Characters / Danganronpa Another Male Students

Yuki Maeda

Yuki Maeda

Ultimate Lucky Student

As a high school student who was only picked by lottery to enter Hope's Peak, Yuki does not possess any special characteristics, seeing himself as "ordinary" and "average". Nonetheless, he strives to do his best everyday and wants to befriend his classmates in many ways he can.

But as it turns out in Chapter 6, Yuki has a very big skeleton in his closet: namely, that he himself is the Mastermind. For more information, see the Mastermind's folder.

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• All of the Other Reindeer: After Case 2, where his apparent secret of knowing the Mastermind's identity is outed, the other students become rather wary of him due to the possibility that he's The Mole.
• Ambiguously Bi: He gets Ship Tease with Akane, as well as with the other girls during Free Time events, yet when he and Tsurugi find Yamato Kisaragi's graduation album and see his picture on the back, he can't help but note that he's pretty handsome.
• Born Lucky: It's his talent.
  • He was able to beat both Haruhiko and Satsuki at poker multiple times in a row, despite having never played before.
  • After that, Haruhiko drags him back to the casino to see if they can get some money from the slot machines. Yuki ends up getting nothing but Triple 7s.
  • In Chapter 4, Tsurugi tries to attack him after getting a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, only to miraculously trip over the carpet and fall to the ground, giving everyone the chance to pin him down and tie him up.
• Break the Cutie: Goes throughout alot of suffering and pain as he watches his friends kill each other throughout the story.
• Corrupted Character Copy: His true colors makes him one of Makoto Naegi - while Makoto eventually became the Ultimate Hope, Yuki was revealed to be Utsuro, a member of Ultimate Despair and the Mastermind of the killing game.
• Death of Personality: Happens to him in the True Ending, where Utsuro's personality and memories resurface.
• Despair Event Horizon: Begins to cross this by the beginning of Chapter 4, taking a level in jerkass as a result. This puts him at odds with Akane, who's trying to be The Heart and is upset with his newfound willingness to just give up.
• Driven to Suicide: Nearly does this in Chapter 4 by trying to grab a gun from the arsenal, only to find that it's been locked from the inside. This leads to him, and Teruya who came to help, discovering Haruhiko's corpse.
• Expy: Of Makoto Naegi. Both of them are assumingly normal boys who entered Hope's Peak Academy as Ultimate Lucky Students, are very friendly with their peers, and serve as the protagonists of their respective games.
• The Generic Guy: It was a given considering his archetype.
• He's Back!: After he upsets Akane and they have a heart to heart at the dance party, he's able to come back from the Despair Event Horizon and motivates everyone to not give up when they find themselves trapped on the 4th Floor, much to Akane's delight.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Upon regaining Utsuro's memories in the bad ending, Yuki promises to get the survivors out and then turn himself in. Too bad Monokuma kills him instantly afterwards.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: When trying to convince the others that his secret of knowing the mastermind is a lie, he brings up Mikako's secret, that she's secretly talkative, due to how ridiculous it sounds. This however makes them more suspicious since everyone promised to not look at the remaining secrets.
• Idiot Hair: Surprisingly averted. Despite being a common trait for Danganronpa protagonists, he lacks an ahoge. This may be subtle foreshadowing that Yuki isn't quite what he seems...
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Monokuma shoves his paw through Yuki's chest in the bad ending. He most likely dies instantly.
• Morality Pet: After they both become isolated from the group following Chapter 2, he seems to become this for Tsurugi, convincing him to show the others Hanzo Kisaragi's graduation album when they find it investigating the third floor despite him not wantitng to cooperate with "potential murderers".
• My God, What Have I Done?: He immediately regrets giving a pessimistic speech to the others after crossing the Despair Event Horizon when it causes Akane to suffer Broken Pedestal towards him, saying she never thought he would give up and run off crying.
• Nice Guy: He's a friendly fellow.
• The Protagonist: Duh, even if he lacks an ahoge.
• Secret-Keeper: In Chapter 4, he opts to keep Rei's theory and the photo of Kisaragi, the latter under Tsurugi's influence, a secret from the others, under the excuse of not seeing how it'd help in escaping. However, Akane quickly calls him out on lying by confirming she heard his conversations with both Tsurugi and Rei.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: In Chapter 4, after he tries to force everyone to commit suicide to "save" them, Yuki calls him out on how he couldn't handle his Black-and-White Morality viewpoint getting challenged constantly, especially after Kinji gave him his own "Reason You Suck" Speech, to the point that he was starting to stretch the definition of right and wrong and delude himself into thinking he's still in the right.
• Split-Personality Takeover: In the bad ending, Yuki manages to override Utsuro's will. For all the good that does him.
• The Stoic: During his time as a Hope's Peak student, Yuki is revealed to have always been serious and his classmates have had difficulty interacting with him.
• This Is Unforgivable!: While he's not happy with having to suspect and doom another friend to be executed, he's utterly enraged at how brutally the killer of Chapter 3 killed Kanata.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Downplayed. All the death that has occurred has made him more cynical and distrusitng. He also, in response to Akane's rejected attempt at kindness, questions whether or not they should bother interacting with Tsurugi due to his Knight Templar tendencies, when he was previously one of the only students willing to give him a chance. Akane actually points this out and lightly chides him for this.
• What the Hell, Hero?: After the floor investigation in Chapter 3, Yuki appears to reach a Rage Breaking Point and calls out the others on how they're more willing to believe Monokuma, the one who trapped them there and is manipulating them into killing each other, and his claim of Yuki being The Mole over him despite everything they've been through and how much he's helped during the Class Trials. While they're still reluctant to trust him, they all appear to be shamed into silence by this.

