Waiting for something to happen?

Y'know, I only today actually checked out your main blog (I've seen your reblog blog around before) and discovered that is not, in fact, some AU version of Shuichi Saihara in your icon, but a very different character. However, from what I've managed to glean from a few posts out in the wilds of Tumblr, David DRDT is a very funny yet tragic character

I have no idea how accurate this impression is, but given your familiarity with Danganronpa: Despair Time, I thought I'd ask you for information about this character and story. Anything you want to say about either of them. Hit me with your best fan ramble. I'm looking to see if I'd enjoy getting into this fandom. *settles down with a bucket of popcorn*

Hi! I'm glad you're asking <3 You aren't the first to mistake him, and I think it can be very much the intention of DRDTdev that David looks similarly to Shuichi. As a David Chiem fictive (one of many in our system, as you already know), I'll gladly answer this ask~

DRDT is a murderous "show" – this fact is revealed very early in the story and all characters are confirmed to be adults, but it's currently unknown how old each of them exactly is. They all were invited to Hope's Peak that is in that universe a college and not a high school. The story currently has a prologue, two chapters, two bonus episodes, a couple of music videos (one of them is full of puzzles) and third chapter in development.

What we really like about the series is that the characters are really well written (every single of them) and that the clues that were left are actually being used, some of them are small details in the background or specific lines said by a character. We're still thinking of that one detail that wasn't brought yet. And there's a lot of hidden stuff to find on the site.

I like that HPA is a university in this setting. Little changes like that that allow for a lot of flexibility and new options are very charming to me. I think it's because it tells me the author has put enough thought into their story that they know when to break conventions and do their own thing. We can be rather iffy on fangans, but a green flag like that tells me that We'll probably like this one.

May I ask where to view/read/enjoy the story? Is the "show" on YouTube, or somewhere else? I did check out the blog you linked, but I didn't see where to actually find the story (but maybe I just missed it)...

David is very nice and kind in general – and this side of him sort of reminds us of Sayori from Doki Doki Literature Club. He isn't exactly like her, but he shares a couple of traits with her. And he has a couple of cute sprites, like this one. And this one of him being ultra embarrassed reminds me of Shuichi, sort of. Oh, and I didn't tell you that David is canonically bi – I think it's a very nice detail, it's not relevant to the story (DRDTdev said that there aren't going to be any canon pairings), but it's nice.

Yes, it's sort of refreshing, especially adding the fact where the cast wakes up and has to live… or rather die (not telling you, you'll see it yourself). We personally got hooked on the first seconds of the prologue already.

Aww, those sprites are so cute!! I love all the official artwork I've seen so far, but those are just downright adorable. (Also, is it strange to say I love his eyes?)

Him being bi is pretty cool! Nice to see some sprinkling of bisexuality in bigger fanworks. Speaking of, I just glanced at the number of views on these videos, and woahoho!! That's a lot of views! Guess I don't have to worry about this fandom going empty any time soon, haha!

Everything you're saying is getting me more and more intrigued about this story, but I have a feeling I'll have to leave the videos until later to properly get into it. Shame, I'm excited for it now.

From other characters whose queerness isn't a spoiler, there's Veronika who is pansexual. And Teruko (funny to mention the protagonist just now) is unlabeled. There are four more queer characters, but mentioning them by name would be a spoiler. Oh, and Rose (Ultimate Art Forger) has two moms.

Even just mentioning queer characters by name is a spoiler, eh... Gah, I want to start watching already, but I have to spend today learning about Canva and going to an appointment... Throw me into the ocean, please.

A character named Rose being the Ultimate Art Forger is very funny to us because we know an artist named Rose lol. Maybe I'll show DRDT Rose to the Rose we know, see if she also gets a kick out of it. (And maybe I'll take a closer work at her artworks, hmm........)

There's a "demo" for DRDT if you'd like to take a look! It's about 1 minute long and it shows a "trial" trial lmao Everyone is there, so there are no spoilers to deaths (and they stand in a very different way to canon).

