#In the short story 'Makoto Naegi's worst day ever'

[chirpos-pencil]

Imagine if Makoto is somehow sent back in time to the day he's supposed to recieve the letter from Hope's Peak Academy.

He is standing in front of the gates of his former highschool. He's in the body of his younger self.

The world around him looks fine and normal, nothing unusual - just like it did before the Tragedy.

But all the memories of what he had gone through are fresh in his mind. Monokuma, the Killing Games, Ultimate Despair, his friends, the Future Foundation - everything!

So, he takes the usual path and runs back home, quickly. The letter! It must be at his doorstep now!

He knocks frantically on the door, and Komaru opens it. He asks her if he has recieved any letter from Hope's Peak, and she shakes her head.

His parents come and ask him if everything's alright.

Makoto looks at them, his eyes welling up. They're alive! He runs and hugs them. His mother and father look at each other, wondering why their son is behaving so strangely. Nevertheless, they hug him back.

"Oh, the winner of that draw is announced!" Komaru says, looking at her phone.

"What draw?" asks her mother.

"The lucky draw conducted by Hope's Peak Academy."

And, Makoto feels a chill go down his back.

"It's some girl," Komaru says, showing them the photo of the winner. "Wow, she's so lucky."

Makoto trembles as he stares at the photo of a highschool girl, the proclaimed Ultimate Lucky Student of Class 78.

No, it was . . . It was supposed to be him.

It was supposed to be him!

His family asks him repeatedly what's wrong, but what can Makoto tell them? Whatever he says, they won't believe him at all.

"Are you sad that you didn't win?" asks his mother. "It's okay, you can try again next year."

He drops to his knees, completely dazed.

Instead of him, that girl will go to Hope's Peak Academy. Instead of him, that girl will meet his friends. His very friends with whom he endured hell together and made it through together. His very friends who stuck with him, despite it all, again and again.

And now, his friends are never going to know of his existence.

And he's never going to see them again.

[zeravmeta]

Makoto's comments in the beginning of dr1 where he talks about how average he is down to his lifestyle and interests is one of those things that becomes absurdly hilarious in hindsight not because of the stuff he goes on to do later BUT because we get a glimpse of what his Normal Person Life was like in the Worst Day Ever short story and we find out he lives in a monty python-esque parody world of absurdism that makes most other ultimates seem normal in comparison.

naegi getting home, having been abandoned by his asshole friends, held hostage by a world renowned thief, being fought for by a random passing kendo master wuxia protagonist, on a bus recreating the events of Speed (1994), causing untold accidents along the way and inadvertently crashing into the main worldbuilding plot of the danganronpa series: huh this day was a little weirder than normal but nothing i cant handle :) whoa hopes peak accepted me they have this guy who can throw a baseball really good!! :o

[ultimateplaylistmaker]

How do you think Makoto`s and Nagito`s luck work?

*deeep breath*

*Slams my ruler onto the whiteboard* ALRIGHT

To understand Makoto and Nagito's luck, we must first understand Luck in the Danganronpa universe.

First off their are multiple types of luck, and not all luck talents are built the same. That's the first thing you need to understand, every luck talent is a unique personal talent to each individual. Luck talents can't really be compared because they're so different from each other and can even create other talents.

Case in point the true second luck talent we had in the series...CELESTIA LUDENBERG. While not the ultimate lucky student, her gambling talent is NEAR COMPLETE LUCK, something she FREELY ADMITS.

While this kind of thinking is more associated with Komaeda, it is actually CELESTE who first brings up luck as something beyond just chance, but instead as something more akin to religion. She even compares it to fate, Celestia will tell us in her FIRST free time event exactly what she thinks of luck. Which correlates well with Komaeda’s thinking. First of all the immutability of it, that you are simply born with that luck and nothing can ever change it, then there is the thought there is no inbetween luck it is only Good luck or Bad luck and it’s those two things that determine basically everything. Celestia and Komaeda have a very similar worldview, the only difference is the fact Celeste’s luck is only good and has such given her a much more positive view of it. Celeste seems to have spent a lot of time thinking about luck, and has a lot of faith in it, seen how in another free time events despite not knowing how to even play, she won a Shogi gambling competition.

While Celeste has a habit of exaggerating and dramatics, I think she’s telling the truth about this story, it matches up with her beliefs after all. No skill or talent carried her through to the end and to victory, just pure luck, her gambling luck that is the basis of her talent.