Haruhiko Kobashikawa

Haruhiko Kobashikawa

Ultimate Pilot

Haruhiko is a sociable guy who simply wants to get along with everyone. He has a cheery and laidback personality, but he can also amuse his classmates, either through his own words or actions. He admits that he's not very smart when it comes to academic knowledge, so he may have a hard time understanding anything that looks complicated to him at times.

He is the victim of Chapter 4, allowing himself to get shot by Satsuki in an attempt to save her.

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• Accidental Pervert: When he dances with Satsuki in Chapter 4, this is his defense when she accuses of touching her in "strange places".
• Ace Pilot: His talent involves being a successful pilot.
• Adventurer Outfit: Befitting for a pilot, his uniform matches this theme.
• Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving: When trying to claim that they can't trust Yuki due to the possibility that he's The Mole, he tries to emphasize the point by stating how he's a Nice Guy, is generally courteous, is a great asset in the class trials, looks out for the others, and how he's fun to be around. Satsuki lampshades that he's stating all his good qualities instead giving a legitimate reason to mistrust him.
• Best Friend: Quickly becomes Yuki's, talking with him often and sticking up for him when he feels it's called for. He's also, despite being the one to tell him to keep away from the group in light his apparent knowledge of the mastermind, arguably the quickest to hang out with him again along with Satsuki, albeit becoming something of a Tsundere about it.
• Beware the Nice Ones: In Chapter 4, he goes ballistic on Teruya after he's exposed as one of the people stealing food, since the first day too, shortly after getting on his and Satsuki's case for doing it the day before, to the point that Satsuki has to hold him back.
• Big Eater: Deconstructed. In Chapter 4, after Monokuma locks them on the 4th Floor, he and Satsuki, being Locked Out of the Loop, end up eating almost all the food in the dining hall, effectively leaving everyone to starve.
• Contrived Coincidence: Turns out that him rigging a duel between him and Satsuki in her favour using the same method Teruya planned to kill was a complete coincidence that served to overcomplicate the case.
• Covert Pervert:
  • After hearing a discussion between Yuki and Akane in the newly opened bath house, he seems eager for him and Yuki to peep on the girls bathing.
  • When trying to snap Akane out of her Heroic BSoD, he jokingly threatens to grope her chest. This gets all the girls to glare at him.
• Cruel to Be Kind: After revealing their past together, Haruhiko yells at Satsuki to leave him alone. This was done so he could prepare his murder scene and ensure that Satsuki had a chance of survival.
• Crush Blush: Sports one when, during the party in Chapter 4, Satsuki expresses a desire to dance with him.
• Dies Wide Open: When his body is discovered, his lifeless eyes are wide open.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In Chapter 3, he tries to lighten the mood by joking that Akane's Heroic BSoD induced silence kind of makes it look like there's two Mikakos. This earns him a scolding from Kanata.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite their actions leading to the food to run out in Chapter 4, everyone sans Teruya effectively let him and Satsuki off so long as they promise to put more effort into investigating.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: In Chapter 4, when a card reader is discovered on the door to the Ballroom, he suggests that they use their E-Handbooks on it to get it open... only to remember that their clothes, where they kept their E-Handbooks, were also stolen by Monokuma.
• Fingore: When he was killed, his index and middle fingers were removed from his hand as a result of the gun he used in his duel with Satsuki exploding. Unlike Teruya's rigged gun, that was the result of him forcibly loading it with a round too large for it to handle, Haruhiko intentionally chose a gun that would destroy his hand.
• Foil: Unintentionally for Miu Iruma the Ultimate Inventor from Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. Both Miu and Haruhiko are the hot-headed classmates, prone to talking shit and making inappropriate comments of a sexual nature. They are geniuses in their field of work, but dumb in all other areas. Both are also the victims of chapter 04, having been the ones who organized most of the evidence in their cases, cheating at games and being killed by a much more popular classmate, who wanted to protect the rest of the group, but in opposite ways. Haruhiko is killed by Satsuki after he cheated on their duel, and attempted to sacrifice the group so the Ultimate Clown could escape. Miu is killed by Gonta Gokuhara after cheating on the simulation's codes to access impossible areas and trying to kill Kokichi, in an attempt to sacrifice the rest of the group to save the World.
• Freudian Slip: In Chapter 4, he ends up exposing himself and Satsuki as the ones stealing the food when he opts to defend the both of them instead of just himself.
• Genius Ditz: Isn't very helpful when it comes to the trials, yet was apparently able to fly a plane at the age of four.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He gets Satsuki to kill him and tries to cover up the fact he killed her with a Locked Room Mystery, in hopes of saving her at the expense of the others.
• Hot-Blooded: He's definitely among the more passionate students. He's also the most aggressively critical of Tsurugi.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Unlike the others, he stuck to his ideals that no one would kill each other, while the hunger was definitely getting to him, he was adamant about not giving and trying to convince the others to do the same, which Yuki why he accepted the invitation to the armoury so easily. However, he did eventually succumb in a way; upon finding out he and Satsuki dated before the Killing Game, he decided to try and save her at the expense of the others.
• Locked Room Mystery: His murder being this is what ultimately gets Teruya off the hook; while he did rig the gun Haruhiko used to explode, he's not the one who shot him in the chest, which was the fatal blow, and since he didn't enter the room again afterwards to have shot, Mikako only witnessing him go to and from the armory once to deliver his letter and booby trap the guns, it can't have been him. The truth of this is that the room was locked because he locked it; after Satsuki left, he went around the room and grabbed a wooden plank, a flashbang, and a smoke grenade, trailing blood around in the process, and then used them to block the door from the inside.
• Nice Guy: He's a genuinely good guy who wants to get along with others.
• Odd Couple: He, the relatively normal and Hot-Blooded, albeit somewhat perverted, Ultimate Pilot gets a lot of Ship Tease with Satsuki, the goofy and eccentric Ultimate Clown. Turns out they were a couple before their memory wipe, and seeing a photo of them together triggered them and prompted him to try and save her at the expense of the others and even himself.
• School Bullying Is Harmless: He's a bit underwhelmed by Kakeru's secret of being bullied in elementary school.
• Ship Tease: Everyone sees his interactions with Satsuki as this.
• Spanner in the Works: Yuki speculates that his accidental swapping of Tsurugi and Kiyoka's nameplates completely ruined Mitsuhiro's original murder, since he likely planned on what to do after he killed Tsurugi but not Kiyoka, forcing him to make a new, flawed plan on the fly.
• Straight Man: Often ends up being this for Satsuki
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In Chapter 1, him accidentally switching the name plates for Kiyoka and Tsurugi's rooms leads to the former's death, since Mitsuhiro was targeting Tsurugi but Kiyoka ended up coming instead when she received his letter. He's quick to beat himself up over this, with Ayame attempting to comfort him by saying even if it didn't happen, Tsurugi would have died instead.

