The main reason I prefer the original the most out of the others in the franchise is that the characters, for as forgettable to me as they were, still had a group dynamic I could grasp to an extent. Saying this shitty sequel is the contrary is an understatement.

Whereas in the original most of the characters I didn't care about, here they are rather that or the most mind numbing pieces of fiction I've ever had the displeasure of seeing grow on me less as the months pass by (with a couple exceptions that I like). I said for the original that if your characters in your VISUAL NOVEL are rubbish then you have failed at one of the most important essentials of the genre, so like I did last time I will go through each character again in no particular order:
Hajime - Better than Makoto (protagonist from the last game) but that isn't a very high bar.
Nagito - I'll give him this he is a very interesting character but for all the right and wrong reasons. The more I think about him the more my brain just fries. One negative for sure though is that he can be extremely repetitive. One positive to balance it out is that his story involvement later on is actually one of the series' only highlights for me.
Chiaki - One of the most overrated characters I've seen. Other than her bland anime copy paste anime gamer girl personality and "cutesy" appearance, fans of her haven't managed to give me a decent enough reason for me to actually be invested in her character. I feel as if the game itself expects me to like her because she's cute and caring but if she has nothing else outside of that then I legit couldn't care less.
Gundham - Amazing voice performance that I could never get tired of. Can be repetitive sometimes but otherwise one of the only characters in this game I consider good.
Teruteru - Unironically carried by the voice acting in the first trial for being hysterical, otherwise he's a generic anime pervert akin to Mineta from My Hero Academia. Stay far away.
Mahiru - I legit cannot remember anything about her.
Byakuya - Wasted potential, kinda like the rest of this game.
Peko - She's okay I guess?
Ibuki - I like her expressions and whatnot but otherwise she's decent.
Hiyoko - Annoying and a complete waste of a character.
Nekomaru - Decent until the game turned him into a contrived plot device.
Kazuichi - Bland.
Sonia - Blander.
Akane - Blandest.
Fuyuhiko - One of the only characters in the series with any substantial development and character individualism. Not amazing but at least he serves a purpose.
Mikan - One of the worst written characters in anything I have played. She only exists as an annoying fan service tool until the writers complete forget how to write in general which leads to an insulting bad representation of trauma and other things. She is the very reason I wouldn't touch this game with a ten foot barge pole. Fuck whoever wrote this dreadful excuse for a character.

Monokuma sometimes has funny interactions with Monomi but otherwise the latter I couldn't care less about. To wrap up this unintentionally longer review than I planned, the motives and ending suck ass, few of the mini games are infuriating (hangman's gambit 2.0 can die) and this game just doesn't have that same claustrophobic feeling the original game had.

A waste of potential and a waste of time.