TRIGGER HAPPY HAVOC CHARACTER TIER LIST (heavy spoilers) (very long)

    ✦ SPOILER WARNING: Heavy spoilers for the entire game!!! ✦

    Hello again dear blog, so after my previous posts I kinda realized that I really enjoy writing walls of texts and just blabbering about whatever’s on my mind, so it might be possible I turn this blog into not only an artwork gallery, but a personal diary as well! (Although not as personal as an actual diary). So for today’s post, behold! A Danganronpa character tier list and my personal thoughts on each and every one of them! Because my Dangan fever has not gone down just yet. Furthermore, it’s been a while since I’ve played the first game, so my memory is a bit hazy.

    Before we start I would like to say that I ADORE EVERYONE!! I love every single character and I see a bit of myself in every single one, so just because one is lower than the other doesn’t really mean I don’t like them, heck even the ones I have bad opinions on I like them to a certain extent. I think everybody deserves to be loved and appreciated!

    Also, since I didn't want this post to just be a loooong wall of text, I drew custom icons for the entire gang! So even if you don't want to read the content you can at least look at the pretty pictures :> Tho I got as bit lazy near the end

    So without further a do! Here we go!

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    ✦ Kiyotaka Ishimaru

    Taka Taka Taka. The last time I felt so depressed over a fictional character’s death was in Devilman Crybaby back in 2019. I still remember going through the investigation and class trial with tears on my face, and sometimes I felt so bad I had to pause for a few minutes. That night I went to bed feeling nothing but denial. Very funny considering I thought he was gonna be one of my least favorites for interrupting my convo with Sayaka in the prologue (still mad about that, bro got no manners smh)

    Before anything, let’s talk design. One of my favorites in the game, the black (which is actually more of a deep shade of purple) and white combo with red and gold as accent colors and the color distribution is simply perfect. His uniform is entirely white, but thanks to the knee-high boots his appearance is not totally overwhelmed by white. Also, his hair is the same color as his boots, so black is present on both ends (top and bottom!). Man I love that they’re the same colorrrrrrr I just think it unites everything so welllllll.

    And those big piercing red eyes, soooo intense! Red is naturally a very eye-catching color, and adding to the fact the eyes are so big just increases the “drawn to them” factor. Big eyes usually are a visual way to represent youth and innocence as well, very fitting for him I should say (although almost everyone has big eyes in this franchise so It’s not a very unique argument lol). Taka’s eyes are drawn differently than everyone else’s too! Target logo looking-ass eyes.

    Okay, what I might say right now may be reaching, but Taka has red and white just like the colors of the Japan flag! A real patriot wears the colors of their country (yeah I know this is total bs because other characters have white/red too but I just needed to throw that out lol).

    By the way I suffer from this Mandela effect where I imagine Taka wearing white gloves, I know he doesn’t wear gloves, but my mind simply refuses to not include them.

    Now that design talk is over, let’s talk character. Talk about writing a character arc that went absolutely nowhere. I mean, why make poor Taka-chan go through a depressive state after chapter 2, “heal”, or “re-waken” (honestly it was more like falling deep in denial) as Kiyondo on chapter 3 just to die later???? To make me suffer??? Cuz if yes it worked I suffered a lot thanks game. Such useless and waste of potential.

    But man I admire Kiyotaka so much, his morals, his dreams, his dedication and how he gives his best at everything every single day. In fact, that attitude kinda reminds me when I was younger, in middle school I always made sure to get good grades and worked really hard on my researches/school projects/essays. Everyday I would wake up and think “time to be productive!” and read a book or draw the entire day. Yeah, maybe not the same level of dedication as Taka, but I just simply appreciate a character who's passionate about studying and understands the importance of school (despite its flaws), NOT A NERD and it’s actually respected by their peers, wow!

    Another line of thought that I have and reminds me of Taka is how he tries his hardest for his family. Taka’s family is in huge debt because of his grandfather, and honestly if I were in his place I would think “I must do my best in my duties as a student and son, it’s the best way I can help right now” sort of like that. While thankfully I'm not in any bad situation, I still want to do my best as a way to say "thank you" for my parents, and I see that desire in Taka as well.

