Characters / Danganronpa — Makoto Naegi

Danganronpa | Main Character Index
Monokuma
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc | Male Students (Makoto Naegi | Byakuya Togami) | Female Students (Kyoko Kirigiri | Toko Fukawa | Celestia Ludenberg | Junko Enoshima)
Danganronpa Zero
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair | Male Students (Hajime Hinata | Nagito Komaeda) | Female Students (Peko Pekoyama)
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
Killer Killer
Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School | Future Arc | Despair Arc
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony | Male Students (Kokichi Oma) | Female Students (Miu Iruma)

Makoto Naegi

Warning: Unmarked spoilers for the whole Danganronpa series

Ultimate (Un)Lucky Student (Ultimate Hope)

"But you know, if I have any kind of "strong point," so to speak... I'd say I'm a little more gung-ho than other people."

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (Japanese), Bryce Papenbrook (English)
Played by: Kanata Hongo (stage), Shun Nishime (DR 3 The Stage)

One of the protagonists of Danganronpa. Makoto was a student of Hope's Peak Academy's 78th class, known as the Ultimate Lucky Student for making it in after being randomly selected amongst thousands of other students. He and his classmates become the victims of the Killing School Life and is forced to survive as his classmates collectively try to get away with murdering each other. He manages to defeat the mastermind in the end and escape Hope's Peak with five other classmates.

After escaping, Makoto and his friends joined the Future Foundation, an organization dedicated to ending the Ultimate Despair and restoring the world to a peaceful state. He joins the 14th division and assists in ending the Towa City conflict, reuniting with his younger sister Komaru in the process. Eventually he came upon Class 77-B, now known as the Remnants of Despair who were brainwashed by Junko to carry out the Ultimate Despair's goals. Makoto manages to subdue them and has them sent to Jabberwock Island for rehabilitation, successfully restoring their original personalities.

He then later becomes a participant in the Final Killing Game, managing to end the Ultimate Despair once and for all and restoring the world to peace. He then decides to rebuild Hope's Peak into a proper school, becoming its new headmaster.

Makoto is one of the most essential characters of the Danganronpa series, appearing in multiple major titles and being one of the protagonists of the anime sequel to the first two games.

For tropes pertaining to him in individual works, see the folders below. Beware of massive spoilers.

