As part of Japan’s #StayHome project, instituted to help deal with the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, NBC Universal will be streaming the original Danganronpa anime series, Danganronpa the Animation, for free on its official YouTube channel during Japan’s Golden Week. Additionally, NBC will be offering a few other series, including Boarding School Juliet and Grand Blue Dreaming. [Thanks, Famitsu!]
Danganronpa the Animation first aired in Japan in 2013. It is based upon the events of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, which has been released worldwide on platforms like the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and PC. It is 13 episodes long and follows the events of the game. Funimation ended up releasing it outside of Japan in 2014 in North America, while Manga Entertainment handled the UK release in 2015 and FilmConfect took care of the German version in 2016.
2020 marks the 10th anniversary of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and the beginning of the franchise. In fact, Spike Chunsoft has launched a 10th anniversary website and has plans to celebrate the franchise throughout the year. This means Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony will be coming to mobile devices globally. Those versions of the games will come with an updated interface, touchscreen compatibility, and various extras.
Many Japanese companies have begun streaming free anime and animated movies in light of Japan’s own state of emergency. Recently, Khara Inc. released the Rebuild of Evangelion movies for free on its official YouTube channel. In Japan, anime-only broadcast channel Animax is running an all-you-can-watch service through the Golden Week holiday.
NBC will be streaming the Danganronpa anime series and other shows via its YouTube channel until May 6, 2020. They are only available in Japanese.
