Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen - Zetsubou-hen

First things first. You need the play the two DR games (DR 1, SDR2) to fully understand and enjoy the two DR3 anime. If you were a fan of the first installment of the Danganronpa anime, you'll love the games, so please, if you haven't so already, turn around and play those two games (or watch a walkthrough) for the best viewing possible. DR: Another Episode is also mandatory especially for Future arc. Also be sure to watch both Future and Despair arc in broadcast order (i.e. watch future arc ep 1 then watch despair arc ep 1, and so on). There are parts where ... the story and characters might overlap, so be sure to watch it like that for better understanding.

DR3: Despair arc is essentially a prologue to the DR story. It centers around the 77th class of the Hope's Peak acadmey, who btw are the main cast of the 2nd game: SDR2. The setting, once so happy and carefree, turns into one of the darkest points in their history: a prologue to the Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic event in human history. As the title and premise says, don't expect a happy ending to this. Although it starts off like your typical slice of life school anime, there is a brooding tone that constantly evolves as the episodes contiunously progress, awaiting to become a monster that destroys the students daily lives with despair. This tone starts as lighthearted then transitions into a darker mood, eventually becoming something outright disturbing. Suddenly, the happy, slice of life school setting is no more, instead it becomes violent, bloody and despair-inducing.
One thing I liked is that they didn't linger or focus too much into the events the game already touched to an extent, like the Twilight Syndrome case. Just showing things in Hajime's point of view, and that was the better thing to do for the series.
One thing I would've liked was to see the 78th class just a bit more than a cameo, like their original interactions with Junko, but with the anime being just 1 cour, it's understandable that they had to leave that out.
A disappointing isssue was that he pacing is a noticeably off. I feel like 11 episodes for the 77th class wasn't enough in the end. If it could have gotten a little bit more time, and cut a little bit more of the fanservice, I think the whole tragedy and the aftermaths could have been done better.
(SPOILERS: For example, the scene of "her" death and the 77 class turning into despair could have used an in-between scene. Maybe one that goes more in-depth of how the class fully submitted to Junko. The skip between the death scene and the finale was too sudden, considering the two were a couple months apart.)

The animation of the characters are really fun to watch as a fan. Just seeing all those characters I loved so much from the 2nd game animated is just so exciting. I felt that one good touch was that as episodes progress and tends to get darker, the art itself progresses to a more darker mood along with the story. Even the opening changes during the middle, to a much more darker color. It was a very nice touch to have, considering what was coming.

The OP/ED is pretty good, and the soundtracks were decent, although it could've been better. One thing I did like is how they used some game soundtracks for good nostalgia. The voice acting is fantastic as usual though, just like the games. The voices fit so well with the characters, which always helps the experience.

The most important part of the despair arc (and the rest of the danganronpa series in general) are without a doubt the characters. If I didn't care for the characters, I would never have felt anything for them and thus I probably wouldn't have cared what happened to them. Now, since the most of the cast were fleshed out pretty well in SDR2, it wasn't that hard to make me like them from the get go. However, one thing I would've liked to see is just making the cast even stronger. I know that Chiaki, Hinata, and Nagito are indeed the important characters, but I also would've liked those without too much game time from SDR2 to get a bit more exposure and development, like Teruteru and Mahiru to an extent. What I'm glad though, is the screen time the Ultimate Imposter got. Anyways, even if some characters are not getting the desirable screen time, they are still enjoyable to watch. This is also an important reason to play the games before watching this. You just get to know the characters better and smile as they are finally interacting cheerfully without being forced to kill each other. And of course, feel a lot more sadness when they are forced to go through "that process". However, one thing that I am really glad Despair arc managed was Mukuro and Junko getting a bit more depth, as well as Mitarai.
One thing I didn't really like though, was how it put focus on the future arc characters for a couple of episodes, halting potential DR0 scenes and even halting the depth of the characters and their downfall. It's a shame that the despair process did not go as I imagined thanks to this, as I would've preferred the "despairification" process to be on a more personal level. Having more than 11 episodes would have helped.

As a huge fan of the danganronpa series, I feel both love and disappointment with the DR 3. On one hand, I loved seeing the characters I loved so much animated, interacting with each other. Even the first two episodes which were basically fan service was enjoyable to watch. Although honestly, they could have made the slice-of-life moments shorter just so we could've had more plot development earlier on. And on the other hand there were pacing issues, like I've mentioned. Also, the despair arc is also a big 'what could have been'. What if they would have personalized the despairification process? I think that would have been a better way to showcase and further the depth of both the characters and how they became "despair". Nonetheless, I had this huge smile while watching the first couple of episodes, only for it to turn to sadness and eventually into complete anxiousness as I knew what would eventually happen to the cast. It could have been much better, in fact, after rewatchign the series a couple of times, I just feel disappointed in how the revelation of how the 77th class turned into despair. It's still a fine watch.
Give the entire series (games + anime) a try! It's definitely worth your time.

As Danganronpa fans, we only get to hear stories about the high-school life of the characters and how “The Tragedy” happened, but we never actually get to see that. But with Danganronpa 3 – Zetsubou-hen, we get just that. Zetsubou-hen takes place prior to the events of the first Danganronpa game, primarily focusing on 77th class of the main course and their story about how they became the “Remnants of Despair”. Labeled as a story that begins with hope but ends in despair, it definitely won’t have a happy end. But this is a treat for Danganronpa fans as they get the happy moments of ... their favorite character, until all hell breaks loose.

~{Story}~
Despite being titled as Danganronpa 3, it is actually a prequel to the first game. However, it is meant to be watched after playing the second game as it spoils the plot twists of Danganronpa 2. Being a prequel however, you will already what will happen and how it’ll end. But the sole purpose of this anime is to show you how it happened. The story focuses on the 77th class (the main cast of Danganronpa 2) and their life at Hope's Peak Academy. But the story focuses on our Danganronpa 2 protagonist, Hinata Hajime, and how he tries to find himself a talent. The story also focuses on the new characters that were introduced in Mirai-hen and give more background for them. And as you’ve probably predicted, it doesn’t take too long for Despair to appear with Enoshima creating the “Remnant of Despair” and “Kamukura Izuru Project” taking place. Overall, the story is handle very well and it remain “almost” consistent with what we’ve heard before about “The Tragedy”. The reason why I say “almost” is because there are some things Monokuma/Enoshima told us before that don’t quite happen in Zetsubou-hen. But then again, they were Enoshima’s words… you can’t really trust that, can you?
Story: 9/10

~{Presentation}~
Zetsubou-hen is the Danganronpa you know and love. It starts off in a happy tone, similar to the fun moments for the second game. But then despair kicks in, which is to be expected from anything Danganronpa related. One thing that is well-done in Zetsubou-hen is how the writers manage to remember so many tiny details mentioned in the second game and apply them to this anime. Remember Tanaka saying something about defeating a giant Pomeranian in his. If you don’t remember, don’t worry… the writers haven’t forgotten. And they also applied Saionji’s height change later in the series too. The first couple of episodes of the series is basically fanservice for the fan base. We get to see the Danganronpa 2 characters we know with their unique personalities being shown. We get to see the happy moments of the 77th class before “things” happened. But the rest of the series is what fans expect from this prequel story; despair. The series has the same wacky and zany, yet dark and disturbing tone of its predecessors. The pacing can be a bit too fast as times, but that was to be expected with the amount of plot points that needed to be covered.
Presentation: 9.5/10

