Goodbye, Hope’s Peak High School (Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc)

Goodbye, Hope’s Peak High School is the twenty-second episode of Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School and the eleventh and last episode of Despair Arc, which serves as a prequel to the Hope's Peak Series.

Summary
Basically the same summary as the previous episode, except with a different plot.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Even though we get to see how "The Worst, Most Despair-Inducing Incident in the History of Mankind" began, the previous episode sucks the charm out of this episode.
 * 2) Continuity Error: We see Makoto Naegi in Hope’s Peak High School in this episode, but the first game implies that Makoto Naegi got into Hope’s Peak High School through a lottery ticket. Plus, Makoto didn’t get into Hope’s Peak High School until the first game, so adding him seems pointless. Although, this could be explained by the fact that the Trigger Happy Havoc cast had two years of their memories erased when the Killing Game began.
 * 3) Juzo Sakakura and Chisa Yukizome actually lie to Kyosuke Munakata, by telling him that Junko is innocent. And worst of all, this incident wasn’t Juzo’s nor Munakata’s fault. Junko humiliated Juzo in the previous episode in order to blackmail him into lying to him.
 * 4) *The fact that Juzo ends up going into the bathroom and punching the wall into his fist bled afterwards doesn't help matters, as it shows how torn up he was over what he did. Ouch.
 * 5) A flower has been placed on top of Chiaki's desk, but no one acknowledges her death. As if they were all permanently scarred for life, so much that they've decided to repress any and all memories of her. However, the more likely explanation is Junko's brainwashing from the previous episode twisted their minds into embracing any and all forms of despair, including the despair of losing her. And it's also implied that Izuru was the one who put them there, which actually makes sense given the fact that he had cried over Chiaki's death in said episode (despite not understanding why he did it).
 * 6) It's actually shown how Junko's brainwashing affected Class 77-B. And it's implied that they think they're doing nothing wrong and are bringing people happiness while they're unconsciously forced to commit atrocities. This actually becomes pretty sad when you think about it, because it shows how much they really wanted to make the world a better place, only for Junko force them to watch they're beloved class rep being tortured to death and use it to brainwash them into mass murdering terrorists.
 * 7) *That's not even the only implication for how it works either. Another one is that they actually are aware of what they're doing, but are unable to do anything to stop it, and that they're in despair knowing that they're not making people happier like they desired. All the while they're completely helpless to stop themselves from doing the opposites of what they truly want to do, which is nothing short of psychological horror.
 * 8) **The scene that shows their descents into despair isn't pleasant to watch either. From Sonia Nevermind using her power as ruler of the Kingdom of Novoselic to order nuclear strikes on other nations to Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu and Peko Pekoyama eliminating officials in a courtroom, it's all very hard to watch, especially if you're emotionally attached to these characters.
 * 9) The scene with the Reserve Course breaking into the main floor to murdering the other students before leaving Hope's Peak Academy by the time they're done, while not as bad as Chiaki being tortured to death in the previous episode, is still an enormous gorey bloodbath and no short of disturbing.
 * 10) Idiot Move: Episode 13 in Danganronpa: The Animation shows that Junko realized Makoto Naegi was a threat before the Killing Game even started, but instead of killing him, she kept him alive because of her despair fetish, even after Mukuro told her to have Makoto killed first.
 * 11) Junko Enoshima is unlikable in this episode, just like she was in the the previous episode. She once even snapped at Izuru Kamukura for not saying anything to her and knocked over Mukuro Ikusaba before prodding her with her stiletto all because she didn't understand what Junko meant by saying that the Remnants of Despair will "infect the world with despair", which is just disproportionate.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Even after the short-lived downfall, this can be considered a slight improvement over the previous episode, although not as much as an improvement as the Hope Arc.
 * 2) The scene at the end where Hajime meets the Chiaki AI inside the Neo World Program is a pretty nice touch to this episode, and it’s also proof that the writers are learning from their mistakes after the previous episode, and makes for a nice ending for an otherwise mediocre episode.
 * 3) Similairly, the scene where Class 78 is working together to seal themselves in the school in order to protect themselves from the Tragedy is pretty sweet as well. With Mondo Owada rushing over to help Chihiro Fujisaki with a heavy load, Mukuro showing concern for Makoto when the latter nearly got hit in the head with a flying wrench (as well as later showing hesitation when asking Junko is they should kill him, showing that she does have some lingering reservations about harming him), and Sayaka showing how much she cared about Makoto prior to the Killing Game, it's nice to see the whole class working together in order to protect each other.
 * 4) Great animation and voice acting, as always, even if the episode itself had all the charm sucked out.

Reception
Goodbye, Hope's Peak Academy received mixed reception from Danganronpa fans. While some appreciated it actually showcasing some of the events that were only stated to have happened in the second game, others criticized it for it's continuity errors, graphic content, and overall lack of charm that the previous episodes of the arc (episode 10 excluded) had. That being said, even the fans who dislike the episode will still often agree that it's still a step-up from Smile at Despair in the Name of Hope, if not a good episode on it's own.