Just a rant

[CryonRyder]

I'm really ♥♥♥♥♥♥ off with Kaede's death. By far, the most interesting protagonist (because she has an actual talent connected with an interesting profission) of the three games and they killed her.
I don't even know if I'll finish this game anymore.
I've been playing this franchise non-stop with two plain characters, but when I finally get someone like Kaede, they rob her from me. At least, Shuichi is much better than the other two.

Don't get me wrong. It was a genius idea and I think this game has an excelent writing, but it still made me angry. I can't help myself.

[Perfectly Valid School of Magic]

I was pretty mad too. But Shuichi gets a lot of character growth throughout the game which I enjoyed.

Not a spoiler for any specific moment but for Shuichi in general, so i still want to hide it if you want to see the conflict for yourself. The fact that he's a detective comes up all the time and people point out that he's no good for anything until after someone dies. Naturally this really messes him up.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Hard disagree. I think Kaede is boring too, but for the exact opposite reason as Makoto. She's TOO perfect. She literally pushed Monokuma into a corner in the first chapter that forced him to try and kill everyone if no murder was committed, and her only flaw IS THE FACT THAT SHE KILLED SOMEONE, which obviously wouldn't exist if she didn't kill someone

[Yodah]

Give Shuichi a chance, he's got more personality than previous protagonists, and one of the things that make him interesting is how he deals with being entrusted with Kaede's flame. How he handles the burden of being the one who uncovered the truth of her case.

[Perfectly Valid School of Magic]

Originally posted by Battler Ushiromiya:

Hard disagree. I think Kaede is boring too, but for the exact opposite reason as Makoto. She's TOO perfect. She literally pushed Monokuma into a corner in the first chapter that forced him to try and kill everyone if no murder was committed, and her only flaw IS THE FACT THAT SHE KILLED SOMEONE, which obviously wouldn't exist if she didn't kill someone

We don't know her long enough to see any of her flaws. And playing from her POV usually makes it even more difficult to see what's 'wrong' with someone.

Besides, it's not like she's the only person who's ever been charismatic enough to rally a group behind them...

[Meelis13]

im pretty much in same boat as OP here. I loved Makotos growth and even Hajime became somewhat interesting in his own right, but Kaede is definetly best protagonist.
Reasons for that are multiple in sense that shes literally first protagonist in franchise to have actual specific talent, yet at same time isnt having too obvious (or lack of) talent for being a "hero" (well, as much of an hero as you can be in danganronpa). That alone created few possible paths. Then there is personality. She definetly had more immideate effect than any of the other protagonists and actually didnt cave in.
So what we get? Old "kill protagonist right off the bat and replace it with another, more generic protagonist" trope. That is honestly move that killed this game for me. I know characters get development later on, but first and 2nd games made me expect a lot more from danganronpa. Not to mention, most mysteries in here seem to be very obvious, which is another downside- i mean most cases up until this point you had basic idea who the killer could be, but even if you more or less figured it out, there were still at least 2 suspects in most cases.
Also, the "why" Kaede was killed kinda pisses me off too- i mean wasnt it false conviction to begin with? meaning completely ignoring one of most defining things about danganronpa- about selecting correct person?
In any case, since its danganronpa, i honestly did expect her (or if not her, some other protagonist) to die at some point (so not really so much against that itself), but in lamest possible timing ever? please. Theres so many other options. Accidental? herself becoming murder victim during investigation? Hell, even killing her immideatly by first murderer wouldve been something different than cliche...

[DJDiceZ]

People who quit on the first trial are missing out so much. Not only is most of the rest of the game just as good if not better than the other games, but on top of that you understand later why she had to die which means you're literally quitting the game over something before getting the full picture of it. Also, from a story writing perspective, this was the best course of events.

[Cheezystix]

I was a bit disappointed at first as well. While I wouldn't say Kaede was the best protag, she definitely wasn't bad and it would have been interesting to see how the story would have gone if it stuck with her perspective.
But at the end of the day, Shuichi was by far the better choice to make the protag. He had so much more room to grow then Kaede ever did and it was super cool to see how much he had changed by the end since you first met him as Kaede. His character and talent also fit far better with the overall themes of the story.