
This is collab with Kodikos and Smilely. Also another NPG candidate I (Kodikos) would like to eviscerate. Here goes.
What’s the Work?
To self plagiarize here..
Danganronpa is a horror Japanese video game created by Kazutaka Kodaka and developed and owned by Spike Chunsoft since 2010. It takes place at a school called Hope's Peak Academy of which students who are known to have ultimate talents are forced to kill each other by a robotic teddy named Monokuma. After each killing, the students have to solve the murder of the victim by going to the class trials to find out who is guilty.
Who is Sakura?/What has she done?
Sakura Ogami is a supporting character. She is a brutish but kind student at Hopes Peak Academy who was in Makoto’s class as the Ultimate Martial Artist.
in the past, Sakura’s reputation as a martial artist grew as she won numerous championships and earned the title of “The Ogre” due to her immense strength and fearsome appearance. It wasn’t long before her abilities caught the attention of Hope's Peak Academy, an elite school that scouted individuals with exceptional talents. Sakura was invited to join as the “Ultimate Martial Artist,” a title that reflected her unparalleled skills.
Rules of said game? simple and horrifying: the only way to escape was to kill another student and get away with it. If the killer was discovered during a class trial, they would be executed. If they weren’t, the killer would go free, and the rest of the students would be executed.
As the killing game progressed, the students began to unravel the mysteries of their situation, but they also became more desperate. Tensions ran high, and the threat of betrayal loomed over them constantly. Unbeknownst to the others, Sakura was carrying a heavy burden: she had been coerced into becoming Monokuma’s mole.
Before the killing game began, Monokuma had approached Sakura with a terrifying ultimatum. He threatened her family and her dojo, leaving her with no choice but to comply with his demands. She was to act as his agent within the group, spying on the other students and sabotaging their efforts to escape. In exchange, Monokuma promised that no harm would come to her loved ones. This was a nightmare for Sakura. Her entire life had been built on honor, and now she was being forced to betray the very people she had vowed to protect. The shame and guilt she felt were overwhelming, but she saw no way out. She couldn’t let anything happen to her family, and so she agreed to Monokuma’s demands, hoping that she might somehow find a way to protect everyone involved.
Despite her role as the mole, Sakura never fully complied with Monokuma’s orders. She secretly worked against him whenever possible, trying to find a way to end the killing game without resorting to murder. Her role as the mole eventually came to light, and it was a devastating revelation for the other students. Hina, in particular, was heartbroken. She had come to see Sakura as a sister, and the knowledge that Sakura had been hiding such a terrible secret felt like a deep betrayal. Monokuma, always eager to sow discord, reveled in the chaos. He taunted the students, suggesting that they couldn’t trust each other and that Sakura’s betrayal was proof that anyone could be a threat. The atmosphere in the academy grew even more tense, with everyone wondering who might turn on them next.
Sakura was devastated by the pain she had caused her friends. She knew that no words could undo the harm that had been done, and she couldn’t bear the thought of her actions leading to more murders. After much soul-searching, Sakura made a fateful decision: she would take her own life. In Chapter 4, Sakura locked herself in a room and drank a bottle of poison. Before doing so, she wrote a letter to her friends, explaining her actions and expressing her deep remorse. She hoped that by ending her own life, she could atone for her betrayal and prevent anyone else from being killed.
When the other students discovered Sakura’s body, Hina was inconsolable. She blamed herself and the others for Sakura’s death, believing that their distrust had driven her friend to suicide. In her grief and anger, Hina decided to take revenge by killing everyone else and then taking her own life. She declared that Sakura’s death would be avenged, no matter the cost.
However, after reading Sakura’s letter, Hina realized that her friend’s final act was one of love and sacrifice, not hatred. Sakura had given her life to protect the others, and Hina understood that honoring her memory meant continuing the fight.
Corrupting Factors
None really. Although she did work for Monokuma, this was completely against her will as he would threaten her dojo. She then subverts this tenfold by betraying Monokuma to help her friends and using her death as a way to make up for her sins, even letting other students beat her as repentance.
Sakura may be brutish and looks scary but you can’t even really call her anything of the sort if you know her. She is very humble and respectful overall despite how she may look. A big sweetheart, never using her powers unprovoked.
Admirable Standards
This is the main issue people have had due to the high standards with nearly half of the main cast always playing some important role in stopping the Killing Games. If I listed every admirable character I’d be here all day but I think Sakura should easily stand out for her sacrifice to save her friends alone, stopping their fighting and preventing any more deaths, while leading them to be able to end the killing game indirectly, despite being blatantly ordered to sabotage her friends.
- Theres also the bonus that Sakura is necessary in every case as she voluntarily guards the body each time to prevent tampering with evidence, which significantly helps not rig the trials and have everybody killed..
Now granted, she is not the only character with some sacrifice. Since Kaito and Kaede are fictional fictional, she doesn’t have to be compared with them. Compared to say like the Ultimate Impostor or Nekomaru, she was fully aware of what her death would impose, meaning she has the noblest sacrifice for stopping her friends from fighting each other and giving them what they need to end the Killing Games. Gundham sacrificed himself too but it was less ethical in his case and he initially wanted to get away as a blackened.
I would also like to mention her resources. Makoto did unbrainwash the Ultimate Despair terrorists but he had far higher resources since at that point he was leading a powerful organization with future technology. Chihiro created Alter Ego to help the students but he also has way higher resources due to his advanced technology skills. Sakura is at best just a strong martial artist with not much else.
Overall, Sakura’s sacrifice ended up saving 6 lives. And these people would go on to do great things thanks to her sacrifice of course and it has MASSIVE story impact.
Verdict
Yep, we think she counts for her sacrifice and blatant lack of corrupting qualities.