Welcome to Hope’s Peak High School. Here, the best of the best are selected to
attend one of the greatest schools in the world under the tutelage of some of
the greatest minds of all time. Or at
least that’s the official description.
The reality is worse than anything you could believe. Inside the hallowed halls, 15 students have
been selected to undergo the most challenging of school curriculums. It’s simple: to graduate a student must murder
one of his/her classmates…and get away with it.
In a twisted game presided over by the teddy bear from Hell, this groups
of elites from all walks of life must either band together to stay alive or
risk turning on one another to save their own lives. Let the games begin.
Danganronpa is a game that I wasn’t aware of until about a
year or so ago. Id seen some of the
characters cosplayed by friends (mostly the sexy Junko) but was never sure
where they came from. Once I found out
the Game and Anime’s title and heard about the premise…I was stunned to say the
least. In an age of Battle Royale
inspired stories like The Hunger Games and Magical Girl Raising Project, how
would this one stand out from the rest?
Well you take the premise of Saw; change Jigsaw from a man with a remote
control clown puppet to a robotic teddy bear; and make the game about pure
despair rather than potential redemption.
The end result is interesting. I
shouldn’t condone anything done in this show but at the same time, it’s weird that
I don’t want to look away even for a second.
The last really big Anime adaptation of a Video Game ive
seen recently is Ace Attorney. Unlike
that one, I haven’t played any of the Danganronpa games so I cant say how close
the Anime plays to the events of the game.
I always felt that was Ace Attorney’s Achillies Heel, basically giving
us a shot for shot Anime adaptation of the video game and making it the
equivalent of an animated cheat guide.
That being said, in this case, going into Danganronpa in the dark will
work in some viewers favor. The twists
are genuine and watching events unfold is a roller coaster. Speaking of Ace Attorney, the trial scenes
play out a lot like that franchises trials.
The cast sorts through evidence, presents theories, some might shout
“OBJECTION!!!” and the criminal goes totally overboard when theyre caught. The only difference, we get to see the
punishments tiny teddy Monokuma dishes out and let me tell you…they may play
out playfully but they aren’t for the feint of heart.
The students of Hope’s Peak are a collection of the
various classes identified at the end of The Breakfast Club: a mix of Brains,
Athletes, Princesses, Basket Cases and Criminals. Each of the 15 students is pretty unique in
their own way. Even if a personality or
two seems similar, there’s a lot to make everyone stand out. And, of course, the continuing fear of the
next “whodunit” haunts everyone to their core, mostly. I have theories about a possible ringer, much
like Battle Royale I wonder if a previous winner of this twisted game has been
reinserted to make things more interesting.
Poor Naegi though. He is the main
character and the audience sympathizer.
But as much as you feel for him, you agree with his classmate, Kirigiri,
that he’ll have to tap into his inner survivor and match it with his and her
own set of Sherlock skills to beat Monokuma and make it out alive. Speaking of Monokuma, I think that’s Greg
Aryes from Chrono Crusade and Free providing his voice for the English Dub and
man is he having a blast. This little
demon toy knows no sympathy and is the ultimate example of someone who just
wants to watch the world burn so long as he gets a laugh out of it. I cant help but imagine he has far worse
fates in stored, including stacking the deck in his favor so that no one wins
in the end.
Having no clue what happens in the sequel series,
Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School, I feel like I’m going to
enjoy what comes next, if I proceed, in Danganronpa. The characters are all different enough that
it’s easy to find a favorite or two. The
trials and investigations really make you think and make you feel like you’re
part of the action. And Monokuma is one
of the most entertaining villains ive seen in an Anime in years. I think I am going to carry on with this
one. Is it wrong I kind of feel bad for
doing so? This is some pretty twisted
stuff. Oh well, I wanna see the next
trail.
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