Danganronpa V3 — Male Students / Characters

This is a partial character sheet for Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. Visit here for the main character index. Subjectives and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page.

Warning! All spoilers below are unmarked.

It's virtually impossible to list tropes for these characters without spoiling everything or creating Self-Fulfilling Spoilers because of many surprising reveals and murderer/victim exclusive tropes this game contains.

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Shuichi Saihara

Ultimate Detective

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saihara.png

"They call me the Ultimate Detective, but..."

Voiced By: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Grant George (English)

A boy who learned how to investigate crimes by assisting his uncle with his private eye business. While his uncle's office normally only dealt with things like infidelity investigations, there came a day when Shuichi happened to solve a murder before the police could, earning him the title of Ultimate Detective. Solving the murder was apparently just luck, however, and Shuichi has trouble considering himself worthy of his Ultimate title.

After Kaede dies in Chapter 1, he takes the role of the protagonist and is determined to uncover the truth of the killing game, forming a close friendship with Kaito Momota and Maki Harukawa in the process. In the final chapter, he discovers that the killing game they are a part of is in fact a reality TV show based on the Danganronpa franchise itself and that the "Ultimate Detective" Shuichi Saihara is a fake identity implanted into his personality and memory for the sake of the show. His real identity is unknown and it's implied that everyone involved in the killing game was a fan of the franchise that signed up for it of their own will; Shuichi included, who was a fan of the series' Ultimate Detective characters but wanted to experience the thrill of making his own unsolvable murder. He is then forced to choose whether to end the killing game by escaping but sacrifice two friends to partake in the next Danganronpa in the name of hope, or stay in the academy and prolong the killing game in the name of despair. Disillusioned with the concept of hope and despair, Shuichi chooses neither, convincing the audience to allow him and his classmates to abstain from voting and form a Suicide Pact to end Danganronpa once and for all with a deliberately disappointing ending. While the audience allows Danganronpa to end, he is spared by Ki-bo during the destruction of the academy due to the will of the audience, and as such, he manages to survive the killing game.

