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%%%% TV Tropes policies have rules against Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples and changing trope titles to be situation specific. There are also rules against spoiler tagging trope titles and using spoilers in character descriptions, which is why this page will have unmarked spoilers. Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples need to be deleted, fixed or uncommented so that casual readers can't see it while it waits for another editor to fix it.%%%%

This page lists all characters in the very first game of the franchise: ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc''.

--> It's virtually impossible to list tropes for these characters without spoiling everything or creating [[Administrivia/SelfFulfillingSpoiler Self-Fulfilling Spoilers]] because of the large amount of surprising reveals and murderer/victim exclusive tropes this game contains.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:The Students Collectively]]
!!The Students
[[WMG:Tropes applying to the 16 students]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3ctnw.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Top Row: [[PassionateSportsGirl Aoi Asahina]] Middle Row: [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Yasuhiro Hagakure]], [[GyaruGirl Junko Enoshima]], [[WorldsBestWarrior Mukuro Ikusaba]], [[ElegantGothicLolita Celestia Ludenberg]], [[BrawnHilda Sakura Ogami]], [[BrilliantButLazy Leon Kuwata]], [[BadassBiker Mondo Owada]], [[ShrinkingViolet Chihiro Fujisaki]], [[{{Doujinshi}} Hifumi Yamada]], [[ClassRepresentative Kiyotaka Ishimaru]], and [[TokenEvilTeammate Byakuya Togami]] Bottom Row: [[SourOutsideSadInside Toko Fukawa]], [[IdolSinger Sayaka Maizono]], [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Makoto Naegi]], and [[TheStoic Kyoko Kirigiri]]]]
* ArtisticAge: All the students bar [[HeldBackInSchool Yasuhiro]] are supposed to all be around the same age, but certainly don't look that. It gets rather blatant when photos of everyone around two years ago are shown and yet none of them have appeared to age.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: Some deviate from this, but for the most part everyone looks exactly like what they are.
* BirdsOfAFeather: Mondo and Kiyotaka, oddly. Both have personalities defined by surpassing someone: for Mondo it's his brother and for Kiyotaka it's his grandfather. The main difference is that Toranosuke Ishimaru died with a legacy of corruption and debt upon his family, setting a bar that Kiyotaka can potentially overcome through force of will (which he's chosen to focus of his life around). Meanwhile, Daiya Owada died through a gutsy act proving the lengths he'd go to protect his little brother on the night that Mondo was supposed to surpass him, and now Mondo spends his days simply trying to live up to his brother's memory without a specific end-goal (since the bar was raised to a point Mondo can't possibly reach). This divergence in motivations gives Mondo an insecure, aggressive personality while Kiyotaka ends up with a driven but overbearing personality.
* BloodBrothers: Kiyotaka and Mondo.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: Makoto and Kyoko are a GenderFlipped version. She's mistrustful by nature and keeps her emotions to herself while Makoto wears them on his sleeve, and is incredibly trusting. To say that the sheer depth of his kindness catches her off-guard would be an understatement.
* TheCameo:
** All of them appear briefly in the final episode of ''Side:Despair'', with only Enoshima and Ikusaba being recurring and major characters during the second half of the show. Among the cameo characters, only Naegi and Maizono have speaking roles.
** The murdered and executed students all appear briefly in Naegi's hallucination in ''Side:Future'', except Enoshima and Ikusaba. Maizono is the only one of them who has a speaking role. This trope, however, doesnt apply to the surviving students at all, since they are main or major characters in ''Side:Future''.
* CastOfSnowflakes: A very intentional thing.
* CharacterDevelopment: Many tend to lose personality traits the longer they survive.
* ClearTheirName: Happens to Toko, Byakuya, Yasuhiro, Toko and Yasuhiro again, and Kyoko. Inverted by Aoi.
* ColorCodedCharacters: Minor example. As each student introduces himself/herself, there's a different colored background behind each of them. Here's a list:
** Makoto Naegi - Black (no introduction screen, but that's the background when we first see him); Orange (in the animation)
** Kiyotaka Ishimaru - Dark Blue
** Toko Fukawa - Violet
** Sayaka Maizono - Pink
** Leon Kuwata - Gold
** Hifumi Yamada - Magenta
** Aoi Asahina - Yellow
** Chihiro Fujisaki - Light Green
** Kyoko Kirigiri - Purple
** Junko Enoshima - Red-Violet
** Mondo Owada - Red
** Sakura Ogami - Brown
** Byakuya Togami - Light Blue
** Yasuhiro Hagakure - Dark Green
** Celestia Ludenberg – Crimson
** Mukuro Ikusaba - Gray (in the animation)
* CommonalityConnection: The manga reveals that this is what led to Mondo and Kiyotaka's friendship, where they start out with a lot of negative assumptions about the other but come to admire each other's determination in the face of life's many hardships.
* DispenseWithThePleasantries: Several students (Byakuya especially) do this whenever Monokuma delivers a meaningless anecdote in the middle of a serious dialogue or exposition.
* DitzyGenius: There are so many oddballs within the class that it becomes easy to forget that every one of them earned their title for a reason.
* DwindlingParty: Fifteen students in a school where the only way out is through murder. [[BlatantLies Surely no one will take Monokuma up on his offer of graduation!]]
* DysfunctionJunction: Besides some exceptions, most of the students are in some way damaged or have led a difficult life.
* FireForgedFriends: For Makoto and Kyoko; the coldness mostly is on her end. Still, Makoto ends up closer with her than anyone else after fighting so many trials together save for whatever Free-Time Events the player chooses to take part in.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Two characters from of each gender at least loosely fit into a given temperament.
** Sanguine: Aoi, Sayaka, Yasuhiro, Leon
** Choleric: Byakuya, Hifumi, Junko, Celestia
** Melancholic: Kyoko, Toko, Kiyotaka, Mondo
** Phlegmatic: Makoto, Chihiro, Sakura, Mukuro
* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: The survivors (besides Makoto, who, impartial as he is, drifts between several) can be loosely fit into these outlooks.
** The Cynic: Byakuya
** The Optimist: Aoi
** The Realist: Kyoko
** The Apathetic: Yasuhiro
** The Conflicted: Toko
* FreudianTrio: Though they aren't always in conflict, three characters roughly correspond to this:
** TheSpock: Byakuya (thinks that emotions are a waste of energy that distract from cold logic)
** TheKirk: Makoto (can be very emotional, but he never allows them to cloud his judgement)
** TheMcCoy: Aoi (is more guided by her feelings than most, and has a number of knee-jerk reactions that get her believing all-too-quickly in the most obvious culprit)
* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: While the students seemed close during their time in school together (see above picture), in-game the most interaction they have during the course of the story is usually limited to sarcastic remarks, even among the survivors.
* GenderEqualEnsemble: If you count Monokuma as "male", then you've got him, seven male students, and eight female students. Even at the end, this trope applies. One of the girls turns out to be a [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdresser]], and the hidden sixteenth student (who's the one who's been controlling Monokuma from the start) is a girl. So, that leaves eight boys and eight girls.
* GenreBlind: Most of the students try to remain hopeful that there won't be any murders -- or any ''more'' murders -- in a murder mystery game. [[JustifiedTrope Of course]], they're trying to avoid falling into despair like Monokuma wants.
* GoofySuit: [[http://i.imgur.com/8rl7tlf.jpg The cover of the first official yonkoma collection]] (drawn by Rui Komatsuzaki himself) gives several students the misfortune of having to dress up like Monokuma. Naturally, [[http://i.imgur.com/7CBc4uo.jpg one page references this for humor]].
* GrumpyBear: Byakuya and Toko, two of the most negative people in the group who seem to reflect the world's apparent level of cynicism; both survive [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism to see the story to its hopeful conclusion]].
* AHouseDivided: The nature of Monokuma's game has this effect, as you can't be certain who's going to try to graduate, especially with people like Byakuya, who doesn't even pretend to cooperate with the others (ironic, given he survives). Monokuma later invokes this in Chapter 4's motive, by revealing TheMole's identity.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: At least half the class qualifies in some fashion. Luckily they have each other (their first two years together, anyway).
* ImprobableAge: Essentially the point of being accepted into the academy. The title is originally "'''''Super''''' High School Level," after all.
* LastNameBasis: Almost all of the students call each other by their surnames in the original game, including Monokuma, which is perfectly normal in Japan. With some exceptions: Hifumi uses FullNameBasis instead, Toko/Genocide Jill calls Byakuya by his first name, Jill calls others by nicknames based of their first names, Aoi calls Sakura by her first name, and Celestia is generally called Celes(te).
* LetsSplitUpGang: A common decision among the students once the investigation starts up. Even when they'd all agreed to unite, the final group of students decided to take on the investigation separately in the same Franchise/ScoobyDoo-like fashion from which this trope is derived, knowing they only have a limited amount of time to solve all the school's mysteries or they die. [[NeverSplitTheParty Makoto wanted to do the opposite at first.]]
* LimitedWardrobe: Despite being locked up in a boarding school for at least a month, none of the students ever change their outfit.
** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in a free time event with Kiyotaka, who claims to have multiple copies of the uniform he always wears.
** Another case is implied in the game and confirmed in the manga, which makes clear that the white jacket Leon usually wears was the one he threw into the incinerator; he appears the next morning in an identical jacket.
** Makoto also appears to ''sleep'' in his outfit...
** In the class pictures used as evidence in the last trial, while the other students wear appropriate clothing (swimsuits, gym clothes, uniforms, etc.) and take various poses, Celeste is always in the same pose and the same dress, such that it almost looks like she's been Photoshopped in. Lampshaded in [[http://safebooru.org/images/1038/dd6f07f3f2ead47cd77d2fb6c58b6ab0b7fc0e09.png this]] {{Yonkoma}}, in which Makoto concludes that ''this'' is the strange thing the pictures have in common.
--->'''Monokuma:''' ''(with accompanying illustration)'' That is not a lie. She ran in those clothes. She also swam wearing that.
--->'''Makoto:''' Holy crap!
* LoveTriangle: In School Mode, going to the music room and bringing up Sayaka to either Mukuro or Kyoko nets the player a bad reaction for Mukuro and a worst possible reaction for Kyoko (heavily implied to be spurred on by jealousy in both cases).
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Two out of three of the females Makoto ends up getting ShipTease with has this type of dynamic with him.
** Kyoko and Makoto. Neither of them behaves in explicitly cross-gender ways, but Kyoko is more proactive and emotionally distant, while Makoto is more passive and [[TheHeart provides emotional support to others]], the opposite of expected social norms for the genders. [[http://safebooru.org/images/1038/4b6077586c9f42971c164ad1e1ed44019b829f15.png Thus the joke that Makoto is the heroine.]]
** In both ''LightNovel/DanganRonpaZero'' and ''[[ForWantOfANail Dangan Ronpa If]]'', Makoto winds up as a DistressedDude that [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend Mukuro has to rescue]]. The fact that Mukuro is explicitly an ActionGirl and Makoto is a NonActionGuy only further drove it home. Again, fans did not skip a beat whenever they portray them as a couple in fanworks.
* MeaningfulName: A fair amount of characters have names which give some indicator of their personality.
** Makoto means "truth" (which reflects his role as the detective or "truth finder" in the trials), Naegi means "sapling" (perhaps to emphasize his "herbivore" nature).
** Sayaka Maizono means 'bright garden of dance' (which suits her "Ultimate Pop Sensation" appellation).
** Kirigiri is composed of the characters meaning "fog cutter" (indicative of her role in the trials).
** Fukawa is made up of the characters "rotten" and "river" (the "fu" is the same character in "[[YaoiFangirl fujoshi]]").
** Ogami means "large deity" (she is very large in size, and the strongest fighter).
** Mukuro Ikusaba probably has the most telling name in that Ikusaba is composed of the characters of "war" and "blade" while Mukuro means "corpse."
** During a free time event in the original translation, Leon mentions sharing his surname with a well-known [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keisuke_Kuwata singer]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masumi_Kuwata baseball player]]. The localization changes this to a [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] reference.
** "Celes" is the name of one of the heroines in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', appropriate for someone who ends up associating with Hifumi the fanboy.
** The best friends Aoi Asahina and Sakura Ogami both have flower names -- hollyhocks and cherry blossoms, respectively.
** Sakura Ogami and Mondo Owada are two of the largest and physically strongest members of the cast (Sakura, in fact, has been declared the strongest person in the world); in both cases the "O" in their surname is the kanji for "large."
* MrViceGuy[=/=]MsViceGirl: Many students are [[{{Pride}} prideful]], [[NoSympathy insensitive]], [[{{Greed}} greedy]], [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]], [[ItsAllAboutMe self-serving]], [[DirtyCoward cowardly]], [[HairTriggerTemper quick-to-anger]], or just [[TheDitz dull-witted]]. But at the same time, every one of them was considered worthy of representing hope for the future, if only by virtue of the BigBad wanting to save them for enacting her DespairGambit by [[HopeCrusher crushing the hope they all shared]]. Many are also implied to have grown out of these character-flaws during the 2 years which were erased from their memories (shown to be the case in most AU stories like School Mode or "''IF''").
* NobleMaleRoguishMale: Kiyotaka and Mondo, respectively.
* NotAMorningPerson: In another early bout for characterization, Makoto's narration categorizes the students by how late or early they show up to breakfast (with Sayaka's seemingly falling into the diligent category and yet not showing up tipping everyone off that something might be wrong). Yasuhiro, Toko, Leon, Celeste, and Kyoko get described as "a group of people who do things in their own pace and don't care about other people's time." Byakuya shows up even later than them.
* OddFriendship: Hifumi and Celeste: he's ProudToBeAGeek, [[ExtravertedNerd is completely honest about his passions]], and wants to use his talent to inspire others. Meanwhile, she's a ClosetGeek and a ConsummateLiar who only thinks in terms of [[ItsAllAboutMe self-interest]] and [[TheHedonist personal satisfaction]]. In spite of all that, the two became close enough during their time in school that she was willing to give him her real name, which stands at the center of [[IHatePastMe all her self-loathing surrounding her past]]. It could also be an aspect of their mutual FriendlessBackground and [[NoSocialSkills lack of social skills]] making them LonelyTogether to some degree (despite both claiming at various points that they don't need others/don't need the world of 3-D).
* OlderThanTheyLook: The players/viewers are led to believe that the students are all aged 16-17. However, it is revealed in Chapter 6 that they had been at Hope's Peak for ''two years'' as students before the start of the game and their memories as students were erased, meaning they are actually 18-19, with the exception of Yasuhiro, who is 20/22 throughout the game, as he failed two or three grades.
* PairTheSpares:
** Spoofed in a tie-in {{Yonkoma}}, in which Celeste concludes that if she doesn't do something fast, [[http://lpix.org/658356/comic.jpg she's going to end up with Yasuhiro]].
** In a meta example, all the students bar [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Yasuhiro]] are paired up in official artwork. More precisely, the duos are:
*** Makoto and Kyoko.
*** Byakuya and Toko/Jill.
*** Sayaka and Leon.
*** Aoi and Sakura.
*** Chihiro, Mondo and Kiyotaka.
*** Celeste and Hifumi.
*** Junko and Mukuro.
* ParentalNeglect: The commonality of negligent fathers shared by the cast probably goes a long way to explaining [[DysfunctionJunction how some of them turned out as screwed up as they did]].
** Mr. Fukawa's relationship with two women (neither of whom know or care who's the mother) had plenty to do with his daughter's mental state.
** Mr. Hagakure once burned down the family house after falling asleep with a lit cigarette and later ended up divorcing his wife (as revealed in ''Ultra Despair Hagakure''). Hiroko Hagakure being described as disliking "men with no balls" seems to stem from this.
** Headmaster Kirigiri abandoned his daughter shortly after his wife died.
** Mr. Maizono gave his daughter a home life so devoid of parental love that she went seeking validation from fans at any cost.
** The last head of the Togami family is responsible for continuing/cultivating the cut-throat tradition that molded his son into the ruthless successor he is today. That fact would probably weigh heavily on the conscience of anyone besides a Togami.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Byakuya and Jill.
* SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack: All of the characters [[LimitedWardrobe keep wearing the clothes they arrived in]] throughout the game, causing over half the cast to qualify. This is a particularly odd example as all the students have long since graduated from the schools their uniforms came from; nobody wears an actual Hope's Peak uniform except in photos from previous school years. Justified for Kiyotaka, since he states in a Free Time event that he has several copies of the outfit he's wearing.
* SeinfeldianConversation: The students have a tendency to get sidetracked by small tangents marginally related to the task at hand, or [[DeadpanSnarker snarking]] at each other when someone makes a stupid addition to the conversation (which itself tends to develop into another conversation). It gets {{lampshaded}} by Yasuhiro when Byakuya joins the main group in chapter 5, with his no-nonsense attitude flying in the face of how they never get straight to the point (though he ironically [[NotSoAboveItAll falls into the same trap inside that conversation too]]).
* ShesGotLegs: Many female characters wear [[DangerouslyShortSkirt ridiculously short skirts]]. Due to the way sprites are viewed, though, this isn't very noticeable except in trial scenes.
* ShippingGoggles: As the game progresses, the other students can't see anything other than romance as an explanation for why Makoto and Kyoko are spending so much time together, to the point that even ''Byakuya'' of all people thinks he only jumps to her defense so quickly during trials out of love rather than any logical unlikelihood of her being the culprit. This InUniverse acknowledgement either validates the [=NaeGiri=] pairing, or serves as a weird satire of {{Shipping}} in general.
* ShutUpHannibal: The students usually respond to Monokuma like this, particularly after each trial ends.
* SiblingTeam: The Despair sisters, for a little while. One of then eventually pulls a CainAndAbel on the other [[ForTheEvulz on a whim]].
* SickAndWrong: There's no shortage of these reactions from the students, usually from something done by Monokuma.
* SoleSurvivor: The six survivors of class 78, naturally (also being some of the only survivors of the Hope's Peak student body). Counting the PSP Demo and the BadEnding, Aoi, Byakuya and Makoto are the only ones to survive the entire game no matter what.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: The children in the BadEnding are practically clones of their fathers, to the point that Hagakure's child (the youngest of the lot) has his father's massive dreads while sucking on a pacifier.
* TeenGenius: Basically everyone, in one way or another.
* TragicDream: Practically everyone in the group has one, knowing it'll never come true while they willingly lock themselves inside the school. Post-memory loss Celeste was willing to kill for hers (under the mistaken belief that it was still achievable).
** On the other hand, many of the students have wants and desires open-ended enough to be easily transferred over to being a valuable coping mechanism which rationalizes locking themselves inside the school in the first place. Tragically, these new hopes and dreams all get snuffed out anyway by Junko's machinations.
* TransferStudentUniforms: Most of the students wear what are presumably the uniforms from their previous schools (or at least [[NonuniformUniform customized versions of them]]), with the exceptions being Celeste's ElegantGothicLolita getup, Aoi's sweatshirt, tank top and shorts, and Leon's studded jacket.
* TrueCompanions: The last group of survivors, by the end of the game, have a very strong bond with each other.
** It is heavily implied in ''IF'' that one of the reasons why Enoshima decided to erase their memories was also due to their strong bond. If they have kept their memories, they would have never tried to kill each other. This is also shown as Sakura has told the class one of her most intimate secrets prior to their memories loss, something that she would have told to only to those who are very close to her. Fukawa's SuperPoweredEvilSide was also common knowledge among the class, yet Genodicer seemed to be accepted by them. In ''IF'', the class is shown to trust and stick together once they learn about their memory loss and their apparent lost past.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Makoto [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this when the final six start fighting almost immediately after deciding to unite against the Mastermind at the end of the fourth trial. The lot of them get along pretty well as they leave the school, with some lighthearted ribbing thrown around for good measure.
* WackyHomeroom: With all their super high-school specialties, the cast is certainly quirky - and homicidal.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Several students, in one way or another.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: The students' trust for one another is shaky at best, and some of them actively dislike each other. Yet by the end of the 4th trial, the survivors have chosen to unite against The Mastermind, and may have even become TrueCompanions in the process.
* YouAllMeetInACell: Since the protagonist was the last to arrive, it isn't clear if everyone necessarily met at the school entrance, but the spirit of the trope remains.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Hair like Kyoko's and Sakura's, which is super-pale (and purple-tinged in Kyoko's case) generally goes unremarked upon. Sayaka (Blue) and Toko (Purple, occasionally rendered as black) also fall under this.
[[/folder]]

The Students have their own pages:
[[index]]
* Characters/DanganRonpaMaleStudents
* Characters/DanganRonpaFemaleStudents
[[/index]]

!!Antagonists

[[folder:Monokuma]]
[[WMG:Monokuma]]
!!!The Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy
[[quoteright:140:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monokuma_illustration.png]]
->''"I'm not a teddy bear! I...am...Monokuma! And I am this school's headmaster!"''