Kakeru Yamaguchi

Kakeru Yamaguchi

Ultimate Lawyer

Kakeru is a legal prodigy who started at a very young age. With his experience as a lawyer, he is a proficient speaker in court. However, in contrast to this confident side of him, he is actually a timid and shy person, struggling to initiate a conversation with other people in his daily life because of his intimidating appearance.

He's the first victim of Chapter 3, walking in on Kinji planning to murder Kanata and trying to save her, only to get his throat slit before he could escape with her.

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• All-Loving Hero: One of the candidates for nicest member of the group. Kakeru is kind, and hates appearing intimidating, and even the moments when he is tough are full of good intentions, even in death his last thoughts are begging Kinji to spare Kanata. Kinji even mentions killing him as one of his biggest regrets, not just because it was murder, but because Kakeru actually had a pure heart.
• Big Brother Instinct: He took his duties as his ill sister's older brother very seriously.
• Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: As the game's Big Guy, it was doubtful that he would survive to the end.
• Breaking Old Trends: Like Sakura and Nekomaru, he dies. It just so happens that he dies one chapter early, in Chapter 3.
• Crusading Lawyer: He is deeply passionate about the law and will do everything in his power to ensure that justice prevails.
• Expy: Of Nekomaru Nidai. Along with his big stature, he also has No Indoor Voice and is pumped up when talking about something related to his talent. His official cover art even gives him an electric motif.
• Face of a Thug: Due to his large and intimidating appearance, most people wouldn't think of him as a lawyer at first glance.
• Genius Bruiser: Downplayed. He has the body of a bruiser but he rarely uses his physical strength instead preferring to use his intellect.
• Gentle Giant: In contrast to his large physique, he's actually rather timid and polite. In the trials however, his "Lawyer Personality" is a lot louder, more passionate, and aggressive.
• He Knows Too Much: Kinji killed him not because he was targeted all along, but because he happened upon Kinji trying to kill Kanata and attempted to save her life. This however left him open for his neck to be slashed from behind by Kinji's stone spear.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He tries to do this twice, and fails both times.
  • The first time is when he tries to stop Kinji from murdering Kanata but is instantly killed before he can get her to safety.
  • The second time happens before the killing game when the Monokumas invade the Kisaragi Foundation. Kakeru tried to fend off a Monokuma to save Kinji and Kanata, but is easily knocked unconscious by the robotic bear.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Has this dynamic with Kanata.
• Off with His Head!: Gets killed from a cut to the back of his neck which came close to taking his head off, being barely attached.
• Shrinking Violet: Comes across as rather shy when he's not in a trial.
• Sir Swears Alot: He has a tendency to curse when in the trial setting.
• Spotting the Thread: In Chapter 2, he's the first among the students to realize that the razor wire trap that injured Ayame couldn't have been planted by Akane, since he was with Taira at the time it was installed during the investigation.

Kinji Uehara

Kinji Uehara

Ultimate Priest

Kinji is a serious and reticent person, to the point where he barely reacts to what is going on around him. Despite being a priest, he does not particularly force his own view of faith onto other people because he respects freedom of religion of different individuals. Albeit known for being a good conversationalist, Kinji is rather reserved and laconic, in which Yuki also pointed out during his introduction to him.

He is the killer of Chapter 3, murdering Kanata and Kakeru in order to protect a group of children that Monokuma was holding hostage.

