Danganronpa has little in the way of straight-up romance, but boy do the creators love teasing the hell out of some ships, especially ones that end in tragedy. It helps that plenty of the specific couples mentioned below (mostly from the first two games) are constantly paired together in official merchandise.
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Main installments:
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
- Aoi and Sakura are teased practically out of the gate. They band together apparently due to their shared athletic interests; after the beginning of the game they're never seen separately, except when they deliberately split up to accomplish a task. In the original Japanese, Aoi refers to Sakura as "Sakura-chan" in the original Japanese, which would be standard, except that nobody else calls her this; most refer to Sakura as "Oogami-san" or some variant (Yasuhiro even calls her "the Ogre"), making "Sakura-chan" a deliberate display of affection. Sakura reacts very strongly when Genocide Jack starts making disturbing sexual comments towards Aoi, becoming so threatening that Aoi at one point worries she might actually attack Jack in Aoi's defense. And of course, there's Aoi's reaction to Sakura's suicide, and her continual references to her feelings for Sakura throughout the game afterwards — she looks towards memories of what "Sakura-chan" would do or say, and the memory of Sakura's death, as motivation for herself not to lose hope and make Sakura's efforts meaningless.
- However, doing Sakura's fourth Free Time Event reveals that she has feelings for her lifelong rival, who goes by the name of Kenshiro.
- Kiyotaka Ishimaru and Mondo Owada develop a seriously intense bond. Of course, this could be interpreted as a bond of "brotherhood" as they claim, but there's plenty to support the interpretation that they're actually attracted to one another. For starters, both (but Taka in particular) frequently descend into suggestive Double Entendre when they interact at length or even just talk about one another, something which notably begins even while they still vocally dislike each other. The implications really ramp up once they make friends, when they become openly complimentary of one another, inventing any opportunity to flatter the other's physical appearance as well as personality. Then during the second trial, Taka is willing to condemn everyone — including himself to spare Mondo's life, which is definitely indicative of something.note Taka then completely shuts down after Mondo's execution, wandering around aimlessly and not responding when prior to this he has been extremely vocal and driven. Upon being snapped out of his fugue state by speaking to Alter Ego's simulation of Mondo, Taka takes on a persona that is a fusion of both his own and Mondo's personalities and makes yet more suggestive statements on the theme of them sharing a body, which might be darkly comical if not for the absolutely heartbreaking part where he expresses gratitude that he's finally been "given [his] soul back".
- While most of this can easily be read as one-sided on Taka's side, Mondo gets his share of moments suggesting that the feeling is mutual. Most notably, right before his execution, he seems to go out of his way to ensure that his final words are addressed to Taka, apologising to him in particular for everything that's happened and for being unable to keep a promise to him. (The exact nature of said promise is never specified; one might assume it was a pledge not to get involved in the killing game, but it's left ambiguous, quite possibly as a deliberate nod to this trope.)
- Official artwork also shows Kiyotaka and Mondo together in "peculiar" situations. For instance, Taka nitpicking Mondo's messy eating habits and tying his scarf for him, Mondo cheering Taka on during an athletic competition, Taka putting his small white jacket on Mondo while the biker is asleep, and etc. In fact, practically all official images pair them together, even ones that are less directly suggestive; while they might occasionally be accompanied by a third character (interchangeable, though often Chihiro), it's rare to see one presented without the other, and full-group shots will almost invariably have them standing in proximity. To underscore the point, Word of Saint Paul from Spike Chunsoft actually states that they were probably in love but didn't realise it in time, and asserts with surprisingly certainty that they would have ended up living together eventually if they'd lived.
- It's also interesting to note that, taking both Kiyotaka's own Friendless Background and the events of the manga's fourth chapter, Mondo might be Taka's first real, close friend. Kiyotaka also isn't fully aware of how to make friends as seen from his free time events, so to Taka, these are what he believes are normal signs of affection. Which, of course, does nothing to negate the interpretation that he was in love with Mondo without really understanding the nuances of friendship and romance, and might even be seen to lend support to that reading.
- Makoto, despite not being a classical Chick Magnet, doesn't do so bad in this game.
- Makoto and Sayaka start out with lots of teasing. Sayaka says that Makoto is saving her by being around her. She even calls herself his assistant. She also says that in middle school, she always wanted to talk to him and was always looking at him. This may be subverted though, given that Sayaka planned to pin her murder on Makoto, plus she's the first victim.
