Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation

As someone who has neither played the video game nor even seen the novel versions of Danganronpa, let me just start off with a disclaimer that this review is based solely on the anime itself, without any comparison or reference to other versions.
I think Danganronpa is a masterpiece within itself.
Every single word in this anime is worth hearing, and every single scene is important, so to call it a fast-paced anime would be an understatement. I understand how some people may think the anime progresses too quickly, and that vital scenes such as the trial scenes are rushed too much for the viewer ... to follow adequately, but I had no such problems, and honestly think it differs from person to person, depending on the person's interest in the anime itself.
Danganronpa never fails to drop as many questions as it answers, leaving the viewer in a constant chase for more; more to know, more to see, and more to discover. Every single episode is brilliantly written so that the show itself is a complex web of characters, plots, secrets and twists that leave you wondering about it for hours on end.
There may be arguments that the general theme of the anime is overdone with Battle Royale and the Hunger Games and the like, and that the idea of people killing each other in a game is overrated, but Danganronpa is nothing like either of these examples because it focuses on something that shifts the focus of the entire show; the investigations. As thrilling and exciting and amazing as the murders themselves may be, the trial scenes and investigations are a thousand times better. As a viewer, I found myself debating with myself over possible suspects and trying to pick up on the clues that this show so subtly drops over everything like dew. And though solving many mysteries filled me with absolutely inexplicably strange satisfaction and joy, the show gets more complex as it progresses, and with it, the mysteries and questions get more difficult to solve.
The characters of the show are perhaps my favourite part of the entire series. Throughout the show, every character is designed intricately and with enough care so that not one of them can be deemed "boring." The characters surprise the viewers again and again as new traits surface along the way, and to call them predictable wouldn't be accurate in any way.
Overall, this show has quickly surmounted my list as one of my favourite animes, and I absolutely recommend it to everyone who enjoys fast-paced, clever, genuinely well-written mysteries and thrillers.

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.)

I haven't played the game, so I'll judge this as what is was for me: a mediocre mystery anime.

Danganronpa has an overused but interesting premise, and I was pleasantly surprised (at first) that they included the murder mystery theme to spice up a straightforward battle royale. The problem is that it's frustratingly obvious where the writers have (lazily) covered up massive plot holes. A good mystery has an intelligent villain, the clues and suspects are clearly established early on and the viewer should potentially (shouldn't be easy) be able to guess who the culprit is. The twists in Danganronpa come out of nowhere, and the ... villain often relies on his position of power rather than his own intelligence to get out of sticky situations. Usually I wouldn't mind, but you'd expect more from a mystery villain, especially if he'd agreed to follow the rules of the game!

It's not all bad however; this anime is worth a casual watch if you're into mystery. The side mysteries are quite good, and I thought Monokuma's design was perfect. The saving grace in Danganronpa is definitely the death scenes, which, with beautiful stylised CGI and really unique methods of execution, were pretty damn entertaining.

Personally I don't like this anime, but if you're into mystery give it a shot. It's one of the few that came out this year.

Dangan Ronpa is a really fun, yet dark, emotional, yet humorous anime. The high school setting is really appealing and the mystery element is portrayed flawlessly!

With so many characters it becomes slightly difficult to connect with each one, but if you are interested in it and find time to read wiki articles or play the Dangan ronpa game, the experience of watching the anime will increase drastically. With fun and original plots, villains and protagonists it really is in a league of its own.

I have seen quite a lot of people who dislike the art style, but I find that it stays perfectly true ... to the graphics of the game and has a simplistic charm of sorts.

The censorship also brings a pop art feel into the anime, almost as if it was set in a video game, many people complain about the pink blood, but I really do believe it adds to the 'Dangan ronpa charm.'

I highly recommend this anime to anyone who loves a good mystery and enjoys original plots and concepts that open new worlds of ideas to the viewer.

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.