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• All for Nothing: Killed Kanata and Kakeru in order to save the children of an orphanage that he cared about... only for Monokuma to reveal after the trial that the children were already dead. Kinji doesn't take this revelation well.
• Apologetic Attacker: After delivering a killing blow to Kakeru, he apologizes to both him and Kanata for his plan, and does so again when Kakeru, with his last words, asks him to spare Kanata, only for Kinji to say he can't.
• Brutal Honesty: He's among the most realistic of the students in regards to the killing game, outright stating after Kizuna's murder that they can't just deny the truth of their situation, or else they'll all die.
• The Confidant: Befitting his role as a priest, Kinji offers himself to help out his classmates with anything personal that is bothering them.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Forced to carry a large cross, he's then crucified with a crown of thorns placed on his head in a manner reminiscent to the death of Jesus. Only instead of being stabbed, the cross he's nailed to is launched into space before crashing down into the ground, which is followed by him being crushed by a massive gravestone.
• Despair Event Horizon: Hits this after Monokuma reveals that he killed all the children from Kinji's orphanage and shows a video of them mangled and dismembered, with a Thousand-Yard Stare and utter silence. He hardly even emotes during his execution.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Sports these after his Despair Event Horizon, wearing them throughout his execution.
• Forced into Evil: Like Sakura before him, he was The Mole among the students, forced to reveal secrets to the mastermind and kill if things calmed down, in exchange for the safety of the children from his Church's orphanage.
• Frame-Up: When it's realized that he meets all the criteria for the culprit, he attempts to claim that he's the only living person who meets the criteria, instead trying to insinuate that it was instead Kanata, who killed Kakeru and then killed herself, citing her lack of an alibi since yesterday night. However, this is disproven by Akane's testimony that the science room door was locked, meaning Kanata could not have entered while setting up her crime, since she was already tied up in there.
• Graceful Loser: After Yuki spells out his entire crime, he regains his composure and confesses, even congratulating Yuki.
• Hopeless with Tech: As Chapter 3 reveals, he doesn't even know how to use a mobile phone, and even has some misconceptions about it. But knows enough to set an alarm.
• I Work Alone: After Tsurugi becomes a Knight Templar and Monokuma introduces the Secrets Motive, he decides to stay away from Tsurugi's group for the time being.
• The Mole: It turns that he was the traitor, and the reason he was able to pull off his kidnapping of Kanata was because Monokuma told him that Akane would have broken, which would distract everyone and give him an opening.
• Nice Guy: Downplayed. He's the Stoic and takes a I Work Alone stance after Chapter 2, but he's rather helpful when he can be, and accepting of the fact that not everyone shares his religious views and believes that all sins can be forgiven if the sinner properly repents.
• Nightmare Face: Sports one during his Villainous Breakdown, his eyes bugging out unnaturally.
• No Social Skills: Downplayed. While he is The Stoic, he is capable of conversing with others with little issue. However, he's rather behind with most modern concepts, being Hopeless with Tech as basic as a cell phone and, upon encountering a slot machine, is more fascinated by it than anything.
• Not So Stoic: He loses his composure during the third trial becoming more unhinged and emotional as his dark secrets and motivations are revealed.
• Passion Play: Kinji's execution involves him reenacting the Passion of the Christ with him filling the role of Jesus.
• Pet the Dog: In Chapter 3, he hears Yuki out about his isolation following his apparent secret of knowing the mastermind being exposed, and offers him some advice and assures him that, while he'll still work alone and suggest they hurry up and investigate, he still trusts him.
• Precision F-Strike: His Villainous Breakdown is full of these.
• Recurring Element: Like the canon killers of the third case, Kinji shows off a darker and more disturbing side of him that shocks his classmates during the trial.
• Refuge in Audacity: Part of the reason why everyone find it hard to believe he was the killer of Chapter 3 is because they can't comprehend that a priest would commit a murder, let alone such a gruesome one.
• Red Right Hand: When he attacked her with chloroform, Rei spread luminous paint on his hand as a way to pinpoint him as the killer. This proves to be the final evidence needed to convict him.
• Revealing Cover Up: His attempt at making it look like Kakeru died in the library by moving him there and spreading blood packs around becomes undone since his wound stopped bleeding while still in the art room. Yuki however, thanks to knowledge he got from Kanata during the investigation into Kizuna's murder, realizes that the wound should have stopped bleeding and that there shouldn't have been that much blood, ultimately exposing the trick.
• Rube Goldberg Device: Killed Kanata with one. After flooding the science lab with water, he combined Kiyoka's phone with a taser he found, set a timer on it, and placed it near the edge of the desk, which would cause it to vibrate and fall off the table and into the water, pulling the taser down with it.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After Rei, he's the next to leave when Tsurugi takes his new leadership stance due to his value of people's freedom, including his own.
• The Stoic: He maintains a serious demeanor at all times.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Tsurugi attempts to call him out on his murder of Kanata and Kakeru, he swiftly uses Tsurugi's previous claims of the The Needs of the Many against him, saying he's sacrificing the other students (10 at that point) for the sake of the lives of 100 cathedral children, citing how they're not so different and that Tsurugi's use of this mindset put him and Rei in danger. Unlike the previous times he got someone calling him out on his actions, this actually leaves Tsurugi in a Stunned Silence, and is hinted in Chapter 4 to have done a number on his Knight Templar beliefs.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: There was no real need for him to kill Kanata after having murdered Kakeru, but Kinji decides, since he's already set up the plan to kill her, he's in too deep and needs to carry it out.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Sports a harrowing, completely blank expression during his execution, not showing any reaction to nails being driven into his limbs nor to being launched into space. Considering that he has just found out that his murder of two people was All for Nothing and that Monokuma has killed the cathedral children whom he promised to release once Kinji commits murder, it's perfectly understandable.
• Token Religious Teammate: The most religious of the students due to his talent.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: His plot revolved making it look like he was attacked by the real killer. However, that becomes undone when the others see past his attempt to cover up Kakeru's time of death and realize that either he, Tsurugi, or Rei, are lying about being attacked, and he gets exposed due to his not being as solid.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Yuki ruins his attempt at pinning his crimes on the deceased Kanata, he loses his composed demeanor and starts hurling insults and threats, his appearance becoming more disheveled.

Mitsuhiro Higa

Mitsuhiro Higa

Ultimate Soccer Player

Mitsuhiro is a chill person with good looks and renowned fame in the world of soccer. Perhaps because of his popularity, he is a little cocky and arrogant, and may ignore someone who's "inferior" to him.

He is the first killer, bashing in Kiyoka's head with a hammer and trying to make it look like she committed suicide.

