Nice Guy / Visual Novels

aka: Visual Novel

---

• The Ace Attorney series has some examples:
  • Phoenix Wright always believes in his clients and will go the extra mile for anyone who is all alone, with no one else to defend them. He's also rather patient, considering how few times he genuinely loses his temper despite of all the crap he puts up with from everyone.
  • Despite constantly loving to tease Nick around, Maya Fey is always such a bright ball of sunshine whenever Phoenix is feeling down.
  • In similar fashion, Pearl Fey is an Adorably Precocious Child who always has good things to say about people especially Maya and is a major Shipper on Deck with her and Phoenix.
  • Detective Dick Gumshoe from practically any game he's in. He is always willing to help out anyone despite the abuse both verbal and physical he takes whenever he's around. He also has plenty of Big Damn Heroes moments where, at most times, he ends up helping out Phoenix Wright who is supposed to be the enemy. Not to mention as revealed in Ace Attorney Investigations, Gumshoe was willing to let himself be the prime suspect in a murder just to protect a promise of a young girl that he just met. Now THAT'S being nice!
  • Will Powers is definitely this. The guy may have a rough appearance, but he is a total sweetheart and a Gentle Giant. Hell, he hides himself in a costume to prevent the children from being disappointed from seeing his face.
  • Ema Skye is this from the final (extra) case of the first game filling the role as assistant for Phoenix in Maya's place. She is always eager to help him (and later Miles Edgeworth) out with their investigations especially if her forensics skills are needed. Although she did Took a Level in Jerkass in Apollo Justice due to her not becoming a forensics detective. Fortunately, after she achieves her dream, she goes back to being very nice and helpful in Spirit of Justice.
  • Klavier Gavin from Apollo Justice (and Dual Destinies) is definitely the nicest prosecutor in the series. He is on good terms with Apollo outside of court and in court, he even helps Apollo! In fact, after his first loss to Apollo, he treats him and his friends to one of his concerts as a reward.
  • Lamiroir is from Apollo Justice is such a sweet woman even when she had amnesia and was blind.
  • Colias Palaeno from Ace Attorney Investigations is pretty nice especially as an ambassador. He is extremely cooperative allowing Edgeworth to investigate the Babahl side without any hesitation. In fact, it's because of this players thought he would be the murderer, but it turns out Palaeno's kindness is genuine and he truly wants to find the murderer of his right-hand-man, Manny Coachen.
  • Jeff Master from Investigations 2 is also this. This man is extremely nice and is always in good spirits. It is heartbreaking seeing him in jail and his hair turned white after a harsh interrogation courtesy of Manfred von Karma. It took nearly 20 years to finally get him out of jail but, when you think about, a nice guy like him was in jail for that long when he didn't do anything wrong at all.
• Danganronpa series have some notable examples:
  • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc:
    • Makoto Naegi (the SHSL Hope) is the most kindhearted character and he can get along with everyone, including Celeste and Byakuya (who are very difficult to socialize with). Even some of the most inapproachable classmates can be befriended by him in free time events.
    • Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Though he can be bossy and overly critical at times, it's out of a complete lack of social skills rather than any ill will, and he always apologises if he thinks he's hurt someone's feelings. He tries hard to keep the group organized and even volunteers to share his "secret" first when Monokuma delivers the second motive.
    • Chihiro Fujisaki, who wouldn't even hurt a mosquito because it might have a family!
  • Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair:
    • Sonia Nevermind (the SHSL Princess). She's polite and charming and gets along well with everyone, and she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Which is probably why she's one of the few students who survives the entire game; she provokes no one into killing her and she never has any desire to kill anyone so she isn't executed. Though she can be kind of a jerk to Kazuichi, her Stalker with a Crush however that's understandable considering he's a Jerkass with zero respect for her boundaries.
    • Hajime Hinata the main protagonist of the game might seem a bit blunt and abrupt at first but he's actually a very kind and empathetic person capable of befriending even the most obnoxious and rude of people(as Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko can attest to). His heart is always in the right place.