This anime can be summarized to only two words:

Mirai Nikki: Ace attorney

Was just missing the objections, well they did shout something out during trail but it weren't objection. I was just waiting for Phoenix Wright to show up the last episode...

5/10 - Average, I could see why people liked it, but the Anime lacked in many aspects. The only thing that was enjoyable with the Anime was the characters, but the rest was pretty average.

Despair is something that eats away at your soul until it replaces it completely. However the only way of stopping it is by gripping hope like you would a weapon. As a result you are able to overcome any crisis just as anyone is able to overcome a foe with a weapon. The difference is in the will of every user.

The story is set in an ultra modern academy where the "students" are forced to abide a set of rules that explain the situation they are in. One bad step and death will follow. From that point of view it is not unique, take for ... example SAW. It shares some details with Danganronpa, but SAW covers everything Danganronpa has except for the protagonists comeback that is generally specific to anime.

Artwork is not something that will impress you but I will say this, the characters designs are unprecedented. You can summarize artwork by its non excessive use of colors and lighting and by the pink blood that I would say was used as a form of censor but you would find that hard to believe because of its age rating.

One particular aspect I enjoyed about this anime is the fact that each character is unique with his pros and cons and that fact is indirectly stated in the first episode.
Also the level of predictability is extremely low, so from this point of view it is like a stream of cold water in an arid desert.

In spite of my seemingly pessimistic words from above I have enjoyed watching this anime because of the detective thinking that puts facts head to head in order to assemble the truth. It is one of the things I like doing. So if you share my taste in this matter I can assure you that Danganronpa is a worthwhile anime that creates a quality enjoyment level.

I DID NOT PLAY THE GAME
That said, I noticed that this anime got a lot of negative reviews from people who actually did play the game. So I am going to speak about it solely based on that.

Story: 7
You could tell a lot of thought was put into the story. The concept of a battle royale where people have to kill each other is nothing new. But they blended it with murder mystery which I like. The murders were also very well thought out. But the problem was that there wasn't very much character (I will get to that later), and there was very ... little put into the investigations. We get to see all of the evidence, but we didn't get much time to dwell on it. The only time we got to think about the evidence was the actual trial itself. I would have liked more time, which could have been solved with a higher episode count.

Art: 8
These character designs were brilliant. The trial and execution animation was also great. I've heard fans of the original say that they are just traces of the video game footage, but I don't see anything wrong with that. It's breathtaking, so I'm not surprised they traced it. I can see the disappointment, but I'm not surprised they did it. That said, the rest of the animation is nothing special. Just run of the mill anime animation with limited movement and occasional stills.

Sound: 10
Holy crap this is some really good music. I heard a lot of the video game fans complaining that the episode 1 opening was a rip off of the original video game opening. I looked it up, and they're right. On it's own, I would have called it really good, but then I saw the original one. And the anime just did a cheap rip off of it. The anime only opening wasn't too bad, but the original video game opening can't be touched. The soundtrack was flat out amazing. I hear that was taken from the game too.

Character: 5
Besides leaving out time for investigations, this is the biggest place the anime tripped up. The character designs were amazing, so I was left curious and wanted to learn about almost everyone. But then I never got to learn about anyone. So when someone died I would think "aw, I like that design". But then I didn't feel much about the loss of the character themselves. I felt a little bad about the deaths in the first and second trials, but besides that, I didn't feel much at all. I heard the game hand "free time events" where you got to learn about the characters, but these were not in the anime. Again, with a higher episode count, this could have been solved.

Enjoyment: 7
I did not play the game, so for me, this was a really cool experience. The murders were great, the visuals were good, and music was great. I absolutely loved it. But the flaws did poke at really badly, and areas left me disappointed. Most of the video game fans said it was a terrible adaption. I think it was just hampered by an episode limit.

