Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation

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.

I love the Danganronpa games, and actually, this is what introduced me to the series. After staying up to binge-watch it all night, I found it to be pretty good, albeit a little rushed. After purchasing the game and playing through that, I dislike the anime adaptation. The art seemed messy and the profiles were god-awful, which I could endure, but it all seemed to end too quickly. There was much to explore in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, but the anime left out some things in which should have been there. I still love the series, and I will for a long time, but I ... think they could have tried a bit harder.

Personally, as someone who hasn't played the game, I enjoyed it. From what I understand, the game is way more amazing, but this anime, from my standpoint at least, was pretty awesome.

I like the way the classroom trials were set up. It was interesting, and I haven't seen anything like that in an anime before. I also think it was fun to try to solve the mysteries as the story progressed.

Admittedly, the plot didn't seem to be paced very well, but other than that, I don't have any real complaints.

DISCLAIMER: This is coming from someone who has played the game.

Danganronpa is a very popular Visual Novel mixed with puzzle and adventure.
Because it was so popular, they thought they'd make an anime, so that you could watch Makoto solve the mysteries on your TV screen.
Today I am going to review Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation, one of my most favorite game series and anime.

Story: 9/10
The story follows Makoto Naegi, who gets chosen to attend the elite High School, Hopes Peak Academy, where only the people, who are the best in their field, for example cooking or swimming, are taken. But ... all takes a turn to the bad, because the students have to kill each other to get outside. The story is very interesting and makes you want to know what's the purpose of the game.
The only problem I can see in the story, is that it is too rushed. You don't get to see much of the investigations and there is not much character development, but I'll get to that later. But overall, I really enjoyed the story and how it turned out.

Art: 10/10
I really enjoyed the art. I have never seen an anime drawn like this.
It had a very colorful style and the way they handled the blood was also really cool. I liked how they handled the class trial. they made it look a little like the game.

Sound: 10/10
This must be one of my most favorite soundtracks. It fits perfectly to the story and characters and gives you a mysterious feeling.
The opening was OK, but I wouldn't want to listen to it again. It didn't fit very good to the theme the story was giving us.
The ending however, was extremely good and one of my most favorite ending songs. It fit perfectly to the story and gave you the feeling of wanting more.

Characters: 8/10
I think the biggest problem with this series are the characters. Not because their annoying or stupid or have no purpose, it's because they have no time to develop. In each episode (except episode 1 and a few others), they solve a crime where one or more characters are killed, leaving no time for plot development of the students in the episodes. But overall, the characters were very enjoyable to watch.

Enjoyment: 10/10
I literally couldn't stop watching this series. It got me hooked, even if I knew already how it ended.

Overall: 10/10
It wasn't as good as the game, but it was enough to get me hooked. I really enjoyed it.

For more recommendations, I point to:
-Akuma no Riddle, having the same theme, only that 12 killers are trying to kill one victim.
-Mirai Nikki, having a survival theme, but with more brutality.
-Another, going more in the horror genre, but has a small theme of survival.
-Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, more in the horror/gore genre, but goes into the survival theme in some arcs.
-Corpse Party, has a survival theme, but with much more gore/splatter.

Thanks for taking your time and reading my review. ;)

I really loved Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. It was an impressive game with compelling gameplay and storyline. However, it's anime counterpart definitely under-performed. The anime itself felt very rushed, and trying to fit the whole game into 13 episodes was a challenge in and of itself. I don't have much to say on the art, but it felt choppy paired with the executions, which came directly out of the game. The dubbed cast was mediocre, I was expecting a little more diversity, and maybe some not well known VA's? The characters were beautiful. Each one had a different personalities and I felt a deep ... connection to all of them, no matter how much screen time they received. Overall, the characters were well rounded and well crafted. Besides the quality, the storyline matched that of the game. It kept me on the edge of my seat, and was suspenseful as ever. Overall, it's nowhere near the quality of the game. I'd only recommend it if you don't have the system required to play Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. I was expecting better, and hopefully the anime adaption of the second game (if made,) will be better.

