Danganronpa Review

And so, another anime ended this week. This being the third one out of four that ended this week that I've been watching. It was probably a bad idea to get into all these anime that all ended around the same time..

The one I'm talking about now is Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei. This roughly translating to Bullet Refute: Highschool Students Of Despair & Hope. &I do say very rough translation, but that's basically it. But most just call it Danganronpa.

This anime is based off of the game, Danganronpa. It's about 15 students that are put into this school with certain memories of their past erased. They are forced to live in this school with no way out. All of the doors and windows leading outside are locked and bolted shut. They can't even see what's going on outside. This school is lead by this black&white bear. No--not a panda. Just half&half black&white bear. He calls himself Monobear. He explains to the students that they are to live in this school for the rest of their lives, but with one exception being the way out. To leave the school means you must commit the perfect murder. You must kill one of your classmates and get away with the murder. Nobody must know you killed the victim. After a victim is killed, everyone is given time to examine the crime scene&get clues to the victim's death&to who killed them. A class trial is held where everyone discusses and try to figure out who the murderer is. These trials are what mean life or death. If a majority guesses who the killer is correctly, then the killer dies and everyone else continues their lives within the school. But if they guess incorrectly, then everyone but the killer dies, and the killer gets to leave the school along with all these other prizes.

Now to my review of it: 7/10
First of all, the anime is based off a game. It's not going to be very detailed with character development&so on. It also has only 13 episodes to it. It is very rushed. There is too much left out from the game that could of been included if it could of had a full season of 24-25 episodes. Because of the lack of character development, you don't really feel too bad for the characters when they die. It leaves out the getting to know them&the suspense of seeing if your favorite character dies or not. It's supposed to be a survival horror kind of anime, but there is too little suspense. Someone dies every other episode, none being anybody you will really miss. If you want a more detailed thing of the story, just play the game of it. [which is super fun]
Don't get me wrong, I loved this anime despite the lack of character development. I found the storyline to be an interesting concept and that's what made me interested to start watching it. I got to like some of the characters. [Naegi, Togami, Kirigiri, Celestia, Fukawa] The class trials were my favorite parts. Because just when you think you have who the killer is figured out, it turns out to be some complex plan that some other student came up with to kill their friend.
I fairly enjoyed watching, even though the ending was kind of.. weird really isn't how I would describe it, but it's the only word I can think of for it now.
Also I like horror anime. I didn't find it too horrifying, but that's just me. [unless pink blood freaks you out? hah] I suppose the concept of it all is. It's rated R- 17+ for violence. I do suppose some of the deaths were pretty brutal...but not like you gonna gag&stuff. It's all just blood--no guts or shit like that... &I'm just going to stop typing now.