Dangan Ronpa: Arcane's Temptation/Tropes

A trope is a storytelling device or convention, a shortcut for describing situations the storyteller can reasonably assume the audience will recognize. Tropes are the means by which a story is told by anyone who has a story to tell.

Below is a list of tropes present in Dangan Ronpa: Arcane's Tempation.

**CAUTION: ALL SPOILERS ARE UNMARKED**

## General Tropes

* Freudian Trio: Loosely relates to the main trios:
	+ Caio's helpers fit this trope in a lighter tone than usual.
		- Kimberlly as the *ID*, she's impulsive and somewhat reckless and makes decisions based on her emotions and whims.
		- Ian is the *Superego*, while empathetic and kind, he's mostly the one who points out rules and tries to follow a logical path in the group.
		- Laura is the *Ego*, since she's the one who is able to intermingle with both Ian and Kimberlly.
	+ The Student Council girls fit it as well, in a more conventional sense.
		- Thay is the *ID*, as she's an abrasive authoritarian who does what she does out of emotional desire.
		- Nayla is the *Superego*, being an emotional stonewall most of times and only caring about setting up and following rules to gain control.
		- Suianne is the *Ego*, seeing as she empathizes with both sides and tries to keep both of them into balance.
	+ Lastly, the trio of boys that formed in the first chapter, again in a looser sense.
		- Oliveira is the *ID*, being a reckless bully who cares about himself utmost.
		- Matheus is the *Superego*, sucking up to his own ego and trying to use logic and intelligence to achieve his goals.
		- Gustavo is the *Ego*, seeing as he's much more neutral to everything compared to the other boys and having a more cynical worldview than both of them.
* Nice, Mean and In-Between: Once again applies to the main trios:
	+ Thay is mean, Nayla is in-between and Suianne is nice.
	+ Oliveira is mean, Matheus is in-between and Gustavo is nice. Although Oliveira and Matheus may switch roles depending on the situation.
	+ Downplayed as both are usually nice, but Kimberlly may come off as mean while Ian and Laura exchange the role of in-between and nice.
	+ Applies to the groups as a whole. Caio's helpers are nice, the boys are in-between and the girls are mean.
* Town Girls: Applies to the Student Council girls: Nayla is butch, Suianne is femme and Thay is neither.
* Fascists' Bed Time: The Student Council applies a curfew for the night time the moment they step in power and it's usually seem as a form of control rather than a security measure.
* Mythology Gag: Sometimes the story references aspects of the franchise it's inspired on.
	+ The Headmistress surname is Kamukura, the same as the founder of Hope's Peak in the original series.
	+ The helpful artificial intelligence present in the school devices is activated by saying "Alter Ego" as a nod to the A.I with the same name.
* Literally Prized Possession: Invoked as Chapter 2's motive.
* One Steve Limit: Averted. Both Oliveira and Evangelista share a first name and go by surname basis thanks to that.
* Lights Off, Somebody Dies: Happens in Chapter 2, during the party. Joel ends up being the unfortunate victim as the lights go on.