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In General

• All-Loving Hero: One of his most defining traits, being infinitely approachable and friendly, and willing to give many a second chance. Yasuhiro is the only student that succeeds in annoying him after six Free-Time Events. Despite all the bad things the Remnants of Despair had done, he was still willing to try to reform them. He shows this to his fellow Future Foundation members too despite how clearly fractured and distrusting they are during the Final Killing. He rebels against the higher-ups of the Future Foundation so he could attempt to rehabilitate the Remnants of Despair, instead of simply killing them as ordered. This nature even extends to Junko of all people, who he admits despite everything she's put him through, he doesn't want her to die.
• Archenemy: To Junko, who is endlessly infuriated by his Hope Bringer tendencies and does everything she can to break his spirit.
• Big Good: As the resident Hope Bringer, Naegi is effectively the closest thing the franchise has to one.
• Born Lucky: His talent granted by Hope's Peak, something that becomes his Chekhov's Skill throughout his appearances. He was randomly chosen from all the ordinary students in Japan, giving him the title "Ultimate Lucky Student". While he does have a strange cycle of luck in the fact that he keeps ending up in insane situations with serious risk of bodily harm, he still manages to persevere through said situations from being framed for murderer to surviving a long fall into his school's trash pit and surviving for several days without food.
• Born Unlucky: Despite being the Ultimate Lucky Student, he himself believes he has super-bad luck. The sidestory Makoto Naegi's Worst Day Ever confirms this. His bad luck is so obscenely potent that everyone around him is infected with it as well. According to the story, his worst luck of all was getting picked to attend Hope's Peak... in the second round of the lottery. The person who won the first round never got their invitation letter, because the mail courier passed through Makoto's general area and the letter was consequently destroyed. In game, however, most of his bad luck is good luck in disguise.
• Character Catchphrase: "You've got that wrong!" whenever he points out a contradiction during trials. In the English dub, this becomes "No, that's wrong!".
• Chekhov's Skill: His luck comes into play whenever he needs it the most, usually in the form of Big Damn Heroes.
  • Empirically, all three people who directly targeted Makoto in the Killing Game had their actions backfire terribly:
    • First, Sayaka attempting to frame Makoto by killing in his bedroom results in her victim reversing the murder plan on her.
    • Secondly, Kyoko attempting to use the fifth trial to survive at Makoto's expense results in her own execution via a gigantic press, should Makoto choose to distrust her and reveal her lie. The inclusion of one last debate in this timeline suggests the trial was drawn out long enough for Junko to extinguish Alter Ego, securing Kyoko's death.
    • Thirdly, Junko's rushed attempt to execute Makoto should he cover for Kyoko results in her not extinguishing Alter Ego's hacking in time, which is how the press was halted. By trusting Kyoko and Kyoko later trusting Makoto by leaping after him to the trash room, the two were eventually able to completely dismantle Junko's Killing Game.
  • In Episode 2, the floor happens to be conveniently weakened in the spot where he is standing so that The Great Gozu can break the floor and distract Kyosuke.
  • In Episode 3 it looks like Kyosuke is about to execute him, but Kyosuke just happens to knock him out and take him prisoner and he is rescued shortly by Kazuo.
  • In Episode 5 Seiko and Miaya conveniently come distract the fight between Juzo and Hina so that Makoto and she can make their escape.
  • In Episode 8, Miaya once again conveniently appears after Komaru seemingly accidentally engages auto-remote mode, then she picks Kyosuke, who was planning to attack Makoto, as her first target.
  • In Episode 10, Kyosuke is just about to finish Makoto off after knocking aside the fire extinguisher Makoto was using as a weapon, and says "your luck has run out", only to have Makoto's fire extinguisher suddenly fire right into his back.
  • In Episode 11, he's about to stab himself with a dagger when Juzo - who, it turns out, survived being stabbed - picks him up and pretty much beats the despair out of him.
  • In Episode 11 of Side:Despair, Makoto narrowly dodges a wrench that was "accidentally" sent flying by Junko when he slips on a piece of paper.
  • In Episode 12 of Side:Future, Makoto is able to run through a volley of bullets without being hit. When he gets surrounded by brainwashed soldiers, Byakuya and Hiro appear out of nowhere and save him.
• Defiant to the End: Can stay calm under some intensely high-pressure situations. He stalwartly resists Junko's final attempt to browbeat him into falling into despair. She is annoyed to no end by this, and even admits that she absolutely hates Makoto for his courage because it is "boring".
• Determinator: He does everything in his power to make sure he and his friends call escape alive from the various Killing Games. Even being trapped in a garbage dump with the increasing likelihood that he's going to starve to death doesn't break his spirit.
• Distressed Dude: Despite being the main character, he often needs to be rescued by the others.
  • In the main story, Kyoko saves him twice from Junko, once when she attempts to kill him and frame her for the crime, the second time after his failed execution when Kyoko gets him out of the garbage dump.
  • He gets into a bad situation in Danganronpa Zero where the Ultimate Bodyguard holds him hostage at one point. he is then saved by Ikusaba.
• Does Not Like Spam: Dried mackerel and dried bean curd are listed among his dislikes.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: While he definitely extends the "All-Loving Hero" part to Junko by telling her even she can be redeemed, it's clear that her Lack of Empathy drives him mad and even encourages him to hate what she is. This even applies years later in the Final Killing Game when he's visibly angry upon seeing Monokuma again, thinking that Junko's returned once more to sow despair.
• The Everyman: Which is why his title is based on Luck; he is so normal that he only got in due to the luck of the draw.
• Expressive Hair: His Idiot Hair gets sharper and pointer when he's delivering a major deduction and withers when he's completely terrified.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: He's not much for swearing. Most of his dialogue is free of curse words, and his pointed reaction of "Shoot!" to choosing an incorrect answer in the trial segments stands in stark contrast to Hajime's "Crap!" or "Damn it!" in the next game. One notable exception is in the final trial, where his angry "You're so full of... shit!" directed at Junko has his voice increase in pitch on the offending word, showing how unaccustomed he is to swearing. Another is his Inner Monologue containing the word "Crap" if the worst possible option is picked in a School Mode outing.
• The Heart: Often keeps others focused on fighting the mastermind instead of each other.
• The Hero: He's the one who manages to bring down Junko Enoshima and is instrumental to the restoration of order in the world after her death.
• Hidden Depths: For such an overall average student, he has a surprisingly good memory, being able to recall many details and events throughout the game. Monokuma and later Junko is regularly surprised at how good his memory is.
• Hope Bringer: His defining trait is his optimism, which keeps everyone else from falling into despair. It turns out that this is his real talent, and what he uses to destroy the Mastermind; in spite of how bad things look, Makoto refuses to lose hope even after The Reveal.
• Humble Hero:
  • After becoming the "Ultimate Hope", his first thought is that it doesn't really sound like an actual talent. Even still, he uses it as his final truth bullet to bring down Junko.
  • In general, he tends to knock himself down whenever someone pays him a compliment, such as Sayaka applauding his kindness to animals and him instead thinking about how he was roped into helping the crane out of the pool because no one else would do it.
• Little Big Brother: Downplayed. Makoto is shorter than his younger sister Komaru, but only slightly: Makoto is 160 cm (5'3"), while Komaru is 163 cm (5'4").
• Meaningful Name: One meaning of makoto is truth/honesty. He's the one who solves the "truth" of the matter in every school trial. And when he keeps a secret about Sakura from Kyoko, it really pisses Kyoko off and Makoto feels guilty about it the whole time. His surname Naegi, on the other hand, means sapling, playing on his occasionally naive behavior. This is referenced in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF, when Mukuro refers to him as "a sapling of pure honesty" which is basically the translated version of his name read in traditional Japanese style(surname first, given name last).
• Messianic Archetype: Even with the Ultimate Despair being responsible for all the friends he lost and horrors he experienced in the first game, he still would rather redeem them than see them killed. How he got the other survivors to agree to this is a testament to his Ultimate Hope charisma.
• Mutual Envy: He envies Nagito for having stronger luck than him, and Nagito envies him for being a better Hope Bringer than he is.
• Nice Guy: His real Ultimate talent seems to be the ability to get along with just about anyone, even the more difficult students like Byakuya or Celeste. Even the most anti-social of classmates can be befriended in free time events. In fact, the worst bit of blackmail that Monokuma can dig up on him is that he was a bed-wetter until 5th grade, which, while certainly embarrassing, is nowhere near as incriminating or life-ruining as his fellow students' Dark Secrets. On the flip-side, his niceness is exploited several times by the other students, who have Makoto doing stuff they don't want to do themselves or consider dangerous, including going through doors that might or might not be booby-trapped. Makoto himself starts to snark about it near the endgame.
  Why do I get to be the human bomb-detector all the time?
  • He coincidentally finds Matsuda's ID card and goes to his laboratory to return it to him. He also worries about Ryōko.
  • He's quite happy to see his sister is okay, and he hands over as much information as he can during a phone call with Komaru and Toko.
  • Even Tenko can hardly think of bad things to say about him.
• Older Than He Looks: Though not as bad as the likes of Chihiro and Hiyoko, he looks and sounds fairly young for his age in the Japanese dub and is the second shortest student (alongside Aoi). Even as a twenty year old man, one may be forgiven for thinking he's still a teenager.
• Opposites Attract: With Kyoko. He's optimistic, friendly, and endlessly forgiving. Kyoko on the other hand is much more detached, professional, and indiscriminately scrutinizing. The two still care for each other deeply regardless.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: In Ultimate Talent Development Plan, he admits that he feels inferior compared to Nagito, since his luck isn't as powerful as Nagito's. Ironically, Nagito (who hates his own luck) feels inferior compared to Naegi, because Naegi's a far more successful Hope Bringer than he is.
• The Paragon: Grows into this throughout the series. Gozu particularly mentioned to have been moved by Makoto's fight against Junko during the Killing Game. Since having hope is equivalent to being heroic in this universe, he's this by Danganronpa standards. Many Free-Time Events end in him growing closer to the student in question and sometimes helping them work past their problems and become more secure with themselves. This approachability eventually helps lead the other students through the despair of the final trial.
• Plot Armor: This is usually how his Born Lucky talent manifests itself; Makoto is an ordinary student until something happens that would almost certainly get him killed, and then circumstances intervene to give him a chance to escape with his life, if not his dignity. He's nearly executed twice in the first game, trapped in the Neo World in the second, hit in the head with a wrench and brainwashed into suicide in the anime, and seriously injured in IF and Zero. All of these events are interrupted just in time, leading to him managing to survive and help save the day. Notably, Makoto and Kyoko undergo the same potential execution in THH, but Alter Ego only intervenes for Makoto, while NPC Kyoko is executed for real.
• Power of Trust: A major theme in his relationships with other characters, and perhaps the series in general.
• Pretty Boy: He's rather petite and boyish for his age, and the artbook even goes so far as to call him handsome. It really starts to show in Danganronpa 3.
• The Redeemer: Makoto's kindness manages to rub off on most of the other characters, including Byakuya, Genocide Jack, and Kyosuke. He even went so far as to rehabilitate the Remnants of Despair into becoming good. There is a reason he is the Ultimate Hope.
  • He is also this for Mukuro in Danganronpa IF, where his saving of her life allows the effect he's had on her throughout their friendship to fully manifest and cause her to defect from Ultimate Despair.
• The Reliable One: He can always be expected to keep hope alive, and many Free-Time endings and School Mode endings have the students come to rely on him.
• Ship Tease:
  • With Sayaka, which came to an end when she betrayed him and was killed.
  • Heavily with Kyoko, and the two eventually get together by their final appearance.
  • He gets also these with Mukuro in other media, being the latter's Morality Pet.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: His altruistic nature and overall kindness are the key reasons why girls like him. It probably also helps that most of the other boys in his class are either obnoxious, jerks, or obnoxious jerks.
• Surpassed the Teacher: He picks up a lot of investigation skills from Kyoko. Despite Kyoko spending so much time mentoring him in investigations, some of their later conversations imply that she's begun learning from and coming around to his hopeful way of thinking (closing the refrigeration drawer holding Mukuro's corpse being a good example). She eventually comes to respect him enough to hand him his new title, Ultimate Hope.
• Taking Advantage of Generosity: His suggestibility makes him a frequent victim of it. When Genocide Jack demanded someone bow down before she'll step away from Alter Ego, Aoi tells him to do it while saying it isn't degrading at all (while also saying it’ll definitely be degrading if she does it).
• Tiny School Boy: He's the second shortest in his class, so with the exception of Chihiro and Aoi (the latter of which is the same height as him), literally everyone else in the cast is taller than him, most girls even beat his height by more than 5cm. Even his own little sister Komaru is taller than him.
• Trauma Conga Line: The world ended while he was in high school, he got his mind-wiped, forced into a killing game, loses his crush Sayaka, bonds with a lot of people that DIE, and is eventually arrested by the Future Foundation, only to have to do it all over again!
• True Companions: Was this with the members of the 78th class before Junko wiped away their memories. He believes this of the entire Future Foundation, but especially his fellow Killing Game survivors.
• Unluckily Lucky: In every single appearance, he nearly dies only to be saved thanks to the unlikely intervention of another (by Alter Ego, Ikusaba, and Usami for the main story, "IF", and School Mode respectively). As a direct result of so much horrible luck, he comes out of these hairy situations victorious every time, with the apparent bad luck of being forced into a killing game resulting in him becoming a beacon of hope for all of mankind. In fact, sometimes he's saved directly by his bad luck, like how his poorly-fitting bathroom door clears him of suspicion of the first murder, since the murderer had to force through the stuck door while Makoto knew how to properly open it. His attitude towards his own fortune seems to be somewhat Nathan Drake-like in this respect.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Even while his classmates are killing each other, he tries to think the best of people. He even notes his optimism as his one outstanding trait.
  • This pays off near the end of the first game, where he counters Junko's despair and renews the hopes of his classmates, putting a stop to Junko's scheme. He even gets a new Ultimate title for it: Ultimate Hope.
  • After being trapped in a new killing game, Makoto is of the firm belief that his fellow Future Foundation members would never betray and kill each other. He says this despite having gone through a killing game of the same nature not too long ago.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

