Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School is an anime that serves as the finale of the story that began with the three Danganronpa games so far: Trigger Happy Havoc, Goodbye Despair and Ultra Despair Girls. It is split into three "Arcs", the Future Arc, Despair Arc and the Hope Arc. There are eleven episodes within the Despair Arc which is set as a prequel to the whole series, depicting how the cast of Goodbye Despair became the Remnants of Despair, as well as setting up the events leading to Trigger Happy Havoc. Thus, having played at least the first two games is a must to fully understand and appreciate everything that happens here. The Despair Arc is designed to be watched concurrently with the Future Arc (i.e. one episode of the Future Arc, then one episode of the Despair Arc). This is because there are concurrent subplots which may be confusing if you watch only one Arc at a time, but makes much more sense when watching them together.
There are numerous scenes where an Arc foreshadows events in the other Arc. It helps shed more light in the characters' rationalizations on why they are doing what they are doing. Once those rationalizations come to light, you'll find yourself less annoyed at the characters' stubbornness and end up sympathizing instead. In the early episodes, one thing that stands out is how the Despair Arc is funnier and less serious than the Future Arc. There are plenty of scenes where it is overly exaggerated and characters with excessive behavior for comedic effect. This ends up working for the viewer's benefit, making the characters more likeable and the later events more impactful. The Despair Arc begins with the reintroduction of the characters from Goodbye Despair. Each of their introductions are funny and enjoyable.
The main cast are the 77th class of Hope's Peak High School and a significant amount of time is spent dwelling on them as freshmen and how they eventually gel together as a class to become the best of friends. Then comes the 78th class, which is the class from the original game. The Ultimate Despair, Junko Enoshima, arrives to begin corrupting everyone and create the tragedy event that destroyed the work. She not only corrupts the whole of the 77th class, she has her fingers within various other characters as well. It helps flesh out the backstories that are only lightly touched upon in the Future Arc, the biggest of which is the Mitarai anime subplot. The mysterious Reserve Course function touched upon in Goodbye Despair is expanded. We know that Hinata becomes an Ultimate Despair but here, we are shown how he went down that path and it hurts emotionally all the more considering what he had been through and lost.
Junko's sister Mukuro also makes a bigger appearance but her personality feels like a complete flip to what you'd expect. Granted, she never had many scenes in the original game but you feel she should be cold and calculated being the Ultimate Soldier. However, here, she is soft, warped and weak due to her feelings when dealing with her sister. She listens to Junko's every command and is the victim of an obvious case of bullying. During the second half of the Arc, once the characters are starting to fall into despair, the anime manages to find a way to include heaps of violence and gory deaths. These scenes can get a bit too much. The stylized pink blood returns as well as a neat throwback to Ultra Despair Girls with unimportant background characters having a generic simple blue body outline.
Even more so than the Future Arc are the sexual innuendoes. They pepper through numerous scenes in every episode. Since this is a prequel, you know how it will end. Even expecting that, since you have unwillingly developed an attachment to the characters, having experiencing the good times with the bunch of tightly knitted friends, it makes it all the more painful and hopeless as the Arc nears its end and they run into what you know will be a trap that they will not overcome. The ending of Despair Arc is a perfect closing point. It shows the major tragedy event that plunged the whole world into disarray as well as finishing it off with the preparations of what becomes the start of Trigger Happy Havoc. Overall, Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc is a fantastic prequel that helps explain a lot of plot points from the games as well as the Future Arc.
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