~{Character}~
Zetsubou-hen primarily focuses on the 77th Class and Hinata Hajime prior to becoming the “Remnant of Despair”. The characterization for these characters are very similar to their characterization in the second game. Hinata’s still kind of cynical, Nanami’s still adorable, Komaeda’s still kibou-sexual, Tanaka’s still a chuunibyou, Souda’s still pathetic, Mioda’s still loud, Nidai still needs to take a dump, Saionji’s still a b*tch, and so on. Zetsubou-hen is very loyal with its characters and keeps them as how they’re supposed to be. But out of these characters, Hinata, Nanami and Komaeda are the ones that play a bigger role, while the rest are mostly there as comic relief or just for the sake of the plot. Hinata’s inferiority complex kicks in right when we get introduced to him and his accepting the Kamukura Project plays a big role in the series. His complexity is well handled when he’s Hinata. When he’s Kamukura, his more of a flat character, but that’s how his character ends up being. Nanami, who’s appearance was quite surprising since she was known to be simply an A.I. in the second game, plays a big role in this series too. And she ends up being the most unpredictable character since you actually don’t know how things will end up for her. Komaeda is here quite a lot, though it may not always be for the sake of moving the plot, but because we get to see more of his ultimate ability, Ultimate Asspuller… I mean Ultimate Lucky Student. But Enoshima Junko’s also a major character in the series, but that is too be expected since she is the conflict of the series. Zetsubou-hen also builds up on its Mirai-hen characters, like Yukizome and Munakata, and it’s done pretty effectively. For that sole reason, it is meant to watch together with Mirai-hen.
Character: 9.5/10

~{Art}~,
The art in Zetsubou-hen is pretty good, but it’s the art style that succeeds more. The art is fairly well detailed and the backgrounds are fairly well done. But the character designs are the most impressive. The characters in Danganronpa 2 all had quite unique character desings, and that same uniqueness can be found here. Some characters look slightly different, like how Tanaka’s hair style is different. But the most notable thing is that the art style is very vivid, especially when compared to the franchise. This creates a contrast to Mirai-hen’s darker-than-normal art style. This vivid art style might have been used to represent the hopefulness the series initially started with and this art style might’ve been used as a contrast for the darker despair moments that comes later in the series. Overall, it was a pretty smart choice to go with an art style that contrast with Mirai-hen
Art: 9/10

~{Animation}~
The animations are fairly good in the series, but it isn’t anything extraordinary. However, that is to say that the animation quality is fairly consistent throughout. Generally speaking, the animation is fluid enough and there aren’t any noticeable animation quality drops. Backgrounds feel a little static though. However, the lighting helps in adding more volume to the visuals. Though if we compare the animation quality to Mirai-hen’s it is a little weaker. But unlike Mirai-hen (which is more action-heavy), Zetsubou-hen doesn’t have any demanding moments that needs high-quality animations. Lerche did a good job in animating two seasons during the same time, which they aren’t used too.
Animation: 7.5/10

~{Voice Acting}~
The seiyuu cast is the same as the games and Mirai-hen. All the well-known seiyuu are back to represent their character. Takayama Minami does the Danganronpa 2 protagonist, Hinata Hajime, and does him and his alternate personality, Kamukura Izuru, perfectly well. Ogata Megumi (the same seiyuu as Naegi Makoto), does Komaeda Nagito again, and she does his voice amazingly well. Just like Danganronpa 2, Ogata has time to shine and show her talent as a character like Komaeda. Hanazawa Kana reprises her role as Nanami Chiaki and does her character very well. Unlike her A.I. personality in Danganronpa 2, Nanami sounds a little less listless, but it matches her character more. Toyoguchi Megumi does both the Despair sisters, Enoshima Junko and Ikusaba Mukuro, and she does a great job with both, but her talent shines with Junko more. Nakahara Mai does a very good job as Yukizome Chisa. Her character didn’t play a big role in Mirai-hen, but in Zetsubou-hen, she’s one of the main characters. And other seiyuu such as Sugita Tomokazu, Kayano Ai, and Fukuyama Jun all do a great job with their characters.
Voice Acting: 9.5/10

~{Music}~
One of Danganronpa’s strong point is its music and Zetsubou-hen is no different. The OP, “Kami-iro Awase”, didn’t take too long to become one of my favorite anime openings. The music, the vocals, and the lyrics are amazing for the song. And there’s a lot of symbolism in the song too. The ED, “Zettai Kibou Birthday”, is sung by Komaeda’s seiyuu and it’s very good. The vocals and music are nice and it matches the tone of the hope in the series. The lyrics is quite weird… but so is Komaeda! Most of the background music consists of music used in the first two games, which is a good thing since the two games had some amazing music. The background music creates a sense of nostalgia due to its familiarity. Till this day, the closing argument theme is my favorite OST and every time I hear it, I always get a sense of joy from it!
Music: 9.5/10

~{Enjoyment}~
As a Danganronpa fan, this is exactly what I wanted out of Zetsubou-hen. It felt really nice to see the Danganronpa 2 characters again and see how their past was. As someone who always wanted to see how everything turned out the way it ended up to be, I was really satisfied that we were able to see that with this anime adaptation. This anime covers “The Kamukura Izuru Project”, “Twilight Syndrome Murder Case” (albeit a little rushed), “Student Council Massacre”, how the “Remnant of Despair” were created, and “The Tragedy”. Though my rating for enjoyment is high, it’s really hard to enjoy a series like this. You’ll mostly just get despair from this series and a whole lot of tragedies. But Zetsubou-hen manages to keep my attention all of the time. Zetsubou-hen and Mirai-hen are easily one of the most enjoyable things I have watched this year.
Enjoyment: 9.5/10

In the end, Zetsubou-hen is definitely worth watching if you’re a Danganronpa fan (though you probably already have). Due remember though that Zetsubou-hen, despite it being a prequel chronologically wise, is meant to be watched after playing the first two game. Due note that you must play the second game in order to fully appreciate both Zetsubou-hen and Mirai-hen. Danganronpa’s first game or its lackluster adaptation isn’t enough. But with great handling of its characters, and satisfying adaptations of stories we were only told about in the previous games, Zetsubou-hen manages to be the perfect treat for fans. It may not be an easy watch due to depressing moments, but it manages to keep your attention. But that is to be expected since the it’s a story that begins in hope and ends in despair.

+ Great prequel anime for the Danganronpa series, that adapts many key plot-points that were mentioned in the games.
+ Danganronpa 2 characters are handled well and loyal to the second game.
+ Great OPs and EDs and the background music is the same as the games.
+ Not only develops its Danganronpa 2 characters, but also the characters from Mirai-hen too.
+ Lots of fun and satisfying moments for fans of the franchise.
- Pacing can get a tad bit too fast at times.

Overall: 9.0/10

As a fan of the Danganronpa games, specially the second one, I was quite looking forward to this anime. I wanted to see more about the main cast of SDR2 and learn about how they fell to despair.

[This review may contain spoilers]

In my honest opinion, if it weren't for the simultaneous weekly release along with Future Arc, I think this anime would've felt way weaker. That was the purpose, after all. While it still felt a bit weak to me, I did enjoy it. I do think this anime greatly surpassed the first installment in the anime adaptations for the series.

As for the ... story, we mostly knew the basics. We knew how it would go down. Starting from a slice of life, sliding into a despairful mess of chaos. What I definitely mostly enjoyed was the change into the actual title of the series - DESPAIR. However, it escalated rather quickly which made it feel less realistic, but since they had to tuck in a lot of content in such a small amount of episodes, I won't pay that much attention to that detail.