- Going by Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School and scenes showing themselves with their memories, it appears that Sayaka did have some feelings towards Makoto. So a Pre-Despair event could be seen as teasing.
- "School Mode" reveals that she genuinely likes spending time with Makoto. Sayaka's seiyuu, Makiko Ohmoto, has also stated that she does have feelings for him.
- Makoto and Kyoko start some minor teasing after the first trial, which becomes major after Chapter 2. Kyoko and Makoto are the ones who lead the trials and work together to solve the crimes. Kyoko confides only with Makoto and only asks for Makoto's help. Aoi, Yasuhiro and Monokuma seem to think the two are dating and in Chapter 3 when Makoto defends Kyoko, Byakuya says, "Don’t tell me you’re in love with her". After Makoto keeps a secret from Kyoko, she ignores him for three whole days, while making snide comments about him in the company of others. She only starts talking to him after the secret is revealed and she could understand his reason for doing so. She even blushes when saying sorry. Not trusting Kyoko during a crucial moment in Chapter 5 will get you the Bad Ending. After Makoto is nearly executed, she personally comes to rescue him. At the end, she even says she looks forward to the future, if people like Makoto are with her. And then there's her free time events. Spending time with her can prompt her to admit with a slight blush her growing interest in Makoto. In her third free time, Makoto compliments her smile and calls her pretty to try and get a reaction out of her. This appears to fluster her, but it turns out she'd guessed what he was up to and was just playing along to make it backfire on him. In her last free time, she jokingly gives him an implied proposal and chuckles at his reaction with a blush.
- And in Danganronpa 3, the ship tease is overflowing, especially in Episode 9 and 10 when Kyoko talks about how amazing Makoto is, as well as reassuring him while holding his hand without her gloves showing that she considers him her family, and Makoto is devastated when she (seemingly) dies, and his confrontation with Munakata confirms that Makoto at least has feelings for Kyoko.
- Makoto and Aoi have minor teasing that becomes pretty major in places. In her last Free Time Event, when you go to her room, she asks for Makoto to pretend to be her boyfriend. After they call it off, she asks with a blush what kind of girl Makoto likes. In the main storyline, she does say with a blush Makoto is cool during the trials. She also treats him the best out of the remaining students — she hates both Byakuya and Toko, and she seems annoyed with Yasuhiro's stupidity (though we never get to see how close she is with Kyoko).
- Aoi's ending in School Mode goes from teasing to outright shipping: she admits to liking Makoto and asks him out on a real date, which he accepts.
- One can make a case that Makoto and Aoi have a decent amount of ship tease in Danganronpa 3 too. They spend most of the anime together, with Aoi being his main protector. They have several moments where they comfort and support each other. When Aoi passes out from the poison in Episode 11, her last thought is of Makoto. This all ends up being negated in the end, since Kyoko survives to have a heavily implied Happily Ever After with him after her own heavy bout of it.
- Mukuro also seems to have her eye on him, between offering to set him up with an "aggressive" girl in her free time events and pretty openly hitting on him in School Mode. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF outright confirms it, as Makoto was apparently the first person to ever show Mukuro a genuine smile. Word of God also states that she was always staring at Makoto while the pictures shown in Chapter 6 were taken, and that she didn't care about being in any of them, with the sole exception being the picture that Makoto himself takes.
- It also gets rather blatant in Mukuro's Trigger Happy Heart and ending events from School Mode, where her crush on Makoto is clearly causing her a little consternation.
- In Sakura's School Mode ending, she implies she wants to break up with her boyfriend after inviting Makoto to their rematch."I want to put an end to the matter of my attraction to him. And then I can ask you..."
- Toko's School Mode ending is pretty explicitly romantic. She doesn't even mention "Master".
- Chihiro's School Mode ending similarly heavily implies attraction to Makoto, complete with a lot of blushing and frankly desperate-sounding suggestions that they should hang out as much as possible.
- Makoto and Sayaka start out with lots of teasing. Sayaka says that Makoto is saving her by being around her. She even calls herself his assistant. She also says that in middle school, she always wanted to talk to him and was always looking at him. This may be subverted though, given that Sayaka planned to pin her murder on Makoto, plus she's the first victim.
- Leon's crush on Sayaka is fairly obvious, as he does things like ask Makoto what kind of guys she likes so he can switch hobbies accordingly. Also, as they were some of the earliest character designs, they frequently appear together in promotional art.
