Whether you played the games or just watched the anime, Danganronpa is a fun series. It has a basic premise, but it is carried by cleverness and comically intense characters.
That said, Danganronpa will probably forever be a series with – not a difficult bar for entry – but a difficult bar for continuation of the story for new fans.
The good news is that the ‘Danganronpa the Animation’ anime is actually an extremely faithful adaptation of the first Danganronpa game, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. So much so that if you watched the anime, you don’t actually need to play the first game if you want to jump into the game series afterwards.
The problems come after the first Danganronpa anime. Contrary to what the name suggests, the anime ‘Danganronpa 3’ isn’t an adaptation of the Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony game. In fact, they have nothing to do with each other at all.
The Danganronpa 3 anime is a sequel to the Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, and Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultimate Despair Girls games. In fact, if you wish to have any context to some of the characters, the Danganronpa 3 anime expects you to have played both Danganronpa 2 and Ultra Despair Girls.
The good news is that if you don’t wish to buy the games or simply don’t like the style of gameplay, both Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair and Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultimate Despair Girls have manga adaptations of the story that will give you the context you are looking for when intending to watch the Danganronpa 3 anime.
