Makoto & Sayaka relationship : analysis
I already did analyze a major part of their relationship inside that drive which is an analysis of Makoto in chapter 1 so, I really recommend seeing that analysis in order to have a better understanding of their dynamic. It’s important as I wouldn’t have the need to say or repeat things I have already said. What’s to come, is like a part 2, a sequel of that analysis.
So what I’m gonna talk about ? Few things that couldn’t have been said in that analysis because I limited my scope to chapter 1
So the relationship between these two is simple but also complex. It’s one of the most well written relationship in Danganronpa franchise. Both are character from the extreme sides and that shouldn’t have met. But they met despite their differences.
Differences
Makoto is someone who is said to be ordinary and to have a degree of normalcy higher than the average person. Regarding, his personality in the first chapter, he seems to be not optimistic but quite critical of most ultimates once he met them as they don’t match his high expectations on them. Remember that while Makoto accepted his normalcy, he still had the ultimates in high regard as he thinks that they are superiors to him in the first place due their talent. But it’s not in an obsession way like Hajime. However, as we will see he doesn’t truly accept it as he said in regard to his relationship with Sayaka.
Of course, he doesn’t have a great opinion of himself. He seems to not have close friends at all which is weird and even his view on himself is weird not normal. At any instance if he does something good, his first reflex is to degrade his actions but also himself.
Finally, he wasn’t and isn’t popular at all and his anormal « normalcy » should explain why he isn’t popular at all: people ignore his existence or should have found him boring enough to not be friends with him. Sure, he must have few people who he talked with but most of these people as seen in Makoto’s secret file aren’t friends as only one of them is. In Makoto’s secret file, once Makoto lost the rock paper scissors with these people, he had to search for drinks, but he was met with multiples unfortunate events. So, the time he puts to buy at the grocery store should at least put an alarm on his friend, but we didn’t see at all after those several unfortunate events that impacted Makoto. His friend of his didn’t seem to come to see how he is doing. So, I can at least say that most of his friends are friends but not close friends.
While Sayaka is extraordinary and can be considered as a genius in her talent. There were four students that were considered to be very talented in their respective area in class 78 and Sayaka was among them. She is in the upper echelons in contrary to Makoto and excel. From her teenage years, she was already popular and now she has 100 million of « Sayakers » said by Komaru in UDG who a « Sayaker » (hyper-fan of Sayaka) and that it was solely in Japan. So, she was already extremely popular when Makoto and she was in the same class, as Makoto quotes during her first FTE that he couldn’t go near him as she was always with people. Here, the difference. Due to her popularity, she had many, many people around her most of her time which contrast with Makoto which due to his simplicity had almost none. Finally, she had close friends that she considered as family which isn’t the case of Makoto.
Similarities
At the end of the game, Makoto and Sayaka shares similarities and parallelize each others. Firstly, he is as popular than Sayaka if not more due to be the one to put an end to Junko and has close friends at the end of his journey.
Both becomes unattainable because of their status and have to be prudent with any actions they take. For example, Sayaka had to be prudent and wary for any actions she takes because she had a reputation to hold on too and a career to keep which is the case of Makoto. He became the ultimate hope and as a symbol hope must take actions that solidify his status. In fact, he is by the world and the Future Fondation, forced to act in a way that would give hope to the world. Makoto was confined at that role.
In addition both do bypass their roles and take actions that could considered to be bad by the world with how Sayaka did bad things to reach her level and how Makoto hid the remnants of despair and put them inside the neo world program without the FF consent. Mind you that these remnants are the ones to have put the world in such fate and has caused many tragedies to the people of this world.
Also Makoto as the ultimate hope does the things that Sayaka wanted to do in a greater scale which is to spread hope to people in need. Both are people at their core who cares about other people even though Sayaka is more selfish than Makoto.
Finally, only people close to them could understand them greatly. Nobody understands Sayaka more than her idols friends. Her true feelings was understood only by them and her classmates when she was in HPA before the killing game. As for Makoto except his friends nobody truly understands him and only see his outer self. I mean everybody saw him as that guy whose will is unparalleled and don’t give up even in dire situations but whose ideals are naive. But Makoto isn’t only that. He is also someone who regrets and has guilt that he repressed whether be in THH or in Dr3 which even his close friends didn’t seem to see. Even his views on hope and despair are misunderstood by a lot of people just like Munakata.
Emotions
I must talk about how Makoto felt when he was with Sayaka compared to the rest of the game. When he was with Sayaka, he genuinely seemed happy. As already established in the drive, Sayaka was essentially Makoto’s hope like Makoto was for Sayaka until the arrival of the motive video. But most of the time with Sayaka, he was really happy.
