Kamaitachi no Yoru, released in English as Banshee's Last Cry, is a visual novel developed and published by Chunsoft for the Super Famicom in 1994. It was later ported to other consoles, and was released on the Virtual Console service in Japan for Wii in 2007 and Wii U in 2013. An English localized version of the game was translated by Jeremy Blaustein, and was released for Android and iOS by Aksys Games in 2014. The game is the second sound novel by Chunsoft and brought a myriad of other companies to develop similar games. The term "sound novel" was a registered trademark, but is regarded as a genre. The game was a financial success. It sold 750,000 units for Super Famicom and over 400,000 units for PlayStation. The game sold 1.25 million units with remakes and ports in April 2002. A remake, Kamaitachi no Yoru: Rinne Saisei, was released for PlayStation Vita in 2017 and ported to Windows in 2018.
Otogirisō is a visual novel produced and published by Chunsoft. Marketed by the company as a "sound novel" rather than a video game, it is the progenitor of the developer and publisher's sound novel series and of the format of electronic entertainment now usually known generically as a visual novel. Koichi Nakamura conceived the title after showing his work on the Dragon Quest role-playing video games to a girl he was dating. On finding she did not enjoy them, he was encouraged to make a video game that he described as "for people who haven't played games before." Influenced by the early survival horror game Sweet Home, he developed it into a horror-themed interactive story. The game sold over 400,000 copies in Japan, including over 300,000 copies for Super Famicom and 100,000 for PlayStation. It was later adapted into the film St. John's Wort. A sequel, Kirigirisō, was released in 2016, produced by Spike Chunsoft and serving as a crossover with and prequel to the Danganronpa series.
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a visual novel adventure game developed and published by Spike as the first game in the Danganronpa series. The game was originally released in Japan for the PlayStation Portable in November 2010 and was ported to Android and iOS in August 2012. Danganronpa was localized and published in English regions by NIS America for multiple platforms.
Danganronpa is a Japanese video game franchise created by Kazutaka Kodaka and developed and owned by Spike Chunsoft. The series primarily surrounds various groups of apparent high-school students who are forced into murdering each other by a robotic teddy bear named Monokuma. Gameplay features a mix of adventure, visual novel, detective and dating simulator elements. The first game, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2010.
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is a 2012 visual novel developed by Spike Chunsoft. It is the second game in the Danganronpa franchise following Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (2010). It was first released in Japan for PlayStation Portable in July 2012, and a port for PlayStation Vita was released in Japan in October 2013. NIS America released the game worldwide in September 2014; a port for PC was released in April 2016 and a bundle for PlayStation 4 and Playstation Vita called Danganronpa 1-2 Reload, also containing the first Danganronpa game, was released in March 2017. An enhanced version with the subtitle Anniversary Edition was released for Android and iOS in August 2020, for Nintendo Switch in November 2021, and for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One May 2022.
Kotaro Uchikoshi is a Japanese video game director and writer. He is known for his work on visual novel games, including the Infinity and Zero Escape series. His writing style often incorporates elements of science fiction with various scientific and philosophical themes, and makes heavy use of plot twists.
Monokuma is a fictional identity adopted by several characters in the Danganronpa series, serving as the mascot and central antagonist of the series. Monokuma first appears in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc as a disguise used by "despair sisters" Mukuro Ikusaba and Junko Enoshima during their killing game in the fictional school of Hope's Peak Academy. Monokuma was created by scenario writer Kazutaka Kodaka and designed by Rui Komatsuzaki. The identity is used primarily as a disguise for the masterminds of each game to conceal their identities while overseeing and organizing killing games, and as such has been voiced by several actors. The character has often appeared in popular culture since its inception, referenced in film and television as well as spawning a series of action figures and merchandise. Nobuyo Ōyama and TARAKO voice him in Japanese, while Brian Beacock provides his voice for the English dub.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is a visual novel developed and published by Spike Chunsoft. The game was released in Japan in January 2017 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, and in North America and Europe by NIS America in September 2017. A Windows version was released worldwide on the same date. An enhanced version of V3 with the subtitle Anniversary Edition was released for Nintendo Switch in Japan in November 2021, and worldwide in December 2021. This improved version was also released for Android and iOS in April 2022, and for Windows 10 and Xbox One in September 2022.
Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game development and localization company specializing in role-playing video games, visual novels and adventure games. The company was founded in 1984 as Chunsoft Co., Ltd. and merged with Spike in 2012. It is owned by Dwango.
Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School is a mystery horror anime television series produced by Lerche, directed by Daiki Fukuoka, and supervised by Seiji Kishi. The anime is the second animated series based on Spike Chunsoft's Danganronpa video game franchise, and serves as a conclusion to the "Hope's Peak Academy" arc established in the previously released games Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. The series is divided into three parts. Future Arc focuses on Makoto Naegi and his friends and their involvement in a killing game with the Future Foundation; and Despair Arc focuses on Hajime Hinata, a student, and his involvement in experiments on humans. The first two story arcs aired between July and September 2016. They were followed by Hope Arc, the conclusion to both previous arcs, which aired on September 29, 2016.
