application ► empatheias

[omaru]

spoilers for dangan ronpa another episode!

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Nena
Contact: kuwata; nenabearr (AIM); nenabearr#7964 (Discord); nenabearr
Age: 18
Current Characters: N/A


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉

Character: Komaru Naegi
Age: A specific age is never given in canon, but when she is being scanned by the Monokuma in the prologue, she's presumed to be around 15-17. As for confirmation from Komaru herself, she tells Fukawa that if she wasn't imprisoned for the year and a half she was, she would currently be in high school, so this should make her about 16 or 17 years old.
Canon: Dangan Ronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
Canon Point: post-game; ETA ( as of 6/12 ) post-DR3, Side: Hope.

Background: Character Wiki, which gives a synopsis of the storyline as well!
ETA ( as of 6/12 ) Following the events of DR:AE, Komaru has remained in Towa City, presumably continuing her duty of maintaining peace in the city. While not much else is elaborated on in regards to her from the end of the game until now, she does have a minor role in DR3. She's contacted by Byakuya Togami and informed that her brother is a participant of another mutual killing game, whose mastermind is suspected to be Monaka. Since Monaka is hiding somewhere in Towa City, he entrusts Komaru (and Touko) to discover her whereabouts and interrogate her.

Komaru finds Monaka's hideout with the assistance of the former Warriors of Hope and confronts her. It turns out that Monaka's not the mastermind of the killing game nor does she know the identity of the actual mastermind; however, she does warn Komaru that someone from her brother's first killing game was going to die because of him. This prompts Komaru to warn her brother, but she also encourages him, stating that he'll be fine and survive because he promised her he'd return to her. After a heartfelt exchange between the two siblings, Komaru tells him that she'll be doing all she can, too, in Towa City.

This, of course, is not shown in the anime, so fast forward to Side: Hope where Komaru has yet another minor role. Her brother survived the final mutual killing game, rebuilds Hope's Peak Academy several months later, and becomes the new headmaster alongside Kirigiri. It's assumed sometime before this happened that Komaru was reunited with her brother, as she's seen helping out with the process of rebuilding the school by offering others refreshments.

Personality:

Komaru Naegi is, to put into her own words, "a completely normal girl," and that exact phrase and variations thereof are used various times to refer to her throughout the game. However, this isn't just Komaru's own opinion of herself; while she is extremely modest and does seem to have a low self-image, at one point denying Shirokuma's claim that she had grown since his first time meeting her and even going back and forth with him in what Fukawa called a "modesty battle" about who was the cooler one between them, many of the characters around Komaru seem to share this opinion of her as well. Komaru is repeatedly referred to as "common," "dull," "boring," "normal," and other words along those lines, and while it may seem harsh to say she's nothing but ordinary, it isn't as though it's an unfair assessment to make.

From first glance, there is absolutely nothing impressive about Komaru. She is entirely what one would expect from an average high school girl, from her bland appearance to her personality to even her interests and hobbies. Her "report card" in the game states that her favorite things are shoujo manga and trendy things, and in one of her conversations with Fukawa, when she is asked questions by the girl, her answers are so predictable to the point that Fukawa calls her normalcy "horrifying." She runs a 100 yard dash in 18 seconds, her favorite music is the Top 40 hits, her favorite saying is "all's well that ends well" - from those answers alone, it's easy to tell that there's really nothing remarkable about Komaru whatsoever. In the prologue, when she awakens to find herself in the Warriors of Hope's headquarters and meets Servant for the first time, he predicts her reaction to her capture...and of course, Komaru fulfills those expectations to the letter that Servant even sighs in exasperation about how normal she was.

And it's honestly not an exaggeration. Komaru is normal, and she's aware of it. She repeats it numerous times throughout the game - "I'm just a normal girl who can't do anything" - but while she's made her peace with it, she does seem to lament how commonplace she is and will occasionally try, often times too hard, to make herself out to be far less normal than she actually is. In one conversation with Fukawa, she tries to argue the point that she's actually abnormal instead of normal because of how normal she was...yeah. She actually thought that was a reasonable train of logic, but that just goes to show how much Komaru wishes that she wasn't normal. She becomes saddened whenever Fukawa brings up how normal she is, telling her to stop because she was hurting her feelings, but that's because Komaru feels as though there's nothing she can do to change her normalcy, so instead, she admires the ones who do have talent or bravery - the traits that she doesn't possess whatsoever.