    Also, I just love his dream so much. He wants to build a country/world where people’s hard work gets recognized and rewarded, a world where everyone can get the opportunity to become the very best version of themselves and I love that so much. Kiyotaka actually reminds me of my mother a little bit, a person who came from a poor background but studied and worked hard to get into a better place. I like his ideals because it reminds me of my real-life family history, they’ve struggled a lot growing up but thanks for their efforts and opportunities to get an education they are in a better situation today. And having a character like Taka, who wants to help out people like my family, make accessibility to education and opportunities easier for not only them but everyone no matter their social class, it’s just beautiful…

    Now writing and reading all this I ‘m staring to think the reason I love Taka-chan so much could be mostly just projection, but I can’t help it that’s just how I interpret him. I wanna make Taka-chan a shrine and give him offerings and pray for good grades.

    ✦ Sayaka Maizono

    OKAY OKAY HEAR ME OUT the reason Sayaka is above Kyoko is because of personal preference only. As much as I love Kyoko, the kuudere stoic personality just isn’t my cup of tea, I much prefer expressional characters. That’s the main reason I prefer Sayaka over Kyoko.

    That being said, SAYAKA’S MY GIRL. She’s friendly, compassionate, hardworking and intelligent. She acts very boldly and it’s someone who knows what they want, I just love how direct yet indirect she is about her crush on Makoto. Despite her short screentime, Sayaka stole my heart. Whenever she was around I felt safe and hopeful, especially because I had no idea the game had a linear narrative and my efforts to save everyone were completely and utterly useless :D

    Just like Makoto, I completely trusted her and wanted to protect her, and just like Makoto, was completely shocked and defeated when she died. Even during the class trial, despite everything pointing to the case’s twist that Sayaka attacked first, I was in complete denial. “No, there’s no way” I would think. I didn’t want to believe it, I didn’t want to believe she tried framing Makoto.

    Some people say she’s a snake who manipulated Makoto, but I highly disagree, and just like the game said, in her final moments, she thought of Makoto and wrote that dying message.

    Sayaka is a strong girl but breaks into too much pressure. She fought tooth and nail to turn into an idol and grew extremely afraid and paranoid of being forgotten and letting all her hard work go to waste. The killing game just set the perfect stage for that paranoia to take over. Sayaka was just another victim, another victim of despair.

    So respect my girl! She’s a fighter!

    ✦ Makoto Naegi

    Ah Makoto, such a reliable young man. Kind, careering, intelligent yet naive, determined, surprisingly very emotionally mature, a boy with a heart of gold and an undying fighting spirit for doing what’s right. Makoto always got your back, he’ll always be there when needed, to cheer you up when you’re feeling down, and help you get back on track. While he may not completely relate with their fellow classmates, he does his best to understand them better and help out as best as he can. A true friend, a comrade, a partner, a bro, a pal, a companion etc.

    Trust in Makoto, believe in Makoto, put faith in Makoto, Makoto will never let you down.

    I must say, for a so called “normal and average guy”, he really is something special. Truly deserving of the Ultimate Hope title. He’s the best.

 

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    ✦ Kyoko Kirigiri

    AH Kyoko, my main partner throughout the game. I must say she was the only character I blindly trusted throughout my playthrough. I even got a bit nervous thinking we would have to do a class trial alone in chapter 5, since she was missing until then.

    Okay being serious now, I don’t have much to say about her, the main reason she’s so high on the list it’s because she was my partner and main ally in the game and I am very grateful for her helping Makoto out.

    I do like her relationship with her father, even if it wasn’t explored too in depth. Also, her character development of learning to be more open to others, specially with Makoto was really good. And I know the game implies that Makoto and Kyoko may have romantic feelings for each other, buuuuuut I don’t really think such thing is necessary honestly. I believe "platonic love > romantic love". Plus, it’s what Kyoko mostly needs in her life in my opinion, a friend she can rely on, so she doesn’t need to feel alone anymore.

    (Uhhh I might be completely misinterpreting her character right now but I really don’t remember much it’s been so long since I played this game uuughhh)

 

    ✦ Leon Kuwata

    OKAY BEAR WITH ME REAL QUICK I know I know, like why the hell is Leon so high on the list???  The answer is… It’s personal…? I was hesitant in putting him on A with Kyoko, since the two are on completely different levels but, Leon is just special man, idk.

    Okay first off, Leon has my favorite design in the entire game. It’s just so stylish, the white really makes his red-colored hair pop, and the piercings are just a total blast to draw man! And those beautiful eyes, in the game they’re a gray-sh color similar to his jacket, which makes them a bit faded, drawing more attention to his bright hair/goatee, while in the anime/other materials it’s sort of a light ice-blue, changing completely the focus of the hair to his eyes! but not as much, plus it adds a bit more color to his overall black/white/orange palette. It’s also my favorite version.

