"So, how did you like the overture? Buddy, you ain't seen nothing yet. Despair is gonna rock your world. Once we've had our second date. This will seem like nothing.
Side Despair #07: The Biggest, Most Atrocious Incident in Hope's Peak High School's History (希望ヶ峰学園史上最大最悪の事件)
With Ryota Mitarai as your guide, witness the true power of anime!
or, Junko and Mukuro learn that Mitarai's anime has subliminal techniques that make the viewer feel certain emotions. Then they and Izuru bring together the Student Council, and that's when things turn serious.
- Blackmail: This is what starts the First Killing Game. Junko orders the Student Council to kill each other or she'll reveal their dirtiest secrets all over the Internet and kill their loved ones.
- Bloodier and Gorier: The First Killing Game was this in regards to the two following it. They included trials, and investigations and nobody could kill more than two students. The First Killing game was an all-out Battle Royale where the winner was the last man standing after all their friends are killed.
- Call-Forward: The bullet that grazes Izuru's cheek is similar to what Hinata got during Monomi's execution by Monobeast early on Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.
- Deadly Game: The First Killing Game was something Battle Royale Style and very, very bloody.
- Diegetic Switch: Junko has Mukuro sing Please Give Me Wings after directing the student council to the motive of the killing game, the song continuously gains more instrumental tracks and stops being diegetic as the sequence continues
- Fish Eyes: Junko's eyes do this when she uses her ultimate talent.
- Homage: Possibly to Battle Royale.
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Ho Yay: Teruteru and Souda share a rather strange moment with a banana and a donut.- It's still unclear whether Sakakura is in love with Munakata or Yukizome.
- I Knew It!: This episode confirms the long-standing theory that Junko was an Unreliable Expositor in Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair. She lied about Izuru's participation in the killing game, who only killed one person, in self-defence and was merely a spectator. Everybody else was killed by each other.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The fate of the couple who tried to kill themselves in the First Killing Game.
- Just Before the End: This is the first episode to particularly focus on the events that led to The Tragedy, particularly, the first killing game that led to the Parade.
- Meta Guy: The episode implies that Mitarai is this, not only being an animator in an anime but also implying that Danganronpa 3 is using some of his techniques.
- Moral Event Horizon: The First Killing Game is this for Junko.
- Mood Whiplash: It's weird that in the middle of the darkest episode yet, we get a shot focusing on Nagito taking a bath in a waterfall.
- Shipper on Deck: Teruteru and Souda might count as it for Mikan/Impostor.
- Shower Scene/Female Gaze: Nagito gets one who gives viewers a generous shot of his ass.
- Unreliable Expositor: Junko lies about the involvement of Izuru in the First Killing Game as a way to guarantee the uttermost anger of the Reserve Course Students.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: The entire Student Council is killed in a span of 6 minutes.
- Wham Episode: Junko's plans are finally on track, and the Tragedy is inevitable after the First Killing Game and the Reserve Course Students are ready to riot.
