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Class Trial 21
Nagito Komaeda is found stabbed in the Titty Typhoon on the night of a party. This trial received a sequel.
Tropes for the Twenty-First Class Trial
- Asshole Victim: Nagito was once again up to old tricks when he was murdered.
- Blatant Lies: Teruteru claims absolutely nothing important happened at the party and that even if something did happen, it wasn't him that did it. No one catches this.
- The Determinator: Nagito manages to clean up his own murder scene while dying of a stab wound.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Twogami has no rebuttal to Togami's point that he went through too much earning his name for Twogami to have the right to steal it.
- Phony Psychic: Fuyuhiko accuses Hagakure of this, leading to a confrontation.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Togami calls out Twogami mid-trial about how disgusting his attempts to steal his name are when Togami had to go hell in order to earn the name. This shakes Twogami enough that he gives up on stealing Togami's name.
Tropes for Trial 21- 2
The Class Trial Participants find themselves trapped in the Ancient Ruins until Mikan is found dead.
- Angrish: A suggestion from Ibuki that he got Toko pregnant leaves Byakuya so disgusted and outraged that he is left incoherent.
- Big Blackout: The Ancient Ruins turn out to lack electricity, leaving the players with glowsticks as their only source of light.
- False Confession: Sayaka attempts to stave off suspicion by revealing a note that she supposedly found from the real killer.
- Insane Troll Logic: Ibuki hears a lot of people talking about Byakuya and a cord. She assumes that it is an umbilical cord and that he had a baby with Toko.
Class Trial 22
Chihiro Fujisaki is found submerged and dead in the Girl's Bath.
Tropes for the Twenty-Second Class Trial
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Hagakure is the very first to accuse Sayaka of the killing. Downplayed in that his reason for doing so makes no sense
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Hagakure accidentally correctly calls out Sayaka as the killer under the false assumption that Chihiro was wearing the same colour tracksuit as her.
- Running Gag:
- Hagakure has one where he mistakenly assumes that the answers to Hangman's Gambits are fictional ancient Babylonian Gods.
- Hagakure asks Monokuma to start the vote twelve times!
- Sarcastic Confession: Sayaka does one when Hagakure accuses her of the murder right off the start.
- Ship Tease: Kazuichi and Aoi seem to start a romantic relationship, to the point of Kazuichi calling Aoi "Miss Aoi," a title normally reserved for Sonia. The status of their relationship is left unresolved at the end of the trial however.
- There's teasing for Makoto with Sayaka, Mukuro, and Kyoko. The former of which ends poorly.
- Smug Snake: Togami, as usual. He even hosts his own Hangman's Gambit in the middle of the trial.
Class Trial 23
Byakuya Togami and Kyouko Kirigiri are found deceased in the Bio Lab.
Tropes for the Twenty-Third Class Trial
- Green-Eyed Monster: Kazuichi's motive for committing the murder. Kyouko was an unintended victim.
- Production Foreshadowing: In the previous trial, Mondo swore to Togami that the next trial would be for the murder of Byakuya Togami.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Kazuichi is correctly pinned as the murderer, but with the wrong murder weapon: he simply used a wrench.
- Sanity Slippage: Kyouko seems to gradually fall into this, up until her death, "in the name of Hope". She drastically changes the murder situation and forces the blackened to improvise, resulting in her death as well.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Perpetual Butt-Monkey and Too Dumb to Live Yasuhiro Hagakure is ultimately the one who ends the stalemate between possible killers by coming up with a plausible theory that connected the supposed murder weapon to him. Despite technically being a little off, he is praised as a hero.
Class Trial 24
Breakfast is interrupted on the day of Asahina's pool party. She bursts into the cafeteria, covered in blood, and leads her classmates to the bodies of Gundham Tanaka and Nekomaru Nidai. This trial received a sequel.
Tropes for the Twenty-Fourth Class Trial
- Canon Foreigner: Minimaru shows up as a Reserve Course student despite being non-existent in this trial canon, a fact Monokuma points out multiple times.
- Crusading Widow: Sonia seeks to obtain revenge for Gundham's death.
- Darkest Hour: After Gundham and Nekomaru are revealed to have killed each other, Monokuma retaliates by executing Gundham's Devas and Minimaru who has shown up for some reason. Subverted when he reveals he is unable to do it because they aren't his students.
- Face–Heel Turn: Nekomaru, one of the kindest students in canon, takes it upon himself to commit murder after an illness restores his memories of his time as an Ultimate Despair.
