is a fictional character introduced as the protagonist of the 2010 visual novel adventure game Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc by Spike Chunsoft. A fairly optimistic but otherwise average student who is selected in a raffle to enroll in Hope's Peak Academy as the "Ultimate Lucky Student", Makoto finds himself before a remote-controlled robotic stuffed bear named Monokuma upon entering the academy, who states that he and his fellow students will be imprisoned in the academy for the rest of their lives unless one of them becomes "the blackened" and murders another without being found out by the other students, prompting the character to solve crimes and be declared the "Ultimate Hope". Makoto returns in the game's sequels and in multiple adaptations featuring him in new story arcs, most notably in Lerche's 2016 anime series Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, as a member of an organization known as the Future Foundation that seeks to take his life in a new killing game.
Writer Kazutaka Kodaka created Makoto to differ from previous visual novel protagonists. He aimed to have Makoto be a more active character than previous heroes in the narrative; his older characterization from the sequel was more complex, as he becomes more mature when engaging others. While Makoto is described as an average teenager among outstanding students, artist Rui Komatsuzaki designed him to have appealing clothing. Megumi Ogata voices him in Japanese while Bryce Papenbrook provides his voice for the English dub.
Critical response to Makoto's character has been generally positive for his role in the first game as a detective and the bonds he can form in the school during the video game. Video game and anime publications praised the voice actors' deliveries for making the character an appealing hero. Critics found his return in the sequel The End of Hope's Peak High School appealing because of his ideals and the handling of his relationships. Makoto has also been a popular character, often being listed as one of the best characters from the series.
Creation
During early stages of the game Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, a demo named Distrust, Makoto was simply named . Writer Kazutaka Kodaka from Spike Chunsoft said in an interview that his aim was not to have players project themselves onto Makoto Naegi, a common method of writing for visual novels. In the initial stages of the game's development, it belonged to this genre. Kodaka said the main purpose of Makoto's interactions with the rest of the cast was to show how different he was from the cast of Danganronpa. While he kept writing, "Makoto started to grow through the story and forced him to eventually act." This led to Makoto becoming a more active character in the first game. As time passed, Kazutaka thought of Makoto as a strong main character who can solve cases on his own, something he wanted to change for future games. Producer Yoshinori Terasawa aimed to balance the cast and to connect with the audience; this was done mostly with Makoto. Since Makoto does not share the unique attributes of the other students, Terasawa tried to make him stand out so that players would connect with him.
In developing Makoto's characterization, Kodaka wanted to impress gamers with the early twist that happens to one of his friends. His old high school friend Sayaka Maizono, who was promoted as the game's heroine, is the first character to die in the game. As the player inspects the murder, it is revealed that the young girl wanted to frame Makoto for a murder she would cause. After framing Sayaka's murderer, Leon Kuwata, Makoto reflects on her late friend's intentions and has to live with this burden. The fact that Sayaka wanted to frame Makoto was included to generate a major impact not only on the player but also the character, resulting in the main character feeling badly over how he would be treated.
Although Makoto and his partner Kyoko Kirigiri interact in the game multiple times, Kodaka claimed he never wrote the latter to be the former's love interest. Instead, the interactions between Makoto and his supporting characters were created due to the latter's skills as a detective which would help the player at solving cases. In order to balance the cast, Kodaka conceived the idea of giving the students lose parts of their past. As a result, Kyoko does not stand out in the narrative due to her lack of detective skills resulting into the multiple collaborations the two teenagers make when solving murders.
Artist Rui Komatsuzaki designed Makoto. From the planning stages, the team wanted a protagonist lacking individuality. It proved difficult to come up with a contrast to the more outstanding designs from Dangaronpa. Originally, the team intended the adventure part of the game to be seen from a third-person perspective which would later be adopted for the spin-off Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls. So, Komatsuzaki designed the character to wear a hoodie to complement his look, thinking the player was going to see his back a lot. After that, the artist added some character to his hair by adding an "antenna" and highlighted his "herbivore nature" by making him short. His coloring is subdued, but Komtatsuzaki used a color palette he enjoyed.
In the first sequel, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, a new character named Nagito Komaeda was introduced with the same Lucky Talent as Makoto. However, the staff considered them opposites based on their ideals of "hope". To surprise gamers and suggest the characters are potentially the same person, both Makoto and Nagito share the same voice actress, Ogata. His name, "Nagito Komaeda", was conceived as an anagram for "Naegi Makoto da" ("I am Makoto Naegi").
