Hajime Hinata

Hajime Hinata / Izuru Kamukura
Danganronpa character
Screenshot of Hajime Hinata (left) and Izuru Kamukura (right)
First appearance	Danganronpa Zero (2011)
Created by	Kazutaka Kodaka
Designed by	Rui Komatsuzaki
Voiced by	English: Johnny Yong Bosch Japanese: Minami Takayama

Izuru Kamukura (神座 出流), whose true name is Hajime Hinata (Japanese: 日向 創, Hepburn: Hinata Hajime), is a fictional character from Spike's action-adventure game series Danganronpa. The character has two personalities with Izuru first appearing the light novel prequel Danganronpa Zero in 2011 by Kazutaka Kodaka as a mysterious high school student whose actions resulted in mass genocide while Hajime appears as protagonist of the 2012 video game Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair as a high school student with no memories of his past and is forced to investigate murder cases involving high school students who are trapped in a series of tropical islands. The prequel anime Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School further explores Hajime's past and how he becomes into the silent Izuru in a human experiment known as the Izuru Kamukura Project (カムクライズルプロジェクト) due to his inferiority complex created by not standing out in society.

Hajime was created to be a caring student who would be explored as a more tragic hero contrasting his predecessor, the Danganronpa protagonist Makoto Naegi as the franchise explores the themes of despair of hope; As a result of his sins, Hajime's action involve the search for redemption. The character is voiced by Minami Takayama in Japanese and Johnny Yong Bosch in English. Critical response to the character has been positive based on his bonds and dual identity though he has been often compared negatively with the rest of the cast.

Creation

In contrast to previous Danganronpa protagonist Makoto Naegi who carries the ideals of hope as a result of his morals, Hajime Hinata to move forward carrying the burden of despair based on the sins he committes in the franchise. In describing the new character, Kodaka claims that Hinata memory but believed he had a SHSL talent. Because of that, he recklessly worked hard to do his best, contrasting his past persona from the light novel and anime perquels. Hajime's design differed in early sketches for the series but briefly as his hair was originally meant to be longer and, in one occasion, he was meant to wear glasses. In Japanese, Hajime was voiced by Minami Takayama. As Takayama was famous for voicing the main character of the detective manga, the staff put a reference to her career resulting in the snowboarding minigame from Goodbye Despair as Jimmy Kudo often surfs a turbo skateboard. Johnny Yong Bosch reclaims not having been immersed in multiple game roles, especially Hinata due to lack of artwork to identify him. When a Danganronpa player asked the actor to sign a copy of Goodbye Despair, Bosch understood more the character he voiced.

In describing the cast, Kodaka felt the anime helped to compare more Hajime with his alter-ego Izuru Kamukura who were little explored in the game. The latter was described as a god-like entity to the point of being deemed as the strongest character he ever created in fiction. However, Kodaka believes the developed Hajime is stronger for embrassing his human qualities. He compared him with the villain Junko Enoshima, one of the character's Kodaka felt was one of the strongest characters too but in the anime, Izuru manages to defeat Junko effortlessly. For the Hope Arc of the series' anime, Kodaka claimed the two minds of the character merged. Kodaka was satisfied with how anime staff from Lerche handled Hajime's character.

In comparison to Goodbye Despair, Kodaka aimed the cast from such game to be different from the ones in Despair. This resulted in Hajime being written as a more hatred-driven manner due to his lack of talents until meeting Chiaki Nanami who Kodaka wanted to make clear she was not the same heroine from the game as there the character is an artificial intelligence based on Chiaki as a result of her being killed by Junko. Nevertheless, Kodaka aimed Hajime's meeting with the real Chiaki to be integral for the narrative based on how the two bond when playing games. In retrospective, Kodaka feels that both Hajime and Makoto are strong video game protagonist, leading him to write a weaker lead for the next game, Danganronpa V3.

Appearances

Izuru first appears in the light novel Danganronpa Zero as Kyoko Kirigiri. Izuru is described as a a student of indeterminate gender hiding on the grounds of the school, and the perpetrator of "The Tragedy", an event involving mass genocide that resulted in the decay of mankind.

In Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Izuru is reintroduced as his true name, Hajime Hinata. Ge has revered Hope's Peak Academy since childhood. Having no memory of the skill that landed him in the academy, he is given the title of Ultimate ??? (超高校級の「???」, Chō-kōkō-kyū no "???", lit. Super High School Level ???). However, with his investigative skills, he manages to help solve the murder mysteries, and even uncovers the truth behind Jabberwock Island being a simulated reality. He also discovers that he was originally part of the Reserve Course, a section of Hope's Peak Academy for students without Ultimate talents that was built to help save the school from its approaching bankruptcy through its exorbitant entry fees. Being heavily mocked and ridiculed for his lack of actual talent, combined with a bad incident involving Juzo Sakakura, led him to become a test subject in the Hope Cultivation Project. The experiment led to his memory and personality to be erased and replaced with one incorporating multiple Ultimate talents. Due to this combination of talents, Hajime's ability to empathize and take joy in the people around him was removed as well. Under his new persona Izuru Kamukura, the Ultimate Hope (超高校級の「希望」, Chō-kōkō-kyū no "Kibō", lit. Super High School Level Hope), he grew bored with the world due to being unable to relate to anyone and was convinced by Junko to be present at the prototype killing game between the members of Hope's Peak Academy's student council, partaking towards its end, whereafter his existence and role in the events were leaked to incite the events that destroyed human civilization. Despite learning of his past and Izuru, Hajime manages to think for himself and help the others delete Alter Ego Junko.

He is one of the survivors that manage to escape to the real world, embracing his identity as Izuru and deciding to look for a way to try to restore those who had died within the virtual world. He is briefly seen during the epilogue of Danganronpa Another Episode as Izuru, ripping out parts of Kurokuma and Shirokuma before he is sent to Jabberwock Island. At the end of Danganronpa 3: Despair Arc, Izuru's origin and initiation to Ultimate Despair is depicted; Hajime is revealed to have willingly given up his life (with his parents' approval) to help create him. In Nagito Komaeda and the Destroyer of Worlds and Danganronpa 3: Hope Arc, Izuru is revealed to have retained the emotions he gained as Hajime and used them to revive everyone who died in the virtual world, managing to stop Ryota from using his hope video before taking him with everyone towards a new future, (reviving the Remnants of Despair to spread despair worldwide to in turn birth hope, as intended by Nagito Komaeda). He and his friends then broadcast a video claiming responsibility for the final killing game, freeing the Future Foundation of suspicion.

Hajime appears alongside Yasuhiro and Makoto in the game's demo of Danganronpa V3, with Hajime and Makoto working as Kaede Akamatsu's upper classmates, senior "protagonists" and major helpers.

Reception

Critical response to Hajime's characterization has been positive with many comparing elements of his characterization with other cast members featured in Danganronpa. Siliconera described Hajime and Nagito Komaeda as opposites based on his first impression with Goodbye Despair and was "hopeful even though both of them are caught in a desperate situation." Manga News compared him with Kyoko Kirigiri based on how both lack memories of their pasts, most notably their talents. Anime UK News claimed that while Hajime is supposed to be the main character of the story, Nagito Komaeda is more fitting for such role based on the behavior he demostrates. Koi-Nya felt he was a fitting protagonist, similar to Makoto as both do not possess major talents and have to rely on their normal abilities to solve. Anime News Network felt that that Hajime became famous in the franchise for how corrupted he is in contrast to his initial persona, something which the writer blamed on Nagito's philosophies. The Fandom Post enjoyed the bond that both Hajime and Chiaki for in the anime while also giving him parallels with a high school student Natsumi who hates society for not having a talent, an issue that Hajime feels too. The reviewer felt the anime gave Hajime a Twilight Syndrome scenario where the character sees when interacting with other characters who express negative emotions.

Commenters also focused on Hajime's alter-ego. Anime News Network felt that Hajime became a tragic character due to him losing all of his memories following the human experiments, making the bond he formed with Chiaki to be lost in the process. The reviewer also compared him with Junko but felt the latter was more appealing as a character. Manga.Tokyo also compared Nagito with Hajime's alterego, Izuru, due to both of them sharing multiple similarities, mainly their talents, and wondered whether the two would fight. Anime News Network enjoyed the encounter between Nagito and Izuru based on similar ideas like Manga.Tokyo but the felt this to be a form of fanservice that would appeal to players of Goodbye Despair as the two briefly interacted in Chapter 0 of the game. Anime News Network stated that while Izuru seeing Chiaki Nanami's brutal death might come across as "melodramatic", the emotional delivery of the scene still succeeds as Izuru starts crying when seeing her last moments contrasting his silent persona. Manga.Tokyo agreed in regards to how Izuru retains Hajime's hummanity when crying in front of Chiaki, making it one of the best scenes of the Despair Arc of the anime. Thanasis Karavasilis from Manga.Tokyo felt the anime managed to give Makoto and Hajime a strong finale and praised the encounter between the former and the villain, Mitari, as across the their encounter there was no a side involving an actual culprit.

In a popularity poll from the franchise for the collected release of Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair, Hajime took the third spot, behind Nagito Komaeda and Makoto Naegi. To celebrate, Rui Komatsuzaki did an illustration of the top five to be featured in the re-release of the games, Reload. The Gamer listed him as the sixth best Danganronpa character praising that despite his chaotic background, Hajime's efforts to redeemm himself make him a "complex hero." Johnny Yong Bosch's performance as Hajime was the subject of praise.