History Characters / DanganronpaPekoPekoyama

* AssholeVictim: Very, ''very'' downplayed but still has elements of this. While she is genuinely a nice person, she ruthlessly murders Mahiru and rather cruelly frames Hiyoko, her best friend, for it. Given everything revealed about [[TykeBomb how she was raised and trained]] and her connection to Fuyuhiko, and how the murder came to be, it's pretty clear malice held no part in any of her actions, and she outright requests that the others make sure nothing like it ''ever'' happens again and almost breaks down into tears when she apologizes over Mahiru. Given how heartwrenching and emotionally distressing the circumstances surrounding her final moments are even by ''Danganronpa'' [[CruelAndUnusualDeath standard]], whatever Asshole is left certainly isn't the focus of the fallout of Peko's actions, although granted this is due to chapter 2's post-trial borderline ignoring Mahiru and Hiyoko's situation (to put it into context Mahiru flashbacks get about 2 minutes and Hiyoko gets a single line. Fuyuhiko and Peko get the rest of the 20-minute long post-trial) and there's still the fallout of Hiyoko being left an emotional wreck (and that eventually kills Hiyoko) because of Peko's actions (and Peko never directly said sorry to Hiyoko for that) and Mahiru still being very much dead. However, no one hates Peko more for what she did to Mahiru than Peko herself (besides Hiyoko of course).

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Peko serves as one for the concept of UndyingLoyalty and BodyguardCrush, showing how twisted absolute loyalty towards your employer is if taken to the extreme. Peko has no personal interests, ideas, or hopes for her own life other than serving Fuyuhiko, and she's perfectly willing to kill herself and dozens of innocent people if their deaths result in a positive outcome for him. Indeed, her fundamental worldview revolves around her conception that her loyalty to Fuyuhiko means that any outcome that results in Fuyuhiko's gain is good, and everyone else is completely irrelevant and expendable, something [[EveryoneHasStandards Fuyuhiko himself is deeply uncomfortable with]].

** A heartbreaking, non-verbal example is during her execution, when she reflexively slashes Fuyuhiko's eye out.

* RedOniBlueOni: Is the blue to her murder victim Mahiru's(who is very energetic and brash) red, Peko is reserved and graceful.

* VigilanteMan: Claims that she's the murderous superheroine Sparkling Justice when exposed as a murderer and that she'd chosen to kill Mahiru for her attempt to cover up a crime. However, this is a calculated lie to prevent the others from suspecting her ''true'' motive until it's too late.

* BodyguardCrush: What her Dangan Island ending more or less reveals her to have towards Fuyuhiko. It just makes the events surrounding Chapter 2 all the more tragic.

* CutenessProximity: She loves "fluffiness", despite or possibly because of the fact that AnimalsHateHer. Watching an animal-related movie with her at the theater in Island Mode is her top response, and seeing fluffy animals in the 3-D glasses option is also her top option. For the looking at photobooks in the library option, she hopes to see pictures of fluffy animals. In her first Free Time event, she immediately runs off to find Gundham when Hajime suggests that maybe his Four Dark Devas are well-trained enough to let her pet them. In ''Ultimate Talent Development Mode'' and ''Ultimate Summer Camp'', she sometimes asks Shirokuma if she can pet him.

* TheLostLenore: Fuyuhiko always keeps her in his thoughts, and he really wants to see her again. Her death is what motivates him to become a better person.

* CutenessProximity: She loves "fluffiness", despite or possibly because of the fact that AnimalsHateHer. Watching an animal-related movie with her at the theater in Island Mode is her top response, and seeing fluffy animals in the 3-D glasses option is also her top option. For the looking at photobooks in the library option, she hopes to see pictures of fluffy animals. In her first Free Time event, she immediately runs off to find Gundham when Hajime suggests that maybe his Four Dark Devas are well-trained enough to let her pet them. In ''Ultimate Talent Development Mode'' and ''Ultimate Summer Camp'', she sometimes asks Shirokuma if she can pet her.

** In ''Ultimate Summer Camp'', when she sees Hifumi and notices he's acting odd, she deduces he has heatstroke and calls for Mikan immediately.

* {{Hypocrite}}: While she's generally morally consistent, she has double standards regarding Fuyuhiko's behavior. She urges the class to forgive Fuyuhiko and let him atone when he refused to forgive Mahiru and let her atone which she actively enabled instead of trying to tell him that his actions were screwed up (granted, her tool mindset meant that she believed she couldn't override his decisions). She also has a problem with Hiyoko bullying Mikan but has no trouble with Fuyuhiko threatening to send her to a whorehouse (in fairness, she does try to calm Fuyuhiko down at points). While she isn't exactly wrong about Fuyuhiko having a good heart deep down, she seems to ignore that he was milliseconds away from beating Mahiru to death in an abusive and malicious rage over an unreliable game and that he showed little if any remorse about her death(at least before Peko dies), she seems to have a blindspot regarding Fuyuhiko's more malicious features, although granted, she did try to no avail to keep him in line and knew he could end up decent if he dropped it, which he did, but sadly too late for her or Mahiru.

* JustFollowingOrders: The lynchpin of her ThanatosGambit--she argues that the "mastermind" of a murder should be considered the true culprit. She claims zero responsibility because she considers herself a "tool" without the will of her own and genuinely had zero ill will against Mahiru; quite the opposite as she actually openly admired Mahiru and her photography. It's a convincing enough argument that Monokuma seriously humors it for a moment, but it's ultimately betrayed by the fact Fuyuhiko cares about Peko far, far too much to show enthusiasm or take responsibility and walk away as the survivor of the trial, let alone order her to become blackened. Not to mention ''he'' was adamant about covering her as the murderer.

* CutenessProximity: She loves "fluffiness", despite or possibly because of the fact that AnimalsHateHer. Watching an animal-related movie with her at the theater in Island Mode is her top response, and seeing fluffy animals in the 3-D glasses option is also her top option. For the looking at photobooks in the library option, she hopes to see pictures of fluffy animals. In her first Free Time event, she immediately runs off to find Gundham when Hajime suggests that maybe his Four Dark Devas are well-trained enough to let her pet them. In ''Ultimate Talent Development Mode'' and ''Ultimate Summer Camp'', she sometimes asks Shirokuma if she can bet her.

[[folder:A-L]]

* ActorAllusion: When she claims to be the MagicalGirl-themed SerialKiller, Sparkling Justice, her manner of posing and enunciating is quite reminiscent of one of [[Creator/KotonoMitsuishi her voice actress]]' [[Franchise/SailorMoon most famous roles]].

* AffablyEvil: Peko is a genuinely sweet and good-natured young woman who dislikes conflict most of the time and has a very defined code of honor. She's also a yakuza assassin who ruthlessly murdered Mahiru and likely killed people even before the killing game.
* AllForNothing:
** None of the potential outcomes of Peko's plan would have worked out for her ''or'' Fuyuhiko; if Hiyoko were convicted, Monokuma would have declared her the winner and executed Fuyuhiko. If Fuyuhiko is convicted as the "mastermind", he dies. And even if her plan works and Fuyuhiko escapes, he is left grief-stricken because he just saw his best friend and his innocent classmates murdered. The last is what happened although Fuyuhiko didn't leave the island because Monokuma judged that she was acting on her own and Fuyuhiko didn't think of her as his "tool", but as a friend, but his [[PoorCommunicationKills difficulty in communicating that helps cause the whole situation]]. [[LaserGuidedKarma Essentially, the only way she and Fuyuhiko would have had a good outcome is by not murdering the kind-hearted photographer]].
** This gets worse with the revelation in ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' that Mahiru was actually innocent the entire time, making Peko's murder of her completely meaningless. Although even if Danganronpa 3 didn't prove her innocence, Mahiru's death was completely senseless and a ruthless example of DisproportionateRetribution (covering for the culprit of the murder of a teenage bully who herself planned or at least threatened to kill both Mahiru and Sato, by faking the culprit's escape route and had zero involvement in Natsumi's actual murder, is hardly on the same level as actually beating a teenage photographer to death really, not that it mattered to [[AxCrazy Fuyuhiko]]). Peko clearly hated herself for murdering a genuinely NiceGirl who was nothing but kind to Peko for something she couldn't remember and clearly didn't warrant her brutal murder. Peko herself refers to Mahiru's murder as "senseless" and openly weeps while apologizing for it.
* AlliterativeName: '''P'''eko '''P'''ekoyama.
* AnimalsHateHer: In her Free Time events, she reveals that animals are frightened of her since they can sense her fierce nature. Unfortunately, she just wants to pet them and be friends with them. When Hajime suggests that maybe Gundham's Four Dark Devas are well-trained enough that she could pet them, she runs off to try and find him.
* ApologeticAttacker: In the Danganronpa 2 stage play, Peko apologizes just after striking Mahiru; in the main game, she spends most of the investigation indirectly apologizing for Mahiru's murder until the end of the trial, where she outright says sorry for taking her life.
* AssholeVictim: Very, ''very'' downplayed but still has elements of this. While she is genuinely a nice person, she ruthlessly murders Mahiru and rather cruelly frames Hiyoko, her best friend, for it. Given everything revealed about [[TykeBomb how she was raised and trained]] and her connection to Fuyuhiko, and how the murder came to be, it's pretty clear malice held no part in any of her actions, and she outright requests that the others make sure nothing like it ''ever'' happens again and almost breaks down into tears when she apologizes over Mahiru. Given how heartwrenching and emotionally distressing the circumstances surrounding her final moments are even by ''Danganronpa'' [[CruelAndUnusualDeath standard]], whatever Asshole is left certainly isn't the focus of the fallout of Peko's actions, although granted this is due to chapter 2's post-trial borderline ignoring Mahiru and Hiyoko's situation (to put it into context Mahiru flashbacks get about 2 minutes and Hiyoko gets a single line. Fuyuhiko and Peko get the rest of the 20-minute long post-trial) and there's still the fallout of Hiyoko being left an emotional wreck (and that eventually kills Hiyoko) because of Peko's actions (and Peko never directly said sorry to Hiyoko for that) and Mahiru still being very much dead. However, no one hates Peko more for what she did to Mahiru than Peko herself (besides Hiyoko of course).
* BadassBookworm: Island Mode shows that she loves libraries and books (particularly photobooks of animals) and gets very angry if Hajime calls them boring. She is overall a nice quiet girl with a passion for reading, and she's also the Ultimate Swordswoman.
* BatterUp: She swings a bat just as well as a sword, as Mahiru finds out. Unlike many examples of this trope, however, Mahiru is dead before she hits the ground.
%%* BodyguardBabes: One for Fuyuhiko.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: PlayedWith. Her kind personality isn't an act, but she hid the fact that she was willing to sell out the class for Fuyuhiko if push came to shove. Right up until her role in Mahiru's murder was revealed, she pretended to be a loyal member of the group.

* ChekhovsGag: Peko showing up in a bikini, wet and "out of breath from swimming" as Ibuki comments on her body, to Peko's chagrin, ends up being used to incriminate her in Chapter 2's trial later by proving that she never went swimming and actually came back from washing Mahiru's blood off her body with the water bottles in the beach house's refrigerator.