From this we learn that luck talents are much broader then just ���lucky student’ and can make up a lot of different talents based on how it presents themselves with everyone having unique sets of luck and activation requirements. With both her and Komaeda sharing similar views on luck, it’s clear that those with lucky talents tend to find luck to be immutable and simply just a piece of ones self that can never be changed. Luck is everything to those with powerful enough luck, to the point it becomes almost blinding and overshadows skill, though Celeste seems to feel a bit ashamed that she didn’t at least make an attempt at having skill at Shogi. A little dog can’t become a big dog, and someone with bad gambling luck can never have good gambling luck and vice versa.

This isn’t true.

As you may have noticed if her gambling luck is that good that it overrides skill completely, then how did she lose? By how her talent works as long as it’s a gamble, she wins. Period. Nothing to be done about it. How did she lose the gamble of her life?

Easy, Makoto’s luck works as a luck nullifier.

You may be asking what the hell I’m talking about and I redirect your attention to the short story of Makoto Naegi’s Worst Day Ever.

“People often say that men are defined by their names, and indeed, in his thirty-two years on Earth, Jutarou had never once thought of himself as unlucky. In fact, he had been blessed with abnormally good luck. By the very nature of his work, he had found himself in a number of dangerous situations in the past, but every time—without fail—a series of fortunate flukes guided him to safety. 

While his luck could be considered one of his strengths, he wasn’t fond of admitting it. 

Rather, allowing himself to end up in situations where the outcome was in fate’s hands was unacceptable to him. He knew good and well that, in his line of work, even the smallest of slip-ups could mean disaster. 

Jutarou was a thief. 

The most important thing to him when he was on a job was reducing the potential influence of forces outside his control—luck, other people—to an absolute minimum. In his mind, a thorough, well crafted plan was the cornerstone of any job. He always formulated and executed his plans by himself, and any job for which that wasn’t possible, he wouldn’t take. There was nothing worse than being betrayed by a partner who let his greed get to his head, and besides, Jutarou didn’t need anyone slowing him down. And he especially didn’t need to be asking for help from on high. 

Naturally, his current job was no different. He had planned everything and put that plan into action all by himself. His target had been a small jewelry store in a nearby shopping district. Jutarou had received information that, despite looking run-down, the store had a hidden stash of extremely valuable jewels. And to top it off, the owner was a bit of a penny-pincher, so security was light. 

It was an incredible opportunity—the kind that you only ever got once or twice. 

So Jutarou crafted an intricate, but bold, plan, and then he went through with it. Naturally—as far as he was concerned—everything went without a hitch, exactly as it was supposed to. His plan was perfect, leaving no room whatsoever for outside interference. And there had been none. 

Spoils tucked away in his bag, he calmly stepped onto the bus. Jutarou liked to make use of public transportation as much as possible while on a job. It was easier to blend into the crowd in a bustling city by riding a bus or train than it was driving a car or motorcycle, and by dressing like a businessman on the job, he practically disappeared. 

The disguise worked, too. Not a person on that bus gave him a second look as he took an open seat at the front. 

Finally certain he had completed his work, Jutarou let out a small sigh of relief. As the bus vibrated gently beneath him, he silently basked in the satisfaction of a job well done. 

And then, a sick twist of fate made quick work of everything he had accomplished. Only, it wasn’t his luck that laid everything to waste—rather, he was just caught in the crossfire of some teenage boy’s misfortune. Some boy who just happened to climb onto the same bus as him. It was a stroke of bad luck so overwhelming that even Jutarou who, up to that point, had been blessed with such incredibly good luck, was helpless to prevent it”

Meet Jutarou who appears to have a luck talent of his own, the main antagonist in the short story. While he doesn’t like purely to rely on it, he notes that he is a very lucky man and multiple times in the story comments about how his luck never fails him. Until it does. Makoto Naegi’s bad luck was so strong, it had OVERRIDDEN his good luck, giving Jutarou bad luck to give Makoto WORSE luck. 

This trend continues throughout the story, despite Jutarou’s best efforts and best luck to get himself not arrested, Makoto’s sheer bad luck is enough to dissuade EVERY attempt as the situation only gets worse and worse for Makoto until it ends up with the groceries that Makoto was ORIGINALLY SENT TO GET ending up basically exploding. 

This incident directly leads into Makoto getting into Hope’s Peak, as his luck is SO BAD that in that same explosion the original lottery winners invitation gets destroyed and they do a new drawing, this time pulling Makoto’s name.

Luck talents have no effect on Makoto because his luck counteracts it, it doesnt matter how good your luck is, if Makoto’s luck wants to involve you, you have no control over the luck in the situation anymore. From this we learn Luck talents interacting with each other can have odd effects, especially if Makoto is involved.

