Makoto Naegi

Character
Name:	Kanji: 苗木誠 Katakana: ナエギ マコト Hiragana: なえぎまこと Romaji: Naegi Makoto Latin Alphabet: Makoto Naegi Korean:나에기 마코토 Simplified Chinese: 苗木诚 Russian: Макото Наэги
Occupation:	High School Student
Relationships:	Kyoko Kirigiri (partner; alive) Byakuya Togami (rival; alive) Kyoko Kirigiri and Byakuya Togami: (trio; all alive)
Fandom:	Dangan Ronpa
Other:	Talent: 超高校級の「幸運」lit. Super High School Level Good Luck Official English Translation: The Ultimate Lucky Student JPN Voice Actor: Megumi Ogata ENG Voice Actor: Bryce Papenbrook
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Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.

Makoto Naegi is a prominent and popular character in the Dangan Ronpa series. He debuted in Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc as the series' first protagonist. He also played a significant role in Dangan Ronpa 3: End of Hope's Peak High School.

Canon Overview

Naegi comes from an ordinary household consisting of his parents and Komaru Naegi. One day, he is chosen in a lottery held by Hope's Peak Academy to enroll in their specialty school. Usually, only teenagers with promising skillsets are scouted to enroll in the school, so Naegi is a major outlier. In Japanese, he is a Super High School Level Good Luck. In English, he is the Ultimate Lucky Student.

Once the Killing Game begins, it's clear his talent may be for bad luck. He gets assigned to a room with a broken shower door, but often wins when it comes to the in-game gacha mechanic, for example. Fans speculate his luck may be for inciting extremely low-probability events. Monokuma even pokes fun at this by registering him with "Ultimate Lucky (Unlucky?) Student" within the students' handbook. Unlike Nagito Komaeda from Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, he has no control over his luck, or at least, never attempts to control it.

In Japanese, he refers to himself with "boku," which is reflected in his kind, positive and pacifist personality. Mukuro Ikusaba, as Junko Enoshima, even calls him a herbivore man. However, when in Dangan Ronpa's Class Trials, he is known to be confrontational so his classmates won't fail to find culprits, thus fail to survive Monokuma.

Naegi's birthday is February 5th. On Twitter and Pixiv, art tagged with #苗木誠生誕祭[year value] are commonly released on his birthday.

Popular Tropes & Fanon

• Confused Makoto Naegi: in-tune with his canon and fanon characterization, along with Makoto Naegi is a Ray of Sunshine ‎and Dork Makoto Naegi.
• Trans Makoto Naegi: relatively popular, with female to male Hinata being the most common. Popular for transfic.
• Mastermind Makoto Naegi: popular variant of the DR-fandom specific "Mastermind AU" where Naegi is the main antagonist of the series instead of Junko Enoshima. A related sub-trope is Despair Makoto Naegi.
• Bisexual Makoto Naegi: him being bisexual is a popular headcanon, more so than any other sexuality.
• Makoto Naegi Is a Little Shit: where he causes more problems for the rest of the cast than in canon.
• Makoto Naegi Needs a Hug‎: common in angst and hurt/comfort works, as well as canon compliant ones.

All of the above are wrangled tags on Archive of Our Own. On Pixiv, there are also some tags specific to Naegi:

• Blackened!Naegi, 「黒苗木」, referring to both works where Naegi ends up murdering to escape Hope's Peak and ones where he is the Mastermind instead of Enoshima.
• Naegi-kun is a Serious Heroine, 「苗木君マジ乙女」, referring to works that emphasize Naegi's effeminate qualities. This may be synonymous with Woobification.

Other places where fandom lives may portray Naegi with one or all of these attributes. Describing Naegi as a shota is also common, though more-so in Japanese-speaking DR fandom. Naegi is often in works involving the phrase specific to Dangan Ronpa: "No, That's Wrong!", which is a meme in Japanese-speaking DR fandom. Trans Male is his most common trans interpretation.

Naegi is also popular for whump and may be considered a woobie.

Subjects of Fannish Interest & Meta

Naegi, the 2channel user

Some Japanese Dangan Ronpa fans believe Naegi may have been a regular of 2channel. Unlike the protagonist of other DR games, Naegi had no partner with him during the initial character introduction phase of Trigger Happy Havoc's prologue, leading Kazutaka Kodaka to add that Naegi did prior research on messageboards of Hope's Peak's students before enrolling to save on in-game text. Fans made the messageboard connection.

Relationships

This is purposefully an incomplete list, as Naegi is shipped with much of Dangan Ronpa's cast. Please add any notable relationships in fanworks if they are missing.

In Kanji, Naegi is usually represented in a pairing names with 苗 (nae). In Hiragana, なえ (nae) is common.

The order seen should be what's most popular unless marked with "possibly." ENG portmanteaus are also subject to change. Relationships listed fall into GL, NL, BL, Poly, Combi or Cargo.

