Nagito Komaeda

Nagito Komaeda (狛枝 凪斗 Komaeda Nagito) is a character featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair and a participant in the Killing School Trip.

Nagito has the title of Ultimate Lucky Student (超高校級の「幸運」chō kōkō kyū no “kōun” lit. Super High School Level Good Luck). However, his luck can be a curse, flipping between wildly extreme good luck and bad luck. He shares this title with Makoto Naegi.

Nagito returns in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy as a student in Hope's Peak Academy's Class 77-B. After being brainwashed by Junko Enoshima, Nagito and his classmates succumbed to despair and became part of Ultimate Despair.

Nagito appears in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls referred to only as "Servant" (召使い meshitsukai).

After discovering the horrible truth behind the Neo World Program in Danganronpa 2, Nagito sacrificed himself in order to kill the Remnants of Despair. He set up a "suicide" to cause Chiaki Nanami, the traitor and not a Remnant of Despair, to unknowingly deal the killing blow, and therefore become the blackened. However, the remaining students discovered his plan, and Monokuma executed Chiaki instead.

After his death in the Neo World Program, Nagito fell into a coma on Jabberwock Island, along with his classmates who also "died" on the Killing School Trip. He and the other comatose students were eventually revived. His illusory counterpart appeared as the protagonist in a 30-minutes long OVA called Super Danganronpa 2.5: Nagito Komaeda and the Destroyer of the World.

In Side: Hope, he and the former member of Ultimate Despair helped Future Foundation in stopping Ryota Mitarai's effort to brainwash the world with his brainwashing Hope Video at the Future Foundation headquarters. With his classmates, Nagito decided to atone for his sins as the former Ultimate Despair and resides in Jabberwock Island.

Appearance
Nagito is a tall and skinny young man in his early twenties, around 22 at youngest. In Danganronpa Another Episode, he is around 20 years old, while his virtual avatar in the Neo World Program appeared as around 17 years old.undefined

He has messy shoulder-length hair, light grey-green eyes, and sickly pale skin. His hair is described as resembling that of a corpse's, lacking highlights (that normally suggest a healthy luster) and appearing whiter as it gets closer to the scalp. He has mostly white hair, with some reddish/brown hair at the tips. By the events of Danganronpa Another Episode, which is several years later, his hair looked longer and messier. In Danganronpa 3 - Side: Hope, it appears to be neater.

Nagito wears a knee-length dark green zipper hoodie with a jagged-cut tail. His hoodie has red squares across the right shoulder, and a large red '55' on the back. Underneath, he wears a white scoop-neck t-shirt with a red design on the front. He wears plain black jeans, and a wallet chain with a skull charm. Each of his brown shoes has two zippers.

While attending Hope's Peak Academy, he wore a uniform with a red and green striped sweater vest.

In Danganronpa Another Episode, as the Servant and Ultimate Despair, he wears a cropped black jacket, with three white buttons on the right and one red button on the left. Underneath, he wears a dark-red and olive-green scoop-neck shirt, with long sleeves that are folded over the cuffs of the jacket. Under this is a long beige undershirt. He wears black jeans with black low heeled shoes, tied with red shoelaces. He has a striped mitten on his left hand, to hide Junko's hand with long, red nails, sewn in place of his real hand. He also has a collar around his neck, given to him by the Warriors of Hope, with a chain hanging down the front to his knees. The Servant is described to be constantly smiling, no matter what treatment he receives. He is also said to have "a rather attractive face", and Genocide Jack even calls him "a pretty boy". His skinny build is also mentioned when she calls him "a skinny white-haired guy".

After awaking from a coma on Jabberwock Island and his brainwashing is undone, he replaced his non-functional left hand from Junko's corpse with a robotic forearm and hand. The prosthetic is white on the outer side, and black on the underside. The palm is black, and the backs of his fingers are white. His thumb is white as well. The sleeve of his coat has been ripped where the new arm is.

First impression
Nagito first comes off as a polite, friendly, and easygoing, yet somewhat insecure boy. Hajime Hinata even mentions that his bright smile is very comforting. He was the only one that stayed with Hajime while he was unconscious, and expressed concern for his well-being, even after Hajime told him to go away. Though friendly with everyone, he is mostly interested in spending time with Hajime, and can be quite clingy. Hajime considers him a little annoying and not the most reliable, but still a kind person.

Nagito attempts to be the team's conflict mediator and a poster boy for optimism, often encouraging others to be hopeful and to cooperate. However, he isn't taken very seriously. Hiyoko Saionji makes fun of him, and considers his dramatic pep talks about hope and friendship embarrassing and tiresome. He is generally quite submissive and has a self-deprecating attitude, even agreeing with Hiyoko and the other's snide remarks.

Although though he claims to be a pessimist, Nagito often appears unusually carefree. He lacks tact and occasionally says awkward, strange, and unsettling things without realizing it. At times he can also be more forcefulーhe is quick to scold Hajime when he's being too pessimistic or when he thought he was bullying Mikan Tsumiki. He is also notably annoyed by Teruteru Hanamura's treatment of girls and decides to keep an eye on him to make sure he won't harass anyone.

Beliefs
During the first Class Trial, Nagito is revealed to have a twisted obsession with hope. As a result, he often begins to ramble on about hope, sometimes rather abruptlyーjust talking or hearing someone else talk about hope or in hopeful manner can render him in a state of bliss, causing him to sweat, and hold himself in order to contain his excitement. Furthermore, he sometimes has sudden outbursts in which his eyes darken and start to swirl (Hajime describes the look "a crude mix of hope and despair") while he rambles even more enthusiastically, but he usually snaps out of it fairly quickly and seemingly isn't aware of what happened.

He believes hope is absolute good, and any deed done in the name of hope is righteous, even murder. He feels no guilt for hurting others in the name of hope, as he believes that hope will always win in the end and justify the means. He believes there are constant clashes between two or more hopes, and that "strong hope" will devour "weak hope" (adoringly, he calls this process "poetry in motion"). Ordinary untalented people, despair, and weak hope are just stepladders for creating stronger hope. He considers these things necessary, while simultaneously having aversion to them. Nagito believes that the Ultimates are chosen at birth, and are capable of strengthening their own hopes by facing and defeating despair, instead of being broken by it like weaker, ordinary people. Like Hope's Peak Academy, Nagito strongly associates hope with talent and talent with worth.

Nagito desires to help to create the absolute hope that can overcome any despair, and he believes that the Ultimates can become embodiments of hope. However, he doesn't consider his luck to be a true talent, and thus doesn't consider himself an Ultimate (despite this, he has also mentioned that his luck is the only good thing about him, and he sometimes finds it very useful). Instead, he desires to be a "stepladder", and sacrifice himself so the other Ultimates can shine. Considering himself a lower being, he often feels shame just for being in their presence. He confuses his obsession with the Ultimates' hope with pure, platonic love for his classmates and he genuinely believes he's doing good for everyone's sake. He has a strong desire to be useful and he is very self-sacrificing, but his ways of helping are often very wrong, harmful and potentially very dangerous, as he is willing to cause temporary despair in order to have hope born from it. He has little regard for his own well-being and doesn't care for his own life, and encourages the other students to kill him to achieve their own hope. He believes that dying for the sake of hope is an honor and the only way for "someone like [him]" to be useful to the world. In his Island Mode ending, Nagito reveals that he wishes to die so he can finally be free from the suffering caused by his luck. However, he is strongly against dying a meaningless death or dying for the sake of despair.

After discovering that he and his classmates were the Remnants of Despair, Nagito began to act arrogant, impatient, and disrespectful towards his former idols. He had particularly little patience for the slow-witted ones, including Kazuichi Soda and Akane Owari. Nagito realized that by killing his classmates, and therefore destroying the Ultimate Despair, he could himself become the Ultimate Hope. Though he claimed it was for the sake of the world's hope, it's also implied he wanted to become Ultimate Hope so he could finally be appreciated, even if only after his death.

Nagito believes his views on hope are logical and extremely obvious, and has trouble relating to others when they disagree. Though he is very stubborn, he has changed his ways of thinking during the series. He is sometimes conflicted between his extreme beliefs and his own feelings. He calls himself "worthless trash" that doesn't deserve any kindness from others, but at the same time, he desires to be appreciated, loved and understood. In his fifth free-time event, Nagito revealed that his true, biggest wish is to be loved by someone at least once in his life, and to not die alone. Furthermore, even though he greatly admires and claims to love all of the Ultimates for their talents and capability to embody hope, he doesn't really care about them as individuals. He isn't truly saddened by their deaths, and even appears to dislike some of them as people. Similarly, he may not have anything personal against the talentlessーin fact, the only student Nagito genuinely cared for is Hajime, a talentless reserve course student.

It also should be noted that he genuinely respects ideals such as love and friendship, and often emphasises the importance of team-work and helping each other. This became more noticeable after he came out of the NEO World Program with his past memories restored.

General behavior
Nagito has a laid-back and quite calm demeanor, and he is often smiling or laughing. However, his cheerfulness may not be entirely genuine, as his calmness is more akin to apathy and he tends to feel strong self-hatred. He remains cheerful even during his self-loathing rambling, and acts disturbingly optimistically toward horrible things such as death, as long as it's for the sake of hope.

Nagito likely suppresses any real feelings of sorrow or fear as a coping mechanism, because he experiences tragedy often due to his luck. He has also seen very unlikely and strange things due to his luck, which is why he is not easily surprised. As a result of everything he's been through, he has become more emotionally numb and he is rarely openly angry or scared. He often lacks appropriate emotions in situations where most people would be afraid, like threats of violence. Even so, he once mentioned that he feels fear every day of his life, most likely because of his luck. Furthermore, he can be very angered by despair and other things he considers insulting toward hope. When he does express anger, he becomes notably more serious. When displeased, he is very passive-aggressive.

Nagito is capable of feeling some guilt and care for others, and he does not truly enjoy the suffering of others, but the hope born from it. Still, he is typically very emotionally cold and doesn't seem to feel much remorse or grief neither. He's shown to be fine with tricking, manipulation and stealing, though it should be noted that he does these for the sake of a bigger goal rather than his own ends. He has been described as a very honest person, though he will lie if he finds it necessary. While he prefers to do things on his own, he is very lonely and often tries to join the other Ultimates in their activities and becomes really happy if he's given attention, even if just a little bit. It's also implied that he intentionally keeps his distance from others because he wants to protect them from the disasters caused by his bad luck.

Nagito is also one of the most intelligent characters of the second game, being very cunning and smart. He often solves a case long before the others, but he doesn't want credit for this. Instead, he often acts ignorant during the trials, manipulates the conversation by giving (often unnoticed) hints and then praises the others as if they're the ones who figured it all out. He does this because he considers himself too unimportant to take a more openly active role, wants to see the other Ultimates figure things out by themselves, and he wishes to remain neutral until he can determine which side has the stronger hope.

Social Impairment
Overall, Nagito appears to be somewhat out of touch with his own feelings. He tries to be polite, but he can be overly harsh and insensitive, often without realizing it. He has a lack of social awareness and insight into his own behavior. Because of this, he has problems understanding how his own behavior can affect other people and he may not understand or pick up on social hints. He struggles with expressing himself in a socially appropriate manner and this often leads to people misunderstanding what he's trying to say, and vice versa. During Chapter 1's additional dialogue, Nagito explains that he says dubious things without meaning to and that he realizes this, but can't stop it from happening. However, he also adds that he always sincerely means what he says.

In Chapter 4 of Danganronpa 2, he accidentally offended both Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuーin Fuyuhiko's case, he understood that he said something wrong and quickly apologized, but remained quite confused, and misunderstood what he said wrong. For Kazuichi, he was completely oblivious and only noticed that Kazuichi seemed angry for some reason. Other examples of this type of behavior include his odd and awkward sense of humor, often making jokes at inappropriate times, like soon after someone's death. He usually backs off if the others explain to him that his behavior is rude or he tells them he wasn't being serious. Similarly, when he tries to compliment someone, it can come across as an insult. His gauge of sarcasm is quite poor, too, as he sometimes mistakes mean comments for compliments. He also doesn't understand why the others are paranoid, angry and afraid of him. He's often confused by the others' behavior, thinking that they're strange for acting so suspicious of him, to the point that he sometimes worries about their mental health. He thinks that the others hate him because he's a lower human being.

