Danganronpa 2 — Female Students / Characters

Warning! All spoilers below are unmarked.

It's virtually impossible to list tropes for these characters without spoiling everything or creating Self Fulfilling Spoilers because of the large number of surprising reveals and murderer/victim exclusive tropes this game contains just like its predecessor.

Subjectives and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page. For the tropes related to them in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, see here, but keep in mind that this page does contain spoilers for the anime!

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Chiaki Nanami

Ultimate Gamer

"Don't you think there's something that's way more important than whether or not you have a talent?"

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese), Christine Marie Cabanos (English)

Played by: Nana Yamada (Stage)

An absent-minded girl who loves video games of all genres (even bad games) and is skilled at playing them. She tends to become so absorbed whilst playing that it's hard to hold a conversation with her, and has a habit of pausing for long periods of time while she mentally composes what she wishes to say. She is the mole of the group, placed there as an inside observer by the Future Foundation. Chiaki is actually an Artificial Intelligence from the same cloth as Usami, acting as a Non-Player Character within the Neo World Program. She is the accidental culprit of Chapter 5 but foils Nagito's plot to kill all of the students (except her) by confessing to the "murder", forcing her execution alongside Usami. She returns as a vision in the final trial, giving Hajime the hope to continue forward.

Accidental Murder: Played with. The fact that she killed Nagito is indeed an accident since she was merely trying to put out the fire in the warehouse, but he was banking on his luck that the one who would kill him with the poisoned bottle would be the "traitor", and she is.
Adaptation Personality Change: In her POV manga, she's shown much more cheerful and shows more emotion over the course of the story.
All-Loving Heroine: Chiaki loves and treasures all her classmates, and wants to believe in them until the very end. Even as Mikan's former personality as an Ultimate Despair starts to emerge, Chiaki continues to stress her belief in her friends.
Always with You: Chiaki seemingly expresses this sentiment after Hajime and the others end the final trial.
Ambiguous Situation: She appears to encourage Hajime in the final trial, yet what she is exactly is unclear. Hajime asks her who she is several times and wonders if she's his memory of Chiaki. Even Kodaka said she felt "a little bit off" from the Chiaki all game which is where he got the idea for her human counterpart from. It's possible she really is a spirit, Hajime's memories of her, his memories of her human self, or some combination of these.
Angry Cheek Puff: One of her sprites has her puff out her cheeks in frustration, befitting her cutesy appearance.
Animal-Eared Headband: Wears a hoodie with cat ears.
Armor-Piercing Question:
- She snaps Hajime out of his Heroic BSoD by asking him how much longer he's going to be indecisive, which leads to her motivational speech.
- In the trial before, Chiaki asks a self-inflicted piercing in verbatim "If... by chance... the traitor revealed themselves during that bomb scare... what would've happened? Would it have... stopped Nagito from acting so reckless?" This is also her Declaration of Protection.
Artificial Intelligence: Since she is really just an NPC in the Jabberwock simulation. It turns out that Chihiro Fujisaki, who created another artificial intelligence in the first game, created her as well. And she's easily one of the sweetest characters in the game.
Awesome by Analysis: Chiaki spiritually succeeds Kyoko Kirigiri as the protagonist's strongest ally in the trials. She is very proactive in collecting evidence and leads discussions by suggesting how to think, not what. This foils against Nagito, who excels at this trope as well but he openly withholds evidence and ideas that prove totally central to the cases and often he alone already knows the blackened, while Chiaki works it out with everyone. Nagito in particular remarks often on her perceptive and deductive skills, praising her gaming history as a contributing factor. Chiaki especially catches on the quickest to Nagito's hints, such as Mikan's imitation murder containing a hidden truth, and she even deduces his entire murder-suicide-murder scheme down to the motive. In her Relationships Chart in the official Danganronpa 2 artbook, Monokuma states verbatim that he considers her "the real brains of the class trials." While Chiaki consistently helps Hajime analyse the evidence, the specific clues that she personally provides during investigations are especially salient to the crimes, and her findings progressively increases in importance, implying she is learning as the killings continue:
— Chapter 1 has Chiaki the most passive, with her actions consisting of guarding the only entrance (which becomes her and Fuyuhiko's alibis) and assisting Gundam in ruling out an external entrance to under the floorboards, which confirms the culprit as being inside the building.
— Chapter 2 has Chiaki preserve the footprints in the sand which eventually help to corner Hiyoko. Without confirming that she was there and then clearing her, the class likely would not have received the forged letter Hiyoko was hiding, of which the pair of letters enabled the class to establish a timeline of the crime and root out the killer's actions.
— Chapter 3 has Chiaki point out the half-cleaned bloodstain on the stage, a particularly mystifying clue as Hajime has no idea how anything is concealed by only partially cleaning the blood and with the body nearby. The class later decides that the blood only needed to be cleaned enough so as to not attract Hajime's attention when he first arrives on scene, thus enabling the falsified killing order as presented by the murderer. It is also implied that staring at the floor helped Chiaki notice the same flooring in the hospital.
— Chapter 4 has Chiaki draw attention to the fragments under the body but not on top, a vital clue that eliminates the pillar falling onto Mechamaru while suggesting the inverse was true.
— Chapter 5 has Chiaki work double time as she first draws indirect attention the incomplete Monokuma File; she then notices the smear of blood on the ceiling girder, evidence that helps Hajime work out the spear trick.
- It should be noted that the two times Chiaki hits a wall in the trials and cannot continue the discussion is when she does not have access to certain evidence: Chiaki first hits a wall in Trial 3 because she neither saw the video and thus didn't know that stepladder was clean, nor did she know of the theatre bonus prize. The second time she hits a wall is in Trial 4 while discussing the Funhouse, with Nagito withholding a picture that directly displays the building structure. In both instances, once Chiaki gains the clues, she resumes her position in leading the debates.
Benevolent A.I.: She doesn't have a mean bone in her body and is an AI. The two violent acts she commits in the game are slapping Akane and "murdering" Nagito. She slaps Akane only as a Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! to stop her from choking Nagito. Her "murder" of Nagito was more of a Suicide by Cop in that he relied on his luck that she as the "traitor" would grab the poison filled flask to kill him.
Berserk Button: She drops the space cadet routine and gets very serious when mutual killing is involved.
Beware the Nice Ones: Chiaki may very well be the kindest member of the whole cast, nonetheless, both Hajime and Gundham each manage to get her slightly cross with them at different points in Chapter 3. She teases each of them in payback afterwards and each instance leaves both men bewildered.
Gundham: [Demands a simplified explanation from Chiaki by attempting reverse psychology]
Kazuichi: What a jeeerk!
Chiaki: Oh, I see. You want me to explain it to you, right? Because you don't understand what I'm saying, right?
Gundham: [Aghast at Chiaki's comeback] An even BIGGER jerk!? Impossible!
Big Damn Heroes: Returns in Chapter 6, defying death for the second time, to give Hajime the way to destroy AI Junko's argument.
Borrowed Catchphrase:
- Shouts "No! That's wrong!" alongside Hajime when destroying AI Junko's argument.
- In a way, the character quote above. Even in real life, Chiaki had a very dim view of the Talent System of Hope's Peak Academy.
Buxom Beauty Standard: Kazuichi and Hinata both get Distracted by the Sexy when they see her in a bikini and find out she was a Hidden Buxom, or as Kazuichi puts it, has "huge jugs".
Call-Back: While it plays out differently, her execution pretty much ends the same way as Kyoko's did in the first game's bad ending: getting crushed to death.
The Cameo: She has two appearances in Danganronpa 3. The first is in a Flashforward of her first time meeting Hajime. After the real Chiaki's execution and death. and the second is in Side:Hope where Hajime asks her... Spirit? Memory? Actual self? about why the AI took the appearance of Chiaki in the first place.
Cannot Spit It Out:
- Enforced, as her programming prevents her from directly revealing that she's The Mole.
- It's also pretty obvious she likes Hajime but just can't quite put it into words. Rather, seeing as she's an AI, she likely believes that it's better that she doesn't tell him how she feels. The fact that she's not great at dating sims also plays into this.
Character Tic: Chiaki will often pause for a moment before speaking, needing time to sort out what she wants to say first.
- She also tends to say "I think" after a statement.
Cloudcuckoolander: She tends to be a little slow in responses when talking to her, often putting things in a gaming perspective. But when things get serious...
The Confidant: As well as The Conscience. When the time calls for it, she will act as both to Hajime, most blatantly in Chapter 4: when he was about to go into the Final Dead Room, she talks him out of it, reminding him of how pointless it is and that he shouldn’t push himself. After the dispute with Nagito (after he revealed that Hajime was a reserve course student), he confides in her that regardless of how he’s feeling, he will continue to pursue investigating Nekomaru’s murder. A second most blatant example is when Hajime hits his Heroic BSoD during Chapter Six and starts hallucinating. He lets out everything that has been dumped on him and is at a loss of what to do. She talks him out of being indecisive and gives him the strength to move forward.
Could Say It, But...: The way she hints to Hajime that she's the traitor without explicitly saying it. Her theory that the traitor may be unable to betray the future foundation is kind of odd and she makes it pretty obvious she's trying to communicate something.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Chiaki and the rest of the Usami/Monomi units are in a room with pixelated models, when Monokuma comes in with a tank and starts to shoot at them. Chiaki suddenly spots an exit and she and the Monomis run, followed by Monokuma in a Pac-Man-like vehicle that crushes all but one of the Monomi units. However, she and the last Monomi reach a dead end. With no more escape routes, Monokuma begins dropping Tetris blocks in the area, eventually crushing the last Monomi, and then Chiaki. The blocks then violently explode due to Monokuma forming three perfect lines.
Deadpan Snarker: On occasion, particularly when she feels annoyed or antagonized.
Declaration of Protection: During trial five, Chiaki states that she wanted to do was protect her classmates, and expresses sadness over not being able to protect them once she's executed.
Deuteragonist: Similar to Kyoko in the first game, although it's less obvious at first and only becomes apparent as the game progresses.
Disappeared Dad: She speaks about her dad (a programmer) in the past tense, hinting that he died. Chapter 6 reveals that her "father" was Chihiro Fujisaki, the Ultimate Programmer who died in the original game.
Emotionless Girl: Especially when compared to everyone else on this page, as her emotions range from "slight annoyance" to "happy".
Face Death with Dignity: Although it's partly due to her limited emotional range, she happily accepts her impending execution. She makes it clear to everyone else that she'll die if it means she can protect everyone else.
Foreshadowing:
- She's the only one of the students who respects Monomi and never joins in when they proceed to verbally abuse her. Makes sense given that they are both "spies" of the Future Foundation. While Sonia is never openly hostile to Monomi, she's still distrustful of her.
- As detailed under Character Tic, she has a habit of pausing before speaking. At first it seems like a quirk, but it becomes obvious after The Reveal that her AI programming is simply processing what she wants or needs to say.
- In general, a lot of her odd behavior makes far more sense when you discover she's an AI: Her small emotional range, her difficulty (and later curiosity) with social activities, her expertise with video games (save dating sims since she struggles with emotions), her lack of response to any of Monokuma's machinations...
Friendless Background: She implies that this is the case, indicating that she's never been to an amusement park with friends, not having any friends until she met the other students. The truth about this matter seems related to her status as an Artificial Intelligence.
Gamer Chick: Her talent is based on her being one.
Genius Ditz: She's a savant when it comes to playing video games, and her wide experience of genres (murder mystery, edutainment, etc.) gives her an astonishing range of general knowledge, so much so that she's one of the best members of the group to talk to when you need insight into a murder case. However, there's only one gaming genre she struggles with: dating sims.
Genre Savvy: Because of all the games that she plays. After the first murder, she is the first to suggest that someone is nominated to guard the body just because "that's the kind of thing that happens in closed-circle murder mystery games".
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Slaps Akane in Chapter 5 to bring her to her senses when she's freaking out over Nagito's plans, and trying to strangle Nagito to death.
Godlike Gamer: Chiaki Nanami is considered "the Ultimate Gamer" and excels at almost every game she plays with little effort. The only games she's bad at are Dating Sims. In Ultimate Talent Development Plan, she naturally loses to Izuru on her first game with him, but she's eager to try again. In a later interaction she mentions her win rate against him has been going up. Yes, she can get wins against Izuru, who has his own Ultimate Gamer talent as well as several other ones that would be useful in gaming like Luck, Analyst and Gambler.
Grew Beyond Their Programming: Her Free Time with Hajime has her develop a curiosity for social activities. Monomi considers her willingness to defy her protocols and reveal her identity as a "miracle."
Heroic Sacrifice: In Chapter 5, she works out that Nagito's plan was to kill everyone but the "traitor" (her). Instead, she urges everyone to vote for her as the murderer, relying on Nagito's good luck and that she was the one who accidentally killed him.
Hidden Buxom: While even in casual clothing it is rather obvious that Chiaki has a fairly large bust (she ties with Mikan for having the third-largest breasts among the cast of Danganronpa 2, and the two are only bested by Akane and Peko), her rather daring bikini in Chapter 2 of the game really shows off how big they really are. It is even lampshaded by Kazuichi in-game.
Kazuichi: Seriously man...I never expected Chiaki to have such huge jugs...
Chiaki: ...Jugs?
Hidden Depths: She proves remarkably competent at the trial despite her sleepy demeanor, being the one to both expose Nagito's act and put forth the idea the killer wasn't under the table in the first trial.
Hope Bringer: Her actions throughout the game and even after her death push Hajime and the others not to give up on the future, even when things look bleakest.
I Know Mortal Kombat: Her video game experience makes her surprisingly useful for investigating the game's murders. For example, she maps out the Twilight Syndrome crime scene using her experience from dungeon crawler RPGs.
The Illegible: The childish scrawl in the diary in Chapter 5 turns out to be hers, since Monomi, the alleged owner of the diary, can't write.
Implied Love Interest: She's this to Hajime, the game never says they're a thing it's quite clear that they care about each other with Chiaki repeatedly doing her best to help Hajime out and one of his biggest hangups about attempting to reset the program is the idea that she'd be permanently erased from his memory. Heck her final Free Time event is her trying to take Hajime out on a date.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: As an AI who is trying to help the former Ultimate Despair students' rehabilitation process she is completely immune to any of Monokuma's motives since she can't be driven to kill any of them... Which is why Nagito had to use his luck to make her his murderer.
Intimate Marks: Has a mole on the inside of her right breast.
I Will Wait for You: In her Dangan Island ending, she tells Hajime that she'll be waiting for the day he can teach her all kinds of new things. In her return, she promises that she'll learn more about dating.
Killed Off for Real: ...Possibly. Depends on whether you interpret her last words literally or just symbolically. Like most of the character's fates at the end, it's left ambiguous.
Let's Get Dangerous!: When Nagito tries to get everyone to give up on the first trial by insisting there's no evidence and no way they can catch the killer, she suddenly stands tall and shoots back with a "You've got that wrong!" Even though she softens it a moment later by adding "...I think", it signals the start of a devastating counterargument.
Living Emotional Crutch: To Hajime. He clearly struggles with the events of the game but manages to persevere thanks to her encouragement. After she dies, Hajime basically completely shuts down and wastes days doing absolutely nothing.
Loophole Abuse: As an AI she was explicitly programmed to be incapable of revealing herself as the traitor sent by the Future Foundation. She gets around this by simply revealing the fact that it's impossible for the traitor to reveal themselves even if they wanted to and let the rest of the class figure out why she knew that.
The Lost Lenore: For Hajime, as he really took her death hard. The fact that he didn't get a chance to thank her until the very end of Chapter Six doesn't help him to cope with her death. Before he returns to the real world, he makes several references that he'll never forget about her. This was one of the reasons why he was a bit hesitant on doing the force shut-down, as there was a chance he and the other survivors would forget about her existence entirely.
Meaningful Appearance: Her hair clip resembles the spaceship from Galaga. Fits well with her status as a gamer and "space cadet".
Meaningful Name: Chiaki, as in Chihiro Fujisaki, her creator and father.
The Mole: For the Future Foundation. However, in this case, she has the students' best interests at heart.
Nerves of Steel: Just like Kyoko Kirigiri, she will hardly ever lose her calm personality even under intense pressure. Hajime even calls her this and praises her for it.
Nice Girl: She's kind and good-natured to others, and comes to be considered a universally-close friend by the fifth trial. Her murder of Nagito was completely accidental because he set it up and relied on his luck to make the traitor (her) the killer. When she figures this out, she gracefully throws herself under the bus (with Hajime's help) to save everyone else.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: All Chiaki was trying to do was assist the students in their rehabilitation as Ultimate Despair, but she not only becomes a scapegoat for series Big Bad Junko Enoshima, when trying to extinguish a fire in the warehouse on the fifth island with the others while Nagito acts as a Mad Bomber during the entirety of Chapter 5, she ends up killing him completely oblivious because he specifically set up the situation so she would become the case's culprit, as part of his plan to have everyone in the class besides her executed.
Non-Player Character: What she really is in-universe, since the setting of the game is actually virtual reality.
Not Afraid to Die: She doesn't hesitate to sacrifice herself for the sake of the other students, though she does find the will to put up some resistance during her execution.
Not Too Dead to Save the Day: You just got told it's a game, but the Ultimate Gamer died in the last chapter. As you reach an unwinnable segment of the game, Chiaki appears and proves her talent is not so useless after all in the game...
Revision: Danganronpa 3 makes Chiaki a real person who attended Class 77-B with the rest of them, with this Chiaki being a blank-slate AI who took on her form. Kodaka stated that the Chiaki in Chapter 6 was acting too different from the Chiaki that had been present throughout the game, which is where he got the idea of her human counterpart from.
Rules Lawyer: Monokuma finds her attempts to clarify the rules and close loopholes rather irritating. It makes sense when you consider the truth about the events of the Killing Game.
The Scapegoat: An incredibly unwitting example, or much rather, an example that knows they're a scapegoat but can't tell the others. Monokuma uses her role as a Future Foundation observer to sow distrust among the students, calling her a "traitor" and making the Future Foundation look bad in front of the other students so that Junko, who Monokuma actually is, can kill the Ultimate Despair students through the killing game much easier as they fight amongst themselves. This also goes against the Future Foundation's actual goal of reviving the Ultimate Despair students, as Monokuma's interference and labeling Chiaki is what halts their rehabilitation.
Scheherezade Gambit: When she finally understands the extremist intention of Nagito's callous plan in Chapter 5, she attempts to break his gambit into shards by exploiting herself as the traitor of the group, which is not something he intended. Chiaki does this in order to protect the remaining students and encourage them to battle the mastermind.
"Second Law" My Ass!: While she admits she can't completely defy them, she does go against the Future Foundation's orders and her established programming to out herself as the traitor to save everyone.
- Possibly subverted, as her refusing to reveal herself as the traitor would have gone against the First Law (as it would allow human beings to come to harm) - a fail-safe that the Second Law already has in place.
Ship Tease: Plenty with Hajime. Ignoring her Free Time Events, she plays a very critical role in restoring his hope to him and supporting him, and he's the most worried about forgetting about her. He also gets very flustered when seeing her in her swimsuit in Chapter 2. A couple of characters even make a few low-key remarks at their seeming connection at various points in the game.
Shout-Out: Chiaki carries on Hifumi's legacy of regularly making video game references.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: Delivers a few of these to Nagito and Monokuma, such as telling the former to stop badgering Teruteru near the end of the first trial. Both listen, surprisingly.
Significant Birth Date: Like her DR 3 counterparts, Chiaki shares her birthday (March 14) with her father Chihiro Fujisaki. March 14 is also White Day, a day where boys will give cookies as a return present for the reciprocated girl's Valentine's Day chocolate, marking her role as Love Interest.
Sleepyhead: She has a habit of falling asleep in the middle of sentences. A free-time conversation reveals that she frequently plays video games for so long that she forgets to sleep.
Smarter Than You Look: One can be forgiven for thinking that she's a kind-hearted but ditsy girl whose only expertise was in video games until the first trial starts up. Here, it becomes apparent that she's one of the smartest and sharpest students in the class, if not the smartest.
Snot Bubble: She's seen with one of these whenever she is sleeping... which is often.
Spirit Advisor: Becomes one to Hajime, after his mental breakdown, in the final trial.
The Spock: To Hajime's The Kirk and Nagito's The McCoy. She always keeps her cool during the trials and tends to think the most logically out of the three. Chiaki also upholds a strong "needs of the many, outweighs needs of the few" belief, or in this case, sacrificing one student to save the others, will always be a better outcome than sacrificing all the students to save just one life, even if that "one life" happens to be her own.
Sympathetic Murderer: Can't get more sympathetic than being the murderer because you accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle in a 1 in 6 chance. Then pulling a Heroic Sacrifice to ensure that your friends would continue to live.
Terrible Artist: The colorful drawings she keeps in her diary could be mistaken for a preschooler's. That said, it could be a deliberate choice since she's trying to pass it off as Monomi's diary.
Token Good Teammate: She is the only student that isn't secretly an Ultimate Despair who fell under the influence of Junko Enoshima in the real world. This doesn't stop Nagito from manipulating her into a crime anyway, though. Justified, as this was the intention, and she's a literal Artificial Intelligence based on the student whose real life death in the prequel turned the others to evil.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: She's a Nice Girl who bears no ill towards anyone, and when she was made into Nagito's murder, without any second thoughts she proceeds to pull a Heroic Sacrifice to save her remaining friends. Exactly like her real-life counterpart.
Town Girls: She's the neither to Akane's butch and Sonia's feminine.
Uncertain Doom: The game treats her execution as a Permadeath and she doesn't appear during the present storyline in Danganronpa 3 except as a vision Hajime has at the end but considering her ambiguous appearance to Hajime in chapter 6, the fact that seemingly deleted AI's like Alter Ego and Usami have come back later, and the fact that said vision ends up explaining some things to Hajime that he had no idea about. leaves her fate open-ended.
The Unfought: She's one of the two culprits (the other being Peko, with Fuyuhiko doing it in her place) you do not have an Argument Armament with. instead, Monomi takes her place, arguing that she doesn't know or work with her once she'd ousted as the traitor
Verbal Tic: Has a habit of adding "...I think." to the end of her sentences. This is not present with her real self, indicating it's part of her AI's programming flaws.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Averted. Even after finding out she's an NPC, Hajime still sees her as a living person.
What Would X Do?: She asks Hiyoko what she would think Mahiru would say in response to Fuyuhiko attempting Seppuku.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Chiaki is scared of swimming, due to the possibility of her falling asleep and drowning.
- Also, while not afraid of animals themselves per se, she is nervous when up close with one because she doesn't know what it might do and that kind of unpredictability frightens her.
Worthy Opponent: She views Celeste as this, viewing her gambling skills as a match for her own gaming skills.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Her pep talk to Hajime in Chapter 6 full stop.
Yuri Fan: One of the problems she has with Twilight Syndrome Murder Case is the lack of romantic chemistry between Girl A and Girl B.

Akane Owari

Ultimate Gymnast

"Can I solve this by hitting it hard enough?"

Voiced by: Romi Park (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)

Played by: Yu Takahashi (Stage)

A superb athlete with an unusually large bust for a high-school girl. She has a remarkable talent for inventing her own moves but tends to underperform when she's in a bad mood. A brash and argumentative girl with a love of food and fighting, Akane isn't quite the sharpest thinker on the island. She survives the final trial and escapes to the real world with the other survivors.