The Player Character. An utterly unremarkable Ordinary High-School Student who was only selected to attend Hope's Peak Academy through a random lottery, giving him the title of Ultimate Lucky Student. Makoto cites his most notable features as being his slightly below-average luck and his optimism. He takes command during the investigations after becoming the prime suspect in the first murder due to Sayaka's machinations. He ends up motivating the surviving students to unite against Monokuma, securing their freedom from the school and gaining the title of "Ultimate Hope".

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• Affectionate Nickname: Kyoko tends to call him "Open Book" (sometimes translated as “foolishly open/honest”), because of how he wears his heart on his sleeve. He finds it rather annoying a name, but grows alright with it after her last Free Time Event, where she says she prefers him that way before getting in a quick laugh at his expense that seems natural (unlike every other highly-mechanical reaction of hers he's seen so far).
• All Your Powers Combined: In a meta way. By talking to people during Free Time, Makoto gets skills related to the person — "Melodious Voice" from Maizono, "Cool and Composed" from Byakuya, and so on, effectively getting a bit of each other student's talent.
• Amateur Sleuth: As the main character in a mystery game, he tends to be the one pulling the students through the trials, with some help from Kyoko whenever he gets stuck.
• Bag of Holding: If the present list is to be believed, by the end of the game, his hoodie qualifies (clearing the fifth chapter lets him carry around a rocket).
• Big "SHUT UP!": He'll sometimes throw one of these at Monokuma.
• Butt-Monkey: Throughout the game, Makoto is quite unfortunate, in spite of his supposed "Ultimate" good luck. He gets trapped in a killing game scenario with the others, punched in the face by a biker gang leader, gets framed for murder twice by a girl who he thought was his closest ally and then the mastermind of the killing game later on, has to deal with being the Only Sane Man in a group of misfit teen geniuses, is constantly verbally abused by Byakuya, and then discovers that the entire world he's yearned for while trapped in Hope's Peak Academy has been destroyed by a psychotic madwoman for personal entertainment. He manages to stop this cycle when he defeats the bad guy causing all of the torment for him, and actually lives up to his title as a lucky person during the whole ordeal for once.
• Chekhov's Skill: His talent/"skill" of being lucky ends up working out in his favor several times:
  • In Case 01, the murder happens in his room, not Sayaka's, as Leon thought. Makoto, as the room's actual owner, knew the shower room's door was misaligned. Since the boys' rooms don't have locks on their showers, this was what proved the culprit couldn't have been him, since the culprit didn't know that fact and opted to unscrew the door handle entirely.
  • In Case 02, he just so happened to walk into the dining hall when Kiyotaka and Mondo were fighting, leading to him being called in as their witness and being the only one (Apart from Kiyotaka, who's firmly in denial that Mondo did it) able to prove Mondo went into the sauna fully dressed, and thus realize that he is the owner of the broken Electro-ID in the main hall.
  • In Case 03, Celeste executes an elaborate, multi-faceted murder plot involving the murder of an accomplice. She essentially is taking a huge gamble. On a meta level, she gambled against someone whose talent is being lucky.
  • In Case 05's good ending, Alter Ego infects the system in just enough time to save Makoto from his execution. In the Bad Ending, Kyoko is successfully executed in his place.
• Chick Magnet: Despite being both average and unlucky, the girls who canonically have feelings for him are Sayaka, Mukuro, Aoi, and Kyoko, and that's not counting the fact that in School Mode he can win anyone's panties... literally. Also, in said School Mode, he manages to win the feelings of girls who canonically have other love interests, and both of them would ditch their love interests to go out with him.
• Clear My Name: He has to do this in Chapter 1 when Sayaka's body is found in his shower, since the attempted culprit had set him up to take the fall for them.
  • He is also put in this situation for most of Chapter 5, where he and Kyoko appear to be the only possible suspects for Mukuro's murder. At one point, Makoto has to either choose to stick to trying to clear his name by exposing a lie Kyoko's told, or let her lie slide and allow himself to become the prime suspect. If he doesn't expose Kyoko's lie, Monokuma ends the trial early to have him executed before he can prove his innocence to the others, but Kyoko manages to reopen the case in Chapter Six.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He becomes this with whichever of the goofier students he can hang out with in their Free-Time Events.
• The Confidant: His normalcy leaves little issue for the other students to spill their guts to him, since it isn't in his nature to judge. At one point in School Mode, 'Enoshima' complains aloud that she always seems to be letting her guard down in front of him.
• Covert Pervert: The Man's Greatest Ambition is listed as his favorite present in the artbook◊, and everyone knows how that present got used. Interestingly, the alternative is him saying to Monokuma that he can't bring himself to treat the girls with such disrespect while telling him simple peeking is too lowly to be called a "man's greatest ambition." Which of these should be taken as canon is probably best left to interpretation. Additionally, when Kyoko quizzes him on what Asahina's title is, one of the options that he can pick is "Nice Body", indicating that he's taken notice of her buxom features.
• Crush Blush: He gets this a few times around Sayaka. Being that the game is largely in the first person up until the first trial, this is far more noticeable in the anime.
• Declaration of Protection: He gives one to Sayaka after they come across the gold-coated sword, and she asks him to keep good on it shortly before going off to enact her plan.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Megumi Ogata sings the end credits theme, Saisei -rebuild- (which was written independent of Danganronpa, but still carries a hopeful message).
• Due to the Dead: He argues to Kyoko that Mukuro Ikusaba's body should be handled with respect and not left out in the open, because despite everything she may have done, she was still a victim in the end and should be treated as such.
• Entertainingly Wrong: While trying to figure out Kyoko's talent during a Free-Time Event, he goes over what he knows about her and his first guess is that she comes from a family of assassins. She's a detective.
• Face Death with Dignity: In the good end of chapter 5, as he comes closer to the crusher, he merely shuts his eyes and waits for the end... until he hears it's come to a stop thanks to Alter Ego's intervention, much to his surprise.
• Failed a Spot Check: Makoto sometimes takes a worrisomely long time to come to pretty straightforward conclusions or notice something obvious about a piece of evidence. In the worst cases, either Kyoko or Byakuya will point out a detail to him, but he will still fail to figure out the meaning of it until he's prompted to consider it again during a trial. It is mostly done for rather transparent plot reasons.
• Fashion Dissonance: During a free time segment with Kiyotaka, he insists that Makoto's trendy hoodie is inappropriate for Hope's Peak Academy because it's chaotic and would throw discipline out of order. He'll change his mind if you tell him it's a safety helmet, though.
• Female Gaze: Episode 4 of the anime adaptation opens with Makoto taking a shower, giving the audience a gratuitous shot of his ass. Though it could also be considered Fan Disservice when he is shown having an emotional breakdown after the events of the first trial.
• Flash Back Echo: In the climactic decision at the very end of the fifth trial, he remembers Kyoko's own advice about pushing forward and chasing the truth despite the risks. It isn't clear whether this should mean to push forward and press her lie or endure the danger of being suspected himself so long as it uncovers The Mastermind's trap.
• Forgiveness: One of his defining traits first noted when he refuses to blame Leon or Sayaka for trying to frame him. Even Junko, who he should hate with a vengeance, he tries to reason with in the end when she's about to execute herself. Because not even someone like her is he willing to see killed so pointlessly.
• Friend to All Living Things: He was in an animal-rearing club when he was younger, and was able to calm down a large crane that ended up in the school pool. While hanging out with Mondo, the options for his favorite animal include bears.
• The Generic Guy: So much so that his lack of standout traits is even part of the game's premise.
• Good Is Not Dumb: He gets called foolish, naive, overly-trusting, and soft-hearted at various points in the story. Ultimately, his disinclination to hold a grudge, give into any desires for vengeance, and judge, look down upon, or purposefully mistreat others is what saves everyone else from the despair caused by those same weaknesses. The wisdom in his thinking is what leads to Kyoko retitling him "Ultimate Hope."
• Height Angst: A mild example. While it isn't brought up in-game, it's used as punchlines every now and then in supplementary materials like 4komas and the anthologies. One 4koma even has him asking Chihiro out since he's the only student that's shorter than him.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Makoto can express this in a free-time event with Mondo (along with cats or bears, though dogs are the best option to advance the event).
• Hero Protagonist: Makoto is an optimistic, average, conformist male with an extreme inability to mentally process any abnormality. Randomly, he gets deposited into Junko's Killing Game and manages to succeed at saving the remainder of the case, despite how much suffering the Killing Game has him experience.
• Hypocrite: Accused of being one by Kyoko for keeping a secret from her after he convinced her to trust him. She's more in the wrong in this instance, seeing as she's keeping tons of secrets from him yet expects him to spill all of his, but it does kind of go against his talk about the Power of Friendship since he's not willing to trust her to be careful with that information, as she calls him out even when they reconcile.
  Kyoko: Asking to hear other's secrets while keeping your own to yourself is rather cowardly, don't you think?
• I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: His feeling towards Sayaka's interest in him. Unusually for this trope, he's at least partially justified in his disbelief; while Sayaka's feelings toward him are implied to be genuine, she eventually tries to frame him for a murder she plans to commit.