In the end, the strong point from Danganronpa are its characters. It managed to get me attatched to the new characters. The introduction of the trio investigating (Munakata, Sakakura, Chisa - being her the narrator) Hope's Academy was a good thing and created a refreshing contrast between their point of view and the students'. Also, it painted the academy in a whole new light. However this also was the cause of how apart and plain the main cast from SDR2 felt. They barely got focused (with some exceptions) on and almost felt like supporting characters.

About the characters, what mostly bugged me was how Nanami was created as a real person for the anime. While at the start it was well handled, it all went down and became a bit disappointing when she just literally became a tool for Junko. Coming from SDR2, I was expecting Junko to act like Junko and destroy every characters individually, or at least more slowly than how it went down on the anime. This both made Junko's and Nanami's character feel more lazy than they actually are.

The music was okay and I specially enjoyed the remakes of the original tracks from the games. It made it feel more like Danganronpa. Both OP&ED were really great and really well handled in the smallest details. The original tracks from the anime weren't specially outstanding or memorable, so I wouldn't say the music was one of the strongest points of the anime.

As for the animation: I am really picky and critical about this point. While they did a good job with the colors (contrasting with the dark palette of Future Arc) - something that gradually changed along with the tone of the anime-, the animation could've been way better. The movement was really not fluid and most of the time it felt kind of awkward. This is completely a biased opinion but I feel that the animes never really imitated Rui Komatsuzaki's art that well.

Anyways, as a whole I really enjoyed the anime. I'm still a fan and did get emotional with my favorite characters and even the new characters. It's better than the first anime and even if it has some weak points it's definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the games.

This review is also based off the game Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. (Possible very minor spoilers)

The story is about how the characters from the game Danganronpa 2 became Despairs. So the story is about what happened before Danganronpa 2 took place and how they came to be Despairs, which is obvious cause it's called the despair arc. Which I think they have did a good job of trying to accomplish this, but I have a few minor disappointments. Besides that the story is very interesting. But in my opinion it felt a bit rushed.

The art is good and is it very true to the series. ... But with a few disappoints such as, Gundham Tanaka and Hiyoko Saionji's hair is different. Besides those few minor details, they did a great job. Chiaki Nanami is THE Ultimate Waifu, enough with this "Ultimate Gamer". (she didn't deserve what happened to her in episode 10)

I really like the opening for this animei and its pretty catchy in my opinion. I didn't hear much background music throughout the anime, so there's nothing really I can say there.

The characters personalities have stayed the same as in the game, so no disappointments there. They kept Peko and Fuyuhiko's relationship between them secretive as they did in the game. They did a lot of these things, such as, Hiyoko's loathful attitude towards Mikan. Akane and Nekomaru's rivalry between each other and Kazuichis one-sided love for Sonia, etc.

I really enjoyed watching this series this season, definitely something worth checking out. I really recommend you watch a playthrough of the game or play it yourself before you watch this anime, it will make a little more sense if you do.

I N T R O D U C T I O N
I've been a fan of the Danganronpa game series since 2012. In 2013, Danganronpa: The Animation came out, and honestly, it was crap. The animation and art was pitiful, the characters were barely grazed and hardly as deep as the corresponding game had it, and it was just rushed. But that's the thing with animating an entire game in 13 episodes-- it's not possible to fit every scenario, so the anime had to condense it for only the main plot points to appear.

Now, why do I mention the first animation when I should be ... talking about the 3rd Despair Arc? You need to be aware of my disappointment for that, so that you can understand I was overall impressed with the effort put into Danganronpa 3, both sides. The Despair Arc cannot be seen without knowing the plots of the 1st and 2nd Danganronpa games, so unless you've seen it, you'll likely be thoroughly confused. But anyways, Despair Arc explains the events before the 1st game, which had me interested to see. It's like more puzzle pieces were given to the viewer, to try to fathom all of this "hope" and "despair" madness. I wasn't very disappointed with what I got, thankfully enough.

S H O R T C O M I N G S
I was introduced with the students of SD2 (Super Danganronpa 2) and some characters from the Future Arc, such as the homeroom teacher, Yukizome Chisa, the leader of the later Future Foundation, Munakata Kyosuke, etc. Getting to see them animated, along with new characters that I welcomed fairly enough, was exciting. However, I only get glimpses of their personalities, it seems? My personal expectations in an anime this short isn't very high on character, but again, I felt like I got only a taste of what the students were truly like (I won't spoil anything from SD2). I honestly wish I'd gotten more.

For the first two episodes, you feel like you're watching a slice-of-life, ridiculous comedy with friendships and rainbows and idealistic school life (also with that one perverted cook and that fanservice of pantsus). Then, well I love this, but it all just goes downhill and you know it. However, it felt like the beginning could've been more blended to the more despairing episodes that come after. It felt a bit more sudden than what it could've. It's somewhat predictable too as a whole, but I've already known the aftermath of these events, so I suppose it can't really be helped.

This kind of goes back to the characters, and maybe I'm not so forgiving for unrealistic scenarios, but these characters don't make sense. When you see someone you care about get killed, you won't follow the killer and do what she wishes, right? You'd either plot revenge or try to move on, almost ignoring what had happened. Or something else. Just not follow the one who murdered someone you care about. Also, some of these character's motives, their passion, are somewhat strange. One character is so passionate about making an anime to the point of sleepless nights, skipping school entirely, and acting like a high-strung, insane, desperate person. It seems like none of these characters are normal, which is kind of the thing Danganronpa has, but IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR A SANE PERSON? And no, I don't want just the principal, that old man, and that drunk guy! And Junko, control yourself! (I was joking, don't stone me)

When I watched this, I was starting to expect two things: more explanation for Enoshima Junko's motives, and more story to Kamukura Izuru. I honestly didn't get much from either, at least, things I didn't already know. Kamukura was okay, but Junko felt so stupid to me. Like, is she just evil because she's just evil? She looks like a fool, honestly. I liked her in the 1st and 2nd games because she wasn't that big of a character, sort of, but now that she's a more appearing character, with her actions open like a book, it feels like she just does ridiculous things just because. And it feels stupid! No backstory, just because. And she has everything her way.

But then again, WWII happened, and this might be somewhat the same deal.

P R O S
I could go on for a while regarding the good points. Again, seeing SD2's characters animated was real fun to watch. I was especially curious about Komaeda Nagito, Hajime Hinata and Nanami Chiaki. And, in case you haven't noticed, I watched this first before Future Arc, and finished it first too.

What I got from this was pleasantly some Ikusaba Mukuro, which for some reason I didn't expect that much of. Even though her character was somewhat dissed off, I got to see her devotion to her sister and sides of her I otherwise wouldn't have seen. I also found more importance in Chiaki. Not that she wasn't important to the second game, but I always thought she was a little strange and off. Seeing her hope throughout this anime, in the midst of despair, was impressive. I also enjoyed most of the characters, as they kept this anime light, mostly.

As for the little tidbits, I think I see most of the characters in Despair Arc in Future Arc. Since they aired around the same time, I could switch back and forth if I wanted, and I found that doing so will explain things in the Future Arc. It'll explain some bad and good relationships between characters there. I also appreciated the cameos of the characters in Danganronpa 1.

And the art, along with the music. I was majorly impressed. The animation was well done, and the art was consistent, and effort is shown in that department. It seemed like the games' tone was split in half, creating the tones of the Despair and Future arcs. The signature pink blood remained, but the colors were much brighter and lighter. As the story progressed, the colors did change, and oh my gosh the opening changes as you watch, I loved that. It just got darker and darker, and I was warned in the beginning that the story will end in despair, but still-- it's so enticing! And hearing Komaeda's VA sing the ED was heavenly.

