Welcome to Part 3 of my Top 85 Danganronpa Characters!

As explained in my introduction post, I am ranking down my personal top 85 Danganronpa characters with my own personal preference. You can find the rules in the introduction post. One more reminder, BEWARE OF SPOILERS, SKIP BY ENTRIES AS YOU SEE FIT! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Once again, I appreciate the responses people have given, it truly helps a lot with making these and motivates me to make more, please give any feedback you want, it helps so much!

Let’s get the Hope and Despair started!

Number 65 – Hiyoko Saionji



Oooh, what’s this? Hiyoko this high? Well this person must be crazy, Hiyoko should be below even Haiji, Leon will not stand for having her be this much higher than him. She deserved to die. I get those general vibes from you reader, I’m onto you and your Leon appreciation. In any case, yes, Hiyoko was a total hag, hag being the closest true insult I can say within a PG environment, she is not a great person.

If you managed to power through the idea of even wanting to hang out with Hiyoko, you’ll discover how she was bullied a huge amount, as much as Mikan to the point where people were trying to assassinate her due to her clan status. Maybe it was just you guys wanting to assassinate her. In any case, I see why she has such a disgusting personality. I think this backstory is great, it really helps define who she is, she had to be strong and she had to try and be defensive to protect herself from all the bullying and murder attempts.

Hiyoko is the problem child like Fuyuhiko in the first two chapters. She acts rude to everyone but can’t handle the bullying she gets in return. It takes Mahiru, a character sure to come up in the next part, for her to start being kinder and actually to show a nice side. What I like about this is that she feels like a more realistic character, there are people who are that aggressive in reality and have trouble getting along with people and in her circumstances you can understand it.

When Mahiru dies, Hiyoko does her best to honor her friend, something characters don’t do often in the series. I’ll be honest, I felt bad for how difficult it was for her from that point, she wanted to do her best to be positive but still had difficulty opening up to the group, with the only ones who seemed to return her kindness being Chiaki and Ibuki through that hilarious event where they play music to honor Mahiru further.

Then she died. Ooh, that was due to happen and honestly not very surprising. Hiyoko gets this far because her character depth is actually quite large when you dissect it, she also leaves a more lasting impression. Also to note, her insults are ruthless but I can appreciate that, she doesn’t hold back and says what she wants, more insulting confidence like that please Mikan. But she can’t go any further because she’s a total hag, let’s see so much rage for this.

Number 64 – Monotaro

Hey it’s a Monobear. I want to apologize to that one Reddit user who said “Monotaro #1 or riot”. Looks like its a riot. Monotaro was one of the Monokubs and while he doesn’t do anything I hate like the prior three, he doesn’t do enough for his character to get any higher. He gets a mixed personality throughout the game and honestly I just didn’t get it.

Appearing as the initial leader of the Monokubs, I was ready to give this guy a shot, he seemed to know what he was doing and he was some form of ninja, props to him. But then that was ruined by Monokuma turning up, too bad for Monotaro. Well in any case, he seems to be the glue that holds the Monokubs together, being able to get along with any of them. I also found him being pretty humorous, I found myself laughing at him more than the previous two, I welcome humor.

I think his downfall happened in Chapter 4, he and Monophanie are the only remaining ones and he assumes the role of some abusive father figure to Monophanie’s unknown insecticide child, where did this come from? It seemed to just be thrown in and wasn’t really all that funny. He then starts seeing Miu and Kiibo as his parents, a little funny but also too random, I just didn’t get it. He does start helping the group in the chapter though, helping with hacking back into the Neo World so he is pretty useful.

I don’t think his humor was good enough to land him on a spot any higher though, he negatives also dragged him down a peg. I think I still like him more than I hate him, so that’s a good thing. Sorry to that one Reddit User. If it helps his design is pretty good too, so I hope that eases the pain.

Number 63 – Nagisa Shingetsu

Pile on the hatred for me, Nagisa has some really large followings in some places, maybe Reddit won’t be one of them but I’ll test that now. Nagisa was one of the Warriors of Justice, and the most sane one out of the lot. There’s much to be said about that statement already. He can easily recognize what’s wrong or right but because of his tragic backstory and influence from Big Sis Junko and Monaca, he sides with evil.

