#drdnd

1: Project: Eden's Garden

//To start with, I’m honestly pretty worn out talking about Project: Eden’s Garden, but it's back for another round this time. I think a lot of us are tired of hearing about it, but there have been new developments, so I’ll try to keep this part as brief and clear as possible.

//If you’ve been on Twitter at all, you’ve probably seen that the so-called “full death order and plot summary” of Eden’s Garden was leaked before the voice actors and team members could even do their planned sendoff stream.

//That alone would’ve been bad enough, but considering these are people who just lost essentially five years of work, it feels like one last, unnecessary blow.

//Now...I’ve read through the leaks myself, and I need to say a few things about them. Notice how above when I talked about the plot summary, I put it in quotations? Yeah, there's a reason for that.

//First, it goes without saying that whoever is responsible for this is a gross person/people who deserves the utmost scrutiny. Treating someone else’s long-term creative work like this is just outright malicious. But beyond that, there are layers here that people need to think about.

//I’m going to be blunt: I don’t fully believe what we’ve been given. As in I think the plot details that were provided via the leaks are 18% reliable AT MOST. And even that's being generous.

//I do have access to some people and sources I trust, and the one thing I’m confident in is that the death order is accurate. However, I have to point this out, because the actual “plot summary” that’s been circulating is...suspiciously incomplete.

//The reason being that all of it summarizes the cases and the motives and the details in just a couple lines of text on a phone notes app, and almost completely omits the actual context of each chapter. And when you strip all of that away, of course the story looks REALLY bad on paper. Possibly one of the worst fanganronpa plotlines ever, if I may be so blunt.

//But that’s exactly why I think this was done INTENTIONALLY.

//What also raises red flags for me is the timing. Because around the same time these leaks surfaced, certain individuals tied to the original controversy; that being Faza the disgusting fucking pedophile and mentally diseased excuse for a "human", and Tako his wet dick apologist, suddenly reappeared online. Both their accounts were reactivated, and Faza even made a statement online, hiding behind the Indonesian age of consent and threatening legal action against the petition.

//Oh yeah, by the way, sign the petition if you hadn't already, because the only reason he's acting this way is because he's pissing himself:

//I’ll be honest; I get it if it makes me sound like a tinfoiler here, but it’s hard not to connect the dots, because the timing of these two gross excuses for people coming back right when what remains of Eden's Garden is in the hot seat is way too convenient.

//To me, it feels like a targeted move, and I wouldn't be surprised if the offenders are actually BEHIND it; not just to damage the reputation of the project and the people behind it, but also to derail the community’s focus and prevent any meaningful accountability.

//So I’m asking people to think critically here. Don’t just accept everything at face value. And more importantly, don’t let this distract from holding the right people accountable.

2: Kumitantei: Old School Slaughter

//Moving on from that, there’s another topic I want to touch on, and it's something I haven’t actually brought up here before, but has been circulating for a while. And it definitely did catch my interest.

//Because recently, Chapter 1 of a game called Kumitantei: Old School Slaughter was released.

//For the uninitiated, and at the risk of sounding like an ad campaign for the game, Kumitantei is a murder-mystery card battler hybrid, and conceptually, it’s very much in the same space as Danganronpa-inspired projects.

//It follows twins Himari and Moichiro as they’re trapped in an experiment where escape requires committing murder without remorse.

//It’s an interesting premise, and it caught my attention a while back. However, it’s also become the center of some renewed controversy. Because OF COURSE it has.

//Why though, and why this early on? Well, the issue stems from the game’s lead scenario writer, an internet user formerly known online as Aeris Akamatsu.

//Some of you may recognize that name from the Danganronpa community, and personally, even before all of the stuff I learned that I'm about to talk about, Aeris Akamatsu has been one of my most hated content creators in the Danganronpa sphere.

//I’ve never been a fan of their content or their approach, and they have what I personally consider to be some of the most dogshit opinions on Danganronpa, and a complete lack of media literacy or sympathy for how certain creators want to tell their story. But beyond that, there’s also a documented history of them being toxic toward other creators; spreading harmful claims, targeting projects, and contributing to a pretty negative environment.

//Which naturally does not bode well for Kumitantei, and has turned a lot of people away from the game. And I completely get that.

//However, I actually kind of want to play devil's advocate for this game. Because I don't think writing it off like that is very fair.