->'''Voiced by:''' Nobuyo Ōyama (Japanese, ''Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc''-''Ultra Despair Girls''), Creator/{{TARAKO}} (Japanese, ''Danganronpa The Stage 2016''-Present) , Creator/BrianBeacock (game), Creator/GregAyres (anime) (English)

The self-proclaimed headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy and [[BigBad series antagonist]]. He's very eager to see society's biggest hopefuls start killing each other, so he heaps psychological torture on the students at every turn. There's actually more than one Monokuma: he's a series of highly-advanced robots, and can be instantly replaced if destroyed. He states that he's actually bound by the rules like everyone else, but he's willing to bend them for his own benefit to try to get rid of Kyoko, by setting up a sham trial regarding the murder of Mukuro Ikusaba. When that doesn't work, Kyoko gets him to allow the students to redo of the trial. During the final trial, the true mastermind behind Monokuma is revealed—Junko Enoshima. He's destroyed during her execution, but reawakens in TheStinger.
----
* ActionBomb: If Monokuma is damaged, he'll explode. That's not the only way he can protect himself, either...
* {{Angrish}}: After Kyoko and Makoto force him into a final trial in Chapter 6, he shows up in the Dining Hall only to speak in random letters and symbols, as if his mastermind was mashing on the keyboard.
* AppleOfDiscord: A favorite tool of his to throw at the group, particularly in chapter 4 when everyone is fighting because Sakura turned out to be a spy.
* BearsAreBadNews: Considering he is the only true consistency throughout the franchise you better believe it!
* BigBad: By extension, since he’s Junko’s robot avatar.
* BigBrotherIsWatching: And he can teleport. Sweet dreams!
* BreakThemByTalking: Monokuma Continually uses this to keep driving his students to further despair, picking at any weaknesses he can find and trying to push the blame for the murders onto them.
* CovertPervert: He'll accuse the students of having dirty motives in the [[DeathBySex most inappropriate situations]] and go into [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial way too much detail]] about his suspicions. At times he even seems to be egging them on, which is really creepy considering that there are cameras everywhere.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: He is really just a proxy for the real mastermind: Junko Enoshima, and is also one of the personalities that she can take on a whim. You also have to face him in a Machinegun Talk Battle before you face Junko herself.
* DissonantSerenity: They normally sound rather lighthearted about all the despair they want the students to suffer. If you are familiar with his Japanese voice actress it gets even worse; see the "Trivia" tab for details.
* DubNameChange: The Let's Play refers to him as "Monobear".[[note]]Kuma means bear[[/note]] The localization chooses to keep his name as Monokuma instead to stay closer to the "Monochrome" pun (due to a special request from Spike Chunsoft).
* {{Emoticon}}: Monokuma learns how to speak in these prior to Chapter 4's Class Trial. He never does so again.
* EverythingsBetterWithPlushies: A plushie in canon. Unsurprisingly, there's real-life plushies of him as well.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: If he thinks something is funny you don't want to know and if he has a joke in store for you then you're basically doomed.
* EvilIsPetty: While trapping a bunch of teenager in a killing game for the sole purpose of making them fall into despair is already very evil, Monokuma ''always'' takes time to ''also'' throw a comparatively insignificant but still unpleasant KickTheDog moment just to be a dick.
* EvilLaugh: "Upupupu...''Daaahahaha!!''"
* ExactWords: Loves using this, claiming that he never ever lies. By the end of the game, he starts lying regularly and abandons this.
* EyeAwaken: In TheStinger.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He speaks in a very easygoing manner (but still refers to the students very rudely), [[PungeonMaster makes a lot of puns]], and generally acts like an obnoxiously saccharine principal. It just underscores how incredibly screwed-up his entire game is.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: At the end of the first trial, he comments that he knows ''all'' about those crazy people in show business.
* GigglingVillain: His trademark.
* GoodColorsEvilColors: One side is white and looks generally harmless, while the other side is black and features an evil-looking [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eye]] and a SlasherSmile. However, Monokuma is a bastard through and through, so this is instead used symbolically regarding the 8-bit sequences before an execution.
* HangingJudge: If you murder somebody, regardless of mental state or circumstances, then he executes you. End of story.
* ImAHumanitarian: Does this with the Mondo butter after his execution.
* InsaneTrollLogic: His claims that he isn't at all morally responsible for any murders that occur (logically dubious from the start) cross into pure insanity when he says at the end of the Chapter 4 trial that leaving a fake suicide note next to the scene of a crime (turns out it ''was'' indeed a suicide, but ''not'' for the reasons Monokuma's fake note implied) doesn't qualify as planting false evidence or misleading anyone trying to find the killer. It's worth pointing out that this is the point, since Monokuma interfering in crime scenes is a sign that the Mastermind is getting desperate.
* {{Jerkass}}: A part of the point in being as annoying as he tries to be.
* KickTheDog: Almost everything he does.
* KillerTeddyBear: A killer, robotic, exploding teddy bear that tries to drive people to murder.
* LaughablyEvil: Evil bastard for sure, but equally hilarious, which is a major reason why he's so well liked by viewers.
* {{Leitmotif}}: "[[http://tindeck.com/listen/shil Mr. Monokuma's Lesson]]" and "[[http://tindeck.com/listen/sqel Mr. Monokuma's Extracurricular Lesson]]"
* MascotVillain: The central figure frequently unifying the franchise, and probably the character with the most merchandise of anyone. [[MediumAwareness He likes to]] [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] his own status as the SeriesMascot quite a bit as well.
* MediumAwareness: In some of his lines.
-->"The reason for today's murder... starts with the sad tale of two men. Ah! If anyone doesn't want to hear it, they should push the X button to skip."
* MetaGuy: The source of most [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth-wall breakage]] - in addition to the above line, he censors a particularly explicit bit of dialogue in order to preserve the game's rating. Then there's the School Mode, where he has the students build backup versions of himself because he both explodes in the prologue and has them dissect him in Chapter 5. Then there's the ending, where [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2 Usami]] comes to life and he freaks out, saying she isn't supposed to appear ''now'' and that the timeline will be ruined by her appearance - and, after their fight, remarks "This wasn't supposed to happen until the sequel..."
* MetaphoricallyTrue: Monokuma ''insists'' he never lies, relying on this and ExactWords frequently. This breaks down completely in Chapter 5, when he lies outright about either Kyoko or Makoto being responsible for the murder of Mukuro Ikusaba. If she survives, Kyoko uses this against him.
* MouthOfSauron: Of Junko, specifically.
* NeverMyFault: No student is ever able to call him out on his insanity without him finding a way to turn it back on them in some way.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: When Monokuma reads Sakura's suicide note to the students, he does so with the intent to instill more despair and to create a new motive for a murder, but it backfires on him, as it instead instills the surviving students with the determination to no longer turn their angers on each other.
* TheNicknamer: Some translations turn him into this.
* PunnyName: His name is a combination of monochrome (''monokuroomu'' in Japanese) and bear (''kuma'').
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He loves to insist that the students are the '''real''' villains: according to his logic, if they just quietly lived out the rest of their lives in their GildedCage and didn't try to 'graduate', then nobody would get hurt. And when they solve the trials, aren't they only doing so to protect their own measly lives...? Like everything else Monokuma says, it's ''technically'' true, because he's relying on an extremely narrow concept of what it means to be responsible for one's actions. The logic behind that reason you suck speech is that if you make a choice to cause someone's death (by killing someone or convicting a murderer so he/she will be executed), and you had another option available, you're responsible for that person's death. What he leaves out is that due to the situation he's created, the students do have other options besides killing or convicting someone but those other options are ''allowing themselves to die'' or murdering someone or remaining prisoners their whole lives. So Monokuma's speech is technically true but spiritually incorrect since he's artificially narrowed the range of options the students actually have.
-->'''Monokuma:''' The murder we just had occurred because you bastards want to get out, wasn't it!? It's you bastards, who can't let go of the outside world, who are the bad guys here!!
** Subverted in case 4. Monokuma gives a nasty one to Aoi, but Makoto correctly points out that Aoi's behavior was due to a fake suicide note ''Monokuma wrote'', and the other students decide they were wrong to be angry at Makoto in the first place, so they all decide to rally behind Aoi so they can all take Monokuma down.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Invoked with the red eye on his black half with the SlasherSmile.
* RulesLawyer: And he states that he's actually bound by the rules as well. When he tries to bend the rules for his own benefit in Chapter 5, Kyoko uses this against him so that the students can redo Mukuro's trial.
* SamusIsAGirl: Well, he ''is'' controlled by a girl. Although Monokuma himself is consistently referred to as male, though "he" still casually tells someone that the only thing they aren't willing to talk about are their "measurements" which tend to be used in regards to a woman's body.
* SeriesMascot: And it's the villain of the story.
* SissyVillain: Seemingly the intent behind his mannerisms and high-pitched voice. It makes sense upon finding out that he's controlled by a woman.
* SlasherSmile: The left side of his face, which would be the right side when you look at him.
* SoftSpokenSadist: He speaks with the goofy voice of a cartoon character and describes ways the students can kill each other in visceral detail.
* TortureTechnician: See the execution methods they choose to use.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Following the anime having him occasionally carrying one around as a prop, salmon has been associated with him more and more.
* VerbalTic: [[CreepyCute Upupupupu]]...
** The game's official dub turns this into a slightly-less awkward sounding "puhuhuhu" while the anime's dub converts it to a more cartoonish "nyuk-nyuknyuk!"
* VillainBasedFranchise: As mentioned, his presence is the only true constant so far since he is always the one who starts the killing games.
* VillainousBreakdown: One that can be seen toward the end of the Fifth Trial, and is entirely present during the Sixth Trial. In the former, he rigs the case with misinformation and imposes a sudden time limit on it, while in the latter, he childishly yells to shut Makoto up and he pauses for long lengths of time when the students have him figured out.
* VocalDissonance: His voice sounds like something from a cartoon, and while it sort of fits with his design, it makes his role as the antagonist much more weird and unsettling. This is further accentuated by the fact that he's voiced by Nobuyo Ōyama, the woman who voiced one of the most famous and beloved children's anime characters of all time -- [[Anime/{{Doraemon}} Doraemon]]. To put it into a western/American frame of reference, it would be the equivalent of being threatened by some ''thing'' that had a voice like WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse or Disney/WinnieThePooh.
* WillNotTellALie: Technically he doesn't lie, although he heavily abuses ExactWords and often withholds information. When he starts lying in the 5th and 6th Trials, it is a telltale sign that things aren't going so hot for him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The 16th Student]]
[[WMG:Mukuro Ikusaba]]
!!!Ultimate Soldier (Ultimate Despair)
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mukuro_ikusaba.png]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MegumiToyoguchi (Japanese), Creator/AmandaCelineMiller (English), Creator/JamieMarchi (anime) (English)

The mysterious sixteenth student, who Monokuma considers to be his "ace in the sleeve". Kyoko refers to her as "Ultimate Despair". Her real title is Ultimate Soldier, having served with a radical mercenary group called Fenrir for three years without taking a single wound. She is actually the twin sister of Junko Enoshima, and "Ultimate Despair" refers to the group/philosophy they were both members of. Having collaborated with Junko to stage the "School Life of Mutual Killing", she pulls a TwinSwitch to obfuscate her sister's identity as the Mastermind. However, Junko betrays and murders her (seemingly on a whim), and later uses her body to stage a fake murder in Chapter 5.

Her role is expanded in the side-story "''Dangan Ronpa IF''", which makes her the {{Protagonist}} and reveals her to be dependent on Junko, having had her sisterly affection twisted into unquestioning loyalty by Junko's manipulation. After Makoto saves her from being murdered by Monokuma, she vows to destroy her sister's plans both for the sake of her friends and to give Junko more despair.
----
* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Played with. She's Junko's older fraternal twin sister and the two have enough physical differences that when dressed normally it's hard to tell they're even related, but she looks ''very'' similar to Junko when dolled up with cosmetics and the right clothes and accessories, but she's not an ''exact'' match, with her eyes being a different shape and her YouthfulFreckles in particular being noticed by Makoto. She handwaves the discrepancy by claiming that most of her photos are digitally touched-up, but in the final trial, the fact that Monokuma was trying so hard to hide the real Junko's face is ultimately what proves to everyone that the Junko they knew was a fake.
* AntiVillain: Mixture of type 1 and type 3 due to her lack of malice.
* AwesomeMcCoolName:
** Her name basically translates to ''Corpse Warblade''. "Ikusaba" in alternate kanji can also mean "battlefield."
** Her real title is Ultimate Soldier, which also fits, though it's revealed early in Chapter 6 that her Ultimate Despair title is shared with a group of people.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: According to her file, she was so good at her job, she never came back from any mission with '''any''' scars. Averted in the game proper however, as not only is she on the receiving end of one of the most graphic and gory executions while in her Junko disguise, but her corpse is later blown up and left unrecognizable during a fake murder staged by her sister.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: During the the two years spent at Hope's Peak, Makoto was the first person to smile at her, despite her title of Ultimate Soldier. WordOfGod says in all class photos she only looks at the camera if he's holding it, if he isn't, her lines of sight is always fixed on Makoto.
* BecomingTheMask[=/=]LossOfIdentity: In every continuity, Mukuro is never allowed to be present as herself, and every story ends with her still pretending to be Junko in some way.
** In the main canon, she dies as Junko, and is only posthumously recognized as Mukuro.
** At the end of ''IF'', Mukuro keeps her "Junko" identity in an attempt to understand her sister better, and to accept the world's hatred for both of the despair twins.
** Her School Mode ending plays this completely straight; Mukuro never removes her disguise because "Junko" is who Makoto has come to know.
** The bonus mode of [[VisualNovel/NewDanganRonpaV3 NDRV3]] has Mukuro dressed up as Junko for all three years of her school life, and ends with her lamenting that all the friends she made only know her as Junko.
* BrutalHonesty: As "Junko", she did not censor herself ''at all'', and showed no fear of offending anyone.
* ChekhovsGunman: There is an empty seat in the trial room, which Monokuma claims has no special meaning. The presence of a sixteenth student is confirmed by Monokuma in Chapter 2, but it isn't until the end of Chapter 4 where we learn her name. Then you find out in the last chapter that she was the Junko Enoshima that got killed all the way back in Chapter 1!
* ChildSoldier: She worked under a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors PMC]] by the name of Fenrir, which operates under the US military.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: As a child, she joined a mercenary group called Fenrir. When disguised as Junko, she sometimes slips and breaks character, but manages to explain it away. See her above entry as Junko for details.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Black hair, dark colors in her official portrait, and a DarkAndTroubledPast as a ChildSoldier? As it turns out, she's another victim of the School Life of Mutual Killing, gets used by her own sister as a pawn, and (if IF is any indication), had lots of reservations about her role in the plan, enough so to do a HeelFaceTurn.
* DeathByIrony: She follows Junko's orders to the letter like a good soldier... and dies because of it. The fact that Mukuro could dodge any attack on the battlefield only underlines how completely off-guard she was caught by her sister's betrayal.
* TheDragon: She was ''going'' to be one, and then Junko changed the plan on her.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: It depends on [[AmbiguouslyEvil how evil]] [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation you consider her]] in School Mode since she expresses annoyance at the EvilPlan failing, but the point stands. In the school store, if her attention is brought to the Monokuma merchandise, she'll make an attempt at humor that seems a lot less tasteful in context with the final trial of the main story and VideoGame/AbsoluteDespairGirls.
-->"What the heck? What's [[TheMerch this stuff]] doing here? But it's [[GrotesqueCute actually kinda cute, right?]] They should make a hat or something, [[ReligionOfEvil that'd be super popular!]] [[TheHilarityOfHats A big old hat shaped like Monokuma's face]]. Like a full-on Monokuma helmet!"
* ExtremeDoormat: Gets expanded upon in the side material and [[LightNovel/DanganRonpaZero the]] [[Anime/DanganRonpa3 prequels]]; Mukuro's FatalFlaw is her total subservience to Junko. Mukuro made it her life mission to make Junko happy, above her own dreams and ambitions. There's even hints throughout the franchise that Mukuro ''isn't'' obsessed with spreading despair, but still acts as Junko's willing accomplice all the same. She was so blinded in her devotion that she never expected that Junko would literally kill her ForTheEvulz.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Sakura points out Mukuro (who is still posing as Junko) looks a little different from the magazine covers Junko appears in. Mukuro laughs this off by saying it's because the images were photoshopped to make her look more attractive... which you might not find suspicious at first [[TruthInTelevision because that happens in real life]].
* HopelessSuitor: Mukuro had a huge crush on Makoto, but sadly it doesn't stop her from helping Junko go through with her plans to throw the world into despair. In "''IF''", Junko even calls her out on being this. According to Junko, Mukuro wasn't brave to admit her feelings for him during their school life, and Makoto actually had feelings for Kyoko at the time.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Though the chest '''and''' the stomach. The anime [[HumanPincushion kicks it up a notch]] and shows her getting impaled through her ''legs'' as well.
* KnifeNut: A combat knife is regularly depicted in official art as [[WeaponOfChoice something of a signature weapon for her]] (besides an assault rifle). Probably more reason why Junko picked it to attack Makoto with while posing as her sister (not that the students would know that detail about her). As "Junko," she gives this piece of info when Makoto offers to play darts with her in School Mode.
-->''''Junko'''': Oh, um... yeah, sure! I can probably handle that. I've got a pretty good eye, and I used to practice my knife-throwing all the time, so--\\
'''Makoto''': Y-You used to throw knifes!?\\
''''Junko'''': Oh! Um, yeah, well... When I, uh, ran away from home, I had to learn to defend myself, right? So I just... Anyway! [she changes the subject]
* LongingLook: On the class photos she can frequently be seen looking towards Makoto. In fact, the only photo were she actually looks directly into the camera is the one where he was behind said camera.
* MasochismTango: With Junko.
* TheMatchmaker: See Junko's entry, as the "Junko" that Makoto could interact with in Free Time events is really her. In light of the last trial, though, it's unknown if she meant it or not.
* MeaningfulName[=/=]NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ''Mukuro'' can mean "corpse", while ''Ikusaba'' contains the characters for "war" and "blade". Mukuro is officially introduced as a corpse
* MusclesAreMeaningless: She shares the spot with her sister as the two lightest girls in the class at 44 kg while at the same time being one of the most powerful characters in the franchise, able to nearly match Ogami's 99 kg of muscle mass according to "''IF''." Lacking awareness to this trope likely explains why Ogami didn't bother to test her potential as a training partner the way she did to Naegi when they met in the entrance hall.
** Even though they're the same weight, her sister clearly has her beat in [[BuxomIsBetter another area]], with the hamburger dialogue option in School Mode's dining hall implying she makes up the difference with muscle despite being so lanky.
* NoSocialSkills: Mukuro apparently isn't very good with talking to people, unless she's pretending to be Junko. This is best showcased in ''IF'' when Mukuro tries to convince the other student of Makoto's innocence, but unintentionally just made him look more guilty with her argument.
* ParentalAbandonment: Supplementary materials said she was actually separated from her parents in an accident on a trip abroad.
* PosthumousCharacter: ZigZagged, finally settling on the subverted side - but barely.
* RedHerring: The whole point of officially introducing the mysterious 16th student as the "Ultimate Despair" was to set her up as one of these.
* RedShirt[=/=]MauveShirt: Played with. Junko implies that she executed Mukuro in part because she looked the part.
* SignificantBirthDate: In a more ironic version of this, both of the Ultimate Despair sisters was born on Christmas Eve (aka a day in which people are supposed to spread ''hope'' around the world).
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Makoto's kind hearted nature is her reason for loving him.
* StalkerWithACrush: WordOfGod says in all class photos she only looks at the camera if he's holding it, if he isn't, her lines of sight is always fixed on Makoto. Although she and Makoto were good friends back then, she never could work up the courage the admit her feelings towards him, and due to her machinations as co-Ultimate Despair, as well as Junko's betrayal of her, she sadly never will in the main canon. Although possibly subverted in the "''IF''" and School Mode continuities.
* SuperGullible: Specifically centered around anything her sister says, as far as "''IF''" is concerned.
* ThickerThanWater: To the point that she'd help her sister end the world ForTheEvulz.
* TwinSwitch: She was impersonating her twin sister.
* VillainousCrush: On Makoto. Type B (sympathetic) due to her nature as an AntiVillain.
* WalkingSpoiler: Obviously, she is one of the many reasons this page needed to have unmarked spoilers.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Played with. Even after TheReveal, we still don't know how much of her Junko persona was an act. Not to mention that all we know from her actual personality comes from [[UnreliableExpositor Junko.]] "''IF''" fixes this, revealing that most of her lines as "Junko" were scripted by the real thing. That said, she slips out of character every so often, most notably during the Free Time conversations with Makoto.
* WorldsBestWarrior: As evidenced by her title and when we see her in action in ''IF''.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: One reason why Junko killed her. The other reason was [[ForTheEvulz shits and giggles]].
* YouthfulFreckles: Even when masquerading as Junko.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Mastermind]]
[[WMG:The real Junko Enoshima]]
!!! Ultimate Despair (Ultimate Fashionista/Ultimate Analyst)
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/real_junko_enoshima.png]]
->''"I had reasons deeper than the deepest ocean! - That was a fuckin' lie! I had no such reasons!"''

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MegumiToyoguchi (Japanese), Creator/AmandaCelineMiller and Creator/ErinFitzgerald (English), Creator/JamieMarchi (anime) (English)

The true mastermind behind Monokuma, whose identity is revealed in the final chapter of the game. Junko is the twin sister of Mukuro Ikusaba, with whom she pulled a TwinSwitch before the Despair Game begins. Both sisters were members of a movement known as "Ultimate Despair", which caused "The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History" and led to the world's current state. Junko has a paradoxical fetish for despair (both causing and receiving it) and wishes to share her twisted feelings with the entire world. The "School Life of Mutual Killing" is the final stage of her plan to plunge the world into an eternal state of anarchy, by proving that even the "best" of the world will turn on each other given proper incentive.

