#negibowl

Been seeing a lot of ship hate among the danganronpa tags. Felt I needed to give my input on the top three Naegi ships. These ships are not listed in this order for any specific reason.

Note: I will be ignoring events that occurred in the DR3 anime. Wasn’t a huge fan of that one.

1: Naegiri (Naegi x Kirigiri)

Naegiri is a good ship because it’s built on mutual respect. During the events of the first game, Naegi respects Kirigiri because of her deductive skills, and in turn she comes to respect his endless optimism to the point that she opens up to him as the game progresses. A lot of people will say this ship is “one-sided” but her words at the end of the first game show that their relationship is not one-sided. A lot of ship-haters will also use the trial where she frames him as a way of saying “oh look she doesn’t like him lol,” while conveniently ignoring her risking her life to rescue him from the garbage pit, fully intent on making amends for what she did. 

2: Naekusaba (Naegi x Ikusaba)

Naekusaba is a good ship because it’s born from genuine kindness. Before Hope’s Peak, Ikusaba’s only source of “affection” was from her sister, and we all know what sort of “affection” that was. In the official Danganronpa AU, “Danganronpa IF,” it’s stated that Naegi was the first person to genuinely smile at Ikusaba, and treat her kindly. This positive interaction led Ikusaba to respect Naegi, and eventually form feelings for him. Continuing along IF, we see that Ikusaba’s first reaction to seeing Naegi be critically wounded was to get him patched up. As a former soldier for Fenrir, she’s no doubt had to leave wounded allies on the battlefield in the past, but the fact she immediately sought aid for him shows how she feels for him. In turn, Naegi also displays admiration and respect in her direction as time passes.

3: Naezono (Naegi x Maizono)

Naezono is a good ship because it’s born from a prior friendship. In canon, it’s stated that Naegi and Maizono knew each other in the past. In the game, Maizono is shown to be initially elated at meeting Naegi again (and who can blame her? He’s a good kid), and is eager to rekindle their friendship. he also provides her a foundation of sorts outside her idol popularity, being someone who liked her for who she was rather than what she was. A lot of folks will call their relationship “toxic” because of her attempts to frame Naegi for murder before the first trial, but she does make up for it with her dying clue. Some people think this is a way to get a final “F U” to Leon, but many others (including the in-game detective) believe she did it out of remorse for what she had tried to do. 

So, in summary...

February 5th. Happy birthday to Makoto Naegi, the nicest, most hopeful egg roll on the planet. Let the Negibowl commence.