Action Girl: Along with Peko, Akane is the most physically-oriented girl in the game. Akane is a Blood Knight who loves getting into fights, loves working out, and tries to solve most of her problems by using force.
Amazonian Beauty: She's mentioned by her "masseurs" as being a "mass o' muscles". Said "masseurs" were her step-fathers who were drunk.
Battle Aura: One of her more action-oriented poses is accompanied by one of these.
Berserk Button: She gets enraged whenever she's referred to as a chump.
Big Eater: She loves food, and was one of the only ones who had a chance to eat Teruteru's cooking because of it. Akane also talks about food almost constantly and claims that she could eat a giant slab of meat in only one minute. This is justified by gymnastics being a physically-demanding sport that requires its athletes to eat quite a bit to maintain their form, as well as Akane growing up in poverty and not having regular access to food for the longest time.
Big Sister Instinct: In Ultimate Summer Camp, she has this towards the younger kids from Ultra Despair Girls, due to having her own little brothers and sisters. She helps Jataro clean up his mess and also has a race with Masaru later.
Birds of a Feather: With fellow buxom, athletic, tan Big Eater girl Aoi in Ultimate Talent Development Plan and Ultimate Summer Camp. When Aoi worries about the calories when contemplating eating "grilled squid and donuts", Akane just tells her to just go wild and Aoi notes she can just exercise it off, which Akane agrees with. Another interaction has Akane wanting to spar with Aoi, but she is understandably hesitant. Aoi, after a bit, agrees to it, but tells Akane to go easy on her. When Akane bests Peko and Mukuro!Junko in a swimming contest, Akane challenges Aoi to a swimming contest and wagers Akane's double desserts if she wins.
Blood Knight: She can't resist getting into fights. She gets into a sparring match with Nekomaru that ends with her bloodied because she just could not resist fighting a powerful opponent. In Ultimate Talent Development Plan and Ultimate Summer Camp, she develops a similar rivalry with Sakura, with similar results, though in the latter, she's been training in martial arts for 3 years and while she still always loses to Sakura, she forced Sakura to get better. It's said that Akane is very physically powerful, but she hasn't been trained in any style of fighting, so she goes down pretty quickly to people who study martial arts disciplines like Nekomaru. She even admits that she wants to fight Genocide Jack, just to fight an opponent with blades.
Brilliant, but Lazy: She hates hard work (it even says so in her profile), but is undoubtedly talented in what she does. For one, Akane's the "Ultimate Gymnast" despite the fact that she's not really passionate about the sport since she only does it for the sake of the prize money. She also makes up entire routines on the spot, which is not only highly unusual for a gymnast, but would ordinarily be career suicide because of how hard gymnastic routines are to pull off. The fact that Akane can still excel in spite of not practicing or caring is a testament to how physically powerful she is.
Buxom Beauty Standard: She's the bustiest character in the game, with her boobs being so big that her shirt can't completely close, with the top buttons always undone, giving her cleavage that constantly puts emphasis on her chest. She herself seems to be aware of the appeal of her breasts, and casually offers Hajime to touch her as a "reward" a few times.
Conditioned to Accept Horror: She got used to people ogling her and treating her as a sex object because she was tasked not to wear panties when she was a waitress and because her step-fathers would regularly give her "massages" when she was growing up. Also, her parents "changed" so often that she rarely memorized their faces. They frequently "changed" because one or the other would die. In spite of this, Akane doesn't dwell on the dark side of all this, as she's one of the more upbeat characters.invoked
Cool Big Sis: To her younger brothers and sisters, as she was responsible for them and did all kinds of unpleasant jobs for their sake.
The Cuckoolander Was Right: Akane frequently tries to go with her gut, which turns out to be right quite often. This is in spite of Akane not being the sharpest knife in the drawer (which she admits to).
- During the Chapter 1 trial, the students are wondering how a killer got around in the darkness, since the only pair of night-vision goggles wasn't available to the killer at the time. Akane, who had not investigated, decides to "go with [her] gut" and proposes a light - the portable stove ultimately draws attention to the kitchen and, through the kitchen, Teruteru. This sets up Akane's gut instincts as honing in on key aspects of the mysteries.
- During the Chapter 2 investigation, Akane examines the window with the help of Hajime, who himself concludes no single person could use the window as an exit - Akane rebuts him that a ninja could do it, and in the trial explains the very trick Peko had used.
- During the Chapter 3 trial, Akane's gut works twofold: she is the first student to question Hajime if Ibuki really climbed the stepladder, AND she is the first student to consider coincidence regarding Hiyoko - in both instances, no one in the class picks up on these aspects until Nagito later brings them to direct attention.
- During the Chapter 4 trial, she states how only one of the guys of Strawberry House could have killed Nekomaru in such a horrible fashion, furthermore insisting from the start of the investigation that the pillar was the weapon.
- During the Chapter 5 trial, Akane ridiculously refers again and again to Nagito's "front tail" and how he was gripping it... well, Nagito WAS gripping a section of the spear. Even in euphemism, Akane's gut is accurate. She also questions the Monokuma File and what is or is not missing from it during the investigation, something only Chiaki does as well (though more consciously).
Dark and Troubled Past: Akane grew up in rough circumstances and had to deal with perverts throughout her life, such as being expected to work without wearing panties at her waitress job (though she seems rather oblivious to how perverted her admirers were). The reason she has such trouble remembering names is she saw people dying around her so often she didn't see much point in getting to know them better. Akane's family life wasn't any better either; she had seven siblings and an unemployed father and had to constantly work part-time to support them until she started doing gymnastics. She also states that who her mom or dad was tended to "change", along with an increase in the number of siblings. In spite of all of that, Akane doesn't dwell on the dark side of her life, and she remains upbeat.invoked
Death Glare: One of her angry sprites, complete with spiky hair and a menacing Battle Aura.
Department of Redundancy Department: She threatens to kill Monomi until she dies from it.
The Ditz: Akane is self-admittedly slow in the head compared to the rest of the cast. It takes her a few class trials to understand the basic rules of the killing game, she needs an explanation whenever someone else uses a big word, and she often can't interpret what her gut feelings mean even though they're usually right. However, Akane knows that she's not the brightest, often deferring to people who she knows are smarter than her.
Dumb Muscle: She's very strong, but a mental lightweight. She can stand toe-to-toe with Nekomaru for a long while, and a blow to the head that draws blood barely phases her. At the same time, Akane often gets confused by big words and has to have the rules of the killing game frequently explained to her. It isn't until the game's third trial that she's got the basics down.
Fan Disservice:
- We get to see her in a bikini during Chapter 2, but she's covered in blood from a head wound from sparring with Nekomaru. This also doubles as an In-Universe example, as even Kazuichi is too disturbed by her wounds to comment on her appearance.
- Her Free Time Events stories about how men treated her as a Lust Object in the past are meant to cause discomfort to both the player and Hajime, especially since she herself seems to be Conditioned to Accept Horror and remains cheerful even while telling them.
Foil: To Aoi Asahina from the first game. They have a similar appearance (dark skin with dark brown hair), have close friendships with the cast's Gentle Giant, have an obsession with food, have an Ultimate Talent that revolves around a sport, and they both survive the class trials. However, their actual personalities are polar opposites: Akane loves to fight, never gives much thought to romance, lacks modesty when it comes to her body, and is comfortable with her lack of femininity. Aoi, meanwhile, is one of the nicest characters in her class, is insecure about her masculine traits, and will turn beet-red if anyone comments on her body. The biggest difference is their attitude toward their talent—Akane only does gymnastics for the prize money, while Aoi genuinely loves swimming and doesn't care much about winning or losing.
Forgetful Jones: She struggles to remember Hajime's name in her Free Time Events, although she more or less reliably gets it right in-game. This also extends to Talent Development Plan, when she accidentally calls Maki from V3 "Mookie," and tells Himiko that she generally forgets anyone who looks too small and weak. This makes sense when you take into account that when Akane was younger, friends she made tended to die or just disappear, so eventually there became too many of them for her to bother remembering because they'd be gone anyway.
Girliness Upgrade: If you get her ending in Island Mode, she says that being around Hajime makes her want to act more girly and less crude.
Going Commando: If her unbuttoned shirt shot didn't make it clear, Akane doesn't wear a bra and her shirt is the only item of clothing keeping her upper body decent. This also applies to her real life counterpart. She does in fact wear a full swimsuit in Chapter 2 and in Ultimate Summer Camp, though.
Gut Feeling:
- Perhaps her greatest asset is her keen intuition. She frequently stumbles into a breakthrough, just because her gut told her so. Telling Akane that her gut feelings are wrong is a good way to make her angry.
- Her gut told her that "Junko" (Mukuro in disguise as Junko) would be a good fight in Ultimate Talent Development Plan. "Junko" shoots her down, though she still kept following "Junko", trying to get her to fight.
Heroic BSoD:
- After Nekomaru takes a bullet for her, she begins to lose it and sinks into a deep depression. Subverted in that the real cause of her shift in personality is a Despair Disease released by Monokuma.
- Suffers one upon finding out that not only are she and her classmates the remnants of Ultimate Despair but that if she pulls the plug as Makoto intends for them to do, Hajime Hinata will revert to the much less pleasant Izuru Kamukura.
Hidden Depths: Every recurring joke about Akane has roots in her Dark and Troubled Past. She eats nonstop while in Jabberwock Island due to starving as a child and appreciating her newfound food security. She is eager to fight mostly anyone she meets because of an obsession with being strong and a paralyzing fear of weakness, due to growing up in an ambient where being weak meant dying; and her portrayal as an Innocent Fanservice Girl is a result of being regularly harassed and conditioned to accept it as the norm.
Hidden Heart of Gold: Though Akane comes off as oblivious and aggressive, her heart is in the right place. Even though it was reckless and stupid, she tried to fight Monokuma to try and protect her friends. Too bad for her that this necessitated Nekomaru's death.
Hot-Blooded: It doesn't take much to get Akane pumped up - especially if it involves fighting or food. Her sprites are also very exaggerated in their movements compared to, say, Sonia Nevermind; whereas Sonia has a few sharp sprites but is generally drawn rounded and soft, Akane's sprites are mostly very expressive, sharp, and exaggerated. At one point, just seeing Nekomaru has Akane so fired up that she starts a fight with him, just because she wants to fight a strong opponent.
Huge Schoolgirl: In the Japanese version especially, as her height of 176cm puts her above the height average for adult Japanese men. Less so in the English version, as her height is instead 5'7; which is still on the upper end of the norm, and ties her with Sonia for tallest female students of their class.
Idiot Savant: Akane has hopelessly bad deduction skills, but she's considered a genius as a gymnast. And even then, she doesn't put as much effort into being a gymnast as she does into being a fighter; it's just that she's so gifted athletically that she doesn't need to practice much.
Improbable Self-Maintenance: According to Akane's backstory, she lived in a terrible environment and a poor neighborhood involving countless murder cases, to the extent that she became desensitized to it, and was used by perverse guys for their own ends. It got to the point that she took on her gymnast role just for the money. Despite this, she herself doesn't look too bad, having a well-endowed figure and a toned body; it's hard to tell that she lived that way at all.
Indy Ploy: Her preferred method of doing gymnastics is just to make up a routine on the spot. She is actually incredibly talented at coming up with innovative new moves (hence her Ultimate Talent), but the main reason she does this is that she hates the hard work and tedium that would come with composing and practicing a routine beforehand.
Inappropriate Hunger: Food is still the only thing on her mind, even as her friends argue over murder suspects. Justified in that she starved growing up, and possibly indulges so much in eating while in Jabberwock Island as a way to cope with this trauma.
Innocent Fanservice Girl: Treads the line between this and Shameless Fanservice Girl.
- Akane doesn't understand why most of the others think it's a bad idea for her to go swimming naked around everyone else. Nor does Akane particularly care if anybody sees her naked in the first place.
- She got a lot of attention from perverted admirers in her backstory, which explains why she's so nonchalant about it — to Akane, people acting perverted towards her is normal.
I Owe You My Life: She vows to find Nekomaru's killer after he saved Akane's life. This occurs even after Nekomaru is turned into a robot.
Is It Something You Eat?: During Chapter 1's trial, at one point Akane asks what "aspersion" is and whether or not it's yummy. This annoys Hiyoko enough for her to suggest Akane should try also eating asbestos.
It's All My Fault: Blames herself for Nekomaru having to perform a Heroic Sacrifice and being turned into a robot.
It's Personal: She vows to find Nekomaru's murderer, as he saved her. Despite that, she's relatively understanding once she realizes that Gundham killed Nekomaru because he wasn't content with everyone starving to death.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be aggressive, and initially comes across as somewhat aloof and self-absorbed. At one point, Akane even tries to kill Nagito by strangling him to death (but Nagito pretended to plant bombs to blow up the island while coldly taunting everyone over it, so she can hardly be blamed for going that far). That being said, Akane is a very caring and loyal member of the group who wants to protect her friends to the point of fighting Monokuma. Also, while she can be blunt, she's never actively malicious. Chiaki notes as much after she stops Akane from killing Nagito, saying "you're not the type of person who would do something like this". Akane not only concedes the point, but she's also highly remorseful afterwards that she almost went that far.
Kiai: While sparring with Nekomaru, she says "MUDADADADADA!" while using a flurry of kicks.
The Lad-ette: As a tall, muscular woman with an aggressive personality, a rough way of speaking, and interests that mainly include guzzling down huge amounts of food and sparring with people, Akane is one of the most masculine women in the entire franchise. As you'd expect from the trope, she gets a fair number of fanservicey scenes, and has absolutely zero qualms about it whatsoever... though it veers straight into Fan Disservice when you do her Free Time Events and learn that she has a long, long history of being sexually harassed.
Leeroy Jenkins: She's easily the most combative girl in the Danganronpa series, and usually wants to start fights at some of the most inopportune times. This becomes an issue when Nekomaru has to save her from Monokuma.
Le Parkour: She mentions that she did quite a bit of it back in the slums, apparently to elude perverts.
Massive Numbered Siblings: One of her Free Time events reveals that she has seven siblings and that she had to work hard to support them because her father was unemployed. She also would sometimes get more or less siblings when her step-parents changed. The reason that she got into gymnastics was that the prize money was really good, and she's using that money to help her family.
Meaningful Name: Akane was originally planned as a rival to Hajime, and her name shows it. "Hajime" means "beginning", while "Hinata" (日向) is an Alternate Character Reading of "sunflower" (向日葵) and basically means "sunny place". "Akane" means "madder" and "Owari" means "end".invoked
Mood-Swinger: She can bounce between bored, happy, angry, and happy again very quickly.
Morality Pet: To Teruteru, of sorts. While he's usually sexual towards mostly anyone, he drops this when it comes to Akane, despite her being one of the most fanservice-y characters in the game. Instead, he appreciates how passionate she is about his food, especially in V3's Ultimate Talent Development Plan.
Ms. Fanservice: A busty, toned girl who always wears a shirt that is unbuttoned just enough where you can see her cleavage, one sprite of her has her shirt coming off almost entirely and she expresses no shame in completely stripping down. Deconstructed somewhat, as it's strongly implied she was sexually abused by her step-fathers and others.
Mundane Luxury:
- She thinks the lousiest room in the funhouse is still dream-like compared to her last home.
- Being able to have so much food around, especially from the likes of Teruteru, causes Akane's Big Eater tendencies to flare up quickly; whatever food she gets tends to disappear the moment she lays eyes on it. Just mentioning food will get Akane's attention, and one of her sprites is exaggerated drooling (which Sonia lampshades once). Akane's Free Time events reveal that this tendency comes from her Perpetual Poverty as a kid, where what little food she got had to be eaten fast.
Navel-Deep Neckline: Because her chest is too big to button her top up all the way, part of her large breasts are always exposed. Her most extreme Battle Aura sprite has another button become unbuttoned, exposing her cleavage all the way to her stomach.
The Nose Knows: In Chapter 1, this is how she discovers Byakuya's stabbed-to-death body underneath the table since she was able to smell Byakuya's spilled blood. At the beginning of the next chapter, she's the first person to notice how bad Hiyoko smells.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Hinted at. When Fuyuhiko goes to talk to her about how he can relate to her grief due to having had Peko sacrifice herself for his sake, saying it's OK to let herself break down and cry, Akane keeps saying she does not get what he means. However, she does allow herself a public display of grief after finding Mechamaru dead, sobbing loudly in front of the rest of the group and refusing to leave the side of his dead body. One could take this as her having completely understood Fuyuhiko's words, but running away from her own grief out of fear of seeming weak, and thus playing dumb to get herself out of that conversation.
Obsessed with Food: If she's allowed food, she will eat it. In Chapter 1, she's desperate for the party in the old building to start solely so she can scoff down the food Teruteru cooked.
Odd Friendship:
- With Fuyuhiko from Chapter 4 on, as they both had someone in the killing game sacrifice themselves for their sakes.
- With Himiko in Ultimate Talent Develpment Mode, and Ultimate Summer Camp. Himiko gives her VIP tickets for her magic show for Akane's little brothers and sisters, despite Akane frequently forgetting her name, in both of them.
Only in It for the Money: If Akane is an Ultimate Gymnast, why does she like fighting more than gymnastics? Her Free Time events reveal she only became a gymnast in order to win lots of money from competitions by setting records. The "Ultimate" part is because even though she only does gymnastics for money, she also happens to be so damn good at it that even though she doesn't put much effort into gymnastics, she still excels in competition.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: While her crying the day after Nekomaru's Heroic Sacrifice is due to the Despair Disease (which causes those afflicted to act unlike themselves), her crying in response to finding Mechamaru dead is proof of how much his death affected her.
Overshadowed by Awesome: By any realistic standard, Akane is absurdly strong. But she's mostly self-taught, hates training, her ultimate talent isn't strictly combative, and it's noted she poorly incorporates gymnastics into her fighting style anyway. As a result, Akane almost always finds herself in over her head whenever she gets into a fight.
Perpetual Poverty: Her family lived in terrible living conditions and often had little food. Akane alone provided support for her family, working anywhere she could and sometimes even stealing. One of the reasons she indulges in food as much as she can is that she was always hungry as a child. Also, the reason that she's the Ultimate Gymnast despite not having much passion for the sport is that the competitions regularly earn her a good amount of prize money.
Plucky Girl: Even after losing Nekomaru a second time, Akane picks herself up in no time at all, knowing the only thing she can do is to keep moving on.
The Pollyanna: Having lived through as many horrors as she has from a young age, Akane is not one to let herself be fazed by most tragedy. Nekomaru's death is what finally breaks her carelessness, but she still manages to move on, believing moving on is part of what it means to live.
Prone to Tears: Her Out-of-Character Moment when Nekomaru gets shot to protect her. Actually caused by the Despair Disease. Although, at one point, she does cry at the beginning of Chapter 5, and has a full breakdown when she sees Mechamaru's body in Chapter 4.
Recurring Element: Like Aoi Asahina from the first game, she's the resident big-breasted, dark-skinned girl with a physically-oriented talent who ends up surviving the game.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: She's very masculine, and sees no problem with wanting to swim naked. It takes everyone else talking her out of it before she puts a suit on.
Ship Tease: Lots of it with Nekomaru, who takes her under his wing as a manager and quickly becomes her closest friend on the island. Both times he dies deeply affect her emotionally, despite her tough outer shell, and she ends up carrying around "Minimaru" as a memento of him for the rest of the game.
Slasher Smile: When she gets a Battle Aura as described above, she also has this kind of smile.
So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Her figure has attracted plenty of unwanted attention from local perverts.
Stating the Simple Solution: In the first trial, when everyone is throwing around guesses as to how the culprit could've navigated through the blackout, Akane simply posits "What if they used a light?" She turns out to be correct, as the killer used the flame from a portable stove to see in the blackout.
Statuesque Stunner: She's tied with Kirumi as the 2nd tallest girl in the series at 176cm/5'9" tall in the Japanese version and is quite the looker.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Fills a similar role to Hina from the first game, being the sporty girl with big boobs who survives to the end. Also does so without ever helping much in any of the investigations or trials.
Too Dumb to Live: Tries to attack Monokuma in spite of being outmatched, resulting in Nekomaru having to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to save her.
Tomboy: Akane loves fighting and eating. She's also something of a slob and is physically strong but a total ditz, all traits typically found in more masculine characters. She also uses "ore" as a pronoun to refer to herself in Japanese, which is usually used for boys.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Sonia's girly girl. While Sonia is refined and tries to keep a strong reputation, Akane is more laid-back and doesn't care about what other people think of her. Despite this, the two get along incredibly well.
Tomboyish Voice: She gets a fittingly deep, raspy voice in both the game and the Danganronpa 3 anime.
Town Girls: She's the butch to Sonia's feminine and Chiaki's neither.
Unskilled, but Strong:
- As much as she loves fighting, she hasn't been trained in any particular style, relying on her overwhelming strength to win. When she meets someone who can match her in power or can outmaneuver her, she's a sitting duck. This was shown in her spar with Nekomaru, where one good hit to the liver took her out. Nekomaru says she has enormous martial arts potential if she trains. Indeed, in Ultimate Summer Camp: Development Mode, she trains with Nekomaru and Sakura for 3 years and Sakura had to improve her own skills to match her.
- She's said to be this in her gymnastics competitions. Because she doesn't have the patience to practice a routine, she often just improvises one. The reason she's the Ultimate Gymnast is that even though she makes it up as she goes, her strength is such that she still regularly places well.
When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Her first reaction to problems tends to be "Can I solve this by hitting it hard enough?" This almost gets her in trouble when her anger causes her to try and kill Nagito by strangling him after he says he planted bombs on the islands. It's only when she's slapped by Chiaki and it's pointed out that she'd never get away with it (because of the Class Trials) that Akane backs down.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Hajime learns during Akane's fourth Free Time event that she's afraid of ghosts, and she threatens to kill him if he ever tells anyone about it.
Worthy Opponent:
- Nekomaru essentially becomes this for her. The two of them constantly fighting in her spare time (usually with Nekomaru winning) and him treating her like she's his pupil (training her and giving her "it").
- In the Ultimate Talent Development Plan, she finds one in Sakura with her commenting how Akane is constantly trying to challenge her whenever the two of them encounter each other at the gymnasium.
- Played for laughs but most of the others she deems worthy ends up being one sided with the latter refusing to fight her. The most notable being Mukuro (who's posing as Junko and trying to hide her identity as Ultimate Soldier) and Kaito (who straight up refuses to fight a girl). In Ultimate Summer Camp, she also wants to fight Maki, though she always refuses.

Sonia Nevermind

Ultimate Princess

"It is a pleasure to make your esteemed acquaintance! May we endeavor to maintain a lasting friendship!"

Voiced by: Miho Arakawa (Japanese), Natalie Hoover (English)

Played by: Jamie Natsuki (Stage)

A royal princess from the small European country of Novoselic, who has come to Hope's Peak Academy as an exchange student. Sonia has all the beauty and grace that her title implies. However, she can be a bit naive and overly trusting, and her grasp of the native language is a bit...tenuous. She survives the final trial and escapes into the real world with the other survivors.