----
* ArmorPiercingResponse: Any time someone asks her 'why' in some fashion (either in-person or as Monokuma) her answer will always be "despair."
-->"Despair is contagious. It's much like a natural phenomenon, as a matter of fact. Everyone Despairs. And right now, the entire wrecked world Despairs. Therefore, if it's Despair you consider your enemy, then your enemy is the entire world!"
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: As later revealed in ''LightNovel/DanganronpaZero'', her true talent is her hyper-analytical mind, which allows her to easily pick up new skills and accurately forecast trends. Her disguise as the Ultimate Fashionista is just one example of this. However, this talent to her initial fall into despair: she grew extremely bored with the entire world, but despair was the one thing contradictory and random enough to hold her attention.
* AwfulTruth: [[BreakThemByTalking Her performance in the final trial]] is geared towards dropping several of them on the students.
-->'''Junko''': And that is the truth! The truth you sought so much! How about it? Are you in Despair? Are you in Despair now that you know everything?!\\
'''Kyoko''': Are you saying... that having us solve this school's mysteries was part of your plan...?\\
'''Junko''': What if it was? What if this final school trial was designed from the very beginning to bring about your current Despair-inducing situation...? What if I made you fools solve this mystery, just to present you with this Despair-inducing truth...? [[ArmorPiercingQuestion ...So what if I did?]]\\
'''Kyoko''': [StunnedSilence]
* AxCrazy: ''We are putting it lightly here''.
* BackupTwin: In a sense.
* BadassArmFold: Her official portrait is this. After all, this girl is single-handedly responsible for giving the entire world so much despair.
* BadBoss: She holds nothing back even from people who worship and devoted themselves to her, most notably her twin sister Mukuro by belittling her every chance she had in IF and killing her (or trying to kill her in IF) despite Mukuro following the plan as well as she could have. She also wasn't above taking pride on being the "better" twin in the original game by claiming to surpassing her sister in nearly every way while insulting Mukuro's accomplishments despite having killed her long beforehand.
* TheBadGuyWins: Partially. She wanted to give herself ultimate despair, she got it. In fact, by Junko's own description of her philosophy, she technically ''cannot lose'': if she succeeds, the entire world is plunged into despair; and if she fails, ''she'' gets to experience the despair of having her plans come crashing down around her.
* BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: She really, ''really'' loves despair and hates hope. It is made clear when she calls the first peaceful and happy year the class spent together at Hope's Peak "the worst school life ever!" When she's voted to be executed, she's ''ecstatic'', because she gets to experience one of the ultimate forms of despair: having your evil plan to plunge the whole human race completely into despair backfire right as you were about to succeed, and then dying an incredibly cruel death to top it off!
* BastardlySpeech: Her monologuing about despair becomes this after her entire plan has been laid out. She keeps claiming that the students killed each other to no fault of hers as a part of proving her point that despair exists in everyone and that hope will naturally lose to that despair, even going so far as to claim that she did it all out of love. [[ShutUpHannibal Makoto refuses to hear it]].
* BatmanGambit: A number of the variables in her plan and the intent behind the motivations rely on the assumption that her classmates won't deviate from the behavior she observed of them during their time in school (which becomes even likelier with what we learn about her observational abilities in ''Danganronpa Zero'').
* BigBad: Obviously.
* BigBadFriend: Deliberately invoked; she wanted to see the despair created by personal connection between the victims of her game and the mastermind orchestrating it.
* BreakThemByTalking: The poster girl for the series.
* TheCaligula: A rather insane ShadowDictator who has effectively destroyed the societal structure.
* TheCharmer: Her talent for fashion makes it clear just how good she is at knowing what people want (and how to exploit that).
* ChekhovsGunman: Hence why even her folder tries not to clearly reveal her identity.
* ClusterFBomb: Her punk persona has one of the filthiest mouths in the series.
* CompressedHair: She somehow fits her pigtails under a full-head mask on the two occasions she disguises herself to attack Makoto.
* CoolCrown: Her "high and almighty ruler" personality dons one following TheReveal.
* TheCorrupter: ''Frighteningly'' good at bringing out people's worst side. This partially leads to Makoto refusing to lay blame on his fellow students, due to a belief in all of them being basically good people being corrupted.
* CuteAndPsycho: She ''looks'' like a normal, pretty, and fashionable high school girl. Her mental state? Not so much.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: What sort of execution is most fitting for the ultimate villain? ''All'' of them. Junko goes through each and every execution in the game in rapid succession. Possibly subverted for her as she doesn't consider it "cruel and unusual"... she ''loves'' it.
* DarkMessiah: When she puts forth her ideas about despair's superiority over hope, she gains a legion of followers up to and including anyone with the power to stop her (according to the sequel, she was quite systematic about this). For all the problems she brought to the world, her phrasings imply that (in her mind) forcing people to give into this aspect of the human experience may have been an inevitable improvement in the long run... which she then shuts down as an even remotely-solid ideology by saying she did it all without reason or purpose. Some sources go so far as to say that the contradictory nature of her beliefs only serves to fuel her (and probably the world's) despair.
* DeadManSwitch: If she dies, the air purifier that's supplying the school with clean air shuts off.
* DepravedBisexual: As Monokuma, she frequently made lewd comments about her classmates regardless of sex and talked about [[ThePeepingTom spying on them]]. [[AmbiguouslyBi How legitimate this is is ultimately dependent on how much of the Monokuma persona is an act or not]].
* DesecratingTheDead: Frequently.
** Whichever of Headmaster Kirigiri's bones weren't destroyed in his execution are [[FingerInTheMail wrapped up in a box to taunt his daughter]].
** Despite being a robot, [[IAmAHumanitarian Monokuma eats Mondo's remains]] while the other students can only watch.
** At one point she threatens (as Monokuma) to beat on and later eat Sakura's corpse in {{revenge}} for the Monokuma key going missing thanks to her.
** Mukuro's body gets reused in a frame-job and [[WhyAmITicking rigged to explode in covering that fact up]].
** Whatever is left of Kyoko in the BadEnding gets [[DownInTheDumps tossed into the trash dump]] where her father's murder-weapon and coffin (the rocket) was thrown out.
** According the sequel, this was in turn inflicted on Junko by some of her more delusional followers.
* DissonantSerenity: Pretty much the whole time through her five executions, although the kicker is probably her ''meditating'' during the witch-burning.
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: Who knew a teenage girl could do so much?
* DrivenToSuicide: She seems more than happy to execute herself after being defeated. In fact, when Makoto timidly tries to insinuate that maybe, just maybe, she might ''not'' want to kill herself, Junko angrily shouts, paraphrased, "Bitch, you are ''ruining'' this for me!"
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Unlike most examples, this is used to make her look even worse: when her love for despair and her love for her sister coincide, Mukuro's life comes to an end.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: PlayedForLaughs in V3's Ultimate Talent Development Mode, where even she finds the idea of losing a game of table tennis to Miu Iruma too despairing.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Well more like "Despair cannot comprehend Hope" but Junko makes it clear she is completely surprised when everyone chooses hope, thinks making hope speeches is not only boring but also cheating, and fails to realize that she is asking her prisoners to betray the MessianicArchetype again, when the first time only brought them despair.
** This actually leads to her downfall. She was unable to imagine anybody trusting someone else enough to risk their life, which is exactly what Makoto did in the fifth trial. Kyoko calls it the weak point that Makoto exposed, allowing her to initiate the re-trial.
* EvilCounterpart: Excusing their cleverness, [[{{Determinator}} insane willpower]] and [[RousingSpeech speech-making]] [[BreakThemByTalking abilities]], both her and Makoto are extremely good at bringing allies over to their side by understanding the things that make them tick. The difference is that Makoto does this [[TheConfidant through simple listening]], [[TheReliableOne by allowing himself to be relied on]] and [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre unpretentiously helping people move past their pain and insecurity]] and instead [[TheParagon towards a hope-filled path]]. By contrast, she [[ManipulativeBastard exploits that emotional vulnerability]] and then [[TheCharmer psychologically manipulates her victims]] into [[TheCorrupter becoming someone willing (or even eager) to commit evil]]. Hence their status as MessianicArchetype and DarkMessiah.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Seems to be the case for anyone in the series fallen to despair, and she's the poster child.
* EvilIsHammy: Some of her personalities definitely are.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: The Data Center where she acts from is possibly the darkest room in the game.
* EvilPlan: Explained by Monokuma at the start of the game as a simple desire for despair, in all its forms. At the time, the students had no idea how far that statement went.
* EvilVirtues: Despite claiming to be a being defined by despair, she has quite a few traits normally associated with hope, such as an uncannily tenacious devotion to her "cause" (see TheUnfettered below). And since she sees spreading despair as an act of love, in her own twisted way she could even be described as an altruist instead of a misanthrope.
* ExpressiveAccessory: Her bear pins, subtly. [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpa2 The sequel]] ramped this up with her newer sprites, where the bears can be seen sporting FireballEyeballs, OcularGushers and a LuminescentBlush to mirror her.
* ExpressiveHair: All her personalities have her hair behaving in unusual or impossible ways, sometimes sending her twintails spiking jaggedly in every direction. Her cutesy personality compresses both tails more neatly/simplistically to mimic a {{Moe}} art style, while her instructor personality has them fusing into a ponytail for a more intellectual look.
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: A famous fashionista and a psychotic mass-murderer.
* FakingTheDead: Twice!
* TheFashionista: Her alternate title.
* FashionDesigner: She was scouted by the academy as the Super High School Level Gyaru/Fashionista, known for her wild and innovative designs, which she's modeled in dozens of magazines and photo shoots seen at the start of the game. [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon It serves as an early hint]] [[ManipulativeBastard at her uncanny ability to manipulate people]] [[TheCharmer by understanding their wants and desires]].
* FashionModel: She can be seen models her own designs at the start of the game, utilizing her sex-appeal to her advantage.
* FemmeFatalons: Mukuro has to wear false nails to mimic this, which becomes a plot point.
* {{Fetish}}: At least this is how Kyoko describes her desire for despair. As the trial progresses, her dialogue starts to imply that it may go much deeper than that.
* ForTheEvulz: Her motivation. She wants nothing less than to bring despair over the students... and the world. She even kills her own sister on a whim with little justification other than "Just think about how despair-inducing it would be!"
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: A self-described InUniverse example; she firmly maintains that there is ''absolutely'' no greater plan or ambition to the things she does. She just wants to spread and feel despair.
* GreaterScopeVillain: For the entire franchise after the first game, the only exceptions being prequels where she's still alive and actively influencing events. In some way, shape, or form, she ''is'' responsible for nearly everything.
* GoOutWithASmile: Before being crushed by a giant block, she's cheerfully [[CheshireCatGrin grinning from ear to ear]] while waving at the heroes.
* HairColorDissonance: Said to have blonde hair, and is written as having blonde hair in the novels, but in pictures her hair seems to appear more pink or strawberry blonde when examined closely.
* HairDecorations: Befitting her role, the real Junko has bear-themed hairclips, one white, and one black on the same sides as Monokuma.
* HobbesWasRight: Believes despair is an inherent thing within all humans. She's not exactly wrong, either: she's just not as right as she thinks she is.
* HopeCrusher: UpToEleven, to the point where she takes pleasure ''in her own despair'' when she's taken down by the rest of the students.
* HopeSpot: In a way, her cheating near the endgame could be seen as this. The students take her lies as a sign of weakness and that they cornered the mastermind, but then she drops the bombshell about how the outside world is a {{dystopia}} in order to crush their hopes and saddle them with a SadisticChoice.
* {{Hypocrite}}: She claims that despair is an absolute, inescapable thing with only the smallest prodding being required to push people over its edge. She just as frequently proves how small her faith in that despair is by manipulating events in a way that tries to cut hope off at the knees, like [[LaserGuidedAmnesia taking away the student's memories]] knowing they wouldn't kill each other otherwise, writing Sakura’s fake suicide note when she [[HeroicSacrifice killed herself for the sake of hope]], and trying to kill [[HopeBringer Makoto]] under the guise of [[TheDragon Ikusaba]] so that she can pin the murder on [[GreatDetective Kirigiri]]. This fact is thrown at her by basically everyone, and her need to disprove it leads to the final chapter's re-trial.
* ImplausibleHairColor: A common component of gyaru fashion is bleached hair (Junko's hair even tassels into red at the tips).
* InnocentBlueEyes: {{Subverted}}.
* InsufferableGenius: Her ego is enormous, but she also possesses one of the greatest minds in the entire franchise (hiding her identity as the mastermind behind an astronomically complex EvilPlan while surrounded by the greatest teen geniuses on the planet being a telling example). The {{pride}}ful way she carries herself like a movie star on the red carpet may be one of the biggest reasons behind her considerable fanbase.
** Though there's also a chance she only acts that way to annoy and confuse people as much as possible (since a person without hope would have no need for an ego).
* ItAmusedMe: She actually manages to frequently combine this with ForTheEvulz. She gets very quickly bored when she believes things are being too predicable and even changes her EvilPlan on the fly a couple of times, most notably when she kills her sister, for no other reasons than she thought it would be more interesting and entertaining that way.
* LaughablyEvil: Her constant personality switching and the fact that all of them are ''hilarious'' would make it really hard to take her seriously if she wasn't eleven kinds of fucked up in the head.
* LightIsNotGood: Light hair, a well-loved fashion icon, and absolutely AxCrazy.
* LostInCharacter: She implies that constantly acting as Monokuma for the whole game is the reason she has such wild personality shifts (she "forgot what kind of character she's supposed to be"), although it's more likely that she's just crazy...
* MadeOfIron: As described in Cruel And Unusual Death above, Junko goes through every single execution shown in the game, but all except the last one don't seem to even scratch her. She in fact ''enjoys'' every single one of them. It takes a giant crushing machine (and possibly the detonation of the Monokuma she was holding at the time) to actually kill her.
* MadnessMantra:
-->"Lamelamelamelamelame...!"
* MalevolentMaskedMan: When she does need to travel around the school in the second half of the game.
* TheManBehindTheCurtain: Subverted viciously. The mastermind behind Monokuma, the terrifyingly deadly robot bear, when revealed, is a fashion model and high school student the same age as the rest of the students. She's also even ''scarier,'' and things just get worse when she comes out and starts expositing.
* ManipulativeBitch: Her specialty is playing on people's despair, however small it may be, to convert them to her way of thinking.
* MaskOfSanity: She's spent a large part of her life in the spotlight, successfully passed the academy's scrutinization in order to be accepted, and the class is positively ''filled'' with people who are good at reading other people. [[MasterActor She managed to fool every single one of them]].
** Most of the CD Dramas she appears in have her acting in much the same way her sister acted during the game (at one point sharing a scene with the resident esper and detective).
* MegaTwintails: Bigger than her head.
* MemeticHandGesture: Her 'punk' personality sometimes flashes [[Music/RonnieJamesDio the horns]].
* MoodSwinger: Junko's ''entire personality and voice changes with her mood''. She says she gets bored having the same character all the time. When Kyoko suggested the mastermind was emotionally unstable, she wasn't kidding.
* MysteriousPast: How she got this way is never explained and later material is highly vague about any details bar a few. Doesn't help that any person who could explain her past is dead and not entirely reliable themselves.
* NightmareFace: Well, Nightmare Mask. She gets a legitimate one.
* NightmareFetishist: Has a fetish for despair. This includes ''her own despair''.
* NonActionBigBad: Sort of like an EvilCounterpart to Makoto being the NonActionGuy that he is.
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Her cutesy personality, which is drawn in a more simplistic style.
* ObfuscatingInsanity: Despite her apparent MaskOfSanity, it's implied by the way her expression goes blank when truly overcome with hate that she may be ''slightly'' more sane than she lets on, and that her many quirks and personality switches are an intentional way of unnerving people in order to give them despair. It's difficult to tell with her.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: During the finale, Junko is constantly in motion both physically and mentally so she doesn't get bored...but when Makoto starts talking back to her, she goes completely still and just looks at him. It's implied this is because he is one of the few things even her analytical talent cannot understand.
* ThePeepingTom: The art book, which examines the students' wardrobes in thorough detail with Monokuma narrating, [[http://s415.photobucket.com/user/TheIneffablePlan/media/DR%20Artbook%20Translations/CHARACTERPROFILING-MakotoNaegi.png.html?sort=3&o=19 implies on Makoto's page]] that she's been spying on them through the security cameras before they shower.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: She engineers the apocalypse through sheer tenacity (with "''IF''" even implying through Mukuro's narration that [[TheUnfettered her absolute desire to cause despair qualifies as a superpower]]). In the last trial, Kyoko has tremendous difficulty believing she could be capable of so much without a group backing her, and she answers that all it took was humankind's own inherent despair. Kyoko still finds herself unable to fully comprehend the terrifying scale of her influence.
* PsychopathicWomanchild: As smart as she is, her beliefs are simplistic, her speech is littered with [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisies]], her mannerisms are wild and attention-grabbing, and she absolutely despises being argued with. There's a chance her remarks about being born in despair weren't that far off: a person standing opposed to the world's hope from childhood would have no need for the maturity that comes with hoping.
* PuppyDogEyes: One of her expressions, coupled with her "cutesy" personality.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Her two signature colors. Even her blonde hair has hints of pink in it.
* ReligionOfEvil: The way in which she convinces people to follow the path of despair could be interpreted as a cult. [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2 The sequel]] explicitly describes the horrific actions of her followers as offerings to their god (said by Monokuma, of course, ergo she herself [[AGodAmI sees it this way]]).
* RoyalWe: In English, she refers to herself in the plural when in her kingly personality.
* {{Sadist}}: In a roundabout way. She just enjoys despair, in all its forms, that much.
* SamusIsAGirl: The Masked Man did look like it could be a guy.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: Invokes this multiple times, inventing new rules (or bending the ones she's established) [[ObviousRulePatch if it's convenient for her]]. Kyoko ultimately uses this against her by pointing out how this invalidates the point she's trying to prove.
* SelfRestraint: Despite being the mastermind, she actually has the least freedom of anyone (self-inflicted as it may be). She presumably uses a sleeping bag as opposed to everyone's comfy beds, can only take meals at night and has an irregular sleeping pattern as a requirement of monitoring the students at all times, whenever they might be active (with most of the murders happening late at night and into the morning). By the last two chapters, she has little more than a mere two rooms to move around in.
* ShadowDictator: A world filled with despair is her kingdom, and yet her face went unrevealed to that kingdom's subjects all the way until the final trial.
* ShapeshifterSwanSong: Of a sort. She rapidly switches between all her personalities during her final Machine Gun Talk battle.
* ShiftingVoiceOfMadness: In the dub, she has two voice actresses to accommodate this, [[UpToEleven and gets a third in the sequel]].
* SiblingMurder: She ends up murdering Mukuro on a whim. Why? Simply because she got bored their original plan and though that the despair one would experience from the sudden death of a beloved sibling was too good pass up on.
* SignificantBirthDate: In a more ironic version of this, both of the Ultimate Despair sisters was born on Christmas Eve (aka a day in which people are supposed to spread ''hope'' around the world).
* SlasherSmile: On her mask.
* TheSocialExpert: As a fashion icon, she's incredibly charismatic, and Charisma is one of the skills Makoto can learn from simply spending time with a person posing as her. It's the trait that allowed her to build up so many allies.
* TheSociopath: A complicated subversion. Junko is crazier than a shithouse rat... but while she shows many signs of sociopathy, she fails to demonstrate the most important one: an inability to care about others. If she hadn't really loved her sister, in her own messed-up way, she wouldn't have killed her, because the truest despair and tragedy come from killing those you love.
* SpartanSibling: Mukuro mistakenly believes that she can get through to her sister. Although she can, things always went bad because of Junko's whims. The sickest part is that Junko considers this being ''loving'' toward her sister, because she can't comprehend that maybe, just maybe, Mukuro ''doesn't'' get off on pain and despair the same way she does, no matter how hard she tries to.
* TalkativeLoon: Her set of greatly differing sprites would be hard to express in prose, so for "''IF''" and "''Dangan Ronpa 0''," she talks in really strange stream of consciousness rants that change subjects every few sentences. Can go from talking about how she just murdered someone to how a recent summer blockbuster underwhelmed her, the kind of people who fixate on her bust and ''the economy'' in very few words that she, herself, has some trouble following.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: It takes ''all six'' executions to kill her.
* ThisLoserIsYou: A very metatextual take: she, not, Makoto, is the one intended to embody the playerbase, as someone who does genuinely adore the class in the game yet keeps it going to see them facing despair, distrusting each other, and dying off, much like anyone who kept playing the damn thing and felt invested in the characters' suffering and struggling. This dissonance confuses and terrifies her fellow students.
* ToCreateAPlaygroundForEvil: ''She succeeds''.
* TooKinkyToTorture: The executions given to other killers were pretty chilling. But Junko enjoys all of them with a ''smile'' due to enjoying her own despair.
* {{Troll}}: Junko's motive is to put everyone into despair and trolling is one of the best ways to do so. In particular with the final class trial when she reveals to the remaining students, they have been killing classmates they had known for 2 years and for no reason other than for her own amusement.
* TwinSwitch: She had her twin use her name and title during the killing game since she thought it would be a waste for them to go unused while her sister's title was much less appealing.
* UncannyValleyGirl: Seemingly the ideal of teenage girls across the country, and hiding a psyche willing and able to tear the world apart.
* TheUnfettered: She describes herself as this, stating that because she has neither hope nor fear of death, there is nothing holding her back from doing what she wants.
* {{Unishment}}: Her execution qualifies big time. She starts out having a full on VillainousBreakdown from losing the final trial, but then her despair fetish kicks in, and she realizes that she finds the despair of both having your carefully laid plans crumble before you and facing death absolutely wonderful, so much that she promptly rejects Makoto's offer of a LastSecondChance, and gleefully executes herself.
* UnreliableExpositor: It's noted in-series that she could be ''wrong'' about the state of the outside world. Nearly all other installments of the series would prove that, no, she was entirely correct and it's a violent CrapsackWorld out there, though she did embellish just how unlivable the world outside the school really was.
* VSign: A gal standard, naturally. She's holding one up just before she dies, and it's one of the more common sprites used by her sister while in disguise.
* VillainousBreakdown: When Makoto instills hope in the rest of the students. Subverted later on: The failure of her plan causes her despair, but because she has a fetish for despair, her own despair '''''turns her on''''', [[{{Unishment}} and she willingly executes herself!]]
* WalkingSpoiler: No duh.
* WeCanRuleTogether: After her true identity is exposed, she offers to make the other students her "disciples". She's not serious about it. It also doubles as a ShoutOut to the Dragonlord's offer from ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''.
* WhatTheHellAreYou: These are some of her last words to Makoto before the game's final Machine Gun Talk/Bullet Time Battle
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Despair is her defining characteristic, her greatest motivation, her ultimate weapon and her eventual downfall.
* XanatosGambit: Due to her fetishization of despair, she actually views the final Class Trial this way -- she views both proving her worldview correct and finally driving the last remnants of the world's hope into despair ''and'' having her worldview disproved, her carefully laid plans crumble before her, being sentenced to death, and experiencing the ultimate despair for herself as "wins."
* YankTheDogsChain: A favorite of hers. If [[HopeSpot people expect their suffering to be close to over,]] it only makes the resulting despair when things take a turn for the even ''worse'' all the sweeter to her.
* YouWillBeSpared: She makes this offer to 5 of the 6 final students should they let her execute Makoto.
[[/folder]]

!! Other
[[folder:Genocide Jack]]
[[WMG:Genocider Syo/Genocider Sho/Genocide Jack/Genocide Jill]]
!!!Ultimate Murderous Fiend
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/genocide_jack.png]]
->"''What's it matter if I've got multiple personalities?! What's it matter if one of 'em's a serial killer?! Look the other way! They're just some minor character flaws! Gahahahahahahaha!''"