There is a second piece of evidence that Luck talents aren’t quite as straightforward as “you’re born with it” and his name, is the mortal god himself, Izuru Kamukura

As Hajime Hinata, his luck is well, it’s not great, but I wouldn’t call it bad either. He’s average, very plainly average. Then he got a lobotomy and became Izuru, and suddenly something has changed. Izuru DOES have good luck, and he has an intense amount of control over his luck that he can even can beat Komaeda in a gun fight. Which means not only is Luck a real talent despite how Komaeda bemoans, it has some way to quantifiably measure and implant it as his Luck talent is just as artificial as the rest of his talents. Luck isn’t just chance or fate, it’s a legitimate part of someones body that can be implanted into someone else with the right tools. Which is, SO MUCH TO UNPACK. 

We don’t learn HOW they implanted luck, so we can only guess where luck resides within a human body. Wherever it is though, this implies while people are indeed born with a specific luck pattern that is otherwise immutable this pattern can be tampered and changed by an outside source with the right know how. Celeste is essentially correct in the fact humans are born programmed with the luck they have, but we lack the specifics. I am pointing a gun at the hope cultivation program if you’re going to break the geneva convention at least LET ME KNOW how you implanted fucking LUCK!

Luck is beyond just how we view luck in our world, luck is an inherent part of them, I’d dare to even call it another sense. Like a sense of sight or sense of direction, everyone has a sense of luck. Some don’t have much of it, some of them have little, and some of them have enough of it that it almost seems like a magical power.

Of course now that we have a loose understanding of how luck just works in this setting, this tells us little on how luck works for those two specifically.

Makoto’s luck is known to be the most confusing even in universe, as his luck is a liar. Bad luck often is good luck often is bad luck. It is impossible to tell if something is good or bad when it comes to his luck until like three years later after all the dominoes and butterfly effects have mostly settled. Celeste says there is no in-betweens but Makoto’s luck LOVES its grey areas. Making things be both bad and good at the same time, Makoto’s luck cannot be divided into good or bad because it’s always both at the same damn time. The only think about his luck that’s in any way clear is that it refuses to let him die. No matter how bad his luck seems, the moment he could genuinely die, his luck swoops in to grab him from the brink. 

Like yeah he lived thats good but now he has trauma and thats bad and now he can help and thats good but that helping is also being used as propaganda and that’s bad. Makoto lives in a state of greys, his luck refuses the black and white views of Celeste or Komaeda, everything his luck does will be both bad and good, creating mostly just confusion. It’s easy to see how Makoto just kinda shrugs it off as just unfortunate and moves on with his life, his luck keeps trying to be good and bad at the same time.

Then there’s Komaeda, who has only bad luck. Which you may be saying “what? But his luck can be good!” and I ask you how good his luck really is? His luck constantly kills the people around him and even killed him. Sure sometimes he gets paltry rewards like money or freedom, but in reality, the scales are NOT balanced. An inheritance can’t make up for dead parents, winning the lottery  doesn’t erase the trauma of being kidnapped.

Even moments where his luck seems to work in his favor only makes him miserable, winning russian roulette wasn’t a triumph or good luck for him really, it only drove him insane. 

If I had to name Komaeda’s luck I’d go for something like short term benefits with long term consequences. The bad effects of his luck always echo farther and go on for longer then the good effects which are often quick distractions or quick victories. However Komaeda lets himself settle for this, pretending like the scales actually have any meaning, letting himself have bad luck and thinking the small rewards of it measures up to the sheer amount of bad luck it took. 

Komaeda’s luck can give him the things he needs in the moment, but there is always consequences for it’s use. Komaeda pretends like it's an equivalent exchange, but actually looking at, even the 'good' parts often brings him suffering. Like yeah he's rich and has freedom, but he's lonely and unable to connect to people. Even the best parts of his luck are only good short term before also becoming more akin to bad luck.

His luck is basically a deal with the devil, he receives pain and suffering, and he receives... a whole bunch of sodas! Just ignore the fact the scars will last longer then the soda and you can pretend it all balanced out.

It’s easy to see how he fell into the viewpoints he did when he basically has to lie to himself to make his luck more tolerable or seem fair. Especially because unlike Makoto's, his luck seems perfectly willing to kill him if he's not careful.

Of course these are only my current views on their luck cycles, my mind and thoughts are CONSTANTLY changing on this, because it’s just, so nebulous. One of these days I’d love to do a luck deep dive on all the characters and see what other talents are secretly luck talents.

