Makoto Naegi

Makoto Naegi is a fictional character introduced in the 2010 adventure game Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc by Spike Chunsoft. He is a fairly optimistic but otherwise average student selected in a raffle to enroll in Hope's Peak Academy.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) He's infinitely approachable and being friendly is one of his defining traits. In fact, Yasuhiro is the only student that succeeds in annoying him after six Free-Time Events.
 * 2) He's so forgiving that he refuses to blame Leon or Sayaka for trying to frame him. Even Junko, who he should hate with a vengeance, he tries to reason with in the end when she's about to execute herself. Because not even someone like her is he willing to see killed so pointlessly.
 * 3) He's also incredibly cute.
 * 4) He gets called foolish, naive, overly-trusting, and soft-hearted at various points in the story. Ultimately, his disinclination to hold a grudge, give into any desires for vengeance, and judge, look down upon, or purposefully mistreat others is what saves everyone else from the despair caused by those same weaknesses. The wisdom in his thinking is what leads to Kyoko retitling him "Ultimate Hope."
 * 5) And just how friendly and nice is he? Well, during the last trial in Chapter 6, his lines about hope, love, and refusing to give into the despair crafted by the Mastermind are arguably some of the best ones in any game. In fact, finishing the game and getting the good ending has you-as-Makoto returning their hopes to the other living students, screaming 'You Must Not Lose Hope!!/Don't Lose Hope Now! among other things. Kyoko implies that this trait may mean that he may actually be Ultimate Hope instead of Ultimate Lucky Student.
 * 6) Character Development: Over the course of the series, he grows to become more educated on how to solve the murders, and into a stronger person, so much so that he actually stands up to Junko Enoshima and puts an end to her Killing Game. And he didn't just become a leader overnight, it took time for the transition to take place.
 * 7) Unlike some other characters, he mainly turns off swearing. In fact, the only time he does swear is during the final Trial towards Junko (in the English localization).

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Even after all of his character development and all he's done for his peers, he still didn't see himself as much of a leader, let alone the Ultimate Hope. This however, is somewhat justified, given he was just all of the sudden thrust into this new role and pushed out of his comfort zone and into this very difficult position.
 * 2) His trusting and compassionate nature can be used against him, as shown in the Sayaka Maizono case and when he believed the Remnants of Despair should've been given a chance at redemption, only for Izuru Kamukura to sabotage it.

Trivia

 * Makoto is the one of the few characters to survive more than one killing game. The others are Aoi, Kyoko and Hajime/Izuru.
 * Naegi means "seedlings" in Japanese, and Makoto means "faithfulness".
 * This could reference how he spreads hope to everyone, similar to how Junko tried to plant “seeds of despair”.
 * Byakuya and Makoto are the only characters to appear in every canon games and anime of the Hope's Peak Series.
 * Makoto is also included in the collaboration of Danganronpa 3 x Hōkai Gakuen.