Accidental Pervert: In Chapter 1, it's implied he accidentally got a peek up Kaede's skirt when she was up a ladder in the library.
All Take and No Give: His dynamic with Kokichi in Salmon Mode basically amounts to this, with him as the Giver and Kokichi as the Taker. While Shuichi is trying his hardest to make Kokichi happy, he's not willing to reciprocate Shuichi's needs in the slightest. If Shuichi asks Kokichi to stop lying for two seconds, he flips out and calls Shuichi a monster for asking for honesty in a relationship while healthy relationships are supposed to involve honesty and mutual compromise between all parties, none of which Kokichi desires to provide, wanting Shuichi to change for his sake instead. In order for their relationship to maintain itself in any way Shuichi has to put in all the effort in that relationship and continuously enable Kokichi's bad actions towards both him and the others.
Alliterative Name: Shuichi Saihara.
Amateur Sleuth: Prior to being trapped in Monokuma's game, he solved minor cases until he solved a major one, receiving the title of Ultimate Detective as a result. Though he claims to have solved most cases by luck, it's highly unlikely that he's being fully honest with himself, and even Kaede disagrees with his assertion. During the events of the game, his investigation skills and logical thinking are usually top-class; for instance, he is immediately able to discern that there is a Monokuma collaborator within the group.
Ambiguously Bi: While the Love Hotel scenes and Love Across The Universe mode allow Shuichi to have seemingly romantic scenes with all of the boys as well as the girls, how valid they are as a sign of Shuichi's sexuality is questionable at best. However, in his fourth free time event with Kaito, Shuichi briefly goes into an inner monologue in which he says that only someone like Kaito is capable of helping him and saying the things he needs to hear. It ends with Shuichi becoming flustered and thinking that he "shouldn't be talking about another boy like that", implying that he has some sort of romantic interest towards Kaito in particular.
And Now for Someone Completely Different: Near the end of the first trial the player's perspective changes from Kaede to Shuichi, and following the former's death, the role of the protagonist remains with Shuichi.
Be Careful What You Wish For: His former self seemed enthusiastic about participating in the Danganronpa TV show. Look at where he is now...
Berserk Button: Don't make nasty comments about his hat. When Miu calls him a pervert for wearing a hat, he gets pissed.
Big Guy, Little Guy: He's the little guy to Kaito's big guy.
Bland-Name Product: The poisons in his laboratory are oddly named. There's "Night's Hate", "Harmlock", "Arsneak", and "Strike-9". Of course, knowing Monokuma, this is probably less Bland-Name Product and more him modifying the poisons to make them even more deadly than their original versions.
Blessed with Suck: He occasionally comments that his talent is not something he enjoys using, because he can't use it to save people, it only comes into use after people die so their killers can be brought to justice.
Bookworm: His report card states that he likes novels.
Borrowed Catchphrase: During the events of the final trial, he uses Kaito's Beyond the Impossible catchphrase when saying he can change the audience's opinions about Danganronpa.
Brain Bleach: His reaction to seeing Miu repairing Ki-bo amounts to this.
" I remained silent, and quietly closed the door."
Breaking Old Trends: Unlike the previous protagonists, Makoto and Hajime, Shuichi actually has a talent.
Break the Cutie: Shuichi has already been through some things that left him shy and reserved as-is, but this poor guy goes through a lot as the protagonist. However, he does build up his confidence across the game, and that is devastated when he learns that everyone's characters and his own growth were scripted and when he watches an audition tape featuring his past self.
Cast from Hit Points: Lie Bullets shave off some of his Influence Gauge if he misses with them.
Cassandra Truth: After the first trial with the mastermind not revealing their true identity, Shuichi has a Heroic BSoD over Kaede believing him about the door behind the bookcase leading to the mastermind's lair. As it turns out, once the time limit set by K1-B0 is set, the door is opened and the mastermind's lair is revealed, with significant information at the helm of the Motherkuma unit living inside.
Character Development:
- A bizarre Deconstruction. Over the course of the game, he grows more confident in himself and his abilities, but according to the Big Bad, his journey as The Protagonist was decided from the start.
  Tsumugi: When we saw your audition tape, we had a flash of inspiration. The weakest Ultimate Detective ever... Wouldn't it be great to see him grow? And that's why we made your character and had you join the gang.
- Reconstructed by the end. He is the first Danganronpa participant to reject both Hope and Despair and condemns Danganronpa in its entirety. Even though what they learn is absolutely devastating and has the effects on the group you might expect, Shuichi holds on to his own development by the simple fact that he still feels exactly what he does because of what he went through. It may have been planned out, but that doesn't change reality for him.
  Shuichi: Even if this is fictional... even we're fictional... The pain in my heart is real! The sadness I feel when I lose the people I love is real!
Chick Magnet: Like many of the protagonists before him, Shuichi is quite the ladies man. Excluding Love Hotel events (as the genuineness of the other students' attraction to him is questionable due to the nature of those scenes), nearly all the girls will show subtle signs of being attracted to him, both Miu and Angie will admit that they have fallen in love with him if he completes their free time events, and of course, there are all those Ship Tease moments with Kaede. Some of the comments seen in the sixth trial reaffirm this. Even Tenko of all people can't help but get flustered around him occasionally later in her Free Time Events and Salmon Mode once she seriously starts to entertain the idea of a friendship with him, although whether that's just her own general awkwardness or actual budding feelings is very much open to interpretation.
"Shuichi is my husbando!"
"Shuichi's eyes ^q^"
Clear My Name: He becomes a major suspect in the first trial, but Kaede manages to clear him of suspicion. He also does this for Yumeno and Ouma (twice each) in later trials and repays Kaede the favour in the final trial.
Color Motif: Black. His uniform is black, and before the end of the first chapter, he wears a black hat.
Commonality Connection: With Himiko, as when she has a severe Heroic BSoD in the third trial, Shuichi sympathizes with her because he knows exactly what she's feeling after he lost Kaede. He reminds her of Tenko's final words to motivate her to continue.
Compressed Hair: A fairly minor example, but he keeps the trademark ahoge of a Danganronpa protagonist under his hat.
Cool Car: Drives a yellow car during Psyche Taxi.
Consummate Liar: Just like Kaede, he can use Lie Bullets to sway the others in the desired direction, and unlike Kaede he's far more convincing when he needs to be. Most others often believe him, except for Kokichi, who usually sees through them but doesn't call him out.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: He's this both as the main detective and trial-solver of the group and as a protagonist, in different ways:
- Talent aside, the shy and self-doubtful Saihara is very different from Kirigiri and Nanami or Komaeda when acting as the game's Deuteragonist, all of whom were fairly blunt and either confident or forthcoming from the get-go in terms of investigating and presenting during trials. In comparison, Shuichi is downright afraid to expose the truth and use his skills thanks to his previous experiences doing so, and this only lessens after he's become the Playable Character. This is fully Invoked and acknowledged regarding Kyoko. There are implications that Ultimate Detectives had been up to that point upstanding and strong characters, and Shuichi's weak-willed nature was specifically a plotline written by Tsumugi, as he was to become the show's weakest "Ultimate Detective" so that the audience could watch him grow stronger.
- This changes a bit once he's thrust into the role of the true main protagonist, as these traits arguably give him more immediate similar traits with Makoto, Hajime, and Komaru: Shuichi claims that he was able to solve his previous cases largely due to luck and is characterized with a lack of confidence and self-worth but progressively learns to find more confidence, quite comparable Hajime and Komaru in their games. However, Shuichi differs significantly from these protagonists in other ways - foremost, he has a measurable Ultimate talent, and it shows regularly as his investigative abilities and presence in trials are fittingly more in-line with the likes of Kyoko. While both are more confident than previous protagonists, Kaede and Kaito are more traditional 'heroes', and the less outgoing Shuichi starts acting as their assistant. He grows more confident on his own and really finds his footing by Chapter 4 when he has to take a stand against Kaito and Kokichi to find the truth in his own way, but Shuichi is in many ways a particularly withdrawn assistant character who learns to be a protagonist.
Conveniently Seated: During the class trials, he is seated to the right of Kaito which plays a more significant role during the Chapter 2 trial.
Dark Is Not Evil: Wears an all-black uniform, but is one of, if not the nicest of all the Danganronpa protagonists.
Despair Event Horizon: Falls into one after finding out that the outside world has become completely uninhabitable, devoid of life and oxygen. For days, he did nothing but lay in bed, although he recovers to find out the rest of the mysteries of the Gifted Inmates Academy. Later on, he crosses it again when he learns the events of the killing game were entirely fabricated, all the way to the point where Tsumugi nearly emerges victorious. He also does recover from this, although he chooses not to side with Hope.
Detective Mole: If we trust the "audition tapes," Shuichi originally entered the killing game with the desire to pull this, but aside from becoming Chapter 1's suspect, he never commits any murders. The franchise itself averts this, as his audition also reveals that an Ultimate Detective has never been the blackened.
Deuteragonist: Promo material, the game's cover and the game itself up to the Chapter 1 Class Trial peg him as the secondary main character. Except he's actually the real protagonist.
Drama-Preserving Handicap: His talent is very useful for investigations, but Saihara's poor self-esteem prevents him from taking much control during trials. Over time, he gets over this and becomes more confident in his skills.
Driven to Suicide: Threatens this by not voting during the final trial in order to stop Team Danganronpa and the Killing Game. Luckily for him, he survives. He also experiences this, alongside everyone else, in Chapter 5, when everyone was under the belief that they were the last surviving humans and that there's nothing in the outside world worth escaping to; he doesn't go through with it, as a new flashback light is discovered and the contents of it give them renewed motivation.
Duet Bonding: When spending time with Kaede during Love Across the Universe, he practices a piano duet with her.
Effeminate Voice: He has a very soft, shrill voice tone, emphasizing his sensitivity.
Even the Guys Want Him: It turns out he isn't just a Chick Magnet either, as in the main game alone Kokichi flirts with Shuichi and Keebo can show some signs of growing quite attached to him as well and Kaito grows a close bond with him after taking Shuichi under his wing as his "sidekick". Needless to say the Love Hotel events and dating sim mode also brings this up, but how genuine these are in either case is naturally less clear.
Everyone Can See It: His feelings for Kaede are frequently brought up by the other characters, both to encourage and to hinder him.
Expository Hairstyle Change: At the start of chapter 2, he takes off his hat, which he had been using to avoid eye contact, to signify his character development. This also reveals his Idiot Hair, signifying that he is now the protagonist.
Expy:
- There are striking similarities between him and Naoto Shirogane, such as their wardrobe, having several traits associated with the opposite gender, and their talents as detectives.
- Also a fair number of similarities between him and another famous high school detective, Kudo Shinichi. Both have parents who are celebrities in the fields of writing and acting, are living overseas, and have a "hands-off" approach to parenting, and both Shuichi and Shinichi end up working at an "uncle's" detective agency.
Extreme Doormat: He tends to easily bend to the whims of others, like retrieving the sign in Chapter Four after Miu orders him to, getting dragged into training with Kaito in the middle of the night, etc. The only time he isn't like this is during trials when everyone depends on him to solve the case. Character Development sees him slowly become more assertive.
Fighting Your Friend: Poor Shuichi is forced to do this three times within this game as he was put into an "Argument Armament" with his Implied Love Interest Kaede and his two best friends, Maki and Kaito.
First-Person Smartass: He might actually be on par with Hajime in this department. Then again, considering he has to deal with the likes of Kokichi Oma and Miu Iruma, it's quite hard to blame him.
Futile Hand Reach: He reaches for Kaede's hand just as she's dragged off to her execution.
Guyliner: Averted: although his eyelashes are very feminine, more than the female characters, they're completely natural according to the artbook.
Great Detective: His talent, though Shuichi is doubtful of his own abilities and believes he mostly solved the cases he worked on through dumb luck.
Hero Protagonist: Shuichi is the actual hero of Killing Harmony as Kaede is a Decoy Protagonist who passes her wish onto him, and is eventually the one to expose the true Big Bad and end the killing games happening on the In-Universe Immoral Reality Show by his own hand.
Heroic BSoD: Happens to him three times in the game. The first one is being guilty of exposing Kaede as the killer and thus leading to her execution until he is given a harsh What the Hell, Hero? from Kaito. The second one is after seeing what the outside world has become. The final one was when he finds out about the Danganronpa series, only to be snapped out of it by Ki-bo.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: He believes he doesn't deserve his title because, as far as he is concerned, he only solved his cases by chance.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kaito.
Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Kaito makes him his "sidekick" during the second investigation, but it is really Shuichi who technically takes the lead during all the investigations and trials and is the one who figures out who the culprits are. Despite this, everyone refers to him as Kaito's sidekick, even Shuichi himself.
Idiot Hair: After Chapter 1, once he's revealed to be the game's true protagonist, he removes his hat to reveal he has one underneath, just like the other Danganronpa protagonists.
Implied Love Interest: To Kaede. While Shuichi's feelings for Kaede are far more obvious due to the latter's early death, her Love Suite scene says enough. Shuichi is usually forced to play a role in everyone else's Love Suite scenes, but in Kaede's he's forced to play as... himself. The only difference is that they're already a couple and Kaede's description of the "fantasy" Shuichi matches the real one. Unlike other Love Suite scenes where Shuichi is uncomfortable or curious about his partner's advances, he has no such qualms with Kaede.
In Touch with His Feminine Side: Downplayed, but one of his favourite gifts is a whale plush toy and he's the protagonist that openly displays the Monokuma dolls you collect rather than Kaede.
It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: After Kaede dies, he effectively takes her place as the protagonist. He has to face numerous obstacles and heartache afterwards. It gets much worse in Chapter 6 when the Mastermind reveals the truth and it nearly breaks him. Takes an especially cruel irony when it's revealed that he entirely brought this upon himself. In fact, he openly questions whether or not he actually did enter the game of his own volition.
Kid Detective: Well, "Teenage Detective" would be more accurate, but Shuichi has solved cases far beyond what would be expected of his age.
Kill the Ones You Love: In the very first trial, Kaede, who had been his most loyal acquaintance up to that point, requests him to convict her as the culprit, essentially equivocal to him sending her to her execution himself. This is especially because he was the only eyewitness at the scene of the crime, and was the only one able to convict her.
Legacy Character: Takes up the title of Ultimate Detective after Kyoko. If his audition tape is real, then he wanted to be one and enthusiastically suggested that it would be "unexpected for a detective to be one of the killers".
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: He's the feminine boy to Maki's masculine girl. And to a lesser extent, he's also the Feminine Boy to Kaede's Masculine Girl.
Meaningful Name:
- Shuichi means "end one", fitting the character who ended Danganronpa in-universe.
- As noted by Famitsu's main editor, his name can be shortened to Saishuu, the name of the "school" where the game takes place.
My Greatest Failure: An interesting case as it's also the murder case that made him famous. Shuichi ended up successfully exposing a Sympathetic Murderer who'd killed off an Asshole Victim. The murderer gave Shuichi a brutal Death Glare as the police took him in, and Shuichi began to wonder if things would've been better had he not discovered the truth. As a result, he starts the game with low self-esteem, a reluctance to face hard truths, and uses his cap to limit eye contact.
Nice Guy: Compared to how cold and aloof pre-Character Development Kyoko was, he's a lot nicer right from the get-go. He might be shy, but Shuichi consistently shows a lot of thoughtfulness and decency in how he treats others. He mentions to Kaede in his first Free Time Events how working on cases, he and his uncle take a lot of steps to ensure the wellbeing of the people involved beyond just solving cases and getting paid, and this shines through especially in moments like the fourth trial: despite being on the same 'side' in trying to find the truth and prove the blackened, he shuts down Kokichi from relentlessly harassing Gonta and resolves to explain things himself, and only let the trial end once the blackened understands how he killed Miu.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- In the third trial, he breaks through Kokichi's lie that he killed Angie by pointing out he couldn't have be the culprit, because in order to do that he would have her to unlock the door, kill her and then relock it and the laboratory only locks from the inside. Kokichi then says he was trying to lure the killer out by pretending to be guilty and hoping the killer would push for him to be convicted and that Shuichi ruined it.
- In the fifth trial, Shuichi's relentless pursuit of the truth tramples over Kokichi and Kaito's plan to confuse Monokuma with an unsolvable murder and derail the killing game. Even after Shuichi works out what the culprit was up to and why, he continues to Pull the Thread without realizing until after his summation that he's only been helping Monokuma figure everything out and, thanks to his deductions, both the trial and the killing game will proceed as normal again. Once he realizes this he tries to backpedal and cover for the culprit with a half-hearted lie about Kokichi coercing him, but by that point, it's too late and everyone, the culprit included, knows the jig is up.
Not What It Looks Like: In Chapter Six, he reluctantly enters the girls' bathroom in order to investigate a secret passageway Himiko discovered. When he leaves the bathroom he runs into Maki, who immediately questions what he was doing in there, causing Shuichi to invoke this trope. Himiko coming out moments later to say that she had trouble peeing only makes him look worse. Surprisingly subverted after Maki tells Shuichi that she trusts him enough to know that he had he likely had a good reason to be in there.
Non-Action Protagonist: He takes after this mantle after Kaede bites it in Chapter 1. He's among the easiest targets of any of the protagonists, yet his intellect helps ensure that he survives up to the end of the Killing Game.
Parental Abandonment: His parents spend most of their time working overseas, so he lives with his uncle and aunt instead. When he talks to Kaede about it he shows he is a bit bitter over their "hands-off parenting", though given their work in screenwriting and acting most people would view them as celebrities.
Player Character: After Kaede is revealed to be the first murderer, he becomes the one directly controlled by the player as he investigates the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles and solves each murder.
The Player Is the Most Important Resource: That's why the player, as Shuichi, has to commit a Fission Mailed to bore the audience as a way to stop the game itself. Shuichi was even willing to end his and everyone else's lives to deny a proper conclusion and cause the Danganronpa show to flop.
Pose of Supplication: He and Kaede do this to Miu when they beg for her help.
The Protagonist: Zigzagged as there are two instances where it's seemingly averted but then played straight in both instances. It's a long story.
Precision F-Strike: Shuichi isn't one to swear, though he gets a few spoken ones in. The most notable one in particular, however, is when he's absolutely furious at Monokuma (and by proxy, Tsumugi) for executing Kaede in spite of her not being Rantaro's killer:
Shuichi: And you want to tell us that this game is fair? That there are rules?! That's all bullshit!
"The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- He gives a surprisingly blunt one to Kokichi after the fourth trial, pointing out that for all Kokichi's intelligence and acting like he's several steps ahead of everyone else, he hasn't really "won" anything, nobody likes or trusts him and at the end of the day, he's alone and has nobody to blame for it but himself. Kokichi has no rebuttal to this.
- He also gives one to the mastermind at the end of the killing game.
  "You never appreciated us... And it looks like you didn't appreciate the power of fiction! No one wants you anymore! No one wants to hear your sick, twisted stories anymore!"
Recurring Element:
- He was the second character to hold the title of Ultimate Detective; the first is Kyoko Kirigiri. At least, he's the second that we've seen. His audition tape says that there have been other Ultimate Detectives over the years.
- Like previous detective Kyoko but also both Chiaki and Nagito in 2, Shuichi is framed as the most competent investigator. Particularly while Kaede is around, he's very much a Gender Flip of the reserved 'smart helper' Kyoko and Chiaki acted as during their games, and when Kaito takes up the mantle of The Leader and The Heart, Shuichi still arguably acts as this for him during trials 2 and 3 while double-timing as Player Character.
- After Kaede is executed, he becomes the third male protagonist.
- Like all the other protagonists, he is voiced by a woman regardless of gender (in the Japanese voiceover only, at least). And of course, he, too, has an ahoge.
The Rival: To Ouma for most of the game. Ends up directly opposing Hope (in addition to Despair), ultimately becoming K1-B0's rival in the final chapter of the game.
Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl:
- He was the Savvy Guy to Kaede's Energetic Girl, making deductions about the secret room in the library while Kaede came up with the plan to catch the mastermind with the cameras.
- He once again serves as the Savvy Guy to Miu Iruma's Energetic Girl in their Free Time Events together and in Love Across the Universe. Shuichi's more considerate, soft-spoken, and deadpan personality counteracts Miu's Large Ham Lovable Sex Maniac antics.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The sensitive guy to Kaito's manly man.
Shut Up, Hannibal!:
- He gives one to Kokichi in the aftermath of the fourth trial.
- To Tsumugi Shirogane, who is the Mastermind of V3.
Socially Awkward Hero: He, in the prologue, was outright shy towards Kaede, but warms up to her after a LITTLE while.
Straight Man and Wise Guy: He serves as the straight man to Kaito and to a lesser extent Kokichi's wise guys.
Stronger Than They Look: Yes, really. Despite being average at push-ups and needing Kokichi to help him lift the heavy iron cage in chapter three (and not being able to pick up the 175 lb. dog statue by himself much less carry it), after one of Keebo's free time events he picks up the nearly 200 lb. robot and takes him back to the dorms as if that should be normal for him to be capable of.
Stunned Silence: When he realizes who the culprit is in the first trial, Shuichi enters such a bad Heroic BSoD he can't even bring himself to speak until Kaede encourages him to find the truth, no matter what.
Stumbled Into the Plot: Being the Ultimate Detective, he searches the school on his own accord like Kyoko did throughout Trigger Happy Havoc's first five chapters; only this time his completely independent detective work is done on the first day of the Killing Game and the fifth case. Upon encountering the library in the basement, he finds the bookcase that the mastermind is most likely hiding behind, the black-and-white Monokuma theme making him sure of the idea.
Sucksessor: During the final Argument Armament, he is revealed to be one for Kaede. One of the things the outside world says to him is "This guy should have died instead of Kaede". Ouch.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Actually in play alongside Contrasting Sequel Main Character. While he is definitely different from Kirigiri, the previous Ultimate Detective, he has on the other hand quite a bit in common with the previous player characters. Especially the fact that he is a pretty regular-looking student with (what he himself at least perceives as) an unremarkable talent and some self-esteem issues make him quite similar to Makoto, Komaru and Hajime.
Take a Third Option: In order to end the Killing Game, he picked neither Despair nor Hope.
The One Guy: By the end of the game, Shuichi is the only male survivor of the cast.
This Is Gonna Suck: His reaction when he is paired with Kokichi and Miu in their Love Suite Events. He prepares himself for total absurdity.
Trauma Conga Line: Got trapped in a Killing Game, saw Rantaro's corpse with the knowledge of who killed him, had to fight Kaede and watched her being executed in front of his face, had to fight against his closest friend, Kaito to prove Gonta killed Miu, had to deal with Kokichi who was being a Jerkass to everyone, had to fight Maki and lose Kaito in Chapter 5, faced the truth of being in a reality show where the role his past self wanted was "the detective who committed the best murder of all", and out of trauma, goes against K1-B0 while under the effects of Despair Event Horizon, and that's not even the full list.
The Dog Bites Back: Shuichi taking his revenge against Tsumugi, Monokuma, and the entire outside world for EVERYTHING by persuading through a hacked Keebo to the audience to end Danganronpa.
Two Girls and a Guy: In the end, he is the guy to Maki and Himiko's two girls.
Two Guys and a Girl: He and Kaito are the two guys to Maki's girl.
Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Not one towards himself, but in a bonus mode interaction with Chihiro Fujisaki. He pretty much figures out Chihiro's gender after Alter Ego ended up talking about the AI's "father".
Walking Spoiler: It is very hard to talk about him without revealing that he is the true main character.
What Beautiful Eyes!: One of the comments in Chapter 6's trial mentions his eyes with a drooling emoticon, implying that the viewer finds them attractive.
What the Hell, Hero?: His pursuit of the truth, even unpleasant ones, often gets met with protests from his classmates who are content with what they already know. It hits the worst in Chapter 4, where he reluctantly concludes that Gonta's the culprit, and has a falling-out with Kaito over this fact.
You Are Too Late: At the end of the Class Trial of Chapter 5, he tries to lie about Kokichi (aka the victim of Chapter 5) being alive to trick Monokuma into getting the wrong verdict, but Monokuma was already too convinced that Kaito was the culprit at that time, leading Kaito to step out of the Exisal to make sure that Monokuma doesn't execute anybody but him.
You Should Have Died Instead: In the final trial, the audience watching tells him that he should have been the one to die instead of Kaede.

Kaito Momota

Ultimate Astronaut

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2_282.png

"Space, ya know, is an ally to people who want to overcome their limits without closing up."

Voiced By: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese), Kyle Hebert (English)

A trainee astronaut. The astronaut program requires a college degree, but Kaito bluffed his way in with fake documents and even passed the test. He was eventually found out but was kept on due to his personality and real talent. Kaito still hasn't been to space but wants to go more than anything. He's a classic romantic and often talks about dreams and passion.

