Characters / Danganronpa: Rejuvenation

The Main Class

As a whole

• All for Nothing: During the pre-game, each one of them (barring Chie and Hibiki) were either coaxed or motivated to kill Rejuvenation, as they believed they caused the massacre of Ichika's friend’s class. However, as Benjiro pointed out in his video recording, the company was actually innocent the entire time.

• Freudian Trio: Chapter 1 builds up Tsukiko, Nakami and Saori like this:
  • Tsukiko is the Id, acting out of emotion and can be reckless as a result.
  • Nakami is the Superego, being able to deduce problems and find clues, yet being just as likely to run on emotion.
  • Saori is the Ego, focusing more on answers and disliking Tsukiko’s emotion-based approach. After she’s killed off, Chie takes on this role.

• The Friend Nobody Likes: Several students are seen as this:
  • Noboru quickly becomes The Dreaded after trying to kill Saori and injuring Misao, with most of the students (including Tsukiko) doing a bad job at hiding their distrust of him. However, he’s later befriended by Tsukiko and helps solve a murder only to be killed off when said murder was a trap.

  • Koto’s pessimistic and cruel personality earns him almost no affection whatsoever. The only person who likes him is Ichika, who’s already an All-Loving Hero to begin with. It's only after he pulls a Heel–Face Turn that he ends up gaining favor with the others, specifically developing a friendship with Nakami.

  • Haruto’s nightmarish personality makes him this both in and out of the story, with his free time events showing the only people wanting to spend time with him are his family and Tsukiko.

  • Tsukiko slowly develops into this over the course of the story, as her extremist views on justice end up both proving herself as a threat to the others, and alienating herself from Nakami, the one person giving her benefit of the doubt.

• Iconic Item: Chapter 2’s shrine links each dead character back to an object they had. Excluding Tsukiko and Hibiki, each of the deceased get the following item connected to them:
  • A strand of Noboru’s jacket.
  • Saori’s glass shard.
  • One of Ichika’s gloves.
  • Asami's floral headband.
  • Misao's helmet.
  • A pair of Benjiro's glasses.
  • Yutaka's hat.
  • Haruto's hooded blanket.

• Limited Wardrobe: Deliberately invoked by Monokuma, who gave each student identical pieces of clothing to wear. This ends up coming into play in Chapter 2, with Tsukiko deducing that Koto changed clothes after the murder for this very reason.

• Non-Standard Character Design: Several characters steer away from a typical Danganronpa character’s appearance:
  • Nakami is described as both the token muscular character and this, with Tsukiko likening him to a doll that had his head switched out for a different one.
  • Chie is a chubbier character, in contrast with the skinnier cast.
  • Downplayed with Asami, who’s described as looking pretty normal excluding her Exotic Eye Designs.

• Shoo Out the Clowns: On several separate occasions:
  • After being comedic relief for nearly three chapters, Misao is killed by Asami. Even when her second personality takes over her corpse, the focus is more on how Misao would react to someone she admires dying, rather than humor.
  • With his penchant for death aside, Haruto's one of the sunnier characters in the case. However, he ends up committing murder during Chapter 4.
  • Ryou is poisoned by Asami during Chapter 3, spending a full part of the chapter in the infirmary. Although he survives, his demeanor noticeably takes a hit.

• Teen Genius: As per most Ultimate talents.

• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Each one of them either massacred Rejuvenation’s staff or helped with the process of it, all in order to enact justice for the class Rejuvenation (supposedly) ended up massacring.

• World of Snark: Most of the cast can be extremely snarky, with Koto and Saori being the most verbal about it.

Tsukiko Masayoshi

Tsukiko Masayoshi

Ultimate Sharpshooter

Tsukiko's pixel sprite

"You can change the world, Tsukiko. Sure, it will cost four years of your life, but the rest of it will repay what you lost."

The main character. A skilled markswoman, Tsukiko decided to join Rejuvenation to help change the world for the better. Dictated by a life of justice, she’s a determined and confident person who wants nothing more than to lead. Though her actions can border on reckless, she has a sharp mind and can properly focus when the chips are down.

Due to frustration over the lack of punishment for Fumio and Koto’s crimes, her own growing cynicism and the final tipping point of Benjiro’s video recording, Tsukiko ends up being driven mad during Chapter 5, culminating in her trying to shoot the others to death. Although she nearly succeeds in leaving the killing game due to it, she’s shot in the back of the head by Hibiki, making her the final victim of it.

---

• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Her rushing to Nakami’s body instead of cautiously investigating is what sets the killing game in motion, setting off the trap that killed Noboru.

• Action Girl: Not only is she a female sharpshooter, but she’s the most likely to take charge in any given situation.

• Anti-Hero: Over the course of the story, this is revealed what she truly is: despite her goals to save innocent people and put evil to justice, her stubborn nature, black-and-white worldview and penchant for violence causes more problems than solves them. By the end of the story, she ends up becoming a full-on Villain Protagonist after (seemingly) shooting the remaining classmates to death.

• Berserk Button: Bystander Syndrome. It’s enough for her to angrily leave her search party in Chapter 1.
  • She’s also not pleased when people make her out as unjust. This rage ends up exposing her as Neon Justice.

• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Her desire for justice has her jump in and take charge when needed. A lot of the time, this causes trouble thanks to her recklessness.

• The Dreaded: After her past as a murder-prone vigilante is exposed, Chapter 2 opens up with most of the student body either nervous to be around her or openly distrusting her.

• Fatal Flaw: Recklessness. Not only did she send her classmates on a potentially-dangerous mission without reading the rules first, but running towards Nakami’s fake corpse without investigating was what caused the first murder.

• For Great Justice: Her primary motivation.

• For Your Own Good: Tsukiko's logic for revealing Nakami's partnership under her: she assumed he was having Koto's influence rubbed off on him, and needed to remove his ability to control anything due to it.

• Go Mad from the Revelation: After watching Benjiro’s video tape detailing the Awful Truth, she’s so disgusted by the amount of injustice in the class that she tries shooting everyone to death.

• Gun Nut: As per her talent, she’s likely to literally go in guns blazing if she sees fit. This, combined with her reckless personality, gets her in trouble almost immediately.

• He Who Fights Monsters: Despite her justice-fueled mindset, a combination of her bull-headed nature and lack of sympathy for murderers ends up driving her to make worse actions than those she’s trying to punish. Such as nearly shooting all of her classmates to death.

• Hoist by Her Own Petard: After attempting to shoot the other students to death, she’s ultimately killed by Hibiki shooting her in the back of the head with her own discarded pistol.

• Hypocritical Heartwarming: After Noboru’s death, she finally thinks of him as a good person who wanted to change his ways. However, she refuses to hold that stance with the various criminals she’s killed. Noriko even points this out during the end of the first class trial.

• Knight Templar: Despite Tsukiko having only good intentions in mind, it’s clear from her actions that she isn’t exactly the best person. Outside of manipulating someone into torturing a man she assumed was unjust, she also ratted out her mentee, as to avoid him having influence over the class while working under Koto.

• Liar Revealed: Thanks to Saori, Tsukiko is revealed to secretly be a serial killer. This ends up having massive repercussions for the rest of the story, as she's no longer fully trusted by her class.

• The Mentor: Becomes one to Nakami near the end of Chapter 2.

• Not Good with Rejection: After Nakami reveals he no longer wants to be mentored under her, her first instinct is to assume they’re in denial and continue pushing for it.

• The Svengali: Although well-intentioned, her mentorship of Nakami is based around spreading her views of justice, rather than genuinely helping him.
  • This is further brought up after her torture of Koto, where she attempts to manipulate him onto siding with her actions.

• Took A Level In Cynicism: Thanks to witnessing the injustice of her classmates, Tsukiko's views on them slowly warp, with her even lamenting whether reviving them would be a good idea in Chapter 4.

• Treacherous Advisor: Despite her mentorship of Nakami, she's quick to rat out their partnership, as to assure he has no authority to lead others.

• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: By setting the class on a journey to find the exit, not only did she find their first motive, but also unwittingly tips off Saori of her double life as a vigilante. This sets off a chain reaction leading to the first murder, officially setting the killing game in motion.

• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Killed several people in the past, but only to those who were known criminals.
  • Her assisted torture of Koto also was built around this, as she heavily suspected him being behind the attacks in Chapter 3.

• What the Hell, Hero?: Is placed on the receiving end of this on several separate occasions:
  • At the end of the first trial, her life as a serial killer is revealed, including her murder of several innocent people in the process. Her class is far from happy.
  • During the third trial, her torture of Koto is revealed, with most of the class disgusted with her actions.
  • Nakami gives a much more horrified one after she reveals she's mentoring him to the class.

Nakami Ito

Nakami Ito

Ultimate Police Officer

Nakami's pixel sprite

"I’m just hoping this place can help me help others. Even if it’s just one person, I’ve done my job."

A former police officer who retired early into his career, who once specialized in investigating crimes. Although meek and self-defeating, he has a natural passion for helping others and a great eye for clues. However, he also has a cowardly streak and tends to seize up in dire circumstances.

