A mystery with tons of turns!

This anime was seriously so awesome. It was nothing that I was expecting, and I truly enjoyed every minute. There was always a twist, and while the plot in general was consistent, it always made you want to know what was gonna happen next!

Danganronpa: The Animation is an anime adaptation of the Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc video game. The anime consists of 13 episodes, and was released on North American airwaves via Funimation in 2015. It has since been released in the form of a box set.

The story is the same as the game, which follows Makoto Naegi as he is accepted into Hope's Peak Academy. After passing out and waking up in an abandoned classroom, Makoto finds his fellow classmates in the auditorium where they have been gathered by Monokuma. Monokuma tells them that they are trapped in the school, and the only way they can survive and escape will be to play his game: kill one of your fellow students without getting caught.

In the game, you would play as Makoto and gather evidence at crime scenes, which you would then use to find the true culprit in class trials. Because there's no gameplay here, we instead watch as Makoto investigates on his own, and watch the class trials play out without intervening. This is convenient for those who don't feel comfortable playing video games, but perhaps a bit less convenient for those who have already played the game and know what's about to happen.

I feel that they did a good job in animating the characters, and I believe the Japanese voice actors are all the same as in the game (you can watch this in English as well). They kept it stylistically very faithful to the source material, even going so far as to make the blood pink instead of red, which the game did to avoid getting a higher rating in Japan. This keeps it enjoyable enough for those who have already played while offering something new and inventive for those who haven't.

Overall, I would recommend this series to fans of a good mystery tale. I just can't help but feel that half of the fun was actually getting to play it.