All spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned!
While many characters in the Danganronpa franchise are well-liked, there's a still a number of Scrappies throughout its run.
Main Installments:
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
- Hifumi Yamada is disliked for being a stereotypical Fat Bastard nerd, his perverted tendencies towards female characters, the No Yay relationship between him and Alter Ego, murdering Kiyotaka (who is one of the more popular characters), and generally being unimportant for most of the plot. While people still felt bad when Hifumi died, a lot of that sympathy goes away once you realize Hifumi tried to have everyone besides him and Celeste killed, and he's still an Asshole Victim regardless of whether or not he believed the accusations that Kiyotaka raped Celeste to be true. Even beyond that, Hifumi murdered a man for something he didn't do, not even bothering asking Kiyotaka about it before beating him to death. With all that under his belt, it's hard to feel bad for Hifumi, and most people didn't mourn his loss. A 2017 popularity poll conducted on Reddit
saw Hifumi come in last place among every Danganronpa character, even below the Big Bads and Hate Sinks, which says pretty clearly just how much Hifumi is disliked. - Yasuhiro Hagakure was this for a time after the game's release. Despite being intended as a part of the game's source of comedy, his selfish behavior, idiotic and often nonsensical tangents and his attempt to use Makoto as a way of avoiding his debts all made fans somewhat tired of his behavior throughout the game. While not an awful person, many fans would often cheer when he was made fun of or something unfortunate happened to him due to finding him obnoxious; the aforementioned popularity poll puts him just a little above Hifumi (in between them are Teruteru, who's also on this page, Hiyoko, who's disliked for being an unlikable Jerkass who spends most of her screen time bullying others and not being called out for it, Angie, disliked for being a Tautological Templar and cult leader, and Leon Kuwata, who's not that bad but dies too fast for anyone to get to know him). That said, he was later Rescued from the Scrappy Heap, and is viewed in a much better light.
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
- Teruteru Hanamura, besides sharing a lot of similar problems with the above-mentioned Hifumi, has his Extreme Omnisexual nature taken to the point where it got grating. One of his Establishing Character Moments is trying to trick Sonia Nevermind into giving him a blowjob; while this was meant to make Teruteru come off as creepy, it was seen as going way too far. Granted, his execution and the circumstances surrounding it earned him some sympathy, but much of it vanished after his Free Time Events. There is very little revealed about Teruteru, several of his Events contradict his love for his family by portraying him as resentful, and end with him drugging Hajime. His appearances in Danganronpa 3 were better received, but it wasn't enough to get him Rescued from the Scrappy Heap. The Reddit popularity poll saw Teruteru in the second-lowest spot, just above the aforementioned Hifumi Yamada, and just below Hiyoko Saionji.
Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School
- Kazuo Tengan isn't meant to be liked, but people tend to dislike him for unintended reasons. He was originally one of the fan favorites for delivering a beatdown on Juzo and Munakata. But a combination of inconsistent characterization, nonsensical motivations, and a terrible "plan" has led to a sharp drop in popularity. These days, fans near universally decry Tengan as the worst villain in the franchise. Many fans agree that Yukizome should've been the mastermind instead of Tengan (she is his accomplice, but the whole thing is his idea and she dies first), and other parties would prefer that Monaca Towa should have been the final antagonist of the series. Even the series' creator didn't like how Tengan ended up being the mastermind.
Spin-offs:
Danganronpa Zero
- Yuto Kamishiro. Although he was intended as one of the few spots of comedy in an otherwise dark and despair-inducing story, his constant sex jokes (including one that indicates he's not above objectifying middle school students), unremarkable character design (which at least served a purpose as he's the Ultimate Spy and memorable looks would be a detriment), and annoying quirks like talking with his mouth full and making constant advances on Ryouko did very little to endear him to fans. The reveal that he places wiretaps in students' rooms — not only to help Ryouko's investigation, but because he wants to track their menstrual cycles — turns him from an eccentric but helpful Chivalrous Pervert to an outright sex offender. While it's implied that his creepy, lecherous personality is a way to compensate for how utterly unmemorable he looks, he receives a swift, unceremonious Neck Snap before he can redeem himself. Even the creators regard him as a failure. Their second attempt at Kamishiro's character archetype, Teruteru Hanamura, also finds himself on this list for similar reasons.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
- Kanon Nakajima, co-protagonist of Ultra Despair Hagakure and Leon Kuwata's cousin, is pretty unpopular due to most of her character being obsessively in love with her cousin, to the point of being an outright Yandere. Leon has constantly rejected Kanon's advances — at one point in dialogue, it's said that she confessed her love to him 3,909 times in ten years — that's an average of more than once per day for a decade. Despite this, a good portion of the book is spent on her rather creepy obsession with her cousin without much development besides this one-note characterization, leading to Kanon taking away focus from the actual main character of the book.
Danganronpa Togami
- Suzuhiko Ootsuki. Common reasons include being a Creator's Pet, providing a Deus ex Machina moment that does little to resolve anything and being a male ripoff of Toko Fukawa/Genocide Jack, minus the character depths and personality that made Fukawa likable and entertaining. Then Volume 2 reveals that he's also a member of the Togami family, as well as Shinobu's full-blooded sibling who got caught in a compromising position with her when she was twelve, and was considered one of the top fifteen candidates for the Heirship despite all of that.
