Main installments: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc | Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair | Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School | Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Spin-offs: Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls | Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp
Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
- Very, very small and easily missable, but if you talk to Hifumi between the introductions and the gymnasium, he says “Are you ok? Is everyone ok?”. He may be a bit of a creep, but that doesn’t stop him from caring about the others, at least a little bit.
- A small moment, but Mondo volunteering for guard duty in case 1, knowing he won't be much use in the investigation but still wanting to do his part to help. And while Byakuya justifiably points out the killer would have every reason to volunteer for that duty, the end of the chapter confirms he was innocent and it was indeed a genuine offer to help.
- The end of Chapter 1: Makoto doubts that Sayaka ever cared about him. After all, she had attempted to frame him for a murder. Kyoko shows up to assure him that Sayaka did care about him after all, although it's only a theory of hers. Makoto chooses to honor Sayaka's memory.Makoto: ...Why are you telling me all this?Kyoko: Because...you're the kind of person who can overcome this. Because you can move past the deaths of your friends-Sayaka and Leon-and keep moving forward. Without someone like that, the others would never be able to break free of such a desperate situation.Makoto: Move past their deaths? That's... I could never do that.Kyoko: ...Makoto: No... I'm going to carry them with me for the rest of my life. How could I possibly "move past" something like that? Leon...Sayaka... I'll carry them with me forever. I'll carry their memories with me wherever I go!Kyoko: ... So instead of forgetting them...you're choosing the hard road. Well, I have high expectations for you.Makoto: (Thinking) As she said that, she revealed the smallest smile...Kyoko: By the way, I have to admit, I'm curious... How did you know I wanted to talk to you about Sayaka?Makoto: Oh, well... ... I'm psychic.Kyoko: Huh...?Makoto: Kidding... I just have pretty good intuition.
- Alter Ego, full stop. A computer program built by Chihiro to help everyone in the event anything happened to Chihiro, the program is so sweet and friendly that Hifumi friggin' fell in love with it! And it dedicates itself to helping them all, in the spirit of friendship and his master, out of the same motives as it would if it were a real person, simply because they were all Chihiro's friends. D'aww...!
- In fact, Alter Ego loves everyone so much that, in the "proper" way to end chapter 5, Alter Ego rescues Makoto from being executed and drops him into a garbage room, putting Makoto in a position to take free rein over the system, provided he can make it out.
- The culprit in case 4 isn't a culprit! Sakura killed herself, just so all her friends would stop fighting.
- In the same case, Monokuma tries to pull a "The Reason You Suck" Speech on Aoi Asahina, but for once the others declare the murder was Monokuma's fault for tricking Aoi with the fake note and they decide not to punish Aoi for accusing them all, just to honor Sakura's true "last request!" Aww!
- After Chapter 5's trial, Makoto is stuck in a dump in the basement by himself. As you can expect, he's a bit down in the...yes. But frigid, anti-social Kyoko falls down the chute to bring him something to eat, keep him company, and help him escape, in repentance for her earlier pushing of the blame onto him. This is made no less adorable by the fact that she shows up with an empty ramen cup on her head. In fact, it kind of adds an odd charm to her.
- In Chapter 6, the Big Bad, Junko Enoshima, offers everyone a deal: they can remain inside the school and safe from the apocalypse outside, if they're willing to execute Makoto Naegi. To save himself, Makoto must give them all hope by shouting at each of them, in turn, not to lose hope when they hesitate. Most of them have personal reasons for refusing to give up: Byakuya promised to kill the mastermind earlier, Yasuhiro decides to trust his instinct instead of his divinations, Kyoko doesn't believe her father would have wanted her to sacrifice Makoto, and Genocide Jill...well, she hates school life. What's Aoi's reason for not losing hope? She actually borrows one from the dead Sakura, because Sakura would say that to reach true insight, one must always tread a thorny path. Aoi decides to leave just because Sakura would want it that way! Aww!
- Just the whole emotional climax of everyone regaining their hope, really. Yasuhiro, despite his role as comic relief, ends up saying some of the most inspiring things. Byakuya reaffirms himself as the heir of his family, vowing to rebuild it himself and make it reach new heights. And just finally getting through to Kyoko, who cannot be touched until everyone else is roused.
- The mere fact that even Genocide Jill is unhesitatingly accepted by Makoto as part of his True Companions.
