I'll start off with an unpopular one: I don't care much for Kaede...as a protagonist. The twist that she was the culprit was mind-boggling and super cool, and as a character she's great, but as a protagonist? Ehh. It was nice to play as a female protag, but in terms of personality she didn't really stand out that much for me. Granted, neither did Makoto nor Hajime, but they're not particularly interesting either. Her taking charge at the start was pretty cool, but beyond that it just felt like a generic "yeah go team" type of thing. Her focus on the mastermind in V3-1 got annoying pretty fast too, although in hindsight that was meant to set up her downfall. Her execution is right up there with Leon's in creepy factor too. Hanging always gives me the heebie-jeebies, so I was rather uncomfortable during her execution, which is a good thing. Great first culprit, mediocre protag.
Shuichi is the opposite. I didn't care for him much at all in V3-1, but after finishing the game he's my favorite protag of the bunch. Having him be set up as this competent dude in the first chapter only for his logic and confidence to collapse on him entirely kickstarted his story quite well. We lost out on connecting with him as the player though, which is by far his biggest flaw. If you can't stop picturing him as a 3rd party rather than the main character, then good luck being into him. I got over it fairly quickly though, and Shuichi's arc of facing the truth works really well with the whole "Truth and Lies" theme.
Rantaro's fine. He's not a particularly interesting character, and I called him as the first victim almost immediately. But him being set up as the key to take down the mastermind was a fun callback to DR1. Still, he could've used a bit more personality.
God damn Ryoma's motive video was sad. I haven't felt this bad for a victim since Chihiro. Poor dude just gave up on life. He deserved better. It's weird that he's one of the more depressing characters, since his design is just fucking wack. He looks like a bootleg Small World mannequin. When I first saw him, and then heard his voice, I just fucking lost it. How they managed to turn such a dumb looking guy into the most depressing victim is beyond me.
Kirumi's meh. No strong opinion on her. I get why she killed Ryoma, but I don't exactly have any sympathy for her. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Her execution was insane though, holy shit was that unsettling.
Angie is another victim I saw coming from a mile away. The moment the cult shit started up, I knew she was already on her way out. Her Atua shtick got old, but it made chapter 3 fun, so I'll give her that. Her FTE's and Love Hotel event with Shuichi are so god damn funny too, if only for the pre-pubescent screams Shuichi makes. I lost it at the Love Hotel event for her.
I liked Tenko. No strong opinion on her. She's a solid character all around. She took the fall for Himiko too to prevent the Loli from dying early, so props to her for that. She drew a bad hand though. Didn't deserve her death in the slightest.
I couldn't believe my eyes when the case 3 killer was revealed: my initial pick for favorite character wasn't the case 3 killer! The curse is broken! Korekiyo's design is sick, and he was on Gundham level of awesome. But then he got turned into an incestuous serial killer. One of the dumbest motives yet. It just comes out of nowhere, and makes Tenko's death absolutely pointless, because Kiyo had to do it "for his lover (ewww)". His sister salting him to death was so damn satisfying. Still, his seance plan was pretty cool, albeit pretty easy to get caught in. But, it did give us SEESAW EFFECT, so I won't complain. Meme god Kiyo for the win.
I don't really understand Miu's popularity. She's got a lot of fun quips here and there, but beyond that she's just...kinda there. She helps out with making shit, but her character is pretty empty. She just feels like a much worse executed Sayaka. I wasn't really anticipating her death, but when she was found dead it was just one of those "oh ok" type of moments for me. I dunno, maybe I'm missing something here.
Oh, Gonta. I was so sure you'd make it through the buff guy dies 4th curse. Fuck you Kokichi. While I don't have much sympathy for Gonta committing the crime, I felt so fucking bad indicting him. Having him lose his memory made that trial so depressing. It was like convicting a little kid of murder when the kid didn't even know he did it. Gonta was the ultimate good boy.
Kokichi can fuck off and die in a hole. Great character, but fuck him. I liked his dual nature of being helpful and being an insufferable cunt, but I still prefer Nagito. Kokichi was unpredictable, but you could always count on him to be a piece of shit. Nagito didn't have that. Hell, even Nagito's final plan was more interesting than Kokichi's. Kokichi wanting to take down Monokuma was interesting, but I never really felt any sympathy for the fucker. Nagito, as much as I hate him, is a different story. However, Kokichi has "It's a lie!" going for him, so he gets major props in the comedy department.
Oh, Kaito...this is what I wanted Hiro to be. Kaito is dumb, but his big heart makes up for it. His stalwart belief in everyone is a great contrast to Shuichi trying to face the truth. And him killing Kokichi in order to both get back at Monokuma AND protect Maki was a great sendoff for him. Him dying as he made it to space rather than submitting to Monokuma's execution was so god damn emotional too.
Remember when I said that my initial pick for favorite character finally wasn't the chapter 3 killer? Yeah, that's because they were the fucking mastermind. I liked Tsumugi a lot initially, but she pretty quickly fell behind the pack given how irrelevant she was. I didn't think she was the mastermind due to there only being 5 living people left (I didn't think they'd dip below 5 for survivors) but when Shuichi brought up the alibis for Rantaro's murder, I instantly knew it was her. Still, even after being revealed, she's...remarkably plain, wordplay intended. She's just generic psycho. I didn't even fell that much happiness in taking her down, she just kinda died off. Still, at least she made use of her ultimate talent as the mastermind (Unlike Junko).
Keebo's...meh. I liked him well enough before the final chapter, but his whole "we need HOPE" thing got pretty old. Thank god Shuichi called him out on his bullshit. But, beyond chapter 6, Keebo's pretty bland. Generic cool guy. Not much else.
Himiko is adorable and anyone that disagrees is objectively wrong. Never in a million years would I predict her as a survivor (out of only 3 survivors, no less) but thank god she did. She's so god damn pure. Her living on for Tenko and Angie, and trying so hard to be helpful in the final investigation, made my heart so damn happy.
Maki's probably my favorite of the three "main heroine" characters. I like Kyoko and Chiaki a lot, but neither of them ever really strayed off the calm and collected path, something that Maki most definitely did. When she was revealed as the Ultimate Assassin I knew right away that she'd be a survivor, but I wasn't expecting her to have such an emotional storyline. Her desperation to save Kaito and take down Kokichi really made chapter 5 stand out IMO.
Whoever made the decision to add the Monokubs needs to be fired. My god do they suck. They serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever besides being annoying shits. The only one worth a damn is Monotaro, with him helping the crew in chapter 4. Not only that, but WHY WERE THEY IN THE EXECUTIONS?! Nothing beats watching an emotional execution of a kind-hearted guy get executed for a crime he didn't even know he committed with two Monokubs giving birth to an incest baby in the background. It completely ruins the immersion and takes away from how depraved these executions are. They also take time away from Monokuma, who's infinitely better.