General Tropes | Future Arc | Despair Arc | Hope Arc
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- Actionized Sequel: Due to the radically different rules for the Final Killing, the anime puts a much greater emphasis on action over mystery.
- All for Nothing: Andou's attempts to keep everyone from leaving through the secret exit to prevent her NG code from being broken, like attempting to kill Kirigiri, was all for nothing because the exit was a dead end and they're at the bottom of the ocean. To add insult to injury, she ends up being the fourth victim of the killer.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The Future Foundation's headquarters is attacked in the first episode.
- Anyone Can Die/Dwindling Party: It wouldn't be Danganronpa without this. By the end of the anime, the only survivors are Makoto, his classmates, Mitarai and Munakata.
- Arc Words: "I just wanted to save everyone." and "Where did everything go wrong?"
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The arc opens by showing the Remnants of Despair running rampant and causing atrocities. Kazuichi makes killer robots, Gundham unleashes a horde of animals, Mikan tortures a guy and Nagito... gets enslaved by children. Granted said children were evil, but still.
- Artistic Licence – Biology: In Episode 5 Tengan ends up with a Slashed Throat that produces some serious High-Pressure Blood, only to hang on say a few words before dying. While surviving for a little while after one's throat is cut is easily possible, that amount of blood would only be produced if one cut the deeper arteries, which would have killed him instantly.
- Art Shift: Like before, Fukawa's fantasies are in a slightly different art style, but not to the crazy degree seen in Ultra Despair Girls.
- The Artifact: Probably used deliberately: in the world outside of Hope's Peak, the former students' Ultimate talents don't count for much. If anything, the Crippling Overspecialization comes back to bite them: those with violent talents (Boxer, Blacksmith) can't keep their heads long enough to figure out a plan that doesn't involve hitting things, those with more practical talents (Farmer, Housekeeper) are completely outside their comfort zone (even though we've seen Chisa be effective in the past) as the world goes to hell, and those used to being in control (Student Council President, arguably the ex-Headmaster) expect to be obeyed as a matter of course without doing anything to earn trust and support, and suffer a Freak Out when they're not obeyed. Only the more flexible ex-78th class, who knew better than to rely wholly on their talents, can really make use of them.
- Ascended Fridge Horror: Remember Makoto saving the Remnants of Despair in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair? Turns out, that had very, very serious consequences for him.
- Awful Truth: In Episode 5 (but not revealed to the audience until Episode 10), Tengan informs Munakata that Yukizome (and possibly everyone else involved with Makoto's trial) was corrupted by despair. Munakata also comes to the conclusion that she murdered several children during The Tragedy. This was so shocking that it completely shattered what was left of Munakata's sanity.
- Episode 11: there never was an attacker to begin with. All the victims were shown a personalized despair video that drove them so crazy with despair that they were brainwashed into committing suicide.
- In episode 12, we find out that it really was Tegan who was the mastermind. Not only that but he wasn't motivated by a desire for despair and destruction. His goal was to expose Mitarai to excessive despair and cruelty in order to push him to his limits. Tegan knew that Mitarai had created a video that could brainwash the whole world into feeling nothing but hope. After the Future Foundation veered onto a the path of extremism (due to Munakata's leadership after Tegan transferred much of his power to him), he eventually became disillusioned with the Foundation and, thanks to the manipulation of a brainwashed Chisa, became so unstable that he belived that humanity could never beat despair and violence on their own.
- Bait-and-Switch: Episode 2 really wants you to think at the end that Aoi has been killed. This is proven to be incorrect by the very next episode.
- Bait-and-Switch Credits: In the tenth episode opening, the survivors' counter claims that six participants are alive, these being: Makoto Naegi, Aoi Asahina, Ryota Mitarai, Kyosuke Munakata, Juzo Sakakura and Yasuhiro Hagakure. However, Side: Hope reveals that Kyoko Kirigiri survived thanks to Seiko Kimura's medicine.
