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, brown 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.

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.

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

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.