#⁘ ◊ ━ HOPE / makoto naegi. )

[milesofstars]

this was a stupid idea i drew like a nearly week ago and i jsut need to put it somewhere because these 2 wont get out of my head

[nnnlazyshit]

Without DESPAIR, there will be no HOPE.

[theamityelf]

Commissioned from @32coconuts

Some amazing art of the beach scene from Chapter 8 of Panel.

[lunart-06]

*insert Credens Justitiam ost from Madoka Magica here*

Happy birthday to the boy ever I have to speedrun this cause I have other projects but wjfhshfj I wish I can do more for him but my lack of freetime cursed me 0(-(

[anon-maly]

This is why the killing game happened

Bonus comic:

[hajihiko]

POV you're the only person in the world who can be responsible for the sanity of the most dangerous person on the planet. But he's hangin in here!!......you hope!!!!

[the-local-scp]

I feel like when Makoto initially met Kamukura they were sat in a room together. just waiting. silence. this went on for however long. hours, maybe even half a day.

waiting. waiting. waiting to see who's gonna crack first. There's nothing there to entertain, just those 2. And i cannot stress enough, Makoto won't be the first to break. He can sit across from Kamukura, not even fidget in his seat, and stare. Kamukura is almost a weird reflection of himself in the sense he was meant to be hope. Could that have been Makoto?

Kamukura is bored. But he also knows he's trapped. Makoto is stubborn, and none of Kamukura's talents could outlast him. Kamukura almost wants to make a run for it, just to see what will happen. The room they're in wasn't locked, he could force Makoto to chase.... but running is boring. One of them will have to do something soon, and it won't be Makoto. That's something Kamukura is sure of.

It's odd, to be face to face with the person who succeeded in being what you were supposed to be. All that surgery, all those hands literally inside your head, and you still failed. It's.... unsettling. Kamukura is unsettled. the way Makoto is unmoved, unbothered.... the way his eyes shine with something Kamukura inherently lacks..

Makoto is everything Hajime wanted to be. Makoto is everything Kamukura was supposed to be. Nagito may literally be just a more fucked up version of makoto, but there's only 2 people who are recognized as ultimate hope. Makoto and Kamukura.

[chirpos-pencil]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAKOTO NAEGI!!!!!!!!

[milesofstars]

am i the only one who thinks its the best ever when makoto naegi is like in the background of fanart, like, the fanart isnt abt him but hes there anyways

go off king be your background character true form! the ultimate hope deserves a little inconspicuity in his free time so he can just chill like a normal teenager slash young adult

major bonus points if it isnt even his class. makoto pulls up to class 77-B and theyre all like "yeah makes sense"

i want him to hang out with people so bad. all the people.

[roseluwakcoffee]

Danganronpa is such a series bc why the hell does Kyoko have a seven volume mystery story detailing a whole plot about some underground murder game and intricacies of the detective system in graphic detail while I know all of five facts about Makoto's childhood. Like damn what was his favorite toy or something

[nnnlazyshit]

I read a fic about them so i draw them.

The fic:

[theamityelf]

An awesome piece of Komaegi art that AO3 user "Miffy_The_Loveliest_Cryptid" commented on my fic, A Panel of Hope Experts.

Reposted here with permission, of course.

Look at the colors! The sunlight!! 😭

[neressma]

Danganronpa and the Paranormal

Danganronpa is extravagant, from it's deliciously unhinged plot to it's refreshing psycho-pop aesthetic. Ontop of all this, the series contains some paranormal elements, which some players tend to forget about. In this post, I'll go through every instance of paranormal happenings in the series; this includes the first two games¹, the spin-offs and novels.

I hope you'll enjoy it!