I have never even heard of this anime in my life until now. I loved the different styles of art used through out Danganronpa. As well as the story. I would always assume one thing and the anime would immediately go the opposite, which would conclude a better story. The characters were also well done. I could connect to the characters within the first episode and so on it would get stronger. Overall, it was a good anime and I highly recommend it to people who can accept the outcome of the characters without hating it.

... If someone really likes Saw, the movie, then this is an anime for you. This will really tug at your heart and make you go through emotional switches from hell, meaning that there are so many it hurts.

Alright so the anime men are sitting round a table and one of the dudes is like:
"Shit they want a 25 hour game into 13 episodes what the shit are we gonna do"
and one guy stands up and he's all like:
"DON'T WORRY"
"I GOT IT"
"Instead of showing the investigation scenes..."
((mind you, the investigation is pretty important in a "murder mystery")
"we'll just make a shitty montage."


... That's right folks, a murder mystery story about investigating and piecing together the facts where all of the investigation is done in shitty montage.

It is exactly as bad as I've made it out to be.


Play the game, it's soo much fucking better it's not even funny.

((there's a lot of other shit that's kinda dumb but all of the stupidity pales in comparison to the disaster that is the investigations))

So starting this show, I had mixed feelings about it, as I had been given different impressions of it. Many reviews that I'd read told me that the show was mediocre,but most of my friends seemed to have enjoyed it. I guess it made it all the more fun to watch, because I had this feeling similiar to the one you feel when you watch a show you know nothing about. Since I had mixed "reviews" on it, I really was excited to watch it and formulate my own opinion.

So here we go! Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation, mostly known ... as Danganronpa The Animation, or simply Danganronpa!

Story: 7

As you probably know,this show is based on a game,that goes by the same name (Danganronpa). In fact, this show uses the same plot as the game, and that plot is really interesting and complex. The concept is preety good and the mistery side of it really keeps you interested. Here's the catch: The plot is so complex and so big that the producers couldn't make it fit on 13 episodes, and so the plot feels somewhat rushed and gets a little underdeveloped, which is a real shame, since the plot IS very good. So good that being underdeveloped still earns a 7 on my board.

Art: 7

The Art for this show is good, not great, but good.And here's why: It uses a lot of the art and scenes of the game, which makes it a little sketchy. I feel like it could have used more original art, as some art sequences didn't make as much sense on the show as they did on the actual game. Other than that, the show improves on the art of the game while staying true the designs and scenarios,which is really good!

Sound: 6

Let me say this: I found the choice of the English opening really interesting, it's not something you see everyday as the original opening. And in my opinion, it was very good, bravo. It was a risk, but they did a very good job. The voice casting was great and I felt like the voices really suited the characters. They ARE the same as the ones in the game,so they couldn't really mess up there as long as they kept the voices,which they did (Keep in mind that I've watched the Japanese audio version). As for the music: it's okay, it doesn't really stand out but it doesn't get in the way either. All of this results in this grade for this subject.

Character: 8

The characters are very,VERY, interesting. The whole idea of gathering students with different talents is a cool thing,and the development of them is very good...for some of them.And that's why this category doesn't score any higher.It suffers from the same problem as the plot:it's rushed. The character development could have been better and it would have made the show much better. Some characters do get some development, but others are just kind of there. For some of them, we don't even see them using their talent or, you know, attempting to.Which is shame, because the characters have good designs and ideas behind them and could have been great with some more work.

Enjoyment: 9

All this categories aside, I really liked the show. The concept was solid, the characters were likeable and the show is enjoyable to watch. I was on a run of more happy shows so this came in a very good moment for me to like it, so maybe that influenced my enjoyment, even tough I think this grade wouldn't change much if I watched it in another period. There isn't really much to say when trying to explain "personal enjoyment",so this is all I can really say (sorry!)

