Danganronpa Watch Order: Including OVAs & Specials

Danganronpa is a visual novel video game series developed by Spike Chunsoft (formerly Spike) since 2010. The series first appeared on PlayStation Portable. The first game, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, was released in 2010 in Japan and 2014 in Europe and was later adapted into a 13-episode anime. A sequel, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, was released for PlayStation Portable on July 26, 2012.

A compilation of the two games, named Danganronpa 1・2 Reload, was released for PlayStation Vita in Japan on October 10, 2013. A remake of the first game on PlayStation Vita was released by NIS America in North America on February 11, 2014, and in Europe and Australia on February 14, 2014. Another game, called Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, was released for PlayStation Vita in 2014.

The latest game in the series, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, was released on January 12, 2017 in Japan, September 26, 2017 in North America, and September 29, 2017 in Europe for PlayStation Vita, Playstation 4, and Steam on PC.

A compilation of the three main games in the series, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony was released on March 29, 2019 on PS4 under the name Danganronpa Trilogy. The title of the series, Danganronpa, is made up of the words “bullet” and “rebuttal”. Danganronpa, therefore, means “winning an argument with a bullet from a gun”.

In this article, we are going to give you a thorough insight into the Danganronpa series. You’re going to get all the necessary information, as well as a complete guide to watching the whole series. Danganronpa is specific in many ways, as the video games and the anime form a single narrative unit, although not all of the video games have been adapted in animated form. In this article, we are going to give you a full narrative guide to the series, but with a focus on the animated materials.

Danganronpa watch order by release date

In this section, we are going to bring you an overview of the Danganronpa works in the proper release order:

• 2010: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
• 2011: Danganronpa Zero
• 2012: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
• 2013: Danganronpa: The Animation / Danganronpa Kirigiri
• 2014: Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
• 2015: Danganronpa: Unlimited Battle / Genocider Mode / Danganronpa Togami
• 2016: Killer Killer / Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School / Cyber Danganronpa VR: The Class Trial / Kirigiri Sou
• 2017: Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
• 2021: Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp

In the next part of this article, we are going to tell you how you should watch the series in chronological order; we’ll also tell you where the games fit into the chronology.

Danganronpa chronological watch order

In this section, we are going to give you a chronological overview of the works in question:

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School – Despair Arc (2016)

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School – Despair Arc takes place before the events depicted in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Chisa Yukizome is a new teacher at Hope’s Peak Academy and becomes the principal of Class 77. Meanwhile, a talentless student from the reservation volunteers to undergo experiments aimed at creating “Ultimate Hope”. The story follows all the events that will give birth to the “Ultimate Despair”, then to the Tragedy

Danganronpa: The Animation (2013)

Only the best students from the previous grades, who are specially selected by the academy, come to Hope’s Peak Private Academy. In addition, however, an average student is always chosen by lot, who is allowed to attend school together with the others. This year the lot falls to Makoto Naegi, who is really looking forward to going to this special school.

However, on the first day he passes out and wakes up in another room at school. The others he meets at the gym feel the same way. A black and white bear appears on the stage and claims to be the principal of the school. All students are now trapped in school forever. The only way out is to murder someone else without getting caught. The young people react in shock, but then react very differently to their situation.

Resistance and escape quickly appear hopeless and even if they refuse, they face death or something happens to their relatives. When the first murder finally occurs, everyone comes together for a joint “trial”, in which Makoto Naegi is the main suspect. The aim of the trial is to find the real killer. If that succeeds, the murderer must die. If you don’t succeed, the murderer is released and everyone else is killed.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (2010)

This is the first game in the series and the above-described anime series is based on Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. The anime is a condensed version of the game’s plot so you can play the game for additional information about the plot of season one of Danganronpa.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (2014)

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is a spin-off game set between games one and two. Chronologically, the story is located between the first two episodes, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, and follows Komaru Naegi, the sister of Makoto Naegi, as well as Toko Fukawa, a survivor of the first killing. The two heroines try to survive in a city controlled by robots in the form of Monokuma, the teddy bear who is the main antagonist of the series. They will also face a group of child killers, the Warriors of Hope, who seek to kill all adults.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (2012)

The second game in the Danganronpa series is a direct sequel to the original Danganronpa game. In the game, Kibougamine Academy (or Hope’s Peak) is a prestigious high school where only students with very high mastery or knowledge in a field are accepted. By way of example, the Ultimate Gymnast, the Ultimate Trainer, or even the Ultimate Princess. As Hajime Hinata prepares to take his first steps into the academy, he and other students find themselves forced to participate in a field trip to Jaberwock Island where Monokuma, a teddy bear claiming to be head of the school, threatens them to kill each other.