- Face Your Fears: Gundham intended to do this for Sonia's sake. It gets him killed.
- Frame-Up: Nekomaru intended to frame Kazuichi for Gundham's murder. It goes poorly.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Nekomaru gets killed by a dying Gundham, foiling his murder plan.
- Taking You with Me: The truth behind the crime, as it is revealed that Nekomaru was the true culprit, but Gundham managed to kill him in retaliation.
- The Cloud Cuckoolander Was Right: Hagakure draws relatively accurate tarot readings for each of his classmates, including two that predicted the entire crime: the Death arcana for Gundham and the Tower for Nekomaru.
- The Scapegoat: Kazuichi was intended to be this for Nekomaru.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Asahina's party ends up providing Nekomaru the cover to pull off his murder plan. In addition, the sleeping pills Mikan prescribed to Nekomaru were used to frame Kazuichi, and Sonia's insistence that Gundham attend the pool party is what causes him to seek help from Nekomaru, which leads to his death.
Tropes for Trial 24- 2
After Monokuma provides each student with a card naming a loved one of theirs who will be removed from existence if murder does not take place, the bodies of Hajime and Chiaki are found dead together. A copy of Romeo and Juliet shows their bodies to be imitating the title characters.
- All for Nothing: Mikan's "Loved One" turns out to be Junko, meaning that her non-existence would've led to the end of the killing game anyways. She does her best to prevent a murder as a result.
- Heartbroken Badass: With Hajime's death, Nagito notes that the loved one whose loss he was threatened with disappeared anyways and takes the case noticeably more seriously.
- Hidden Depths: Nagito shows off some knowledge of Shakespeare, expositing the plot of Romeo And Juliet and quoting Hamlet during the Hamlet-referencing Execution. He does point out that Romeo and Juliet is hardly an obscure play though when Kyoko takes note.
- Ret-Gone: Each player is provided with a loved one that will suffer this if murder does not occur.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The murders are staged to imitate Romeo and Juliet to suggest a double suicide by the killer. To follow it up, Hiyoko's execution is a pretty clear Hamlet reference.
Class Trial 25
A Culture Festival ends with a fire and the electrocution death of Ibuki Mioda. This Trial received a sequel.
Tropes for the Twenty-Fifth Class Trial
- Anticlimax Boss: Despite nearly pinning the blame on the Imposter and staving off suspicion for quite a while, Byakuya's Player disappeared shortly before the climax right before new information implicated him. Byakuya ended up being voted up without a fight as a result.
- Confess to a Lesser Crime: Byakuya makes use of this tactic, admitting to having planted an explosive in Hagakure's trap without much push to make it look as though that had been his murder plan instead of a distraction.
- Face Death with Dignity: Even while facing execution, Byakuya refuses to break his composure.
- Fiery Cover Up: A firetrap set up by Kazuichi unwittingly destroys much of the crime scene after Byakuya accidently sets it off.
- Gambit Pile Up: Kazuichi, Celeste, Sayaka, and Hagakure all make murder plots of their own during the festival.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Byakuya unwittingly got special glow-in-the-dark dust from Sonia's attraction in his hair when he was committing the murder. Thus, when Sonia begins looking for volunteers to be covered with the dust during the trial to prove it harmless, he quickly volunteers to be among those testing the dust and successfully covers up this potentially incriminating evidence.
- High-Voltage Death: Sayaka attempts to kill Ibuki by setting the music venue stage to be electrified during her performance, with Byakuya sabotaging Sayaka's trap to keep Ibuki alive long enough for him to do the same with defibrillators.
- Kill Steal: Byakuya chooses to kill Ibuki after Sayaka has already made an attempt on her life.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Hagakure is gifted a brain juice capable of erasing thirty minutes of memories, a gift which Byakuya uses against him to allow himself the opportunity to alter a trap that Hagakure had set up.
- Near-Villain Victory: Byakuya comes pretty close to starting a false vote against the Ultimate Imposter before a clarification from Monokuma clears him of suspicion.
- Opportunistic Bastard: Byakuya acts as one, taking advantage of the other plots to kill while improvising his own plan along the way.
- Unscrupulous Hero: The case is ultimately solved by Sayaka, one of the attempted murderers.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Byakuya makes use of the other murder plots in motion to set one up himself.
