Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation

As someone who did not play the video game, I found this anime to be quite good. I think if you have played the game, you would find the anime a let down because the anime feels rushed considering how short it is. I really enjoyed the anime though. I thought the concept was very interesting and it was a very fun anime to watch. I liked certain characters and hated others but that was the point. The last few episodes did feel rushed and at certain times throughout the series, you will feel like there could be a lot more. I wish this anime ... was 26 episodes because the murders and investigations were very short at times. Overall though I would recommend this anime to others. It is not like any other anime and it is a good watch.

Danganronpa is a series I wanted to like more. It's by no means terrible. The story is interesting, some of the characters do have the potential to grow on viewers even if they're unfamiliar with the source material, and it manages to build up a serious level of excitement around each individual trial. Furthermore it has unique style which reminds the viewers of it's origins as a game. This is both one of it's greatest strengths as well as it's greatest weakness. While it lends itself to a distinct atmosphere and helps maintain a sense of energy that persists throughout the series which prevents one ... from feeling the whole show is dragging along. Some of the visual cues are neat in their own right. Yet, at the same time, it feels too much like one is watching a video game. While not a "formulaic" show per se, it lends itself to feeling strangely mechanical and predictable from time to time. This can also take the viewer out of the action so to speak. For people unfamiliar with Danganronpa this aspect can be irritating where it may have been intended to appeal to fans of the game. Some scenes appear as if they were torn directly from the source.

Then there's the fact that this series is heavily rushed. A lot of characterization, character development, and plot elements that the source material had time to flesh out are often barely touched upon, rushed, or outright excluded. This lends Danganronpa to feeling a little sloppy and it shows. While the source material may not have aimed for hyper realism, this unfortunately makes some scenes and important reveals feel utterly ridiculous and absurd in ways that only serve to hurt it.

Then there's the opening song. It's not bad but the lyrics some times seem like who so ever wrote it was trying too hard to make it related back to the story itself.

On the bright side, the plot is more-a-less faithfully adapted. No major liberties are taken with what is overall, a fairly well written story. The art style is pretty decent. At it's best moments it can be pretty damn fun to watch. Even if the execution sequences do like they were taken right from the game, they do make for an entertainingly absurd bit of dark comedy. What character development made it in was fairly well handled and most of the cast ends up being fairly likable. Just like the game that spawned it, Danganronpa has a sense of style even if it's not handled as well as it could be. Most of the voice cast (at least with the Japanese language version) does a decent job.

While it's more interesting than the average series, fans will probably enjoy it more than someone totally unfamiliar with the franchise. While I would not hesitate to call it a good series, it suffers in some significant ways from time constraints and stylistically clinging too close to it's source even as it uses this very same element to elevate itself in other aspects.

Danganronpa is one of those animes that will keep the viewer guessing. I really like the story and the conflict in this anime.

The basic premise of Danganronpa is that 15 high school students are trapped in a school an the only way to get out is to solve murders or get away with murder. So this anime is basically find the killer and have him/her punished via execution or get the wrong person who committed the crime and die while the real criminal gets released.

The characters all have unique characteristics emphasized in this anime. The two best characters are Naegi and Kirigiri. They have the ... best chemistry in this show because of their platonic relationship.

The enjoyment I got from this anime was beyond my expectation. There were only little nit-picks that I don't like about this anime, but overall it is a great show. Every trial in this show was outstanding not only because it was life or death, but because it just throws the viewer curveball after curveball and the actual person who committed the crime is someone that you never expected.

Bear in mind when reading this that I haven't played the game, his review is solely about the anime.

I loved this anime, solid 8 out of 10 overall. DanganRonpa is an anime with a great art style and character design that captures the core themes of the anime perfectly. The pink blood is something that I personally love, it helps to show how messed up the situation these highschoolers are in actually is. The pink blood also plays well alongside other aspects of the show such as Monobear which take the seriousness of the brutal deaths away and make them somewhat comedic, ... again showing how twisted the school they are in is. My favourite thing about DanganRpnpa are the characters, each one is unique and there were none that I disliked, especially Monbear.

There are a few things that forced me to give this show an 8 rather than a 9 or a 10. Firstly, I felt that it was a little too short, 13 episodes was not enough to do each of the characters justice and many of them were not around long enough for me to get invested inn their story meaning that their deaths did not have as alrge an impact as they could have.

To conclude, DanganRonpa is a great anime which is well worth watching. The mysteries behind the plot and the results of the investigations will keep you on the edge of your seat.

8/10

Story: danganronpa is about 15 *cough* students, who wake up and get locked in they'er private high school. The students have kill each other until 1 is left, who of which is allow to leave. But its not that easy,if a dead body is found, then a class trial is held to find the murder. if the murder doesn't get caught, then everyone else gets killed, if he/she does get caught, they'll be killed.

Art: There are 2 problems, which you may or may not like. 1 is that the blood is pink, as you can tell, this is for censorship. the second is the educated ... cut scenes, when this happens, everything becomes "flatten" you could say.

Sound: meh, normal

character: most characters we have almost no backstory or development. because why well you talk about yourself to a bunch of random people *cough* who'll kill you

Danganronpa is a series based on a PSP game from Spike, a company best known for their work on various DBZ games. They also worked with Capcom on a very under-rated game called Crimson Tears. This game, I never heard of until the anime came out. So I'm going to be judging the series entirely on its own merits and I'm not going to notice if they screw up something from the game. The adaptation was handled by Lerche, a company that, according to ANN, has only been involved with seven anime productions. None of which I've seen. So let's take a look at the ... recently finished Danganronpa anime and see what it's about.