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School – Future Arc (2016)

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School – Future Arc takes place right after Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Makoto, suspected of treason for aiding Class 77 members under Junko’s influence against the advice of the Future Foundation, is summoned to headquarters for punishment. During the meeting attended by most of the leaders as well as Kyoko Kirigiri, Aoi Asahina, and Yasuhiro Hagakure, Monokuma appears and launches another killing spree. As the different participants try to survive, different conflicting visions of hope emerge.

“Super Danganronpa 2.5: Nagito Komaeda and the Destroyer of Worlds” (2017)

Nagito lives a contented school life with his classmates, content to not attract attention with talent as long as everyone lives happily. As Nagito encourages Kazuichi to go out with Sonia, Izuru appears out of nowhere intent on destroying the world. The next day, Kazuichi is found dead, allegedly murdered, prompting Fuyuhiko, Sonia, and Peko to search for his killer, who soon encounters Izuru. Calling himself the “Destroyer of Worlds”, Izuru kills the three and summons Nagito to confront him.

Relying on extreme luck, Nagito attempts to bring the building down on Izuru before committing suicide. Afterward, it is revealed that Nagito was actually trapped in an illusion after his virtual death in the New World program, with Izuru being an alter ego sent to immerse himself in the program and restore the psyches of those who became Remnants of Despair. Waking up in the real world and reuniting with Hajime, Nagito and his resurrected classmates set out to save the Future Foundation.

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School – Hope Arc (2016)

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School – Hope Arc is the final arc of the anime, in which the endings of the Future Arc and the Despair Arc converge, and therefore of the entire series. It includes only one episode, which aired on September 29, 2016. After being rescued by Hiro and, above all, Byakuya, Makoto escorted by the latter’s personal agents manages to get to the building where Ryota is located.

Here, after being attacked by a squad of soldiers, he and the agents are helped and rescued by students of class 77. As revealed later, in fact, Hajime, sharing part of his personality with Izuru’s, exploiting the many talents of the latter managed to awaken his comrades in a coma (after dying in Goodbye Despair’s “killing game”).

Freed from the influence of Junko Enoshima thanks to the memories collected in the Neo World Program, which eliminated their identities from Ultimate Despair, the students after getting rid of the armed forces, join Ryota in the building. Here Hajime convinces the animator to desist from spreading the video around the world, proposing that he join them so that they can atone for all the mistakes and misdeeds committed together.

In the end, therefore, the students of class 77 decide to create a video in which they take responsibility for the killing game hatched against the Future Foundation, so as to mask the responsibilities of Tengan and the other members of the organization.

Later as they leave in a boat, ready to create their new future, Makoto sees them leave, and here he has a final dialogue with Munakata, who tells him that the world needs a hero who has fought and defeated the Ultimate Despair, and in response, the young man claims that he can bear the weight of it and that he is the hope of the world.

A few months later, Makoto reopens Hope’s Peak Academy, of which he becomes principal, and which he manages with his companions alongside him, including Kyoko, saved by a Seiko medicine and the medical intervention of Mikan Tsumiki.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (2017)

This game is a sort of fresh start for the series, bringing us the same atmosphere of the original series, but in a new setting and with new characters. Thus, it is not directly connected to the other games in the series. In Danganronpa V3, the player embodies the Ultimate High Schooler Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist, locked up in the Academy for Gifted Juveniles with 15 other Ultimate High Schoolers. At the controls and direction of this academy is a bear-shaped robot with artificial intelligence named Monokuma. The latter explains the principles of the school: the students must kill each other.