[thebibliomancer]

So apparently the pre-DR1 short story Makoto Naegi Secret File Makoto Naegi’s Worst Day Ever suggests Nagito esque actual luck power for Makoto.

Honestly I prefer it being ambiguous whether Makoto’s luck was super duper ultimate or not.

Since Hope’s Peak just put every high schooler in a lottery and picked a random person, it makes sense that they might end up with just Some Guy. Especially since Makoto was the second pick in his particular lottery.

Hope’s Peak just. Raffling off a seat at Best School and deciding that makes someone super lucky fits how shit they are at researching talent, actually.

And it apparently being Jin’s special pet project makes it even more suspect because the man was not good at his job or at ideas.

I like Makoto as the averagest boy. Some guy who’s lived such an average life and is so adverse to talking about himself because he’d rather hear about You that he’s one nut Junko just can’t crack. With despair washing off his average emotional stability like water off a duck’s back.

Besides, the real Ultimate Lucky High Schooler is Gladstone Gander.

[changeling-droneco]

Every day I think about Makoto Naegi’s Worst Day Ever short story because it’s just so fucking batshit and NO ONE brings it up, it’s such a wild story, Naegi’s luck is wild, my dude had one HELL of a day, nearly died like SEVEN times, met the only person in this series TO EVER hold a braincell despite us never even learning his name, and is the ENTIRE reason he even got the Hope’s Peak invitation because he resulted in the original letter to some other girl who won the original lottery getting COMPLETELY destroyed so they had to hold the drawings AGAIN. The story is INCREDIBLE

[askthenewhopespeak]

Someone I Knew Before

*During the Tragedy*

Kyoji: Of all the places they could’ve picked to sent me, why did they pick Shanghai? I’m a doctor, not an expert in search and rescue.

Well, the sixth branch is pretty short-staffed right now… almost everyone’s out on various assignments.

Kyoji: Nothing’s ever easy for us, is it?

The last few years especially.

Kyoji: Hey...quick question.

*Miaya looks up at him, nodding*

Kyoji: That thing about Naegi and the despairs. You don’t….you don’t think he’s a traitor, do you? I’ve heard rumors floating around from the other Branch heads.

No. I had sessions with those six… none of them are moles, I’m certain of it. Or if they are, they’re so deep in cover they’re not aware of it themselves.

Kyoji: I see. What about the...the remnants? The ones who woke up. You think it worked?

I haven’t been allowed to see them myself… so I’m not certain. There’s a reason I’ve not chosen my verdict before the trial.

Kyoji: Being impartial until you know all the details. I know some people here who would do well to emulate that.

Hmm, I wonder who that could be… it couldn’t possibly be almost every other branch head here, could it?

Kyoji: Once again you see right through my clever metaphors and pick up on the subtlest of clues. Truly you have achieved thine role as the Ultimate Therapist.

It was very difficult.

Kyoji: *He kisses her on the cheek* But well-earned.

*Miaya pulls him down into a deeper kiss*

Kyoji: Mm! *he pulls away a little* Didn’t get enough last night?

Not quite. But seriously, who knows how long all this will take… your mission’s probably a week at the absolute minimum, and if I know Kyosuke… 

He’s going to drag the trial out for as long as it takes for him to either get the verdict he wants or until he finally gets over his ego and admits defeat.

Kyoji: Not mention I’ve only got a few hours before I leave. Guess we could make the most of that time?

I would, but I’ve got an appointment scheduled… another kid from Towa City.

Kyoji: Dang- I mean, hey, another survivor is always good news. Any word on their identity?

The report I got said they were found next to an empty helmet, but nothing beyond that.

Kyoji: That whole thing in Towa was awful. I mean, everything happening these days is awful, but that was an extra batch worth.

Don’t even get me started on it… some of the worst we’ve seen came out of there.

Kyoji: Yeah. I don’t want to think about it either. But the good news is things finally seem to be looking up for us.

 I think things are definitely calming down, to the point where we can at least start to rebuild.

Kyoji: Exactly! See? Every day is just one step closer to us winning. To this whole debacle finally being over with. Then you and I can finally just settle down and….um...heh.

Big dreams, hmm Mister Nakamura?

Kyoji: Hey, curing the world was just the first step. The next is settling down with the most beautiful girl in the world. If she’s up for it, of course.

I would like a ring, first.

Kyoji: Don’t suppose a ring chromosome counts?

Much as I appreciate the thought, I’m a sucker for tradition.