Overall: 7
The anime had a lot going for it. But the main issue was lack of bonding/development with the characters. The build up for the trials through investigation was also extremely rushed. All of this could have been fixed with a larger episode count. The video game fans seemed tortured by the fact that the game was so rushed. I can understand why they would be bitter. But as a stand alone product it is not bad at all. It is a shame, because if this had 26 episodes instead of just 13, this show could have easily gotten a 9. Regardless, I do think the show is worth a watch.

Spoiler Free / Bite-Sized Review

Honestly the anime adaptation is fine, but there are some notable differences from the game. Due to the source material being give or take 24 hours long, they had to drop a lot, and I mean a LOT of character development. Some small changes were made to fit the source material into 13 episodes, but overall they don't affect the plot in any negative way. Also, it should be noted that out of the games entire dub cast, only Makoto, the main protagonist, makes a return in the anime. All in all if you're going to into this without having played ... the game it's probably pretty good, but it pales in comparison to the source material. If given the option, I would highly recommend playing Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Thank you for taking the time to read this review.

Danganronpa ah... if you wanna start with danganronpa go play game instead beacuse here everything is idk "rushed"? game is about 20h of experience you can collect presents,fill report cards of characters etc. if u skip all of that you can complete game in about 16-17h i think and they make 13 episodes of 16-17h game so every searching for evidence is very fast they can found evidence in about 3-5 minutes while in game is around i think 10-15 minutes and every character is pretty flat i mean in game you can have interactions like giving presents and have time with them (when i ... describe this pretty sounds like waifu simulator lol) and here they just cant give us this interactions beacuse is all optional. so just play game instead and maybe after that watch anime. so yeah and i still love characters like monokuma or kyoko i bought monokuma plush around 3y ago so maybe now i gonna buy kyoko figure hmm

First review ^^

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Alright so this review is soley based on the anime, I have not played the games or have watched a playthrough at all.

Danganropa is a pretty decent anime with a nice little mystery built up in it, a lot of people don't like it, mainly people who have played the games first.

Story (9)

The entire premise is very interesting, kids getting locked up in a school forced to kill each other and only one will be allowed to graduate. Only thing that knocks it off from being a 10/10 is the little twist at the end where the world went to shits, ... kinda came out of nowhere. But yeah, amazing story

Art (7)

Nothing mind boggling fantastic but its pretty good with some character designs like Sakura being very cool looking. Ishimaru's white haired alter ego is also very nicely animated. Only thing that wasn't that good was the weird animation style they used during excecutions. It was nice at first with Leon's death, but as the deaths got more and more strange, the animation lost it's luster.

Sound (6)
Most of the show had no background music playing at all which is kind of lazy, along with the ending theme being pretty mediocre, the only thing saving this was the banger opening. I love the rap tunes on a Japanese show.a

Character (8)
My main issue with this anime is that it is only 13 episodes, leading none of the early death characters to be really fleshed out. When Leon died, I felt nothing towards it because his only character was that he was mentioned to play baseball. In fact, Leon, Aoi, and Hagakure never really got to show what their strengths are other than the show just telling us. But the characters that we did get to learn about, were awesome! My favorite character being Ishimaru, he's just so extra XD.

Enjoyment (8)
I really enjoyed the anime! The mystery had a really nice build up to keep me engaged, and the show getting darker as the episodes went on was really awesome to watch, along with the trials leading me to play along with the characters!

Overall (7)
Perfectly decent anime but the mediocre sound, limited use of characters and generic art did not really help it, but the story and characters were awesome!

Well, just realized that Kyouko is a main character now.

Danganronpa is a well game based anime, or we can say it's a survival game anime. Not bad though, but i feel something odds.

Story:
Kill and win, this survival game's just like others for sure, such as Mirai Nikki. Just don't be caught or you'll die. After all, maybe it's more like a quiz game than a survival game, find the killer and you win. But, why such a mystery solving anime like this has only 2-5 minutes time of investigation and fortunately get all the clues? It's too rushing for me. Or I can say that ... the trial time is the investigating time itself.