It's her idolization of those "amazing" and "talented" people that causes her to become reliant on them. She would rather sit back and let them call the shots because they know what they're doing, right? In Komaru's eyes, she doesn't know what she's doing at all. She lacks the courage and the skill that they have, so she would only be a burden to them or put them in harm's way. This mentality of hers is most notable in Chapter 3, when the Monokumas infiltrate the adults' base and kill and injure the majority of their numbers. After she's locked inside of a cell by Haiji, who held her responsible for the attack and believed her to be a traitor, she reflects on her mentality thus far and regrets that she could not protect everyone, saying that if she "tried harder" or "were a better person" or actually thought about "saving others" for once instead of believing that she couldn't do anything or just depending on others, that the massacre would not have occurred, and everyone would still be safe.

But even then, the thought that Komaru can change herself doesn't actually occur to her. She still considers herself as "weak" and strongly empathizes with the adults who lay in wait in their base rather than go out and fight back against the children. When Fukawa says that they're just using "weak" as an excuse, Komaru lashes out at her and says, "The reason they don't do anything is because they can't build confidence! I would know! You're someone strong, with talent, chosen for Hope's Peak Academy and Future Foundation... You don't know how people like me feel! You don't know what it's like!" And that's because Komaru doesn't recognize that no one is born with strength; instead, it is earned through experience and a want to better oneself, and this is where her relationship with Fukawa is pivotal.

Fukawa acts somewhat like a mentor to Komaru. While she has a prickly way of showing it, she does have Komaru's best interests at heart and is constantly pushing her to keep going no matter what comes her way. When Komaru constantly wants to give up, Fukawa refuses to let her and continuously tells her to fight back. She encourages Komaru when she begins to fall into despair and teaches her that it's possible to change so long as one has the mindset to change. In a way, Komaru and Fukawa are quite similar. While Komaru admires Fukawa for her current strength, Fukawa teaches her that she hadn't always been this strong, but she had to learn how to be in order to survive her circumstances, and when Komaru agrees that she herself needs to grow, Fukawa tells her, "Good idea. You're pretty annoying the way you are right now." Fukawa is very straightforward with Komaru and doesn't show any remorse for what she says, even if Komaru becomes offended, because she sees a part of herself in Komaru. She wants her to change for the better, and it's because of Fukawa's brutal honesty as well as her subtle encouragement that Komaru does begin to change...or rather, she starts to unlock a part of herself that she never knew she had.

There are subtle hints towards Komaru's growth throughout the course of the game where she'll make decisions for herself every now and then rather than constantly asking Fukawa what it is they should do, such as when she decides to fulfill Shirokuma's request to go to Towa Tower and contact the Future Foundation, but the true extent of Komaru's growth is prominent in the latter chapters of the game. It is by that point she starts to realize that she can no longer hide from all of her problems and wish that they would simply go away, nor can she continue to just rely on others without doing anything herself; she realizes that she has to fight back and become independent, and it's obvious when she delivers her speech to the adults that she's no longer content with letting her fears hinder her:

"You're "normal," you're "weak"... How much longer are you going to use those damn excuses?! You're just happy to be a victim and ignore everything around you! Are you really okay with that, you coward?! Talent or whatever, that doesn't even matter. No matter how much talent or power you have, you can't avoid being scared or hurt! You let everyone else handle things that scare you and say, "I can't help it, I'm normal"... Are you really going to stay that way forever?!"

"Maybe you can't help being normal... But you can't just keep using that as an excuse! If you do... If you do, someday... You're gonna lose something that's important to you, y'know? And after that...it'll be too late! It's obvious that we're all afraid... I'm just as scared as you are... But even though I'm afraid... I know I made the right decision. To stay here, with Fukawa-san. Because if I just went and left her... I think I would have regretted it."

Just from those words alone, it's evident that Komaru is beginning to change significantly from the person she used to be in the earlier chapters of the game, but there are still parts of her that haven't changed. She remains unsure of herself, reverting to her meekness literally right after she finished her speech, apologizing to the adults for "being so loud" and telling Fukawa that she felt "like one of those lame kids who try to motivate everyone and fail completely" after no one applauded her, and even when Shirokuma praised her for her speech and called her cool, she denied it and insisted he was far cooler than her. So even with her progress, Komaru essentially is the same person she has been.