At first, I didn't really like the OP and ED, and that was because it didn't feel Danganronpa-like. It didn't have that jazz-pop feel that I adored. But it started to grow on me, and it made me realize that the despairing events occur midway of this anime, so it was appropriate. Midway, the soundtrack does switch a bit more to the familiar tunes you often get with Monokuma, so I'm satisfied.

C L O S U R E
This is probably the longest review I've written, but I literally just finished this anime and it's Saturday. I've yet to finish the Future Arc, and I know I probably spoiled some things without realizing it, but it's nothing explicit and in fact, you should expect the above things already? It's Danganronpa, wake up.

I think this animation was amazingly done, compared to the first season. This isn't based off of any game, just shows events outside of the games. I'm glad the creators made that choice, though, as these events aren't exactly game-material and more for something like this. As I learn more and more about Danganronpa's story like how Once Upon A Time shows it (present to past, to present, to past), it's like more puzzle pieces are coming and eventually, will show a masterpiece.

I can't wait for that day, when I know all of it. Hope will triumph over despair, you guys. ;)

Story: 7
Art: 9
Sound: 8
Character: 6
Enjoyment: 8
Overall: 38/50 ~ 76% ~ 8/10

With me being such a big fan of the games and the first game anime adaption being fairly lackluster my expectations for the future and despair arc were quite mixed (although that didn't stop me from being super hyped), but now that shows over I think my hype was rightfully placed. Also quick disclaimer, you should have absolutely played the first two games before watching these.

In the despair arc the anime follows the characters of the 2nd game taking place when they first join Hope's Peak Academy before the events of either game. The show starts off fairly slow and laid back but don't be ... fooled because the show only gets darker and darker as it progresses, you may think you've hit the peak of despair in one episode then BAM the despair hits even harder later on until we eventually hit "The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History".

Coming into this season I was really wondering how well they would portray the characters because I absolutely loved the cast from the 2nd game and let me say they did a spot on job capturing the unique quirkiness of all of them, right down to Mikans incredible clumsiness, Akanes never ending hunger, Hiyokos total bitchiness towards Mikan, TeruTerus pervertedness and etc. The show also does a great job throwing in nice little tidbits of information/back story at you through out, stuff like Hiyokos random growth spurt, where the Ultimate Imposter comes from and the relationship between Junko & Mukuro. Overall they do a great job with the characters and the character development, they are absolutely the shining point of this show.

Now like I said the show starts off slow but very quickly changes into a never ending ride on the despair train with no brakes. But with that being said it never stops being entertaining to watch, whether it was watching the shenanigans of the 2nd games cast, the interactions between Junko and basically everyone else whether she be in a playful mode with her sister Mukuro or being in total despair mode and ruining the lives of everyone else. Now I will say there was one point in the show that was so dark it actually left me feeling pretty upset, since most of you should have played the 2nd game before watching this you should have known that a certain event will take place and let me just say this, prepare yourselves because I certainly was not but I do give the show props because they must be doing something right if they can make me feel this deeply about it.

In the end the show does a good job rapping this prequel story up and sets things up nicely to roll into the 1st games plot. Now while it did end things off nicely, that's not quite it for the story, for those who've been paying attention to the news you should already know but a new "Hope" arc has been announced and is said to be the end all of the story. Now that I am done with this I am definitely pretty hyped for the end of the story, although perhaps a little sad too having this big story come to an end that had me so captivated through out but all in all I do have high 'hope' for a great ending.

Overall, I really enjoyed the show, my fairly high expectations coming into this season were not let down. I guess I should also take quick note that the art is nothing special but certainly nothing bad and the music is great (aslong as you liked the soundtrack to the 2nd game that is). To anyone who enjoys the games even a little I highly recommend you watch this anime!

Of you come because you wanna know what was before Danganronpa 1st story...
If you think that the Despair was great an Danganronpa, well this anime it's like the factorial, Despair gets exponentially augmented by the past...

Before start, I really recommend you play at least Super Danganronpa 2, because this anime, although it was created to explain why Kiboumine Gakuen end like it is in the future, at the same time it could explain all more in detail connecting points that Danganronpa and Super Danganronpa 2 left behind, the most important, the class relations and situations.

First things first, the characters that you will see here principally ... are the protagonist of Super Danganronpa 2, the Psycho Tropical squad at their start, each one resembles of course the students at the first anime, but each one has his own abilities and together have a new path so, you gonna feel a fresh class with the help of some another students and persons of interest that would be necessary for some information in the Mirai-Hen.

The scenarios are truly more of a more polished Kiboumine Gakuen, but all conserve the air of the past stories, in essence, more like the first story.

The sound and BGMs are from the 2nd game in almost all the cases, so if you played the game, you gonna feel a great environment and super nostalgic feel that gonna boost all the story and situations.

Connect and explain, those 2 points maybe are this review conclusion but the anime is the idea that give you since the beginning, so if you follow the steps of see 1 Mirai-hen chapter and 1 Zetsubou-Hen chapter, you gonna be full prepared for Kibou-Hen end and of course to say: "At last, all have sense!".

This is all I think, playing the games is not mandatory but recommended, you can't miss those hours on enjoyment, to enjoy this to the 100%, if you feel this review with hope or maybe despair, anyway thank you to reach this point, and happy anime (and maybe gaming) and may the hope light your way to the Happy End!

The prequel has ended, and as the the anime franchise ends, it was a bit of a disappointment when, this anime ends with some plot hole at it's Kibou-hen arc.
So, let's get down to my review business of this prequel:

Storywise, I give it a 7 over 10, though this prequel did performed as what the synopsis said it was, thought there were still some plot holes in this prequel, like how can such video created by Mitarai cause some Hysteria among the students of the reserve course, and how was Junko able to know who to go for her master plan. Also, scene like how ... Peko killed Sato wasn't added that would have give some spice to this anime's story line. Let's not forget as to how exaggerated the character's were, like why would a school like Hope Peak dabble in human experiments like cearting someone like Izuru Kamukura, when it would be better off if they make a super computer that is an advance form of AI.

Art, If I were to choose who's the coolest among the characters in terms of illustration , I'd say, Junko would be one of them, followed by Chisa, MUnakata, Hajime and Sonia, the rest were just too plain or too dorky like
Souda,Gundam, Ibuki, Seiko, Andou, Peko, Yuuto, Hanamaru, Izayoi and Mikan who were the dorksters. Others like Nidai and Owari were a league of their own which was just too rugged, btw the only fanservice one would see is Owari at the anime's opening. The rest were just too plain and having said that this category is a 7 over 10.

Sound, ok, some of the character's here weren't suppose to sound like adults, like Gundam, Owari, Sonia and Seiko, they all sounded very much like grown ups, but I still like some of the seiyuus who did their voices, some of the character's sounded too girlish, like with Mikan,Hanamaru, Andou and Miharu. of course there are thsoe who sounded just right given the character's characteristics, like Nidai, Chisa, Sato and
Ibuki. Though, generally speaking the seiyuus who did the character's voice were ok, I'm still gonna go for a 7 over 10.