Our story begins with our protagonist, Naegi, walking to his new High School. No sooner does he cross the threshold when he finds himself waking up in a classroom that's been bolted shut. An announcement plays requesting all students assemble in the gymnasium. He finds himself with fourteen other students and a stuffed bear apparently belonging to Harvey Dent appears claiming to be the Principal. They're told that they won't be allowed to leave until they graduate. And the only way to graduate is to kill someone and get away with it. Now, Naegi has to solve the mystery of just what is going on at Hope's Peak Academy, figure out how to escape, avoid getting killed and solve any death that happens or he, and all of the other innocent students, will be killed. This anime is very silly, but in a good way. It's like a very macabre parody combining murder mystery with the whole “students being forced/ strongly encouraged to kill each other” genre that was popularised by Battle Royale (which happens to be on one of my book shelves between the Handmaid's Tale and Suzuki Koji's Dark Watch.) Now, I don't just refer to it as a parody because the antagonist you spend most of your time with is a teddy bear. The character designs are also goofy, the tone stays rather macabre but avoids getting too dark by showing execution scenes in very muted colours and leaving the gorey bits to your imagination. There are also some rather silly scenes. To give one example, Kirigiri finds a clue in the underwear of one of the corpses. When asked why she would check there she shrugs it off as no big deal. It's not like she checked their socks or something. Let's move on to the mystery elements. This is an area where the series excels. The investigations go by very quickly, but they manage to give you all the information you need to either solve the case or figure out where the discussion should begin in the classroom trial. The only exception is the trial before the last one, in which they disclose very little but I'll let that one go since there is a good story reason for it. One thing that I really liked is that they managed to make the discussions interesting, even when the solution was obvious. So you never feel like you're watching a bunch of idiots flounder around to figure out something that should be obvious. This isn't Hyouka. My biggest criticisms of the series are that they leave a lot of unanswered questions , which I unfortunately can't ask since most of them involve spoilers, and the ending is pretty cheesy. Now, a lot of the series is cheesy, in a good way. The ending, however, gravitates more towards the facepalm inducing end of the cheesiness spectrum.

Most of the characters in this are pretty typical. Naegi is a lot like many other shounen protagonists, he's young and naïve but he's got a lot of heart and great potential. Many of the other students are also representative of rather flat archetypes. Maizono, Ishimaru, Hagakure, Yamada and Oowada to name few. Now, in all fairness, most of these characters are passable even if they aren't particularly deep. There are some very problematic elements to the way a few of the characters are handled. Particularly Fujisaki and Sakura. There are some characters with really interesting concepts behind them, but they never get fully developed.

The art is interesting. I already mentioned the goofy character designs and the execution scenes, but there are other facets worth discussing. A second way they tone down the gore is by having blood be some bizarre colour like bright neon purple or green. The evidence is also presented in such a way that it feels like a game. It gets brought up in boxes or contradictions will be illustrated by the image of a bullet shattering into a person when Naegi raises an objection. Which does give it a unique aesthetic.

They got some really stellar voice actors for this. Including Ogata Megumi, Ishida Akira, Hikasa Yoko and Sawashiro Miyuki. All of whom give great performances. The biggest issues are with Kujira and Yamada Kappei. Kujira plays a female character but gives a heavily masculine performance, which is one of those problematic elements with Sakura's character. Yamada just gives a very flat and kind of annoying performance. The music is good. It's used to accentuate the action pretty nicely.

The Ho-yay factor is a 1/10. This has no Ho-yay. I kept expecting there to be some, just because it is starring Ogata Megumi and I'm used to seeing her play characters with either a same sex love interest or at least a one-sided crush on someone of the same sex like Haruka, Yukito, Kurama, and Ayato. But no, she doesn't this time.

So, how is Danganronpa? As a horror piece, it doesn't really work. But if you have a dark sense of humour and you enjoy a good mystery you will likely enjoy it quite a bit in spite of its problems. If macabre elements creep you out or mysteries make your head hurt, it's not going to be for you. For myself, I give it a 7/10. It's a good anime and I did enjoy watching it. Next week, horror anime month ends with a look at some cute little animals... from the Petshop of Horrors.

I just want to clarify that I have not played danganronpa, although this series made me want to check it out since I'm a sucker for mystery. I also felt the need for a neutral review of someone who had never heard of the danganronpa franchise before (don't ask me how).

My expectations of danganronpa weren't the highest, I honestly expected it to turn into an ecchi harem, and we all know how high quality those are. So yeah, I went into it under the impression that I would drop it after the first three episodes. But surprisingly, I sat out the entire show in one ... day.

If you want to know if I recommend this show because you're deciding whether it's worth your time or not, I'd say skip it. UNLESS you're are a huge suckers for good mystery and episodic shows like me. In which case I say, go check it out. It's enjoyable but underdeveloped, which results into unfinished characters and stories. If you can overlook those things and are just looking for mystery, this might be something you'll enjoy.