The FTE done with Sayaka shows how happy and shy he is in contrary to the rest of the game.
FTE 1 - Sayaka
- That smile... That mysterious smile that softens my heart... I really wasn't flattering her. That smile saved me.
- She laughed out loud as she said it. The closer we get, the stronger that smile of hers makes me. ...I was glad to feel that way.
FTE 2 - Sayaka
- When she smiled at me like that, I could feel my entire body filling with power. It was like her smile was a source of pure energy. My friendship with her is my one source of courage. My bond with her makes me stronger. So I have to do my best in here! For myself, and for Sayaka!
It’s only at the end of the game, when escaping that we see him smiling again. But it’s normal right, after her death and chapter 1, he is someone overwhelmed by guilt.
Or again it is shown in a DR’s original drama cd, how Maizono makes Naegi happy.
In this instance, Naegi asks Maizono to sing on the stage and she does so. Maizono helps Naegi setting the stage up by helping him with looking for the microphone. Naegi mentions at the end that he was able to smile for once in a long time thanks to her concert.
Finally, when the motive video came out, Makoto only truly cared for Sayaka and himself, not the others. It would be great. It was already shown in the main game but danganronpa If, reinforces that fact.
Danganronpa If
Anyway, we have to all work together and- huh?
He realized that his determination was slightly different.
We 'all' have to...?
Naturally, escaping the school with all of his classmates was the most ideal scenario. But other than Maizono, he had never met any one of his classmates before, and he had no idea if he could trust them. Yet for a moment, he found himself believing that they were people worth helping even at the cost of his own life, just like Maizono.
He wasn’t optimistic at all of all trustful in chapter 1. It’s a huge mistake made when talking about Makoto. Even if he tells you right off the bat that he is optimistic, in chapter 1, he isn’t and is more in denial than anything else most of the time. His abnormal optimistic nature grows throughout the game and reach his peak at chapter 6. But it wasn’t instantaneous like some would like to tell.
Makoto’s guilt
after chapter one, there is a shift in how he acts with people. I know it’s due to a major events of chapter one but he is more determined to end this killing game not only because he wants to stop the mastermind but also because he feels regret. Like he said he won’t forget the pain, the bad and the good of all the people who died in the killing game. But we can implicitly see the one that he certainly wouldn’t forget is Sayaka Maizono. It’s hidden from the main story but Makoto himself struggles a lot with the events of the chapter 1. This struggle is hidden through optional dialogues that isn’t essential to the main story but essential to get more from Makoto and understand his actions throughout the game. He expresses a lot of fear and regret when trying to go inside some rooms or when trying to interact with something. Here are some examples.
chapter 2, 1st day morning
Shower room
I shouldn’t turn my eyes away… from Maizono-san’s death…!
It is for Maizono-san…
And it is for me as well.
This shows how hurt he is. He thinks about her most of his time. He is here consumed by guilt which he hides actively from others who don’t mention it at all. As seen by those images, he wanted clearly to spend more time with Maizono and to cherish those precious moments with her but he won’t now.
But seems to not touch anything in his room. Like he didn’t clean his room during the entirety of the game as the lint roller is still there as well as the notepad. We can then deduce that even touching it make Makoto remembers of everything that happened in chapter 1 which is something he doesn’t want to actively remember so he doesn’t touch.
But despite all of that, he keeps moving forward because it’s what he promised to all the dead in this killing game in order to achieve their goal : to get out from this place. By memorizing the dead, Makoto gives them a second live. they lived through him and their ambition and will to get out remain still in Makoto Naegi.
He also has some places where he expresses his will to not go like the door to the elevator for the trial because it reminds him again everything which is something he actively doesn’t want to.
But we have to talk about another character who experienced the same loss than Makoto which is Taka
In chapter 3, he himself sympathize with Taka for his loss because both of them lost someone that they considered to be close to them. Makoto lost Sayaka in chapter 1 and was acting very emotional just like Taka when he learned during the trial that his first friend was a murderer. Both learn that their closest friends ended up betraying them in the trial.
However there is one key differences and it’s how they dealt with their loss.
While Makoto seems to deal very easily the death of Sayaka but it’s false. Indeed, he has a strong sense of guilt and regret which he hides. Most of the time, Makoto represses his guilt or trauma to himself and doesn’t express really what he’s going through to the others. It can be explain by the oath he takes at the end of chapter 1, where he swears to end the killing game. He wants to keep a strong face against the mastermind, he wants people to not kill so what’s better to show a strong and determined face to the others and the mastermind ?