Overall: 7,4 -> 7

Danganronpa is a good show for people who like violent shows and/or mystery shows. It is under developed,yes,but it still does a good job on delivering the overall plot and entertaining the viewer.So I still recommend you watching this show, especially because the new seasons are supposed to be very good!So give it a try,it IS only 13 episodes long.Chances are you'll end up liking it!

**THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS**
**DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOT PLAYED THE GAMES!!*

tl;dr : DR is a very enjoyable and quite suspenseful series with a wacky sense of humor that is dark in some senses, interesting and fun character designs that take a spin on the stereotypes of your usual anime characters in a high-school anime, however, the anime falls short with some of the character's lack of personality and the fact some of the story is hard to keep up with.

**STORY**

The story in this anime is one of the key features to why it is so great. If you didn't know, the main premise ... is about a bunch of elite high-school kids who are forced to kill each other in order to leave the hellish school and graduate. Not only that, but you need to not be /caught/. If someone fails to identify you as the murder, you live, and the others die.

There is a lot more to the premise, as that is only scratching the surface to this somewhat original take on the popular One Man Left type of story telling used in most horror. However, if there was a few things about the story or how different parts of the premise was handled, it lies in the investigations.
In my opinion, I feel like the investigations are a bit short-lived and need to be stretched out with a bit more spice to make it quite interesting and kinda fun to figure out.

However, in this case, most investigations are just some of the characters walking around explaining some topics about the murder scene while the show gives us details about the things surrounded around the murder scene. I would of liked more mystery, which is saved by the classroom trials. (I'll get to those later, I promise). And, while I'm not thirsting for more in the investigations, I do agree they could of been done a lot better.

And, then there is some parts of this show that are very hard to follow, and I had to replay short moments of the episode or ask a friend about what the flying hell was going on because of how weirdly it was described to me, a viewer. This is mostly show in the two ending episodes where everything is unfolded like a blanket of sorts, if I can find a good comparison.

I found it quite frustrating and a bit unenjoyable for me to sit through because of how hard it was for me to understand all the things that was being thrown at me.

As for classroom trials, these were quite interesting, but got somewhat mundane after a few times. While the saving grace in this is the ability for the creators to build together good plot twists and interesting debates in these trials, in the two final episodes, the trials came off as...boring.

This is a bit of a nitpick, which is why it doesn't really affect the rating of the story, but I feel in some of the episodes, the characters overreact to some of the most weirdest things. For example, in the first episode, everyone freaked out over the video tape of their parents. I remember one of the characters taking it to the extreme by screaming and running away and crying.

It wasn't like the characters were dying, or the parents were dying, in fact, it was just a video of them standing in a well-lit room cheering the characters on before it shifted into a weird land. This is well explained later down in the show where it's revealed the world is in shambles, but the characters simply didn't know that before that was revealed to them. It just seemed unrealistic to me.

Another thing to note too is the fact that the execution scenes, while some do a good job of showing some brutal yet satisfying death scenes, some of them fall short. I feel like the writers and creators could of done a better job at making the execution scenes and how to make them satisfying and brutal.
I'm not sure if the execution scenes are from the game or not, because if so, then I can't really say much about it, but if not, then I think it's a problem that should be fixed.
Overall, the story is a 8

**Art**

The art in this anime is very good in my opinion, and it shows to have a distinct art-style in comparison to the moe and average schoolgirl anime you'd see these days. The character designs are very interesting and well done, as you can tell their personalities from how they look.

For example, Sakura. You can tell from her rough and tough look, yet her innocent image with the simple slip of schoolgirl clothing she is tough yet sweet on the inside with feelings. And, with Togami, that he is a smartypants that strives to be the smartest out of the group, and it goes on. The artists did their jobs in terms of character design, however, if I had to be honest, some of the character designs are not very original.

This is mostly shown in characters like Naegi, who is just your typical teenage boy. However, even then with very uninteresting character designs, I still found there to be personality in how they were handled. Naegi is small and cowardly, kinda like how his character designs show him off to be.

