Makoto Naegi

Makoto Naegi (苗木 誠 Naegi Makoto) is the main protagonist of Dangan Ronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair. Unlike most students, he was selected to attend Hope's Peak Academy because he won a lottery, earning him the title of Super High-School Level Good Luck (超高校級の「幸運」Chō Kōkō Kyū no "Kōun"). Throughout the course of the game, he became one of the more prominent investigators and was the one that was usually able to see the truth behind every murder. Naegi survived the final trial and escaped with the other survivors at the end of the game.

He is also one of the returning characters in Super Dangan Ronpa 2. Naegi joined the Future Foundation after the events of the first game.

Appearance
Naegi describes himself as being a typical normal high school student. He has brown hair and green eyes. He wears a brownish green hoodie, black jeans and red sneakers. Naegi is rather short, making him the second smallest of the boys.

Personality
Naegi is friendly and a lot more down-to-earth than other students. This is possibly the reason why he is capable of approaching and befriending them in the Free Time sequence. Junko refers to him as an ‘herbivore man,’ which she means that Naegi is likely to be the passive one in a relationship; proven from his conversation with others. According to him, his most distinguishing feature is his optimism. Because of it, he's capable of befriending almost anyone, even the most antisocial such as Togami and Fukawa. Naegi would make use of this particular trait later on the final trial where he prevented the other students from giving in to the despair that starts to overtake them, earning him the title Super High School Level Hope.

Pre-Despair Incident
Naegi starts out by being an ordinary high school student with no special talent. He lives with his mother, father and little sister. He eventually gets selected to attend Hope's Peak Academy though a random lottery, earning his title of "Super High School Level Good Luck".

In Dangan Ronpa/Zero, it is learned that during his time entering Hope's Peak Academy he eventually bumps into Ryouko Otonashi in the medical bay and states that he was there to return the Electronic Handbook that Yasuke Matsuda misplaced. Afterwards, they had a short encounter with Isshiki Madarai but Mukuro Ikusaba saves Naegi's life during the short encounter.

High School Life of Mutual Killing
Naegi was first seen in front of the building of Hope's Peak Academy. As he entered the entrance hall, he felt dizzy and ended up in an empty classroom. He first started by inspecting the classroom and finding a letter leading to the assembly.

Execution
Detention - Naegi is in a room filled with school desks. In the center is a large conveyor belt where his desk is located. As he sits there, it goes backwards towards the end of the room. Behind him at the end of the conveyor belt is a large block resembling a trash compactor that slams down every few seconds intending to crush whatever is underneath. Above is a television showing Monobear's face on it. As his desk moves backwards, Monobear dressed as a teacher appears in front of him and attempts to teach him a lesson in class.

At the last second, the Monobear on the television is replaced with Alter Ego. The compactor stops just as Naegi is about to be crushed to death. The conveyor belt keeps moving on and a door in the floor opens. Naegi and the desk then fall backwards through the very large and deep hole in the floor while teacher Monobear looks on in a panic.

Relationships
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Quotes

 * "Ah, that's right. Someone mentioned this before -- What's up with this situation?! What's the meaning of all this?!"
 * "Being able to touch a body without any reserve… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get used to it, no matter how many times I have to do it…"
 * "Are you sure you aren’t telling me just because I don’t have your trust…?"
 * "Eh…? Are you sure it’s alright, disturbing the crime scene like that?"
 * "No, I’ll definitely figure it out…!"
 * "What the hell are you saying…! This is all your fault…!"
 * "YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG!"

Trivia

 * Naegi's voice actor, Megumi Ogata, also voices Nagito Komaeda from Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Farewell Despair Academy, who he shares several traits with, including the title of "Super High School Level Good Luck".