Danganronpa - Episode 10

With another clasroom trial survived, the remaining students seem to be entering the end-game of Monokuma's malicious charade as a fifth floor of the school building opens up.

This latest part of the building is certainly an eclectic one, with a botanical garden and chicken coop on the one hand but a room that seems to have played host to a mass murder in the past on the other.  With suspicions surrounding Kirigiri and her inability to explain who she is or her whereabouts during key moments at an all time high, Togami takes away her room key to limit her movements, but there's little time to dwell on this as Monokuma demands to see his charges on account of something important to him having been stolen.

It's not all that surprising that the source of this particularly brave crime is Kirigiri, who uses Naegi to distract Monokuma while she goes away to try and investigate some of the deeper and darker elements behind the group's predicament.  Having done this, a confused night's sleep is followed by an even ore confusing day for Naegi and company, be it a broken-down Monokuma, a body in the gardens or a revelation that their entire experience thus far may have simply been played out as a televised spectator sport for the masses.

Even if this week's episode of Danganronpa hasn't departed quite as I expected from the tried and trusted murder and trial setup that has served the series in pretty good stead thus far, it certainly had no shortage of new ideas, twists and turns to throw about.  You could almost argue that this instalment had too much to say, as there was certainly a lot to take in from small hints through to big revelations, putting the pressure on the next few episodes to allow everything to shake out in a satisfying fashion.  For now though, the prospect of tackling an incredibly tough classroom trial next week is enough to whet my appetite.