After Kaede's death in Chapter 1, he takes it upon himself to be an emotional pillar for Shuichi and becomes the game's primary deuteragonist, forming a close friendship with Shuichi and often accompanying him during investigations. This friendship later extends to Maki Harukawa, creating a team of three. He is the culprit of Chapter 5, being blackmailed by Kokichi Ouma into crushing him with a hydraulic press in order to save Maki from becoming the blackened after her successful attempt to poison Kokichi. Following Kokichi's plan to derail the killing game, he pilots an Exisal mecha and impersonates both himself and Kokichi during the trial to make it impossible to tell which one died. He dies of his mysterious illness partway through his execution, making it the second failed execution of a core Danganronpa game.

Accidental Pervert: During the second trial where he has no solid alibi, Kokichi stated that he saw a silhouette of a woman only in her underwear. Trying to have an alibi, Kaito tries to point out that woman could be a guy (read: Kaito himself) in woman's underwear in which he unintentionally stated that that guy would be committing another crime of itself if that was the case.
Act of True Love: While he goes along with Kokichi's plan of killing him in order to upstage Monokuma, the main reason Kaito goes along with it and brands himself as the blackened as if he didn't step in to do so, Maki would've become the blackened instead after having poisoned Kokichi - and he cares too much about her to let her die.
Adaptational Nice Guy: Due to being raised by his grandparents, Kaito in Japanese is essentially a Politically Incorrect Hero ramped up some, he frequently chided the male students for acting "like women" (ie. crying, having depression) and even asks Korekiyo if he is an okama, which can be a homophobic slur, when he briefly uses feminine speech patterns. In the English release, these comments are less explicit. However, he still retains the other outdated aspects, such as asking Maki her favourite blood type or saying "crackerjack" when imitating the wise-crackin' Kokichi. This is also slightly subverted in that Kaito says to Maki that everyone is a hero in their own story, he cries with everybody during Himiko's post Trial 3 breakdown, and okama itself being a complicated word in the complicated language of Japanese that is both a self-identifier or a slur depending on context. The fact that Kaito's influence is overwhelming positive on everyone he becomes close with and that Kaito is so well loved means that Kaito's dated upbringing often makes him Right for the Wrong Reasons. Sexist reasoning aside, Kaito is accurate about the problems he identifies: when he berates Shuichi for crying, it was because Shuichi was taking all the responsibility onto himself and holing up in his room; whenever Gonta self-flagellates, Kaito pushes him to be useful by contributing; and Maki doesn't particularly like being an assassin with an arc focused more on the normal girl she truly is.
Anime Hair: It's shaped like a moon and sticks up at an angle that would make Phoenix Wright blush. Interestingly one of his early designs went the opposite direction, being shaped like a sun.
Ascended Fanboy: From being a fan of Ryoma Hoshi to becoming one of his classmates. He's however disappointed with how gloomy he is and just like Shuichi, has often been trying to motivate him (more active in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan).
Berserk Button:
- He gets mad when the other students repeatedly call him an idiot, but it's downplayed because nobody takes him seriously when he yells at them for it.
- Belief in another person is something he takes very seriously. When Shuichi succumbs to grief after Kaede's execution, Kaito becomes enraged at Shuichi violating Kaede's faith in his ability to keep moving forward after her death and punches him hard enough to knock him down.
Better to Die than Be Killed: Inverted and played straight. Kaito takes Monokuma's execution not just to save Maki, but also because he was slowly dying of his sickness anyway. Midway through, Kaito succumbs to it and peacefully passes away, thus robbing Monokuma of proper execution. Possibly averted as Tsumugi, the mastermind of the Killing Game, claimed to have personally infected him with the virus that gave him his illness.
Beyond the Impossible: His Catchphrase is "The impossible is possible! All you have to do is make it so!".
Big Brother Mentor: He's described as having a reliable, brotherly sort of personality. He has shades of this in his relationship with Shuichi, pushing the latter towards becoming a stronger person and even calling him "bro".
Big Eater: During Chapter 2, he eats more than his fair share during breakfast. This is especially shown when he eats all the breakfasts made for the ultimates who couldn't make it, making him so stuffed that Shuichi has to carry him back to his room.
Big Guy, Little Guy:
- He serves as the big guy to Shuichi's little guy.
- In Chapter 5, he becomes the big guy to Kokichi's little guy.
Big "NO!": He does this in the third trial a lot because of theories being flown around that Angie/Tenko were both killed by ghosts.
Born Unlucky:
- Kaito is not good at gambling at all. An early scene in Chapter 2 shows Kaito getting a good haul from the casino, only to then be enticed by Monokuma to try for a bigger jackpot. He loses all his winnings instead of quitting while he's ahead.
- Tsumugi Shirogane also claims during the final class trial that she gave him a lethal illness as part of his characterization, which means that Kaito Momota, the Ultimate Astronaut was literally born to die.
Brains and Brawn: In Chapter 5, he is blackmailed to being the "Brawn" to Kokichi's "Brains".
The Bully: Not during the game itself, but if we trust the "audition tapes", he was actually this before his personality gets turned into a Nice Guy for this killing game.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Yes, despite appearances, this guy is an astronaut trainee.
Butt-Monkey: He lost badly in gambling against Ryoma Hoshi in a bonus scene in Chapter Two, gets accused of being the culprit for 25% of that same chapter's trial, gets very sick throughout most of Chapter Three, gets involuntarily kicked out of the virtual world twice and was framed in an unsuccessful murder attempt in Chapter Four, and then gets kidnapped by Kokichi in Chapter 5. There is also the fact he often gets called an idiot by the rest of the students.
Catchphrase: "The impossible is possible. All you have to do is make it so!" and calling himself "Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars". The former is adopted by Saihara doing the final trial.
Character Tics: He never wears his jacket properly, only putting his arm through one sleeve. This is a major clue about the victim's true identity in Chapter Five.
Cheaters Never Prosper: An inversion where Kaito forged the necessary documents to join an astronaut program and was found out, but they kept him on because of how passionate and genuinely talented he was.
Clark Kent Outfit: If his Argument Armament is to be believed, he's shockingly buff underneath his shirt and coat.
Coat Cape: He only wears his left jacket sleeve, leading the right side to hang freely. This becomes a plot point in Chapter 5, when Shuichi must disprove Maki's assertion that it's not odd for the sleeve hanging out of the hydraulic press to not have an arm in it since it's his left sleeve.
Color Motif: He has purple hair, a purple coat, and purple eyes.
Comically Missing the Point: When Kokichi suggests Kaito could be the culprit in Chapter Two and says only a murderer would grow a creepy goatee, Kaito protests...because his goatee is not creepy! (He thinks it gives him a "glamorous celebrity vibe", apparently.)
Cowardice Callout: He calls Kokichi a coward for being afraid to ever trust, love or open up to others, unfavorably comparing him to Monokuma.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Possibly the sole aversion of any person executed in the entire franchise as he died very peacefully. Bonus points for his execution being supposed to play it straight, as like the original 'Space Journey'/'Blast Off!', he was supposed to be subject to heavy G-forces, reducing him to bone a la Jin Kirigiri.
The Cuckoolander Was Right: Kaito utterly lacks logic which obscures this tendency, but he is often much closer to the truth than characters and players alike give credit for. This is shown in the very first Nonstop Debate of the entire game: Kaito asserts that Rantaro knew of the hidden door because he was the mastermind. Fast forward to the end of the trial and Kaede admits that the mastermind was precisely her target.
Curtains Match the Windows: Has purple hair that matches with his purple eyes.
Dead Person Impersonation: During Chapter 5, Kaito takes control of one of the Exisals and uses a voice changer inside it to masquerade as Kokichi Oma during the class trial. Oma specifically gave Kaito a book with instructions on how to impersonate him perfectly.
Deuteragonist: Along with Maki after Shuichi was made the true protagonist of the game. Kaito acted as both a Big Brother Mentor and an assistant to him during the investigation.
Draco in Leather Pants: Maybe an In-Universe example. According to the "audition tapes," he was pretty much a Jerkass before the game but via brainwashing, his "character" was turned into a Nice Guy Big Brother Mentor.
Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Holds a large kiseru in his official art.
Dub Personality Change: His sexist and homophobic tendencies are significantly toned down in the English localization, making him way nicer overall.
Dying Moment of Awesome: Knowing that he's dying of an illness anyways, he takes the heat for Maki's attempt on Kokichi's life while at the same time going along with Kokichi's plan to try and stop the true mastermind. When the rest of the group discovers the truth, he willingly goes on to his execution as he starts coughing up blood. In the midst of his execution he holds on long enough to see space then he lets out one last gasp of blood before dying with a smile on his face, interrupting Monokuma's execution and essentially giving Monokuma and the killing game one last giant middle finger. The killing game, however, may have given an even bigger middle finger back as Tsumugi as mastermind claims to have given him his illness as part of his character. However, even with the reveal Monokuma's reaction implies that the failed execution wasn’t intentional.
Expy: Let's see... A brash cocky guy with a brotherly bond with the protagonist, optimistic as hell, with his primary goal in life, is to literally reach the heavens? And is voiced by Kyle Hebert in the English dub with lines about how you can make impossible possible? It'd be more surprising if he weren't meant to invoke Kamina.
Face Death with Dignity: Decides to accept his execution mostly because his illness was slowly killing him anyway.
Excellent Judge of Character: His goofy tendencies may obscure it, but Kaito has an excellent read on people's true natures, their motivations, and potential strengths and weaknesses. Most impressive is the fact that out of the fifteen other students, only four really go unremarked! Everyone else he has significant interaction with, he grasps to varying degrees of nuanced depth:
- Kaede; in a Chapter 1 freetime event, Kaito observes her tendency to assume all the responsibility and thus act alone - he is also the most vocal supporter of her efforts to find alternate escapes, seeming to respect her determination and compassion. These are the precise qualities that the mastermind manipulates to frame her.
- Shuichi; after the loss of Kaede, he steps up to knock Shuichi out of his grief and despair (even in a literal sense) and he is critical of Shuichi for not being more proactive, though also stresses not to assume the responsibility for Kaede's actions. This is exactly what Shuichi needed to hear to "[get] his act together" in Kokichi's words, ultimately laying a foundation for confidence that enables Shuichi to pull the survivors through.
- Himiko; though perhaps minor, in Chapter 1 Kaito invites her to fight Monokuma on the basis her magic would be useful. In Chapter 3, Himiko coincidentally selects the correct room to find damning evidence on a 1/3 chance.
- Angie; same as Himiko, Kaito invites her on the basis of her connection to Atua. In every chaper Angie is alive, her messages from Atua relay a Cassandra Truth such as the mastermind actually using the hidden door to kill Rantaro to the flashback lights being a destructive influence.
- Maki; from the start, he (along with Kokichi) notice Maki's combat ability despite her keeping it secret. Then in Chapter 2, he instantly accepts her nonexistent alibi as genuine and come the trial, rejects the situation of only he and Maki being the prime suspects despite the evidence - this is what inspires Maki to truthfulness about what happened. From then onward, Kaito pushes for Maki to be part of the group and he assesses her to her face as a coward running from her problems. Like Shuichi, his words become a foundation for Maki to accept that she was self-defeating and that she can be more than what others make of her, even if she has to prove it first.
- Ryoma; throughout Chapter 2, Kaito chastises Ryoma for his seeming lack of will to live obstructing the group's effort to survive, especially after his comments about not planning to make it to the end. Kaito may have slightly misjudged Ryoma in that he was actually looking for a will to live, but Kaito was accurate in that it was a problem for the group since that was what Kirumi targeted.
- Kirumi; in Trial 2, after Maki's unanticipated testimony and Shuichi's lies that supported it, Kirumi slips and leaks intense emotion, to which Kaito asks in shock "Why the scary face?" - and once cornered later, Kirumi slips again and expresses in genuine panic that she is acting on behalf of "everyone". This specific comment is called out by Kaito as not sounding about the trapped class, but someone who was not present. He identified her motive, generally, in that moment.
- Korekiyo; in Chapter 2 is the first instance of seance talk cropping up as well as feminine (explicitly so in Japanese) speech patterns, with only Kaito really commenting on these sudden odd behaviours. These eventually are revealed to be glimpses of much deeper issues in the next chapter.
- Miu; also in Chapter 2, he remarks that Miu should be excluded from the group's gambling as her technical knowledge would allow her to rig the games and win with entire ease. Come Chapter 4, Miu's entire plan is to rig the killing game simulator such that she has total control over evidence and environment, with the class and even Kokichi admitting she would have been extremely difficult to catch as a culprit.
- Gonta; simultaneously subverted and played straight in Trial 4, as Kaito is the strongest defender of Gonta's innocence and refuses to doubt him until the absolute end. The duality is created by Gonta's amnesia, as he did in fact commit the murder but he also forgot and therefore completely and truly believed he was not the culprit. It is only once all the evidence is explained and there are no further possible arguments does Kaito stop resisting, though he never acknowledges Gonta's guilt and still votes for Kokichi.
- Kokichi; Kaito's read is complicated by his emotions which Kokichi consciously instigates, however, one of the foremost examples include Kokichi's attitude pivoting halfway through the killing game: from recommending for everyone to not play the killing game, to in Chapter 4 outwardly stating he will win even if it includes committing murder himself - as the first and only one to notice Kaito punched him for this and comments on how strange Kokichi was now acting. The best example of Kaito's read being clouded by his emotions happens in that very trial, as Kaito loudly insists that Kokichi is attempting to divide them with his lies (and note earlier Kokichi offered in private for Shuichi to join him and leave Kaito) but Kaito is the one who splits from Shuichi. More subtle but more poignant, in the next Chapter Kaito goes so far as to state that both Gonta and Kokichi snapped under the pressure created by Monokuma. This subtlety is especially poignant as it was then revealed much later that Kokichi had been exposed to two motives: not only did Kokichi use the keycard to witness the same "truth of the outside world" as Gonta, but he also had his own motive video from Chapter 2 like Kirumi. Complicated indeed.
Kokichi to Kaito: "The key to a good friendship is mutual understanding!"
Fatal Flaw: His idealism helps him as well as harms him in almost equal measure. Kaito has an accurate and consistent read of the emotions and motivations of other people, but his total lack of logic often undermines this: in Chapter 2, Kaito believes Maki upon hearing her testimony and maintains this trust even once evidence mounts against her come the trial. Though his trust toward Maki is paid off, Kokichi is critical the whole while (while withholding and manipulating said evidence). By Chapter 4, with Miu dead, Kaito doubles down on his method of subjectively overcoming doubt to solve the case, which is as Kokichi had predicted and contrived. Once the killer is revealed, Kaito is in abject denial and resists the accusation until the very end, because Kaito perceives the honesty and truthfulness of the amnesiac Gonta, who could not remember committing the crime. Though Kaito desperately tells Shuichi that this is all Kokichi's plan to split apart the group, Kaito ends up briefly cutting off Shuichi.
Fighting Your Friend: He battled Shuichi in the Rebuttal Showdown and the PTA of Chapter 4 when he didn't believe that Gonta was the murderer of Miu.
Fireball Eyeballs: As he delivers his Final Speech before being hauled off to his execution.
First-Name Basis: From Chapter 2 onwards, he starts referring to Saihara by his first name.
Friendly Rivalry: He imagines having one of these with Shuichi while in the Love Hotel. They're about to have a final challenge that will prove who's the best, but Kaito also has romantic feelings for his rival and wants to confess to him after they've settled things.
Foreshadowing:
- Kaito's apparent laziness during the training sessions with Shuichi might seem odd at first, given his status as an astronaut and how seemingly in shape he is, but at the end of Chapter 3, it's revealed that he's been afflicted with a deadly disease.
- Additionally, Kaito notes in his second free time event with Kaede that she sometimes tends to go ahead on her own, something she agrees with him on. This trait eventually leads to her demise as she attempts to kill the mastermind without consulting Shuichi or anyone else about her plan.
Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: He punches Shuichi after Kaede's execution and the latter is in a serious Heroic BSoD, telling him that if he just sits around moping he's disrespecting the promise he made to her.
Go Out with a Smile: He dies with a smile, having saved Maki and fulfilled his dream of seeing space.
Good Old Ways: Kaito has some rather old-fashioned sensibilities (especially in the Japanese version), but is firmly on the side of good.
A Good Way to Die: Unlike the Cruel and Unusual Death Monokuma planned for him, he experiences this. He is placed into a rocket drill and gets to see space before he dies early, causing the rocket to experience an error and end.
