Interview: Danganronpa Creator Kazutaka Kodaka is Gambling His Studio’s Future on His New Game

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is an upcoming visual novel/TRPG from the creative minds of Danganronpa‘s Kazutaka Kodaka and Zero Escape‘s Kōtarō Uchikoshi. At Tokyo Game Show 2024, Anime News Network was able to see a bit of the new game in action and later ask Kodaka a few questions about it. Kodaka’s frank answers shed light not only on the game’s time stuck in development hell, but also the fact he and Uchikoshi are betting the very existence of their studio, Too Kyo Games, on the success of The Hundred Line.

Since Too Kyo Games opened its doors in 2017, the studio has put out three games (Death Comes True, World’s End Club, and Master Detective Archives: Rain Code) and participated in the creation of two different anime (Akudama Drive and Tribe Nine). However, production on The Hundred Line actually started before any of these.

From the very start of their company, Kodaka was determined to create a game with Uchikoshi. “When I became independent, I thought that it would be meaningless for me to become independent unless we created some kind of game together, and so we have been working on it since then on,” Kodaka began. “I came up with the original idea and created a plot and a proposal. Then production was started based on that.”

As for how the directing responsibilities were split between him and Uchikoshi, “I directed the overall game and wrote the characters and the original scenarios,” Kodaka explained. “Based on that, Uchikoshi finished the direction and plot for the multiple endings and oversaw the scenario direction for those as well.”

Unfortunately, despite their best laid plans, The Hundred Line has had a troubled development, to say the least. “Originally, production started under a major game company, but that was canceled, so we had to start all over again from scratch with our own money,” Kodaka lamented. “We changed the game genre, scenario, and characters completely, so it ended up taking a long time.”

But while restarting creatively from scratch is difficult enough, there was also the financial cost. “We had to work on the production of the game while also dealing with the financial situation, so it was quite a difficult period.” Kodaka explained. “After that, we teamed up with Aniplex, and from there on we were free to concentrate on the production and put all our efforts into it.”

However, none of this changes the fact that Too Kyo Games is on the edge of a precipice financially—and Kodaka has made no secret about that. “This is because we are financing the production through loans and other means,” he told me. However, Kodaka is optimistic despite the looming crisis. “I have immense faith in this game and believe that this game will do well, and we will not only get our money back but will also turn a profit. I think it is a game worth taking a big gamble on.”

And a gamble it is. About half of what you see in The Hundred Line should be familiar to players of Danganronpa—or watchers of its anime adaptations. When not in battle, you spend time locked in a school with other students—all designed by Danganronpa‘s Rui Komatsuzaki. “During the 100 days of communal living, there will be various troubles and incidents that will occur on almost a daily basis—but when there is nothing going on, you are free to improve your skills, develop traps and medicines, and prepare for an enemy attack,” Kodaka detailed for me. It’s those enemy attacks where things diverge from the expected formula.

The battles in The Hundred Line are turn-based tactics meets tower defense. A swarm of enemies moves turn-by-turn towards their objective and only by using each character’s unique ways of attacking are you able to stop each wave. This kind of gameplay is not something seen before in Kodaka’s games—or Uchikoshi’s for that matter. However, Kodaka feels that it’s the perfect choice for The Hundred Line: “Since the theme of this game is war, I felt that ‘tactical RPG’ was the genre that could best express this theme. This game genre was chosen based on the story I wanted to depict.”

As for the story itself, it follows Takumi, a boy who awakens to special powers after he and his crush are attacked by monsters while coming home from school. Afterwards, he is whisked away and told to defend Last Defense Academy against these monsters—along with fourteen other hapless kids.

Focusing on a group of out-of-their-element individuals isolated in an unfamiliar location feels right on par for Dangaronpa or Zero Escape—though those weren’t the directorial pair’s only inspirations. “We were influenced by every game we have ever made, but also used Detroit Become Human as a reference,” Kodaka playfully hinted.

And like with Kodaka and Uchikoshi’s previous works, there is a palpable sense of despair permeating everything. When I asked why he was so fixated on the concept of despair, he had only this to say: “Because that is life.”

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is scheduled for release on April 24, 2025, for Nintendo Switch and PC.