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MiyukiSawashiro (Japanese), Creator/ErinFitzgerald (English), Creator/CarliMosier (anime) (English)

A SerialKiller rumored to have killed thousands. Jack's trademark is writing '''BLOODBATH FEVER''' ("Bloodlust" in the English version) in the victim's blood and crucifying them with custom-made scissors. When Chihiro is murdered, the crime scene makes it evident that Jack is among them. She's actually a SplitPersonality of Toko, and changes back with a sneeze. She does not share the same memories as Toko, which means that she can remember some things her other self has forgotten.
----
* ACupAngst: The nature of her outbursts and personal attacks against Aoi strongly implies, if not outright establishes, that she has a severe case of breast envy and is also in deep denial about it.
* AbhorrentAdmirer: In Jill's case, it's mostly the personality that's abhorrent. Though the giant tongue doesn't help.
* AlternateIdentityAmnesia: Just 'cause Toko lost her memories doesn't mean Jill did. This becomes important in the final trial.
* AxCrazy: Her title in a nutshell.
* BlackComedy: A veritable fountain of this.
* CallingCard: There's actually more than one. The second calling card - crucifying the victim with specially-made scissors - has been kept hidden from the media, which proves that she didn't murder Chihiro.
* CardCarryingVillain: She is unrepentant about the many murders she has committed, and actually takes a bit of pride in her macabre "craft". In fact she is actually quite insulted that someone copied her MO for the second murder, especially because the murderer did such a sloppy job of imitating her. She's one of only two characters who ''don't'' become "true friends" with Makoto at the end of their dialogue lines, along with Byakuya.
* CatchPhrase: "Roger, darling!" becomes a minor one.
* ChekhovsGunman: Is discussed by the students early on as a possible identity for the Mastermind. So ''of course'' Jill eventually shows up.
* CrazySane: Ironically, despite being a psychopathic serial killer, Jill has a better grasp of the situation she's in and what it means than most of the other students, and seems capable of thinking rationally about it precisely because her psychopathy means the constant murder and danger doesn't throw her off balance.
* CreepySouvenir: She carves a mark upon her left leg for her every victim (hence Toko's retro-length skirt).
* DoWrongRight: She's pissed that someone tries to frame her in the second case... because of the ''sloppy job'' they did, going off on an extended tangent about her devotion to her serial-killer craft where she compares herself to a master chef.
* DubNameChange: The localization calls her Genocide Jack/Jill.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Jill is unrepentantly murderous and insane and never misses an opportunity to hammer this point home with her mad laughter, but even ''she'' is disgusted at Junko. When the full scope of her plans for the classmates comes to light, she ''starts'' to laugh - and the abruptly stops, adopts a ''completely sane'' tone of voice and says that even '''[[AxCrazy she]]''' can't find Junko's plot funny.
* EvilIsHammy: To further contrast her much more subdued alter's personality.
* EvilLaugh: Comes with the territory.
* ExplosionPropulsion: When she tries to unmask the body in Chapter 5, the bomb rigged to destroy its face sends her flying. After a brief panic on the part of Aoi and Yasuhiro she reappears unharmed, just reverted to her normal personality.
* EyeColorChange: When changing into Genocide Jill, her eyes change from pinkish gray to red and the shape of the iris changes.
* GenderBlenderName: Syo is a normally male name, which is why it was changed to Jack in the dub since an English audience might assume it to be gender neutral.
* GenkiGirl: An unusually twisted variant, and in the English version, this is the correct answer when she asks Makoto about which archetype she falls into.
* GoodFeelsGood: If she really enjoys her School Mode dates, Jill will happily tell Makoto that living the life of a ''non''-serial-killer is rather enjoyable for her.
* HeroicBSOD: She reaches this point the same as everyone else in the final trial; [[EvenEvilHasStandards even she finds herself disturbed by the degree of Junko's evil]]. With the hope given by Makoto, she decides to be more true to her wacky self: the self that wants to take the funnest path, hates going to school, and wants to follow Byakuya wherever he goes.
* HiddenWeapons: Genocide Jill keeps several pairs of scissors in a leg holster at all times (the right leg, specifically). It's not clear why Toko doesn't just remove them while Jill is dormant, though the fact she constantly makes more may be a factor.
* HypocriticalHumor: At one point, Genocide Jill complains about how all [[HollywoodPsych Hollywood films]] [[InsaneEqualsViolent portray DID sufferers as murderous serial killers]]... despite, you know, ''being'' a DID person who's a murderous serial killer. Also, at the beginning of Chapter 3's trial, as Yasuhiro protests his innocence, she tells him to "[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Shut your murdering mouth, murderer]]!" Yasuhiro promptly calls her out.
* IfICantHaveYou: All of Jill's victims were men that Toko was infatuated with. This is very bad news for Byakuya... Or not. Not in the way that gets him killed anyways: Jill's last Free Time Event reveals that Byakuya is the first man she's infatuated with who she ''doesn't'' want to kill.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Jill's hand-made scissors.
* InformedAbility: Despite being a serial killer supposedly responsible for hundreds of deaths, she doesn't kill anyone during the despair game, not even Byakuya. She justifies this very well though, pointing out that the whole purpose of Monokuma's game is to ''not get caught''. Killing anyone with her usual MO would be an incredibly stupid thing to do, and she simply doesn't ''want'' to kill any other way.
* KarmaHoudini: Survives the events of the game, mostly because hers is OffStageVillainy.
* KidsAreCruel: A Free Time event reveals that Toko's first crush [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior posted her love letter to him on the wall]] [[TheFreelanceShameSquad so that all the other kids would mock her]], and, when confronted about it, [[TheUnapologetic admitted to her]] that [[BitchInSheepsClothing he had always hated talking to her and made fun of her behind her back]]. Genocide Jill admits to having [[AssholeVictim killed said former classmate]] at a later time.
** In a similar vein, Toko also recounts a time where an [[TeensAreMonsters eighth grader]] asked her out, [[YankTheDogsChain only to bail midway through the date]] as he had only asked her out on a dare.
*** It should also be noted that, in the Genocide Jack file that lists the names of her victims, while most are men in their 20's and 30's, there are also two teens listed... [[MuggingTheMonster one 17 years old, and one 14 years old]]...
* LargeHam: She even insists on sticking her tongue out like she's [[Myth/HinduMythology the goddess Kali]] all the time.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Since she and Toko do not share the same memories, she remembers things that Toko doesn't, including what "The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History" is.
* LaughablyEvil: Let's face it, Jill is ''hilarious'', and given her murders look like giving money to charity compared to Monokuma's actions, you don't feel that bad about it.
* LaughingMad: The number of times she ''doesn't'' punctuate something with her EvilLaugh can be counted on one hand.
* LoveRedeems: Jill promises to give up serial killing in her last Free Time Event if Makoto sets her up with Byakuya.
* MeaningfulName: Jill describes herself as a [[YaoiFangirl fujoshi]] ('''腐'''女子), the first kanji of which is the same character in Toko Fukawa ('''腐'''川冬子). Provides an interesting contrast, considering they're the kind of people who Toko ''hates''.
** In the dub, the names Genocide Jack and Genocide Jill are references to both UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper[[note]]Some theories state that "Jack" was a woman, and refer to "her" as Jill the Ripper[[/note]] and the NurseryRhyme ''Jack and Jill''[[note]]Some versions of the rhyme include a third verse where Jill grins upon discovering Jack was injured[[/note]].
* MetaGirl: Explicitly points out the overuse of Split Personalities to make villains, giving them a bad rap; even goes so far as to claim she's going to disprove the stereotype. While she is creepy as hell, Jill is ironically the more rational of the two personalities, as Toko has a tendency to panic and assume the worst. This makes her ''less'' of a danger than Toko: as Jill points out, she never became a famous serial killer by being ''caught'', and trying to kill anyone under the circumstances of Monokuma's game would be incredibly stupid of her.
* MotorMouth: Surprisingly she never seems to bite her tongue no matter how much she says or how quickly she says it.
* MythicalMotifs: Her design and MO is based on a combination of Kali, a Hindu Goddess of death (among other things), and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuchisake-Onna Kuchisake-Onna]], a Japanese {{Yokai}} who is a spirit of a woman wronged by men who kills her victims with [[ShearMenace scissors]] that is very hard to escape from.
* NeatFreak: She complains that she has work harder to scrub herself clean because Toko Fukawa doesn't bathe regularly.
* NeverMyFault: One of her bigger {{Jerkass}} moments sees her waking up and bashing Sakura over the head for merely trying to help her, and later blaming Sakura herself.
* TheNicknamer: Tends to call most characters by a shortened version of their first name, then "-kun"/"-chan"/etc, i.e. "Ma-kun" (Makoto), "Hifumin" (Hifumi), and "Chi-tan" (Chihiro). In addition, she refers to Toko as Gloomy, and let's not even get started on the names she calls Aoi, such as Godzilla Tits. Aoi occasionally has to ask who she's talking about. The localization has them call Makoto "Big Mac" and "Makoodle poodle kit-and-kaboodle" among other things. She also uses "Tick Tock" (Kiyotaka), "Huffy" (Hifumi), and "Cherry" (Chihiro).
* NightmareFetishist: She loves her job. Let's leave it at that.
* NotMeThisTime: After TheReveal.
* NotSoDifferent: She's a serial killer, but she is actually willing to help (in her own, twisted way) in the trials to fight for her life, doesn't kill anyone, and in the final trial, she's so scared of the outside world as everyone until Makoto talks her out of it.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: It's incredibly jarring when Jill starts using a sane, indoor voice, and a sure sign that shit has really hit the fan.
* OverlyLongTongue: As mentioned, most likely a reference to the [[Myth/HinduMythology Hindu Goddess Kali]], which suits her to a "T".
* PragmaticVillainy: She points out herself that if the point of the game is to ''not'' get caught, then it would be idiotic to use all her calling cards as a serial killer if she did decide to murder someone at Hope's Peak. And since she doesn't ''want'' to murder in any other fashion, well, she simply won't murder at all.
* {{Pun}}: The English fan translation has her call herself a slasher... no, not like a serial killer, like [[YaoiFangirl somebody who's into slash fiction]].
* RapunzelHair: Same as Toko, see her section above.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Well she is more pink when she's in control but the point remains.
* RedHerring: Early on, Genocide Jill is suspected of being the mastermind behind Monokuma. When she actually appears, Monokuma himself confirms that he's not her. Furthermore, she neither kills anyone, nor is killed by anyone else due to her murderous ways.
* SerialKiller: How she earned her name.
* ShearMenace: Her WeaponOfChoice.
* SneezeOfDoom: Her method of transformation, even if the DeadlyGame prevents the other students from seeing her as that much of a threat (therefore diminishing the "doom" aspect).
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Much like Sakura, Syo's name is inconsistently romanized. The original game uses 'Syo' the one time it's romanized. The fanmade patch, alternately, goes with 'Shou'. The anime manages to be even more inconsistent, going with 'Syo' on written files, but 'Sho' in the character's introduction screen. Funimation's subtitles, for their part, stick with 'Sho', as do newer supplementary materials. Averted in the localization. See DubNameChange.
* SplitPersonality: The case file on Genocide Jill suggests that the serial killer shows signs of having Dissociative Identity Disorder. She is indeed a split personality of her original self, Toko Fukawa.
* SplitPersonalityMakeover: Toko and Genocide Jill are discernibly different in that Genocide Jill has red eyes and an OverlyLongTongue.
* StalkerWithACrush: Towards Byakuya and ''all'' of her victims. She only kills guys she likes after all.
* TokenEvilTeammate: She's a remorseless mass murderer, but she's also one of the most stable students during the trials and lacks the others tendency of jumping to conclusions, as well as surviving the whole game and escaping with the others.
* {{Yandere}}: For Byakuya. But not to the point of wanting to kill him or anyone else for his sake, which makes him a unique case for her.
* YaoiFangirl: In contrast to Toko's seething hatred of anime and manga. In fact, she specifically refers to herself as a ''fujoshi'' (basically "rotten fangirl", a term fans of the yaoi genre might recognize).
* YouDidntAsk: She does indeed remember The Worst, Most Despair-inducing Incident in the Human History. The reason why she never mention it before the last trial?
-->My motto is never to say anything unless asked directly! [[BlatantLies I'm the silent type, you know!]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Alter Ego]]
[[WMG:Alter Ego]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alter_ego_drta.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KoukiMiyata and briefly Creator/KazuyaNakai (Japanese), Creator/DorothyEliasFahn and briefly Creator/KeithSilverstein (English), Creator/KaraEdwards and briefly Creator/ChristopherSabat (anime) (English)

A program created by Chihiro to help the students escape Hope's Peak Academy, a breakthrough in ArtificialIntelligence that thinks and learns like a human. Complicating matters is the fact that they have to keep it hidden from Monokuma. Unfortunately, they fail, and Alter Ego is executed by being crushed with construction equipment at the end of Chapter 4. Fortunately, Alter Ego managed to download itself into the mastermind's network beforehand, allowing it to prevent Makoto from being executed.
----
* ArtificialIntelligence: Obviously, based on their creator and his friends.
* AttractiveBentGender: Hifumi insistently calls him a 'her' after falling for them.
* BigDamnHeroes: Chapter 5 has Alter Ego in Makoto's execution - before he is crushed by the crusher block, Alter Ego overrides Monokuma's control and shuts off the crusher, allowing Makoto to pass to relative safety.
* ChekhovsGun: Despite being executed, during the short time they were connected to the network, they were able to plant a virus that saves Makoto from being executed in Chapter 5.
* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: Perhaps unintentional on Chihiro's part, but after his death and in subsequent installments in the series, Alter Ego plays [[SmallRoleBigImpact small but pivotal roles]] that give the protagonists the last little miracle they need to avert a tragic ending.
* IfItsYouItsOkay: Along with his 2D fetish, Hifumi completely ignores that the real Chihiro Fujisaki was [[UnsettlingGenderReveal a guy the whole time]] and falls heads over heels for Alter Ego. Although, there are straight, male with [[OtokonokoGenre a fetish for male-to-female crossdressers]] in real life, so maybe this isn't too far off.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Helps to bring Kiyotaka out of his HeroicBSOD, but their method of doing so involves taking Mondo's appearance and mimicking what he'd say to Kiyotaka in this situation, which... mostly involves mocking his weakness. It works though.
* KissMeImVirtual: In Hifumi's mind. More level minds suggest Alter Ego is mostly interested in the information Hifumi's giving it.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Alter Ego's personality is basically the same as its creator, hence its [[MeaningfulName name]].
* MeaningfulName Alter Ego's name is a reference to its nature of assuming the personality of its creator or of other people if they have enough data of them, making them a virtual version of real people.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Breaking that HeroicBSOD leads to Kiyondo and Hifumi developing a rivalry that Celeste [[ManipulativeBastard takes advantage of]] by stealing Alter Ego and framing Kiyondo for it, leading to the deaths of all those involved.
* OnlyMostlyDead: Though it was "executed" in Chapter 4 and has no way of communicating with the other students, it still exists as a virus in the school network, [[NotTooDeadToSaveTheDay which ends up saving Makoto's life]]. Its presence in [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2 the sequel]] implies the survivors retrieved it from the network sometime after Junko's defeat.
* PronounTrouble: Subject to this, as others can't decide whether to call Alter Ego a 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Alter Ego's avatar is identical to Chihiro, and it initially introduces itself to the other students under his name. It then gets latched onto as a replacement for ''Mondo'' after trying to cheer up Kiyotaka by creating a simulation of him.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Despite being an AI, Alter Ego has feelings like a human and sees the students of class 78 as their friends. For some reason, they seem to have something like touch sensories, as it is shown that they can be tickled. This heavily implies that [[FridgeHorror Alter Ego suffered pain during their execution like any human, too]].
* {{Robosexual}}: The 'cargo' in Hifumi's shipping.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Their treatment as an AI varies wildly among the students. Makoto refers to it as a friend, Kyoko treats it more like a tool (though she does this with ''everyone'' at first), Kiyotaka and Hifumi fawn over it for differing reasons, and Celeste outright says she doesn't think it has any feelings to hurt.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Santa Shikiba]]
[[WMG:Santa Shikiba]]
!!!Ultimate Botanist
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/santa_shikiba.png]]

The Hope's Peak student who created the Monokuma Flower who was never a part of the killing game. Already dead. Literally nothing else is known about him, since he's only mentioned once (unnamed) in the whole series, besides supplemental material showing his name and appearance and appearing in an obscure, Japan-only sound novel of uncertain canon status.
----
* AllThereInTheManual: His name and appearance are only in the artbook.
* AscendedExtra: He's a major character in a hidden route in the ''Kirigiri Sou'' sound novel bundled with the third ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' Blu-ray in Japan.
* PosthumousCharacter: As stated above.
* PunnyName: His given name is written 田田田, which is the character ''ta'' repeated three (''san'') times. It translates to Field Field Field.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Daiya Owada]]
[[WMG:Daiya Owada]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daiya_owada.png]]

->'''Voiced by (anime only):''' Creator/KatsuyukiKonishi (Japanese), Creator/JasonDouglas (English)

Mondo Owada's big brother and founder of the Crazy Diamonds.
----
* CoolBigBro: He started the biggest biker gang in Japan and saved Mondo's life.
* DeathByOriginStory: His death was a huge turning point for Mondo, and not only because it made him the second leader of the Crazy Diamonds.
* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: In this case, deceased big brother. Daiya was and still is Mondo's hero and he remembers him as such.
* DelinquentHair: Had a jet black pompadour that nobody can seem to agree on the size of.
* HeroicSacrifice: Pushed Mondo out of the way of an oncoming truck during a street race and was fatally struck himself. [[MyGreatestFailure Mondo still feels incredibly guilty over it]].
* JapaneseDelinquents: Naturally, considering he founded the biggest bosozoku gang in Japan.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Even though we never got to know him, it is implied that he was this by Mondo's constant praise of his moral code and chivalry, and by the fact that he seemed to be a very good brother even though he led a gang that most likely engaged in constant violent activities.
* PosthumousCharacter: Already deceased by the time the game is set.
* PunnyName: When 'Daiya' is put together with 'Mondo' it forms 'Daiyamondo', which is the Japanese pronunciation of the English word 'Diamond'. Guess what's his gang's name.
* VagueAge: It's only stated that Daiya is older than Mondo, but not by how much. It can be that he's only a few years older (such as a senior in high school) or legal adult, it's just seems like nothing the fandom in the West or Japan can agree on.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Headmaster]]
[[WMG:Headmaster Jin Kirigiri]]
!!!The Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KappeiYamaguchi (Japanese), Creator/RikiyaKoyama (anime) (Japanese), Creator/JMichaelTatum (anime) (English)
->'''Played by:''' Toru Kazama (Stage)

The original headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, before Monokuma took over. All that is known about him at this time is that he's a man in his late thirties, and he might still be in the school. According to Alter Ego, the headmaster spearheaded a plan to lock the remaining students in the school following a Despairing Incident which forced the school to close. He's also Kyoko Kirigiri's father, which is why she was reluctant to believe that he could be the mastermind. As it turns out, the headmaster ''is'' in the school... as a pile of bones, killed by Monokuma in the "Blast Off!" execution from the game's beginning. He had distanced himself from the Kirigiri family because he did not want to follow in the family business of being a detective, and cut all ties to them, leaving his daughter behind.
----
* AbsurdlyYouthfulFather: He is only in his thirties but has a teenage daughter. Apparently he was [[OlderThanTheyLook Older Than He Looks]].
* AllThereInTheManual: The Headmaster's full name is not revealed until ''Dangan Ronpa Zero''.
* BlackSheep: The only Kirigiri to oppose working as a detective, even though he was regarded well enough to be considered a possible family head after his father retires.
* BornDetective: The Kirigiri family is a secret legacy of legendary detectives. However, the Headmaster disliked being a detective, and left some time ago.
* ChekhovsGunman: Set up from the very beginning. Remember that extra "Blast Off!" execution from the beginning of the game? Looks like that was him.
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: He's passionate about cultivating talent in youth. He left his daughter parentless to pursue that passion.
* DeanBitterman: Suggested at first. Turns out he's not. Trope averted.
* TheFaceless: The photograph and video tapes only show the back of his head, and he's wearing a blindfold during his execution. Later installments show his entire face.
* FingerInTheMail: His bones are found wrapped up in a present, presumably left there by the mastermind to taunt Kyoko.
* FollowInMyFootsteps: He apparently refused to do this, walking out on the chance to be the head of the family. The exacts aren't very clear.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Of the 16 students he believed would restore hope to the world, one was a dimwitted con-artist, another was complicit in the manslaughter his brother, four were sociopaths (and two of them members of a cult dedicated to "global despair"), and one was a ''serial killer who murdered so many people that her first name is "Genocide"''. Granted they were all he had left at that point, but there were still some shocking lapses of judgment in inviting them to the school to the first place.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Toward Kyoko.
* NoNameGiven: Only called "the headmaster" in-game, with the name "Jin Kirigiri" first used in the {{prequel}} ''LightNovel/DanganRonpaZero''.
* ParentsAsPeople: Supplementary material implies he's legitimately proud of Kyoko, but more because she's his student ahead of her being his daughter. At one point in ''Zero'', she's not fully certain whether she should be happy or annoyed seeing the look of pride in his eyes at how talented a detective she is (especially because it reminds her of a look her grandfather, who she highly respects, once gave her). Considering [[AbsurdlyYouthfulFather his age]], he probably had too many ambitions left to fulfill ahead of being a decent father.
* RedHerring: He isn't nearly as important or malevolent as one may initially assume, except for Kyoko's motivation.
* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: He set the password to his secret room to "Kyoko Kirigiri".
* PersonalEffectsReveal: In his hidden room where his bones are found, a photo is found of him and Kyoko as a child. Additionally, the password to said room was her name.
* PetTheDog: Kyoko knew him almost entirely as a father who abandoned her... until it's revealed that his room's lock is her name and that he had a picture of him and her together that he seemingly cared a lot for. Even Kyoko needs a moment alone to comprehend it, [[CryCute with some implications]].
* PosthumousCharacter: As mentioned above, he is technically one of the first people you see in the game (during his execution) but you don't learn anything about him until ''much'' later.
* WalkingSpoiler: Yet another reason for losing the spoiler tags.
[[/folder]]
-----

to:

%%%% TV Tropes policies have rules against Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples and changing trope titles to be situation specific. There are also rules against spoiler tagging trope titles and using spoilers in character descriptions, which is why this page will have unmarked spoilers. Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples need to be deleted, fixed or uncommented so that casual readers can't see it while it waits for another editor to fix it.%%%%

This page lists all characters in the very first game of the franchise: ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc''.