- It's subtle, but most of the photographs of the forgotten school life show Leon and Sayaka in close proximity to one another — Leon even appears to have his arm around her in one classroom image — suggesting that they might have been an item at some point during the regular year they spent at the academy. Of course, the implications of this just make their eventual fate — forgetting each other completely before directly and deliberately causing one another's deaths — even sadder.
- The AU light novel Danganronpa IF teases Sayaka and Leon a lot towards the end, with Leon protecting Sayaka from Monokuma and Sayaka then tearfully preparing to confess and apologise to Leon for planning to kill him. Leon clearly thinks she's on the verge of making a Love Confession and is eager to resume the conversation later.
- Hifumi's implied to have a crush on Celeste; he gets a little...excited when she starts pushing him around and berating him, generally perceives her as a Tsundere who simply needs to defrost a little, seems to see his attraction to her as an exception to his usual "no 3-D girls" policy and is driven to outright murder Kiyotaka to "avenge" Celeste after she tells him that he assaulted her. Additionally, his last words reveal that prior to the killing game, Celeste trusted Hifumi enough to tell him her real name (the source of all her insecurities).
- Near the end of Volume 2 of Danganronpa Togami, the two show up to help Byakuya out, and Byakuya expresses annoyance at the fact that Celeste brought Hifumi along when he does something weird. Celes reveals that Yamada simply joined in of his own accord, to which Hifumi responds "Where Celes-dono goes, I follow! I would die for the ones I love!" Whether he means romantic or platonic love is unclear, but Celeste doesn't seem to mind him tagging along either way, and the two end up working together surprisingly well.
- Makoto keeps getting invited to people's rooms in their final free time events. Possibly taken out of tease level in School Mode, where once he reaches the good ending with a character's Relationship Values maxed-out he gets a pair of their undies.
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
- ...oh, man. There's no question that Fuyuhiko and Peko love each other very much. The real question is if the love is romantic or familial in nature. Peko, Fuyuhiko's bodyguard, is loyal to him to the point where she kills Mahiru and tries to condemn the others, including herself, to death just to get him off the island, and encourages him to use her to any means he desires. Fuyuhiko, normally a chilly jerkass, breaks down crying at Peko's sentencing and risks his life in a futile attempt to save her from her execution. Fuyuhiko for his part was also willing to sacrifice himself and the rest of the class for her sake, as he certainly didn't think of her as his "tool" when he tries to deflect suspicion off of her in the trial. Plus, he actually refuses to treat her like a tool and sees her as a beloved companion, which is in marked contrast to his behavior towards his other classmates. It may be the emotionally charged atmosphere of Chapter 2's trial, but there are a lot of fans who believe there's something romantic going on there. In particular, it's probably harder not to interpret Fuyuhiko's heartbroken exclamation of "I only wanted you!" to Peko as an Anguished Declaration of Love.
- In the final chapter, Junko, who claims to have such extraordinarily good reads on every member of the group that she can replicate their behaviours exactly, suggests (with obvious sexual undertones) that she could simulate a version of Peko who's even more to Fuyuhiko's tastes than the real thing. Given that, as already stated, she supposedly knows exactly what each person wants, it basically seems to confirm that Fuyuhiko was definitely attracted to Peko, at the very least.
- Peko's Dangan Island route outright confirms that the reason why Hajime can't end up with her, unlike with the other girls, is because she already likes someone else, with that someone else heavily implied to be Fuyuhiko. A Valentine's Day tweet reaffirms this notion. Also, in Chapter 6, the reason why Fuyuhiko eventually decides to choose the Forced Shutdown option is because Peko would have wanted him to; otherwise, he would have chosen the Stay option just so he could be with her again.
- Gundham and Sonia get probably the most ship tease second to Peko and Fuyuhiko. Not only is Sonia the one character to make Gundham blush (and on more than one occasion!), she is also the only one he doesn't refer to in a demeaning manner and clearly respects her the most out of the class. It goes as far as him referring to her as his "Dark Queen" and in one of his free time events, he tells Hajime about his fantastical image of her. On Sonia's end, she greatly admires Gundham (and his hamsters) and even joins in on his antics from time to time, seeming to be the only person who not only accepts his fantasies but also understands and believes them.