//I know how ridiculous that sounds considering how supportive I've been of victims so far, and how much I've at least been trying to get people to take these situations seriously. But I do want to give credit where it’s due, since the current lead developer of Kumitantei has handled the situation surrounding this history in a very clear and professional way.

//From what’s been shared, Aeris was diagnosed with Other Specified Dissociative Disorder Type 1b (OSDD-1b ), a subtype of OSDD characterized by the presence of distinct, individual alters or parts, similar to Dissociative Identity Disorder, but without significant amnesia between switches. Individuals have different, well-defined parts, such as differences in voice, demeanor, or age, and in the case of this person in particular, the person known as Aeris Akamatsu is no longer the active identity in her own body.

//The current host, now known as Detective Nyx, has essentially inherited both the platform and the consequences of everything that came before, along with a reputation that’s understandably difficult to navigate. So if this explanation is to be believed, then Aeris Akamatsu is no more, and is not part of the project whatsoever.

//Now, does that explanation resolve everything? That’s not really for me to decide. People are going to form their own opinions on that, and that’s fair.

//But from my perspective, I’d at least ask people to give Kumitantei a chance as a project, and it feels really, really unrealistic to concoct this up as a story to justify things. The team behind it seems genuinely committed, and continuing development, even knowing that they have all this baggage takes a level of determination that I can respect.

//This is not me trying to convince people to support a project they probably don't want to support, but just my way of saying maybe try leaving it alone for now.

//If issues arise in the future, then that’s something to address when it happens. But right now, after everything surrounding Eden’s Garden, I think I’d rather allow for the possibility that people can grow, improve, and do better than they have in the past.

3: Other stuff in the Fangan sphere you should be keeping an eye out for (including Dungeons&Despair)

//Now onto a more positive note, because I don’t want to have this whole post be something heavy.

//To start with, even with Eden’s Garden’s future uncertain, its sister project, The Uzujigoku Massacre, is very close to completion.

//They just released their final dev log before the prologue drops, and I have to say, while I haven't talked about it at length here on the blog, the atmosphere they’ve built is incredible. It leans heavily into horror, and it absolutely shows.

//If you liked Eden’s Garden, this is definitely something you should keep an eye on. A lot of the same talented people are involved.

//On a more personal note, Danganronpa: Dungeons and Despair is also nearing release. I’m currently working on both a gameplay trailer and a voice actor trailer.

//May 10th is coming up quickly, which is our deadline for casting, so that’s when we’ll be locking in voice actors. Development-wise, we’re just wrapping up a few final assets, and then we’re ready to move forward with the prologue.

//On a related note, I’m also taking part in an online event called the “Love for Fangans” event, which is a collaborative project created by KenSunny, co-director of Project Wisteria: Perpetual Verdure and Danganronpa: Azure Zero.

//With the community going through a rough period, including lots of infighting, disagreements, and less mutual support than before, largely due to...

//...Well, what I literally just talked about...

//...Ken brought together a number of smaller fangan creators to work on a shared project aimed at promoting different fangans and encouraging a message of unity and support.

//Including us!

//The idea behind it is that over 40 fangan projects each choose a character from their cast, and all of them will be illustrated together on a single large canvas under the theme “Love for Fangans.”

//For our part, I’ve contributed Iris Glimstone, our life cleric elf, and I’m really excited to share the final result once it’s complete.

//And I think that leads into something important I want to end on.

4: A Hopeful Conclusion

//Yes, a lot of bad things have happened recently. There’s been drama, controversy, and more division than I thought I would ever see within this community, and definitely more than I, or anyone else, would like.

//But that doesn’t define the entire community. There are so many incredible fangan projects out there; creative, passionate, and genuinely inspiring. It wouldn’t be fair to lump all of them together with the actions of a few individuals.

//As a reminder, with the shit that happened with projects such as Tetro Danganronpa, and Project: Eden's Garden, I can actually count the number of offenders for both those projects combined on one hand.

//This community has kept Danganronpa alive far longer than most people expected. That passion matters to me, because I feel it’s the reason new OFFICIAL content keeps being made; like Summer Camp and 2x2; and why people still care as much as they do.

//So as a fangan creator, I implore you...Don’t lose that.

//Hold onto the things you love about this space. Support the creators who are doing things the right way. And remember that this isn’t the end of anything.

//If anything, it’s just the start of something new.