And, one of my favorites in terms of character designs, Monokuma, as he is perfectly illustrated. It fits his character very well, and makes him part of why he is one of the best characters to a lot of DR fans in the series.

In terms of animation, the animation hasn't really bothered me, as it's really just average in terms of how smoothly it moves and how it's drawn in most shots. The characters were very well-drawn, and the scenes where the animation shines brightly the most is in execution scenes.

You can clearly see that they put effort into making a twisted, whacky fun-fest of horror in these executions. All the way from the artstyle and how descriptive and spooky it is all concocted, to how the animation is shown. Stilted, yet it fits. It fits well.

Overall, the animation isn't anything special to be considered beautiful or outstanding, but is it great? In some cases, hell yeah. The executions, the classroom trials and how stylized some of the scenes are make it quite an interesting treat to snack on while watching.

**SOUND**

I don't really /care/ about sound when it comes to anime, as it really depends on how well I can hear the characters and if they are crystal clear or just plainly hard to see. In this anime, there isn't much to say about in terms of sound.

I can hear everything from the character's voices, and it's very crystal clear. Nothing else. However, you can tell that the staff put some effort into the sound. A good example is if they are in a large room, like the cafeteria, you can hear their voices echo throughout whenever they yell loudly. While I do admit that it goes away and it's short-lived, it's neat.

And surprisingly, the dub is good. It's decent. It's the version I watched, and it was fairly enjoyable, especially the English role of Monokuma, in which the voice actor portrays his character very, very well and it's one of the reasons that Monokuma hits powerful in this anime in terms of character.

So, 9.5 out of 10. Not much to say.

**CHARACTER**

This is the strongest point in the entire anime. Besides Story and the art, this is one of the reasons why DR is so special. The characters to be summarized, are basically stereotypes of your average anime based on a high-school. Except, the creators actually try to develop them somewhat.

You can actually care about the characters in this, despite being a spin on the stereotypes used in boring, uninteresting characters. Characters like Yamada or Sakura who are usually just underdeveloped personality types in some other animes are used in a way where you can kinda root for them.

However, there are some problems in the character department. For example, Naegi. Naegi, in my opinion, is the weakest character in this story. He has no personality, as he brings nothing new to the table. Unlike characters like Celestia who bring an interesting, new personality to take in as you watch the story unfold in front of you, Naegi is just there.

We don't know much about his past in this anime, as it's rarely dived into. And, that brings up one of the biggest problems in the character department. They are very uneven in terms of how much they work out the characters.

Some of them are developed and are given a past, while some remain blank and just stuck with that boring, stereotypical personality. The creators didn't give enough time to stretch out the characters at least a little bit equally so we could learn more about them, as if your characters are what the entire thing is about, it's important to set aside a good understanding of the characters.

Naegi and the love interest that is first shown at the beginning are the biggest offenders of the no-personality rule. But, despite some of the rough patches in character development, you get very, very enjoyable and entertaining characters that make watching DR a blast for me.

Monokuma is one of the best villains I have ever seen in a show in a long time in my opinion. He's snarky, he's rude, he's funny, yet he's strangely cute. And, this goes along with his character design and his voice-acting, and every inch of detail put into this character makes him pack a powerful punch, and he is one of my top five favorites.

Overall, despite some of the rough patches, the cast of characters are bright and interesting. 9 out of 10.

**ENJOYMENT**

I had an absolute blast watching this anime. Not only because am I a fan of the whole One Man Standing formula sometimes used in horror media, but because of the characters and how well they were laced together into the horrifying situations thrown at them throughout the story.

The suspense in this was great in my opinion, and a lot of the drama and plot twists that were thrown at me had me stuffing popcorn down my throat and my eyes widening in surprise. The aspects of intensity, mystery, truth, suspense of horror made this fun to watch for me and it's why it's one of my favorite animes.