STORY : 6
The story is, well, like what a 6 means: fair. It's most definitely not why I enjoyed the show so much even though I'm not forgiving when it comes to an unsolid plot. It's not neccessarily bad, it's just the ending. It felt kind of forced and not at all like a "Eureka" moment. What made the story enjoyable were its episodic aspects, the mystery of the week feel. Like I said; I'm a huge sucker for mystery.
But then, there were also some pretty big plot twists that were not at all explained and just occured for the sake of plot convenience. If you can't stand plot convenience you should probably skip this show since a lot of the overarching story relies on coincidences.
Then, one of my main issues with the story is that a lot of questions remain unanswered, which can be quite frustrating

ART : 8
The overall animation is good which would make me give it a 7. But what made me give it an 8 were the details. For example, instead of blocking out parts of the screen with annoying black spots or inverting the colors, they colored the bloody stuff magenta, which is something I can really appreciate. I know some people don't like it but I thought it was a great way to avoid censorship. (and it looked really cool in my opinion) I also particularly enjoyed the "punishment scenes" in which the art style turnst into this 3D paper doll style. The character design was pretty good as well for a lot of the side characters, the main characters were quite boring to my disapointment.

SOUND: 6
Not bad, but no outstanding tracks to which I'd listen individually. The opening's nothing special and neither is the ending. It's kind of disappointing since mystery shows always have so much potential for eerie choir music and such. But yeah, it wasn't good, but not bad either, just standard.

CHARACTERS : 4
If it weren't for the secondary characters I would have probably dropped this show. The "protagonist" is your standard cut out good guy, which is why I originally thought this show would turn into a harem anime. He's so boring I kind of wished he'd turn out to be one of the bad guys. The same goes for Kirigiri, the incredibly smart tsundere girl and potential love interest. These two get the most screen time, which results into no emotional attachment to any of the characters. With no character development whatsoever and the main characters being good at everything for some reason (because remember kids: CHARACTER FLAWS ARE BAD). The only thing I liked about the characters were the secondary characters who had loads of potential. But those never got the screen time they deserved.

ENJOYMENT : 7
Like I said, I love to try and solve mysteries before the story reveals anything which is one of the main factors why I like this series. I don't love it, and I'm definitely not blind towards its flaws but I don't feel like something has to be a masterpiece to be enjoyable. The side characters are quite unique and loveable and the animation is lovely. Right after I watched this series I wanted to give it a solid 7, but that wouldn't be fair.

OVERALL : 6
This series was too short and needed more time to develop its plot and spend more time on neglected characters. The mystery aspect of this anime I found to be one of the highlights as well as the animation. Danganroupa started in my head as an ecchi harem series, developed into an episodic mystery series, and ended in "wait, that's it, it's over?". This is one of those rare anime that I want to give a higher rating because I actually anjoyed it, but it wouldn't be fair. If I gave it a 7 and I'd compare it to other series I've given a 7 the difference would be laughable.

So, this is my first review for an anime that is adapted from a video game that I've never played. Also, my computers broken, so, currently typing this on my mobile, so, excuse any misspellings.

Danganronpa is a show about a group of 15 teenagers, each excelling at a specific skill, who are enrolled in an Academy, where their only way out is to successfully kill one of their fellow classmates and get away with it. If you are caught, you're executed, if you aren't caught, everyone who is innocent gets executed.

Story-9/10- The story of Danganronpa is unique, in that it plays out in ... a way that keeps you on your toes and guessing who's going to be the culprit. There were many times where iI had thought I had guessed the culprit through logic, only to have it be a completely different person using logic that was equally reasonable. If you're a fan of mysteries that will make you want to re watch it just to find all of the fine details that prove a characters guilt, this is the show for you.

Art-9/10- The ar is another great part about this show, although for the most part its just good, when they get to the execution scenes and mix together the 2d and 3d, it really looks amazing. The character designs are also noteworthy, as they each give them a distinct personality and helps add to the atmosphere of the show.

Sound-7/10- The ost does its job of keeping the tone and atmosphere of the show consistent, but, that's about it. No songs stand out in particular, but they do a good job of fitting the scenes, and that's all we should really expect.

Characters - 10/10- The characters are by far what makes this show for me. Each has a unique personality, and the voice actors really did an amazing job portraying the characters they were given. Although at first it may seem a bit overwhelming by how many characters there are, and how much they each lack development, you come to notice that even those who only get so much as two episodes of screen time play important roles in the story and has an impact on the group.


Overall -9/10- I've seen many people say that this show is an awful adaptation, and is very rushed, which at sone parts it is. But, having not played the game, and judging it solely on its own, I'd say Danganronpa is definitely worth watching, even if you aren't too fond of mysteries. It's characters are charming and unique, while it's story is gripping, suspenseful and will have you second guessing yourself over who did it. Danganronpa has easily joined my top ten anime of all time and I think everyone should at least try it.

To start this off with, this is my first review and don't be too offended i'm just stating my opinion, NOW let's start with the review.

Story:
The concept is great, being trapped in closed building having to kill somebody and get away with murder so you can get out , it could have been so good but it was just a lost opportunity , and the directing was really mediocre the characters were so unrealistic and stupid so i didn't feel anything for them, and when it comes to the murders there were sometimes where you knew who killed who or who will die next so ... it was a bit predictable at times.

Animation/Sound:
The designs of some of the characters were so out of place and when it come to the animation itself it was "okay" it wasn't all that fluid at times and the torture scenes were also out of place cause they change it to this semi 3D animation that is never used in the rest of the anime which makes them less frighting than they even were, the background music succeeds in making the anime more dramatic and the opening and ending songs are actually pretty good.


Enjoyment:
I don't really know what it is but even with story and animation being that bad it is still enjoyable to watch, after finishing every episode i just wanted more for some reason.