Aerith and Bob: "Sonia" is among one of the more normal names in the franchise to Western audiences, alongside Leon in the first game and Angie in V3.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Played within the main game, where she develops a close relationship with Gundham and is one of the few people who treat his overlord status semi-seriously. However, she seems to be attracted to his positive qualities more than his ominous persona, such as Gundham being a Friend to All Living Things and being secretly lonely.
Bicep-Polishing Gesture: She has this as one of her sprites◊, showcasing her confident side.
Birds of a Feather:
- As shown in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan, she forms a close friendship with Tsumugi as they both bond over very similar lifestyles of them pretending to be something different. While Tsumugi's talent involves dressing and acting as fictional characters, Sonia is a princess who is dressing and acting as an ordinary high school student. Sonia is even more than willing to support Tsumugi during their time together.
- In Ultimate Summer Camp, she's this with Angie Yonaga. Both are foreign exchange students with odd tastes to say the least. They even have a casual conversation about human sacrifices.
Break the Cutie: Gundham being found as the culprit of Chapter 4 causes her to break into a fit of tears. She also takes Chiaki turning out to be the traitor quite hard, even going so far as to make arguments suggesting that she herself is suspicious. In both cases, Sonia makes several arguments against what she knows to be true simply because she doesn't want to believe it.
Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: She becomes attached to Gundham, finding charm in him and his pets despite his bizarre Evil Overlord persona.
Character Development: Downplayed, as her personality traits do not dramatically change, but over the course of the game she does mature a bit when it comes to her behavior, as she becomes less naive and more willing to accept the harsher aspects of reality even when it's painful to do so.
Covert Pervert: A few times, the game brings up the implication that she was masturbating.
- While there were subtle hints of this throughout the story, the final trial less-than subtly reveals her like this. During the final trial, Monokuma reveals that he does not need cameras to spy on the students and proves this by explaining how he knows that one of Sonia's trips to the bathroom took "a little longer than usual". Sonia's reaction was begging Monokuma not to tell others of what she did, or she "will never be able to become queen". Kazuichi's reaction further cements the implication.
- Further evidence of this also occurs during the final trial when Sonia finds out the Future Foundation was watching the students through the cameras and to Sonia's horror she blurts out how she did some "disgraceful" things in front of said cameras. Byakuya's laconic reply to her statement: "You... sure did."
- In Island Mode, she reacts favorably to Hajime suggesting taking off their clothes, but it's clear that she just wants him to take off his clothes and then tells him:
  Sonia: I will make sure I look at you thoroughly!
Cuteness Proximity: Starts cooing over Gundham's Four Dark Devas the moment she sees them.
Crazy Cultural Comparison: Once in a while she'll do this when talking to Hajime, such as getting a little mad at him for not arriving at their meeting spot thirteen minutes early, because that is the expected time in Novoselic that one should arrive for a meeting. Sonia also questions why Hajime doesn't know how to handle a tank; in Novoselic, you start learning how to use a tank in elementary school.
Ditzy Genius: She's able to make smart deductions when the time calls for it, is capable of complex political analysis, and has admitted to being able to speak and read over 30 different languages. The ditz part is more or less due to the language barrier, and her limited knowledge of Japanese culture in general. That said, she did once flood her bathroom when she didn't turn off her shower...
Dreaming of Things to Come: Either this or some of her lost memories returned in a dream. In her final Free Time she says she had a nightmare where "something dreadful had happened" and she can't return to Novoselic. The end of the world happened and because she was an Ultimate Despair she can't return to Novoselic and has to remain on Jabberwock Island.
Dude Magnet: Out of eight male classmates, four are pretty overtly interested in her: Teruteru's Establishing Character Moment is an attempt to seduce her by trickery; Kazuichi is openly obsessed with her (to the point where she declares him her Stalker with a Crush); she and Gundham receive an extensive amount of mutual Ship Tease; and she can be romanced by Hajime in Free Time/Island Mode events.
Endearingly Dorky: She loves older Japanese dramas and love stories from the '80s and apparently so does a significant portion of Novoselic, which she talks about in Chapter 3 and her Free Time events. She also uses outdated slang and her Fish out of Water tendencies are Played for Laughs and are also cute.
First-Name Basis: In the Japanese version, she is the only student to be addressed by her first name consistently.
Fish out of Water: While polite and sweet to everyone, Sonia gets a few things about Japanese culture wrong, such as being Literal-Minded when it comes to metaphors and turns of phrase. Though that's less malice and more that she just hasn't experienced Japanese culture in person.
Foreign Exchange Student: From Novoselic, a very small European country. It leads to some Fish out of Water moments for her, since Sonia isn't that familiar with Japanese culture and manners.
Funny Foreigner: Downplayed. Much of the humor around Sonia is done with her grasp on slang, cultural norms, and turns of phrase being a bit shaky in some areas, simply because she's never experienced Japanese culture up close. This ends up leading to humorous attempts to bond with her fellow classmates where she takes metaphors and common phrases literally or outside of their cultural context. That said, this isn't the sole aspect of her character, and a lot of her Princess Classic details have more prominence than being a Fish out of Water.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: In contrast to Hiyoko and Junko, Sonia is a blonde character who is completely sincere in her kindness and compassion.
Hartman Hips: Not immediately obvious on her normal sprites, but her bikini sprites in Ultimate Summer Camp shows she has these, with a tiny waist and wide hips.
The Heart: She's the Ultimate Princess, so it comes with the territory. She knows how to use her authority to put an end to pointless conflict, and she's nice to absolutely everyone. The only person she acts mean towards is Kazuichi, but that's justified by his trying to hit on her just after Gundham dies. Later, this is deconstructed as Sonia's trusting nature and faith in her classmates are frequently put to the test once the traitor plotline takes the front stage (as she can't fathom the idea of one of her friends betraying them). That said, her nature as The Heart increases her chances of survival because she's so nice that nobody wants to kill her.
Heroic BSoD: Upon finding out that not only are she and her classmates the remnants of Ultimate Despair but that if she pulls the plug as Makoto intends for them to do, Hajime Hinata will revert to the much less pleasant Izuru Kamukura. In her case, she's particularly bothered by the idea that if they lose all their memories from the game, it will negate the meaning of everything they've done so far.
Hidden Depths:
- Early in the game, she proves she is capable of complex political analysis when she gives a speech about how power and wealth gradually lead to the ruin of civilizations.
- When she wants someone to take her seriously, she speaks with an aura of absolute authority. She has no intention of either killing anyone or being killed herself, and she succeeds.
Huge Schoolgirl: Mostly subverted. In the Japanese version, her height of 174cm is quite tall, but as a European foreigner it serves to highlight that fact. In the English localisation, her height is reduced slightly to 5'7; which is on the taller end of the norm but not uncommonly so, and ties her with Akane for tallest female students.
Hypocrite: She comments to Fuyuhiko that "only a coward threatens women", but she doesn't react when Gundham threatens to curse her if she's lying. Granted, Fuyuhiko was entirely serious about his threat (which was directed at the timidest and most emotionally vulnerable member of the cast), while Gundham was... being Gundham.
I Just Want to Be Normal: She's expected to put up the front of a strong and infallible princess back in her home country, and though she's more than willing to do that for the sake of her countrymen, she admits that it would be nice to experience life as a normal high school girl and be treated as one. This could also explain why she's so frustrated with Kazuichi, as he's always putting her on a pedestal as a princess, which is not what she wants.
I've Come Too Far: In the end, she resolves to keep marching towards the future so that there is meaning to everyone's deaths. She does this despite being told she won't be allowed to keep her memories.
If We Survive This: In her final Free Time Event, she says that she and Hajime should marry each other when they leave the island, due to Hajime matching the description of a legendary hero in Novoselic, which Hajime agrees to.
Jerkass to One: She doesn't get along with Kazuichi, but this is justified by his creepy and fawning attitude towards her. She at first is pleasant to him and lets him down easily. Kazuichi also holds Sonia up to an impossible ideal, which she doesn't want; Sonia would prefer to experience the same things as other people her own age, and Kazuichi's fawning goes directly against that wish. Starting in Chapter 4 she starts being more passive-aggressive towards him when he doesn't take the hints. When Kazuichi says that Gundham's final words didn't matter and tries to hit on Sonia immediately after, Sonia lets him have it in a passive-aggressive way. After that, she's more hostile to him throughout much of the remainder of the game.
Kick the Dog: Granted, Kazuichi's stalker-ish tendencies were being played up more than usual. But in the fourth trial, Sonia says she's "disappointed" he's not the murderer, to his face although this never would have been said if he just respected her boundaries and stopped creeping her out constantly.
Lethal Chef: A bit of bonus art in the manga shows her to be quite bad at cooking. Since she's always had someone else cook for her, Sonia's skill when trying to cook something herself is basically nonexistent.
Man-Made House Flood: In her final Free Time, she says she accidentally flooded her bathroom when she reveals she didn't know she needed to turn off the shower.
Meat-O-Vision: Comes down with a bad case of Dessert-O-Vision when Monokuma is starving everyone to death in the funhouse; she starts hallucinating that the other students are delicious desserts and asks them (politely, of course) if she can eat them.
The Medic: Downplayed, but she does have knowledge of "diagnostic medicine" and tends to the injured Fuyuhiko with Mikan after he's wounded.
Micro Monarchy: Her native land of Novoselic appears to be one of these. The country is stated to be very small in both land size and population. It's small enough that Ultimate Adventurer Rantaro has never visited it.
Monster Fangirl: Downplayed. She's fascinated by various serial killers like Genocide Jack and Sparkling Justice, but she never interacts with either. In Ultimate Talent Development Plan and Ultimate Summer Camp, she does get to interact with Genocide Jack, and Jack expresses bewilderment that Sonia's a fan of her. She also doesn't approve of actual murder, is deeply upset whenever someone on the island kills, and feels horribly guilty whenever she herself is involved in a murder (i.e. suggesting Hiyoko use the club's mirror, not knowing that Mikan was setting up Ibuki's body there and would kill Hiyoko for walking in on her), even tangentially.
Moral Myopia: In the second trial, she scolds Fuyuhiko for threatening Mikan when she agrees with Hajime that Hiyoko couldn't have moved Mahiru's body, saying that "Only a coward threatens women", yet she says absolutely nothing to Gundham when he does something similar to her earlier on (although it's clear no one actually takes Gundham seriously to begin with and that he's obviously fucking with the class whereas Fuyuhiko was going genuinely insane at that point).
Modest Royalty:
- That dress in the above picture is not what she normally wears, preferring a green dress with a white blouse, a red ribbon around her collar, and a black ribbon in her hair. Her swimsuit is also a wet suit, and the most modest of the female students' swimwear in Danganronpa 2.
- Downplayed with her swimwear in Danganronpa S. She's wearing a two-piece swimsuit, but she also wears a sarong that covers her body from the waist down, so she's still dressed more modestly than most of the other female characters.
My God, What Have I Done?: Sonia suggests that Hiyoko use the full-length mirror at the back of the music stage to help her put her kimono on. Too bad that Mikan was waiting there and killed Hiyoko when she got close, making Sonia feel like she's indirectly responsible for Hiyoko's death. The guilt of this sticks with her for quite a while.
Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Sonia is one of the students who show great respect to those who have died, and doesn't like it when their deaths are disregarded or they are insulted. A primary example of this is in Chapter 5, when she becomes upset with Nagito for insulting Gundham and Byakuya, and demands he apologize.
Nice Girl:
- She's polite and charming and gets along well with almost everyone. This is probably why she's one of the few students who survive the entire game since she provokes no one into killing her and she never has any desire to kill anyone.
- Subverted with Kazuichi, since she can be quite hostile to him in a passive-aggressive way, and verbally abuses him with more frequency as the game goes on. But this is due to his creepy nature, as she tries to be polite with him at first, but eventually gets fed up when he doesn't get the hint, especially during chapter 5 when he hits on her after Gundham dies.
- Unlike the other students (sans Chiaki), Sonia never openly insults Monomi whenever she shows up, even if she doesn't fully trust her. During the fifth trial, she even tells Monokuma to stop abusing Monomi because she feels sorry for her.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In Chapter 3, Sonia suggests that Hiyoko use the full-length mirror at the back of the music stage to help her put her kimono on. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Sonia, a murderer was waiting at the place, and Hiyoko dies because of it. Sonia is extremely remorseful, despite the murder being Mikan's fault and Fuyuhiko having a greater hand in it(which he never acknowledges).
Nightmare Fetishist: According to her profile, she enjoys the occult, which is rather unexpected of a prim and proper princess. She says in Chapter 1's trial that she watches Friday the 13th with a gleam in her eye, and also has an avid admiration for serial killers, to the extent that Sonia calls Genocide Jack "splendid" and that Jack represents the hope of the young generation. Sonia also knows quite a bit about the Serial Killer known as "Sparkling Justice". This could also explain Sonia's attraction towards Gundham; besides being a Friend to All Living Things, Gundham looks intimidating and acts like an Evil Overlord.
Not So Above It All: As much as she tries to be a Proper Lady, some of her dialogue hints that she has some rather... un-ladylike habits.
"Not So Different" Remark: In Ultimate Summer Camp, when Izuru remarks that he's predetermined to be "hope" and that both he and Sonia's fates were predetermined at birth, she resolves to help him in any way she can as his "senior" in the matter.
Occidental Otaku: She's from Europe, and a big fan of Japanese TV dramas and anime. Apparently, the vast majority of people in Novoselic are the same way, as she claims one Japanese TV show is watched by over 90% of the population.
Odd Friendship:
- With Gundham, the delusional animal breeder. She's not really friends with him because of his dark and brooding persona, but because he's a Friend to All Living Things. And he has a bunch of cute critters around him at all times.
- In Ultimate Summer Camp, she gets along well with Gonta, where she tells him about the insects native to Novoselic and also is supportive and helping in his wanting to be a gentleman.
Of Course I'm Not a Virgin: When Gundham recounts having been to an "amusement park in hell" as a child, Sonia expresses interest in wanting to experience it for herself, to which Gundham remarks that he'd require the blood of a virgin as an entrance fee. To Kazuichi's shock, Sonia laments that she wouldn't be able to use her own blood. Of course, as pointed out on the Funny page, "virgin's blood" can also mean the blood of someone whose blood has never been used in a Satanic ritual before, and considering that this is Sonia we're talking about, this definition is equally likely to be the one she meant.
Omniglot: She can read, write and speak in over 30 different languages. According to her, it's a requirement for a member of her family, stating Hajime will need to know 30 different languages when they become engaged in her final Free Time event.
Only Sane Woman: She's the only one without any damning mental issues among her peers. She has some very eccentric behaviors, but is otherwise the only party member who has her head on straight most of the time. Even Mahiru, who's the closest to this trope otherwise, has massive parental issues and tends to Accentuate the Negative all the time when it comes to things she critiques, and is just as harsh on herself; Sonia, meanwhile, is almost unfailingly polite and kind, except to Kazuichi as the game goes on.
Out of Focus: Ironically, despite being one of the survivors of the killing game, Sonia probably has the least story involvement/relevancy out of all her peers.
Perky Goth: She's a sweet and cheerful girl who adores anything to do with the occult, knows an eerie amount about serial killers, and despite having many male admirers elects to pursue the deeply antisocial goth guy who likes to pretend he's a warlock lord from hell. Furthermore, despite her demure appearance, her clothing choices incorporate a lot of black and dark colours for a Princess Classic.
The Pig-Pen: A downplayed example, but apparently she has trouble taking care of herself due to inexperience and flooded her bathroom due to not knowing to turn the shower off according to her final Free Time Event.
Precision F-Strike: Breaks into a few, entirely in Gratuitous English.
- When Sonia finds out that the fireworks aren't a bomb in Chapter 5, she says "Goddammit all to hell!" Sonia says "Jesus! Shit! You son of a bitch!" later in the same chapter, although this line is not voiced.
- In the ending, Sonia says "My femininity is hella boss!"
Princess Classic: She's the Ultimate Princess; of course, she's like this. While there are hints about Sonia being a Covert Pervert and a minor Nightmare Fetishist, she's generally kind, selfless, and sweet to a fault. And compared to the other much more foul-mouthed people around her, Sonia saying "goddammit all to hell!" is meant to be very out-of-character for her. It's one reason why she ultimately survives the events of the killing game - not only does Sonia not want to kill anyone, but she's so sweet and polite that nobody wants to kill her either. Her role as The Heart late in the game also serves as an inspiration for the other students, making her even more valuable to them all.
Proper Lady: One of the most refined women on the island, if not the franchise. She's very polite, feminine, and tries to get along with everybody.
Red Herring: She was hinted at being the traitor a few times such as being secretive during the discovery of the bomb or knowing that the bombs were fake. Sonia even used these points in her rebuttal against Chiaki being the traitor later during the trial, and she's notable for never being considered as a suspect beforehand.
Selective Obliviousness: In regards to Kazuichi, as she ignores many of his attempts to grab her attention.
Serious Business: In Sonia's first Free Time event, Hajime learns that Japanese "TV dramas" are this to her. This seems to be the case for her whole country: at one point, Hajime learns that a popular Japanese Magical Girl anime for kids got a rating of ninety percent (that's 90% of the entire population) in Sonia's country of Novoselic.
Sheltered Aristocrat: Seems like this at first, but as time goes on there are more indications that she's smarter and worldly-wiser than she lets on. She does have her Fish out of Water moments where she takes a few turns of phrase too literally, and can't seem to fathom the idea that someone would betray them. That said, she's The Heart of the group, so her sheltered behavior is treated more as a character quirk than a flaw. In Island Mode, she gets really enthusiastic about doing the simple things normal people do at locations like running on the beach, making sandcastles or riding a roller coaster.
Ship Tease: She's interested in Gundham, who comes to gradually enjoy her company despite his distrust of people. She also gets some with Hajime in Free Time, even being the only girl not in Island Mode to explicitly become engaged to Hajime.
Shout-Out: A walking homage to the band Nirvana. Sonia's home country is named after the bassist Krist Novoselic, and her last name is the title of the band's second album, Nevermind. Supplementary materials reveal that she went to "In Utero School" before Hope's Peak, with In Utero being the name of another Nirvana album.
Sophisticated as Hell: Sonia talks using very formal and polite language, as expected of a princess... except in addition to that, she also sometimes peppers her speech with informal slang such as "hella" or "you betcha", as well as lots of references to outdated popular culture. During Chapter 5, when questioning her before the trial and asking why she wasn't where she was supposed to be, she asks if Hajime suspects her and then she tells him:
Sonia: Jesus! Shit! You son of a bitch!
Spoiled Sweet: She's a Princess Classic — rich, beautiful, and in line to become Queen of Novoselic one day. Even so, Sonia is unfailingly polite and nice to everyone, even taking the role of The Heart late in the game by leading the other students into not losing hope.
Supporting Leader: During the endgame, as Hajime becomes more focused on dealing with his identity crisis and unravelling the mystery of why they're in the killing game, Sonia gradually becomes the de-facto leader for the other surviving students and is the main figure keeping the group united.
Statuesque Stunner: Tied with Tsumugi as the fourth tallest female student in the series, at 174cm/5'8.5" in the Japanese version, who happens to not be an athlete, unlike Ogami, Owari or Tojo. Also one of the second game's most charming girls.
Stealth Insult: Her tactful demeanor and contempt for Kazuichi sometimes result in this. They become less subtle as the game goes on, however.
Token White: Being a foreign exchange student, she’s the only white character in her killing game, and the only white character in the Danganronpa franchise, though some, like Angie in V3, are mixed heritage.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to Akane's tomboy. While Sonia is refined and tries to keep a strong reputation, Akane is more laid-back and doesn't care about what other people think of her. Despite this, the two get along incredibly well.
Totally Radical: During the Ultimate Development Plan, it's revealed she's been trying to learn slang words in an attempt to try to communicate and fit in better at the academy. Unfortunately for Sonia, the slang she learns is from the 1950s and 1970s. Not surprisingly, Sonia's efforts fail. Maki even calls Sonia out for it.
Tough Leader Façade: She's not the queen yet, but as a member of the royal family of Novoselic, she's used to hiding her fears and personal wants. In her fourth and final Free Time events, Sonia reveals that she's already been kidnapped twice by people who wanted to exploit her for money and/or power, and she eventually breaks down crying in front of Hajime after she has a nightmare where she can't return home. It's after Hajime holds and comforts her until she regains her composure that she proposes to him. It also partly explains her dislike of Kazuichi — unlike the rest of the students, Kazuichi keeps putting Sonia on a pedestal, which she explicitly said that doesn't want him to do.
Town Girls: She's the feminine to Akane's butch and Chiaki's neither.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- In Chapter 2, she plans a girls-only beach party. Because Ibuki and Mikan were attending, Hiyoko was the only one who accepted Mahiru's invitation to discuss the implications of Twilight Syndrome Murder Case. Fuyuhiko and/or Peko were able to use this to manipulate both into a trap to murder Mahiru and frame Hiyoko.
- In Chapter 3, she comes across Hiyoko struggling to put her kimono on after Mahiru's death and suggests she use the full-body mirror in the Titty Typhoon. This leads to her walking in on a murder in progress and getting her throat slit.
- In Chapter 5, when the Monokuma merch warehouse catches on fire, Sonia directs everyone to the fire-extinguishing grenades, unaware that Nagito filled one of them with poison. Throwing the fire grenades fills the warehouse with poison gas, killing Nagito who was hiding inside and tricking Chiaki into becoming the blackened for his death.
Wacky Marriage Proposal: In her final Free Time event and Island Mode if you get Sonia's ending, Hajime and Sonia make plans to get married according to the customs of her people, by fighting and defeating a creature called a Makango. This is the marriage custom for normal people in Sonia's culture, but if it's Sonia specifically, then since she's a princess it has to be a golden Makango on top of that. Plus, according to her:
Sonia:You will need to know 30 foreign languages, economics, international law, diagnostic medicine...
- Given that Hajime is also Izuru Kamukura, he could easily learn that, if he doesn't know it already.
Was It All a Lie?:
- Asks this of Chiaki after Chiaki is revealed as The Mole, wondering if all the time they spent together meant nothing, but soon concludes that Chiaki did not betray them.
- She also asks the same of Peko in the second trial, to which Peko replies with a Blunt "Yes" that it was all a lie. Subverted, however, in that Peko was merely trying to affect a split personality.
You Remind Me of X: In her final Free Time event and Dangan Island ending, it turns out that because Hajime is wearing a white shirt and has his hair done in an antenna, he fits the description of a legendary hero in Sonia's culture, which is why Sonia wants the two of them to get married.

Hiyoko Saionji

Ultimate Traditional Dancer

"I seriously love traditional dancing, Japanese candy, and Japanese food. And as much as I love these... I seriously love stomping on disgusting things!"

^{see her grown-up}

Voiced by: Suzuko Mimori (Japanese), Kira Buckland (English)

Played by: Ayumi Mizukoshi (Stage)

A rising star in the art of traditional Japanese dancing. Hiyoko is popular for her youthful appearance and grace but conceals an abrasive personality and a nasty mean streak which in turn conceals a genuine desire to protect those she cares about. She is the first victim of Chapter 3 after she walks in on Mikan staging a murder and is silenced by having her throat slit.

