Anime Hajime Review: Danganronpa - The Animation

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Danganronpa. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

Makoto Naegi (voiced by Megumi Ogata) heads off to start his first day at the prestigious Hope’s Peak Academy.  The school has built a reputation for shaping and producing the next leaders in a wide variety of fields. Naegi is doubtful if he belongs at such a top tier institution. Despite his reservations, he decides to give it his all. Upon entering the school, Naegi's entire world turns dark.

He awakens in an unknown location, along with fourteen other students.

No one knows how or why they're at this place. After a quick look around, they come to the conclusion that they are trapped. Meeting back up, they're all shocked when a strange teddy bear takes the stage. The creature introduces itself as Monokuma (voiced by Nobuyo Oyama), the Principle of Hope’s Peak Academy.

Monokuma explains that the students are part of a new type of academy. An academy where they will remain for the rest of their lives. This, of course, is not taken well by the students and they refuse to accept such an arrangement.

Monokuma, with a smile, reveals that there is a way to get out of the school. A person must successful murder one of their classmates without getting caught.

Fear, distrust, and despair fall upon the group as one by one, they begin killing each other off. Naegi and his companions must now uncover the mystery of Hope’s Peak Academy. All the while avoid becoming the next victim.

Series Positives

Makoto

I’m going to be straight honest. I have never played any entry in the Danganronpa series. Having now seen the show, I want to.

The entire situation and premise make for an intriguing and, I hope, fun video game. As it turns out, it also makes for quite the entertaining anime.

The Mystery

The whole mystery of what was going on was intense. Not to mention, there were also some disturbing, uncomfortable, and terrifying moments. Nothing felt safe. This made the show addicting and hard to put down.

Not only was there the overarching mystery, there were the smaller mysteries of who killed who. And it's these moments that made the show fun.

 

Why's that you ask? It’s because it was all logic based. Everything made sense and you yourself could discover the culprit. It’s not easy, but it is possible. You get to see all the clues. You get to know all the information. The show allows you to play detective.

Monokuma

Plus there were actually consequences for each decision. How it worked was, a body was found, everyone got time to investigate, and then there was a trial. The trials are why I want to play the games. This was where all the arguments and all the evidence got presented.

If the culprit was caught, they were executed. Yet if the wrong person was chosen, the guilty party got to leave. Everyone else was then executed.

This was great because it forced characters to think. Sure, accusations got tossed around. People did allow their fear and paranoia to get the best of them. Luckily there were plenty of characters that were smart enough to slow the group down and come to the truth.

The Art Style

This is a good looking series. You can see its video game roots. Everything was stylized, no more so that in the character designs. But it didn't stop there. The environments, the crime scenes, the trials, they were all brilliant to look at.

What made Danganronpa breathtaking were the executions. These were the most terrifying moments in the show. They were amazing and well done. But they were also hard to watch (in the positive kind of way).

Series Negatives

I don’t know if I'm conveying how good the trial scenes were. They were examples of what good mystery stories should do. 

As for the larger story as a whole, it was also good. The buildup was intense. The intrigue was strong. I got completely invested in learning what the ultimate answer was. The narrative was almost perfect, with just one…tiny…flaw.

 

Unfortunately this one flaw. This one mistake. THIS ONE COMPLETE AND UTTER F$%# UP ruined the entire series for me.

The Ending

I’m not going to spoil anything. I want to, but I’m not going to.

In a mystery story, two aspects gauge how well the mystery of the story plays out. 

The first is the mystery. Why is this happening? Who is behind it all? How is this, that, and the other thing connected to one another? How do these clues, how does this evidence, how does what this person said or did fit in with the full picture? Does the story give all the information needed to solve what is going on?

The second and most important of the two is the actual reveal. Is what ended up happening logical? Does it make sense, does fit, does it all work out? Could it have been figured out without the story’s help?

In Danganronpa this wasn't the case. You couldn’t have figured it all out aside from one hell of a guess. Not only that, the reveal was a twist. Except it wasn't. No, it was bull s#$%, complete and utter bull s#$%. 

To add to that, the ending became convoluted and absurd. To the point where it was laughable. Or it would have been if it wasn’t so f#$%ing stupid and rage inducing. In one motion, the entirety of an amazing story was undone. 

It’s one thing if a bad mystery has a bad revel with a bad twist. It’s completely different if the actual mystery is good. I mean the trails do both aspects well. Why was it that the main story couldn’t do the same?

Final Thoughts

I don’t know what to say here.

On one hand, Danganronpa built a fantastic mystery with great intensity, suspense, and atmosphere. Not to mention there was the presence of an enjoyable cast of characters and beautiful artwork. You won’t want to put it down. You will want to know the ending.

But the ending makes everything worthless and a complete waste of time.

Like I said, I now want to play the games. I want to believe that everything is done better. Maybe that alone is enough reason for me to say go ahead and check this one out. Maybe then you'll want to play these games as well. If you’re just looking for a good mystery story, though, you’ll find nothing but disappoint here.

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