This really is funny! That Rose is a painter. Also, everyone in that cast seems to be neurodivergent – there's literally no character that behaves like a neurotypical lol "Do you want me to be honest? I don't like any of you"

We watched the demo (thank you for the link). Laughed out loud at Whit's pun... Ah, we're gonna end up loving this character, aren't we? Anyway, the sprites make me curious about the cast's talents, but I suppose we'll discover those when we watch.

Although... It would also be fun to try and guess everyone's talents before we fully get into it.

Brilliant, I want no neurotypicals in my killing games. That's what makes them fun. (Wait, that makes it sound like I want ND folks to die –! Eh, you get what I mean?)

That's a lot of fan events! At least we'll probably be able to jump right into one when we're caught up. Maybe we could even host one ourselves; it wouldn't be the first time we've organized a fan/ship event.

That would sure be cool! There's an incomplete list of fan events on Fanlore and a graphic with more of them (but it also includes DR Another ones).

I originally wanted to guess all of them in one go, but I think if I do that I'm never going to finish, so here are my guesses so far, going down the list from this sprite collection:

Teruko: the green suggests to me Ultimate Lucky Student but the bandage, knee cover, and scrape are giving me athlete vibes. Can I guess Ultimate Delinquent? Everything about her clothes is mismatched and I feel like that would be fitting for the Ultimate Delinquent. That would also explain the knife. If it weren't for the knife I would guess something (alt) fashion related.

Xander: Ultimate Cowboy. I take no criticism at this time. Then again, he could also be the Ultimate Delinquent. That would also explain why he also has a knife. ... Maybe Ultimate Sheriff. Tbh, he just kind of reminds me of Deputy Norman/Solidarity from Empires SMP, so long as we ignore the bloody sprites.

Charles: Definitely some kind of scientist, researcher, or medical professional... He mentioned the medical area in the demo and that + the gloves makes me lean towards Ultimate Doctor. But with the goggles, I'm thinking Ultimate Dentist or Ultimate Chemist. Or maybe Ultimate Surgeon, but I have less faith in that guess.

Ace: well. I assume his talent is either Ultimate Jockey, something else related to horse racing, or Ultimate Race Car Driver. Also heehoo canines.

Arei: she's got a wrist brace... Some kind of artist? Idk. Ultimate Digital Artist or Ultimate Archer. ... The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards Ultimate Archer, with that being a glove instead of a brace.

Hu: First, immediate impression: "Ooh Hu is really pretty!!!" Ultimate Gardener? Ultimate Entomologist? I don't really know with her...

And that's all I have so far. As an aside, I have to say that I found Rose's design really cute!!

A fair number of fan events, then! I think the fanlore page gave me a minor spoiler about Nico, but I'm not upset about it. More reason to look forward to the story: figuring out where this little detail of their character fits in!

Awesome, I look forward to it!

Teruko is the Ultimate Lucky Student Xander is the Ultimate Rebel, so I'd say you were really close Charles is the Ultimate Chemist Ace is the Ultimate Jockey Arei is the Ultimate Bowler, and yes, that's a glove Hu is the Ultimate Zither Player

Hahaha, yeah, in Rose's case you can see a part of her specialty very clearly. I think the nicest thing of her design is in her eyes – I'm referring to the color wheel.

Yeah, and fun fact: we accidentally stole the date of a juggernaut ship's fanweek lol But it wasn't organised this year so it should be fine. We simply were extremely disconnected from the fandom.

That's cool! We have similar quirks in our own system; for instance, Kyou has a prosthetic leg in canon and in his internal appearance, and that affects how he moves.

Hell yeah, three out of six! Half correct! - Despair // Amissa's giving us stickers for our correct guesses now, haha. Thank you, Amissa. - Amatoxin

Hell yeah instru mence

I thought that was really cool, too! I love seeing what everyone's unique eye thing is.