Kyoji: Maybe I’m a little uninformed, but I think the wedding traditionally comes before the consummation.

Well, maybe not all traditions…

Kyoji: Heh. You’re so cute when you blush like that, you know?

Just when I blush like that?

Kyoji: I mean, you’re always cute, but it adds an extra layer. Like cuteness atop a cute...cake. You know, I was going somewhere with that simile, but I completely lost it. My bad.

Well, I think it’s safe to say I’m not the only person in this room who’s cute…

Kyoji: Seems so. The question is, what happens when two forms of cuteness collide?

That is a very good question. One I shall ponder inbetween sessions, and one you can ponder while on your mission.

Kyoji: Indeed. *His communicator rings* And look at that. Duty calls. *Sigh*

All right, go save some lives while I go save some minds. *She gives him one last kiss before wheeling off, pulling her scarf up as she does so*

Kyoji: I will! And Miaya?

*She turns*

Kyoji: I’ll have that ring for you when I get back. I promise.

I believe it.

Kyoji: Better not keep them waiting. See ya! *He runs off*

*Miaya Gekkogahara wheels off, not yet knowing the child she was going to meet would be the person to end her life.*

*The modern day (Before the finale but after the rescue arc)*

*Kyoji stands outside the gates of a cemetery with Mikan, Ryouko, and Mitsuru*

Kyoji: …

*Mikan takes his hand reassuringly.*

Kyoji: I...I don’t know if I can do this. I told myself I could, but…

You can. I know you can.

Mitsuru: Yeah. You can do it.

Kyoji: *He smiles* Thank you. I just...I might be a little while, okay?

Mikan: That’s fine. We’re in no rush.

Mitsuru: Take as much time as you need.

*Kyoji takes a deep breath and enters. Inside, he finds a gravestone with a familiar name*

Kyoji: Hey, Miaya. It’s, uh...it’s been a long time since we’ve talked. I know that I haven’t come to visit you, and I’m sorry about that. I was stuck in China for a few months, and it wasn’t until I got out that I heard...I….heard...

...There’s so much I want to say to you. So much I want to apologize for. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me. I’m sorry I never helped you get back on your feet. I’m sorry for a lot of things, really.

But I kept my promise.

*He digs into his pocket and takes out a wedding ring*

Sorry if it’s a little cracked, but I’ve been holding onto it for a while. I really hope you like it.

*He places it on her grave*

We could’ve been so good together, you know? I mean, we were. I know we were. You were the best friend I ever had, my closest companion through the worst years of my life, and you were my first love. I was ready to spend the rest of my life with you. Maybe have a family with you too. Our own way of rebuilding, you know?

I still think about our time together. All those times you kissed me, the times we spent watching the stars, all those nights together, and just the warmth from you being with me. Nothing is ever going to replace what I had with you.

But...I’ve met someone very special. You remember Mikan? The bullied girl from Ukishima I saved? Turns out it was the same one who Naegi and friends rescued. Part of me feels like you knew that the whole time, but I guess I won’t know. But it worked, you know? The Neo World Program saved everyone, gave them another chance. And it was thanks to you, Fujisaki, and even Matsuda.

She’s given me a second chance too. A second chance to have...something close to what we had. She’s made me so happy, and I’ve been trying my hardest to do the same for her. We’ve had our ups and downs, sure, but I think we can find a way to make it work.

And Kyosuke unfroze Ryouko a few months ago. It’s a long story, but...our baby’s all grown up. She’s learned so much, experienced more in one year than most people do in ten or twenty. And...as much as I might not like his methods, Sly’s made her happy too. That’s what we wanted for her, right? It’s what good parents should want for their kids.

Funny thing too, speaking of kids. Um...well, Umeko came back. She detected some disturbance in spacetime around here and decided to investigate. Turns out it was our kids. Naomi and Takumi’s- yes, that pairing happened- Makoto and Kyoko, but also mine and Mikan’s. His name is Mitsuru. Yep, seems we named him after his grandmother. He’s a good kid.

A lot’s happened since that Final Killing Game. In my heart, I want to believe it’s all over now. I really do. But my head tells me otherwise. I get the sense that things will never quite be easy around here. But we’ve made so many great memories here and made a lot of people happy. Oh! Almost forgot! I finally finished my AIDS cure!

I mean, I should be happier about that, I know. But I keep thinking back to how I couldn’t cure mom and how I couldn’t get you to walk again. Even though I promised.

Heh. Look at me, still beating myself up over past mistakes. Guess some things never change.

