Danganronpa V3 Character Ranking

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Character Ranking

Hello readers and welcome to my third ranking. Now, we're gonna do the third game of the Danganronpa series, Killing Harmony, another great sequel. While I know it's a controversial game, thanks to the ending, I still think it's on par with Danganronpa 1 & 2, especially in terms with it's colorful cast.

Now, this ranking is the trickiest one yet. Not only are many of these characters are great in different aspects, but they also have complicated aspects about them that can make you question whether should be higher or lower on the list. Thankfully, I manage to work who was the worst, and who was the best. So here we go.

Also, spoiler warning. This contains major spoilers for the game. If you plan on playing it and want to be spoiler free, leave immediately. If you don't care, or have already played the game, then enjoy the ranking.

16. Tsumagi Shirogane, the Ultimate Cosplayer

Despite what I had previously said about the characters, I had to admit, Tsumugi was the most boring character. She even said so herself (Multiple times) that she's plain.

No unique quirks, no complex personality, no emotional arc, nothing for most of the game. Just a quiet and polite girl who has a love for anime and an intense passion for cosplaying.

Not even the reveal of her being the mastermind improves her character. She isn't really that menacing of a villain, especially compared to the likes of Junko, Nagito, and Kokichi. Heck, she isn't even really the mastermind: The real mastermind are Team Danganronpa, and the audience watching the killing game.

Plus, she still didn't have much of a personality. She was just a major Danganronpa fangirl, cosplaying as the different characters from the previous games. So for all that, she gets last place on this list.

15. Korekiyo Shinguji

I'll say this, Korekiyo is much more interesting than Tsumagi. But whether it's for the benefit or detriment of his character is the question.

At the start of it, Kiyo displayed himself as a friendly and polite person, yet passionate and eccentric when it comes to the subject of humanity. He believes all aspects of humanity beautiful, whether good or bad. He also shown himself to be fairly intelligent and cool-headed, being one of the more rational students in the trials.

Much of that is soured when the third trial hits. Not only was he the killer, but he revealed himself to be an unremorseful serial killer, with a split personality and a creepy obsession for his sister. Any girl he deems worthy of his sister are killed by him, and he aimed to kill a hundred of them. This showed him to be as creepy as he had displayed himself throughout the game, if not worse.

While this serves to make him an interesting character, much more than Tsumugi, it does not make him a likable one. Far from it, in fact. So this sick and twisted individual gets the 15th spot. 

14. Miu Iruma, the Ultimate Inventor

Miu... is annoying. Extremely so. She's vulgar, perverted, arrogant, rude, cowardly, and stupid when it comes most things.

While her arrogant personality is merely a mask, and she has a much more timid personality, that doesn't really make her any less annoying. She still held several other traits that makes her less than appealing. And she doesn't really attempt to change that about herself throughout the game.

With all these things, she could've very well been landed in the last spot of this list. Luckily for her, she isn't completely useless. Throughout the game, despite most of her inventions being nonsensical and/or perverted, she managed to created some genuinely useful stuff. Stuff that both helped with the school life and in the trials. Her inventions shows that while she's lacking social and common sense, she's still very intelligent. 

So her "beautiful brain", as she calls it, is the biggest (And probably only) redeeming factor about her. So that's keep her from being lower than Tsumugi and Korekiyo, and places her in 14th place.

13. Rantaro Amami, The Ultimate Survivor

Remember when I said that some of these characters were complicated to rank? Well, Rantaro here is one of these characters I was talking about.

He's likable enough for sure. He's friendly, carefree, and fairly composed. He also got some complexity to him, at how he seemed to have a good grasp of the killing game, being the student with the unknown talent, and some extra information he has on him.

Unfortunately, much of that complexity isn't really linked to the character himself. It's linked the entire plot of the game, which still gives him a good share of importance, but doesn't really benefit the character himself.

And he's also the first to be murder, which stops any character development of his own. So while he's a fairly likable character, with some mystery to him, he can't really compare to the others higher on the list. So for that, he gets the 13th spot.