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: In her last Free Time event, she tells Hajime that she intends to ask out a "childhood friend", who is strongly implied to be Fuyuhiko, once they get off the island.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: She's the second culprit, and she gets one of these both physically ''and'' emotionally; she is literally controlled like a puppet by Monokuma and made to slash through an army of samurai, and then he releases control of her ''just'' long enough for her instincts to kick in and accidentally slash Fuyuhiko, the boy she loves and had sworn to protect. Upon doing this, Peko throws the fight and lets herself get slashed into ribbons.
* CutenessProximity: She loves "fluffiness", despite or possibly because of the fact that AnimalsHateHer. Watching an animal-related movie with her at the theater in Island Mode is her top response, and seeing fluffy animals in the 3-D glasses option is also her top option. For the looking at photobooks in the library option, she hopes to see pictures of fluffy animals. In her first Free Time event, she immediately runs off to find Gundham when Hajime suggests that maybe his Four Dark Devas are well-trained enough to let her pet them. In ''Ultimate Talent Development Mode'' and ''Ultimate Summer Camp'', she sometimes asks Shirokuma if she can bet her.
* DarkActionGirl: Peko dresses in a mostly black outfit, and while far from evil, she's the main antagonist of the second trial. She's also a very well-trained samurai who is so badass that her execution is named "OneWomanArmy" and we see her utterly destroy Monokuma's puppets (and Fuyuhiko's eye, sadly).
* DeathByIrony: Ambushes Mahiru while she isn't looking, figurately stabbing her and the class in the back, and hours later, she's executed via a literal backstab. There's also a lot of tragic irony that she dies to "avenge" Mahiru's murder, when [[NiceGirl Mahiru]] preached the idea of second chances over people dying for their mistakes (which is why Fuyuhiko tried to kill her) and would be absolutely horrified by Peko dying even after what she did to her.
* DeclarationOfProtection: Towards Fuyuhiko, as she is his sworn bodyguard and self-proclaimed "tool". This comes back to bite her ''hard'': instead of preventing him from killing Mahiru, she ''does it in his place'', seeing herself as no more than an extension of his will. She intended to allow Fuyuhiko to escape the island by sacrificing herself and everyone else, but what she doesn't understand (until it's too late) is that Fuyuhiko did not see her as a "tool", but a cherished childhood friend he would never want to sacrifice. And it's highly likely, if not borderline outright confirmed, that if she realized this beforehand, she would have resolved things peacefully, saving both her childhood and new friend as well as herself in the process.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Peko serves as one for the concept of UndyingLoyalty and BodyguardCrush, showing how twisted absolute loyalty towards your employer is if taken to the extreme. Peko has no personal interests, ideas, or hopes for her own life other than serving Fuyuhiko, and she's perfectly willing to kill herself and dozens of innocent people if their deaths result in a positive outcome for him. Indeed, her fundamental worldview revolves around her conception that her loyalty to Fuyuhiko means that any outcome that results in Fuyuhiko's gain is good, and everyone else is completely irrelevant and expendable, something [[EveryoneHasStandards Fuyuhiko himself is deeply uncomfortable with]].
* DesecratingTheDead: After beating Mahiru to death, she carries Mahiru's lifeless body to the diner-side door to ensure that Hiyoko doesn't use that exit. It's done for a practical reason, but it's certainly a ruthlessly pragmatic move to take Mahiru's life and ''then'' use the shell of the kind-hearted photographer as a prop to frame her best friend with and follows a chapter 2 trend of someone messing with the corpse.
* DespairEventHorizon: After accidentally hitting Fuyuhiko with one of her strikes during her execution, Peko ultimately gives up and just cradles him in her arms, not even trying to stop the robot army from stabbing her to death with a lot of utter despair on her face. Even before this, Peko seems unusually depressed throughout the investigation, with hindsight this is because of her self-hatred over taking the life of a friend, meaning in a sense she didn't just hurt her closest childhood friend in one day but murdered a new friend who she genuinely grew to care about.
* DiedInYourArmsTonight: Subverted and Inverted. During her execution, she accidentally injures Fuyuhiko and holds him before being pincushioned by an army of robot swordsmen. However, Fuyuhiko survives, and Peko dies.
* DoNotTauntCthulhu: She tells Monokuma that she will not feel despair as she dies because she achieved her goal of saving Fuyuhiko... then when he tries to intervene in her execution, [[EyeScream Monokuma controls her into slashing him, permanently blinding him in one eye.]] The Monokuma-samurai then stab her to death.
* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: She misinterprets Fuyuhiko's desire to start over and have a relationship as classmates rather than master and tool, thus assuming that he hates her as a tool of his clan. Although Fuyuhiko absolutely doesn't help by involving her in his plan to kill Mahiru.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Fitting for the "one woman army," Peko dies shielding Fuyuhiko from being stabbed to death by puppets, saving his life.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: She attempts this, firstly apologizing for Mahiru's murder and asking the class not to cause another senseless killing, and then declaring that she accepts her fate (it's implied this was out of guilt for Mahiru and her betrayal of the class), which Monokuma mocks as TemptingFate. However, she's left distraught upon hearing Fuyuhiko's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove, and is shocked when she accidentally injures him as he tries to save her, leaving her to die heartbroken. However, her final moments are dignified as she dies stoically protecting Fuyuhiko from being ripped to pieces.
* FanDisservice: Peko gets more than a few [=CGs=] in Chapter 2 where she's clad in nothing but a bikini... and in all of them, she's in the midst of murdering Mahiru and framing Hiyoko for it. Even the very first one where she shows up to the diner soaking wet becomes this on subsequent playthroughs, where you know what she was ''really'' doing before she arrived. Also an action example of this, for those who wanted to see the Ultimate Swordwoman in action, the execution gave them their wish; sadly, she's stabbed to death and cut to pieces, and that's after wounding Fuyuhiko in the middle of her swordfight.
* FatalFlaw: Peko is unable to see herself as anything other than Fuyuhiko's tool, viewing herself and everyone else as expendable, which leads her to kill Mahiru under the assumption that Fuyuhiko would be considered the true mastermind, and thus graduate after everyone else convicted her. Not only did Fuyuhiko ''not'' feel the same (and in fact hated that his childhood friend saw herself that way), but as Monokuma points out, while she was acting in what she thought was Fuyuhiko's best interest, she couldn't be considered a tool because she was acting on her own initiative. After all, Fuyuhiko would never have ordered her to die for him.
* {{Foil}}: She's a foil to her murder victim. Mahiru is a hot-headed and feisty young woman who is extremely independent, and her talent is art based. Peko, in contrast, is very stoic and distant and believes she has no free agency because of her tool mindset, and her talent is combat based. However, both Peko and Mahiru are very mature people as a result of having to grow up fast because of their childhood and, as a result, have a lot of internal issues. In addition, both love photography and are highly sentimental and kind-hearted; they even end up befriending one another.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: Averted with her true character, but she invokes this when posing as "Sparkling Justice", claiming Mahiru deserved death and claiming to feel no remorse for killing her, to get the others to vote for her, when the opposite was true.
* FrameUp: In Chapter 2, Peko murders Mahiru and plants fake evidence to incriminate Hiyoko.
* FriendlyTickleTorture: Her best reaction to her "Shot Through The Heart" in Island Mode has Hajime planning on doing this to her when she lets her guard down. She then says she plans to do it right back.
-->'''Peko:''' ''[smiling]'' All right, if that's the case, I'll wait for you to leave yourself open, too.

* GoOutWithASmile: In the Nagito Komaeda POV manga, after Peko accidentally slashes Fuyuhiko's eye, she manages to save him from being run through, but is stabbed in the heart in the process. She's last seen faintly smiling before the rest of the puppets slash her to ribbons.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Outside of her actions in the second chapter, which weren't motivated by malice or cruelty but rather her tool mindset anyway, Peko is quite a moral person who hates violence and wants to look after both Fuyuhiko and new friends. She's still an extremely tough and fierce warrior who angrily threatens Monokuma when he reveals the killing game.
* GracefulLoser: When Peko's plan fully fails upon Fuyuhiko rejecting her assertion that she's a tool, she isn't bitter or angry towards the class, instead she actually shows relief over the fact that Fuyuhiko isn't ruthless enough to let everyone die and that no one else will have to die after her, she then sorrowfully apologizes over Mahiru's murder and asks the class to ensure no one else dies, after that she tells Monokuma that she's ready to accept her fate(likely out of her guilt over Mahiru). Even in the face of death, Peko was still as polite and sweet-natured as ever.
* HateSink: [[NiceGirl Peko]] is anything but this, however she briefly invokes this trope in the second trial during her Sparkling Justice act, portraying herself as a remorseless psychopath who is proud of her brutal murder of Mahiru. This is in order to get the class, in particular a very vengeful Hiyoko, to vote for her as quickly as possible, which proves good for her plan, as Sonia only questions her being nothing like the real Sparkling Justice until ''after'' everyone voted. Peko in a very intelligent move made herself as hateable as possible to the class, so she could carry her plan through. Had her plan worked as intended, this would have gotten herself and the rest of the class killed so that Fuyuhiko could graduate, but Fuyuhiko doesn't see her as a tool, which, combined with the fact that Monokuma only pins the murder on her causes her plan to fail. However, the reality is Peko never believed a single word she said as Sparkling Justice and was always the kind-hearted and gentle samurai everyone thought she was prior and even seems relieved when she drops this persona.

* {{Hypocrite}}: While she's generally morally consistent, she has double standards regarding Fuyuhiko's behavior. She urges the class to forgive Fuyuhiko and let him atone when he refused to forgive Mahiru and let her atone which she actively enabled instead of trying to tell him that his actions were screwed up (granted, her tool mindset meant that she believed she couldn't override his decisions). She also has a problem with Hiyoko bullying Mikan but has no trouble with Fuyuhiko threatening to send her to a whorehouse (in fairness, she does try to calm Fuyuhiko down at points). While she isn't exactly wrong about Fuyuhiko having a good heart deep down, she seems to ignore that he was milliseconds away from beating Mahiru to death in an abusive and malicious rage over an unreliable game and that he showed little if any remorse about her death(at least before Peko dies), she seems to have a blindspot regarding Fuyuhiko's more malicious features, although granted, she did try to no avail to keep him in line and knew he could end up decent if he dropped it, which he did, but sadly too late for her or Mahiru.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: In the Nagito Komaeda POV manga, she's shown being stabbed through the heart.
* IRegretNothing: Peko invokes this while pretending to be Sparkling Justice, saying she doesn't regret killing Mahiru because of "justice". It is utterly averted when the truth comes out, and Peko is only regretful about Mahiru's murder.
* JustFollowingOrders: The lynchpin of her ThanatosGambit--she argues that the "mastermind" of a murder should be considered the true culprit. She claims zero responsibility because she considers herself a "tool" without the will of her own and genuinely had zero ill will against Mahiru; quite the opposite as she actually openly admired Mahiru and her photography. It's a convincing enough argument that Monokuma seriously humors it for a moment, but it's ultimately betrayed by the fact Fuyuhiko cares about Peko far, far too much to show enthusiasm or take responsibility and walk away as the survivor of the trial, let alone order her to become blackened. Not to mention ''he'' was adamant about covering her as the murderer.
* KickTheDog:
** While Hiyoko is far from a nice person, there's something very cruel about Peko's choice of framing her for Mahiru's murder, even though she's well aware of Hiyoko's love for Mahiru. To make things worse, she makes Hiyoko find Mahiru's blood-covered corpse and hears her run away in fear and grief, yet she never attempts to apologize (within the killing game, at minimum). For all of Hiyoko's flaws, it was a pretty horrible thing to put her through, even though Peko's mindset in all of it was likely one entirely of pragmatism. [[LaserGuidedKarma Of course later on Peko would discover just how wrong it is to force someone to see the person they love get hurt]]
** At one point during her Sparkling Justice act, she claims that she "did nothing wrong" and that Mahiru was "evil," gaining the ire of Hiyoko. While Peko evidently didn't mean a word of this given her actual feelings toward Mahiru and senseless violence itself, it still comes across as [[SpeakIllOfTheDead a cruel choice in words]] considering Mahiru's kindness towards her.

