Danganronpa takes place at an elite high school named Hope's Peak Academy, which accepts talented "Ultimate" students of the highest caliber in various fields each year. Makoto Naegi, a fairly optimistic but otherwise average student, is selected in a raffle and chosen to enroll into the academy as the "Ultimate Lucky Student". However, when Makoto arrives at the Academy, he loses consciousness and wakes up locked inside the school, where he meets fourteen other newly picked Ultimate students who are in the same situation as him. A sadistic, remote-controlled bear named Monokuma appears before them, telling them they will be imprisoned in the academy for the rest of their lives, and that they will be put to death if they violate any of the school's rules. He states that there is only one way that a student can leave the academy: murder another student and avoid being identified as the culprit.