Before I begin I havens played the game as I don’t own a PlayStation portable or Vita.
This anime created in the Summer of 2013 based on the visual novel/murder mystery game sharing the title or Trigger Happy Havoc was created by Lerche who worked on such famous titles as Persona 4 and Devil Survivor 2.
The story is about a school called Hopes Peak Academy where 13 top students and 1 other , 13 highly skilled or talented in their fields ranging from baseball to being a thug and 1 student who gets in through sheer luck through a lottery draw. The lucky student is Makoto Naegi a average student who upon stepping on the school grounds passes out . When he awakes in the school with no knowledge of how he got there . When he finds the other students. A announcement is made by a remote controlled demonic looking teddy bear referring to himself as Monobear and declaring himself the principal of the school . The students are given two choices . Live out their lives within the school for their entire life or go through graduation where they have to commit a murder and not get caught. If the murderer is caught they go through a special punishment and if the student doesn’t get caught everyone else is killed and the murderer is set free.
As the students explore the school the stakes begin to get higher as they learn this school has become the ultimate trap of despair for them.
That is all of the story I can give as they story from episode 2 onwards goes into major spoiler country. But what is refreshing about this show compared to similar anime titles its sheer honesty of portraying its made just like the game even when people are solving crimes it feels like your playing the game yourself. The soundtrack is completely infectious and hauntingly catchy .
The only problem I have with the series is its way to short of a show I would felt if they spent an extra episode developing the characters to get a sense of whether you want a character to survive or not
Overall score 4.3/5 special punishments