Tropes for Trial 25- 2
After the attempted murderers from the previous trial are confined to their cottages, the students decide to run a Tanabata Celebration. After Monokuma promises to grant a wish to the next killer, Kazuichi's cottage is set ablaze and his body is recovered. A trial begins, but Sonia and Sayaka fail to appear.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Peko kills Sayaka and Kazuichi to get Monokuma to fulfill a wish to protect Fuyuhiko. After Peko's execution, Monokuma makes Fuyuhiko disappear without explanation.
- Dead All Along: The absent Sayaka is found to have been killed.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Kazuichi and Sayaka were killed while making genuine efforts to apologize for their actions in the previous trial.
- Jackass Genie: Monokuma offers to grant a wish in exchange for a murder.
- Karma Houdini: Despite having attempted to kill Nagito, Celeste is excluded from the imprisonment and a CCTV program that tracks suspicious students on the basis that Nagito volunteered to take her place and she won a card game.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The students who were imprisoned end up being killed.
- Plot Armor: Monokuma claims that Peko's wish for Fuyuhiko's safety has placed him under Monokuma's protection.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Twogami drinks a bottle found in the water with Sayaka's body to test its effects on himself. It turns out to be poison and he dooms himself to die. Not only that, but the culprit was somebody they were accusing even before Sayaka was found dead.
- Too Stupid To Live: Twogami
- Your Days Are Numbered: The poison that killed Sayaka kills the victim at noon of the following day. At the end of the trial, Twogami is left waiting to die of that very same poison.
Class Trial 26
A normal morning at Hope’s Peak Academy is interrupted by Kyoko’s dead body in the Kitchen. This trial has received two sequels.
Tropes for the Twenty-Sixth Class Trial
- Absence of Evidence: Eight people were innocent of the crime for not having either the murder weapon or the knowledge of the books.
- Chekhov's Gun: Mechamaru’s arbitrary complaint about a lack of ice in the freezer helps explain the incorrect time of death in the autopsy and absolves three people of committing the crime. Also, Ibuki’s hairspray distribution is reasoned to be the key to identifying the murder weapon.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Teruteru, usually delegated to frequent innuendos and cooking references, pulls off a competent alibi using his culinary skills.
- Did Not Die That Way: Chihiro suggested that the victim deliberately inhaled butane gas and committed suicide. Turns out that the victim inhaled poisonous hairspray instead.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Aoi, during the language exchange, innocently teaches to other characters Portuguese the phrase “Fora Temer,” or “Out with Temer,” an Icon of Rebellion reference to the ousting of the 37th, interim Brazilian President Michel Temer.
- Omniglot: Mechamaru malfunctions and speaks fluent Spanish before the trial begins. This spreads to Monokuma, Monomi, Chihiro, Makoto, Ibuki, Kiyotaka, Gundham, Aoi, Sonia, and Hajime, who speak a variety of languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, and even Portunhol. Twogami resists this.
- Only One Plausible Suspect: After fifteen of the sixteen alibis effectively confirmed each other, Makoto was singled out for having an outstandingly weak alibi and pointed out to be the killer.
- Proof Dare: Makoto, having been singled out for an unrealistic murder, attempts to plead with everyone that, despite his weak alibi and his incriminating bathroom conversation, the victim committed suicide or that someone else did it.
- Red Herring: The three spoons in the Kitchen. Was plausible that the victim ate snacks with Nagito and Chihiro before she died.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: In the previews to the trial, Kyoko notes that something is amiss despite the lack of a motive, suggesting a murder. Breaking Plot Armor and Anyone Can Die, she becomes the victim.
- Two Dun It: Averted. Given the movements of everyone else that morning, it was possible that Nagito and Chihiro conspired jointly or that Nagito and Kiyotaka collaborated, but not all three simultaneously.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The entire trial is based on an Out of Character Moment in Trial 14, in which Kyoko asked Hagakure to out of nowhere incorporate a use for hairspray in that trial.
Tropes for Trial 26- 2
Toko Fukawa is murdered while in the audience for a Mariachi Band Concert meant to honour Makoto and Kyoko.
- Lights Off, Somebody Dies: Chihiro makes use of one to kill Toko.
- Sanity Slippage: Chihiro confesses to having been driven mad by bad dreams and visions of Makoto's ghost.
- Vengeful Ghost: Makoto's ghost begins haunting people in their sleep.
Tropes for Trial 26- 3
A Friendship Band fad hits the school in time for Akane Owari to be found murdered in the Library.
- All for Nothing: Nagito never had any antidote and never poisoned Sonia. But Gundham still murders Akane because he claimed to have done so.