In his final free-time event, Nagito claims to have Frontotemporal Dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that affects their personality and social cognition, and thus may account for some of his strange behavior. He claims he was lying immediately afterward and it is unknown whether this was a lie or not. Nevertheless, it is clear that he has some type of psychological disorder.

It should be noted that Nagito's strange luck affects his condition as well, seemingly allowing him to live much longer than he should have, and likely giving him unusual symptoms.

Island Mode
In Island Mode, Nagito is calmer without a Killing School Trip to set him off. Though he looks forward to such a situation, he doesn't do anything dangerous. Instead, he genuinely wants to entertain Hajime and spend time with him. He is often quite nervous due to his inexperience in many social situations, for example, sitting and talking in the park with someone. He's afraid he will bore or say something weird to Hajime, and worries that might cause Hajime to hate him, which is something he really doesn't want to happen. He is also constantly paranoid and has a habit of listing bad things that might happen (in a disturbingly personal manner), as he fears that his bad luck might harm or even kill Hajime. However, despite all this, he also mentions that he feels much more peaceful and relaxed on the island. In the end, he still appears depressed, but his way of thinking began to change after spending time with Hajime and realizing that he's been clinging to false hope, and that the true hope has been within him from the very beginning.

Ultimate Despair/The Servant
In Danganronpa Another Episode, as the Servant and Ultimate Despair, Nagito is even harder to read and rarely lets his true intentions and emotions show. The official limited art book describes him as "quiet, soft-spoken and effeminate".

Despite being Ultimate Despair, he doesn't seem directly dangerous and appears non-violent, rather he manipulates and works behind the scenes. He is also mentioned to be in rather high spirits despite being essentially a slave, smiling most of the time and having a carefree, sometimes disturbing laugh. He receives the mistreatment from the Warriors of Hope with a smile and sometimes even seems to enjoy it (his official profile states that he might be a masochist). In general, he appears unusually calm to the point of being apathetic, and is rather unfazed by the disturbing things happening around him (however, he does appear to feel uncomfortable when Monaca Towa forcibly kisses Nagisa Shingetsu.) He is generally polite and collected, but he may appear insensitive at times or lose his composure when talking about hope. He has a habit of forgetting how he is supposed to act as a servant and he seems to misunderstand orders quite a lot, though these may be passive-aggressive acts done on purpose. All the food he makes is inedible with very nonsensical ingredients (for example, in 2014's Christmas tweet, he is asked to make Bûche de Noël, but instead, he makes some sort of cake out of nothing but whipped cream and pinecones).

The Servant calls the story's situation a game several times, such as calling Komaru a "generic game protagonist" and mentioning game-balancing and defeating of the final boss. This may seem like breaking the fourth wall, but it actually refers to the Demon Hunting, which according to the Servant is also a game to incite Komaru's growth. Unlike his past self, the Servant believes in the potential of the talentless, because such "weak" people succeeding and rising up from despair would create even more hope. It's possible that his opinion changed after Makoto, a "mere" Ultimate Lucky Student, defeated the true Ultimate Despair and became Ultimate Hope.

The Servant's main goal is to help to create a happy, hopeful world, but one born from absolute despair, going so far as to assist his own enemy and start a war for the sake of this goal. As a result of brainwashing, he has a twisted disturbing obsession with Junko Enoshima. However, it seems the brainwashing affected him differently than everyone else, as he also retains his hatred for Junko and his love for hope. He also seems to be more aware of what he is doing while being brainwashed, which ironically seems to make him the most sane out of the class. Though, it should be noted that while he is still doing everything for the sake of hope, his plans are even more dangerous than before. However, after his brainwashing was undone, he appears to have abandoned his harmful ways. He's shown to be in peace with his classmates, possibly finding the bond with them the "true hope", just like what he learned during the ending of the Island Mode.

Ultimate Lucky Student
Nagito got his title as the Ultimate Lucky Student by winning a lottery out of completely ordinary students, which led to him joining Hope's Peak Academy. He at first declined, saying that he didn't deserve it, but they insisted that he should attend. Nagito possesses a cycle of consistent good and bad luck. Whenever something extremely lucky happens to him, something extremely unlucky is bound to happen soon after. While the talent seems to protect him from death, it can cause him great suffering and has killed many people around him. The only person whose luck matches his own is Izuru Kamukura, and later Hajime.

Keen-Intellect
While his emotional skills are lacking, Nagito is one of the most intelligent characters of the second game. He can create very complex plans and figure things out quickly even without the help of his luck, which actually has a tendency to backfire on him.

In Danganronpa 2, he is one of the best investigators in the group and he's also very skilled at planning as well as problem solving. Throughout the class trials, Nagito manipulates conversations and mentions points no one else thought about. Monokuma once described him as "annoying" for noticing a detail others missed. A part of the reason Hajime found out who the culprits were in the trials was because of the constant hints and clues Nagito gave him. Often, he seems to be able to tell what Hajime is thinking and sometimes he can even correctly guess when and what Hajime is about to figure out.

In Danganronpa Another Episode, he created real-life "game balance" by ordering the Monokuma Kids to directly or indirectly give Komaru Naegi useful items and transform her surroundings to make her go towards the right direction, all of it in order for her to develop both mentally and physically.

In Danganronpa 3 - Side: Despair, he somehow gained lots of information about Junko and found her secret room. He accurately warned his classmates about Junko, but decided to not go against their hopefulness and quickly lost consciousness afterwards. Had he been awake, he probably could have helped his classmates to successfully avoid Junko's trap, by noticing Mikan's strange behavior and other warning signs. Right after he wakes up and when it's already too late, he tries to warn his classmates by telling them it's a trap.

Ability to sense Talent, Hope and Despair
Strangely, Nagito also seems to have a good eye for noticing talent, hope and despair in other people. For example, Hajime never felt like an Ultimate to him and he turned out to be talentless. In chapter 3 of the second game, Nagito only had quick blurry glances at Mikan's face, but he could tell that her expression was full of despair and he even called her Ultimate Despair, despite being currently unfamiliar with the term. In Danganronpa Another Episode, he could sense the potential in Komaru Naegi. In Danganronpa 3, he is also almost immediately attracted to Izuru, supposedly because he can sense his aura. Had he been awake to talk with Mikan, he probably would have noticed that she is infected by despair.

This is sometimes played for laughs in the non-canon manga, as he can suddenly show up because he sensed something despairful or hopeful would happen.

Skilled Cleaner
Despite not seemingly having a background of cleaning experience, Nagito is quite skilled when it comes to cleaning. When the Class 77-B decided who should clean the old building for their party, Nagito is picked to do the work but states being 'pretty good' at cleaning anyway. The dining hall was filled with dust and cobwebs which Nagito painstakingly cleaned for the whole day to Hajime's surprise, stating there is no way he'd be able to last the whole day doing such a task. Nagito's dedication to the job is considered commendable by Hajime and Mahiru, who felt bad for Nagito seeing as the place was so run-down. Nagito's excellent cleaning job compared to what others in the class would have achieved shows his skills as a cleaner being above the rest. This is also mentioned in Danganronpa 3 - Side: Despair, as he states that cleaning is the one thing he's good at, contrasting the way he usually belittles himself and his abilities.

Prior to the Tragedy
Nagito was born into a rich family, but he was also born with an extraordinary type of luck, and thus his life has always been shaped around moments of extreme good luck and extreme bad luck. The earliest known occurrence of this is when his pet dog was killed after being hit by a truck. His relationship with his parents is unclear; he mentions that they took him to an amusement park, but he also mentions offhand that his mother never complimented his appearance.

When he was only an elementary school student, Nagito and his parents went on a family vacation at San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos archipelago. When the vacation was at an end, the family boarded an airplane leaving from the San Cristóbal Airport. However, the plane ended up being hijacked. Both the hijacker and Nagito's parents were killed in front of him after a small meteor crashed into the airplane, leaving him to inherit all of his parents' fortune and become free to do whatever he wished, as he had no other living relatives.

After his parents' death, during middle school, Nagito was kidnapped by a serial killer; he was released after the police found him (it was implied that the killer let him go after they found out nobody would pay the ransom). As a form of good luck, Nagito had discovered a lottery ticket in the garbage bag the murderer kidnapped him in: a winning ticket for three million yen.

These would be the first of many, many tragic things that happened to Nagito due to his luck. His cycle of good and bad luck made sure that any chance he might have at actual happiness would be spoiled. In order to cope with this, he developed a strong faith in hope so that he could find some meaning in his life. However, this turned into an unhealthy obsession. He didn't have any close friends or even acquaintances, as other people were disturbed by his strange way of thinking and he intentionally avoided other people in order to protect them from his bad luck. His bad luck caused the deaths of several people and he started to believe that only the people with "weak hope" could be killed by the influence of someone worthless like him. His luck cycle wore him down to the point of drifting through life without purpose, waiting to die and dreaming of becoming a stepping stone for the world's hope. Believing that he is unable to embody hope, he idolized Hope's Peak Academy and its' students as symbols of hope who are capable of creating "absolute hope" - hope that can overcome any despair.

As a teen, Nagito attended Spiral High School. He was diagnosed with lymphoma and frontotemporal dementia, and was given a life expectancy of 6 months to a year (though, as it's later revealed, his good luck allowed him to outlive this). Though he claims he was fine with being alone before, he then realized he would die all alone and that he always desired, more than anything, to be loved by someone. After this, as a form of good luck, Nagito won a random lottery and was invited to attend Hope's Peak Academy in 2009. He refused at first, believing that he wasn't worthy, but the academy was adamant that they wished to study his luck, and he eventually accepted the offer.

Nagito joined Hope's Peak Academy's 77th Class and gained the title of the Ultimate Lucky Student. He was aloof and elusive, but was known as the self-proclaimed "Ultimate Ultimate Fanatic". According to Jin Kirigiri, the headmaster, Nagito meddled with the affairs of other students and caused nothing but problems. The headmaster was constantly burdened because of him and described him as an incredibly problematic child. However, he understood that the boy himself didn't really mean any harm, which was the worst part of it all.

During Nagito's second year, Junko started to manipulate students to join her Ultimate Despair. It's strongly implied that Nagito joined because he wanted to see Ultimate Despair's rise and fall, believing that no matter what, hope would always win and despair would be destroyed in the end. The members of the Ultimate Despair were brainwashed and fell madly in love with Junko. However, in Nagito's case it was a bit different. He developed strange, conflicting feelings of both love and hatred for Junko and saw her as his sworn enemy.

Episode 01 - Hello Again, Hope's Peak Academy
Nagito was found somewhere outside the school area trying to buy a can of soda from a vending machine. He called himself unlucky when the machine didn't work after already putting in ten thousand yen, when suddenly a truck landed right on top of the vending machine. The machine hit its' "lucky point" and Nagito recieved many soda cans rather than one. As Nagito bent down to get a drink, his homeroom teacher Chisa Yukizome, handed him one and smiled at him.

Nagito (and presumably everyone else) collected his soda cans and returned to the classroom. He was impressed by Chisa's effort put in to meeting "scum" like him. Chisa announced to him and everyone else that they were "rotten oranges." After this, Chisa left to retrieved Chiaki Nanami and the Ultimate Imposter while she tasked everyone with cleaning their classroom.

After returning to the classroom, Chisa was happy to see that everyone had waited and that the classroom was clean. When the students once again bring up that they aren't required to attend class so long as they have their talent, Chisa reminded Nagito that talent isn't everything, and wanted them to build strong relationships and "hope" with each other. Nagito thought that to create "hope" together is a wonderful thing to do.

Episode 02 - My Impurest Heart for You
During Akane and Nekomaru Nidai's deadly training session in the class, Nagito sat at his desk and happily watched their fight. Unlike the others, he didn't take cover on the side of the class, showing no concern in getting hurt by the fight at all.

Later, after they fixed up their class, Nagito and the others played games that Chiaki brought. Nagito, Kazuichi, Fuyuhiko, and Teruteru played a monopoly-like game together. When about to be defeated, Nagito rolled a lucky dice and won the game in an instant.