* LargeHam: Normally she's reserved and TheStoic, but when whe does her Sparkling Justice routine in the 2nd Trial, she goes full ham, with plenty of ChewingTheScenery.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Peko coldly leaves Hiyoko in the beach house to find the corpse of Mahiru, whom Hiyoko genuinely loved and wanted to protect, which leaves the dancer completely grief-stricken in a way she never truly recovers from. Hours later, Peko would go through a similar experience when ''Fuyuhiko'' got wounded by her own blade. In a sense, Monokuma did to her a much crueler version of what she did to Hiyoko as part of the murder cover-up in her final moments. Peko died consumed by her grief over Fuyuhiko (partially as a result of it as she let the puppets kill her), and days later, Hiyoko died consumed by her grief over Mahiru.
* LastRequest: After it becomes clear that only she will be executed, she asks the others to forgive Fuyuhiko and ensure that there will not be any more murders, so that no one will have to die as senselessly as Mahiru did again.
* LoopholeAbuse: After the students have all formally accused her, she attempts to leverage her own self-image as Fuyuhiko's tool into an argument that the others accused a mindless weapon, not the person who successfully used it.
* LostInTranslation: "Kirakira Seigi" is translated as "Sparkling Justice" in the English localization. While it keeps the meaning of the name, the ''Manga/DeathNote'' reference is mostly lost.
* TheLostLenore: Fuyuhiko always keeps her in his thoughts, and he really wants to see her again. Her death is what motivates him to become a better person.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-Z]]
* ManipulativeBitch: As chapter 2's killer, Peko leads the class into voting for her only to then reveal her plan as a tool that would mean the ''entire trial'' was intentionally led to a wrong verdict if successful, a downright crafty scheme for someone who usually is very shy and kind-hearted.
* MaskOfSanity: She presents a stoic, calm demeanor at first, but as you discover in the second trial, she has an extremely twisted view of herself and her role in the world. This is somewhat subverted, as Peko, even in her last moments, voices a seriously sensible and empathetic detesting towards senseless violence (and through that, the role she's held itself) - her ''self-image'' is just thoroughly shattered, something she hides fairly well up to and outside of that circumstance.

* MoralMyopia: A subtle one, but she rightly tells off Hiyoko for being mean to Mikan while being notably quiet when Fuyuhiko threatens her with a brothel during the first trial. It's the reverse of Mahiru rightly calling out Fuyuhiko for being shitty towards Mikan but not saying anything to Hiyoko. In addition, she rightly begs the class to forgive Fuyuhiko, the same guy who refused to forgive Mahiru for a much lesser and unconfirmed crime that she was innocent of, instead trying to beat her to death, which caused Peko to jump into action.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Has three major examples of this near the end of her trial
** The first is after her plan fails, Peko realizes that everything she did was pointless and all she achieved was senselessly murdering Mahiru, her friend, her initial relief over the fact that no one else would have to die after her turns into pure grief because even though her plan failed Mahiru was still sitting in a pool of her own blood. While she doesn't explicitly say this line word for word, her line about senseless killing is basically Peko's way of saying that she'll never forgive herself for Mahiru's murder.
** The second is right before her execution after Fuyuhiko confesses his love for her. Again she doesn't say it word for word, but it's heavily implied that she realized that there was no need for her to be a tool and that she could have had a healthy relationship with him, that her feelings for him were mutual, which would have meant that she wouldn't be seconds away from execution and that Mahiru would have never had to die.
** A heartbreaking, non-verbal example is during her execution, when she reflexively slashes Fuyuhiko's eye out.

* NotSoStoic: She finally cracks after hearing Fuyuhiko's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. Even before this, she seems close to tearing up when apologizing to the class. Also, in Free Time, she looks ''manic'' at the thought of touching Gundham's hamsters; the sprite used is the same as in "TheUnsmile", below. A sweeter example is seeing her genuinely smile, which happens rarely but shows her inner kindness.

* PlatonicLifePartners: What her route in Island Mode ultimately ends with; Hajime can't end up with her at all, but instead, they merely shake hands as a sign of friendship. This often happens in the guy routes, and Peko is the only girl who does this because she already ''has'' a childhood acquaintance she likes, but Hajime never finds out who it is. Since in Island Mode Peko brings up having originally felt like this person's "tool", and given what you learn in chapter 2 of the main game about why Peko would ever think of herself as a tool, it's clear that she is talking about Fuyuhiko.

* PsychoticSmirk: After the students vote her as the culprit, as she hoped they would, she believes that Fuyuhiko is the true culprit, and they can't go back and vote for him. Although later on, this is shown to be averted as she was actually guilt-ridden over betraying the class like that, not happy. Notably, she also has this smirk while talking about having no reason or will to kill Mahiru. Turns out she actually was telling the truth about not wanting Mahiru dead.

* RedOniBlueOni: Is the blue to her murder victim Mahiru's(who is very energetic and brash) red, Peko is reserved and graceful.
* ReluctantWarrior: Perhaps {{Downplayed}}, in that she is willing and ready to use force - she's the group member with the martial artist talent and one of the most lethal Ultimate talents in the series. However, for (and likely ''[[ShellShockedVeteran because]]'' of being) someone who was literally [[TykeBomb raised to kill]] and accepted life as a hitwoman, Peko ''abhors'' senseless death and is vocal about it from the beginning to her very end. Her last request is that the rest of the class prevent a death like Mahiru's from ever coming to pass again.
-->'''Peko:''' Hajime...you speak the truth. I, too, would prefer to avoid any senseless killing. However...there are times when swords must be drawn. Whether you want that...or not.
* RepetitiveName: Both her first and last names start with "peko".
* SatelliteCharacter: This trope is ''how Peko sees herself''. Peko's stated purpose in life is to protect Fuyuhiko; she kills Mahiru on his behalf and becomes TheLostLenore to him once she dies. She goes as far as to base an entire murder plan on the idea she's nothing more than a living weapon to him and the Kuzuryu clan so ''he'' can get away when she's voted. However, Peko's full character is much more of a {{Deconstruction}} of this, as her experiences have given her a complex personality independent from Fuyuhiko, and she ''absolutely does'' have her own beliefs and feelings separate from their dynamic, which shines through even shortly after her aforementioned gambit. More than anything, she's so thoroughly conditioned and used to the role that her loyalty to Fuyuhiko supersedes her own moral stance on murder and even other friendships, at least within the heat of the Killing School Trip. It's outright averted in Ultimate Talent Development Plan and Danganronpa S, where she interacts with other characters and builds up her own interests.
* SelectiveObliviousness: She mostly ignores anything Fuyuhiko says that conflicts with her worldview.
* SenselessSacrifice: She knew Fuyuhiko probably wouldn't take the chance her crime gave him to escape, but [[HonorBeforeReason she had to try anyway]] causing not only her own death but the death of an innocent girl as well.

* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Pre-execution, she speaks fondly of Fuyuhiko's sense of ''noblesse oblige''.
* SmugSnake: Subverted. When she reveals her ultimate plan as a tool, she has an extremely smug-looking and unsettling smirk on her face; however, it rings a different tune once the plan has failed and it becomes clear she ''hates'' that she murdered Mahiru and betrayed the class, making her smirk more of a grimace.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute:
** Peko is a very graceful, soft-spoken, wise, book-loving, sweet-natured warrior TomboyWithAGirlyStreak with long light hair, and dies sacrificing herself for her best friend, just like Sakura Ogami from the first game. The two even went to the same school before Hope's Peak.
** While Peko has the complete opposite personality as the hot-blooded Mondo Owada (who, if anything, is very similar to Fuyuhiko in this respect), as chapter 2 killers, they are very alike. Both killed a [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth wholesome sweetheart]], who they deeply cared about and were good friends with, in a moment of madness by striking them with a heavy piece of sports equipment (which killed them instantly) to protect something (Mondo's secret and Fuyuhiko respectively), but were nothing but remorseful over hurting, and ultimately accepted their fate because of how guilty they felt about Mahiru/Chihiro, leaving behind their distraught best friend in Kiyotaka and Fuyuhiko respectively.
* SympatheticMurderer: Was doing what she had thought was JustFollowingOrders, as she had done [[TykeBomb her whole life]]. She's notable among blackened across the entire series for pointedly requesting Hajime and the others to prevent any more murders from happening, voicing her displeasure for Mahiru's (someone who prior to the murder she got along well with) senseless death, and apologizing to the class in the end. It's additionally implied that she ensured that Mahiru's death would be quick and painless, showing that while she was ruthless, she wasn't sadistic or cruel.
* TakingYouWithMe: If Monokuma ruled her as just a tool and that Fuyuhiko was the true murderer, everyone else would be executed alongside her for getting it wrong, and he would've won the game. And she very much took Mahiru to the grave with her, although unlike most examples of this trope, she wasn't proud or glad about this.
* TearsOfRemorse: While she doesn't fully tear up due to her generally stoic personality, she still very tearfully asks the class not to cause a senseless killing like Mahiru's ever again, showing that she was truly remorseful about murdering someone she considered a friend and betraying the class when most of them were nothing but kind to her.
* ThanatosGambit: Waited until the others officially voted her the murderer before revealing that she was Fuyuhiko's tool, knowing that if Monokuma ruled he was the true "mastermind" behind the murder, he would get to graduate while everyone else was executed. It ultimately fails because while Fuyuhiko ''was'' about to kill Mahiru in a fit of rage, he didn't expect Peko to step in and do it herself. He also had nothing to do with the resulting cover-up. Monokuma would never accept Peko's arguments, rightfully claiming that a mere "tool" would never be so meddlesome.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Is the Tomboy to her murder victim Mahiru's GirlyGirl, Peko is a DarkActionGirl who generally spends most of her time training or brooding, while Mahiru is more of a maternal figure who spends most of her time being the TeamMom of the group. Because of their contrasting personalities, they established a good relationship while on the island.
* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: She's definitely a tomboy, but she mentions that she loves cute and fluffy animals in her first Free Time Event and some of her Island Mode events.
* TragicVillain: For a given amount of villain, she's been raised since birth to be an assassin and think of herself only as his "tool". Fuyuhiko doesn't think of her that way, [[PoorCommunicationKills but has a hard time saying it]]. This leads to her killing Mahiru in his place despite her liking and getting along well with Mahiru, which she deeply regrets, and also leads to her own death.
* TraumaCongaLine: The day of Peko's death was utter hell for her. Firstly because Fuyuhiko decided to try and kill Mahiru(one of her closest friends on the island) instead of making things right with her, due to her tool mindset Peko is forced to jump in and kill her and use her corpse as a doorstopper, then she has to lie to the entire class(Who she has grown to care about) knowing full well everyone but Fuyuhiko will die if her plan succeeds, she then takes the identity of a psychotic serial killer, pretending that she enjoyed murdering Mahiru and betraying everyone, after her plan fails, she breaks down over Mahiru's murder and begs the class not to let it happen again, she is about to take her death gracefully because she genuinely believed she deserved to die. Only for Fuyuhiko to confess his love literally seconds before the execution, making Peko realize she never needed to be a tool or kill Mahiru, so she goes to her execution crying over everything. And it only gets worse from here; Fuyuhiko attempts to save her, but Monokuma puppets her into slicing open his eye. In her final moments, she cradles his apparently lifeless body, knowing that she hurt the person she loved the most, having a resigned look on her face as she's about to be stabbed in the chest and then ripped to shreds. To say that Peko had a bad time in chapter 2 is putting it lightly.