- In the If alternate storyline, Leon, of all people, gives a Shut Up, Hannibal! to Monokuma for nearly driving Sayaka into further despair, and after that he admits that there's something he wanted to confess to Sayaka later, and it seems both mutually agree. Wow. If they're not, like, trying to murder each other, these two actually do care for each other.
- Also in the same time, Yasuhiro is understandably pissed off that his crystal ball, the thing used by Leon to shut Monokuma up, was broken and it's gonna cost him a lifetime to recover that cost. Leon shuts him up too... by telling him that he'll buy that with the money he'll win via baseball tournaments. Yes, not only he tells that, he pretty much embraces his status as the Ultimate Baseball Star instead of trying to leave that to chase girls. It's kinda telling that he would be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold if he could hold on a little longer.
- Then there's his arc in Dangan Academy. In Leon's ending, after Makoto tells him it's okay to do what he wants and not to bottle up his doubts for fear of looking uncool, he decides he'll go back to playing baseball but keep working on his singing—once he's finished his athletic career, he'll still have a dream to pursue.
- In episode two of the anime, as everyone leaves to commence the investigation, Mondo strips off his coat and lays it over Junko/Mukuro's dead body. It's oddly touching.
- Byakuya finally having a Throw the Dog a Bone moment towards Toko by actually praising her for doing a good job investigating.
- When they need to summon Syo to tell them about The Most Despair Inducing Event In History , Byakuya tells Toko "You're the only one we can rely on now" instead of just expecting her to do it.
- Mondo's and Kiyotaka's sauna-forged brotherhood. Nuff said.
- Aoi Asahina and Sakura Oogami's friendship in general is incredibly heartwarming. Sakura is incredibly threatening and strong (to the point of being nicknamed "Ogre" by some), and Aoi is cute and energetic. They bond over their love of personal fitness and are often seen together. Aoi calls Sakura a cutesy "Sakura-chan" and is constantly going on about how strong and impressive Sakura is. In turn, Sakura is extremely protective of Aoi, threatening anyone who upsets her and staying by her when she's afraid. Also, in one scene, Sakura promises to believe Aoi no matter what happens. Sakura also makes Makoto promise to protect Aoi in the case that something happen to her. It just goes to show that, despite how Sakura looks (and despite her role), she's a very devoted friend.
- To some, the prelude to Celeste's execution. She has a clear case of Lack of Empathy. And with her pissy attitude and true personality revealed, she's in a perfect and plausible position to scream off in anger that her plan was ultimately ruined and cursing Makoto and the others at her demise (and it'd be in-character too). She doesn't. In fact, she stayed calm, admits her crime, gives the key to the locker where she locked Alter Ego to Kyoko rather than taking it to be destroyed along with her out of spite (the anime also adds up that she hands it down in a manner so Monokuma wouldn't notice) and faces her death calmly. Even if Monokuma ruins her dramatic death, it's... kind of odd that Celeste probably still has some dignity in her spirit that not even a Cruel and Unusual Death can diminish it.
- In her parting words to the group, she hopes that maybe they'll meet again in another life. This becomes both more heartwarming and Harsher in Hindsight when The Reveal about characters' memories being tampered with comes up, with photographs showing that before her memories were altered, Celestia was good friends with the other students. More heartwarming if you take School Mode into account, which is literally presented as "another life" for all the characters where they all get to survive this time. Celestia's wish came true.
- There's also Makoto's remarks after her execution, saying that as appalled as he was by how she killed his friends (which is fairly heartwarming considering that Kiyotaka and Hifumi didn't have many friends in-universe and even Makoto himself was frequently on the fence about Hifumi), he also considered her a friend once and blames Monokuma for her Face–Heel Turn.
- In an odd way, the way Makoto gradually seems to warm up to Genocider Syo in the anime counts as this. Though he reacts to her first several appearances with the same startlement and fear as everybody else, by the time everyone begins looking for clues regarding the intended function of the school and the true identity of the Mastermind, Makoto only seems mildly resigned to Syo's appearance in the morgue, and even her holding him at scissorpoint is played off as a funny gag rather than the legitimately terrifying moment it might have been just a couple episodes before.
- The endings for Dangan Academy, especially for characters who don't make it to the end in the main game.