- Manipulative Bastard: Nagito manipulates Gundham into committing murder by claiming to have poisoned Sonia and that the only way to get the antidote from him is to become a murderer.
- You Bastard!: The Students resolve to imprison Nagito for his crimes upon the end of the trial.
Class Trial 27
A raging storm on Jabberwock Island subsides with the deaths of Kazuichi and Twogami. This Trial received two sequels.
Tropes for the Twenty-Seventh Class Trial
- Driving Question: Kazuichi and Byakuya Twogami were dead, but… only one BDA went off?
- Foreshadowing: Hifumi Managed to accidentally put a “ghost” next to Teruteru, unknowingly foreshadowing the twist.
- Gambit Pileup: Celestia’s Murder plan was interrupted by the successful one. Still nearly killed Ibuki.
- Hidden Villain: One of the participants, Teruteru, was in reality Twogami assuming a disguise. The trial was, in effect, for the murders of Kazuichi and Teruteru.
- Never One Murder: Modified. Nagito reveals there’s a second motive: “If you murder someone, the Monokuma file can have three words changed."
- Shout-Out:
- Sonia called the movie watched “The Thang,” a reference to John Carpenter’s 1982 film “The Thing.”
- “What’s New Pussycat” was brought up in conjunction with “Salt and Pepper Diner,” a reference to a stand-up comedy act by John Mulaney.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Fuyuhiko and Celeste solidify themselves as this, with him stealing her cat and refusing to use her preferred name as payback for her attempt to murder Peko. The two end up at each other's throats for the rest of the series.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Twogami was burnt, bludgeoned, and then blown up.
Tropes for Trial 27- 2
Trapped in the Funhouse with their Ultimate talents on the line, the murder of Peko Pekoyama shakes the Students.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Celeste makes her second murder attempt of the series.
- De-power: Monokuma's motive is a threat to slowly remove everybody's Ultimate Talents.
- False Friend: Sayaka convinces Peko to let her cooperate in her suicide, only to murder her instead.
- Heroic BSoD: Sonia goes through one as it is made clear that her Ultimate Talent will be removed by Monokuma getting rid of Novoselic itself.
- Interrupted Suicide: Peko intended on committing Suicide, even leaving Fuyuhiko with a note. However, in the end she was betrayed by her partner, Sayaka, and murdered instead.
- Never Suicide: Having received a Suicide Note from Peko detailing her intent to kill herself and arrived too late to save her, Fuyuhiko stages Peko's death as she'd wanted with Nagito's help.
- Ship Tease: Gundham/Sonia
- Wham Line: Fuyuhiko is shaken to hear that there were four people who saw Peko's Dead Body before the BDA went off, knowing that he and Nagito secretly found the body before Mondo did. Realizing that the BDA can only have stayed quiet if the first discoverer was the blackened, it finally confirms Peko's death to have been a murder.
Tropes for Trial 27- 3
After Monokuma inflicts perpetual drowsiness upon the surviving students, Mahiru Koizumi is found dead of mysterious causes.
- Continuity Nod: Nagito claims to have a dream of the All Nagito Trial where he was surrounded by other versions of himself. The others decide not to ask too many questions though.
- Clean Food, Poisoned Fork: It becomes clear when a large group of students fall asleep at the same time that they were all drugged. It turns out that the source of the sleeping drug were medical face masks that the students wore to visit a sick Hiyoko.
- Dangerous Drowsiness
- False Friend: Wanting to put an end to the motive, Mondo and Byakuya conspire to offer a fake alliance with two-time attempted murderer Celeste to kill Fuyuhiko, intending to sell her out at the ensuing trial.
- Forced Sleep
- An Odd Place to Sleep
- One Dose Fits All: The drugged students fall asleep at the same time regardless of size or gender.
- Sleep Deprivation: A strange example where the students are falling asleep, but never the less feeling the effects of sleeping deprivation.
- Sleepyhead: Chiaki falls asleep at the same time as a group of drugged students because of her tendency to be one.
Class Trial 28
While on the hunt for a hidden Junko Enoshima and the occupant of a mysterious 17th Dorm Room, the students of Hope's Peak Academy discover an unidentifiable body. This Trial received a sequel
Tropes for the Twenty-Eighth Class Trial
- The Alliance: Kazuichi, Gundham, and the hidden Ultimate Imposter form one to try and kill Junko.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Mukuro turns out to be Junko's ally and kills three of the Dark Devas.