He’s more complex than the other three members in the group, probably because of how much we get to see him. He recognizes eventually that Monaca is a psychotic brat but is easily stopped because Monaca has him wrapped around her little finger. Weird, gross and too creepy.

His backstory is so cruel and really dark, like all of Ultra Despair Girls. I love Danganronpa but sometimes it can get way too dark to the point it makes me too uncomfortable to appreciate it. Probably why I wasn’t the biggest Ultra Despair Girls fan, but probably already stated by me, whoops. I can appreciate the depth of him but it gets too deep for me.

Not to sound bad but I wish he did stay dead, when I thought he died I felt genuinely sad that it happened, it made me appreciate him more. All it took was one cameo in The End of Hope’s Peak and I lost that additional care. Now of course I still liked him, he was very calculating and was shown to be the intelligence of the Warriors of Justice. Without him they would have been lost, but they still would have functioned but with more sinister control from Monaca.

I cared about him a good deal but I just don’t think he made too much of an impact for me. It was hard to appreciate Ultra Despair Girl characters because of how despair inducing that game was. Oooh, I did a funny. In any case, I feel this is a good spot for him.

Number 62 – Korekiyo Shinguji

This character is kind of a weird case. I’ve seen people adore him but then others hate him. I suppose I’m more towards the hate but I do think he’s an intriguing character.

This is a part of the reason why I do like most of the V3 characters, we do see him talk about his talent and we even get some in depth description about how much he likes it. You seem him perform the ritual to speak to the dead, as well as how strongly he feels about the artifacts in his room, so it’s refreshing to see.

Another reason I do like him is he’s one of the characters who really helped progress a trial along. It wouldn’t be that he’s out seeking the truth as such, but moreso that he’s helping discover what happened. Even the trial he was the murderer in, he still contributed a fair deal and even tried to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes, by admitting to the murder of the 2nd victim but not the first.

From the first 2 chapters, I really found his creepiness to be…not as bad as I thought it would be. It definitely was unnerving, but it also didn’t bother me as much, probably because he wasn’t a total psychopath…well not yet. He loses a lot of points in Chapter 3 for me.

Killing two beloved characters (to me anyway) was pretty hateable for me. But what made it worse, was his reasoning. He wanted worthy souls to keep his dead sister company. Yep, I became creeped out. How could it get worse? Well I really didn’t like the relationship he had with his sister. It felt way too unnerving and it just isn’t right at all. Also if he tells me to apologize in his Argument Armament one more time I’m going to lose it.

So I appreciate how well he progressed trials, but not what he turned out to be like. Also another unrelated reason why I like him is how good he is portrayed in Danganronpa Vines, you should watch them, they’re honestly so true and probably canon.

Number 61 – Masaru Daimon

Another Warrior of Justice to talk about? Masaru was the self appointed boss of the group and a character whose biggest downfall is the severe lack of screentime he has because I liked his idea. That does sound hypocritical considering how I put Jataro and Nagisa lower on the list but I think Masaru did the villain role well without being too dark and without being too annoying.

He hates adults and with good reason. His father was abusive both verbally and physically, causing such torment to Masaru. He tried his best to smile while his father beat him to try make him not hate Masaru. Ironically it was doing worse, where his father would think he was sick and twisted. Masaru’s backstory is hella crazy, much like the others. I suppose the way he expresses his hatred and how its shown is done better than how Nagisa and Jataro’s are.

Masaru was a strong opening threat to the main characters, it helps the player show the sick and twisted side of what is being portrayed by the world. You understand perfectly the pain that he went through and why he thinks this way, as well as how he was easily manipulated by the likes of Junko and Monaca.

I like how he feels he needs to be strong for the group, acting as leader the self appointed leader he needs to be confident and wants to eliminate the threats of adults to his friends. It’s admirable but also extremely wrong, since the way they go about doing it is despair inducing.

I suppose why he’s this far down is, again the dark tone of Ultra Despair Girls really doesn’t sit well with me. I can just appreciate his character that bit more than Jataro and Nagisa as he was portrayed better than those two in my eyes. But I think his character depth and personality is very strong, if only we got to see more of him.

Number 60 – Ryōko Otonashi

Like Yasuke and Isshiki, there are some who won’t know who this character is. I can’t blame you, reading isn’t as fun as watching, in fact it raises the question why I don’t just make this a video, it might get more views but that YouTube stardom is all too much to handle, I’ll leave that to the professionals. In any case, Ryōko gets this spot because I found her initial character to be interesting and she was extremely funny. I could laugh while I read, I never knew it was possible, JK, I know you’re all laughing as you read this.