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: While he recognizes that what he did was wrong, he still tries to beg for his life.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Despite his Jerk Jock and even lecherous attitude, some trying to claim he had no real excuse to kill Kiyoka, and everyone even turning their heads away from him when he begs to be saved, the cast are horrified and grief stricken by his death, some citing it as Disproportionate Retribution and still considering him a friend, with the exception of Rei and Tsurugi.
• All Men Are Perverts: During Chapter 1, he tries asking Akane for a sexual favor, only to flee when Yuki shows up.
• Asshole Victim: Downplayed. No one seems to actually be very upset that Mitsuhiro is gone, and many have no sympathy for his terribly selfish motives for killing an innocent person and trying to get everyone else executed in order to escape. However, his execution is so brutal that everyone except Rei and Tsurugi are shocked and disgusted.
• Chekhov's Skill: He used his Ultimate Soccer Player to try and create a fake suicide to cover up Kiyoka's murder and pin it on the girls, tying the rope around a rubber ball and kicking it against the wall inside multiple times to tie it around the pipe.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Strapped to a giant football and kicked around by a squad of giant Monokumas, eventually getting kicked so fast that he catches fire and is burnt to a crisp.
• Didn't Think This Through: Trying to make it look like it only a girl could have killed Kiyoka, which would knock him off the suspects list since he's a guy, is a good idea on paper, but the method he chose had two flaws. For one, he ended up narrowing the suspects down to guys, since a girl would have been able to enter the girls bathroom to hang her with less hassle and, even if they did it the way he did to use reverse psychology, they would have been able to clean the rubber ball stain. Then there's the fact that it involved using his Soccer talent in a manner that no one else would have been capable of, narrowing it down to just him. In the end, he would have been better off just leaving her body in the laundry room, since then only Kakeru and Rei would have had alibis.
• Dramatic Irony: During the Whole Episode Flashback that showcased the 79th class attempting to survive The Tragedy, Mitsuhiro saves Kiyoka's life on two different occasions. It's a shame that he would become her killer during the killing game.
• Expy:
  • His role as a hot headed athlete with a bit of an ego who ultimately becomes the first killer and whose attempt at using his talent to cover up his crime serves to indict him makes him similar to Leon Kuwata. Like Leon, it's also his use of a tool that Monokuma provided the students that's the final nail in his coffin, which in his case is the notepad he used to write his message to Tsurugi, which Kiyoka got by mistake.
  • He also shares aspects with Teruteru Hanamura, having something of a perverted streak and, while hinted to be partially because he was a Dirty Coward, he was motivated to kill and escape to check on the outside world, including the status of his teammates, like with Teruteru and his mother.
• Freudian Excuse: His motive video showed major parts of the Soccer industry being destroyed one-by-one, as well as something happening to his team. Some of the others attempt to claim that Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse since they witnessed similar things in their videos but decided to resist them, and, as Kakeru points out, his murder was too well-planned to have been made up on the fly, hinting that he was thinking about killing even before everyone got their motive videos. Others, such as Yuki and Kanata, do feel sorry for him, the former outright stating that in the end, it was Monokuma's doing.
• Frame-Up: Attempts to frame his crime as if only one of the girls could have done it, placing her body in the girls bathroom while making it look that that whoever did it was trying to cover it up as a suicide.
• Hate Sink: Somewhat downplayed. Mitsuhiro is deliberately written to be unlikable and somewhat two-dimensional so players aren’t too upset when he’s revealed as the first killer. Even when exposed as the culprit, his motives are shown to be nothing more than selfish, even if Monokuma was the driving force behind Mitch’s actions. However, his execution is still portrayed as unnecessarily cruel in spite of this, making it all the more shocking when Tsurugi Kinjo expresses satisfaction at his execution. On the other hand, because Mitsuhiro was somewhat of an Asshole Victim, most of the students are still willing to rely on Kinjo as a leader, with them only turning against him when he becomes more and more self-righteous and controlling.
• In-Series Nickname: Everyone calls him "Mitch".
• Jerk Jock: He's an athlete with an arrogant attitude.
• Kill It with Fire: His execution involves him being kicked around while strapped to a soccer ball to the point that everything catches on fire.
• Smarter Than You Look: Kakeru points out that his murder was actually well-planned, such as his decision to target Tsurugi due to his Ultimate Talent.
• Villainous Breakdown: After he's fully exposed as Kiyoka's killer, all he can do is scream in pure terror.
• Weaponized Ball: During The Tragedy, Mitsuhiro would use soccer balls and metal bombs to defend his classmates from the Monokuma drones.

Teruya Otori

Teruya Otori

Ultimate Merchant

Teruya is a lighthearted boy who is gifted in management and business, and even aspires to be the next manager of the Otori Mart. He has a positive yet childish demeanor, and is prone to not taking things seriously. Teruya speaks in a strange accent, as he has traveled all around the country and picked up different dialects. When he gets serious, however, he uses standard language instead. He also has a weird taste when it comes to fashion, but strangely enough, it can become a major trend thanks to his talent.

He's one of the three survivors who manage to escape the Killing Game.