- Big Damn Heroes: Juzo does this in Episode 11 to stop Makoto from killing himself.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: The Remnants of Despair are Terrorists Without a Cause, whose only goal is to bring death, destruction, and chaos to the entire world. The Future Foundation, an organization dedicated to rebuilding society, is full of jerks and extremists, many of whom only seem capable of working together because of their mutual hatred toward despair. They also have little issue with placing execution orders on people they suspect of being dangerous.
- Bland-Name Product: Monaka's room in Episode 7 has a box with a "Darazon" logo, with a curved arrow under it similar to the Amazon logo.
- Body of the Week: Naturally, as soon as the deadly game starts, the Future Foundation members start dropping like flies. And because of the distrust between the members, not much investigating to root out the identity of the traitor happens.
- Bolivian Army Ending: A wounded and unconscious Asahina is found by the brainwashed soldiers. Munakata is also last seen fighting off the brainwashed soldiers.
- Breather Episode: Episode 7 is focused entirely on the characters outside the Final Killing and as a result is much more light-hearted than prior episodes. Then the ending happens.
- The Bus Came Back: After being absent in every bit of DR material since the original in contrast to other survivors, Aoi finally returns as a major character. Another Episode and Danganronpa 2 characters return in Episode 6, when Naegi calls to the Future Foundation outside.
- Call-Back: Great Gozu lays his coat over Yukizome's body much like Mondo did for Junko/Mukuro in the anime of the first game. And then Aoi later does the same thing to his body.
- Ruruka's death is very similar to Nagito's: impaled, slashed across the limbs, rope/chain somewhere nearby and something stuffed into/across the mouth. Both deaths were also self-inflicted, and occurred as the victim plunged across the Despair Event Horizon. That's not the only reference to Nagito and his demise either — after Munakata's attack, Juzo ends up impaled through the midriff and minus a left hand.
- Call-Forward: Archive footage from the Tragedy shows that Fuyuhiko lost his right eye in the real world at some point, just like he does later on in SDR2's simulation. Hiyoko and Ibuki are also shown performing together as they do at one point in SDR2.
- Ceiling Corpse: Chisa, Great Gozu and Seiko are all suspended from the ceiling in some way when their bodies are found.
- Chekhov's Gun: In Episode 2, Asahina tried to use a fire extinguisher on Munakata, but it was defective. In Episode 10, Makoto tries to use that same fire extinguisher against Munakata by throwing it at him. While Munakata deflects it, the fire extinguisher activates and rockets toward Munakata and hits the back of his head.
- In Episode 2, Juzo comments that, with Naegi's luck, it would be easy for him to slip out of ropes if they tied him up. Guess what happens when Naegi watches the despair anime in Episode 11.
- Kimura's Cure W, which Kirigiri uses to survive her poisoning.
- Continuity Nod:
- When Chisa remarks on Makoto's epithet as "Ultimate Hope", he notes that it wasn't of his responsibility when he decided on it (Kyoko actually chose it).
- Kirigiri's visibly shown writing in her notebook from the first game.
- During a conversation with Komaru, Naegi ends up referencing the death of Yuta Asahina.
- A very tragic one in Episode 8; you know that photo of a young Kyoko with her father? Turns out Kizakura was the photographer.
- Crapsack World: While it was indicated beforehand, this installment hammers home how bad the post Tragedy world is. Even after what's indicated to be at least a year, the world is still wreaked by terrorism and psychopaths. And this is while things are supposedly calming down.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Kimura and Gozu are two characters who are completely dressed in black and associated with dark colors. They are also some of the nicest characters in the show, if not the entire franchise.
- A Day in the Limelight: Episode 7, is one for the Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls cast. The episode is even named "Ultra Despair Girls" in homage to this fact.
