Komaeda, a young, thin man, has wide shoulders and pale skin. He also has light gray-green eyes and thick eyelashes. Komaeda’s hair is naturally long and shoulder-length. It is a pale pinkish-off-white color and fades to white as it gets closer to his scalp. His hair is slightly darker in Danganronpa 2 and has a creamer tone, while Danganronpa 3 shows his hair as silvery-white with grey tones. His hair appears darker, longer and more messy after Danganronpa Another Episode (which is many years later).
Komaeda is wearing a short, dark greenwood, zippered coat that measures about knee-length. He leaves the tail unzipped. The right shoulder has a red square design and the back features a large, square-shaped “55”. There are also two red drawstrings that run through the hood. They hang down to his chest. He is wearing a white T-shirt with a scoop-neck and a red front design, which resembles two interlocking hooks. He is wearing plain black jeans and a wallet with a skull charm and pale brown shoes.
Hope’s Peak Academy is his uniform. He wears a brown blazer, matching pants, a tie, and dark brown lace up shoes. He leaves the buttons at the top of his shirt undone and wears a green technology sweater with a red collar and horizontal stripes across its middle.
Danganronpa Another Episode portrays him as the Servant/Ultimate Despair. He wears a black, cropped jacket with three buttons on the left and one on the right. He wears a dark-red, olive-green card, scoop-neck shirt with long sleeves, which are folded over the jacket’s cuffs. Under this shirt is a long, beige undershirt. He is wearing black jeans and black, low-heeled shoes. His shoes are tied with red shoelaces. To hide Junko’s left hand, he wears a striped mitten. He also has long, red nails that are sewn in the place of Junko’s real hand. The Warriors of Hope gave him a collar to wear around his neck. It has a chain that runs down the front to his knees. He is described as smiling constantly, regardless of what treatment he gets. Genocide Jack also says that he has a “very attractive face”. He is described as a thin white-haired man by Genocide Jack.
After being awakened from a coma at Jabberwock island and having his brainwashing stopped, he replaced Junko’s non-functional left arm with a robotic forearm. The prosthetic has a white outer and black underside. His thumb and palm are black. The backs of his fingers and thumb are also green plumbing. His coat’s sleeves have been cut where his new arm is. Most of the jagged material has remained attached. He makes a loud mechanical sound when he moves his arm.
Personality Komaeda
First impression Komaeda is initially described as polite, friendly and easygoing boy. However, he can be a bit insecure. Hajime Hinata mentions that Komaeda’s bright smile is comforting. Hajime was conscious, so he stayed with him. He expressed concern about his well-being even though Hajime had told him to leave. Although he is friendly with everyone, Hajime finds him to be a bit annoying and not the most reliable. However, he still considers himself a kind and caring person.
Komaeda tries to be the team’s mediator and a symbol of optimism. He encourages others to be optimistic and to work together, but he’s not taken seriously. Hiyoko Saionji laughs at him and finds his pep talks on friendship and hope embarrassing. He is submissive, self-deprecating and generally agrees with Hiyoko’s snide remarks.
Komaeda claims to be pessimistic, but he can sometimes appear unusually carefree. He lacks tact, is often impulsive, and says odd, strange, or unsettling things without realizing. He can be more assertive at times. He will scold Hajime if he’s being too pessimistic, or if he thinks he is bullying Mikan Tsumiki. He also finds Teruteru Hanamura’s treatment for girls irritating and he takes it upon himself, to watch him closely to ensure he doesn’t harass anyone.
Beliefs
Nagito’s obsession with hope is exposed during the first Class Trial. He can ramble about hope quite often, sometimes very abruptly. Just hearing or talking about hope or speaking in a hopeful way can put him in a state that is blissful. This causes him to sweat and to hold his excitement in check. He sometimes experiences sudden outbursts of excitement, in which his eyes darken or start to swirl. Hajime calls this “a crude mixture of hope and despair”. However, he often snaps out of these outbursts quickly and doesn’t seem to be aware of what has happened.
He believes that hope is an absolute virtue and that any act done in the name is righteous, including murder. He doesn’t feel guilty for hurting others in hopes of achieving his own hope. Hope will always prevail in the end, and the means will be justified. He believes that there are always clashes between multiple hopes and that “strong” hope will consume “weak hope.” (adoringly, this is what he calls “poetry-in-motion”). He believes that ordinary people with no talent, despair and weak hope are stepladders to creating greater hope. However, he also considers them necessary and dislikes them. Nagito believes that Ultimates are born and can strengthen their own hopes through facing and defeating despair. They are stronger than ordinary people and less capable of breaking down by it. Komaeda, like Hope’s Peak Academy strongly associates talent with hope and worth with talent.