While he appeared to be the first victim, the body was fake and he was alive and well. Later, after Tsukiko’s death during Chapter 5, Nakami becomes the protagonist. However, after learning how he was partially responsible for the deaths of innocent people, that combined with his guilt over his Dark and Troubled Past causes him to nearly condemn the others to death. After getting talked off the ledge by Koto, he ends up allowing the game to end safely, going on to survive the killing game.

---

• The Blind Leading the Blind: How he interprets his situation during Chapter 2: he's trying to act more police-like to help protect the class, but admits to Tsukiko that he's unsure how to be a good officer anymore.

• Broken Ace: Thanks to his talent, he’s an incredible investigator. However, his self-defeating attitude and phobia of his past makes it clear something’s holding him back.

• Broken Pedestal: Initially sees Tsukiko as someone confident and heroic enough to switch talents with, and someone he can't bring himself to fully condemn after she's outed as a serial killer. However, after her assisted torture of Koto and seeing her lack of regret for her actions, he becomes much more distant with her.

• Butter Face: While he has a muscular build, his cartoonish face is strange enough for Asami to consider him ugly.

• Cowardly Sidekick: Ends up more-or-less becoming this once he's under Tsukiko's mentorship.

• Dark and Troubled Past: As the main story hints at and his final FTE fleshes out, Nakami was caught by a powerful group of people during a sting operation, and he cowardly exchanging information about the operation for his own survival. He was later released, but during the operation, his entire squadron was killed in his place.

• Dark Secret: Considering he was both willing to vandalize Monokuma’s secret-exposing video aimed at him, as well as take and hide any information about himself, alongside his explanation to Monokuma about it, it’s clear he doesn’t want anyone knowing something about his past.
  • How dark his past is becomes Zig-Zagged once it's revealed: in the main story, his past is simply established as him vaguely "killing fifteen people" and treated as something he was at fault for. However, his final FTE establishes that the situation was something out of his control, and something he blames himself for due to his own cowardice leading to it.

• Dating Catwoman: Downplayed. Nakami seems to have a one-sided crush on Tsukiko, who’s secretly a serial killer, but they aren’t dating and the feelings are implied more than anything.

• Despair Event Horizon: After learning about how he was one of the people to massacre Rejuvenation, a combination of guilt from this and his previous transgressions convinces him he’s an evil person, forcing the others into a group execution to punish himself for his crimes.

• Dirty Coward: Sees himself as one.

• The Ditherer: As Chapter 1 shows, Nakami's cowardice causes him to freeze up in the face of decision-making. However, he gets slightly better during Chapter 2, thanks to his new Let's Get Dangerous! mentality.

• Et Tu, Brute?: Is on the receiving end, as Tsukiko reveals his mentorship under her to the class, as a way to avoid him having control over others thanks to Koto’s influence.

• Extreme Doormat: Implied to be one to his classmates, as his free time events had them freeload all their chores onto him.

• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: His first free time event shows he hates swearing, seeing it as something that gives the police force a bad name. He treats words like “damn” and “stupid” like something horribly forbidden, to Tsukiko’s disbelief.

• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Has a blonde buzzcut and is one of the nicer students in the class.

• I Should Have Been Better: Despite Noboru and Saori’s deaths having nothing to do with them, he’s deeply upset about them and blames himself for not seeing the warning signs.

• Let's Get Dangerous!: After spending Chapter 1 as a cowardly fellow who’s hesitant about doing police work, Chapter 2 has his first appearance showing him go out of retirement and pull himself together to properly lead.

• Nice Guy: A kind, if slightly awkward, former officer who enjoys helping others.

• Non-Standard Character Design: A twofer, as his head looks cartoonish and his body is that of a bara character.

• Odd Friendship: With Koto, as of Chapter 4. Unfortunately, getting close to him is what results in Tsukiko betraying his trust.

• Police Are Useless: Downplayed. While he’s great at finding clues and helping trials progress, he lacks both confidence and a drive to work independently, often leading to people like Tsukiko and Chie having to push him forward.

• Precision F-Strike: Swears exactly once throughout the entire story: after detailing his guilt over causing his squadron's death in his final FTE.

• Rage Against the Mentor: After witnessing Tsukiko's assisted torture of Koto, he's not happy at her, to say the least.
  • A chapter later, he ends up lashing out on her for ratting out their partnership to the class.

Saori Tsukada

Saori Tsukada

Ultimate Rebel Leader

Saori's pixel sprite

"I’m sure you’re wondering why I killed those bastards. You see, those assholes had it coming."

With a grand history of starting a massacre to stop political corruption, Saori’s presence in the school is shocking to the others, especially since she was last seen on the run. Known for her quick wit and snarky attitude, she sees herself as above others and doesn't take anyone seriously because of it. Although Saori is more likely to sit back and observe, she's just as competent putting plans into action.

She’s the murderer of Chapter 1, trying to kill Tsukiko after suspecting her of being the mastermind. After Noboru ruined her plan, she attempted to sacrifice everyone to escape and save more people.

---

• Action Girl: A woman who led a resistance into slaughtering thousands, evading capture until the killing game began.

• All for Nothing: Set up the first murder to stop the mastermind, but had her plans thwarted at the last minute by Noboru. Then, during the class trial, her attempt to sacrifice everyone to prevent more killing games was stopped by Tsukiko.

• Berserk Button: In her free time events, she can’t stand Tsukiko claiming her army was composed of addicts and runaways who blamed their problems on the government.

• Boyish Short Hair: Her hair is described as a pixie cut with faded red streaks.

• Deadpan Snarker: Practically a second language to her.

• La Résistance: Led a group of rebels into invading the National Diet building, slaughtering thousands in order to stop another disaster.

• Master Actor: Claims to be this, seeing it as a necessary skill for a criminal to have.

• The Needs of the Many: This is her reason for feigning innocence long after her trap failed: she wanted to escape to potentially help save people from more killing games.

• Not So Stoic: After spending most of Chapter 1 cool and collected, she flies into a rage after Tsukiko outs her as Noboru’s killer. Although she later plays this off as acting, a smaller breakdown reveals that likely wasn’t the case.

• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Her freakout over being exposed as the culprit is terrifying to the students.

• Small Role, Big Impact: She's the first murderer, but her actions are what leads to Tsukiko's life as a serial killer being revealed, changing Tsukiko's influence on the others for the rest of the story.

• Smug Snake: Sees herself as above her class, and gladly looks down on them as a result.

• Surrounded by Idiots: Holds this mentality, seeing the class as untrustworthy enough to deal with a full-scale murder. Because of this, she’s prone to testing their skills and being unreasonable.

• Trickster Mentor: She both feigns helplessness at the hands of Noboru and intentionally leaves the location of the hidden exit a secret, all to test her classmates on fending for themselves in a killing game.

• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Though she may have killed thousands, she insists it was done for a good cause.
  • After Noboru died in the trap set up for Tsukiko, she had no choice but to sacrifice everyone. If she didn’t, the mastermind could have moved onto creating even more killing games.

Noboru Hatake

Noboru Hatake

Ultimate Wilderness Survivalist

Noboru's pixel sprite

"I was torn from my home. Put into what they said was “home” instead. They won’t let me go back. Did you know that?"

A teenager who spent most of his life in the woods before he was forced out to attend Rejuvenation. Noboru’s often angry and prone to violence, making him a wild card to most of the class. He’s a loner with a fantastic eye for clues, but lacks an understanding of the world he’s been thrown into.

He’s the victim of Chapter 1, trading his life for Tsukiko’s and getting killed in the trap made for her.

---

• The Aloner: Takes this path during Chapter 1, where they leave the meeting early to avoid being around others, since he’s upset over hurting them.
• Animal Motifs: Often described as if he’s a wild animal, mainly a wolf, thanks to his violent nature and upbringing in the woods.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Is annoyed when Tsukiko tries to comfort him in a moment of weakness, seeing her as someone wanting to fix him when he can’t even fix himself.
• The Dreaded: Spends most of Chapter 1 like this, thanks to him attempting to kill Saori and attacking Misao.
• Genius Ditz: While he’s a fantastic investigator, he’s inexperienced in modern society to the point of thinking a wall was a rock.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Pushed Tsukiko out of a trap that nearly killed her, taking her place as the first victim.
• Hopeless with Tech: Implied. While escorting Tsukiko to the meeting room in Chapter 1, he tries checking his device’s map at Tsukiko’s request. After failing to turn it on, he casually dismisses the idea and goes based on instinct.
• Idiot Hair: Described to have one, with his pixel sprite displaying it even more.
• Jerkass Realization: Has one off-screen, leading him to avoid the class.
• Literal-Minded: Takes slang and sayings at face value, as shown when Tsukiko goes looking for him.
• No Social Skills: When actually trying to talk to people, he’s shown as very literal-minded and completely clueless of how to start conversations.
• Reformed Bully: Ends up taking this route at the end of Chapter 1. His death trying to save Tsukiko completely reforms him, at least to her.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Though he’s cranky and violent around others, getting to know him reveals he’s painfully insecure about appearing stupid, as well as the fact he can’t control his violence and always hurts people.
• Spanner in the Works: By pushing Tsukiko out of the way of a deadly trap in Chapter 1, he indirectly ruined the murderer’s plans and forced them to improvise.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: Spent most of his life living in the woods, but was later dragged out of it and back into society. Needless to say, he hasn’t exactly adjusted the best.
• The Quiet One: Often says very little, in the few cases he’s around others.
• Terse Talker: Has a habit of speaking like this.