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• Accidental Murder: Downplayed, then subverted. While he did plan to kill Haruhiko by giving him a gun rigged to explode then provoking him into trying to shoot him, even sending him a letter for them to meet at the armoury, his hunger caused him to fall asleep and miss the meeting. So when Haru was discovered dead the next day, he assumed that Haru sprung the trap on his own, therefore still making him the killer. The subversion comes when this didn't even remotely play into killing Haru, with the real cause being Satsuki shooting him and his hand exploding from a rigged gun being Haru's own, making this a complete coincidence.
• Ambiguously Brown: He has a fairly tan skin tone.
• Crazy-Prepared: He apparently carries paper on him, which he decides to use so the students can pull lots to choose two students be the murderer and victim to sacrifice themselves for the rest. In a odd twist of this trope, this comes back to bite him when combined with the letter Haruhiko received, since with that in mind, he was the only person who could have wrote the letter.
• Despair Event Horizon: Briefly hits this in Chapter 3 due to the lack of progress in finding a way out, along with incredulousness at everyone's attempts to act optimistic despite this, leading to him getting into a fight with Haruhiko that has to be broken up by Kakeru.
• Dirty Coward: In the fourth case, Teruya initially set up a duel between himself and Haruhiko but attempted to cheat by giving him a gun with self-destructing bullets as a means of handicapping the pilot.
• Expy: Teruya comes off as the Yasuhiro Hagakure of the game. He's an Ambiguously Brown student who has a very relaxed personality, but he's also very erratic and hardly helpful when it comes to the investigations.
• Framing the Guilty Party: When everyone begins to suspect him of murdering Haruhiko, he attempts to accuse Satsuki on account of her earlier confession and Mikako's testimony. While he's right on the money, it's evident he didn't really believe and was trying to delflect the blame.
• Freudian Slip: When Yuki discovers a gun in the corner of the armoury while investigating Haruhiko's death, Teruya notices and rushes over to him, warning him that it'll blow and quickly accuses him of trying to kill him, much to Yuki's confusion. This is because he rigged one of the guns to explode during his duel with Haruhiko.
• Genius Ditz: Despite his childish tendencies, he's very brilliant when it comes to business management and is even capable of creating popular trends.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Due to having experience selling medical products, he appears to have some knowledge of first aid, which he uses in Chapter 3 to bandage up an unconscious Tsurugi when he's found alongside a dead Kakeru. He does note however that he's not as skilled as Kanata.
  • It turns out that he made his own school uniform.
• Hot-Blooded: He gets worked up very easily and is quite stubborn to boot.
• Hypocrite:
  • In Chapter 4, he gets very vindictive at Haruhiko and Satsuki for eating most of the food on day 1 and later when it's revealed that since the second day, that they were secretly stealing from the supply. But then, the day after the food runs out, Rei comes in and reveals she discovered a hidden stash of food in his room, exposing him as the one who stole food the first few days. Naturally, Haru gets pretty pissed off at this.
  • Also in Chapter 4, he eventually suggests having two students draw lots to decide a culprit and a victim to sacrifice themselves so the others can escape their current situation, but when Tsurugi starts threatening to force everyone to kill themselves to "prevent any murders", he breaks down and cries that he doesn't want to die.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He's not presented as completely in the right, seeing as the others believe punishing them with only make things worse and he ends up becoming rather pessimistic, plus he ends up getting outed as a Hypocrite in regards to the former, but his anger at Haruhiko and Satsuki in Chapter 4 isn't entirely unjust, seeing as the two of them not only, albeit unknowingly, ate most of the food before everyone learned that they were trapped, but then secretly started stealing from the now limited food supply on day three and jeopardizing everyone's attempts at rationing it out. He's also not entirely wrong in his pessimism, seeing as no one was able to find a way out in the days they were trapped, something the optimistic Yuki and Mikako could retort to.
• Jerkass to One: Briefly. While the others are also wary of him, he's arguably the most vindictive of Yuki due to his apparent knowledges of the mastermind, trying to convince the others to mistrust him over his claim of finding a class photo of them and even insinuating that he ratted out the secret area Mikako discovered despite not having the chance to, to the point that the others, namely Kanata, tells him to put a lid on it. And when Yuki tries to cheer everyone up when their investigation turns up nothing, he's quick to shoot them down, claiming no one's going to believe him.
• Keet: He's super cheerful but can be immature at times.
• Madness Mantra: When everyone starts going insane from hunger in Chapter 4, he's reduced to muttering "I did nothing wrong".
• My God, What Have I Done?: While he already felt bad over his plans to kill Haruhiko, he suffers this hard when Haruhiko, as part of his last words, told Satsuki to apologize to Teruya on his behalf for the bad blood between them.
• The Needs of the Many: After everyone starts going crazy from hunger, he suggests that everyone draws lots to decide a culprit and victim to sacrifice themselves for the others.
• Never My Fault: After he's exposed for stealing food on the first few days in Chapter 4, he's adamant that it's not his fault, blaming Haruhiko and Satsuki for doing the same thing, and claiming that whether or not he steals food anyway doesn't matter since they're all gonna die anyway.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In-Universe. He speaks in an accent when he gets too emotional.
• Skewed Priorities: When Kinji finds a phone in one of the classrooms in Chapter 3, the first thing he takes note of is it's poor quality.
• Tiny Schoolboy: Arguably the shortest and most childish among the boys. By the time of the sequel, however, he somehow manages to grow more than a foot taller, going from 5'0 to 6'5.
• Tragic Keepsake: From Chapter 4 onwards, he wears the goggles of the late Haruhiko to honor his memory.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Believes he was this in Kizuna's murder. He frequently checked the items in the antique shop after Kiyoka's death, and discovered some items missing the day before the murder; fuses, a lighter and some flashlights. And when the murder occurred, he saw those exact items at the crime scene. As a result, he feels responsible for not trying to find the missing items.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: In his first Free Time event, he states that he has a close relationship with his Papa claiming that he learned everything about being a merchant from him. Teruya hopes to surpass him one day by being a manager that his Papa can be proud of.

Tsurugi Kinjo

Tsurugi Kinjo

Ultimate Police Officer

Tsurugi is a calm and modest officer with strong leadership. He is a righteous figure who dreams of putting an end to crime and eradicating all evil in this world. Despite his accomplishments, he deems himself to be inadequate, considering the fact that crimes keep continuing regardless of his efforts.

He is one of the three students to survive the Killing Game.