Characters, I were a Mensa member( organization of people with high IQ), I would be giving this anime/manga/game original creator, Kodaka, Kazutaka a piece of my mind, let's face it the characters were very much overly done that the concept of them being this Super High School Level thing
kinda makes them more of an oxymoron, I mean how can such talented people be given the superlative of either Super level or Ultimate, also since when does being a House keeper have such title, when the character's occupation itself was more of a vocation than a skill or a talent, in fact such superlatives contradicts the character's themselves, let's go over them:

Junko Enoshima the Super High School Level Fashion Diva, Super High School Level Despair / Super High School Level Analyst and her lackey Mukuro Ikusaba a so called Super High School Level Soldier. one is nothing more than a megalomaniac psychopath, her character is one big plot-hole, since we never got to know as to why she became like that, while the other is more of a henchman than a soldier, I meant she only has a knife , but no guns,we also never get to know her past, since in the first Danganronpa, she was killed off instantly.....( I don't know if she has any background info about her from the manga).

Nagito "The Servant" Komaeda, the Super High School-Level Luck, Really, luck is a talent? Man, his character was just sooo lame, should he even be in this thing? gosh, if he's that lucky maybe they should have made him as this Super Level Gambler, wtf was the original creator thinking?

Hajime Hinata the reserve course student,a.k.a Izuru Kamukura, tsk, tsk, tsk, he should be this super level envious guy, since he just entered into something that he already has, being the protagonist.

Chiaki Nanami the Super High-school Level Gamer, the 1st of 77th class to die. Yuuto Kamishiro the Super High School Level Secret Agent a fat guy who for a while pretended to be Mitarai. Ibuki Mioda a Super High-school Level Light Music Club a girl masochistic tendency after becoming one of the remnants of despair. Sonia Nevermind the Super High-school Level Princess, ok so where is her title , bodyguards and crown? some princess she was, she hardly does anything, super level primadona is what she should be.
HA! Should all be classified as super level lazy bones or loiterers, since what they do was very much what a lazy bone would do, waste their time for nothing.

Ryouta Mitarai, the Ultimate Animator, the chicken shit who created the despair video for Junko and Mikan Tsumiki, the weak link and a so called Super High-school Level Nurse, should both be classified as super level pussies, cu'z their both pussies, except one is a smart pussy, and the other is a stupid pussy.

Kazuichi Souda the Super High-school Level Mechanic, Gundam "Forbidden One" Tanaka a so called Super High-school Level Animal Breeder with an eccentric and rather dark personality and Teruteru Hanamura the fat guy, with a masochistic tendency,. who happens to be this Super High-school Level Cook
should all be classified as the ultimate oddball trio, who probably should all see a shrink.

Nekomaru "Mechamaru" Nidai the Super High-school Level Coach and big eater , Akane Owari a Super High-school Level Gymnast and Nidai's sparring partner also big eater, should be in a relationship and have the title the super level fighting duo, in fact they should be duking out with Peko and Makuro, too bad, creator, Kodaka, Kazutaka did thought of it.

Hiyoko Saionji the Super High-school Level Classical Dancer, how the fuck did she grew up fast after 6 months? Mahiru Koizumi the Super High-school Level Photographer, both should be called the ultimate wall flowers, since they're just for display without any function at all.

Let's not forget the Ultimate kick-out trio:

Ruruka Andou the Ultimate Confectioner who got got kicked out of Hope peak, along with Seiko Kimura the Ultimate Pharmacist and Sounosuke Izayoi the Ultimate Blacksmith, who is also Andou's man bitch. Whose skills and talents should not be in a high school but in college, spoiler, since they got kick out before Junko's Despair scheme , they never become part of the Remnants of Despair , never the less in Mirai-hen they're no different at all from the Remnants of Despair. But I kinda like them, since in the end they turn against each other, but it's a pity that Sieko live as a sucker and she died as a sucker, all because she can't say no to Andou, so she should have the title as the super level high school sucker, as for Andou, she should also have the title ultimate manipulator since in the most part all she does is manipulate everyone most specially Seiko and her man bitch Izayoi. Izayoi n the other hand should be this ultimate sacrificial lamb, since he's just too stupid to let himself be manipulated by Andou.

Peko Pekoyama the Super High-school Level Swords-woman, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu's bodyguard/ hit-woman and Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu the Super High-school Level Gangster, both belong to the category of super level crminals in prison, since that's where the two should belong and not in Hope Peak Academy.


And lastly:

Chisa Yukizome the teacher of 77th class of Hope Peak Academy and the Ultimate Housekeeper, HOUSEKEEPER?! is someone who can be classified as the Ultimate WTF. Her role as a plain teacher would have been enough, but giving her such superlatives is crazy.

Kyousuke Munakata the vice-leader of Future Foundation and the head of the 2nd Division, who once held the title of Ultimate Student Council President when he was a student at Hope Peak, was pretty much a well suited antihero and so as his gay admirer, Juuzou Sakakura the Ultimate Boxer, leader of the 6th Division and in control of the Special Crime Investigation Unit. In this prequel I kinda hate that they failed to anticipate such mayhem that has ravage the school and the world, where one would have wish that they should have deal with Junko in the first palce if it weren't for Juuzo's chicken shit secret that Junko has over him.

So, for this category I give it a 3 over 10, since in this prequel nobody is the protagonist, every character here are an antagonist , and such oxymoronic concept of them is something I really hate.


Enjoyment, I give it an 8 over 10, despite of the character's oxymoronic concept , this is one episode that one would enjoy from the start to the end, also the them about despair vs hope would really get to you, But.............

Overall, it may have an pen ending given that this is a prequel, but , not getting Junko in the first place by Juuzo, is a disappointment, so this prequel is good but not that good, so it's a 7 over 10. then again the Kibou-hen makes up for this prequel's short coming, but that's another review.

FU,FU,FU,FUUU!!!!!

Generally spoiler free review, might contain a reference or two about certain events.

This is a discussion on both arcs, Future and Despair, they are meant to be watched together. I have not played any of the games, and don’t plan to since I’ve given up gaming a long time ago, therefore I’m not going to make any parallels.

Both shows are dark, while Despair progressively becomes darker with each episode, Future is dark from the very first minute of the first episode. The art style is similar, pink blood in some scenes, red blood in others, you get used to the pink blood and ... becomes as gory as the red version. Character designs are nice and unique, sometimes confusing as to which is which especially in the Despair arc. There are a lot of characters so that’s why.
The future arc is interesting and ties really well with the despair arc especially in the end, it does have a few plot twists which are interesting, from a psychological point of view it does tackle large organizations and corruption within them if you want.

The despair arc is what I enjoyed the most, especially with the symbolism presented in there. If you watch closely and analyze some Junko Enoshima tactics, you will start to see them in real life (TV brainwashing, manipulating groups, idols that people listen to, etc). For me Junko Enoshima has become one of the best villains In anime, and if you look closely there is a bit of Junko Enoishima close to you every day. I also liked very much how the best guys suffer the most, it usually happens in our societies, they don’t get impaled, hacked of course, but they do get cast aside by the bad guys. I like the symbolism behind despair, it’s brilliant, you can extrapolate it into real life (weather it’s a villainous political entity that wins or a certain event that happens that turns the world upside down, like war, etc). The ending of the Future arc is interesting, makes you think a bit about hope (good), despair (evil) and what is best. Sadly as in real life there is no good over evil or evil vs good winners here, we all kind of loose in some way.
Music is fitting for this kind of show and does set the atmosphere for certain scenes. The art is interesting, quite dark in the Future arc, does give you the horror feel.

Plot is well developed for the Despair arc, I really loved it, the Future arc’s plot however left me with a bitter taste, it was a bit predictable towards the end, and I didn’t quite like part of the ending. I won’t be going into details so as not to spoil it, but I think the decision to bring back a certain character was driven by fear of fans reactions. I did like the character a lot but I would have liked the show more if I would have been depressed by the ending though.