- Deadly Game: The Final Killing Game. It's a little different than the previous two, as there are no murder investigations or trials. Instead, everyone is fitted with a bangle that will administer a sleeping drug after a time limit has passed. Once everyone else is asleep, the traitor/attacker has a limited time to kill exactly one person. Everyone also has one action they can't perform, otherwise their bangle will administer a lethal dose of poison. If nobody is killed within the limited window of time, the other participants win. And just like the second killing game, this is all being broadcast live to the entire world. Except not really.
- Death of a Child: Episode 10 reveals in a flashback that Munakata took in children from the Tragedy, only for Chisa to kill them and pass it off as being the actions of someone else as a means to corrupt him. It's implied that this was not a one-off occurrence either.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Nagito is singing the end credits song as he showers in a waterfall. Bonus points for the fact that he canonically sings the EP himself.
- Dramatic Irony: Aoi calling Miaya a Warrior of Hope. While it was meant to be a sign that she considered Miaya an ally, the one controlling her, Monaca, was the leader of the villainous Warriors of Hope in Ultra Despair Girls. In fact, Monaca briefly freaks out because she thought Aoi had figured out her true identity.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Juzo uses his last moments before bleeding out to FORCEFULLY END THE GAME!
- Establishing Character Moment: As expected, Episode 1 functions as one for much of the cast:
- Munakata is introduced loudly declaring that Naegi must be executed and disrespecting Tengan in the process. His scene with Yukizome proceeds to establish his more emotional side.
- Yukizome's scene with Naegi where she tells him that she hopes that he and Munakata can work together for a greater future.
- Sakakura physically assaulting Naegi after he's placed in handcuffs.
- Andou and Izayoi are introduced with Izayoi nestling his head in Andou's lap as she pets it and feeds him sweets. Andou proceeds to then start acting abrasive and threatens Asahina with Izayoi, with Izayoi throwing his kunai to prove she's serious.
- Bandai's bizarre voice and Word Salad Philosophy. This ends up being all the characterization he really gets.
- The Great Gozu threatening Munakata should he act out of line.
- Mitarai is introduced bumping into Kirigiri in the hallway, acting nervous and being late for the meeting itself.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Yet again, the Mastermind enforces betrayal by means of a killing game. Several NG Codes are geared towards this, but they're hardly needed once paranoia and fear set in. The most notable instances include Ruruka murdering her lover by setting off his NG Code, and Munakata's murder of both his mentor and his best friend.
- As it turns out, even before the game, Chisa was a traitor to Munakata.
- Everyone Went to School Together: All the Future Foundation leaders present are former students or faculty of Hope's Peak Academy. Not all of them attended school at the same time, however. Still, more than half of them attended in the same five year span.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Everyone has their hairstyle changed to some degree. Makoto has cut his hair shorter, Kyoko has undone her braid and now ties her hair in a ponytail, Aoi's hair is slightly longer and in a lower ponytail and Yasuhiro's is now tied back.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The killing game takes place over the course of a single night, with the main conflict being resolved just as the sun rises.
- False Flag Operation: The Final Killing Game is one orchestrated by Chairman Tengan to press Mitarai into enacting a Heel–Face Brainwashing scheme on the entire planet. Ultimate Despair has no role in the killing game this time, only represented at all in the storyline by Chisa, the first victim, and Monaca, who is only spectating on her own and shortly thereafter says Screw This, I'm Out of Here! and takes off for space.
- Forever War: Apparently, in what seems to be at least a year in-universe, the battle between the children and adults of Towa City is still going on. This is despite the destructive battle in the source game being about a week long.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Averted to hell and back. When Makoto starts succumbing to the brainwashing, he starts having visions of all of his fallen classmates from the very first Danganronpa game, which now includes Kirigiri.
- Kimura and Juzo seem to remember all those that died in the game.
- Played straight with Ruruka, whom nobody remembers and was not even mentioned after her death, even though they must have assumed someone died during the fourth sleeping period.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: The Deadly Game in Side:Future is not the Mutual Killing from previous game, being a Ten Little Murder Victims scenario closer to events in the side novels.
