Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School: Despair Arc

Episode 2

After a hard week of darkness and loss in the Future Arc, we're back to the sunshine and tomfoolery of the Despair Arc, and whenever Danganronpa gets happy, it turns into a big old barrel of silly references. As Class 77-B cuts loose and overwhelms every other teacher who attempts to tame them besides Chisa, the episode devolves into a wild free association of dumb nerdy jokes that somehow manage to be laugh-out-loud funny. I could probably fill this entire review with a bulleted list of callbacks to the previous Danganronpa games, oodles of unrelated anime and manga series, and a boatload of video games old and new. (You gotta hand it to Chiaki: Super Smash Bros., Dokapon Kingdom, Mario Kart, and Bomberman are excellent party selections!)

The humor manages to land with shameless success over and over again because all these reference jokes remain rooted in character, allowing Danganronpa's best cast members to rebound off each other naturally even if you don't recognize Akane's fighting pose from Hunter X Hunter or whatever the case may be. Teruteru is a generous and thoughtful cook, but also an invasive pervert. Nekomaru is a studious and devoted trainer who takes his lessons in hard knocks so seriously that he turns the classroom into a warzone. We always knew these guys were problem children, but this series finally puts each student's explosive imbalance of negative and positive traits on full display in a school setting. It's not that they're bad kids. They're just so good that it's bad in large doses. (Except for Hiyoko, who might just be a terrible person.)

Speaking of Hiyoko, the reference parade does take a break for the episode's comedy centerpiece, possibly Danganronpa's most wildly immature scene to date (and that's saying a lot). Even when the episode devolves into chaos after Hiyoko dumps a giant bottle of high-potency aphrodisiac into the party's beef stew, all the gags revolve around each unique character's quirks instead of just turning the room into an unholy orgy. Mahiru gets off by taking steamy selfies, as the very sight of her high-end camera turns her on. Masochistic lesbian Mikan can't keep her hands off Peko's mighty yet flexible bamboo sword. ("Just let me use the tip.") Poor Gundham's perennial chuunibyou chant of "BE STILL, MY DEMON RIGHT HAND" takes on a whole new meaning. Perhaps most importantly, Nagito confirms to all that he is exclusively kibou-sexual. It's a madhouse, but it's our madhouse, and Danganronpa always likes to prove that you can even pick the lowest-hanging fruit in a creative way.

But above all this wanton silliness, episode 2 is Chiaki's story, because no amount of fanservice can make up for just the right amount of character development. After she works up the courage to follow Chisa's suggestion that she use her previously lonesome video game hobby to make new friends, Chiaki manages to finally unite the class in a way that no teacher could achieve. Since there are so many different types of multiplayer games out there, Chiaki is able to find a fun time for everyone, and they reward her thoughtfulness by electing her class representative, something Chiaki had never dreamed of doing before. She's shy about accepting the position at first, but being embraced by such an eclectic group for her true self has clearly boosted Chiaki's confidence, because by episode's end, she's got the gumption to ask cutie-patootie Hajime Hinata out on a date! It's so precious and adorable that it makes my heart swell three sizes, which means the fallout from this arc is going to destroy me. Hooray?

Tragically, Chiaki's newfound ability to love herself is a hurdle that her would-be boyfriend has yet to conquer, as the genesis of the Hope Cultivation Plan looms ever closer. Chisa and Munakata don't know about this diabolical scheme yet, but they're slowly uncovering the details through their secret investigation. Whether they figure out what's happening in time to save any lives or not, Hajime is already starting to consider volunteering for the project. We know that no matter what Chisa says to try and dissuade the kid, Hajime's still going to give up his body (and soul) for science in the end, so what really matters now is why. Chisa gives Hajime the same speech she used on Chiaki, the same platitudes about how being yourself is the way to true happiness, but she's not the only one trying to sway Hajime from the dark side. Unfortunately, it would probably be better if she was...

I swear I wrote that bit about Kazuo Tengan being the most suspicious member of the Future Foundation (in the previous Future Arc review) before I had seen this episode. Not that it matters now, because his appearance in the Despair Arc just ratchets up his chances of being evil tenfold. As the former headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy before Kirigiri took over, old man Tengan intimates that he had some kind of falling-out with the establishment in the past and that he doesn't approve of the Hope Cultivation Plan. Unfortunately, that's a big load of bah-bah-baloney, because the words he uses to "dissuade" Hajime from volunteering for the experiment are much more telling than his supposed disapproval of the project. While Chisa tried to reassure Hajime by telling him that he must learn to love himself, with no qualitative words like "ordinary" vs. "special," just Hajime Hinata as the only Hajime he can be, Tengan muddies his kind support with insidious words. He tells Hajime that he would be happier if he just embraced being "normal," knowing full well that Hajime sees normalcy as a fate worse than death. This is also a pretty un-teacherly approach to mentoring a student, telling them that they're nothing special, and they'd be happier if they let go of their ambitions and just accepted that judgment of their potential. Of course, I'll have egg on my face if Tengan turns out to be purehearted all along, but I think I know my Danganronpa themes well enough to recognize the poison in his words of "wisdom."

It's been a fun couple of weeks, but things are bound to start getting ugly next time, as a new student arrives in the Reserve Course to stir up trouble. Fuyuhiko's little sister Natsumi has just transferred in, heralding the start of the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case. While the confusing and open-ended ambiguity of this case was my least favorite part of Danganronpa 2, it'll be great to finally get some closure on what it has to do with The Tragedy, not to mention finally getting to meet Mahiru's friend Sato, who was never given an identity outside of her last name in Danganronpa 2. We still haven't seen her face, but Sato's apparently in the Reserve Course with Hajime and Natsumi, so let the deadly games begin!

Rating: B+

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School: Despair Arc is currently streaming on Funimation.

Jake has been an anime fan since childhood, and likes to chat about cartoons, pop culture, and visual novel dev on Twitter.