Art:
Love the character design, and I like the art changed when execution declared. You can find out the characters' characteristics just look from their appearance. Colorful, but i don't like the color of the purple blood. It just clean out the psychological genre.

Sound:
I don't really like the OP, altough it's fitted to a game genre anime. The voice acting is great enough, fit with the character itself. Monokuma's voice is a nice one.

Character:
Well, i like when there's some characters those have more than one personality. Junko is the example. And there are 2 traps included, it just make this anime is so colorful with the character.

Enjoyment:
Who loves survival game will love this i think. But for me, I just enjoy watching the trial and execution time.

Overall: 7/10
Danganronpa has its good and bad things inside. Maybe if it developed to become a 24 episodes anime, that'll be great and no brief investigation anymore. I'm not really enjoying this but I like it.

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

(I try to keep my reviews short and sweet and straight to the point without giving away spoilers with that said lets get this show on the road)

Story line- The story is definitely unique, however the plot needed some work. Even though the plot was clear it was hard to understand at some points. For example the overall reason for an issue to present itself was lack explanation. Furthermore I believed that the conclusion was rushed just to end it. Nonetheless, I believe that overall the story line was filled anticipation which I enjoyed.

Art & Sound- The art was modern, however at some points video ... game visuals appeared.

Character- Their was a character for ever type of personality. I liked how some of the characters were relatable. Their personalities really compliments each other.Essentially they all have a role to play.

Enjoyment- I really liked this anime, it introduced an new concept to the anime world. It blended mystery, psychology and horror so well and the transitions were nicely done.

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.

Even though I have already played the game before watching this, I do my best to write a review on the anime itself and not do the annoying thing of comparing the anime with the game. Seriously, though, about every post here does a very good job of ruining the excitement for future watchers.

Story (9/10) If you're looking for anime that makes you think and think and think and when you're sure of something then it blows all over your face, this is definitely a watch for you. I admit, the mysteries are not all that...mysterious. It's not hard to figure out by yourself. It ... has those moments where something will totally take you by surprise and will make you want to cry and giggle at the same time and puke on a unicorn. (It's how I felt HAHAHAHAHA) Anyway, I absolutely do not regret watching this.

Art (9/10) The art is amazing. Though it does not's not really as good as other animes such as SnK or whatever, the thing that stands out here most is the way the characters are portrayed. They really did a good job of making sure that each and every character has a different kind of expression when they react to something. The way the places were drawn were also very cool and fitting to the theme. And who doesn't love Monokuma?

Sound (8/10) Nothing seemed out of place when it came to the background music. It all fits in nicely. I personally enjoyed the creepy music thing they got going on, but I advise you not to watch it by yourself at night. >:) The opening that was used (Never Say Never) was really awesome. Some episodes didn't have an opening song though. But it's all good.

Character (8/10) At first, there were so many characters that I had trouble keeping up with them. I had to hit pause everytime a new character introduced himself/herself, since I was somehow used to there being at the most, five main characters in an anime. But by the time I was somewhere in the middle of the episodes, I had already memorized their names. I can't say why I rated the characters so high without spoiling stuff for you so see for yourself! :D

Enjoyment (8/10) I reeaaally enjoyed watching this anime though I'm sure not everyone would think the same. It's too short, though. It is honestly one of my favorite anime this season. Though it has a mysterious theme to it, there are funny moments where you just have to laugh. The animation is really refreshing too.

Overall (8/10) I'm crushed by all these negative reviews. I mean, I played the game beforehand but that didn't stop me from enjoying it to its last moments. I recommend this anyone who likes mysteries and survival game stuff.. and people who like diversity when it comes to characters. I know some of them are a little cliche, but there's so many of them. It's really fun to watch them interact with each other.

"What do you want to make us do?"
"What I want to make you do? Well, I want to... make you all despair. That's all."