- Blackmail: Junko and Mukuro make use of threats and poison to manipulate Makoto and Mahiru.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Gundham turns out to be the true victim, with the Gundham in the trial being the Ultimate Imposter. The Imposter decides to keep Gundham's identity even after being exposed, hoping to honour his fallen comrade.
- Dragged into Drag: To his embarrassment, Hajime ends up forced to wear a skimpy anime villainess costume designed by Hifumi Yamada.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Hiyoko is devastated when the killer turns out to be Mahiru, having done a lot of the legwork to solve the case and finding herself responsible for her friend's death.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Despite being in the reserve course and thus not a part of the trial, Hifumi ends up being tasked with delivering the Drink that acts as an antidote to the poison that Makoto is suffering from.
- Taking the Heat: Once it starts becoming clear that Mahiru is the killer, Hiyoko futilely attempts this
Tropes for Trial 28- 2
After strange appearances from Justice Robo and Sparkling Justice drive the students into a panic, Chihiro and Kazuichi are found dead in the Art Room Storage.
- Face–Heel Turn: Gudnham's surviving hamster, Maga Z, is convinced by Junko to become an Ultimate Despair.
- False Confession: Hiyoko claims to be the killer in hopes of forcing a mass execution to avenge Mahiru.
- Mistaken Identity: Kazuichi and Chihiro mistook each other for Junko, having been drugged by her and awoken alone in a room with Justice Robo costumes
- Mutual Kill: Kazuichi and Chihiro.
- Revenge Before Reason: Out to avenge Mahiru's execution, Hiyoko cooperates with Nagito to mislead the case.
Class Trial 29
In the midst of a concert being put together by Hiyoko and Sayaka, a blackout occurs in time for Mahiru and Hiyoko to be murdered.
Tropes for the Twenty-Ninth Class Trial
- Death Is Cheap: Makoto finds a way to rescue anybody who dies from the Neo World Program.
- Died on Their Birthday: Or at least the day before, as the murder takes place during Hiyoko's Birthday Party.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: The Trial ends with a Mass Execution, although it proves to be for the best.
- Guile Hero: Makoto successfully gets away with murdering Mahiru and Hiyoko to set them free from the Neo World Program and feigns innocence long enough to rescue everybody else with a Mass Execution.
- Lights Off, Somebody Dies: Mahiru and Hiyoko
- Ship Tease: Leon manages to secure a date with Komaru as she interacts with the cast from the Reserve Course.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Makoto turns out to be the killer, but did the crime because he learned that death would allow them to escape the Neo World Program and reawaken in the real world.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Makoto makes use of one to secure an alibi, making it look as though he was drugged by Hiyoko and Mahiru's killer.
Class Trial 30
In one reality, Kyoko Kirigiri is found dead by the Pool. In another reality, Komaru Naegi is shot in a Hospital Bed. Two murders in two timelines and begin to converge.
Tropes for the Thirtieth Class Trial
- Alternate Timeline: The trial takes place over two, one where Kyoko is the victim and one where Komaru is. They know that the same killer is responsible for both crimes, allowing them to solve both.
- Exact Words: Nagito denies having killed the girls even after conceding defeat. After he is voted up as the killer, he clarifies that technically, due to the timeline shenanigans, he'd only killed one girl: Kyoko.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Makoto attempts one, agreeing to a deal that Nagito offers to trade his life for Komaru and Kyoko's, but Monokuma doesn't allow it.
- Near-Villain Victory: Nagito avoids suspicion for quite some time and nearly has Kazuichi take the fall.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: The cast eventually gains memories of both timelines.
- Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts: Nagito's luck reaches exaggerated levels when he is able to poison Komaru and hospitalize her by placing a cup of poisoned powder in a cupboard where the wind will blow the powder into her drink during a party that he didn't attend.
- Sadistic Choice: Monokuma gives Makoto one in the end, forcing him to decide whether to revert the world to a timeline where Komaru is dead or leave Kyoko as the victim. He ultimately chooses Komaru's life.
- Take a Third Option: Nagito offers Makoto a chance to save both girls by offering to send a message back in time to himself to murder Makoto instead. However, Monokuma puts a kibosh on that as soon as Makoto agrees.
- Thicker Than Water: Forced to choose between Kyoko or Komaru's life, Makoto ultimately chooses to save his sister.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Much of the trial references Steins;Gate, employing many of the same time travel rules.
- You Can't Fight Fate: When Monokuma declares that both timelines have the same culprit, he suggests that the blackened is destined to commit murder regardless of the victim.
