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To start my review I would like to start things off by saying, my rating on this anime will be based off of the anime alone. I am well aware that this started as a game and got turned into anime and like all things before they get animated, was most likely better. For all the sections I cover, I will break things down and at the end of the section there will be a tl;dr (too long, didn't read) for those who want to get straight to the point. I would like to give an apology in advance if there ... are any spoilers in my review.

The story: 7.5
The foundation of Danganronpa is set quite clearly and successfully. A group of highschool students are taken as hostage. They can only escape if they kill another student. If one is gutsy enough to kill one of their classmates, there is an investigation and trial session in which the group discuss who the killer is. The investigative process is timed so collecting clues will be limited. So characters are not just blurting out names of the ones they hate during the trail process, they have to come to a unanimous decision together on who the killer is. If the classes guesses right, the killer gets punished, if they are wrong, they get punished . There are indeed motives and intensives set. There is a dilemma on both sides whether or not you commit a murder. There is very, very, little romance in here (if you could call it that). It would've definitely been a plus if there was a more well developed romance. Reason being love triangles are always a good way to add further twists and motives. Given the 12 episode limit, you are just squeezing things together while at the same time not forgetting about key events.

tl;dr - Danganronpa has an adequate story . It meets all plot devices, an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Just the way it was executed could have been done a better. Also gets a definite minus 1 for almost no romance with that abundance of characters.

Art - 6.5
From the cover, the art looked great. The tone of the anime to me felt a bit retro, futuristic and colorful. The reason why I rated so low was when it came to the punishments and the plot twists of facts it was so... flat and basic. I mean this is where the person dies or pleads to the classmates that they were not the one who did it. I remember seeing the first death (not spoiling any names) but I was so excited to see how this character was going to be executed, but instead it was just a total let down. So to me it felt like there should've been more. There was definitely a balance, not just a typical chop off head, and blood spurts out everywhere type, but was still disappointing. I mean in an anime you animate! I do understand that there some people who are a fan of the simple and done, but for an anime with a futuristic type set tone, doing a plain and simple doesn't quite cut it. (Okay, maybe I lied, blood spurting out does sound good in this type of anime.)

tl;dr - It was not creative enough in the parts that mattered the most which is a total buzz kill. In an anime, you animate!

Sound/Music - 7
Aside from the art cover, I usually judge whether I want to watch an anime or not is based on the opening theme song. As we all know good theme songs = good anime, look at Shingeki no Kyojin for example! The intro was a below average intro to me. Like I stated in the art section, the song also gives this anime a futuristic tone. It was not something catchy and remember-able. If a song is about hope and beating despair, the voice needs to be that way as well. The woman did have a good voice, but her tone was a little off in my opinion. Another example I'll use to show my point is LiSA's Sword Art opening, Crossing Field. She had a very strong and encouraging voice that matched with what she was saying in the lyrics. There was none of that in here. That being said, the best part of the intro is when the woman transitions and starts singing, there's a little sexy and slow dance that Monobear does which I found hilarious and entertaining itself, it gets a plus one in sound and in art just for that. (hopefully you do too so i don't look crazy). Now for inside the anime, it does use pretty well quality sounds. To put it simply, when it needs to be creepy and suspicious, you got creepy and suspicious background noises.

tl;dr - Monobear can work it! But really, I cannot stress enough how important it is that if everything shows Danganronpa is a futuristic anime, the art needs to match the feel where it matters.

Character(s) - 7.5
Now with animes that introduce a group of potential main characters all at once, they all get a minus in character development because of the quantity and not enough quality, they cannot fully bring out the true character. So in return, you kind of don't give a shi* about some. This one is no exception, with that many characters, you kind of forget who your following or who that character is. Of course if they fully developed the characters there wouldn't be enough episodes so I am not bashing on Danganronpa completely on this. They did well in the time allotted. Because of the amount of characters there are of course "throw away characters" . Now I don't know if the producers we're trying for this but some characters were just annoying, such as Genocider. I understand that she's supposed to be some sort of deranged maniac murderer, but that voice just kills me. It sucks too because she was pretty cool(I personally like bipolar characters especially if the other half is psychotic), but that damn voice! If they we're going for an annoying voiced super villain, they succeeded! Still doesn't get a plus in this section though. One thing I was kind of half and half on was the title these characters received, which were Super Duper ______ insert personality here. I think it's corny, on the other hand whenever I heard the full title in the anime it was just so entertaining. In this section I'll give a plus to Monobear's "Ping, pong, pang" announcements (or is that supposed to be in sounds XD, whatever). In my opinion, the best characters were, Monobear, Naegi, Kirigiri and Enoshima (wish she had a longer part).

tl;dr - Not fully developed characters and because some aren't they kind of get on your nerves when they finally do get a bit a dialogue.

Enjoyment 7.5
I did enjoy this anime, even if there are some shaky rushed parts. In some animes you have to get to the middle and sometimes even close to the end where you're like, "Dang this is getting pretty intense". To me because it was so rushed, you are getting hit with all these different things and if you do comprehend them it feels like your stuck in the same dilemma as the characters. That being said in later episodes it does lose it's steam as it has to wrap even more things up, so there are more unanswered situations that we just have to live with. It is personally better to me to end with a big bang, that start with one,(don't be a Vegeta and use your ultimate move and the have nothing to back it up in-case it fails). Nonetheless, personally I enjoyed the anime. It's one of those animes where, you will go to the next episode because you do want to know what happens next, not because you started it and now you have to finish it.

tl;dr - I believe the ending sentences said it best. In my opinion, this is a type of anime that you will click next episode on for the sake of wanting to know what happens next, not just wanting to finish it because you started already.

Overall - 7
(Since this is only four sentences, there will be no tl;dr.)
With everything to consider I do believe this anime is something people should watch. It was an adequate anime that did not fail too hard, but did not do too amazingly well. So it get's an adequate score from me. This is where simple and done works :P.

Closing Statements / Final Thoughts
I do understand that fans that have played the game will be a bit disappointed in this anime, but like I said in the first paragraph, to those who have never even heard of the game and are considering to watch it should. If your like me and have finished watching all the amazing animes for the Summer and are waiting for Fall animes, this surely will kill a little bit of time. Watching over 100 animes, this is my first review so I would like people who found this helpful to tell me and those who didn't what I would need to work on. If you took enough time to say it was bad,say why, not just say it was horrible. You won't hurt my feelings I promise...or maybe you will but it's okay! I would like to end this review by saying thank you for reading it even if it was just the tl;dr's and hopefully it helps answers your question to, "should I or should I not watch this anime."