Now that, that sent a chill down my spine as it was being said, just such a depressing thing to say, that's all.

Becoming accepted into one of the most, if not the most prestigious high schools in the country by sheer luck, what could go wrong? Well, most likely everything, to be honest. So much for being classified as the Ultimate Lucky student, Makoto Naegi.

As I have been watching this anime, I have been playing the visual novel at the same time, ... mainly because I was very curious to see how each would compare with one another. However, the review here is for the anime and I will merely occasionally reference the visual novel here and there.

Story: 7/10

Here, in Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation, we have a group of high school students, supposedly the best of the best at what they do (e.g. ultimate swimmer, ultimate programmer, ultimate gambler, etc.), and are chosen to attend Hope Peak Academy, an academy that guarantees one success in the future if he/she can graduate. However, if only things were that peachy keen, no? To graduate, one has to commit a murder and get away with said murder, something that is not exactly sane, nor something high school students should be participating in.

Now the whole concept of murder mystery is nothing new, basically survival of the fittest and wittiest, so it all depends on the execution. What makes or break these type of series is the, so to say, execution of the series. In the case of the anime, we have a typical "whodunit"/courtroom drama plot as we experience the story mainly through the protagonist, Makoto Naegi, as he tries to figure out how to escape from hell without having other people try and kill each other.

I think for me what makes this experience so special is the fact that we are dealing with potential high school students. Most other series usually deals with adults and whatnot, so it was definitely in a way refreshing, for a lack of better terms, to see how the ultimate high school students would be affected. Other than that, it is pretty much another murder mystery series, a series that I definitely do enjoy watching, but was nothing too different.

My biggest problem with the story was the pacing. I feel like it progressed way too quickly and because of this pace, it was difficult to set up an atmosphere of suspense and we were just barraged with a copious amount of information. However, take what I say with a grain of salt because for a good while, I played the visual novel first, so I kind of more or less already knew what was going to happen, but regardless, when the scenes presented themselves, I still enjoyed them very much. But the plot twists are real

Art: 9/10

Now regarding the art, the biggest difference I think I saw was that the anime was a tad bit brighter, though I will need to make that comparison again. Other than that, the anime stayed pretty faithful to the artwork of the visual novel and even recreates some of them using very similar if not the same art style. The artwork in general looked very crisp and clean when things were pretty happy and whatnot and then looked very grimy and dark and depressing when a murder did take place and not once was I not fascinated by what I was seeing. Such appropriate usage of different art styles when necessary definitely makes this one not an eyesore to see. However, I do question the usage of pink blood, that, I still do not why was used.

Regarding the artwork of the characters, they were very well done and it was definitely easy to distinguish one from another. Their designs are still deeply engraved in my head and hell, even characters who briefly show up are still fairly distinguishable and have somewhat unique design to them.

Yeah, you can tell, I am not very proficient in describing art, all I can say is it pays homage to the visual novel and that it is very nice to look at, very memorable and enjoyable to experience.

Music: 10/10

Now the music is what definitely, for me, brought the anime that one extra step. It definitely pays homage to the visual novel and in a way reminded me of the anime Persona 4 the Animation where sometimes remixes or direct renditions of songs from the source material were implemented. When nothing serious is going on and everyone is having a good time, very playful and calming music plays and when something terrible was going to or was happening, the music suddenly took a dip and was just depressing to listen to. However, the series took a turn sometimes and when something serious was happening,you would have somewhat cheerful and playful music, as if to mock what is really happening and that everything to the mastermind, otherwise known as Monokuma, who I will describe later, is having a great time and that all of it really is a game.

The opening is so memorable as we have an English rap sung by actual Americans with lyrics that are actually referencing hope and whatnot despite the whole series focusing on despair and a lack of hope; not to mention, the opening is very similar to the opening of the visual novel, referencing all the characters and whatnot and scenes present in the series. The opening sounds like as if there is really hope, but is that true? Who knows, who knows.