My only issue with the enjoyment is, like I said, near the end of the series, 11-13. Through then, the plot takes a slight dip in terms of enjoyment, and as I mentioned in the story, it's very hard to follow some of the plot that is going on during the episode, making me having to restart parts of the episode to fully gather and process all the information that is thrown at me.

However, problems like these often track down to one thing. How much that is being thrown at me, how uneven the character development is. It all comes down to the thirteen episodes. The fact that they were just...thirteen episodes. While, I feel like the story wasn't really rushed and I enjoyed the pace it went by, some of the problems I listed would not be as major if there was more space and time to give more of the characters development and to slowly feed the information of a classroom trial or investigation to the viewer to fully chew. Due to the short times and episodes, of course, we are going to have rushed and fast-paced classroom trials to try and get through without wasting too much time for the next episodes.

Despite this, I found the anime quite enjoyable and a blast to watch. It was a great introduction back into the anime world, as this has proven to strike a path for more great anime shows to come my way.

**OVERALL: VERDICT*

With this show, I think I feel a light eight to a somewhat strong nine. Somewhere in the middle, a 8.5, to be exact. Overall, the show is very enjoyable and was great to watch. As a fan of horror, it certainly did not disappoint me, and I recommend you go and watch it to if you're looking for wacky humor, suspense, drama or you just love horror overall.

This is my first review, by the way, so I apologize if some of my reasoning is flawed or bias, or I'm being too generous in terms of how I rate the series. But, this is what I feel deep down inside when I take a look at this anime.

Anyways, it's 12:30, and it's time I end this review...here.

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.

Not going to lie; I like my dystopian thrillers like everybody else does, and if you don't then you have problems and I am giving you a diagnostic of 'Anime Killjoyitus' a rare but treatable disease for fellow otakus. But unfortunatly, not many are done right. On top of my head the only three I can think of are Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star), Helsing and this: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc!

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (or in Japan Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei...not saying that again) is a dystopian thriller with lolicon, horror and even shonen elements added into it. ... It is probably one of the only visual novel adaptions I quite like, and joins the hall of the honoured like Fate/Stay Night UBW and Persona. It is grim, it is dark, it is grimy but on the flip side it is funny, enjoyable, and it speaks to some of our darkest desires.

Wait, what? I am about to explain myself! Danganronpa is about 16 students trapped in a school by the headmaster, Monokuma (a half-black half-white robot who (and I quote) is your headmaster and not a bear) and the only way to escape is by killing everybody else. But get found out during a 'class trial' you get executed in the most inventive executions I have ever seen along with some of the best animation to acompany that.

The main character is Mokoto Naegi, and together with the mysterious Kyoko Kirigiri, the stubborn schoolboy Byakuya Togami, the shy, but cold Toko and her murderous other-half Genocide Jill, the fortune teller Yasuhiro and the swimmer Hina try to uncover all the secrets in the school to find out who is the mastermind.

During the series, we see other character like Junko Enoshima and Mondo Owada who we all think might be the mastermind. I won't spoil who it is, but the brain f*** at the end will leave you itching...that is my ONLY complaint. The rest is very well packed; great characters including an anti-hero, a cold killer (who kills nobody...), a perv and a robot bear, what more could you ask for?

I enjoyed it very much, and I can't say that I did not! The only thing was that clusterf*** right at the end...I mean, come on! And now...the pros and cons!

Pros:
- Original, stunning artwork (especially the executions)
- A great cast of characters, who are more fleshed out in the game, but are great nevertheless
- Each episode leaves you gripping the edge of your seat...you really want to know what happens next!

Cons:
-You should really start on the game(s)
- WHAT THE F*** WAS THAT ENDING???
- It is over? :(

Approval:
- Over the categories of Story, Art, Sound, Character, and my overall Enjoyment factor, I will give it a skip, stream, buy or ++ rating.

My approval for Danganronpa is BUY. It is a great lil story, but it lacks that X-Factor to make it into the best of the best...not to mention that horrible ending.