Ambiguously Bi: Even if she can obtain a romantic ending with Hajime in Dangan Island, she also acts extremely clingy and affectionate around Mahiru, to the point that she outright drags Mahiru away to have a shower with her. The implications aren't lost on Ibuki. If you have the Man's Nut, you get a special cutscene, where she's very enthusiastic about them washing each other and asks Mahiru "From where to where do you want me to wash you!?"
Asshole Victim:
- Heavily downplayed to the point of near aversion, and even somewhat deconstructs the idea that being a brat means one deserves a brutal murder. Her bullying attitude, especially towards Mikan, was horrible and toxic, and her death isn't mourned as much as Ibuki's. That said, Sonia is still guilt-ridden over it and Hajime notes that Hiyoko was trying to change and didn't deserve to be murdered, if Hajime visits her cottage after her death he laments that all she wanted was to honour Mahiru and Sonia makes a sad remark that Hiyoko would have loved the theme park. In addition, as twistedly karmic as Mikan killing her might sound, this was Mikan killing for despair itself's sake, and beyond Mikan's very long line of trauma which rears its head in her rant during the trial, there's nothing so much as hinting that she killed Hiyoko for a reason beyond walking in on the murder scene, not to mention the fact that even if Hiyoko's treatment of Mikan was the reason for it, the worse thing Hiyoko did to Mikan was calling her rude names, the worse thing Mikan(granted while brainwashed, without the brainwashing Mikan was always decent to Hiyoko) did to Hiyoko, slice her throat while she was unable to defend herself and scared out of her mind.
- In addition unlike a lot of other Asshole Victims in the series, Hiyoko's death was because of her good features, that being her love for Mahiru and her desire to better herself as a person, as she was trying to tie her obi like Mahiru taught her to, but was killed by Mikan as she was trying to get to the full-length mirror. While Hiyoko isn't a nice person, throughout 2 she's shown to have plenty of genuinely endearing features and isn't so much a bad person as a deeply sad and troubled young girl, a victim of not only her family's abuse but the cruelty of Fuyuhiko and Peko's actions and the grief that came with losing Mahiru. Her death is never portrayed as anything else but a horrific tragedy that ended the life of a flawed Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
Bad People Abuse Animals: She's introduced squishing ants for fun, and later, she tries doing the same thing to a crab. Although she's not exactly a bad person its one of her less redeeming features.
Because You Were Nice to Me: Mahiru was willing to look past her abrasive exterior and try to be nice to her anyway, which resulted in the two developing a close enough friendship that Hiyoko was outraged that the other students could possibly think she'd murder her. She can show her nicer half to Hajime as well in her Free-Time Events.
Beneath the Mask: Hiyoko initially comes across as a rather vapid, egotistical, mean-spirited, and spoilt little brat with an overly cheery yet bitchy attitude. Beneath this however, she's a level-headed, self-loathing, sentimental, loyal and even at times sweet (when she's with Mahiru anyway) person who really just wants a friend but because of her past can't trust anyone, until she meets Mahiru, when she loses Mahiru she almost completely breaks as a result, showcasing that while flawed her whole selfish brat who couldn't care less about others is a façade and she actually does have a heart as well as a ton of internal issues that she hides because she doesn't want others to see her as weak.
Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Saionji clan is very well-known in the world of traditional dance and aren't above outright assassination of rivals. Hiyoko's father was the only one who didn't bully her, because he only married into the clan, and because of that Hiyoko's grandmother took her away from him.
Birds of a Feather:
- Her and Mahiru's parental situation makes them this, though the divide is more based around Saionji cherishing the very few people that can be truly relied on, while Koizumi had to learn early to rely on herself.
- She befriended Ibuki because they both have talents relating to music, even if they are different genres.
Blush Sticker: Like Fuyuhiko's to make her appear more child-like and cutesy. They suit her about as much as they do him when she starts showing her true colors.
Bratty Half-Pint: Even though she's just as old as the rest of the cast, she certainly appears this way physically, and her attitude more than qualifies her. In reality, Hiyoko only physically looks like a child because that's what she looked like when she entered the academy.
Break the Haughty:
- Chapter 2 was not kind to Hiyoko, to put it mildly. Firstly she's drugged and shoved in a closet by Peko and Fuyuhiko who proceed to beat Mahiru, Hiyoko's only friend to death, she wakes up to find Mahiru sitting in a pool of her own blood with a sorrowful look on her face. Then she's framed for Mahiru's death while her trauma over losing her is still very fresh with no one except Hajime believing her innocence (granted she didn't help herself but keep in mind she just lost her friend so she wasn't exactly thinking straight). After she's cleared she finds out that Mahiru died for a senseless reason and Fuyuhiko shows next to no remorse about it.
- Chapter 3 also put Hiyoko through hell. After chapter 2s events Fuyuhiko returns to the class again not showing much remorse over Mahiru until Hiyoko finally snaps unleashing all her rage and sadness over what he did to her, he commits seppuku as a result showing he is sorry but horrifying Hiyoko who blamed herself. This causes Hiyoko to try and improve herself but Nekomaru's near death brings back her past paranoia and then she dies alone and scared while trying to tie her kimono.
Brutal Honesty: Hiyoko will let everyone know how she feels about a situation no matter how rude her thoughts are, however this can sometimes be seen as a positive thing as she very rightly points out that a simple apology from Fuyuhiko is nowhere near enough to make up for Mahiru's murder, unlike the rest of the class that swept Fuyuhiko's actions under the rug.
The Bully: Snipes at everyone (except Mahiru), but particularly Mikan and Kazuichi because unlike the others, who tend to either ignore her or laugh at her antics, they react to her insults the most.
Cassandra Truth: During the second trial after the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case mystery is solved, Hiyoko dominantly accuses Fuyuhiko of being the culprit, and has his motivations accurate as well (killing Mahiru as revenge for his sister's death). He accepts the accusation she makes, implying that he has a role in the case.
The Chain of Harm: Everyone in her family but her father was jealous of her talent and abused and tried to murder her, which caused her to also treat others badly. She tries to break the cycle later on, only to end up dead before she could fully change.
Clingy Jealous Girl: A downplayed example, but she gets jealous when Mahiru dotes on Himiko in Ultimate Summer Camp.
Conditioned to Accept Horror: The Saionji family is such an utter horrorshow, Hiyoko has been conditioned to see things like assassination and people leaving dead mice in her bed as normal.
Covert Pervert: While she'll still call Hajime a pervert, her only objection against taking her kimono off in front of him is if he doesn't know how to tie it back on when he says they should take their clothes off in Island Mode. She also is one of three people who actually like the ball gag gift (ironically so does Mikan) and asks Hajime to steal Sonia's panties in her first Free Time event. She gets extremely excited at the prospect of showering with Mahiru and offers to "wash her", as well.
Crocodile Tears: She has a tendency to fake crying at times, but actually genuinely cries other times, making it hard to tell which is which. To make things even more confusing, in her final Free Time event, she openly claims to have been manipulating Hajime by crying, but Hajime says there are still tears in her eyes.
Daddy's Girl: Her father is the only close relative she has whom she doesn't hate with a passion because was the only one who ever treated her kindly.
Dark and Troubled Past: Hiyoko grew in a very brutal world where she faced assassination attempts, a family that, besides her father, abused and resented her for her talent and was taken away from her father by her grandmother. Although it doesn't excuse her behaviour it's not exactly hard to see why Hiyoko ended up so bitter and unhappy when her life was full of abuse and fighting for her life.
Death by Irony: A non-execution example. Hiyoko gets murdered by Mikan, the one she most frequently abused. It's also ironic that the class bully died not because of her bullying of others but because she tried to grow out of that a rare example of an Asshole Victim who died because of her positive features. She also wasn't murdered due to her bullying of Mikan, Mikan merely killed her because Hiyoko walked in on her killing Ibuki.
Death of a Child: Subverted in that she only looks like she's around 10 years old, she's the same 17-ish that everybody else is.
Declaration of Protection: Surprisingly, she makes this in her Dangan Island ending, promising to protect Hajime and her father. In her final Free Time event, Hajime thinks to himself that he'll protect her, not that it does her any good, sadly.
Deer in the Headlights: A CG that shows the moments right before her death, Hiyoko is shown to be utterly terrified and just standing there her eyes and mouth wide open with fear. For all of her issues, it shows that her death was truly unfair as she died scared and unable to defend herself because of her tiny stature and messed up kimono.
Does Not Like Spam: Her character profile states that she doesn't like sour food. This actually ends up being important, as the culprit of Chapter 2 attempts to frame her by planting a lemon-flavored gummy bear at the crime scene, which the particular brand she eats doesn't have. She also really despises oily meat.
Dropped a Bridge on Her: Even by Danganronpa standards, her death is remarkably sudden and out-of-nowhere. Other than the initial shock of finding her body, not much focus is given to her during the investigation or trial, and you don't even find the murder weapon nor it is ever brought up by anyone.
Due to the Dead: In Chapter 3, Hiyoko takes the time to build a memorial in the dining hall for Mahiru after she is murdered, such as putting all the pictures she took up on a board so everyone can see them and placing rows of candles on an altar. Though the memorial doesn't look very...Inviting.
Establishing Character Moment: She's introduced as a seemingly cute little girl...who's casually crushing ants for fun, which gives you some idea of the contrast between her appearance and her personality.
Everyone Has Standards:
- While she is a bully, she seems to find murder despicable to such a degree that she has absolutely No Sympathy for the murderers' motivations. It makes sense in the 2nd trial where she is personally invested, but even after the 1st trial, she expresses nothing but pure contempt for Teruteru, the first culprit, even wishing she could have spat on his corpse. Notably, this isn't used to make her more sympathetic, due to the tragic nature of his motivation which everyone else at least tries to sympathize with a little although she's not exactly incorrect either considering Togami died as a result of Teruteru's actions. Her treatment of Fuyuhiko is however portrayed sympathetically as she's understandably pissed off about him causing her only friend's death and seems to be the only person in class 77 who took Fuyuhiko's actions seriously instead of pretending they never happened.
- In V3's Ultimate Talent Development Program, she actually stops picking on Mikan when Mikan seems to display masochistic pleasure at it, outright encouraging it and thanking Hiyoko for always acknowledging her, which rightly creeps Hiyoko out. She's equally horrified when Miu sexually gets off on being insulted and humiliated by her. In Ultimate Summer Camp, she is also disgusted by Toko's obsession with Byakuya, telling her she's creepy.
Expressive Hair: The bottoms of her pigtails have a tendency to morph in her different expressions.
Face Framed in Shadow: A telltale sign that she's showing her toxic mask is a shadow falling over the upper half of her face and her eyes taking on a certain intensity.
Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: She's so cute that she has legions of young male fanboys. But in terms of personality, she's mean spirited and can be rather cruel, although far from evil.
The Fake Cutie: She uses her cute appearance and childish mannerisms to gain popularity as a traditional Japanese dancer, but her personality is anything but cute. Although at times she can be genuinely adorable and sweet-natured (only if she's with Mahiru and Hajime sometimes in Free Time and Island Mode, though)
Foil:
- She and Mikan arguably serve as this to each other. Both of them went through traumatic childhoods in which they were mistreated by others, but whereas the latter responded to this by becoming a spineless doormat who's often too timid to hold a conversation without tears and desperately tries to appease others, Hiyoko became an abrasive bully in order to drive others away, as well as becoming one of the most distrusting members of the group. Both of them are extreme opposites, yet also fairly realistic examples of how people often respond to bullying growing up.
- She also serves as one to fellow blonde-haired brat Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu. Both have very cute appearances that contrast their abrasive and toxic personality, both are very wary of others, both had an abusive home life with only one person in that life looking out for them (Peko, and Hiyoko's father), both bullied Mikan, and lost the one girl they loved in the second trial which is why they tried to change. Fuyuhiko was more dangerous and more toxic than Hiyoko to the point of causing multiple deaths but unlike her, he managed to complete his arc and overcome his grief over Peko whereas Hiyoko's grief over Mahiru wound up killing her, something which Fuyuhiko never acknowledges.
Fountain of Youth: Downplayed. Hiyoko underwent a massive growth spurt while attending Hope's Peak, giving her a more mature-looking body. However, like her classmates, Hiyoko's avatar in the Neo World Program reflects the way she looked before going to the academy, reverting her to her former, childlike appearance.
Freudian Excuse: The backstory she reveals in free time events is genuinely horrible; her family bullied and even attempted to murder her, and her grandmother took her away from her father because he treated her nicely and as such was a "bad influence." As is clear in her initial interactions with Mahiru, Hiyoko has been conditioned to accept that bullying is the default way for people to interact with others and is utterly shocked when Mahiru's first reaction to seeing her in a position of weakness (being exposed for poor hygiene) is to come to her defense and offer to help her fix it without asking for anything in return.
The Friend Nobody Likes: To a much lesser extent than Nagito and Fuyuhiko prior to his development, but her attitude definitely doesn't win her any friends and when Mahiru dies, the evidence is placed at the crime scene to make it look like she did it and, despite that Mahiru was the only one Hiyoko liked, everyone except Hajime, Ibuki and, ironically enough, Mikan seems willing to believe she would do it. Hajime does note she was trying to change her ways during the third trial, but ultimately they are far mostly focused on Ibuki's death throughout (also partly because Ibuki's death has more evidence leading to the killer). That being said no one is glad after her death, in particular Hajime and Sonia have lines that show they genuinely miss her in spite of her flaws.
Friendless Background: A given considering how abrasive and mean she is as well as coming from a family that were both possessive and abusive towards her, in Free Time she says she doesn't need any friends and jokes about it, however her genuine happiness when Mahiru and Hajime befriend her shows she actually wanted a friend more than anything but let her trust issues get in the way of it.
Girlish Pigtails: Tied back with cute little kitty bows.
Good Is Not Nice: Is she ever. Hiyoko abhors the very idea of killing and is mostly just interested in keeping herself cozy until the situation is resolved. Her Jerkass Has a Point moments indicate that she really does want to help when things get bad, and she starts Chapter 3 off by building a memorial to Mahiru. None of this, however, stops her from being a Jerkass most of the time, and she gets killed before her attempt at growing out of this makes any significant progress. Though her Jerkass tendencies don't counter the fact that she never betrayed the class and was the only person in the class who held Fuyuhiko to account and actively did try to change, she's very much on the side of the class even if she's mean to them and utterly hates Monokuma.
Good Old Ways: Going with her preferred outfit and talent, her Free Time events reveal that she has a lot of respect for traditional Japanese customs and feels that they need to be kept alive although she doesn't disagree with the more progressive direction of her theatre. Of course, this is followed by her expressing contempt for those who like anything Western. In the Talent Development Plan, she also admits that she has disdain for contemporary pop idols. This also makes her love of Ibuki's concert more surprising.
Green-Eyed Monster: Her final Free Time event implies she's jealous of Sonia, and she tries to recruit Hajime into some Revenge by Proxy by targeting Kazuichi first. When he refuses, she just thinks he wants to cut straight to the 'main event' and go after Sonia directly.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: In most ways, this is largely averted with Hiyoko generally being a whiny bully, however it's not averted completely as unlike Junko (and similar to fellow blonde meanies Fuyuhiko and Miu), she does have a Hidden Heart of Gold and can be genuinely very sweet and adorable when she drops her toxic mask.
Hand Wave: Her still having her short appearance from Danganronpa 2, rather than her grown up appearance, in Ultimate Summer Camp is explained by her not being able to have her avatar for the virtual world updated because she had to take time off for dancing performances. In Ultimate Talent Development Plan, she simply never went through the growth spurt.
Hates Their Parent: Hiyoko implies that her mother was among the jealous relatives that abused her. As such, there is no love lost between them. Although she absolutely loves her father.
"She's all pride and no talent. She's such a waste of oxygen."
Heel–Face Door-Slam: In chapter 3 she is shown to be trying to become a better person for the recently deceased Mahiru, but she gets murdered before she can fully improve her attitude. Ironically the much more toxic Fuyuhiko, who caused two deaths and indirectly caused Hiyoko to end up in the venue, managed to finish his arc.
Hidden Depths:
- While Hiyoko initially comes across as rather vapid and airheaded, she's surprisingly intelligent, being the first person in the class who realises that they need to play the game or else they're all dead. She also correctly connects Fuyuhiko to Mahiru's murder by realising that he's the only person in the class who had a motive to kill her, while ultimately Peko was Mahiru's killer Fuyuhiko's hatred towards Mahiru is what caused it. She even accurately says that Fuyuhiko would be dumb enough to believe the game and that's why he did it, which is exactly what happened.
- She's also extremely passionate about her talent in spite of being forced into dance by her family and has a wide knowledge of the history of Japanese dance. She also states that she wants to protect the traditions of dance while also respecting the new direction of her dance theatre. In general, she's very passionate about Japanese culture which impresses Hajime.
- Hiyoko is rather self interested most of the time but she's actually very selfless towards those she cares about, vowing to protect Hajime, Mahiru and her father and in Island Mode says she'll stop crying from now on because she won't be able to protect Hajime/her father.
- Despite being raised in a traditional and strict family Hiyoko has some very untraditional interests. She's the only person in class 77 who loves Ibuki's heavy metal music and in Island Mode she loves horror movies because of the gore(ironically Mikan loves horror for the same reason), enjoys the rollercoaster and adores the haunted house. To put it simply Hiyoko is a tiny metalhead who loves thrill rides and horror movies, a unique contrast from her seemingly traditional appearance.
- In Talent Development Plan and Ultimate Summer Camp, she's one of the few that really "get" Angie's art. It still doesn't mean they get along, though.
Hypocrite: She has very little issue bullying other people, most notably Mikan and Kazuichi though the latter is also a Jerkass, but complains that people are bullying her at the beginning of Chapter 2 when the others remark on her smelling bad due to not being able to take a bath (even though they're just asking questions rather than being outright malicious).
Hypocritical Humor:
- She tells Mikan that she has no right to privacy when she complains about being "Girl A" in Twilight Syndrome, but when it turns out that Hiyoko is "Girl B", a character who used the insult Hiyoko just made against Mikan, she says the game is "taking way too much creative liberty" (In the original Japanese) and "Short and foulmouthed...? That's like the complete opposite of me!" (in the English version).
- In Ultimate Summer Camp, she calls Himiko a runt, even though she's 9" taller than her ^note. When Mahiru points out that they're more like siblings than she is to them, they disagree, but start bickering like siblings.
- Also in Ultimate Summer Camp, she makes fun of Toko's smell, but Toko throws it right back at her, pointing out she can't even clothe and bathe herself.
I Just Want to Have Friends: Although she disparages the concept of friendship, she takes quite the liking to Mahiru when she befriends Hiyoko. She'll even be nicer to Hajime if he puts in the effort to talk to her. Hiyoko does want to have friends... if they can tolerate her and see past her flaws.
I Take Offense to That Last One: In Ultimate Summer Camp, Toko calls her ugly and says her mouth is a gutter when Hiyoko calls Toko "gutter girl", with Hiyoko saying she's not ugly. Toko naturally points out that she admits her mouth is a gutter.
Informed Kindness: In Chapter 3, Hajime notes that she's trying to be a nicer person, but Hiyoko's previous bullying behavior mostly stays the same up until her death as she continues bullying Mikan and when Akane, Nagito, and Ibuki caught the Despair Disease, she states that she hopes that they would kill themselves. When Sonia calls her out on it, Hiyoko says, in regards to the infected, that "I know...it can't be that easy...". However this is played off as dark humour instead of genuine. In many senses it's also almost completely averted, Hiyoko forgives Fuyuhiko when she could have easily avenged Mahiru and spent hours building a memorial, in addition, Hiyoko's a rare example of a bully character in the series who did attempt to change. Hajime's assertion isn't incorrect even if Hiyoko does retain some of her toxic elements to the bitter end and she died because she was a good person very deep down.
Insane Troll Logic: In Trial 2, when confronted on the footprints everyone saw her leave on the sand while fleeing the beach house, claims that the footprints are actually Mikan's based on how ugly they are.
Insufferable Genius: Constantly boasts about her talent and being better than everyone else (ironically her levels of self-esteem actually go into the negatives).