    By the way I suffer from this Mandela effect on Leon as well, I always imagine him wearing white pants, I know it’s not the right color, but I just can’t help myself (I mean, I do think he would look great in total white tho).

    Second off, I think it’s simply amazing his character development in the free-time events. I personally interpret his hatred for baseball as “hobby turned into work therefore it’s not fun anymore” or “passion that turned overbearing”, possibly even burnout. And the whole “some girl I like said he likes musicians so I’m becoming one” was just an excuse to escape that burnout, considering he mentions if Sayaka likes actors and maybe he should pursue that instead, which gives me the impression he’s not 100% serious in career changing and is just looking for excuses to not play baseball.

    However, in his later free-time events, he confesses he still wants to play baseball and go back to his team. How I interpret these events is that upon entering such a bizarre and stress inducing situation, Leon wants to go back to a familiar place, a comfort zone. Another way I interpreted was that upon being deprived of his normal school life, Leon came to a realization that “hey, maybe baseball is very important to me”, rediscovering his passion in a way.

    I say this because I too suffer burnouts sometimes, okay not burnouts, more like art blocks/lack of motivation. I get in a state where I don’t draw for weeks or even months, but as I go back I think “hey, drawing is actually really fun, I love drawing…”. I might just be projecting but this is how I see Leon with baseball. He also hates practicing, couldn't relate more.

    Oh and don’t even get me started on how his events are re-contextualized in school mode. MAN I CRIED on his ending. How determined he declared he’s gonna do BOTH, while proudly coming to terms with the fact he does enjoy baseball, yet still wishes to chase after dreams beyond that. Be someone beyond his talent.

    “Not just a baseball player, and not just a singer.”

    Another take I read somewhere that his desire of becoming a musician comes from a place of “reaping what you sow”, achieving something with your own hard work and effort, free from relying on natural talent. And I like that idea too, like a tragic genius specialized in something completely different from their actual passion (I said LIKE ONE, I don’t believe Leon is passionate about music at all lol and I imagine Ibuki would hate him for being so superficial about it).

 

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    ✦ Yasuhiro Hakagure

    This greedy, stubborn, scammer, boot licking sucker motherfucker, selfish “Kyoko’s a ghost” son of a bitch. Hiro is by far the funniest character in the entire cast, but also a very sucky person. He can get annoying at times, but I must confess after finishing the game he was the first character that popped into my mind. “I miss Yasuhiro” I would say to myself.

    God his design was one of the reasons I wasn’t sure I should give Danganronpa a shot or not. I hated his design so much, specially that stupid sunflower-looking-ass hair. I mean, his design did grow on me, in fact drawing his hair it’s actually kinda fun! But not one of my favorite designs.

    Personality wise, he sucks man, simply an awful person. The worst part is that he is those type of people who don’t realize how stubborn and pushy they are. Hiro has that salesman’s ability to pressure the less assertive and when they least notice it they bought some stupid steep good-for-nothing junk and are now in huge loads of debt. At least Hiro will use that money he just extorted, I mean, “acquired” on other good-for-nothing junk and fall for the same trap as his costumers, karma bitch.

    While in-game I didn’t pay much notice to him, around chapter 4 I did start hanging out with him mostly because he was the only interesting character available (Kyoko was missing, disliked Byakuya and Toko, and Hina just didn’t catch my eye). I suppose that’s where the attachment flourished.

    So yeah, I don’t know if you noticed but I really like Hiro and his nonsensical conspiracy bullshit talk. He’s extremely fun and gets on my nerves.

    

    ✦ Sakura Ogami

    God Sakura is so scary. I remember looking up a guide for her free time events because I was scared of making her mad lol.

    Sakura is strong, wise and while she self-proclaims not being good with words, still tries to help out whoever comes to her. She’s calm most of the time, but has shown to lose patience quite easily. She’s also just a big “wise strong mentor” action seinen stereotype but we don’t talk about that. Like c’mon, her death is freaking Ashita no Joe reference for God’s sake (I laughed so hard LMAOOO). I absolutely love how this game treats her as a joke as well as a serious, well-rounded character and important part of the story at the same time, it's total bonkers.