* UngratefulBitch: Mahiru inspires Peko to relearn her smile in Free Time. She also bravely stands up for her in the first trial, and [[SarcasmMode Peko repays her in the nicest way possible]] by beating her to death and turning her into a human doorstopper. Granted, as noted before, Peko had no malice against Mahiru and was still genuinely appreciative of Mahiru, but talk about NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished.
* UnreliableExpositor:
** After her conviction, she declares that Fuyuhiko ordered the hit and flashes back to him smiling and congratulating her. When her gambit fails, a near-identical CG shows that Fuyuhiko was ''horrified'', as well as showing the real conversation where he painstakingly insisted again that their "professional relationship" ''isn't supposed'' to exist anymore and eventually simply demanded she flee so he can obscure her guilt.
** While explaining their relationship to the others, she says Fuyuhiko hates her. It would be more accurate to say that Fuyuhiko hates her ''role'' as a tool but not Peko herself, but to Peko, the two are one and the same.
** She also says that the class meant nothing to her, but after her plan fails, she apologizes over Mahiru and then begs them to survive, wishing them all well, confirming that she did not believe in what she said.
** At one point, while in her Sparkling Justice persona, she claims she did nothing wrong in killing Mahiru and just "punished evil". However, once she drops the act, she claims she had no will to kill Mahiru. Then, right before her execution, she tearfully apologizes over Mahiru, calling her murder "senseless", showing that she never once believed she was doing the right thing nor that Mahiru deserved it.

* VigilanteMan: Claims that she's the murderous superheroine Sparkling Justice when exposed as a murderer and that she'd chosen to kill Mahiru for her attempt to cover up a crime. However, this is a calculated lie to prevent the others from suspecting her ''true'' motive until it's too late.

* WasItAllALie: Asked by the other students when she reveals her true identity. At first, she states her loyalty will always be to Fuyuhiko and no one else, and nothing else matters to her, but her final plea to the class to let no one else die puts the lie to that.
* WhenSheSmiles: Peko is the most poker-faced student of the Killing School Trip, and in her 3rd Free Time event, she reveals that she forgot how to smile in happiness (see TheUnsmile). In her next two Free Time Events, she tries to relearn how to smile. When [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe praising]] Fuyuhiko and attempting to say farewell to him before her execution, she gives [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/danganronpa/images/a/a7/Danganronpa_V3_Bonus_Mode_Peko_Pekoyama_Sprite_%2814%29.png a very bittersweet]] [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/danganronpa/images/f/f5/Peko_Pekoyama_Halfbody_Sprite_%287%29.png and heartfelt, thankful smile]], which would be sweet if it weren't under [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove such heartbreakingly painful circumstances]]. She's finally able to smile with complete happiness in her final Free Time Event and some of her Island Mode events, and it's poignant and beautiful in both cases.

* YouDidEverythingYouCould: During this second trial, Fuyuhiko continuously tries to protect her from suspicion, his arguments growing increasingly weak as Hajime debunks them. Eventually, Peko just tells him to be quiet because "saying anything more would be futile."

** None of the potential outcomes of Peko's plan would have worked out for her ''or'' Fuyuhiko; if Hiyoko were convicted, Monokuma would have declared her the winner and executed Fuyuhiko. If Fuyuhiko is convicted as the "mastermind", he dies. And even if her plan works and Fuyuhiko escapes, he is left grief-stricken because he just saw his best friend murdered. The last is what happened although Fuyuhiko didn't leave the island because Monokuma judged that she was acting on her own. [[LaserGuidedKarma Essentially, the only way she and Fuyuhiko would have had a good outcome is by not murdering the kind-hearted photographer]].

* CutenessProximity: She loves "fluffiness", despite or possibly because of the fact that AnimalsHateHer. Watching an animal-related movie with her at the theater in Island Mode is her top response, and seeing fluffy animals in the 3-D glasses option is also her top option. For the looking at photobooks in the library option, she hopes to see pictures of fluffy animals. In her first Free Time event, she immediately runs off to find Gundham when Hajime suggests that maybe his Four Dark Devas are well-trained enough to let her pet them.

** In ''Ultimate Talent Development Plan'', when she sees Hifumi and notices he's acting odd, she deduces he has heatstroke and calls for Mikan immediately.

* HateSink: [[NiceGirl Peko]] is anything but this, however she briefly invokes this trope in the second trial during her Sparkling Justice act, portraying herself as a remorseless psychopath who is proud of her brutal murder of Mahiru. This is in order to get the class, in particular a very vengeful Hiyoko, to vote for her as quickly as possible, which proves good for her plan, as Sonia only questions her being nothing like the real Sparkling Justice until ''after'' everyone voted. Peko in a very intelligent move made herself as hateable as possible to the class, so she could carry her plan through. However, the reality is Peko never believed a single word she said as Sparkling Justice and was always the kind-hearted and gentle samurai everyone thought she was prior and even seems relieved when she drops this persona.

* HateSink: [[NiceGirl Peko]] is anything but this, however she briefly invokes this trope in the second trial during her Sparkling Justice act, portraying herself as a remorseless psychopath who is proud of her brutal murder of Mahiru, This is in order to get the class in particular a very vengeful Hiyoko to vote for her as quickly as possible, Peko in a very intelligent move made herself as hateable as possible to the class, so she could carry her plan through. However, the reality is Peko never believed a single word she said as Sparkling Justice and was always the kind-hearted and gentle samurai everyone thought she was prior and even seems relieved when she drops this persona.

* BoobsOfSteel: She has an impressive chest size and is presumably the strongest female fighter since she knows martial arts, whereas Akane is UnskilledButStrong and goes down pretty quickly to martial artists. Also, she's potentially ''the'' strongest fighter overall in the game, second possibly only to Nekomaru.

-->'''Peko:''' ''[smiling]' All right, if that's the case, I'll wait for you to leave yourself open, too.

** In ''Ultimate Talent Development Plan'' she develops one with fellow animal lover [[TarzanBoy Gonta]]. Gonta, due to being able to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal understand the Devas]], can translate some of Gundham's more obscure turns of phrase for her.

* {{Hypocrite}}: While she's generally morally consistent, she has double standards regarding Fuyuhiko's behavior. She urges the class to forgive Fuyuhiko and let him atone when he refused to forgive Mahiru and let her atone which she actively enabled instead of trying to tell him that his actions were screwed up (granted, her tool mindset meant that she believed she couldn't override his decisions). She also has a problem with Hiyoko bullying Mikan but has no trouble with Fuyuhiko threatening to send her to a whorehouse (in fairness, she does try to calm Fuyuhiko down at points). While she isn't exactly wrong about Fuyuhiko having a good heart deep down, she seems to ignore that he was milliseconds away from beating Mahiru to death simply because she annoyed him. In general, she seems to have a blindspot regarding Fuyuhiko's more malicious features, although granted, she did try to no avail to keep him in line and knew he could end up decent if he dropped it, which he did, but sadly too late for her or Mahiru.

** This gets worse with the revelation in ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' that Mahiru was actually innocent the entire time, making Peko's murder of her completely meaningless. Although even if Danganronpa 3 didn't prove her innocence, Mahiru's death was completely senseless and a ruthless example of DisproportionateRetribution (covering for the culprit of the murder of a teenage girl by faking the culprit's escape route is hardly on the same level as actually beating a teenage girl to death really, not that it mattered to [[AxCrazy Fuyuhiko]]). Peko clearly hated herself for murdering a genuinely NiceGirl who was nothing but kind to Peko for something she couldn't remember and clearly didn't warrant her brutal murder. Peko herself refers to Mahiru's murder as "senseless" and openly weeps while apologizing for it.

** This gets worse with the revelation in ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' that Mahiru was actually innocent the entire time, making Peko's murder of her completely meaningless. Although even if Danganronpa 3 didn't prove her innocence, Mahiru's death was completely senseless and a ruthless example of DisproportionateRetribution (Moving a piece of vase is hardly on the same level as beating a teenage girl to death really, not that it mattered to [[AxCrazy Fuyuhiko]]). Peko clearly hated herself for murdering a genuinely NiceGirl who was nothing but kind to Peko for something she couldn't remember and clearly didn't warrant her brutal murder. Peko herself refers to Mahiru's murder as "senseless" and openly weeps while apologizing for it.

* AbusiveParents: She was raised by Fuyuhiko's parents who drilled into her mind the outlook of being not more than a tool whose purpose is to be Fuyuhiko's hitman. Her birth parents weren't much better as they [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned her as a baby]].

** None of the potential outcomes of Peko's plan would have worked out for her ''or'' Fuyuhiko; if Hiyoko were convicted, Monokuma would have declared her the winner and executed Fuyuhiko. If Fuyuhiko is convicted as the "mastermind", he dies. And even if her plan works and Fuyuhiko escapes, he is left grief-stricken because he just saw his best friend murdered. The last is what ended up happening, although Fuyuhiko didn't leave the island because Monokuma judged that she was acting on her own. [[LaserGuidedKarma Essentially the only way she and Fuyuhiko would have had a good outcome is by not murdering the kind-hearted photographer]].

* ApologeticAttacker: In the Danganronpa 2 stage play Peko apologizes just after striking Mahiru, in the main game she spends most of the investigation indirectly apologizing for Mahiru's murder until the end of the trial where she outright says sorry for taking her life.
* AssholeVictim: Very, ''very'' downplayed but still has elements of this, While she is genuinely a nice person, she ruthlessly murdered Mahiru and rather cruelly frames Hiyoko, her best friend, for it. Given everything revealed about [[TykeBomb how she was raised and trained]] and her connection to Fuyuhiko, and how the murder came to be, it's pretty clear malice held no part in any of her actions, and she outright makes a request that the others make sure nothing like it ''ever'' happens again and almost breaks down into apologetic and sorrowful tears when she apologizes over Mahiru. Given how heartwrenching and emotionally distressing the circumstances surrounding her final moments are even by ''Danganronpa'' [[CruelAndUnusualDeath standard]], whatever Asshole is left certainly isn't the focus of Peko's actions' fallout although granted this is due to chapter 2s post-trial borderline ignoring Mahiru and Hiyoko's situation(to put it into context Mahiru flashbacks get about 2 minutes, Hiyoko gets a single line, Fuyu and Peko get the rest of the 20-minute long post-trial) and there's still the fallout of Hiyoko being left an emotional wreck(and that eventually kills Hiyoko) because of Peko's actions(and Peko never directly said sorry to Hiyoko for that) and Mahiru still being very much dead. However, no one hates Peko more for what she did to Mahiru than Peko herself(besides Hiyoko of course).
* BadassBookworm: Island mode shows that she loves libraries and books (particularly photo books of animals) and gets very angry if Hajime calls them boring. She is overall a nice quiet girl with a passion for reading, she's also the ultimate swordswoman.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: PlayedWith, her kind personality isn't an act, but she very much hid the fact that she was willing to sell out the class for Fuyuhiko if push came to shove. Right up until her role in Mahiru's murder was revealed, she pretended to be a loyal member of the group.