You never gave up on me. You always tried to help me grow, and I really loved that about you. Your kindness, your tenacity, your genuine belief in helping others. Think you must’ve rubbed off on me. I know it’s going to be a hard journey, but I think I’m finally ready to start letting go. To finally start living a real life. Not in a lab, but with a house and a family of my own.

I could never say that without you. You gave me the strength to carry on, even when things felt completely hopeless. I won’t waste that. I’m going to help as many people as I can, but I’m also going to start helping myself for once.

You gave me that chance. I wouldn’t have any of those three without you.

I...I still wish I could’ve saved you. I’m not gonna forget you or what you did for me. You were the best person I ever knew.

I love you, Miaya Gekkougahara. Sorry it took so long for me to say it.

Now, I’m gonna go take that first step. I’m going to move forward. Who knows what the future holds? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Alright, I’m gonna head off now. I’m sorry it took me so long to finally visit.

Wherever you are now, in whatever time or place or whatever sort of existence follows this one, I just hope you’re happy. And I hope I can get to see you again someday.

*He starts walking away, but stops*

...And Miaya? If she’s there, could you please say hi to my mom for me? Tell her...well, you know what to say. You always do.

*He walks a couple feet away, then feels a presence behind him. He doesn’t turn around, but instead smiles and starts walking back to the gate again.*

[yohandere]

In Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the player controls Makoto Naegi, a student at Hope's Peak who is forced into a killing game with other students. Each chapter is divided in two parts: School Life, in which the player can explore the academy and progress through the story, and the Class Trial, in which the player must deduce the culprit of a murder.

The story is shown from the perspective of the protagonist, Makoto Naegi, who starts a new year at the elite Hope's Peak Academy, an exclusive government-funded school which is renowned for recruiting students that are emblematic of their disciplines. These students are given the title of "Ultimate", and range from talents such as the "Ultimate Baseball Star" or the "Ultimate Programmer" to ideals such as the "Ultimate Moral Compass". However, every year the school hosts a raffle in which every ordinary high school student nationwide is entered, and a random student is selected to enter the school as the "Ultimate Lucky Student". This is the case with Makoto Naegi, and the events leading up to the raffle are shown through the short story, Makoto Naegi's Worst Day Ever.

The story revolves around fifteen students who are trapped in the school under the control of a sadistic monochromatic bear named Monokuma. They are forced to live a communal lifestyle together under a set number of rules for the rest of their collective lives, although it is possible to "disrupt the peace" in order to escape. In order to do this, a student must "graduate" from the school by murdering a classmate. After a body has been discovered, the rest of the students must work together to discover the culprit, who is known as the "blackened", while the innocents are on the side of the "whitened," playing off Monokuma's monochromatic color scheme. If the murderer can deceive the rest of their classmates, they alone will graduate and escape the school while the rest of the students will be punished through execution. However, if the classmates uncover the true culprit, then the culprit alone will be punished with a gruesome execution while everyone else remains unharmed.

In each chapter, Monokuma releases motives to encourage students to commit a murder. During this time, the students attempt to uncover the secrets of the school, including why they were trapped there in the first place, as well as other ways to escape the school other than the graduation clause.

[the-one-who-have-no-idea]

Oh, if you need some kind of guide or instraction for Danganronpa I will gladly help.

So first you play the Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc(it's the first game and it's have a pretty bad anime adaptation), then Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair(only in the form of a game. It's a sequel). Then Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls(It's a spin off game in a different style but it's important to the story. Midquel between first two games but needed to be played after.) Then Danganronpa 3 it's an anime(Has 3 arcs. There are few way it can be watched. You can watch Future Arc and then Despair Arc or watch one episode of F.A. and then one of D.A. then again one of F.A. and like that. I guess it's also possible to watch Despair Arc and then Future Arc. After that goes Hope Arc it's in a form of one OVA) Then OVA called Danganronpa 2.5.

From now then you can do whatever you want. You can play Danganronpa V3 Killing Harmony. You can read one of the light novel (Danganronpa Zero, a pretty important one. Danganronpa Kirigiri (has good russian fun translation). Danganronpa Togami (I personally haven't read it so I don't have much to say)). There is also a manga called Killer Killer but nobody actually talking about this one(the fact that it's Danganronpa related media was a surprise and a twist after first 2,5 chapters. The real story starts after those 2,5 chapters) And there are two extras. Danganronpa IF( a bonus short light novel that becomes available after beating the first game. The what if scenario where the series of events in the first game are different). And Makoto Naegi's worst day ever(a bonus material to the BluRay edition of the first game anime adaptation.)