Koto Mikami

Koto Mikami

Ultimate Voice Actor

Koto's pixel sprite

I can see this conversation is going exactly nowhere with you. So, before you blow out your last working brain cell trying to change my mind, I'll gladly fuck right off. See you around.

The voice of thousands of children’s TV characters, Koto’s name has been associated with family-friendly entertainment. However, in reality he’s a jaded nihilist who uses an upbeat persona to berate others. In contrast to his talent, he’s an elective mute who communicates in signs.

He’s the initial murderer of Chapter 2, manipulating Ichika into a suicide pact that only she was killed during. After she was revealed to have still been alive and dealt the killing blow on herself, he’s freed of the murderer status, but still volunteers to be executed anyways. He later becomes the deuteragonist during Chapter 5, and takes over as the protagonist for Chapter 6 after Nakami’s Despair Event Horizon. He goes on to survive the killing game.

---

• Break the Haughty: In Chapter 2, he kills Ichika but, despite what he presents to the class, clearly feels guilty about it. Then, when reminded of his actions, he tries to kill himself through the execution, yet survives.

• Break Them by Talking: Koto has a talent of doing this to others. His Breaking Speech during the talent show caused Ichika to have a meltdown, his declaration over Chie being a bad leader made her second-guess herself, and goading Hibiki over how saving his life was a stupid decision was what fueled part of his Trauma Conga Line.

• Card-Carrying Villain: After he’s outed at Ichika’s killer, he plays himself up like this. According to him, he wasn’t given a motivation for it, he just wanted to. Averted, however, with a video recording of the event. There, it shows he both cared for her well-being and had something to fight for.

• Child Hater: Lists "Children" under his dislikes.

• Closet Geek: His first free time event reveals he’s one towards musicals.

• The Cynic: Thinks very lowly of everyone, including his own fanbase.

• Death Seeker: Using antagonism, he goads the class into believing he's a threat so someone will off him.

• Elective Mute: Though his talent proves he has the ability to, Koto refuses to speak to others out of distaste for them.

• Even Evil Has Standards: As much as an antagonistic nihilist he is, even he’s put off by the idea of murdering Ichika. It’s actually up to her to convince him to do so.

• Faux Affably Evil: Keeps a happy facade, but the messages he writes to others reveal his true cruel and antagonistic nature.

• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Just as it looks like he'd change his ways after assisting in Ichika's murder, he ends up acting even worse. It's only after Misao sees he's masking sadness with antagonism that he truly starts to shape up.

• His Quirk Lives On: During Chapter 4, he takes on Ichika's tendency to tell puns, specifically as a way to carry her legacy.

• Hope Bringer: In an ironic subversion of his usual nihilistic views, Koto manages to be the only person not suffering from a Despair Event Horizon after the truth is revealed in Chapter 6, fighting with the others to avoid a mass execution and believe they’re capable of change.

• Jerkass: A sarcastic jerk who loves putting others down with insults.

• Karma Houdini: To the class, at least. Despite technically being the cause of Ichika’s death, he survives his execution thanks to Monokuma’s meddling and Hibiki’s code of honor.

• Not Me This Time: During Chapter 2, he’s accused of murdering Ichika thanks to his obvious dislike of them, as well as breaking them beforehand. However, he denies ever setting foot in the room. Subverted, however, when it turns out he did do the crime. He just wasn’t the culprit behind the real cause of death.

• Not So Above It All: Despite his insistence of not wanting to solve any crimes, Chapter 1 has him actively participate and argue about it. Though he tries to cover this up by saying he wanted to move their trial along, it’s implied he’s being dishonest.

• Odd Friendship: With Nakami, as of Chapter 4.

• Reformed, but Rejected: Becomes a better person thanks to Misao having him confront his issues, but is still heavily distrusted thanks to his attempted murder of Ichika.

• Self-Disposing Villain: Attempted at the end of Chapter 2, where he volunteers to be executed thanks to a guilty conscience. However, his execution is left intentionally botched by Monokuma, leading Hibiki into saving his life.

• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Frequently through his messages.

• Smug Snake: On the same level as Saori, possibly even more so.

• Stepford Smiler: Almost always wears a fake smile, which masks just how cynical and hate-filled he truly is.

• Straw Nihilist: Believes that solving murders is hopeless, accepting the fate that they’ll all die eventually and thinking others should think that way, too.

• Talking with Signs: Or, more accurately, the drawing app on his device.

• Voice Changeling: Due to his talent, he's able to replicate anyone's voice, something he mockingly demonstrates during the talent show. it's also what he used to create an alibi from himself, pretending to be Ichika to avoid Misao and Yutaka from coming across the body.

Haruto Watanabe

Haruto Watanabe

Ultimate Storyteller

Haruto's pixel sprite

"I'd love to see if that works in real life! Imagine, the searing flesh! The succulent smell of meat wafting through the air! The long, fleshy strands of flesh between the vulture's mouths!"

A local attraction among his community, Haruto has made a name for himself for sharing stories. Namely, horror stories. Though he has a demented worldview and a fascination with death, in reality he’s a carefree and cheerful boy with an overactive imagination and an endless supply of curiosity.

He's the second murderer of Chapter 4, locking Yutaka in Noboru's research lab and freezing him to death.

---

• Affectionate Nickname: Calls Benjiro “Uncle Benji”, despite him hating being given that nickname.

• The Anti-Nihilist: Unlike Koto, Haruto reveals in his third free time event that he sees life as a restrictive, boring existence, but still finds beauty in it by being imaginative.

• Be Yourself: Deconstructed during his first free time event, where he posits that this only works when their true personality is something more socially acceptable than his Nightmare Fetishist personality. However, he doesn’t mind, enjoying just being himself at the end of the day.

• Beware the Silly Ones: A chipper young boy who is fully capable of murdering a man twice his size.

• Card-Carrying Villain: Is extremely quick to reveal his murder of Yutaka, and fully plays into the “villain” role as he explains how he did it.

• Cassandra Truth: Noticed the chute used to kill Noboru in Chapter 1, but wasn’t taken seriously thanks to describing it in imaginative terms.
  • He also confesses to Yutaka's murder, but thanks to his talent of Ultimate Storyteller, as well as his shit-disturbing mentality, it’s hard for the others to truly believe him.

• Cheerful Child: A happy-go-lucky kid, all things considered.

• Conflicting Loyalty: In a sense: he was ordered by Benjiro to lead the others to a bookshelf containing Yuuna’s information. However, because he liked Yuuna just as much as Benjiro, it’s implied he went against orders to avoid incriminating her.

• Creepy Child: Though he’s a cheerful and innocent-looking kid, he slips into this when obsessing over death and murder.

• Dissonant Serenity: Chapter 3 reveals this is his reaction to all the death surrounding him: he cheerfully treats it like a game, excited as to who dies next.

• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: A cute little kid with a very fucked-up mindset.

• The Hedonist: Actively tries to have fun wherever he can and, in his second free time event, bashes the concepts of holding onto strong ideals.

• In the Hood: Wears a light blue one that matches his blanket cape.

• Loon with a Heart of Gold: Despite being a psychotic person with a fascination for death, he genuinely cares for the people he latches himself onto and showers them in admiration, particularly Benjiro and Yuuna.

• Misplaced Retribution: It’s implied Haruto murdered Yutaka out of revenge for killing Benjiro… despite Yuuna orchestrating his death to begin with. However, considering Benjiro planned to have him lead the others to her information, it’s likely he’s just pushing all the blame off of her.

• Mr. Imagination: Frequently dips into this, especially when describing his fellow classmates.

• Nightmare Fetishist: Enjoys the concept of death way too much, to the point of startling quite a few of his classmates.

• Obfuscating Insanity: Implied. Although he’s quick to act like his murder of Yutaka was for “narrative expression”, it’s hinted at that it was actually done as revenge for Benjiro’s murder.

• Shipper on Deck: Notably wants Yuuna and Benjiro to get together, though both of them clearly dislike the idea.

• Undying Loyalty: Towards both Benjiro and Yuuna. Catching a second party seemingly murder one of them does not end well for them.

• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: It's thanks to his meddling that everyone went inside the hidden basement, setting off the mechanism that gave them the Chapter 3 motive. Not that he particuarly minds, however.

• Vague Age: During numerous parts of his free time events, Haruto's age comes into question: during his first event, he admits to being "a bit older than he looks", while his fourth has Tsukiko ask for his age before being shot down.

