One thing in Super Danganronpa 2 that I think doesn't get enough appreciation is it's setting & the meta narrative that comes with it.
Rambly analysis incoming:
The setting is of course, the Neo-World Program, which takes the form of an island paradise named Jabberwock Island, which is a real place within the universe of Danganronpa outside of the NWP, but has a different function there, being a base of sorts for some Future Foundation members.
In the Neo-World Program, Jabberwock Island is designed to be uninhabited by anyone except Usami, the people put into the program, and the occasional creature here and there. This is very purposeful. When the three creators (Fujisaki, Matsuda, and Gekkogahara) of the Neo-World Program were designing it, they, being students of the ultra-pressurised and toxic environment of Hope's Peak Academy would have likely known that some of their fellow students could have used this kind of intense, all consuming therapy to help them overcome their trauma.
Enter the 77th Class, aka the Ultimate/Super High School Level Despair. What do these guys all have in common? Trauma. From various things that are incompatible with an intense school life and an imploding social environment. Stuff like bullying, struggling to fit in, lack of self confidence, terminal illness, bereavement, social awkwardness, abuse, and even more. Not only were these folks traumatised upon entering the Academy, but these traumas and weaknesses were exploited and used to manipulate them into being part of Junko Enoshima's despair-fulled, mindless, murderous cult, because they felt they had simply nowhere else to turn.
So what does the NWP and it's version of Jabberwock island have to do with this? Well, they are two things that traumatised teenagers and young people use to escape reality and soothe themselves rolled into one: a holiday paradise with plenty of wide open space and things to do, and a simulation/game world where even more things are possible. And to keep things in order, there's also the two programmed observers: Usami, the designated "teacher" who guides and instructs the group in gathering the hope fragments by working through things together and bonding with each other, and Nanami, another student, the gamer and game character within a game, who's presence is intended to gently encourage and support the others. This is all temporary by design, as they must then take these lessons learned and confidence gained into the outside world, whereby having their memories newly replaced, they'll no longer be Ultimate Despair and instead be the humans they were meant to be.
So in short: it's giving flawed and traumatised teenagers a chance to play and be themselves where the outside world wouldn't help them, in order to heal and rehabilitate them so that when they get out, they are better people and prepared to face life's challenges.
However, as we all know, Izuru Kamukura managed to implant an AI of Enoshima into the NWP, messing things up and forcing the students into a killing game instead. Worse yet, it is revealed during the 6th trial that the rest of Ultimate Despair willingly put themselves into the program, almost definitely knowing that the Enoshima AI would be present and things would get violent. Why did they do this? Well it could mainly be due to the desire to inflict more despair upon themselves, and/or to see Enoshima again. But also, due to the repeat function in the core of the program, they could abuse that function to repeat the killing school trip over and over again, refusing to leave this place behind and defeating the purpose of the NWP being a temporary program.
A metaphor for how traumatised people can get stuck in toxic patterns or escapism or both, and how these dangerous habits can loop over and over and over again.
That's why it hits so powerfully after Hinata and the other survivors decide "stuff that, we're gonna take control of our own futures, rather than having them be decided for us or dictated by the past or our fears." It's a big giant middle finger to the idea that someone's destiny is predetermined and that change is impossible. Even for those who've had their view of the world shattered or their personalities trodded on. You can always make your own future.
