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
Portrayed by	Ryusei Yokohama (stage play)
Voiced by	English: Johnny Yong Bosch Japanese: Minami Takayama
In-universe information
Full name	Izuru Kamukura Hajime Hinata (birth name)
Species	Izuru Kamukura: Superhuman Hajime Hinata: Human (Despair Arc) Computer avatar (Goodbye Despair)
Occupation	Leader of the Remnants of Ultimate Despair
Affiliation	Izuru Kamukura Project — Hope Cultivation Plan Ultimate Despair (organization) — Remnants of Despair
Significant others	Junko Enoshima Mukuro Ikusaba
Servant	Nagito Komaeda
Creators	Izuru Kamukura Project Jin Kirigiri Kazuo Tengan Council of Global Control Byakuya Togami (commissioner) Kijo Togami (commissioner) Sonia Nevermind (commissioner)
Talent	Ultimate Hope Ultimate Despair Ultimate ???

Izuru Kamukura (Japanese: 神座 出流, Hepburn: Kamukura Izuru), born Hajime Hinata (日向 創, Hinata Hajime), is a fictional character from the Spike Chunsoft visual novel action-adventure game series Danganronpa. The character has two identities 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 a computer avatar copy of Hajime appears as the 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 the past of the human Hajime and how he volunteered to becomes the silent superhuman Izuru in a genetic experiment known as the Izuru Kamukura Project (カムクライズルプロジェクト), and how Izuru joined Ultimate Despair and met his future servant Nagito Komaeda, in addition to following a revived Izuru after the events of Goodbye Despair.

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, Izuru's activities involve the search for redemption. Their prequel persona was also modified to fit the narrative involving their lack of self-esteem and relationships with Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba. 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 though he was felt to be a weak protagonist. His role in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School was praised for the handling of his alter-ego, and his decay of humanity as a result of losing all of his memories.

Creation

In contrast to the previous Danganronpa protagonist Makoto Naegi who carries the ideals of hope as a result of his morals, Izuru Kamukura moves forward carrying the burden of despair based on the sins he committed in the franchise. In describing the human Hajime Hinata of The End of Hope's Peak High School, Kodaka described him as one who recklessly worked hard to do his best despite his lack of an Ultimate talent, contrasting his past persona from the light novel and anime prequels. 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 Case Closed, 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 of The End of Hope's Peak High School, Kodaka felt the anime helped to compare the differences between Izuru and Hajime, which were little explored in the game. Izuru was described as a god-like entity to the point of being deemed as the strongest character Kodaka ever created in fiction. However, Kodaka believes the developed Hajime is stronger for embarrassing his human qualities, comparatively comparing both identities with that of Junko Enoshima. For the Hope Arc of the series' anime, Kodaka stated that the two minds of the character had merged under the Izuru Kamukura name. Kodaka was satisfied with how anime staff from Lerche handled Izuru's character writing and design, stating:

His name and design show up a little in both the game and the novel, but this is the first time I’ve clearly written what kind of person he is. Thanks to having every talent, he can foresee where everything will lead, and therefore finds things boring, which is ironic, given that Hinata thought of his talentless life as boring as well. I outlined that the scene where Kamukura disarms Komaeda and shoots him back should be like a beautiful, elegant dance. I remember deliberately discussing at the animation studio how Kamukura’s hair should be shown in the anime, since it was originally more stiff. I liked that you could see his expressionless eyes between the gaps in his hair. — Kazutaka Kodaka

In comparison to Goodbye Despair, Kodaka aimed for the younger Remnants of Despair to be characterized differently to reflect their original personalities; 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 a different character from the artificial intelligence of the same name. Nevertheless, Kodaka aimed the human Hajime's meeting with the human Chiaki to be integral for the narrative based on how the two bond when playing games. In developing the lead character of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Kodaka felt that both Hajime and Makoto were written to be "too strong" as video game protagonists, leading him to write a "weaker" lead for the next game.

Appearances

Izuru first appears in the light novel Danganronpa Zero as detective Kyoko Kirigiri investigates hin. Izuru is described as a student of indeterminate gender hiding on the grounds of the school, and the perpetrator of "The Tragedy", an event involving mass murder that resulted in the decay of mankind. They are briefly glimpsed by Ryoko Otonashi and Kyoko, both of whom mistake them for one of the Madarai brothers due to their similarly long hair, killing one of the actual brothers alongside Mukuro Ikusaba. Izuru's identity is also briefly adopted by Yasuke Matsuda in snapping Yuto Kamishiro's neck.

In Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Izuru is reintroduced under his birth identity, Hajime Hinata. Having revered Hope's Peak Academy since childhood and 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 eventually uncovers the truth behind Jabberwock Island being a simulated reality and himself being a computer avatar copy of the real Izuru's childhood memories of being Hajime. Ultimate, Hajime discovers that he was originally part of the Reserve Course, a section of Hope's Peak Academy for students without Ultimate talents, established to help save the school from its approaching bankruptcy through its exorbitant entry fees, before volunteering to become a test subject in the Hope Cultivation Project. Now known as Izuru Kamukura after the founder of Hope's Peak Academy, this experiment led to his memory and personality being erased and replaced with one incorporating multiple Ultimate talents. Due to this combination of talents, Izuru'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 Enoshima to join her Ultimate Despair (超高校級の「絶望」, Chō kōkō kyū no “Zetsubō”, lit. Super High School Level Despair) organization, ultimately being responsible for the deaths of 13 students of Hope's Peak Academy during "The Tragedy", and assuming command of the organization upon Junko's execution in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, arranging the capture of himself and the Remnants of Despair by the Future Foundation several years later so that he could insert an Alter Ego artificial intelligence copy of Junko into the group's Neo World Program, where she would place an amnesiac version of himself and the Remnants' minds into a killing game so-as to download herself into their bodies. However, despite learning of his past as Izuru, Hajime rejects Izuru's and Junko's plans and manages to think for himself, helping the others to delete Alter Ego Junko while absorbing the identity and talent of Izuru. He is the only survivor that manages to escape to the real world, embracing his identity as Izuru and deciding to look forca way to try to restore those who had died within the virtual world, providing the Remnants a chance at redemption despite the severity of their misdeeds.

He is briefly seen during the epilogue of Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls as Izuru, ripping out parts of Kurokuma and Shirokuma before preparing future plans with Alter Ego Junko. At the end of Despair Arc of Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, 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 the final "mastermind of hope" Ryota Mitarai from using his hope video before taking him along with everyone else towards a new future, reviving the Remnants of Despair to spread despair worldwide to in turn birth hope, as intended by Nagito Komaeda in his own reasons for joining the organization. Izuru and his friends then broadcast a video claiming responsibility for the final killing game in place of Kazuo Tengan and Chisa Yukizome, freeing the Future Foundation of suspicion.

Hajime appears alongside Yasuhiro and Makoto in the game's demo of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, with Hajime and Makoto working as Kaede Akamatsu's upper classmates, senior "protagonists" and major helpers, before being revealed to be an actor in the epilogue. In the main storyline, both the Izuru and Hajime identities are adopted by Tsumugi Shirogane via cosplay.

Reception

Johnny Yong Bosch voices Hajime in English

Critical response to the character's characterization as both Izuru and Hajime 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." GameSpot enjoyed how the player must guide Hajime through different trials in the games, resulting in tension as a result within his character. 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 demonstrates. 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. HardCore Gaming 101 agreeed with Koi-Nya in regards to Hajime's similarities with Makoto. Anime News Network felt 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 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. Despite finding his early role in the anime too lighthearted, HardcoreGaming 101 liked how Hajime bonded with Chiaki.

Commenters also focused on the Izuru Kamukura character alone. Anime News Network felt that Izuru 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. Kotaku claimed that Hajime's transformation into Izuru and his team up with Junko served as one of the biggest attractions from the anime's Despair Arc. Manga.Tokyo also compared Nagito with Izuru, due to both of them sharing characterization 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 they 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 humanity 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. Gaming Trend praised Hajime's major role in the story as he forms a relationship with Junko, based on the latter's popularty within the franchise.

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 Izuru and Hajime as the sixth best Danganronpa character, praising that despite his chaotic background, his efforts to redeem himself make him a "complex hero." Johnny Yong Bosch's performance as Hajime was the subject of praise. In a Japanese poll from AnimeAnime, Hajime was voted as the fourth best character voiced by Minami Takayama, sharing the fourth spot Nabiki Tendo from Ranma 1/2.