Danganronpa is available for streaming in the US and UK or at least was late 2015. It may be worth checking Daisuki and Crunchyroll to see if they stream it, if not you can always purchase the series! I don't condone other methods, but if you really want to watch this...then, go ahead.

Recomendations:

High School of the Dead

Fist of the North Star

Helsing

I loved the video game. The game had character, depth, and many exciting moments. This anime took all of the aspects of the game including the truth bullets, trial, and investigations, and condensed them into a quick episode for each trial that did no justice to any of the murder mysteries. I get that you just cannot put that much information into a short anime, but to butcher the plot and detective aspect of the story...it's just too disappointing. You cannot really get to know the characters at all like this, especially when it comes to the first death. It was too rushed; too many ... things left out. I don't mind the minor changes; that is expected, but there was more focus on the deaths and the trial than the actual characters. It's like taking Battle Royale the novel and turning it into the movie. It just becomes mindless killing.
Overall, this anime was not really enjoyable. It felt too rushed and there was no way to really get to know the characters at all. You just kind of jumped straight into what aspect was important to the trial and that was it. It was frustrating. Still, the animation holds true to the video games, which I enjoyed, and for the most part, everything was very much the same it's just stripped down too much to be anything but mindless killing.

I gotta say, Danganronpa is my 5th favourite anime of all time. The plot as it is is superb, every single character is unique and really lively (except the ones who die... he... hehe... bad joke, sorry), the music in this anime is just amazingly funky. I gotta give this anime extra points becouse how well they respected the game's art-style and animation... I've played the game before watching the anime and... If you go pass major cuts in some parts, they are just the same.I love how Danganronpa pulls that "I wonder who's the murderer!!!" thing so well, you always end up making your ... own theories and you even stop trusting people, It really makes you feel like you're a part of this despair!... and lemme tell ya... It's a Super Duper Highschool Despair... wink wink.
If you love mystery and you love detective work, watch this thing... or even play the VN! both of them are amazing!

I would like to stress one thing to the fans of this piece of shit anime. I absolutely adore the game. It is one of my all time favorites. Just keep that in mind.

The Story.
One word. RUSHED! The game will take you around 40 hours to complete.. DOES THAT SOUND LIKE IT WOULD FIT IN 13 EPISODES!? Well, it doesn't. This needed to be at least 26 episodes JUST PLAY THE FUCKING GAME IT'S A MASTERPIECE!
2/10

The Art
The only good things about this anime are the things taken from the games. That includes the art. But, even then I feel that the characters work better as ... still images.
7/10

The Sound
It is taken from the game so...
9/10

The Characters
Mondo Owada, Chihiro Fujisaki and Sakura Ogami are some of my all time favorite characters. THIS SHOW CRAPS OVER ALL OF THEM! I can not stress this enough, just play the game.
1/10

Enjoyment
WHAT DOES IT FUCKING SOUND LIKE!?
2/10

Overall just play the game. If you don't have a vita or psp just watch a Let's Play of this. Seriously NicoB has one of the funnest let's plays ever of this game.
3/10

First of all, I'd like to say that Danganronpa is one of my favourite universes and I'm very thankful to the person who recommended this anime (and one more, Akuna no Riddle, but I didn't finish it xd) years ago while playing CAH online. What followed was me watching the anime, then watching a playthrough of the game, then watching SDR2, NDRv2 and also UDG, from various people. Still, when I see someone new take up this game I can't help it, and I watch a fulll playthrough to see how they like it, or a little bit to see some reactions. I sincerely love ... it now. That's why I don't recommend this anime. Feel free to watch Danganronpa 3, the despair, future and hope arc. Feel free to watch the one World-Destroyer episode. That is new content, so why not, you won't find this in the games. But this is not worth watching, if you really wanna see what this is all about. And if you just wanna know the plot to "be informed" then idk, read a summary since it's faster.