Localization member Robert Schiotis felt that finding a voice actor for the latter proved too challenging, as he is meant to clash with Makoto's ideals. In the end, Papenbrook voiced both characters, making the connections between them more interesting according to localization staff. In 2020, Kodaka revealed the anagram was used to engage fans of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc because of the lack of pre-release promotion materials for the original version of Goodbye Despair during its release year. This surprised Ogata as it was kept hidden from the other members who developed the game.
Casting
In the original Japanese version of the Danganronpa series, Megumi Ogata voiced Makoto Naegi. Because Makoto lacked talent, in contrast to the rest of the cast of the first game, Ogata referred to her character as an audience surrogate. The series' anime adaptation used the same execution. The actress referred to the protagonist as a reluctant detective because of his role in the narrative as he is forced to solve trials to survive and protect the other innocent students. Because of budget issues, some lines were cut. In retrospect, this left Ogata wanting to voice them because she felt they were important. She had a similar feeling about the anime adaptation, which she also felt had been cut too much. Kodaka claimed some lines did not befit Makoto such as when the player is exploring an area. He said they would have added more fitting lines if Spike had had the budget for the game.
In the series' English dub, Bryce Papenbrook voices Makoto. Papenbrook found that his "young" voice not only allowed him to voice Makoto but other lead characters from the anime including Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan or Shirou Emiya from Fate/stay night among others. He enjoyed voicing Makoto in the first game as well as the anime series and looked forward to people hearing his work. In the original Japanese series, there is a scene in the finale where Nagito talks in joy while holding hand with Makoto, whom he declares his idol for their similar talents but is taken by his friends before he can finish their interactions. Papenbrook added a line for Nagito that would come across comically as homoerotic to which Makoto would reply calmly in confusion and claimed he had fun for making his two characters had a talk.
Kanata Hongō played Makoto in the stage play of the first game. In the anime series, Shun Nishime took on the role, and claimed his character was an ideal hero based on his actions presented in the high school scenario. Hongō would later voice the protagonist of Death Come True, a young man named Makoto Karaki. Kodaka felt he was knowledgeable about his style of writing after Danganronpa and felt his acting would be suitable for the work. However, he said there were no connections between the Makotos even if gamers felt there were similarities.
Characterization and themes
Initially, Makoto was written as an unreliable teenager but Kodaka changed his mind upon seeing the performance of voice actress Megumi Ogata. Kodaka was surprised by Ogata's work so he decided to make Makoto stronger most notably in the game's finale when Makoto confronts the game's masterimind. Ogata found this type of characterization common in her career and compared Makoto to the "ordinary" mecha pilot Shinji Ikari from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. Nevertheless, Ogata felt Makoto possesses a unique talent that allows him to stand out despite his weak appearance.
Ogata described Makoto as an optimistic teenager, making him a more responsible person whenever something chaotic happens during his appearances, even if he doubts his skills. As the franchise touches on themes of "hope", Ogata felt Makoto embodies the philosophy of hope as he brings this to the narrative and the setting. Analyzing these themes further, Ogata said Danganronpa often touches on both elements of despair and hope. The characters experience "despair" while they are trapped in the school and Makoto provides more emotional support to the cast across the story, giving the actress a far more optimistic message that the students are going to survive. Since the anime Danganronpa: The Animation had a bigger budget than the game, Ogata felt that Makoto "finally gelled" in the anime as a character as there was more voice acting.
For the anime series Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, Kodaka aimed to produce a unique style of storytelling. As a result, the writer divided Makoto's group from Hajime's. Makoto's story and themes are those of hope in contrast to Hajime's which are of despair. For the anime sequel, according to director Seiji Kishi, Komatsuzaki redesigned Makoto and his friends to look more mature. To attract more fans, Makoto's first image as an adult shows him handcuffed based on Kishi's ideas.
Makoto's relationship with Kyoko was written to implicate a more intimate tone than in the original game. Kodaka carefully planned this through a scene where Kyoko takes off her gloves for the first time in the series in order to comfort Makoto. This was also meant to provide a parallel between the romantic relationship between two other characters from the same series, Kyosuke Munakata and Chisa Yukizome who are also implied to be involved romantically.
Kodaka changed Kyosuke Munakata's sacrifice from script because he wanted Makoto to move forward carrying the burden of hope, elements often discussed by the cast. As a result, the plan was to include what happens to different characters after the Hope Arc during the credits, but they were cut for length. Kodaka cried watching the scene of Makoto confronting Munakata, especially because of Megumi Ogata's acting. Higa believes it was thanks to Makoto's role in the anime that Kyosuke became more appealing following their interactions. In retrospective, Kodaka regrets the focus Junko had on Makoto's traits as while they are mutual enemies in the first game, he instead wanted him to be seen from the perspective of Junko's sister, Mukuro Ikusaba, to provide another way to look at the character.
Appearances Danganronpa video games