Ichika Kobayashi

Ichika Kobayashi

Ultimate Comedian

Ichika's pixel sprite

"Sorry! I thought you knew me! If I lost my head, it wouldn't matter 'cause there's nothing in there anyway!"

Once a travelling comedic legend, Ichika is now a shell of her former self who’s lively routines are replaced with bad puns. Although she still retains the same upbeat personality, Ichika is much more self-loathing and will take any opportunity she can to cheerfully berate herself over her decline in quality. She wishes for others to find happiness, prioritizing their need for it over her own.

She’s the victim of Chapter 2, engaging in a suicide pact with Koto thanks to her guilt over her article. Though he tricked her into being the only victim, the gunshot wound he inflicted didn’t kill her right away. So, she fired again, technically making her the chapter’s murderer as well.

---

• All-Loving Hero: One of the nicest students in the class, to the point she even sees Koto as capable of being a good person.

• Death Seeker: Becomes this during Chapter 2, where her reminder of her friend’s death causes her to want to kill herself. She succeeds.

• Despair Event Horizon: Crosses this during Chapter 2, where her guilt over her friend’s death leads her to do a suicide pact. She’s so stricken with grief, in fact, that she has to be the one to talk Koto into killing her.

• Fatal Flaw: Putting others before herself. She repressed her own emotions about the motive in order to help keep up morale, leading the news of her own suicidal mindset to be almost impossible for the class to believe. It’s also likely her death could have been avoided if she had opened up to any other person than Koto.

• For Happiness: Her reasoning for running Chapter 2’s talent show: everyone’s depressed over their motive, and she wants to do what she can to return happiness to the class.

• Genki Girl: While not nearly as bad as Misao, Ichika proves in Chapter 2 to be both cheerful and unable to sit still, constantly doing different tasks in preparation for the show. It’s later revealed the “can’t sit still” part was because doing it would let her thoughts of despair take over.

• Glory Days: Sees her present-day self as a washout, recalling how she used to be a lot funnier back in the day.

• Hates Being Alone: Her diary entries reveal that she’s terrified of being stuck alone with her thoughts. Unfortunately for her, that’s exactly what happens to her after her breakdown.

• Nice Girl: A cheerful and big-hearted girl who doesn’t have a bad word about anyone.

• Pungeon Master: Often makes quick little puns, most of which fail to make anyone laugh.

• Secretly Selfish: It’s implied she only set up the talent show to keep herself busy enough to distract her from her article.
  • She also tells Koto that her admiration for him stems from how much he reminds her of how she used to be, and she latched onto him to try and create a better version of herself.

• Self-Deprecating Humor: Most of her dialogue consists of this, berating herself over the most minute things.

• Signature Laugh: Ohohohoho!

• Stepford Smiler: Despite her For Happiness mindset, Chapter 2 reveals she’s extremely hurt over seeing a friend of hers dead, to the point of committing suicide because of it

• Survivor's Guilt: Feel terrible outliving her friend, mad at herself for knowing her friend was dying while she was “just spewing out the same shitty puns over and over again like a broken record”.

• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: One of the nicest, most upbeat people in the school who inspired her troupe to let go of their grudges. She’s also the second victim.

• Translator Buddy: Briefly takes on this role in Chapter 1, when she’s the only one to be able to read Koto’s messages on his broken device.

Chie Takahashi

Chie Takahashi

Ultimate Architect

Chie's pixel sprite

"That’s a lot of enthusiasm for someone who’s never met me before. Keep that for long enough and you’ll make a fine employee someday."

The architect responsible for hundreds of tourist-attracting buildings and infrastructures, Chie has made her talent into her own business. Due to her experiences, she’s a competent leader with a good head on her shoulders, even if she’s slightly grumpy and very blunt with her opinions.

It’s revealed in Chapter 6 that she's actually a back-up mastermind, who attended the game on the suspicion Hibiki was trying to sabotage it. She ends up surviving the killing game, but loses both Hibiki and her control over Rejuvenation's assets in the process. For information about her role as the mastermind, see the “The Mastermind” folder.

---

• Benevolent Boss: Though you likely wouldn’t see it by looking at her, her second free time event reveals that she has a lot of respect for her employees, with them returning her sentiments.

• Brutal Honesty: Not afraid to speak her mind, no matter how much it seems to disregard people’s feelings.

• The Determinator: Possibly the most determined person to find a way out, scouting the corridors several times over just for a chance at an exit.

• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Stated outright to her class, after her secret of needing others assistance is revealed.

• Fat Bastard: The chubbiest person in the cast, as well as a cold and blunt person as a whole.

• Good Is Not Nice: One of the biggest leaders of the group, but extremely blunt about her opinion and quick to insult others if they waste time.

• Hidden Depths: Despite being a dry, no-nonsense person, she’s one of the most entertaining people in the school if pushed to be. The class is entranced by her (offscreen) performance during Chapter 2.

• I Work Alone: Due to blaming herself for being an inept leader, Chie isolates herself from others in Chapter 4, hoping to become better if nobody is around to be hurt by her. Hibiki ends up breaking her out of this mentality.

• Ice Queen: An extremely cold individual, even to those she puts her faith in.

• I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Informs Tsukiko of this during the prologue.

• Jerkass Has a Point: Though she’s rude to both Tsukiko and Noboru, it’s clear it’s because the latter injured two classmates and the former proved to be reckless.
  • She treats Tsukiko in particular with nothing but contempt and suspicion, even when she's clearly trying to help. However, considering Tsukiko's a serial killer with a history of killing innocent people, she has the right to be.

• The Leader: Takes this position many times, especially in Chapter 1.
  • Chapter 3 explores how she's actually not as good as she wishes to believe, as Koto's antagonism over it gets to her.

• Moment of Weakness: During the Chapter 3 trial, her attempting to refute Hibiki as the murderer not only leads to her normally-sound arguments becoming desperate and sloppy, but she also lies repeatedly to discredit a seemingly-damning piece of evidence. She's so ashamed of this that she isolates herself from the others for it.

• Must Make Amends: It’s implied that her overworking herself in Chapter 4 stems from this, as she blames herself for uncovering motives and indirectly creating more bodies.

• No Social Skills: In the overly-blunt variety. At one point, Hibiki even questions Chie’s attempts to try and motivate him.
  • Her second free time event reveals this is the case with her all the time. In casual settings, she sees herself as a failure when speaking to others.

• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Hibiki is thought to be the murderer in Chapter 3, she goes from stern and evidence-focused to desperate and relying solely on emotion.

• Pitbull Dates Puppy: Despite her grumpy, no-nonsense demeanor, it's implied she has a crush on the gentle, skittish Hibiki.

• The Stoic: While she’s capable of getting annoyed, it’s mostly just stern lecturing than anything passionate.

• Supporting Leader: The person doing most of the investigations, as well as someone who helps dictate people like Hibiki and Nakami into group-benefitting roles, but is ultimately just a side character.

• Workaholic: Often puts whatever task she’s planning on doing over her health. According to her, she worked for ten hour straight just to look for a way out in Chapter 1.

Yuuna Fujimoto

Yuuna Fujimoto / Fumio Yoshida

Ultimate Hostess / Ultimate Drag Queen

Yuuna's pixel sprite

^{Click here to see spoilers.} 

"Please don’t say anything about this to anyone! I know it’s… undignified, but I don’t want anyone else thinking that too!"

A self-proclaimed “modern-day geisha”, Yuuna works as a hostess at a local nightclub, but fears this information making her look unprofessional. She presents herself as a kind and motherly figure others can consol to, though her femininity can border on prudishness at times. Too ladylike to make bold statements, she prefers merely pointing people in the right direction.

It's revealed in Chapter 4 that her entire identity is a lie: she's really the Ultimate Drag Queen. She attempts to murder Benjiro for knowing her real self, but has her plans ruined by Yutaka accidentally killing him instead. He later reveals himself as Fumio Yoshida as repentance for his actions, going on to survive the killing game.

---

• Armored Closet Gay: Is quick to call drag queens “degenerates” when Tsukiko suggests she’s one, only for it to be revealed she really is one herself.

• All for Nothing: Yuuna turned to murder in order to hide her real identity. However, this not only led to her real self being revealed in the trial anyway, but also the deaths of two other people.
  • Even if she was successful, the class’ reaction show they wouldn’t have cared either way, making her sacrifice of Benjiro mean nothing regardless.

• The Atoner: After causing the deaths of Benjiro, Yutaka and Haruto, Yuuna finally manages to come clean about his true name and talent, in order to move away from the deception that caused the murders to begin with.

• Cordon Bleugh Chef: After trying to cook for the class in Chapter 1, it’s shown that most people push her food away in disgust. She claims it’s because the library’s cookbooks had strange recipes, though.

• Disguised in Drag: It’s revealed she’s been like this since she was first introduced, actually being the Ultimate Drag Queen.