Green-Eyed Monster: Chapter 4. Everybody else completely relies on Shuichi to solve mysteries for them, Kokichi repeatedly mocks Kaito for trying to contribute when Shuichi is far more competent than him, Shuichi rejects Kaito and The Power of Friendship and indicts Gonta for the murder of Miu, and Kaito is forced to accept that if it weren't for Shuichi, Kaito would have probably gotten everybody killed by voting for Kokichi instead of Gonta. The frustration of it all causes Kaito to lash out at Shuichi; for most of Chapter 5, he is too ashamed of himself to say anything to Shuichi or even look him in the eye. They make up the night before his apparent death under the hydraulic press, and Kaito fully admits his jealousy during the aftermath of the Chapter 5 class trial, while he's at death's door from his illness and about to be punished by Monokuma.
Gut Feeling: Kaito's logic skills frequently misfire, but his instincts are incredibly accurate:
- He trusts in Maki and states that she is not the second culprit despite it seeming to come down to her or him. She ends up coming out of her shell and becoming a valuable aid to the group (and later a survivor) because of his encouragement.
- He immediately trusts Shuichi's judgement and shanghais him as a sidekick because he knows that Shuichi just needs a little encouragement to make the best use of his Ultimate Detective talent.
- During the second trial, he immediately picks up that Kirumi isn't refering to the other students when she says "everyone" is relying on her.
- This bites him in the ass in the fourth trial; his instincts tell him that Gonta is being entirely honest when he says he didn't do it, so Kaito defends him, but the truth is that Gonta did do it, but suffered Laser-Guided Amnesia before the trial.
The Heart: Kaito is the one who frequently lifts the group's spirits when the conversation turns dark or after the emotionally-taxing trials, he also refuses to isolate Maki after her talent is outed and goes out of his way to be supportive to Shuichi after Kaede's death. This shows when the remaining students rush to his side in concern when he collapses at the end of Chapter 4's trial and completely ignore Kokichi's Hannibal Lecture as they do so, much to Kokichi's frustration.
Heel–Face Brainwashing: How Kaito was brainwashed if the audition tapes are to be believed.
Heroic Sacrifice: In Chapter 5, he ended up sacrificing himself to save Maki.
Heterosexual Life-Partners:
- Becomes Shuichi's closest friend after Kaede's death.
- During the Ultimate Talent Development Plan, he develops this relationship with Mondo.
Hidden Depths:
- Despite what you may think about him at first, he is actually quite useful in investigations and trials and he is basically the fortification of the group. Additionally, in his first free time event with Shuichi, he reveals that Kaito is fluent in Japanese, English and Russian. Shuichi himself notes at the end of the event that he'd been underestimating Kaito.
- During the Chapter 2 investigation, Kaito reveals he was an avid tennis player and member of his school's tennis club. He was also a big fan of Ryoma Hoshi.
Hypocrite:
- He states that he's against lying when he lies to everybody else about the fact that he was dying from a mysterious illness.
- Throughout most of the game, he always encourages Shuichi to find the truth. Come to the aftermath of Chapter 4's trial, he became extremely upset at Shuichi when he does that.
I "Uh" You, Too: While Maki's feelings for Kaito are made very clear in the game, Kaito's are somewhat more ambiguous - he affectionately calls her "Maki Roll", he's the only one initially willing to reach out to her after she's outed as an assassin, he desperately clings to her when his fear of ghosts overwhelms him and he's even willing to kill Kokichi so she won't be executed as the Blackened. But when Maki gives him an Anguished Declaration of Love just before his execution, Kaito simply tells her not to cry and to never give up.
Iconic Item: His jacket, which is used in Chapter 5 to make everyone think that he's the one who died in the hydraulic press.
Ideal Hero: Subverted; Kaito wants to be this, presenting himself as a skilled and confident leader who quickly takes Shuichi under his wing as a "sidekick", and claims to have done the same for many others in the past. He genuinely wants to inspire and lift up others and can do a great job at it, but he does have a lot of flaws which have consequences, causing him to act unfairly and irrationally at many points and putting him at serious odds with Shuichi in chapter 4. However, Kaito comes to recognize and apologize for his worst errors, and he succeeds at being The Heart and a beloved friend to both of his 'sidekicks'.
Incurable Cough of Death: Of the Blood from the Mouth variety first seen manifesting at the end of Chapter 3, and it only gets worse from there.
Jerkass: If the "audition tapes" are to be believed, before the killing game, his past self was apparently this. In the game itself, nope.
Karmic Death: A rare positive example. Kaito is one of the friendliest characters in the whole game who sacrificed himself to save Maki and derail the killing game. His execution ends up with him finally going to space and dying relatively painlessly, compared to the brutal execution Monokuma had in store for him.
Large Ham: He can be quite over the top and bombastic when riled up.
Lazy Bum: Kaito never actually finishes any of the exercises he puts Shuichi and, later, Maki through, eventually reaching a point where he's not even trying anymore. This is subverted, however, when Chapter 3 reveals his Incurable Cough of Death, meaning that he skipped on training not out of laziness, but because his illness most likely made physical activities much more painful for him.
The Leader: After Kaede's death, Kaito is the closest thing the group have to a leader, as Shuichi is too weak-willed to influence them. Kaito isn't anywhere near as successful as Kaede was and butts heads with the other students at times, especially Kokichi, but he does his best to push the others forward and he's initially the only one who reaches out to Maki after Kokichi outs her as the Ultimate Assassin.
Leeroy Jenkins: He is often quite reckless to the point where he nearly attempted to attack Kokichi with the Exisals on the Ultimate Supreme Leader's side in Chapter 5. This only results in him being kidnapped by Kokichi, and being separated from the group throughout the rest of the chapter. Kokichi slightly lampshaded this by calling him a reckless idiot.
The Lost Lenore: To Maki after his death in Chapter 5.
Love Freak: He's something of a romantic, believing wholeheartedly in following one's dreams and never giving up.
Love Interest: For Maki.
Men Don't Cry: Subverted. Despite his manly attitude, Kaito is visibly crying when punching Shuichi in the aftermath of Kaede's death and he's also among the students who end up crying alongside Himiko in the aftermath of the third trial. However, he takes issue when other guys do nothing but cry and wallow in self-pity, which is the driving issue between him and Ryoma, as well as the reason behind the aforementioned punching of Shuichi.
The Münchausen: The truth behind his stories about fighting pirate captains and befriending lost civilizations is questionable at best, even before the reveal that everything about his character was fabricated.
My God, What Have I Done?: Kaito has a noticeable one at the beginning of Chapter 2, after the events of Chapter 1, when he abused Shuichi for "not doing anything" over Kaede's death, before he was stopped by Tenko. He visits Shuichi in his room and genuinely apologizes to him.
Nice Character, Mean Actor: He was apparently a Jerkass prior to the killing game and brainwashing. However, given the circumstances of the flashback it's up in the air if he actually was.
Nice Guy: At his core, Kaito is a very caring and compassionate young man, willing to help and protect others.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He encouraged the other students to escape the school using Miu's inventions that Kokichi left for everybody. It should be noted that the other students doubted what Kokichi had said, and given how Kaito and Kokichi never really get along, Kaito should also be extremely suspicious of Kokichi. However, given that he was Secretly Dying from his disease, he was so desperate to get out of the school and go to space that he decided to use Miu's inventions.
One-Note Cook: According to Mahiru at least. When he was running a restaurant for Festival Day in Ultimate Summer Camp. The thing he served was his Galactic Fried Rice. Though she then admits that she enjoyed it nevertheless.
Peaceful in Death: He dies in the middle of his own execution with a smile on his face, having finally got to see space just before that.
Pet the Dog: For all his misgivings and prejudice against Kokichi, he was willing to accept his reasoning for why he had Gonta participate in his plan against Miu, his only objection being Kokichi's putting all the blame on Gonta instead of sharing it.
Politically Incorrect Hero: Kaito means well, but he can be quite sexist at times - he frequently chastises Shuichi and Gonta for being too emotional or submissive and goes out of his way to try and encourage Shuichi to be more confident and "manly" by training with him. He also often underestimates the girls, such as thinking Maki won't be able to handle doing one-hundred push-ups despite her assassin training or stating he doesn't think women should use weapons. Unlike Tenko, this isn't treated as a serious character flaw, though Kaito's assumptions towards Maki, in particular, tend to make him look fairly ridiculous, since it's clear that Maki outclasses Kaito in every way when it comes to physical activities and it's actually Kaito who is the more compassionate, romantic one of the two of them. His old-fashioned values may have something to do with being raised by his grandparents.
The Power of Friendship: He's big on trusting people like he's a shonen series' protagonist. In the second trial, he trusts the notion that Maki didn't murder Ryoma, despite her having no alibi and the others are calling him an idiot for believing her without any evidence. In the third trial, he also believes in Himiko about Tenko not committing suicide because Himiko says that Tenko had no intention of dying. Chapter 4 becomes a Deconstruction of the trope. His only basis for believing Gonta is not the killer is because of this, despite the fact that there's a mountain of evidence that says otherwise. Oma calls him out on this throughout the trial, and even Shuichi is unable to side with Kaito this time.
Racist Grandma: Not him, but since he was raised by his grandparents, it's likely that the bigoted things he says in the Japanese version were picked up from them.
Raised by Grandparents: As shown in his motive video in Chapter 2, he lived with his grandparents while training to be an Astronaut who hope he is able to make it back home.
Recurring Element: A hammy, quirky guy who quickly becomes "bros" with the more-reserved protagonist and has a brief falling-out with them midway through the game before they reconcile, just like Kazuichi and Hajime from Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Kaito and Kazuichi even have the same English voice actor.
Red Herring:
- It never comes up in-game, but his official art depicts him holding a kiseru, which is a Japanese smoking pipe. This may have been intended to mislead players in regards to the nature of his illness.
- Also, Shuichi stated in Chapter 2 that "it is not like I will never see Kaito again" after the Insect Meet and Greet, and with him not showing up at the magic show, it made it seem like Shuichi jinxed Kaito by saying that. Around that time, the player may have zero ideas that he would be the Deuteragonist of the game as he had gotten way more screen time in Chapter 2 than in Chapter 1, and they may just think that Kaito would end up being the second victim of the killing game.
Rivals Team Up: With Kokichi in Chapter 5 in order to create a murder that even Monokuma can't solve.
Scheherezade Gambit: In the Chapter 5 trial, in spite of Kokichi's plan to induce a situation where Monokuma can't deduce the culprit of the case and ruin the killing game, Kaito knows fully well that he's going to die regardless due to his disease, which is why he eventually rejects Shuichi actually calling for everyone to follow through on his act. Because of this, there's seemingly no point to him obfuscating the trial and impersonating Kokichi, but he goes through with it regardless - not because he wants to necessarily "ruin" the killing game but because he wants to stall the entire trial so that his disease will catch up to him and kill him before he can get executed. To Monokuma's frustration, this plan is a success, as Kaito gets to have a heartfelt goodbye to his friends, and dies mid-execution while in space, happy that he finally achieved everything he could possibly hope to achieve.
Secretly Dying: At first, his fever is vouched on the occult atmosphere of the chapter, since he's terrified of ghosts to the point that it could make him sick. But at the end of the chapter, it's revealed that his illness is far more serious and only worsens later.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The manly man to Shuichi's sensitive guy. From early on, Kaito tries to encourage Shuichi to toughen up and stand strong, even when the tragedies burden him.
Shipper on Deck: In Ultimate Talent Development Plan, there are a couple of moments where Kaito brings up Shuichi in regards to Kaede (such as telling Maki that seeing Shuichi during a performance would get Kaede psyched up, as well as taking Kaede expressing surprise that he came to her performance alone as a disappointment that Shuichi didn't come with him) showing that he's very much aware that there's something between the two going on and is actively encouraging it. He also punches Shuichi at the end of the first trial when he doesn't think Shuichi is honouring Kaede's last wish.
Ship Tease:
- With Maki. She's the only character Kaito comes up with an Affectionate Nickname for and she ends up being the person he clings to when he's scared in the third investigation. He's also the only one willing to befriend her following the reveal of her true talent, but even before that, he was very adamant about defending her when she was accused during the second trial, despite not having any actual proof of her evidence, even collaborating with Shuichi when he lies to protect her. It all culminates in him sacrificing himself in Chapter 5 partially so that she wouldn't become the blackened for killing Kokichi. His feelings towards her are never outright confirmed though, unlike Maki's.
- He also gets a surprising amount of moments with Kaede, despite her short presence in the plot. He's more affectionate towards her than with anyone else at the time, even offering to give her a hug at one point. He's also one of Kaede's most adamant supporters, getting angry with the rest of the students on her behalf after they all turn on her following their failed escape attempts through the Death Road of Despair; as well as making one last-ditch effort to defend Kaede at the end of the first trial, with Kokichi even teasing him about how weirdly desperate he sounds. Lastly, he's among the students who were willing to give their lives to prevent Kaede from being executed. Interestingly enough, as mentioned on Shipper on Deck, Kaito seems to encourage Kaede and Shuichi's relationship, implying that, if he does have feelings for her, he's perfectly happy to set her up with his best friend if he thinks that's what she wants.
Shounen Hair: Spiky purple hair that sticks up. It fits with his Hot-Blooded personality and belief in The Power of Friendship.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: Kaito punches Kokichi in the face when the latter boasts about how he's going to "win" the Killing Game.
Significant Birth Date: April 12, the International Day of Human Space Flight.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: Surpasses even Owada and Kuzuryu on that ground. He somehow manages to have a friendlier image than those two despite that. It's downplayed in the localization, however.
Straight Man and Wise Guy: He serves as the Wise Guy to Shuichi's straight man.
Strapped to a Rocket: Like Jin Kirigiri before him, this is how he's executed, though it's more like "Forced Into the Inside of a Rocket".
Sympathetic Murderer: As an attempt to save Maki from being executed for poisoning Kokichi, both he and Kaito have willingly agreed for the latter to kill the former.
Talk to the Fist: In Chapter 4, Kokichi bragging about how he intends to "win" the Killing Game and mocking the others over wanting to end it makes Kaito totally lose his temper and he actually punches Kokichi in the face. Unfortunately, this impulsive act is implied to be what inspired Miu to frame Kaito for her attempted murder of Kokichi, and Kaito is the prime suspect for Chapter 4's trial until Shuichi is able to prove Kaito couldn't log out of the Virtual World by himself.
Third-Person Person: He likes to call himself "Kaito Momota - Luminary of the Stars!" a lot.
Too Dumb to Live: Narrowly averted when he attacked Monokuma in which the Monokubs nearly killed him with the Exisals if they hadn't accidentally destroyed Monokuma. Played straight with the Leeroy Jenkins moment as listed above.
Tragic Bromance: After Chapter 1, he takes Shuichi under his wing and they become very close friends, with even other characters like Miu commenting on their bizarre "bromance". Then Chapter 5 arrives...
Two Guys and a Girl: He and Shuichi are the two guys to Maki's girl.
Verbal Tic: Uses "bro" quite a lot with Shuichi.
What the Hell, Hero?:
- Prone to these, beginning at the end of Chapter 1 when he punches Shuichi in the face and tells him that wallowing in his Heroic BSoD is disrespecting Akamatsu's Heroic Sacrifice.
- Oma gives Kaito one of these in Chapter 4 for his inability to accept Gonta is the killer. It all accumulates to an image that shows disturbing similarities to the one Kaito gives to Shuichi.
- Despite respecting her dedication to her people, he calls Kirumi out when she tries to get her fellow students to sacrifice themselves in her place because Kirumi views her life as "more important" than theirs. Notably, this is one of the only times he and Kokichi are in agreement about something.
- When he is confirmed the culprit of Kokichi's murder case, mainly Shuichi and Maki abrasively chide Kaito himself for killing someone despite his adamance about never becoming a murderer, mainly due to them knowing that he'll receive execution if he ever did decide to commit a murder.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Ghost stories upset Kaito to the point where he can't eat or sleep properly. The whole deal with the Monokubs' Necronomicon and Korekiyo's Caged Child ritual leave him completely useless for the rest of Chapter 3.
Wouldn't Hit a Girl: While he had no trouble hitting Shuichi and Kokichi during the main game, Ultimate Summer Camp shows he would never do the same to a girl. He is genuinely scared when Akane decides she wants to fight him after learning how strong he is and spends the rest of the scene trying to get out of it.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Kaito believes that everyone is "the protagonist of their own story." As such, he often encourages others to do their best, more often Shuichi whenever he gets down.