• Idiot Hair: Has a noticeable spike sticking out on the top of his head, though he's not stupid, just a bit naive.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: It's not as explicit as most examples, but his shortness, skinniness, below-average athleticism, friendliness, and preference for peace over aggression make him one of the least masculine characters of the entire franchise.
• The Kirk: Is frequently able to act as a unifying force among the students, bridging logic with heart to lead everyone to the truth.
• Kirk Summation: Gives one to Junko in the final trial, refusing to let her pass off the blame for everything she did (as if despair were just some detached entity that humans are destined to give in to). Makoto fires back that Junko was Fixing the Game, and that the fault of the students killing each other rests entirely on her.
  You're wrong. We didn't kill each other. It was all just one-sided murder! You stole our memories, made up motives for us, and pushed us into the corner... It was all your fault! All of it!
• Lifesaving Misfortune: If you interpret his continued survival as luck, every misfortune he suffers during the game qualifies.
• Meaningful Echo: He has one in tribute to Sayaka. When Kyoko asks how he knew what she wanted to talk to him about (Sayaka, in fact), Makoto replies "I can read minds" and gives her a moment to boggle before telling her he just has good intuition.
• Messianic Archetype: Just look at the last trial in Chapter 6, if you don't believe it. He delivers some lines about hope, love, and refusing to give into the despair crafted by the Mastermind that would make Sailor Moon proud. In fact, finishing the game and getting the good ending has you-as-Makoto returning their hopes to the other living students, screaming 'You Must Not Lose Hope!!/Don't Lose Hope Now! among other things. Kyoko implies that this trait may mean that he may actually be Ultimate Hope instead of Ultimate Lucky Student. Not only that, Makoto was hung out to dry by the remaining students and sentenced to death. He escapes by a miracle and is a prisoner on the lowest level of the school. He is rescued by Kyoko because she had a Heel Realization: no matter her motives, to let anyone die for you is wrong. Later, every surviving student shares this conviction when Makoto forgives them. This is the real reason Makoto wins and the Mastermind loses: All the surviving students have killed Makoto before, and they knew they will not feel better doing it again.
• Money Multiplier: Won courtesy of Celeste, "Raise" was the only non-trial skill to survive the transfer to the Vita. It increases Monocoin gains in every way possible.
• Morality Pet: A mild example, but he is this for Byakuya since most of the latter's rare Pet the Dog moments are usually directed towards Makoto. This becomes more obvious in later entries in the franchise, such as his attempt to comfort Makoto in the third anime.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He stumbles into this in Chapter 3 by taking Kiyotaka to see Alter Ego, leading to its pep talk making Kiyotaka obsessed with it. This doesn't end well.
• Non-Action Guy: While he isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, Makoto is small and not particularly athletic or coordinated, as well as a pacifist, meaning that he requires the help of more physically capable people to accomplish some things.
• Non-Action Protagonist: As mentioned above, Makoto is oftentimes the one in the group with the most brains behind a class trial aside from Togami and Kyoko; he's a liability in a straight-up fight, and often has to approach the Deadly Game with a more intuitive approach due to being well in over his head.
• Oblivious to Hints: Were he to give any thought to the more obvious answers in a mystery, he'd spoil the player's chance to bring it up at the trial (in which he finally puts two and two together alongside the player). The way some of his thoughts trail off where an answer would be is probably meant to imply the player's conclusions are the same ones he's reaching, and in some cases the dialog is ambiguous enough to make it unclear whether he reached a conclusion in the investigation (and was just waiting for a good chance to bring it up in the trial) or whether he realizes it just before presenting it.
• Only Friend: He tends to be recognized as this to the more antisocial students at the end of their Free-Time Event paths, and that distinction includes practically all of them (in many cases not by choice).
• The Only One I Trust: Makoto tries to be this for Kyoko after the third chapter, which is when she begins to warm up to him. She's lied to or kept from information by every else at various points and takes it in stride; Makoto choosing to keep a secret from her is when she finally reacts badly. Only after his actions in the fifth trial does he become a true example for her.
• Ordinary High-School Student: In contrast to all the other students who are at Hope's Peak due to their extraordinary talents, Makoto's "talent" is simply being an ordinary student who was randomly chosen by lottery. Which is what makes him extraordinary in this particular setting, believe it or not. He does note that he's slightly more optimistic than other people as well. "Hope" and optimism are kind of the same thing, too, and it's because he never gives up on hope that he's able to derail Junko's scheme in the end.
• Parrot Exposition: Lampshaded.
  Monokuma: You're very good at repeating what other people say. That's what I call User Friendly. You're the worst.
• Player Character: He's the one directly controlled by the player as he investigates Hope's Peak Academy and solves each murder.
• Potty Failure: Used as a minor throwaway gag. In Chapter 2, Monokuma attempts to motivate the students to commit murder by threatening to reveal everyone's worst secrets unless one of them gives in and kills someone. Apparently what Makoto considers the worst secret in his life is that he used to wet the bed until fifth grade, and since the threat of having that revealed doesn't motivate Makoto to kill someone, it's not apparently too bad of a secret to him.
• Precision F-Strike: During the final trial in the English localization. While Makoto had been saying things like "damn" and "crap" beforehand, this was clearly new to him. Bonus points for his voice going higher as he says it, proving how unaccustomed he is to that language.
  Makoto, to Junko: Give and take? You're so full of... shit!
• Purple Prose: This seeps into some of his narrations in nearly all translations, though conveying the gravity of the situation probably wouldn't be possible otherwise. While he's describing Sayaka's last message, Kyoko dryly calls him a poet.
• Ridiculously Average Guy: He thinks this about himself. He seems to be above-average in crime-solving, however, because he's the only one who never jumps to conclusions or jumps on the bandwagon like the other students and thus can point out holes in his opponents' arguments, which is why he's the one who solves every case.
• Run, Don't Walk: Being an investigation game, Makoto walks by default with the option to run by holding Circle. In the PSP edition of the game, he could only do it after experiencing Aoi's first free time event.
• Sanity Has Advantages: In the first game, Makoto manages to stop Junko from continuing her acts of terrorism any further for the sole fact that she's batshit crazy and he understands the true value of life, much unlike Junko herself, who admits outright that she lives only for despair. Albeit, this also applies to the other students, considering they end up falling into despair like Junko wanted them to (due to being susceptible to it) until he pulls them out of that state.
• The Scapegoat: Sayaka's plan consisted on murdering Leon in Makoto's bedroom, allowing her to pin the murder on him. When Sayaka's plan failed and she got murdered by Leon instead, Leon took advantage of the situation and framed Makoto for Sayaka's death. Later on during chapter 5, when Monokuma tries to frame Kyoko for Mukuro's death because she was a threat to his plans, Kyoko instead tries to put all the blame on Makoto as they are both the only suspects of the murder. Needless to say Monokuma decides to run with it anyways, and he would've been executed if it wasn't for Alter-Ego stopping the execution. Kyoko apologizes afterwards.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: When discovering Sayaka and Chihiro's corpses.
• Sherlock Scan: In the original PSP version, he gains this ability after Kyoko's first free-time event, letting him see all the details in a room by hitting the Triangle button. Then the developers realized this was too useful, and made it a default ability in later editions.
• Shipper with an Agenda: He would volunteer to become The Matchmaker for Togami and Genocide Jack, primarily if it means the latter would stop killing people.
• Skilled, but Naive: He outsmarts his fellow Ultimate students left and right, but unlike the other two Trial Point Getters, he's never had any previous involvement with solving murders (and so he reacts with the same kind of surprise/horror a completely ordinary high schooler would).
• Spanner in the Works: Makoto's status as the Ultimate (Un)Lucky student completely throws a wrench in Monokuma and the Mastermind's machinations, as Makoto's luck is something they cannot completely account for. This comes to full fruition in chapter 5 where the group as a whole had pledged to just stop taking part in the killing game after Sakura's Heroic Sacrifice. Monokuma comes to the realization that the only way to destroy the hope of the group is by directly killing Makoto and then framing Kyoko for his murder. Not only did Makoto not die, he then proceeded to cover for Kyoko in the trial, throwing all suspicion off of her and onto him.
• Supporting Protagonist: He doesn't take on the mystery as directly as Kyoko, and instead plays the role of The Heart most of the time. The title she eventually gives him probably best emphasizes why he's the protagonist: the game's ultimate theme isn't about solving mysteries, but a message of hope.
• Tap on the Head: He's on the receiving end of one at the end of the third chapter, and is able to walk it off none the worse for wear.
• Team Mom: By the later stages of the game, Makoto effectively becomes the emotional core of the group, being more concerned with his classmates wellbeing. This ends up becoming the catalyst for them defeating Junko in the final trial. And naturally, this also further fuels the fandom's injoke of Makoto being the "true heroine" of Danganronpa.
• That Came Out Wrong: In School Mode, he'll occasionally say something to the girls that gets misunderstood to mean he's hitting on them, which is rejected immediately. All things considered, he brings it on himself.
  Makoto: (In the Library) Finally, we get to be alone...
  Celeste: ... ... ...Keep your hands off me, you brute! I did not give you permission to come lusting after me!
  