Ryōko was a girl who had memory loss, requiring a diary to remember things. Yasuke was trying to help her with her memory loss through his neurology and it made for an interesting setup. Later we find out she’s the Ultimate Analytical Prowess person, I don’t know the actual term but that should work. She was good at predicting what people would do and how they’d do it. Isshiki tries to kill her but she easily avoids him, being able to dodge him with extreme ease.

Her humor is honestly top notch, I wasn’t joking when I said I found myself laughing at her attitude. She comes off as a fool but a lovable one, she wants Yasuke to return his feelings to her but he ain’t having any of it, what a digital dummy. She will forget something, try to remember it through her notebook and then forget why she had to remember it, Think Dory from Finding Nemo only not a fish and more attractive.

I should really like this character, to the point of putting her higher on the list. So what ruins her? Maybe that it is because she’s just Junko, Oooh the spoiler. Yes through some amnesiac experiments helped by Yasuke, Ryōko is just Junko who has amnesia. Turns out Yasuke also loves Junko, what? I was very confused. Danganronpa tends to slip up at the end and this is no exception. I was so disappointed to see it was just Junko, it ruined the buzz on me for this character. That’s not to say Junko isn’t a bad character but moreso it just ruins the orginality of this character.

If it wasn’t for the Junko reveal, she’d be much higher. Her humor, talent and portrayal is all very enjoyable but you can only handle so much Junko.

Number 59 – Hifumi Yamada

“How the hell is Hifumi this high?!” Maybe I just like putting in controversial decisions, it probably helps to remind you that Leon is back in the bottom 10. Oooh do I dare say that again before this list finishes up?

I know that so many people hate Hifumi and to be honest, I can see why. He is annoying, he is a pervert, he is a creep and he does kill Ishimaru. So why is he beating several characters so far? I’ll be honest, I thought he had an interesting character and had some pretty funny humor at times.

No, really. Hifumi is the cliche large otaku nerd. He can’t socialize well and he’s generally just seen as a mess of a person. But I think that’s just a type of character I can sort appreciate. I sort of compare him to the likes of Daru from Steins Gate. You can tell he wants to help out and he does mean well, but he just has too much of that creep or pervert factor to him.

To be honest as well, I thought he had hilarious lines and ideas. He has that speaking like a video game or rpg character down, which is something I do find myself chuckling at. And the suit that he ends up designing for Celeste’s plan? Oh my god that was hilarious. A simple mask was all she asked for, and he basically designs a Gundam for her. Honestly, that was just incredible to see.

You feel sorry for him as well, he wasn’t filled with malice and just wanted to be on good terms with people. The only person who returned his kindness was Alter Ego. Obviously that couldn’t do much though since it was just an AI but sadly for Hifumi it was the only person who cared truly about him, again it was just an AI though. It wasn’t until his conflict with Taka that Hifumi wanted to help Celeste, who just manipulated him. What a crafty person, I wonder if she’ll take a high spot on this list, Oooh I can’t wait.

Overall, he does have a lot of annoying things to him, but he still had some really good character factors to him. It’s not the highest of places but still a good rank to be at.

Number 58 – Kazuichi Souda

Is it fair to say Kazuichi only gets this high because of that one sprite? You know the one. In any case, that is a main reason why Kazuichi makes it this high to begin with, his humor is pretty on point. He’s the largest comic relief character in the game, probably rivaling Ibuki, but the difference being? Well you can tell because Ibuki isn’t here.

Kazuichi stared off as being someone who seemed logical but still a goof, he had good knowledge on mechanics and was pretty straightforward about things, knowing the seriousness of the situation and applying his knowledge on thinking of a way to get out. His humor in chapter 1 was also pretty fresh in comparison to his later chapters.

Chapter 2 Kazuichi was a little more naggy, but still nothing harmful. He takes up residence as the new Teruteru, being the new resident pervert of the group. Not that I hated that about his character, I found his plan with Hajime to be hilarious. He went to Hajime because his other options didn’t seem ideal to him for what Kazuichi wanted to pursue. What a gracious person to at least share his plan with Hajime.