I hope that it may be useful for you.

Why not pirate the game?

I would like to support authors, if I can. A lot of games are still in wish list, but I'm patient to save some money on them. If it's too expensive or it's on PS, Xbox, Nintendo etc, I usually watch let's plays.

So, maybe, I'll watch a let's play of Danganronpa. c:

[chirpos-pencil]

I'm thinking about that old man from Makoto Naegi's Worst Day Ever. How do you think the conversation between him and Makoto will go if they ever meet each other during the Tragedy?

They sit down beside each other and look back on what they talked about then. They remember that day strangely well. Makoto was grumbling about his bad luck, and the old man provided some words of wisdom, such as 'Karma doesn't exist', 'There's no point in fighting fate, so all we can do is accept it for what it is.', and 'Children act for themselves, adults act for others.'

Back then, the old man was consoling a child who'd accidentally scattered coffee cans all over the place when his plastic bags ripped open. A child who holds the same worries as his peers like studying for a difficult exam, whether their crush liked them back or not, or missing a favourite show they liked on TV.

'Children act for themselves.'

But here, the old man is now sitting with an adult, who'd gone through hell and back, having watched his friends murder each other and die before his very eyes. An adult who'd proclaimed to the world that he'd never move past his loved ones' deaths and carry them with him forever, close to his heart. An adult who now holds worries foreign to regular adults, like the future of the world being on his shoulders. An adult who puts others before himself.

'Adults act for others.'

I wonder what kind of emotion the old man must be feeling when talking to him.

Then Makoto turns to him with a smile and says, "All we can do is accept it for what it is, right?" - simply repeating what he'd said to him then.

In the short story, that sentence has a different meaning. Younger Makoto interpreted it as 'Leave the unpleasant memories for the past. Dragging them around like a ball-and-chain was just dumb.'

But now, it holds another meaning, doesn't it?

Older Makoto cannot leave his deceased friends to the past. No, he must carry them with him, wherever he went, for the rest of his life. All those pleasant and unpleasant memories . . . He'll carry them and never leave them. He'll strive forward with them all.

And that's the moment when the child had transformed into . . . an adult.

[chirpos-pencil]

A conversation between Makoto and a peculiar old man

[chirpos-pencil]

Reading Makoto Naegi’s Secret File again, there’s one thing about it that I disagree. It says at the end that Makoto getting the HPA invite is zenith of his bad luck because of the despair inducing killing game. But if Makoto didn’t get enrolled to Hope’s Peak than he and Komaru would be dead or in hiding. Junko will still be alive and the killing game will succeed to plunge the world into unfixable despair. Frankly, Makoto and the entire world are very lucky that he was enrolled because only he could have stopped the killing game.

Oh yes, I can completely see your point! However, I can think of reasons why Kodaka included that part about the HPA invitation being a stroke of very, very bad luck, instead.

Perhaps Kodaka wanted to end this little story impactfully by instilling a sense of dread in the back of his reader's minds.

In the story, Makoto experiences a whole day of misfortune from losing a simple game of rock-paper-scissors to getting into a hostage situation.

But by the end, all these unlucky incidents get resolved with the robber arrested and Makoto getting an acceptance letter from a prestigious academy.

Now, remember that throughout most of this story, you're in Makoto's point of view.

After everything he had gone through that day, when he recieves the letter, he gets happy. He sees that letter as a gift for making it through. He says it here - an undeniable reversal of his unluckiness.

But then, the narrator voice pops up - "Ah, but do you really think that's all? Do you really think this is the end of Makoto's unluckiness? Well, this poor bastard doesn't know what's coming!" - with these lines:

Personally, I believe this immediate switch of POVs (Makoto and the narrator) in the end makes for a greater impact - a haunting conclusion to the story. Especially with these lines:

So, I believe the mention of the acceptance letter being a stroke of bad luck here is fitting!

Then there's another question that dwells on my mind.

Who can actually decide if Makoto's receival of HPA's acceptance letter is lucky or unlucky?

Let's imagine you ask Makoto himself whether he feels lucky or unlucky about his acception now.

Lucky? Because ultimately, he stops the killing game, saves his remaining friends from falling into despair, dismantles Ultimate Despair (since it's mentioned that majority of its members committed suicide after Junko's death), and is hailed as a hero and 'Ultimate Hope' by the world. Many, many people gaze upon him with starry eyes.

