Anime Club: Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak Academy (Despair)
Hello everybody! For the next couple weeks we will be analyzing multiple parts of perhaps my favorite modern anime series Danganronpa. As the third season was split into essentially three arcs (2 seasons and a finale) each one will get their own special review. Let’s start chronologically with Despair.
DANGANRONPA 3: THE END OF HOPE’S PEAK ACADEMY: DESPAIR ARC
CREATED BY: Seiji Kishi, Daisei Fukuoka
NO. OF EPISODES: 11 Episodes
GENRE: Action, Horror, Mystery, Psychological
YEAR: 2016
COUNTRY: Japan
The series serves as a conclusion to the storyline of Hope’s Peak Academy, the elite school where the Ultimate Despair, Junko Enoshima, played hostess to a “killing school life” among its students under the guise of the evil bear Monokuma. The story is split up into two chapters: Future Arc and Despair Arc.
Despair Arc takes place prior to the events of the Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Chisa Yukizome begins her job as homeroom teacher for the Hope Peak Academy’s 77th Class of Ultimate students. Meanwhile, Hajime Hinata, a student of the school’s Reserve Course for students without talent, prepares to undergo an experiment to make him the Ultimate Hope. What follows is a series of tragic events which lead to the birth of the Remnants of Despair and the realization of “The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History.”
“A time before the first game’s cast had ever even taken one step into Hope’s Peak Academy. This “Despair Arc” is bound to make all Danganronpa lovers incredibly grateful that Kodaka never said anything about leaving the past lives of the Remnants of Despair ambiguous, as this premiere episode overflows with affectionate fan service, wildly irreverent humor, and ten times more foreshadowing than its happy-go-lucky tone suggests.
I would say there was nothing but hope ahead for these wacky kids. The irony of making the “Future Arc” so bleak and violent and dour while the “Despair Arc” is nothing but bubbles and sunshine and laughter is definitely intentional. (The openings for both shows are fantastic, but I’d have to give the edge to Despair Arc’s for lacing its happy summer pastels with just a hint of the gruesome fates to come.) But even if the titles of these two shows matched their natures, I think Despair Arc would still steal Future Arc’s thunder, because the Remnants of Despair have always been more lovable than the Future Foundation.”
PROS:
- Likeable characters.
- Remnants of Despair debut.
- Junko Enoshima destroying lives like always.
- Over-the-top violence.
CONS:
- Tone is everywhere.
SCORE: 8.9 / 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYZaXnXuHPY
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