    Man, I thought didn’t care for Sakura until the class verdict happened and I started crying. If it wasn’t for her and Chihiro, Makoto's gang would have never managed to escape, so thank you Sakura for your sacrifice.

 

    ✦ Genocide Jack

    She’s so funny and random and quirky hhihihi~

    Only put her higher than Toko because I think she’s funny at least, but the creepy pervy remarks are still there tho. Okay but my fav part about her is that she keeps nicknaming the other characters and I adore that.

    Ah another example of the classic Dangan irony character writing, a serial killer that didn’t kill anyone this time around.

 

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    ✦ Chihiro Fujisaki

    Tell you the truth I didn’t care for Chihiro one bit, even forgot existed during my playthrough. HOWEVER because of Alter Ego I do put him on a pedestal alongside Sakura, but it’s more in a “showing gratitude” for the things he’s done kind of way rather than him as a character. After all, without Chihiro, Makoto would have freaking died in chapter 5 and Junko would have won.

    Chihiro’s relationship with Mondo was great tho, love the confrontation between spiritual and physical strength.

 

    ✦ Mondo Owada

    Gosh Mondo is so scary kyaaa~ > <

    No lying when he said the f word during his introduction I jumped XD. At that time I had an impression that Danganronpa was a 14+ franchise because of Monokuma, the character designs and the pink blood, so the heavy language really caught me off guard LOL.

    Moving on, Mondo's just a stereotypical “tough-guy-with-a-soft-heart/mussels-but-no-brains” jock/yankii type character, nothing too special about him. Despite that tho, I really really like him, might be my biased speaking, since I just looove delinquent characters, he’s also a walking JoJo reference so that adds lots of likeability points. His hair is ugly as fuck tho omg.

    I also think his dream of being a carpenter was kinda out of nowhere? I mean, I get the whole “grew my entire life breaking things so might as well start building them for a change” theme, but personally I think that part of him felt underdeveloped, he never really showed any interest in such activity neither throughout the game nor his free-time events, if anything he seemed more interested in motorcycles.

    Okay I think it’s absolutely hilarious that he killed Chihiro in a moment of rage, anger issues are so bad mf took another person’s life, like Jesus Christ get some therapy man.

    That being said, I probably like him more for aesthetic reasons than him as a person.

    ✦ Aoi Asahina

    The entire game I kept miscalling her “Shina” ;-;

    She’s nice, I suppose. Okay so, for me Hina is the most normal person in the entire game (excluding Makoto), and for that reason I didn’t care for her that much. There were so many other colorful/interesting faces I kinda put her aside.

    Don’t dislike her, just didn’t leave an impression on me. Won’t lie tho I kinda relate to her not wanting to get fat but still can’t resist eating sweets lol.

    Oh but what I absolutely love about her it’s her color palette. It has the most beautiful balance between cool and warm colors, a classic combination of the primary red and blue, with white as an accent, and her brown skin/hair just makes everything look warmer! Perfect. When I was playing, sometimes I would stop to admire how pretty her colors are. Just perfect.

 

    ✦ Hifumi Yamada

    God I hate that I relate to Hifumi to this extent. He’s a loner nerdy fanfic creator and an artist who’s deeply passionate about his craft and hobbies, and I totally get that.

    I understand his wish to have friends to discuss his favorite shows with. I understand his desire to present more people anime he likes and increase the number of fans. I understand the attachment, importance, influence and comfort his favorite characters have on him. I KNOW how it feels to dream of hanging out with your fictional heroes, because I too have those dreams and I too find comfort in them.

    I see myself in Hifumi in so many ways, and I strongly agree with his beliefs and morals, however, unfortunately there are some aspects that makes him unlikable, and it all goes back to creepy, pervy remarks, not to mention he can be so rude sometimes, I really don't like that, I also don’t think he’s that funny. 

    Okay to be completely honest I don’t have much reason to dislike him, quite the opposite in fact! Actually I don't even hate him for killing my precious Taka-chan, that was on Celeste, she had told him that Taka had fucking assaulted her, so I totally get Hifumi's anger that lead him to killing Taka. Sure Hifumi is not 100% innocent, but he's not 100% guilty either. 

    But like I said previously, perverted remarks are a big no no for me, plus throughout the game I didn’t care for him as much.

 

    ✦ Byakuya Togami

    Rude, inflated ego rich kid. Screw him. While I don’t want to say he grew on me through the game, I think it’s more suitable to say I just grew accustomed/unsensitized to his dick behavior.

