[MISC] RANKING EVERY DANGANRONPA CHARACTER FROM WORST TO BEST [PART FOUR]

See part one, part two and part three!

Finally, after months – we’ve reached my top 10 Danganronpa characters! These are the cream of the crop, the absolute best characters – in my own opinion, of course.

NOTE:  This only includes characters from the games Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Super Danganronpa 2 and Danganronpa v3: Killing Harmony. This will not include anime only characters, nor anyone who only appeared in Ultra Despair Girls. Sorry, not sorry.

Once again, this post will contain HUGE SPOILERS FOR ALL THREE GAMES. Proceed at your own risk.

10. MAKI HARUKAWA (ULTIMATE CHILD CAREGIVER/ULTIMATE ASSASSIN)

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Kicking off the top 10, we have my personal best girl from Danganronpa v3 – Maki! Initially, Maki didn’t make a huge impression on me. Whilst she certainly wasn’t a complete extra, she didn’t really stand out to me until chapter 3, where she began to take a much more prominent role in the story. Not only is her real talent exposed – and definitely a lot more interesting than her original backstory of ‘a child care giver’, but she also becomes a great asset at Shuichi’s side, since her experience as an assassin means she had no trouble adjusting to the murder scene. From chapter 3 onwards, she proved herself to be more than just a misunderstood tsundere, through her help in the trials, and of course, the development of her relationship with Kaito. It was through this relationship that brought on some of my favourite Maki moments in the game. Overall, Maki’s character development is amongst my favourite not only in v3, but in the Danganronpa series overall, and she made for a very worthy survivor.

9. NAGITO KOMAEDA (ULTIMATE LUCKY STUDENT)

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Nagito being in my top 10 is a strange concept to me. I can’t stand the guy. He belittled me every single trial, did his best to derail all trains of thought (and not in the mischievous way like Kokichi did), and was overall creepy as hell. His death was a welcome surprise, I must admit. That being said, it’s with all these factors considered that Nagito ranks so high for me. Yes, he’s a creep, but I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t one of the best written and most interesting characters in the entire franchise. Yes, he stirred up every single trial, but he did this all in the name of ‘hope’. Consider ‘Nagito Komaeda’ as an anagram of ‘Makoto Naegi’, who was the ‘Ultimate Hope’ as well as sharing Komaeda’s talent, though I’m sure Komaeda believed himself to be the Ultimate Hope all the same, even if he had to cause despair to create hope. He is truly twisted, but I can’t deny that he was one of the reasons that I rate Danganronpa 2 so highly. He proves himself time and time again to be anything other than an extra, and maybe, like Rantaro, Nagito could be fun to play as a protagonist. You know, had he not created a super gory suicide for himself.

8. IBUKI MIODA (ULTIMATE MUSICIAN)

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Ibuki isn’t a particularly deep or complex character like Nagito. As the Ultimate Musician, Ibuki’s entire mission was just to spread joy and happiness through…questionable heavy metal music? But really, when the entire game is filled with despair and darkness, you almost feel like crying out for some optimism, so look no further than the ever bright Ibuki. Whilst she contributed essentially nothing when it came to solving cases, except a few one-liners and some *gluggluglgug* sprites, she shone during Free Time. I loved Hajime awkwardly headbanging along with Ibuki, who was ever-hopeful (seriously Nagito, THIS is hope) that he’d someday be a part of her band. Her death in Chapter 3 was really…awful, honestly. I didn’t see it coming, and felt considerably bummed out that such a happy and colourful character had gone. Still, she’s top 10 (and a survivor, sniff) in my heart.

7. JUNKO ENOSHIMA (ULTIMATE FASHIONISTA/ULTIMATE ANALYST/ULTIMATE DESPAIR)

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Like Nagito…where does one even start with Junko, except ‘I love her’?! And no, that’s not the brainwashing talking. You would not believe how excited I am every time she appears. She is the boss to end bosses. Every time you think you’re rid of Junko, she comes back bigger and badder than before. And wow, is she great at being a villain. The destruction of the entire world, from a teenage girl who was ‘bored’, as she explains. Since her talent as the Ultimate Analyst made everything too obvious, despair is the only unpredictable thing she knows, and she will stop at nothing to achieve it. Kills her own sister, brainwashes an entire class of gifted students to overthrow countries, and even goes as far as to execute herself, since there’s nothing more despair inducing than death. Yep, for how little screentime Junko gets as the main villain (since it was of course, a surprise for the first game), she makes sure that the time she has is memorable and every second was worth the wait. Give into despair.