- Not only the endings, but the gameplay progress as well for those who not only did not make it at the end, but ended up being portrayed as unsympathetic, just to show that they're all perfectly sane and genuine friends when they're not being pushed to their limits. We already mentioned Leon's deal before, now Sayaka can afford to be the genuinely sweet girl that she displayed herself before things went south, while Celeste, even if she's still a highly condescending girl, no longer sees the need to murder everyone just for her selfish dream and even permits Makoto to pursue it with her as a B-Rank Knight. In other words, the Academy works it way to show that they're not that unsympathetic as the main game portrayed them to be at their end.
- Aoi says she wants to go out on a date with Makoto, who assures her that she doesn't have to change anything about herself.
- Byakuya asks Makoto to be his secretary to help him understand 'ordinary people'.
- Celestia promotes Makoto to B-Rank, calling him her knight, while saying that she's certain with him by her side, she can make her dream come true.
- Chihiro tells Makoto the truth about his identity and Makoto says how much he respects his strength and courage and how he's overcome his weakness.
- Hifumi asks Makoto to be his assistant and his friend.
- Mukuro tells Makoto he makes her feel real and Makoto promises to help her find a new dream.
- Kiyotaka plans to become a politician to change the country and asks to Makoto to do so as well.
- Kyoko asks Makoto to put his trust in her and he says he looks forward to helping her find what she lost.
- Leon says he's going to both sing and play baseball and that he was able to figure out that approach because Makoto was there to listen to him.
- Mondo promises to build Makoto a house when he becomes a carpenter.
- Sakura tells Makoto he taught her the importance of withstanding the difficulty of living inside the school.
- Sayaka calling it a miracle that she and Makoto are together and that she had faith because he'd never give up.
- Toko says she can't have her delusions anymore because Makoto genuinely wanted to be with her and asks him to be with her and he promises to stay with her.
- Yasuhiro says he wants Makoto to stick around, saying Makoto takes him as he is.
- Not only the endings, but the gameplay progress as well for those who not only did not make it at the end, but ended up being portrayed as unsympathetic, just to show that they're all perfectly sane and genuine friends when they're not being pushed to their limits. We already mentioned Leon's deal before, now Sayaka can afford to be the genuinely sweet girl that she displayed herself before things went south, while Celeste, even if she's still a highly condescending girl, no longer sees the need to murder everyone just for her selfish dream and even permits Makoto to pursue it with her as a B-Rank Knight. In other words, the Academy works it way to show that they're not that unsympathetic as the main game portrayed them to be at their end.
- Makoto's reunion with the others in Chapter 6, after everyone was convinced he was dead, especially how he starts to tear up a little remembering how his friends fought and survived. And then his tears dry up when Byakuya, Hina, Hiro and Toko complain about the fact that he still smells like garbage.
- Makoto paying his Due to the Dead in Chapter 6, when everyone else just saw Mukuro as either the mastermind or the mastermind's lackey. Even without his memories, Makoto is still the only one that treats her kindly.
- Kyoko's eyes going wide when Makoto calls her a friend. It says a lot that someone could become so jaded to deception that it takes honesty to catch them off-guard.
- In the If alternate storyline, Mukuro and Makoto's friendship throughout the story is all kinds of heartwarming, with the former secretly being in love with the latter.
- After Makoto ends up Taking the Bullet for Mukuro, Makoto gives Mukuro a smile after seeing that his friend was unharmed, despite being in agonizing pain from having a spear impaled in his abdomen.
- When Monokuma tried to manipulate the other students to attack Mukuro and Makoto, Mukuro put Makoto's safety above her own by trying to convince the students that Makoto was innocent, although she was unsuccessful.
- Their reunion in the cafeteria after Makoto's (partial) recovery from his injury.
- In an odd way, Makoto’s concern for Hifumi during his Diet Coke Withdrawal in his free time is this and a Funny Moment.
- While they're also Tear Jerkers, the pictures of the cast in their first years at Hope's Peak are also this, showing everyone as each other's True Companions and generally getting along and enjoying themselves. We also see that all of them may have had slightly different dynamics back then—the normally antisocial Mondo is shown playfully palling around with Leon and Chihiro, who in turn are visibly lacking their usual issues, like Leon's vanity and Chihiro's fragility. Meanwhile, the second photo shows Sayaka smiling and laughing as the usually servile Hifumi apparently plays a joke on Celeste, who rather than scream with venomous fury at him, seems to be slipping into Tsundere mode. One photo even shows Genocide Jack among their friend group, showing that none of the others shunned Toko for her other personality...possibly not even Byakuya.
