What theories did you have about DR2? (Endgame spoilers)

[Florence]

I'm curious what theories everyone made about DR2 as they played through it. I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking of stuff!

• I thought that the Jabberwock Island killing game was set in the distant future, decades or possibly centuries after the Hope's Peak Academy killing game. The ruins of Hope's Peak, all the major changes to the island's layout that would've taken decades to realize IRL, the founder of Hope's Peak Academy being referred to as a student in Hajime's time but appearing in portraits as an old man... it all seemed to imply that the killing game taking place was occurring a very long time after the first.
  
• I thought Makoto and Nagito were the same person. NAGITO KOMAE is an anagram for MAKOTO NAEGI, they were both lucky students who aspired to be the ultimate hope, and one of the truth bullets for the Neo World Program said that extended exposure could result in personality destruction... I thought the "big twist" would be that by exposure to the Neo World Program, Makoto's personality was destroyed, and warped into that which became Nagito.

[76561198218459843]

I played this before but, when I first played i on PSP, I thought Saionji was a serial killer based off of her "sadistic" personality when I first met her. I also for some reason thought Kuzuryuu was a reverse Chihiro, if that makes sense, although, figured out after playing that time that he wasn't. I also then thought Saionji was Kuzuryuu's sister, due to similarities. Bear in mind I thought all of this back when the game came out for PSP.

[Shirsh]

I was spoiled about island mystery, and about Izuru Kamukura (but had avoided spoiler of his identity). So all the way I suspected Nagito.

[neildittmar]

Hmm... was only a few months ago that I played and finished this on the Vita.

About halfway in or so, I had a hunch that Jabberwock Island was a "virtual world" of sorts, but my mind took it quite a bit further than the game did. Specifically, that Hajime was the only "real" person and that everything and everybody else was computer generated... not just Monomi and Chiaki. I also took the "losing your school memories" one step further and surmised that Hajime's had been replaced with "virtual memories" of things that never really happened and of people that he never really met.

I was almost certain that by the end of the game, we were going to find that the "real" Hajime was not a high-school age kid, and likely never even attended Hope's Peak Academy. The reason for the simulation is what alluded me mostly, but I figured it had something to do with Future Foundation.

[Superfield]

Thanks to a spoilery thumbnail on a YouTube video (and I first experienced this game way back in early 2014, before DR1 had even gotten an official English release), I had thought that Tsumiki would turn out to be the mastermind. There wasn't many other theories I made, because... see, I was watching a translated LP on YouTube of it, and it was proceeding all kinds of slow. But I didn't have the luxury of waiting for it to finish; there was a deadline approaching after which I wouldn't be able to look up anything about the game at all (don't ask). So, I had to resort to text translations of the game. The YouTube LP was about to the end of Chapter 3 by that point, so the second half of the game I experienced at warp speed through text and images (minus the trials; those had videos). Ah, the wonderful world of "when a Danganronpa game doesn't have an all-encompassing and easily accessible translation". I originally experienced DR:AE by watching a recorded livestream made the day it came out in Japan and reading along to a text translation of that stream in a different window. That was literally the only way to see the whole game in English back in 2014.

But, because that YouTube LP was going slow and it was just starting Chapter 3 when I discovered it, that meant that I was given the opportunity to solve that mystery myself, bit-by-bit as the investigation videos came out about a week at a time. I would get into giant discussions and debates in the comments about what this piece of evidence meant and who it could've been. I was wrong for the majority of the investigation, but the moment I got the last bits of information, it was pretty obvious and I did get it right. Incidentally, I found a mountain of inconsistencies and plotholes in that particular case because I combed over every tiny detail (I figured out one of the bigger twists before the investigation had even officially started, I was so obsessed).

[76561198218459843]

Fuyuhiko cut his eye out and out Junko's eye.
Akane starved herself.
Kazuichi killed loads of people and made the Rocket that killed the headmaster.
Teruteru sacrificed his mom.
Sonia killed her parents.
Mahiru took pictures of the incident.
Mikan took Junko's ovaries.
Ibuki took Junko's thigh bone.
Peko took Junko's right arm.
Nagito took Junko's left arm.
Hiyoko slit her throat so she can't talk.

[Ba'al]

Honestly I kind of expected a simulation. I mean a room doesn't just become a beach like the game made it look like. Plus I though the world went to ♥♥♥♥ so something like that wouldn't have existed in the state it did. I already knew that Junko returns, so the ending didn't really surprise me. I will say the survivors had surprised me, I thought Chiaki would have survived. Then I realized I didn't like the survivors that much and was sad. Atleast, Junko made the end more bearable.

I'd buy the next game.

[Rox]

I was calling the whole simulation thing from the beginning. They made it way too obvious with the corrupted text and whatnot. If it had just been the black splotches, I would have thought it was another issue of memory removal.

[Radio Freeman Guy man]

The others will either never wake up or only a small amount of them will. IIRC they were in comas because Spike wanted to do more with them, but it looks like that's not so.
Hajime is still Izuru, but his time at Jabberwok reformed him. Junko even called him Izuru durring her PTA.