Its Chapter 3 onwards that brings him down for me. He gets extremely annoying and even more perverted, diverting all his attention to Sonia. Um dude, she isn’t even that great, have you seen my ranking? Chapter 4 made me hate him for that whole part, Nagito easily gets to him and makes it seem Hajime is the traitor. Kazuichi is against Hajime at every turn and it gets annoying how ignorant he becomes.

I can say he gets better after it but the perversion and nagging about Sonia gets worse. I feel Kazuichi’s early game is really good and funny but his late game halts him from being that much better. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t entirely happy with the surviving cast of DR2 as I was with DR1 or DRV3. Kazuichi, Sonia and Akane didn’t do much for me as characters. Speaking of which….

Number 57 – Akane Owari

Ooooh, I like this. It wasn’t even planned but that segway was too good. Akane is the next character. When your main draw is fanservice, it makes you wonder what else is your character good for? I joke, she has food as well.

Akane is introduced as being another foolish person among the DR2 cast, I swear it must be an archtype, no wonder Nagito so easily got to them all. She is presented as being someone free spirited and full of energy, basically the Hina for this cast but not as good. I could just say this is lesser Hina and no one would bat an eye. Is that too much? I’m sorry, let me try again, Leon sucks, okay.

She is given as comic relief but slowly starts developing into someone who can be more serious, that’s thanks to a character much higher on the list, Nekomaru. He tells Akane to get into gear and try not be so dumb, it’s great, she really needed that, it stops her from just being comic relief. She has good development then after Nekomaru dies, twice. She knows she can’t be as careless and like Hiyoko, becomes truly upset at the loss of someone close to her.

This development I like, since it stops her from just being constant comic relief and actually gives her something to strive to, albeit the driving force is dead but he was still a driving force. However I think she just doesn’t do enough to help or doesn’t contribute all that much to do much else for me. I still like the development she gets though, it helps build her as having her own identity rather than being the less than stellar fanservice version of Hina, but Hina is still much better.

I suppose her comic relief is funny when it happens and by when I mean every single thing she says. It can be overplayed but when it lands, it lands. I appreciate comedic timing, and she has some great ones. I have a fondness for her humor in the second trial. I don’t remember why but she seems to stand out for me there, replay it for me, see what I mean, but if I’m wrong then maybe she isn’t funny. The point is, she is funny.

Number 56 – Mahiru Koizumi

I would love to just say go watch Sunburned Albino’s Top 8 Danganronpa 2 Waifus and listen to his explanation of Mahiru, it gets her so on point.

Mahiru exists. That’s the best way to describe her. Her existence is there, she mainly stands out because she has a camera. That’s unfair, she has a tie too. Don’t get me wrong, I do like Mahiru, she wouldn’t be this high if I didn’t but I acknowledge she can be the most forgettable.

Her freetime events show how she likes cameras and looks after her father who is probably dead but we’ll let her live in hope. She also has her friend Sato who is too irrelevant to make this list but would still score higher than Leon. She likes travelling alone and dislikes being hit by baseball bats, ooh that pesky Leon.

Her backstory isn’t strong enough to dictate a good backstory and her choice of friends is questionable. It is her personality and design I like. She acts like a strong and independent person, who also dislikes rude people and prefers taking pictures of girls rather than guys. She seems like a first stage version of Tenko only Tenko is better. Her confidence is actually somewhat fake as she has insecurities about her own talent, something you don’t see much of but is interesting to note.

She also gets honorary role of first Rebuttal Showdown, something that threw me off with her camera pun, watch it and you’ll get it. She’s does get protective of people too, and will help defend those in need like Hiyoko. It can be appreciated. I also find her phyiscal design appealing. I think its the tie that ties it together, no pun intended. Its that carefree photographer style, not the hipster Max Caulfield one, ooh the LIS diss.

She has a lot of good redeeming qualities as a person and would be extremely good for anyone to have those traits. But I think her lack of impact and backstory stops her from being that much higher. Also she exists.

That’s it for Part 3! I hope you have all been enjoying it this far and don’t hesitate to share your opinion, agreement or disagreement, I welcome everyone’s thoughts, it really is nice to discuss. I will get around to Part 4 soon, this part felt more difficult to do due to tiredness and a possible cold I have but I hope it was worth the read. Thank you all again and have a hopeful day!