- Four Is Death: Kyoko's NG Code is "Allow Makoto Naegi to survive past the fourth time limit". Also, four people triggered their NG Codes, and four people successfully committed suicide due to the despair anime.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In episode 9, when the group rush towards Kyoko's not moving body, a tiny bottle can be seen rolling away on the ground. It turns out in Side:Hope that it was actually a special drug Kyoko obtained from Seiko's body, which allowed her to avoid being killed by the poison.
- Gross-Up Close-Up: Leon Kuwata's bloody, bruised face in Naegi's brainwashing dream in episode 11.
- Happy Ending Override: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair ended on a relatively hopeful if ambiguous note with Naegi seeing the Remnants of Despair off. From the first episode, it's shown that Naegi got court-martialed, much of the Future Foundation besides his friends hate him and everyone gets thrown into another Deadly Game. Side:Future Episode 6 shows things aren't going so hot for the Remnants either.
- A House Divided: Despite being trapped in a killing game, most of the Future Foundation members are more interested in settling personal grudges rather than actually trying to find the killer.
- In Medias Res: The first two episodes Cold Open at roughly the halfway point of each episode.
- Interface Spoiler: A variation; on the official website, characters are divided into two sets, the initial cast and important additions are added to one portion, while more minor characters or un-recurring characters are added to a second set. After Episode 4, Monaka was added to the latter, giving away that she had a more minor role than first impressions would have you believe.
- Internal Reveal:
- In Episode 10, Munakata finally reveals that Chisa is one of the Remnants of Despair.
- In Episode 11, Sakakura reveals to Naegi that Junko blackmailed him from telling Munakata about her actions. And Mitarai reveals that Junko used his animation techniques to create her brainwashing videos.
- Irony: The whole mess started when the most powerful members of the Future Foundation wanted to execute Naegi for becoming a "traitor" and shielding the Remnants of Despair, maintaining that only death was an appropriate punishment for Hajime and Co's despair-filled actions. Not only does it turn out that Naegi is one of the very few members of the FF who wouldn't turn on his friends at the slightest provocation, the FF has always been sheltering one of the most dangerous Remnants - Chisa, who played a major role in dragging her class into Junko's clutches. And, unlike class 77-B (plus Hajime), she's been running around unchecked.
- Ironic Echo: "As long as there is despair in people's hearts". That phrase is used in the first and last episode of Side: Future and what that phrase implies changes between these episode. In the first episode, Monokuma uses that phrase to explain why he's still alive but in the last episode Mitari uses that phrase to justify his plan to brainwash people to good.
- Juxtaposed Halves Shot: In the OP, Naegi and Kirigiri both have their faces juxtaposed against Monokuma: Naegi against the black half, and Kirigiri against the white.
- Kill the Cutie: Chisa Yukizome is the series' first casualty. However, as of Episode 10, she appears far less cute due to her apparent slaughter of a preschool. Episode 9 of Side:Despair does show that she was brainwashed by Junko, but that doesn't make her actions any less horrific.
- Light Is Not Good: Munakata and Andou are heavily associated with clear colors, they are also two of the biggest jerks of the franchise, both being disliked by the fandom. Yukizome is also associated with bright colors, however it's revealed that she was a Remnant of Despair in episode 10.
- Lost in Translation: For Makoto's Shut Up, Hannibal! moment towards Munakata in episode 10, Funimation decided to translate his response as "That's not hope!" Anyone who knows Japanese will know that he's actually saying his counter-argument Catchphrase, "No, that's wrongnote !"
M-Z
- Metaphorically True:
- Everyone thought, when they found the secret exit, that they would be able to leave the building and leave the game, but it turns out the exit is a dead end and the building they're in is at the bottom of the ocean. But the room also leads to the power room that can shut off all the power in the building, including the monitors that drove the victims into committing suicide and everyone's bracelets, so technically they were able to leave the game.
- Tengen claims he's not the attacker, but says that everyone has the potential to be. He also reveals that his forbidden action is to answer a question with a lie. It's later revealed that all the victims were simply brainwashed into committing suicide - so technically, he was telling the truth.
