Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair/Characters

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Characters from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair include:

Hajime Hinata/Izuru Kamakura

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The protagonist of the game, Hajime was a 'normal' student in a school of Ultimate's, he is put in the Island 'school trip' and he discovers many uncomfortable truths as he goes through his journey.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anti-Villain: Izuru, if you consider Danganronpa 3 canon. While he was still a bad person, complacent and willing to assist Junko in the annihilation of the world, he was not as active in planning for it as the game implied. Most of th time, simply being willing to help or observe the cruel actions of others. Chiaki's death also helps turn him against Junko. Combined with his tragic backstory, he comes across as one of the more sympathetic villains in the series.
  • Contrasting Sequel Character: He splits the role of Makoto with Nagito, initially he seems to essentially be a second version of Naegi, the normal student in a class of Ultimate's, who learns to be the main one solving the mysteries of the game. The differences grow more gradually then with Nagito, he only discovers he lacked a real talent half-way through the plot, when Makoto knew from the instant; The revelation also causes him far more angst then it did with Naegi. The differences grow immensely when we discover that he is one of the game's masterminds; he was apparently experimented on to have numerous talents, and much of the game has actually been his plan. Both were also the 'Ultimate Hope', but the specifics were far more horrific with Izuru then Makoto.
  • Kill the Ones You Love: He is forced to expose Chiaki as the traitor, wich he points out is the same as asking him to help kill her.
  • Ship Tease: Gets this heavily with Chiaki, he blushes seeing her in her bikini and has many moments with her where they seem to be building an emotional bond. She dies before anything can come of this, but her memory does help Hajime in the end.

Nagito Komadea(spoilers Unmarked)

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The first character Hajime meets on the island, he serves as a helpful guide and tries to calm things down when Monokuma arrives. We discover numerous secrets about him in the first trial...

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Ambiguously Bi: His feelings for Hajime are romantic, but he also has a complex 'love/hate' relationship with Junko Enoshima; and its heavily indicated that he is in love with Chiaki as well.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: With Monokuma. Monokuma overthrew Monomi and put everyone in the game, but Nagito manipulates events to actually get the killing started, and throughout the game his schemes cause many problems for the other protagonists. The second to last chapter is about defusing the final horrible scheme Nagito made, before they finally go up against the mastermind themself.
  • Contrasting Sequel Character: With Makoto Naegi, Kodaka has said Nagito was supposed to invoke Makoto, to lure players into a false sense of security. Makoto was a kind-hearted character who wanted to give hope even in a dire situation like this, Nagito is an amoral sociopath who makes the situation more dire out of his twisted obsession with 'Hope'. They both have title of 'ultimate Lucky student', but are vastly different in how they fit the name. With Makoto it was simply a ceremonial title for whoever was randomly picked for Hope's Peak, whilst Nagito seems to actually have some kind of supernatural power revolving around luck.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
    • In a supremely twisted way, he cares for his classmates. He admires them all as champions of hope, and creates struggles for them while hoping they can somehow overcome it. In particular, its steadily shown, and outright confirmed by outside sources, that he is in romantic love with Hajime. This does not stop him from trying to kill everyone except Chiaki in the penultimate chapter.
    • Its implied that he has taken a liking to Chiaki specifically, when he discovers that she is the traitor, he swaps his plan from trying to expose her to saving her. He tricks her into killing him while making it look like he killed himself, all in a plan to make them guess wrong at a trial and kill them all, sans Chiaki herself. He simply never imagined Chiaki would choose to sacrifice herself instead.

Chiaki Nanami

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The ultimate Gamer, a cute-if tired girl who proves to be surprisingly adept at solving mysteries.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anti-Villain: Averted, she seems to be this when it is revealed that she is the traitor, spying on the team for the Future Foundation. She says that she did not want to lie to anyone and had no choice but to do what she did. We later discover the Future Foundation itself was heroic, meaning she was not even ostensibly a villain.
  • Contrasting Sequel Character: To Kyoko, both are the female love interest of their game and are the ones assisting with solving the cases. Aside from that, they are different as night and day. Kyoko was a stoic girl who hid her emotions behind a mask, Chiaki is a quirky gamer who is simply too tired to express herself much.