So… *hides my face in my paws and pulls out a long scroll that rolls down across the floor* ever since i first watched my friend play super danganronpa 2 over discord, Teruteru Hanamura has been my favorite from the game and over time generally my favorite fictional character. He is very special to me..
basic information about him!
I feel silly about liking him mostly because he really didn’t have much screen time in the game and the bit he DID have was pretty annoying to be honest. Basically, in the game he's the token anime pervert that a lot of media has for some reason. (even though it's never a funny gimmick.) I wouldn’t like him if that's all he was though. That aspect of his character is just a ruse anyway, he pretends like he's from a big city and his family ran some fancy famous restaurant when in reality, his family is poor and their diner is just a run down family owned business in a small town, implied to be in the countryside. (wherever regions that would be located in japan, i dunno.)
In the first trial of the game, he killed one of the other students (ultimate imposter) and got executed for it. But right after he’s properly found out, he gets really pissed off and starts talking in his regular nonfake voice. It’s funny when it happens at first (the offical english danganronpa translation is fucking stupid) but ends up being an important part of his character and motiviations. Right before he gets executed there's a short cutscene of him and his mom right before he leaves for hope's peak. His mom has some kind of illness, which was the main reason he was driven to attempt a murder in the first place. After learning that their memories were erased, he felt he needed to get off the island to make sure his mom was okay. He originally said it was because Nagito was threatening to kill someone, and although that was half of his motive, he admits that the other half was that he saw it as an opportunity to go back home. It’s upsetting to me that Monokuma didn’t keep his word about the memory motive and didn’t say what happened to his mom or the diner. A lot of people theorize that when he turned into a remnant of despair, he cooked and ate his mom. Which is sad to think about but probably true. There are also some other interpretations I think are interesting..
He’s also just a nice person at heart, even if he REALLY doesn't act like it most of the time. I feel like with him, 50% of the time the people writing him want to treat him as a joke and the other 50% of the time, the people actually want to actually give him a shot at being a proper character. In both the game and in other official appearances, (i'm thinking manga and drS specifically) he’s shown to be kindhearted and a bit sensitive at times, caring for his fellow students deeply when they’re in trouble or sick. He also gets upset that he can’t do some things on his own, or meet his high standards for himself, hence lying to everyone about where he came from and saying his family's diner is famous. He clearly has a lot of shame about being poor and his general background, which is very clear in the class trial where he calls everyone 'country hicks' for accusing him of murder, which I've always seen as projection, very intentional projection from the writers at that. I REALLY DON'T LIKE THAT ITS TRANSLATED AS HIM BEING SOUTHERN but I didn't play the jp version so I gotta stick with what I know from the english version.
A lot of people who also like Teruteru say that they wish he survived longer, as he was wasted potential to them and more could have been done with his character. I really disagree though. Any part of me that wants him to survive longer wants that for purely selfish reasons. Of course I want to see more of my favorite character and watch him develop as a person throughout the game but personally, I don’t think it’s needed. He served his role in the story well, like there are a lot of Danganronpa deaths where it felt wrong to kill off a character so suddenly, but Teruteru’s death didn’t feel wrong at all.. We don’t yet know these characters well yet, so like in other Danganronpa games, the first trial is the most straightforward in terms of character motivations and emotions. It is a good intro to the game with showing how everything works and how brutal the game will be from then on. And Teruteru was a great pick for the first killer to me, I think it’s one of the only trials in the series that I wouldn’t change a thing about. It’s a good mystery that’s not too obvious, it’s dramatic, it’s just overall a great opener! This might seem strange coming from the person who is extending Teruteru way beyond what he is in canon with the little of him that there is, but I don’t think he is a character made with the intention of developing him as a person, so he doesn’t need to be one. Other characters in the series like Hiyoko and Himiko were made to have growth and develop as the story continues, but there also characters like Kazuichi and Yasuhiro who are mostly comic relief and don’t go through many major changes from being traumatized by the killing game. I think it’s fine because both these characters are goofy and it’s funny to watch them doing all their weird nonsense, well at least to me. But I feel like if Teruteru was allowed to live longer, he would be a character similar to those two just knowing how Danganronpa writing is. And I don’t think that’s a good fate for him! He’d be annoying and lose the layers he was given in the first trial. It’s like… if a musician made a really solid instrumental track with no intention for there to be lyrics, it might be weird and awkward to write it some. In fact it could ruin the whole piece, so why add more when the intended art is already done and good? More doesn’t mean better. More Teruteru wouldn’t have been very good for him, the extra interactions we get from Danganronpa S, Ultimate Talent Development plan, and free times are personally enough for me. Fans can handle the rest. Ok, ignoring everything I just said, if I had to change his role in the game, I think it would be something similar to how Kanna Kizuchi from YTTD is towards Sou Hiyori. I feel like Teruteru would be easily manipulated and/or cower behind Nagito and other characters that could protect him and convince him that their side is the morally correct one. In chapter 1 he was trying to convince himself that what he was doing wasn’t selfish and was for the better of everyone, but even when he accepted that it was for his benefit he felt shame, so I think doing the right thing would be a big motivator for him despite him seemingly willing to do anything to save his own skin. And obviously he let Nagito guide him along the whole time so it's likely that would happen again.
headcanons
Obviously since he isn't a very popular character or given that much screen time, I have to rely on my own and others’ imaginations on some interpretations of him.
I like to think that around his family and after you get to know him better, he tones down on the perverted stuff and is more genuine, not lying about where he’s from and talks normally in his accent/dialect. This is sort of explored in extra content like drS and dr3, so I guess its more of an expansion on canon then just a headcanon.
Also.. from my findings, Teruteru isnt really a name people name their children in Japan. But Teru teru bozu is something that exists there, so i imagine his mom named him after those. They are weather charms that Japanese children often make when its raining, so it's cute to think that his mom liked them a lot when she was young so she named her son after them :)
It could be interpreted that his mother has some sort of chronic illness, which is why he's so especially worried about her and felt he had to go to her immediately. In game it's been stated that he has two younger siblings too (which he seems to not like) so I like to think he's very good at taking care of people since he's had to care for basically his entire family for so much of his life. He's not amazing at it or anything but he knows his way around basic medicine and is good at getting people in pain comfortable. Still obviously he isnt exactly a nurturing/completely reliable type of person like other characters. (ie. Nekomaru, Sakura, Kirumi, other characters willing to put everyone else's needs before themselves)
cute cg with him and his mom. look how darling...And of course I think his mom taught him his most valuable cooking skills. He won't admit it outright but simplicity in food is his specialty.
In game, there is never any mention of Teruteru having a father. He does offhandadly mention that his siblings do not have the same mother as him so I think that his father was a deadbeat and left him and his mom to go sleep around with women or something. Because he doesn't share the same mother with his siblings, they don't live in the same town and are much better off than him in terms of their financial situation. In the game it's shown that his relationship with his siblings is strained but I think he still deeply cares about them.
physical objects/merch
some offical, some fanmade. I am very lucky that no one likes him because it means merch of him is dirt cheap. I'm not the type to hoard merch or buy just anything with a character I like on it, I only get things I truly think are cute.
I have a section on my shelf dedicated to him. The drawing is by gristlepod. they included it in some stickers I ordered from them. its so cute I ran around my room in happiness!
teruteru projects
my various teruteru related projects
Crypt Of The Necrodancer Skin. Made to be used on Dove.
anyways he's so cool.... If you are ever in the position where you are trying to find me a gift, just make me something related to him, he's my absolute favorite character ever!!