12. Tenko Chabashira

Tenko is another complicated one. She is a pretty likable character, being cheerful, energetic, caring, and passionate. But at the same time, her hatred of males, the occasions she let emotions overrule logic, her gullibility, and her flat-out obsession towards Himiko can get to the point of being ridiculous and annoying.

Anyone who played this game very well knows that Tenko hates "degenerate males": To the point that if one touches her, she will throw him over and over. And she's quick to think the worst of any male, to the point where I wouldn't be surprise if a simple hello won't get her mind running.

And the reason for that hatred? Because her master, who was a male, told her that having any man touching her will weaken her. That's when her gullibility come into play. Shuichi even have to point out that her master is a male during her fte (I'm still having trouble deciding whether I find that funny or ridiculous).

Throughout her time through the game, she shown a clear admiration (Obsession) for Himiko, to the point of annoyance and creepiness. And in the second trial, she let her emotions overrule her logic, being willing to let everyone die just so she could believe in Himiko, who was suspected of being the killer. Of course, Himiko was innocent, but none of them knew for sure. Not only was she endangering herself, but everyone else, and she was perfectly okay with that.

Still, despite the flaws, she still has good traits that makes her enjoyable to watch. Like I mentioned before, she's cheerful and energetic, passionate about neo-aikido, and is caring towards other, even towards the degenerate males she claims to hate so much. She also shown herself to be acute and empathetic, as well as shown to actually care for Himiko, outside of the admiration/obsession. Plus, her gullibility can be endearing.

Overall, while she has her bad traits, she also has her good ones. So she gets 12th place on this list.

11. Angie Yonaga

At the beginning, Angie seemed to be an enjoyable character. She's cheerful, friendly, and probably one of the quirkiest characters in the series. Nothing seems to faze her, not the serious situations or even dark ones, due to her faith in Atua.

But as the game continued, her likability began souring. Her constant mentioning of Atua can quickly get to the point of annoyance, and showed herself to be very manipulative, selfish, and stubborn. She downright brainwashed nearly half of the remaining students, and refuse to listen to the other half when they tried to talk to/argue with her about what she's doing. Also painting three of the dead students as plain killers doesn't help endear her to anyone (Especially when it isn't as simple as that).

Thankfully, her fte gave some context to her personality. It reveals that, while she genuinely believes that Atua speaks through her, she just a lonely girl that wants attention and care. Because of that loneliness, she uses Atua to fill up that gap and have people spend time with her, such as having her village throw a party.

She also genuinely wanted to stop the killing game, as well as one of the more logical students during the trials (Though she's pretty zealous when it comes to accusing people).  All this make her a fairly complex character, along with a somewhat enjoyable one, so she gets 11th place.

10. Kirumi Tojo, the Ultimate Maid

At the start, Kirumi presented herself as polite, formal, and serious, which very much fits her Ultimate title. She takes great pride in her job as a maid, and is eager to serve whoever she can.

She's also very intelligent and insightful, which is shown from time to time throughout her time in the game, as well as one of the more mature students out of the bunch. All this makes her a very likable character. However, she isn't without flaws, with the biggest being her inability to do things for herself. She constantly thinking of serving others, not having a thought to herself, and that selflessness led to her downfall.

After the second trial, when she was ousted as the culprit, it was revealed that she's pretty much the minister of Japan in all but name. When she watched her motive video, those particular memories came back to her; that caused her to kill Ryoma and attempt to trick the entire class, in order to escape and save her people. 

She lied, murdered, and manipulated everyone just so she could escape. When backed to a corner, she was aggressive, insulting, and spiteful towards those against her. At the face of the execution, she refused to accept it and made a futile attempt to escape. All this shows her determination to serve and help others, as well as how it led her to do immoral things and act completely undignified in the end.

All this gives a likable and complex character, one who is willing to serve as many people as possible, not giving a concern to her own needs and willing to do extremely questionable actions in order to do her job (Heck, you could even argue that her actions are hypocritical and selfish). So she gets 10th place, and the only reason for that is because the rest of the characters are much better.