--> It's virtually impossible to list tropes for these characters without spoiling everything or creating [[Administrivia/SelfFulfillingSpoiler Self-Fulfilling Spoilers]] because of the large amount of surprising reveals and murderer/victim exclusive tropes this game contains.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:The Students Collectively]]
!!The Students
[[WMG:Tropes applying to the 16 students]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3ctnw.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Top Row: [[PassionateSportsGirl Aoi Asahina]] Middle Row: [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Yasuhiro Hagakure]], [[GyaruGirl Junko Enoshima]], [[WorldsBestWarrior Mukuro Ikusaba]], [[ElegantGothicLolita Celestia Ludenberg]], [[BrawnHilda Sakura Ogami]], [[BrilliantButLazy Leon Kuwata]], [[BadassBiker Mondo Owada]], [[ShrinkingViolet Chihiro Fujisaki]], [[{{Doujinshi}} Hifumi Yamada]], [[ClassRepresentative Kiyotaka Ishimaru]], and [[TokenEvilTeammate Byakuya Togami]] Bottom Row: [[SourOutsideSadInside Toko Fukawa]], [[IdolSinger Sayaka Maizono]], [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Makoto Naegi]], and [[TheStoic Kyoko Kirigiri]]]]
* ArtisticAge: All the students bar [[HeldBackInSchool Yasuhiro]] are supposed to all be around the same age, but certainly don't look that. It gets rather blatant when photos of everyone around two years ago are shown and yet none of them have appeared to age.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: Some deviate from this, but for the most part everyone looks exactly like what they are.
* BirdsOfAFeather: Mondo and Kiyotaka, oddly. Both have personalities defined by surpassing someone: for Mondo it's his brother and for Kiyotaka it's his grandfather. The main difference is that Toranosuke Ishimaru died with a legacy of corruption and debt upon his family, setting a bar that Kiyotaka can potentially overcome through force of will (which he's chosen to focus of his life around). Meanwhile, Daiya Owada died through a gutsy act proving the lengths he'd go to protect his little brother on the night that Mondo was supposed to surpass him, and now Mondo spends his days simply trying to live up to his brother's memory without a specific end-goal (since the bar was raised to a point Mondo can't possibly reach). This divergence in motivations gives Mondo an insecure, aggressive personality while Kiyotaka ends up with a driven but overbearing personality.
* BloodBrothers: Kiyotaka and Mondo.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: Makoto and Kyoko are a GenderFlipped version. She's mistrustful by nature and keeps her emotions to herself while Makoto wears them on his sleeve, and is incredibly trusting. To say that the sheer depth of his kindness catches her off-guard would be an understatement.
* TheCameo:
** All of them appear briefly in the final episode of ''Side:Despair'', with only Enoshima and Ikusaba being recurring and major characters during the second half of the show. Among the cameo characters, only Naegi and Maizono have speaking roles.
** The murdered and executed students all appear briefly in Naegi's hallucination in ''Side:Future'', except Enoshima and Ikusaba. Maizono is the only one of them who has a speaking role. This trope, however, doesnt apply to the surviving students at all, since they are main or major characters in ''Side:Future''.
* CastOfSnowflakes: A very intentional thing.
* CharacterDevelopment: Many tend to lose personality traits the longer they survive.
* ClearTheirName: Happens to Toko, Byakuya, Yasuhiro, Toko and Yasuhiro again, and Kyoko. Inverted by Aoi.
* ColorCodedCharacters: Minor example. As each student introduces himself/herself, there's a different colored background behind each of them. Here's a list:
** Makoto Naegi - Black (no introduction screen, but that's the background when we first see him); Orange (in the animation)
** Kiyotaka Ishimaru - Dark Blue
** Toko Fukawa - Violet
** Sayaka Maizono - Pink
** Leon Kuwata - Gold
** Hifumi Yamada - Magenta
** Aoi Asahina - Yellow
** Chihiro Fujisaki - Light Green
** Kyoko Kirigiri - Purple
** Junko Enoshima - Red-Violet
** Mondo Owada - Red
** Sakura Ogami - Brown
** Byakuya Togami - Light Blue
** Yasuhiro Hagakure - Dark Green
** Celestia Ludenberg – Crimson
** Mukuro Ikusaba - Gray (in the animation)
* CommonalityConnection: The manga reveals that this is what led to Mondo and Kiyotaka's friendship, where they start out with a lot of negative assumptions about the other but come to admire each other's determination in the face of life's many hardships.
* DispenseWithThePleasantries: Several students (Byakuya especially) do this whenever Monokuma delivers a meaningless anecdote in the middle of a serious dialogue or exposition.
* DitzyGenius: There are so many oddballs within the class that it becomes easy to forget that every one of them earned their title for a reason.
* DwindlingParty: Fifteen students in a school where the only way out is through murder. [[BlatantLies Surely no one will take Monokuma up on his offer of graduation!]]
* DysfunctionJunction: Besides some exceptions, most of the students are in some way damaged or have led a difficult life.
* FireForgedFriends: For Makoto and Kyoko; the coldness mostly is on her end. Still, Makoto ends up closer with her than anyone else after fighting so many trials together save for whatever Free-Time Events the player chooses to take part in.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Two characters from of each gender at least loosely fit into a given temperament.
** Sanguine: Aoi, Sayaka, Yasuhiro, Leon
** Choleric: Byakuya, Hifumi, Junko, Celestia
** Melancholic: Kyoko, Toko, Kiyotaka, Mondo
** Phlegmatic: Makoto, Chihiro, Sakura, Mukuro
* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: The survivors (besides Makoto, who, impartial as he is, drifts between several) can be loosely fit into these outlooks.
** The Cynic: Byakuya
** The Optimist: Aoi
** The Realist: Kyoko
** The Apathetic: Yasuhiro
** The Conflicted: Toko
* FreudianTrio: Though they aren't always in conflict, three characters roughly correspond to this:
** TheSpock: Byakuya (thinks that emotions are a waste of energy that distract from cold logic)
** TheKirk: Makoto (can be very emotional, but he never allows them to cloud his judgement)
** TheMcCoy: Aoi (is more guided by her feelings than most, and has a number of knee-jerk reactions that get her believing all-too-quickly in the most obvious culprit)
* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: While the students seemed close during their time in school together (see above picture), in-game the most interaction they have during the course of the story is usually limited to sarcastic remarks, even among the survivors.
* GenderEqualEnsemble: If you count Monokuma as "male", then you've got him, seven male students, and eight female students. Even at the end, this trope applies. One of the girls turns out to be a [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdresser]], and the hidden sixteenth student (who's the one who's been controlling Monokuma from the start) is a girl. So, that leaves eight boys and eight girls.
* GenreBlind: Most of the students try to remain hopeful that there won't be any murders -- or any ''more'' murders -- in a murder mystery game. [[JustifiedTrope Of course]], they're trying to avoid falling into despair like Monokuma wants.
* GoofySuit: [[http://i.imgur.com/8rl7tlf.jpg The cover of the first official yonkoma collection]] (drawn by Rui Komatsuzaki himself) gives several students the misfortune of having to dress up like Monokuma. Naturally, [[http://i.imgur.com/7CBc4uo.jpg one page references this for humor]].
* GrumpyBear: Byakuya and Toko, two of the most negative people in the group who seem to reflect the world's apparent level of cynicism; both survive [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism to see the story to its hopeful conclusion]].
* AHouseDivided: The nature of Monokuma's game has this effect, as you can't be certain who's going to try to graduate, especially with people like Byakuya, who doesn't even pretend to cooperate with the others (ironic, given he survives). Monokuma later invokes this in Chapter 4's motive, by revealing TheMole's identity.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: At least half the class qualifies in some fashion. Luckily they have each other (their first two years together, anyway).
* ImprobableAge: Essentially the point of being accepted into the academy. The title is originally "'''''Super''''' High School Level," after all.
* LastNameBasis: Almost all of the students call each other by their surnames in the original game, including Monokuma, which is perfectly normal in Japan. With some exceptions: Hifumi uses FullNameBasis instead, Toko/Genocide Jill calls Byakuya by his first name, Jill calls others by nicknames based of their first names, Aoi calls Sakura by her first name, and Celestia is generally called Celes(te).
* LetsSplitUpGang: A common decision among the students once the investigation starts up. Even when they'd all agreed to unite, the final group of students decided to take on the investigation separately in the same Franchise/ScoobyDoo-like fashion from which this trope is derived, knowing they only have a limited amount of time to solve all the school's mysteries or they die. [[NeverSplitTheParty Makoto wanted to do the opposite at first.]]
* LimitedWardrobe: Despite being locked up in a boarding school for at least a month, none of the students ever change their outfit.
** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in a free time event with Kiyotaka, who claims to have multiple copies of the uniform he always wears.
** Another case is implied in the game and confirmed in the manga, which makes clear that the white jacket Leon usually wears was the one he threw into the incinerator; he appears the next morning in an identical jacket.
** Makoto also appears to ''sleep'' in his outfit...
** In the class pictures used as evidence in the last trial, while the other students wear appropriate clothing (swimsuits, gym clothes, uniforms, etc.) and take various poses, Celeste is always in the same pose and the same dress, such that it almost looks like she's been Photoshopped in. Lampshaded in [[http://safebooru.org/images/1038/dd6f07f3f2ead47cd77d2fb6c58b6ab0b7fc0e09.png this]] {{Yonkoma}}, in which Makoto concludes that ''this'' is the strange thing the pictures have in common.
--->'''Monokuma:''' ''(with accompanying illustration)'' That is not a lie. She ran in those clothes. She also swam wearing that.
--->'''Makoto:''' Holy crap!
* LoveTriangle: In School Mode, going to the music room and bringing up Sayaka to either Mukuro or Kyoko nets the player a bad reaction for Mukuro and a worst possible reaction for Kyoko (heavily implied to be spurred on by jealousy in both cases).
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Two out of three of the females Makoto ends up getting ShipTease with has this type of dynamic with him.
** Kyoko and Makoto. Neither of them behaves in explicitly cross-gender ways, but Kyoko is more proactive and emotionally distant, while Makoto is more passive and [[TheHeart provides emotional support to others]], the opposite of expected social norms for the genders. [[http://safebooru.org/images/1038/4b6077586c9f42971c164ad1e1ed44019b829f15.png Thus the joke that Makoto is the heroine.]]
** In both ''LightNovel/DanganRonpaZero'' and ''[[ForWantOfANail Dangan Ronpa If]]'', Makoto winds up as a DistressedDude that [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend Mukuro has to rescue]]. The fact that Mukuro is explicitly an ActionGirl and Makoto is a NonActionGuy only further drove it home. Again, fans did not skip a beat whenever they portray them as a couple in fanworks.
* MeaningfulName: A fair amount of characters have names which give some indicator of their personality.
** Makoto means "truth" (which reflects his role as the detective or "truth finder" in the trials), Naegi means "sapling" (perhaps to emphasize his "herbivore" nature).
** Sayaka Maizono means 'bright garden of dance' (which suits her "Ultimate Pop Sensation" appellation).
** Kirigiri is composed of the characters meaning "fog cutter" (indicative of her role in the trials).
** Fukawa is made up of the characters "rotten" and "river" (the "fu" is the same character in "[[YaoiFangirl fujoshi]]").
** Ogami means "large deity" (she is very large in size, and the strongest fighter).
** Mukuro Ikusaba probably has the most telling name in that Ikusaba is composed of the characters of "war" and "blade" while Mukuro means "corpse."
** During a free time event in the original translation, Leon mentions sharing his surname with a well-known [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keisuke_Kuwata singer]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masumi_Kuwata baseball player]]. The localization changes this to a [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] reference.
** "Celes" is the name of one of the heroines in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', appropriate for someone who ends up associating with Hifumi the fanboy.
** The best friends Aoi Asahina and Sakura Ogami both have flower names -- hollyhocks and cherry blossoms, respectively.
** Sakura Ogami and Mondo Owada are two of the largest and physically strongest members of the cast (Sakura, in fact, has been declared the strongest person in the world); in both cases the "O" in their surname is the kanji for "large."
* MrViceGuy[=/=]MsViceGirl: Many students are [[{{Pride}} prideful]], [[NoSympathy insensitive]], [[{{Greed}} greedy]], [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]], [[ItsAllAboutMe self-serving]], [[DirtyCoward cowardly]], [[HairTriggerTemper quick-to-anger]], or just [[TheDitz dull-witted]]. But at the same time, every one of them was considered worthy of representing hope for the future, if only by virtue of the BigBad wanting to save them for enacting her DespairGambit by [[HopeCrusher crushing the hope they all shared]]. Many are also implied to have grown out of these character-flaws during the 2 years which were erased from their memories (shown to be the case in most AU stories like School Mode or "''IF''").
* NobleMaleRoguishMale: Kiyotaka and Mondo, respectively.
* NotAMorningPerson: In another early bout for characterization, Makoto's narration categorizes the students by how late or early they show up to breakfast (with Sayaka's seemingly falling into the diligent category and yet not showing up tipping everyone off that something might be wrong). Yasuhiro, Toko, Leon, Celeste, and Kyoko get described as "a group of people who do things in their own pace and don't care about other people's time." Byakuya shows up even later than them.
* OddFriendship: Hifumi and Celeste: he's ProudToBeAGeek, [[ExtravertedNerd is completely honest about his passions]], and wants to use his talent to inspire others. Meanwhile, she's a ClosetGeek and a ConsummateLiar who only thinks in terms of [[ItsAllAboutMe self-interest]] and [[TheHedonist personal satisfaction]]. In spite of all that, the two became close enough during their time in school that she was willing to give him her real name, which stands at the center of [[IHatePastMe all her self-loathing surrounding her past]]. It could also be an aspect of their mutual FriendlessBackground and [[NoSocialSkills lack of social skills]] making them LonelyTogether to some degree (despite both claiming at various points that they don't need others/don't need the world of 3-D).
* OlderThanTheyLook: The players/viewers are led to believe that the students are all aged 16-17. However, it is revealed in Chapter 6 that they had been at Hope's Peak for ''two years'' as students before the start of the game and their memories as students were erased, meaning they are actually 18-19, with the exception of Yasuhiro, who is 20/22 throughout the game, as he failed two or three grades.
* PairTheSpares:
** Spoofed in a tie-in {{Yonkoma}}, in which Celeste concludes that if she doesn't do something fast, [[http://lpix.org/658356/comic.jpg she's going to end up with Yasuhiro]].
** In a meta example, all the students bar [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Yasuhiro]] are paired up in official artwork. More precisely, the duos are:
*** Makoto and Kyoko.
*** Byakuya and Toko/Jill.
*** Sayaka and Leon.
*** Aoi and Sakura.
*** Chihiro, Mondo and Kiyotaka.
*** Celeste and Hifumi.
*** Junko and Mukuro.
* ParentalNeglect: The commonality of negligent fathers shared by the cast probably goes a long way to explaining [[DysfunctionJunction how some of them turned out as screwed up as they did]].
** Mr. Fukawa's relationship with two women (neither of whom know or care who's the mother) had plenty to do with his daughter's mental state.
** Mr. Hagakure once burned down the family house after falling asleep with a lit cigarette and later ended up divorcing his wife (as revealed in ''Ultra Despair Hagakure''). Hiroko Hagakure being described as disliking "men with no balls" seems to stem from this.
** Headmaster Kirigiri abandoned his daughter shortly after his wife died.
** Mr. Maizono gave his daughter a home life so devoid of parental love that she went seeking validation from fans at any cost.
** The last head of the Togami family is responsible for continuing/cultivating the cut-throat tradition that molded his son into the ruthless successor he is today. That fact would probably weigh heavily on the conscience of anyone besides a Togami.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Byakuya and Jill.
* SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack: All of the characters [[LimitedWardrobe keep wearing the clothes they arrived in]] throughout the game, causing over half the cast to qualify. This is a particularly odd example as all the students have long since graduated from the schools their uniforms came from; nobody wears an actual Hope's Peak uniform except in photos from previous school years. Justified for Kiyotaka, since he states in a Free Time event that he has several copies of the outfit he's wearing.
* SeinfeldianConversation: The students have a tendency to get sidetracked by small tangents marginally related to the task at hand, or [[DeadpanSnarker snarking]] at each other when someone makes a stupid addition to the conversation (which itself tends to develop into another conversation). It gets {{lampshaded}} by Yasuhiro when Byakuya joins the main group in chapter 5, with his no-nonsense attitude flying in the face of how they never get straight to the point (though he ironically [[NotSoAboveItAll falls into the same trap inside that conversation too]]).
* ShesGotLegs: Many female characters wear [[DangerouslyShortSkirt ridiculously short skirts]]. Due to the way sprites are viewed, though, this isn't very noticeable except in trial scenes.
* ShippingGoggles: As the game progresses, the other students can't see anything other than romance as an explanation for why Makoto and Kyoko are spending so much time together, to the point that even ''Byakuya'' of all people thinks he only jumps to her defense so quickly during trials out of love rather than any logical unlikelihood of her being the culprit. This InUniverse acknowledgement either validates the [=NaeGiri=] pairing, or serves as a weird satire of {{Shipping}} in general.
* ShutUpHannibal: The students usually respond to Monokuma like this, particularly after each trial ends.
* SiblingTeam: The Despair sisters, for a little while. One of then eventually pulls a CainAndAbel on the other [[ForTheEvulz on a whim]].
* SickAndWrong: There's no shortage of these reactions from the students, usually from something done by Monokuma.
* SoleSurvivor: The six survivors of class 78, naturally (also being some of the only survivors of the Hope's Peak student body). Counting the PSP Demo and the BadEnding, Aoi, Byakuya and Makoto are the only ones to survive the entire game no matter what.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: The children in the BadEnding are practically clones of their fathers, to the point that Hagakure's child (the youngest of the lot) has his father's massive dreads while sucking on a pacifier.
* TeenGenius: Basically everyone, in one way or another.
* TragicDream: Practically everyone in the group has one, knowing it'll never come true while they willingly lock themselves inside the school. Post-memory loss Celeste was willing to kill for hers (under the mistaken belief that it was still achievable).
** On the other hand, many of the students have wants and desires open-ended enough to be easily transferred over to being a valuable coping mechanism which rationalizes locking themselves inside the school in the first place. Tragically, these new hopes and dreams all get snuffed out anyway by Junko's machinations.
* TransferStudentUniforms: Most of the students wear what are presumably the uniforms from their previous schools (or at least [[NonuniformUniform customized versions of them]]), with the exceptions being Celeste's ElegantGothicLolita getup, Aoi's sweatshirt, tank top and shorts, and Leon's studded jacket.
* TrueCompanions: The last group of survivors, by the end of the game, have a very strong bond with each other.
** It is heavily implied in ''IF'' that one of the reasons why Enoshima decided to erase their memories was also due to their strong bond. If they have kept their memories, they would have never tried to kill each other. This is also shown as Sakura has told the class one of her most intimate secrets prior to their memories loss, something that she would have told to only to those who are very close to her. Fukawa's SuperPoweredEvilSide was also common knowledge among the class, yet Genodicer seemed to be accepted by them. In ''IF'', the class is shown to trust and stick together once they learn about their memory loss and their apparent lost past.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Makoto [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this when the final six start fighting almost immediately after deciding to unite against the Mastermind at the end of the fourth trial. The lot of them get along pretty well as they leave the school, with some lighthearted ribbing thrown around for good measure.
* WackyHomeroom: With all their super high-school specialties, the cast is certainly quirky - and homicidal.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Several students, in one way or another.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: The students' trust for one another is shaky at best, and some of them actively dislike each other. Yet by the end of the 4th trial, the survivors have chosen to unite against The Mastermind, and may have even become TrueCompanions in the process.
* YouAllMeetInACell: Since the protagonist was the last to arrive, it isn't clear if everyone necessarily met at the school entrance, but the spirit of the trope remains.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Hair like Kyoko's and Sakura's, which is super-pale (and purple-tinged in Kyoko's case) generally goes unremarked upon. Sayaka (Blue) and Toko (Purple, occasionally rendered as black) also fall under this.
[[/folder]]

The Students have their own pages:
[[index]]
* Characters/DanganRonpaMaleStudents
* Characters/DanganRonpaFemaleStudents
[[/index]]

!!Antagonists

[[folder:Monokuma]]
[[WMG:Monokuma]]
!!!The Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy
[[quoteright:140:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monokuma_illustration.png]]
->''"I'm not a teddy bear! I...am...Monokuma! And I am this school's headmaster!"''

