Danganronpa: Hope’s Academy and Despair’s Students

The story is told through the eyes of the protagonist, Makoto Naegi, who begins a new year at the prestigious private school Hope’s Peak Academy, which is known for educating pupils at the pinnacle of their fields. The title “Ultimate” is bestowed upon these students. Every year, however, the school holds a raffle in which every average student in the country is entered. A random student is chosen and admitted to the school as “Ultimate Good Luck” – Makoto Naegi is one of them. The plot centers around 15 pupils trapped in their school by a vicious bear named Monokuma. The pupils must “graduate” from the school to leave. To accomplish this, a classmate must be murdered. After discovering a body, the remaining students must identify the perpetrator. If the perpetrator can trick the rest of their classmates, they will be the only ones to graduate, while the rest of the pupils will be penalized. If the classmates discover the genuine perpetrator, they will be punished with a horrible execution while everyone else is spared. While Monokuma publishes motives to push students to kill, the students also attempt to unearth the school’s mysteries, including why they were stuck there in the first place.