Thanks to Hamada and my friend, Jake, for helping with edits. Also, this piece contains open spoilers for the whole Danganronpa franchise.
I enjoy adventure games and visuals novels, titles that contain gripping characters or mysteries. Cing’s bibliography, Capcom’s Ace Attorney series, and Kotaro Uchikoshi’s Zero Escape trilogy are personal favorites. Recently, I’ve begun playing another narrative-centric series, one I’ve been meaning to try for a decade: Danganronpa. It sports a large, diverse cast of characters, many of whom will make for fascinating topics down the road. But let’s start with one of the first game’s most prolific performers…
Sayaka Maizono, seen in 2010’s Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Image: Spike Chunsoft)
Danganronpa brainchild Kazutaka Kodaka had a vision of a grisly, narrative-driven game about high school students who’re forced to kill each other. This project was dubbed “DISTRUST,” though its dark tone caused developer Spike (which later merged with Chunsoft, becoming Spike Chunsoft) to reject it. Nevertheless, the core concept survived. Its “high speed reasoning action” gameplay, “psycho pop”-inspired cast, and still-dark-but-not-oppressively-so atmosphere would evolve into Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.
Sayaka’s History
Kodaka has a thorough process for conceptualizing his characters. He starts with a list of attributes and whittles them down, eventually nailing each character’s background, appearance, personality, and role. Of particular import is the angelic Sayaka Maizono, whose role in Danganronpa was meant to “really grab players.” Notably, a visibly recognizable Sayaka was a fixture during the project’s DISTRUST phase, though this early prominence caused the staff to grow tired of her…
Like Sylveon, Sayaka flaunts pinks, blues, and whites, bringing to mind sweet things, like candy. Her navy hair suggests she’s stable, trustworthy, and important—two of which are qualities she lacks. (Image: Spike Chunsoft)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is about sixteen high school students who are forced into a “killing game.” When someone’s murdered, an investigation begins, which is followed by a “class trial.” If the culprit can get through this process without being exposed, they “graduate” and can leave Hope’s Peak Academy, the school everybody’s trapped in. Meanwhile, everyone else will be executed. But if the killer is ousted during the trial, only they are executed. The mastermind behind this hoopla hides behind the guise of Monokuma, a cartoony yet sinister bear.
Soon, Monokuma begins encouraging the kids to start killing each other. Sayaka, who protagonist Makoto Naegi is nakedly infatuated with, promptly dies. Suspicion falls upon the crestfallen hero, since the deed took place in his room. It’s ultimately revealed that Sayaka was scheming to ice one of their peers, Leon Kuwata, and had swapped rooms with Makoto to frame him. However, the jock overpowered her, and Sayaka used her blood and remaining strength to write Leon’s name in Makoto’s shower—except it was written upside-down, so everyone initially thought her dying message was “11037.” Having been caught, Leon is brutally executed (a few what-if scenarios explore what would’ve happened had Sayaka survived).
Makato and Sayaka attended junior high school together. It kinda recalls how Louie’s preexisting history with and respect for Kyle helps endear us to him. (Image: Spike Chunsoft)
A few pieces of evidence—some photographs, a video—that depict Sayaka while she was alive are discovered throughout the game. Eventually, it’s revealed she had spent a full year living happily with her classmates at Hope’s Peak Academy before “the tragedy” struck. Their memories of this time were erased by Junko Enoshima, the game’s ultimate antagonist.
Marketing materials, novels, stage plays, and manga publications highlight Sayaka. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair and Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls allude to the performer. Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School gives a glimpse of the school life she once savored. Danganronpa 2.5: Nagito Komaeda and the World Vanquisher conveys its headliner’s “ideal” world, where Sayaka and Makoto share a few romantic moments. Finally, Danganronpa: Unlimited Battle, V3: Killing Harmony’s “Ultimate Talent Development Plan” mode, Photo Frame AR, S: Ultimate Summer Camp, and Crypt of the NecroDancer’s Danganronpa event include the singer amongst their rosters.
So, what’re my thoughts on Sayaka?
Makiko Ōmoto voices Sayaka in Japanese, while Dorothy Elias-Fahn and Monica Rial portray her in the English releases of the games and anime, respectively. (Image: Spike Chunsoft)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc uses its violent premise to oscillate between hopefulness and despair. Crucially, the game also isn’t an Ace Attorney or Jake Hunter, where you almost never meet a victim until you’re examining their corpse. Instead, you spend every day with a small pool of people, fostering friendships with good, gifted kids (well, a few jerks aside). This makes it sting all the harder when a murder happens, knowing at least two of them will die—and, moreover, that someone is betraying the community. It imbues Trigger Happy Havoc with a dreadful unease its contemporaries can’t offer. Even its goofier sequels lighten this tension, the sense that everyone is trapped and death is absolute.
