Danganronpa Zero

Danganronpa Zero^[a] is a Japanese light novel written by Kazutaka Kodaka and illustrated by Rui Komatsuzaki. It was published by Seikaisha from September 16 to October 14, 2011,^[1] and has been collected in two tankōbon volumes. A prequel to Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the novel focuses on Ryoko Otonashi, a student who, as a result of "The Tragedy", has anterograde amnesia (the inability to form new memories) and has short-term memory loss. Overseen by the school's Ultimate Neurologist and her childhood sweetheart Yasuke Matsuda, Ryoko becomes embroiled in a vast conspiracy within Hope's Peak Academy, involving the mysterious Izuru Kamukura and "Despair Sisters" Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba, as "The Parade" protests arise outside.

The events of the novel set up several story elements that were later used in the video game Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, in particular the character of Izuru Kamukura, while several characters introduced in the novel make cameo appearances in the anime Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School. Kodaka has cited Zero as the story in which he "finalized the larger world of Danganronpa, [which] led to the creation of the second game."^[2]

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