When I watched this anime I genuinely didn't know what's going on half the time, since everything was going on fast like playing Sims in the triple speedup. It's just confusing and that's all. Do you know how many people have no idea what's going on during trials, after investigating the scene for 2 hours and having the chance to read truth bullets, but still fail repeatedly and don't use their brain? If they can't do it with all the help in the world, then how do you expect people to understand it clearly after skipping the investigation and rushing the trial? You just see characters come up with conclusions, but you won't be able to tell if it's right or wrong.

Does every video game turned into an anime go wrong? Apparently. I mean, I already wrote 2 reviews today saying that Satsuriku no Tenshi and Amnesia have a problem with that too. But this one is a little different you see. The plot is better suited for an adaptation, in my opinion. You can actually make out a story, even if this is not the best format for it. But Danganronpa games have 6 chapters + prologue and epilogue. Each chapter will take you a few hours to complete. Trying to squeeze it into 13 episodes, 20 minutes each is a mistake. Take the time to experience the game and maybe you'll love like so many other people do. If you like this concept after seeing the premise and reviews then it's probably worth it. In my humble opinion, every game just gets better when it comes to characters and you get used to how ridiculous it can be.

While Danganronpa has a dear place in my heart and I love the story, that's no reason to rate this highly. Still, it's not utterly worthless I guess? Once again, recommending the games. Even if you already watched this anime and don't want the game, completing the rest of the series will explain more about the circumstances and what happened. :)

P R E M I S E
A friend recommended this to me back in early-mid August 2013, a month before I watched the anime. See, at the time I knew that "The Animation" meant that it's an adaption to a game. So playing the game is what I did, and well, I decided to spoil the anime for myself. Why? To put it simply, for an entire game to be adapted into 13 episodes, I just knew that the anime wouldn't cover everything the game had to offer.

Because of my experience with Danganronpa, I did not have high expectations for the anime. Knowing that anime ... adaptions hardly ever exceed its sources, I normally don't criticize it too harshly even now. However, this is a review on the anime adaption as a standalone, and I cannot give it good points all the time just because it has an excuse for being 13 episodes covering an entire game. Nonetheless, it keeps some things I wanted there and doesn't stray far off the plot; more of, it only hits the main plot points of the game.

S H O R T C O M I N G S
Furthering what I briefly discussed in the premise, compressing an entire murder-mystery game into 13 episodes is a risky action - it's quite the "make it or break it" decision. In this case, it's not completely horrid, but it does make things seem rushed and sometimes nonsensical. In the game, there are so many opportunities to bond with the other characters, but the anime had to cut that out because the main plot points take a lot of screentime (a.k.a. the murder investigations and school trials). This causes a lack of a bond in characters for the viewer, and murders suddenly seem a whole lot less devastating. I'm not saying that this anime should've gotten 24 episodes or more, but it should've gotten possibly 15 episodes. Seriously, almost every episode seems rushed; too much is happening, and it's easy to dislike that, for the characters have no connection with me like they did with the game and the whole thing looks dramatic and ridiculous, as if the students don't put up a good fight to the enemy holding the murder rules until the very end, where it just looks stupid. The animation is mediocre, though not downright unbearable.

P R O S
Despite my rant, there are some redeeming qualities in Danganronpa: The Animation. For one thing, the art is much more colorful in the anime than in the game, even though it can get disproportional. Danganronpa is very unique for the color of the blood, which is a neon, bright pink - I honestly think that's what viewers will remember the most. The executions are closely related to the game, which relieved me that that remained. The characters are unique too, as they have special talents and really cool character designs. The best part to me is the music though; it's slightly haunting, capable of picking up adrenaline whenever it wants, and it's the part that makes you suddenly feel like the next episode will be better. The OP features an English singer, which is always awesome for Japanese creators, and the ED is sung by soraru, one of my favorite utaites.

C L O S U R E
The game is much better in experience, for Danganronpa has a very amazing story and cast of characters, but if you'd like to save your time and not spend so much on it, then the anime doesn't do too bad of a job cutting your time down to about 6.5 hours if you watch it straight. Though, warning, your attachment to the characters will be considerably weak, and you might get outright confused at many points. To me, I feel like the anime adaption had a lack of proper effort put into it, but I don't think that many people will actually dislike it.