- The most apparent ship tease occurs in Chapter 4, where Sonia makes an uncharacteristically direct and suggestive response to Gundham's proposal to use her as a Virgin Sacrifice in one of his (obviously entirely made-up) rituals. From that point on she's insistent about pairing up with Gundham whenever the group split up — something he notably accepts without comment — with the two of them showing great team work and deduction, and obviously being very content in one another's company. During the trial, Sonia defends Gundham to the bitter end when he's accused of Nekomaru's murder, and his final words before leaving for his execution are an attempt to comfort and rally her, which she receives with a Tearful Smile. For the remaining two chapters, Sonia frequently references Gundham's sacrifice as her motivation for carrying on, becomes visibly upset when someone speaks negatively about him, and even mentions that she retrieved his hamsters in order to take care of them herself (something that's not reflected in any of her sprites, sadly).
- Subtly, Sonia's sparkly-eyed happy sprite only reappears once after Gundham's execution, during the moment in the final trial when she first deduces that since the island is a simulation, it might be possible to reunite with their dead classmates back in the real world. Granted, she's a Nice Girl who is genuinely happy at the prospect of having everyone back, but it's hard not to read meaning into the fact that it's the first time since his death that she appears to fully regain her usual cheer and enthusiasm.
- Akane and Nekomaru are clearly closer to one another than to anyone else. They're another pair who are separated by death, with Akane horrified and damaged at having lost Nekomaru twice.
- Hajime gets a bit of this with both Nagito and Chiaki.
- Nagito is never far from Hajime when help is needed, and is the first character to show care and concern for Hajime... which Hajime reciprocates until Nagito's terrifying instability becomes clear, and even then he still grumbles about being unable to cut himself off from Nagito completely. For Nagito's part, he does genuinely care about Hajime, albeit in a rather strange and scary way, culminating in what is often regarded as an Aborted Declaration of Love.
- During one of her Free Time Events, Chiaki compliments Hajime on being well-built and says that she trusts him enough to carry her, all of which leaves Hajime very nervous and self-conscious. He even mentions his heart racing on more than a few occasions with her. During her final free time event, Chiaki admits that she doesn't know a lot of things, like how to fall in love with someone, and asks Hajime if he'll keep teaching her. She also asks him not to never forget about her after he gets off the island. He promises that once they escape, he'll take her to all kinds of different places. Outside of the free time events, Hajime gets flustered at the sight of her in a bikini, even more than with Peko and Akane, and they become very close, with Hajime relying on her more and more for emotional support. Her death signals the start of his downward spiral, and her ghost appearing to give him a pep-talk is what lifts him out of it.
- Hiyoko and Mahiru's relationship mostly reads as a sisterly bond (Hajime even Lampshades it as such) with undertones of Pseudo-Romantic Friendship, but Hiyoko is very insistent that they take a bath together, which notably surpasses ordinary sisterly and/or platonic behaviour at that age.note Mahiru is obviously reluctant at first, but it's later revealed that they continue to bathe together like this on a regular basis from then on.
- After Mahiru's death, in one of the more extravagant displays of grief in the series, Hiyoko takes over a whole section of the dining room to construct a shrine in her memory. Being an art project by Hiyoko it's naturally total Nightmare Fuel, but when the other characters criticise it as such, her utter distress makes it apparent that the effort was genuinely born out of love and a desire to remember her particular friend, to the point where the others all agree to pretend it's nice for her sake.
Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy
- At first, it's mostly Chisa Yukizome who's teased with Kyosuke Munakata. Although subtle at first, their feelings are eventually clearly mutual, although nothing ever comes out of this.
- The love triangle between Class 74th Trio seems to imply Juzo has feelings for Chisa, only to eventually confirm he has feelings for Munakata instead.
- Interestingly, while most of the relationships between Danganronpa 2's cast remains the same as it was in Neo World Program, Mikan Tsumiki and the Ultimate Imposter actually get this. Imposter appears to be the nicest person to Mikan and clearly cares for her a lot. He lets her in on his secret with Ryota Mitarai, assures her she doesn't have to be silenced or strip for getting to know that, puts her in a kabe-don when informing her that Ryota's gone missing, and worries about her disappearance to the point of not feeling hungry unlike usual and dropping his Shrinking Violet act as "Ryota Mitarai" when Nagito tells his classmates he had seen her.
- Mahiru Koizumi and Sato are another example of officially best friends who seem to be teased a lot. Mahiru blushes when Chisa asks her who she's going to eat lunch with and when Sato compliments her. Sato also blushes quite often around Mahiru and was obsessed with protecting her to the point of killing Natsumi Kuzuryu for her. Interestingly, in this version of Twilight Syndrome Murder, they appear to only hang out together, with no indication that Hiyoko, Ibuki, and Mikan also spent time with her.