* BoobsOfSteel: She has an impressive chest size and is presumably the strongest female fighter since she likely knows martial arts, whereas Akane is UnskilledButStrong and goes down pretty quickly to martial artists. Also, she's potentially ''the'' strongest fighter overall in the game, second possibly only to Nekomaru.

* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: To an extent she's the gentle girl to post-development Fuyuhiko's brooding boy. Peko is intense but is actually a sweetheart deep down, Fuyuhiko after his transformation away from an abusive HateSink becomes a level-headed young man with a tendency to brood over his guilt. Alas, we never see this in 2 due to Peko being dead by chapter 3, but with Peko ultimately surviving as a result of ''Danganronpa 3'' it's likely they had this dynamic after she woke up.

* ChildhoodFriends: PlayedWith. She was raised alongside Fuyuhiko, trained to be his personal bodyguard and attendant. While they grew to be close, the power dynamics of their relationship made them both unable to see each other as normal friends.

* TheComicallySerious: Peko is generally very stoic and blunt and isn't the best at understanding humor, which leads to some very funny moments, such as when Hajime tries to make a joke about a panda that "eats shoots and leaves", which Peko very seriously says "yes I know they do that".
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: She's the second culprit, and she gets one of these both physically ''and'' emotionally; she is literally controlled like a puppet by Monokuma and made to slash through an army of samurai, and then he releases control of her ''just'' long enough for her instincts to kick in and accidentally slash Fuyuhiko, the boy she loves and had sworn to protect.
* CutenessProximity: She loves "fluffiness", despite or possibly because of the fact that AnimalsHateHer. Watching an animal-related movie with her at the theater in Island Mode is her top response, and she hopes to see fluffy animals in the 3-D glasses option and is also her top option. For the looking at photo books in the library option, she hopes to see pictures of fluffy animals. In her first Free Time event, she immediately runs off to find Gundham when Hajime suggests that maybe his Four Dark Devas are well-trained enough to let her pet them.
* DarkActionGirl: Peko dresses in a mostly black outfit, and while far from evil, she's the main antagonist of the second trial. She's also a very well-trained samurai who is so badass that her execution is literally named "OneWomanArmy" and we see her utterly destroy Monokuma's puppets(and Fuyuhiko's eye, sadly).
* DeathByIrony: Ambushes Mahiru while she isn't looking, figurately stabbing her and the class in the back, and hours later she's literally executed via backstab. There's also a lot of tragic irony that she dies to "avenge" Mahiru's murder, when [[NiceGirl Mahiru]] preached the idea of second chances over people dying for their mistakes (which is why Fuyuhiko tried to kill her) and would be absolutely horrified by Peko dying even after what she did to her.
* DeclarationOfProtection: Towards Fuyuhiko, as she is his sworn bodyguard and self-proclaimed "tool". This comes back to bite her ''hard'': instead of preventing him from killing Mahiru, she ''does it in his place'', seeing herself as no more than an extension of his will. She intended to allow Fuyuhiko to escape the island by sacrificing herself and everyone else, but what she doesn't understand (until it's too late) is that Fuyuhiko did not see her as a "tool", but a cherished childhood friend he would never want to sacrifice. And it's highly likely, if not borderline outright confirmed, that if she realized this beforehand, she would have resolved things peacefully, saving both her childhood, and new, friend as well as herself in the process.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Peko serves as one for the concept of UndyingLoyalty and BodyguardCrush, showing how twisted absolute loyalty towards your employer is if taken to the extreme. Peko has no personal interests, ideas, or hopes for her own life other than serving Fuyuhiko, and she's perfectly willing to kill herself and dozens of innocent people if their deaths result in a positive outcome for him. Indeed, her fundamental worldview revolves around her conception that her loyalty to Fuyuhiko means that any outcome that results in Fuyuhiko's gain is objectively good and everyone else is completely irrelevant and expendable, something Fuyuhiko himself is deeply uncomfortable with.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: She misinterprets Fuyuhiko's desire to start over and have a relationship as classmates, rather than master and tool, thus assuming that he hates her as a tool of his clan. Although Fuyuhiko absolutely doesn't help by involving her in his plan to kill Mahiru.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Fitting for the "one woman army", Peko dies shielding Fuyuhiko from being stabbed to death by puppets, saving his life.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: She attempts this, firstly apologizing for Mahiru's murder and asking the class to not cause another senseless killing, and then declaring that she accepts her fate (it's implied this was out of guilt for Mahiru and her betrayal of the class), which Monokuma mocks as TemptingFate. However, she's left distraught upon hearing Fuyuhiko's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove, and is shocked when she accidentally injures him as he tries to save her, leaving her to die heartbroken. However, her final moments are dignified as she dies stoically protecting Fuyuhiko from being ripped to pieces.

* {{Foil}}: She's a foil to her murder victim. Mahiru is a hot-headed and feisty young woman and is extremely independent, and her talent is an art-based one. Peko, in contrast, is very stoic and distant and believes she has no free agency because of her tool mindset, and her talent is combat based. However, both Peko and Mahiru are very mature people as a result of having to grow up fast because of their childhood and, as a result, have a lot of internal issues. In addition, both love photography and are highly sentimental and kind-hearted; they even end up befriending one another.

* GeniusBruiser: As the ultimate Swordswoman its a given that she's a badass, but Peko is also a very intelligent and philosophical young woman who spends a lot of her free time in the library, she's also intelligent enough to come up with a convincing murder plan on the fly.

* GoodIsNotSoft: Outside of her actions in the second chapter which weren't motivated by malice or cruelty but rather her tool mindset, Peko is quite a moral person who hates violence and wants to look after both Fuyuhiko and new friends. Don't confuse that with weakness, she's still an extremely tough and fierce warrior who angrily threatens Monokuma when he reveals the killing game.
* HiddenHeartOfGold: Despite her upbringing as a Yakuza assassin and her stoic personality, Peko has a very gentle heart. Her interaction moments reveal that she loves fluffy animals and dreams of asking out Fuyuhiko when she escapes the island. Before the second case's events, she constantly urges Fuyuhiko to join her for breakfast, showing she wanted him to spend more time with her and befriend the class. Her final words are a remorseful apology over Mahiru's murder and a plea for the students to forgive Fuyuhiko and kill no one else, taking back her earlier words that their time together meant "nothing" to her.
* {{Hypocrite}}: While she's generally very morally consistent she has double standards regarding Fuyuhiko's behavior. She urges the class to forgive Fuyuhiko and let him atone when he refused to forgive Mahiru and let her atone which she actively enabled instead of trying to tell him that his actions were screwed up (granted, her tool mindset meant that she believed she couldn't override his decisions). She also has a problem with Hiyoko bullying Mikan but has no trouble with Fuyuhiko threatening to send her to a whorehouse (in fairness, she does try to calm Fuyuhiko down at points). While she isn't exactly wrong about Fuyuhiko having a good heart deep down, she seems to ignore the fact that he was milliseconds away from beating Mahiru to death simply because she annoyed him. In general, she seems to have a blindspot regarding Fuyuhiko's more malicious features, although granted she did try to no avail to keep him in line and knew he could end up decent if he dropped it, which he did, but sadly too late for her or Mahiru.

* IRegretNothing: Peko invokes this while pretending to be Sparkling Justice, saying that she doesn't regret killing Mahiru because of "justice". It is completely and utterly averted when the truth comes out and Peko is nothing but regretful and sorrowful about Mahiru's murder.

** At one point during her Sparkling Justice act, she claims that she "did nothing wrong" and that Mahiru was "evil", gaining the ire of Hiyoko. While Peko evidently didn't mean a word of this given her actual feelings toward Mahiru and senseless violence itself, it still comes across as [[SpeakIllOfTheDead a cruel choice in words]] considering Mahiru's kindness towards her.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Peko coldly leaves Hiyoko in the beach house to find the corpse of Mahiru who Hiyoko genuinely loved and wanted to protect, which leaves the dancer completely grief-stricken in a way she never truly recovers from. Hours later, Peko would go through a similar experience when ''Fuyuhiko'' got wounded by her own blade. In a sense, Monokuma did to her a much crueler version of what she did to Hiyoko as part of the murder cover-up in her final moments. Peko died consumed by her grief over Fuyuhiko (partially as a result of it as she let the puppets kill her), and days later, Hiyoko died consumed by her grief over Mahiru.

* ManipulativeBitch: As chapter 2's killer, Peko leads the class into voting for her only to then reveal her plan as a tool that would mean the ''entire trial'' was intentionally led to a wrong verdict if successful, a downright crafty scheme for someone who is normally very shy and kind-hearted.

* MeaningfulName: When the term "peko" is repeated ("Pekopeko", just like what her name forms when said Western style) it can mean obsequious/servile, and Fuyuhiko's family raised her to be his tool. It can also mean "hungry", which also plays in with her stomach issues during Chapter 1, making it a double.
* MoralMyopia: A subtle one, but she rightly tells off Hiyoko for being mean to Mikan while being notably quiet when Fuyuhiko threatens her with a brothel during the first trial. It's the reverse of Mahiru rightly calling out Fuyuhiko for being shitty towards Mikan but not saying anything to Hiyoko. In addition she rightly begs the class to forgive Fuyuhiko, the same guy who refused to forgive Mahiru for a much lesser and unconfirmed crime that she was innocent of, instead trying to beat her to death, which caused Peko to jump into action.

** While she can be a little intense and distant, Peko is kind, soft-spoken, and polite, trying her best to help the class and making many friends as a result. She's very non-confrontational, often stepping in to stop arguments between fellow students (most notably Fuyuhiko and Mahiru, besides the time it mattered the most), and her Free-time Events and side content show her to have a love for animals (though she is sadly resigned to how [[AnimalsHateHer they don't often like her company]]). She's also the only person in the class who tries to tell off Hiyoko for her treatment of Mikan and actually tries to get Fuyuhiko to mellow out and spend time with the class, and the girl still mourns the death of Teruteru, despite how badly he treated her. Finally, while her murder of Mahiru was obviously ''not'' nice, it's telling that she ensured Mahiru a quick death and that after her plan failed, the first thing she did was tearfully apologize and outright ask of the others to prevent anything so senselessly cruel happening again. Peko is a gentle soul trained from birth to play a cruel profession, and she spends her last moments admonishing this. The class, particularly Fuyuhiko, Hajime, and Nekomaru, remember both her and Mahiru fondly.

* NotSoStoic: She finally cracks after hearing Fuyuhiko's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. Even prior to this, she seems pretty close to tearing up when apologizing to the class. Also, in Free Time, she looks ''manic'' at the thought of getting to touch Gundham's hamsters; the sprite used is the same as in "TheUnsmile", below. A sweeter example is seeing her genuinely smile, which happens rarely but shows her inner kindness.

** In general, her friendship with Fuyuhiko is quite unusual and would seem downright improbable until TheReveal, considering just how different the soft-spoken and graceful Peko is from the loud and abrasive Fuyuhiko, and even after [[CharacterDevelopment his arc]] he seems like a total opposite of Peko - but evidently, OppositesAttract. The most hilarious contrast between the two is the fact that Peko doesn't swear once throughout the game, whereas Fuyuhiko [[SirSwearsALot can't go a sentence without a "FUCK" or "BASTARD"]].