    • Ibuki Mioda is a Genki Girl who dresses like a punk rocker, but she is very sweet, upbeat and even throws an impromptu concert to celebrate one of her fellow classmates being released from hospital.
    • Chiaki Nanami is very kind and good-natured, and while she committed murder, it was an accident on her part and once she realizes it, she makes a Heroic Sacrifice to protect the other students.
    • Mahiru Koizumi can be bossy and critical of others but she's a genuinely helpful and good-natured young woman with a desire to make others smile and is the Team Mom of the group and has a very gentle heart that always shines through.
    • Nekomaru Nidai is a gentle giant who constantly looks after the group and gets along with everyone, befriending the very brash Akane Owari he takes a rocket to the chest to save Akane, gets rebuilt as a robot and then fights Gundham to the death so they can save his friends which he loses but still manages to save everyone
    • Peko Pekoyama seems intense and distant at first but she's actually a genuinely kind and polite young woman who always tries to help out others and she's a noble warrior who abhors senseless killings and tries to prevent conflict between the students. Although this subverted somewhat by her murder of Mahiru, this wasn't out of malice but instead out of her tool mindset and thus she had no control over it, she ensured Mahiru an instant death and her final words were a teary apology over Mahiru and a plea to the class to ensure that no one else dies like Mahiru again. Even her most immoral crime highlighted her gentle heart.
    • Nagito Komaeda is an amusing aversion of this, in the first chapter he seems like an expy of the poster boy of kind characters aka the first games Makoto Naegi, with his warm, optimistic and helpful personality and he's never seen without a charming smile. Of course the first trial showcases that he's actually a major Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and actually a rather twisted person although even after this reveal he's still very affable.
  • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony:
    • Kaito is a very caring and compassionate young man, willing to help and protect others. He is the only student initially still willing to reach out to Maki after Kokichi outs her as the Ultimate Assassin.
    • Gonta is a gentleman who is willing to show kindess to pretty much everyone, even Kokichi, despite being tricked by him several times. He is so nice that the students refuses to believe that he could commit murder at first, and even then, he only did it because he believed it was a Mercy Kill.
    • Kaede is sweet, positive and courageous and though she's not afraid to tell someone off when they annoy her, she proves to be so nice and well-liked by the other students she essentially becomes The Leader and Monokuma is forced to set up a timer demanding someone kill each other because of Kaede holding the group together. The entire class are devastated when she dies and Kaito, Tenko and Gonta even tried to prevent the execution. Even in death, she continues to be a source of hope and encouragement to Shuichi, who vows to end the Killing Game in honor of her.
• The protagonist of Every Day's Different cannot resist helping out those around him, even when met with initial suspicion by Katsuki.
• Fate/stay night's Emiya Shirou is considerate, slightly overprotective, thoughtful and an amazing Supreme Chef.
• Ryo from Figures Of Happiness. Not only does he lend his life force to someone he barely knows, but he then goes out of his way to let her keep it even after the deadline is up, even though it could mean his own death!
• Ikemen Sengoku:
  • Hideyoshi acts as the Team Mom to the Oda forces, constantly checking on them to make sure they're doing their work and eating adequate meals. He does act cold toward the main character at first, but only because he thinks she might be a spy or assassin and once he realizes his suspicions of her were wrong, he works overtime to dote on and spoil her as much as possible to make up for his initial treatment of her. That said, being a genuine nice guy doesn't mean that he's without his personal issues.
  • Mitsunari is so unfailingly sweet that the main character frequently calls him an "angel" and says that seeing him smile is like watching the heavens open up.
  • Sasuke, while emotionless on the surface, always goes out of his way to check on and help the main character even though they work for opposing sides because he promised himself that he would find her and help her return to her time and never forgot about her even though four whole years passed between their first brief meeting in the present and their next meeting in the past.
