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

Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen - Mirai-hen is an anime by Lerche, it serves as a sequel to the first two Danganronpa games. Before I begin this review I'd like to talk about how to go about watching this series. If you already know how to watch this show, skip this paragraph. Before you watch this show make sure you've played (or watched) the first two Danganronpa games, as well as Ultra Despair Girls. I hadn't played Ultra Despair Girls before I watched this show, so I was very confused for several episodes. Next, after you watch the first episodeof Mirai-hen procede to watch the first episode of Zetsubou-hen, then watch the second episode of Mirai-hen. Continue watching these shows in this order. They spoil each other, so this is very important.

I generally enjoyed the story of Mirai-hen, though it's far from perfect. This show goes for a much darker and serious tone, which I thoroughly enjoyed. At first I was dismayed by them repeating the whole "killing game" plot again. I get that that's what Danganronpa's all about, but it gets tiresome after a while. Thankfully, the killing game in Mirai-hen isn't really like the ones in the other Danganronpa games. I actually really liked the plot of the characters all being trapped together and having to face their own demons and kill each other, with an unknown attacker lurking somewhere amongst them. However, the story starts to crack once you analyze it closer.

I won't say the story has a lot of plot holes necessarily, but it certainly has plot conveniences. There're constant fake-out deaths, which somewhat takes away from the real deaths in the show. Characters behave like complete assholes for petty reasons that are poorly explained. And other characters simply disappear for episodes at a time. There're so many subplots to juggle that the writers must've forgot about some of them.

Also, I have some gripes regarding a gimmick in this show, which I won't mention to avoid spoilers. This gimmick also showed up in Zetsubou-hen, and I found it incredibly cheap and lazy. It's a poor explanation for the despair in the series, and it's applied inconsistently. I did like some of the twists the story offers though.

The art is pretty good. The backgrounds are somewhat bland, but that sort of fits with the environment the show takes place in. The character designs are solid. I liked seeing older versions of the characters from the first game, and the new characters look good too. Additionally, the animation is smooth, although it's also somewhat limited.

I watched the subbed version of this show, and I found the voice acting pretty good. The sound effects are also decent. I really liked both the opening and ending songs.

Now, the most important aspect of anything Danganronpa related is the characters. The returning characters are consistent, which is good. So what about the new characters? Well, most of them are very unlikable. By the very end of the show you'll feel sympathetic for some of them, but it takes longer than it should in my opinion. Just like in the Danganronpa games some of the characters die before you ever get to know them. And the annoying/unlikable ones stick around for a while. I do feel like a lot of the characters were underused (Byakuya for example).

So, how did I enjoy this show overall? It's pretty fun, not necessarily good, but fun. It was certainly a roller coaster, I didn't know what was going to happen next. At first I thought I wasn't going to like this show as much as Zetsubou-hen, since that show had the characters I already knew instead of new ones. But I think having new characters might've actually been a good thing, since I didn't know what to expect from them. 7/10

Would I reccomend this series? Yes. If you're a Danganronpa fan like me you'll probably come away with mixed feelings. I can guarantee it won't be like the games, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you're not familiar with Danganronpa and have no interest in playing the games I'd still recommend this show. You won't know what's going on but it'll undoubtedly be a fun ride!