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Hope's Peak Academy

Hope's Peak Academy (希望ヶ峰学園 Kibōgamine Gakuen), also known as Hope's Peak High School, was a school located in the center of a large city. The school was the location of the Killing School Life killing game as well as a primary location throughout the entire Hope's Peak Academy saga.

Hope's Peak Academy was a government-sanctioned co-ed private city-center high school with boarding facilities founded several hundred years before the events of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. The school was founded by Izuru Kamukura in order to develop and research the talents of exceptional high school-age children known as Ultimates (Super High School Level in Japanese). Unlike a typical high school, the students did not have to participate in entrance exams but instead were scouted by the school itself as Ultimate experts in their field, with the exception of the Ultimate Lucky Student whose talent was determined by winning a lottery draw.

Prior to being scouted, the students had to have already been attending another high school by requirement, meaning they were at minimum 16 years old. Rather than typical school studies, students of Hope's Peak Academy were encouraged to develop their talents, with a practical exam in September halfway through each school year, where they would be required to demonstrate their ability. These practical exams were judged by dignitaries and experts and widely reported by the media in order to give hope in the future to the nation, and failure could mean expulsion. Ultimate students who successfully graduated from Hope's Peak Academy had the reputation of being guaranteed success in life, with many Hope's Peak graduates holding high positions in every field of the professional world.

Originally exclusive to those with Ultimate abilities, the school later developed a preparatory school style second facility upon the school grounds known as the Reserve Course in order to fund the school's research. Reserve Course students were not scouted and instead took an entrance exam in order to attend. Successful applicants had to pay a high tuition fee, which would in turn fund the education of the Ultimates. Although the Reserve Course technically functioned as a normal - if exclusive - high school, the opportunity to attend was highly competitive due to the brand recognition of the school and the Main Course's reputation for producing future pioneers. It was said that an exceptional student from the Reserve Course may one day be transferred to the Main Course, although no Reserve Course student ever achieved this feat.