• Riki of Little Busters!, in complete contrast to every other Key/Visual Arts protagonist, all various levels of Jerk with a Heart of Gold. While Riki can be quite snarky mentally and often plays Straight Man to characters he's sure can take it, he's extremely kind and unjudgmental and will always do his best to help anyone who needs it.
• In Lux-Pain, out of all of Atsuki's new friends, Ryo fits the definition and is well known for being the nicest guy at Kisaragi High School because he's so helpful. Of course, he's a character that you don't want to anger but his annoyance is always justified. And of course, his nice guy attitude is what attracts the ladies and his best friend Hibiki. He's also the Team Dad of the group.
  • Yayoi is the nice girl of the group always worrying about everyone's safety and like Ryo, she's the Team Mom of the group.
• Masayuki in A Profile is so nice that it unnerves some of his friends and classmates.
• Tsukihime's Tohno Shiki is a decent, compassionate guy. Don't fuck with him or he'll make you Deader than Dead. Or for that matter, fuck him. His niceness was most likely a result of a traumatic incident where he almost died so now he ended up appreciating life more.
  • Shiki is more of an average guy then a real nice guy. Sure he'll risk his neck to rid of a killer if he feels its within his power (or if he's force to) and he'll put on a smile for you but in truth, he don't really care all that much for some strangers. For example: When he first heard of the murders his thought process was: Must suck for the victims; oh well, nothing I can do, on with life. He also admits when helping Arcueid that he's not really doing it to help the city, he's helping her because he wants to help her. Guess he's one of those "fake nice guys" the guy above was talking about; definitely a nice guy but not a saint.
    • On the other hand, regarding strangers, when he was facing Nrvnqsr Chaos, witnessing the latter interrupting their confrontation to murder and devour a bypasser who had nothing to do with anything, for no reason whatsoever, was what got him out of being afraid of the monster, and replaced the fear with hatred and anger.
  • On the female end Hisui is the only Heroine who doesn't actively do anything that endangers Shiki's health mental or otherwise jokes about her bad cooking aside.
• Hideyoshi of Umineko: When They Cry is... pretty normal compared to the rest of the cast. And nice too, seeing how he's always trying to calm down fights, though he ended up having no real development during the series to the chagrin of many fans.
  • According to Episode 1, all he wanted was a family that would accept him because his died during World War II.
  • To further shove this in your face, he has one of the lowest survival rates in the series, while his wife Eva (who adores him) has the highest and is one of the few who escapes from Rokkenjima. And after he kicks it, she horribly snaps. EVERY time.. Owwwwch.
  • Played with for George as he used to be one in the most unflattering sense possible, which Shannon teases him about even now. He's now closer to the genuine article, though probably not as much as he thinks; some of the things he says and does, like his inner thoughts about how he enjoys "playing with Shannon's feelings" as much as he likes and his proposal to her in EP 1 ("Accept this ring, that's an order"), still tend to come across as condescending.
• Zero Escape Trilogy:
  • Akane in Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is sweet but Delicate and Sickly and is very concerned for everyone's safety. Although Beware the Nice Ones and remember that Nice Is Not Good. Being kidnapped and almost burned to death nine years previously by Hongou turned her into quite The Chessmaster and she's the one who set up the game, kidnapped all the players, and orchestrated the murders of three people although not without a good reason. She tries to remain Nice Girl in Zero Time Dilemma but Junpei's cynical attitude tends to get on her nerves a lot.
  • Luna in Virtue's Last Reward is a sweet, pacifistic girl. It's not a trick, even though the game wants you to think so. In the AB game, she never chooses betray. Pretty interesting too, considering that she's a GAULEM, and yet is so much more "human" than the rest of the participants.
  • Diana from Zero Time Dilemma is kind, compassionate nurse. Makes sense when you remember that Luna was based on her.
  • Carlos from the same game. Being a firefighter he's always trying to help others and find peaceful solutions whenever possible.

---