    One cool thing about him tho is that his hair color and eye color are complementary to each other.

    Also I call him “Bakuya” on purpose because it’s easier to pronounce (I know how to properly call him I just don't want to lol).

✦ Celestia Ludenberg

    Wicked witch bitch. 

    Her character design was one of the reasons I stayed on the fence about playing this game for so many years, I did not like her giant drills AT ALL. I thought they looked ridiculous and just the game overall looked unappealing for me.

    But now that I've played the game, I can finally say…. I have nothing to say. I mean, I do like her design now. I was fairly neutral about her throughout the game until chapter 3. Oooooh I really did not like her after chapter 3 (bitch accused Taka-chan of sexual assault I am not letting that slide) even less during school mode. She just has that two-faced politeness, where it feels more like she’s mocking you instead of actually being nice. I do respect her dedication for maintaining her Celestia persona for so long, even down to the accent, wow. 

    OH her execution was the funniest for me, probably laughed way more than Mondo’s XDDDD. From what I’ve seen some people thought her execution didn’t fit her nor her talent but if you were to ask me I'd say it did. It starts off in a Victorian style execution, with her getting burned alive like a witch, very in line with her aesthetics, not only that but the event also takes place in a theater-like stage, which could be a reference on how Celeste’s personality is all an act, after all, actors are just professional liars. In the end she gets hit by a fucking firetruck, an obvious reference to the “isekai’d” anime trope, where the main character  gets hit by a truck then reincarnates in another world, a nudge nudge to her final line “Perhaps we'll meet again, in another life."

    Overall, not much comment about her character aside my dislike for her manipulative behavior, but her execution is my favorite.

 

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    ✦ Junko Enoshima

    Guys Junko is so fun and entertaining to watch, but damn she is simply the worst human being that has ever walked this Earth. C’mon do I even need to explain why she’s on the lowest tier??? She’s the main reason all my favorites are fucking dead, and even manages to torment the living after dying herself.

    Junko’s one of those examples of “love them as a character, hate them as a person” situation (literally the entire cast for me tho lol), she’s just a 100% evil being with no real motivations nor redeeming qualities. Now that I think about it, she’s like Dio from Jojo, you just can’t help but love to hate him.

 

   ✦ Toko Fukawa

    Wow I remember hating Toko so God damn much and kept wishing she would die, especially when more likable characters kept dropping like flies, yet Toko was still there, making disgusting remarks on everything. Byakuya getting annoyed by her were the only times I felt any sort of sympathy for him lol.

    Her free times events were lots of fun tho. Like, Toko’s life is so miserable it’s insane. I specially love the irony on the fact that she is a highly successful/renowned romance writer despite having nothing but heartbreaking/traumatic experiences about such topic.

    “It’s just delusions! Delusions!”

 

     ✦ Mukuro Ikusaba

    “None of this makes any sense! To just suddenly show up and then die!?” – Yasuhiro, chp 5.

    Okay guys, the reason Mukuro is dead last it’s simply for that, just went out there and died, BUT if we were talking bout her in other installments, such as the novels, she would be a B for sure. Mukuro in the novels (IF and ZERO) is amazing, specially in IF, her admiration/obsession/co-dependency on her sister was really fun and interesting to read, honestly the entire novel was.

    Unfortunately, this is THH Mukuro we’re talking about, and poor girl didn’t even get any lines outside her disguised form.

In her disguised form I quite enjoyed her during School Mode, her trying to stay in character but slipping up from time to time is cute. Now that I think about it, could it be that her wanting to achieve new dreams meant breaking up ties with her sister (maybe not completely tho) and become her own person? I mean, it does seem that Mukuro suffers from some sort of identity crisis, she wants to be useful for her sister, but after meeting Makoto that awakened a desire to be more than that. A tool that no longer desired to be one.

    But idk man, overall, she didn’t catch my eye that much, one of the characters I was least interested in while playing, alongside Hina and Chihiro.

 

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    OH MY GOD IT’S DONE! I’ve been writing this for 5 days now and I’m soooo fed up with this. Why the hell there are so many characters and why they hell did I think this was a good idea I'm never writing this much ever again I-

    Yet, man, I’ve wanted to make this list for a loooooong time now, but I never did for some reason. If anyone aside me even read this completely, props to you cuz why would you be interested in some rando’s extended opinion on fictional characters like this.