During the break time, Nagito and his classmates ate Hiyoko and Teruteru's nikujaga. Unfortunately, the food contained aphrodisiacs that were secretly added by Hiyoko, which affected Nagito and the others greatly. However, even under the effect of aphrodisiacs, Nagito still only seemed to think about hope. He lost consciousness and recovered sometime later in the nurse's office.

The next day, Nagito returned to class and listened to Chisa's announcement about Chiaki being elected as the class representative. Nagito agreed with it, saying that the class and its' light will never end as long as Chiaki was their rep.

Episode 03 - A Farewell to All Futures
At the beginning of the episode, Nagito and his classmates walked past Hajime heading toward the Main Course building.

Later, he was shown in the school's park with his classmates, smiling at a bird who landed on his hand.

Episode 04 - The Melancholy, Surprise, and Disappearance of Nagito Komaeda
Watching his classmates being gloomy all day after the deaths of Natsumi Kuzuryu and Sato affecting their morale, Nagito felt he should do something about it. As the annual practical exam would start on the next day, Nagito visited Chisa in the staff room and asked her to cancel the exam, reasoning that his classmates wouldn't be at their best due to their current mood. Unfortunately, the exam couldn't be cancelled as Nagito wished, but he had already prepared his own plan.

First, Nagito gave Teruteru a photo book of the famous idol Sayaka Maizono for the location of the Ultimate Pharmacist Seiko Kimura, the upperclassmen who helped Teruteru invent his aphrodisiac soup.

Nagito then visited Seiko at the chemistry lab, claiming to be constipated and asking for a laxative. However, as he reached for the bottle higher up in the storage room, he fell on the floor along with two bottles. He couldn't read the English labels and trusted his luck, picking the incorrect bottle labeled "Reanimator" meant for Seiko's classmate Ruruka Ando instead of the "Reactivator".

Then, Nagito left an anonymous warning for the school that bad things would happen if the practical exams aren't cancelled, and he hid a bomb inside the gym.

A bit later, Nagito accidentally bumped into Seiko who was hurrying towards the gym. Nagito thanked her for the laxative, which made Seiko very happy. She left in a hurry and their similar looking bags were accidentally switched.

Nagito prepared the drugs disguised as drinks, which seemed to be the first part of his plan, while the bomb seemed to be plan B if the former failed. Gundham Tanaka's missing dog drank one of the drinks and became gigantic, which made Nagito realize that it isn't a laxative. Unperturbed by the giant dog, Nagito decided to carry on with his plan and use the bomb switch, but then realized that he also has the wrong bag. The dog ran inside the gym while Nagito sat down, seemingly depressed because of his failure and the amount of bad luck. But he then smiled, saying that he must be truly lucky to experience such bad luck.

Subsequently, the judges ended up eating Ruruka's pastries laced with laxative, and Seiko accidentally switched on the bomb along with Ruruka.

Chisa found Nagito and spoke with him alone about what happened. Nagito explained his ideology, but Chisa told him that hope doesn't come from hurting others. When Nagito called himself trash once again, Chisa slapped him and then gently took his head between her hands, telling him that he's not trash, but her precious student who is going to graduate with everyone else. Chisa later defended Nagito against the principal and told his classmates that Nagito only wanted to help them and that they should give him a warm welcome when he returns.

Because of the incident, Seiko, Ruruka and Sonosuke Izayoi ended up expelled, Nagito's teacher Koichi Kizakura was placed on probation and Chisa was transferred to the Reserve Course. Nagito was suspended indefinitely, but not expelled due to his great talent, and the practical exams were indeed postponed. It's also mentioned that miraculously there were no casualties in the explosion, which is another example of Nagito's luck.

Episode 07 - The Biggest, Most Atrocious Incident in Hope's Peak Academy's History
Nagito did not return to Hope's Peak for a year. At one point, he was on another plane which crashed, with Nagito the only survivor, leaving him alone on a deserted island paradise.

Episode 08 - The Worst Reunion by Chance
Nagito returned to Hope's Peak during the reserve course students' riot. Upon discovering that everyone was searching for Mikan, he tells them that he saw her outside as he came in. The whole class decided to look for Mikan, but Nagito stopped Peko on the way out, asking her for a favor.

Nagito joined up with Chiaki during the search, finding a secret entrance under the founder's statue. Inside, they found Ryota Mitarai, soon joined by Junko. Identifying her as "absolute despair", Nagito threatened the Ultimate Fashionista with a gun, explaining his intent to kill her in order to make hope shine even brighter. He also revealed that he had asked Peko to keep an eye on Mukuro Ikusaba and to attack her if she did anything suspicious, thereby ensuring that the Ultimate Soldier would be unable to assist Junko during Nagito's assassination attempt.

Despite Chiaki's pleas that killing was never justified, Nagito prepared to fire, only to be distracted by Izuru Kamukura. He promptly changed targets, but his gun jammed, allowing Izuru to take the gun from him and shoot him in turn. Nagito managed to sustain non-fatal damage due to having his student handbook in his shirt pocket. Despite the situation, he appeared attracted to Izuru, supposedly because he can sense his identity as the Ultimate Hope. Shortly afterwards, Nagito lost consciousness in a worried Chiaki's arms, thereby missing the revelation that Izuru was actually the altered version of Hajime Hinata, Chiaki's friend from the Reserve Course.

Episode 09 - Chisa Yukizome Doesn't Smile
Nagito, still unconscious at the time, is saved by Chisa who throws a fire extinguisher and causes fog which obscures Junko's vision. Chisa then orders Chiaki to take Nagito and escape.

Chiaki supports Nagito all the way from Junko's hideout to the school classroom where the rest of the class have regrouped, assuming that Nagito lied to them about Mikan's whereabouts. After Chiaki lays Nagito down propped up against the wall, she explains to the class that Chisa is in trouble and they all readily agree to help. Nagito tries to convince them otherwise by pointing out that it will be dangerous and their is a high chance of them dying. The class begin to consider these concerns but Chiaki's speech is still able to convince them otherwise. Nagito then admits he was simply testing them and that he wanted to see if they were all willing to be stepping stones for hope. Fuyuhiko is angered by his explanation being so roundabout. Nagito wishes to go with them, but upon attempting to stand, falls to the floor again. Chiaki tells him to 'Be strong', and Sonia commands Kazuichi to carry Nagito, which he agrees to instantly.

Upon leaving the Main Course building, the class encounter the Reserve Course students who wish to fight them. Nekomaru and Gundham stay behind to fend them off and the rest continue on to Junko's lair.

Upon reaching the stairway to Junko's hideout, they begin to descend, Kazuichi still carrying an unconscious Nagito on his back.

Episode 10 - Smile at Despair in the Name of Hope
After the class descend the stairway, Mikan eventually catches up with them.

Mikan, now leading the group, approaches a large red door at the end of the corridor. Pressing a button which opens the door, the class follow her inside. The class murmur in confusion when they discover an empty trial room, and beginning to come to consciousness, Nagito warns them that it is a trap. Once inside, Junko reveals multiple monitors showing Chiaki Nanami's Punishment. The class and Nagito, horrified by what he is seeing, have no choice but to watch under the brainwashing videos' control.

Once Chiaki reaches the "goal" in her execution, she opens the door. She sees Nagito, the rest of the class, and Chisa on the other side. Once she reaches for Chisa's hand, spikes are triggered from a floor trap that stab Chiaki everywhere on her body. As the broadcast comes to a close, Nagito begins to blither, on how the video is full of despair, that the class must overcome this despair. He comments that Chiaki's death has made her a stepping stone for hope, while he proceeds to laugh uncontrollably. The class then fall silent, with a patterned swirl in their eyes, they have lost all hope and begin to become part of Ultimate Despair.

Episode 11 - Goodbye, Hope's Peak Academy
Nagito and the rest of Class 77-B students are back in their classroom, attending their final lesson before graduation. Chisa says that it has been an honor to be their teacher, and starts reading a letter she prepared. Nagito and the rest of the class clap with gratitude.

After the speech, red lights turn on, and Chisa starts to cry. The patterned swirls return in their eyes as they all make a promise of what they will do after graduation. Nagito says he knows hope will win, so he has no problem falling into despair. After bidding her class a final farewell, Chisa activates a bomb that fakes the death of Class 77-B. Nagito and his class stand outside the school grounds as they watch Hope's Peak Academy's destruction.

Nagito is later seen with Hajime and Chiaki inside the Neo World Program.

During The Tragedy
The members of Ultimate Despair committed multiple terrorist acts during the Tragedy, causing despair all over the world.

After the death of Junko, the remnants of Despair harvested some of her body parts for themselves in order to make her survive within them or feel closer to her. Nagito cut off his left hand and attached hers in its' place. Though he claims he did it for the sake of stealing her power and his hatred for her, he also obsessed over her just like the others. When questioned by Izuru about it in chapter 0, he becomes agitated and conflicted.

The remnants of Despair then agreed to an insane plan to have an AI Junko take over their bodies, so that they may resurrect their leader.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
Though he claims he'd come to Towa City in search of a safe place, it's highly probable that in reality, Nagito was one of the Ultimate Despair assigned to oversee the Captives before he met the Warriors of Hope. The kids seemed unaware of his true identity and planned to kill him, but decided to keep him alive as their slave after he pleaded for his life.

The kids made him wear a collar and chain around his neck, called him just a Servant and overall treated him like he wasn't even a human. They find him annoying for talking too much and because of his habit to misunderstand orders. Despite this, he seems to have authority over the Monokuma Kids and he can give them orders.

In truth, Nagito let himself be captured on purpose for the benefit of his own goals. He agreed to work with Monaca (who knows his true identity) despite their different goals and this agreement was kept secret from the other kids. He is requested by Monaca to guide Komaru through their Demon's Hunting game and bring her to their secret stronghold, a building called Towa Hills. He makes a deal with Toko Fukawa and promises to release captured Byakuya Togami if she escorts Komaru safely to the stronghold.

Prologue - The Warriors of Hope
Komaru loses consciousness after a helicopter crash and is brought to the kids' airship, most likely by the Servant (Nagito). While she was unconscious, he took her Megaphone Hacking Gun, analyzed it and weakened it for the sake of "game balance". Two days later, she wakes up in a prison-like cell. Servant hands back her Hacking Gun, promises to give her upgrades later and tells her that she needs to go see the Warriors of Hope. He also warns her to keep the fact that he had returned the gun a secret, if she doesn't wish to die.

While Komaru talks with the kids, Servant suddenly appears behind her and snaps the Monokuma Bracelet onto her wrist, surprising her. He explains that if Komaru insists in removing the bracelet, it will explode. When Komaru almost mentions her gun by accident, Servant saves her by quickly changing the subject and imperceptibly reminding her of his warning. Masaru Daimon is angered by this and he threatens to glue Servant's mouth shut if he keeps on talking without permission. Servant only laughs a little and goes to stand a bit further away from others.

After the kids drop Komaru off of the ship and start their Demon Hunting game, Servant is seen talking to himself and he tells Komaru to do her best while calling her common, dull and boring "Miss Protagonist".

Chapter 1 - Crying for Love in Hell
After Komaru falls down, she is found by Toko, right according to Servant's plan. The two start to search for a way out of the city, while in truth Toko is just trying to take her to the stronghold.

Servant is not seen in the chapter, but he orders Monokuma Kids to give upgrades for Komaru's Hacking Gun in the form of presents.

Chapter 2 - Legend of the Revolution
The Servant is seen again as the Warriors of Hope finish mourning over Masaru's death. He made the Warriors of Hope milkshakes, but he made them incorrectly and even put lard in them as the Internet wasn't connected and he had no guidance in order to make them. The kids reject them in disgust and Nagisa, the new leader of the Warriors of Hope, orders him to drink the milkshakes himself. The Servant protests slightly at first, but then obeys with laughter, commenting that he's "everyone's servant" and lives to serve.