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• The Ace: He's considered one of the most admirable and reliable students among his peers. This is actually why Mitsushiro targets him in Case 1, since his police talent would have the made the investigation that much smoother.
  • Broken Ace: Then it turns out he's a Knight Templar with Black-and-White Insanity...
• Better to Die than Be Killed: To him, taking your own life is a better alternative than taking someone else's life under any circumstance, even Killing in Self-Defense. Best exemplified in Chapter 4, where he gives everyone a gun and encourages them all to commit group suicide, rather than allow another murder to happen.
• Big Brother Instinct: Has a 'Big Brother' vibe when interacting with the others. While comforting at first, the students are quick to grow unnerved by it after the first Class Trial.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Shows absolute indifference to Mitsuhiro's death due to the fact that he was a murderer and even states that he should have died even if Monokuma didn't do the deed, citing that criminals don't count as human beings. He then goes on to claim that no matter what circumstances, even if you killed another criminal, you deserve to die. Even Rei feels compelled to point out how they're being a hypocrite and claims this trope.
  • In Chapter 2 onwards, he opts to only share information with and protect those who follow all his orders without question while leaving anyone who doesn't to the wolves, already seeing them as potential murderers. The latter includes Rei, Kinji and Kizuna, who leave the group due to his attitude.
  • This also appears to apply to Accidental Murder, saying that even if Akane isn't the Blackened who killed Kizuna, he plans to deal with her after the trial even though she never intended to kill her and didn't even want to in self-defense. The others are quick to jump to her defense on this.
  • In Chapter 4, he shown to view suicide as a better alternative to becoming a criminal, trying to force the others to shoot themselves before doing the same.
• Broken Pedestal: The Reveal that he's a Knight Templar after Case 1 horrifies the other students, who quickly grow to loathe him.
• Byronic Hero: Despite his role as a successful cop, Tsurugi feels that he isn't trying hard enough and that the world is still far from saving.
• The Coroner: Serves as this in Chapter 4 in regards to Haruhiko's bullet wound due to his experience dealing with them, explaining how it's better for the bullet to pass through the body than get stuck inside, and confirming the he didn't die immediately due to where the bullet struck, speculating that it punctured his lung.
• Crazy-Prepared: Knowing how lax his night time rule was, he tied a small string to each of his classmates' bedroom doors so he can keep a check on who was out during Nighttime hours.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: When Haruhiko and Yuki try to stop him from forcing everyone to commit suicide, he beats them back with little effort.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • Having gone insane from hunger and everyone growing more inclined to murder as a result of theirs, he opts to, when Haruhiko begs for his help, give everyone a gun so they can perform a group suicide, provided he watches them go first to ensure they can't live to commit murder, even stating his intention to force them to do it.
  • With the stress and the despair finally overcoming him, Tsurugi decides to end his suffering by shooting himself pointblank in the head. Fortunately he manages to survive.
• Everyone Has Standards: When Yuki questions if, assuming they find an escape route, he'd be willing to allow Rei, Kinji and Kizuna to escape with them, he states that he would since they all have the same goal of leaving, and with a way out the reason they'd have to commit murder would be gone.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Knight Templar he is, part of the reason he couldn't believe Satsuki was the one who killed Haruhiko was her actively trying to confess to the crime with no provocation. By extension, it's also why he's in outright denial of Haruhiko creating the Locked Room Mystery, unable to comprehend the idea of a victim doing something to help their killer.
• Hated by All: While everyone was unnerved by his Black-and-White Insanity, only following him because he was still the most competent among them, his Kick the Dog in Trial 2 cemented the other student's dislike of him and his Knight Templar attitude, which isn't helped when he tries to solidify his dictatorship over the others and limit their free will, leading them to decide to no longer follow him. The only one willing to still work with him is Yuki, and that's largely because his exposed secret puts them in the same boat.
• Hypocrite:
  • When Mikako tries to prove Teruya's innocence, Tsurugi claims that her testimony is faulty on account of her, like everyone else, having been dying of hunger when she gave it. As both Rei and Mikako point out however, he previously gave testimony that was less than reliable, that being the string he attached to everyone's doors that only he knew about, and expected everyone to believe it.
• Insane Troll Logic: Kinjo views murder as the worst thing a human being can do, so in Chapter 4, his solution to prevent a murder in their situation is...for everyone to commit suicide together instead. He refuses to die until everyone else kills themselves first, just to ensure nobody else can stay alive to potentially commit murder, and he's prepared to force them to do so if necessary. He feels justified on the grounds that he'll also be dying. Everyone else rightfully calls him out for it.
• It's All My Fault: He blames himself for the death of his Only Friend Sasaki. The two were on assignment to defuse a terrorist bomb and Tsurugi gave him instructions over the radio, only for him to realize too late that the bomb was a trap and it exploded when defused. Because of this, he refuses to get too close to anyone else.
  • He also blames himself for all the deaths up to Chapter 5, and believes the only way he can atone is by shooting himself.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • While his Kick the Dog moment quickly gets the other students against him, Kinji does acknowledge that he has a point when he states that Akane could have called for help after she saw the blood and that her attempt at covering up her supposed crime put everyone at risk.
  • In Chapter 3, when Yuki asks the other if they're gonna continue following the rules he set despite breaking off from his leadership, they agree that while they don't approve of him, the rules he set while he was in charge do make sense in regards to increasing their survivability.
• Kick the Dog: Seeing her as a potential murderer due to her accidental stabbing of Kizuna, he coldly tells Akane to commit suicide in the middle of her Heroic BSoD over Ayame's execution. While his claims against her aren't completely wrong, it doesn't make this any less horrendous. Even when he states he's willing to work with the other students for Kanata and Kakeru's murder trial, he singles out Taira to say he still sees her as an attempted murderer.
  • His vindictiveness continues in Chapter 4, when she offers to make him something to cheer him up, and he goes on a tirade against her for trying to be friendly with him despite being a "criminal".
• Knight Templar: While claiming that he won't forgive Kiyoka's killer, he states that they probably wouldn't have his forgiveness anyway. He also proves to be absolutely indifferent to Mitsuhiro's Execution on account of him being the killer]] and has a major case of Black-and-White Insanity, something which shocks the others.
• The Leader: Tsurugi fills this role for the students. Even after his true nature is revealed, the majority of the students still opt to follow him, even if they're not necessarily happy about it, since he's the best person for the job, that and not following him means they won't have his protection or access to any information he gains. They finally decide to stop following him after Case 2, where tells an already distraught Akane to kill herself and attempts to impose stricter rules.
• The Needs of the Many: He claims that instead of protecting everyone, he's only going to protect those who follow his leadership while leaving those who don't out to dry.
• Never My Fault: By Chapter 4, he's effectively written off everyone else as murderous Ungrateful Bastards despite his attempts at keeping them safe and his role in the Class Trials, ignoring how he operated as a Knight Templar who would go out of his way to torment Akane over an Accidental Murder that she clearly regrets and tried to impose stricter and stricter rules on the others by effectively Blackmailing them with his protection.
• Officer and a Gentleman: He's a police officer and is a good-hearted boy who always looks out for everyone. At first.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Upon learning from Yuki and Akane that Kizuna was crying, he agrees to allow everyone to convince her to rejoin the group and even opts to come along and help.
  • Despite his actions, he's one of the only students to believe that Yuki's secret of knowing the mastermind's identity is false, citing how useful he is in the class trials and relating due to everyone else giving him All the Other Reindeer treatment. Yuki even notes that, under normal circumstances, he'd probably be more of a Nice Guy.
  • After he stops Yuki from grabbing a gun in Chapter 4 and realizes that he was doing it unconsciously, he lets him off after smacking some sense into him, admitting that he can't exactly blame him.
• Rabid Cop: Shows signs of becoming this after Chapter 1, when he voices his approval of the Class Trials. He cements his status as one in Chapter 2 once he tells Akane to kill herself. And then he kills his own father under charges of corruption.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: He has deep red eyes, and he has a darker side to him.
• Self-Deprecation: Has a bad tendency of slandering himself as an incompetent cop.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • Despite his new leadership rules, he allows Kinji and Rei to help in investigating Kizuna's murder since more people would make solving it simpler.
  • While he has cut ties with the group since they have no desire to follow his leadership, he opts temporarily revoke their "potential criminal" status for Class Trials, which he explains before the trial for Kanata and Kakeru's murders.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Believes in this incredibly strongly, to the point of declaring that those who kill are no longer human and trying to encourage others to commit suicide rather than allow them to live as potential murderers.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • At the end of the first trial, Tsurugi takes a firm liking to the class trial process and how it's a great way to weed out any potential criminals or wicked-hearted people from the group. His classmates are in shock over his thoughts on the matter.
  • After receiving a "Reason You Suck" Speech from Kinji, he starts acting much colder, dropping his previous polite pretences.
• Unexplained Recovery: Despite shooting himself in the head, Tsurugi shows up at the end of the 5th trial completely recovered and mentally stable. It's heavily implied to be the result of Utsuro's Divine Luck.
• Villainous Breakdown: He has his Knight Templar beliefs and Black-and-White Insanity challenged constantly throughout the game, but the final straw is when Yuki suggests that Haruhiko turned his murder into a Locked Room Mystery to protect Satsuki, his killer, which he is completely unable to fathom, and when his attempts to refute this are disproven, by his own testimony no less, he ends up suffering a panic attack and fainting.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: After Case 1, he takes a more dictator-like stance on his leadership, claiming only those who follow his leadership to the letter will have his protection, while leaving others defenseless and without valuable information due to them being "potential killers".
• Worf Had the Flu: In Case 3, he gets assaulted and knocked unconcious by the culprit, not giving him much time to investigate when he wakes up.
• Workaholic: Both before and during his time at Hope's Peak, he spends most of his time investigating or doing something work related.