6. HAJIME HINATA (ULTIMATE ????)

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A lot of people give me the ‘huh?’ look when I tell them that not only is Hajime my favourite Danganronpa protagonist, but he also very nearly misses out on a spot in my top 5. I get it, he’s plain. Hell, he’s in a class full of super taelented students and he doesn’t even have a talent of his own (or so we think…). But to me, the plain aspect of him was what I liked. Whilst Makoto kind of got on my nerves with his blind naivety, and Shuichi was just too darn smart for my liking (plus I was still reeling about Kaede for at least 2 chapters), Hajime was a lot more relatable. He kept a level head for most of the game, and reacted to a lot of situations in ways that I imagine I would too, had I woken up on a deserted island and been asked to participate in a killing game. Then of course, we find out that Hajime isn’t normal, and he actually has every talent imaginable under the name of Izuru Kamukura, and that he’s the entire reason the events of the game are happening. The big reveal shook me to my core, but I found myself liking Hajime even more as his Hajime vs Izuru sides communicated, until he finally resolved to choose his own future in neither hope nor despair. Hajime, to me, is both the most likeable and the most interesting protagonist (come antagonist) Danganronpa have had so far.

5.  KAITO MOMOTA (ULTIMATE ASTRONAUT)

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I fell in love with Kaito on first meeting, for many personal reasons. One being my desire to go to space, and the biggest one being that he reminded me of (and shares a voice actor with) my one true love, Kamina, from Gurren Lagann. So, naturally, I was always going to be interested in him. And luckily for me, my curiosity paid off, and Kaito ended up as my overall favourite character in Danganronpa v3. If anyone was deserving of the title of Ultimate Hope this time around, it would have to be Kaito. His belief and morale – though sometimes a little brash and stupid, is arguably the biggest reason everyone kept going after each death attempted to fill them with despair. He served as a great source of well needed comic relief in possibly the darkest game yet, as well as providing some truly heart-felt moments when needed. His resolve in Chapter 4 to team up with his worst enemy to save his friends, even if it meant both of their deaths, honestly ripped me in half. His belief in his friends – particularly Shuichi and Maki (and as mentioned previously, Kaito and Maki is an entirely separate article) carried on long after his death, and he truly served his purpose as a Luminary of the Stars, for he shone the brightest.

4. PEKO PEKOYAMA (ULTIMATE SWORDSWOMAN)

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My best girl in the entire franchise, and she got such an early death. I was rooting for you, Peko. So, I’ll admit; when I first met Peko, I was so sure she was going to be the Kirigiri of Danganronpa 2 (so, you know…survive). She was super helpful and levelheaded in both trials and investigations, and as the Ultimate Swordswoman, she seemed like a badass (seemed like? She was a badass). She also shared some really adorable moments with Hajime in her free time events, where she reduced Hajime to a stuttering idiot as he taught her how to smile. But I suppose, as an Ultimate Swordswoman, you’re also more likely to be a murderer, which unfortunately, Peko proved herself to be. Though, she wasn’t as tough as she initially seemed to be, as it was revealed that she essentially killed Mahiru in the name of love, her love being for her childhood friend, Fuyuhiko. Her death served as not only one of the saddest in Danganronpa 2, but also one of the saddest in the entire franchise. I think Peko would’ve made a great survivor, had that video game not driven her to murder, and I would’ve loved to have seen her reactions to the Grape/Strawberry house, for example. In an alternate universe…