Ryoma Hoshi

Ultimate Tennis Pro (Ultimate Prisoner)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hoshi.png

"Anyway...I'm warning you. It's dangerous to just walk up to a killer like me."

Voiced By: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), Chris Tergliafera (English)

A world-famous tennis player. During international matches, he would kill Mafiosi by hitting them in the head with a custom-made steel tennis ball, earning him the nickname "Killer Tennis" and the death sentence. He has a jaded, hardboiled demeanour despite being a teenager, and claims that the Ultimate Tennis Player is already dead due to already being in jail before coming to the Gifted Inmates Academy.

He is the victim of Chapter 2, allowing himself to be drowned by Kirumi Tojo after learning that nobody outside the killing game cared about him, and he had no one outside the academy to live for.

Adaptational Villainy: In the Japanese dub of the game, Kokichi suggested that Maki gave him his video because of how he knows about her talent, and she wanted him not to have a reason to live. However, in the English dub of the game, Kokichi suggested that Ryoma actually blackmailed her into showing his video, threatening to reveal her true talent otherwise. However, given how this information is given to us by Kokichi, it’s debatable if this trope actually applies to Ryoma.
Badass Adorable: Looks like a children's plush toy, yet he took out an entire mafia organization with only a steel tennis ball.
Baritone of Strength: He's the Ultimate Tennis Pro, and he gets a very, very deep voice... that doesn't match his tiny body one bit.
Berserk Button: He doesn't tolerate people being so nosy about him as many students (mainly Shuichi, Kaito and Nekomaru) tend to find out.
Blush Sticker: Adding to his cartoony design.
Breaking Old Trends: He has a Non-Standard Character Design much like Hifumi and Teruteru, but they primarily served as comic relief whereas Ryoma is more serious and has a pretty tragic backstory. And while Hifumi and Teruteru have prominent perverted streaks, Ryoma does not display such behavior.
Broken Bird: A rare male example. Ryoma used to be a lot more cheerful before he killed the mafia and was put on Death Row. The aftermath has caused him to become much more distant, both socially and emotionally, constantly warning others to stay away from him.
Cassandra Truth: In the first Rebuttal Showdown, he deduces that Rantaro's murderer sneaked out of the library after killing him and then feigned ignorance after regrouping with everyone else, but Kaede insists he's wrong because she thinks she herself is the culprit. It's not until the last trial that his deduction is proven to be on the right track, but because of the mastermind's manipulations, there was not enough concrete evidence to point to the real killer and save Kaede from execution.
Catchphrase: "You've still got a ways to go". Taken straight from Ryouma Echizen.
Chained by Fashion: Has a manacle with a broken chain on his left leg. This is a remnant of his days on Death Row.
Color Motif: Dark Blue.
Cruel and Unusual Death: OH SO VERY MUCH, probably the worst non-execution death in the game. He is hit in the back of the head with a wooden board, then in his injured state drowned to death in a sink, which was noted by Shuichi to be a violent struggle owing to all the scratch-marks his handcuffs left, not to mention he had to stare at the handcuffs as he drowned, a vivid reminder of his criminal past. As if that wasn't bad enough, he also gets eaten by piranhas until nothing but his bones remain. Thankfully, he was already dead when that part happened.
Dark and Troubled Past: He admits to being a dangerous person, having used his talent to murder mafia members in the past, and even received a death sentence for his actions.
Dark Is Not Evil: Dresses in mainly black and is a morally gray character.
Death Seeker: He thinks that being a death row inmate automatically makes his life worth less than anyone else, so when Monokuma announces that everyone will die if murder doesn't occur in 48 hours, he immediately volunteers to be the first victim (of course, this is compounded with the "First Blood" perk offered by Monokuma, which would allow the first murderer to skip the Class Trial and graduate without everyone else being executed). Rantaro temporarily manages to convince him otherwise. He doesn't last long in the killing game.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Starting in Chapter 2, Ryoma vows to find a reason to keep on living. When the motive involves everyone obtaining videos of their loved ones in the outside world and he ends up obtaining Maki's instead of his, he goes to meet up with her so they can swap videos. However...
Driven to Suicide: After watching his video and learning that nobody from the outside world missed him (or perhaps more accurately, there was nobody from the outside world left to miss him since they were presumably all killed by the mafia), Ryoma loses his will to live and allows himself to be murdered by Kirumi.
Dramatic Irony: As described under Cassandra Truth and Right for the Wrong Reasons, his theories about the murder in Chapter 1 are actually VERY close to the truth. But because of what the cast knows at the time, they're ultimately thrown out, and what really happened isn't discovered until very late in the game.
Dude, Not Funny!: Miu jokingly says that he and Shuichi should take a homoerotic shower together in the shower room of his Tennis Lab, and she implies that Ryoma is the perfect height to suck Shuichi's dick. Ryoma only responds by silently giving her a Death Glare and frightening her. See Prison Rape below.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As a death row inmate it's common to have his fellow students consider him to be "evil" at worst or a Fallen Hero at best, but this is sadly averted as shown by his motive video. It turns out he had absolutely no one left in his life that cared about him to appear in it, making him the only person in the series to have this openly be the case. He does speak about a beloved cat he misses dearly in his first free time event with Akamatsu, but he's certain the cat has long forgotten about him. Given how Celeste's cat and even Fukawa's stink bug were able to act as Hit List Targets in Ultra Despair Girls, which seemed to imply the targets were all subjects of their respective student's motive video, he's likely right about his cat moving on.
Face Death with Dignity: A rather tragic subversion. Ryoma, when confronted with Kirumi's desire for freedom, believes that she is in the right to target him with his depression reaching an all-time high preventing him to have any motivation to move forward. He turns his back to her and allows her to enact the plan that will ensure his death. However, as he regains consciousness, he's filled with the desire that all people have to live and spends his last moments struggling as anyone else would.
Fatal Flaw: His depression means that it is exceptionally easy for Monokuma to drive him to despair by showing him an empty motive video, and Ryoma loses all motivation to survive and turns his back on Kirumi, allowing her to knock him out and kill him.
Flash Step: It is shown that he's capable of using this, complete with The Prince of Tennis reference. This comes up in the second trial; how could someone who was so alert and so fast be caught off guard by someone sneaking up behind him and nailing him in the back of his head? The answer: He wasn't. He let himself get killed.
Fragile Speedster: He is extremely fast, as noted above, but once Kirumi grabs him, he is unable to fight her off and Shuichi notes by the scratch marks on the sink and handcuffs that Ryoma struggled a lot before succumbing.
The Gadfly: He's shown to behave like this during the Ultimate Talent Development Plan.
- During his interaction with Leon, it ends with him purposely trying to annoy him (which works).
- During the exhibition day when he's making Cream Puffs, he secretly stuck in one Wasabi Puff (which Ibuki was unfortunate enough to get).
Gonk: He has more of a plush-looking appearance compared with everyone else.
He Knows Too Much: According to Oma's interpretation in the Japanese version of the game, since he ended up watching Maki's video and found out about her true talent, she gave Ryoma his video knowing that he would no longer have a reason to live and will become a Death Seeker. Maki has claimed at the beginning of the chapter to never have watched the video. It's advised to remember that Oma is very negatively biased against murderers.
Huge Girl, Tiny Guy: Tiny Guy to Kirumi's Huge Girl, making it very easy for her to overpower him. Though Ryoma is heavily implied to have allowed her to knock him unconscious, Shuichi comments he still struggled when being drowned in the sink.
I Know Madden Kombat: He used his tennis skills to kill members of the mafia with steel tennis balls.
Irony: All of these students are in a prison school, and he's the only one of the entire cast who has even been in an actual prison.
- Also, how does a guy who took down The Mafia end up? Eaten by piranhas. As in, he sleeps with the fishes.
- Despite being one of the youngest-looking characters in the game, he's implied to be one of the oldest members of this cast considering he calls everybody else "kid" and the laws protecting minors from capital punishment.
Kindhearted Cat Lover: Despite his Dark and Troubled Past, he's one of the most selfless members of the group, and he used to own a cat before going to prison and passing it off to an acquaintance. His report card refers to his love for Russian Blues in particular.
The Lost Lenore: His Free Time Events with Saihara have him talk about a lover he used to have, who was killed before the game started much like the rest of his family, despite him distancing himself from her for her own protection, something he greatly regrets doing.
Mid-Suicide Regret: He allowed Kirumi to kill him, being handcuffed and thrown into Himiko's tank to drown. The moment he regains consciousness, however, he spends his last moments trying to break free, but to no avail.
My Greatest Failure: His biggest regret is making his girlfriend flee the country in an effort to keep her safe from the mafia, as they managed to track her down and kill her anyway. If he hadn't done that, he could have protected her himself, and even if he weren't successful at it, at least he would have been with her in her last moments and she wouldn't have died alone.
Nice Guy: Though he acts gruff and purposefully distances himself from people, he really does treat the entire class genuinely decently and wants a reason to live on with them. He even outright allows himself to be killed when Kirumi confronts him, despite demonstrating how easily he could escape if he wanted.
Nightmare Face: The trial prior CG that shows the faces of all characters has a creepy close-up of his face that looks absolutely unsettling.
No Brows: The only character in the game to not have any eyebrows, though his eyelids take up the mantle of expressiveness to offset this.
Non-Standard Character Design: As per the series' standard Recurring Element he looks nothing like any of the other members of the cast, much in the same vein of Hifumi, Teruteru, Bandai and Daiki. And just like Bandai, Ryoma has a voice that completely contrasts his design. And much like those characters, he also dies in the first half of the game.
Not So Above It All: Ryoma may be gloomy, but the Ultimate Talent Development Plan shows that he has a very mischievous sense of humor. He once purposefully annoyed Leon Kuwata and slipped in a Wasabi Puff among the Cream Puffs he made, and Ibuki was unfortunate enough to get the Wasabi Puff.
Older Than They Look: Thanks to his height and plush-like appearance (but not his voice), he could easily be mistaken for a small child. In reality, if Japan sentenced him to death row he can't be younger than 18 due to how the laws work.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's only 3'5" and famously took down an entire mafia by himself.
Piranha Problem: His corpse gets eaten by piranhas, reducing his body to a skeleton in mere moments.
Prison Rape: If you take him on a date to the gym in Dangan Salmon Team and suggest that both of you should remove your clothes, he will complain that you are giving him flashbacks from his time in prison, implying that he was a victim of this.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: Like Angie, he assumed the mastermind was the murderer of Rantaro and did kill him by hiding behind the secret door. He also suspected Shirogane of being Rantaro's murderer, by disguising herself in the toilets and killing him while he was distracted. While she didn't disguise herself, she did take the secret passageway in the toilets to get behind the secret door and kill Rantaro, before taking the evidence and hiding behind the bookshelf. His theory was proven false at the time because everyone assumed there was only one entrance to the secret hideout.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The mafia killed his family and lover because he refused to go along with their match-fixing. In return, he killed all their members with steel tennis balls.
Serial Killer: A former example, unlike active cases like Genocide Jack, Kiyo, or Maki. He only targeted the mafia who murdered his own loved ones, but it earned him both the name "Killer Tennis" and a spot on death row after he was caught.
The Stoic: Easily the most serious and least emotional character in the game. The most emotion he's shown is either mild shock or Tranquil Fury.
Shout-Out: He's quite obviously named after Ryoma Echizen, another short but excellent tennis player. Hoshi also makes frequent use of Echizen's Catchphrase. To top it off, Hoshi's first two Free Time Events are perfect descriptions of Echizen's teammates and major rivals (specifically Tezuka, Fuji, Inui, Atobe and Yukimura).
- Also, his hat looks quite similar to Bossun's.
Smoking Is Cool: Befitting the image of a badass, hardened criminal, he always has a cigarette in his mouth... except it's really just cigarette-shaped candy. Candy Cigarettes are also one of the best gifts to give him during his Free Time. In the Ultimate Talent Development Plan, one event has Kiyotaka Ishimaru mistake the candy for the real thing. Even after explaining himself, Ryoma has to put it away anyway since any kind of eating when manning a food stall is seen as poor form.
Stripped to the Bone: He gets devoured by piranhas when his body is discovered, reducing him to bones. Perhaps mercifully, this happens after his death.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Ryoma is aloof, jaded, and standoffish, but he loves cats, seems to think highly of most of the cast, and if his motive video in Chapter 2 is anything to go by, he's actually very lonely.
Sympathetic Murder Backstory: Ryoma went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the mafia who murdered his loved ones, willfully throwing his life away due to his belief that he had nothing left to live for. He is visibly guilt-ridden and remorseful over his crimes, and very few characters are ever shown to judge him for it.
Tempting Fate: Says he wants to find a reason to stay alive at one point in Chapter 2. He doesn't, and he eventually becomes the second murder victim.
Throw the Dog a Bone: His fate in the main story is easily one of the most horrifically tragic in the series, but in his Love Across The Universe ending he manages to instead resolve to start his life over once he leaves prison.
Tiny Schoolboy: The smallest male character in the game (according to his report card, he's 3'5), and easily the shortest human character in the entire series by a long shot (to the point where he has to stand on a stool during class trials). Ironic, considering his talent. invoked
Top-Heavy Guy: Inverted, his legs are notably much more muscular than the rest of his body. Justified, since his talent requires a lot of movement to get from one end of the court to another.
Trademark Favorite Food: The Ultimate Talent Development Plan reveals he likes Grape Soda.
Tranquil Fury: Following Kaede's execution and Monokuma's gloating.
Ryoma: ...I don't think I've ever felt quite this...irritated.
Troubled, but Cute: Discussed between him and Tsumugi in Ultimate Talent Development Plan. Even with his Nonstandard Character Design, Tsumugi believes Ryoma must be a hit with the fairer sex thanks to his brooding demeanor, only for Ryoma to point out why such a thing would be horrible considering his Dark and Troubled Past as a hitman pursued by the mafia.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Hardly anyone seems to comment on his absurdly low stature even though Ryoma never shows hints of having a Height Angst. The only exceptions are Miu telling him he's at the perfect height for having a "scrub down" with Shuichi in the shower, Genocide Jack calling him a midget in the Talent Development Plan, his shortness being brought up a couple of times during his Class Trial as the reason why his body could've been hidden inside the water tank stairs or how the killer could easily carry him across the ropeway to the gym and the story Gifted Inmates Impediment Removal Project from the (non-canon) anthology manga where Keebo tries to fix the perceived problem with this.
Vocal Dissonance: His shortness and cartoony appearance make him look like a very young child, but he has a deep, manly voice.