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Probably the biggest jerk in the game besides Fuyuhiko prior to his development as she's a bully who needlessly torments the shyest student in the class and is verbally abusive to everyone besides Mahiru, but her extreme protectiveness of Mahiru and her father (as well as Hajime in Island Mode), her consistent anti-murder ethics and forgiving Fuyuhiko once he apologizes over Mahiru, shows that she truly has a good heart deep down. She also tried to improve her behaviour before her death. Even if she didn't fully develop she has plenty of positive features, she's genuinely passionate about preserving Japanese dance, openly praises Ibuki's music, is genuinely touched when the other students praise her memorial that she spent hours creating so Mahiru "wouldn't be lonely in heaven".
Jerkass Has a Point:
- After the first murder occurs, she's one of the few to keep her head on straight, and keeps bluntly reminding everyone that no matter how upset they are or how much they're freaking out, they need to investigate and solve the case if they want to live.
- While harsh about it, she's not exactly wrong for saying that Teruteru's actions were vile considering that they resulted in the death of Togami, severely harming the group and that the class had a problem with downplaying murder.
- The first time she insults Kazuichi is after he needlessly calls the entire class jerks making him an Asshole Victim. Also considering his treatment of Sonia in chapter 4 and 5, he arguably got worse without her to shut him up.
- Hiyoko has many faults but getting angry at Fuyuhiko for causing the brutal murder of her only friend, framing her for it, and spending the post-trial showing little remorse over Mahiru's murder, isn't one of those faults. When Fuyuhiko prostrates himself in front of the class in apology, she still calls him out that that's not good enough, and he agrees and attempts seppuku. Notably, after Fuyuhiko finally apologizes for Mahiru's death she begins to forgive him. Arguably she takes a better approach than the rest of the class that welcomed him back before he actually said sorry and changed as a person.
  - While everyone else is Character Shilling for Fuyuhiko at the end of the second trial Hiyoko rightly points out that there's "no reason to wait for him", harsh as that sounds she's not wrong, outside of not going along with Peko's plan Fuyuhiko was nothing but vile towards the class and that he caused the death of Mahiru. Hiyoko yet again showed herself to be the only person mature enough to realise just how vile Fuyuhiko's actions were while the rest of the class equated being injured with instant redemption.
- After the outbreak of the Despair Disease, she's the first to suggest quarantining the infected and possibly infected, pointing out that since they don't know how to cure the disease the most important thing is to prevent everyone from being infected.
- In addition calling Peko a toilet-clogging bitch wasn't incorrect considering that Peko did beat Mahiru to death and frame Hiyoko for it(admittedly Hiyoko didn't know that at the time but still), when Peko is exposed as Mahiru's killer and pretends to be Sparkling Justice Hiyoko refuses to listen to her excuses and angrily calls her out for saying that she did nothing wrong(Granted Peko didn't believe this at all but it doesn't make it any less horrible to hear).
- She's not exactly wrong when she calls out Akane for her reckless behaviour getting Nekomaru mortally injured by Monokuma.
Jerkass to One: "Crueler to One" type. She is unpleasant to everybody (except Mahiru), but Mikan and to a lesser extent Kazuichi gets the worst treatment due to reacting to it instead of laughing it off like everyone else. She also has a grudge against Fuyuhiko, though unlike with Mikan, this is rather justified.
Karmic Death: Played With but ultimately heavily downplayed to the point of near aversion. Hiyoko is killed by Mikan for witnessing the preparations for Ibuki's murder, and not as a form of revenge for the bullying, though the method Mikan uses is somewhat karmic — slashing her throat to permanently silence her and, to add insult to injury, Mikan ties Hiyoko's obi on backwards, which is how prostitutes used to wear their robes, as it made it easier taking them on and off. Mikan non-verbally calls Hiyoko a trashy skank, which was one of Hiyoko's favorite insults for Mikan. That being said nothing Hiyoko did to Mikan was remotely close to any of this, making it a severe case of Disproportionate Retribution(though Mikan only killed Hiyoko for walking in on her strangling Ibuki).
Kick the Dog:
- Her Establishing Character Moment is crushing ants with her fingers, something she apparently does on a regular basis.
- She openly states that she hoped those infected with the Despair Disease would kill themselves to spare anyone else the possibility of being infected as well although this comes across more like a dark joke than her genuine thoughts.
- When Mikan tries to comfort her after she starts crying in Chapter 2, she immediately switches to insulting Mikan like usual(although Mikan's "everything is okay now" is Innocently Insensitive considering for Hiyoko it wasn't, because Mahiru was still dead, doesn't make Hiyoko any less cruel or Mikan any less kind). In general her treatment of Mikan is this considering how needlessly mean it is.
Kids Are Cruel: Subverted, she looks like a kid and her introduction features her squishing ants just because, but she is actually the same age as everyone else. This makes her behavior come off as quite unsettling.
Kill the Cutie: A rather unusual example considering her unpleasant features but when she's being nice she can actually be very cute and is helped by her design. Just as she begins improving herself she's cruelly murdered and her corpse tied onto a pillar.
Kimono Is Traditional: Since she's a traditional dancer, she's always seen wearing one. Island Mode and Talent Development Plan reveal that she strongly dislikes any activity that poses a risk of getting hers dirty. However, it's later revealed that she doesn't know how to tie her obi by herself.
Little Miss Snarker: To the point where most of her dialogue is snarking at everyone and everything.
Lonely Rich Kid: Grew up in an extremely wealthy family but as a result of her abusive mother and grandmother she was very sheltered and her only real connection was with her father who she was taken away from. She doesn't actually make any friends until her late teens in Mahiru (and Hajime in free time, her sour personality is partially a result of her loneliness.
Manipulative Bitch: Big on Psychological Combat and Crocodile Tears, as she repeatedly demonstrates during her Free Time events.
Meta Guy: On rare occasions. She refers to Mikan's clumsy tripping as "fanservice", refers to Kazuichi as the sort of person who's one of the first to die in "kill 'em all" scenarios, and at the party after Hajime reassures Hiyoko that Byakuya physically searched everyone, not just her, Hiyoko bets that maybe Byakuya was "extra sticky" with her since "someone like her" is in "high demand" (she doesn't specify what she means, but it's obviously a reference to her "cute girl appearance").
Metal Head: The only person in the class who enjoys Ibuki's music, in the Talent Development Plan Ibuki even gives her a CD of her new album knowing Hiyoko would love it.
The Nicknamer: Prefers degrading and insulting nicknames, like calling Byakuya "Mr Ham Hands" ("Mr Porkfeet" in the original Japanese) or Mikan "Trashy Skank" and "Pig Barf".
Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Peko referring to Mahiru as "evil" has Hiyoko basically begging the class to execute her.
No Social Skills: To say that Hiyoko lacks tact and doesn't have much of a filter is putting it lightly.
No Sympathy: The day after the first trial, she halfheartedly concedes that Byakuya's death was "sad," but then says that Teruteru, as a murderer, was "human waste," that she enjoyed his execution and that she wishes they could have spat on his body. Mahiru is the only dead student she actually mourns for though it's understandable why she doesn't mourn for Peko and it's implied she mourned for Togami.
Not Afraid to Die: Her Free Time events hint at this. She even tells Hajime that if he's going to kill her he better make sure to do it properly otherwise she'll kill him. That said, there's a CG that depicts her as she walked in on Mikan killing Ibuki, and she's depicted with a Deer in the Headlights look of sheer terror.
Not Helping Your Case: In the second trial, she spends much of the early discussion of the actual murder drawing suspicion to herself, such as falsely claiming that she never went to the beach house and that she doesn't know what gummies are.
Odd Friendship:
- You wouldn't expect the eccentric and rebellious bully to become enthralled by the stern and grounded Team Mom but Mahiru is pretty much the only person Hiyoko loves, perhaps because she's the exact opposite of Hiyoko in most ways
- Hiyoko also has a positive relationship with Ibuki, while both are eccentric and loud Metal Head's Ibuki is considerably kinder than Hiyoko and Hiyoko insults Ibuki throughout the game (Ibuki being Ibuki laughs it off), however Ibuki still deeply cares for Hiyoko and while Hiyoko hides it behind snarky insults it clear she cares about Ibuki too. Making it more heartbreaking that the two died together.
Older Than She Looks: Yes, she really is just as old as the other students. Subverted, however, when it turns out that she only looks so young in the game because that's what she looked like when she first entered the academy. Her real appearance is more in line with her age, though she was still likely around 17 when she entered Hope's Peak to begin with.
Only Sane Woman: Generally she's the complete opposite of this, being an eccentric bully who says insane stuff most of the time. However it's invoked twice. Firstly when she tells the class that they need to investigate Togami's murder instead of sulking and secondly when she's the only person who tries to get Fuyuhiko to apologize for Mahiru's murder instead of naively pretending that nothing happened.
Out of Focus: In a sense. Her actions are completely glossed over once she's killed, with far more focus being on Ibuki's murder than her own, which is treated as not as pressing due to having less evidence surrounding it.
Paper Tiger: She likes to insult and torment her classmates, but the second somebody retaliates, she starts crying.
The Paranoiac: Her mistrust of her classmates gets worse and worse throughout the story, to the point where in Chapter 3, she locks herself up in her hotel room and refuses to see anyone because they might kill her. This ironically bites her in the ass, because it's going to Titty Typhoon alone to fix her obi that she accidentally witnesses Mikan setting up the crime scene and is promptly overpowered and murdered, and nobody even knew Hiyoko was gone until they went back to check on Ibuki's body.
Pet the Dog:
- Mahiru is the only other student who Hiyoko seems to have any respect for, calling her "big sis" and acting very affectionate and clingy around her. She can potentially act this way to Hajime as well (although it is a bit more subtle than with Mahiru) if he completes her Free Time Events.
  - Out of everyone in class 77, absolutely no one took Mahiru's death more seriously than Hiyoko plus the fact that she doesn't just sweep Mahiru's murder under the rug and treats Peko and Fuyuhiko like what they actually were, was refreshing.
- In Chapter 3, she's one of the only students who actually enjoy Ibuki's concert and even compliments her song, which Ibuki wrote herself.
- It's implied her speech about how the class needs to investigate Togami's murder or else they'll die was made because she was genuinely outraged over his death and didn't want the class(admittedly very much including herself) to suffer the wrath of Monokuma
- She shows genuine sadness over Togami's murder although as usual she hides it behind snarky comments and insults Teruteru's death after.
- While calling out Fuyuhiko for his actions, she seems just as outraged by Peko's death as Mahiru's, implying she wasn't exactly glad about Peko dying even though she had every reason to be.
- She forgives Fuyuhiko during his welcome-back party and seems genuinely touched by his attempts to better himself. She also seems like the only person in the class who actually took his apology seriously considering she didn't blindly forgive him.
- During the Ultimate Talent Development Plan, she encounters Chihiro who is upset that he got a present from his dad despite not wanting anything. She tells him he should accept it and be happy and thankful for it still, which he agrees to.
- In Ultimate Summer Camp, when Kotoko insults Ibuki's music, she defends Ibuki and claims that she simply doesn't get Ibuki's style. She even calls Ibuki big sis while doing so.
- When she critiques Aoi's dancing skills and the girl asks her to help with her dancing skills, Hiyoko obliges her. She also does the same with Taka.
Picky Eater: She loves sweets and Japanese foods in general, but will only eat certain brands. This proves important in the second trial because a gummy is found at the crime scene, which is Hiyoko's Trademark Favourite Food, but a lemon-flavored gummy, which the brand she eats does not make. This helps Hajime clear her name and find the real killer. She also despises oily meat claiming that it's for stupid people, and loves fish.
The Pig-Pen: Due to how complicated her clothes are to take on and off, she doesn't remove them until she finds someone she trusts enough to help her. Unsurprisingly, this results in her becoming rather... pungent.
Psychological Projection: While accusing Fuyuhiko of being the killer in the second trial, she randomly adds "And I bet you're secretly very worried about your height!", making it pretty obvious that she's actually talking about herself. Granted Fuyuhiko started it by calling her a midget.
Pungeon Master: How the English dub handles a lot of her snarking.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Aside from calling out Fuyuhiko for causing Mahiru and Peko's deaths she also angrily states that he doesn't care about them dying at all, in her defense at this point he had talked to the group two times and barely acknowledged either of their deaths nor did he apologize and in post-trial very coldly calls Mahiru a bitch, of course, she learnt seconds later that the reality was he was completely torn apart with remorse and grief.
The Scapegoat: In the second trial, the evidence is planted at the crime scene to make it look like she killed Mahiru.
Sad Clown: Although she's a bully she tends to act in an eccentric and overly happy manner and constantly makes jokes(at the expense of others in particular Mikan), in reality she's a deeply lonely and depressed person with a ton of self esteem issues who hides this behind both an abrasive and eccentric image and this only grows after she loses Mahiru.
She Is All Grown Up: Near the end of the game, the survivors find a picture of her where she appears to be a young adult.◊ Her grown-up appearance is her real appearance, but because of the erasure of the main cast's memories, Hiyoko's avatar in the game proper is what she looked like when she first entered the academy.
She Knows Too Much: The reason why Mikan murders her, she walked in on her making the preparations for Ibuki's murder.
"Silly Me" Gesture: One of her sprites has her jokingly doing this gesture, except with both eyes shut instead of one.
Slashed Throat: How she's killed, although the murder weapon is never found or mentioned.
Slut-Shaming: She likes to hurl abuse at other girls like this, particularly Mikan, referring to her as a "trashy skank" and "dirty bitch" several times, but she also calls Sonia a slut during her FreeTime with Hajime as well.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside: It's clear behind her sunny yet extremely sour personality that Hiyoko is a deeply sad girl who just wants a friend but can't make any because of her trust issues and tendency to push others away, she finally does make a friend in Mahiru only for Mahiru to end up dead days later which only adds to Hiyoko's deeply routed sadness and self-hatred. While it doesn't excuse her behaviour it's tragic that Hiyoko never really had a chance to show others that she had a good heart deep down because of how often others hurt her and that her one chance of happiness was cruelly taken away from her.
Spanner in the Works: She ends up being this to Mikan in Chapter 3 as her sudden appearance at the Titty Typhoon while Mikan was setting up Ibuki's fake hanging led to her having to be hastily killed to make sure that she couldn't tell anyone about it. Said murder ended up leaving enough evidence around that Hajime was able to realize that the video he saw wasn't recorded at the music venue and had to have been done somewhere else, and additionally derails Mikan's attempt to frame Hajime for Ibuki's murder. Even in death she still inconvenienced Mikan, which is something she'd probably be proud of.
Stepford Snarker: A deeply miserable and depressed person who hides it behind constantly snarking at everyone around her.
Sweet Tooth: Doesn't see anything weird about eating candy for breakfast. Her Free Time events reveal that she's quite particular about candy; she prefers Japanese sweets over imported ones. This becomes important when Peko tries to frame Hiyoko - she drops a gummy so people find it and conclude Hiyoko was in the beach house, but she picks a lemon-flavoured gummy, which the brand Hiyoko eats doesn't make.
Tempting Fate: She teases Kazuichi by calling him a 'background character' who's doomed to suffer an early death. She is killed in Chapter 3, while Kazuichi is one of the survivors.
They Died Because of You: Says that Mahiru and Peko died because of Fuyuhiko. He agrees.
Thin-Skinned Bully: Despite how she likes to torment everybody, she'll start bawling when the tables get turned on her although she can certainly hold her own against the likes of Fuyuhiko. In Ultimate Summer Camp, she's a little thicker-skinned, but Kokichi was easily able to get under her skin after messing with her about her height change, which annoys her, but he says he is actually happy for her growing in height because "After all, you won't be able to use your childish looks as an excuse for your sad behavior anymore!" To which she gets pissed and calls him "You little shit!" and then threaten him when they get out of the simulation. In Talent Development Plan, she shit-talks Mondo's food at his yakisoba stand while he's standing there, and when he complains, she threatens to report him for talking to her. He yells at her to bring it and that they wouldn't believe her, since she's got the reputation as a bully. She then starts crying and he feels bad, but then keeps insulting him, making him yell at her more. They both end up getting scolded by Usami.
This Is Unforgivable!: She absolutely refuses to forgive those who murder others, but especially Fuyuhiko since he was involved in the murder of someone she absolutely adored and planned to frame her. However, she doesn't make any snide remarks after Fuyuhiko goes so far as to slit his own stomach open as penance, a sign that she is attempting to change for the better.
Tiny Tyrannical Girl: Is she ever, though she usually has to rely on her mouth and psychological tactics to bully others as she's pretty weak, physically.
Token Mini-Moe: In appearance only, since she's the same age as the rest of the cast and the "moe" aspect is deliberate on her part.
Took a Level in Kindness: This is implied to happen in Island Mode, even if you don't get her ending. She actually refrains from bashing Mikan and agrees with her that she also enjoyed the island life, suggesting that she's on better terms with all of her classmates. Also to a certain extent, she's far nicer in chapter 3, while she still insults others she does make an effort to spend time with them and accepts Fuyuhiko's apology. Hajime after her death correctly notes that while she was a brat, she still tried to grow as a person.
Trademark Favorite Food: Gummy bears. She only eats a particular brand too, which clears her name in Chapter 2 when the culprit plants a gummy bear with a flavor it doesn't have. Her free-time events show that she also likes konpeito, but it isn't available on the island.
Troubled Abuser: Hiyoko's Free-Time Events reveal that her childhood was genuinely miserable; her family aside from her father hated her out of jealousy, her grandmother took her from her father at a young age to train her, and she was subject to "pranks" that sometimes escalated to actual assassination attempts. Psychological studies have shown that often bullies mistreat people to regain a sense of control after being mistreated themselves, making it rather understandable (if not excusable) that a kid who was regularly subjected to things like pins being put in her shoes, dead mice being left on her bed, poisoned food, and having stage lights dropped on her would feel a deep-seated need to regain some control of her life.
Tsundere: Extreme type A example to Hajime during Free Time events and Dangan Island.
Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness: Downplayed. While she isn't evil, Hiyoko is both rather stinky (she doesn't take baths until Mahiru offers to help her because she can't put her kimono back on herself) and one of the biggest Jerkasses on Jabberwock Island.
Ungrateful Bitch: She breaks down crying after she isn't suspected of having killed Mahiru anymore in the 2nd trial, but when Mikan, who she's been horrible to this entire time, makes a genuine effort to cheer her up, Hiyoko lashes out and spits insults at her like usually instead of being touched by the gesture.
Unreliable Expositor: Exploits this by telling Hajime that she's been bullied and targeted by her own family out of jealousy for her position, that her father went mad trying to protect her, and that she's been raised by her grandmother without having any chance to even see her parents...before laughing and leading him to think she was lying about all or part of it. That said, she shows visible anger when Hajime calls her by her last name (since she hates her family that much) and genuinely starts tearing up when mentioning her father, implying that at least some of it wasn't a lie.
Verbal Tic: Sometimes says wordsssss likeeee thissss if she's in an excited mood. It's especially noticeable in the dub where one of her voice lines is "SOOOOOOOOOO" which Kira Buckland really drags out.
Volleying Insults: Most of her interactions with Toko and Genocide Jack end up being this in Ultimate Summer Camp, except one, where Toko watched her practice her dancing and said that there was a "playful beauty" to it and that she could write poetry to her dances. Hiyoko's surprised that Toko can actually give out compliments.
Wardrobe Malfunction: Sort of. Hiyoko's been wearing the same traditional Japanese dancing clothes for a long time because the clothing is apparently so complicated she can't tie her obi by herself (which means if she were to take the clothing off she wouldn't be able to put it back on), which means she hasn't been able to bathe in a while. In Chapter 2, Mahiru agrees to help Hiyoko take her obi off and on. This helps clear her name in the second trial because she couldn't have showered Mahiru's blood off her if she cannot re-dress herself afterwards. This also ends up contributing to her death, as in Chapter 3, having trouble tying it on her own now that Mahiru is dead, she takes Sonia's suggestion to use the full-length mirror at the back of the stage, where Mikan was setting up the murder of Ibuki.
Womanchild: Has a very immature and childish personality and a love for childish things like gummies and playing pranks. Her child-like appearance and extremely high-pitched voice only makes it easier to forget that she's actually the same age as everyone else(and in terms of months she's actually older than very mature students like Mahiru and Peko).
Who Murdered the Asshole: Averted. She liked to insult everyone save Mahiru, especially Mikan and to a lesser extent Kazuichi. However, Mikan didn't kill her for everything she had done, but because Hiyoko walked in on her as she was killing Ibuki.

