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 light grey-ish, green eyes. He wears a brownish green hoodie, black jeans and red sneakers. Naegi is rather short, making him the second smallest of his class (after Fujisaki).

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 a ‘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 of 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 is first seen in front of the building of Hope's Peak Academy. As he entered the entrance hall, he began feeling dizzy and loses consciousness, eventually waking up in an empty classroom. Dazed, Naegi collects himself and begins inspecting the classroom, discovering that all the windows in the room are blocked and bolted down with iron plates, and a security camera looms ominously over the classroom. He soon finds a crayon-written letter titled Orientation Info. He exits the classroom and begins exploring- what Naegi assumes- is the inside of the Academy. He soon finds out that he is not alone, stumbling upon a group of other students, each telling a story with one thing in common: they all woke up in a classroom after losing consciousness when stepping inside the school grounds.

Commencing the Academy Coliseum
Through the introductions, Naegi would joined the present student into the hall and assemble as he saw Monokuma. Though suspicious about the talking bear's, Naegi has some uneasiness in his mind as the talking bear give the student an harsh ultimatum which no alternatives; either live in the academy forever or kill the present student to "graduate"(the killer would get away from murder trials).

Learned that all the students are given a harsh ultimatum, Naegi remained silent and shock while remark that the school he administered is not Hope Academy, instead it is a Despair Academy. Until his silent is broken by Kirigiri that just standing around is no solution, Naegi regain his senses and temp to find the solution to seek the exit without meet any unwanted accidents. Seeing Togami's antisocial interaction had ignited and Oowada's rage, Naegi would tend to stop the argument and instead of calm both boys, Naegi was beaten by Oowada and stay unconscious until he awoke into his own student hostel room.

Maizono's Death, First False Allegations and the First Class Trial Execution
While learned from Kirigiri's possibility that Maizono's wrote her dying message in order to protect him, Naegi would response to the School Detective that he will shoulder the weight and live on so their death would be neither forgotten nor

More Casualties and Distrust is Among Us
Since the death of both Maizono and Kuwata, Naegi

Oogami's Role as a Mole and Her Noble Sacrifice
After the 3rd Class Trial and Celes's execution, Naegi would witness the strong

The 16th Student, Mukuro Ikusaba And Another False Allegations
After witnessed his friends has fallen one by one, executed and murdered, in his adventures, Naegi would vowed to his former classmates that he will find the clue to escape the nightmare so their death would not be in vain, while avenged them by finding the real culprit behind the inhumane game.

while in his sleep, Naegi is suddenly attacked by an masked figure but he is saved by Kirigiri that. Before he check the school for more mysteries, Naegi finally found the perpetrator who is almost responsible for his assassination, only to be found him/her dead.

Execution(Almost)
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. \

It should be noted that he and Kyouko have the same execution.

Miracle Return and Tensed Rivalry with Real Enoshima
Prior to his miraculous return with Kirigiri, Naegi is reunited with the other students (who still think that Naegi was responsible of killing Mukuro). Kirigiri then explains on his behalf that the trial was restarted due to some circumstances. Throughout the course of the investigation, Naegi learns about their past via the DVD and is confused that all of the students, including himself, began to think that they were actually in amnesia before this sadistic game started.

As the perpetrator was revealed as the real Junko Enoshima, Naegi is surprised that all of his friends, including Kirigiri, were stunned by Enoshima's revelation about Hope Peak Academy's true plan and his execution would mean the end of their hope. Yet as persistent as always, Naegi refused to give in and he tried to persuade his friends that hope exists among their hearts. With his fellow survived student's solid support around him, Naegi managed to force Enoshima to submit on her knees and executed herself in a special punishment (Super Duper Nasty Torture) in the progress; which finally resulted in her 'death' and the survivors are finally free from the dilemma.

Considered as the trial is finally over, Naegi would open the door and begin to wonder if his doubts and insecurity remain in his mind after his journey in the academy. In his heart however, Naegi remarks that as long he refuses to give in, hope will be spread throughout the world and as long he wields hope, he would make the impossible possible.

Sayaka Maizono
Prior to entering Hope's Peak Academy, Naegi and Maizono attended middle school together and didn't have much of a friendship due to them being in different social standards. Maizono later reveals that she always meant to talk to Naegi since witnessing him nursing an injured crane back to health after it got lost and stuck in the pool at their school. Unfortunately, they ended up graduating without ever having contact.

In highschool, Maizono recognized Naegi immediately and befriended him. A mutual attraction formed between the two and she even considered herself to be his "sidekick." He admired her very much and silently remarked on her beauty everytime she smiled. They trusted one another, and she admitted that she would go to dangerous lengths so she can protect and defend her idol members. After receiving the alarming video which showed her friends disbanding the idol group and laying on the stage in distress, Maizono had an emotional breakdown. Naegi was quick to comfort her, promising to get her out of the school no matter what it took. Naegi cared for her enough to let her borrow his room when she was scared of sleeping in her own. The next morning of her absence, Naegi is quick to go looking for her worried about the condition she was in. Upon finding her dead in his bathroom, devestated, he lets out a loud scream and faints.

After finding out the facts from the class trial, and knowing that Maizono took advantage of his caring actions and tried to frame him, Naegi feels betrayed. However, he still mourns her death as she was his close friend. Kirigiri comforts Naegi and exposes that its most likely Maizono wrote her dying message with Naegi in her thoughts, exposing her killer to apologize for her actions. Naegi points out that she also could have just wanted to get back on her killer. It is not revealed whether that is true or not but in his conversation with Kirigiri after the trial, he quotes Maizono one last time, calling his intuition a result of him being an esper and then denying it as a joke after.

In Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Farewell Despair Academy, Naegi used the 11037 number as a code to save the remaining students, the number which Maizono used to save Naegi from being framed as the culprit in the first trial, Naegi later explained to Hinata the reason he set 11037 as the code because a certain person (Maizono) left that number behind to save him from trouble, proving that Naegi believed Kirigiri's theory and remembered her dearly as a friend.

Kyouko Kirigiri
The two's bond began during the events of the first case. Kirigiri is the one who tells Naegi that there was more to Maizono's murder than what everyone has been lead to believe. It is thanks to her words that he is able to solve the mystery of his late friend's death. She later comforts him about the events, saying that Maizono was hesitating to carry out her planned deed to kill him and gave her (and subsequently him) the piece of evidence needed to solve the case. Since then, the two have been on good terms and she aids him in the debates during cases. Naegi refers to her as a friend and wishes that she would trust him as much as he trusts her to which she begins to try and believe in others.

During the moments of the fifth trial, when Kirigiri is suspected of the crime and Naegi finds a contradiction in her claim, he remain quiet, putting his faith in Kirigiri. This lead to him being found guilty of the crime in question. He is forced to undergo a punishment, but is saved thanks to Alter Ego. She realizes that she was only concerned for herself rather than the safety of the only person that trusted her. Because of this, she risks her life to save him. This coupled with other subtle hints may indicate that she has feelings for him.

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!"
 * "I'll prove it with this!"
 * "I think... I like bears best."

Trivia

 * Naegi's Japanese VA, Megumi Ogata, also voiced Nagito Komaeda from Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Farewell Despair Academy, with whom he shares several traits, including the title of "Super High School Level Good Luck".
 * In accordance with his DVD, it is shown he has a younger sister.
 * He is often depicted as losing one of his shoes in both official artworks and the opening of the anime.