• Feminine Women Can Cook: Subverted. Although she’s the most feminine person in the cast, her cooking is shown to be pretty bad.

• Freudian Slip: Lapses into this around Yutaka.

• The Generic Girl: Her obsession with being womanly notwithstanding, she’s probably the most normal person in the school.

• Liar Revealed: Is revealed to actually be living as an entirely fake person: she’s really the Ultimate Drag Queen. The cast note this isn’t that big of a deal, with it only being brought up to explain her motivation behind trying to murder Benjiro.

• Manipulative Bastard: Though not overly malicious, Yuuna has the habit of getting people to move towards a conclusion by merely suggesting it.
  • In a much more straightforward example, she stopped Yutaka from confessing to his (and by proxy, her) crime, playing off his fear of watching more people die if they went to trial.

• Men Act, Women Are: Her second free time event reveals she grew up with this mindset ingrained into her, thanks to her family’s teachings.

• Moment of Weakness: Despite Benjiro not even blackmailing her about her real talent, she’s so paranoid over everyone hating her true self that she tries to murder him over it.

• My God, What Have I Done?: After the fourth trial, Yuuna breaks down over her actions, specifically how it killed three people.

• Not So Above It All: During Chapter 2, she performs a flashy dance routine and lets go of her otherwise-proper personality for a moment. Though she insists it was merely to save the show if anything were to happen, Asami states she’d been planning it from the start.

• Odd Friendship: With Asami, following the talent show in Chapter 2. Although it ends poorly thanks to Asami's paranoia in Chapter 3, Yuuna still likes her, even mourning for her long after learning she murdered Misao.

• Proper Lady: Plays up this role, as per her Yamato Nadeshiko personality.

• Reasonable Authority Figure: Attempts to be one towards Haruto, though it doesn't exactly work half the time.

• Redemption Equals Death: Volunteers to be executed, since she’s destroyed over how her actions killed three people. Unfortunately, Monokuma refuses to comply with her.

• Team Mom: Becomes one to Haruto during Chapter 1.

• Vocal Dissonance: It's noted during her introduction that her voice doesn't quite match her body.

• Yamato Nadeshiko: A textbook example, being ladylike and reserved.

Misao Kawarino

Misao Kawarino

Ultimate Daredevil

Misao's pixel sprite

"Oh! My! Gosh! It's been a dream of mine to meet you! I've heard so much about you!"

Known as “Kawarino the Unbreakable”, Misao is highly sought after by movie executives due to her ability to survive devastating injuries. Equally unbreakable is her personality, being perpetually sunny and optimistic even in the face of terror. She idolizes the other’s talents and is extremely knowledgeable about everyone’s background, especially being infatuated with big-name celebrities.

Although it initially seems she survived a murder attempt, it's later revealed she was the first victim of Chapter 3, being poisoned to death by Asami after ruining her chance to punish Koto.

---

• Action Girl: As per her talent, though her personality is more like a girly-girl.

• Beauty Equals Goodness: The kindest, most upbeat person in the school, and is described as attractive enough to make Asami insecurely jealous over her good looks.

• Celeb Crush: Has had multiple. It’s implied her crush on Asami is a projection of this.

• Character Filibuster: Thanks to her overwhelming amount of energy, she has a habit of talking a mile a minute until reeled back.

• Fangirl: To every person in the class to an extent, although she fixates on Asami the most.

• Fatal Flaw: Her abusive version of love. Despite multiple people seeing warning signs with her and Asami, she happily justifies her actions and assists her whenever she can. Even after seeing it herself, she still believes she's at fault and can make it up to her, something that gets her killed soon after.

• Fearless Fool: Her free time events reveal she enjoys getting into dangerous situations, thinking of them as a test of her skills. She also doesn’t understand the concept of worry at all.

• Genius Ditz: Despite Misao's general ditziness, she's extremely knowledgeable about the lives of others. This ends up biting Nozomi in the ass during the third trial, as her not knowing Yuuna worked at a nightclub is what tips everyone off that she's an imposter.

• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Has a habit of falling in love with downright abusive people, if her crush on Asami and bruises from an unnamed actress are anything to go by.

• Nice Girl: Probably one of the sweetest people in the game, always having something cheerful or nice to say.

• Nigh-Invulnerability: It’s shown on numerous occasions that potentially-fatal injuries mean absolutely nothing to her, as they heal extremely quickly. The sole exception is bruises, which apparently take her body several years to recover from. It’s also revealed late into the Chapter 3 trial that she has a terrible poison immunity, something that proves she shouldn’t have survived her attack.

• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Her usually-unbreakable cheery demeanor is wiped in seconds after Asami forces her to torture Koto.

• Pink Means Feminine: Played with. Her personality reflects this, but her talent and love for danger sure doesn’t.

• Plucky Comic Relief: Often falls into this thanks to her ditziness and immunity to the other’s sarcasm.

• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Has pink hair and is one of the nicest members of the cast.

• Shipper on Deck: Misao has a habit of shipping almost everyone together, with Noriko lampshading how she should have been the Ultimate Matchmaker instead. However, many of the relationships she roots for are borderline abusive, as per her skewed definition of love.

• The Heart: Not only did she notice Koto's odd behavior, but her conversation with him and belief in his growth is what helps him start being a better person.

• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Is quick to fall in love and even quicker to ship people. However, considering her Love Martyr attitude, a lot of the romances she sees don’t exist, are abusive, or both.

Benjiro Morishita

Benjiro Morishita

Ultimate Editor

Benjiro's pixel sprite

"That's business, sweetheart! You either get eaten alive or crush those in your way! So, while you're off shooting cans off of fences, I'll be creating a media empire!"

The owner, editor and occasional reporter of the popular journalist column “ZTM”, Benji has a long history of ruining the public image of celebrities by exposing their secrets. He enjoys being seen as cruel and ruthless, openly despising every single one of his classmates. However, he’s quick to recoil in horror over the tiniest bit of affection.

He's the first victim of Chapter 4, targeted by Yuuna through a drink with peanut oil in it. However, he ends up accidentally being killed by Yutaka instead, being fed medication he was allergic to.

---

• A Father to His Men: Despite his distaste for others normally, Chapter 4 reveals that those who work under him are treated with respect. Not only does he genuinely care for the well-being of his secret-exposing team, but he also gives them small trinkets to show his appreciation.

• Blind Without 'Em: Chapter 1 reveals that he can’t see a thing without them. According to Noriko, he tripped over her bed a dozen times and mistook her for Misao.

• Bookworm: His first time event reveals that he loves reading, to the point of cleaning out the school library five times over.

• Card-Carrying Jerkass: An antisocial asshole who's only content speaking to his class when they're telling him how shitty he is.

• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: One of two students who wears glasses, as well as a person priding themselves on ruining people’s lives.

• Good Is Not Nice: An antagonistic person glad to get under everyone's skin but, as Chapter 4 demonstrates, is also someone dedicated to exposing secrets to end the game with fewer casualties.

• Hates Being Nicknamed: Calling him “Benji” is usually a good way to get under his skin.

• Hates Everyone Equally: Unlike Koto, Saori or Asami, who all have positive interactions with at least one person, he truly despises everyone.

• Honor Before Reason: Reveals his own secret to the class, despite it putting a massive target on his back, in order to prove he's unbiased over whose information he's revealing.
  • Despite knowing how horrible the truth behind the killing game truly was, he states he’s a man of truth and wouldn’t dare suppress it, sharing just what he discovered through his video tape.

• Informed Poverty: His second free time events imply this, with his obsession with being frugal and not looking poor, him being sentimental about reporting on the poor, and the unclear syntax on his line “I never want to go through that again”.

• Intrepid Reporter: While he mostly specializes in editing, Benjiro occasionally takes the helm as a reporter if need be.

• Ironic Name: “Benjiro” means “peaceful” in Japanese, which he’s anything but.

• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As much of an antisocial and antagonistic bastard as he is, he genuinely has the good of others in mind. Even if he really doesn't like to have this pointed out.

• Love Is a Weakness: Sees friendship as a hindrance to him, recoiling in horror when anyone shows him affection.

• "Not So Different" Remark: During his video recording, Benjiro admits that Yutaka had a point about how some secrets shouldn’t be revealed.

• Only Sane Man: Often ends up falling into this, especially since the people drawn to him are pretty quirky.

• Opaque Nerd Glasses: Sports a pair, described as being on par with the doors at the school.

• Plot Allergy: Is revealed to be both allergic to peanuts and "certain medicines" during Chapter 4. Both end up being used on him later, with the latter killing him outright.

• Suicide by Cop: Chapter 5 reveals he let Yuuna kill him on purpose, as his discovery of the Awful Truth made him believe it was the only way to atone for his crimes.

• Taking the Heat: In order to distract from Tsukiko admitting to Nakami working under her, he intentionally deflects attention onto himself by antagonizing Yutaka.

• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Though he makes it clear he hates his classmates, he admits during an investigation that he prefers living more, working with them to put whoever kills someone to justice.