Oof, that's a bit rough. Btw, when you say "this year", do you mean the juggernaut ship week wasn't organized a few months ago, in February 2026, or that you haven't seen any sign it'll pop up in/anything about it yet for February 2027? I suspect you mean the former, I'm just trying to get all cylinders of my brain on the same page. Sorry if this is a weird or sudden question.

Yeah, that it wasn't organized this year as in this February, not next. Also, we have tags for that ship entirely blocked because our Whit really dislikes any ship of him that isn't with David – we only learned that the date was "taken" after researching AO3 (we relied on the list on Fanlore)… A month or two after the Whitvid Week took place.

The tiny ways we can deviate from our sources can be kind of funny, eh? Sometimes it feels like saying "fuck you" to a source even though that's not the intention... I'm just chilling! Well, I hope you can find or make some hair clips like them.

Got it, got it!

Whoops, but hey, at least you made the effort to check! Not your fault your sources weren't complete.

Ah, I got the feeling that Whit was the shorter one. Jokester characters are often shorter... I wonder what's with that trope. But like. Both are taller this body, so I guess I get to be smallest, haha.

I tried to replicate the star hair clip but the stars were never holding, so I had to pay more to buy some cheap thing that is really heavy and doesn't hold on hair well (but doesn't fall if attached to a wig… at least). Also, it seems that I was wearing that hair clip backwards.

Whit made a joke of his own height. "Huge idiot? Come on, I'm only 5'6"" I adore him so much, he's really adorable. Also… I think he may be on the AuDHD spectrum.

I also love when colors and fruits are named after each other. This goes for colors and vegetables as well, like eggplant. "Yeah we searched high and low and we have determined that nothing better fits this (color/food) than this (food/color), so that's what we'll call it." Brilliant naming scheme.

Ah, that's a shame. At least it's something, I guess?

I haven't seen enough to make a judgement call yet, but I'll trust your intuition on AuDHD Whit.

The US... That's surprising! Huh, not sure how to feel about that. I guess I'll wait and see what the DRDT team do with the new location. But now I'm curious about the potential role measurement systems could play in a murder... Not necessarily in DRDT, just in any fan game or trial. It would be fun if someone could make it work.

We also are a bit sceptic about the setting, but well, not always everything is going to be in our taste. I was speaking specifically of how much of difference it can make in understanding the distance between objects and body, and that stuff. It can be confusing if you don't use this or that measurement system (it sounds so funny) every day, or at all.

Mhm, mhm. Yeah, when you're used to one system, trying to use the other to gauge differences can be difficult.

Yeah, I'd also say Teruko has a typical protag voice. It's nice, but not especially notable.

I guess that's a fair point; you want the voice to match the talent, and this voice definitely grabbed my attention and told me to listen up, so that's fitting for an inspirational speaker, lol. I'm looking forward to hearing the voices of the rest of them. But first I need to guess their talents, so... Here's a couple more guesses:

Eden: So, my first thought was Ultimate Stage Assistant, but then I saw the tools and I doubted myself. I still think it's a possibility, but I guess Eden would probably be more of the mechanic making sure all the tricks are working, then... Alternatively, maybe the Ultimate Clocksmith, Horologist, or Clockkeeper – any job that has to do with clocks.

Levi: Probably something like Ultimate Rockstar. Maybe not that exact talent, but given the outfit, I'm guessing it's music based. But those scars are throwing me for a loop... For some reason I'm thinking of one of those zoologists who get their own TV series showing off different animals... But idk how you'd make that into an Ultimate title.

Yeah! David needs to have a captivating voice, and Sword of Swords playing him definitely does the job. Also, if David is a confirmed adult then it could even sound a bit weird if he had that "protag typical voice", I think. So that's fitting.

Eden is the Ultimate Clockmaker, so you were really close with the second guesses. Notice the details in her eyes and on her shirt – she has an hourglass on the chest pocket, and in her eyes is that piece of a mechanism that can be found in clocks (I'm sorry, our vocab is lacking here).

