In the very beginning, Hope's Peak Academy is holding auditions for their top class, Class 78! They are led by the school's headmaster, Monokuma, a robotic bear that speaks in a very childish manner. As the new recruits move into the school, Monokuma tells them that they have been locked in the school and that one of them... is the... Ultimate Despair! One of their own is responsible for destroying the world and the outside world is in despair because of it. The only way to escape is to figure out the true identity of the Ultimate Despair and kill the person behind it all!
Well, things start off with a murder, the first murder, as one student falls victim to another! What a good start! As they look through everyone's Alibis, everything gets more and more tense as they start suspecting one another. Soon, everyone's personalities are exposed, their worst traits, their worst secrets, as they all grow to hate one another! And the body count only begins to rise, as these once-friends turn on one another, as the Ultimate Despair hides in plain sight...
Well... then, as the bodies continue to pile up... we see who the Ultimate Despair truly is! Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair, was hiding in plain sight! She had been the mastermind behind the killings! She had orchestrated the killing game in Hope's Peak! In a shocking twist, she kills herself... using one of the students! But... what exactly has she been planning? As the students escape, they are forced to face the truth of the world... that everything has been ruined by the despair that Junko spread... as the world is now forever in despair!