Unlucky? Because, eventhough he escapes the killing game with his survivor friends, that trauma and immense guilt lingers on. He has lost several of his friends. He has to bear the guilt of sentencing his classmates to death, lest they all get killed. He has inadvertently caused Komaru's imprisonment (for his motive) and his parents are missing, presumably even dead. He has to face a mountain load of burden that comes with being an 'Ultimate Hope' to people in a despair-ridden world.

The damage has already been done, no matter how good things turn out to be in the end.

Maybe in the eyes of the world, they see Makoto's acceptance into HPA as lucky.

But how does Makoto personally see it?

Maybe lucky. He has ended up saving the world, gaining inseperable friends, and earning great respect.

Maybe unlucky. He has to go through the most painful moments in his life, developing trauma and guilt that might follow him until his death.

Or maybe, he sees it as just is - neither lucky or unlucky. It just . . . happened. It's all just how things are. It's all just how things turn out to be.

Like life itself, you see? Many things happen out of your control - good things and bad things. Life is neutral like that. Maybe you can accept that aspect of life and keep moving forward, striving for change in the future - just like Makoto!

Like the old man said:

There you go! ( •̀ ө •́ )✧

[chirpos-pencil]

This is so cute! Makoto's mom and Komaru joining hands and dancing together, cheering for Makoto.

This whole family has my heart! I love them so much!!😭💛

[chirpos-pencil]

Ah, so this is how Junko knew about everyone's secrets!

[chirpos-pencil]

The core of Makoto Naegi

[ultimateplaylistmaker]

servant anon: RIGHT THE FUNNIEST SHENANIGANS WITH THEIR LUCK TOO LIKE

makoto may be more well adjusted bc of his family but he still has luck, if you ask him where his boyfriend is he'll be like, "oh, don't worry, im gonna be picking him up because he got kidnapped again." with a sheepish smile as if that's not horrifying to tell bc to him, this is just a normal tuesday 😭

he's been desensitized to wacky hijinks that he doesn't even realize that, no makoto, it is not normal for the grocery store to randomly explode on you while you're heading there

it is DEFINITELY not normal for your boyfriend to then proceed to bring you in even if he looked like gentleman by holding the door open, all bc you saw that the ice cream was pretty much safe from the wreckage to buy- AND GET THEM FOR FREE

It’s so so so good, utterly unhinged, Makoto sees nothing wrong with any of this. Neither does Komaeda, no one knows how the fuck this is happening.

Though there’s also the fact Makoto’s luck talent is known to OVERRIDE other luck talents (see celestia who fully admitted her gambling talent was 100% luck that never failed her and the short story Makoto Naegi’s Worst Day Ever) which makes him so INTERESTING to put with Komaeda, if Komaeda is actively the one with the most powerful luck, then Makoto is passively the one with the most powerful luck. It doesn’t matter how good your luck is, if Makoto’s luck wants to fuck over Makoto or save him, it will find a way, no luck talent can stop it. If a different luck talent could easily beat his luck he never would have even gotten his invite into Hope’s Peak, let alone have even a chance against Celeste. This can be played for IMMENSE comedy, but also immense dramatics of Komaeda’s trauma around his luck and how that’s going to go apeshit when he realizes that Makoto is basically a luck lightning rod. The most obviously powerful luck talent meets the most subtly powerful luck talent, it’s so good.

[zeravmeta]

I really love the difference in luck between Makoto and Nagito so much like you have no idea.

Nagito's luck operates on a cycle between what he considers good and bad luck rather than what would generally be considered good and bad by others. We know this because he has many examples of supposed "good" luck happening from the tragic events in his life to the point where he had to consider it good luck and devalue himself as a result because he was afraid of how his luck would affect other people. The cycle was so powerful that it made Jin Kirigiri and the Steering Committee afraid of his luck and consider it a talent.

Makoto's luck on the other hand is stacking bad luck so impossibly high that it eventually topples over itself and becomes negated entirely, thereby becoming good luck. His acceptance into Hopes Peak had an entire series of bad luck happen before hand (Makoto Naegi's Worst Day Ever short story) and was ultimately bad luck because of how it led to him becoming involved in the Killing Game and targeted by Junko, Ultimate Despair, and later on the Future Foundation. However, all that bad luck toppled over itself because he managed to actually defeat Junko at her own game and had his luck affect others positively in giving them hope. It's also implied to be more powerful than Nagito's cycle because not even Junko (and likely Kamukura) could predict how it manifests.

Nagito's luck has immediate benefits and detriments that operate in immediate extremes which is why it seems more powerful, but Makoto's luck was a continually rolling ball that led him directly against the two major factions in the series.