Nagito Komaeda

Nagito Komaeda
Danganronpa character
Promotional artwork for Nagito Komaeda in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
First appearance	Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (2012)
Created by	Kazutaka Kodaka
Designed by	Rui Komatsuzaki
Voiced by	EN: Bryce Papenbrook[1][2] JA: Megumi Ogata[3]
Portrayed by	Hiroki Suzuki (stage play)

Nagito Komaeda (Japanese: 狛枝 凪斗, Hepburn: Komaeda Nagito), also known as The Servant (召使い, Meshitsukai), is a fictional character introduced in the 2012 Spike Chunsoft visual novel action adventure game Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Nagito is a high school student from Hope's Peak Academy, holding the title of "Ultimate Lucky Student" due to his supernatural luck. He is first seen in the game's beginning when meeting the protagonist Hajime Hinata as they and multiple other students find themselves trapped in a series of tropical islands. Initially presenting a caring personality, Nagito shows his true maniacal and hope-obsessed demeanor when a bear-like robot, Monokuma, orders the students to participate in a killing game if they want to leave the islands, with Nagito violently encouraging the killing game's progress. Under the guise of the Servant, Nagito returns in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls as the secondary antagonist.

Kazutaka Kodaka created Nagito as a rival to Hajime as well as the successor to the previous Danganronpa protagonist Makoto Naegi with his designs by Rui Komatsuzaki meant to mark him as Hajime's opposite. To reinforce the similarities between Nagito and Makoto, Kodaka had the characters share the same voice actors: Megumi Ogata and Bryce Papenbrook, and their names be anagrams of each other. However, despite the similarities, Nagito and Makoto share no character connections, with Kodaka claiming that the hints were made up to market Goodbye Despair.

Critical response to Nagito's character was positive based on his ambiguous nature in Goodbye Despair where he often changes his personality, as well as his more comical take in the anime prequel Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School. Considered a breakout character, his complex role as both a companion and rival to Hajime has also resulted in him being considered one of the best characters in the Danganronpa series.

Nagito was created to be "an absolute rival" to Hajime Hinata, with Kazutaka Kodaka describing their relationship as similar to that of the Joker to Batman. Komaeda's characterization was aimed to give players a confusing view in regards to Nagito's true self, based on the morally dubious and contradictory actions he committed over the course of the game.^[4] In regards to his design, Hajime was the earliest-designed character which generated a major contrast between his white clothing to Nagito's dark clothing.^[5] Nagito was written to create a major impact into the game despite not being the lead or antagonist, symbolizing the prominent themes of hope and despair through his actions.^[6]

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") to infer it as a potential pseudonym; Nagito claims the name to be an alias during the third chapter.^[7] 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 the anagram had been kept secret from the other members who developed the game, including Ogata herself.^[8] In 2015, it was later confirmed that he had feelings for an ambiguous "him" in his character song "Poison -Gekiyaku-".

In the development of anime prequel Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, Kodaka aimed to write the younger Nagito as an unpredictable character that game fans would still recognize, and make it obvious his good luck often aids him in only a random nature in reality compared to the specific nature of the Neo World Program. His character design was aimed to keep the "resembled flickering flames" present in their Servant design, something Kodaka requested to the designer to adapt properly. Kodaka was pleased with how Nagito was written in the anime, further comparing his school life and luck to the Rube Goldberg segment of the PythagoraSwitch educational television program.^[9]

To surprise gamers, Nagito was given Makoto's voice actor, Megumi Ogata.^[7] Ogata found trouble when doing the voice for Nagito as she had no clear grasp on understanding him. Komaeda was introduced with the same Lucky Talent as Makoto Naegi. However, the staff considered them opposites based on their ideals of "hope".^[4]

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.^[10] Papenbrook commented that Nagito is both "creepy" and "insane".^[11]

In the series' stage play, Nagito was played by Hiroki Suzuki.^[12]

In Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Nagito is student from Hope's Peak Academy that called him Ultimate Lucky Student (超高校級の「幸運」, Chō-kōkō-kyū no "Kōun"; lit. Super High School Level Good Luck). Outwardly presenting as a friendly, upbeat, somewhat meek young man, his true demeanor, revealed following the beginning of Monokuma's killing game, is shown to be quite deranged in his pursuit of hope, believing it to be an absolute good that only his talented classmates can achieve, willing to bring about great despair to create the greatest of hopes.^[13] He manipulates Teruteru Hanamura into killing an imposter pretending to be Byakuya Togami to start the killing game in Goodbye Despair.^[14] In order to rid the island of the other students, he sets up a trap for the others by setting up a scenario to look like he committed suicide, while actually tricking Future Foundation traitor Chiaki Nanami into inadvertently killing him with poison, hoping the result will lead to the execution of all other students including himself and rescue Chiaki alone. However, Chiaki takes responsibility for Nagito's death, saving the other students. After receiving a series of recorded messages from Nagito and proceeding to what appears to be Hope's Peak Academy, Hajime learns that Nagito, himself, and the others are in actuality computer avatar copies of the group known as the Remnants of Despair existing within a virtual reality created by the Neo World Program having been wiped by Makoto Naegi's Future Foundation offshoot in the hope of providing them redemption, despite being responsible for the deaths of millions. The real Nagito is revealed to have implanted the hand of their superior Junko Enoshima into his body following her death.^[15][16]

In Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, Nagito appears under the title of Servant (召使い Meshitsukai), serving under the Warriors of Hope who had captured him. The Warriors of Hope frequently abused him, though he took it all with a smile. It is later revealed that he is manipulating the Warriors of Hope, in order to allow Komaru Naegi to grow and defeat despair through her power of hope, before falling to become "the second generation of Junko Enoshima". Even though Ultra Despair Girls took place during the 77th class's time as Ultimate Despair, the Servant was unique in that he still longed for hope in his actions, whereas the others were fighting for despair alone. Following the defeat of the Warriors of Hope, the Servant carries away Monaca Towa, informing her that he will raise her to become "the second generation of Junko Enoshima" following her failure to have Komaru assume such a title.

In the Despair Arc of the anime series Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, Nagito is seen attending Hope's Peak but is suspended for bombing the school gym in a bid to postpone exams. When he returns, Nagito learns of Junko Enoshima's plans and attempts to shoot her with a gun. However, Hinata, having been implanted with the talent of luck like Nagito, effortlessly prevents the attempt and shoots him instead. Although Nagito survives, he and his class are forced to watch Chiaki Nanami's death and are thus brainwashed into becoming members of Ultimate Despair loyal to Junko.

The Servant makes a cameo at the beginning of the Future Arc, helping spread discord with the other Remnants of Despair after Junko is martyred, in his case by serving the Warriors of Hope. In Ultra Despair Girls, Monaca Towa reveals to Toko Fukawa and Komaru Naegi that while the Servant successfully made her an adult, he also made her bored with both hope and despair, leading her to become a NEET, before sending herself to space.

In the Hope Arc of Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, Nagito and the former Remnants of Despair wake up from their comas in the Neo World Program and stop the brainwashed forces of the mastermind, Ryota Mitarai. They convince him to join them and the group exiles themselves to atone for their deeds and prevent the collapse of the Future Foundation by acting as scapegoats. Before leaving, Nagito expresses excitement over briefly meeting "Ultimate Hope" Makoto Naegi in person, before being carried away by Nekomaru Nidai.^[17]

An original video animation, Super Danganronpa 2.5: Nagito Komaeda and the Destroyer of Worlds, was also produced, featuring the alternate computer avatar Nagito trapped in a new virtual world his mind created to cope with his traumatic death in the Killing Game, leaving him comatose. An AI, World Destroyer, is sent in to kill off his illusory classmates, eventually resulting in the destruction of the fake reality. Nagito is then informed the world was created as reflection of his own desires, which he found embarrassing due to them being in direct conflict with his beliefs. With all of his memories intact, Nagito leaves Jabberwock Island with Hajime and the other students, setting up their cameo appearance in the Hope Arc.^[18]

Nagito has been a popular character, ranking highly on multiple polls.^[19][20][21] Anime News Network praised the character for "standing out" within the franchise, highlighting his similarities with Makoto and how different they are the same time. The reviewer enjoyed the actions the character has performed not only in the game but also the Despair Arc anime from the franchise as despite his kind demeanor, his commentaries make Hajime become corrupted across the narrative.^[22] GameRevolution also referred to Nagito as one of the best Danganronpa characters due to his twisted characterization yet highly popular.^[23]