** Finally, she's shown to have a good relationship with Nekomaru, even asking Hajime if she and Nekomaru look like cosplayers, while Nekomaru and Peko are both kind hearted warriors with a level head and very noble and brave, Nekomaru is ''[[NoIndoorVoice the]]'' loud guy and [[HotBlooded incredibly spirited]] while she's TheQuietOne and TheStoic. After Peko's death, [[NiceGuy Nekomaru even ensures that Fuyuhiko understands her sacrifice and is clearly saddened by her and Mahiru's fate.]]

* PlatonicLifePartners: What her route in Dangan Island ultimately ends with; Hajime can't end up with her at all. Instead, they merely shake hands as a sign of friendship, which tends to happen often in the guy routes. Peko's the only girl who does this because she already ''has'' a childhood acquaintance she likes, but Hajime never finds out who it is. Since in Dangan Island Peko brings up having originally felt like this person's "tool", and given what you learn in chapter 2 of the main game about why Peko would ever think of herself as a tool, it's clear that she is talking about Fuyuhiko.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: Averted as she's certainly a dangerous person and kills Mahiru, but she's not evil and deeply regrets her actions. Other interactions with her also reveal she has a gentle heart under her stoic and stern demeanor.

* RepetitiveName: Both her first and last names start with the term "peko".
* SatelliteCharacter: This trope is ''her own'' self-perception - Peko's stated purpose in life is to protect Fuyuhiko, she kills Mahiru on his behalf and she becomes TheLostLenore to him once she dies. She goes as far as to base an entire murder plan on the idea she's nothing more than a living weapon to him and the Kuzuryu clan so ''he'' can get away when she's voted. However, Peko's full character is much more of a {{Deconstruction}} of this, as her experiences have given her a complex personality independent from Fuyuhiko, and she ''absolutely does'' have her own beliefs and feelings separate from their dynamic, which shine through even shortly after her aforementioned gambit. More than anything, she's so thoroughly conditioned and used to the role that her loyalty to Fuyuhiko supersedes her own moral stance on murder and even other friendships, at least within the heat of the Killing School Trip. It's outright averted in Ultimate Talent Development Plan and Danganronpa S, where she gets to interact with other characters and really build up her own interests.

* SmugSnake: Subverted. When she reveals her ultimate plan as a tool she has an extremely smug-looking and unsettling smirk on her face; however, it rings a different tune once the plan has failed and it becomes clear she ''hates'' that she murdered Mahiru and betrayed the class, making her smirk more of a grimace.
* StatuesqueStunner: At 172cm/5'8", she's the third-tallest girl and Fuyuhiko gets a lot of ShipTease with her, and Hajime [[UnrequitedLove becomes very smitten with her]] in their Free Time and Island Mode events.

** Peko is a very graceful, soft spoken, wise, book-loving, sweet-natured warrior TomboyWithAGirlyStreak with long light hair, and dies sacrificing herself for her best friend, just like Sakura Ogami from the first game. The two even went to the same school prior to Hope's Peak.
** While Peko has the complete opposite personality as the hot-blooded Mondo Owada (who if anything is very similar to Fuyuhiko in this respect), as chapter 2 killers they are very alike. Both killed a [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth wholesome sweetheart]] who they deeply cared about and were good friends with, in a moment of madness by striking them with a heavy piece of sports equipment(which killed them instantly) to protect something(Mondo's secret,and Fuyuhiko respectively), but were nothing but remorseful and sorrowful over hurting, and ultimately accepted their fate because of how guilty they felt about Mahiru/Chihiro, leaving behind their distraught best friend in Kiyotaka and Fuyuhiko respectively.
* SympatheticMurderer: Was doing what she had thought was JustFollowingOrders, as she had done [[TykeBomb her whole life]]. She's notable among blackened across the entire series for pointedly requesting Hajime and the others to prevent any more murders from happening, voicing her displeasure for Mahiru's (someone who prior to the murder she got along well with) senseless death and apologizing to the class in the end. It's additionally implied that she ensured that Mahiru's death would be quick and painless, showing that while she was ruthless, she wasn't sadistic or cruel.
* TakingYouWithMe: If Monokuma ruled her just a tool and that Fuyuhiko was the true murderer, everyone else would be executed alongside her for getting it wrong, he would've won the game. And she very much took Mahiru to the grave with her, although unlike most examples of this trope, she wasn't proud or glad about this.

* TraumaCongaLine: The day of Peko's death was utter hell for her. Firstly because Fuyuhiko decided to try and kill Mahiru(one of her closest friends on the island) instead of making things right with her, due to her tool-mindset Peko is forced to jump in and kill her and use her corpse as a doorstopper, then she has to lie to the entire class(Who she has grown to care about) knowing full well everyone but Fuyuhiko will die if her plan succeeds, she then takes the identity of a psychotic serial killer, pretending that she enjoyed murdering Mahiru and betraying everyone, after her plan fails, she breaks down over Mahiru's murder and begs the class not to let it happen again, she is about to take her death gracefully because she genuinely believed she deserved to die. Only for Fuyuhiko to confess his love literally seconds prior to the execution, making Peko realize she never needed to be a tool or kill Mahiru, so she goes to her execution crying over everything. And it only gets worse from here, Fuyuhiko attempts to save her but Monokuma puppets her into slicing open his eye, in her final moments, she cradled his apparently lifeless body, knowing that she hurt the person she loved the most, having a resigned look on her face as she's about to be ripped to shreds. To say that Peko had a bad time in chapter 2 is putting it lightly.

** After her conviction, she declares that Fuyuhiko ordered the hit and flashes back to him smiling and congratulating her. When her gambit fails, a near-identical CG shows that Fuyuhiko was ''horrified'', as well as showing the real conversation where he painstakingly insisted again that their 'professional relationship' ''isn't supposed'' to exist anymore and eventually simply demanded she flee so he can obscure her guilt.
** While explaining their relationship to the others, she says Fuyuhiko hates her. It would be more accurate to say that Fuyuhiko hates her ''role'' but not Peko herself. Unfortunately, the two are hopelessly conflated in Peko's mind.
** She also says that the class meant nothing to her, but after her plan fails, she apologizes over Mahiru and then begs them to survive, wishing them all well, confirming that her "nothing" line wasn't genuine.
** At one point, while in her Sparkling Justice persona, she claims she did nothing wrong in killing Mahiru and just "punished evil". However, once she drops the act, she claims she had no will to kill Mahiru. Then, right before her execution, she tearfully apologizes over Mahiru, calling her murder "senseless", showing that she never once believed she was doing the right thing or that Mahiru deserved it.

* VigilanteMan: Claims that she's the murderous superheroine Sparkling Justice when exposed as a murderer, and that she'd chosen to kill Mahiru for her attempt to cover up a crime. However, this is a calculated lie to prevent the others from suspecting her ''true'' motive until it's too late.
* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: She will do anything to protect Fuyuhiko, even if it means beating a defenceless NiceGirl to death, and plotting to get the rest of the students executed... [[TakingYouWithMe even going down with them.]]

* IRegretNothing: Peko invokes this while pretending to be sparkling justice, saying that she doesn't regret killing Mahiru because of "justice". It is completely and utterly averted when the truth comes out and Peko is nothing but regretful and sorrowful about Mahiru's murder.

** Peko is a very graceful, soft spoken, wise, book-loving, sweet-natured warrior TomboyWithAGirlyStreak with long light hair, and dies sacrificing herself for her best friend, just like Sakura Ogami from the first game. The two even went to the same school prior to hope's peak.
** While Peko has the complete opposite personality as the hotblooded Mondo Owada(Who if anything is very similar to Fuyuhiko in this respect), as chapter 2 killers they are very alike. Both killed a [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth wholesome sweetheart]] who they deeply cared about and were good friends with, in a moment of madness by striking them with a heavy piece of sports equipment(which killed them instantly) to protect something(Mondo's secret,and Fuyuhiko respectively), but were nothing but remorseful and sorrowful over hurting, and ultimately accepted their fate because of how guilty they felt about Mahiru/Chihiro, leaving behind their distraught best friend in Kiyotaka and Fuyuhiko respectively.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Anything regarding Fuyuhiko's behaviour. She urges the class to forgive Fuyuhiko and let him atone when he refused to forgive Mahiru and let her atone which she actively enabled instead of trying to tell him that his actions were screwed up (granted, her tool mindset meant that she believed she couldn't override his decisions). She also has a problem with Hiyoko bullying Mikan but has no trouble with Fuyuhiko threatening to send her to a whorehouse (in fairness, she does try to calm Fuyuhiko down at points). While she isn't exactly wrong about Fuyuhiko having a good heart deep down, she seems to ignore the fact that he was milliseconds away from beating Mahiru to death simply because she annoyed him. In general, she seems to have a blindspot regarding Fuyuhiko's more malicious features, although granted she did try to no avail to keep him in line and knew he could end up decent if he dropped it, which he did, but sadly too late for her or Mahiru.

* MoralMyopia: A subtle one, but she rightly tells off Hiyoko for being mean to Mikan while being notably quiet when Fuyuhiko threatens her with a brothel during the first trial. It's the reverse of Mahiru rightly calling out Fuyuhiko for being shitty towards Mikan but not saying anything to Hiyoko.

* RedOniBlueOni: Is the blue to her murder victim Mahiru's red, Peko is reserved and graceful.

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

* AffablyEvil: Peko is a genuinely sweet and good-natured young woman who dislikes conflict most of the time and has a very defined code of honour, she's also a yakuza assassin who ruthlessly murdered Mahiru and likely killed people even before the killing game.

** None of the potential outcomes of Peko's plan would have worked out for her ''or'' Fuyuhiko; if Hiyoko were convicted, Monokuma would have declared her the winner and executed Fuyuhiko. If Fuyuhiko was convicted as the "mastermind", he dies. And even if her plan works and Fuyuhiko escapes, he is left grief-stricken because he just saw his best friend murdered. The last is what ended up happening, although Fuyuhiko didn't leave the island because Monokuma judged that she was acting on her own. [[LaserGuidedKarma Essentially the only way she and Fuyuhiko would have had a good outcome is by not murdering the kind-hearted photographer]].

* AssholeVictim: Very, ''very'' downplayed but still has elements of this, While she is genuinely a nice person, she ruthlessly murdered Mahiru and rather cruelly frames Hiyoko, her best friend, for it. Given everything revealed about [[TykeBomb how she was raised and trained]] and her connection to Fuyuhiko, and how the murder came to be, it's pretty clear malice held no part in any of her actions, and she outright makes a request that the others make sure nothing like it ''ever'' happens again and almost breaks down into apologetic and sorrowful tears when she apologizes over Mahiru. Given how heartwrenching and emotionally distressing the circumstances surrounding her final moments are even by ''Danganronpa'' [[CruelAndUnusualDeath standard]], whatever Asshole is left certainly isn't the focus of Peko's actions' fallout although granted this is due to chapter 2s post-trial borderline ignoring Mahiru and Hiyoko's situation(to put it into context Mahiru flashbacks get about 2 minutes, Hiyoko gets a single line, Fuyu and Peko get the rest of the 20 minute long post trial) and there's still the fallout of Hiyoko being left an emotional wreck(and that eventually kills Hiyoko) because of Peko's actions(and Peko never directly said sorry to Hiyoko for that) and Mahiru still being very much dead, however no one hates Peko more for what she did to Mahiru than Peko herself(besides Hiyoko of course).
* BadassBookworm: Island mode shows that she really loves libraries and books (particularly photo books of animals), and gets very angry if Hajime calls them boring. She is overall a nice quiet girl with a passion for reading, she's also the ultimate swordswoman.
* BatterUp: She swings a bat just as well as a sword, as Mahiru finds out. Unlike many examples of this trope however, Mahiru is dead before she hits the ground.