Chapter 3 - Cute Girl's Battlefield
After Jataro Kemuri's death, the remaining Warriors of Hope speak with their advisor Kurokuma. The Servant arrives late to the scene after a long search of broiled sweet chestnuts for Kotoko Utsugi. However, they're unpeeled, which greatly annoys Kotoko. She gets more angry after Servant reminds her of her past as an actress and even threatens to kill him. Servant tries to calm her down with apologies and offers to peel the chestnuts himself, but she punishes him by throwing cakes at him and calling him an useless servant. Servant keeps on smiling and simply mentions that he prefers salty things to sweet ones.

Later the Warriors of Hope drew on Servant's face by Monaca's request. This happens off-screen and is only mentioned in the art book.

Chapter 4 - The Way We Live
Servant and Monaca become suspicious of Nagisa's loyalty and he spies on him with the help of Monokuma Kids. One Monokuma Kid records and shows him a video of Nagisa removing Komaru's bracelet and helping her to escape the city. Servant hurries to stop them and arrives just in time. He tells Komaru not to cast aside "the game" midway and questions if she is truly okay with escaping as things are. When Nagisa scolds him, Servant turns intimidating towards him for the first time and claims that the Warriors of Hope care more about the game than their paradise and Nagisa knows this, but didn't do anything about it because of Monaca. He calls Nagisa a traitor and tells him to leave the rest to him. This causes Nagisa to rethink his betrayal and he runs away.

Servant turns his attention back to Komaru and tells her that he is disappointed in her for planning to escape after he made all the preparations for her. He then corrects himself by stating that the one he should really blame is Toko and he asks why didn't she follow their plan. He then explains their deal to confused Komaru and mentions that he was also motivated by his will to have Komaru grow through the game and clear it. He reveals he's fixated on her because of her brother and he regrets not being present during Junko's defeat. He explains that a completely normal and talentless girl like Komaru can become Towa City's hope and obtain even greater hope than her brother, since hope is born from the weak rising up from despair. He carries on his mad ramble and urges her not to give up, but she doesn't understand anything he's saying. Servant calms down for a moment and assumes that she doesn't understand because of his lack of enthusiasm. He then carries on rambling, saying that hope will always win in the end, which is why he can submit himself to despair with peace of mind.

Servant asks the two girls what they plan to do now and as they start to cry and argue, he provokes Toko to catch Komaru for Byakuya's sake. The two end up fighting, but Toko loses and collapses on the ground. Toko tells Komaru to escape, admits that she lost on purpose and expresses disgust to being Servant's yes-man. Servant then walks to Toko and gives her "a little help" by pouring pepper on her face. She sneezes and changes to Genocide Jack, but she attacks Servant instead of Komaru, and slashes both of his legs with her scissors. Surprised Servant collapses on the ground and calmly assumes that she attacked him because she doesn't share memories with Toko. Genocide Jack silences him and reveals her intention to kill him and set Komaru free. Servant assumes that her change of heart was caused by the girls' beautiful friendship, but finds it a bit strange of Genocide Jack since she is a serial killer. Genocide Jack is angered by this assumption and attempts to kill Servant, but Komaru stops her and assures that they are friends.

Komaru decides to stay with Toko and Genocide Jack instead of leaving the city, which causes Genocide Jack to throw Servant against the ground in anger. He lies still and listens silently as the two girls talk, but then rises up to sit and states that the current outcome is alright, because the city would lose hope if Komaru left. He does his best to ignore the pain on his legs and tells the girls that they have to defeat "the final boss" in order to save Byakuya. He reveals that he has a partner, but refuses to tell more about it since he's already "dropped out of the game". Still, he tells them to proceed onwards and reveals that the children's stronghold is a building called Towa Hills. He is pleased to see that Komaru's hope has grown and gives the two instructions on how to reach their destination.

As the two girls leave, Servant waves them goodbye and laughs in excitement as he can feel that the city's despair will soon be swallowed by hope. Nagisa then arrives with his robot, but Servant isn't frightened and states that Nagisa really is a child for getting so angry.

Nagisa takes Servant back to their base and angrily accuses him of deceiving The Warriors of Hope and trying to ruin their plans. He kicks him in the stomach as he tries to make him confess, but it only causes the older boy to laugh a little. Monaca arrives to the scene and reveals to Nagisa that Servant's doings were requested by her and that her true goal is to create "Junko Enoshima II". Monaca mentally wears Nagisa down and causes him to fall in despair as Servant and Kurokuma watch on the side. Kurokuma states that Monaca is as vulgar as always and Servant agrees with a sigh.

Chapter 5 - Absolute Despair Girl
Servant is now able to stand, his face is cleaned from the drawings and he has bandages covering his legs' wounds. As Monaca happily watches a video of the Big Bang Monokuma moving in the city, Servant arrives and tells her that he is about to leave and came to bid farewell. Monaca and Kurokuma are surprised by this, since "the show" has just begun. Servant says that he has a final report for his master and Kurokuma mocks him by asking if he realized he's a hard gay. Servant ignores him and explains that the Monokuma Kids told him there's an intruder in the city. Monaca and Kurokuma don't think it's important and keep on watching the video.

Servant notes that Monaca is in awfully good mood even though her plan seems to be failing. Monaca reveals that she has kept secrets even from Servant and refuses to tell more when he questions if it has something to do with Junko Enoshima II. Servant isn't truly interested in her secrets as he believes that hope will win no matter what. Monaca and Kurokuma make fun of his beliefs and call them contradictory. Servant disagrees and explains that the seeds of despair cannot be destroyed while they're buried, but they can be completely burned after they've flourished above the surface. However, he also states that contradictions don't matter to him anyway.

Monaca is a bit confused and intrigued by the fact that Servant realizes he has fallen into despair, yet he claims even that is in the name of hope. She asks if it's because of Junko's influence or was he always like that, but Servant turns silent and doesn't give her an answer. He watches for awhile as Monaca and Kurokuma speak and then turns to leave. Monaca tells Servant that she appreciates his efforts, but doesn't believe they'll ever meet again.

Epilogue - The Changing World We Made
It's revealed that the Servant changed his mind and decided to stay in the city for a while longer and see everything through to the end. He finds unconscious Monaca and helps her out of the rubble. He carries her on his back and she wakes up and asks why he saved her. Servant answers that they're the same, both disappointed in the ending with neither despair nor hope.

Servant reveals that his main goal all along was to to cause a war in order to have a magnificent hope born from it. Monaca wonders whose side he is really on, but he says it doesn't really matter and he tells Monaca that she could become the second Junko Enoshima. He agrees to cooperate with her as long as time will allow, as he still has other things to do. He tells her that he can raise her and make her even more real than the real thing, as he is the one who loves and hates Junko more than anyone else.

In Danganronpa 3 - Side: Future, it is revealed that Nagito tried to mold Monaca into the next Junko Enoshima, but having to listen to his diatribes on hope and despair caused Monaca to grow tired of despair.

Chapter 0 - Heading to the School Trip
Nagito and the other remnants of Despair are found by the Future Foundation. Makoto plans to undo Junko's influence by putting them into the Neo World Program.

Inside a boat on the way to Jabberwock Island, Nagito talks with Izuru Kamukura, another member of the Ultimate Despair. However, Nagito doesn't know who Izuru is, having his memory of him wiped by Junko, and Izuru considers Nagito very boring.

Izuru Kamukura possesses the AI version of Junko, which he plans to upload into the program so she can take over their bodies. Nagito seems unaware of this plan at first, but then explains his desire to meet and destroy AI Junko, as he didn't have the chance to kill the real Junko. He then becomes increasingly confused about his feelings and thus his motives remain unclear.

Prologue - Welcome to Dangan Island! Panic at the Heart-Throbbing School Trip!?
Nagito was the first character of the second game that appeared. He was looking down on the protagonist, Hajime, who just regained his consciousness after he fainted from shock. He expresses worry towards Hajime and introduces himself.

Nagito and the others find themselves on the tropical Jabberwock Island, not knowing that it's a virtual world and that they've lost their memories. Usami acts as their teacher and tells them that it's a school trip.

Nagito acted polite and kind towards everyone, even willing to accompany Hajime as he introduced himself to the other students. He didn't look stressed at all, despite knowing that he and the others were somehow transported to a strange island, which leads Hajime to wonder if he has suffered a lot of trauma in his life. He displays some affection towards his fellow students when introducing them to Hajime.

When Monokuma takes over Usami and explains the Mutual Killing game, Nagito realizes that the Ultimates are truly trapped on the island.

Chapter 1 - Destination Despair
When Monokuma reveals that the Ultimates have lost their memories of their school lives, Nagito plans to start the killings in order to become a stepping stone for hope and allow for at least one of the Ultimates to escape the island, believing that the survivor would become the absolute hope.

After the Ultimate Imposter became the group's leader, Nagito sends him a nameless warning letter saying that a murder will definitely happen soon. When the Ultimate Imposter suggests throwing a party, Nagito sets up a lot to determine the party duties, and through his "Ultimate Luck", ends up being the one assigned to clean the old lodge. He prepares a murder by hiding a glow in the dark knife, but was eventually discovered by Teruteru, who had duties to prepare food for the party. In fact, Nagito lets himself be discovered on purpose and explains his plan to Teruteru as he tries to manipulate the Ultimate Cook into killing him.

Nagito's plan was to trip the circuit breaker to cause a blackout. During this blackout, he used a lamp cord to lead himself to the table, under which he hid the knife covered in glowing paint. Just as he was about to grab the glowing knife, he was discovered by the Ultimate Imposter, who brought night vision goggles in preparation. The Ultimate Imposter rushed towards Nagito, pushed him out from under the table and retrieved the knife. This saved Nagito's life, but the Ultimate Imposter was then stabbed by Teruteru, who was hiding under the floorboards intending to kill Nagito with an iron skewer.

Nagito then investigates the murder with Hajime, giving him lots of hints, but not revealing too much. He decides to be on Teruteru's side during the class trial, believing that he has the greater potential for hope. He acts suspicious on purpose and reveals his true colors as he tries to make the others think he's the murderer. In the end, everyone realizes that Nagito isn't the real culprit and they become suspicious of Teruteru. Realizing that Teruteru has reached the limits of his hope, Nagito stops defending him and the Ultimate Cook is executed.

After the revelations during the trial, everyone is left distrustful of Nagito. He tells everyone that they're free to kill him and that he is even ready to cooperate with his killer.

Chapter 2 - Sea and Punishment, Sin and Coconuts
Later on, Nagito is visited by Kazuichi and Nekomaru, who plan to tie him up to avoid another incident happening again. Once again, Nagito starts to talk about hope and his wish to become a stepping stone, but he is silenced and struck unconscious by Kazuichi. He is left alone and tied up inside the old lodge.

After information about this made its' way through the group, various students were assigned to provide him with meals (though Kazuichi and Nekomaru claim they were not going to let him starve.) Mahiru Koizumi went to deliver Nagito his meals and he asked her about Monokuma's new motive. She explains the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case and Nagito suggests she should play it. Nagito then requests to have toast, as he doesn't really like rice, which causes Mahiru to leave annoyed. Mahiru is tired with this chore and tells Hajime to bring Nagito the meal instead. Nagito is happy to see Hajime and asks if he's going to feed him, since his own hands are tied up and it would've been embarrassing to ask a girl to do it. Nagito then asks about Mahiru and tries to convince Hajime to play Twilight Syndrome Murder Case, but Hajime doesn't want to be tricked by him again and leaves without feeding him.

After Mahiru is murdered, Nagito is untied by Monomi, who naively trusts him as she thinks that everyone should cooperate and investigate together. He then goes to play Twilight Syndrome Murder Case to find clues. He meets with Hajime and Chiaki, but an angry Hajime tells both him and Monomi to go away. Nagito says he's a bit lonely, but he obeys and goes to investigate alone.

Thanks to the game's true ending, Nagito knows the characters in the game were Mahiru, Hiyoko, Ibuki Mioda, Mikan, Sato, Fuyuhiko and Natsumi. He goes to see the four of them and lies by telling them that they all have to come to the airport or else Monokuma will execute them. Fuyuhiko doesn't open his door, so Nagito leaves him be. He goes to wait outside Jabberwock Park for Hajime and Chiaki, and explains that everyone is meeting at the airport by his request. After talking with the girls, Nagito leaves to investigate once again. With Monokuma's help, he goes inside everyone's cottages to take a sample of their footprints. He also notices lots of gummies inside Hiyoko's cottage and takes a bag with him, as it might be evidence.