Nagito wants to inspire hope and help people overcome despair. He doesn’t believe his luck is a true talent, so he doesn’t consider himself to be an Ultimate. However, he has said that his luck is his only positive quality, which he finds very helpful. He wants to be a “stepladder” and help other Ultimates shine. He considers himself to be a lower being and feels ashamed for being there. He mistakenly associates his obsession with Ultimates’ hope and pure platonic love of his classmates. He truly believes that he is doing good for all. He is driven to help others and is self-sacrificing. However, his methods of helping are often dangerous and harmful. He doesn’t care about his health and isn’t concerned about his life. He encourages his fellow students to kill him in order to find their own hope. He believes that death for the sake of the pursuit of hope is a privilege and the only way to make a difference in the world. Komaeda says in his Island Mode ending that he wants to die so that he can be free from all the suffering he has been subjected to by his luck. Komaeda strongly opposes dying a meaningless or for the sake despair.
Nagito became impatient with his classmates and began acting arrogant and disrespectful towards them after he learned that they were Remnants of Despair. Kazuichi Owari and Akane Ozari were the slow-witted, which he had little patience for. Nagito realized that he could become the Ultimate Hope by killing his classmates and thus destroying the Ultimate Despair. Although he claimed that he did it for the sake the world’s hope it is implied that he also wanted to be the Ultimate Hope in order to finally be appreciated even if it meant he would die.
Nagito believes that his views about hope are logical and very obvious. He has difficulty relating to people who disagree with him. He is stubborn but has learned to change his thinking style during the series. He can be conflicted between his extreme beliefs, and his own emotions at times. Although he considers himself “worthless trash”, he believes he doesn’t deserve kindness from others. However, despite this, a part of him wants to be loved, understood, and appreciated. Nagito shared his fifth free-time event that his greatest wish was to be loved and understood by at least one person in his entire life. Nagito also revealed that he admires all the Ultimates for their abilities and ability to inspire hope. However, he doesn’t care much about them as individuals. He doesn’t seem to be deeply saddened by their deaths and may even dislike some of them. He may not be a fan of the talentless, but Hajime, a reserve student with no talent, is the only student Komaeda truly cares for.
Based on the World Destroyer’s comments about Nagito’s illusionary world, Super Danganronpa 2.5 suggests that Nagito might have a hidden hatred of talent. He believes the world would be better if talent was removed so everyone can be equal and free. Kazuichi’s illusion forms, for example, reflect his fears about being too good for certain people. Danganronpa 2 shows Nagito showing interest in Hajime, because he doesn’t consider himself an Ultimate and therefore they are more like and equal to him. Zansakura zanka, a song about his inner thoughts, also mentions his desire to lead an ordinary life with someone. Komaeda is both shocked and embarrassed when he realizes that he may have these emotions and thoughts. He usually says that only people with great talent can bring about great hope. He was relieved to discover that no one else could see this side of himself in his comatose state. He refuses to acknowledge this side of him and continues his quest for hope despite learning about it. He is seen taking Hajime’s arm and moving towards hope. This implies that he believes being with Hajime is his only hope.
Kom aeda is a true believer in love and friendship and emphasizes the importance and benefits of teamwork and helping one another. After he was able to recall his past, this became even more evident.
General Behavior
Nagito is laid back and calm. He smiles and laughs often. His cheerfulness could be fake as he can seem more like an apathetic person and has a tendency to feel self-hatred. Despite his self-loathing, he remains positive and acts strangely optimistically towards death, so long as it is for the sake of hope.
Nagito probably suppresses any feelings of sadness or fear to cope with his luck. He has experienced tragedy many times due to his luck. His luck has allowed him to see some very unusual and unexpected things, which is why he doesn’t find it surprising. He has become less emotional as a result of all the experiences he’s had. He is not often angry or afraid. In situations that most people would fear, such as threats of violence, he often lacks the appropriate emotions. He once said that he felt fear all day, probably because of his luck. He can also be angry at things that he finds insulting to hope or despair. He becomes more serious when he expresses anger. He can be very passive-aggressive when he’s upset.
Nagito can feel some guilt and care about others. He doesn’t enjoy the pain of others but the possibility of gaining hope from it. He is usually very emotional cold, and doesn’t seem too to feel any remorse nor grief. He is able to manipulate, trick, and steal, but he does this for a greater purpose than his own. Although he is honest, he can lie when necessary. He prefers to do things alone, but he can be lonely, and will often try to join other Ultimates in their activities. He is happy to give attention, even if it’s just a little. He may also be averse to others in order to avoid the bad luck that can lead him to ruin.
Komaeda, a very intelligent character in the second game, is also one of its most clever. Komaeda often solves cases before others, but he does not want to be credited for it. He acts ignorant and manipulates conversations by giving (often unnoticed!) hints. Then he praises others for their efforts. Because he feels too small to be more active, he prefers to let the Ultimates solve the problems for themselves. He also wants to keep his neutrality until he determines which side holds the greater hope.