The verdict:
With the bad story and poor animation i really wouldn't recommend it to anybody although i won't deny that it is entertaining although i still get bothered by all it's faults while watching.

4/10

Even though it was short I think they did an amazing job of setting a good plot and did a good job finishing up the story. The murder cases were fun to guess and had me very excited for the classroom trials.
[spoiler]Also, it was cool how MonoBear ended up being one of the earlier dead students. I never thought for a SECOND that Enoshima would be the mastermind. It wasn't predictable at all.[/spoiler] Overall I thought it was very well done and had everything I was looking for in this type of anime.

Initially I had no intention of writing a review for Danganronpa, because I didn't really think it deserved one. I thought it was a weird little show without much substance and even less creative story writing, but that it offered enough mild entertainment to balance it out. However, the more I thought about it the more I disliked it. And after thinking a good while, I disliked it so much that I decided to write a review and vent a little, as well as hopefully deter anyone who had considered watching this show. (As an aside, this review won't even touch on the multifarious plot ... issues this show had, because had the show been successful in other areas, they could have possibly been forgiven.)

First off, who the heck drew this thing?! When the show started out, I thought the characters' bizarre appearances were somewhat interesting, and had the show been at least mildly good, they would have been appealing. But as the show advanced and became more and more twisted, the characters’ brightly colored, ridiculously idiosyncratic appearance took on a sickening quality that made every disturbing turn seem worse.

Moving on, "We're Really Really Trying To Be Disturbing And Creepy" should have been the tagline for this show, as its only goal seemed to be showing how cruel acts carried out by and on teenagers are good fodder for horror shows. But to be honest, they even failed at showing that. It was almost painful how hard they were trying to actually be scary. What was even more painful was that besides that goal, there really was no point to Danganronpa. At all. And as horrible as this sounds, the show was really boring until someone was brutally murdered. The lack of plot and character development almost left you WANTING someone to die, just so something would actually be happening. This fact was re-emphasized repeatedly throughout the show, with every pathetic "moment of peace" that came directly before a murder. It was as if the creators of this show came up with the whole high school ruled by an immortal, murderous robot bear wherein the students kill each other idea, but didn't know the first thing about actual human interaction (let alone the basic tenants of fluid story-writing), so they threw in little "funnies" in the form of conversations between characters that I assume they thought real people would actually have. But juxtaposed with the horrific character of the show, these moments of “humanity" seemed like a joke, and not the kind that actually delivers a message and makes you stop to think. No, it was the kind of joke that your annoying Uncle Bob tells at every family get-together and gets cheesier and cheesier with ever re-telling. In short, what little character development the show tried to have was actually a show-killer.

In closing, I would like to talk about redemption. Redemption is the source of all hope in the world. It is the reason we fight poverty, seek to protect those abused, and long for peace instead of war. Redemption is a second chance. Redemption speaks to the whole of humanity on an integral level, because we all seek it, in one way or another. Redemption is the one thing which could have saved Danganronpa. So many people had died and so much had been lost that even redemption for a few would have seemed poor compensation for all the hurt done, but it would have given us a reason to hope. It would have made us stand with the characters and hope for a brighter future which could turn the darkness of our respective pasts into something beautiful and better for everyone. Sadly, Danganronpa did not seek redemption for the victims of its lousy story telling and absurd animation. Instead, its ending slapped you in the face with its lack of redemption. It gave you a little sputtering flame of hope and then promptly snuffed it out. I could almost feel the creators sneering as the final episode came to a close. Something being disturbing isn't always bad. Heck, one of my favorite anime/manga is Gunslinger Girl, a series with a plotline that practically revolves around the disturbing. The difference is, again, redemption. When hope is removed from the equation, everything crumbles into crapiness. Danganronpa was certainly no exception.

You know it's not a good sign when you see an apology in the beginning of a review but let me express my condolences for the anime-only newbies of the Danganronpa series as they are the victim of something I'm sure we've all experienced before: overhype.

When it was announced the popular PSP visual novel would be receiving an anime adaptation many of us were bouncing off the walls with excitement (and with good reason). If you've seen the anime and are still willing to give the game a shot, go for it. It's definitely worth it. If you're someone looking for ... an interesting anime to watch, I'd suggest playing the game first because if you only watch the anime you'll be bound for disappointment.

Danganronpa's story is one of its main attractions: you're trapped in a high school with other students, the only way to get out is to kill someone without getting caught, if the students cannot manage to identify you as they killer they all die, and if you're found out you're executed. Of course this game of death between high school students isn't the most original idea but if you take the mutual killing aspect of Battle Royale and mix it with the mystery solving aspect of Phoenix Wright you're bound to get good results. The premise of this series is actually one of its high points and it's what keeps you clicking on the next episode. In a world where murder is usually frowned upon, one can't help but be interested in seeing how some teenagers (and one really air-headed fortune teller that was held back more times than Kanye West goes on a Twitter rampage) go about in a kill-or-be-killed scenario. I'm sure most of us have all heard of these murder game plots before (Btooom! and Mirai Nikki come to mind), but it's still an attractive idea and I commend Spike for taking a more crime-solving approach with it.