  Makoto: (in the Garden) I'd love to just lay down and go to sleep.
  'Junko': Listen, that's not, like... an invitation, is it? No way! I can't do stuff like that! You shouldn't judge people by how they look, okay!?
• Turn the Other Cheek: Even when characters directly wrong him in some way, he can always be counted on to say (or think) that they wouldn't have done it if not for The Mastermind forcing their hand in the killing game.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • His taking Kiyotaka to see Alter Ego ends up being this. He didn't directly cause the murder, but Taka's resulting personality shift and rivalry with Hifumi enables Celeste to play the two against each other.
  • Some characters' final Free Time events feature Makoto unwittingly bringing about said character's death. For instance, Chihiro; who upon confiding in Makoto that he is looking for a strong, manly man to help him get buff; is advised to give Mondo a shot.
• Vanilla Protagonist: His lack of standout traits is, ironically, the most standout thing about him, even in-universe.
• Vicariously Ambitious: Nearly all the School Mode endings have him agreeing to spend the rest of his days helping the student in question achieve their dream. When Celeste asks for a reason that he thinks he can do it in the best response to her Trigger Happy Heart event, he simply says helping her "would be a lot of fun."
• You Are Not Alone: Some of his Free-Time Events with the other students have him giving them this message in some fashion.
• You're Insane!: He delivers this line in some form (depending on the translation) to Junko in the final trial.
• Your Door Was Open: At one point, Kyoko walks into his room to talk and berates him for carelessly leaving his door unlocked. Monokuma also warns him to lock his door in the anime's second episode.