However, Taka, though suffering the same loss, the loss of someone dear to him, reacted differently from Makoto. He shows expressively how hurt and sad he is at the end of chapter 2 when Mondo reveals himself to be the culprit. Although, Taka doesn’t have the same connection that Makoto had with Sayaka, Mondo was an important guy for him, after all he was his first friend. They confronted at first but also connected quickly and became very close. He even cries in front of everyone in trial 2 which Makoto doesn’t do intentionally when in front of Sayaka’s body in order to investigate or even do in trial 1. After that, we have chapter 3, where Taka is shown to be greatly affected by this loss, so affected that he become a husk of himself.
So we have an interesting parallel which contains not only similarities but also differences. I already pointed out how they deal with their loss : one repressing the guilt and the other expressing the guilt and sorrow externally. But I also must pointed out another difference which is the fact that Makoto succeeds to not be overwhelmed by the guilt and try to live with it while Taka fails to do exactly that and falls pretty much into depression. While Sayaka’s death pushed Makoto forward when he was down and didn’t involve himself into the killing game, Mondo’s death caused Taka to be down during a major part of chapter 3 whereas he was quite involved in the killing game so as to organize the group during chapters 1 and 2.
But seeing Taka like that made Makoto remembers about himself. He had sympathy for Taka and put himself to his place. He sees how the both of them are the same and how sad Taka is. Here an example :
Chapter 3
Taka hasn't said a word since everything that happened yesterday... One look at his face showed he hadn't slept a wink last night. It must be because of Mondo..
The two of them became so close, and then he finds out Mondo killed Chihiro... And then...having to watch Mondo get…punished. And nothing he could do about it... I can't even imagine what it must have done to him.
That’s why he is also pretty angry at Monokuma when he tricked Taka with the air purifier being a time machine. He had already an intense hatred and beef with Monokuma so it shouldn’t be surprising.
Chapter 3
Makoto : Air purifier...?
Monokuma : It can produce clean air no matter where you're at. With that thing, you could even live on Mars! But
what with the discombobulating gravity and deadly low temperatures, you prolly don't wanna live on Mars
Anyway, this machine is the reason you guys have all this delicious air. So don't go messing with it!
You break it, and it's your butt! *leaves*
This huge thing is just...an air purifier? And more than that...
Taka : …
To go out of your way to say something you know will hurt someone who's already suffering...
Makoto : God damn you!
He also tries to interact with him in two instances even though it fails due to Taka not responding to him. But once Taka comes to his room so as to use alter ego, Makoto accepts easily not because of his optimism but because of his sympathy towards Taka.
He even lied to Kyoko and the others who were in their ways in order to go see alter ego. He really wanted to help Taka to surpass his loss even though it led to troubles. He was the only one we see at least trying to sympathize with him.
During the investigation after the discovery of Taka’s and Hifumi’s body , if you click on Taka’s door, Makoto says this :
And says this if doing the same for Hifumi :
We can see that there is a difference. While seeming more regretful and hurt by Hifumi’s death, he is a lot more angry and furious when he talks about Taka’s death. It can explain by his sympathy that he had toward Taka and everything he was going through. Therefore, the reason is pretty much what I have already explain which is the fact that he puts himself at the place of Taka too, so his death is more impactful for Makoto than Hifumi’s death.
But like said previously, Makoto succeeds to at least momentarily, surpass his guilt thanks to his optimism in chapter 6 when clicking on Sayaka’s door, Makoto says this :
Chapter 6
Maizono-san’s room…
The key opens the door.
But it’s not related to this case…
I shoudn’t let my heart wander…
… isn’t that right, Maizono-san?
Here, he doesn’t grieve as he always do at the mention at Sayaka but also tries to go forward. He surpasses his guilt with his own optimism and hope that he gains at the end of chapter 5, when Kyoko saves him. Like he said before he holds the memories of everyone who died with him. He considers that he should not grieving because it’s especially something that Sayaka wouldn’t want him to do in his point of view. The two last sentences said that much after all.
Symbolism : Crane
As much as I said back then in my analysis on the drive that Sayaka represented the crane just like she said to Makoto in her FTE, I think that the crane could also represent Makoto himself. Just like the crane, he was lost when the killing game started. Why was he chosen ? What was his place in a class where his classmates are more talented than him and have a true talent ? How could he compare to them ?
