Nagito Komaeda is one of the teens trapped on a tropical island and forced to play the Killing Game. He has been queerly read by fans to be gay, bisexual, or pansexual (all found here in this reddit thread). In-game, Nagito has an obsession with Hajime Hinata, seeing him as the embodiment of hope. In his fifth and final Free Time Event, he goes so far as to say:

• “From the bottom of my heart…I am truly in love with the hope that sleeps inside you.”

This has been read as a confession of love from Nagito to Hajime, but others have read this as Nagito just being interested in any person who has “hope” within them.

In Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, Kurokuma makes a comment towards Nagito, saying:

• “Oh, what!? Is this it!? You’re finally gonna come out of the closet!?” (found here)

Also, Hiyoko Saionji makes a joke about Nagito in the Danganronpa 3 english-dubbed anime, saying:

• “Is it just me, or is he getting gayer with age?” (found here)

These intertextual references as well as his comments in-game about certain female characters (such as his comments on Akane’s “sexy body”) lead to a classification of Gay Implicit and Bisexual Implicit.

LGBTQ References in this series:

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (2010): Chihiro; Genocide Jack/Jill and Toko; Hifumi’s Ending; Mondo and Taka; Monokuma; School Mode

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (2012): Ibuki Mioda, Island Mode, Mentions, Mikan Tsumiki, Nagito Komaeda, Teruteru Hanamura

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (2014): Tokomaru Ship

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (2017): K1-B0, Kaede Akamatsu, Kokichi Oma, Korekiyo Shinguji’s Love Suite Event, Love Across the Universe: Dangan Salmon Team, Miu Iruma, Rantaro Amami, Tenko Chabashira

See also QRM’s entry for this game series.

Citations:

1. Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danganronpa_3:_The_End_of_Hope’s_Peak_High_School
2. Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danganronpa_Another_Episode:_Ultra_Despair_Girls
3. Free Time Events/Nagito Komaeda. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2020, from https://danganronpa.fandom.com/wiki/Free_Time_Events/Nagito_Komaeda
4. kingsucci. (2019, June 15). NAGITO KOMAEDA COMPILATION – Ultra Despair Girls All Servant Scenes. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/5j8lMb07IsM?t=1828
5. MaxDoodle. (2016, October 29). is it just me, or is he getting gayer with age. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv_gD8cIyPI
6. Nagito Komaeda. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2020, from https://danganronpa.fandom.com/wiki/Nagito_Komaeda
7. Nagito_The_Lucky. (2019, February 20). r/ultimateluckystudent – How gay is Nagito? Retrieved January 29, 2020, from https://www.reddit.com/r/ultimateluckystudent/comments/ast48h/how_gay_is_nagito/
8. Noire Blue. (2016, May 8). Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair Walkthrough Part 3 No Commentary. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/q7wVXtGnO2E?t=168