And this is where we discuss some of Komaru's other traits. One thing to note about Komaru is that she fluctuates between hope and despair, with the latter being the easiest for her to succumb to. Hope is something that she's just now starting to learn how to possess, and she even tells her brother in the epilogue that she knows that she'll never be able to become "true hope" like him, but towards the end of the series, her grasp on hope has become a lot firmer than it originally was. This doesn't mean that she's immune to despair, however; at the very end of the series, her resolve crumbles, and she falls into despair when Monaka shows her a video of what is allegedly her dead parents, and Fukawa has to slap her (literally) for her to come back to her senses. In the epilogue, she tells her brother that she didn't find evidence that her parents were dead, so she was choosing to believe that they were alive and well. Towards the end of the series, Komaru has a stronger sense of hope than she once did - if still a little shaky - but she chooses to welcome it rather than despair.

Another thing about Komaru is that she is an emotional person who reacts badly to despairing situations. Her usual response? Crying. When she witnesses Yuuta's death, her first thought is to try and rescue him, but once Fukawa ascertains that he's dead, Komaru immediately falls down to her knees and bursts into tears. When she sees Jataro's diorama? She falls to her knees and cries. When the adults in the base are attacked? She cries. There's a reason why Fukawa calls Komaru a "whiny crybaby," and that is because her usual emotional response to things is crying; however, she can sometimes react somewhat violently and disregard her verbal filter, saying harsh things without really meaning them, such as when she lashed out at Fukawa and told her that she didn't have any friends.

But while Komaru is a sensitive person, she is also empathetic and caring, and she sympathizes with others easily. When she speaks to some of the adults throughout Towa City and see how their lives have been impacted by the children's attacks, she feels sorry for them and at times even tries to help them. When she comes across her first Kill List, her first thought is to try and find that person to warn them that the children know of their location; and when she finds an adult with an injured leg who's hiding from the Monokumas, she wants him to come with her and Fukawa to be rescued, despite the fact that he would only slow them down and put them at more risk. Komaru is a very caring person who wants to help others and becomes saddened when she can't.

Komaru values friendship highly as seen with Fukawa, whom Komaru considers as a close friend, even wanting to call her "Touko-chan" in one particular conversation. She trusts very easily and believes in those that she does consider a friend, and she becomes very upset if someone were to betray that trust. Even then, she would refuse to believe their betrayal and would think of it as a lie, just like she did with Fukawa when Servant revealed that she was originally going to trade her for Togami; however, she does seem to have a good judgment of character as she knew that Fukawa's true intentions when she acted as though she was duping Komaru all along and attacked her, even getting mad when Fukawa tried to insinuate that Komaru didn't know what she was talking about. Komaru has a strong love and respect for her friends to the point that she is willing to sacrifice what she wants for them; when told that leaving Towa City would compromise Togami's safety, she chooses to stay in the city because she knew how important Togami was to Fukawa and even says as much: "Maybe I'm not really attached to this town, but I will save my friend."

Komaru also has a strong sense of justice, especially about death. She is very opposed to the Warriors of Hope viewing lives as insignificant and doesn't agree with their reasoning for murdering the adults. While she empathizes with the fact that their parents mistreated them, she doesn't see it as an excuse for them to murder anyone and loathes the fact that they don't care about the lives they stole. She tells Jataro that she wouldn't ever forgive him for killing so many people without even caring, and when he's attacked by the Monokuma Kids after losing the battle, she shows no remorse about his "death" and simply says, "Serves him right."

But while Komaru has a serious side due to her circumstances, it doesn't stop her from having a lighthearted and childish side as well. She can be immature at times, such as vehemently defending manga after Fukawa insulted it, going so far as to tell her that she "crossed the line" and that she wouldn't forgive her if she continued insulting it. She also becomes easily excited about things that aren't really worth being excited over, really, such as when she shoots the hologram machine, and...a hologram shows. She makes a big deal over the hologram that Fukawa has to tell her to calm down, and when Haiji lets her ride his motorcycle to where his "secret weapon" is located, even though Komaru had no idea how to ride a bike whatsoever, she is positively thrilled.

Komaru also has a...strange sense of pride and takes offense to the riddles that the Monokuma Kids give her, boasting to the children when she correctly solves them, saying that there's no riddle that she can't solve or that she'll never lose against kids, to which Fukawa has to remind her that she solved a child's riddle and that it isn't worth being so proud about...but it's important enough to Komaru, anyway.

