Which can only mean it is..a game adaptation. Now, I have NOT played the game. So, I will be reviewing it just for the anime.
By the way, this is my first review. So, yeah.
Story [8/10]
I'm going to be honest, I loved how fast paced this was. It was what I was looking for for a while now. For every episode, there is either a new murder case or another of the infamous Classroom Trial. New mysteries lead to more questions and sometimes make me wonder what could happen next or how could this lead to that, making that mysterious atmosphere. Then, the Classroom Trial comes and after figuring out all the clues and missing pieces, someone still had to die in the end. All because of a teddy bear. (This anime or the game is not recommended for the little of age.)
But, if there is one negative thing I have to say about the story, it is that it felt rushed to me(will be discussed in the enjoyment section).
Art [8/10]
Switching from 2-D to 3-D and back again was definitely news to me and though the 2-D aspect was not the best-looking, the 3-D part of it stood out to me, sort of. For the most part, the art is solid and the animation is smooth but it is not always constant, being that it is not clear sometimes. The characters are quite solid and a little simplistic(how I like it), but, again, is not always constant. (By the way, the fact that the blood is pink in this anime made the victims look awkward.)
Sound [6/10]
For the sound and music aspect of this anime, it is not anything particularly special. Certain music would play at the right time sometimes, and sometimes, not so much. The sound, to me, were more average than good.
The opening and the ending wasn't anything that stood out to me either. Although, the opening did surprise me with it's English lyrics and it sounded decent so, it was not all bad. Overall, it isn't very memorable for me in any way.
Character [7/10]
Being introduced to 16? characters of the anime right off the bat was a bit overwhelming for me and trying to remember every single name so I don't get confused was a bit of a chore at first. However, as I got to know characters like the optimistic Naegi Makoto or the ever-so-mysterious Kyouko Kirigiri, it turned out to be less confusing than I first thought. From average people like Sayaka Maizono and Leon Kuwata to people who have...other agendas like Monokuma him?self made it interesting for me.
Now, the main problem with this anime is that there isn't enough character development. Most characters either don't change or hardly change at all. The reason lies within the fact that there just isn't enough 'space' to put in that character development(which I will discuss in the next section).
Enjoyment [7/10]
Alright, I'm at the bottom of the bucket and I have but 3 words. Not. Enough. Episodes. This is where the problem of the anime lies. The plot definitely felt rushed to a point where I don't even get what I'm trying to figure out from the story and, since they are following a game, even just putting the plot into 13 episodes seems to leave, literally, no room for a filler episode or even some decent character development. Just saying.
I'm not saying it's all bad since this was the kind of thing I was looking for in a long time. A good fast-paced anime with some sort of mystery aspect to it. The whole thing about hope and despair was cheesy, but I was okay with it. Survival was also a big concept considering there's lots of blood(pink) in this...and lots of dying too, which I also enjoy in a show.
Overall [8/10]
I don't exactly have much complaints over this anime except that there isn't enough episodes to go around. But, overall, the thirteen weeks I spent to watch this anime was, more or less worth it in my opinion. So, if there will be an anime adaptation for the sequel of the first game this was adapted from, I am definitely hoping it will be better than this one...and more episodes. DEFINITELY more episodes.
