| Nagito Komaeda | |
|---|---|
| Danganronpa character | |
 Promotional artwork for Nagito Komaeda in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair | |
| First appearance | Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (2012) |
| Created by | Kazutaka Kodaka |
| Designed by | Rui Komatsuzaki |
| Voiced by | EN: Bryce Papenbrook[1][2] JA: Megumi Ogata[3] |
| Portrayed by | Hiroki Suzuki (stage play) |
Nagito Komaeda (Japanese: 狛枝 凪斗, Hepburn: Komaeda Nagito), also known as The Servant (召使い, Meshitsukai), is a fictional character introduced in the 2012 Spike Chunsoft visual novel action adventure game Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Nagito is a high school student from Hope's Peak Academy, holding the title of "Ultimate Lucky Student" due to his supernatural luck. He is first seen in the game's beginning when meeting the protagonist Hajime Hinata as they and multiple other students find themselves trapped in a series of tropical islands. Initially presenting a caring personality, Nagito shows his true maniacal and hope-obsessed demeanor when a bear-like robot, Monokuma, orders the students to participate in a killing game if they want to leave the islands, with Nagito violently encouraging the killing game's progress. Under the guise of the Servant, Nagito returns in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls as the secondary antagonist.
Kazutaka Kodaka created Nagito as a rival to Hajime as well as the successor to the previous Danganronpa protagonist Makoto Naegi with his designs by Rui Komatsuzaki meant to mark him as Hajime's opposite. To reinforce the similarities between Nagito and Makoto, Kodaka had the characters share the same voice actors: Megumi Ogata and Bryce Papenbrook, and their names be anagrams of each other. However, despite the similarities, Nagito and Makoto share no character connections, with Kodaka claiming that the hints were made up to market Goodbye Despair.
Critical response to Nagito's character was positive based on his ambiguous nature in Goodbye Despair where he often changes his personality, as well as his more comical take in the anime prequel Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School. Considered a breakout character, his role as a rival to Hajime and antagonist has also resulted in him being considered one of the best characters in the Danganronpa series.
- ^ "Some of the roles from the video games,... - Bryce Papenbrook | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
- ^ "Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School Broadcast Dub Cast Announcement". Funimation.com. July 28, 2016. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
- ^ "Nagito Komaeda Voices (Danganronpa)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved June 26, 2021.