Mahiru Koizumi

Ultimate Photographer

"You should really listen to what people say, you know! Otherwise you’ll miss the important details! Like that, just now!"

Voiced by: Yuu Kobayashi (Japanese) Carrie Keranen (English)

Played by: Ami Hachiya, Rina Chikura (Stage)

A promising young photographer who has won many awards for her portraits. Though she can be a bit critical at times, Mahiru is one of the more sensible and level-headed students on the island and is generally very positive and optimistic. She is the victim of Chapter 2, bludgeoned to death by Peko on behalf of Fuyuhiko.

Alone with the Psycho: Her situation in the beach house was a variation of this as she was ambushed by the very unstable Fuyuhiko when she expected Hiyoko to be there and was trying her best to avoid Fuyuhiko at this point but she had no idea he was psychotic enough to try and kill her until it was far too late.
Ambiguously Bi: Her relationship with both Sato and Hiyoko can suggest this due to the fact that, like most of the girls, Hajime can still romance her in Dangan Island and gets Ship Tease moments with her during their Free Time events together.
The Atoner: She tried, anyway. Mahiru went to go talk to Fuyuhiko at the beach house (and invited Hiyoko, Mikan and Ibuki as well, but only Hiyoko ended up agreeing as the other girls had plans with Sonia) because she wanted to make amends for her involvement in his sister's death. Unfortunately, she ended up angering him instead and was killed by Peko. Ironically, it is her and Peko's death that leads Fuyuhiko on his own redemption arc, something Mahiru would be pleased to see despite their rivalry and his role in her death. Sadly, some of her last thoughts are of wanting to make amends as seen when you investigate her cottage in Chapter 6.
Birds of a Feather: Oddly, she and Hiyoko both grew up with only one parent they could rely on: the difference comes from one elder Saionji being cold and distant while the other protected her. Meanwhile, Mahiru romanticized the image of her mother who was rarely around and grew dissatisfied with a father who was actually there but largely negligent of her needs.
Blatant Lies: When Hajime runs into her after she plays Twilight Syndrome, she claims that she was taking pictures of the ocean at night.
Bludgeoned to Death: She dies from being bashed in the head with a baseball bat thankfully instantly as a result of Peko's genuine skill and potentially Peko intentionally ensuring her death was instant.
Boyish Short Hair: The shortest hair of any of the girls and even shorter than the very tomboyish Akane's.
Break the Cutie: Spends her final days utterly miserable and broken apart by remorse over Twilight Syndrome, a flashback with Ibuki shows how broken she was on the day Fuyuhiko and Peko took her life, a massive contrast from her usually sunny and optimistic personality.
Brutal Honesty: She is very blunt.
Camera Fiend: Downplayed, since while she's never without her camera, but she's not really this in the original game; only rarely taking photos, despite being the Ultimate Photographer. However, in Ultimate Summer Camp, she takes photos everywhere.
Convenient Photograph: Her photographs during the party end up showing where everyone was standing and are instrumental in revealing Nagito's role in the trial.
Cool Big Sis:
- While they're the same age, she acts as one toward Hiyoko such as helping her with her clothes and taking baths with her. She is also one of the very few students that Hiyoko doesn't insult and the one who she seems to genuinely adore.
- In Ultimate Summer Camp, she ends up becoming this to Himiko. It helps that Himiko reminds her of her fellow honorary little sister Hiyoko.
Covert Pervert: In Island Mode, she is one of the few characters to have a positive reaction to Hajime's suggestion of taking all clothes off. Although she assumes that he's the only one to strip off and she's very excited to take nude photos of him. And she emphatically denies that she wants to see his "shame". This is in spite of her generally wholesome girl next door image.
Daddy's Girl: Downplayed. While she does have issues with her father, her report card shows that she still loves her father and actually enjoys taking care of him. In her Free-Time Events, she tells Hajime that while she has thought about going overseas like her mother, she dislikes leaving her father alone.
Deadpan Snarker: Not as snarky as Hiyoko but still spends a large amount of screentime snarking at others especially Fuyuhiko and is far more charismatic about it than Hiyoko.
Declaration of Protection: Inverted; she's the one who outright demands that Hajime promise to protect her. Not that it does any good, since she is murdered in Chapter 2.
Defiant to the End: Even in her final moments she refuses to let Fuyuhiko's self-righteous and psychotic bullshit stand, sadly that's what gets her killed.
Destroy the Evidence: She's girl "D" in Monokuma's game, the "motive" he provided for the second chapter, whose photos could prove that girl "E" (named Sato) murdered another girl. Rather than tell the police, she cleaned up the evidence that could have pointed to Sato and confronted her directly. She decides to not turn her in upon listening to her (Sato killed the girl because she bullied Mahiru). What does this have to do with the motive? The girl who Sato killed is Fuyuhiko's sister, and because Fuyuhiko completed the game first, he received the photos that Mahiru took, and upon seeing a photo of his dead sister (and possibly piecing together who "D" was in the game) he got angry and sent the photos to Mahiru, who felt guilty once she saw them. This is why Mahiru is murdered in Chapter 2: Peko kills her for Fuyuhiko's sake. However, the events of Danganronpa 3 muddles the truth of the cover-up crime, showing that Mahiru never took part in the cover-up of Fuyuhiko's sister at all, which contradicts Monokuma's 'Twilight Syndrome Murder Case' simulation.
The Ditz: Lampshaded by Mahiru herself. At random intervals, she characterises herself as someone without an intelligence streak (despite being a child prodigy and generally being very level headed). Also, in the trials of Danganronpa 2, she makes assumptions of her own that are incredibly insistent and brash despite the evidence gathered by Hajime. That being said, she's not stupid per se, just quick to jump to conclusions and prone to letting her emotions rule her head.
Does Not Like Men: Downplayed. While she doesn’t outright dislike men, she’s quite rude and biased towards them compared to girls, whom she treats with more kindness. That being said, she doesn’t like seeing anyone hurt or upset, be it a guy or girl; it’s likely that she just has some rather old-fashioned views. Furthermore, it is implied that she is so hard on boys because she wants them to become good, hard-working people (unlike her father), rather than any genuine malice or hatred, and she's much nicer to the likes of Hajime and Nekomaru than the toxic males like Fuyuhiko and Teruteru.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: Her final Free Time could be a master course in subtext. She's incredibly embarrassed and says Hajime's the only one... Who can take her picture. She leads him away to a more solitary place so he can "take her picture". They then nervously exchange her camera "with trembling hands". Hajime then notes that he feels very nervous before it and then she says "I-It's fine... C'mon, hurry up and take it." He then "took it" thinking
"I've never felt this strange feeling before in my life. Normally I'd feel too embarrassed to do it...but because I locked eyes with Mahiru through the viewfinder... The Mahiru I was looking at through the camera looked like she had a completely different face than before. I suddenly felt extremely embarrassed...and accidentally pressed the shutter. *click!*
Everyone Has Standards:
- While she has a negative opinion of most of the men she knows, in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan, she thinks Tenko's going too far by demanding the deaths of all "degenerate males."
- She doesn't take the fake Byakuya's death very well. In fact she takes it harder than any other character in the game, and offers to stand guard so nobody tampers with the crime scene. She might not have the best opinion on men, but seeing his dead body really shook her.
False Confession: Not by her volition, but it is revealed in Danganronpa 3 that Mahiru, after the murder of Natsumi Kuzuryu, did not partake in the cover-up of the murder, and was also not informed by her friend Sato that she was the one who killed Natsumi. Fast-forward to Chapter 2 of Danganronpa 2, Mahiru is then tricked by Monokuma's 'Twilight Syndrome Murder Case' false simulation, believing that she did indeed have a hand in the cover-up after all. This leads to Mahiru confessing her 'crime' to Fuyuhiko, which then leads to her unjust murder.
Fanservice: Early on, you get to see her in a one-piece swimsuit and can see her long legs and nice figure. Later, you have the option of potentially seeing her bathing with Hiyoko if you have the Man's Nut, with only Censor Steam hiding her from being fully nude.
Fatal Flaw: Mahiru has two very big ones:
- Her assertive argumentative personality ends up being this. While Fuyuhiko started the argument Mahiru didn't try to calm him down or run away when he was clearly unstable by that point instead engaging with his argument which enraged him further causing him to go for the bat.
- Mahiru strongly believes in making amends even if it puts her in harms way, this is why she decided to engage with Fuyuhiko instead of doing the smart thing and running away the second he turned up. In addition both he and Peko used her attempts to make amends to lure her to her death.
Fiery Redhead: She can get a bit pushy and argumentative when people don't live up to her standards. Unfortunately, her fieriness causes her to get killed when she had a lapse in judgment and angrily called out an already on-edge Fuyuhiko for his possible revenge on Sato. However, ironically enough Fuyuhiko fondly remembered her for being a fiery person.
Fuyuhiko: (In Chapter 5) If Mahiru were here she would have beaten you up.
First-Name Basis: In the original Japanese. She tends to call the other female students by their first name and "-chan", possibly because she tends to get along with them better than the male students.
Forgotten Fallen Friend: Played With. Mahiru herself isn't forgotten by the group but the circumstances of her murder are swept under the rug after her trial as the class besides Hiyoko forgives Fuyuhiko instantly even before he apologized for Mahiru's murder and they never bring it up again and are actually shocked when Hiyoko continues to resent him for getting Mahiru beaten to death because he couldn't control his temper. It's also averted, in that she's probably mentioned the most out of all the deceased characters, being mentioned throughout Chapter 3, in Fuyuhiko's 4th Free Time Event, and at least once in Chapter 5.
Gone Horribly Wrong: She tries to interrogate Fuyuhiko one-on-one by condemning him for his murder of Sato, while he is clearly more irritable than he usually is because she was pinned by the Twilight Syndrome game as trying to cover up his sister's murder. The end result is her senseless murder at the hands of Peko, who no one knew was actually his hitman at the time and thought she was following orders from him.
Good Parents: She loves her mother and father. Her father is a bit lazy, but she loves him nonetheless, and she takes after her mother with her talent in photography. She's one of the few students who don't have any significant parental issues, other than her father's laziness being the reason she's more critical of boys.
Hartman Hips: Because sprites are always as humane and believable as possible, her abdomen isn't small enough to wholly identify them as "Hartman," but her actual thighs seem to be the second largest a Danganronpa female has had them◊, the largest being Sayaka Maizono, whose thighs are big enough to conjoin if they were wider.◊ Sayaka's seems more appropriate to her talent as an idol prodigy has to be extremely euphoric and beautiful in order to actually become idolised.
- In Ultimate Summer Camp it's played straight, as her hips are as wide as her shoulders in her bikini sprites.
The Heart: She takes Byakuya's murder harder than anyone else and likely would've had similar reactions to the other murders had she not been next in line. Hajime even calls her this trope and every single member of the class feels terrible about her murder, including the two who actually killed her/caused her death.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: She's definitely one of the nicer girls in the story, but struggles with the notion that there's more to her than just her talent in photography. A lot of her guarded behavior can be explained by her underlying insecurity, even in regards to her Ultimate ability. In the Chapter 1 investigation, she also claims that she's not smart enough or confident enough to investigate, so she opts to guard the body, instead.
Honour Before Reason: Her attempts to make amends with Fuyuhiko can be seen as this, instead of running from the clearly unstable Fuyuhiko when he ambushes her at the beach house she tries to talk to him to make things right, when he starts to go off the deep end and tells her Sato's death doesn't matter when she asks him about it, she starts to yell him about revenge instead of again, running away from a clearly dangerous situation. This gets her killed. In general Mahiru is an extremely moral and kind person, but sometimes this clouds her judgment and causes her to act recklessly despite being level-headed most of the time.
Hypocrite:
- She believes that it's a man's job to step up and take charge (and to protect the girls), but takes issue when Byakuya takes charge as the leader. She also says that his personality is too forceful when hers isn't any different.
- She stands up for Mikan when Fuyuhiko threatens her. However, she never does anything about Hiyoko's consistent bullying of Mikan, which is especially jarring, considering that she's Hiyoko's best and only friend, and could've been the only person to influence her on this.
  - Furthermore, at the start of Chapter 2, when the other students point out that Hiyoko began to stink as a result of not taking showers, which they did in a polite manner with actual concern about her well-being instead of mean-spirited comments, Mahiru stands up for Hiyoko, accusing the others of bullying her.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be short-tempered and impatient with boys, but her relationship with Hiyoko and Free Time events reveal she has a gentle heart. She organizes a baking session with the rest of the girls to take their minds off the killing game. She also is greatly affected by Byakuya's death, aids the investigation as much as she can, and genuinely believes that revenge is wrong and second chances are important. Her death alone sums up her pure heart, trying to make amends over the death of her bully to her bully's brother who also treats her like shit.
Jerkass Has a Point: While she's needlessly harsh towards the guys, she's notably nicer to towards the kinder boys of the group (Hajime, Nekomaru, to a lesser extent she warms to Togami. She also temporarily warms up to Nagito when he says he's good at cleaning in Chapter 1, calling him "reliable", but her opinion of him naturally plummets when it was revealed he was planning on killing Byakuya.), she's completely correct to call out Teruteru for his creepy behaviour, Soda for his constant whining and Fuyuhiko for his constant use of death threats and misogynistic insults.
Jerkass to One: Mahiru gets along worse with Fuyuhiko than anyone else, even the other boys. Even before learning about the incident in which he killed her friend, she calls Fuyuhiko out on expressing a willingness to kill, and mocks him for it when he briefly becomes a suspect in the first chapter. This is justified by his extremely horrible behavior towards her (as well as everyone else) and being the most aggressive and violent guy in the group, hence receiving her ire more than say, someone like Nekomaru or Hajime.
Kill the Cutie: Mahiru is a genuinely adorable and loveable young woman with a very cute design, she's then ruthlessly beaten to death by Peko because of Fuyuhiko and is found sitting in a pool of her own blood with a sad look on her face and ultimately died for a senseless reason. The cast in particular Hiyoko, Sonia, Nekomaru and Hajime are heartbroken by her death and even her own killers ended up feeling immense sorrow over what happened to her.
Leg Cling: It's implied (on Mahiru's end) that Hiyoko appreciates her so much that she actively clings to her. Mostly the lower field of Mahiru's body, though Hiyoko being the shortest member of the cast, she wouldn't be able to reach higher.
Like Mother, Like Daughter: In her Free Time events and her Dangan Island ending, Hajime learns her mother was also a great photographer, and she briefly wonders whether or not she can become like her mother just by taking photos of whatever she likes. Is taking photos all she can do...? Hajime cheers her up by pointing out Mahiru has lots of other good points.
The Lost Lenore: Is this for Hiyoko as Hiyoko's attempts to better herself are all done in honour of Mahiru. She even forgives Fuyuhiko after thinking about what Mahiru would want her to do.
Loved by All: Although she's feisty and argumentative she makes friends with pretty much everyone on the island (except Fuyuhiko) even Hiyoko who distrusts everyone else because of her sweet bubbly and honest personality as well as her role as the Team Mom. Her death is mourned by everyone in the group (in particular Hiyoko, Hajime, Mikan, Ibuki and Nekomaru). Darkly humorously and tragically enough this very much includes Peko who still regarded Mahiru as a friend and had zero ill will against her, and Fuyuhiko who came to respect and admire her and realised her words about revenge were completely right. She was so well liked, even her own killers cared about her and wished they never hurt her (nice, but the definition of "too little, too late").
Moral Myopia: She has her moments, such as when she scolds everyone for "picking on" Hiyoko when they point out how bad she smells, but she never tells off Hiyoko for her nasty comments to everyone else - especially Mikan, who does nothing to deserve them. To be fair, Mahiru does defend Mikan from Fuyuhiko when he threatens her during the first class trial for speaking up and her strong moral sense is what causes her murder.
Morality Pet: In a sense, she's Hiyoko's; while Hiyoko isn't a villain, she's still a sadistic bully to everyone else but Mahiru, who she's very clingy and affectionate towards.
Nice Girl: She has her flaws, but for the most part she's a very nice and positive young woman who constantly puts others ahead of herself.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
- Tries to make amends for her presumed role in Natsumi's murder, this ends up getting her brutally murdered by Peko and Fuyuhiko who used her desire to make things right to lure her to the beach house.
- She spends a good portion of Chapter 1's trial standing up for Peko and shouting at the class for not being sensitive towards her toilet issue. She also helps her relearn her smile in Free Time and is always very kind and positive towards Peko. How does Peko repay her for her kindness? She ruthlessly beats her to death and uses her corpse as a doorstopper. Although Peko did ensure her an instant death, so that could be as a result of her past friendship and respect for Mahiru.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Hajime is on the way to play Twilight Syndrome, he encounters Mahiru (presumably back from playing it herself), who claims she went to take photos of the ocean at night. Hajime expresses concern, and Mahiru thanks him, with Hajime finding it odd that she'd react that way when she's normally standoffish.
Ordinary High-School Student: Well, not really of course since she's the Ultimate Photographer, but she is this trope in spirit, if not in the letter as she doesn't have any huge issues or crazy personality quirks. Notably, her pose in her official art is a lot more casual and normal compared to the rest.
Parental Neglect: Her negative opinion of men stems from her lazy bum of a father. But she still loves him regardless.
Pet the Dog:
- She can be a bit abrupt and critical, but she's capable of being nice: when she finds out Hiyoko isn't taking baths because she can't re-tie her obi properly, Mahiru offers to help.
- Despite not getting along with Teruteru and being horrified and angry to learn about his decision to commit murder, she, reflecting upon what he said before his death, sympathizes with his desire to see his mother.
- Although Fuyuhiko treats Mahiru like shit, she still tried to make things right with him after Twilight Syndrome and felt genuinely awful for her implied role in Natsumi's (who also treated Mahiru like shit) death, alas he used that to kill her.
  - In the Talent Development plan she offers Fuyuhiko genuine advice in praising Natsumi's photography, hinting at the idea that if Fuyuhiko and Mahiru met outside of a killing game or if he changed prior to causing her death they could have actually been genuine friends considering their abrasive, yet good natured personality.
- While her opinion of Nagito plummets after the events of the first-class trial, Mahiru is hesitant of the idea of the other classmates tying him up and isolating him from everyone else, and even willingly provides him with food to ensure that Nagito doesn't starve in spite of him freaking her out. Prior to this, she refers to Nagito as reliable and that he'd make a good stay at home dad when he said he was good at cleaning.
- In the Talent Development Plan, despite criticizing Gonta for falling for Hiro's claim that there were OOPArts buried around the school, she understands that Gonta is a good person at heart and tells him she supports his goals to be a gentleman.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: She is the red to her murderer Peko's blue as she is passionate, outgoing and fiery.
Shower Scene: In Chapter 2 with Hiyoko, complete with Censor Steam.
Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Subverted. She's a green-eyed redhead, but is the second victim and isn't hugely significant to the plot although she does have a role in both Fuyuhiko and Hiyoko's development. Played straight if on Island Mode and you get her ending.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: In Ultimate Summer Camp, when "Junko" (Mukuro!Junko) starts wanting to do "girl talk" with her, before asking if she'd like any guy in particular to notice her "girlish charms", Mahiru gets embarrassed and tries to ask "Junko", who she likes, though "Junko" says it's a secret. Mukuro has a major crush on Makoto in the back story, and Mahiru's path in Ultimate Summer Camp implies that she is likely the same for her game's protagonist, Hajime. The only boy she has much nice to say about is Hajime in their interaction, when Hajime moves to help Mikan as fast as he could and shield her from exposing anything as best he can, to Mahiru's surprise and appreciation. Her "My Future" also has in her "saving for myself" pile, a photo of her "making a weird face" by Hajime, just like Hajime takes of her in her final Free Time in Danganronpa 2, implying they do something like "Free Time" and complete it together.
Stepford Smiler: During her final conversation with Ibuki she plays this tragically straight. By this point Mahiru is a depressed shell of her former positive self because of Twilight Syndrome and for a brief moment shows this to Ibuki but when Ibuki notices, she instantly puts on a very sweet yet ungenuine smile as she says she just wants the class to get along. She hid her true fears and her sadness from everyone else because she was worried about making others worry about her. Even prior to this, while she's a genuinely happy young woman, she still has a lot of internal self esteem issues she hides from everyone.
Story-Breaker Power: Her ability to take photographs is precisely what leads to Nagito's plot falling apart in Chapter 1, as it showed everyone's positions before the blackout, allowing her to mark everyone's positions for the trial later on. She gets killed off in the following chapter thanks to the recklessness of an Ax-Crazy Fuyuhiko.
Team Mom: Mahiru has a tendency to act very motherly, doing her best to look after everyone and scolding them for things like not doing their laundry. While this means she's good at nagging, particularly with the boys, it also means she has a gentle and kind heart beneath her initially brash exterior, and she genuinely does care very much about the well-being of her classmates. She thinks it is very important for all of them to get along and work together. Tellingly, she is the only one who thinks of bringing Nagito food while he is tied up in chapter 2 and doesn't seem to agree with tying him up in the first place despite the danger he poses.
Tomboy and Girly Girl:
- Is the Tomboy to Hiyoko's Girly Girl, Hiyoko is very traditionally feminine and relies on Mahiru to help her out, while Mahiru is also very feminine she tends to take on some very typically masculine roles and is very independent. In addition, while Hiyoko has very long hair tied in two huge twin-tails and a very flashy kimono, Mahiru has Boyish Short Hair and a more casual outfit.
- Inverted in the case of her murderer Peko, as Mahiru is the Girly Girl to Peko's Tom Boy. Peko is a no-nonsense action girl whereas Mahiru is more of a helpful Team Mom.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Much less of a Tomboy than action girls Akane and Peko but she's still a very feisty young woman with Boyish Short Hair who takes on a lot of male-dominated roles, yet she's also very feminine and acts as the Team Mom of the group.
Too Dumb to Live:
- Played with, Mahiru should have known better than to antagonize Fuyuhiko when he was worked up about the situation surrounding his sister's death, especially when she knows he's a yakuza member with a short fuse. It's saying something that if Peko hadn't gotten to her, she would have more than likely been dead at his hands (its saying that Fuyuhiko was an abusive psychopath prior to his arc and thus wasn't a good idea to piss him off, although even if she didn't there was still a good chance he would have gone through with it despite his claims that he would have backed out considering how abusive and unstable he was at this point.)
  - Also she never should have tried to engage with him in the first place and ran away the second he turned up at the beach house, Fuyuhiko was at that point an ill tempered brat who threatened to kill her multiple times and now had an excuse to do so. Although it should be noted Fuyuhiko started the argument by angrily brushing off her question about killing Sato and that Fuyuhiko until this point seemed like a Paper Tiger who made bullshit threats.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Subverted since Hope Arc reveals she came back, but in spite of her flaws Mahiru is an extremely kind and selfless person who hopes to make others smile with her photos. When Twilight Syndrome framed her for covering up Natsumi's death, she tried to make amends for her presumed role in said events rather than trying to run or hide, which led to her death.
True Art Is Angsty: invoked Discussed, as she worries that her pictures of happy subjects don't have as much merit as her mother's war photography.
Tsundere: Harshly critical towards men in general, and keeps upbraiding people like Hajime and Kazuichi for not acting the way she feels they should, but she does have a softer side. She also acts like the classic tsundere towards Hajime in her Free Time events and her Island Mode events and ending.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her attempt to Destroy the Evidence (which is revealed in Danganronpa 3 to be untrue) in Monokuma's game is how Fuyuhiko found out that Sato killed his sister, leading him to kill Sato in revenge. This action would later lead to both her own death and Peko's execution in the present storyline when Fuyuhiko played the video game and learned what happened.
What the Hell, Hero?: Does this on three occasions.
- She angrily asks Teruteru why he felt he needed to try to kill Nagito in order to stop his murder plot.
- During the first trial she scolds Fuyuhiko when he threatens Mikan.
- When meeting with Fuyuhiko, she asks him if he killed Sato, before telling him that "Revenge... is just wrong!" This leads to her death—Fuyuhiko gets angry and goes for the bat to try to kill her, but Peko kills her first, believing she's doing his bidding.
Yamato Nadeshiko: She ticks almost all of the boxes: She's gentle, has domestic skills, and is a Team Mom. She's also a Fiery Redhead, and has the spine to potentially not back down from anyone, but can show humility when proven wrong.
Youthful Freckles: Across her nose to match her red hair.

Mikan Tsumiki

Ultimate Nurse

"U-Um...Other than dying, I can pretty much do anything! Please order me around whenever you want!"

Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Japanese), Stephanie Sheh (English)

Played by: Maasa Sudo (Stage)

A talented nurse who can treat any injury. Painfully shy and clumsy, Mikan can hardly hold a conversation without bursting into tears and apologizing. She is the culprit of Chapter 3, having been infected by the Despair Disease, which caused her to regain some of her lost memories (as a part of Ultimate Despair) and completely lose her mind. She goes on to murder Ibuki and Hiyoko and is executed by Monokuma after being found guilty, shot into space on a giant arm injected with rocket fuel.

