Yes, I'm back once again to do another Danganronpa ranking. If you didn't see my ranking of my favorite Danganronpa characters, you can click HERE, and if you have absolutely no clue what Danganronpa even is, check out the video embedded below for a description, because this blog post is going to contain spoilers for all 3 main trilogy games. CONSIDER THIS YOUR WARNING.
As you can see from the title, I decided to rank my favorite character designs. In playing Danganronpa, I found that character design was a major factor in my first impressions of characters, as well as my perceptions of them throughout the games-- in some instances heavily skewing my opinion of the character in question. So, I thought it would be fun to rank my favorites. As always, this is super biased-- I'm not saying these are the best-designed characters, just my favorites. Furthermore, I'm including my favorite sprites of each character in their respective sections.
Before jumping into the ranking, I want to mention that there are actually a couple factors at play here, making the ranking a bit more complex than it might seem at first glance. The first is the most obvious-- the basic character design. Plain & simple-- what do they look like? However, the second is their sprites. At first, I kinda considered this to be a totally separate entity, but when making this ranking, I found that I really couldn't talk rank them without taking the sprites into consideration, because some characters' designs change drastically in certain sprites. I'll discuss that in more detail when I get to it, though!
Lastly, because I've rambled enough-- Monokuma's character design is easily within my top 10 because it's so brilliantly simple, but for this list, I'm just going with students. ON TO THE LIST!
15- Kaito Momota
The Luminary of the Stars! I feel like I can't begin a discussion about Kaito without saying that lol. You'll quickly realize that there are certain colors I gravitate toward, and fortunately for Kaito, purple is one of them. His design wasn't one I loved at first glance, but there are so many details that I've grown to love. It took me a little while before I noticed the galaxy print on the inside of his jacket. It's such a nice, subtle detail. One of his best features is all of his really unique sprites. Some characters have sprites where they look like an entirely different person altogether, and Kaito is one of them. His scared sprites are hilarious, even more so than the *determined* sprite I've included above.
14- Himiko Yumeno
Himiko is a really interesting character for me. Upon my own playthrough of the game, apart from being more than a bit annoying with her MaGiC schtick, she didn't really stand out to me-- she was V3's "literally how did this rando survive" survivor for me. However, in watching let's plays of the game, I've warmed to her and it's led to me also really enjoying her character design as well. Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't love it at first glance-- the color palette is one of my faves, and I love that she looks like she's ready for Hogwarts. One of my favorite things about her design is how absolutely deadpan her "basic" sprites are. Which fits her personality perfectly.
13- Junko Enoshima
Yes, I know one sprite is of Mukuro, not Junko, but she's here because I love her overall design, not just Junko-proper. TBH, I actually prefer Mukuro's version. The freckles were cute, and I won't hear anything to the contrary! Junko's character design is one of many reasons why I immediately liked her when I started DR1. Sure, she's the fashionista, but her sprites always portrayed her as laid-back & lighthearted, which I was immediately drawn to. Plus, throw in actual Junko's sprites and you've suddenly got tons of designs to appreciate.
12- Maki Harukawa
Maki probably has the most basic design on the list, but her design is one of many reasons she was one of my early favorite characters while playing V3. First-- the color palette. Spot on. I love dark reds and blacks. Also, red eyes are a guaranteed way for me to love a character's design. They're such a good, subtle way to show that a character has a more sinister side. And I especially like them for Maki, because I immediately didn't believe her talent. She seemed too sinister to be the ultimate child caregiver. However, I've also seen people play the game and not really second-guess it until later. Her design is just subtly dark enough that it fits who she really is, but just neutral enough that her fake persona isn't obvious to everyone at first glance. Plus, she has some really great sprites-- the crying one I included breaks my heart every time, and the one with her grabbing her pigtail is just cute enough to make you believe she might be the child caregiver.