Nagito meets with Hajime and Chiaki again, after they finish investigating Mahiru's cottage. Nagito claims it's a coincidence, but Hajime isn't convinced and thinks he might be a stalker. Nagito says he only came to explain the results of his investigations and when Hajime asks about it, Nagito suddenly says that he will tell him more if Hajime bows to him and licks his shoes. Nagito says that it was just a joke and asks Hajime to come to the beach house if he wants to know more about the footprints. Chiaki leaves to see Fuyuhiko and Nagito notices that Hajime clearly wanted her to stay with him.

At the beach house, everyone is shocked to see Nagito free. He thanks Kazuichi for going easy on him earlier and when Sonia Nevermind explains about the serial killer Sparkling Justice, he says that no good can come from getting involved with a serial killer, referencing his past experience with a one. Nagito was able to deduce the owner of the footprint left on the beach, Hiyoko Saionji.

During the class trial, the culprit's trap was also foiled by Nagito, when he stated that the yellow gummy was deliberately abandoned by the culprit to frame Hiyoko. Hiyoko had never eaten yellow gummies, evidenced by the pack of gummies that Nagito found in Hiyoko's cottage. Because of this, Hajime, Nagito, and Chiaki are able to deduce that Peko Pekoyama killed Mahiru.

During Peko's execution, Fuyuhiko runs to help her and gets wounded, too. At first, Nagito is angered and upset because a clash between two hopes ended with both destroyed. However, Fuyuhiko turns out to be alive, and now satisfied, Nagito concludes that Fuyuhiko was Peko's hope and Peko was Fuyuhiko's stepping stone.

Chapter 3 - Trapped by the Ocean Scent
The next morning, Nagito along with Gundham Tanaka arrive at the restaurant late, which breaks the cozy atmosphere. He attended Fuyuhiko's welcoming party held by Ibuki, though he wasn't fond of Ibuki's loud songs.

Later, he, Ibuki, and Akane caught the "Despair Disease", the third motive. As a result, Nagito could only tell lies and caught a high fever. Presumably due to his already ill state, he suffered from Despair Disease the most out of the three, quickly lost consciousness and was close at dying. Mikan kept nursing him and when he occasionally regained consciousness, he saw her eyes and realized that they were full of despair.

Nagito fully regained consciousness around the time when the third murder occurred. He and the other patients were quickly cured by Monokuma so they could start investigating. During the investigation, Nagito was more motivated than usual and kept talking about how the case was special. He suspected that Mikan was the killer and gathered multiple clues. Nagito also invited Hajime to watch Monokuma's movie at the cinema and told him to keep the ticket safe.

At the beginning of the class trial, Nagito proved Hajime's innocence with the ticket. He was able to deduce Mikan as the culprit and how she murdered Ibuki and Hiyoko. With the state she was in, he called Mikan "Ultimate Despair" and bitterly refused to forgive her because she killed for the sake of despair instead of hope. Mikan told him that he's wrong and claimed that she had killed for "her beloved". Somewhat mockingly, she said that Nagito doesn't understand because he doesn't have anyone to love and isn't accepted by anyone, leaving him at a loss for words.

Chapter 4 - Do Ultimate Robots Dream of Electric Clocks?
The next morning, Nagito thinks about the mysterious person who was Mikan's beloved. He also thinks that Hajime is possibly the traitor, because his Ultimate talent is still unknown.

After everyone is trapped in the fourth island's Fun House, Monokuma lets them starve until a murder happens. Nagito would even offer himself to be eaten to help the others escape (this is mentioned if Hajime speaks to him during free-time).

After Nekomaru is murdered, Nagito becomes playable for the first time. In order to help with the investigation, he took it upon himself to go into the Final Dead room and play the life threatening game. Using his incredible deduction skills and assisted by Monomi, he managed to clear all of the challenging puzzles scattered throughout the room and earn the right to play Russian Roulette to access the Octagon and the Ultimate Weapon inside it.

With a large amount of faith in his ability as the Ultimate Lucky Student, Nagito loaded the revolver with five bullets instead of one, and pulled the trigger against his head, giving him a one in six chance of surviving. He managed to survive, thanks to his talent and was granted access into the Octagon.

By completing the Final Dead Game, Nagito learned about the Fun House's structure and realized that the building itself is the Ultimate Weapon. Due to completing the Russian Roulette with such a high difficulty, he also got a special prize from Monokuma, the sequel to the first Future Foundation file they had obtained earlier after riding the roller coaster. It revealed absolutely everything - the truth of the students' identities as Ultimate Despair, their actions while at school and after, the truth about the virtual world they're in, Hajime's lack of talent and his new identity as Izuru Kamukura. Nagito purged the most revealing data and only left their school profiles.

Knowing that he and everyone else are Ultimate Despair, Nagito quickly came up with a plan to kill everyone for the sake of hope. He began to plan his own suicide and brought a bomb and deadly poison with him from the Octagon. He seemed to believe that by destroying the Ultimate Despair, he would become Ultimate Hope and he might finally be appreciated, if only in death.

Later, Nagito met with Hajime and Chiaki. He mocked Hajime about his lack of talent, but interestingly he also mentioned a little hint about his future plans when he compared the murders of Class 78th's Killing School Life and the Killing School Trip. He mentioned that the murders had similarities and Class 78th's fourth murder was a suicide, which could mean something.

During the investigation, Nagito acted haughty and easily irritated towards everyone else as well, but didn't reveal his reasons for it. However, just before the class trial, he admitted to Hajime that he still cares about him. He also hinted at Hajime's identity as Izuru Kamukura by talking about a book in which the protagonist is revealed to be the killer in the end.

The students were able to discover and vote for the correct culprit that murdered Nekomaru. The culprit was none other than the Ultimate Breeder Gundham Tanaka. The students received a lot of help from Nagito because he knew the "secret" of the Fun House, though he kept acting impatient, arrogant and much more uninterested in the trials than before.

At night, after the trial, Nagito met with Monokuma and tried to get some information from the bear (concerning the student profiles and the "someone" Monokuma is waiting for on the island.) However, Monokuma refused to give a real answer.

Chapter 5 - Smile at Hope in the Name of Despair
With the knowledge he now possessed, Nagito came up with a plan to weed out the traitor among the group, as the traitor would be the only innocent one. The others noticed that his behavior became even stranger and more distant than before.

Nagito set off an explosion in the hotel lobby, then threatened to blow up the rest of the island with bombs that he planted unless the traitor reveals themselves. However, this was just a bluff, as he only had one real bomb and the rest were just harmless fireworks he found from the army facility. As his deadline drew nearer, Nagito informed the group that the "explosives" were located in a place they have each been once, in an attempt to get them to split up. In a fit of rage, Akane almost strangled Nagito to death, but she was stopped by Chiaki.

While the others were looking for the "bombs", Nagito prepared a very complex suicide; he would trust his luck and make the traitor murder him by proxy, and make the murderer's identity unclear to everyone else as well - during the trial, his classmates wouldn't be able to reach a conclusion and be executed, while the traitor alone would be spared.

To make it look like he was tortured by someone, (and to cause himself bad luck that would turn into good luck) Nagito tied himself up, covered his mouth with duck tape, stabbed through his own hand, cut his arms and thighs multiple times with an army knife, and impaled his stomach with a spear.

By the time Fuyuhiko had discovered the bomb's location, Nagito's classmates had also found a laptop which had been prepared by Nagito. It had a video message instructing the traitor to come forward and scan their e-Handbook in order to disarm the bomb. The video message claimed that Nagito already figured out the traitor's identity, but this was a bluff. After a failed attempt by Chiaki, everyone found out the truth about the "bombs" and angrily went to the warehouse next door to confront Nagito, like the video instructed. When the group opened the door, it was dark and they could only hear very loud, eerie music. Unknown to them, they tipped over Monokuma panels and a lighter prepared by Nagito, starting a fire. The group immediately took the fire grenades from the employee's lounge and attempted to douse the fire, not knowing that Nagito had planted vaporizing poison inside one of them. The poison reached Nagito on the far back of the building and killed him almost instantly. After the sprinklers kicked in and extinguished the flames, the group discovered Nagito's horribly tortured body. Just like he planned and thanks to his Ultimate Luck, the one who threw the poison at him and unknowingly murdered him was the traitor - Chiaki Nanami.

During the investigation, Hajime and Chiaki found many clues and evidence inside Nagito's cottage, and it's later implied during the class trial that Nagito wanted to give his classmates a chance.

During the Class Trial, the group was able to deduce that Nagito committed suicide, however, it was not as it seemed. After they understood more and more about the case, Hajime came to the conclusion that Nagito's goal was to create a mystery that could not be solved. In an attempt to save her friends, Chiaki revealed herself as the traitor and she was executed. After the events of the trial, Monokuma revealed that Nagito's true plan was to kill everyone except for Chiaki in an attempt to destroy the Ultimate Despair that he knew they all truly were.

At the next day, Hajime and others found Nagito's last message on the laptop, in which he explained that he did what he did because he managed to learn the truth about "this world". He revealed the password to the ruins and explained that everyone can escape Monokuma with it. Believing that his actions will become the foundation of world's hope, he asked the others to praise him, tell others about him, respect him, erect a bronze statue of him and call him the Ultimate Hope.

During the end of chapter 5, many "dead" characters appeared as the Neo World Program's glitches. However, Nagito was not among them.

Chapter 6 - This is the End Goodbye Academy of Despair
During the final class trial against AI Junko, Nagito briefly appears during "the game reset".

Epilogue - The Day Before the Future
At this point, Nagito is most likely in comatose, just like most of his classmates.

Illusory World

 * Main article: Nagito Komaeda (Illusion)

Real-life
Nagito finally wakes up in the real world and Hajime helped him up, similarly to the way Nagito helped Hajime the first time they met inside the program. Nagito rejoined his classmates in friendly terms and is glad to see that real Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko are still alive. He also removes Junko's hand and it is replaced with a robotic one. In the end, he took Hajime's hand as they move aboard, deciding to go forward towards hope.

Episode 01 - Third Time's the Charm
In a flashback, Nagito, as a member of Ultimate Despair, willingly surrendered himself to the Warriors of Hope as their "Servant", seen in the beginning of the episode.

Episode 7 - Ultra Despair Girls
The Servant was mentioned by Monaca, telling Komaru and Toko how he made her an "adult" because of his constant rambling about hope and despair, causing her to lose interest in despair and pretty much everything.

Side - Hope: The Academy of Hope and Students of Despair
It was revealed that Nagito, just like the other comatose students from Class 77-B, woke from his coma. He and the rest of his class were shown to have escaped Jabberwock Island and went to the Future Foundation branch where the Final Killing Game was held.

Once there, Nagito's luck saved Makoto from a group of brainwashed Future Foundation members after he kicked a pebble that coincidentally caused a landslide that buried the Former Ultimate Elite Task Force.

Later, Nagito rejoined the rest of Class 77-B to stop Ryota from spreading the brainwashing video. Shortly afterwards, much to Nagito's delight, he met Makoto and expressed how lucky he was to have a talented underclassman like Makoto who shared his talent of luck. However, Nekomaru and Akane carried Nagito away before he could go overboard with his praise. It was explained that Class 77-B will carry the weight of being Ultimate Despair, take the blame for the Future Foundation killing game (even though none of them were the mastermind of the game), and seek atonement for the terrible things they did.

Afterwards, Nagito, together with Class 77-B, left the island by ship. The class was shown eating Teruteru's cooking. Nagito called Hajime to join them, and they ate together with the rest of the class.

While Class 77-B were leaving the island, Mikan took out a vial of a drug and explained that she found someone who used the drug to save themselves from the poison in their bracelet after violating their NG code, so she was able to revive them from a near-death state. Nagito took the vial from Mikan and immediately recognized the drug as Seiko's work. He praised Seiko for her talents and for being able to create hope even in the midst of a killing game.