## Character Tropes

### As A Whole/Multiple Characters

* Experienced Protagonist: They're Ultimates, after all. Sans Caio.
* Grass is Greener: A consistent trope among some of the characters.
	+ Kimberlly is set on leaving her job as a anonymous composer and wants to venture as a singer herself.
	+ Laura is tired of her talent and wants to know better instead of being trapped in a consistent routine for the rest of her life.
	+ Downplayed, but still applies, Oliveira wants to quit surfing to be a skater.
* Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Some of them are quirky, ditzy, childish or very bubbly, but they're all ultimates for a reason, and all of them seem pretty competent in their respective talents.
* Smart People Wear Glasses: Both played straight and averted. Suianne, Nayla and Ian are eye wear wearers and pretty smart and witty most of the time, while others like Junior and Letícia aren't that bright.
* Smarter Than You Look: Applies to a lot of them, considering that they're all regular looking students, nobody expects their ultimate prowess.
* Color Motif: All of them have one, present mainly for identification in outside resources. Some do have matching meanings.
	+ Caio, Victória, Kariza and Thay are **red**.
		- Red is a color of luck in East Asia, befitting Caio's talent.
		- It also means passion and excitement, befitting Kariza and Victória's fiery personality.
		- Red also means anger and a warning of anger, befitting Thay's explosive personality.
	+ Nayla, Jordan, Caio and Carlos are **purple**.
		- Purple is the color of wealth, befitting Nayla's greed.
		- It is the color of wisdom, befitting Jordan's personality
		- It is also associated with spiritualism, fitting with Carlos' talent.
		- It's also associated with exoticism, fitting with Laura's hippie-like personality.
	+ Suianne and Matheus are **blue**.
		- Blue represents heroism, fitting with Suianne's sacrificial personality.
	+ Junior, Oliveira and Brenda are **yellow**.
		- Since it usually means cheeriness, all three of them avert it's true meaning.
		- It can also mean anger, akin to Oliveira's role as a bully. Additionally, it also means cowardice, akin to Junior.
	+ Emanuel is **brown**.
		- Brown means strength and adaptability, very much like Emanuel's talent and overall personality.
	+ Amanda, Kimberlly and Joel are **orange**.
		- Orange gives of a feeling of enthusiasm and warmth, fitting with Kimberlly's overall attitude.
	+ André and Evangelista are **green**.
	+ Ian, Gustavo, Bárbara and Letícia are **pink**.
		- Pink means love, relating to both Ian and Letícia's plot overall.
		- It also means femininity, matching with both Bárbara and Letícia, who are feminine girls, and Ian and Gustavo, the most nurturing boys of the bunch in a sense.

### Bárbara

* Attention Whore: Implied.
* Bratty Teenage Daughter: Part of her characterization and, somewhat, deconstructed and/or justified.
* The Fashionista: Runs a blog about fashion.
* Valley Girl: Smarter than the average valley girl, but her attitude is not far from one.

### Brenda

* Deadpan Snarker: Always has a gritty remark about anything remotely stupid people can potentially say.
* Nature Lover: Downplayed. Seems to care more about animals than nature itself.
* Tsundere: Type A. Is brash and rude, but deep downs love cute critters and is very kind and good-natured.
* Who Wear Short Shorts?: Wears a high waist, ripped jean shorts that are specially short, but less than other examples here.

### Caio

* I Just Want to Be Special: Zigzagged. He wish he was an ultimate student sometimes but his desire may fluctuate to the exact opposite, depending on the situation.
* Ordinary High-School Student: Is this among his fellow classmates. Just a highschooler who was lucky enough to win a lottery.

### Carlos

* Bad Liar: Zigzagged. He lacks social skills as a whole so it's hard to tell if he's telling bad lies or is just nervously speaking the truth.

### Emanuel

* Curtains Match the Window: Black hair and black eyes.

### Evangelista

* Bad Liar: His major fatal flaw and defining characteristic, often comes up with bad and not-so-well thought lies that are easy to be seen through by other characters, sans some easily swayed ones such as Leticia. This renders his chances of defending himself in the trial almost null, but is what proves his heartfelt confession about his feelings for Leticia were real.
* Commitment Issues: Doesn't settle down with Leticia whom he clearly has feelings for thanks to his desire to keep his reputation.
* Casanova Wannabe: Flirts with most of the girls, is only able to sway Letícia.

### Gustavo

* Brilliant, but Lazy: Is basically a genius with biology and a lot of related subjects, but is extremely lazy and avoids responsibility.
* Lazy Bum: His main shtick, often tries to run away from any kind of work.
* The Slacker: See above.
* Sir Swears-a-Lot: Almost every sentence he speaks has a swear word on it. He swears more than the local bully Oliveira and that says a lot.

