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Kazutaka Kodaka openly said he hopes that every episode of Danganronpa 3: The End of Hopes Peak High School will surprise you. Needless to say, he and his team succeeded with flying colors.
Future Arc:
- Episode 4 has multiple big bombshells occurring at once; the 76th trio were all students expelled from Hope's Peak Academy, Tengan manages to talk Munakata down after getting impaled and Gekkougahara is outed as being actually a robotic avatar for Monaka Towa.
- Episode 5: Munakata goes completely off the deep end, killing Tengan and more or less falling into despair. And it's heavily implied that the traitor's identity is what causes him to snap, which certainly has dark implications...
- Episode 6: Holy shit. Izayoi is found dead. Naegi gets a message out to Togami, who reveals that Munakta's sending the Future Foundation's Peacekeeping Force to Jabberwock Island, and Togami agrees to come help them. After the broadcast, Togami and his men talk about how the real Miaya has been murdered. Togami contacts Toko and Komaru, presumably to go and find Monaca, who they believe is in Towa City. And, of course, see Wham Shot below for the final scene.
- Episode 7: Surprise, Monaka isn't the Big Bad, or even close to it. The episode then ends in Munakata seemingly about to kill Kirigiri.
- Episode 8: Andou is confirmed to be Izayoi's murderer, and her NG code will kill her if anybody exits the building. Kizakura dies saving Kirigiri; she, Sakakura and Mitarai find the secret exit, and Togami and the rest of the Future Foundation (sans Hagakure) enter the building... just to activate a security system that seems to be making the whole building collapse.
- Episode 9 takes the cake with (Robo)Miaya, Juzo, Ruruka and Kirigiri all getting killed, the former two by Munakata, along with the discovery that the facility the killing game is taking place in has been underwater all along.
- Episode 10: Yukizome was a despair, Munakata pulls a Heel–Face Turn and, at long last, the remaining participants learn the attacker's identity.
- Episode 11: It's revealed that all of the "attacker's" victims actually committed suicide after watching a brainwashing video, Juzo is revealed to be alive and saves Makoto from killing himself, and then he dies after forcefully stopping the game.
- Episode 12: It turns out that Tengan was the Big Bad, having organized the Final Killing game for his plan to spread "hope". Oh, and Mitarai decide to continue Tengan's idea of hope by brainwashing the world.
Despair Arc:
- Episode 2 (My Impurest Heart For You): It's a lighthearted episode, but the second that Natsumi Kuzuryu walks in the Reserve Course classroom, it reminds the viewer that all the events depicted in Danganronpa 2 are slowly coming to fruition.
- Episode 5 (Beginning of the End): Junko and Mukuro make their grand entrance, The 78th class joins Hope's Peak, and Hajime undergoes the final steps of preparation for the Kamukura project. Then his eyes open and glow red...
- Episode 6 (A Despairfully Fateful Encounter): Junko meets with Izuru, and the latter agrees on her offer to spread despair. She also meets with Mitarai and believes it to be a destined event.
- Episode 7 (The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy): The first Killing Game begins... and we get to see the Student Council kill each other in various brutal ways, all to the tune of Mukuro singing "Give Me Wings". Junko fabricates a story in which Izuru killed them all, sending it to the reserve course and claiming that this is what their money is being spent on. The last scene has the reserve course rioting, and the 77th class watching in fear.
- Episode 8: Mama mia! It's indeed confirmed that Mitarai's brainwashing techniques are being used by Junko to drive the school to despair, as she uses it to make Tsumiki go Brainwashed and Crazy. Komaeda returns, and the entire class goes off to find Tsumiki. Komaeda and Nanami proceed to break into where Junko is keeping Mitarai, only for Kamukura to shoot Komaeda in the chest while Mitarai escapes. The episode then ends with Nanami realising Kamukura is Hinata.
- Episode 9: Junko captures Yukizome, with the final scene heavily implying she's now under her influence.
- Episode 10: Chiaki is forced into a deadly maze by Chisa and Junko, with the members of class 77 being forced to watch. Her death is what finally pushes them into becoming Ultimate Despair. Not only that, but see Wham Shot for the final scene.