Execution
Rope Master - Nagito is standing on a platform that resembles a circus’s flying trapeze. Countless ropes are hung on the platform. Monokuma begins to cut off the ropes one by one, but none of the ropes are connected to anything. Frustrated, he punches the cutting machine and sets the platform on fire. Monokuma escapes, but Nagito, with no ropes or any other way to escape, dies. This execution is only described in the Official Fanbook.

Family
Nagito's relationship with his family is unclear. It's mentioned that he didn't have any relatives besides his parents. He mentions that they took him to an amusement park and they went on a family vacation together, but also mentions off the cuff that his mother never complimented his appearance.

When Nagito talks about his parents' deaths to Hajime, he is disturbingly optimistic and believes it was good luck since he inherited all of their fortune and became free to do whatever he wished. However, it's strongly implied that he just suppresses his feelings of sorrow as a way to cope, since tragedies are very common in his life. His parents died in an airplane and later in the Island Mode he is seen to be very terrified by the mere idea of aircrafts.

As a child, Nagito was very close with the family's pet dog and he was deeply saddened by his death. Because of Nagito's bad luck, the dog was hit by a truck.

Chisa Yukizome
Chisa was Nagito's homeroom teacher in Hope's Peak Academy. Chisa truly cared for Nagito just as much as her other students, but completely disagreed with his way of thinking. Chisa hated how Nagito called himself trash and tried to change that, but Nagito firmly held onto his own personal beliefs.

Nagito is surprised when Chisa shows genuine concern towards him, as people usually do not care about him.

Real-Life Version
Chiaki was Nagito's classmate prior to the Tragedy. She was also his class's representative, and Nagito respected her, thinking she was their class's hope. Chiaki seemed to genuinely care about him, although she did not agree with his way of looking at things. Chiaki is the only one out of her classmates who greeted Nagito warmly when he comes back after being suspended for about a year.

Later, Nagito inadvertently puts Chiaki's life in danger when he shows her a secret entrance to a room underground, where Junko, Izuru, and Ryota Mitarai were hiding. Chiaki tries to stop Nagito from killing Junko, Nagito ignores her but is ultimately shot by Izuru first. Chiaki holds him in a protective manner while he is unconscious.

When forced to watch Chiaki be executed by Junko, Nagito mumbles about how Chiaki, formerly the class's greatest hope, became their stepping stone to achieve a greater hope. However, he also felt great despair and appeared to cry over her death, which is a very rare reaction from him.

AI Version
Nagito does not seem to notice Chiaki that much at first, noting that she's a quiet girl who mostly plays video games and stares into space. However, he later appears to have a genuine respect for her deduction skills. In the Funhouse, he asks her to investigate with him, and is worried when she leaves the group without anyone noticing.

Though Nagito is unaware of it, Chiaki cared about him and she was also the traitor he tried to save in the end, though this failed.

Ultimate Imposter
Nagito respected Ultimate Imposter and their leadership skills when they were impersonating Byakuya Togami. However, because of this, he involved him in his plan. The plan was originally meant to lead to Nagito's own death, but Ultimate Imposter died instead, saving Nagito's life. While Nagito did not feel remorse for what happened, he was genuinely impressed and said he even began to have a small will to live after the Imposter's actions.

Mikan Tsumiki
At first, Nagito worries about Mikan, as he scolds Hajime after thinking he bullied her and asks if she's okay after having one of her many exaggerated falls. He is also very humbled during the first trial, when he mistakenly assumed that Mikan complimented his appearance when she pointed out that there wasn't any blood on him.

After Nagito caught the Despair Disease, Mikan took care of him along with the others. However, she also caught the disease, and despite his terrible condition, he noticed that she had fallen into despair. Because of this, and the murders she committed for the sake of despair, Nagito lost all respect for her and considered her an enemy, worthy of the name "Ultimate Despair". Unlike the others, he wasn't fooled by her act during the trial and he bitterly refused to forgive her.

However, Mikan told Nagito that he's wrong and claimed that she had killed for "her beloved". Somewhat mockingly, she said that Nagito doesn't understand because he doesn't have anyone to love and isn't accepted by anyone, leaving him at a loss for words.

Later though, after Nagito and Mikan awaken from their comatose state, he doesn't seem to hold anymore hatred towards her. This probably means that Nagito's original relationship with Mikan, which was mostly him not paying attention to her, although thinking her talent is amazing, has returned.

Kazuichi Soda
After trial one, Kazuichi finds Nagito to be a nutcase and is afraid of him. He and Nekomaru are the ones who tie up Nagito. When this happens, and everyone asks where Nagito is, Kazuichi seems extremely suspicious. He's almost immediately blamed for murder.

After the events leading to Nagito's knowledge of the classes' true identity as Ultimate Despair, Nagito appears to be annoyed by Kazuichi's slow-wittedness and shows this openly after losing respect for the other students.

In Danganronpa 3, during their school years, Kazuichi claims that bad things happen to him whenever Nagito is around. For example, he loses a video game and gets hit by a truck. Kazuichi dislikes Nagito because of this, though the other boy is seemingly oblivious about it.

In Super Danganronpa 2.5, Nagito, Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko seems to be close friends and get a long very well.

Teruteru Hanamura
While Nagito tries to be respectful towards the Ultimates, it's quite clear that he dislikes Teruteru. In the beginning of the school trip, he protects the girls from him and tells him to stop when he is acting perverted, appearing annoyed and uncomfortable. He also mentions that he'll keep an eye on Teruteru because of this.

After the first murder, Nagito helped Teruteru, believing that he might have the strongest hope between the two sides. However, after this turned out to be false, he abandoned Teruteru and told him to give up.

Sonia Nevermind
During the beginning of the Killing School Trip, Nagito was always the one who protected Sonia from Teruteru's sexual harassment. He was flattered when she drew a picture of him for his door while they were in the Funhouse.

Gundham Tanaka
Gundham appears strange even for Nagito, as even he is confused by the other's eccentric behavior. During the Despair Disease, Gundham states that he would not mind if Nagito died, but it should be noted that he also appears to be one of the few characters who understands that Nagito has grey morale instead of black and white.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu
At first, Fuyuhiko didn't seem to really care about Nagito After Nagito awaken. However, The fact that Fuyhiko and Kazuichi both waited for Nagito before boarding the boat could imply that Fuyuhiko changed his attitudes towards Nagito after realizing they had a history.

Seiko Kimura
Nagito learns about Seiko from Teruteru and asks a laxative from her, to use in his secret plan to stop the practical exams. He is shown to be polite and friendly with her, and she is extremely happy after learning that she was useful for him.

Unintentionally, Nagito causes Seiko to be expelled from Hope's Peak Academy. In a magazine interview, he states that because of this her talent must not have been so great after all.

However, years later, Nagito changes his mind about her after recognizing her medicine that saved Kyoko Kirigiri's life. He respects Seiko, as she was able to create hope during a killing game, even after she had died.

Junko Enoshima
Prior to the Tragedy and during his suspension, Nagito learned about Junko’s plan to throw the world into despair. Wanting to test her to see if she was worthy of becoming a stepping stone for hope, Nagito devised a plan to kill her before she could spread despair.

Upon being brainwashed into becoming an Ultimate Despair, Nagito developed strange, conflicting feelings of both love and hatred for Junko and saw her as his sworn enemy. This was most likely a result of both Junko's brainwashing and Nagito's own belief that hope cannot exist without despair. In Danganronpa Another Episode, Nagito describes Junko as someone he really hates, but in the end he reveals to Monaca Towa that he both loves and hates her, and he implies that he knew her very well, or at least thinks he did. Considering his very bizarre feelings about her, it's possible that he is just fabricating and doesn't know her that well at all.

After Junko was executed, Nagito cut off his left hand and put hers in its' place. He believes he did it because of his hatred towards her and to steal some essence of her power, but it's strongly implied that he, just like the other members, obsessed over her. While talking with Izuru, he became increasingly agitated and conflicted about why he did it. When talking about AI Junko with him, Nagito appeared very excited to see her again so he may finally kill her, since he had both tried and failed to kill the real Junko.

After he awakened from his coma and his brainwashing was removed, he presumably retained his original hatred towards her and cut off her hand.

Makoto Naegi
Nagito idolizes Makoto due to him being the Ultimate Hope, calling him a "hero" and "the symbol of hope" in Another Episode.

It is possible that Makoto defeating Junko has affected Nagito's way of thinking, as in Another Episode he appears to have more belief in talentless people and he also respects Makoto's talent as the Ultimate Lucky Student, despite appearing condescending towards his own talent which is the same.

When the two meet outside the Future Foundation headquarters, Nagito gushes to Makoto about how wonderful he is, and even says that Makoto's luck might be greater than his own. He takes Makoto's hand and looks at him intently, but he is quickly carried away by Nekomaru and Akane. He tells Makoto that hopefully they'll meet again. In the English dub, he marvels how soft Makoto's hands were, especially when compared to his own sticky hands.

As a character, Nagito is a darker parallel to Makoto and was originally supposed to look even more like him.

Hajime Hinata
In Danganronpa 2, Hajime was the only person Nagito was genuinely interested in and cared for in any meaningful way.

From the start, Nagito was particularly interested in Hajime, and was the only one to stay with him after he lost consciousness at the beginning of the game. He also escorted Hajime while he introduced himself to the others. Nagito noticed that he and Hajime were similar somehow as if they were both bystanders in something that didn't concern them. Hajime also didn't feel like an Ultimate to Nagito and they were both fans of Hope's Peak Academy. Nagito suggested that Hajime's talent could be Ultimate Serenity, because even Hajime's mere presence brought him serenity. Though sometimes annoyed by Nagito, Hajime also felt more relaxed around him. Prior to the chapter 1 trial, Hajime was the closest thing Nagito had to a friend.

After revealing the part he played in the first case, Hajime felt betrayed and terrified by Nagito, whom he had previously trusted and thought to be a good friend. Nagito was genuinely hurt and surprised when Hajime started to dislike him, but he still kept trying to talk to Hajime and helped him with most investigations, as well as being very happy every time Hajime noticed him. During the Class Trials, he mostly observed Hajime, both challenging and aiding him. In Chapter 3, he specifically made sure that Hajime can prove his innocence and thus doesn't become a suspect. He remained fixated on Hajime even after he was revealed to be a talentless reserve course student and part of Ultimate Despair. Even though he acted harsh and bitter towards him, in the dialogue directly preceding the Chapter 4 trial he states that he still cares about Hajime, though he doesn't understand why. He also later mentioned that he shouldn't have been so hard on Hajime. In chapter 5, Hajime's understanding of Nagito is what thwarted his plan.

It is heavily implied that Nagito's feelings for Hajime are romantic in nature. Several times throughout the story, it's shown that Nagito feels a genuine closeness to Hajime, such as when he claimed he doesn't like being around him and to hurry up and leave when under the influence of the despair disease which forced him to lie. He indicates that the reason he feels this way is because despite knowing what kind of person he is, Hajime still tried to understand him and spent time with him while no one else never did. This is confirmed in the official drama CD, in which Nagito tells Hajime: "I'll continue to do anything in my power to assist you. Because... I like you. I love you, for being willing to talk to me like this, even after knowing what a hopelessly incompetent person I am...".

In his fifth freetime event, Nagito reveals a lot of personal things to Hajime, telling him about his terminal diseases and his biggest wish being to be loved for once before he dies. He falsely dismisses what he just said as lies, probably for the sake of Hajime's safety, since Hajime was about to forgive Nagito and he would've been in danger if they got too close due to the effects of Nagito's bad luck. The way that Japanese sentence structure works, of Nagito's last line in particular - starts off as the beginning of a confession, that he decides to rephrase at the last second into him being in love with Hajime's hope instead. Furthermore, his choice of word being “aishiteru” is notable, as it's an incredibly strong way of saying "love" that in real life Japan, even some married couples are hesitant to use.

In Island Mode, Nagito really wants to entertain Hajime during their trips but is paranoid over his safety. He is also often quite nervous due to being inexperienced in many social situations, and supposedly because of his feelings towards Hajime (for example, he enjoys the quiet library with him, only to get very nervous after realizing that the two of them are alone). During his Shot Through The Heart sequence, he is terrified of the idea that Hajime might hate him. After a particularly good outing with Hajime, he refers to the hotel as their "love nest". He also states that he doesn't mind getting naked in case Hajime wants to see that. In the final event, he reveals that his way of thinking has slowly started to change thanks to the time he spent with Hajime. He seems to try confessing his feelings again but chooses to ask Hajime to be his friend instead, which the latter agrees to.

