Review of Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc

To start off, the show takes place after the events presented in every other game in this saga. Therefore it's important to play them. You can also read some light novels or manga if you wish, but it doesn't matter, because they don't connect to this anime anyway. Also, if you spend 50~ hours playing the games, I doubt that you'll be satisfied with this. And that is the biggest problem with it - it's unnecessary and feels completely off. The fans didn't like it and if you didn't play the games, you won't like it either. But at least, this thing is actually moreentertaining, than the Despair Arc, which left me with despair and despair only. There'll be minor spoilers ahead, but most of them are about games or things that won't ruin your "fun".

So what is Mirai-hen actually about? Well, after The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History™, the vast majority of humanity is gone. But, as we learn in Ultra Despair Girls and Danganronpa 2, there is still hope since The Future Foundation - mostly lead by former SHSL students - is trying to rebuild the world. Trying is probably the best word for this, because as we see in the first episode, it's not really that hard to kidnap the key figures of their leadership. So, yeah, it's another killing game, but this time it's more like Mafia game - there is a one traitor, that will kill one person, when the others are unconscious. If they don't kill anyone in one "night", then everyone else survives and the game ends. There are also a NG codes - which prohibits some of the actions. This is a really cool concept and while I was watching this, I really was curious about characters' NG codes. Also, who could be a traitor? This is way different than any other game, and it's done pretty well.
As for the rest of the story... it's okay and has some cliffhangers. When it was airing, I though it's really cool and couldn't wait for next episode. But now? Some of the cliffhangers just don't work. They're really cheap and completely unnecessary. The rest of the story isn't good either. You're getting teased with something really cool and then... it's disappointing. And after that disappointment, we've got another one, but this time it's the laziest things ever. It's the type of twist that we saw in Zetsubou-hen. The story could work, but it doesn't. You can easily see things that would be amazing to see, but they aren't. And this is probably the worst thing. Wasted opportunities.

But hey, it's Danganronpa! It never had a good story, so let's move to things that make Danganronpa amazing - characters. Oh boy. First things first, we've got our old survivors. They're all here apart from Togami, that couldn't arrive at meeting and Toko, who's chilling in Towa City. That leaves us with Makoto Naegi, who's still the main character, Kyoko Kirigiri, who is her normal self, Asahina Aoi, who... doesn't really do much, I guess? So she is exactly like she is in the game, yay! As for Yasuhiro Hagakure... yeah, he's still a comic relief. I like them as much as I liked them before, but they don't save the show. They feel like they were put here just to say sell this anime better. But hey, it's still nice to see them back.
We've also got a completely new cast, that also appears in Zetsubou-hen. Not all of them, but only the important ones. The character that I personally liked is Ruruka Andou and her boyfriend, Sonosuke Izayoi. They aren't great personality-wise, but they've got nice designs. Ruruka is manipulative and mean and since I like this type of characters, I liked her too. She kinda reminds me of Hiyoko a.k.a Best Character from DR2. The next one is Izayoi. He doesn't talk very much, but he will do anything for the sweets... that's sound really stupid, doesn't it? Also he's got a nice trenchcoat, and all in all, I just liked him. There is also a Seiko Kimura, and she is socially awkward, and that's pretty much it, without spoiling the story. I didn't really care about this character, but many people did loved her.
The least important characters are Daisaku Bandai, who is obviously a joke character and Great Gozu - who is ex-wrestler and kind of a badass. The rest of the cast consists of Chisa Yukizome, about whom I wrote in Zetsubou-hen review, Juzo Sakakura, who is a douche, but at further investigation, he's also one of the best character in this anime. The other ones are Ryota Mitarai, who is similar to his Zetsubou-hen version, but crying way less this time, Koichi Kizakura, nonchalant guy, that is also a really cool character and the leader of Future Fundation, and Kazuo Tengan. The remaining two characters... are bit different. Miaya Gekkogahara is the most mysterious and interesting character of all, but they screw her up anyway. No human language can describe the disappointment after sixth episode. The last one is Yuu Narukami, or how is he called here, Kyosuke "You know why" Munakata a.k.a Muchkatana. He's the edgiest character in this universe (Izuru and Gundham don't count!) and has zero personality. I don't like him. He's bland, uninteresting and in some scenes, he's hilarious. And it's not intended. He's incompetent and blames Despair for everything. Even if it's his own fault.
So we've got a bunch of new and old characters, yet instead of being happy to see my favourites interacting with the new cast, I see nothing like that. Most of them die early or don't have any relationship with the main characters. Overall, they're a little better than characters in Zetsubou-hen, but not very much.

I don't give a damn about art. In some moments it looked bad, but I didn't pay much attention to it in general. However the stylistic is darker than usual. It's not annoying, but I prefer the old one. The biggest difference, that every fan will notice, is the blood colour. It's red. I don't know if it was supposed to be more dark or realistic, I just hope that Danganronpa won't end up like the DC Cinematic Universe.

As for the sound, it's very good. I really like both the OP and the END, the rest of music is also really nice. The old OST like New World Order were remastered, and they sound like they should. Voice actors did their best and like in Zetsubou-hen, the old cast kept their voices.

And now comes the final verdict - did I enjoyed this? Surprisingly, the first half of anime was entertaining. You've got more and more clues, there were multiple of theories, memes and questions about characters. It was fun. But I was watching it on streams, once a week, just when it was airing. And that's the problem. If you watch it now, it will take like 6 hours to complete. You won't probably come out with any theory, you won't notice small details that could prove that X character is traitor, the cliffhangers will be less dramatic. Not to mention the ending, which is really bad. Overall - you probably won't enjoy this as much as I did.

Thanks for reading!