9. Ryoma Hoshi, the Ultimate Tennis Player

Ryoma is yet another of the more mature students, being very calm, compose, and cool-headed. At the same time, he can be very dangerous when pushed, being able to scare people with a mere look.

Not only is he a Ultimate student, but also a death row inmate. The reason being? He killed an entire mafia group with only a steel tennis ball, due to them killing both his family and girlfriend. The lost of his family, as well as the murders committed, gained him major depression and suicidal thoughts. He could only see himself as a killer, pushes away others, and don't care about dying at all.

Despite all his heavy baggage, he past self isn't completely gone. He does hold a certain kindness and positive outlook in him, having occasionally give good advice to some of the students. And when he was shown the chance to find something to live for, he wanted to take it. So there was a chance that he could get out of his depression, and find that will to live.

Unfortunately, his motive video revealed that there isn't anybody that cares about him in the outside, which causes his depression to double down. Thus, giving Kirumi the chance to kill him so she could escape, and stopping any further development.

Still, he was still a fairly good character, with a tragic backstory and ending, so he gets the 9th spot.

8. Gonta Gokuhara, the Ultimate Entomologist

And here's another lovable character. Gonta is probably the most kindhearted, most joyful, and most honest character in the V3 game, if not the entire series. The entomologist, loves all kinds of animals, especially bugs, and aims to be the greatest gentleman.

Throughout the killing game, he was very protective of his fellow classmates, and tried his protect to keep them from harm. However, he wasn't successful, and every murder and execution left him frustrated, ashamed, and overall useless.  Despite his gentle nature, he tends to get emotional, when it comes to people who hates bugs, as well as murder and violence. He also very dumb, something that he admits too, which leads him to become easily manipulated.

All this culminated in the fourth chapter, where Gonta ended up killing Miu in the Neo World Program, in a very misguided attempt to save everyone from pure despair. However, he lost his memory of the virtual world, and when they figured out that he did it, he was extremely guilt-ridden.

So, there isn't much to say about Gonta. He's just an incredibly endearing character, with a decent arc in his failure and frustration to protect everyone. All this earns the gentleman 8th place.

7. K1-B0, the Ultimate Robot

Despite being the Ultimate Robot, there's nothing really remarkable about K1-B0. His personality is much like a socially awkward human, with strength, speed, and senses going from average to poor. Many of his functions were small, every day things, and his intelligence is at human level. All of this pretty much makes him the butt-monkey of the group.

However, being so ordinary, along with him and everyone else being aware of that, is what makes him a likable character. He's socially awkward, pretty dorky, and try so hard in being a part of human society. He also can be serious and logical, being a robot and all.

As for why his robot features are so mundane? Well for one, it so that he could be more accepted by other people. And two, so he won't hurt anybody else, like how his previous AI injured his creator before wiping its memories. Solid reasons as to why he refuse to have any weaponized upgrades (Though admittedly, it can be annoying when thinking of how it can be used against Monokuma and his cubs).

And the final thing that places him this high is the final chapter of the game? Seeing the extent of his ultimate talent, him becoming the Ultimate (Robot) Hope, doing whatever he could to save his friends and stop the killing game, and ultimately, sacrificing himself to save the remaining survivors.

So, for his likable personality, as well as his character development in the final chapter, he gets the 7th spot.

6. Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist

While she was the second character to die, Kaede left a very strong impression before her execution. During her brief time as the protagonist, she showed herself to be kind, charismatic, positive thinking, assertive, and out-spoken.

Despite knowing her classmates for a brief time, she saw them all as potential friends and wanted to save everyone. She quickly took up the leadership role, trying to keep everyone together while they try to figure a way out. For the most part, she was a cheerful person during her time in the killing game. And she also had some great chemistry with Shuichi.

