feotakahari

I’m not sure what writer at Spike Chunsoft is responsible for the running themes across Danganronpa and Zanki Zero, but it feels like they read Atlas Shrugged, agreed with Ayn Rand’s ideas about the way the world does work, but disagreed that it should work this way and found it existentially horrifying. Nagito Komaeda feels like a grotesque parody of people who accept Rand’s worldview and think it’s a good thing. He believes that the other students are like John Galt, but that he himself isn’t, and that this makes him “trash” fit only to be used and degraded by the worthy.

You know those games where anyone can fall in love with anyone else, but only if they’re the opposite sex? That’s not how Zanki Zero rolls. Whether it’s two men, two women, or a man and a woman, if they reach maximum affection, they’re heavily implied to have some form of sexual contact. (Though there’s one character who apparently prefers cuddling to anything further.) And there is an achievement for getting every character to maximum affection with everyone else. I’m building a freaking polyamorous commune out here!

* I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream has never been so anime.

* Calling it now: the one-armed girl is NOT evil. Whatever her ominous secret is, she genuinely wants to help and protect the others.

*The med student is narcissistic, proud of his body, and likes to talk about how much he loves everyone. His sin is Greed. I don't get it.

*Survival mechanics and Wizardry-style dungeon crawling are an odd mix. The last time my character shit their pants during a boss battle, I was playing South Park.

*I am greatly struggling now because I ate all my vines in a desperate attempt to stave off starvation. Without vines, I can't make a workshop, and without a workshop, I can't make everything else.

*Actually, starvation is a problem for me in general. I get the impression I'm not supposed to use power attacks this much, since they make you get hungry faster, but since I don't have a workshop, everyone's armed with sticks and I need power attacks to kill anything. (The florist, of all people, temporarily loses the power attack penalty if she sleeps in a bed, but it took me a while to figure that out.)