11- Korekiyo Shinguji
When I started V3 and first saw Kiyo's design, my first thought was "ah, here's our Gundham," because he's V3's dark, eccentric character. And that type of character design always immediately intrigues me. Hello, my name is Kristen and my favorite color is black lol. Although my love of his character design didn't lead to me loving him as a character, his character did make his design even better. For the first 3 chapters, I had a theory that Kiyo was covering his face because he was either actually a woman or perhaps even a trans man. While that didn't end up really coming to fruition, the fact that he kinda combined (??) with Sister really fit his design and made the design come full circle for me.
10- Kirumi Tojo
I didn't realize I'd included so many V3 characters until I started writing each of these descriptions, but here we are I guess lol. Kirumi is one of the most frustrating characters in the trilogy for me because I loved her character design, and I even liked her quiet, stoic personality... but it was all squandered on a super bland & forgettable character arc. But regardless, it was the design that got my hopes up so high, because it's legitimately a really fantastic character design. The muted colors, the old-fashioned designs, even the cobweb on her dress-- they all create a really specific old-fashioned, even motherly mood, to the point that I forget she's supposed to be a high schooler. She always looks like an adult to me because of the old-fashioned design. Honestly, for the longest time, I found myself including her way too high on my favorite characters rankings solely due to my love of her design. Overall, it's just a really fantastic design and I'm still salty that she ended up being one of the most forgettable, bland characters because her design promises so much more.
9- Ibuki Mioda
I'm not sure of the official development dates for SDR2 (it was released in summer 2012-- right after I graduated high school), but Ibuki is truly a product of its time because she's everything that teenage Kristen wanted to be. When I saw her hair and the fact that she was the ultimate musician, it took me right back to high school Kristen. And her personality is fitting as well, because she embodies the random=funny sense of humor from ~2010-ish as well. And although I've thankfully moved past that sense of humor (largely why she's not one of my favorite characters), I'm still a sucker for any sort of rocker/alternative sense of style, which is why I love Ibuki's character design so much. She also has lots of fun sprites-- I love the pointing sprite paired with the "pointing!" VA-- and is another character who has sprites that make her look like an entirely different human. Although she didn't end up being one of my favorite characters in the game, I was immediately interested in getting to know more about her simply because of how much I love her character design.
8- Shuichi Saihara
Shuichi has one of the most basic character designs on this list, but as someone who usually wears all black... well, I can't really help myself. I love it. The use of the hat was really clever because it put his insecurities fully on display throughout the first chapter while also hiding his obligatory protagonist ahoge. It was such a simple detail that also provided character development when we moved on to the next chapter. Idk, I just love how... clean?... his design is, I guess? The pinstripe, the monochromatic color scheme, it's just really nice and clean and fits an aesthetic that I personally really love. Plus I love that his hair is actually more of a blue color even though it fits in nicely with his all-black aesthetic. Overall, he has a fairly simple design, but I like how clean and monotone it is.
7- Celestia Ludenberg
I feel like Celeste is kinda an obligatory inclusion on a list like this because she's such a striking character. More than any other character for me, Celeste is the one I constantly rank way too high on "favorite character" lists solely because I love her design so much. Because as a character, I don't have strong opinions on her, but that character design tho. I'm not sure if it's technically Lolita fashion, but that's definitely what her style makes me think of. She also definitely reminds me of another character from something but for the life of me I've never been able to figure it out. Either way, her pigtails are so dramatic and she's got my "obligatory" red eyes lol. She just has a really striking design, and also kinda looks like a different person when she drops her French accent. And I love her angry sprite with the finger.
6- Peko Pekoyama
Another girl with red eyes on my list-- shocking! Peko was much like Kirumi for me, except that I liked Peko's design quite a bit more. Immediately upon seeing her design, I wanted to get to know her. The red eyes, the grey hair, the red and black uniform, she seemed like she was going to be such a cool character. But as much as I love the way that she played into Fuyuhiko's plot in the game, in the end, she didn't feel like an extremely fleshed out character on her own, separate from Fuyuhiko's story. And that was a huge disappointment given how much I loved both her design and the minimal personality development we did get in the game. Regardless, though, her design is still really cool, which is why she's this high up the list.