Regarding the ending, I love how they decided to employ the utaite Soraru. For those who are fans of utaite, you will understand how amazing something like this is. An utaite is pretty much a person who covers songs, mainly, but not limited to, Vocaloid songs and post them on Nico Nico Douga, probably the most popular Japanese video sharing website, very similar to YouTube. But that aside, the ending is memorable in the sense that is has very retro theme to it, kind of like a very old video game in the 70s or 80s, and surprisingly fit the theme really well.

Overall, excellent music that definitely is very appropriate and memorable and even when not appropriate, just makes the situation that much creepier.

Characters: 8/10

Oh boy, the characters. Now despite having a multitude of characters to focus and keep track of, many of them are pretty memorable. Each of them are definitely defined by their "ultimate" characteristics and with it, gives them their individual personalities. Every single one of them is very different from one another and it makes it very easy to keep track of who is who. While the anime does not go into detail as the visual novel does regarding each of the characters, obviously due to a lack of time, each one is still easily distinguishable and memorable.

Now what makes these characters so special is the voice actors. They chose some of the best voice actors (e.g. Hikasa Yoko, Megumi Ogata, Nobuyo Ooyama, Chiwa Saito, Kousuke Toriumi, Kujira, Kazuya Nakai, Akira Ishida just to name a lot) and each one of them just absolutely brings their characters to life. It is just very difficult to describe in detail how the voice acting was done, but all I can say is that it is beyond excellent and is definitely one of the selling points of the anime.

And now, the character of interest, Monokuma. He is definitely what makes this show so special and quite interesting to watch. He is definitely by far one of the most evil characters of all time and I think is like another Jigsaw, someone who greatly takes pleasure in the suffering of others and a murder here and there just means more fun. I still have a hard time believing that voice actor for Monokuma, Nobuyo Ooyama,also did the voice of the lovable Doraemon, just let that sink in for a while.

Enjoyment: 9/10

Did I enjoy this anime? Of course I did. Do I recommend others to watch it? If you like a pretty okay murder mystery, go for it. While I do not guarantee a completely in depth analysis and experience like that of Monster or the visual novel itself, it is still a relatively enjoying anime to watch. As I always tell people, I am quite easily entertained and something like a murder mystery, whether executed excellently well or not, is still a joy for me to watch. Even knowing what was going to happen, it was because of the excellent execution that made the series still quite enjoyable to experience a second time. The music is golden, the artwork is very appropriate, the characters are all memorable and distinct, and with a pretty entertaining story, I do think this is a series that the average user can enjoy; just look past the pretty fast story line and a bit lack of detail for every character and I do think this experience can be enjoyable.

Danganronpa is a great anime. Yes, it is true that the plot is very exploited in anime, the plot of you have to kill people or this people will kill you like in Btooom!. Danganronpa takes it to another level you have to vote the criminal and it has to be in a debate, this makes it more hardcore and more enjoyable but don´t expect to bite your nails with it. Great animation As reference to videogames because we don´t have to forget that this anime is an adaptation of a videogame, makes reference to the 8 bit videogames of the NES. And finally ... and for me the most outstanding thing of this anime is MONOKUMA. Monokuma is a great character, in any time you expect a little kawaii teddy bear to be so sadistic and so frivolous, this anime gains a lot of points with Monokuma. This is the only great character the other ones are very... meh... And finally the most horrible thing of this anime is the main character. Awful, AWFUL.

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.

First review and all, I will like to say I never even heard of the games let alone the manga and because of that this anime is a straight up 10 for me. I think that is the entire point of this anime, to introduce people who have never heard of it and change that fact. I'm not even going to explain anything else about why I loved this anime so much. All I am going to say is this.

If you have no idea what the name Danganrompa means, watch it.

If you are a fan of the games/manga, judging from the reviews who are the ... same, don't bother.