Abusive Parents: Implied in her third Free Time event; Mikan says she was beaten up at home as well as at school to the point of sleeping on park benches to get away from home. She also claims that "her beloved" was the only person who accepted her...
Accomplice by Inaction: Accuses the other students of this before her execution, stating that it was mostly their fault she became what she was because no one would come to her aid when she was ridiculed and humiliated by her peers.
The Alibi: The crux of her crime and how it then backfires. By staging a suicide video, she falsified Ibuki's time of death, and likewise with Hiyoko by revealing her body from behind the wallpaper. Then, establishing she was with Hajime when the murders supposedly occurred, her trap had succeeded to the point even Chiaki had fallen for it! The class was saved only by Nagito further doubting the intention of the obfuscation, cueing the trial intermission. This resulted in her trap reversing on her, as Hajime eventually questioned why only he and Mikan gained alibis through the fake video.
Always Someone Better: Nagito is this to her: while Mikan was able to perfectly predict and manipulate Hajime for her crime, Nagito was able to do the same for his crime with all six of the remaining students. Trial 3 shows Nagito actively working against the culprit, and he exploits all the evidence left by Hiyoko's murder to guide the class. Once Nagito obeys the command to shut up, the class soon hits a wall. Even Chiaki fell for the false alibi and at one point had no leads.
Ambiguously Bi: There are a lot of implications that she goes both ways in the series. Her "beloved" that she talks in the Chapter 3 trial about is implied and later confirmed by Danganronpa 3 to be Junko and she enjoys getting off on being in a position of power over Miu in Ultimate Summer Camp, but she can also get a romantic ending with Hajime in Island Mode and she has cute Ship Tease moments with Mondo in both UTDP and S.
And Now for Someone Completely Different: Sort of. In the second chapter's Twilight Syndrome game, she is the "A" girl, who serves as the player character.
Apologizes a Lot: Due to her very low self-esteem.
Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: The locks of her hair, while uneven, resemble wrap bandages.
Asshole Victim: A unique aversion of this. The Mikan Tsumiki who died in chapter 3 cruelly murdered two defenseless girls for the reason of no reason and shows zero remorse for any part of it, but while the class is left thoroughly broken up and confused about it, her death and transformation is ultimately still harrowing, especially with the tearful rage she began to unleash through the trial that's very obviously the result of a lot of pent-up abuse and her very, very unhealthy devotion to her likely evil "beloved". With the reveal in chapter 6 that everyone in the group was an Ultimate Despair, this is pushed much further from 'Asshole' knowing any of them could have succumbed and done similarly, and Mikan was essentially dealt with shitty luck from the Despair Disease... which she most likely contracted by being the one to look after the sick classmates. What one could see as a relatively Open-and-Shut Case of this trope becomes a clear Too Good for This Sinful Earth as context establishes that Mikan really wasn't much of an 'Asshole' to begin with.
Attention Whore: Downplayed and subtle. Part of the reason she falls in very fanservice-y ways is to bring attention to herself, as she'd rather die than be ignored, she doesn't enjoy any of this in the slightest.
Ax-Crazy: From what we see of her Ultimate Despair self in Chapter 3, how she murdered Hiyoko and Ibuki without remorse, and her behaviors during the trial itself we can safely say she used to be one of these. Before her execution, all she does is start giggling and seems a little too calm to be executed.
Based on a True Story: Even if it might be accidental, Mikan being called "Girl A" in the Twilight Syndrome game and her killing Hiyoko by slashing her throat is similar to a real-life murder known as the "Sasebo slashing" in which a Japanese schoolgirl, referred to as "Girl A" by the police, killed a classmate by slashing her throat.
Bedmate Reveal: In Chapter 3, Hajime wakes up with Mikan on top of him.◊ Twice.◊
Beneath Suspicion: When Hajime accuses her of being the murderer of Chapter 3, the others find it unlikely that she could have done it, both in that she doesn't seem to have it in her to do something so terrible, and that she doesn't seem capable of it. Her initial strategy is to be even more self-deprecating than usual.
Gundham: Hmmm... to think there are people killed by a woman as thickheaded as she... it's beyond difficult to believe.
Sonia: We could do without the "thickheaded" part...
Beneath the Mask: Outwardly Mikan is sweet, clumsy, and diligent in appeasing her classmates as best she knows how. However, even before regaining her memories as Ultimate Despair, Mikan showed (not so) subtle hints that she was hiding intense resentment, notable intelligence, and was capable of unconventional manipulation of her classmates.
Beware the Nice Ones:
- Played with. She committed murder largely because she caught the Despair Disease, which drove her insane from suddenly regaining her memories of being part of Ultimate Despair, but there is a very messed-up side to her that's so desperate for attention that she's willing to kill; she claims she did it for the sake of a person she loved, and it's later revealed that this person was Junko Enoshima, who likely manipulated her.
- Even without the despair plot, Mikan has plenty of unsettling tendencies beneath her genuinely kind personality and at one point during her island mode ending considers crippling Hajime so he'd rely on her forever, however she instantly retracts this and seems genuinely horrified at herself for thinking such a thing.
- On a lighter note, before all that she had a disturbing enthusiasm for giving out shots, and one of her Free Time flavor texts involves her chasing Hajime with a syringe.
Big Damn Heroes: Surprisingly, she does this during Chapter 1's trial. The others are about to vote for Nagito as the culprit, but since his murder plan failed, if they'd actually voted for him they all would've been executed for voting for the wrong guy. So Mikan saves all their lives by suddenly screaming out to wait, the wounds on the victim's body don't match the supposed murder weapon!
Book Smart: As a result of reading medical textbooks in her free time, Mikan (like Kyoko and Maki) can act as a coroner and perform low grade pathology such as identifying wounds and even if the victim died instantly purely through visual examination. These are duties NOT performed by nurses whatsoever, which administer the care needed afterward. The fact that she CAN perform these duties, while only a high schooler and not even a real nurse, really is a testament to her brilliant intellect. Even Kyoko and Maki have a history with death that they can recall, while Mikan had never dealt with corpses previously.
- Invoked especially for her murders: Mikan masks Ibuki's fatal injury from all but Nagito, she killed Hiyoko nigh instantly to limit evidence through blood loss, and exploits the reliance of her peers on her to conceal the times of death with the heater as excuse. Only the first of these tricks is actually caught by another classmate.
Brainy Brunette:
- Despite her timid nature and Cute Clumsy Girl tendencies, she is a skilled nurse and her autopsies prove very useful for the trials. She also mentions to Hajime that she likes to read medical textbooks in her Free Time. Although far from level headed, she's also one of the most active characters in trials, even without her skill as a coroner, as her observations and questions tend to saliency, even and especially when the rest of the class ignores her.
- Invoked and played with in her crime: Ibuki's murder was originally intended to be pinned on the crime-solving protagonist, however imitating the movie to cover two deaths would later prove impossible for Mikan's target by chance. Furthermore, Hiyoko's murder was unanticipated, leaving numerous clues, yet Mikan was able to incorporate a second kill and adjust her plan, all on the fly.
Bullied into Depression: Mikan's been systematically abused by her peers ever since childhood and learned that the only way anyone would be willing to pay her the slightest bit of mind was to utterly humiliate herself in front of them. In her Free Time events, if she feels Hajime's getting bored by her company, she'll offer to perform degrading acts like stripping or imitating a sea turtle laying eggs. As a Remnant of Despair, she yells about how she's sick of being mistreated and seems to blame the rest of the group for letting her turn out how she did, which seems less like raw brainwashing and more like feelings that becoming a remnant brought to the surface.
Butt-Monkey: Gets it especially hard from Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko.
Bystander Syndrome: A victim of it. For all of Hiyoko's ruthless and demeaning behavior towards Mikan for essentially existing, no one actually steps in to defuse the situation or help her, something she points out later.
Casual Kink: Surprisingly, she more or less admits that she likes being in positions of power over other people, which is a motivation for her being a nurse because they'd have no choice but to rely on her and do what she said. However, this makes sense when one considers that her weak-willed, submissive personality is due to a very strong belief she'd be "loved" by others if she did what she thought they wanted to see/hear. And some of her liked items, like the Gag Ball and Queen's Straitjacket, indicate she's into bondage.
Cassandra Truth: In chapter 3, Mikan points out Fuyuhiko's wounds shouldn't have healed so quickly, another hint to the simulated virtual reality; the class, of course, doesn't catch this at all and Monokuma promptly sets her up as a blackened.
Chekhov's Gag: Her fanservice shots with her... interesting poses ended up being important. The first one is important because Teruteru made a lecherous comment about Mikan, but when the second one occurred, he was nowhere around to do so, which was proof against Teruteru and helped everyone figure out that he was the culprit. And later in Chapter 3, it's done to show that Mikan too, was suffering from the Despair Disease, thus raising her body temperature, something of which Hajime noted since she was on top of him and felt her hot body. Finally, her Free Time events reveal that she actually makes some of these poses on purpose, since she's convinced that the only way people will pay her any attention is if she humiliates herself in front of them.
Conditioned to Accept Horror: Mikan is so used to people abusing her, she assumes that everyone wants to bully and humiliate her. For example, when Aoi brought a bottle for them to drink, she assumed Aoi either wanted to pour it on her or force her to drink it whole.
The Coroner: Examines the victims for their cause of death, which often provides useful information (such as that Byakuya was not killed with the knife, and that since Mahiru died instantly, the killer would have had to move her body to block the door). She makes use of her knowledge by using the air conditioner to disguise her victims' time of death. This also rouses Nagito's suspicion, as she claims Ibuki was definitely hanged while he's seen evidence indicating that Ibuki was strangled—and after being so accurate before, why would she be wrong here?
Covert Pervert: Three of the gifts she really likes are the Gag Ball, Kokeshi Dynamo and Queen's Straitjacket.
Creepy Monotone: Once she reveals her true personality, this is her default tone of voice.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Unlike the other executions, the "cruel" part is debatable since Mikan doesn't actually suffer on-screen, but the "unusual" part definitely isn't. Mikan is lying in a hospital bed, but Monokuma runs in wearing a nurse's outfit and injects something into the bed, which causes the bed to transform into a rocket that carries Mikan all the way out into space. She doesn't actually die on-screen since she's last seen holding onto the rocket for dear life, but it can be assumed that she died up there from lack of oxygen.
Cute and Psycho: While her shy and nervous nature is genuine, that doesn't mean she's completely harmless. Aside from her already-existing Yandere tendencies, she enjoys horror movies for how helpless the victims are, tries to chase down an unwilling Hajime to give him an injection in her Free Time events, and implies that she became a nurse at least partly so sick and injured people would need to depend on her. To say nothing of what happens to her after she catches the Despair Disease...
Cute Clumsy Girl: Or at least an overblown parody of one. It's implied that she exaggerates some of her clumsiness for attention, making her a rather depressing Deconstruction of this trope.
Dark and Troubled Past: It's strongly implied that as well as being horrendously bullied her entire life, Mikan also had Abusive Parents as she mentioned she got beat up as home as well as at school and given that she's very quick to offer to take her clothes off when she thinks Hajime is mad at her, it's possible she was sexually harassed as well.
Desecrating the Dead: After she kills Hiyoko, Mikan makes a special point of turning the knot of her obi around to the front of her kimono, which was how prostitutes used to wear their kimono to differentiate them from geisha, as it makes it easier to take them on and off. In other words, Mikan non-verbally calls Hiyoko a trashy skank, which was one of Hiyoko's favourite ways to insult Mikan although granted in a much crueler way than just petty words and Mikan never actually confirms this.
Desperately Craves Affection: She was bullied so severely throughout her life that she's convinced that the only way people will pay attention to her is to humiliate herself in front of them, so she deliberately plays up her Cute Clumsy Girl tendencies for this reason. This is shown to have some very dark consequences when she's infected by the Despair Disease, as she commits murder in the name of her "beloved", who is Junko Enoshima.
Determinator: After Mikan is identified as the blackened, Hajime has to face two Nonstop Debates (the second of which hangs on a subtle slip of the tongue) and a Panic Talk Action before he finally takes her down. The only other culprits to put up this much resistance^note are Celestia (with three Nonstop Debates), Gundam and Kirumi (both launch a Nonstop Debate, a Rebuttal Showdown, and a PTA/Argument Armament). This pairs well with Mikan being The Dragon to Junko in Chapter 3's trial.
Nagito: It seems her desperate struggle is finally coming to an end.
Didn't See That Coming: Hiyoko walking in on her at the venue made her plan backfire in every way possible:
- Mikan was forced to revise her plan with Ibuki to include a second death and imitating the movie is what cleared Hajime from being the potential prime suspect, simply because he had not viewed it.
- Furthermore, imitating the movie led Hajime back to the theatre so he could view it. It was then that Monokuma made a "careless" (read: intentional) slip of the tongue and revealed there were two hemp bags. This is the final nail in Mikan's case, as she was not at the crimescene and argued one bag cannot be used in two places. If not for Monokuma revealing evidence no one had access to, she in fact had a flawless defense.
- To incriminate Hajime as Crying Wolf, Mikan hid Hiyoko's body from him within a wallpaper pillar to reveal it after he left the scene, falsifying an alibi and creating holes in Hajime's testimony. However, stashing the wallpaper forced Mikan to leave the black curtain hanging when her original plan was to stash that instead, accomplishing the same goal of creating an inconsistent testimony (a la "That curtain was totally hanging when I first walked in! It definitely was not me, the only person here at the time, who took it down for no apparent reason! No, there isn't a way to prove this, why do you ask?"). Having to leave the improperly sized curtain up drew attention to the fact it wasn't originally there, as no one would have looked twice at it in the storage room, and noticing the newly hanging black curtain directed Chiaki straight to the conference room.
- By lacerating Hiyoko's throat with likely a scalpel, Mikan killed her instantly to limit blood loss, but the stain on the stepladder ultimately proved the falsity of the broadcast. It is also implied Chiaki thought of the conference room after remembering the black curtain and recognising the wood panel flooring.
Dissonant Serenity: Once she reveals her Despair personality and the finger of suspicion is placed firmly on her, she speaks nearly exclusively in a nearly monotone sing-song voice. Even after being pinpointed as the murderer, she accepts her impending execution as a way to reach her lost love.
The Dog Bites Back: Thankfully averted. Mikan kills Hiyoko because she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, not because she constantly bullied her. Even if that was the reason, Hiyoko's behaviour didn't exactly reach the same levels of cruelty as Mikan slitting her throat.
The Dragon:
- In a way for Trial 3, since she remembered being Ultimate Despair and dedicated her crime to her beloved, Junko. Special points for standing at podium #8 which is in front of Monokuma's throne, the same podium later used by Tsumugi.
- She manages to force the debate to hinge on Hajime's word against hers, and only Hajime can pull the class through. Then, facing the Ultimate Despair again later...
Empathic Healer: Played for Horror. Mikan catching the Despair Disease from one of her patients, most likely Nagito, is what enabled her to revert to an Ultimate Despair and kill both Ibuki and Hiyoko out of her love for Junko Enoshima with little to no incriminating evidence.
Expressive Hair: Her locks of hair grow more numerous and stick out at wilder angles based on her emotional state. When she has regained her Despair persona, her hair becomes even wilder.
Extreme Doormat: Deconstructed. Her Free Time events reveal she pretty much lets anyone do anything they want to her, specifically mentioning people stamping cigarette butts out on her or drawing on her. She lets people do these things because she believes it's the only way she can get attention since in her mind being everyone's Butt-Monkey is at least better than being ignored.
Face Death with Dignity: She's the third culprit. Unlike Teruteru and Peko, she doesn't resist her punishment, but she doesn't face her death with dignity so much as she accepts her fate with an actually unsettling calmness.
Face Doodling: One of many embarrassing things she's put herself through for attention. One of her voice clips during her Panic Talk Action is even "please, draw on me!". In Ultimate Summer Camp, she offers to let Miu draw on her, though Miu says she'd rather be drawn on...
Face–Heel Turn: Yes, this can apply to literally any other student in the series who commits a murder, however, Mikan sticks out the most as she starts out as a Nice Girl only to be forcibly reverted back to the Remnant of Despair brainwashed by Junko Enoshima that she actually is. Essentially, she switched to being a complete villain under the control over the true villain than simply being morally grey.
Foil: To both of her victims:
- Hiyoko; both of them are characters with traumatic childhoods in which they were mistreated by others, but whereas Mikan responded to this by becoming a spineless doormat who's often too timid to hold a conversation without tears and desperately tries to appease others, the latter became an abrasive bully in order to drive others away, as well as becoming one of the most distrusting members of the group. Although in the end, they wanted the same thing, someone to protect and love them.
- Ibuki; both of them are incredibly lonely due to their peers ostracising them, and so have identical responses that differ based on their personalities, where Mikan tries desperately to conform to the expectations of her classmates so as to make them happy and be accepted, Ibuki tries to use her exaggerated humour and style to entertain and delight her classmates. Both just want company in the end, and commit great effort into being worth it in their own ways.
- Both she and Akane came from truly horrific childhoods with implied sexual abuse, Akane responded to it by becoming indifferent towards her situation and ending up very positive and cheery but still with a lot of hidden internal issues and a feisty young woman who will fight any threat she faces, Mikan in contrast became a Extreme Doormat with a very sad personality and won't fight back. Notably Akane defends Mikan throughout trial 3.
For the Evulz: After being hit by the Despair Disease and getting her memories as a Remnant of Despair back, her motive for targeting Ibuki for murder was none other than to please her beloved, who is heavily implied, and later confirmed, to be Junko Enoshima.
Freak Out: She snaps when exposed during her trial, but calms down to an unnerving degree afterwards.
Genius Burnout: Mikan is the most likely contender for third smartest student of Class 77 after Nagito then Chiaki, and she is perhaps only rivalled by Sonia who herself doesn't provide as much evidence as Mikan does. And yet, she is often totally ignored or outright shutdown by her classmates, such as when she tries to raise doubt about Nagito in Trial 1 but everyone walls her in with arguments. For all her brilliancy, she is held back by her circumstances, and her talent would have broken Nagito's final gambit, but the class's overreliance on her causes her to catch the despair disease.
Giant Medical Syringe: Used by Monokuma to fuel the giant arm that blasts Mikan into space.
Giggling Villain: During her calmer phase after she is revealed to have her Ultimate Despair memories back.
Hates Being Alone: She's willing to go to extremes, such as degrading herself in front of people, giving them her money, being exploited, and taking all kinds of abuse if it means she won't be alone.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: It's hard for her to accept that anyone would be interested in talking to her or getting to know her at all.
Hidden Depths: Her whole character:
- First is her clumsiness and lewdness: in Chapter 1, she "trips" twice and ends up in compromising poses. This is easily written off as fanservice by the player, however in both instances Mikan does this after her classmates are in a tense scenario (ex. after a sudden total blackout). It can be inferred that Mikan was very consciously manipulating the mood to relieve the tension for her peers. For a more sinister examination, see Look Behind You.
- Second is her sweet and caring drive: during a Free Time event, Mikan states she enjoys helping the sick because "We are all equals when we are sick", which appears altruistic since Mikan can be strong and knowledgeable enough to help those weaker than her, however further interactions with Mikan suggest she actually enjoys the rare instances of power she has over others.
- Third, and exceptionally obscured, is her intelligence: Trial 3 has all of her crime backfire on her in every way, however her plan failed only because Hiyoko walked in and her target, Hajime, had not seen the movie she then imitated. Had either of these factors been different, her crime would have been nearly unsolvable. Even before that in Trial 2, Mikan was the very first student to suggest an accomplice after Nagito brought up the three-person discovery rule, and before that in Trial 1, Mikan was the first to doubt Nagito as the killer based both on Byakuya's wounds and the lack of blood splatter on Nagito.
Hoist by Her Own Petard:
- Literally with a rope. That is, Mikan strangled Ibuki first, then staged the body to look like a hanging/suicide. Nagito noticed both an out-of-place frayed section of rope and a rope burn which was unlike a hanging's, and asked for Mikan's opinion as the Ultimate Nurse as to Ibuki's cause of death. Against the evidence, Mikan lies and confirms it as suicide. Come the trial, Nagito reveals exactly this evidence.
- It can be inferred Mikan intentionally created contradictory evidence. Her original plan to kill Ibuki had Hajime framed as the suspect since he discovered the body alone which meant he had an opportunity to dress the scene (hence Nagito accusing him at the start of the trial). By making strangulation detectable, Mikan intended to create a solvable mystery that would further implicate Hajime as the only witness to the "suicide" video. Until Hiyoko walked in...
Horrifying the Horror:
- Even Fuyuhiko is disturbed when Mikan really starts to lose it during her trial.
- Miu gets creeped out by her getting off on being in a position of power over her after Miu hurts her wrist and has Mikan look at it.
- In Ultimate Summer Camp, Korekiyo suggests that she "nurse at my sister's side", and when she gets rather creepy about how weak she would be compared to her, Korekiyo basically has a "No. Just... No" reaction, leaving her confused, and him claiming she misinterpreted his "no" as something worse.
Hospital Hottie: It would seem this way at first, what with her dressing in a semi-short nurse's uniform, being wrapped in bandages, and having a large bust size. However, her hair is disheveled and cut oddly, she's constantly crying or shrieking, or tripping and getting tangled in things and, in Chapter 1, covered in food.
I Just Want to Be Loved: Having been constantly bullied throughout her life and being around a couple of abrasive students on her Jabberwock Island trip, she is strongly motivated by a desire to be appreciated for who and what she is. This is Played for Drama in Chapter 3, when she is driven to kill a student under her care because of "her beloved" being the only one who "didn't hate her"; said person is revealed to be Junko Enoshima.
I Never Said It Was Poison: Accidentally outs herself as a culprit with this, speaking about the details of Ibuki's "suicide video" even though Hajime was supposedly the only one who viewed it. As a bonus, in the segue to Panic Talk Action, she starts arguing about the impossibility of a "one-of-a-kind" bag being used in the video and then be found on the real victim's head, telling Hajime she remembers it even if he doesn't.
Innocently Insensitive: While being a complete sweetheart and trying to cheer up Hiyoko, her phrasing of this isn't exactly accurate as she says "everything is okay now" despite the fact that clearly, it isn't for Hiyoko considering the dead Mahiru thing, however even if Mikan was completely sensitive Hiyoko being the ungrateful brat she is still would have snapped.
Irony:
- The Ultimate Nurse killed two people.
- Like Celeste before her, Mikan's plan to create an alibi for herself ultimately proves to be her undoing.
Karmic Death: The day after choking the life out of Ibuki, Mikan herself probably chokes to death in deep space from lack of oxygen at the end of her execution, provided that her body made it up there in one piece.
Kick the Dog: Her Despair self seems to enjoy doing this based on her mockingly expressing pity for Nagito when she claims he could never understand her "love"-based motive because he has never had anyone to love or love him in return, which leaves him in a minor state of shock. She also plays up her tragic image as much as she can during the trial to cause her former friends as much distress as possible before making it sound as though they are to blame for how she turned out.
Lascivious Beauty Mark: Mikan is one of the more sexualized students; with her frequently falling over in suggestive poses to attract attention, being particularly lovestruck when speaking about her "beloved", and her execution featuring a split-second shot of her completely nude. Under her left eye to note this is a beauty mark.
Laughing Mad: At the conclusion of her trial, she spends most of her remaining moments laughing. Fuyuhiko even states that she's gone mental.
Leave No Witnesses: She kills Hiyoko by slitting her throat since Hiyoko walked in on her staging Ibuki's murder.
Look Behind You: In an unconventional way. That is, in Mikan's trial, she successfully obscures details that would implicate her by making sudden, suggestive comments:
- When Fuyuhiko states he and Mikan were looking for Ibuki, Mikan adds she "pled with him in various ways" which distracts Fuyuhiko from specifying that they split up, and;
- When Hajime states that he and Mikan have alibis, Mikan adds they "woke up together" that morning which distracts Hajime from specifying that they were not together the whole night, just that she had come by.
Love Makes You Evil: Claims that she murdered because it would have pleased the only one who ever truly loved her. It's implied (and later confirmed) that this person was Junko Enoshima.
Luminescent Blush: Her whole face lights up a bright pinkish-red when she reminisces about her "beloved" Junko Enoshima. It's quite disturbing.
Madness Mantra: "Forgive me." and "Not fair."
The Medic: To the best of her ability. She's actually quite knowledgeable about human biology, which makes her essential for compiling autopsies about how the murder victims died. Which is why she knows, in Chapter 1's trial, that Nagito isn't the one who killed Byakuya: Nagito used a knife, but the victim was killed with something much longer and thinner than a knife.
Mischief for Punishment: Mikan will gladly throw herself into embarrassing or outright degrading situations if it means she can get people to pay attention to her. In her mind, being laughed at and bullied is better than being completely ignored.
Mood-Swinger: After being identified as the culprit during the third trial, she undergoes a Freak Out, beginning to rapidly switch between manic sobbing, furious screaming, creepy sing-song and a sinister calm.
Motive Rant: When she gets cornered by the others as the murderer, Mikan starts ranting about forgiveness and how she has been treated like garbage her entire life.
Ms. Fanservice: Subverted, since her fanservice moments are more often played for Fan Disservice. She often finds herself in embarrassing and suggestive positions, but considering how she clearly does not enjoy it, it becomes infinitely less sexy. Also, during her execution, it's implied that Monokuma's violent injection of her rocket bed is simultaneously stimulating her, even to the point of orgasm (complete with a split-second nude shot). It's disturbingly creepy that the final thing she experienced before skyrocketing to the vast beyond was forced sexual release.
Nerves of Steel: Despite the worst possible thing happening for a blackened - a direct witness to the crime - she sure manages to adapt to the circumstance.
Chiaki: The killer most likely had already placed the hemp bag over [Ibuki's] head... and without hesitation...
Fuyuhiko: ... killed Hiyoko.
Never Found the Body:
- The murder weapon used on Hiyoko was successfully disposed of, as was the second stepladder, noose, candle, and hemp bag. Since the on call room is filled with piles of boxes and equipment, and no one investigated that room thoroughly, the most likely hiding place was there.
- Her own execution has her launched into space without visual confirmation of her death. In light of the virtual world, Mikan may have been allowed to survive off screen, whether for Junko's personal amusement/torture to a simple denial of the death Mikan so readily embraced - whatever causes the most despair is the most likely reason.
Nice Girl: She has a lot of unsettling tendencies and unresolved issues owing to her past, but she often is a genuinely sweet girl who desperately wishes to be helpful, and she attempts to be comforting even towards Hiyoko on several occasions, albeit with little success, she also spends the majority of chapter 3 in the hospital first nursing Fuyuhiko back to health and then the infected with Hajime noting how she doesn't look like she's slept once in the period.
Nightmare Fetishist: She likes horror movies because of how helpless the victims are in them. Again ironically Hiyoko likes Horror for a very similar reason.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The whole reason she was infected by the Despair Disease was that she was trying to help those who were afflicted with it. Hajime even has to make her go to bed at one point because she spends so much time with the victims.
No Social Skills: She's very awkward, stays silent during her Free Time Events with Hajime and has a general lack of knowledge regarding what's socially appropriate and what's not. Although she's still a rather affable young woman who can be genuinely very charming when she talks about medical stuff.
No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: In-Universe. She'd prefer to be loved, but Mikan is so starved for attention that she's disturbingly willing to put herself through embarrassing or outright degrading situations, all to keep people's eyes on her.
Odd Friendship:
- With the outgoing and loud Ibuki. Mikan herself notes that their differences are why they get along so well.
- Similar to Ibuki it's rather strange that the shy and very quiet Mikan becomes pretty close with the rather loud and somewhat brash Mahiru. Besides Hiyoko, Mikan is shown to be the most visibly upset over her death, saying that Mahiru was good at looking after others.
- Although they aren't friends, Mikan has a cordial relationship with Fuyuhiko in the third chapter after his Heel–Face Turn, while Fuyuhiko from chapter 3 onwards is like Mahiru, a friendly if brash guy, keep in mind prior to this he threatened to send Mikan to a brothel and acted like a male Hiyoko towards her, yet clearly she held no ill will and healed him back to health, constantly showing concern for him, Fuyuhiko also initially refuses to believe Mikan killed Hiyoko and Ibuki because of how she healed him back to health. He notably went out of way to only berate Hajime when he catches them in bed together.
The Perfect Crime: Rare for the series and narrowly averted. Until regaining Nagito's participation, the class hits a wall after revealing Hiyoko's involvement, with even Chiaki silenced and unable to move forward regarding Ibuki's murder.
Chiaki: Then what was the killer actually planning to do? They've been cunning this far, there's no way they'd kill Ibuki without a plan.
Mikan: D-do you have any ideas?
Chiaki: ...
Chiaki: ...
- Also, note that Hiyoko's murder does not actually lead to Mikan as the culprit. She is only identified through Ibuki's crime and that set of evidence, with everything else related to Hiyoko having been discussed and settled. To put it another way, without Ibuki at all Mikan technically got away with Hiyoko's murder.
Pink Is Erotic: Mikan wears a pale pink nurse's outfit, and she's one of the most sexualized characters in the game. When she starts openly lusting after her "beloved", she clutches her chest and gains a bright pink Luminescent Blush.
Pointless Band-Aid: From what we can see of her left arm and right leg while she's in a swimsuit in the prologue, she has no cuts or scars that would cause need of the bandages she has on them normally.
Power Echoes: After being cornered as the culprit and her true nature as Ultimate Despair surfaced, the debate against her has the white noises made of her statements repeated twice, making her voice seemingly reverb. From someone else's white noise after that, they also seem to notice it.
Prone to Tears: She's pretty much incapable of speaking to anyone without being on the verge of tears. Except during Chapter 1's trial, where she manages to speak up to get everyone to focus on figuring out what the true murder weapon was (albeit with difficulty), and when she freaks out upon being exposed as Chapter 3's murderer, upon which she goes from "fragile flower" to "psychotic woman" to "accepting her fate way too calmly".
Psycho Pink: Mikan wears pink clothes and is generally associated with pink. She's also very dependent on others, yearns to be loved, and when Chapter 3 comes along, one of the most unstable characters in the game.
Psychopathic Womanchild: Her breakdown upon being identified as the culprit of the third case brings to mind a spiteful kid who had their favourite toy taken away.
Mikan: It's not fair not fair not fair not fair not fair not fair notfairnotfairnotfairnotfairnotfair...
Punny Name: Unintentional example, as Kodaka didn't speak any English back at the time of DR2's writing. Mikan Tsumiki has a very meek personality.
Really Gets Around: It's implied in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan that she's had a surprisingly high number of partners, as even Miu is shocked by what she sees when she runs her Hookup Counter over Mikan. It's never elaborated on past that, however. It also leans into more disturbing territory when you combine that with her Extreme Doormat personality and the likely implications...
Reluctant Fanservice Girl: Parodied with how her klutziness results in her ending up in amazingly embarrassing poses... with others pointing out how odd that is. Also Deconstructed, as she's extremely uncomfortable with this, and yet is painfully used to that being the only way she got any sort of attention. There's exactly one fanservicey scene where she isn't being degraded in any way; at the beginning, before Monokuma shows up, she's wearing a one-piece swimsuit in a Boobs-and-Butt Pose, showing off her rather nice ass and decent bust while smiling and enjoying frolicking on the beach with everyone.
Secret-Keeper: At the end of trial 3, after she's found as the culprit, Mikan admits she knows who's The Mole (Chiaki), and the fact that she strongly hinted that she knows about Hajime being part of Ultimate Despair as Izuru Kamukura. Though she chooses not to reveal any of this because she couldn't honestly care less.
Ship Tease: She has some with Hajime in Chapter 3, with him admiring her for all the effort she puts out and having two scenes where he's flustered by her cuddling on top of him.
Shrinking Violet: So timid, she can hardly hold a conversation without bursting into tears. At least, until she's revealed as Chapter 3's murderer, at which point she freaks. She also breaks "Shrinking Violet" character very briefly in Chapter 1's trial, when she shouts to her classmates that voting for Nagito as the culprit would be premature.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Nagito, who came down far harder on Mikan than any of the other murderers, tries to call her out for murdering only for "Despair", she states she did it out of love...and suggests he can't understand because he's never been loved.
Slut-Shaming: Frequently on the receiving end of it from Hiyoko, who calls her names like "trashy skank", and at one point Fuyuhiko threatens to "sell [her] fuckin' ass to a whorehouse". While this is purely malicious on their part, it's implied that Mikan is less sweet and innocent than she lets on...
Story-Breaker Power: An extremely skilled nurse with the ability to act as The Coroner and provide massive pieces of evidence to find the killer? It was no wonder she'd be somehow removed from the Killing Game, as she was very much key in investigating bodies. It's highly likely she would have found out Nagito died of poisoning, which would have defeated the point of his final gambit.
Subordinate Excuse: If she did regain her memories thanks to the Despair Disease, then she may perceive Junko as someone who "saved her" by actually showing she "cared" for Mikan. Junko being a total psychopath, this is completely incorrect, but Mikan would like to believe in this idea, to the point that she's willing to kill two of her classmates out of love.
Sympathetic Murderer: An odd retroactive example of this, since when she's first revealed as a murderer in Chapter 3 it's presented as her just going nuts upon recovering lost memories, trying to impress "someone she loves", which isn't very sympathetic. However, it's heavily implied that the person she loved was Junko Enoshima, and the final chapter only seems to reaffirm this; though all of the students had been slavishly devoted to her, Mikan was probably one of the most devoted due to Junko's manipulations and her own desperate need for affection. Danganronpa 3 shows what this toxic relationship was like, adding more sympathy for Mikan since so much of it came at her expense, and eventually confirming she was flat-out brainwashed.
That Came Out Wrong:
- She says that she "pleaded with (Fuyuhiko) in many ways" to get him to help her look for Ibuki, prompting Fuyuhiko to tell her "Don't say anything that'll make people take it the wrong way..."
- She also tries to help strengthen her and Hajime's alibis by saying they "woke up together that morning." Kazuichi is quick to ask what kind of situation that was, which Mikan says is because she "accidentally fell asleep on top of Hajime."
- Interestingly, both of the above examples are actually invoked by Mikan at points in the trial when something is about to be revealed that could point to her as the killer. Her comment about Fuyuhiko distracts him from mentioning that they split up during their search, and her comment about Hajime distracts him from mentioning that they only woke up together and weren't actually with each other the entire night.
Throw the Dog a Bone:
- People generally seem to treat Mikan better in the Talent Development Plan, where she has a heartwarming conversation with Tenko who thanks her for all her hard work (driving Mikan to Tears of Joy) and when she insists on chasing after Mondo because his hand is injured, which he barely noticed, he actually apologizes for yelling at her out of reflexive nerves and pretty much lets her drag him to the infirmary so she won't start crying, Kokichi attempts to fake sick to get out of chores and when Mikan comments he doesn't seem sick, he merely lightly teases her before agreeing to go back to work and even compliments her for seeing through his lies. Even Miu is nice enough to show her all her inventions, albeit after bullying her until using the Hookup Counter on her and getting a (presumably high) reading. The cast also stands up to Hiyoko when Hiyoko tries to force Mikan to clean up after the party entirely by herself and everyone pitches in together. Another interaction has Hiyoko going to pick on her while she's treating Kokichi, who is faking it again, and Kokichi redirects Hiyoko's bullying by teasing her, so she starts picking on him instead.
- It stays true mostly for Ultimate Summer Camp, with only Hiyoko and occasionally Miu being mean, though she also was able to creep out Miu by getting a little too enthusiastic when she was in a position of power over her. When Hiyoko was bullying Mikan with Miu present, Miu started mocking Hiyoko, telling her to "Save the kinky stuff for the bedroom" and calling her "banana gremlin". She also creeps out Korekiyo when he tells her she should "nurse at my sister's side" and she gets a little enthusiastic about how weak his sister would be, with him quickly reversing course and claiming that he couldn't ask for the luxury of having her nurse his sister. In her "My Future" event in "Ultimate Summer Camp", Mikan is once again the dominant with Miu, to their surprises.
Too Kinky to Torture: Subverted. Mikan once appeared to take masochistic pleasure from Hiyoko's bullying, which unnerves her to stop, but it's clear it was a non-confrontational way to get her to stop, as Mikan never shows getting any kind of pleasure from being bullied.
Took a Level in Badass: What her path in Ultimate Summer Camp focuses on. After accidentally nearly drowning Tenko due to slipping in the hot spring, Sakura and Tenko suggest she train in martial arts to improve her balance, to fix her klutziness. She does so and gains enough confidence that she can later easily strike up conversations with more intimidating classmates Peko and Fuyuhiko, impressing them, and her "My Future" sequence has her being the dom over Miu once again, even making an Ironic Echo joke to Miu.
Tragic Villain: Mikan's easily the most pitiable character in the game, and while that doesn't excuse her cruelly killing two of her classmates, the only reason she did it was because she was infected with the Despair Disease. Up until that point Mikan was nothing but completely helpful and kind.
Traumatic Haircut: The reason her hair is all choppy and uneven is that it was cut up by bullies.
Turn the Other Cheek: Despite being the person with the least reason to do so, she still has it in her to try to cheer Hiyoko up when she's recovering from being the prime subject for Mahiru's murder. She just gets insulted for her troubles. She also helps Fuyuhiko recover from his injury despite him being equally shitty towards her. Fuyuhiko is much nicer to her starting in Chapter 3, possibly partially because of her treating him, but also because of his Heel–Face Turn and he helps her look after the Despair Disease patients with Hajime.
A Twinkle in the Sky: Reduced to one in her execution as she's blasted off into space.
Unreliable Expositor: Her explanation of the 'Destroyers of the World'/the Future Foundation is true... but only From a Certain Point of View.
Varying Competency Alibi: One of the pieces of evidence that points to her guilt is the fact that her assessment of Ibuki's cause of death was hanging, to hide the fact that she had strangled the victim to death. However, when it becomes apparent the victim wasn't hanged, Mikan tries defending herself by explaining she just made a mistake, only for Nagito to point out that she's the Ultimate Nurse and even a drunk med student would have been able to tell the difference.
Verbal Tic: Only present in Ultimate Summer Camp, but Mikan tends to say "Weh".
Villain Has a Point: Her Despair persona admittedly isn't wrong when she points out that her classmates were fine standing around and watching her being bullied.
Weakness Turns Her On: Her romance in Island Mode has Mikan declare that she wants to be Hajime's private nurse and take care of him forever. She also wouldn't mind him being crippled for the rest of his life so that he needs to depend on her.
When She Smiles: Although her smiling sprite can be used in some rather unsettling moments like the third trial, when Mikan is genuinely happy it is one of the most lovely sights in the entire game and her smile is a very precious contrast from her usually dour or upset sprites.
Who's Laughing Now?: After spending the first two chapters being a Reluctant Fanservice Girl who's constantly picked on by Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko, it's revealed in Chapter 3 that she murdered two people. Though she was infected by the Despair Disease to prompt her into action, there really is a darker side to her that's willing to kill if it means impressing someone she loves. Everyone is left stunned after Mikan is executed. However, since the disease brought back her lost memories and reverted her to when she was a Remnant of Despair, any of the students could have done something like that when they were Ultimate Despair.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: She tries this when Hajime first reveals his suspicions that she's the killer in Chapter 3. While it ultimately fails, it's enough to make Hajime himself hesitate for a few seconds and Akane outright believes her for a while.
Yandere: She shows shades of this, both in Chapter 3 after revealing that she killed for the sake of someone she loved (who is heavily implied, and later confirmed, to be Junko Enoshima) and towards Hajime in her Dangan Island ending, in which she openly contemplates rendering him an invalid so she can take care of him forever. It's hinted that she could become a fully-fledged Yandere if she's pushed too far.

