A friend recommended this to me back in early-mid August 2013, a month before I watched the anime. See, at the time I knew that "The Animation" meant that it's an adaption to a game. So playing the game is what I did, and well, I decided to spoil the anime for myself. Why? To put it simply, for an entire game to be adapted into 13 episodes, I just knew that the anime wouldn't cover everything the game had to offer.
Because of my experience with Danganronpa, I did not have high expectations for the anime. Knowing that anime adaptions hardly ever exceed its sources, I normally don't criticize it too harshly even now. However, this is a review on the anime adaption as a standalone, and I cannot give it good points all the time just because it has an excuse for being 13 episodes covering an entire game. Nonetheless, it keeps some things I wanted there and doesn't stray far off the plot; more of, it only hits the main plot points of the game.
S H O R T C O M I N G S
Furthering what I briefly discussed in the premise, compressing an entire murder-mystery game into 13 episodes is a risky action - it's quite the "make it or break it" decision. In this case, it's not completely horrid, but it does make things seem rushed and sometimes nonsensical. In the game, there are so many opportunities to bond with the other characters, but the anime had to cut that out because the main plot points take a lot of screentime (a.k.a. the murder investigations and school trials). This causes a lack of a bond in characters for the viewer, and murders suddenly seem a whole lot less devastating. I'm not saying that this anime should've gotten 24 episodes or more, but it should've gotten possibly 15 episodes. Seriously, almost every episode seems rushed; too much is happening, and it's easy to dislike that, for the characters have no connection with me like they did with the game and the whole thing looks dramatic and ridiculous, as if the students don't put up a good fight to the enemy holding the murder rules until the very end, where it just looks stupid. The animation is mediocre, though not downright unbearable.
P R O S
Despite my rant, there are some redeeming qualities in Danganronpa: The Animation. For one thing, the art is much more colorful in the anime than in the game, even though it can get disproportional. Danganronpa is very unique for the color of the blood, which is a neon, bright pink - I honestly think that's what viewers will remember the most. The executions are closely related to the game, which relieved me that that remained. The characters are unique too, as they have special talents and really cool character designs. The best part to me is the music though; it's slightly haunting, capable of picking up adrenaline whenever it wants, and it's the part that makes you suddenly feel like the next episode will be better. The OP features an English singer, which is always awesome for Japanese creators, and the ED is sung by soraru, one of my favorite utaites.
C L O S U R E
The game is much better in experience, for Danganronpa has a very amazing story and cast of characters, but if you'd like to save your time and not spend so much on it, then the anime doesn't do too bad of a job cutting your time down to about 6.5 hours if you watch it straight. Though, warning, your attachment to the characters will be considerably weak, and you might get outright confused at many points. To me, I feel like the anime adaption had a lack of proper effort put into it, but I don't think that many people will actually dislike it.
Story: 7/10
Art: 7/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall: 36/50 ~ 72% ~ 7/10