But sadly, a story can't execute itself well without any support which is the downfall of this adaptation. Another reason why this anime was overhyped at first was because of how fantastically the visual novel handled its characters. This is not the case for the anime, however. With only 13 episodes to cover the deaths of, ideally, all but one of the 15 students, you can expect a lot to be lost in the transition from the PSP screen to the TV screen. And without question, a lot is definitely lost. Literally every character in the cast loses the depth they once had in the game. Because moments in between the murders are scrapped to keep the plot moving along within the short span of 13 episodes, the viewer can't form any emotional attachments with any of the characters before they wind up dead. I distinctly remember watching an emotional scene with my friend and she said bluntly "I feel nothing." I don't blame her. A huge reason for Danganronpa's success is how likable and developed all of the characters are. Unfortunately, in the anime they receive little to no development and just kind of tag along for a ride on the plot train. So if a fan of the game comes up to you saying "I love ____! ____ is an awesome character" don't fall into the hype. Chances are they already threw their computer out the window when they watched that character get reduced to a one-dimensional plot device just because the anime couldn't cover the entire game that made them amazing. And don't think I'm just an angry veteran fan complaining about the differences from the game; the characters are definitely one-dimensional and it doesn't take having the game in the back of your mind to know that. If I had a say, the characters in the anime were probably more cardboard than the characters in the game whose sprites basically looked like a One Direction cutout. However, the characters do have their enjoyable moments and you may even start to like some of them. Just don't expect much beyond one iota of development or else you'll be very disappointed with how the characters turn out. They can be lovable and their designs can definitely pull you in. Just a warning, though: all the characters you might like at the beginning may very well end up dead.

Story and characters aside, there's not much left of Danganronpa that can be described as something other than "decent." The art is nothing special. It's not terrible and the characters all actually have great (and sometimes crazy) designs. The art in general wasn't bad at all, just very basic. Other than that, though, there's not much to comment on. You can tell the animation is cheap and there's no real fluid movement (really there's not a lot of movement in general). The only good parts of the animation you'll be looking forward to are the executions which are, you guessed it, pretty much taken directly from the game. The blood is pink which I'm assuming is the anime's way to be faithful to the game's censorship but I was honestly expecting good ol' fashioned red blood this time around to get a more realistic, gore-y feeling. I don't mind pink blood at this point but I'm very aware of how frustrating it can be for people new to the series as it makes the adaptation even more of a joke than some consider it to be.

Speaking of jokes, get prepared for stupid revelations out of nowhere. If you expected a mindfucking, dramatic buildup you've come to the wrong place. I can't stress it enough: if you're looking for stuff like that then go play the game. You'll be much more satisfied. The anime doesn't do a great job of letting the viewer attempt to solve the crime scenes which isn't great as it's the difference between "wow! I can't believe it was ____ all along" and "are you fucking kidding me" kind of reactions.

With that rant out of the way, now for the part I've been waiting to talk about - THE SOUND. I have so many things to say about the sound. The new tracks were mostly sad piano pieces that just contributed to the whole melodrama of the whole thing and the tracks from the game were frequently used out of place. I distinctly remember one of the calmer, peaceful tracks being put in a trial scene. Remember how trials are basically you decided whether you lived or died? Yeah, calm and peaceful isn't the kind of song you want to be going for in that situation. It just kind of ruins the whole intense and stressful analysis that the game executed so well for the sake of...basically nothing. I'm not sure why some tracks were placed in certain scenes but whatever they were aiming to accomplish definitely wasn't working. Don't get me wrong, the songs from the OST are phenomenal and definitely worth a listen. It's enjoyable to hear them when done right in the anime; they're just misplaced a lot of the time. Now, the voice acting is awesome. I'm not completely particular about voices but I do have my preferences and I'll just say that Danganronpa takes the cake. I can't go into too much depth on this part but I think watching the anime will make you realize why I'm saying this as it goes on.

Overall, I'd rate Danganronpa 6/10, give or take a number or two (although it's definitely not deserving of an 8 in my book). Yes, this adaptation has its negatives that still make it look bad without being put next to the game but it can still be an enjoyable series to watch. The plot really is its strong point and the fact that it can potentially keep you interested and watching regardless if you think everything else is bad or not should say something. The OST itself is pretty good (and definitely unique) and the voice acting is amazing. The art and animation is tolerable and the characters aren't particularly deep but still charming. If you're willing to look past all the negatives I'd say have at it, but if you want to see Danganronpa at its full potential I'd say go for the game. My best advice is to not go in expecting much as you'll have your expectations completely obliterated. I can understand why the anime initially got as hyped up as it did but I'm sure if fans knew it was gonna turn out like this we'd glorify it much less but still encourage you to watch it as it is worth watching.

Unless you played the game from the Zetsubou translation, or NIS translation you probably would think this is rushed and has holes, and a bunch of other stuff. But if you play the game you will realize it' actually isn't rushed, but still has some holes. Now I'm gonna try to do this strictly anime.

Story:9/10
Group of highschooler's forced to kill each other. Hell yeah! Story was pretty interesting for those who like mystery solving. Though the story telling in the anime itself was awful. Episode 1 nothing really happened while episode 2 too much happened. Pacing was poorly done. But sadly the problem is this ... anime had a budget that they could pass, and with a slow beginning like that nobody was gonna watch it. I only watched it cause I saw someone die in the first five seconds, and I liked the opening song. It gets me motivated.