- Depending on who you ask, Natsumi Kuzuryu trying to befriend Hajime in her own way and opening up to him about her insecurities, with him defending her from Sato and being affected by her death (though still not forgetting about Chiaki Nanami with whom he has much more ship tease with) might count as this.
- The Student Council has Sosuke Ichino who was attracted to Kiriko Nishizaawa as well as Taro Kurosaki and Tsubasa Kamii (who are highly implied to be an Official Couple), but nothing comes out of either example due to their quick deaths.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
- In general, this is invoked by Team Danganronpa. Nearly all of the students were brainwashed into developing feelings toward one another in order to get more ratings for the Danganronpa reality show.
- Shuichi and Kaede have A LOT of teasing during the game. Not only is Shuichi the first person Kaede meets in the Academy but because she also acts as Shuichi's lost Lenore during most of the game after she's revealed as Rantaro's killer and therefore, executed. Her death is the reason for why he goes on to find the truth and end the killing game. In chapter 3, Shuichi is also horrified to see that the wax statue of Kaede that Angie had made had a katana stuck into it's chest. In Chapter 6, when it's revealed that Rantaro wasn't killed by Kaede's trap and that she was actually innocent, Shuichi really loses it and promises to avenge Kaede "in her love, kindess and grave" by revealing the mastermind. Kaede's Love Hotel scene, additional content, also features her asking Shuichi to call her "sweetheart" (or her first name instead of "Akamatsu-San" in the original Japanese).
- Another couple, and a Robosexual one for sure, would be Miu and K1-B0. Being the Ultimate Inventor, and considering her personality and traits, Miu quickly gets "interested" in Keebo, often asking to do maintenance on him, which not only give Keebo new functions and improvements, they both seem to enjoy it, specially Miu. During the Killing Game, Miu, already coming from a Friendless Background due to her lack of social skills, is seen as The Friend Nobody Likes by almost everyone, with Keebo being the only one that truly respects her and the only one she can call a friend (except if Kaede or Shuichi completed her Free Time Events). Keebo also gets quite jealous after Miu starts working on the computer in the computer room and tells everyone how she enjoys working on it. After Miu is murdered in chapter 4, due to her plan of killing Kokichi, the other person in the group who is disliked more than her, failing after he realised what she was trying to do, Keebo seems to be the only one who is really affected by her death, even stating that he wants to cry but can't because his body doesn't have that function. Later on during chapter 5, he seems to be only one who truly misses Miu, and is more sad about her death than Gonta's.
- Tenko and Himiko are also worth talking about. While it initially seems to be a creepy case of Stalker with a Crush similar with Toko and Kazuichi to Byakuya and Sonia respectively, it is later revealed that Tenko, in addition to finding Himiko to be adorable, wants her to be more open and expressive with others instead of bottling up everything she feels, and feels like Angie is having a bad influence on Himiko for not helping with said problems and causing her to ignore her own will and ability to make decisions on her own, to the point in which she outright admits she wishes Angie was gone, which could also hint some jealousy towards the fact that Himiko spends so much time with Angie. On Himiko's side of things, she is at first very cold and indifferent towards Tenko, but then Tenko is murdered in chapter 3 (and not long after Angie, who was probably her closest friend, was also found dead), which is when she reacts with true shock and fear upon seeing her body. To rub more salt in the wound, Tenko's last words to Himiko were that she expressed herself more often and not be afraid of showing others how she feels, right before being murdered in a trap that was intended to kill Himiko until Tenko stepped in as a volunteer instead of her. That's right, Tenko saved Himiko's life without even knowing it. Himiko eventually breaks down at the end of the trial after remembering Tenko's last words to her and all she tried to do for her, crying her heart out and regretting having treated Tenko so badly when she was alive. Following all of this, Himiko starts expressing herself more often than before as a way to remember Tenko and make up for the way she treated her.
Spin-offs:
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
- Komaru and Toko. Toko even says that Komaru is as important to her as Byakuya is, while refusing to betray Komaru for the key to Byakuya's cell.
- Nagisa and Monaca. Nagisa often acts shy around Monaca, clearly indicating he has a crush on her, a fact that Monaca uses to her advantage to manipulate him.
- Masaru and Kotoko. At the very least, Jataro seems to be a Shipper on Deck for the pair, portraying them as a couple in his artwork (which also pairs off Nagisa and Monaca). However, they only interact minimally in the game itself.
Danganronpa Kirigiri
- There's a downright relentless amount of tease between Yadorigi and Mizuiyama over the course of Volume 4.