• Unwanted Harem: Hilariously enough, several people end up gravitating towards him despite how much he hates affection. It’s those people that he ends up showing the most animosity towards.

• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Possibly the biggest one in the story: not only did his video tape end up driving Tsukiko to shoot everyone, creating the fifth trial in the first place, but him revealing the truth behind the game causes most of the surviving students to break down, and nearly causes Nakami to try to mass-execute everyone out of his own guilt.

• When He Smiles: Chapter 4 reveals he has an adorable smile, much to his chagrin.

Asami Oshiro

Asami Oshiro

Ultimate Seamstress

Asami's pixel sprite

"I make dresses, shirts, pants, you name it! And mark my words! It’s ten times better than any of the shit those other bitches are making!"

The winner of the latest season of “Operation: Fashion”, Asami has used her fame to promote her brand and has become a big-name fashion designer. She has a fiery disposition and an ego bigger than the sun, but is quick to become insecure when feeling threatened. She has a love for her fans, so long as they’re not prettier than her.

She’s the first murderer of Chapter 3, poisoning Misao in the infirmary after she released her (supposed) attacker from torture. However, when Nozomi possessed Misao’s dead body, she was strangled to death by the room’s bedsheets, making her the second victim of the chapter.

---

• Abhorrent Admirer: To Benjiro.

• All for Nothing: The serial attacks she did on the class to raise awareness of her own attacker meant nothing; it was her second personality that was slowly injuring her, not any of her classmates.

• Alpha Bitch: Acts like one at her worst, especially around Misao.

• Asshole Victim: Having been behind both Ryou and Hibiki's attacks and the murder of Misao, they're easily the most unsympathetic victim as of Chapter 3.

• Butter Face: Downplayed, since everything but her eyes look normal. Her second free time event reveals the reason they look like it is because they’re the one thing plastic surgery can’t fix on her.

• Berserk Button: Saying she didn’t deserve to win Operation Fashion is a great way to piss her off.

• Death by Disfigurement: After waking up to a growing series of scars for most of Chapter 3, they're killed off at the end of it.

• Driven to Madness: The attacks by an unknown assailant slowly drive Asami to revenge-fueled insanity that culminates in murder.

• Exotic Eye Designs: Her eyes are described as trapezoidal with large, black slits as irises.

• Fatal Flaw: Her insecurities. Believing she's nothing without beauty, she gradually destroys her relationships out of paranoia and becomes laser-focused on revenge, to the point of attacking Ryou and Hibiki and killing Misao.

• Green-Eyed Monster: One towards anyone she sees as prettier than her. In-story, Misao gets most of her wrath.

• Hot-Blooded: Has a habit of falling under this.

• It's All About Me: After Ryou ends up getting attacked by an unknown assailant during Chapter 3, Asami's only focused on finding the culprit to clear up her previous assault. This turns out to be for a good reason: she was the one who attacked him in the first place, solely to spark a bigger investigation of her own attacker.

• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Is this most of the time. Although she’s extremely judgmental and quick to take her affection away, she’s otherwise a nice, supporting person to her fans.

• The Paranoiac: Gradually develops into this over the course of Chapter 3, as a result of frequent attacks.

• Pay Evil unto Evil: Wishes to take revenge on her attacker by any means nessesary and, once Tsukiko lies about Koto being behind it, wastes no time leading his torture.

• Punished with Ugly: After repeatedly being scarred by an unknown attacker in Chapter 3, she believes this is their goal. It turns out this is entirely right. The catch: she's technically the one doing it.

• Vengeance Denied: Although she's able to inflict a small amount of torture of her alleged attacker, Misao's meddling ends things extremely quickly. This later becomes the motivation to murder her.

Noriko Miyara

Noriko Miyara

Ultimate Matchmaker

Noriko's pixel sprite

"Listen. I can't stop you from doing what you want. You're a very personable girl. But don't ruin yourself talking to me. I don't need someone like you falling apart, too."

Boasting a success rate of 95%, Noriko has a natural talent of helping others find true love. Although very intimidating at first glance, Noriko is a calm and introspective woman who prefers to stay quiet. Cursed with a natural ability to see someone’s flaws, she’s grown cynical about others, including herself, and keeps her distance. However, she’s working on this, wanting to hold out hope for the others.

She ends up exposing herself as the Ultimate Executioner in Chapter 5, but this turns out to be a ruse in order to massacure everyone but Ryou, something she would have succeeded in if Monokuma didn’t allow a redo of the trial. She later goes on to survive the killing game.

---

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: A dark-haired and calm teen who’s the tallest girl in the class. However, she’s not as popular as the regular archetype.

• Blessed with Suck: Her talent allows her to see both the good and bad in people. However, the longer she’s around others, the more she sees just how bad a person can be.

• Choosing Neutrality: The only person in Chapter 4 to be unaffiliated with any side of the secret-exposing/secret-keeping/peacekeeping factions, although it's clear it comes from cynicism and grudges from both Yutaka and Benjiro's methods.

• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: She works in a profession that helps others find love, yet never experienced it herself. This contradiction used to upset her, but later she learned to accept it.

• The Cynic: Has a tendency to notice people's negative traits and latch onto them, something that gets progressively worse as the killing game goes on.

• Dark Is Not Evil: Has a dark color scheme and, despite her personal appearance, is a pretty nice person.

• Face of a Thug: Described as having one. She’s fully aware of this, occasionally weaponizing it to get others to do what she wants.

• Had to Be Sharp: Her third free time event reveals that she grew up in a city still ravaged in despair and evil post-Tragedy, explaining how people needed to be observant in order to survive.

• Huge Schoolgirl: The tallest girl in the story, standing at 6’2”.

• Jerkass Has a Point: Despite devolving into an angry loon during Chapter 4, Tsukiko admits that she's right about the negative traits all her dead classmates possess.

• Karma Houdini: Despite both instigating the events leading to Tsukiko attempted massacre, and her near-success killing everyone but Ryou through an incorrect vote, she ends up surviving the killing game.

• Maddened Into Misanthropy: Her growing cynicism over her class quickly turns her into a vengeful, antisocial jerkass who wants nothing to do with anyone but Ryou.

• The Matchmaker: Her talent.

• My God, What Have I Done?: Has this reaction after she realizes that Ryou didn’t actually kill Tsukiko, and that she nearly condemned him to death with her Thanatos Gambit.

• Sanity Slippage: Being trapped in a killing game, with the habit of seeing and latching onto the negative traits of others, does not do Noriko's mental health any favors.

• Shipper on Deck: Surprisingly subverted. Though her talent suggests otherwise, Noriko isn’t very keen on pairing people together. Chapter 2 shows that she doesn’t believe in anyone finding romance in the school, while Chapter 1 has her disappointed in the real Shipper on Deck Misao’s choices in matchups.

• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Ryou.

• Smoking Is Cool: One of the most level-headed and relaxed members of the cast, and the one person shown smoking.

• Thanatos Gambit: Pretends to be the Ultimate Executioner to get the others to create an incorrect vote, fully willing to die to allow Ryou, who she believes did the crime, to win the killing game.

• Took A Level In Cynicism: Gradually becomes more and more angry as each chapter progresses, with Ryou's attack serving as a massive turning point.

• Undying Loyalty: Despite her continued cynicism, she retains constant admiration towards Ryou thanks to seeing him as the one decent person left in the school. This also ends up making her extremely protective of him, which ends up culminating in her performing a Thanatos Gambit just so he can survive (seemingly) murdering someone.

Yutaka Kobara

Yutaka Kobara

Ultimate Choreographer

Yutaka's pixel sprite

"Thank you, miss. It’s a simple routine I’ve been working on. Just because class hasn’t started yet doesn’t mean I can slack off."

With a long history of teaching others the art of dance, Yutaka prides himself and others into being the best person they can be, often coming across as overly stern with no patience for failure or immorality. This even includes himself, as any failure to follow his strict rules of perfection leads to him berating himself and believing he deserves punishment. Although he's critical of everyone, he's much more awkward around women.

He's both the first murderer and second victim of Chapter 4, accidentally giving Benjiro medicine he was allergic to while saving his life, then being frozen to death hours after.

---

• Anger Born of Worry: Most of his actions during Chapter 4 can be classified as such: while he's much stricter and aggressive than usual, it comes from the fear of watching more people die.

• The Big Guy: The token bara of the group.

• Cannot Talk to Women: Downplayed. He’s able to communicate just fine when he needs to, but any signs of affection from a girl has him become a blushing mess.

• Emotional Bruiser: Someone deeply passionate about the well-being of others, who just so happens to be the strongest person in the school.

• Formerly Fat: His second free time event reveals this to be the case. He looks back at this time in his life with disdain, keeping a strict training regiment to keep himself in shape.

• Good Is Not Soft: Wants to protect others by hiding any secrets that'll incriminate the innocent, but enforces his ideology by injuring those who oppose him.

• Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: Helps Yuuna dispose of the body to avoid having a trial but, from his run-in with Tsukiko and Chie hours after, it’s clear his crime ate up at him.

• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Is convinced that his dancing skills are terrible, becoming blushy when it’s suggested otherwise.

• His Own Worst Enemy: His first free time event reveals his Broadway outing failed because of perfectionism. Not only did his unrealistic demands cause dozens of people to quit, but he also never received a callback.

• Hot-Blooded: Acts like this when attempting to direct others.

• I Did What I Had to Do: Stated by him as a justification for ramming Benjiro into a wall, as he would have exposed - and potentially endangered - another innocent party.

• I Should Have Been Better: Chapter 4 implies that he blames himself for the deaths of the others, seeing himself as "too weak and useless to protect the ones he loves".

• Knight Templar: Genuinely works hard in an attempt to protect others, but is quick to defend his actions once physical violence comes into play. However, he easily snaps out of this thanks to Yuuna.

• Mr. Fanservice: On more than one occasion, he’s seen as attractive to his class. Asami calls him a beefcake, Noriko notes matter-of-factly how well-toned his ass is, and Yuuna, normally a proper lady, makes some pretty bad freudian slips in Chapter 1.

• My God, What Have I Done?: Is emotionally devastated by how much trouble his attempts at secret-keeping caused, something he ends up expressing to Chie and Tsukiko. However, it's revealed later that what he was actually upset over was murdering Benjiro.

• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Attempts to save Benjiro’s life by grabbing an epipen and lodrane… only to accidentally kill him thanks to grabbing medication he’s allergic to.

• "Not So Different" Remark: After spending the entire chapter fighting to suppress the truth, Yutaka admits near the end of Chapter 4 that Benjiro was right: there’s some truths out there that really should be revealed for the betterment of everyone else. More specifically, the murder he committed hours prior.

• The Perfectionist: So much so that it took two years for him to choreograph a musical, just because some dancers had minor errors.

• Real Men Wear Pink: A burly, muscular guy whose talent involves dancing.

• Situational Sociability: In a casual setting, he’s an awkward mess whenever a woman so much as talks to him. However, if he’s faced with a dangerous situation, he’ll put aside his feelings and try to find answers.

• Stern Teacher: Is very critical of the people he teaches dance to, as Tsukiko discovered during his free time events.

• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Desperately wanted to prevent any more murders during Chapter 4, but enforced it by injuring people who opposed him.

Ryou Ishiyama

Ryou Ishiyama

Ultimate Tai Chi Master

Ryou's pixel sprite

"C-Come on, there must be something! Look deep in your heart for the shame and regret that’s been haunting you!"

Travelling the world to teach others tai chi, Ryou dreams of a world filled with peace. Appearing as a wise and calm sage, he acts like a mediator in times of hardship and offers advice or techniques to calm the masses. However, just barely under the surface he’s as petty and easily-frazzled as the people he wants to help.

During Chapter 3, he's targeted by Asami in order to spread fear about her own attacks. Although he's left poisoned for four hours, he survives. He later plays an integral part in Chapter 5, disposing of Tsukiko’s body to prevent any more people from becoming the worst versions of themselves, but being innocent of actually murdering her. He goes on to survive the killing game.

---

• Butt-Monkey: Frequently disregarded by his classmates and almost always proven wrong. Though considering his pettiness, he has a little bit of it coming.

• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Though it’s noted his tai chi can calm those who stick with it, Ryou himself is extremely prone to over-reactions.

• Despair Event Horizon: Gets hit hard after Chapter 5, where his insecurities about his inability to help anyone, his role in disposing Tsukiko's body and belief he was prolonging the killing game through being Noriko's anger management coach all compile hard enough to temporarily break him.

• Eyes Always Shut: Always keeps his eyes closed, something that gets lampshaded by Koto during the first trial. This is subverted drastically during Chapter 5, where his own insecurities and guilt finally cause him to open them.

• Green-Eyed Monster: To Noriko, who proves to be a much better leader than him.

• Height Angst: As revealed in his free time events, he’s extremely insecure he’s so short. He sees it as a sign of weakness, as someone who knows less than him but is taller garners more respect.

• I Need a Freaking Drink: When returning to the talent show after coming across Ichika’s dead body, he asks Yuuna for some absinthe.

• Kick the Morality Pet: While pretending to be the Ultimate Executioner, Noriko gives him a harsh diatribe about his desire to spread peace just prolonging it.

• Leader Wannabe: Repeatedly tries to take control of situations, but is usually disregarded, ignored, or seen as a terrible fit compared to someone else.
  • This is later deconstructed in Chapter 4, where his inability to help anyone, despite his best efforts, takes an obvious toll on him.

• Living Emotional Crutch: Becomes one to Noriko, thanks to her cynicism-fueled bursts of anger. His attack only serves to fuel Noriko's fury more.

• Mellow Fellow: Tries acting like this, as part of his shtick of being a peaceful leader. He can barely hold onto it, though.

• Mood-Swinger: Can go from calm and peaceful to frazzled in the span of an instant, mainly when things don’t go his way.

• Morality Pet: Unintentionally ends up becoming one for Noriko, with him being the one person she keeps respecting in spite of her sanity slippage.

• Plucky Comic Relief: The story’s biggest source of comedy, though it’s more based around his pettiness and butt-monkey status rather than pluckiness.

• Tiny Schoolboy: The second-shortest student in the class, with only Haruto beating him. This actually comes into play during the second trial: he couldn’t have shot the victim at the angle that killed them.

• Took a Level in Cynic: Downplayed. Despite his failed tai chi session and attack at the hands of Asami making him visibly more worrisome of the others, he attempts to push it aside in order to help bring peace.

Hibiki Okamura

Hibiki Okamura

Ultimate Surgeon

Hibiki's pixel sprite

"No! That’s not true! They’ll see all the mistakes I’ve made! I can’t be forgiven for those!"

Kept out of the watch of the public eye, Hibiki has been working for the government for years. Although his accomplishments should fill him with pride, Hibiki is a nervous wreck at the very idea of someone watching his work and judging his failures. While quick to pessimism and slow to speak up, he can be surprisingly stern about the health of his classmates.

During Chapter 3, he's nearly convicted as Asami's murderer thanks to a multitude of clues pointing towards him. Although he initially believes this was the case, he's later acquitted. He's later shot to death by Tsukiko during Chapter 5... or so it initially seems. In fact, it’s revealed he survived, being her real killer in order to prevent her from hurting the others. He’s also revealed to be the mastermind, albeit one intentionally trying to ruin his own game. He manages to end the killing game by taking control over it to the grave, being the final person to get executed. For information about him as the mastermind, see the “The Traitor” folder.

---

• Actually, I Am Him: During his introduction, Tsukiko assumes he was an assistant to the true Ultimate Surgeon, who was depicted as an entirely different person. However, it turns out this is just an agent used for public appearances.

• Arch-Enemy: Absolutely hates the Ultimate Executioner, as they killed thousands across Japan.

• Cannot Tell a Joke: Tries his hand at one during Chapter 2, but it ends up falling flat on its face due to him over analyzing the punchline.

• Code of Honor: Mentions having one due to being a surgeon, something that led to him saving Koto's life, despite heavy suspicion he was the Ultimate Executioner.

• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Hibiki's heightened sense of paranoia and anxiety masks how effective of a surgeon he is, to the point of working directly under the government.

• Despair Event Horizon: Because of piles of evidence pointing to him killing Asami, as well as his previous actions providing more harm than anything, he gives up on fighting for his life, urging the others to vote for him.

• The Eeyore: Is often the first to point out and spiral into the hopelessness of a situation.

• Face Death with Dignity: When he's assumed to be Asami's murderer, he's fully accepting of being executed thanks to him believing he's made everyone's lives worse with his actions. It's only with Chie's insistence and everyone else's help that he snaps out of this.

• Guilt Complex: Ends up developing a massive one during Chapter 4 thanks to his involvement in the third murder, despite frequent reminders that messing with the crime scene wasn’t his fault.

• It's All My Fault: Is hit with this big-time during Chapter 3: he starts to believe keeping Koto alive was a bad decision, allowed Asami enough time to grab their murder weapon, and was possessed into messing with the crime scene.

• The Medic: Ends up taking this title thanks to his talent.

• Nervous Wreck: Fears the judgement of others, to the point that just addressing him can freak him out.

• Oblivious to Love: Despite Chie’s blatantly obvious crush on him, he’s the only one unable to see it. This eventually exposes him as the person controlling Monokuma during Chapter 6, after Monokuma refers to Chie’s relationship with him in a platonic way.

• The Paranoiac: Where his nervous wreck tendencies come from: he’s terrified his classmates will judge him for his actions.

• Refusal of the Call: Teetered on this during the first chapter, terrified of being put in charge of being the coroner. It takes some convincing from Chie to get him to do his job.

• Shrinking Violet: When someone’s first character moment is trying to run out of the room when Tsukiko arrives, you know you have one of these on your hands.

• Speech Impediment: Has a bad stutter, which gets worse when he gets nervous (which is basically all the time).