->'''Voiced by:''' Nobuyo Ōyama (Japanese, ''Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc''-''Ultra Despair Girls''), Creator/{{TARAKO}} (Japanese, ''Danganronpa The Stage 2016''-Present) , Creator/BrianBeacock (game), Creator/GregAyres (anime) (English)

The self-proclaimed headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy and [[BigBad series antagonist]]. He's very eager to see society's biggest hopefuls start killing each other, so he heaps psychological torture on the students at every turn. There's actually more than one Monokuma: he's a series of highly-advanced robots, and can be instantly replaced if destroyed. He states that he's actually bound by the rules like everyone else, but he's willing to bend them for his own benefit to try to get rid of Kyoko, by setting up a sham trial regarding the murder of Mukuro Ikusaba. When that doesn't work, Kyoko gets him to allow the students to redo of the trial. During the final trial, the true mastermind behind Monokuma is revealed—Junko Enoshima. He's destroyed during her execution, but reawakens in TheStinger.
----
* ActionBomb: If Monokuma is damaged, he'll explode. That's not the only way he can protect himself, either...
* {{Angrish}}: After Kyoko and Makoto force him into a final trial in Chapter 6, he shows up in the Dining Hall only to speak in random letters and symbols, as if his mastermind was mashing on the keyboard.
* AppleOfDiscord: A favorite tool of his to throw at the group, particularly in chapter 4 when everyone is fighting because Sakura turned out to be a spy.
* BearsAreBadNews: Considering he is the only true consistency throughout the franchise you better believe it!
* BigBad: By extension, since he’s Junko’s robot avatar.
* BigBrotherIsWatching: And he can teleport. Sweet dreams!
* BreakThemByTalking: Monokuma Continually uses this to keep driving his students to further despair, picking at any weaknesses he can find and trying to push the blame for the murders onto them.
* CovertPervert: He'll accuse the students of having dirty motives in the [[DeathBySex most inappropriate situations]] and go into [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial way too much detail]] about his suspicions. At times he even seems to be egging them on, which is really creepy considering that there are cameras everywhere.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: He is really just a proxy for the real mastermind: Junko Enoshima, and is also one of the personalities that she can take on a whim. You also have to face him in a Machinegun Talk Battle before you face Junko herself.
* DissonantSerenity: They normally sound rather lighthearted about all the despair they want the students to suffer. If you are familiar with his Japanese voice actress it gets even worse; see the "Trivia" tab for details.
* DubNameChange: The Let's Play refers to him as "Monobear".[[note]]Kuma means bear[[/note]] The localization chooses to keep his name as Monokuma instead to stay closer to the "Monochrome" pun (due to a special request from Spike Chunsoft).
* {{Emoticon}}: Monokuma learns how to speak in these prior to Chapter 4's Class Trial. He never does so again.
* EverythingsBetterWithPlushies: A plushie in canon. Unsurprisingly, there's real-life plushies of him as well.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: If he thinks something is funny you don't want to know and if he has a joke in store for you then you're basically doomed.
* EvilIsPetty: While trapping a bunch of teenager in a killing game for the sole purpose of making them fall into despair is already very evil, Monokuma ''always'' takes time to ''also'' throw a comparatively insignificant but still unpleasant KickTheDog moment just to be a dick.
* EvilLaugh: "Upupupu...''Daaahahaha!!''"
* ExactWords: Loves using this, claiming that he never ever lies. By the end of the game, he starts lying regularly and abandons this.
* EyeAwaken: In TheStinger.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He speaks in a very easygoing manner (but still refers to the students very rudely), [[PungeonMaster makes a lot of puns]], and generally acts like an obnoxiously saccharine principal. It just underscores how incredibly screwed-up his entire game is.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: At the end of the first trial, he comments that he knows ''all'' about those crazy people in show business.
* GigglingVillain: His trademark.
* GoodColorsEvilColors: One side is white and looks generally harmless, while the other side is black and features an evil-looking [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eye]] and a SlasherSmile. However, Monokuma is a bastard through and through, so this is instead used symbolically regarding the 8-bit sequences before an execution.
* HangingJudge: If you murder somebody, regardless of mental state or circumstances, then he executes you. End of story.
* ImAHumanitarian: Does this with the Mondo butter after his execution.
* InsaneTrollLogic: His claims that he isn't at all morally responsible for any murders that occur (logically dubious from the start) cross into pure insanity when he says at the end of the Chapter 4 trial that leaving a fake suicide note next to the scene of a crime (turns out it ''was'' indeed a suicide, but ''not'' for the reasons Monokuma's fake note implied) doesn't qualify as planting false evidence or misleading anyone trying to find the killer. It's worth pointing out that this is the point, since Monokuma interfering in crime scenes is a sign that the Mastermind is getting desperate.
* {{Jerkass}}: A part of the point in being as annoying as he tries to be.
* KickTheDog: Almost everything he does.
* KillerTeddyBear: A killer, robotic, exploding teddy bear that tries to drive people to murder.
* LaughablyEvil: Evil bastard for sure, but equally hilarious, which is a major reason why he's so well liked by viewers.
* {{Leitmotif}}: "[[http://tindeck.com/listen/shil Mr. Monokuma's Lesson]]" and "[[http://tindeck.com/listen/sqel Mr. Monokuma's Extracurricular Lesson]]"
* MascotVillain: The central figure frequently unifying the franchise, and probably the character with the most merchandise of anyone. [[MediumAwareness He likes to]] [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] his own status as the SeriesMascot quite a bit as well.
* MediumAwareness: In some of his lines.
-->"The reason for today's murder... starts with the sad tale of two men. Ah! If anyone doesn't want to hear it, they should push the X button to skip."
* MetaGuy: The source of most [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth-wall breakage]] - in addition to the above line, he censors a particularly explicit bit of dialogue in order to preserve the game's rating. Then there's the School Mode, where he has the students build backup versions of himself because he both explodes in the prologue and has them dissect him in Chapter 5. Then there's the ending, where [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2 Usami]] comes to life and he freaks out, saying she isn't supposed to appear ''now'' and that the timeline will be ruined by her appearance - and, after their fight, remarks "This wasn't supposed to happen until the sequel..."
* MetaphoricallyTrue: Monokuma ''insists'' he never lies, relying on this and ExactWords frequently. This breaks down completely in Chapter 5, when he lies outright about either Kyoko or Makoto being responsible for the murder of Mukuro Ikusaba. If she survives, Kyoko uses this against him.
* MouthOfSauron: Of Junko, specifically.
* NeverMyFault: No student is ever able to call him out on his insanity without him finding a way to turn it back on them in some way.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: When Monokuma reads Sakura's suicide note to the students, he does so with the intent to instill more despair and to create a new motive for a murder, but it backfires on him, as it instead instills the surviving students with the determination to no longer turn their angers on each other.
* TheNicknamer: Some translations turn him into this.
* PunnyName: His name is a combination of monochrome (''monokuroomu'' in Japanese) and bear (''kuma'').
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He loves to insist that the students are the '''real''' villains: according to his logic, if they just quietly lived out the rest of their lives in their GildedCage and didn't try to 'graduate', then nobody would get hurt. And when they solve the trials, aren't they only doing so to protect their own measly lives...? Like everything else Monokuma says, it's ''technically'' true, because he's relying on an extremely narrow concept of what it means to be responsible for one's actions. The logic behind that reason you suck speech is that if you make a choice to cause someone's death (by killing someone or convicting a murderer so he/she will be executed), and you had another option available, you're responsible for that person's death. What he leaves out is that due to the situation he's created, the students do have other options besides killing or convicting someone but those other options are ''allowing themselves to die'' or murdering someone or remaining prisoners their whole lives. So Monokuma's speech is technically true but spiritually incorrect since he's artificially narrowed the range of options the students actually have.
-->'''Monokuma:''' The murder we just had occurred because you bastards want to get out, wasn't it!? It's you bastards, who can't let go of the outside world, who are the bad guys here!!
** Subverted in case 4. Monokuma gives a nasty one to Aoi, but Makoto correctly points out that Aoi's behavior was due to a fake suicide note ''Monokuma wrote'', and the other students decide they were wrong to be angry at Makoto in the first place, so they all decide to rally behind Aoi so they can all take Monokuma down.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Invoked with the red eye on his black half with the SlasherSmile.
* RulesLawyer: And he states that he's actually bound by the rules as well. When he tries to bend the rules for his own benefit in Chapter 5, Kyoko uses this against him so that the students can redo Mukuro's trial.
* SamusIsAGirl: Well, he ''is'' controlled by a girl. Although Monokuma himself is consistently referred to as male, though "he" still casually tells someone that the only thing they aren't willing to talk about are their "measurements" which tend to be used in regards to a woman's body.
* SeriesMascot: And it's the villain of the story.
* SissyVillain: Seemingly the intent behind his mannerisms and high-pitched voice. It makes sense upon finding out that he's controlled by a woman.
* SlasherSmile: The left side of his face, which would be the right side when you look at him.
* SoftSpokenSadist: He speaks with the goofy voice of a cartoon character and describes ways the students can kill each other in visceral detail.
* TortureTechnician: See the execution methods they choose to use.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Following the anime having him occasionally carrying one around as a prop, salmon has been associated with him more and more.
* VerbalTic: [[CreepyCute Upupupupu]]...
** The game's official dub turns this into a slightly-less awkward sounding "puhuhuhu" while the anime's dub converts it to a more cartoonish "nyuk-nyuknyuk!"
* VillainBasedFranchise: As mentioned, his presence is the only true constant so far since he is always the one who starts the killing games.
* VillainousBreakdown: One that can be seen toward the end of the Fifth Trial, and is entirely present during the Sixth Trial. In the former, he rigs the case with misinformation and imposes a sudden time limit on it, while in the latter, he childishly yells to shut Makoto up and he pauses for long lengths of time when the students have him figured out.
* VocalDissonance: His voice sounds like something from a cartoon, and while it sort of fits with his design, it makes his role as the antagonist much more weird and unsettling. This is further accentuated by the fact that he's voiced by Nobuyo Ōyama, the woman who voiced one of the most famous and beloved children's anime characters of all time -- [[Anime/{{Doraemon}} Doraemon]]. To put it into a western/American frame of reference, it would be the equivalent of being threatened by some ''thing'' that had a voice like WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse or Disney/WinnieThePooh.
* WillNotTellALie: Technically he doesn't lie, although he heavily abuses ExactWords and often withholds information. When he starts lying in the 5th and 6th Trials, it is a telltale sign that things aren't going so hot for him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The 16th Student]]
[[WMG:Mukuro Ikusaba]]
!!!Ultimate Soldier (Ultimate Despair)
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mukuro_ikusaba.png]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MegumiToyoguchi (Japanese), Creator/AmandaCelineMiller (English), Creator/JamieMarchi (anime) (English)

The mysterious sixteenth student, who Monokuma considers to be his "ace in the sleeve". Kyoko refers to her as "Ultimate Despair". Her real title is Ultimate Soldier, having served with a radical mercenary group called Fenrir for three years without taking a single wound. She is actually the twin sister of Junko Enoshima, and "Ultimate Despair" refers to the group/philosophy they were both members of. Having collaborated with Junko to stage the "School Life of Mutual Killing", she pulls a TwinSwitch to obfuscate her sister's identity as the Mastermind. However, Junko betrays and murders her (seemingly on a whim), and later uses her body to stage a fake murder in Chapter 5.

Her role is expanded in the side-story "''Dangan Ronpa IF''", which makes her the {{Protagonist}} and reveals her to be dependent on Junko, having had her sisterly affection twisted into unquestioning loyalty by Junko's manipulation. After Makoto saves her from being murdered by Monokuma, she vows to destroy her sister's plans both for the sake of her friends and to give Junko more despair.
----
* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Played with. She's Junko's older fraternal twin sister and the two have enough physical differences that when dressed normally it's hard to tell they're even related, but she looks ''very'' similar to Junko when dolled up with cosmetics and the right clothes and accessories, but she's not an ''exact'' match, with her eyes being a different shape and her YouthfulFreckles in particular being noticed by Makoto. She handwaves the discrepancy by claiming that most of her photos are digitally touched-up, but in the final trial, the fact that Monokuma was trying so hard to hide the real Junko's face is ultimately what proves to everyone that the Junko they knew was a fake.
* AntiVillain: Mixture of type 1 and type 3 due to her lack of malice.
* AwesomeMcCoolName:
** Her name basically translates to ''Corpse Warblade''. "Ikusaba" in alternate kanji can also mean "battlefield."
** Her real title is Ultimate Soldier, which also fits, though it's revealed early in Chapter 6 that her Ultimate Despair title is shared with a group of people.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: According to her file, she was so good at her job, she never came back from any mission with '''any''' scars. Averted in the game proper however, as not only is she on the receiving end of one of the most graphic and gory executions while in her Junko disguise, but her corpse is later blown up and left unrecognizable during a fake murder staged by her sister.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: During the the two years spent at Hope's Peak, Makoto was the first person to smile at her, despite her title of Ultimate Soldier. WordOfGod says in all class photos she only looks at the camera if he's holding it, if he isn't, her lines of sight is always fixed on Makoto.
* BecomingTheMask[=/=]LossOfIdentity: In every continuity, Mukuro is never allowed to be present as herself, and every story ends with her still pretending to be Junko in some way.
** In the main canon, she dies as Junko, and is only posthumously recognized as Mukuro.
** At the end of ''IF'', Mukuro keeps her "Junko" identity in an attempt to understand her sister better, and to accept the world's hatred for both of the despair twins.
** Her School Mode ending plays this completely straight; Mukuro never removes her disguise because "Junko" is who Makoto has come to know.
** The bonus mode of [[VisualNovel/NewDanganRonpaV3 NDRV3]] has Mukuro dressed up as Junko for all three years of her school life, and ends with her lamenting that all the friends she made only know her as Junko.
* BrutalHonesty: As "Junko", she did not censor herself ''at all'', and showed no fear of offending anyone.
* ChekhovsGunman: There is an empty seat in the trial room, which Monokuma claims has no special meaning. The presence of a sixteenth student is confirmed by Monokuma in Chapter 2, but it isn't until the end of Chapter 4 where we learn her name. Then you find out in the last chapter that she was the Junko Enoshima that got killed all the way back in Chapter 1!
* ChildSoldier: She worked under a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors PMC]] by the name of Fenrir, which operates under the US military.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: As a child, she joined a mercenary group called Fenrir. When disguised as Junko, she sometimes slips and breaks character, but manages to explain it away. See her above entry as Junko for details.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Black hair, dark colors in her official portrait, and a DarkAndTroubledPast as a ChildSoldier? As it turns out, she's another victim of the School Life of Mutual Killing, gets used by her own sister as a pawn, and (if IF is any indication), had lots of reservations about her role in the plan, enough so to do a HeelFaceTurn.
* DeathByIrony: She follows Junko's orders to the letter like a good soldier... and dies because of it. The fact that Mukuro could dodge any attack on the battlefield only underlines how completely off-guard she was caught by her sister's betrayal.
* TheDragon: She was ''going'' to be one, and then Junko changed the plan on her.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: It depends on [[AmbiguouslyEvil how evil]] [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation you consider her]] in School Mode since she expresses annoyance at the EvilPlan failing, but the point stands. In the school store, if her attention is brought to the Monokuma merchandise, she'll make an attempt at humor that seems a lot less tasteful in context with the final trial of the main story and VideoGame/AbsoluteDespairGirls.
-->"What the heck? What's [[TheMerch this stuff]] doing here? But it's [[GrotesqueCute actually kinda cute, right?]] They should make a hat or something, [[ReligionOfEvil that'd be super popular!]] [[TheHilarityOfHats A big old hat shaped like Monokuma's face]]. Like a full-on Monokuma helmet!"
* ExtremeDoormat: Gets expanded upon in the side material and [[LightNovel/DanganRonpaZero the]] [[Anime/DanganRonpa3 prequels]]; Mukuro's FatalFlaw is her total subservience to Junko. Mukuro made it her life mission to make Junko happy, above her own dreams and ambitions. There's even hints throughout the franchise that Mukuro ''isn't'' obsessed with spreading despair, but still acts as Junko's willing accomplice all the same. She was so blinded in her devotion that she never expected that Junko would literally kill her ForTheEvulz.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Sakura points out Mukuro (who is still posing as Junko) looks a little different from the magazine covers Junko appears in. Mukuro laughs this off by saying it's because the images were photoshopped to make her look more attractive... which you might not find suspicious at first [[TruthInTelevision because that happens in real life]].
* HopelessSuitor: Mukuro had a huge crush on Makoto, but sadly it doesn't stop her from helping Junko go through with her plans to throw the world into despair. In "''IF''", Junko even calls her out on being this. According to Junko, Mukuro wasn't brave to admit her feelings for him during their school life, and Makoto actually had feelings for Kyoko at the time.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Though the chest '''and''' the stomach. The anime [[HumanPincushion kicks it up a notch]] and shows her getting impaled through her ''legs'' as well.
* KnifeNut: A combat knife is regularly depicted in official art as [[WeaponOfChoice something of a signature weapon for her]] (besides an assault rifle). Probably more reason why Junko picked it to attack Makoto with while posing as her sister (not that the students would know that detail about her). As "Junko," she gives this piece of info when Makoto offers to play darts with her in School Mode.
-->''''Junko'''': Oh, um... yeah, sure! I can probably handle that. I've got a pretty good eye, and I used to practice my knife-throwing all the time, so--\\
'''Makoto''': Y-You used to throw knifes!?\\
''''Junko'''': Oh! Um, yeah, well... When I, uh, ran away from home, I had to learn to defend myself, right? So I just... Anyway! [she changes the subject]
* LongingLook: On the class photos she can frequently be seen looking towards Makoto. In fact, the only photo were she actually looks directly into the camera is the one where he was behind said camera.
* MasochismTango: With Junko.
* TheMatchmaker: See Junko's entry, as the "Junko" that Makoto could interact with in Free Time events is really her. In light of the last trial, though, it's unknown if she meant it or not.
* MeaningfulName[=/=]NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ''Mukuro'' can mean "corpse", while ''Ikusaba'' contains the characters for "war" and "blade". Mukuro is officially introduced as a corpse
* MusclesAreMeaningless: She shares the spot with her sister as the two lightest girls in the class at 44 kg while at the same time being one of the most powerful characters in the franchise, able to nearly match Ogami's 99 kg of muscle mass according to "''IF''." Lacking awareness to this trope likely explains why Ogami didn't bother to test her potential as a training partner the way she did to Naegi when they met in the entrance hall.
** Even though they're the same weight, her sister clearly has her beat in [[BuxomIsBetter another area]], with the hamburger dialogue option in School Mode's dining hall implying she makes up the difference with muscle despite being so lanky.
* NoSocialSkills: Mukuro apparently isn't very good with talking to people, unless she's pretending to be Junko. This is best showcased in ''IF'' when Mukuro tries to convince the other student of Makoto's innocence, but unintentionally just made him look more guilty with her argument.
* ParentalAbandonment: Supplementary materials said she was actually separated from her parents in an accident on a trip abroad.
* PosthumousCharacter: ZigZagged, finally settling on the subverted side - but barely.
* RedHerring: The whole point of officially introducing the mysterious 16th student as the "Ultimate Despair" was to set her up as one of these.
* RedShirt[=/=]MauveShirt: Played with. Junko implies that she executed Mukuro in part because she looked the part.
* SignificantBirthDate: In a more ironic version of this, both of the Ultimate Despair sisters was born on Christmas Eve (aka a day in which people are supposed to spread ''hope'' around the world).
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Makoto's kind hearted nature is her reason for loving him.
* StalkerWithACrush: WordOfGod says in all class photos she only looks at the camera if he's holding it, if he isn't, her lines of sight is always fixed on Makoto. Although she and Makoto were good friends back then, she never could work up the courage the admit her feelings towards him, and due to her machinations as co-Ultimate Despair, as well as Junko's betrayal of her, she sadly never will in the main canon. Although possibly subverted in the "''IF''" and School Mode continuities.
* SuperGullible: Specifically centered around anything her sister says, as far as "''IF''" is concerned.
* ThickerThanWater: To the point that she'd help her sister end the world ForTheEvulz.
* TwinSwitch: She was impersonating her twin sister.
* VillainousCrush: On Makoto. Type B (sympathetic) due to her nature as an AntiVillain.
* WalkingSpoiler: Obviously, she is one of the many reasons this page needed to have unmarked spoilers.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Played with. Even after TheReveal, we still don't know how much of her Junko persona was an act. Not to mention that all we know from her actual personality comes from [[UnreliableExpositor Junko.]] "''IF''" fixes this, revealing that most of her lines as "Junko" were scripted by the real thing. That said, she slips out of character every so often, most notably during the Free Time conversations with Makoto.
* WorldsBestWarrior: As evidenced by her title and when we see her in action in ''IF''.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: One reason why Junko killed her. The other reason was [[ForTheEvulz shits and giggles]].
* YouthfulFreckles: Even when masquerading as Junko.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Mastermind]]
[[WMG:The real Junko Enoshima]]
!!! Ultimate Despair (Ultimate Fashionista/Ultimate Analyst)
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/real_junko_enoshima.png]]
->''"I had reasons deeper than the deepest ocean! - That was a fuckin' lie! I had no such reasons!"''

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MegumiToyoguchi (Japanese), Creator/AmandaCelineMiller and Creator/ErinFitzgerald (English), Creator/JamieMarchi (anime) (English)

The true mastermind behind Monokuma, whose identity is revealed in the final chapter of the game. Junko is the twin sister of Mukuro Ikusaba, with whom she pulled a TwinSwitch before the Despair Game begins. Both sisters were members of a movement known as "Ultimate Despair", which caused "The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History" and led to the world's current state. Junko has a paradoxical fetish for despair (both causing and receiving it) and wishes to share her twisted feelings with the entire world. The "School Life of Mutual Killing" is the final stage of her plan to plunge the world into an eternal state of anarchy, by proving that even the "best" of the world will turn on each other given proper incentive.

