(DANGANRONPA V3 SPOILERS) Just finished V3 and I have questions!

[vanillamcbean]

I finally finished V3 after putting it down in February and I sure do have some thoughts!

My first reaction to the ending was "I don't like that! It's not as satisfying as the other games!" And then I realized I was exactly the kind of viewer they were talking about in the last trial, so if they were trying to guilt us it worked on me lol! I was a bit bothered how it implied all the events in the previous games were fictional (to the characters--obviously it's fiction for us), but I liked Shuichi's message at the end, and I think I agree that a story's value is not in whether or not it's fiction, but whether or not it carries meaning and has an impact on the audience (cheesy I know, but who doesn't like cheese?)

My biggest concern after everything was that the Necronomicon was never really explained? I've read some theories that they planned on using Kaede's twin to take her place if they resurrected her, but there was no guarantee the students would choose Kaede, neither could they guarantee her twin's consent to participate in that event. Did she even have a twin or was that a lie to throw off their investigation into the masterminds identity? It's not a bad idea but still leaves some concerns. Monokuma seemed so adamant about the legitimacy of the resurrection ritual though, that it really makes me want to believe they somehow had the means to bring a student back, or fabricate a damn good imposter so nobody would know the difference. (I was really hoping Korekiyos seance would work too, but that one had murder written all over it).

I'm curious to know what other people thought about the ending, and if there are any more theories about the Necronomicon!

[Hurkyl]

I just realized why the ending doesn't bug me so much: I have a bunch of experience with a variety of stories where one of the big ideas is that a lot of "fiction" is not made up, but is actually based on real events that happened in a parallel universe. Sometimes, the setting even goes so far as to reverse the causality: writing a fictional story causes there to be another universe that plays out the setting.

So, the ending to v3 simply didn't give me any... 'existential dread' if you will. I have no trouble imagining the previous games being real in their universes, but them being fictional stories in DRv3's universe.

That said, one of my pet theories is that the events of previous games really did happen in the DRv3 universe and maybe even similarly to how we saw them. Then DRv3 is set in the distant future after the world recovers (and swings far, maybe too far, in the opposite direction). There, Team Danganronpa produced a series of historical fiction depicting and/or replicating those events, and it was popular enough that they devised 50 more seasons.

[Hurkyl]

Regarding the necronomicon... recall that Alter Ego Junko thought she could impersonate someone well enough. The technology shown in DRv3 makes it rather plausible they do have access to the technology to make a substitution like that -- we even see Alter Ego Gonta.

The impersonation doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be good enough to play off any differences on the usual trope of a ressurected spirit being not quite right.

[Dorou]

Isn't it suspicious that the instructions for the ritual in the Necronomicon demanded the tome be destroyed? And it was supposed to be a motive to kill, but the ritual depicted didn't involve violence. It's almost like someone who believed resurrecting the dead was impossible or immoral... tampered with it so it could never be used as intended.