3. KIYOTAKA ISHIMARU (ULTIMATE HALL MONITOR)

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My first ever favourite in Danganronpa, still holding onto those top spots. God, I love Taka. He is easily the most likeable character in the first game, despite popular opinion. Straight from the get-go, he makes sure that you’re paying attention to him (he IS a hall monitor, after all), and his expressive and dramatic nature about every little thing is both endearing and unforgettable. He had a heart of gold, and I fell for him even more after playing his Free Time Events. Turns out his family are in a pretty bad position, and he works hard not for himself, but for the benefit of everyone else. Oh, be still my heart. This makes Mondo’s execution even sadder, for he was Taka’s first true ‘bro’. To someone so selfless, losing your first and only friend is a pain I can’t even imagine, and I spent most of Mondo’s trial choking back tears at Taka’s refusal to accept it. Almost immediately after this, we get dealt Taka’s own death which…wait for it, was caused by him seeking comfort in Chihiro’s AI as a form of coping. Oh, Taka. Again, I wish we could’ve seen Taka survive to the end after this, not out of bias (well, not only), but I would’ve liked to see how his character developed after Mondo’s death, and how the rest of the game would be changed with Taka continuing on as ‘Kiyondo’, a hybrid of both himself and Mondo.

2. FUYUHIKO KUZURYUU (ULTIMATE GANGSTER)

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Unlike everyone else this end of my list, I didn’t like Fuyuhiko much at all upon first meeting. He seemed unnecessarily confrontational and unhelpful, and I had him written off as a victim for Chapter 2. Shame on me, when it turns out that whilst Chapter 2 is the big moment for Fuyuhiko, it was in a much more positive way… kind of. Fuyuhiko causes both Peko’s and Mahiru’s deaths in Chapter 2, and is overwhelmed by guilt, particularly in the case of Peko, as we find out he had been in love with her the entire time. As a result of this, Fuyuhiko really takes this as an opportunity for change, going as far as to beg for forgiveness on his knees for his actions. Which is already noble, but then he bursts his wound open simultaneously. He serves as a great right hand man to Hajime, keeping him rational at times when he begins to question and doubt, and overall has the best character arc in the game, for me personally. He still keeps the sassy, baby gangster attitude (of course, who would he be otherwise?) but it’s very obvious that the old Fuyuhiko died alongside Peko, and we instead get a selfless, well deserving survivor. Too bad I’m so biased towards one character, he was almost best boy…

1. GUNDHAM TANAKA (ULTIMATE ANIMAL BREEDER)

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Everyone saw this coming. Gundham is easily, and by far, my favourite character in the entire Danganronpa series. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that Gundham made a huge impact in the trials and investigations, because he didn’t. Hell, in the first trial, he is actively unhelpful when Hajime enquires about his whereabouts, for Hajime did not use the correct terms to refer to his earring. Who dareth disrespect the Supreme Overlord of Ice, I say. Whilst I do have a bias for chuunibyou characters (and an even bigger one for animal lovers), making Gundham a point of interest for me from the very beginning, in his Free Time Events, you see that he’s more than just some one liners and a big scarf. Turns out Gundham had a pretty hard upbringing with a rocky relationship with his father, and turned to his forbidden personality as a form of comfort. He’s also pretty lonely, with Hajime and Sonia (which is on a side note, the cutest pairing in the franchise) being his first human friends. Despite this, Gundham shows a strong enough love to his classmates that he was willing to sacrifice himself in Chapter 4 in order to save all of his friends from starving to death, much to Sonia’s disbelief. Like Kaito, his vow to never give up, and to die to let the others keep on living is a message that resonates strongly with the survivors and allows them to keep on fighting despair until the very end. And can we just talk about those hamst- I mean, the Four Dark Devas of destruction? Who knew that such a scary looking guy, could be so soft for those four softies? He even frees them during his execution, so they wouldn’t have to see him die (though they still carried him to heaven anyway…sniff). Also, have you heard that voice?! Sploosh. No, but really. Both his Japanese and English voice actors did an incredible job with him, and created such a great and memorable performance. Long live the Tanaka Empire!

So we made it, with some surprises, and some very obvious placements (number 1, duh), but we did it!

Where did your favourite place? What did you think of my choices! Let me know!

Until next time!