• Trauma Conga Line: Chapter 3 is far from kind to him: he watches as someone he healed becomes even more antagonistic, is poisoned by a serial attacker, is partially responsible for the murderer being able to grab their weapon, and gets possessed by his second personality, setting up the crime scene.

Second Personalities

As a whole

As part of the Chapter 3 motive, most of the remaining students had a second personality put inside them, which would gradually take over their bodies with each passing day. Although treated as a hindrance, there’s more to them that meets the eye…

---

• And I Must Scream: As described by Aya, they’re paralyzed inside the minds of their hosts, only being able to move or speak during small intervals. Likewise, the thoughts of their hosts invade every part of them.

• Posthumous Character: With the reveal that Aya and the others were real people, Monokuma’s use of them as a motive gives them a second chance at life, even if they’re just coding.

• Real After All: Despite being introduced as coded information Monokuma created, Misao confirms that, yes, they’re very much real people.

• Walking Spoiler: Even though they appear in a single chapter, their identities provide a lot to the rest of the class.

Aya Yuhi

Aya Yuhi

Ultimate Director

Aya's pixel sprite

"I go by a lot of cool fan-made nicknames, but Rejuvenation over here gave me the title of the Ultimate Director! Surely the papers described "the great, fabulous, stunning all-in-one filmmaker" somewhere!"

The personality put inside Tsukiko during Chapter 3. Holding the title of “Ultimate Director”, she supposedly attended Rejuvenation before the events of the story.

---

• Chekhov's Gunman: Despite having only three appearances in Chapter 3, it’s through her that Tsukiko is later tipped off about Misao being an imposter, as the movie she referenced was never released by Aya.

• Genki Girl: Introduced as a bubbly and sociable girl with a love for film analogies.

• The Heart: While her fellow personalities celebrating fully taking over their hosts, Aya is lukewarm about it, since she believes they didn’t deserve their fate.
  • Although Tsukiko’s torture of Koto was seen as horrible by both Nakami and the personality that took over his body, Aya believes that they’ll see the error in their actions.

• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How she died before the events of the story.

• Small Role, Big Impact: Appears a total of three times in Chapter 3, but her appearances bring up the question of Rejuvenation enrolling before the events of the story.

???

??? (Nozomi Harigare)

Ultimate ??? (Ultimate Impersonator)

Nozomi's pixel sprite

"I'm sure they came by, but "cute" is such a personal affair based on neurological preferences that I likely dismissed them."

A stoic girl who attended Rejuvenation the same time as Aya. Despite the haziness of her identity, she appears in Tsukiko’s dreams almost as much as Aya.

She’s the second murderer of Chapter 3, taking over Misao’s body after her death and killing Asami through strangulation.

---

• Chekhov's Gunman: Nozomi is used mostly for exposition in the interludes in chapters, but it’s later revealed that she’s behind the murder of Asami, possessing Misao’s dead body in order to do so.

• Dead Person Impersonation: Takes control of Misao’s dead body, using her talents to veer herself away from suspicion.

• Deader than Dead: During her execution, Monokuma makes sure to delete the code used to put her in the others bodies, destroying any chances of her being resurrected again.

• Deadpan Snarker: Certainly has her moments when speaking to Aya for the first time:
  AYA: (chuckling) Well, to be fair, I never actually released that last one! Scrapped works make for the funniest titles, y'know?
  NOZOMI: I'm chuckling.

• Defrosting Ice Queen: Although cold and antisocial when Aya introduces herself, a later dream of Tsukiko’s indicates she developed a friendship with her.
  • After the third trial, Nozomi outright states that she wishes Tsukiko kept her in good company, believing she deserved it.

• Emotions vs. Stoicism: The main root of her character: despite being a logic-driven person, her later appearances show that she genuinely grew to care for other people.
  • Her murder of Asami also shows both sides of this: although her imitation of Misao and justifications for Asami’s murder are based on logical reasoning, her true motivation was to save the lives of her classmates.

• Master of Disguise: Considering her talent as the Ultimate Impersonator? Very much so.

• The Stoic: During Aya’s first meeting with her, she’s shown to be unemotional and logically-driven.

• Walking Spoiler: Moreso than anyone else introduced in Chapter 3.

Other Characters

The Mastermind (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Rejuvenation

The company that ended up bringing the students together for the program in the first place, and one of the suspects behind the killing game.

Chapter 6 reveals they’re indeed behind the game, but not for the reasons the class initially believed: they were blamed for a massacre they didn’t commit, causing most of the students to kill them in turn. After Hibiki managed to thin the herd, the company decided to place them into a killing game to mirror the prolonged suffering they went through.

To help conduct the game from the inside, Hibiki was appointed as the mastermind. However, Chie also ended up joining him in secret.

---

• Cruel Mercy: The true reason Chie was trying to help the class in the first place: she was simply trying to prolong their paranoia and suspicion, and could have ended the killing game multiple times if she truly wanted to.

• The Dog Bites Back: While they were truly a harmless company before their massacre, the survivors of it became antagonistic enough to throw the remaining students into a killing game.

• From Nobody to Nightmare: Started out as a benign - if not sketchy - company, with Chie and Hibiki being just another pair of students attending it. It was only after they were misblamed for killing Ichika’s friend’s class, and massacred as revenge for it, that they ended up creating the killing game in the first place.

• Karma Houdini: Chie’s left alive by the end of the story, with the only true punishment she received being the control of the killing game being stripped from her and Rejuvenation.

• Knight Templar: Chie (and by extension, the rest of Rejuvenation) see the idea of creating a killing game as entirely justified, despite their actions being no better than the people they’re punishing.

• "Not So Different" Remark: Despite being a part of Rejuvenation himself, Hibiki mentions to Chie that her viewpoints aren’t that different compared to Tsukiko’s.

• Revenge Is Not Justice: Despite Chie’s claims that the company was doing the right thing by punishing the students, both Koto and Hibiki call her out for essentially using the methods that caused their tragedy to begin with.

• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: After most of their faculty ended up dying in the student’s massacre of them, the surviving Rejuvenation members created the killing game so they could feel the same prolonged suffering they did.

• The Unfought: While Chie ends up acting like a figurehead for the organization, the actual staff members of Rejuvenation are never interacted with.

The Traitor (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

The Ultimate Executioner

Discovered through the articles in Chapter 2, the Ultimate Executioner is a mysterious figure that’s slaughtered thousands across Japan and evaded government capture, something that both makes them a sworn enemy to Hibiki, and also the biggest suspect of running the killing game.

However, Chapter 6 reveals their entire identity’s a fabrication created to get themselves caught, as an attempt to end the killing game. In reality, “The Ultimate Executioner” was just a nickname given to them after massacring Nozomi’s side of the class. And the person responsible for it? Hibiki Okamura himself.

---

• Alas, Poor Villain: Ends up voting for himself in order to break Chie’s tie during the final trial, both saving the class and atoning for his crimes in the process.

• Card-Carrying Villain: Acts like this after he reveals himself as the mastermind, and continues to try to paint himself as "evil" long after. However, this is all an act to deflect blame directly onto himself, and avoid having the others learn the Awful Truth.

• Demoted to Dragon: While he antagonizes the others for a bit after he outs himself as the mastermind, he’s quickly overshadowed by Chie’s reveal as the mastermind.

• The Dog Was the Mastermind: The mastermind behind the killing game? Hibiki, the character who both helped during investigations and healed a classmate near death. However, this is downplayed due to him sabotaging Rejuvenation’s work when given an opportunity.

• Ex-Big Bad: Despite working for Rejuvenation, Hibiki spends most of the final trial either trying to directly help the class, or attempting to suppress information that could end up hurting them.

• A Lighter Shade of Black: While he’s still responsible for causing the killing game, he’s much less antagonistic about it compared to Chie or Rejuvenation.

• Mouth of Sauron: Uses Monokuma to communicate for him, as he’s in a completely different part of the building by the time Monokuma’s rewired. However, despite what he might try to present himself as, he’s actually doing this to help the class.

• Person of Mass Destruction: Even despite his fabricated past, he still managed to kill everyone attending Rejuvenation except for the students in the killing game.

• Redemption Equals Death: Ends up executing himself and taking control of the game with him, believing it’s “doing something right for a change”.

• Regretful Traitor: Despite initially trying to play it up otherwise, it’s clear Hibiki’s deeply regretful of going against his classmates.

• Self-Sacrifice Scheme: It turns out his entire tenure as the mastermind was this, as he was leaving clues around to try and get the others to realize he was the mastermind, killing him and ending the killing game with it.

• Sympathetic Murderer: Ended up killing almost all of Rejuvenation’s students, but only did so in order to stop their own massacre on Rejuvenation.
  • Likewise, he only ended up murdering Tsukiko due to her nearly killing everyone first, with him stopping her from technically “winning the killing game”.

• Token Good Teammate: Not only is he one of the two classmates not involved in Rejuvenation’s slaughter but, unlike Chie, he’s also trying to help his class solve his game along the way.