I remember exactly where I was when I first heard about Danganronpa. It was a late spring day in 2012, and I was sitting with some friends outside a pub in west London.
One of my friends told me he'd been reading a translated Let's Play of a Japanese game, and that one of the characters was me. He showed me a picture of Toko Fukawa.
The concept, 'a bunch of kids are trapped in a school together, and they can only escape if they murder someone and get away with it', sounded interesting, and the things my friend told me about the plot were intriguingly bizarre. I was curious!
When my friend later messaged me the link to orenronen's fan-translated Let's Play of Danganronpa on the Something Awful forums (with the note 'Wherein is contained the exploits of Evil Anime Riona', Riona being me), I took a look. At the time, I think the Let's Play was up to halfway through chapter three.
I still have my initial reactions recorded.
Me: I ONLY STARTED THIS EVENING
Me: I'M ALMOST THIRTY PAGES IN AND I CANNOT STOP READING
Me: CURSE YOU
Me: I am really going to miss Leon's stupid faces.
Me: And then I dreamt I was in a Dangan Ronpa scenario and got a knife in my ribs whilst trying to force the barrel of a rifle away from me. Thanks for that.
Friend: I can see I clearly did the right thing by sending this to you.
Me: Ridiculously, I actually got a bit teary at the conclusion of the second trial. Strangely Adorable Gang Leader, I so didn't want it to be you.
Friend: See? This is what this game does to people. Despaaaair!
Me: I've caught up! There's no more to read! This is a disaster! (Saying that Fukawa was me was slightly uncharitable of you, but not necessarily wrong.)
Me: Thanks for sending me this! Even though the second case absolutely shattered my heart. Poor everyone involved (except you, Togami).
Because I originally came to Danganronpa through orenronen's fan translation of the first game (and partial translation of the second), well before the games were officially released in English, a lot of the conventions of orenronen's translations are still stuck in my head. In particular, I think of most of the characters from the first two games by surname rather than given name, and I struggle to remember that Monokuma is not called Monobear in the official English release.
For the sake of consistency, I'm going to try to write this website using the conventions of the official release, but I apologise if a surname or non-canonical spelling slips through here and there! (When I mention Toko, for example, I'll write 'Fukawa' and then go 'wait, no, Touko' and then 'WAIT, NO, TOKO.')