Danganronpa Zero

Ultimate Lucky Student

A random student Ryōko meets at Matsuda's laboratory, he is an Ordinary High-School Student who is blessed with luck (or bad luck depending how you view it), having been chosen to attend Hope Peak's Academy because of the luck in question.

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• Accidental Pervert: When he meets Ryōko, she thinks that he's a pervert or someone suspicious. It takes a while for him to convince her otherwise.
• Determinator: By the end of Chapter 3 in Volume 2, he has a determined look in his eyes, which impresses Ryōko.
• Hero of Another Story: Naegi goes on to be The Protagonist and The Hero of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 3: Future Arc.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Ryōko doesn't remember him and she has no notes about him inside her notebook, but he remembers her before she became an amnesiac, which surprises the girl. However, she is confused and irritated that he's staring at her so much. The main reason for this is that he not only just remembers her, but he knows very well that Ryōko is Junko. He's also perplexed is by her new look.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The way he is saved by Ikusaba invokes this trope.
• Ordinary High-School Student: Other than his luck, there is nothing really special about him. That's what Naegi and Ryōko think, and she finds his ordinariness very strange. However, she then realizes that he can have a determined look in his eyes.
• Unluckily Lucky: He happens to be a Hope's Peak student through pure luck, but since he is also an Ordinary High-School Student with no usable talent, he is unlucky that he has to go to school with talented peers who are leagues above him. He finds Matsuda's ID card by chance, only to not find the card's owner at the laboratory and he ends up being taken hostage by Madarai... but then he is lucky enough to be saved by Ikusaba right before what would have been his death.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Ultimate Hope

A member of the Future Foundation, who (according to Monokuma) are responsible for taking away the memories of the students on the island and have placed a mole amongst their ranks. He is a returning character from the previous game, who joined the Future Foundation after escaping from the second "School Life of Mutual Killing" and is now working to rehabilitate the remnants of Ultimate Despair.

