@Wagomu:
On Despair
! There's been some good in it, I think more than in Future, but it's a big disappointment for a lot of reasons. I mean I'm still invested in the week to week viewing, but pretty much all the 77th class (as well as the 78th that appears) are caricatured in a way that's detrimental to them.
I totally agree that class 77 doesn't have enough screen time. They really should've refrained from adding new characters and focusing on said new characters, and delved into the characters that are already there.
! There's just none of the nuance that the games had in portraying them and promised of their backstories. Only a few of them got significant screen time: Chiaki, Hajime, Mikan, Nagito and the imposter, and the imposter's the only one who benefits from this (arguably Hajime, but I think the fact that the first murder game was just pinned on him and not actually him murdering people really removes something from his story).
In regards to Mikan, Nagito, and the imposter I'm right there with you. However, I think they've done a pretty good job with both Chiaki and Hajime. Maybe I'm blind, but I believe Chiaki has had a decent showing. Her portrayal as the peace keeper and mediator in Class 77 who wants everyone to be happy is quite in line with her characterization in DR2. Furthermore, her relationship with Hajime was well managed in my opinon. Nothing wrong with that. In regards to Hajime, I feel the fact Izuru isn't the actual perpetrator of the first Mutual Killing Game was a good idea. From my perspective, Junko made a situation where the Ultimate Hope she couldn't corrupt herself could be corrupted. Instead of Izuru being a victim to Junko's caprice (like the weak willed Mikan), Izuru became victim to the world's hatred for him. I guess what I'm saying is that the killing game was not Izuru's descent in to despair, but rather the event that triggered that descent. Personally, I thinks that pretty cool.
! Junko and Mukurou get screentime, but they also suffer in that Junko's character contradicts a lot of what we know from DR1, and Mukurou's contradicts her appearance in IF (which I know is an alternate continuity, but still, she had more nuance there than the ultimate siscon).
How does Junko contradict her DR1 appearance? In regards to Mukuro, her siscon persona is her most defining characteristic. Her love for her sister was undermined only by event she has yet to experience (in IF Makoto and Junko trying to kill her). I see absolutely nothing wrong with her character in her DR3 appearance when she's just a side character.
! Beyond all of this shallow and poor characterization of the characters we wanted to see, we get an awful lot of characters that I really don't care about. I feel like more time has been devoted to DR3 exclusive characters than the DR2 dudes. We had a whole episode about Seiko, Yoi, and Ruruka, Ryota's had a whole important plot focused entirely on him, to which the DR2 guys involved are side characters.
Yeah. This has been really annoying. While I find Ryota to be likable, Seiko, Yoi, and Ruruka had no right to take precious screen time from preexisting character who needed said screen time themselves.
! Munakata, Sakakura, and Chisa have gotten a lot of attention with their investigating into Hope's Peak. Chisa in particular ends ep being the focus, which is probably to lead to the reveal that she's the mastermind in the Future arc. Even the first episode, which had the most DR2 cast of any episode, was mostly just focused on Chisa as she rounded up the students.
! There's been some fun and interesting moments, but there's so much wasted potential and enough contradictions to what we know that I have half a mind to regard it as non-canon.
While its nice that the future and despair episodes are connected, the fact characters were introduced to specifically facilitate this is bothersome. If they really wanted to introduce these new characters, then they should've paid for a longer anime, so old characters wouldn't be botched as much.