As for Miss Sayaka Maizono… as a Zero Escape veteran, I was immediately weary of her. The first Escape deals with its protagonist reuniting with his childhood crush under comparably macabre, mysterious circumstances. Then she sort of becomes his assistant, and… well, things happen. Seeing the rosy-cheeked Sayaka follow that example, even appointing herself as Makoto’s assistant, couldn’t have raised my red flags any faster. Unfortunately, Trigger Happy Havoc also strongly telegraphs this girl’s death, suggesting you spend your first “free time segments” with her. That doing so completes Sayaka’s “report card” bluntly telegraphs that she’s not long for this world.
Completing classmates’ report cards unlocks helpful skills. Sayaka rewards Makoto with “Melodious Voice,” which deals extra damage during the trials’ tedious “Bullet Time Battle” minigame. (Image: Spike Chunsoft)
Still, Sayaka accomplishes plenty. Slasher films famously popularized the “final girl” trope, the expectation that our virtuous leading lady will survive the horrid ordeal. Ace Attorney and similar titles give their protagonists perky, reliable lady companions (Maya Fey of the former even has supernatural abilities, something this Danganronpa dame jokes about having). Sayaka uses our familiarity with those concepts and eases us into Danganronpa through her comforting, cheerful facade.
It’s also through Sayaka that Danganronpa teaches players some of its mechanics. Our chatty companion introduces the “react mode” dialogue prompt. Again, the game insists you spend free time with her; she’s meant to broach those systems. The investigation and trial concerning her murder are, naturally, the game’s easiest, most straightforward ones, weaning greenhorn sleuths into both rituals. Plus, the experience of Makoto being ostracized from the group is important, a warmup for when Chapter 5 more aggressively tackles that same idea.
The iconic shower scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho inspired Sayaka’s own death. Trigger Happy Havoc’s demo swaps Sayako out for someone else, a clever way to avoid spoiling the final game. (Image: Spike Chunsoft)
One subtle strength of Sayaka’s is how her shadow incessantly haunts Makoto. The guilt-ridden hero frequently laments her death, blaming himself for it (his violent hallucination in 3 is powered by this). A picture of Sayaka stands next to the guy during every trial. Sayaka’s contract video, a crucial piece of evidence, happens to be the first contract video he watches. Even inspecting Makoto’s bathroom invokes memories of her death. And Another Episode furthers Sayaka’s significance; it stars Makoto’s little sister, who’s an avowed fan of the pop star—a “Sayaker,” she dubs herself—and one of her optional quests follows up on Sayaka’s motive from the original game. Danganronpa doesn’t let you forget this girl.
So what, exactly, was Sakaya’s motive for trying to stab Leon? It’s simple: she was given a video showing her bandmates lying lifelessly atop a ruined stage. Someone losing their career is devastating, of course, but Sayaka losing hers? She’s an only child whose single father was always busy working. The first thing to break through Sayaka’s loneliness was the bright smile of a pop star, the example of whom she instantly realized she wanted to follow. And after numerous sacrifices (some of which are strongly implied to be of a shady nature), Sayaka accomplished her dream! She’s Japan’s top pop icon, performs with a group of friends she considers family, and inspires people across the country.
In the “Future Arc” of Danganronpa 3, Makoto hallucinates a ghastly Sayaka who mocks his failure to protect her. Clearly, her death still weighs on him. (Image: Spike Chunsoft)
Now, I hear Sayaka isn’t a favorite within the Danganronpa community (though she certainly has admirers). I get why; manipulating and framing her smitten friend is unambiguously vile, and I’m sure some players took her betrayal personally. But recall how the high school student reacts to Monokuma’s tape: she holds herself, sweats profusely, the color drains out of her face, and she can barely speak; it’s a textbook panic attack. That’s the most sympathetic, believable motivation of any killer or would-be killer this game ever gives us. Plus, Sayaka only barely knew her classmates—yes, even Makoto—and surely felt isolated; not a great feeling for someone who’s struggled with such emotions. And yes, everyone’s lives are at stake during a trial. But Monokuma only reveals that after Sayaka’s passing; she couldn’t have known.
Nevertheless, the narrative does somewhat try redeeming her. The intuitive Kyoko Kirigiri believes Sayaka was thinking of Makoto during her final moments, leaving her message as a last minute atonement (a manga runs with this explanation, as do I). But Makoto wonders if she was merely trying to get revenge on Leon, leaving the answer vague. Honestly, though, it doesn’t matter much either way.
Was Makoto’s affection towards Sayaka one-sided? Probably not; her theme song is pretty telling, and her birthday corresponds with the Tanabata festival, implying she shares a romantic connection with someone. (Image: Spike Chunsoft)
Kodaka was right: Sayaka’s death was the perfect note to start Danganronpa on. The singer isn’t an innocent victim, nor a cold, calculated killer—she’s a victim, a sweet, scared girl who snapped. And Sayaka still means a lot to Makoto and lives on through him, catalyzing his maturation and unwavering optimism. Given everything he’s gone on to accomplish, she’d surely proud of him, too.
Congratulations, Sayaka! You have really good intuition.
Throughout their time together, Sayaka often finishes Makoto’s sentences for him, joking that she’s psychic. He briefly picks up the habit. (Image: Spike Chunsoft)
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