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• Big Damn Heroes: Twice, since he first "saves" the Remnants of Despair against the Future Foundation's wishes by putting them in the program and then comes into the program to save them when everything starts going wrong.
• Big Good: As the Ultimate Hope, and Makoto being responsible for trying to rehabilitate the Ultimate Despair students in the first place. Alter Ego Junko specifically mentions she wishes to defeat Makoto in particular since he is responsible for the original Junko's defeat.
• Crazy-Prepared: When developing the game to rehabilitate the Remnants of Despair, he put in a "cheat code" (11037) just in case Usami somehow screwed up the basic plan of gathering the Friendship Shards so that the players can just find and use that to start the graduation ceremony immediately and end the game. This came in handy when Junko's virus threw things off the rails and started the Killing Game.
• Exposition Beam: Has his memories returned offscreen thanks to the Future Foundation.
• The Hero: Working behind the scenes to save and redeem the brainwashed members of Ultimate Despair. Specifically asks Kyoko and Byakuya to allow him to handle the case alone.
• Walking Spoiler: He's here for a reason.
• Wham Line: The fake Makoto declares that all the students besides Chiaki were part of Ultimate Despair. The real Makoto later confirms it.
• What the Hell, Hero?: His superiors in the Future Foundation were not happy to learn about his attempts to rehabilitate the students.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

Ultimate Hope

Komaru's older brother, and the hero of the Killing School Life. Now a member of the Future Foundation, Makoto supports his sister throughout the story.

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• Big Good: Endlessly supportive of his sister and commands much of the good characters. Considering that he's Ultimate Hope, they certainly have reason to follow him.
• Demoted to Extra: He only appears in one scene at the beginning of Chapter 3, having a video call with Komaru and Toko. Justified, given that he isn't actually in Towa City and can only do so much from where he is.
• Endearingly Dorky: Toko mentions that he apparently got so "hyped up" being declared the Ultimate Hope that he eagerly dragged everyone along with him.
• Even the Guys Want Him: He's written about in a collectable notebook that can be found near the end of the game, and it says that "he even makes the boys' hearts race." Granted, we don't know how reliable it is because it was written by one of the Warriors of Hope, but it's still saying something.
• Hero of Another Story: He is the original game's protagonist, and his actions lead to many people considering him their leader.

Danganronpa 3: Future Arc

Ultimate Hope, (Former) Ultimate Lucky Student

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (Japanese), Bryce Papenbrook (English)

Now the Ultimate Hope. Due to his actions in saving the Remnants of Despair, he has been arrested for treason. Survives the Final Killing.

His Forbidden Action during Monokuma Hunter is: "running in the hallways".

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For the tropes related to him in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair and Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, see here and here.

