Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, released in Japan as Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Farewell Despair Academy (スーパーダンガンロンパ2: さよなら絶望学園), is a 2022 American-Japanese computer-animated comedy-drama film based on the visual novel of the same name. Produced by Maloing Entertainment and Maloing Japan for Paramount Pictures and directed by Christopher Nolan and Tim Miller, the film was released in the United States on March 25, 2022.

Plot
Hajime Hinata, an amnesiac boy, has just become one of Hope's Peak Academy's "Ultimate" students alongside fifteen others who befriend the calm but mentally unstable Nagito Komaeda. The game is set on a remote tropical island called Jabberwock Island, where they have been marooned by their alleged teacher, a small, rabbit-like mascot named Usami, who claims it to be a field trip. However, the school's principal Monokuma announces the students cannot leave the island unless they murder another student and get away with it. If the students can identify a murderer in a Class Trial, that culprit is executed, but if they make the wrong assumption the killer goes free whilst everyone else is sentenced to death.

Through Hajime's investigation, the killers are discovered and executed. As this happens, new areas of the islands are discovered and the group becomes aware of an organization monitoring them, the "Future Foundation". Nagito, through a convoluted process, arranges his own death so that Chiaki Nanami is considered his killer, and executed. During the graduation, it is learned that she is actually an AI program created by the late Chihiro Fujisaki to observe and protect the students during the Future Foundation's experiment. After Chiaki's death, Hajime recovers a memory of arriving at the islands with Nagito, who had transplanted the arm of a woman, Junko Enoshima. As reality falls apart around him, Hajime learns that Nagito and his fellow students are surviving members of Ultimate Despair, a group Junko led, whose terrorist actions led to a crisis known as the Tragedy, which caused societal collapse worldwide.

The Future Foundation has been attempting to undo Ultimate Despair's damage. Makoto Naegi captured the surviving members but rather than executing them, decided to rehabilitate them by erasing their memories and putting them in a virtual reality program. Makoto warns Hajime that an artificial intelligence copy of Junko has hijacked their program and is trying to manipulate events to possess the bodies of the deceased students, which are still intact in the real world, once the surviving students "graduate". Alter Ego Junko's ultimate plan is to download herself into every person on the planet. Makoto tells Hajime if the class votes not to graduate, it will allow him to reset the system and purge Alter Ego Junko.

Junko attempts to deter Hajime by revealing he is Izuru Kamukura, the former leader of Ultimate Despair. The other students hesitate, afraid of reverting to their original personalities, but Hajime eventually finds the inner courage to thwart Alter Ego Junko's plan and persuades the other students to refuse graduation, proposing that they create a future in which they do not have to forget. Hajime, Makoto, and the others reset the system, delete Alter Ego Junko and retain their memories. In the epilogue, Makoto is confident the students will find a way to revive their friends.

Cast

 * Tom Holland as Hajime Hinata
 * Chloë Grace Moretz as Chiaki Nanami
 * Michael Cera as Nagito Komaeda
 * Justin Long as Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu
 * Stephanie Beatriz as Akane Owari
 * Ariana Grande as Sonia Nevermind
 * Andy Samberg as Kazuichi Soda
 * Steve Zahn as Ultimate Impostor
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Teruteru Hanamura
 * Odeya Rush as Mahiru Koizumi
 * Isla Fisher as Peko Pekoyama
 * Alison Brie as Ibuki Mioda
 * Kate McKinnon as Hiyoko Saionji
 * Gina Rodriguez as Mikan Tsumiki
 * Will Arnett as Nekomaru Nidai
 * Hugh Jackman as Gundham Tanaka

Production
In June 2019, Paramount Animation announced that a feature film adaptation of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair was in the pre-development stages.

Marketing
The teaser poster was revealed on November 25, 2021. A promotional spot was broadcast during Super Bowl LVI on February 13, 2022.

Release
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair was released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on March 25, 2022. On May 9, 2022, the film was added to Paramount+ in the United States and Canada.

Home media
The film was released to digital services on May 6, 2022, and on home media on May 10, 2022.

Reception
Coming soon!

Possible sequels
In November 2022, Paramount Animation confirmed that a feature film based on Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls was in the early development stages.