Spirits

Ghosts are a surprisingly reoccurrent theme in Danganronpa games. The most flagrant example is the revenant Komaru and Toko encounter in Ultra Despair girls: none other than Tokuichi Towa, the late father of Haiji and Monaca Towa. He appears and speaks to the girls, even revealing he has the ability to curse (though he refuses to do so, considering the act "lowly"). His death was caused by his own daughter, who ordered Monokumas to slash his throat after the man betrayed Junko. Tokuichi's soul is stuck in a tormentuous purgatory at the hands of Monaca, and thus, he begs the protagonists to stop the child (a feat which would probably lead to his soul being freed and moving on to the afterlife).

One might think this is the only case of revenants appearing in Danganronpa, but the first game might contain some as well. When considering that spirits hold the power of possession, it becomes clear that Chihiro Fujisaki and Kiyotaka Ishimaru might be victims of possession themselves. Regarding Chihiro, it's rather curious how his Alter Ego program emulates human-like behaviours and emotions. While this might simply be due to Chihiro's talent as the ultimate programmer, it is possible that a part of his spirit went on to possess his program, albeit in a subtle, barely conscious manner. Much less subtle and dubitable is the possession of Kiyotaka Ishimaru, who is overtaken by the ghost of Mondo Owada after the latter's execution. Taka reacts to his best friend's death by becoming deeply traumatized and entering a near-catatonic state, rendering his spirit feeble. Shortly after, he becomes white-haired, and exhudes a powerful, radiant energy in the form of a glowing aura. His behaviour, mood and even speech patterns begin to ressemble Mondo's. Note however that it stays at that - a ressemblance. The ultimate moral compass keeps a certain amount of restraint, by not daring to actually curse for example. One could blame this on a form of psychosis, or - the more likely option, ironically - possession. The following official artwork suggests as much.

One could argue that Hajime undergoes a comparable process at the end of the second game, when his spirit rejects that of Izuru Kamakura's, though this instance seems to be rather similar to an anime trope than something meant to be paranormal.

There's also a haunted grave at the Jabberwock Hospital in SDR2. However, since the island is apart of a simulation, it's likely that this is simply an addition of the Junko virus rather than a recreation of any "real" Jabberwock Island element.

Superstition

There are two types of superstitious forces in Danganronpa, the first being luck. As simple as it may be, it's a talent that proved itself to be a true function in the DR-verse. Makoto and Nagito both manage to use this "power" (though when it comes to Nagito, this tends to backfire at times). Both young men manage to have events unveil in their favor through the power of luck, despite not having any direct control over the talent. It's also known that Hope's Peak Academy's steering commitee even attempts to harvest this power through the Izuru Kamakura Project, in spite of scepticism surrounding the existence of luck. Regardless of such subjective opinions however, luck is undeniably real in the DR-verse.

Another superstition that's mostly present in the first game is clairvoyance. Yasuhiro Hagakure, the ultimate clairvoyant, is said to have a 30% success rate on his predictions. One turn out to be accurate (the first being about how Kiyotaka and Hifumi are the last victims of their killing game²) and the second is correct depending on the player's performance. In fact, if they fail at the last trial, they get the bad ending, which is a perfect display of a fate Hagakure predicted: him and Makoto fathering the children of the same woman (Aoi). Hiro's character is often portrayed as that of a shady con-man; these two true predictions however hint at the possibility of his powers being real.

Aliens

Not only is Yasuhiro Hagakure gifted with clairvoyance, he also had an encounter with an U.F.O. This U.F.O. (likely a flying saucer according to the artwork) flew to him one night, locked onto the hamburger he was eating with a ray of light, and then absorbed part of it before flying away. According to Hiro, whoever piloted the flying saucer wanted the beef from the burger (which aligns with the well-known trope of aliens stealing cows from fields). The scene is very much out-of-place and it's veracity is unconfirmed. It isn't the first or last time aliens appear in Danganronpa's universe.