- Mind Screw: The ending of episode 12 returns to the deceased Yukizome and the theater from Side:Despair, except this time, the equally deceased Junko joins her.
- Misery Poker: Munakata's attitude towards Naegi is based on this: basically, he believes that being mind-wiped and stuck in a building with a psychopath forcing you and your friends to kill each other is nothing compared to Munakata's struggles in the disaster-struck outside world, therefore Munakata, having "suffered" more, has more right than Naegi to talk about "hope" and decide what needs to be done.
- The Mole: There's one in the Future Foundation, murdering people when they're unconscious. There's actually at least two, with Monaka-as-Gekkougahara in cahoots with the real Big Bad. Yukizome was definitely one, up until her death, being a brainwashed member of Ultimate Despair.
- Subverted in that the "attacker" turns out to be the victims themselves.
- Mood Whiplash: The ending of Episode 9. Makoto and the others start waking up after another Sleep Phase, and they are all in high spirits after having survived it. But then, Makoto notices something: Kirigiri isn't moving and is bleeding from her left eye, both clear signs that her NG code has triggered and killed her. The rest of the episode takes a sharp nosedive in tone.
- Mouth To Mouth Force Feeding: During the final murdergame, Ando and Izayoi come across what seems like a door leading outside the building, only for Ando to use the kiss to slip a macaron into Izayoi's mouth, thus triggering his Forbidden Action, and by extension, killing him by doing so. He's completely fine with it, though, but she did do it because she thought that they were going to activate ANDO'S Forbidden Action, thus forcing her to do it because she thought it was going to save herself from death.
- Official Couple: Andou and Izayoi mark the first instance the franchise has pulled this card for a pairing out of the starting gate.
- Munakata and Yukizome are heavily implied to be this, having started a relationship between the two sides of the anime.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In the time between episodes 6 and 10, Class 77-B managed to repel an entire Future Foundation fleet and steal one of their ships for themselves.
- Opening Narration: Kyoko narrates the introduction to the Remnants of Despair in the first episode.
- Poor Communication Kills: While revealing one's NG code is incredibly dangerous, especially with the traitor around, it's also possible for allies to accidentally kill each other if they don't know each others' codes. Such as when Sakakura gave Mitarai a knee to the gut, inadvertently triggering Bandai's NG code, "Witnessing Violence Between Participants".
- Arguably the cause of the rift between Seiko and Ruruka, leading to their conflict and, ultimately, death. Ruruka thought Seiko was constantly rejecting her sweets because she didn't think they were good enough, and Seiko came to believe that Ruruka was ultimately just using her for her skills and medicines. The truth was that Seiko's condition meant that sugar could be lethal in combination with her medicines, and Ruruka thought she was trying to show Seiko how amazing she thought she was with her talents to get her to try her sweets. If the two had sat down and really talked it out, they might have come to an understanding.
- The Psycho Rangers/Similar Squad: Munakata, Yukizome, and Sakakura to Naegi, Kirigiri, and Asahina, respectively. Although Yukizome never actually antagonized the 78th class trio, it was confirmed in Epiosde 10 that she is a Brainwashed and Crazy member of Ultimate Despair.
- Munakata to Naegi: Both are the charismatic, de facto leaders of their respective groups that work to restore the world and eliminate despair. The difference being is that Munakata is a skilled fighter that believes in Might Makes Right, while Naegi is a Non-Action Guy that believes in Right Makes Might.
- Yukizome to Kirigiri: Both are skilled investigators, and serve as the apparently devoted Love Interests to Munakata and Naegi, respectively. However, in terms of personality, they are complete opposites. Yukizome is usually friendly, energetic but occasionally can be abrasive, while Kirigiri is usually distant and calm, but occasionally has her tender moments. There is also the dark implication that Chisa has been slowly driving Munakata to despair, while Kirigiri has done everything she can to keep Naegi hopeful and optimistic.