----
* ArmorPiercingResponse: Any time someone asks her 'why' in some fashion (either in-person or as Monokuma) her answer will always be "despair."
-->"Despair is contagious. It's much like a natural phenomenon, as a matter of fact. Everyone Despairs. And right now, the entire wrecked world Despairs. Therefore, if it's Despair you consider your enemy, then your enemy is the entire world!"
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: As later revealed in ''LightNovel/DanganronpaZero'', her true talent is her hyper-analytical mind, which allows her to easily pick up new skills and accurately forecast trends. Her disguise as the Ultimate Fashionista is just one example of this. However, this talent to her initial fall into despair: she grew extremely bored with the entire world, but despair was the one thing contradictory and random enough to hold her attention.
* AwfulTruth: [[BreakThemByTalking Her performance in the final trial]] is geared towards dropping several of them on the students.
-->'''Junko''': And that is the truth! The truth you sought so much! How about it? Are you in Despair? Are you in Despair now that you know everything?!\\
'''Kyoko''': Are you saying... that having us solve this school's mysteries was part of your plan...?\\
'''Junko''': What if it was? What if this final school trial was designed from the very beginning to bring about your current Despair-inducing situation...? What if I made you fools solve this mystery, just to present you with this Despair-inducing truth...? [[ArmorPiercingQuestion ...So what if I did?]]\\
'''Kyoko''': [StunnedSilence]
* AxCrazy: ''We are putting it lightly here''.
* BackupTwin: In a sense.
* BadassArmFold: Her official portrait is this. After all, this girl is single-handedly responsible for giving the entire world so much despair.
* BadBoss: She holds nothing back even from people who worship and devoted themselves to her, most notably her twin sister Mukuro by belittling her every chance she had in IF and killing her (or trying to kill her in IF) despite Mukuro following the plan as well as she could have. She also wasn't above taking pride on being the "better" twin in the original game by claiming to surpassing her sister in nearly every way while insulting Mukuro's accomplishments despite having killed her long beforehand.
* TheBadGuyWins: Partially. She wanted to give herself ultimate despair, she got it. In fact, by Junko's own description of her philosophy, she technically ''cannot lose'': if she succeeds, the entire world is plunged into despair; and if she fails, ''she'' gets to experience the despair of having her plans come crashing down around her.
* BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: She really, ''really'' loves despair and hates hope. It is made clear when she calls the first peaceful and happy year the class spent together at Hope's Peak "the worst school life ever!" When she's voted to be executed, she's ''ecstatic'', because she gets to experience one of the ultimate forms of despair: having your evil plan to plunge the whole human race completely into despair backfire right as you were about to succeed, and then dying an incredibly cruel death to top it off!
* BastardlySpeech: Her monologuing about despair becomes this after her entire plan has been laid out. She keeps claiming that the students killed each other to no fault of hers as a part of proving her point that despair exists in everyone and that hope will naturally lose to that despair, even going so far as to claim that she did it all out of love. [[ShutUpHannibal Makoto refuses to hear it]].
* BatmanGambit: A number of the variables in her plan and the intent behind the motivations rely on the assumption that her classmates won't deviate from the behavior she observed of them during their time in school (which becomes even likelier with what we learn about her observational abilities in ''Danganronpa Zero'').
* BigBad: Obviously.
* BigBadFriend: Deliberately invoked; she wanted to see the despair created by personal connection between the victims of her game and the mastermind orchestrating it.
* BreakThemByTalking: The poster girl for the series.
* TheCaligula: A rather insane ShadowDictator who has effectively destroyed the societal structure.
* TheCharmer: Her talent for fashion makes it clear just how good she is at knowing what people want (and how to exploit that).
* ChekhovsGunman: Hence why even her folder tries not to clearly reveal her identity.
* ClusterFBomb: Her punk persona has one of the filthiest mouths in the series.
* CompressedHair: She somehow fits her pigtails under a full-head mask on the two occasions she disguises herself to attack Makoto.
* CoolCrown: Her "high and almighty ruler" personality dons one following TheReveal.
* TheCorrupter: ''Frighteningly'' good at bringing out people's worst side. This partially leads to Makoto refusing to lay blame on his fellow students, due to a belief in all of them being basically good people being corrupted.
* CuteAndPsycho: She ''looks'' like a normal, pretty, and fashionable high school girl. Her mental state? Not so much.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: What sort of execution is most fitting for the ultimate villain? ''All'' of them. Junko goes through each and every execution in the game in rapid succession. Possibly subverted for her as she doesn't consider it "cruel and unusual"... she ''loves'' it.
* DarkMessiah: When she puts forth her ideas about despair's superiority over hope, she gains a legion of followers up to and including anyone with the power to stop her (according to the sequel, she was quite systematic about this). For all the problems she brought to the world, her phrasings imply that (in her mind) forcing people to give into this aspect of the human experience may have been an inevitable improvement in the long run... which she then shuts down as an even remotely-solid ideology by saying she did it all without reason or purpose. Some sources go so far as to say that the contradictory nature of her beliefs only serves to fuel her (and probably the world's) despair.
* DeadManSwitch: If she dies, the air purifier that's supplying the school with clean air shuts off.
* DepravedBisexual: As Monokuma, she frequently made lewd comments about her classmates regardless of sex and talked about [[ThePeepingTom spying on them]]. [[AmbiguouslyBi How legitimate this is is ultimately dependent on how much of the Monokuma persona is an act or not]].
* DesecratingTheDead: Frequently.
** Whichever of Headmaster Kirigiri's bones weren't destroyed in his execution are [[FingerInTheMail wrapped up in a box to taunt his daughter]].
** Despite being a robot, [[IAmAHumanitarian Monokuma eats Mondo's remains]] while the other students can only watch.
** At one point she threatens (as Monokuma) to beat on and later eat Sakura's corpse in {{revenge}} for the Monokuma key going missing thanks to her.
** Mukuro's body gets reused in a frame-job and [[WhyAmITicking rigged to explode in covering that fact up]].
** Whatever is left of Kyoko in the BadEnding gets [[DownInTheDumps tossed into the trash dump]] where her father's murder-weapon and coffin (the rocket) was thrown out.
** According the sequel, this was in turn inflicted on Junko by some of her more delusional followers.
* DissonantSerenity: Pretty much the whole time through her five executions, although the kicker is probably her ''meditating'' during the witch-burning.
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: Who knew a teenage girl could do so much?
* DrivenToSuicide: She seems more than happy to execute herself after being defeated. In fact, when Makoto timidly tries to insinuate that maybe, just maybe, she might ''not'' want to kill herself, Junko angrily shouts, paraphrased, "Bitch, you are ''ruining'' this for me!"
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Unlike most examples, this is used to make her look even worse: when her love for despair and her love for her sister coincide, Mukuro's life comes to an end.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: PlayedForLaughs in V3's Ultimate Talent Development Mode, where even she finds the idea of losing a game of table tennis to Miu Iruma too despairing.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Well more like "Despair cannot comprehend Hope" but Junko makes it clear she is completely surprised when everyone chooses hope, thinks making hope speeches is not only boring but also cheating, and fails to realize that she is asking her prisoners to betray the MessianicArchetype again, when the first time only brought them despair.
** This actually leads to her downfall. She was unable to imagine anybody trusting someone else enough to risk their life, which is exactly what Makoto did in the fifth trial. Kyoko calls it the weak point that Makoto exposed, allowing her to initiate the re-trial.
* EvilCounterpart: Excusing their cleverness, [[{{Determinator}} insane willpower]] and [[RousingSpeech speech-making]] [[BreakThemByTalking abilities]], both her and Makoto are extremely good at bringing allies over to their side by understanding the things that make them tick. The difference is that Makoto does this [[TheConfidant through simple listening]], [[TheReliableOne by allowing himself to be relied on]] and [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre unpretentiously helping people move past their pain and insecurity]] and instead [[TheParagon towards a hope-filled path]]. By contrast, she [[ManipulativeBastard exploits that emotional vulnerability]] and then [[TheCharmer psychologically manipulates her victims]] into [[TheCorrupter becoming someone willing (or even eager) to commit evil]]. Hence their status as MessianicArchetype and DarkMessiah.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Seems to be the case for anyone in the series fallen to despair, and she's the poster child.
* EvilIsHammy: Some of her personalities definitely are.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: The Data Center where she acts from is possibly the darkest room in the game.
* EvilPlan: Explained by Monokuma at the start of the game as a simple desire for despair, in all its forms. At the time, the students had no idea how far that statement went.
* EvilVirtues: Despite claiming to be a being defined by despair, she has quite a few traits normally associated with hope, such as an uncannily tenacious devotion to her "cause" (see TheUnfettered below). And since she sees spreading despair as an act of love, in her own twisted way she could even be described as an altruist instead of a misanthrope.
* ExpressiveAccessory: Her bear pins, subtly. [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpa2 The sequel]] ramped this up with her newer sprites, where the bears can be seen sporting FireballEyeballs, OcularGushers and a LuminescentBlush to mirror her.
* ExpressiveHair: All her personalities have her hair behaving in unusual or impossible ways, sometimes sending her twintails spiking jaggedly in every direction. Her cutesy personality compresses both tails more neatly/simplistically to mimic a {{Moe}} art style, while her instructor personality has them fusing into a ponytail for a more intellectual look.
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: A famous fashionista and a psychotic mass-murderer.
* FakingTheDead: Twice!
* TheFashionista: Her alternate title.
* FashionDesigner: She was scouted by the academy as the Super High School Level Gyaru/Fashionista, known for her wild and innovative designs, which she's modeled in dozens of magazines and photo shoots seen at the start of the game. [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon It serves as an early hint]] [[ManipulativeBastard at her uncanny ability to manipulate people]] [[TheCharmer by understanding their wants and desires]].
* FashionModel: She can be seen models her own designs at the start of the game, utilizing her sex-appeal to her advantage.
* FemmeFatalons: Mukuro has to wear false nails to mimic this, which becomes a plot point.
* {{Fetish}}: At least this is how Kyoko describes her desire for despair. As the trial progresses, her dialogue starts to imply that it may go much deeper than that.
* ForTheEvulz: Her motivation. She wants nothing less than to bring despair over the students... and the world. She even kills her own sister on a whim with little justification other than "Just think about how despair-inducing it would be!"
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: A self-described InUniverse example; she firmly maintains that there is ''absolutely'' no greater plan or ambition to the things she does. She just wants to spread and feel despair.
* GreaterScopeVillain: For the entire franchise after the first game, the only exceptions being prequels where she's still alive and actively influencing events. In some way, shape, or form, she ''is'' responsible for nearly everything.
* GoOutWithASmile: Before being crushed by a giant block, she's cheerfully [[CheshireCatGrin grinning from ear to ear]] while waving at the heroes.
* HairColorDissonance: Said to have blonde hair, and is written as having blonde hair in the novels, but in pictures her hair seems to appear more pink or strawberry blonde when examined closely.
* HairDecorations: Befitting her role, the real Junko has bear-themed hairclips, one white, and one black on the same sides as Monokuma.
* HobbesWasRight: Believes despair is an inherent thing within all humans. She's not exactly wrong, either: she's just not as right as she thinks she is.
* HopeCrusher: UpToEleven, to the point where she takes pleasure ''in her own despair'' when she's taken down by the rest of the students.
* HopeSpot: In a way, her cheating near the endgame could be seen as this. The students take her lies as a sign of weakness and that they cornered the mastermind, but then she drops the bombshell about how the outside world is a {{dystopia}} in order to crush their hopes and saddle them with a SadisticChoice.
* {{Hypocrite}}: She claims that despair is an absolute, inescapable thing with only the smallest prodding being required to push people over its edge. She just as frequently proves how small her faith in that despair is by manipulating events in a way that tries to cut hope off at the knees, like [[LaserGuidedAmnesia taking away the student's memories]] knowing they wouldn't kill each other otherwise, writing Sakura’s fake suicide note when she [[HeroicSacrifice killed herself for the sake of hope]], and trying to kill [[HopeBringer Makoto]] under the guise of [[TheDragon Ikusaba]] so that she can pin the murder on [[GreatDetective Kirigiri]]. This fact is thrown at her by basically everyone, and her need to disprove it leads to the final chapter's re-trial.
* ImplausibleHairColor: A common component of gyaru fashion is bleached hair (Junko's hair even tassels into red at the tips).
* InnocentBlueEyes: {{Subverted}}.
* InsufferableGenius: Her ego is enormous, but she also possesses one of the greatest minds in the entire franchise (hiding her identity as the mastermind behind an astronomically complex EvilPlan while surrounded by the greatest teen geniuses on the planet being a telling example). The {{pride}}ful way she carries herself like a movie star on the red carpet may be one of the biggest reasons behind her considerable fanbase.
** Though there's also a chance she only acts that way to annoy and confuse people as much as possible (since a person without hope would have no need for an ego).
* ItAmusedMe: She actually manages to frequently combine this with ForTheEvulz. She gets very quickly bored when she believes things are being too predicable and even changes her EvilPlan on the fly a couple of times, most notably when she kills her sister, for no other reasons than she thought it would be more interesting and entertaining that way.
* LaughablyEvil: Her constant personality switching and the fact that all of them are ''hilarious'' would make it really hard to take her seriously if she wasn't eleven kinds of fucked up in the head.
* LightIsNotGood: Light hair, a well-loved fashion icon, and absolutely AxCrazy.
* LostInCharacter: She implies that constantly acting as Monokuma for the whole game is the reason she has such wild personality shifts (she "forgot what kind of character she's supposed to be"), although it's more likely that she's just crazy...
* MadeOfIron: As described in Cruel And Unusual Death above, Junko goes through every single execution shown in the game, but all except the last one don't seem to even scratch her. She in fact ''enjoys'' every single one of them. It takes a giant crushing machine (and possibly the detonation of the Monokuma she was holding at the time) to actually kill her.
* MadnessMantra:
-->"Lamelamelamelamelame...!"
* MalevolentMaskedMan: When she does need to travel around the school in the second half of the game.
* TheManBehindTheCurtain: Subverted viciously. The mastermind behind Monokuma, the terrifyingly deadly robot bear, when revealed, is a fashion model and high school student the same age as the rest of the students. She's also even ''scarier,'' and things just get worse when she comes out and starts expositing.
* ManipulativeBitch: Her specialty is playing on people's despair, however small it may be, to convert them to her way of thinking.
* MaskOfSanity: She's spent a large part of her life in the spotlight, successfully passed the academy's scrutinization in order to be accepted, and the class is positively ''filled'' with people who are good at reading other people. [[MasterActor She managed to fool every single one of them]].
** Most of the CD Dramas she appears in have her acting in much the same way her sister acted during the game (at one point sharing a scene with the resident esper and detective).
* MegaTwintails: Bigger than her head.
* MemeticHandGesture: Her 'punk' personality sometimes flashes [[Music/RonnieJamesDio the horns]].
* MoodSwinger: Junko's ''entire personality and voice changes with her mood''. She says she gets bored having the same character all the time. When Kyoko suggested the mastermind was emotionally unstable, she wasn't kidding.
* MysteriousPast: How she got this way is never explained and later material is highly vague about any details bar a few. Doesn't help that any person who could explain her past is dead and not entirely reliable themselves.
* NightmareFace: Well, Nightmare Mask. She gets a legitimate one.
* NightmareFetishist: Has a fetish for despair. This includes ''her own despair''.
* NonActionBigBad: Sort of like an EvilCounterpart to Makoto being the NonActionGuy that he is.
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Her cutesy personality, which is drawn in a more simplistic style.
* ObfuscatingInsanity: Despite her apparent MaskOfSanity, it's implied by the way her expression goes blank when truly overcome with hate that she may be ''slightly'' more sane than she lets on, and that her many quirks and personality switches are an intentional way of unnerving people in order to give them despair. It's difficult to tell with her.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: During the finale, Junko is constantly in motion both physically and mentally so she doesn't get bored...but when Makoto starts talking back to her, she goes completely still and just looks at him. It's implied this is because he is one of the few things even her analytical talent cannot understand.
* ThePeepingTom: The art book, which examines the students' wardrobes in thorough detail with Monokuma narrating, [[http://s415.photobucket.com/user/TheIneffablePlan/media/DR%20Artbook%20Translations/CHARACTERPROFILING-MakotoNaegi.png.html?sort=3&o=19 implies on Makoto's page]] that she's been spying on them through the security cameras before they shower.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: She engineers the apocalypse through sheer tenacity (with "''IF''" even implying through Mukuro's narration that [[TheUnfettered her absolute desire to cause despair qualifies as a superpower]]). In the last trial, Kyoko has tremendous difficulty believing she could be capable of so much without a group backing her, and she answers that all it took was humankind's own inherent despair. Kyoko still finds herself unable to fully comprehend the terrifying scale of her influence.
* PsychopathicWomanchild: As smart as she is, her beliefs are simplistic, her speech is littered with [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisies]], her mannerisms are wild and attention-grabbing, and she absolutely despises being argued with. There's a chance her remarks about being born in despair weren't that far off: a person standing opposed to the world's hope from childhood would have no need for the maturity that comes with hoping.
* PuppyDogEyes: One of her expressions, coupled with her "cutesy" personality.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Her two signature colors. Even her blonde hair has hints of pink in it.
* ReligionOfEvil: The way in which she convinces people to follow the path of despair could be interpreted as a cult. [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2 The sequel]] explicitly describes the horrific actions of her followers as offerings to their god (said by Monokuma, of course, ergo she herself [[AGodAmI sees it this way]]).
* RoyalWe: In English, she refers to herself in the plural when in her kingly personality.
* {{Sadist}}: In a roundabout way. She just enjoys despair, in all its forms, that much.
* SamusIsAGirl: The Masked Man did look like it could be a guy.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: Invokes this multiple times, inventing new rules (or bending the ones she's established) [[ObviousRulePatch if it's convenient for her]]. Kyoko ultimately uses this against her by pointing out how this invalidates the point she's trying to prove.
* SelfRestraint: Despite being the mastermind, she actually has the least freedom of anyone (self-inflicted as it may be). She presumably uses a sleeping bag as opposed to everyone's comfy beds, can only take meals at night and has an irregular sleeping pattern as a requirement of monitoring the students at all times, whenever they might be active (with most of the murders happening late at night and into the morning). By the last two chapters, she has little more than a mere two rooms to move around in.
* ShadowDictator: A world filled with despair is her kingdom, and yet her face went unrevealed to that kingdom's subjects all the way until the final trial.
* ShapeshifterSwanSong: Of a sort. She rapidly switches between all her personalities during her final Machine Gun Talk battle.
* ShiftingVoiceOfMadness: In the dub, she has two voice actresses to accommodate this, [[UpToEleven and gets a third in the sequel]].
* SiblingMurder: She ends up murdering Mukuro on a whim. Why? Simply because she got bored their original plan and though that the despair one would experience from the sudden death of a beloved sibling was too good pass up on.
* SignificantBirthDate: In a more ironic version of this, both of the Ultimate Despair sisters was born on Christmas Eve (aka a day in which people are supposed to spread ''hope'' around the world).
* SlasherSmile: On her mask.
* TheSocialExpert: As a fashion icon, she's incredibly charismatic, and Charisma is one of the skills Makoto can learn from simply spending time with a person posing as her. It's the trait that allowed her to build up so many allies.
* TheSociopath: A complicated subversion. Junko is crazier than a shithouse rat... but while she shows many signs of sociopathy, she fails to demonstrate the most important one: an inability to care about others. If she hadn't really loved her sister, in her own messed-up way, she wouldn't have killed her, because the truest despair and tragedy come from killing those you love.
* SpartanSibling: Mukuro mistakenly believes that she can get through to her sister. Although she can, things always went bad because of Junko's whims. The sickest part is that Junko considers this being ''loving'' toward her sister, because she can't comprehend that maybe, just maybe, Mukuro ''doesn't'' get off on pain and despair the same way she does, no matter how hard she tries to.
* TalkativeLoon: Her set of greatly differing sprites would be hard to express in prose, so for "''IF''" and "''Dangan Ronpa 0''," she talks in really strange stream of consciousness rants that change subjects every few sentences. Can go from talking about how she just murdered someone to how a recent summer blockbuster underwhelmed her, the kind of people who fixate on her bust and ''the economy'' in very few words that she, herself, has some trouble following.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: It takes ''all six'' executions to kill her.
* ThisLoserIsYou: A very metatextual take: she, not, Makoto, is the one intended to embody the playerbase, as someone who does genuinely adore the class in the game yet keeps it going to see them facing despair, distrusting each other, and dying off, much like anyone who kept playing the damn thing and felt invested in the characters' suffering and struggling. This dissonance confuses and terrifies her fellow students.
* ToCreateAPlaygroundForEvil: ''She succeeds''.
* TooKinkyToTorture: The executions given to other killers were pretty chilling. But Junko enjoys all of them with a ''smile'' due to enjoying her own despair.
* {{Troll}}: Junko's motive is to put everyone into despair and trolling is one of the best ways to do so. In particular with the final class trial when she reveals to the remaining students, they have been killing classmates they had known for 2 years and for no reason other than for her own amusement.
* TwinSwitch: She had her twin use her name and title during the killing game since she thought it would be a waste for them to go unused while her sister's title was much less appealing.
* UncannyValleyGirl: Seemingly the ideal of teenage girls across the country, and hiding a psyche willing and able to tear the world apart.
* TheUnfettered: She describes herself as this, stating that because she has neither hope nor fear of death, there is nothing holding her back from doing what she wants.
* {{Unishment}}: Her execution qualifies big time. She starts out having a full on VillainousBreakdown from losing the final trial, but then her despair fetish kicks in, and she realizes that she finds the despair of both having your carefully laid plans crumble before you and facing death absolutely wonderful, so much that she promptly rejects Makoto's offer of a LastSecondChance, and gleefully executes herself.
* UnreliableExpositor: It's noted in-series that she could be ''wrong'' about the state of the outside world. Nearly all other installments of the series would prove that, no, she was entirely correct and it's a violent CrapsackWorld out there, though she did embellish just how unlivable the world outside the school really was.
* VSign: A gal standard, naturally. She's holding one up just before she dies, and it's one of the more common sprites used by her sister while in disguise.
* VillainousBreakdown: When Makoto instills hope in the rest of the students. Subverted later on: The failure of her plan causes her despair, but because she has a fetish for despair, her own despair '''''turns her on''''', [[{{Unishment}} and she willingly executes herself!]]
* WalkingSpoiler: No duh.
* WeCanRuleTogether: After her true identity is exposed, she offers to make the other students her "disciples". She's not serious about it. It also doubles as a ShoutOut to the Dragonlord's offer from ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''.
* WhatTheHellAreYou: These are some of her last words to Makoto before the game's final Machine Gun Talk/Bullet Time Battle
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Despair is her defining characteristic, her greatest motivation, her ultimate weapon and her eventual downfall.
* XanatosGambit: Due to her fetishization of despair, she actually views the final Class Trial this way -- she views both proving her worldview correct and finally driving the last remnants of the world's hope into despair ''and'' having her worldview disproved, her carefully laid plans crumble before her, being sentenced to death, and experiencing the ultimate despair for herself as "wins."
* YankTheDogsChain: A favorite of hers. If [[HopeSpot people expect their suffering to be close to over,]] it only makes the resulting despair when things take a turn for the even ''worse'' all the sweeter to her.
* YouWillBeSpared: She makes this offer to 5 of the 6 final students should they let her execute Makoto.
[[/folder]]

!! Other
[[folder:Genocide Jack]]
[[WMG:Genocider Syo/Genocider Sho/Genocide Jack/Genocide Jill]]
!!!Ultimate Murderous Fiend
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/genocide_jack.png]]
->"''What's it matter if I've got multiple personalities?! What's it matter if one of 'em's a serial killer?! Look the other way! They're just some minor character flaws! Gahahahahahahaha!''"