Komaru is also very innocent when it comes down to topics such as romance and sex, and she has been shown to become flustered and somewhat uncomfortable when these topics come up. When Yuuta shakes her hand for an extended period of time, Komaru's only response is, "Ah... I think this handshake is over now..." And when Fukawa shows surprise at Komaru being romantically and sexually inexperienced, Komaru lies and tries to act as though she's been with plenty of boys, only retracting her statement when Fukawa accuses her of putting on an innocent act and being more promiscuous than she was, because she didn't want Fukawa to make fun of her for being a virgin...and let's not even talk about their conversation about masochism.

Komaru's innocence also extends to gullibility and ignorance. In the first chapter, she believes Fukawa when she says that there was a magical spell that could open the locked door, thinks that the word "retinal" is an animal, and that jamming, in regards to radio interference, is actual jam. She also believes in superstitions and that it's possible to raise a death flag and to combat it, one has to raise a survival flag.

Our protagonist, everyone.

ETA ( as of 6/12 ) Due to the limited screen time, there isn't much notable change in Komaru's personality. What little we see of her, however, she's seemed to have grown greatly since DR:AE; her brother even calls her more mature and reliable, to which she becomes a bit embarrassed. But he doesn't say this without merit. Komaru seems to be much more confident, acting in boldness and taking initiative, instead of waiting around and asking others what she should do. She's capable of making her own decisions now and is a lot braver in the face of danger than she once was.

This is the only significant change in Komaru's personality, as she's still generally the same as she was in the game: cheerful, modest, easily embarrassed by praise, childish at times, and still as big a crybaby as ever. But she has grown. She seems to embrace that she's a normal girl instead of thinking of it as a complex and acknowledges herself as neither Hope nor Despair. She's ready to step into action if the situation calls for it, and she's brave enough to face whatever comes her way whether it's good or bad.

She's even become friends with her former enemies, the Warriors of Hope, and doesn't bear any resentment towards Monaka for what the girl put her through, instead thinking of her as a smart girl who'll eventually realize the error of her ways.

Abilities:

Komaru is your average, run-of-the-mill, teenage girl and possesses no extraordinary abilities...except for the fact that she can sense spirits and claims to have been able to ever since she was a child. While she says that she's not able to see them directly - however, she does claim to have once seen the living spirit of her former teacher - she states that she can sense their presence from an aura, talk to them, and...as seen through her interaction with the ghost of Tokuichi Towa, it appears as though she can even be possessed by them.

Alignment:

Peromei. Throughout the game, Komaru continuously cycles between hope and despair and even states in the prologue that she doesn't like to get her hopes up because of the despair that follows, and her wavering between the two emotions is demonstrated numerous times. For example, in the first chapter, she has strong hope that she'll be able to leave Towa City through the bridge...but then the bridge starts to collapse due to the Monokuma Kids blowing it up, and Komaru finds herself falling into despair again...until she regains that hope after Yuuta promises to swim out of the city and bring back help...but she, once again, loses that hope and regresses into despair when Yuuta's bracelet explodes, effectively killing him right before her very eyes. It's at that moment she decides to give up trying, believing that it was impossible for her to be rescued and that her death was inevitable because she was "some normal, regular girl" who "[couldn't] do anything." And this low self-esteem of hers is the main source of her despair. It isn't until she meets Fukawa, who reassures and encourages her whenever she does fall into despair, that Komaru starts to gain hope and realize that she can do more than just rely on others: she can fight back.

Other:

Komaru possesses a device known as the Megaphone Hacking Gun, given to her by Byakuya Togami, that, as explained by Togami himself in the prologue, allows Komaru to "shoot program codes with electromagnetic waves." These are known as "truth bullets," and there are eight of them in all; each "bullet" has a different function, all of which can be explained here. The full extent of its effectiveness is unknown, as it has only been used on technology developed by the Towa Group in canon, so it is ambiguous whether or not the hacking gun is capable of working on other technology. This ability will, of course, be rendered useless due to Empatheias' lack of modern technology but was worth mentioning as it will be on Komaru's person upon arrival.

On an OOC note, while my portrayal of Komaru will mostly be influenced by the localized translation, when it comes down to the way she addresses others, I will be going by the way she addresses them in the original Japanese version. As for other terminology, such as "The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History," I will be using the localized translation.

⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample: Here are some test drive threads, but if you need an additional written sample, please let me know! Just to mention, in the test drive, I had her from an earlier canon point but decided to app her from post-game instead; hopefully, that's not too much of a problem!
Questions: N/A