5- Kokichi Oma
Kokichi is the main reason I included that discussion about character appearance versus their sprites, because Kokichi's sprites are the biggest reason for him getting this high on the list. He would've been on the list regardless, but he was quite a bit lower down until I thought more about the sprites. Of all of the characters, Kokichi has some of the most interesting and varied sprites. He has several of his "evil face" sprites that make him look like an entirely different human, and those are a highlight of his character design IMO. And then for his normal sprites, I love how playful most of them are-- he's designed to look incredibly childlike in order to play into his personality. I think because of how complex and quirky his personality is, the artists creating his sprites got to create a lot of interesting, unique sprites and that's the main reason he's so high.
4- Kazuichi Soda
When I first saw Kazuichi, his design felt kinda familiar. There's probably a better comparison that I can't think of, but for some reason his design always makes me think of Gorillaz. His design is really bright and bold, and I assume that for some people it was a little offputting or maybe even creepy due to his pointy teeth. But as someone who loves edgy designs, I immediately loved his design and wanted to get to know him. He almost looks like he belongs inside of some sort of post-apocalyptic media. Or at least, My Chemical Romance's version of post-apocalyptic lol. I love his design in general, but his scared sprites are especially funny to me, as is the one where his eyes light up.
3- Kyoko Kirigiri
Of all of the times I've said how I loved a character design at first glance and wanted to know more about the character, Kyoko was the first. And her ultimate talent being unknown amplified that curiosity more. But even without that, She was one of the first characters I was drawn to. The first game probably collectively has my least favorite character designs, and that made her stand out even more among the crowd. Her silvery-purple hair, her overall purple hue, and how serious she appeared were all things I immediately loved. I really like that despite her color pallette being unique colors like silvers and purples, it's all very muted to reflect how serious she is. I also appreciate that although she had a "mystery" talent, her character design didn't make her talent immediately obvious, but still fits perfectly when we discover her talent.
2- Gundham Tanaka
As a rule of thumb, if a character looks like they might be evil, I probably love their design. So, again, upon first sight of Gundham, his design was my favorite of SDR2. I didn't know anything about the characters when I started the game, and when he said he was the ultimate breeder... I was surprised, to say the least. It seemed so random when paired with his design. But now that we've seen his full arc, it makes a lot more sense. I love the sprites with his little hammies but even more, I just really think his design on its own is cool. The "scar" across his eye, the undercut, the swirl, the bandaged arm, the totally natural red eye, the hell hound earring, there are just so many cool individual details that come together to create a really unique and quirky design.
1- Rantaro Amami
Listen... yes, I know I've gone with Mr. Pretty Avocado Boi in first place. But I'd be lying if I said Rantaro wasn't the person I was most curious about going into their respective game. I don't remember how or why I'd seen his sprites, but I saw them before playing the game and really wanted to figure out who he was. At first, I actually thought he was a girl and was even more intrigued-- we love an androgynous queen. Regardless though, I was drawn in by the piercings and the messy hair.... mostly the piercings lol. And for me, his design really did what it was intended to, because I really wanted to know more about him and was immediately frustrated when I discovered that he was the mystery student, meaning I would have to wait until much later in the game to actually learn about him. His design is just basic enough that he doesn't have an obvious talent, but also interesting enough that (at least for me) he makes you want to know more about him. He's also another character where his character design tends to affect his placement on my favorite characters lists, because yeah, the mystery surrounding him is really interesting, but probably not enough to get him into my top 20 favorite characters on its own, and yet... there he is.
So, those are my favorite character designs in the main Danganronpa trilogy of games! I mentioned in the last post that I had a few more Danganronpa rankings I wanted to do, and this wasn't necessarily the next one I intended to do, but the more I thought about it this week, the more I wanted to do it. I think the next one I'll want to do is probably my least favorite characters... which is sure to get some people heated. But oh well lol. Stay tuned for that, probably sometime in a week or two.
Let me know some of your favorite Danganronpa character designs down in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
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