Yamato Kisaragi

Yamato Kisaragi

Ultimate Inventor

The mysterious 16th student who suddenly appears during the 5th Chapter. Despite his odd appearance, Yamato is a cheerful boy with a knack for inventions and is willing to do his best to help out his fellow classmates.

He ends up murdered in the same chapter by Monokuma while framing Mikako as his killer.

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• A Day in the Limelight: In the middle of the 6th trial, he becomes a crucial character during the Whole Episode Flashback.
• And I Must Scream: During the killing game, Yamato found a way to save his memories from being locked away using one of his inventions. Unfortunately, one of the side effects would involve scrambling his personality, leading him to talk in an incoherent manner.
• Big Damn Heroes: In a flashback, he shows up just in time to save Mikako from being killed by a Monokuma drone.
• Childhood Friends: He's this with Mikako.
• Expy: Of Chihiro Fujisaki. Yamato is a genius when it comes to the technological field and is shown to work best with computers. They unfortunately end up dying early on, but they manage to help out the survivors with an AI that takes after their appearances.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He's the Ultimate Inventor for a reason.
• Secret-Keeper: Before The Tragedy, he learned early on about the Student Council Killing Game but chose to keep this a secret from his friends and Mikako.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Despite only living through one chapter, Yamato's influence would continue on for the rest of the series. It's with the help of his AI that the three survivors are able to escape the Killing Game and they would become part of the Kisaragi Foundation which has an ongoing presence in the sequel.
• Talkative Loon: Most of his interactions have him act like this, with most of what he's saying be borderline incoherent. This is a side effect of using the memory retention device.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Introduced in Chapter 5 and killed off shortly afterwards. Most his development is through an AI self of his.

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