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MiyukiSawashiro (Japanese), Creator/ErinFitzgerald (English), Creator/CarliMosier (anime) (English)

A SerialKiller rumored to have killed thousands. Jack's trademark is writing '''BLOODBATH FEVER''' ("Bloodlust" in the English version) in the victim's blood and crucifying them with custom-made scissors. When Chihiro is murdered, the crime scene makes it evident that Jack is among them. She's actually a SplitPersonality of Toko, and changes back with a sneeze. She does not share the same memories as Toko, which means that she can remember some things her other self has forgotten.
----
* ACupAngst: The nature of her outbursts and personal attacks against Aoi strongly implies, if not outright establishes, that she has a severe case of breast envy and is also in deep denial about it.
* AbhorrentAdmirer: In Jill's case, it's mostly the personality that's abhorrent. Though the giant tongue doesn't help.
* AlternateIdentityAmnesia: Just 'cause Toko lost her memories doesn't mean Jill did. This becomes important in the final trial.
* AxCrazy: Her title in a nutshell.
* BlackComedy: A veritable fountain of this.
* CallingCard: There's actually more than one. The second calling card - crucifying the victim with specially-made scissors - has been kept hidden from the media, which proves that she didn't murder Chihiro.
* CardCarryingVillain: She is unrepentant about the many murders she has committed, and actually takes a bit of pride in her macabre "craft". In fact she is actually quite insulted that someone copied her MO for the second murder, especially because the murderer did such a sloppy job of imitating her. She's one of only two characters who ''don't'' become "true friends" with Makoto at the end of their dialogue lines, along with Byakuya.
* CatchPhrase: "Roger, darling!" becomes a minor one.
* ChekhovsGunman: Is discussed by the students early on as a possible identity for the Mastermind. So ''of course'' Jill eventually shows up.
* CrazySane: Ironically, despite being a psychopathic serial killer, Jill has a better grasp of the situation she's in and what it means than most of the other students, and seems capable of thinking rationally about it precisely because her psychopathy means the constant murder and danger doesn't throw her off balance.
* CreepySouvenir: She carves a mark upon her left leg for her every victim (hence Toko's retro-length skirt).
* DoWrongRight: She's pissed that someone tries to frame her in the second case... because of the ''sloppy job'' they did, going off on an extended tangent about her devotion to her serial-killer craft where she compares herself to a master chef.
* DubNameChange: The localization calls her Genocide Jack/Jill.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Jill is unrepentantly murderous and insane and never misses an opportunity to hammer this point home with her mad laughter, but even ''she'' is disgusted at Junko. When the full scope of her plans for the classmates comes to light, she ''starts'' to laugh - and the abruptly stops, adopts a ''completely sane'' tone of voice and says that even '''[[AxCrazy she]]''' can't find Junko's plot funny.
* EvilIsHammy: To further contrast her much more subdued alter's personality.
* EvilLaugh: Comes with the territory.
* ExplosionPropulsion: When she tries to unmask the body in Chapter 5, the bomb rigged to destroy its face sends her flying. After a brief panic on the part of Aoi and Yasuhiro she reappears unharmed, just reverted to her normal personality.
* EyeColorChange: When changing into Genocide Jill, her eyes change from pinkish gray to red and the shape of the iris changes.
* GenderBlenderName: Syo is a normally male name, which is why it was changed to Jack in the dub since an English audience might assume it to be gender neutral.
* GenkiGirl: An unusually twisted variant, and in the English version, this is the correct answer when she asks Makoto about which archetype she falls into.
* GoodFeelsGood: If she really enjoys her School Mode dates, Jill will happily tell Makoto that living the life of a ''non''-serial-killer is rather enjoyable for her.
* HeroicBSOD: She reaches this point the same as everyone else in the final trial; [[EvenEvilHasStandards even she finds herself disturbed by the degree of Junko's evil]]. With the hope given by Makoto, she decides to be more true to her wacky self: the self that wants to take the funnest path, hates going to school, and wants to follow Byakuya wherever he goes.
* HiddenWeapons: Genocide Jill keeps several pairs of scissors in a leg holster at all times (the right leg, specifically). It's not clear why Toko doesn't just remove them while Jill is dormant, though the fact she constantly makes more may be a factor.
* HypocriticalHumor: At one point, Genocide Jill complains about how all [[HollywoodPsych Hollywood films]] [[InsaneEqualsViolent portray DID sufferers as murderous serial killers]]... despite, you know, ''being'' a DID person who's a murderous serial killer. Also, at the beginning of Chapter 3's trial, as Yasuhiro protests his innocence, she tells him to "[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Shut your murdering mouth, murderer]]!" Yasuhiro promptly calls her out.
* IfICantHaveYou: All of Jill's victims were men that Toko was infatuated with. This is very bad news for Byakuya... Or not. Not in the way that gets him killed anyways: Jill's last Free Time Event reveals that Byakuya is the first man she's infatuated with who she ''doesn't'' want to kill.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Jill's hand-made scissors.
* InformedAbility: Despite being a serial killer supposedly responsible for hundreds of deaths, she doesn't kill anyone during the despair game, not even Byakuya. She justifies this very well though, pointing out that the whole purpose of Monokuma's game is to ''not get caught''. Killing anyone with her usual MO would be an incredibly stupid thing to do, and she simply doesn't ''want'' to kill any other way.
* KarmaHoudini: Survives the events of the game, mostly because hers is OffStageVillainy.
* KidsAreCruel: A Free Time event reveals that Toko's first crush [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior posted her love letter to him on the wall]] [[TheFreelanceShameSquad so that all the other kids would mock her]], and, when confronted about it, [[TheUnapologetic admitted to her]] that [[BitchInSheepsClothing he had always hated talking to her and made fun of her behind her back]]. Genocide Jill admits to having [[AssholeVictim killed said former classmate]] at a later time.
** In a similar vein, Toko also recounts a time where an [[TeensAreMonsters eighth grader]] asked her out, [[YankTheDogsChain only to bail midway through the date]] as he had only asked her out on a dare.
*** It should also be noted that, in the Genocide Jack file that lists the names of her victims, while most are men in their 20's and 30's, there are also two teens listed... [[MuggingTheMonster one 17 years old, and one 14 years old]]...
* LargeHam: She even insists on sticking her tongue out like she's [[Myth/HinduMythology the goddess Kali]] all the time.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Since she and Toko do not share the same memories, she remembers things that Toko doesn't, including what "The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History" is.
* LaughablyEvil: Let's face it, Jill is ''hilarious'', and given her murders look like giving money to charity compared to Monokuma's actions, you don't feel that bad about it.
* LaughingMad: The number of times she ''doesn't'' punctuate something with her EvilLaugh can be counted on one hand.
* LoveRedeems: Jill promises to give up serial killing in her last Free Time Event if Makoto sets her up with Byakuya.
* MeaningfulName: Jill describes herself as a [[YaoiFangirl fujoshi]] ('''腐'''女子), the first kanji of which is the same character in Toko Fukawa ('''腐'''川冬子). Provides an interesting contrast, considering they're the kind of people who Toko ''hates''.
** In the dub, the names Genocide Jack and Genocide Jill are references to both UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper[[note]]Some theories state that "Jack" was a woman, and refer to "her" as Jill the Ripper[[/note]] and the NurseryRhyme ''Jack and Jill''[[note]]Some versions of the rhyme include a third verse where Jill grins upon discovering Jack was injured[[/note]].
* MetaGirl: Explicitly points out the overuse of Split Personalities to make villains, giving them a bad rap; even goes so far as to claim she's going to disprove the stereotype. While she is creepy as hell, Jill is ironically the more rational of the two personalities, as Toko has a tendency to panic and assume the worst. This makes her ''less'' of a danger than Toko: as Jill points out, she never became a famous serial killer by being ''caught'', and trying to kill anyone under the circumstances of Monokuma's game would be incredibly stupid of her.
* MotorMouth: Surprisingly she never seems to bite her tongue no matter how much she says or how quickly she says it.
* MythicalMotifs: Her design and MO is based on a combination of Kali, a Hindu Goddess of death (among other things), and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuchisake-Onna Kuchisake-Onna]], a Japanese {{Yokai}} who is a spirit of a woman wronged by men who kills her victims with [[ShearMenace scissors]] that is very hard to escape from.
* NeatFreak: She complains that she has work harder to scrub herself clean because Toko Fukawa doesn't bathe regularly.
* NeverMyFault: One of her bigger {{Jerkass}} moments sees her waking up and bashing Sakura over the head for merely trying to help her, and later blaming Sakura herself.
* TheNicknamer: Tends to call most characters by a shortened version of their first name, then "-kun"/"-chan"/etc, i.e. "Ma-kun" (Makoto), "Hifumin" (Hifumi), and "Chi-tan" (Chihiro). In addition, she refers to Toko as Gloomy, and let's not even get started on the names she calls Aoi, such as Godzilla Tits. Aoi occasionally has to ask who she's talking about. The localization has them call Makoto "Big Mac" and "Makoodle poodle kit-and-kaboodle" among other things. She also uses "Tick Tock" (Kiyotaka), "Huffy" (Hifumi), and "Cherry" (Chihiro).
* NightmareFetishist: She loves her job. Let's leave it at that.
* NotMeThisTime: After TheReveal.
* NotSoDifferent: She's a serial killer, but she is actually willing to help (in her own, twisted way) in the trials to fight for her life, doesn't kill anyone, and in the final trial, she's so scared of the outside world as everyone until Makoto talks her out of it.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: It's incredibly jarring when Jill starts using a sane, indoor voice, and a sure sign that shit has really hit the fan.
* OverlyLongTongue: As mentioned, most likely a reference to the [[Myth/HinduMythology Hindu Goddess Kali]], which suits her to a "T".
* PragmaticVillainy: She points out herself that if the point of the game is to ''not'' get caught, then it would be idiotic to use all her calling cards as a serial killer if she did decide to murder someone at Hope's Peak. And since she doesn't ''want'' to murder in any other fashion, well, she simply won't murder at all.
* {{Pun}}: The English fan translation has her call herself a slasher... no, not like a serial killer, like [[YaoiFangirl somebody who's into slash fiction]].
* RapunzelHair: Same as Toko, see her section above.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Well she is more pink when she's in control but the point remains.
* RedHerring: Early on, Genocide Jill is suspected of being the mastermind behind Monokuma. When she actually appears, Monokuma himself confirms that he's not her. Furthermore, she neither kills anyone, nor is killed by anyone else due to her murderous ways.
* SerialKiller: How she earned her name.
* ShearMenace: Her WeaponOfChoice.
* SneezeOfDoom: Her method of transformation, even if the DeadlyGame prevents the other students from seeing her as that much of a threat (therefore diminishing the "doom" aspect).
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Much like Sakura, Syo's name is inconsistently romanized. The original game uses 'Syo' the one time it's romanized. The fanmade patch, alternately, goes with 'Shou'. The anime manages to be even more inconsistent, going with 'Syo' on written files, but 'Sho' in the character's introduction screen. Funimation's subtitles, for their part, stick with 'Sho', as do newer supplementary materials. Averted in the localization. See DubNameChange.
* SplitPersonality: The case file on Genocide Jill suggests that the serial killer shows signs of having Dissociative Identity Disorder. She is indeed a split personality of her original self, Toko Fukawa.
* SplitPersonalityMakeover: Toko and Genocide Jill are discernibly different in that Genocide Jill has red eyes and an OverlyLongTongue.
* StalkerWithACrush: Towards Byakuya and ''all'' of her victims. She only kills guys she likes after all.
* TokenEvilTeammate: She's a remorseless mass murderer, but she's also one of the most stable students during the trials and lacks the others tendency of jumping to conclusions, as well as surviving the whole game and escaping with the others.
* {{Yandere}}: For Byakuya. But not to the point of wanting to kill him or anyone else for his sake, which makes him a unique case for her.
* YaoiFangirl: In contrast to Toko's seething hatred of anime and manga. In fact, she specifically refers to herself as a ''fujoshi'' (basically "rotten fangirl", a term fans of the yaoi genre might recognize).
* YouDidntAsk: She does indeed remember The Worst, Most Despair-inducing Incident in the Human History. The reason why she never mention it before the last trial?
-->My motto is never to say anything unless asked directly! [[BlatantLies I'm the silent type, you know!]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Alter Ego]]
[[WMG:Alter Ego]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alter_ego_drta.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KoukiMiyata and briefly Creator/KazuyaNakai (Japanese), Creator/DorothyEliasFahn and briefly Creator/KeithSilverstein (English), Creator/KaraEdwards and briefly Creator/ChristopherSabat (anime) (English)

A program created by Chihiro to help the students escape Hope's Peak Academy, a breakthrough in ArtificialIntelligence that thinks and learns like a human. Complicating matters is the fact that they have to keep it hidden from Monokuma. Unfortunately, they fail, and Alter Ego is executed by being crushed with construction equipment at the end of Chapter 4. Fortunately, Alter Ego managed to download itself into the mastermind's network beforehand, allowing it to prevent Makoto from being executed.
----
* ArtificialIntelligence: Obviously, based on their creator and his friends.
* AttractiveBentGender: Hifumi insistently calls him a 'her' after falling for them.
* BigDamnHeroes: Chapter 5 has Alter Ego in Makoto's execution - before he is crushed by the crusher block, Alter Ego overrides Monokuma's control and shuts off the crusher, allowing Makoto to pass to relative safety.
* ChekhovsGun: Despite being executed, during the short time they were connected to the network, they were able to plant a virus that saves Makoto from being executed in Chapter 5.
* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: Perhaps unintentional on Chihiro's part, but after his death and in subsequent installments in the series, Alter Ego plays [[SmallRoleBigImpact small but pivotal roles]] that give the protagonists the last little miracle they need to avert a tragic ending.
* IfItsYouItsOkay: Along with his 2D fetish, Hifumi completely ignores that the real Chihiro Fujisaki was [[UnsettlingGenderReveal a guy the whole time]] and falls heads over heels for Alter Ego. Although, there are straight, male with [[OtokonokoGenre a fetish for male-to-female crossdressers]] in real life, so maybe this isn't too far off.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Helps to bring Kiyotaka out of his HeroicBSOD, but their method of doing so involves taking Mondo's appearance and mimicking what he'd say to Kiyotaka in this situation, which... mostly involves mocking his weakness. It works though.
* KissMeImVirtual: In Hifumi's mind. More level minds suggest Alter Ego is mostly interested in the information Hifumi's giving it.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Alter Ego's personality is basically the same as its creator, hence its [[MeaningfulName name]].
* MeaningfulName Alter Ego's name is a reference to its nature of assuming the personality of its creator or of other people if they have enough data of them, making them a virtual version of real people.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Breaking that HeroicBSOD leads to Kiyondo and Hifumi developing a rivalry that Celeste [[ManipulativeBastard takes advantage of]] by stealing Alter Ego and framing Kiyondo for it, leading to the deaths of all those involved.
* OnlyMostlyDead: Though it was "executed" in Chapter 4 and has no way of communicating with the other students, it still exists as a virus in the school network, [[NotTooDeadToSaveTheDay which ends up saving Makoto's life]]. Its presence in [[VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2 the sequel]] implies the survivors retrieved it from the network sometime after Junko's defeat.
* PronounTrouble: Subject to this, as others can't decide whether to call Alter Ego a 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Alter Ego's avatar is identical to Chihiro, and it initially introduces itself to the other students under his name. It then gets latched onto as a replacement for ''Mondo'' after trying to cheer up Kiyotaka by creating a simulation of him.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Despite being an AI, Alter Ego has feelings like a human and sees the students of class 78 as their friends. For some reason, they seem to have something like touch sensories, as it is shown that they can be tickled. This heavily implies that [[FridgeHorror Alter Ego suffered pain during their execution like any human, too]].
* {{Robosexual}}: The 'cargo' in Hifumi's shipping.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Their treatment as an AI varies wildly among the students. Makoto refers to it as a friend, Kyoko treats it more like a tool (though she does this with ''everyone'' at first), Kiyotaka and Hifumi fawn over it for differing reasons, and Celeste outright says she doesn't think it has any feelings to hurt.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Santa Shikiba]]
[[WMG:Santa Shikiba]]
!!!Ultimate Botanist
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/santa_shikiba.png]]

The Hope's Peak student who created the Monokuma Flower who was never a part of the killing game. Already dead. Literally nothing else is known about him, since he's only mentioned once (unnamed) in the whole series, besides supplemental material showing his name and appearance and appearing in an obscure, Japan-only sound novel of uncertain canon status.
----
* AllThereInTheManual: His name and appearance are only in the artbook.
* AscendedExtra: He's a major character in a hidden route in the ''Kirigiri Sou'' sound novel bundled with the third ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' Blu-ray in Japan.
* PosthumousCharacter: As stated above.
* PunnyName: His given name is written 田田田, which is the character ''ta'' repeated three (''san'') times. It translates to Field Field Field.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Daiya Owada]]
[[WMG:Daiya Owada]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daiya_owada.png]]

->'''Voiced by (anime only):''' Creator/KatsuyukiKonishi (Japanese), Creator/JasonDouglas (English)

Mondo Owada's big brother and founder of the Crazy Diamonds.
----
* CoolBigBro: He started the biggest biker gang in Japan and saved Mondo's life.
* DeathByOriginStory: His death was a huge turning point for Mondo, and not only because it made him the second leader of the Crazy Diamonds.
* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: In this case, deceased big brother. Daiya was and still is Mondo's hero and he remembers him as such.
* DelinquentHair: Had a jet black pompadour that nobody can seem to agree on the size of.
* HeroicSacrifice: Pushed Mondo out of the way of an oncoming truck during a street race and was fatally struck himself. [[MyGreatestFailure Mondo still feels incredibly guilty over it]].
* JapaneseDelinquents: Naturally, considering he founded the biggest bosozoku gang in Japan.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Even though we never got to know him, it is implied that he was this by Mondo's constant praise of his moral code and chivalry, and by the fact that he seemed to be a very good brother even though he led a gang that most likely engaged in constant violent activities.
* PosthumousCharacter: Already deceased by the time the game is set.
* PunnyName: When 'Daiya' is put together with 'Mondo' it forms 'Daiyamondo', which is the Japanese pronunciation of the English word 'Diamond'. Guess what's his gang's name.
* VagueAge: It's only stated that Daiya is older than Mondo, but not by how much. It can be that he's only a few years older (such as a senior in high school) or legal adult, it's just seems like nothing the fandom in the West or Japan can agree on.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Headmaster]]
[[WMG:Headmaster Jin Kirigiri]]
!!!The Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KappeiYamaguchi (Japanese), Creator/RikiyaKoyama (anime) (Japanese), Creator/JMichaelTatum (anime) (English)
->'''Played by:''' Toru Kazama (Stage)

The original headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, before Monokuma took over. All that is known about him at this time is that he's a man in his late thirties, and he might still be in the school. According to Alter Ego, the headmaster spearheaded a plan to lock the remaining students in the school following a Despairing Incident which forced the school to close. He's also Kyoko Kirigiri's father, which is why she was reluctant to believe that he could be the mastermind. As it turns out, the headmaster ''is'' in the school... as a pile of bones, killed by Monokuma in the "Blast Off!" execution from the game's beginning. He had distanced himself from the Kirigiri family because he did not want to follow in the family business of being a detective, and cut all ties to them, leaving his daughter behind.
----
* AbsurdlyYouthfulFather: He is only in his thirties but has a teenage daughter. Apparently he was [[OlderThanTheyLook Older Than He Looks]].
* AllThereInTheManual: The Headmaster's full name is not revealed until ''Dangan Ronpa Zero''.
* BlackSheep: The only Kirigiri to oppose working as a detective, even though he was regarded well enough to be considered a possible family head after his father retires.
* BornDetective: The Kirigiri family is a secret legacy of legendary detectives. However, the Headmaster disliked being a detective, and left some time ago.
* ChekhovsGunman: Set up from the very beginning. Remember that extra "Blast Off!" execution from the beginning of the game? Looks like that was him.
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: He's passionate about cultivating talent in youth. He left his daughter parentless to pursue that passion.
* DeanBitterman: Suggested at first. Turns out he's not. Trope averted.
* TheFaceless: The photograph and video tapes only show the back of his head, and he's wearing a blindfold during his execution. Later installments show his entire face.
* FingerInTheMail: His bones are found wrapped up in a present, presumably left there by the mastermind to taunt Kyoko.
* FollowInMyFootsteps: He apparently refused to do this, walking out on the chance to be the head of the family. The exacts aren't very clear.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Of the 16 students he believed would restore hope to the world, one was a dimwitted con-artist, another was complicit in the manslaughter his brother, four were sociopaths (and two of them members of a cult dedicated to "global despair"), and one was a ''serial killer who murdered so many people that her first name is "Genocide"''. Granted they were all he had left at that point, but there were still some shocking lapses of judgment in inviting them to the school to the first place.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Toward Kyoko.
* NoNameGiven: Only called "the headmaster" in-game, with the name "Jin Kirigiri" first used in the {{prequel}} ''LightNovel/DanganRonpaZero''.
* ParentsAsPeople: Supplementary material implies he's legitimately proud of Kyoko, but more because she's his student ahead of her being his daughter. At one point in ''Zero'', she's not fully certain whether she should be happy or annoyed seeing the look of pride in his eyes at how talented a detective she is (especially because it reminds her of a look her grandfather, who she highly respects, once gave her). Considering [[AbsurdlyYouthfulFather his age]], he probably had too many ambitions left to fulfill ahead of being a decent father.
* RedHerring: He isn't nearly as important or malevolent as one may initially assume, except for Kyoko's motivation.
* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: He set the password to his secret room to "Kyoko Kirigiri".
* PersonalEffectsReveal: In his hidden room where his bones are found, a photo is found of him and Kyoko as a child. Additionally, the password to said room was her name.
* PetTheDog: Kyoko knew him almost entirely as a father who abandoned her... until it's revealed that his room's lock is her name and that he had a picture of him and her together that he seemingly cared a lot for. Even Kyoko needs a moment alone to comprehend it, [[CryCute with some implications]].
* PosthumousCharacter: As mentioned above, he is technically one of the first people you see in the game (during his execution) but you don't learn anything about him until ''much'' later.
* WalkingSpoiler: Yet another reason for losing the spoiler tags.
[[/folder]]
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This page lists all characters in the very first game of the franchise: ''[[VisualNovel/DanganRonpa Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc]]''.

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This page lists all characters in the very first game of the franchise: ''[[VisualNovel/DanganRonpa Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc]]''.
''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc''.
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* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Well more like "Despair cannot comprehend Hope" but Junko makes it clear she is completely surprised when everyone chooses hope, thinks making hope speeches is not only boring but also cheating, and fails to realize that she is asking his prisoners to betray the MessianicArchetype again, when the first time only brought them despair.

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* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Well more like "Despair cannot comprehend Hope" but Junko makes it clear she is completely surprised when everyone chooses hope, thinks making hope speeches is not only boring but also cheating, and fails to realize that she is asking his her prisoners to betray the MessianicArchetype again, when the first time only brought them despair.
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During the events of the game, she murders her sister seemingly on a whim, claiming that Mukuro couldn't impersonate her properly and wishing for her to taste the despair of betrayal. When Kyoko starts to prove a nuisance to her plans, Junko attacks Makoto as a "masked man" to set up the fake murder of "Mukuro Ikusaba" in Chapter 5 and attempt to frame Kyoko. After she is exposed and her last attempt to plunge the group into despair backfires, Junko follows the rules of her own game and gleefully executes herself as punishment.
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My typo stayed for an embarrassingly long time.


* AscendedExtra: He's a major character in a hidden route in the ''Kirigiri Sou'' sound novel bondled with the third ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' Blu-ray in Japan.

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* AscendedExtra: He's a major character in a hidden route in the ''Kirigiri Sou'' sound novel bondled bundled with the third ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' Blu-ray in Japan.

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