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Danganronpa 3 Anime Confirms 3 Returning Cast Members

The official website for the Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibōgamine Gakuen (Danganronpa 3 -The End of Hope's Peak Academy-) anime announced the first round of cast members on Tuesday. Yōko Hikasa will play Kyōko Kirigiri in "Mirai Hen," Yoshimasa Hosoya will play Kazuichi Sōda in "Zetsubō Hen," and Megumi Ogata will play both Makoto Naegi in "Mirai Hen" and Nagito Komaeda in "Zetsubō Hen." All three actors are reprising their roles from the games and previous anime.

The official website previously confirmed that TARAKO will replace Nobuyo Ōyama in the role of mascot character Monokuma in the upcoming television anime and other installments in the franchise.

The upcoming anime series will be split into two parts: "Mirai Hen" (Future Chapter) and "Zetsubō Hen" (Despair Chapter). "Mirai Hen" will air in July, while "Zetsubō Hen" will air sometime after. "Mirai Hen" will focus on the characters from the first game installment, while the "Zetsubō Hen" will tell the story of the characters of the Super Danganronpa 2 game. The anime will illustrate what happened to the characters before the events of the game.

The television anime series will be the conclusion of the "Hope's Peak Academy" series' original story.

Kazutaka Kodaka is in charge of the original scenario concepts and overall supervision. Rui Komatsuzaki is credited with the original character designs, and Seiji Kishi is directing. Norimitsu Kaihō (School-Live!, Gunslinger Stratos: The Animation) is in charge of the scenario on the project, and animation studio Lerche is returning to animate the project. Kazuaki Morita and Ryoko Amisaki are designing the anime's characters. The Danganronpa Design Team is credited with the original background designs. Masafumi Takada is composing the music, and Yoshinori Terasawa is the "Otasuke Producer."

Funimation streamed the Danganronpa The Animation television anime series, based on Spike Chunsoft's PlayStation Portable/PlayStation Vita game, as the anime aired in Japan in Summer 2013. Funimation describes the story:

Hope's Peak Academy is an exclusive private school that only accepts the best of the best. Graduates of this elite – yet enigmatic – institution have the world at their fingertips, but getting a cap and gown is easier said than done. The hallowed halls are ruled by the sadistic administrator Monobear, who declares that the only way to pass the class is by sending a fellow student home in a body bag. If you can get away with murder, you'll get your diploma. But if you're caught red handed, you'll find yourself on the receiving end of a deadly detention slip!

Funimation released the series on DVD and Blu-ray on November 11 with an English dub.

NIS America released the first and second Danganronpa games on PS Vita in North America and Europe last year under the names Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. It also released the spinoff game Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (Zettai Zetsubō Shōjo Danganronpa: Another Episode, or Absolute Despair Girl Danganronpa: Another Episode).

Spike Chunsoft announced a new entry in the game series titled New Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shin Gakki (New Danganronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing). The new game will not take place at Hope's Peak Academy and will not feature any other returning characters. Spike Chunsoft is developing the game for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita and plans to release it in 2016.

Thanks to Maddy Mayberry for the news tip.