Rantaro Amami

Ultimate ??? (Ultimate Survivor / Ultimate Adventurer)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amami.png

"But I promise, I'm not a bad guy. Nice to meet ya."

Voiced By: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)

A mysterious boy with a rather cavalier demeanour. For some reason, he has forgotten his talent but decides to look forward to remembering it instead of worrying about it. Despite his attitude, he can quickly grasp the depth of a situation and gives off the impression that he may know something the others don't.

He is the victim of Chapter 1. Initially thought to have been caught by Kaede Akamatsu's deathtrap, he was murdered by Tsumugi Shirogane - the mastermind - to kickstart the killing game, as Monokuma's time limit motive was not having an effect on the students. It's revealed posthumously that Rantaro's true title was Ultimate Survivor; a special title given to people who have previously survived a killing game, giving them access to special perks that allow them to win the game easier. Since Rantaro was not a student involved during the Hope's Peak Academy incidents, his title becomes a major clue for Shuichi in uncovering the true nature of the current killing game.

Action Survivor: He's the Ultimate Survivor, apparently having survived previous instances of Mutual Killing games.
Advertised Extra: He follows the trend of a seemingly important and heavily promoted character being the first victim of the game, although, unlike his predecessors, he's largely Out of Focus even prior to his death.
Ambiguously Evil:
- The game very blatantly sets him up as a suspicious type similar to Komaeda, and some of his expressions are quite sinister. Being the first victim, we don't get to see this side explored. For what it's worth, he's more than willing to keep replaying (and winning) this game, even going so far as to leave himself messages, and since there are only two ways to survive a killing game, it's perfectly plausible that he has been a killer in a previous game.
- The finale gives the remaining survivors the option to stay in the killing game forever, or sacrifice all but two to "punishment" while the remaining two leave the killing game as victors. Shuichi presses the mastermind on what "punishment" means, and makes the deduction that those that are sacrificed will have their memories wiped and be thrown into another killing game, and it is implied that Rantaro Amami gained the title of Ultimate Survivor by being punished this way.
Amnesiac Hero: Rantaro has no recollection of his talent.
Anime Hair: Green, messy, asymmetric, with fork-like ahoges.
Anvil on Head: He is struck by a shotput, which falls from on top of the bookshelf he is standing in front of. Subverted when we later learn that Kaede's trap missed him, and Tsumugi hit him with an identical one afterwards.
Berserk Button: From Dangan Salmon Team, if you take him on a date and suggest that you could accept living in the academy forever (after promising to travel the world with him to find his younger sisters), he shows off a unique Nightmare Face sprite almost on par with what Kokichi can do.
Rantaro: ...You aren't serious, are you?
Big Brother Instinct:
- He has 12 younger sisters, and he's shown to be very kind and protective of them. His Love Hotel scene shows a glimpse of his big-brother personality, wherein he sees Shuichi as a little brother he must protect.
- In the free time events between him and Shuichi, he eventually reveals that one of his little sisters vanished while she was following Rantaro as he snuck off to explore during a family trip. He somehow lost contact with all 12 of his little sisters, all around the planet like this, and he gained the title of Ultimate Adventurer by relentlessly searching for them all around the globe.
Beware the Silly Ones: He seems shallow and carefree, but is very sharp and willing to interrogate Monokuma. He also fully grasps the gravity of the situation they're in. As a survivor of previous killing games, he knows full well what's going on.
Birds of a Feather: In the Ultimate Talent Development Plan universe, he strikes up a friendship with Korekiyo, due to their shared passion for the world combined with their devotion to their sisters.
Bludgeoned to Death: Killed by a blow to the head by a shotput ball.
Breaking Old Trends: Kyoko and Hajime, the two other students with initially unknown talents, each survives their respective killing games. Rantaro is the first casualty in his.
Celibate Hero: He displays a large lack of romantic or sexual interest in any character and has the sole platonic Love Hotel scene. Considering the Love Key turns Shuichi in the ideal partner of whoever goes to the hotel with him, and for Rantaro's the two just talk as if the former is his little brother, it's possible that Rantaro doesn't really have any interest in anyone that way as opposed to Tsumugi's theory he was gay.
Chekhov's Gunman: He is the first victim of the killing game, having been eliminated while trying to expose the mastermind for everyone else. The case involving his death comes up again in Chapter 6, where he's not only discovered to have been a survivor of a previous killing game, but he was also given a guide to the mastermind's lair, allowing the remaining survivors to expose Tsumugi and Team Danganronpa as the masterminds of the Killing School Semester.
Dead Star Walking: In-Universe he was a popular celebrity for winning at least one Killing Game and was unceremoniously killed off first in this one. This trope applies out of universe as well, considering he's voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa. On top of that, he's rather popular in Japan for a first victim character (beating well-liked characters such as Ki-bo by being the 6th most voted character in their official popularity poll) and whose fans are clamoring for a spin-off starring him.
Death by Genre Savviness: Discovering the mastermind's lair during his own investigation led to his demise.
Death from Above: His cause of death is noted to be from a shotput ball falling onto his head, The end of the game reveals that while he was killed by a shotput ball, it was used a bit more directly.
Edgy Backwards Chair-Sitting: Showcased in his official art.
Fashionable Asymmetry: His hair is longer on the left side of his face, leaving his other ear and his various piercings exposed.
Foreshadowing: Sharp-eyed players will notice a few things off about his corpse. Firstly, the wound from the shot-put ball is not quite consistent with where it landed: the bleeding wound is on the back of his head rather than the crown of his skull. Secondly, the blood splatter on the wall doesn't exactly line up with the open book. Thirdly, there's a noticeable bloodstain on Rantaro's hand, and that hand can be seen holding a Monopad in the photo taken right before his death, but the Monopad found at the crime scene is spotless. These hints foreshadow that Kaede's attempt failed, that he was actually attacked from behind, and that he had a second Monopad that was stolen from him.
Guyliner: Not nearly as much as Saihara, but he nonetheless has quite the lashes.
He Knows Too Much: In the prologue, while practically the entire cast seems clueless and terrified, he is the only one to stand up to the Monokumas and call them out on what he claims to be a "silly copycat routine". Quite tellingly, he loses most of his memories after the first Flashback Light transformation and is the first character to die.
Hero of Another Story: In the previous killing game he survived. Also, his adventures to find his twelve missing sisters across the globe.
Idiot Hair: He has a sort of fork-resembling ahoges coming out of the top of his hair. Given his history, he wouldn't be out of place as a protagonist of another killing game.
In Touch with His Feminine Side: As a result of growing up with twelve sisters. He's even skilled in nail art, which he demonstrates to Kaede during a bonus scene in Chapter 1.
Lampshade Hanging: His first voiced sentence on the third PV of the game has him saying "I'm not a suspicious guy". There's absolutely nothing in him that does not look suspicious.
Massive Numbered Siblings: In his last Free Time Event with Rantaro, Shuichi wishes him well on his adventures and hopes that he can reunite with his lost sister...but Rantaro immediately corrects him, saying that he has 12 younger sisters, all of whom he somehow lost during his adventures. In the School Mode, he claims that he also has brothers, but he doesn't clarify the number. It seems his insistence on not being called a playboy is because his father is one.
Mellow Fellow: He acts pretty down to earth and calm despite the situation.
Messy Hair: To add to his generally casual, easy-going appearance.
Nice Guy: Despite his suspicious looks, he's a very polite, mild-mannered, and friendly guy.
Ordinary High-School Student: It's hard to say if he is "ordinary" or even a high schooler at this point, but in terms of looks, he is among the most average and normal-looking of the cast along with Maki and Kaede.
Out of Focus: Aside from being the first victim, he has a notable lack of screen time compared to Sayaka, Chisa, and the Ultimate Imposter. He's the subject of a lot of in-game speculation and plot points posthumously as described in the below trope, though.
Posthumous Character: While he was alive, he was extremely Out of Focus but come to Chapter 6, his talent as well as what truly ended up happening with his murder case becomes extremely important.
Punny Name: An alternative reading of his name's kanji is "tenkai", which when written with a different set of kanji (展開), can be translated as "plot twist", referring to his "talent" as the Ultimate ???.
Real Men Wear Pink: He's a skilled nail artist, upstaging Tsumugi as he demonstrates by painting Kaede's nails. His knowing how to paint nails probably has something to do with him having 12 younger sisters.
Recurring Element: Just like Kyoko and Hajime from the previous two games, his talent is unknown thanks to him having amnesia. He is, in fact, the Ultimate Survivor, who has survived at least one killing game in the past.
Red Herring: Fans have pointed out how his innocent and friendly smile and overall mysterious though normal presence makes him look like Nagito, and in fact, one of his early designs looked nearly identical to Nagito. The English dub takes it a step further by having the same voice actor as the previous game's protagonist voice him, which was the same situation with Nagito. Turns out that it's subverted, as he's nothing like Nagito.
Red Herring Mole: The promotional material heavily plays him up as a suspicious person and also as someone close to Kaede, leaving the impression he would be either the Token Evil Teammate or some sort of Deuteragonist, but instead he's the first victim and is pretty Out of Focus during the entire game. He also counts as either this or a Decoy Protagonist in-universe, since fans of his previous season would likely expect more out of him and his attempts to quietly take the game down.
Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts: How Akamatsu apparently kills him - through a shot put rolled down the vents, redirected into the library by a vent cover, and down a staircase of books hidden by a wall of books acting as a stopper, with a gutter formed by open books onto Rantaro's head. In reality, her trap missed, and Shirogane simply bashes him over the head.
Sacrificial Lamb: Out of universe he's clearly this but in-universe he'd be seen as a Sacrificial Lion.
Ship Tease: With Kaede. Both of them seem to have formed a bond in Chapter 1, as Kaede is his only true friend, and they even get a special CG of Rantaro painting Kaede's nails in this chapter's bonus event. However, little comes of it before he is unceremoniously killed — allegedly at Kaede's hands, no less!
Significant Birth Date: October 26, Mountain Climbing Day. His birth flower is the "maple" or "Kaede" in Japanese, most likely to foreshadow how their paths crossed in the first chapter, eventually triggering the events of V3.
Small Role, Big Impact: Despite his death in Chapter 1 and being noticeably Out of Focus for the majority of the game, a good portion of the final chapter is focused on the survivors trying to find out his true identity, which leads them to a mysterious video recorded by himself that eventually give them a clue to uncover the truth regarding his murder as well as the mastermind's identity.
Smarter Than You Look: His bio describes him as being more clever than he appears. Given that he's been involved in another killing game before this one, it's no wonder he's this.
Stepford Smiler: Shuichi notes in his Free Time Events with Rantaro that he is always smiling. The smile, however, seems pained, and Rantaro uses it to try to stop people from trying to pry about anything having to do with his missing sisters.
Story-Breaker Power: His talent is actually Ultimate Survivor, which comes with perks that give him bonus information (such as a video of himself from before he got his memory wiped, and a map of the entire academy, although the hidden passage in the girl's bathroom is omitted from the map).
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: In-universe, he is a survivor of a previous killing game and the first one wasted here.
Tareme Eyes: To help denote his apparent Mellow Fellow vibe.
Too Powerful to Live: He could have potentially ended the game very early. Unluckily for him, Tsumugi took advantage of Kaede's trap and bashed him over the head before he got the chance to interfere. Bonus points for having Angie attempt to resurrect him only for her to die before she could do so.
Walking Spoiler: An unusual case; while not as big as some other characters, he can still count due to being killed off earlier than many would expect, becoming Out of Focus within the story in comparison to what promotional materials made him out to be. On the more traditional side of this trope, his true talent and all the implications that come with it give away a massive spoiler for the game.
We Hardly Knew Ye: He has notably less screentime in comparison to the other first victims. Though this only applies out-of-universe, as in-universe, he had a Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome.
The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): A cool-headed person who clearly has more of an idea than the rest of the group on what's going on and dispenses sound yet ominous advice for his fellow players, only to end up as the first victim. Learning posthumously that he was the Super High-school Level Survivor only made this retroactively more blatant.

