Makoto Naegi

(Main Appearance) At the beginning of the Killing School Life in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Makoto appears to be and believes himself to be a younger teenager, two years of his life having been removed from his memory. He is notably short compared to most of his classmates. He has spiky, desaturated brown hair with a prominent ahoge, and washed-out hazel eyes. He wears black jeans, a zipped-up dull green hoodie with a red stripe along the zipper, an open black jacket with gold buttons, and red sneakers with white toes.

Makoto's hoodie has an image of a red gas mask in a circle printed on the back of the hood, and the zipper goes all the way up to the top of the hood. He wears a pin shaped like a four-pointed star overlaying a crescent moon; this is pinned to the lapel of his jacket.

After joining the Future Foundation post-Killing School Life, Makoto is seen wearing a black suit. In Danganronpa: Another Episode, his hair is noticeably lighter, longer, spikier, and overall slightly more detailed. In Danganronpa 3, it appears that Makoto had cut his hair, as it is considerably shorter. He also looks more mature, though still has a bit round face for his adult age. After he becomes the headmaster of the new Hope's Peak Academy, he wears a black suit and a beige tie, as well as a dark blue sweater vest with a white shirt underneath.

Makoto proclaims himself to be a very ordinary person, to the point that he seems a bit insecure about it. He does admit to having one distinguishing feature, that being his unique sense of optimism.

Makoto is very kind, supportive and forgiving, though slightly naive at times. He is friendly, polite and a lot more down-to-earth compared to the other students. These qualities could be the reason he seems to successfully approach and befriend even his most antisocial classmates during Free Time.

Junko refers to Makoto as an "herbivore man," which means that he is likely to be the passive one in a relationship, which is reinforced in some of his conversations with others. He is a bit jumpy at times and can be somewhat of a pushover. Despite these meeker qualities, he is capable of being a very determined and charismatic speaker.

Makoto is a firm believer in hope, having a positive attitude about the future no matter how bad the situation is in the present. He is also a pacifist, as he tends to believe that violence isn't the answer. While he dislikes despair, believing it to be a corrupting and negative emotion which cannot benefit the world, he is very forgiving toward those who have fallen to despair, believing them to be victims of Junko and not inherently evil.

It appears that the only person Makoto genuinely dislikes is Junko Enoshima, the True Ultimate Despair. He considers her his enemy, and blames Junko as well as her avatar, Monokuma, for the deaths of his friends during the Killing Game. However, even in her case, he felt that death wasn't necessary and tried to reason with her when she was preparing to execute herself. Junko refused to listen and executed herself anyway.

Makoto is respected by many people as the Ultimate Hope, though he himself is very humble and even a bit embarrassed in regards to the title. In Danganronpa Zero, it's mentioned that he has incredible strength inside, despite often appearing weaker on the outside. During hard times, he is shown to have the power to provide hope for other people and ultimately affect their way of thinking, though this is not always the case as some people refuse to listen to him or simply do not accept his ideals.

His title as the Ultimate Hope is but a title, as he is not immune to the effects of the Suicide Video.

Makoto got his talent as the Ultimate Lucky Student by winning a lottery out of completely ordinary students, which led to him joining Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Lucky Student. In addition to this, he was caught up in a bizarre series of events on the day of his selection which ended up catching a jewel thief and burning the selection ticket. Following the fifth trial, just before Makoto's execution can be completed, Alter Ego suddenly appears and is able to prevent Makoto from dying by opening up a door on the floor. He is then rescued by Kyoko, going on to defeat Junko herself and survive the whole ordeal.

Makoto's luck also comes into play during the events of the Final Killing Game, saving him from multiple dangerous situations. While his luck isn't nearly as powerful as his predecessor's or Izuru Kamukura's, his luck pattern is different from those two, and is difficult for Junko to analyze and predict. Thus, Junko predicted that he could possibly ruin her perfect layout plan, which ironically also made Junko allow him to live for the Killing School Life.

Makoto discovers his true talent as the Ultimate Hope during the sixth and final trial of the Killing School Life. Interestingly, unlike most other talents, Makoto being the Ultimate Hope isn't recognized by Hope's Peak Academy, but rather earned for defeating Junko, the True Ultimate Despair. Unlike Izuru Kamukura, who's Ultimate Hope comes from him being the embodiment of talent, Makoto's Ultimate Hope comes from his unusual amount of optimism and determination, which Makoto even comments on.

As the Ultimate Hope, Makoto proves to have an immunity to Junko's tactics, built to make people fall into despair. Combined with his luck being difficult for Junko to analyze, causes her to leave him alive because defying her would be full of despair in its own right. Ultimately, Makoto’s talent aided him in defeating her by filling the other five remaining participants with hope, after they fell into despair over finding out about the state of the world they were in. Makoto is also able to convince others to act with hope simply by spreading his hope to them. When the surviving members of the game are filled with hope, they were persuaded to choose to leave the academy and go out and see what the world had in store for them. In addition, in Danganronpa IF, Makoto unwittingly convinced Mukuro Ikusaba, one of the Despair Sisters, to think of the world outside of Junko's plans to spread despair all over it.

Makoto has even been encouraged by his own hope multiple times, thanks to his friends. After finding out that Kazuo Tengan has been murdered by Kyosuke Munakata, Makoto begins to break down over the fact that he’s been unable to stop people from killing each other. However, Aoi, along with Miaya Gekkogahara (controlled by Monaca Towa), were able to cheer him up, saying that he has given them hope and that they're willing to shoulder his burden. Later, Kyoko tells Makoto that he shouldn't give up on hope, and that she'll always be there for him if his power doesn’t prove to be enough. After her apparent death, Makoto was able to use his and Kyoko's hope in order to convince Kyosuke to join him and combine their hopes together.

Makoto believes that hope is infectious. True to his words, Makoto's effort in defeating Junko, protecting the Remnants of Despair in the Neo World Program, and his firm ideals and optimism eventually become fruitful as he could overcome all despairs at the end of his adventure in Hope's Peak Series.

Keen Intellect - Throughout the series, Makoto has proven to be quite intelligent noticing contradictions in peoples testaments that both Byakuya and Kyoko missed. He was able to decipher Kyosuke's NG code based on the fact he hasn't opened a door since the killing game began. Makoto then went on to use this NG Code to his advantage, setting up a plan to trap Kyosuke so that he can speak with him and subsequently convinced him to join his side.