- Sakakura to Asahina: Both have ultimate talents relating to competitive sports. Arguably, they are the most physically capable of their respective trio. Both are extremely devoted to their friends and will go to great lengths to support and protect them. The main difference between them is that Sakakura usually acts like a Jerkass to almost everybody, while Asahina is a generally friendly person.
- Recap Episode: Played for Laughs in Episode 9 when Monokuma sets the episode up as one, then immediately drops it.
- Recurring Element: Many points of this arc are similar to the first two games.
- The presence of the Gentle Giant, Great Gozu, similar to Sakura in the first game and Nekomaru in the second. Similarly to them, he also dies.
- The first death is of someone who got the spotlight enough so that it wouldn't be thinkable that they would die. Yukizome was introduced as if she was going to play a major role in the show.
- Ruruka Andou represents the girl who goes crazy midway through the game and kills two other characters, as she killed Izayoi and Kizakura. Just like Celeste in the first game and Mikan in the second.
- In episode 9, she represents another one: She is the last official victim to be "murdered" and the most brutal death of the game. Similar to Nagito and Mukuro.
- A person in the game is told that if they are to survive, one other has to die. Instead, they choose to end their own life, rather than be forced to kill another to survive. They also ensure that they can help the remaining people to survive, even after death. It was Sakura Oogami in the first game, Chiaki in the second, and here it's Kyoko Kirigiri.
- The final death of a participant of the killing game was a Heroic Sacrifice. In the first game, Sakura killed herself so the killing between friends would stop, in the second, Chiaki gave herself to execution so Nagito's plans would fail. This time, Juzo, of all people, uses his dying breaths and all his Heroic Willpower to shut down the building's energy and stop the killing game, saving Munakata, Makoto, Asahina and Mitarai.
- The number of survivors of the Final Killing Game ends up being roughly the same, 5-6 participants (either 5 or 6, depending on one's point of view), as the previous two. The survivors were Naegi, Munakata, Asahina, Mitarai, Sakakura, and the seemly dead, Kirigiri. However, Juzo dies shortly after the Final Killing Game ends.
- Additional, most of the survivors follow the same archetypes of the previous killing game survivors, including The Protagonist (Makoto), the attractive dark-skinned girl (Asahina), the well-dressed Jerkass who Took a Level in Kindness (Munakata, like Byakuya and Fuyuhiko before him.), and the easily frightened/timid guy (Ryota, like Hagakure and Kazuichi before him).
- The characters executed for violating their NG codes seem to parallel the order of executed characters of SDR2, excluding Mikan.
- The first NG Code violator was Bandai, who happened to be the participant with the Nonstandard Character Design, much like Teruteru, the first executed character of SDR2.
- The second NG Code violator was Izayoi, who happened to share a lot of similarities to Peko. Both acted as a calm, devoted bodyguard for the person they loved (Ruruka and Fuyuhiko), and ultimately died for them.
- Here the order skips over Mikan, as the third NG Code violator, Koichi, seems to parallel Gundham instead. Both Koichi and Gundham are intelligent Bunny-Ears Lawyer what were able to utilize the traps set up in the building they were trapped in to their advantage. Both also ended up being executed as a result of a Heroic Sacrifice.
- The final NG Code violator ends being Kyoko who, like AI Chiaki, was the leading female character and the apparent Love Interest of the The Protagonist.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Remnants of Despair are all shown with red glowing eyes in the introduction.
- Naegi himself after viewing Monokuma's Gloomy Sunday.
- Sakakura, as The Brute, has blood colored eyes.
- Hajime's glowing red eye at the end of Episode 6.
- The robotic receptionist seen when Togami and his men enter the building at the end of episode 8, just before the building blows up.
- Red Sky, Take Warning: The world after The Tragedy has a perpetually red, cloudy sky.
- Revenge: Seiko and Andou use the Deadly Game they are caught in as justification for attempting to murder each other, but really they are just trying settle the score they had back in high school.