In Nagito's character song, 劇薬 Poison, he mentions that he loves and wants to understand an ambiguous "him" more than anyone else.

In Danganronpa 2.5, it's shown that Nagito's mind created an illusion world as a coping mechanism and he did not wake up from his coma. Hajime sent the World Destroyer to erase his mental blocks and right after hearing the alter ego's voice, which is exactly like Hajime's, Nagito had flashbacks and remembered Hajime and his smile (along with Jabberwock Island and his death in the program). After waking up in the real world, Nagito rejoined Hajime in friendly terms. At first, he assumed he was Izuru, but then corrected himself by saying he must be Hajime. Hajime helped him up in the way that resembles their first meeting inside the program. Nagito says he believed in Hajime to wake him up and later he takes Hajime's hand as the class moves aboard, planning to go towards hope.

At the end of Danganronpa 3, after helping Makoto and others, Nagito and his classmates decide to go back and live in Jabberwock island. While everyone on the boat is eating, Nagito calls out to Hajime that the food is almost gone and to hurry up. Hajime smiles brightly and runs over to him, and the two of them eat side by side. Even though Hajime earlier explained that he is now both Hajime and Izuru, Nagito continues to call him Hajime.

In an Otomedia poster, which was released after the anime, Nagito is seen giving Hajime a small bag of fortune cookies as a gift while they are on the ship, presumably after the anime's story. The pink hearts and the text mentioning eating cookies full of hope with "him" (using the Japanese word "kare" [彼] which means "him" or "boyfriend" depending on context), implies that it might be a romantic gesture. In the magazine's interview, Nagito is asked what autumn food reminds him of Hajime. He answers a "chestnut in its burr", comparing it to Hajime's hair, but after being told it's too normal of an answer, he goes on to explain that to properly eat one you have to go through a lot of work. He states that "Not being straightforward… it’s like Hinata-kun, right?". In turn, Hajime answers that Nagito reminds him of "the rice of a new crop" (referring to rice freshly harvested during the fall season) because of Nagito's hair's color. He also mentions that due to Nagito's "poor grip on reality", it's difficult to appoint him to a food with distinct taste.

Ultimate Despair (And Allies)
When Ultimate Despair was formed, Nagito joined because he wanted to witness despair rise and fall to hope. The members were brainwashed and fell madly in love with Junko, but Nagito's case was different. He developed strange, conflicting feelings of both love and hatred for Junko and saw her as his sworn enemy. Ironically, Nagito seems to be the most sane out of the brainwashed ones, as he is more aware of what they're doing and has the aforementioned hatred for Junko.

Monaca Towa
When Nagito Komaeda was captured by the Warriors of Hope and became their Servant, Monaca seemed to be the only one aware of his true identity. Secretly, they became allies despite their different goals, and the Servant aided Monaca with her own goals. However, Monaca didn't share all of her information with him, as she didn't trust him completely.

Monaca was amused by the Servant's strange behavior and contradicting beliefs, and appeared to be somewhat annoyed with him at the times, as she once ordered the other Warriors of Hope to draw on his face. Even she was confused by his motives at times, not being sure which side he is on. She also found his strange, conflicting views on Junko disgusting. However, the two appeared to at least seemingly respect each other in some way, as they treated each other somewhat formally as allies.

The Servant planned on leaving and Monaca let him, believing that they will never see each other again. However, after Monaca was trapped under rubble, he appeared again and rescued her because he was disappointed with the situation's outcome and the neutral ending. He told her to become Junko's successor and that he could raise her to become more like her than even she herself was. Monaca seemed to agree with this goal, but the Servant's constant rambling about hope and despair made Monaca bored and feel embarrassed about the whole thing. She claims he made her an adult in a way, as she grew up in the mental sense and became more cynical and apathetic, not really caring about anything.

In the end, Monaca found Nagito creepy and annoying, but she also referred to him as "Big bro". It's unclear how Nagito felt about her in the end.

Izuru Kamukura
Despite getting shot by him, Nagito is almost immediately attracted to Izuru, supposedly because he can sense his identity as the Ultimate Hope.

The ending song for Danganronpa 3 - Side: Despair, performed by Megumi Ogata as Nagito, is about "the birth of absolute hope" and Nagito meeting someone "he was born to meet" in the middle of the night at the school's campus. The song has sexual implications, especially in the Japanese wording, which is confirmed by Ogata.

When they meet again on a boat towards Jabberwock Island, they do not recognize each other, due to Izuru having Junko erase all of the class's memories of him. Nagito is very excited to talk to Izuru and he's happy when he responds, considering him "amazing". However, Izuru treats him coldly and considers him very boring. Nagito thought that they got along quite well and looked forward to meeting Izuru again, despite appearing slightly hurt by his coldness.

Both joined Ultimate Despair for the same reason: to see the ultimate battle between hope and despair.

Usami/Monomi
Like the other students, Nagito is annoyed by Usami. When Usami gives the students Usami Straps in the beginning of the school trip, Nagito is at first silent and continues smiling despite seeming clearly annoyed by the silly objects.

In the Final Dead Room, he is mostly annoyed by her and asks her not to get in his way, though he will also ask her what's wrong when she cries. Monomi is one of few who care about Nagito, and believes in his good side. She tries to tell him this, but he ignores her, likely not considering her a person since she is seemingly a slow-witted plush toy.

Presents
Obtained from the MonoMono Machine.
 * Kokeshi Dynamo
 * Hope's Peak Ring
 * Memory Notebook
 * Mukuro's Knife

Choices
During free time conversations, the player will occasionally be given a choice on how to respond to something that is said. These are the 'right' choices.
 * Hope is absolute good
 * Absolute power

Skills
These will aid you, usually during Class Trials.
 * Trance - Even low combos will increase the tempo. Effective during the Panic Talk Action.

Island Mode Choices
These are the right choices for Island Mode if the player wants to respond to this character correctly.

Jabberwock Park

 * Let's sit down for now.
 * If we move that statue...
 * This looks like a great spot for napping.

Beach

 * I guess we could go fishing.
 * Let's make a sand castle!
 * Let's split a watermelon.

Library

 * These books might burn well.
 * Shall we study?
 * All right, let's look for hidden treasure.

Movie Theater

 * Never mind. Let's leave.
 * I rather leave film movies than watch them...
 * I'm in the mood for mystery...

Amusement Park

 * Let's ride the carousel.
 * We could get lost here.
 * Let's climb that castle.

Military Base

 * Let's look for some food.
 * Where's the warship?
 * This is a little exciting.

Shot Through The Heart

 * Hate me - Negation

Ending

 * Bad luck?

Quotes
&amp;cyoum$psm,03r499jf[@-ultkdrtdes”
 * “Hey... Can you hear me...? Are you okay? ...You seem pretty out of it. To be honest, I'm also... No, everyone feels the same, too. Since we suddenly... got put in this weird situation. ...Hey, are you listening?” (to Hajime Hinata)
 * “With everyone working together under such a splendid leader, we'll be able to overcome any difficulty!”
 * “For someone like me to be useful to you, and to even receive your words of gratitude... makes me happy.” (to Hajime)
 * “I just want to believe in hope, you know?”
 * “Do you understand? Hope is a positive force... Everything created by it is an absolute good!”
 * “The fact that I'm alive right now is already hope!”
 * “My ability is nothing more than having good luck... If it's not the result of one's effort, than it can't be used to accomplish something amazing, either. With or without it, the fact that I'm unremarkable being doesn't change. Ahah, it's different from all of you.”
 * “Despair is... like what I am compared to all of you, something minuscule, trivial and worthless!”
 * “I don't want you guys to lose sight of yourselves because you doubt and hate me. I just...want to see you guys embody hope!”
 * “All of you posses the qualities needed to be able to embody it... Do you understand? Hope, in other words, is a proactive will and talent... It's an absolute "good" that's brought forth by that! That's why, as long as there exist seeds of hope, I'll gladly kill a person... and gladly die myself. Since right now, my reason for living like this is hope itself!”
 * “After all, we're both friends who yearn for hope!” (to Hajime)
 * “You must be really bored to talk to a pest like me...”
 * “Hmhmhm... Just thinking about the bad luck that's waiting for me is making me feel all tingly...!”
 * “In my case, it always leads to such outcomes. However great the misfortune that I experience at first may be... The good luck that will visit me later is grand enough to make up for all of it! That's the talent I possess... The reason I'm called "Ultimate Lucky Student".”
 * “No, that's wrong.” (to Hajime at the beginning of their Rebuttal Showdown)
 * “There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are born with worth, and everybody else. No matter how hard a lowly human tries, they will never be the same as someone who was born worthy... They say that "effort breeds success"... But that's a complete lie. The world is not that accommodating.”
 * “The Ultimates stand together and rise against the despair of the death of their friend! Ahhh.. such a magnificent... beautiful sight!”
 * “'Meaningless'... No other word is more despair-inducing than that. But you mustn't give up! you must face forward with hope in your hearts, and do your best! You are the symbols of hope, because you can recover and rise up, again and again!”
 * “I understand the pain of having nothing to do... But this is just despair that we have to overcome! In the end, everyone's hope will shine bright!”
 * “Personally, I think it shows great courage to try to understand something you don't understand.”
 * “You are definitely someone who embodies hope.” (to Hajime)
 * “Regardless... it's a power that has terrible results due to the fact that I can't wield it with my own will.” (talking about his talent)
 * “Your gracious invitation makes me want to cry... There's no way I could decline...!” (to Hajime)
 * “I just want to feel grateful for this good luck. I want to be thankful that there's someone who's interested in trash like me.”
 * “As soon as my life entered the final round, it quickly became a rollercoaster ride! But it's going to be all right... No matter the bad luck that happens, good luck always lies just beyond it.”
 * “The reason I'm alive is because I always believe there's hope... no matter what.”
 * “Nobody's ever complimented me on my appearance before! Not even my own mother!” (to Mikan Tsumiki)
 * “Now then, Hajime. Will you battle against me?” (to Hajime before commencing their Rebuttal Showdown)
 * “Hahahahaha! Let's commit the crime together so despair can become the foundation of hope!”
 * “I'm sure a bright hope is sleeping inside you, too!” (to Hajime)
 * “Please, don't forget... From the bottom of my heart...I am truly in love with... the hope that sleeps inside you.” (to Hajime)
 * “A mystery that easy would make me sad. It wouldn't be good enough to serve as everyone's stepping stone...”
 * “We aren't supposed to doubt each other here, we're supposed to work together.”
 * “The class trial is where we cooperate with each other, work hard, and aim for victory.”
 * “Two hopes clashing with each other is poetry in motion! That... is what a class trial should be!”
 * “I'm on the side of the absolute hope that can overcome any despair. And I believe that absolute hope... exists at the point where two hopes clash.”
 * “Huh? You seem distressed. A mere tool doesn't panic like that, right?” (to Peko Pekoyama)
 * “It was supposed to be a clash between two hopes, but it was crushed into something so unpalatable...” (talking about Peko's execution)
 * “Even this despair... is just a ladder to a bright, shining future that awaits us! The higher the ladder, the brighter we can shine... that is the unmistakable truth!”
 * “Haha, the hopes of all the Ultimates here will definitely, completely, utterly destroy you. There won't even be a strand of cotton left when we're done with you... That's your future.” (to Monokuma)
 * “I just think warming up is really important, especially since this isn't a game.”
 * “Oh, I'm so happy I'm getting goosebumps! Everyone actually needs help from scum like me!”
 * “Investigating with a suspect in mind creates a different result than investigating with no leads...”
 * “Not everyone cooperates at a class trial... those who lie and conceal the truth will obviously be here too...”
 * “I know because I was looking at Mikan for so long. She was the one taking care of me, after all. My consciousness kept drifting but even so, when I did catch a glimpse of her, her expression was... full of despair. A despair so devoid of hope that not even a single fragment of it remained.”
 * “I mean, killing someone for the sake of despair, instead of for the sake of hope... there's no way I can forgive that.”
 * “C'mon, let's take all this despair and change it into hope!”
 * “Absolute hope that can break through any despair can never lose in a place like this!”
 * “It's not just luck... it's true my talent is trash but I'm still the Ultimate Lucky Student, you know?”
 * “After all, the only good thing about me is how lucky I am.”
 * “To protect hope, I will do anything.”
 * “In the end, despair is only a stepping stone to hope.”
 * “I shouldn't make fun of Hajime. Deep down, I always wanted to become a protagonist myself...”
 * “I believe my actions will become the foundation of this world's hope. And... if that really happens...”
 * “No matter how big the despair... hope will always win in the end.”
 * “The deeper and darker the despair... the brighter and powerful the hope born from it.”
 * “YinOingObJoyTy#%'*)
 * “42md*)(%^'+'+8rmnfd!@#kcheckthewebfordetails:”?(%*!”
 * “Seriouslypissingmeoff+hellan1ce2icAntb3l3ves0methlngg00dl1keth1sisonly$102s0happy+~=~+1tss0happyOrz”
 * “Ah, you guysWstillthinkyou're n0tg0nad13ors0m3th1ngWWWstopitstopitd0ntmst0p12”
 * "Tell daddy if your meatstick feels tingly"

Creation and development
From the start, Nagito was planned to be the main character's foil. His original design was based around the image of a shinigami (死神, "death god" or "death spirit"), the personification of death in Japanese culture.

