hold that against the novel itself.

[Lira A. Adauy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It really is annoying how important this book is for understanding the plot of the videogames. The story shown is boring and even though it's a mistery novel, it doesn't feel like it. I would recommend just watching an explanatory video that resumes this. (Btw: the fan made traduction is trash and not serious at all).

[Siknakaliux · Rating 1 out of 5]

The most prevalent and recognized side media in the series and somehow has never received a localization. Oh well. The plot is simple: An alternate personality, Otonoashi Ryoko is an amnesiac student somehow in HPA and the story essentially tells bits and pieces of how she orients herself throughout the school with her notebook, her meetings with her boyfriend Matsuda Yasuke, his attempts to "cure" her condition with that plan having ulterior motives as well as brief moments with the schools operations such as the Steering Committee and how they do things.

As light novels go, I'd say this is generic in terms of quality and structure. Yes we get a bit of plot and how it ties into the games and events overall but I'll focus on the overall writing style. Is it good? Slightly. It's alright at most parts, but the obnoxious exaggeration of sound effects and dialog really gets to me most times and not only that it's constantly repeated, leading to some irritation and some reduction in IQ. Notable examples:

- "Matsuda Matsuda Matsuda Matsuda Matsuda Matsuda Matsuda Matsuda."
- "Siiiiigh...... Zzzzzzzzzz... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......GYAAAAAAAAH!"
- "―M...Matsuda! C‘mon, Matsudaaaa!!"
- "I turned my eyes down to my notebook following Enoshima-san‘s urges, and then – SMASH! FWOOOOSH! CRACK! WHOOP! SWISH! TATATATATA!"

...You get the point. Essentially the MC's repitition of "Matsuda" on the scale far too often grated my eyes, and as such the sentence should have easily been written differently. The characters, some having less papertime than others are written in a simplistic and straightforward way, with little additional info being presented and as such, take up mostly by dialog. Everything else about the light novel is simplistic and lackluster, with dialog being the dominant factor of character interactions and events and scenes written simplistically with little descriptions as well as the overuse of sound effects literally being written out.

As for fanmade "localization" attempts, many people have shot their attempt at translation and the results are mostly the same, if not similar. You can translate and interpret as many times as you want and the result wouldn't change. The main structure of the story is inheritally shoddy and of lower quality in terms of detail and structure, which essentially is basic enough for anyone to read and any claims of "mistranslation" and the like are full of crap anyway.
Overall it's an ok read, and the story does expand on DR's storyline as well as the introductions of some new/LN exclusive characters. In terms of structure and quality it needs work but it's a light novel so they're all the same anyways.

[Sofia~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

El final estuvo algo confuso...

Pero los plot twists, ahhh... Gracias a esos plot twists se gana cuatro estrellas.

Siento que necesito más información, como que no aclaró todas las dudas, todas las preguntas del primer juego...

Pero en fin, estuvo entretenido.

Y por supuesto, amé que aparecieran personajes del primer juego ❤

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, DAMN. I expected one thing, but not all of THIS lmao

this light novel isn't so bad overall, it just has some slow pacing sometimes but I think the end is worth it. Or course, I'd only recommend it for danganronpa fans. Those not used to the story and characters at all will be very lost.

[Oscar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall enjoyable, but man does the fantranslation suck, it's a barely edited mess.

That being said, I kinda have a feeling that the source material wasn't really the best writing in the series either, so I'll give them a pass on that.

[Gigi Maroulis · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading the first one, I decided to try out the second one and I will say, I was no disappointed. The turn that was taken was incredibly in tuned to what I've come to know and love about Danganronpa as a whole and it left me really happy. I am so glad I decided to read this.

[Αλίς · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, five stars for that ending. Did not see it coming. I had to look back at the art of Ryōko in disbelief. And, not sure if it was just the translation, but I didn’t fully understand what happened at the end until I read the wiki.

[Xylene Qien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was spoiled by the ending, but nevertheless it is still the darkest DR story ever canonized.

[Madilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

it got better than the first one

[Six · Rating 4 out of 5]

it has a good plot and I wish I could enjoy it without spoilers

[mona jaralla · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think its my first light novel??
i really like it, and the twist in the end shocked me

[Chelsea Coca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Trinity · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book. It was a bit slow in the beginning, but it progressed to a very interesting twist at the end. I would recommend this story to others.

[Gprugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This rating is for fans of the Danganronpa 1 game, not for a general audience.

[cherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

dIOS SANTO, ¿¡QUÉ!? ¿¡QUÉ ACABO DE LEER!? AMÉ.
A ver, necesito calmarme para escribir algo coherente, PERO---- NO PUEDO, ESTOY IMPACTADA

[★Mari★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I knew how it all ended, I still found myself getting excited about the mystery being “solved” by Ryoko. This was a nice tie-in to the game!

[isa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 estrelas
gostei mais do primeiro, porém esse final foi MUITO reviravolta gostosa

[Eg · Rating 2 out of 5]

文は悪かったけど、ダンガロンパの話が好きなんだ！翻訳も悪かったです。

[♡ gabi ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

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[Silvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Increíble, el final es inesperado. Vemos cómo vuelve a ser Junko y como desarrolla lo de la amnesia que se ve en los juegos. Completa mucho la historia y vemos a una Junko como no habíamos visto.

[Subpole]

despair inducing despair