Danganronpa 3 The End of Hope's Peak Academy

Danganronpa 3 End of Hope's Peak Academy Side:future(mirai-hen) takes place after the events of Danganronpa 2 and takes place at the Future Foundation HQ which is located on a island that is not on any map.
It shows that the world has fallen into chaos and was almost completely destroyed by Junko Enoshima and by those who joined the Ultimate Despair and those worshipped her. The only the returning characters from Danganronpa 1 are Makoto, Kyoko, Yasuhiro and Asahina. Makoto is in trouble because he saved the remnants of despair and went against orders. There is a traitor in the future foundation and to stop the killing they must figure out who it is as the traitor is the killer. This side will bring a conclusion to Makoto and Monokuma's story.

Danganronpa 3 End of Hope's Peak Academy Side: Despair(Zetsubou-hen) takes place before the tragedy that nearly destroyed the world and the the hope's peak academy tragedy so it acts more as a prequel. It follows the remnants of despair(cast of the second game) before they became members of the ultimate despair and the story will most likely show how Junko manipulated them to join her. The story will have the new characters from the future side as some of them worked for hope's peak academy and provides a background for them also and it looks like it will reference the future side based on conversations between the new characters in the future side.

Since there is only two side future episodes and one side despair episode released so far it is hard to tell if any knowledge of the second game is needed and if they do talk about the plot of the second game they might go into detail about it. I believe they intend you to watch both as the episodes are released so the order to watch it would be to watch the side future first and then the side despair episode that is released in the same week. So an example is if you watched episode 2 of the side future you would then watch episode 2 of side despair.

The spoiler tags may contain spoilers from the games (I won't mention the events of the first game as there is a anime adaption of it) as I will try to explain some things that might need to be known to understand the story. It may not be the best descriptions as I have trouble putting some thoughts or description of things into words but I tried. At the time I am writing this these things aren't necessary to understand the plot but do provide some backstory to why Makoto is in trouble with the higher ups and the current fate of the 2nd games cast.

Spoiler: The future foundation

The future foundation is an organization that was created by the alumni of Hope's Peak Academy to battle the ultimate despair and to undo the damage they caused. The branch leaders are former students and employees at Hope's Peak Academy.

Spoiler: Who the villain might be and why Toko and Byakuya are not returning

The villain this time around is most likely Monaca Towa the leader of the warriors of hope and main antagonist of Danganronpa Another Episode Ultra Despair Girls because during the credits it shows her building a new monokuma and since the Junko AI was defeated which only leaves Monaca as the only option. Toko is not returning because she is staying in Towa city with Komaru Naegi(Makoto's sister) and Byakuya is unclear but most likely after helping defeat AI Junko most likely went back to Towa City in hope of undoing the damage caused by the warriors of hope.

Spoiler: Neo World Program and how the 2nd game killing game began and current state of the remnants of despair

Is a virtual world program created by the future foundation to undo trauma done in the real world and the 2nd game takes place on a virtual version of Jabberwock Island and the reason why Monokuma controlled by a AI Junko shows up after being uploaded by Izuru Kamukura(originally Hajime Hinata after experiments were done on him might show what was done to him in the despair side so I won't describe it for now). Those who were killed in the virtual world ended up entering a coma like state and those who knew it was a virtual world have a much higher chance of waking up if they were killed(only 2 knew it was a virtual world when they died) so all remnants of despair are currently alive but only 5 are awake and trying to figure out how to wake up those who were killed.

Spoiler: Why the future foundation labeled Makoto a traitor

The reason Makoto was labeled a traitor is because instead of bringing the remnants of despair(the second games cast) to the future foundation hq to be executed but instead Makoto brought them to Jabberwock Island and put them into the neo world program to undo what Junko has done to them and revert them back to how they were before becoming members of Despair. After the events of the second game Makoto says he will think of something to tell the higher ups on the way back to HQ. Leaving the remnants of despair that survived on the island as they said they want to figure out how to wake up their friends. Because Makoto didn't say where the remnants of despair are the higher ups think Makoto is a traitor for trying to save them.

Spoiler: something that has me confused about the side despair. Small reference to the second game

The one thing that has me confused is Chiaki Nanami the ultimate gamer in the despair side is she is a character that appeared in the second game and but in the second game she is a A.I which is why I am confused but I guess the A.I was based on her. The reference in the future side 2nd episode to the second game but has no impact on the plot is when Monokuma changed the pink rabbit's(usami) appearance to be similar to his design and demands to be called big brother is reference to what he did to the character in the second game Usami which is the same design and called himself her big brother and changed her name to Monomi.

 

HOW WRONG YOU WERE IN THE END LMAO. DANGANRONPA 3 WAS A MISTAKE.

 

@Whitefang19 Now, who was your favourite girl? If it's not Chisa I'm kicking you in the ass.

 

Why do I feel like the idea of watching an anime based around Danganronpa is much less appealing than just playing Danganronpa?

 

Well both anime series pretty much were failures, so hell I'd just say play the games, DR3 didn't bring anything new to the table considering the latest game takes place in an alternate reality.

Also you can't connect with anyone from DR3 because they fucking die before they get any development.

Basically I can go on a mini rant on why DR3 was the worst anime I've ever seen. The good things were Class 74 and the memes they spawned, as a group and individually.

 

Guess I'll just patiently wait for V3 to be released in the west.

 

Same, however I heard Japs didn't like it.

 

Well if it's anything like the first 2 I know I'll enjoy it.

 

First game kind of sucked, I'm conviced SDR2 was just an entire fluke. I wish DR3 was a game but beggars can't be choosers.

 

I loved them both lol. I think the most memorable thing about the first game was the superior ost, and the 2nd game definitely had more memorable characters. But the gameplay during trials is a fun and unique spin on the mystery genre that always keeps me having fun.

 

I wish DR3 had bloody trials and not the shit we got. Like, only a few parts were entertaining but I'd rather the trials and uh, actual murderers, and not what we got.