But throughout the game, Makoto began to take his flight and become smarter as the chapters goes in until he was capable to hold his on against Kyoko in chapter 5. He rediscovered every facet of himself during the killing game until he finally found, until others guide him into his true talent which is the ultimate hope. Just like the crane who was lost, Makoto was the one to get him find his way. It’s the same things in the killing game where Makoto discovered himself again truly until he can finally recognize his qualities as great and therefore to be really proud of himself for the first time in the killing game. Not even talking about how the crane symbolizing Makoto is correct as the crane is seen as its white color already represent not only innocence but also hope. The crane is also seen as a symbol of peace, good fortune and longevity. They are often use as an anti-war symbols during protest.
Everything said concerning the crane is also valid for Makoto. He does bring good fortune as it was his luck that saved that ended up saving the world. Good Fortune was given to the world except himself the day he was accepted at HPA. He is also viewed as hope incarnate by the world and his whole philosophy prone a more regenerative and pacific hope than most in the universe of Danganronpa. While he hates death, he never radically opposed to the views of Munakata concerning hope. Thus, he doesn’t completely disregard that death can be considered as necessary even if he doesn’t prone that. Finally, he is one of the few characters that survived 2 killing game so he does have longevity for him.
Again, he parallelizes with Sayaka as both can be seen as the crane. Sayaka at the start of the story and Makoto at the end of story, representing their initials differences before the killing game.
In addition, just like Makoto who has helped the crane to find his way in middle school, Sayaka in a way helped him to become what he is in chapter 6. Sayaka, more so her death, put him in the right track, in the right mindset in order to fight against the mastermind.
She pushed him forward just like Makoto did back then with the crane which is supposed to represent Sayaka’s mental state at the time: lost and hurt because of everything she did and see in the industry whether the things she’s done is implied to be sexual or not (I don’t necessarily agree with that but it’s not that important for Sayaka’s writing). But seeing one act of kindness was enough to move her heart to such a point that she has been obsessed to see and talk with Makoto Naegi. That moment is parallelized with Makoto when he saw the corpse of Sayaka. He was hurt and lost. Even after seeing her corpse, he was in denial and even shout at both Togami and Mondo, people that he either fears (Mondo) or is hurt at each encounter he makes with (Togami) which again parallelizes with when Makoto tried to stop Mondo and Byakuya from fighting and to stay calm. Here it’s these two who tries to do the same thing that Makoto did try to do back then.
The roles are again changed. It’s a great callback to their dynamic which the crane plays an important role in it. So I think it’s fair to say that Makoto can symbolize the crane.
SDR2
In Sdr2, the reset password used by Makoto was 11037 for the neo world program. Naegi used Maizono’s dying message as a reset password to New World program. In Japanese version, Naegi refers to her as 'some person(ある人)’ while in English version Naegi refers to her as 'someone close to me’. It shows that he still holds his oath, to don’t forget about his classmates but also shows that the guilt is still there and will continue to be there. As long as he doesn’t forget about them, the emotions he had towards his classmates won’t disappear too. Like said before in this post, Makoto makes them lives through him. In addition, the fact that he got the memories of his past two years when he was at Hope speak academy worsen his guilt even more.
DR3
In Danganronpa 3, Maizono appeared in Naegi's deathwish hallucination with Kirigiri. Maizono's actor was asked to act like a boy's first love appearing in the flashback right before his death. Because Maizono within Naegi always smiles. The hallucination talked about how Naegi wasn't able to get her out of the school and told him to come with them. It reinforces what we’ve already said so far with dr3 showing more blatantly his survivor’s guilt which was a great idea who was greatly executed by dr3. It also enforces on how Sayaka was his first love and someone who he cared for greatly. It must have hurt him very much as he regained the memories of the two past years that were extracted from him.
In the last episode of Despair Arc, Maizono is shown talking informally to Naegi without using any honorifics. This is actually a significant change in her character. She often is polite with everyone. That politeness comes from her talent that force her to be polite so as for public appearances and to hide her emotions. Emotions who are hidden with a polite smile. But sometimes, she can be polite because of nervousness when she asked about if Makoto has a girlfriend in her last FTE.
But here she isn’t. She talks informally to Makoto which shows a huge development and means that she became close with at least one person.
She said “Daijyobu?” instead of normal “Daijyobudesuka?” Which shows that both are close with each other. She surely opened herself with everyone in her class, as seen in THH with the photos, she seemed to be close with everybody in the class. She also must be closer with Naegi as shown by her song Monochrome Answer which was said to explain her relationship with Makoto during their time in Hope speak academy.
So that’s it. I did more work based on Makoto in relation with Sayaka as there is already plenty of analysis of Sayaka as a whole.