Unlike Byakuya Togami from the first Danganronpa game, he was to be "an absolute rival", e.g. a relationship similar to the Joker in "Batman".

2nd Draft
The second draft of Nagito's beta design had an ahoge, and the expression of his eyes was different from the other characters, composed of a set of thin and unstable lines.

It's implied that the character used to be Ultimate Hope, and while he wasn't as cheerful as Makoto, his demeanor used to be a lot more softer and gentle.

3rd Draft
The next, third draft of Nagito's beta design became the basis of the current Nagito. The idea behind the character changed and he was drawn based on the image of a dark-side version of Makoto, "a Makoto who fell to the dark side".

Similar to Makoto, the character was short in height, but also had longer hair, glasses and a black parka with a devil design. His eyes and ahoge changed during his "time of despair".

4th Draft
The fourth draft was a taller version of the third one - after the stage of regulating the balance between the 16 students was reached, the creators aimed for the position of a beauty and the character was given a tall stature.

He was very similar to the third draft, with glasses, black parka and his eyes and ahoge changing during the times of despair, but he was also specifically described as handsome.

4.5th Draft
The next draft was known as the "young man version", as he was basically a slightly younger version of the fourth draft.

He had a more aggressive image than the current Nagito, and he "gave off an air of indifference with his discerning gaze".

Nagito Komaeda
Kazutaka Kodaka, the writer of the Danganronpa series, describes the current Nagito as "a strong rival". The creators didn't want to make him just an enemy, as he would've just been feared as the mastermind. However, they believed that a strong rival couldn't just be the mastermind's underling, either. With these thoughts in mind, Nagito was developed into a warped person displaying themes such as "the fear of someone you can’t empathize with/someone that can’t empathize", "contradictions" and "inversed hope". According to Kodaka, "It requires courage to draw a character holding contradictions, yet once I got over that I actually enjoyed making the portrayal".

The other ideas behind Nagito's character were "a dark hero", "a Makoto who took a step down the wrong path" and "a hope too extreme will become despair". Kodaka states that Nagito and Makoto are both the exact opposites of each other yet still extremely alike. He explains that Nagito exists because he wanted to convey such a theme in a vivid manner. "The matter of both resembling in looks may also be an inevitability, if you conform under the idea that outward appearance would grow closer the more the ideology would match".

According to the character designer, Rui Komatsuzaki, Nagito's excessive self-consciousness are remains from the initial design. Moreover, the jagged cuffs of his jacket hold origin from the tail-section of the devil-shaped parka of his beta design. Nagito holds a lot of complicated nuances to his expressions and Rui repeatedly did adjustments while getting inspired by the performance of Nagito's voice actress Megumi Ogata. According to Rui, this increased Nagito's exceptional charm. "I especially like the portion of his hair that along with facing upwards would grow bland and quiver like a flame", he adds.

The Servant
At first, Nagito wasn't planned to have a proper appearance in Danganronpa Another Episode. Furthermore, he wasn't going to be named "Servant", but this was decided for the promo announcement.

Nagito was named simply just "Servant", because the Warriors of Hope didn't want to give him an identity due to him only being a servant. The impression of his aloof appearance was not changed, but his way of thinking was changed slightly when compared to the second game. He was given strange clothes in a sense that they would be recognizable from origin, and in chronological order would lead up and unite to the current image. The jacket was to be pictured as plain clothes, but the collar given by the children gives the design a "servant" nature.

Rui and Kodaka went through various designs (such as a school uniform suit and casual vest), as their likings contradicted each other and made it difficult to decide. Rui believes that the final design was the right choice for both of their preferences.

Trivia

 * “Nagito” (凪斗) as a name means “Calm Below the Dipper”, as in the big dipper constellation, while “Komaeda” (狛枝) translates as “Lion-Dog Tree Branches”. Lion-Dogs are statues that protect and guard shrines in Shintoism. The kanji used are rather old and classical, which may allude to an old family line or an upper class background (of which Nagito does have).
 * Nagito's Free-Time Events reveal that he was diagnosed with stage 3 malignant lymphoma and frontotemporal lobe dementia. While it is left ambiguous in the game, his illnesses and backstory are confirmed in the side materials as well as in his school profile in Danganronpa 3.
 * He appears to suffer from behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), which symptoms may include changes in social and personal behavior, loss of insight into the behaviors of oneself and others, inappropriate social behavior, poor impulse control and judgement, apathy, loss of empathy, mental rigidity, repetitive compulsive behavior, a decline in self-care and personal hygiene, changes in food preferences, delusions, euphoria and lack of awareness of any thinking or behavior changes. Needless to say, this explains a good deal of Nagito's unethical behavior and emotional instability.
 * Other indications of his sickly state include his complexion, hair color and breathy voice. In Island Mode, it's mentioned that he has poor stamina, very sensitive skin and he seems to dislike running. His character profiling describes his "pallid skin of the diseased" as well as his hair color, which "doesn't look like it belongs on a living person".
 * The Despair Disease had a much worse effect on Nagito than anyone else and almost killed him, presumably because he was already very ill.
 * Izuru Kamukura mentions that Nagito has a scent of someone who is "already finished", referring to the fact that he should already be dead, but his luck is keeping him alive.
 * Nagito is a dark parallel to Makoto. It should be noted however that the two characters are not actually connected (save for Makoto being Nagito's successor to the Ultimate Lucky Student title).
 * According to the official Danganronpa 2 artbook, the idea of a darker version of Makoto began with Nagito's third beta design. According to Kazutaka Kodaka, one of the ideas Nagito is based on is "a Makoto that took a step down the wrong path". He states that Nagito and Makoto are the exact opposite of each other yet still extremely alike.
 * His name is an anagram for “Na-e-gi Ma-ko-to da” (苗木誠だ), which translates to “I am Makoto Naegi”.
 * Nagito and Makoto's appearances are fairly similar, they are both deemed the Ultimate Lucky Student and share the same voice actor in both Japanese and English. While Makoto was eventually deemed the Ultimate Hope, Nagito only ever aspired to gain this title.
 * Monokuma himself mentions more than once that Nagito is definitely reminiscent of "him".
 * One of Nagito's hobbies is reading. This is implied in the main story, as Nagito likes to spend his free time in the library and later Hajime and Chiaki find several books inside his cottage. In Island Mode, he mentions that he could stay in a library for hours. He explains that reading is possibly the most peaceful way for him to spend time, because he isn't affected by his luck cycle that much while doing it. It's also mentioned that he enjoys very different kind of books.
 * He enjoys unrealistic horror movies (like ones with ghosts and zombies), but he dislikes realistic horror movies with serial killers and certain action movies because they remind him of his past experiences.
 * In Island Mode, Nagito expresses intense fear towards fighter jets and it's strongly implied that he may suffer from the fear of flying because of his past trauma. While he is generally paranoid about many things, he appears to be extremely paranoid and afraid of plane crashes as just thinking or talking about it makes him very anxious. The idea of people being trapped inside, with no way to escape and just waiting to crash, terrifies him a lot.
 * Despite this, he was seen on an airplane which crashed in Danganronpa 3 - Side Despair. It's possible that he feels more comfortable while traveling alone, as he doesn't put other people's lives at risk.
 * All of his designs include clothes with red and green colors, implying that they might be his favorite colors.
 * His favorite ride is the carousel, because it's relaxing and feels safe.
 * He likes salty things and dislikes sweets.
 * He really likes go stones and has a habit of carrying them with him in jars, because the black (dark) and white (light) stones remind him of the battle between hope and despair.
 * Nagito is very good at cleaning, but he's also implied to be a terrible cook.Nagitogunsgirlsz.png
 * In an interview from the Otomedia magazine, it's implied that Nagito sees meteor showers quite often thanks to his luck, to the point that he considers the shining more of an annoyance than a beautiful thing. Apparently, it happens every time he feels like reading outdoors.
 * In the same article, in his AUTUMN&FOOD Q&A section, Nagito uses "tsuntsun" to describe Hajime's hair.
 * This is the second time Nagito has use such wording, and can be a reference to Danganronpa 2. Where Nagito, while trying to guess Hajime's talent suggests that his title could, in a loose translation, be "tsuntsun hair". This has been translated as "Ultimate Spiky Hair" in the localization, and while it's nit incorrect, it loses the additional joke regarding Hajime's personality.
 * Nagito is a good singer and he has sung three songs (performed by his Japanese voice actress, Megumi Ogata). He has his own mini album due to his popularity.
 * He has his own character song called Poison -gekiyaku-.
 * Absolute Hope Birthday, one of the two songs on the album, is also the ending theme of Danganronpa 3 - Side: Despair.
 * The other song on the album is titled Zansakura -zanka-.
 * The Servant appears as a guest character in Chain Chronicle: Brave New Continent. His Max ATK and Max HP are 7300. His weapon is an army knife and its ability is doubled attack power. His deathblow is called "Sacrifice for Hope". The death blow attack gives maximum damage to any enemies on range, but also takes the half of Servant's own health.
 * Nagito is included in the collaboration of Danganronpa 3 and Guns Girl Z.
 * Edmond Dantes from the Fate/GrandOrder series has often been compared to Nagito, due to their similar appearances and their status as servants.
 * Nagito is one of the known LGBT+ individuals in the Danganronpa series.
 * In his fifth free-time event, he gives an aborted declaration of love to Hajime. In the original version, he uses a very strong romantic Japanese word "aishiteru".
 * In the official drama CD, Nagito states that he loves Hajime for being willing to spend time with him even after knowing what kind of person he is.
 * In the Island Mode, he calls a cottage his and Hajime's "love nest"l and he states that he doesn't mind getting naked in case Hajime wants to see that.
 * In his character song 劇薬 Poison, he mentions his love for an ambiguous "him".
 * In Danganronpa 3 - Side: Despair, he is shown to be attracted to Izuru Kamukura.
 * In Super Danganronpa 2.5, his head accidentally ending up between Mikan's legs is bad luck for him, which could imply he is not interested in girls. Typically such fanservice scenes are considered good luck for the male lead, and the aforementioned scene was even described as a lucky accident in advertisement despite not really being one.
 * As a result of brainwashing, he both loves and hates Junko, though these conflicting feelings haven't been shown in an explicitly romantic and sexual manner, unlike Mikan's feelings.
 * Interestingly, the events of self-harming leading up to Nagito's suicide in Chapter 5 mirrors certain details of the deaths in the first game; Sayaka was stabbed, Chihiro was tied up, Sakura was poisoned in a locked room setting, and Mukuro was speared. Given that he knows about the murders during the Killing School Trip, as he tells Hajime in Chapter 4, it is very likely this is intentional on his part.

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