She's not perfect, however, and got a few pretty strong flaws. Her main flaw being her pushing her personal sense of justice. Around the beginning, she pushed the class to go through the trap that Monokuma set up for them, thinking that if they attempt it enough, they'll be able to escape. It took Kokichi speaking up and pointing out what she's doing for them to stop.

That sense of justice also lead to her to killing the Rantaro by mistake. When Shuichi came up with a plan to expose the mastermind, she used that plan to set up a fatal trap for them without him knowing, in a misguided attempt to save everyone and stop the killing game. However, Rantaro was caught in that trap, resulting in his death, and in her execution.

Despite showing up in one chapter, she showed herself as a high tier character. A very likable girl, who's capable of leading the group, yet can be too caught up with her personal justice. All this earns her the 6th spot.

5. Kaito Momota, the Ultimate Astronaut

Here he is, the Luminary of the Stars! Throughout the whole game, Kaito proved himself the heart of the group, with his (over)confidence, belief in his friends, and passionate heart. 

At the start of the game, it was looking like Kaito would be the butt-monkey of the group, like Hiro and Kazuichi from the previous games. As the story progress, however, while he does have some butt-monkey tendencies, he was far from just being a plain idiot.

He's very charismatic, being able to change the heart of Maki of all people; surprisingly insightful, being able to point out certain flaws the students has; and very loyal to his friends and classmates, choosing to believe in whoever he wants instead of distrusting others. Because of his brotherly like charisma, he was able to make friendships with Shuichi and Maki, as well as earn a rivalry with Kokichi, who was very opposite in his thinking.

However, he isn't always right with his beliefs in his friends. While that is greatest strength, it doubles as his greatest flaw. This is much more noticeable during the fourth trial, when evidence began correctly pointing at Gonta. Through it all, he vehemently defended the gentle giant, even against Shuichi. But in the end, he was shown to be wrong, and that affected him badly.

Because of the fourth trial, we're shown his inner insecurities that he hid behind his passionate heart. He doesn't like showing weakness in front of anyone, and was jealous of Shuichi's ability to save everyone with his detective skills. There was even hints that he actually don't have that high of an opinion on himself, at least as a romantic option.

So, for being a very likable and charismatic character, with some surprising complexity towards his personality, he gets 5th place.

4. Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Magician

For a time, Himiko didn't seem like a high tier character. She was extremely lazy, very weak-willed, and her belief in magic got to the point of extreme annoyance, especially during the second trial.

But after, and even during the third trial, her character changed. She stopped suppressing her emotions, build up a much stronger will, and become much more energetic. She developed from a lazy, weak-willed girl that was more of a liability to the group, to a more outspoken and energetic girl, who formed bonds with the remaining survivors. Though she still maintained some of her chuunibyou antics, it wasn't at the point of annoyance like the previous chapters.

Her fte also amplified her character, showing why she's so passionate about her "magic". It revealed her having a master that taught her everything she knows, how she managed to surpass him in a short time, and how he left, embarrassed that Himiko was better than him. Despite her skills in magic tricks, she refused to believe she was better than him, as well as refuse to believe that he abandon her out of shame. It shows how attach she really is to her master.

By the end of the game, she was able to build up the strength to defy the very killing game that she was in. So, for having great character development, as well as an interesting background attached to her, she gets 4th place.

3. Maki Harukawa, The Ultimate Child Caregiver (Ultimate Assassin)

At the start of the game, Maki was aloof, quiet, cynical, cold, and distrusting of others. Throughout chapter 1 and 2, she made no attempt to cooperate with the others and downright pushed them away.

When her true talent as an assassin was revealed, her more violent and intimidating attributes were revealed, as well as her inner securities. Because of her bloodied past, she felt that she wasn't human anymore, and undeserving of friends, which is why she tries to push the others away.

However, when she formed a bond with Kaito and Shuichi, she began changing. She started cooperating more with the group, started trusting others (Mainly the mentioned two), and more importantly, started liking and accepting herself. She even manage to fall for Kaito at the end, and cried when he was executed.