Story: 7/10
Art: 7/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall: 36/50 ~ 72% ~ 7/10

The Danganronpa Series was the best mystery and psychological-themed anime i have watched so far. I really liked it's story and the way that the remaining characters alive didn't give up for Junko's despair evil plan. The art was amazing and to be honest that Enoshima Junko was one of my favorite character, i like her style and her despair pose on certain times. The climax of the story is when they were given the choice to vote either for despair or hope, and i really liked Naegi's optimistic side and his perspective on describing hope. Well i didn't expect less for Danganronpa 3 both ... future and despair arc.

Danganronpa is an exciting series - there are plot twists and turns lurking around every corner, and the anime preserves those. However, due to the shortness of this anime, the plot is quite compressed and there isn't as much time for the viewer to really theorize about how the story will turn out in the end (although that might be a side effect of binge-watching the whole show over a few days). The trials were also quite compressed and the evidence was only briefly looked at, so the viewer essentially has to wait for Naegi, Kirigiri, and Togami to solve the trial and explain what ... the evidence means. That being said, this adaptation is very faithful to the events of the game that it was based on and it was really cool to see everything all animated out. I think seeing everything animated really helped me understand where everyone was in relation to each other a little better, especially when it ended up being important in the trials.
I also really liked the voice acting in the dub. While there wasn't much time for character development, I still really felt for the characters because of how much emotion they showed (especially in Chapter 4, that made me cry!!!)
The art and sound were also really good! I still have the opening theme stuck in my head and the music still created that creepy, tense atmosphere that really sets the mood.
Overall, I enjoyed the show, but I would recommend watching it after playing the game or watching a let's play of the game, so you can see the plot unfold with better pacing and more character development.

I'd like to say that this is my first review and I am not a good critiquer, but I hope this helps!

First of all, if you didn't know, this anime is based off the Dangan Ronpa 1: Trigger Happy Havoc game, and is a faster version of what happens. I played the game some time before I watched the anime, and I was slightly satisfied.

Story: 7
The story is pretty much the same as the game, which is about 15 students who are trapped in a school that they were invited to join and just step foot in, Hope's Peak Academy. A killing game starts and ... the students have to find the killer of each case or all get killed, while the killer gets away. This could be kind of fun if you don't know what happens in the game, because you can try to figure out at least part of the mystery yourself. I quite liked the story, other than the fact that it was a bit fast-paced. There were quite a few twists to each murder case and made the story more interesting.

Art: 5
Before I watched the anime, I originally hated the art style, which differed from the art style of the game, which I liked a lot more. But as I watched the anime, I grew to accept it, and I guess it's not bad. It doesn't really stand out, nor is it really bad, so I consider it mediocre. I like the character designs, as all the characters look different and special in their own way. The animation was ok too.

Sound: 7
I liked the music in the anime, as most of it came from the game, and sets the mood well, especially when there's a lot of tension. The opening and ending songs are also rather memorable, but I didn't really like the opening song. I don't speak Japanese, but I think the voice acting was pretty good, especially how the seiyuus could portray their respective character's emotions very well.

Character: 5
There wasn't much room for actual character development in the anime as compared to the game where you could talk to them, but I think that's fine. I like the personalities of the characters, as they are quite unique and related to their talents, mostly. Many people have said this before, but in the anime we're not as connected to the characters compared to in the game, where we got to interact with them as Makoto, the main character.

Enjoyment: 6
Well, since I played the game before I watched the anime, I already knew everything that happened, but I still rather enjoyed watching this. It was rather interesting to watch, to see how the anime would play out the events of the game.

Overall: 5
Perhaps if there had been more episodes and longer investigations and class trials, it would be better. But I think this anime is still worth watching. If you can't play the game, then watching the anime wouldn't be very disappointing. But if you have played the game, then unless you want a recap, I suggest that maybe you shouldn't watch the anime.