• Arrested for Heroism: Saving the Remnants of Despair has put him a very, very bad place.
• Badass Pacifist: Makoto is the sole character of the franchise for whom The Power of Friendship and Rousing Speech work properly. His luck is capable of saving him from terrifying situations and he has grown quite clever as shown in episode 10, with his fight against Munakata, that all while being the Non-Action Guy.
  • He has now survived two Killing Games, which is saying something.
• Big Good: Of Side:Future, and possibly the entire franchise, having traits of The Paragon, Hope Bringer and All-Loving Hero. By the end of the series, he's the the new headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy.
• The Cameo: Appears briefly in Side:Despair episode 5.
  • Progressively Prettier: Not that he wasn't attractive before, but in the first anime, he looked younger and had a cuter appearance. Thanks to the higher budget for this anime, the way he's drawn at that same age in the Despair Arc leans more towards Bishōnen territory.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Munakata keeps him alive to attract those who would save him and kill them, which is lampshaded by himself and Kyoko. Through his reasoning, the traitor is doing the same, having Makoto as a symbol of hope for the survivors, it will strike even worse when they betray the organization. Munakata keeps him alive once again in episode 10, due to needing him to get out of the locked room Makoto trapped them in, since his NG code forbids him from opening doors.
• Cartwright Curse: Narrowly averted.
• Combat Pragmatist: Given that he is a Non-Action Guy, when Makoto has to finally resort to fighting, he chooses to fight dirty from the start. And all things considered manages to give a decent fight to Munakata, eventually driving him into a trap and forcing him into negotiations.
• Driven to Suicide: After the Mind Rape he receives from the Suicide video on the monitors, but ultimately averted thanks to Sakakura.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: He goes through a lot, but he ultimately gets Kirigiri back and the epilogue reveals he became Headmaster of the new Hope's Peak Academy.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: It's shorter than it once was, making him somewhat resemble Hajime.
• The Extremist Was Right:
  • Despite Munakata becoming increasingly unstable, it's implied that Naegi is considering what Munakata told him about his weakness as shown when he has a nightmare about Kirigiri being murdered over his failures.
  • Naegi himself may count as this trope to many of his Future Foundation comrades, who think he's taking his altruism too far by trying to reform the Remnants. However, Naegi is ultimately vindicated when it turns out that the Remnants never followed Junko out of their own free will and that they all eventually returned to normal.
• Famed In-Story: He's famous in-universe as the hero that defeated Junko.
• Forgiveness: His defining character trait. Even after everything the Remnants of Despair had done, he found it in his heart to try and rehabilitate them from despair even when it got him into trouble with the Future Foundation. Additionally he is able to forgive Munakata for murdering Tengan before learning that Tengan was the Mastermind, and encourages Sakakura to believe in Munakata after his betrayal.
• Genocide Dilemma: While the rest of the Future Foundation had pretty much no issue with killing the Remnants of Despair, Makoto wanted to give them all a second chance through rehabilitation. This decision kick-started the events of both the second game and the anime.
• Gone Horribly Right: He announces his NG Action to all the other players, which he hopes will earn their trust. While this causes Kyosuke to at least realize that Makoto is genuinely an All-Loving Hero and not a traitor, he still wants to kill Makoto because the latter's idealism could doom the Future Foundation's campaign against despair.
• He Is All Grown Up: He's...grown quite drastically.
• Heartbroken Badass: He is completely devastated when he thinks Kyoko dies, crying for the first time in the series, yet he forces himself to keep going because he knows it's what she'd want. It makes it all the more heartwarming when he's finally reunited with her.
• Happily Ever After: Heavily implied with Kirigiri, especially in the official staff book◊.
• The Hero: As always.
• Hope Bringer: He is, after all, the Ultimate Hope.
• Humble Hero: Tends to get flustered/embarrassed whenever his heroics from the first game are brought up.
• Idiot Hair: Still has his "Protagonist Hair".
• Improbable Age: Ultimately becomes Headmaster of Hope's Peak at age 20.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Subverted, the despair video is able to cut through him and force him into a despair-driven suicide attempt.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Tells Monokuma that the Future Foundation leaders are allies who won't kill each other, only for Monokuma to reveal the first victim and tell him the killing game has already begun.
• The Kirk: To Kirigiri's The Spock and Asahina's The McCoy.
• Kirk Summation: Delivers one to Munakata in their final confrontation. He takes a beating in the process, but it works.
• Manly Tears: When Kirigiri (seemingly) dies.
• Meaningful Name: Naegi means "sapling," while Makoto is written with the kanji for truth.
• Mind Rape: Is on the receiving end of a particularly nasty one from the monitors, where he hallucinates that all his dead classmates have come back to life and are blaming him for their deaths. He's nearly Driven to Suicide, but luckily Sakakura shows up in time.
• My Greatest Failure: The Mind Rape he suffers implies that he sees the deaths of his classmates during the Second Killing game as this.
• Non-Action Guy: Compared to the people either hunting him down or trying to protect him from danger, Naegi can't really fight.
  • The Load: As a result of that fact and his debilitating Forbidden Action, this trope is seemingly Invoked by the mastermind. In episode 9, he admits to feeling like it.
• No-Sell: He is the only character in the franchise who has been able to resist Junko's despair. In addition, his luck patterns are such that Junko can't use her analytical talent to predict his future actions with great accuracy.
• Out of Focus: Gets hit with this in the middle half of the anime, due to the mileage of other plotlines combined with how little he can really do. It's only after Kirigiri's Disney Death that he steps back up to the forefront, actually getting quite a bit done... Only to do absolutely nothing in the finale again.
• Right Makes Might: Takes this side of the debate when confronted by Munakata in Episode 3, believing actions follow, rather than speak louder, than words and platitudes of hope, and espouses the virtues of doing right rather than abiding by a broken set of rules.
• Rousing Speech: Gives one to Munakata in episode 10 to calm him down.
• Rule of Symbolism: When he confronts Munakata in Episode 10, he approaches him from a brightly lit side of the room, while Munakata is sitting alone in the dark side of the room, reflecting how the two are foils for each other as Makoto is All-Loving Hero and Munakata is a Fallen Hero.
• Slasher Smile: Sports a very creepy one◊ when being brainwashed to commit suicide.
• Spanner in the Works: In episode 11 of Side:Despair Junko stated that she couldn't read him or his luck. As shown by the first game, this eventually led to her defeat.
  • Outside-Context Problem: Junko can't properly deal with him exactly because of how unpredictable his luck is, something she never had to deal with before.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Kirigiri, as her NG code ensures one of them will have to die. The opening seems to lampshade this by having them reach for each other as she falls away from him. Of course, this is averted at the very end.
• Survivor's Guilt: His Mind Rape scene in Episode 11 underscores just how much Naegi regrets being unable to save those who died in the Second Killing Game.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Naturally, it is his greatest talent. In Episode 10, he was able to finally convince Munakata to stop his rampage and that they should work together.
• Took a Level in Badass: In Episode 10, when he finally decides to confront Munakata head-on. Even if he spends most of the fight running away from him (given his lack of combat experience), Makoto still manages to outsmart Munakata by guessing his Forbidden Action and trapping him in a closed room.
• Tragic Keepsake: A weird example, he wipes the blood from the right side of Kyoko's face with his right hand and frequently looks at his right hand as a reminder of her.
• Weak, but Skilled: Despite his lack of combat abilities, in Episode 10 he was able to give Munakata a pretty decent fight. Keep in mind that Munakata was able to fight off a professional wrestler (Gozu), defeat a tough old man(Tengan), and destroy a Killer Robot (Gekkogahara). During his showdown with Munakata, Naegi employed several clever methods when fighting him, such as trying to electrocute him after activating the sprinkler, using a fake blood trail, and luring Munakata to a locked room after deducing his forbidden action.
• Weaksauce Weakness: His NG Action, which prevents him from running in hallways. It turns out to be a bigger pain in his behind than you might think, especially when it keeps him from fleeing his rivals. Despite that, he tells his NG Action to everyone in an attempt to gain their trust.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: He realizes that this time, the rules don't actually stop them from leaving the game, so his new plan is to escape the game, instead of playing it until he can make it stop like he did in the original Mutual Killing Game.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He still behaves like he is in a mutual killing game, believing that if he proves his opposition wrong, he can unite everyone in an effort to search for the killer. He fails to understand that his opposition is both dogmatic and completely unwilling to negotiate which effectively renders all his efforts at diplomacy useless. He wises up around Episode 6, realizing he has much more leeway to bend the rules this time around.
  • In the end he is proven right, since his moral compass and hope were able to turn Munakata away from despair, allowed Juzo to redeem himself from his previous failures, and his efforts to rehabilitate the Remnants of Despair meant they were in turn able to prevent any more casualties and stop Mitarai from brainwashing the entire world. Also, had he been listened to from the beginning, it's possible that no one other than Chisa would've died, since the game was automated and simply turning off the power would've done the trick (though they would still have needed to find the power room before the next sleep period, without triggering anyone's NG Code and with the mastermind still among them).
• You Are Not Alone: Receives a speech along these lines from both Asahina and Kirigiri in different episodes, reinforcing their support for and willingness to help him.

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"No, that's WRONG!"

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