Art: 8/10
A lot of people hate on the whole pink blood thing, but I don't actually. Dangan Ronpa isn't a happy go lucky thing. The whole thing is actually pretty dark if you know what all happened besides what the anime, and Dangan Ronpa 1 showed. I believe the pink blood was used to put a happy face on a darker subject. Kinda like joking about a friends puppy dying. Sad subject so you try to make light of it. Besides that whatever the exacutions, and stuff don't really matter. Kinda like the Persona games. Cut scene everyone is drawn differently, nobody says anything about that!

Sound:9/10
Tooken directly from the game so yeah. Opening and ending though were both nice like I mentioned. I actually think this is the first time I mentioned opening and endings in my reviews. I usually only mention background music. I need to remember to do this. Anyway Soraru was awesome with the ending, and the full version of the opening is much better. Though I don't know why they decided on rap music in the opening. Like the ending was kinda 8-bit which the game has pixel character's quite a bit.

Characters:9/10
Unless you play the game, and have the abililty to truly appreciate someones quirks, and personality you probably would disagree with me. Kinda like SDR2 Koizumi how everyone hates her. I love her. Dangan Ronpa games have casts of truly interesting characters. Most of them are misunderstood by both the rest of the cast, and fans. Even Naegi is pretty interesting despite being a stock character. I can't show a example without spoiler's but there's several blogs based around character defense, and stuff.

Overall:5/10
Dangan Ronpa is my favorite game so far. So bluntly.... Screw the anime play the game.

(Edit: When I say "screw the anime" I mean that if you have the means to obtain Dangan Ronpa by vita, or psp emulator don't watch the anime, unless you want to make a comparision. Since this was probably made just to get the game know if your already interested just play the game. Dangan Ronpa was one of the best selling games in Japan when it came out so they probably could have made a better one with the proceeds. The adaption is rushed and basically inferior to the original game in every way. Similar to how Persona 4 was turned into a 22 episode anime and all the social links were finished in a single episode. Each character has 3-6 events in Dangan Ronpa where none of them are shown in the anime. So the anime is the just the story, and nothing else, because of the time restraint it doesn't allow viewers to fully enjoy character and their relationships not only Naegi's but also others that develope over the course of the game. Also investigations are cut down dramatically not only murder investigations, but also exploring new areas. Without knowing all the clues it's impossible to solve the cases. So you won't fully be able to enjoy the mystery's of the game. Unlike how Umineko, had long periods of discussing a single subject covering only two subjects in a episode while Dangan Ronpa covers the whole case. So when I said "screw the anime" watching the anime is pointless unless you can obtain the game since you can't fully enjoy all that Dangan Ronpa has to offer.)

(Edit: I mentioned that the anime wasn't rushed, however I never went into detail about why, so I'm making this edit to do so. The reason why I don't think Dangan Ronpa is rushed is because the original purpose wasn't to fully convey what Dangan Ronpa had to offer. Since the original Dangan Ronpa game was realized I think in 2009 and SDR2 was released in 2012 this anime was made in 2013. Inbetween the game and the anime is a full 4 years which is a rather big time gap. Around the time Dangan Ronpa finished airing Spike Chunsoft release a trailer for Dangan Ronpa Another Episode, and a teaser for Dangan Ronpa 3. Most likely the anime was made souly to bring in more people. Yeah the people who already knew of it hated it, but I found the anime first and didn't think it was bad until I played the game. Both Dangan Ronpa and it's sequal were high selling in each of their years so why couldn't they have made a full 22 episode+ anime? Because it was publicity to hype people up for Dangan Ronpa Another Episode. So if the original goal was to show minimal story then the animation isn't rushed. I'd say they did exactly what they wanted to do.)

There are plenty of reviews on this already that describe the anime overall, and if you really need a number then I'd give it a 3.

I'm just writing this to say; the story in this anime fell through. Supposedly, the story in the game is more developed and I recommend checking that out if you read the blurb on this anime and thought that's exactly what you wanted.


Now the story itself; in a word, broken. The themes it tries to develop amount to nothing and are literally dumped in the last 10 minutes onto the viewer in an attempt to compress 25 hours ... worth of gameplay in less then 5 minutes of summary. The execution of said story, through the murder-mystery plot, is just as broken as the attempt to shoe-horn in a 'deep' message at the end. The characters suffer from 'not-being-characters-at-all' and are simply underdeveloped, apart from the MC, who has a consistent if not completely vapid arch. Nothing shows the complete absence of character more then the 'trial' segments, which as mentioned in other reviews feels rather like the ending to the series in that it feels compressed, rushed and bereft of either meaning or other value. It just a reveal of facts, do a group of characters you don't know or care about to solve a mystery which lacks mystery to in the end hear what could be mistaken for a 10 year olds view of the world.

So as you might have guessed; I really don't recommend this. Having watched this anime before playing the game, I have probably 'spoiled' it, and I advise anyone who reads this to play the game instead if you are at all interested in the story.

Danganronpa: Academy of Hope and Students of Despair. Just from the title of this anime you are intrigued as to what it could be about and as to where it leads to. This anime is basically a mystery genre and I believe it to be very well done. My only complaint that would keep it from being a 10 is the rushed feeling you get. But let's get into this review!