Junko Enoshima-chan, is the best villain. Now go despair and watch the series!

Oh, my God.

First off, play the games first + watch in broadcast order for full enjoyment. Personally I didn't and it didn't hinder my experience, but if you want the full experience you should do that.

...God damn it, what are these, tears? Other than maybe a few minor problems, DR3-D is brilliant in showing that the (obvious) villain Junko Enoshima is the worst person alive. I can't say much about what she does because of immense spoilers, but know that she is evil going in. Not knowing any better, though, you could walk right in completely unaware of the nature of DR and think it's ... a boring slice of life anime. It's not. Also, no spoilers, but bring a box of tissues for episode 10.

As to be expected from Danganronpa, the art is beautiful. So many things are so well animated, it's just impressive. There's nothing else I can say about it.

Again, as to be expected, the sound is brilliant. Kami-iro Awase, the opening song, is my favorite anime OP of all time. It's ambient and calm, but has an air to it within the lyrics that fits the classic DR theme of the ultimate hope vs. the ultimate despair. Zettai Kibou Birthday may pale in comparison, but is still incredibly enjoyable. The overall sound design is incredibly varied in tone and overall is very good.

DR3-D technically goes in with the expectation that you know the characters, but you can still learn about them solely through the anime. Considering the size of the class, it does a fairly good job at introducing them all, and you'd know any one of them just by looking at them. Their designs are all unique and their personalities clash in interesting ways, making them entertaining to watch. Allow me to reiterate that Junko Enoshima is the worst human being to ever walk this earth.

Maybe I'm biased, but I love the shit out of this anime. It's mesmerizing how it seems so innocent going in, even if you HAVE played the games, but ends up crushing your soul.

Story - 9/10
Art - 10/10
Sound - 9/10
Character - 8/10
Enjoyment - 10/10
Chiaki Nanami - Crying/10

Overall - Watch this series. It will not disappoint you. There really isn't much else to be said about it. 10/10

I usually don't write reviews, but I feel that this anime gets a lot of undeserved hate, for not being something that it doesn't need to be in the first place. /*contains spoilers from DR 2 */

Story and Plot:
In chronological order, this is the first part of of the whole series. It follows the cast of DR 2 in their last happy months and it shows the event of the Tragedy. I think this is a part that many people don't like, as some details of it contradict what was said in the games about it. However, in my opinion, this is actually better ... than what it was supposed to be.
For example, in the games, they just say that Junko was Ultimate Despair, and that's it. I just couldn't fully think that just one person was able to end the world and, even more importantly, corrupt a whole class of Ultimates and Izuru Kamukura, the Ultimate Hope. This way, even if it's different, it makes sense and, in a way, is much better ( I will talk about that later ).

Art and Sound:
I put those two together because I really don't know what to say about either. In particular, I enjoyed every moment of Izuru; he just has some sort of casual badassery, and I also liked his internal questioning of what he should do.
Now, about the soundtrack, it is ok in general. What I really want to talk about is the ending theme of the song. At the beginning, I just enjoyed it normally but, after THE death at the end of ep 10, the ending just pushed the acceleration of the feels truck to the max.

Characters:
I can't talk too much about the characters without getting into spoilers, but I can say that I really enjoyed all of them. We find out a bit of new stuff about Junko and there's also another major new character from class 77.
Of course, Junko is as brilliant and hopeless as always, earning a well-deserved nr.1 spot on my "top villains of all-time" list.

Enjoyment:
I think that by this point it is clear that I love this anime, but there is one more very important thing about it that I haven't said.
First of all, this part of the series doesn't have any major plot twists, and what this story is about has been spoken from the beginning of it.
So, instead of having the usual tone of the series, this anime emphasizes on the slow coming of the tragedy. Seeing the members of class 77 playing around brings me both a smile and a tear, thinking of what is to come.
Also, what I enjoyed the most is the way that everyone's good intentions are manipulated and used against them. In several cases, if the characters didn't care about each other and just remained still, Junko's plan would have failed (in general, she always allows her victims a way to escape). However, exactly because they care and act, trying to bring happiness to themselves and others, the characters end up being manipulated by Junko and they fall.

Overall, while I understand that some people might not enjoy this series, I personally think it's one of the best parts of the franchise and give it a personal "Why won't the tears stop"/11 ( 11/11 )

This entry (along with Mirai-hen) was made for those that have played the first two games of the series since this helps complete the series timeline. So keep in mind that since I can't spoil here but I'll do my best to make this a good review in my capabilities, if that makes any sense. So if you haven't played the 2nd game, go do so before watching this since just watching Danganronpa the Animation isn't going to help you here.

Story: The premise is on the anime's page so you can go there for that. Anyways, this is the prequel to everything that has happened ... to the series starting with class 77's road to hope up to the end of where they fall into despair. What I like about the story is that they may have it at an open ending but isn't that what a prequel is supposed to do? They nailed that aspect pretty well, I'm getting a little ahead of myself so I'll go back a little.

The series starts with like a typical high school anime then it slowly becomes darker the more that you watch. The execution itself was a bit rushed but also brilliant as the Danganronpa franchise perfectly handles despair as well as hope itself, the two being the main themes of this series.

Score: 9/10 for the story

The art uses its character designs from the series overall which is something that I never had a problem with in all honestly. Lerche does a good job with matching the atmosphere with the tone of the show, which is something that studio does very well with some of the shows they worked on the past (ie Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace). The animation isn't nothing too special but it works well for the series as it doesn't need that. The backgrounds look very nice, but nothing too special.

Score for the art: 8/10

The OST is a bit hard to tell since I was a bit distracted of what was going on but the tracks were very good and they sound nice on their own which is a plus in my book. The OP theme is very good with not only having different versions as the show progresses, which helps fit the tone of the story and the vocals are perfect for it too. The ED theme on the other hand....is nice with the visuals showing the various good times that class 77 have together although Nagito isn't the best singer (his seiyu sings the ED).
The voice acting was very well done as the seiyu gives out the best performances they have for the characters and not once have they failed at it, haven't seen the dub for this yet so I can't compare the two at the present time.

Score for the sound: 9/10

The characters are the same ones from Danganronpa 2, so it’s about them, somewhat. A few characters that took their debut in this entry as well as in the future arc (ie Chisa Yukizome according to the Danganronpa wiki) did well to serve their purposes although only one of them being Yukizome got more screentime compared to the other two characters, this will be the last time I mention the future arc in this review, so I highly apologize if you were annoyed by that. What I meant by somewhat well, only Hinata, Nagito and Chiaki Nanami mainly got the focus. I liked how the characters kept their original personalities and vice versa so that’s a plus, otherwise it would be very awkward for me to watch. Part of what the light hearted tone was due to how humorous the characters interacted with each other. The more you grew attached to the characters in Class 77, the harder it’ll be when it comes towards the end of the anime when a certain event happens that I obviously won’t spoil.

The three that get the most focus on do impact on the story in a large amount of ways without them realizing it for example of how Nanami gets her class to play some video games with her (that scene is one of my favorite scenes from the first half of this entry), which affects in how closer she gets with Hinata in their friendship as they talk more as they play video games. In a way this represents hope in the atmosphere in class 77 as the less time they interact with each other due to how things end up later, which ends up making the time of the despair even closer if that makes any sense. As for Nagito, well he is just Nagito doing his best to help his class which somewhat ends up backfiring, as he does hold an impact of how events go so I’ll give him credit for that. Am I allowed to mention that Junko is part of this, otherwise why else would the title be called the “Despair arc” anyways, and she is not only entertaining but she also did a good job at going even further as an antagonist, I’ll leave it at that before this gets ugly….