### Ian

* Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Somewhat downplayed, sometimes he loses track of what he's talking about to dwelve deep into something unrelated and minor, specially in class trials, but usually is able to keep his focus when the situation is serious.
* Does Not Like Spam: Prefers to starve for five days straight than eat mango. Even worse, the food in question isn't even a real mango, but mango flavored protein bars!
* Cloudcuckoolander: Has his moments.
* The Nicknamer: He usually calls people by nicknames or cute pet names such as honey or darling in the English version. Downplayed a lot in the original version.
* Who Wear Short Shorts?: A rare male example. Wear gray shorts that barely cover his thighs and is notably the only boy, along with Oliveira, who shows their legs in their normal outfits.
* Quirky Curls: Extremely quirky and extremely curly, too.
* Curtains Match the Window: Black eyes matching with black hair.
* Covert Pervert: Is a bit too interested about Junior's large chest in the first trial.
* Mr. Exposition: Play this straight in the prologue. Ceases a bit after it, but still applies at times.
* Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Has a much more wide and formal vocabulary than everyone else. Justified, since he's the Ultimate Writer it's just expected he knows how to mess around words.

### Joel

* Extreme Doormat: Downplayed, but lets the Student Council step over him most of the time.

### Jordan

* The Quiet One: Is a man of few words due to social inability. Does starts speaking more as time passes, however.

### Junior

* Crowd Pleaser: Implied. Seems to love attention more than anything and lives for his fanbase.
* Attention Whore: Loves to be praised and seen by others, but usually is just the butt of teasing and acid jokes.
* The Bully: To Caio, after joining the Student Council.
* Insufferable Imbecile: Is stupid, vapid and ignorant and very prideful.
* Sir Swears-a-Lot: Less than Gustavo and Oliveira, but still enough to apply.
* Brainless Beauty: Assumed to be attractive and also very dim.
* Dumb Blonde: A clearly dyed one, yet still applies.
* Megane: Is a handsome boy who wears glasses. Downplayed as he's not studious or serious, just good-looking.

### Kariza

* The Ditz: Is very nice, but bubbly and dim to a fault. While she usually functions well, she is prone to stupid remarks at any time.
* Brainless Beauty: Is very beautiful and also very dimwitted.
* Dumb Blonde: More like strawberry blonde than normal, yellow blonde, but still applies and is played straight.
* Genki Girl: She's the most energetic and hyper girl of the cast and often plays this trope straight.
* Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The light feminine to Victória's dark.
* Who Wear Short Shorts?: The biggest example, wears extra small jean shorts that expose most of her legs and waist.
* Bare Your Midriff: Notably the only girl to follow this trope straight.
* Everyone Loves Blondes: Implied by herself during the second chapter when she explains about her relationship with Victória.

**Kariza:** “Kariza you can't hang with him, he just wants to fuck you” or “Kariza don't take candy from him he wants to get you high to fuck you” or “He's just doing that to fuck you, stop being an idiot!”.
* Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Is blonde and also sweet and kind.

### Kimberlly

* Establishing Character Music: She is introduced playing one of her composed songs in the prologue.
* Curtains Match the Window: Brown hair and brown eyes.

### Laura

* Nature Lover: Downplayed. She supposedly hangs in the internal garden more than everyone else and enjoys the kind of place it is.
* Multicolored Hair: Black with blue highlights.

### Letícia

* The Ditz: Downplayed, but still there from time to time.
* Pom-Pom Girl: She's the Ultimate Cheerleader, after all.
* Huge Schoolgirl: Is taller than everyone, except Gustavo, including boys and girls. She towers overs the shortest students.
* Loving a Shadow: Since she supposedly believes Evangelista's multiple lies, it's likely she is enamored with the person he made up instead of his true self.
* Valley Girl: Almost a perfect prime example of this trope.

### Matheus

* Deadpan Snarker: Second only to Brenda, but has his notable jabs, mainly at the Student Council.