Story: 9
This story has quite a unique setup for animes that I haven't really seen before. Essentially 14 of the best students in their particular areas (Super Duper High School Students) are gathered together along ... with one lucky person to attend this academy that guarantees success in life upon graduation. Everything sounds great until upon entering the school, everyone is knocked out and reawaken to a summoning by the principal who is a talking bear named Monokuma. He informs the students that they are trapped within the school and the only way to escape is to kill another student and not be voted guilty during a trial period in which the whole class participates to try and decide who the murderer was. As the story progresses, it focuses on the murders and mysteries within the school rather than the character interactions as a whole, and the classroom trials that take place, all determining who was the murderer. Quite a unique setup. The murders that take place a well thought out and it is quite difficult to figure out who the culprit is until soon before they announce them,

Characters: 8
Our main protagonist is Makoto Naegi who is the lucky student selected to attend this wonderful academy. His personality on the whole is quite bland, however he does get along well with the rest of the characters and does his job well. Most of the story is told from his perspective and on the whole he is a likeable character. Another notable character includes Kyouko Kirigiri who is extremely cool under pressure and helps Naegi the most in figuring out mysteries. There is a bond of trust between the two developed as their time together increases and they learn to rely on each other, even with the situation they are presented with. On the whole they are memorable characters each with their own specialty area that makes them unique.

Sound + Art: 8
I really enjoyed listening to the Opening and Ending songs for Danganronpa, and the music chosen throughout the anime itself is suspenseful and creates the right atmosphere. The art is quite good as well, particularly with the executions that are done in a cinematic style.

Overall Enjoyment: 9
I really enjoyed watching this anime and finally being able to finish it off. It had me on the edge of my seat, excited for what would come next and how things were going to be solved. If you are into the genre of mystery then I highly recommend watching this anime.

Honestly it’s fine as a recap, but it’s really not a good idea to watch as your first introduction to the series. It’s not a fantastic watch and will spoil the story that’s presented a lot better in game.

The best thing about Danganronpa 1 is the setting and atmosphere but it’s almost impossible to capture that feeling of dread in 13 episodes. It’s made worse because the work it’s adapting is over 20 hours long with a lot of incredibly complicated plotlines and 15 major characters.

As a result all the characters lack depth and each storyline feels very rushed. The villain is somehow made even ... more grating and nonsensical than in the original, and the dub voice acting definitely doesn’t help.

The investigations and mysteries are also a lot less investing because they all happen so suddenly and we really aren’t given the time to really think on the clues for ourselves.

Realistically there was no way to make a story like this into a 13 episode anime and make it anything other than an ok recap of the major plot events. It really needed 24 episodes at minimum.

I really tried to like this anime.

Danganronpa has always been one of my favorite games of all times, each of them creating an exquisite, and eccentric experience that no other game could achieve (other than Ace Attorney). When a Danganronpa anime was announced that recreated the events of the first Danganronpa game, I had such high hopes for this anime to be a smash hit among its audiences, and create newcomers to the Danganronpa community. Unfortunately, my optimism soon turned to pessimism after watching this show.

Story: 3

Don't get me wrong, the original story Danganronpa has been phenomenal. Although the original story still had issues, these ... issues are uncomparable towards the issues presented in the Danganronpa anime. This anime shows these ideals in many different ways that infuriates me to no end. To begin with, they decided to fit a game that takes roughly 30-40 hours to complete into a 13 episode series, meaning that much of its content is completely erased in this series, resulting in an incredibly rushed story that barely provides the suspense and hopelessness presented in the original series.

Art: 6

Nothing much to rant about here. Nothing is really bad enough that hinders the enjoyment of this anime, but at the same time, it doesn't provide any groundbreaking visuals either. It's just average, and I honestly don't have much to say about it.

Sound: 7

Considering most of the tracks originated from the original game's killer soundtrack, there honestly fine with me, but the over reliance of using original music indicated a lack of creativity in the music department. Sound design was mostly on point, but overall average.

Characters: 4

The characters are literally cardboard cutouts. Looking back at the original game, every characters had their characteristics, likes and dislikes, and personal relationships completely flushed out due to being in the form of a game. However, here, the characters don't have the same time to express these characteristics, resulting in rather rushed character arcs, and game elements that decimates even the best of characters. As well, while Monokuma in the original game was incredibly menacing, messed up, and on point with its jokes that puts even the best of Cursed Comments to shame, the Monokuma in the show, in comparison, is bleak to a degree that these two individuals seems like completely different beings. Overall, utter trash characterization, and doesn't hit any of the reasons to what made these characters intriguing. When you somehow make Makoto seem more boring and uninspired than in the original game, you know you've screwed up.

Enjoyment: 1

Considering how badly this show butchers the original characters, settings, plot points, and character developments, I completely hated this anime.

Overall: 4

Giving it a 4 was giving it too much glory. In my opinion, Danganronpa the anime feels like a "toy car." The toy car still presents the shape of the car and most of the features of an actual car, but it doesn't have any of the functions that made the car "work," not to mention its smaller package, and edged down nature to make the car more "friendly for all ages." Unless you don't have time to play the original, don't use this anime as a starting point of the Danganronpa series.

Before I begin my review, I want to say that I am not the most serious critic. I only state my opinions in my reviews, and I don't shove false facts down peoples throats saying the show is bad. With that out of the way, let me start the review.

Danganronpa: The Animation is uh... quite interesting, IF it was done right. This was done absolutely horribly. First of all, this anime is THIRTEEN episodes. And the game has over 20 hours of gameplay. Now, 3 ep - 60, 13 ep, around 4 hour 20 minutes. 20 hours = 4 hours, 16 hours difference. You see ... where I'm getting at? Neither do I. But anyway, this would of been decent if it was at least longer than 13 episodes. It's absolutely garbage because of that reason.