* BespectacledCutie: Although Peko is certainly intense, she's mostly a kind hearted young woman who can be rather adorable at points, her glasses only add to this, especially as shown with her two smiling sprites, which are really cute.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: PlayedWith, her kind personality isn't an act but she very much hid the fact that she was willing to sell out the class for Fuyuhiko if push came to shove and right up until her role in Mahiru's murder was revealed pretended to be a loyal member of the group.

* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: To an extent she's the gentle girl to post development Fuyuhiko's brooding boy. Peko is intense but is actually a sweetheart who is very gentle deep down, Fuyuhiko after his transformation away from an abusive HateSink becomes a level headed young man with a tendency to brood over his guilt. Alas we never see this in 2 due to Peko being dead by chapter 3 but with Peko ultimately surviving as a result of ''Danganronpa 3'' it's likely they had this dynamic after she woke up.

* ChildhoodFriends: PlayedWith. She was raised alongside Fuyuhiko, trained to be his personal bodyguard and attendant, and while they grew to be close, the power dynamics of their relationship made them both be unable to see each other as a normal friend.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: In her last Free Time event, she tells Hajime that she intends to ask a "childhood friend" that is strongly implied to be Fuyuhiko out once they get off the island.
* TheComicallySerious: Peko is generally very stoic and blunt and isn't the best at understanding humour, which leads to some very funny moments, such as when Hajime tries to make a bad joke about a panda "eating shoots and leaves" which Peko very seriously says "yes i know they do that".
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: She's the second culprit. And she gets one of these both physically ''and'' emotionally: she is literally controlled like a puppet by Monokuma and made to slash through an army of samurai, then he releases control of her ''just'' long enough for her instincts to kick in and accidentally slash Fuyuhiko, the boy she loves and had sworn to protect.

* DarkActionGirl: Peko dresses in a mostly black outfit and while far from evil, she's the main antagonist of the second trial. She's also a very well-trained samurai who is so badass that her execution is literally named "OneWomanArmy" and we see her utterly destroy Monokuma's puppets(and Fuyuhiko's eye, sadly).
* DeathByIrony: Ambushes Mahiru while she isn't looking, figurately stabbing her and the class in the back, and hours later she's literally executed via backstab. There's also a lot of tragic irony that she dies to "avenge" Mahiru's murder, when [[NiceGirl Mahiru]] preached the idea of second chances over people dying for their mistakes(which is why Fuyuhiko tried to kill her) and would be absolutely horrified by Peko dying even after what she did to her.
* DeclarationOfProtection: Towards Fuyuhiko, as she is his sworn bodyguard and self-proclaimed "tool". This comes back to bite her ''hard'': instead of preventing him from killing Mahiru, she ''does it in his place'', seeing herself as no more than an extension of his will. Her intention was to allow Fuyuhiko to escape the island by sacrificing herself and everyone else, but what she doesn't understand (until it's too late) is that Fuyuhiko did not see her as a "tool", but a cherished childhood friend he would never want to sacrifice. And its highly likely, if not borderline outright confirmed, that if she realised this before hand, she would have resolved things peacefully, saving both her childhood, and new, friend as well as herself in the process.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Peko serves as one for the concept of UndyingLoyalty and BodyguardCrush, showing how twisted absolute loyalty towards your employer is if taken to the extreme. Peko has no personal interests, ideas or hopes for her own life other than serving Fuyuhiko, and she's perfectly willing to kill herself and dozens of innocent people if their deaths result in a positive outcome for him. Indeed, her fundamental worldview revolves around her conception that her loyalty to Fuyuhiko means that any outcome that results in Fuyuhiko's gain is objectively good and everyone else is completely irrelevant and expendable, something Fuyuhiko himself is deeply uncomfortable with.

* DespairEventHorizon: After accidentally hitting Fuyuhiko with one of her strikes during her execution, Peko completely gives up and just cradles him in her arms, not even trying to stop the robot army from stabbing her to death with a lot of utter despair on her face. Even before this Peko seems unusually depressed throughout the investigation, with hindsight this is because of her self-hatred over taking the life of a friend, meaning in a sense she didn't just hurt her closest childhood friend in one day but murdered a new friend who she genuinely grew to care about.
* DiedInYourArmsTonight: Subverted and Inverted. During her execution, she injures Fuyuhiko by accident and holds him before being pincushioned by an army of robot swordsmen. However, Fuyuhiko survives and Peko dies.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: She attempts this, firstly apologizing for Mahiru's murder and asking the class to not cause another senseless killing, and then declaring that she accepts her fate(its implied this was out of guilt for Mahiru and her betrayal of the class), which Monokuma mocks as TemptingFate. However, she's left distraught upon hearing Fuyuhiko's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove, and is shocked when she accidentally injures him as he tries to save her, leaving her to die heartbroken. However her final moments are dignified as she dies stoically protecting Fuyuhiko from being ripped to pieces.
* FanDisservice: Peko gets more than a few [=CGs=] in Chapter 2 where she's clad in nothing but a bikini... and in all of them, she's in the midst of murdering Mahiru and framing Hiyoko for it. Even the very first one where she shows up to the diner soaking wet becomes this on subsequent playthroughs, where you know what she was ''really'' doing before she arrived. Also an action example of this, for those who wanted to see the Ultimate Swordwoman in action the execution gave them their wish, sadly she's ripped to pieces just after this and that's after wounding Fuyuhiko in the middle of her swordfight.

* {{Foil}}: She's a foil to her murder victim. Mahiru is a hot-headed and feisty young woman and is extremely independent and her talent is an artistic-based one. Peko in contrast is very stoic and distant who believes she has no free agency because of her tool mindset, her talent is combat based. However both Peko and Mahiru are very mature people as a result of having to grow up fast because of their childhood and as a result have a lot of internal issues, In addition, both love photography and are highly sentimental and kind-hearted, they even end up befriending one another.

-->'''Peko:'''(''smiling'') All right, if that's the case, I'll wait for you to leave yourself open, too.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Anything regarding Fuyuhiko's behaviour. She urges the class to forgive Fuyuhiko and let him atone when he refused to forgive Mahiru and let her atone which she actively enabled instead of trying to tell him that his actions were screwed up(granted her tool mindset meant that she believed she couldn't override his decisions). She also has a problem with Hiyoko bullying Mikan but has no trouble with Fuyuhiko threatening to send her to a whorehouse(in fairness she does try to calm Fuyuhiko down at points). While she isn't exactly wrong about Fuyuhiko having a good heart deep down, she seems to ignore the fact that he was milliseconds away from beating Mahiru to death simply because she annoyed him. In general she seems to have a blindspot regarding Fuyuhiko's more toxic features although granted she did try to no avail to keep him in line and knew he could end up decent if he dropped the toxic mask, which he did, but sadly too late for her or Mahiru.

* JustFollowingOrders: The lynchpin of her ThanatosGambit--she argues that the "mastermind" of a murder should be considered the true culprit. She claims zero responsibility because she considers herself a "tool" without the will of her own and genuinely had zero ill will against Mahiru; quite the opposite as she actually openly admired Mahiru and her photography. It's a convincing enough argument that Monokuma seriously humors it for a moment, but it's ultimately betrayed by the fact Fuyuhiko cares about Peko far, far too much to show enthusiasm or take responsibility and walk away as the survivor of the trial, let alone order her to become blackened. Not to mention ''he'' was adamant on covering her as the murderer.

** While Hiyoko is far from a nice person, there's something very cruel about Peko's choice of framing her for Mahiru's murder even though she's well aware of Hiyoko's love for Mahiru, to make things worse she makes Hiyoko find Mahiru's blood-covered corpse and hears her run away in fear and grief, yet never attempts to apologize (within the killing game, at minimum). For all of Hiyoko's flaws, it was a pretty horrible thing to put her through, even though Peko's mindset in all of it was likely one entirely of pragmacy. [[LaserGuidedKarma Of course later on Peko would discover just how wrong it is to force someone to see the person they love get hurt]]
** At one point during her Sparkling Justice act she claims that she "did nothing wrong" and that Mahiru was "evil", gaining her the ire of Hiyoko. While Peko evidently didn't mean a word of this given her actual feelings toward Mahiru and senseless violence itself, it still comes across as [[SpeakIllOfTheDead a cruel choice in words]] considering Mahiru's kindness towards her.

* LadyOfWar: Peko is still a teenager but she's a hardened assassin with a vast knowledge of sword fighting techniques and has a stoic and very intense personality as a result yet she's also very elegant and graceful.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Peko coldly leaves Hiyoko in the beach house to find the corpse of Mahiru who Hiyoko genuinely loved and wanted to protect, which leaves the dancer completely grief-stricken in a way she never truly recovers from. Hours later, Peko would go through a similar experience when ''Fuyuhiko'' got wounded by her own blade. In a sense Monokuma did to her a much crueller version of what she did to Hiyoko as part of the murder cover-up in her final moments. Peko died consumed by her grief over Fuyuhiko(partially as a result of it as she let the puppets kill her) and days later Hiyoko died consumed by her grief over Mahiru.

* MaskOfSanity: She presents a stoic, calm demeanor at first, but as you discover in the second trial, she has an extremely twisted view of herself and her role in the world. This is somewhat subverted, as Peko even in her last moments voices a seriously sensible and empathetic detesting towards senseless violence (and through that, the role she's held itself) - her ''self-image'' is just thoroughly shattered, something she hides fairly well up to and outside of that circumstance.

* MeaningfulName: When the term "peko" is repeated ("Pekopeko", just like what her name forms when said western style) it can mean obsequious/servile, and Fuyuhiko's family raised her to be his tool. It can also mean "hungry", which also plays in with her stomach issues during Chapter 1, making it a double.

** The first is after her plan fails, Peko realises that everything she did was pointless and all she achieved was senselessly murdering Mahiru, her friend, her initial relief over the fact that no one else would have to die after her turns into pure grief because even though her plan failed Mahiru was still sitting in a pool of her own blood. While she doesn't explicitly say this line word for word, her line about senseless killing is basically Peko's way of saying that she'll never forgive herself for Mahiru's murder.
** The second is right before her execution after Fuyuhiko confesses his love for her, again she doesn't say it word for word but its heavily implied that she realised that there was no need for her to be a tool and that she could have had a healthy relationship with him, that her feelings for him were mutual, which would have meant that she wouldn't be seconds away from execution and that Mahiru would have never had to die.
** During her execution she slashes Fuyuhiko's eye out, as the execution is silent she doesn't say this but its sadly written all over her face as she realises what she has done making for a truly heartbreaking non-verbal example of this.

** While she can be a little intense and distant, Peko is kind, soft spoken and polite, trying her best to help the class and actually making many friends as a result. She's very non-confrontational, often stepping in to stop arguments between fellow students(most notably Fuyuhiko and Mahiru, besides the time it mattered the most), and her Free-time Events and side content show her to have a love for animals (sadly resigned to how [[AnimalsHateHer they don't often like her company]]). She's also the only person in the class who tries to tell off Hiyoko for her treatment of Mikan, and actually tries to get Fuyuhiko to mellow out and spend time with the class, and the girl still mourns the death of Teruteru, despite how badly he treated her. Finally, while her murder of Mahiru was obviously ''not'' nice, it's telling that she ensured Mahiru a quick death and that after her plan failed the first thing she did was tearfully apologize and outright ask of the others to prevent anything so senselessly cruel happening again. Peko is a gentle soul trained from birth to play a cruel profession, and she spends her last moments admonishing this. The class in particular Fuyuhiko, Hajime and Nekomaru remember both her and Mahiru fondly.