I liked the character cast, as I didn’t dislike anybody, although I do have a love-hate relationship with a certain character that doesn’t appear much in this arc but it’s good to mention that here.

Overall the characters get a score of a 9, as well...no cast can be perfect after all, when it comes to the Danganronpa franchise

Enjoyment:
This may be written a bit differently compared to the other sections as well, I’m not used to writing my enjoyment on something but rather than reading on my rambling I’ll just be honest here. I really loved it. Now to be a bit more specific so this won’t be as vague. For instance, I really liked the humor in the chances they got, I recall laughing a lot in the first two episodes due to the situations they got in. When the show became true to its name, I wasn’t prepared for it as it gave me tears, I had to take a short break while watching episode 9 to calm myself down a bit before I continued.
I did find a lot of enjoyment from this series, but I think it’s a bit hard to describe why I like this entry other than the fact that it’s something you’re going to have to try for yourself, it’s best I got to say, I guess….
Score for enjoyment: a perfect 10/10

Overall, I did like this entry into the Danganronpa franchise. Sure it isn’t perfect but that I think that’s what it was trying to be as it was supposed to help fill in the holes that people would have after finishing a playthrough of Danganronpa 2. Simply put, if you want some questions answered, give this a shot just remember to play Danganronpa 2 first before giving this a watch. At the time of this review, the dub for this arc isn’t finished.

Final score: a solid 9/10

ok so background here I've played DR1 and SDR2, and have only read synopses for the future arc LOL, but...... I really liked this anime. I see a lot of hate, but I think this is everything Danganronpa is supposed to be. it's over the top, it's ridiculous, it's incomprehensible. it's everything I love about the characters. it's like a fun addition to what I enjoyed about the games. idk who would go into a Danganronpa anime by Lerche expecting an all-out masterpiece, but I really enjoy it for what it is. of course, there's fan service, it's......Danganronpa. whatever, it's a fun ride is the ... point. don't go in expecting to have your mind blown or anything and, if you enjoyed the games, you'll probably have a good time

spoilers for prior entries in the series and small spoilers for the show

like everything in DR, everything is great until ~satan~ enoshima shows up. if you are wondering when it get's to the point of "hell is too good for junko" it's in episode 9 and onward. right from the get-go i knew this is gonna end badly but damn.

now for the review. this is both a prequel to SDR2 and to the future ark, filling holes in the first and explaining stuff for the second, and such, is pretty predictable. but even tho it's predictable, it's still enjoyable, if you like the SDR2 characters.

Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen - Zetsubou-hen is an amine series by Lerche, and it serves as a prequel to the Danganronpa series.

Before I begin this review I'd like to explain the viewing order for this anime. You should watch episode one of Zetsubou-hen after the first episode of Mirai-hen, and follow the first episode of Zetsubou-hen by watching the second episode of Mirai-hen. Continue watching the shows in this order, since both series spoil each other. You should also make sure you've played (or watched) Danganronpa, Danganronpa 2, and Ultra Despair Girls. Otherwise you'll be ... very confused.

The story of Zetsubou-hen is both it's strongest and weakest aspect. This is partly due to it being a prequel. As a fan of the Danganronpa series I'm excited to see the things that have only been mentioned in the games play out in the show. However, this creates some issues.

I already know what's going to happen, and a lot of the time the way the show portrays events they end up not meeting my expectations. Is this entirely the shows fault? Not exactly, but it's still something I experienced, and I imagine many others will as well. The show tries to remedy this somewhat by adding new characters, however since these are the same characters that appear in Mirai-hen (which isn't a prequel) we know what happens.

Now, there's one character that we don't already know what happens to, and the end of her story makes for the most powerful moment in the show. But that's only one positive example in a sea of negative ones. If the story had been better executed I wouldn't have minded as much. But it wasn't.

I don't have much to say about the art, it's decent. Some of the characters look rather strange compared to how they do in the games. But I understand that art style would be difficult to replicate in animated form. The backgrounds look fine, a little bland but they serve their purpose. The art in the opening and ending is probably the best this show has to offer. Overall I think the art in Mirai-hen is noticeably better.

I watched this subbed and the voice acting was fine. Some of the side characters had very over-the-top voices, but thankfully they weren't in the show much.

Now, what really serves as the glue connecting everything in the Danganronpa series together is the characters. And I'm sad to say that the characters are the most consistently bad aspect of the show. While the story is sometimes bad and sometimes good, at least it was utilized. The same can't be said for the characters.

First off there're way too many of them! In the games you can spend hours interacting with the characters and getting to know them. That can't be done in a tv show. The first episode of the show is used to introduce a bunch of characters that have very little to do in the story. So I'm only going to talk about some of them.

There're several characters from Mirai-hen that are important, their character arcs are really good. (Except for Munakata, he does nothing.)

Chiaki Nanami is the real wild card for this series, since the audience doesn't know what's going to happen to her. And the conclusion to her arc is the best moment in this show. However, she's an incredibly simple and bland character, so she doesn't contribute much to the show until the end.

Hajime Hinata... is boring as all hell. He's just there because the pre-existing lore mandates he be there. He has some cool moments, but overall he does very little.

Nagito Komeada is one crazy bastard, shame he's gone for most of the show.

Junko Enoshima... is the worst character in this show. She feels completely out of place (just like in the games). But unlike the games, she shows up constantly! Yet she has to be there since she's the big bad.

Despite all my whining I enjoyed this show. It's fun seeing more of the Danganronpa characters and world, it's just a shame it wasn't done better. Subjectivly I'd give this show a seven out of ten, but it's probably worse from an objective standpoint. 6.5/10

Overall I'd reccomend this series if your a Danganronpa fan, but make sure you temper your expectations.

Disclaimer: I haven't played any of the games.
The original Danganronpa: The Animation was great in my opinion. The concept is incredible and the swift pacing and structure of each episode really made me love it. Plus, the characters were incredible.
Wanting to see more, I ended up getting a Funimation subscription just to watch Danganronpa 3, and so far I'm not disappointed. It's not as good as the first, but its characters were just as likable and it was muuuuch darker. Plus, we got to learn a lot more about Enoshima and her sister, and they're a blast to watch. My one complaint is that I ... wish we got to see more of Naegi and company, but I'm sure they'll come up more in the Hope and Future arcs.

Just so you know where my review is coming from, I've never actually played any of the games myself, but I have watched all of CinamonToastKen's playthroughts of all of the Danganronpa games by the time I finally got around to watch the anime, so I was pretty up to speed on all of the events. Also, although I didn't really fell in love with the first game or its characters (although I did enjoy it a lot), it was the second Danganronpa that really did it for me. The story was amazing and the characters themselves were fantastic, to the point where I was ... too emotionally invested in all of them and wanted to know more than the game told us about them (though part of me thinks it's because the second game has a lot of underlying ships than the first one, to be honest). And that's when I stumbled upon this anime, so my review is biased, without a doubt.

Although I know you're supposed to watch both this arc and the future arc alternated (which I did, mind you), I'm only going to focus my review on this arc because it was my favourite. If you love the characters from the second game and you also wanted to know more about the actual story (you don't learn anything major, but you do get more details that polish up the entire Danganronpa universe), then you're going to love this. Even if the cast isn't your favourite of the two, I think it's worth watching if you're a fan of the whole concept of Despair in this universe, to be honest.