- Sadistic Choice: A few of the NG Codes are specifically designed to force this on the wearer, specifically Ruruka's (prevent anyone from escaping or die herself) and Kyoko's (ensure that Naegi dies or perish after the fourth time limit). Others aren't as explicit about this, but end up having the same effect like Kizakura's (let his best friend's daughter die or break his NG code and die himself).
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Monaca gives up trying to be Junko's successor after she realizes the pointlessness of trying to fight hope, as well as having no desire to end up becoming someone like Nagito. Instead, Monaca decides to exile herself into space to live as a NEET.
- Senseless Sacrifice: A few characters make noble sacrifices that fail to achieve the intended result. Kizakura dies to save Kyoko, but she's already doomed if she lets Naegi survive the next knockout — and she refuses to kill her friend. Izayoi accepts Ruruka's betrayal gracefully, refusing to fight back or seek vengeance as she kills him...but she's the next victim.
- Somewhat averted in the first instance in that, while Kirigiri still died, if Kizakura hadn't saved her, she wouldn't have been able to galvanize Naegi's determination before he confronted Munakata, and Asahina wouldn't have found her notebook and discovered the truth about the killings.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Makoto and Munakata in particular represent a conflict of this, with Makoto representing the "idealistic" voice that believes Despair can be rehabilitated, whereas Munakata's "cynical" stance argues that eliminating it entirely is the only option.
- Social Deduction Game: The Future Foundation members are forced to play an In-Universe killing game where each member wears a wrist band with a 'forbidden action' that will trigger a lethal injection if the victim does it. The band also forces everyone to sleep at specific intervals while an attacker is given enough time to kill one person, so the players must either root out the traitor or die. It's subverted since there is no attacker, one person is always left awake every interval and forced to kill themselves by watching a brainwashing video.
- Skyward Scream: Munakata at the end of his confrontation with Naegi in Episode 10, when he finds out that Yukizome was Evil All Along.
- The Stinger: Episode 5 has one. Munakata patches himself up and injects himself with what looks like the same serum that made Kimura hulk out.
- In Episode 8, Togami and his team finally enter the building. However, they end up triggering a bomb in the process, destroying the building.
- In Episode 10, a boat is sailing away from Jabberwock Island.
- In Episode 11, Mitarai, while talking to Naegi, receives a text message from Tengan.
- In Episode 12, Naegi is saved by Hagakure and Togami, and Izuru/Hajime is shown walking towards into the Future Foundation building after having defeated an army of brainwashed soldiers. This is soon followed by the words, "Continued on the hope side".
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Despite being The Hero, Munakata correctly notes that Naegi's Non-Action Guy status is a massive detriment to everyone outside of the Mutual Killing. Sure enough, Naegi is basically stuck as The Load, requiring his friends to bail him out of danger due to his inability to fight back.
- The mastermind of this particular game demonstrates a particular reason Junko carried things out as she did. When the mastermind is out and openly in the middle of a very high-tension, life-and-death situation, as opposed to hiding behind an avatar like Monokuma, he isn't going to have Plot Armor; if someone susses him out, they can absolutely kill him like anyone else. Munakata does exactly that to Tengan.
- Played for laughs with Monaca. The end of Ultra Despair Girls had her being taken in to be groomed into a new Junko by Nagito, implying she'd become the next major threat of the franchise. When she shows back up in this series it turns out that having an adult pressuring her on this, especially one as rambling and unhinged as Nagito, has all but entirely killed her interest in this and Komaru and Toko finally managing to catch up with her convinces her to give up on it entirely.
- The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: Makoto and those willing to hear him out are the good, those in the Future Foundation wanting to prosecute him are the bad, and Monokuma and the traitor are the evil. Monaca ends up fitting neither, and Munakata does a Heel–Face Turn back to Good; considering everybody else is dead, there's just the Good and the Evil by now.
- Three Lines, Some Waiting: Generally speaking, there are three main plotlines, each spotlighting a main character:
- Naegi, Asahina, and Gekkougahara's efforts to survive the Final Killing.