Story: 6/10

The story is actually okay, I don't mind it, yet I've seen a couple of other circumstances like this one. Okay, you've arrived at school. Now, if you can kill someone without getting caught, you graduate, and it's only for my lulz purposes. A bear that runs the school says that. THAT is basically the story. The bear of the school makes an announcement once two or more people find the dead body and then everyone investigates and sees what they can find out.

After they have done enough investigating, they eventually hold a Classroom Trial. If they can identify the killer, the killer is punished, also known as, killed. The killer will be killed if they are identified and if they cannot identify the killer, the killer graduates and everyone else dies instead, maybe, my memory is quite shit.

Art: 8/10

The art style is pretty good, I like how for every death scene they took it straight from the game.

Sound: 6/10

It's okay, but I wouldn't listen to the soundtrack if I was bored. I'd be better off watching Boku no Pico if I was THAT bored.

Character: 4/10

The characters are only absolute garbage because of their non-existent development. In the games, the characters had awesome developments and had great contact with Naegi, in the anime, Naegi talks to the killers about two times before they kill someone and then they die. Well, every character would of been better if they had made the series longer and made them have more contact with Naegi.

Overall: 3/10

Despite giving the story a decent rating, this anime wasn't... too great. No, in fact, it was absolutely horrible. I might rewatch it to remember some things that I forgot in this review, but not for fun. If I wanted to rewatch something for fun, I'd probably watch Lucky Star.

The person that recommended this to me really sold it too much. Here i started expecting real goriness but instead i received airbrushed gory.

STORY: I liked the concept however by the 5th episode i started forcing myself to just carry on and complete it. For some reason it got more and more boresome each episode. They concentrated more on Naige and by the end he was totally annoying with his cheesiness and childish quotes (however throughout they do try to portray them as sophisticated and grown)

GRAPHICS: All i can say is if you are going to do an anime about death and killings, DO ... NOT belittle the act by making the blood pink

OVERALL: Got to learn to force self to drop shows instead of torturing through

My First Review, and can guys give me some advice if you think that i missed something. Arigatou

Danganronpa The Animation: Review

Story:
The story in Danganronpa begins with our main character Makoto Neagi, who is attending a academy called Hope's Peak Academy. He wakes up inside a classroom after getting unconscious and has no memory of what happened, the windows and doors are also closed so he can't escape, and he finds out that he is going to meet the rest of the characters inside a gym. After they resemble they meet a mysteriouse half black white bear called Monokuma.

Monokuma explains to them that the ... only way to to graduate from the academy is to kill one of their classmate. But it is only if the killer doesn't get caught, and all happens in an debate inside a room called Classroom Trial. If they get the right person, he will be executed for disturbing the law, but if they get the wrong person, everyone besides the killer gets executed and the killer are free to graduate.

What I really like with this series is how mysterious it is. And it has a interesting concept to it, killing another classmate without getting caught by the others is so interesing. And it keeps you up to toes, because you might not know who killed that person, and its very interesing to find out who the killer is after revealing them, which most mystery anime isn't that good at, some are but not all. And you get attached to some of the characters throughout the series.

What I don't like however is that they keep mentioning hope and not to lose hope. We knew that since from the beginning, they don't need to mentioning it every single episode. Another thing that I didn't like is that it is rushed, the investigation is like 7 minutes long, and I don't even see the characters bond to each other, which I don't like that much.

6/10

Art/Animation:
When it comes to art and animation, this get to the top. Because the characters doesn't look like each other like they are twins, many of the characters has an interesting art to them. And I love the art and animation style when they debate who the murderer is. And I love espasially the animation and art when a character gets executed. It goes from 2D to 3D art style in the execution, which I find very interesting. And the 3D art style fits the concept aswell.

But what I really like though is that whenever a person says a word, that specific word will pop on the screen, and later on the main character shoots the word, so you can see what flaw a person said.
7/10

Characters:
The characters is probably one of the weakest parts in the anime. You don't see character bond with each other, the only characters I think you can see bonding a little is Naegi and Kirigiri. The characters has a title that they have which are called Super Duper High School Something, which is pretty interesting in my opinion.

And since it is to many characters in the anime and I can't talk about all of them, I will only talk about the important ones. The main character Makoto Neagi is the character that always knows the truth by the end of each debate, I know that the series is based on a game with the character you play as in the same game.

Next up I think is important is Kirigiri Kyouko, Kirigiri is a mysterious girl that you don't know much about until atleast on later episodes, and I find her very interesting because of the mysteriousness, and she is a girl with a calm mind and doesn't panic like the rest of them.

6/10

Sound:
The sound is just your typical mystery kind of show, but the music that most stands out is the main opening, Never Say Never (No its not from
Justin Bieber).

The opening gets you pumped up to each and new episodes in my opinion.

And I really like the music when the character are debating and when they are investigating a crime scene.

6/10

The Overall Results:
The story is a bit rushed and that, but the concept is interesing which will give it a 6/10 points.
The art/animation style is very cool and beautiful to look at, and each character has their own personality and art style, and the 3D art style fits the concept, which I will give it a 7/10 points.
The characters is the weakest in the anime because you don't see any character bonding with each other, but you might like some characters like I do (Kirigiri), which I will give it a 4/10 points.
And last but not least the sound, the sound is you typical mystery show type of music, but you get pumped for each and new episodes because of the opening theme Never Say Never (no not from Justin Bieber again!), and the investigation and the debate musics and good, in my opinion, which I will give it a 6/10 points.