Team Danganronpa is the main antagonist group responsible for creating the Danganronpa television show, and with it, the real-life killing games such as the Killing School Semester. They are shown to be a technologically adept group, being responsible for the creation of the Exisals, Monokuma Kubs, Monokuma and K1-B0. They also have advanced memory manipulation at their disposal in the form of Flashback Lights, allowing them to mold their "contestants" as needed to make their personalities more appealing for the show, including making people think Kokichi Oma is a Remnant of Despair and giving Kaito Momota a chronic disease.
In each season of Danganronpa, it is said that students willingly sign up for the killing game, and sixteen of them are chosen. However, it is unknown if this statement is true, since Kaede Akamatsu and Shuichi Saihara remembered being kidnapped before using any Flashback Lights, and Shuichi said that it was possibly a lie told by the mastermind of the 53rd Season, Tsumugi Shirogane. After the audition, they fabricate all of the students' past memories, personalities, and also give each of them an Ultimate talent.
Currently, the only known people under their employ are Tsumugi Shirogane, K1-B0 (unknowingly), Motherkuma, Monokuma and his children that take a role in the 53rd Killing Game Season.
After learning about the game's true nature, Shuichi and the other survivors stop playing along, boring the audience. In the end, K1-B0 sacrifices himself to finally end Danganronpa, killing Tsumugi, Monokuma and destroying the set where the game was held. His self-destruction also creates a massive hole (implying he "literally" broke the fourth wall) ultimately destroying the whole Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles. Shuichi, Maki Harukawa and Himiko Yumeno are the only survivors, and while they are not sure what is true and what is lies, they appear to have a positive outlook and wonder if the world of Danganronpa could still be continuing somewhere.
According to Tsumugi, there have been 52 seasons of Mutual Killing Games within the Danganronpa franchise in the universe of Danganronpa V3, all of which were fictional, including the Killing School Life featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the Killing School Trip featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, and the Final Killing Game featured in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School. Danganronpa V3 is itself the 53rd season, with the V in V3 being the roman numeral for 5. The characters in Danganronpa V3 are themselves real people whose memories have been altered to turn them into fictional characters, which Tsumugi calls the "Ultimate Real Fiction". It's unknown in which season the Ultimate Real Fiction system was introduced to the franchise.
Not much is known about a majority of the seasons or its participants excluding a few, but it's assumed they follow the same rules as the Killing School Semester or had unique rules like the Final Killing Game.
Season Four: Next Danganronpa 4: Despair Beyond Hope
Season Five: Final Danganronpa 5: Monokuma Returns
Season Six: Dream Danganronpa 6: Hope's Name
Season Seven: Shin Danganronpa 7: Despair Vs. Hope
Season Eight: The Return of Danganronpa 8: A New Hope and Despair
Season Nine: Miracle Danganronpa 9: Despair's Counterattack
Season Ten: Anniversary Danganronpa 10: Birth of Despair
52nd Season[]
Some details of the 52nd Season of the Danganronpa TV show come to light in Chapter 6 of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony when Shuichi and Himiko investigated Rantaro Amami's Research Lab. During the investigation, they discover a USB that contained a recording made by Rantaro himself. In the recording, he revealed he was in a previous Mutual Killing Game and was the only known survivor. At this point in the franchise, the Ultimate Real Fiction system present in V3 was already a part of it.
He explained that in the previous killing game, he was "executed" and forced to participate in the next killing game, the 53rd Season, and had his talent of Ultimate Adventurer be replaced with Ultimate Survivor because of it.
The Funimation logo of Danganronpa 3 was used in this game, and thus the title remained as High School instead of Academy.
Season Four's Logo is a reference to the action rail shooter video game Killer7. It's worth noting that series composer Masafumi Takada also worked on the soundtrack to Killer7.
Season Six's Logo and subtitle are references to the 2016 anime film Your Name. The title of Dream Danganronpa also refers to the recurring theme of dreams in the film.
Season Seven's Logo is a reference to the kaiju film series, Godzilla, specifically Shin Godzilla (シン・ゴジラ).