One warning though, especially towards the last few episodes, you get into some seriously messed up scenes. It is really not for the faint of heart and they're both extremely graphic and not at all at the same time, since everything happens sort of off screen so you don't get the full picture, but you know exactly what's going on. This arc, more so than the future one, is heavier on both the gore and the psychological side of Danganronpa's special kind of horror, which I really enjoyed.

So if you're looking to delve even further into this universe, you have to watch this. Even though we all know how it's going to end, considering this is a prequel of the whole universe the games showed us, it's still full of twists and heartache and it's one of the best times I had within the Danganronpa universe.

It's ashame that I had to lower the score for this one. It would have been perfect if it only got more explanation so it could've been the greatest prequel of the final trilogy of Danganronpa.

The story is, well to sum it up is pretty laking, we only got a few explanation about the tragedy and that's kinda it. You might say that it's a slice of life anime that ends up very badly. Kinda reminded me of some other anime in a way.

The characters are of course still enjoyable and funny as always. We actually know a little bit more about Chisa since ... her umm... yea. She's still my favorite character in DR3 though.

Overall, it's an average anime for the people who want to know more about the tragedy but won't get any added explanation about the previous games.

!!!SUPER SUPER WARNING!!!

IF YOU PLAN ON WATCHING THIS ANIME (or even reading my review) YOU NEED TO HAVE PLAYED/WATCHED THE FIRST DANGANRONPA GAME/ANIME AND HAVE PLAYED THE SECOND DANGANRONPA GAME.

Danganronpa 3 – The End of Hope's Peak Academy – Despair Arc (holy fuck what a mouthful) is a prequel to the second Danganronpa game. You absolutely need to be caught up on what happens in the games in order to fully understand what is going on in this anime. What the anime accomplishes is a fun and despair filled experience that will help tell the tale of our gifted class.

Story: 6/10

As you hopefully already ... know, this anime revolves around the class that we interacted with in the second game. We are given a spotlight on how the class interacted with each other before the horrible killing event that destroyed not only Hope's Peak Academy but also most of the world. The one thing that is really holding me back on enjoying this prequel is the pacing. We start out at a good pace but then things start rushing once the first despair event comes into play. There is also a huge time skip early on that does not help with the pacing issue. Then once the anime hits its stride, it ends. The ending events just come so quickly that I found it hard to fully invest in the actions happening on screen.

Animation: 9/10

I one hundred percent love the art-style. It mends very well with what I remember in the game save for Akane's and Ibuki's character models. For some reason they just look...off from what I remember from the game. The architecture is very appealing, the background shots are detailed, the eyes are of course awesome, and the characters look and move great on screen. There is a very good sense of fluid action (even though there really isn't a whole lot of action scenes).

EDIT: I forgot to mention how awesome the OP is. It changes as the season comes closer to the end which is a really cool touch.

Sound: 9/10

They thankfully did not butcher the music from the first and second game. It is used very well in the anime in key spots as well as in non-critical scenes. Also hot damn that opening song is amazing. The voice actors retain their likeness from the games especially Junko. Overall it was a very pleasing anime to listen to.

Characters: 8/10

So due to the pacing issues I brought up in the story section the characters do feel a little flat. Some of them get a huge spotlight but a lot of them really get sidelined. Regardless though these characters do feel like their counterparts in the second game (which is a good thing). Junko however completely steals the spotlight even though she does not appear until the halfway point of the anime. Her character is just all over the place and it is just a joy to watch her inflict despair on everyone. Bonus points for another certain female character that of course steals the scene once she arrives (you know who I'm talking about).

Overall: 8/10

It's hard to not over-score this anime since it really is one for the fans of the games. If you watch it without playing the games (WHICH IS A REALLY BAD IDEA DON'T DO IT) then you will probably be lost and think it is average. For the fans though I think that the anime does a pretty good job of expanding our knowledge of what we already knew. The show is not perfect (due to pacing and sidelined characters) but it is very far way from average. Great acoustic qualities, amazing visual presentation, and amazing despair make this anime a must watch for the fans of the game.

Enjoyment: 8.4/10

Thanks for reading my review! If you liked my writing style, would like to see some other reviews, or just want to talk, please stop by my page!

Sincerely,
Awesome Drummer

********THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS.*********









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I liked watching this anime. Although the show introduces an anticlimactic conclusion, I was able to follow, enjoy, and leave this show with content.

Character(6/10)-- Most of the cast isn't developed properly and is shoved to the side for the plot, and only a few of them stand out.

Hajime Hinata: His character was well-written, reasonable, and understandable. He wasn't overly polite, he stood up for what he believed in, and had motives. He was solemn and dejected because he didn't have a talent. He strove to get a talent so that he could feel worthy. His character is immensely relatable because many people in life feel like they are not good enough and that they have to strive to be better. I've had this feeling multiple times. He willingly signed up for a human experiment so that he could feel worthy of himself, and his new friend Chiaki. So that he could hang around the talented people without feeling any shame of not belonging. I applaud whoever wrote Hajime in the anime.

Junko Enoshima: I like her character the least, and it's not because of some surface-level bias towards her being a villain. It's because she is not entertaining at all and does her job horribly as a villain. She is reckless and yet her plans go off seamlessly. She does all of this out in the open with cameras and alarms, yet Future Foundation, which has the highest technology, can't find out whether she is the villain or not. You can't find evidence? Her fingerprints and cloth fibers are all over the scene. The writers try to make her manipulative and cunning by making the other characters slow-witted. I can't see how a simpleminded girl like her can throw the whole world into despair. Her motives are generic. When she was born, she felt bored, and started to throw the whole world in despair just because. Her motives aren't interesting and her character isn't interesting. (she's evil just to be evil. That is one of the many worst tropes you should not include in your writing)

Chiaki Nanami: Her character is heavily relatable. An introvert who is absorbed in games and can't talk to others because most of the time they wouldn't have the same interests as her. I've felt like this before. Most of my friends aren't into anime as I am, and I don't know/watched enough anime to talk about it with other weebs. I like her character development when she became more open towards others and made new friends.

Natsumi Kuzuryu: She was also like Hajime. She felt dejected because she didn't live up to the family image by not having a talent. That's where the similarities stop. She hides behind this cruel persona and belittles others to make her herself seem better. She gives herself the fake title of "Super High School Level Sister." She will do anything in her power to get a talent. But it's impossible. No matter how much money you give. She knows this, but she is persistent. Despite her attitude, I love the stubborn side of her character. She was even planning to remove one of the talented students from the class. This made her character very interesting.

The other characters are secondary and we don't really interact with them, so I won't make a paragraph about them.

Story(7/10): The story was zany, then naturally started to get more dark over the span of the arc. The only reason it's not rated a ten is because it failed to serve as a good backstory for the mainline games.

Premise--I had liked what they tried with the show. Hajime gets into human experiment and the information about this experiment gets leaked towards the public. The public starts a riot because instead of their money helping the Reserve Course, it was helping the experiment. The class has to sit there as their once-perfect school is turning into mayhem. The setting is so realistic and interesting. But this is supposed to serve as the backstory before the students became Remnants of Despair. And they needed to come up with something somehow. So they introduced this: brainwashing. That's it. No interesting motives. No moral dilemmas. This arc went from the best to being subpar.

The art is a 9/10. The characters and the setting looked aesthetically pleasing.
The sound was outstanding, 10/10. Although I am not fluent in Japanese, I was singing gleefully with the opening song. The intro is a bop.

You should watch the series if you're looking for a fun time. I enjoyed the story and characters despite it's flaws.