Levi is the Ultimate Personal Stylist. We always were extremely suspicious about him, because he doesn't really look as if he was specialising in this field. I'm not telling you what our gut told us.

I'd never heard of Sword of Swords before now, tbh – but seeing as I don't often pay attention to voice actors, it's definitely possible I've heard him voice a character before and just didn't realize. Either way, I'm warming up to the voice for David.

Ooh, I was close!! I'm happy I correctly picked up on the clock theming. As for Levi, huh, that's a surprise! Definitely a strange outfit for that career, but I can see it.

Thank you so much for the links!! Alright, here are my guesses for the rest:

Arturo: wow, definitely something medical! Maybe the Ultimate Doctor or Ultimate Dentist? Or the Ultimate Surgeon – that might fit the heavier gear a bit more.

Min: she reminds me of a classic ghost girl design. Ultimate Paranormal Investigator? Ultimate Horror Writer? Whatever her talent is, I feel like she would get accused of murder because someone thinks she has a ~creepy aura~.

Veronika: I love this design!!! But I feel like she would also get accused of murder for the same reason as Min, eheh... Ultimate Doll-maker, perhaps? Or, to be less specific, Ultimate Plushie Maker? Or maybe she works with prosthetic eyes, as some flavor of optometrist. But I feel like doll-maker fits her better.

J: oh boy, lots of options here to go with that aesthetic. Ultimate Hacker, Ultimate Skateboarder, Ultimate Coder... Hang on, are those TWO zippers?? What a strange fashion choice, but I guess it's not any weirder than having several eyes attached to your hair clips. Maybe the Ultimate Street Artist, or a similar art-related talent.

Nico: ohhhh I love this design! They remind me of Gin from Your Turn to Die. I'm pretty certain their talent is animal themed, for obvious reasons... Ultimate Animal Tamer? Ultimate Animal Whisperer? Ultimate Petsitter? Something along those lines. Maybe the Ultimate Zoologist if we want to branch out, but that doesn't feel super fitting for such a casual outfit.

Arturo is the Ultimate Plastic Surgeon. Very specific, but you'll see how much sense it makes for him to be one.

Min is the Ultimate Student. Just this.

Veronika is the Ultimate Horror Fanatic. And she has a great knowledge of human psychology. Don't you think that those eyes sort of remind of those Monokuma things Junko has?

You were really close with the last one! J is the Ultimate Visual Effect Artist.

Nico is the Ultimate Pet Therapist.

So, for Arturo I was just a little too general with my surgeon guess... Also *squints* that sounds ominous.

Ultimate Student is. Well. Certainly a talent to have. Kind of intriguing, though. So mundane it loops back around to being interesting.

Ooooh, a horror fanatic! I really like that. I guess her hair bands are kind like Junko's... Yeah, I can see it. Somehow, that comparison makes her creepier.

Close enough!

Oh, cool! Pet therapist is a neat talent. Since this is a killing game we're talking about, I wonder if their talent ever comes in handy for making sure students don't immediately lose their heads in response to motives, or for helping them deal with the stress of the killing game... But I doubt they have any animals with them, and that would probably greatly reduce their ability to help. (Which sounds like a fantastic opportunity for angst!)

Lol he does kinda look like the Ultimate Bartender. It would fit! ... Now I'm imagining him just mixing drinks 'n shit in the background of each scene fjekdodje I haven't even seen any scenes yet but I think the shitpost potential with this is very high.

Yeah. Min is, like, just a nerd. She's a huge nerd with something more to it.

Veronika feels like a red herring when it comes to theorizing who is the mastermind. And, funnily enough, her hair is red to it. I wonder who it could be though. I'm sure it's not Xander, David or Whit.

There could really be one if the youtuber we learned of DRDT's existence from was in English speaking sphere. I don't think there's any funny stuff related to David's clothes, except for a thing that is a huge spoiler.

A huge nerd with something more to it... Consider me intrigued!