- Kirigiri and Mitarai's investigation into the murders.
- Munakata's slow descent into despair and insanity.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: At the end of Episode 7, Monaca claims that Makoto's actions are going to lead to the death of one of his classmates (which the ending Cliffhanger heavily suggests is Kirigiri at Munakata's hands). Since she isn't the mastermind, and shouldn't know what's going to happen, it remains to be seen how this will pan out.
- Subverted until Episode 9. Kirigiri ends up dying thanks to her forbidden action: "Makoto Naegi survives past the Fourth Phase." Then double subverted when Kyoko ends up surviving.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth:
- Bandai is a Nice Guy who is in charge of food distribution in the war-torn world. He gets killed rather unfairly due to his NG Code forbidding him from witnessing violence.
- The Great Gozu saves Naegi from Munakata and encourages him to keep his hopes up despite the situation, only to be murdered by the attacker during the next sleep phase.
- Seiko, despite being part of the radical faction, just wants to help people with her medicine, to the point where she's willing to treat her ideological rivals' wounds. During the third sleep phase, she's brutally crucified by the attacker.
- Kizakura promised to Jin Kirigiri that he would protect his daughter, and he does so when he activates his NG Code to save Kyoko from a pit trap.
- Subverted with Yukizome and Tengan, who are seemingly sympathetic when they are killed, but later it's revealed that the former is a brainwashed mole for Ultimate Despair and the latter is the mastermind.
- Troll: Considering how they set up an elaborate, prank-like ruse to make it seem like Aoi was dead just to mess with Makoto, its safe to say that the traitor is this. Subverted, it was just Monaka being a childish dick.
- Villain-Based Franchise: It wouldn't be Danganronpa if Monokuma didn't show up. He's returned for one last shot at driving the members of the Future Foundation into despair and murder. Subverted however, in that Monokuma is ultimately Demoted to Extra.
- The Unreveal: In Episode 3, after Great Gozu is killed his mask is removed only to reveal a paper cloth covering his face, which isn't removed for whatever reason. It was purposely done by Kirigiri; she had to remove his mask to examine both it and his eye wounds, but she wanted to respect the fact that, for whatever reason, he wanted tohide his true identity.
- More significantly, in Episode 5 Tengan reveals to Munakata who the attacker is, but the viewer is unable to hear due to the audio being muted.
- Happens again in Episode 7 when Monaka reveals she knows who will be killed due to Makoto only to refuse to actually answer and instead leave.
- And happens yet again in Episode 10, which ends with Asahina and Mitarai finding Naegi and Munakata and revealing they know who the attacker is thanks to Kirigiri's notes, only for the episode to instantly cut to the credits after Naegi and Munakata's reactions.
- Unwinnable by Design: Even though no one died after the fifth time limit, the bracelets were still active and the game continued. By conjecture from the mastermind's last message, this is intentional as a way to wipe out the entire Foundation. How intentional this was could be debatable, however, as by this point the mastermind was already dead.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The bracelets, worn by the participants, injects its owner with a sleeping drug every two hours, leaving them vulnerable to the Atacker. It also contains a lethal poison, which will be injected in the participant if they violate the Forbidden Action.
- Averted with Miaya Gekkougahara, whose Forbidden Action is "turning right". Since the Miaya present in the Final Killing game is a gynoid, neither the poison for violating the forbidden action nor the sleeping drug has any affect on her.
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: In Episode 12, it's deduced that Mitarai wasn't supposed to attend the hearing, implying that someone called him to it against Tengan's will. Whoever that person is is never revealed, as the point is completely dropped in Side:Hope.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Downplayed. Before Makoto decides to confront Munakata once and for all, Mitarai calls out Makoto for just leaving Kirigiri's body behind and not feeling sad about her death. Makoto explains that while he is sad that she's dead, he understands why she would sacrifice herself and he has to push forward for her.