### Nayla

* The Leader: Type II.
* Deadpan Snarker: Sometimes, but is usually outright rude instead of keeping it low.
* Tomboy: A effeminate one, it's quite clear by the way she dress she isn't as girly as the others.
* Boyish Short Hair: Has the smallest hair among the female cast and is one of the most masculine girls.
* Brainy Brunette: Has dark black hair and is known mostly for her intelligence.
* Defrosting Ice Queen: Implied to be this in the second chapter.
* Lying to Protect Your Feelings: Invoked, she tries to lie to Suianne about not caring for her after she is caught as the killer in the second trial, so Suianne wouldn't spend the rest of her life lamenting her death because she would see her only as a bitch. Ian exposes this, though.
* Scylla and Charybdis: Invoked during Chapter 2's trial. She either has to choose to give up her family financial stability to continue to the next phase of the game without any security that the others will also give up on their belongings or murder and sacrifice everyone in order to ensure her family will be safe. She choses (and fails to do) the latter.

### Oliveira

* Brilliant, but Lazy: Slacks off and party instead of training for his surfing competitions. Justified, since he doesn't even like surfing and is also good at it without even trying.
* The Bully: Is one to Carlos and, occasionally, Barbara. However, he is willing to tease and mock anyone if the situation permits.
* The Hedonist: Fully embodies this trope.
* Sir Swears-a-Lot: Comes with being the major bully.
* Troll: Teases people just for the fun of it.
* Class Clown: Basically this, considering they're actually a class.
* Surfer Dude: Plays this stereotype straight.
* The Stoner: He was drugged in his Character Establishing Moment and seems to get high a lot.
* Light-Haired Swimmer: The Ultimate Surfer with extremely light blond hair.

### Suianne

* The Napoleon: Is hot-blooded, leader-like and very determined... And also the shortest person in the bunch.
* Well-Intentioned Extremist: Acts as this in the Student Council, trying to use the power they have and the authoritarian rules they make to do good.
* Brainy Brunette: Has dark black hair and is known mostly for her intelligence.
* Token Good Teammate: For the Student Council.
* Motivational Lie: Conversed. She's constantly telling those to the others to try and motivate them into doing the tasks and escaping, even if she has no hope about it.
* Hot-Blooded: Not as loud as the trope usually entails for, but still qualifies.

### Thay

* Self-Applied Nickname: Prefers to be called Thay over her full name. While it usually sticks, some people do regress to her full name to mock or taunt her sometimes. Fully played straight in the original version where everyone calls her by her full name most of the time.
* Fatal Flaw: Thay strong convictions about her personal code of conduct is often what incites her worst flaws to come out fully. The strong belief she has in punitive justice and her blind faith to what she, as a policewoman, has grown to believe in her upbringing often conflicts with the specific situations of the game and turn her into a somewhat of a relentless, cruel and apathetic person. The ways she tries to dominate and make the others scared of her, while somewhat successful in bringing her the benefits she want for the time being, fully drive others to hate her and accentuates every single one of her negative qualities at once: it's mostly a consensus by the end of chapter one that she's annoying, cruel and selfish.
* Embarrassing First Name: Hates her first name and often goes by a nickname.

### Victória

* Brutal Honesty: A very vital part of her. She's unashamed of telling the blunt truth and is often the first one to break everyone else's legs when fake hopes arises. This is played with later when it's revealed she omitted important information from Kariza, but later played straight again when she bluntly admits her guilt.
* Will Not Tell a Lie: Played with. She's brutally honest all the time, but manages to be able to omit and hide information if not confronted directly about it, often resorting to the You Didn't Ask card.
* Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Very rascal and bashful, yet still vain and fashionable.
* Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The dark feminine to Kariza's light.
* Who Wear Short Shorts?: Wears high-waist, dark jean shorts, fitting to her talent.

## References

1. ↑ https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tropes