With...	Full Label	Type	Portmanteau / Phrase	Kanji or Katakana	Information
Kyoko Kirigiri	Kyoko Kirigiri/Makoto Naegi	NL	Naegiri	ナエギリ (Naegiri), なえぎり (Naegiri)	(Seen on its page.)
Byakuya Togami	Makoto Naegi/Byakuya Togami	BL	Naegami	十苗 (Tonae), 苗十 (Naeto)	(Seen on its page.)
Kyoko Kirigiri; Byakuya Togami	Kirigiri & Naegi & Togami	Combi	Reasoning Trio	推論三人組 (Inference Trio)	(Seen on its page.)
Kyoko Kirigiri; Byakuya Togami	Kirigiri/Naegi/Togami	Poly	Naegamigiri , Naegirigami	n/a	(Seen on its page.)
Sayaka ‎Maizono	Sayaka Maizono/Makoto Naegi	NL	Naezono	苗舞 (Naemai)	(Seen on its page.)
Yasuhiro Hagakure	Yasuhiro Hagakure/Makoto Naegi	BL	Naekure	苗葉 (Naeha)	(Seen on its page.)
Kiyotaka Ishimaru	Kiyotaka Ishimaru/Makoto Naegi	BL	Naeishi	苗石 (Naeishi)	(Seen on its page.)
Nagito Komaeda	Nagito Komaeda/Makoto Naegi	BL	Komaegi	狛苗 (Komaenae)	(Seen on its page.)
Celestia Ludenberg	Celestia Ludenberg/Makoto Naegi	NL	Naeceles	苗セレ (Naesere)	(Seen on its page.)
Aoi Asahina	Aoi Asahina/Makoto Naegi	NL	Naehina	苗朝 (Naeasa)	(Seen on its page.)
Hajime Hinata	Hajime Hinata/Makoto Naegi	BL	Hinaegi	日苗 (Hinae)	(Seen on its page.)
Hajime Hinata	Hajime Hinata & Makoto Naegi	Combi	Hope's Peak Protag Duo	ダンガン主人公コンビ (Dangan main character combi)	(Seen on its page.)
Komaru Naegi	Komaru Naegi & Makoto Naegi	Combi	Naegi Siblings	苗木兄妹 (Naegi Siblings)	(Seen on its page.)
Nagito Komaeda	Nagito Komaeda & Makoto Naegi	Combi	Lucky Student Duo	超高校級の幸運コンビ (SHSL Lucky Duo)	(Seen on its page.)
Mukuro Ikusaba	Mukuro Ikusaba/Makoto Naegi	NL	Naekusaba, Naekuro	苗戦 (Naeiku)	(Seen on its page.)
Junko Enoshima	Junko Enoshima/Makoto Naegi	NL	Naejunko	絶望×希望 (Despair×Hope)	(Seen on its page.)
Junko Enoshima	Junko Enoshima & Makoto Naegi	Combi	n/a	n/a	(Seen on its page.)
Leon Kuwata	Leon Kuwata/Makoto Naegi	BL	Naeleon	苗桑 (Naekuwa)	(Seen on its page.)
Izuru Kamukura	Izuru Kamukura/Makoto Naegi	BL	Kamuegi	n/a	(Seen on its page.)
Chihiro Fujisaki	Chihiro Fujisaki/Makoto Naegi	BL	Naehiro	超高校級の小動物 (SHSL Small 'n Cute Animals)	(Seen on its page.)
Toko Fukawa	Toko Fukawa/Makoto Naegi	NL	Naekawa	苗腐 (Naefu)	(Seen on its page.)
Sakura Oogami	Makoto Naegi/Sakura Oogami	NL	Naesaku	苗さく(Naesaku)	(Seen on its page.)
Mondo Oowada	Makoto Naegi/Mondo Oowada	BL	Naemondo	n/a	(Seen on its page.)
Hifumi Yamada	Makoto Naegi/Hifumi Yamada	BL	n/a	n/a	(Seen on its page.)
Kyoko Kirigiri	Kyoko Kirigiri & Makoto Naegi	Combi	n/a	n/a	(Seen on its page.)
Sayaka Maizono	Maizono Sayaka & Makoto Naegi	Combi	n/a	n/a	(Seen on its page.)
Byakuya Togami	Makoto Naegi & Byakuya Togami	Combi	n/a	n/a	(Seen on its page.)

Naegi is also popular for self-shipping works. See List of Dangan Ronpa Relationship Names for more.

Example/Notable Fanac

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fan Communities/Fan Events

Collections

• Makoto Appreciation Page, a fic collection on Archive of Our Own

Wikis

• Makoto Naegi on Danganronpa Wiki
• 苗木誠 on PixivEncyclopedia
• Makoto Naegi on Shipping Wiki
• 나에기 마코토 on Namuwiki
• Makoto Naegi on Wikipedia

Meta

• Makoto doesn’t look directly at the camera very much by descendant-of-truth, ^{Archived version} (2019)
• Makoto’s luck has more substance than the narrative gives it credit for by descendant-of-truth, ^{Archived version} (2019)