The Other Side of the Fourth Wall

In this installment of the Danganronpa Case Files, we will look at the first case of the first game, which sets the tone for the game and the franchise as a whole. Once again, there will be spoilers. Introduction Since this is not only the first chapter in the game, but also the first chapter in the series, Chapter 1 of the first game has to establish the premise for the series. Sixteen students are trapped in an area and told the only way to get out is to kill a classmate and get away with it. This is bad enough by itself, since some students are selfish and/or desperate enough to be willing to do such a thing, but the rumors of a traitor among the group only further amplify students' distrust and paranoia. Unlike other games, the class trial system is not immediately introduced, which I will mention again later. The early hours of the game prominently feature Sayaka, and strongly imply that she will become Makoto's love interest. She's the student Makoto spends the most t...

One of the most basic and important choices when it comes to writing is the point of view- first or third person, and one POV character or several, among other choices. In most cases, there are no absolutely right or wrong answers; it's merely a question of what best fits your story. That being said, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom! makes the questionable choice to show the same scenes from multiple points of view, and I will examine why this is a mistake. Choosing A Narrator In any work with multiple POV characters, the author must choose which character will be the POV character for a given scene, since the author can only provide one perspective on each scene (unlike omniscient third person POV, which can share characters' thoughts whenever the author feels the need). There are a few things to keep in mind when making that choice. The first and most simple criterion for a narrator is someone who witnesses the events the author wants the readers to see, ...

Early on in my blog, I wrote an entry encouraging readers to be concise and considerate of their readers' time when writing reviews and other opinion pieces . This still holds true, but it's possible to be a bit too concise, and say too little to get your point across. TV Tropes allows users to submit reviews of works of fiction, but limits them to 3,000 characters. Some reviewers complain about the limit, and may try to get around it, rather than trim down their reviews to make their point within the rules. Mark Twain's remark about writing a friend a long letter because he didn't have time to write a short one comes to mind. Some reviewers, however, have the opposite problem. They may only write a single paragraph or even a sentence to say why the work in question is good or bad, but make little effort to explain why. For example, one review of a certain series consists of a single paragraph complaining about one (admittedly troubling) flaw, while one review of a vide...

As much as I enjoy Reki Kawahara's Sword Art Online, I will admimt that people have legitimate complaints about it- Kirito's power level, how well-written the female characters are, and the use of rape in the story, among others, which I may discuss elsewhere. That being said, some anime-only watchers may not understand why the first half of the season was put together in the way that it was, which was a consequence of Sword Art Online evolving over time. Some people criticize the Aincrad arc for being disjointed and possibly inconsistent. It should be noted that this is a consequence of it being patched together from stories that were written at different times. Only Episodes 1, 8-10, 13 and 14 were adapted from Volume 1 of the light novel, the original story Kawahara submitted as a standalone piece for a contest. Episodes 3, 4 11 and 12 were adapted from Volume 2, a list of short stories set in Aincrad. Episodes 5 and 6 were adapted from Volume 8, which was published after ...

Welcome to the first installment of a series of Case Files about the Danganronpa series, in which I will offer my opinion on certain trials in the Danganronpa series- their role in the story, the mystery itself and the gameplay. I may not do all the trials, but will mainly focus on the ones that stood out in my mind the most. As you can imagine, there will be spoilers. Introduction For the most part, I enjoyed Danganronpa V3. The game's characters are as colorful and interesting as those of the previous two entries, even if not all of them are likeable. Most of the murder mysteries are complex and engaging, with surprising twists in store. The class trials are also more fun to play, with newer and improved minigames. There's also a wealth of post-game content, particularly the Talent Development Plan, which has enjoyable interactions between all three games' characters. The two weakest aspects of the game, however, are the first and final cases, and I will discuss the first...

Dialogue is a major part of any work of fiction, and one important issue is how to show who's saying what. In most works with spoken dialogue, speakers can be told apart by the sounds of their voices, while visual works like comic books and older vidoe games have speech bubbles and text boxes. Literature, however, has a few different options, and "(Character) said," is the safest and most practical one. I will examine a few different methods and show why simply using "said" is the best of all of them. Method 1: "(Character) said" As mentioned above, this method simply credits dialogue with two words- the name of the character speaking, and "said." Example : "Could you please show me what you have in mind?" Alice said. "Sure thing, Alice," Bob said with a nod. "Just take a look at this exchange. Pros : This method of crediting dialogue does its job; showing who is saying what. It does the job without drawing attention ...

Debating the morality (or lack thereof) of actions taken by certain characters is a common pasttime for fans of various shows. This time, I'll take a look at Hitoribocchi OO Seikatsu, a comedy anime, of all things, and discuss whether Kai was right to break off her friendship with Bocchi until the latter befriended her entire class. In my opinion, this is a harsh, even cruel, move, but one that was arguably necessary even if it could have been done better. The Situation Bocchi Hitori, the show's main character, has been socially awkward for as long as her best- and only- friend Kai Yawara has known her. Her social anxiety was so bad that despite being an excellent student, Bocchi was unable to go to the interview for the middle school Kai got into (middle school lasts from seventh to ninth grade in Japan), resulting in the two friends going their separate ways. Noticing that Bocchi had a problem, Kai made an ultimatum. She would break off her friendship with Bocchi unti...