Back in Kirigirisou, a parallel ending introduces the player to Rhinogradentias. Those aliens also appear in the third Togami novel³. They come in different shades of brown, with various specimens possessing diverse features; some have tentacles, others have hands, etc. These creatures are based off rhinogrades, or snouters, which are actual real-life mammals known for the fact that they "walk" on their long snouts. The Rhinogradentia are introduced in Kirigirisou as "super galaxy level invaders". They wish to take over planet Earth and get rid of of humans, which they deem too destructive and polluting. However, their limited intellect restricts them. Like the aliens Yasuhiro saw, they fly in U.F.O.s. The third volume of the Togami novel hints at their existence being purely theoretical, without any further confirmation.

Lastly, there is a group of aliens at the Jabberwock Hospital in SDR2, though this once again seems to be a gag set up by AI-Junko rather than any recreations from the real Jabberwock Island. They return in Danganronpa: Ultimate Summer Camp, once again as an easter-egg. The meaning of this scene, of these aliens standing next to an operating table, is very enigmatic.⁴

Notes:

Gundham Tanaka and his antics aren't included in this post, as he doesn't really have magic powers, but instead has Chūnibyō syndrome.

¹ I deliberately left out Killing Harmony, as it's parallel canon, and ontop of that it's events are confirmed to be in-game fiction. Hence, the paranormal events of V3 qualify as inauthentic.

² This first prediction concerns the 4th chapter. 4 is the number of death and bad luck in japanese numerology, fitting for the chapter with the most victims.

³ Kirigirisou's alternate endings are parallel canon. As for the Togami novels, whether or not they're canon is unconfirmed to this day.

⁴ I like to think there is some sort of hidden symbolism behind those aliens. In my opinion, it's related to Kamakura. There are 4 people in Monokuma masks, so perhaps they symbolize the steering commitee? I'm not sure what the aliens symbolize though. I like to think AI-Junko included the easter-egg as a nod to Hajime and his transformation.

[anon-maly]

Seems like the only people Junko is close with are secretly drawn to someone full of hope… how despairing.

[suitov]

"Repeat after me."

"Repeat after me."

"Not tha... never mind. Repeat from this point on, and you don't need to use my voice if you don't want to: I am Izuru Kamukura."

"I am Izuru Kamukura."

"I was created in a lab..."

"I was created in a lab."

"...but that doesn't make me an evil monster."

"But that doesn't make me an evil monster."

"That stuff's only true in stories."

"That stuff is only true in stories."

"The real Izuru is smart and sarcastic and polite and gentle,"

"The Izuru I allow you to see is smart and sar--"

"Hey!"

"Yes."

"You are those things!"

"I am also quite evil."

"But you're not... I know you're not. Not truly inside, even if you pretend sometimes."

"If I had emotions, that would offend me, and then I would have to create an evil scheme to enact disproportionate retribution."

"Your last 'evil scheme of retribution' was giving Junko new shoes."

"Yes. And it drove her into fits of rage."

"She smiled and thanked you! She wears them like once a week!"

"And she hates it. She cannot let me know I won, but she was furious all the same."

"But... why would she be furious?"

"They were exactly the type of boots she loves."

"Izuru, you're not making sense."

"It was a precision act of kindness that is glass shards under her skin. She knows I did it to infuriate her. She knows nobody else knows that, not even you. Most of all, she knows she cannot reciprocate the gift because there is nothing I desire."

"Izuru, you're teasing me again. This is another 'some cranes have three legs but they keep two hidden' incident. Annoying each other by being nice is too silly, even for you guys' habit of overcomplicating things."

"You can feel pleased with yourself. I have learned much from your niceness lessons."

"I didn't teach you things just so you could use them to annoy our friend!!"

"No. I did that for extra credit."

"Haah... well, still. Whatever stories you need to tell yourself to justify doing anything nice, I'm still going to think of you as a good person."

"..."

"What?"

"You would be extremely good at infuriating Junko."

[knightscanfeeltoo]

Makoto just Texting his Worried Parents while Mukuro wonders if its just the Wind or his Hair Moves on their own...

(I decided to Draw Mukuro X Makoto again just for Naekusaba Week even if I'm still Crap at Drawing Anime because I Love this Danganronpa Ship Way Too Much no matter how many Haters and Anti-Shippers they have...)