Ibuki Mioda

Ultimate Musician

"it's terrible! So terrible Ibuki has no time to capitalize her lines!"

Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)

Played by: Anju Inami (Stage)

A girl from an all-girls high school who played guitar in a popular "light-music club" school band, whose hit single "After-School Poyoyon Hour" sold a million copies. However, she left the band due to creative differences and is now pursuing a solo career. Despite her punk-ish appearance, Ibuki is a very friendly and energetic person whose antics sometimes border the limits of comprehensibility. She is the second victim of Chapter 3, strangled to death by Mikan and then hung.

A-Cup Angst: Has the smallest bust out of all the girls besides Hiyoko, and after she sees Peko in a bikini and comments on her breast size, Ibuki considers getting implants.
Ambiguously Bi: She seems to have a crush on Byakuya, calling him "So cool!", and can be romanced in Island Mode, but also makes suggestive comments about Mikan when she does fanservice-y trips, asking Mahiru to take pictures of her. In an optional scene in Chapter 1, "Coconut Party", she claims she was holding hands with Peko while taking a walk, though Peko denies it. She also says Peko's "So coooool!" and she'll fall in love with Peko's quiet words in the same scene. She also has having a pleased comment about "girl love" when Hiyoko takes Mahiru to bathe with her. She also has pleased comments about how Chiaki and especially Peko looks in a bikini.
Anime Hair: Dark purple-black with streaks of white, neon pink, and blue, along with cones.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Shows elements of it in her second Free Time event, where a self-initiated discussion of her hobbies sees her jumping through about 5 different topics seemingly at random.
Berserk Button: She specifically cites that she can't stand guys who only get into music to impress and pick up girls.
Birds of a Feather: Unsurprisingly gets along well with fellow musicians Kaede and Sayaka in Ultimate Talent Development Plan and Ultimate Summer Camp.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Although it could be her quirkiness, Ibuki makes frequent remarks suggesting that she is aware that she is in a video game.
Cloudcuckoolander: She has a tendency to go off on strange tangents at times.
"Ibuki learnt that most murder investigations involve a lot of legwork. So she's been walking her legs up and down this corridor all day!"
The Cuckoolander Was Right: Ibuki habitually goes off on bizarre, unrelated tangents during trials. The funny thing is, sometimes she's right or her tangents lead to a critical breakthrough in the case. In Chapter 2, her sudden attempt to change the subject ("Let's talk about how she got hit with gravel instead.") turns out to be the breakthrough point of that Non-Stop Debate. Ibuki admits straight afterwards that she was just throwing stuff out there. Later on, in the same trial, she also asks why Fuyuhiko is getting upset when Peko has been identified as the killer, noticing that it's odd for him to be so upset when he isn't the suspect.
The Comically Serious: Her unique symptom brought about by the Despair Disease, along with Super Gullible.
Covert Pervert: Less so than some of the others, but still has her moments when Mikan is concerned and she's pretty enthusiastic talking about how good Peko looks in a bikini.
Creative Differences: In-Universe, she left her group due to these. Her Free Times and an official Alternate Universe manga by Spike reveal that they had a falling out when they learned a talent scout was going to be watching one of their performances, and she refused to play more traditionally appealing pop music.
Cruel and Unusual Death: A non-murderer example; while the other murder victims in this game get killed using methods that cause almost instant death (e.g. stabbed with an iron skewer, bludgeoned in the head, slashed in the windpipe, falling from two stories), Ibuki is unlucky enough to be killed by being slowly strangled to death with a rope. Her corpse is then hung from that same rope. That couldn't have been much fun.
Cute, but Cacophonic: Especially when she starts singing.
Death by Irony: A non-execution example, but the Ultimate Musician is killed by being strangled to death, thus being robbed of her voice.
Death Metal: Her preferred genre of music. And her performances are terrifying.
Didn't See That Coming: In Ultimate Summer Camp, she and Kaede have a collaboration act that they perform together and they go to Izuru to get his opinion. He notes that they probably already know what needs work on a technical level and also that it was too flashy. When Kaede presses for how he felt about it on a personal level, he notes that it made him compose a song. Naturally Ibuki and Kaede are gobsmacked by this and he notes that their performance together was unpredictable enough to give him inspiration to do that. They're unsurprisingly over the moon about that and enthusiastically want him to play the song.
Dumbass Has a Point: Of the "coincidentally correct" variant, when she suggests that the murder victim in Twilight Syndrome was killed by being hit on the head.
Eating the Eye Candy: Was just as aroused as Kazuichi and Hajime when she saw Chiaki and Peko in their bikinis; she wasn't even subtle about it.
Everyone Has Standards:
- In V3's Ultimate Talent Development Plan mode, the two things that make her break character are Miu Iruma's extreme vulgarity and abrasiveness, and Leon Kuwata trying to form a band with her, despite the fact that Leon can't play an instrument, plans on having someone else do all the songwriting and other "pain in the ass work" for him, and would have a problem if Ibuki stole his spotlight on top of that.
  Ibuki: "Hu... Huhuhuhuhu... Haaa... Ahh... I don't even have a face for this. I've never felt this un-pumped up..."
- In Island Mode, Ibuki draws the line at making noise in the library; she screamed in six different libraries and is prohibited from entering them as a result.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Her stockings are of different colors, one pink and one blue. She also wears an arm warmer on only one arm and has a stitch (or maybe a tattoo) running down one leg.
First-Name Basis: In the original Japanese, she calls everyone by their first names and with the affectionate honorific "-chan".
Fun Personified: The word "boring" just doesn't exist with Ibuki!
Genki Girl: Oh hell yes. Ibuki never does anything halfway.
The Heart: Ibuki is one of the most energetic, cheerful students and it's often her antics (especially in Chapter 3) that keep people's spirits up. Her death marks the game taking a darker turn...
Hidden Depths: If her Free Time Events are done, Ibuki will show a startlingly wise and contemplative side of her personality, giving Hajime some extremely profound advice about being himself, and speaking about the inner workings of group dynamics in a very emotionally intelligent way.
History Repeats: Like Kiyotaka Ishimaru in his game's third chapter, she tried to push for unity in the group and was later disallowed from dying as herself.
Insert Song: She holds a concert during the game's third chapter. It's... special.
Kill the Cutie: Poor Ibuki is murdered in Chapter 3, mainly simply because her particular Despair Disease symptom made it so easy for the killer.
Large Ham: Especially when she sings and she has some of the most exaggerated sprites and voice acting of the girls.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Becomes this for Hajime after enough Free Time events, where it gets revealed that all her goofing off and playing silly games was an attempt to help him recover his memories of his talent. When he still can't seem to remember, she convinces him to just be happy as himself. That becomes more effective with later revelations about his character (this also gives her one of the odd final Free Time events in which the student helps Hajime through his insecurities instead of the other way around).
Meaningful Name: One of the meanings for 'Ibuki' can be "breath", which is fitting for the Ultimate Musician. Double as an Ironic Name considering how she was killed...
Metalhead: Though a conversation outside the hotel implies that her current musical stylings are just a recent Genre Shift done on a whim.
Nice Girl: Perverted tendencies aside, she's one of the most upbeat and kindest of the students.
Noodle Incident: In Island Mode, Ibuki reveals that she once screamed in six different libraries and is barred from entering them all. That is why even she will keep quiet when going to the library in Jabberwock Island.
Odd Friendship:
- With Hiyoko, as their respective talents involve music and dance and they often perform together.
- With the shy and quiet Mikan. Mikan believes their differences are why they get along so well.
Pinocchio Nose: Since Ibuki's design is meant to resemble an oni, her bragging sprite gets this kind of nose to match.
The Quincy Punk: Subverted. Despite her bizarrely dyed hair, torn stockings, many piercings and taste in music, she's a very cheerful and friendly person.
The Rock Star: What her title basically makes her, though oddly, how talented she is at it is difficult to determine given how everybody reacts to her performance in Titty Typhoon.
Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: One of her voice clips has her saying "Pointing!" while she's...well, pointing at things. It's done to make her cuter.
Scary Musician, Harmless Music: Considering that Ibuki is a walking Homage to K-On! (where the main band mostly play light and fluffy J-Pop), you would expect this to be the case. Nope, it is actually full-on inverted. She's really closer to Sawako from that series: she's a delightful and peppy person to speak to but her repertoire (mostly Death Metal) is terrifying.
Shoo Out the Clowns: She's one of the most upbeat characters in the cast, so at the midway point in the game, of course, she had to go. Turns out this was being invoked by Mikan to boot, as she says her whole motive was to cause a motive that would make everyone despair, and Ibuki is one of the most universally liked students both in and out of universe because of how her normal attitude helps keep morale up. The game also takes a particularly dark turn after the chapter in which she is killed.
Shout-Out:
- Ibuki is basically a walking Homage to K-On!. The kanji that spell out her name are each taken from the names of the four main characters (not including Azusa), and she used to be part of a light music club band.
- Her name and design may also be a reference to Suika Ibuki from Touhou Project, an oni girl with horns similar to her hairstyle. Some elements of her design were also inspired by oni.
Signature Instrument: Her Guitar that she plays during the memorial concert.
The Stoic: When infected by the Despair Disease.
Stepford Smiler: Has hints of this, while Ibuki is extremely goofy and fun loving and this isn't an act, she's hinted to be a very lonely person who just wants to make others smile and make a couple of friends. In addition she doesn't take the deaths around her lightly at all, breaking down over the death of Twogami, Mahiru and Peko especially as she was close to those three and asking why people keep dying needlessly. This explains her attempts in chapter 3 to cheer up Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko who she knew were deeply hurting over Mahiru and Peko respectively. Ibuki was just as broken and upset as her more level headed friends by the killing game, but she was better at hiding it.
Super Gullible: Sadly Played for Drama, unlike most examples. The extent of her gullibility brought on by the Despair Disease made her an exceedingly easy kill.
Super-Senses: Super hearing, to be precise. Ibuki has the most talented "ears" of any of the cast. This proves instrumental to solving chapter 1's murder since she overhears what everyone's saying during a "blackout", causing them to realize that Byakuya pushed Nagito away and got to the knife first, meaning that Nagito couldn't have killed him.
Third-Person Person: Instead of saying "I" or "me", she says "Ibuki". It's somewhat downplayed in the English version, since she only calls herself "Ibuki" on occasion.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Subverted as she survived, as revealed in Danganronpa 3 Hope Arc, but despite her punkish appearance, she's an extremely kind-hearted, loveable, positive and sweet person who goes out of her way to make others happy, is very selfless and goofy and honestly wouldn't hurt a fly (unless she’s under Junko-induced-brainwashing). In Chapter 3, she's cruelly given a disease that basically makes her a dead woman walking with how vulnerable she was, and then is strangled and hung by a brainwashed Mikan for no other reason except that it would make the other students despair.
Verbal Tic: Sometimes when she talks, she has an odd tendency to drag her vowels like thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!!! It's meant to symbolize her enthusiasm.

Peko Pekoyama

Ultimate Swordswoman

"My destination has already been decided. Protect who I must protect, cut who I must cut. That alone is the original purpose of the sword. Wielding a blade in its truest sense is my aim... That is my reason for existing."

Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese), Janice Kawaye (English)

Played by: Yu Hamagashira (Stage)

A master swordswoman and kendo champion whose skill at swordplay surpasses even the strongest adult fighters. A stern yet polite woman, Peko carries herself with an intimidating aura. She was an orphan taken in by the Kuzuryu clan and serves Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu as a bodyguard to repay their generosity. She is the culprit of Chapter 2, beating Mahiru to death with a baseball bat on behalf of Fuyuhiko. Though she implicates herself so that Fuyuhiko can claim responsibility and win freedom from the island, she is found to be the sole guilty party and is stabbed to death by an army of samurai.

Click to see her page

Characters / Danganronpa 2 — Female Students

Ultimate Gamer

Ultimate Gymnast

Ultimate Princess

Ultimate Traditional Dancer

Ultimate Photographer

Ultimate Nurse

Ultimate Musician

Ultimate Swordswoman

Alternative Title(s): Super Dangan Ronpa 2 Female Students

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Characters / Danganronpa 2 — Female Students

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Ultimate Gamer

Ultimate Gymnast

Ultimate Princess

Ultimate Traditional Dancer

Ultimate Photographer

Ultimate Nurse

Ultimate Musician

Ultimate Swordswoman

Alternative Title(s): Super Dangan Ronpa 2 Female Students

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