Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei The Animation

Makoto Naegi, a teenager with no remarkable talent, is surprised to learn that he has been accepted into Hope's Peak Private Academy: an elite school that gathers the best students from various fields. Despite believing his admission was just a fluke, Naegi is delighted to attend an institution known for ensuring success to those who graduate. Determined, he enters the front doors of the prestigious academy.

However, after losing consciousness inside, Naegi wakes up in a seemingly abandoned classroom. Failing to comprehend how he got there, Naegi begins to explore, and to his surprise, finds his classmates assembled in the gym. While everyone is trying to figure out what happened, they are confronted by the school principal—Monokuma, a robotic teddy bear. The mysterious toy explains that the freshmen are trapped inside the school with only one means of escape—kill a classmate without being discovered.

Tension fills the air as Naegi and his classmates realize that they are faced with two choices: participate in Monokuma's killing game, or reside together in the school for the rest of their lives.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kirigiri, Kyouko Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Monokuma Main

Ooyama, Nobuyo Japanese

Naegi, Makoto Main

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Enoshima, Junko Supporting

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Ludenberg, Celestia Supporting

Shiina, Hekiru Japanese

Fukawa, Touko Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Togami, Byakuya Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Fujisaki, Chihiro Supporting

Miyata, Kouki Japanese

Ishimaru, Kiyotaka Supporting

Toriumi, Kousuke Japanese

Asahina, Aoi Supporting

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Fukura, Kei Producer

Kishi, Seiji Director

Reviews

Jan 6, 2026

maya_kotori

Recommended

This was one of those anime I started ages ago, watched about half of the first season… and then completely forgot about. It just slipped out of my mind somehow. But now that I finally came back to it, I’m actually really satisfied with the whole experience. I won’t lie, the episode order and the continuation were confusing at times. The structure is chaotic, the pacing jumps around, and sometimes you’re just sitting there like “wait… what?” But once I pushed through and finished it, I ended up being pleasantly surprised ^^ The twists, the characters, the insane atmosphere, it all came together ... in a way that made the return totally worth it. I’m glad I gave it another chance, because the ending hit way better than I expected. A messy journey, but a surprisingly rewarding one.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 30, 2025

suapixyreal

Mixed Feelings

Honestly it’s fine as a recap, but it’s really not a good idea to watch as your first introduction to the series. It’s not a fantastic watch and will spoil the story that’s presented a lot better in game.

The best thing about Danganronpa 1 is the setting and atmosphere but it’s almost impossible to capture that feeling of dread in 13 episodes. It’s made worse because the work it’s adapting is over 20 hours long with a lot of incredibly complicated plotlines and 15 major characters.

As a result all the characters lack depth and each storyline feels very rushed. The villain is somehow made even ... more grating and nonsensical than in the original, and the dub voice acting definitely doesn’t help.

The investigations and mysteries are also a lot less investing because they all happen so suddenly and we really aren’t given the time to really think on the clues for ourselves.

Realistically there was no way to make a story like this into a 13 episode anime and make it anything other than an ok recap of the major plot events. It really needed 24 episodes at minimum.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Oct 16, 2025

kitsuneredFES

Not Recommended

Danganronpa 1 is an absolutely amazing game with a fantastic atmosphere and art direction, great gameplay, amazing music, and an engrossing narrative. Now take everything away from it and you get the anime adaptation

The art direction was changed pretty heavily, likely to fit an anime budget, and feels very cheap and nothing like the VN it's based on. The great narrative is still there, but heavily worsened by awful pacing trying to fit a 25-30 hour VN into a 13 episode season. A lot of the gameplay experience from the original game is obviously not here which is a major issue since a majority of ... the gameplay in this series is trying to figure out the mysteries and murders yourself in the class trials.

It's a very messy adaptation that, while still giving you the overall story of the original game, I would never recommend. If you own any current console, PC, modern phone, or even a modded PSP with the fan translation, experience that instead.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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