* NotSoStoic: She finally cracks after hearing Fuyuhiko's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove and even prior to this seems pretty close to tearing up when apologizing to the class. Also, in Free Time, she looks ''manic'' at the thought of getting to touch Gundham's hamsters, the sprite used is the same as in "TheUnsmile", below. A sweeter example is seeing her smile which happens rarely but shows her inner kindness.

** In general her friendship with Fuyuhiko is quite unusual and would seem downright improbable until TheReveal considering just how different the soft-spoken and graceful Peko is from the loud and abrasive Fuyuhiko, and even after [[CharacterDevelopment his arc]] he seems like a total opposite of Peko - but evidently, OppositesAttract. The most hilarious contrast between the two is the fact that Peko doesn't swear once throughout the game, whereas Fuyuhiko [[SirSwearsALot can't go a sentence without a "FUCK" or "BASTARD"]].

** She's also often seen hanging around [[GenkiGirl Ibuki]], who is just about the ''polar opposite'' of her in temperament. Although Peko at times seems exhausted with Ibuki's antics she still seems to genuinely have fun while around her. Ibuki is deeply heartbroken by Peko's death and is touched by her and Fuyuhiko's bond.
** In addition, she gets along rather well with Mahiru, in spite of Mahiru being [[TheRival by far the most outspoken and argumentative]] towards her "young master". Peko even states in her Free Time events that she loves Mahiru's photos, and Mahiru stands up for her during the first trial - her attitude towards Mahiru is perhaps the single most blinking piece of evidence that Peko has autonomy and personal judgement far beyond being some "tool" of Fuyuhiko's. Tragically, her desire to save and protect the latter leads to her interrupting his attempt on Mahiru's life to do it herself, and it's apparent at the end of the resulting class trial that she's deeply remorseful for all of it and loathes the fact she gave Mahiru such a senseless death, or that Mahiru had to die at all, to the point of outright agreeing with Chiaki and Hajime that Mahiru's killer should never be forgiven.
** Finally she's shown to have a good relationship with Nekomaru, even asking Hajime if she and Nekomaru look like cosplayers, while Nekomaru and Peko are both kind hearted warriors with a level head and very noble and brave, Nekomaru is ''[[NoIndoorVoice the]]'' loud guy and [[HotBlooded incredibly spirited]] while she's TheQuietOne and TheStoic. After Peko's death, [[NiceGuy Nekomaru even ensures that Fuyuhiko understands her sacrifice and is clearly saddened by her and Mahiru's fate.]]
** In ''Ultimate Talent Development Plan'' she develops one with fellow animal lover [[TarzanBoy Gonta]]. Gonta, due to being able to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal understand the Devas]], is able to translate some of Gundham's more obscure turns of phrase for her.

* ParentalAbandonment: Her biological parents abandoned her as a baby, and she ended up taken in by the Kuzuryu clan and raised as a bodyguard and assassin.
* PlatonicLifePartners: What her route in Dangan Island ultimately ends with. Hajime can't end up with her at all. Instead, they merely shake hands as a sign of friendship which is something that tends to happen often in the guy routes. The reason Peko's the only female exception is that Peko already ''has'' a childhood acquaintance she likes, but Hajime never finds out who it is. Since in Dangan Island Peko brings up having originally felt like this person's "tool", and given what you learn in chapter 2 of the main game about why Peko would ever think of herself as a tool, it's most likely that she is talking about Fuyuhiko.

* PsychoticSmirk: After the students vote her as the culprit, as she hoped they would, she believes that Fuyuhiko is the true culprit and they can't go back and vote for him. Although later on this is shown to be averted as she was actually guilt-ridden over betraying the class like that, not happy. Notably she also has this smirk while talking about having no reason or will to kill Mahiru, turns out she actually was telling the truth about not wanting Mahiru dead.
* TheQuietOne: By far the quietest student of the second game and speaks in a very soft spoken voice. This makes her brief role as Sparkling justice all the more jarring as her LargeHam tendencies and shouting is the complete opposite from her usual self.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: This and WhiteHairBlackHeart are aversions to the tropes, as she's certainly a dangerous person and kills Mahiru, but she's not evil and deeply regrets her actions. Other interactions with her also reveal she has a gentle heart under her stoic and stern demeanor.

* ReluctantWarrior: Perhaps {{Downplayed}}, in that she is willing and ready to use force - she's the group member with the martial artist talent and one of the most lethal Ultimate talents in the series. However, for (and likely ''[[ShellShockedVeteran because]]'' of being) someone who was literally [[TykeBomb raised to kill]] and accepted life as a hitwoman, Peko ''abhors'' senseless death and is vocal about it from beginning to her very end. Her last request is that the rest of the class prevent a death like Mahiru's from ever coming to pass again.

* SatelliteCharacter: This trope is ''her own'' self-perception - Peko's stated purpose in life is to protect Fuyuhiko, she kills Mahiru on his behalf and she becomes TheLostLenore to him once she dies. She goes as far as to base an entire murder plan on the idea she's nothing more than a living weapon to him and the Kuzuryu clan so ''he'' can get away when she's voted. However, Peko's full character is much more of a {{Deconstruction}} of this, as her experiences have given her a complex personality independent from Fuyuhiko and she ''absolutely does'' have her own beliefs and feelings separate from their dynamic, which shine through even shortly after her aforementioned gambit. More than anything, she's so thoroughly conditioned and used to the role that her loyalty to Fuyuhiko supercedes her own moral stance on murder and even other friendships, at least within the heat of the Killing School Trip. It's outright averted in Ultimate Talent Development Plan and Danganronpa S, where she gets to interact with other characters and really build up her own interests.

* ShipTease: There's ''a lot'' in Fuyuhiko and hers' final conversation together. Fuyuhiko mourns for her in his Free Time events, as well, and the "childhood friend" she mentions wanting to ask out in her final Free Time and her Island Mode ending is all but stated to be Fuyuhiko. She gets some with Hajime in Free Time and Island Mode, though it's [[UnrequitedLove mostly one-sided on Hajime's part]], and she's notably the only girl who doesn't get a romantic ending with Hajime although they do form a very special platonic bond.

* ShrinkingViolet: Not to the same extent as Mikan but Peko can sometimes become extremely shy particularly during awkward situations. This is especially evident when she's deeply embarrassed having to talk about having bowel issues during the first trial.

* SmugSnake: When she reveals her ultimate plan as a tool she has an extremely smug-looking and unsettling smirk on her face; however, it rings a different tune once the plan has failed and it becomes clear she ''hates'' that she murdered Mahiru and that she betrayed the class, and that her smirk might have been more of a grimace.
* StatuesqueStunner: At 172cm/5'8", she's the third-tallest girl and Fuyuhiko gets a lot of ShipTease with her and Hajime [[UnrequitedLove becomes very smitten with her]] in their Free Time and Island Mode events.
* TheStoic: Very straight-faced and calm. This is subverted during the second trial when she shows a range of emotions, such as sorrow over murdering Mahiru and then hearing Fuyuhiko's confession to her.
* StoicSpectacles: Even during the trials she remains cool and collected, pretend split-personality notwithstanding.

* SugarAndIcePersonality: Peko starts off serious and reserved, but as Hajime spends more Free Time with her, she opens up and even smiles a little.

* TakingYouWithMe: If Monokuma ruled her just a tool and that Fuyuhiko was the true murderer, everyone else would be executed alongside her for getting it wrong and he would've won the game. And she very much took Mahiru to the grave with her although unlike most examples of this trope, she wasn't proud or glad about this.
* TearsOfRemorse: While she doesn't fully tear up due to her generally stoic personality, she still very tearfully asks the class not to cause a senseless killing like Mahiru's ever again showing that she was truly sorrowful and remorseful about murdering someone she considered a friend and betraying the class when most of them were nothing but kind to her.
* ThanatosGambit: Waited until the others officially voted her the murderer before revealing that she was Fuyuhiko's tool, knowing that if Monokuma ruled he was the true "mastermind" behind the murder, he would get to graduate while everyone else was executed. It ultimately fails, because while Fuyuhiko ''was'' about to kill Mahiru in a fit of rage, he didn't expect Peko to step in and do it herself. He also had nothing to do with the resulting cover-up. Monokuma was never going to accept Peko's arguments, rightfully claiming that a mere "tool" would never be so meddlesome.

* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: She's definitely a tomboy, but mentions that she loves cute and fluffy animals in her first Free Time Event and some of her Island Mode events.

* UndyingLoyalty: She was trained to be utterly loyal to Fuyuhiko and it took, though it's implied to be partly because he was the only one who treated her with some degree of kindness when they were growing up.
* UngratefulBitch: Mahiru inspires Peko to relearn her smile in Free Time, she also very bravely stands up for her in the first trial, [[SarcasmMode Peko repays her in the nicest way possible]], by beating her to death and turning her into a human doorstopper. Granted as noted before Peko had no malice against Mahiru and was still genuinely appreciative of Mahiru but talk about NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished.

** After her conviction, she declares that Fuyuhiko ordered the hit, and flashes back to him smiling and congratulating her. When her gambit fails, a near-identical CG is shown showing Fuyuhiko was shocked and ''horrified'', as well as showing the real conversation where he painstakingly insisted again that their 'professional relationship' ''isn't supposed'' to exist anymore and eventually simply demanded she flee so he can obscure her guilt.
** She says, while explaining their relationship to the others, that Fuyuhiko hates her. It would be more accurate to say that Fuyuhiko hates her ''role'' but not Peko herself. Unfortunately, the two are hopelessly conflated in Peko's mind.
** She also says that the class meant nothing to her but after her plan fails apologizes over Mahiru and then begs them to survive, wishing them all well, confirming that her "nothing" line wasn't genuine.
** At one point while in her Sparkling Justice persona she claims she did nothing wrong in killing Mahiru and just "punished evil". However once she drops the act she claims she had no will to kill Mahiru and then right before her execution she tearfully apologizes over Mahiru, calling her murder "senseless", showing that she never once believed she was doing the right thing or that Mahiru deserved it.

* WasItAllALie: Asked by the other students when she reveals her true identity. At first, she states her loyalty will always be to Fuyuhiko and no one else, and nothing else mattered to her, but her final plea to the class to let no one else die puts the lie to that.
* WhenSheSmiles: Peko is the most poker-faced student of the Killing School Trip, and in her 3rd Free Time event, she reveals that she forgot how to smile in happiness (see TheUnsmile). In her next two Free Time events, she tries to relearn how to smile. When [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe praising]] Fuyuhiko and attempting to say farewell to him before her execution, she gives [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/danganronpa/images/a/a7/Danganronpa_V3_Bonus_Mode_Peko_Pekoyama_Sprite_%2814%29.png a very bittersweet]] [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/danganronpa/images/f/f5/Peko_Pekoyama_Halfbody_Sprite_%287%29.png and heartfelt, thankful smile]], which would be sweet if it weren't under [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove such heartbreakingly painful circumstances]]. She's finally able to smile with full happiness in her final Free Time event and some of her Island Mode events, and it's poignant and beautiful in both cases.