Makoto Naegi is a character introduced as the protagonist of the 2010 visual novel adventure game Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc by Spike Chunsoft. A fairly optimistic but otherwise average student who is selected in a raffle to enroll in Hope's Peak Academy as the "Ultimate Lucky Student", Makoto finds himself before a remote-controlled robotic stuffed bear named Monokuma upon entering the academy, who states that he and his fellow students will be imprisoned in the academy for the rest of their lives unless one of them becomes "the blackened" and murders another without being found out by the other students, prompting the character to solve crimes. Makoto returns in the game's sequels and in multiple adaptations featuring him in new story arcs, most notably in Lerche's 2016 anime series Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, as a member of an organization known as the Future Foundation that seeks to take his life in a new killing game.
Junko Enoshima is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Spike Chunsoft's Danganronpa series. Junko is featured as the antagonist and mastermind in the first two games of the series as the true identity of the robotic teddy bear headmaster Monokuma, in the spin-off Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls in the guises of Monokuma variants Shirokuma and Kurokuma, and in the anime Danganronpa: The Animation and the "Despair Arc" of Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School.
Kyoko Kirigiri is a fictional character from the Spike Chunsoft visual novel action-adventure game series Danganronpa. She was introduced in the 2010 game Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc as a high school student and "Ultimate ???" of Hope's Peak Academy sealed within the building, who upon being told by a robot named Monokuma that one of the other students present must become "the blackened" and kill another without being found out by the other students if they wish to leave; by the end of the game, Kyoko is found to be the "Ultimate Detective". Despite being initially distant to the cast, Kyoko befriends Makoto Naegi as both join forces to solve class trials to find the identity of the killers. Kyoko reappears in other Danganronpa titles and sequels facing new cases involving Monokuma, most notably the 2016 anime series Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School and the spin-off video game Kirigiri Sou as a supporting character, as well in the series of prequel light novels Danganronpa: Kirigiri (2013–2020), which center on her childhood and rise through the Detective Shelf Collection (DSC), as she deals with new cases with her assistant Yui Samidare.
Danganronpa Zero is a Japanese light novel written by Kazutaka Kodaka and illustrated by Rui Komatsuzaki. It was published by Seikaisha from September 16 to October 14, 2011, and has been collected in two tankōbon volumes. A prequel to Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the novel focuses on Ryoko Otonashi, a student who, as a result of "The Tragedy", has anterograde amnesia and has short-term memory loss. Overseen by the school's Ultimate Neurologist and her childhood sweetheart Yasuke Matsuda, Ryoko becomes embroiled in a vast conspiracy within Hope's Peak Academy, involving the mysterious Izuru Kamukura and "Despair Sisters" Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba, as "The Parade" protests arise outside.
Hajime Hinata, also known as Izuru Kamukura, is a character from the Spike Chunsoft visual novel action-adventure game series Danganronpa. The character has two identities: Izuru first appeared in the 2011 light novel prequel Danganronpa Zero by Kazutaka Kodaka as a mysterious high school student whose actions resulted in genocide, while a computer avatar copy of Hajime appeared as the protagonist of the 2012 video game Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, as a high school student with no memory of his past, forced to investigate murder cases involving high school students who are trapped on a group of tropical islands. The prequel anime Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School further explores the past of the human Hajime and how he volunteered to undergo experimentation to become the silent sociopathic superhuman Izuru.
Danganronpa Kirigiri is a Japanese detective light novel series written by Takekuni Kitayama and illustrated by Rui Komatsuzaki. It was published by Seikaisha from September 13, 2013 to June 17, 2020, and has been collected in seven tankōbon volumes. A prequel to Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the series focus on the future "Ultimate Detective" Kyoko Kirigiri over the course of several years as she rises through the ranks of the Detective Shelf Collection (DSC), solving various mysteries alongside her assistant, Yui Samidare.
Too Kyo Games, LLC is a Japanese video game developer founded by ex-employees of Spike Chunsoft. It was formed in 2017 by Danganronpa series writer Kazutaka Kodaka, composer Masafumi Takada and illustrator Rui Komatsuzaki, as well as Zero Escape director Kotaro Uchikoshi. The company is working on several games, and collaborated with Pierrot on the 2020 anime series Akudama Drive.
Kazutaka Kodaka is a Japanese video game designer, writer and mangaka. His work is known for recurring themes of contrasting hope/despair, luck/talent, truth/lies; mixing tragedy with dark humor, numerous plot-twists etc. He was an employee of Spike Chunsoft and is widely known as the creator and writer of the Danganronpa franchise. He left the company in 2017 and founded Too Kyo Games with other ex-employees.
Rui Komatsuzaki is a Japanese illustrator and character designer. He is best known for designing and characterizing the cast members from the visual novel adventure games Danganronpa and the anime Akudama Drive.