[TheAngelKori]

I soon as I saw Nagito I was sure he was a messed up Makoto. I mean they had the same voice actor, similar hair styles (except white and less spiky then Makoto's), same talent, and Nagito's name is an anagram of Makoto (plus an extra -da on Komeada). Of course, it isn't like Danganronpa to give you enough clues to figure something out from the start.

[Darkfiro]

I jokily said Hajime Ultimate Talent was Despair as a Joke it turned out I was Right Somewhat.
I also never thought the whole world was in a VR up until the end of chapter 5 but even I thought it was just Hajime losing it.

[TCPippin]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Rollout:

I was calling the whole simulation thing from the beginning. They made it way too obvious with the corrupted text and whatnot. If it had just been the black splotches, I would have thought it was another issue of memory removal.

I called VR as soon as I saw that chicken turn into a cow during "investigate 1-st island" sequence. Really, what was the point of that episode (and the ranch itself)?


Also, for quite some time I thought DR2 was like a theater that runs the same play (DR1's story) with different 'actors' .
I mean, just think how similar the characters are (later developments notwithstanding):
Byakuya is Byakuya
Matoko became Nagito
Asahina turned into Akane
Maizono - Ibuki
Yamada - Teruteru
Toko - Mikan
Leon - Soda
Kyotaka - Nekomaru
Fujisaki - Chiaki
Mondo - Fuyhiko

The rest have less similarities, but they're still noticeable:
Celestia - Gundam (both take their "cosplay" way too seriously and prefer to stay away from the group)
Sakura - Peko (strong self-discipline and overwhelming loyalty to one's clan/dojo)
Yasuhiro - Sonya (cloudcuckoolander)

Only three students don't have clear "expys", yet you can still see some parallels between Kirigiri and Mahiru (strong-willed girls with somewhat obscured kind side),
Junko(Mukuro) and Hajime (both operate under assumed personalities, albeit in Hajime's case non-voluntarily),
Junko(real) and Hiyoko (evil, spoiled, unapologetic shrews).

[vociferk]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu:

I played this before but, when I first played i on PSP, I thought Saionji was a serial killer based off of her "sadistic" personality when I first met her. I also for some reason thought Kuzuryuu was a reverse Chihiro, if that makes sense, although, figured out after playing that time that he wasn't. I also then thought Saionji was Kuzuryuu's sister, due to similarities. Bear in mind I thought all of this back when the game came out for PSP.

I thought that Kuzuryuu was a huge jerk until the trial in Chapter 2, after he came back with an eyepatch and slit his stomach while apologizing were a serious and large change in his character development and he became one my favorite characters.

[vociferk]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Eel:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Rollout:

I was calling the whole simulation thing from the beginning. They made it way too obvious with the corrupted text and whatnot. If it had just been the black splotches, I would have thought it was another issue of memory removal.

I called VR as soon as I saw that chicken turn into a cow during "investigate 1-st island" sequence. Really, what was the point of that episode (and the ranch itself)?


Also, for quite some time I thought DR2 was like a theater that runs the same play (DR1's story) with different 'actors' .
I mean, just think how similar the characters are (later developments notwithstanding):
Byakuya is Byakuya
Matoko became Nagito
Asahina turned into Akane
Maizono - Ibuki
Yamada - Teruteru
Toko - Mikan
Leon - Soda
Kyotaka - Nekomaru
Fujisaki - Chiaki
Mondo - Fuyhiko

The rest have less similarities, but they're still noticeable:
Celestia - Gundam (both take their "cosplay" way too seriously and prefer to stay away from the group)
Sakura - Peko (strong self-discipline and overwhelming loyalty to one's clan/dojo)
Yasuhiro - Sonya (cloudcuckoolander)

Only three students don't have clear "expys", yet you can still see some parallels between Kirigiri and Mahiru (strong-willed girls with somewhat obscured kind side),
Junko(Mukuro) and Hajime (both operate under assumed personalities, albeit in Hajime's case non-voluntarily),
Junko(real) and Hiyoko (evil, spoiled, unapologetic shrews).

I saw more of a parallel between Kirigiri and Chiaki. They were both stoic for the most part (they were the most calm in reacting to deaths and during trials), they were the most helpful character in the class trials and they helped the protagonist, and the protagonist (in their game) was clearly their love interest.

[TCPippin]

Początkowo opublikowane przez vociferk:

I saw more of a parallel between Kirigiri and Chiaki. They were both stoic for the most part (they were the most calm in reacting to deaths and during trials), they were the most helpful character in the class trials and they helped the protagonist, and the protagonist (in their game) was clearly their love interest.

Yeah, I thought about that, but what you've listed are "gameplay functions" - someone has to point out obscure clues and nudge the protagonist in the right direction during trials. Chiaki is obviously smarter than the rest of the cast, so that duty defaulted to her.
Personality-wise, however, they're polar opposites. Chiaki is timid and passive: she's always dowsing off, she mostly stays silent and very rarely acts on her own. Kirigiri, on the other hand, is active, has her own agenda, keeps secrets from the rest of the team and even pushed Makoto under the bus when it was necessary. Can you imagine Chiaki stealing stuff from Monokuma and then shifting the blame to someone else?

About love - if free time events are anything to go by, Sonya is at least as canonical as Chiaki - she flat out offers Hajime to rule alongside her as King of Novoselika, and he seems to seriously consider the offer.