She does seem like she could be a red herring... but then again, maybe that's just what she wants us to think! Haha. If the mastermind turns out to be David I'm going to be rather surprised, just going off of what I know about him so far. Maybe we'll see another "protagonist is the mastermind" twist. That could be fun!

Huh, there's a lot of popular fangans out there nowadays, aren't there? Couple years ago, it always felt like there were just one or two big ones people were hyping up, with a couple smaller fangans here and there... But maybe I've just always been out of the loop on them. If we end up liking DRDT, I'll see about looking into DRSG. An emotional rollercoaster of a final chapter is definitely enticing...

Does DRSG follow a more traditional setting, compared to DRDT? I.e. is HPA a high school in DRSG? Are the characters in Japan?

It's doubtful that David would be the mastermind. I think it'd be either Eden (clockmaker, "Despair Time") or somebody who isn't a part of the cast that pulls the strings "from the outside".

From our own experience, we would put DRSG in the "small fangan" category as we didn't see many people talk of it, but maybe it's just that people who are into it aren't going to Tumblr much. We know a couple of people who like DRSG, but we're the only ones to post DRSG fics (it doesn't even have it's own common tag on AO3).

DRSG takes place in Japan, but there's no Hope's Peak – everyone is an adult and a Danganronpa killer. As in, there's a set of 16 original characters that participated in various seasons of Danganronpa and survived through killing someone and surviving the trial – the youngest character is 19 and the oldest is 46. Also, it's a meta fangan

Ooh, connecting a talent with the title would be a very cool twist... If it is someone from outside the cast, that might be tricky to pull off. From a writer's perspective, you'll have to add enough build-up so the mastermind reveal doesn't feel cheap or out of the blue, but also, giving too many details about anyone who isn't already an established character is a giant red flag. If that's what the creators are going for, I wish them luck!

Oh, that's cool! Survivors of previous killing games... Now that I think about it, I'm surprised I haven't seen someone do that before! I think We might've seen something about DRSG before, out in the wilds of the Internet, but we didn't really take note of it.

DRSG has a lot of worldbuilding in it, and characters are very aware of what is going on – the common for DR and fangans amnesia trope doesn't exist, but there are other obstacles set, such as a possibility that one of them may not be someone they say they are. The protagonist is Rui Kodaka, who is the Ultimate Danganronpa Fan – he knows everything about Danganronpa, but didn't follow the "characters" after their DR seasons, so he also is vulnerable for this trap. Also, everyone killed somebody already, so it's even less predictable who is going to survive because anyone can break (plus, they hate Rui because of him speaking about Danganronpa all the time and comparing everything to it lol – I think he would be besties with Veronika).

The possibility that one of them may not be who they say they are... Reminds me vaguely of how players reacted to seeing the Ultimate Imposter in SDR2, though I expect the situation is different. I wonder what other obstacles there may be...

Lmao the idea of an Ultimate Danganronpa Fan is inspired and hilarious, especially with that last name. Can't wait to watch his fumbles and hiccups. One question, though: if that's his talent, is Rui an exception to everyone being a former Danganronpa participant? Also, I wonder if someone will plan to kill him but end up killing someone else by accident.

Both his first and last name are from Danganronpa creators – his first name is from the artist and surname is from the writer. Fun fact: he's canonically bi and polyamorous. No, Rui also survived by killing and getting away with murder. The spin off for DRSG is a one shot that tells the story of the fifth chapter of the season he participated in – but it's not played in his perspective (and they also had the Ultimate Wikipedian in that game, lmao – he literally won with the knowledge of the entire internet).

David and Eden are just symbols in this one, but read this work whatever way you want. The original idea included a text box over Teruko's head saying:

"Take his hand? ☞yes no"

We decided to not include it in the final work.

If the text is difficult to be read for any reason: David: "Everyone you know has already betrayed you. There's no one in this world who won't hurt you. Even the people you love will turn their backs on you in the end." (chapter 2, episode 14) Eden: "Kindness isn't weakness. Not caring about others is the worst way to live." (chapter 2, episode 3)