Despite her development, her more violent traits didn't go away overnight. She was still heavily intimidating, threatening anyone that bothers her or her friends, though she's mainly that way towards Kokichi. She's even willing to kill if she felt that's needed, which she attempted to do at Chapter 5. However, that did backfire on her, and resulted in the aforementioned execution.

So, while it's hard to call her likable at the start, she developed into a more trusting and friendly individual, with some flaws still present within her. For that, she gets 3rd place.

2. Kokichi Oma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader

Is anyone surprise this lying mastermind is this high on the list? Kokichi is defined, not by his ultimate talent, but by near constant lies and manipulation. He really embodies the distrust and manipulation that surrounds the killing game.

From the start, Kokichi straight up introduces himself as a liar. He quickly became someone that the group distrust, are wary of, and/or downright dislikes. He embraced the role as the class villain/rival, and was a straight up rival against Kaito.

That isn't all to his character, however. Throughout the game, you see bits and pieces of his actual personality. The leader is quite pragmatic, encouraging distrust and accusations to find the truth, disapproving of belief for the sake of believing. He is also heavily intelligent, not only being one of the main benefactors in the trials (In his own ways), but also setting up two trials, one of which was an unsolvable crime that not even Monokuma knows the answer to.

He is very perspective as well, pointing out the flaws within others and calling out others when they're lying themselves. He desired attention, craved it, to the point that he values not being boring the most. Finally, he's distrustful, hiding his emotions behind his lies and not letting himself get close to anyone.

Despite his downright evil acts, Kokichi has good intentions in them. He's probably one of the few who speaks the most sense, and whenever he calls out the other characters' issues, he sometimes pushes them to improve, in his own way. He hates the killing game, and will do whatever it takes to beat it (Which lead to the events of chapter 5).

I could do an entire essay on this character, but I'm gonna stop here, and end with this: He's a heavily complex character, who was very likable, with layers within his personality, who played a major role in V3. That earns him 2nd place on this list.

1. Shuichi Saihara, The Utlimate Detective

But the one that earns the number one spot is Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective. At this point, for those who saw my previous two rankings, you aren't really surprise by this. I'm with the belief that any good story has to have the protagonist as the best character, or close to it at least. If not, then it would be hard to enjoy the story being told.

And I did try to see if the other characters on this list was better than Shuichi; I really did. But in the end, I felt that the shy detective is the best character out of the sixteen.

Shuichi started as shy and soft-spoken in the first chapter of the game. He never held direct eye-contact with anyone, hiding his eyes under his hat, and was self-critical. He was critical of his own talent, not seeing his worth as a detective and was actually scared of revealing the truth.

What brought him out of that fear was Kaede. Her words of encouragement, as well as her death, set him on the path of pursuing the truth. He didn't change overnight though, and had difficulties with that path. But the support of his friends, particularly Kaito, helped him gain more and more confidence in his abilities, as well as overcome his fear of the truth.

The detective was also a balance of Kaito's ideals and Kokichi's pragmatism. Through them both, he learned to believe in his friends, even when that belief is based on nothing, but also pursue the truth when the possibility cannot be ignored, no matter how painful that truth is.

However, despite his growing confidence, when faced with crippling truths, he cracks, and cracks badly. The reveal of a scorched Earth led him to a depression, and the reveal of what the killing game really is broke him. However, the support of his friends can bring back him up. While isn't as strong or as charismatic as Kaede and Kaito, he's much more intelligent and much more grounded, which was what was needed to permanently end the killing game.

He's a likable character, a complex character, with a steady character development, and a good background. He was the one to ultimately end the killing, and stop anymore people from suffering, and for that, he's number one on this list.

Conclusion

Again, this was harder than the last ranking. It seems that with each games, comes more and more two/three dimensional characters. Good thinking I enjoy deciphering characters to their very core.

Anyways, this is my overall ranking of the V3 characters. Don't know what the next post is gonna be. Most likely, it's gonna be another ranking (Rankings will probably my main thing here). So until then, I'll see you guys later.