Gonta Gokuhara

Ultimate Entomologist

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gonta.png

"Gonta do his best, too! Gonta do his best to be even little bit useful for everyone!"

Voiced By: Shunsuke Takeuchi (Japanese), Kaiji Tang (English)

An enormous but gentle boy. As a child, he wandered into the woods to go bug-hunting and went missing for ten years. During that time he stated he was raised by wolves and learned how to communicate with animals but in actuality, he was raised by dinosaur-men called "Reptites". He has vowed to become a true gentleman to repay his "woodland family" and to prove to his human family that he is still a refined person even with his "wild" upbringing. Having grown up outside of society, he lacks social skills and general cultural knowledge to a certain degree. Despite his appearance, he claims to have never killed a bug.

He is the culprit of Chapter 4, working with Kokichi Oma and strangling Miu Iruma in Virtual Reality in order to end the killing game with everyone's deaths. However, due to Gonta wearing the Virtual Reality equipment incorrectly, he is unable to remember murdering Miu upon leaving the Virtual Reality.

Abusive Parents: The only information given about Gonta's biological family is in his Free Time Events, where he states they not only rejected and disapproved of Gonta's forest family despite raising Gonta and helping him survive far longer than they did, but also seemed to be angry and harsh towards Gonta himself because of his lack of manners.
Gonta: So they get mad at Gonta. Say Gonta not worthy of family name. They blame Gonta's forest family. Say it all their fault.
Shuichi: (That's awful... they should have been grateful for taking care of you for a decade...)
Adaptational Dumbass: Downplayed, as Gonta is never portrayed as smart by any means outside his field of study, but he goes from being a Third-Person Person to a caveman in the NISA localisation.
Alliterative Name: Gonta Gokuhara.
All Take and No Give: His relationship with Kokichi, Kokichi being the Taker and Gonta being the Giver. Gonta is the sole person among the cast to never hate Kokichi, and Kokichi takes full advantage of his generosity and forgiveness, manipulating him into participating in his plans. While they are often seen together in Chapter 2's Daily Life segments, Gonta is notably afraid of Kokichi to the extent that he asks Kokichi's permission to converse with Shuichi (most likely fearing that Kokichi would do something rash to him if he randomly disconnected from their bond) while Kokichi never even asks if Gonta's okay with him suddenly leaving to hang out with Shuichi, verbally berates him when he wants to leave.This comes to a horrifying height in Chapter 4, when Gonta, after being manipulated by Kokichi into committing a murder, outed by him during the trial, and about to be executed, still asks for everyone not to blame Kokichi for his actions and makes his classmates promise to forgive each other while Kokichi not only gleefully laughs as Gonta is executed, but makes sure that Gonta's last wish can never be fullfilled.
Amnesiacs are Innocent: Because he bungled the connection to the Virtual World, he has no memory of murdering Miu.
Apologetic Attacker: Apologizes to Miu several times as he is strangling her to death in the virtual world. He even does it when she is already dead.
Barbarian Longhair: Long, messy hair that makes him seem almost threatening.
Beetle Maniac: Naturally, as the Ultimate Entomologist, he is very passionate about insects. Some of his most terrifying moments are the times when he thinks someone he is talking to hates insects, his reason being that you must be a bad person if you don't like them.
Believing Their Own Lies: Gonta is actually capable of some rather clever ways of thinking but has conditioned himself that he's an idiot so thoroughly that both he and everyone else around him thinks that is Gonta is dumb.
Beneath Suspicion: In the fourth case, he's an unlikely murderer due to his overwhelming kindness through the game and by how "dumb" he is seen by the cast members, even himself. Adding the fact that he doesn't remember a thing of what happened, Shuichi doesn't even consider him as a suspect, until Kokichi outright outs him as the culprit.
Berserk Button: Not liking bugs is one, as he tends to assume people who like bugs must be good. This results in a lot of "false positives" when he asks others about their feelings towards bugs since he can be rather intimidating.
Beware the Nice Ones: He's very sweet and kind, but you don't want to get on his bad side. After Kokichi lied to Gonta about everybody hating bugs, he forcibly brought everybody he could into his Entomology Lab and released all of the insects to prove how great insects are.
- The thing got 10 times worse when he found out that Kokichi actually lied to him, and was forced to stay in the bug meeting. It was only stopped when Kokichi passed out with foam forming in his mouth.
Big Brother Instinct: Though he's actually the youngest of the cast, Gonta tries his best to protect his fellow classmates and every death in the game hits the poor guy hard.
Big Guy, Little Guy: He is the big guy to Kokichi's little guy.
Big Ol' Eyebrows: Not nearly as much as Nekomaru, but his eyebrows are angular and noticeably larger than the rest of the cast.
The Big Guy: Easily the biggest character of the game, as per the usual form. Unfortunately for him, Big Guy Fatality Syndrome is in full effect.
Breaking Old Trends:
- Unlike Sakura and Nekomaru, Gonta doesn’t befriend the brown-skinned female student of the class, aka, Angie.
- While he does die in Chapter 4, he winds up killing another student instead of being killed.
Brains and Brawn: Kokichi tricks him into acting as the "Brawn" to his "Brain" on a few occasions, like when he convinces him to gather most of the students to the Entomology Lab in Chapter 2, or when they team up to counter Miu's murder attempt in Chapter 4.
Catchphrase: "Gonta idiot!" and "Gonta wants to be useful for everyone"
Color Motif: Brown.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Well, "killer" in this case since he's hardly an antagonist even during his own trial. He has many similarities to the past two Chapter Four killers as he is a Gentle Giant like Sakura and his talent revolves around animals like Gundham. His death can find some similarities to Sakura's death due to taking a lethal substance, Sakura by drinking poison and Gonta by being stung by mechanical wasps which have some kind of venom that made him swollen, had the destruction of his Alter Ego included much like her stand-in execution, and he was killed by animals like Gundham, in a similar setting. While Gundham was still on the island in a more deserted place, Gonta was taken to a western theme location for his execution. However, their motives for committing murder are wildly different: Sakura and Gundham intended to make a Heroic Sacrifice to some degree with their murders while Gonta intended to Mercy Kill everyone by having the students incorrectly vote for Ouma.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Tied to a wooden post, sprayed with a flurry of wasps, which sting his face repeatedly and make it look horribly swollen, then impaled through the abdomen by a giant insect. He, the insect, and the post are then incinerated by Monokuma wielding a flamethrower.
Death by Irony: Just like every execution, it’s themed after the culprit so as the Ultimate Entomologist, Gonta is killed with insects.
Defeat by Modesty: A rather interesting inverted example. In Chapter 2, when Gonta was tricked into gathering most of the students to Entomology Lab at Kokichi's request, Miu was one of the few students to avoid capture by reluctantly stripping down to her underwear, resulting in Gonta being too embarrassed to look at her, let alone grab her.
Despair Event Horizon: The sight of the outside world makes him think, "If the school where everyone is killing each other is hell and the outside world is hell too, what should we do?" The conclusion he takes is to Mercy Kill everyone by winning the game.
Does Not Like Spam: His report card states that does not like bananas.
Dramatic Irony: Right after Miu dies, Gonta is distraught and declares he cannot forgive her killer and lambastes himself for failing to protect yet another classmate... Then it turns out he is the culprit.
Dumb Muscle: Averted. Due to being a Wild Child, he's not very smart when it comes to many subjects (though he's on a level of his own when it comes to things like insects and ropes), and is very gullible. But the aversion comes from the fact that Gonta is smart, as he's the one who figures out Kirumi's rope trick in Chapter 2, but he has ingrained the idea that he's dumb so thoroughly into his head that it's left him and everyone else thinking he's a bit stupid.
Dumbass Has a Point: In the fourth trial when the students are shocked at Miu's plans to kill Kokichi and win the Killing Game, Gonta argues against any condemnation of her and says Miu is not a bad person - it's the Killing Game that's bad. He's correct about this, as both murderers and victims in the game are manipulated and toyed with until their breaking point, as we see most clearly with Kirumi.
Everyone Has Standards: He's willing to forgive anyone, but even he was furious at Korekiyo and refuses to forgive him for why he murdered Angie and Tenko.
Expy: In addition to Tarzan Boy below, he can also be seen as an expy to Jonathan Joestar, as they are both muscled individuals who are younger than they appear and have a desire to be gentlemen. His name even has a two-letter alliteration just like Jonathan's: Gonta Gokuhara.
Face Death with Dignity: Even though he doesn't remember killing Miu, he goes to his execution bravely, believing he deserves his fate for killing a classmate he wanted to protect. He doesn't show a painful face nor even struggles when he's tied to a post and about to be impaled.
Face of a Thug: He's well-aware that he's scary-looking, but he's probably the nicest boy in the cast.
Failure Knight: Gonta's intentions are noble. He wishes to be a gentleman and to protect his classmates from harm, but as he himself lampshades in Chapter 4, he never manages to save a single one from being killed.
Fatal Flaw: Gonta's gullible nature and his desire to protect his classmates allow him to be easily manipulated by Kokichi and boy, does it come back to bite him.
First-Name Basis: In the Japanese version, everyone calls him by his first name except for Ryoma, Kirumi, and Maki.
Friend to Bugs: Obviously, given his talent. He also tries to invoke the trope with others, since he doesn't think anyone who likes bugs could be a bad person and set up an "Insect Meet and Greet" to convince his friends about how great bugs are.
Gentle Giant: He makes an effort to be a kind gentleman, but can get very intense and scary about the subject of bugs.
Good Is Dumb: Downplayed. He has good intentions, but because of his background upbringing, his actions or thoughts can mislead. For example, he doesn't have a lot of social skills, which usually makes him have some sort of "White and Black" way of thought. He states to be dumb in stuff aside from his field of practice (Entomology) and tends to be quite gullible. Because of that, he sometimes gets strung along for Kokichi's personal plots. It bites him hard in the fourth case.
Guyliner: His eyelashes seem noticeably more pronounced than other male characters.
Hair Color Dissonance: Has brown hair, but it sometimes appears green, such as some CGs and his hanging doll◊.
Hulk Speak: In the English version only. Justified, since he was raised away from society for 10 years and likely forgot how to use proper grammar.
Hunk: He's the biggest character in the cast and quite good-looking.
Improbable Weapon: Strangles Miu Iruma to death with toilet paper, albeit toilet paper found in a virtual reality where the props are indestructible.
Innocently Insensitive: As a result of him having No Social Skills, he can make some comments that can be viewed as this such as accidentally agreeing with Kokichi when he says Miu is an embarrassment to the whole world, Gonta tells her not to worry. He also tells Kaito that it's okay to be an idiot if you believe in people.
Irony:
- Despite being based on Tarzan, his report card states that he hates bananas.
- What proved to be a Spanner in the Works for Gonta in the Virtual World? A computer bug.
- What does Monokuma shoot him with during his execution? A B.B Gun.
The Killer Was Left-Handed: The main reason why he couldn't remember a thing about killing Miu is because of his confusion regarding Himiko's mantra on how to insert the cords to the VR set - she says that right is the hand you use to hold your chopsticks, but Gonta takes this to mean his dominant hand, causing him to do it with his left hand, put them in the wrong plugs, leading to a total wipeout of his memory of the virtual world and the murder in specific.
Himiko: He couldn't have messed up. I said it over and over. "Right is the hand you hold your chopsticks in".
Gonta: [indicating his left hand] Oh, but Gonta hold chopsticks with this hand...
Himiko: Oh! THAT'S YOUR LEFT HAND!!
Literal-Minded: Gonta once said that he needs to be told where to find an alibi, apparently believing that an alibi is a tangible thing. In Love Across the Universe, Shuichi has the option of "getting horny after a meal", but Gonta will say that he is not seeing any horns on Shuichi, and then conclude that the horns might be invisible.
Locked Out of the Loop: For a vast majority of the time, Gonta has no idea what's happening when people discuss the Virtual World in Chapter 4, which is because he literally has no memory of it.
Luminescent Blush: In one of his sprites, showing a bashful side of the hulking Gonta.
Manchild: Thanks to his innocence and gentleness, he acts more like a young kid in an adult's body than a teenager. In Ultimate Summer Camp, it allows him to be one of the only adults the Warriors of Hope like, due to his innocence making them see him more like a little kid than an adult.
Messy Hair: Wild, unkempt hair, clearly referencing his origins of being raised by wolves (later revealed to be a lie; he was actually raised by Reptites, although that's still away from human society).
Morality Pet: Depending on how you chose to interpret Tsumugi's character, he could be considered this to her, since the only moments she escapes her social chameleon persona are directed at him.
My God, What Have I Done?: Without the memory that he killed Miu, his reaction is nothing but this and he goes willingly to his execution after killing one of the classmates he wanted to protect.
Mythology Gag: Much like how Miu's death parallels Ibuki's death from Danganronpa 2 where the story takes a darker turn after their deaths, both of their respective killers can be viewed as unexpected as many students initially refuse to believe that Gonta or Mikan could be the killer largely due to their demeanour. Both causes of death were also the same, with Gonta and Mikan both strangling their victim with a long object.
Nice Guy: While he can seem intimidating, Gonta is a gentleman and would never use his strength to harm others. Not with malicious intent, anyway. He's so nice that nobody wants to believe he's responsible for a murder and everyone is in tears after he dies.
Nightmare Face: Since he has the Face of a Thug, whenever Gonta gets too fired up, he winds up sporting a very intimidating grimace.
No Social Skills: He has trouble speaking with other students and lacks general cultural knowledge due to him being raised in the woods.
Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Before he goes to his death, Gonta tells everyone not to be mad at Kokichi and to forgive him for his role in manipulating him into killing Miu.
Odd Friendship:
- V3's Ultimate Talent Development Plan has him forming a natural connection with breeder Gundham from their shared interest and talent that deals with animals.
- The same bonus mode has him befriend Byakuya of all people. Even a jerk like him can't find it in him to be rude to Gonta and actually agrees to teach him how to be a gentleman.
- He would also befriend Peko, thanks to both being animal lovers.
Platonic Declaration of Love: His last words to the group before his execution are one, fitting with how often he stressed he wanted to help and protect them.
Purely Aesthetic Glasses: He sports a pair of glasses despite the fact that, by his own admission, he has a borderline superhuman 20/0.625 eyesight. It's very likely that he wears them for the purpose of looking more gentlemanly.
Raised by Wolves: As a child, he got lost in the forest while searching for insects. He was found by some kind wolves and even learned to communicate with animals thanks to them. Subverted in his Free Time Events, where he reveals he was lying about a pack of wolves being the "forest family" he talks about and was actually raised by Reptites in exchange for not revealing their existence to humanity.
Recurring Element:
- As always, there's a Big Guy, similar to the previous Sakura, Nekomaru and Gozu. He's also the Gentle Giant who ends up dying in Chapter 4, only this time, he's the culprit like Sakura was rather than the victim.
- Also, similarly to the other Chapter 4 culprits, his motive involves some form of noble self-sacrifice. Sakura commits suicide after breaking into the Headmaster's office in order to unify the remaining survivors and take the fight to the mastermind, Gundham arranges a fight to the death with Nekomaru to prevent the others from dying of starvation while trapped in the funhouse, while Gonta mercy kills Miu after learning the horrible truth of the outside world so he can take on the burden himself. Subverted slightly in that he was being manipulated by Ouma, who had far more selfish intentions.
- As a culprit, Gonta bears a considerable amount of similarities with Mikan, the previous game's Chapter 3 blackened - both of their murders involve strangling someone to death and killing the comic-relief, vulgar blonde who dishes out insults but can't take them back, both of them are characters with an outwardly soft and incompetent demeanour that causes most of the group to struggle with condemning them, and some kind of program interference involving their physical body and virtual avatar's memories ends up being crucial to the case, with Mikan's entire motive stemming from Monokuma's despair disease giving her avatar her real-world memories and Gonta's trial being complicated immensely by his slip-up separating his memories from his avatar, with Shuichi speculating that is could have affected his personality in some way.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Downplayed. He is technically a red-eyed character that committed murder in this game. However, the circumstances around that murder and his personality as a Nice Guy made it very hard for somebody to call him a truly evil person.
Red Herring: In the first trial it seems like Gonta could be Rantaro's killer because he locked himself up in the AV Room, which lies adjacent to the library's rear entrance and Gonta is the only student who would have been strong enough to throw the shot-put ball from that distance and hit Rantaro. However, Kaede correctly realizes that the hidden door was still open at that point, which would have blocked the shot.
The Scapegoat: In a truly heart-wrenching fashion, Kokichi pulled him into a murder plot to kill Miu with his true intention of using Gonta as this rather than Mercy Kill the others as he was lead to believe. Everyone else is furious at Kokichi for this.
Serious Business: Both the Official Art and his mannerisms indicate that bug catching is something he is really intense about since it was established that since he was a child, he is very interested in bugs as the other kids isolated him for being too big and scary.
A Sinister Clue: Played with. When everyone prepares to use the VR headsets, Miu explains that the red cord should go into the plug on the right, and Himiko, in order not to make a mistake herself, reminded everyone that right is where the hand you use to hold chopsticks is. Turns out Gonta is left-handed and, though exceptionally subtle, is always depicted as such. To avoid getting in the way, his bug case is on his non-dominant side: his right. To reinforce this, he also lifts the manhole with his left hand. Gonta himself is an incredibly sweet person, but he is the fourth Blackened.
Sleeps in the Nude: His FTE with Kaede reveals he removes his clothes before sleeping because it's uncomfortable for him. Though after Kaede says it's not very gentlemanly, Gonta pledges not to do it anymore.
Smarter Than You Look: As The Big Guy, it's easy to assume he has some fighting-related talent, like Sakura (Martial Artist), Nekomaru (Coach), Great Gozu (Wrestler), and Juzo (Boxer). But not this time; Gokuhara is an Entomologist, a scientist specialized in the study of insects, and while he doesn't think much of his own intelligence it's mostly in regards to things outside of this field.
Spanner in the Works: In Chapter 2, he's able to help clear Himiko of suspicion when he jumped onto the top of the tank to rescue her. He was able to provide eyewitness testimony that Ryoma's body only entered the tank with the piranhas.
Speaks Fluent Animal: Due to him being Raised By Reptites, he ended learning how to speak with animals, which allows him to bond with Gundham in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan.
Super Gullible: He believes Kokichi when he stated he is an honest and trustworthy man at the start of Chapter Two.
Super-Strength: In the first chapter, he's capable of lifting a manhole cover with only two fingers, whereas two other people tried and failed to carry the same manhole cover.
Sympathetic Murderer: His murder of Miu only happened due to his misguided attempt to "save" everyone after learning about the state of the outside world (believing that it was so horrible that it would be easier for everyone's well-being if they died rather than found out), something Kokichi used for his own reasons. Because of the bug, he is unable to recall anything happening, and he's horrified when he finds out.
Take Me Instead: He offers to be killed in the place of Kirumi, because he feels that she has more to offer the world than he does, but Kaito talks him down from doing so and calls Kirumi out on trying to manipulate everyone.
Tarzan Boy: Like Tarzan, he was raised away from society for most of their life by animals and encouraged to make an effort to become a gentleman after returning to human civilization.
Third-Person Person: In Japanese, it's to accentuate his more childish personality. In English, it's due to his time being raised by Reptites.
Too Dumb to Live: Trusting Kokichi, who has already demonstrated himself to be up to no good multiple times before? A forgivable mistake. Trusting him again, when he had already tricked you once (which resulted in Ryoma dying) and has been behaving extremely suspiciously for several days? Lands squarely into this trope.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Gonta remains courteous and kind throughout the entire game. The reveal that he killed Miu is tragic, especially since he can't remember doing it and is utterly horrified by the idea.
The Unfought: He's the only culprit (asides from Tsumugi) you do not have an Argument Armament with - instead, Kaito takes his place. Justified, given how he doesn't remember the virtual world, so he can't really make any counterarguments to the claims of Shuichi and Kokichi.
Unwitting Pawn: To Kokichi, he firstly is used to try and gather up every other student under false pretenses, and then later used by Kokichi as a tool to stop Miu's threat to him, and then threw him under the bus.
Unskilled, but Strong: Unlike previous The Big Guy characters, Gonta's talent does not relate to fighting. However, some of the more skilled fighters among the students, like Tenko and Ryoma, admit that they wouldn't be able to beat him in a fight due to his size and monstrous strength.
Varying Competency Alibi: No one believes he could be Miu's killer as he's both a Nice Guy and not very intelligent, while the scheme to kill Miu required careful planning while accounting for the bizarre elements of the Neo World Program. It turns out that he was an Unwitting Pawn of Kokichi, who both came up with the plan and deliberately pushed Gonta past the Despair Event Horizon to make him willing to kill Miu.
Weak-Willed: Despite being the biggest and physically strongest student, Gonta is very dependent on others to do the thinking for him, as he believes everyone else knows better than him. In Chapter 4 it's shown that even when Gonta has hit his lowest and succumb to despair, he's still willing to listen completely to Kokichi rather than attempt something on his own.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: His goal of becoming a gentleman stems from a desire to make his biological family accept his forest family - though he does specifically state it's his forest family he wants to make proud more than his seemingly less pleasant human family, it's still presented in this light. By his final Free-Time Event, Shuichi is able to convince Gonta how his talent and accomplishments as the Ultimate Entomologist would already be enough to make his forest family proud, and Gonta finds the resolve to want to become a gentleman for his own sake rather than for anyone's approval.
Wild Hair: He has long, unkempt brown/green hair.
Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: While it's ambiguous as to whether or not Gonta could have actually gotten away with the murder had Kokichi not spoken up, but he spends a vast majority of his trial with people arguing for his innocence (and in Kaito's case, an argument that causes him to vote for Kokichi instead). Gonta wasn't even a possible suspect, all by virtue of bringing no attention to himself and behaving as he always does.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He was this in Chapter Four. He crossed the Despair Event Horizon in that chapter by learning the state of the outside world and Kokichi manipulates him into thinking that the only way to protect the students from that state is Mercy Kill all of them.
Younger Than They Look: Word of God says he's actually the youngest character in the game.

Kokichi Oma

Ultimate Supreme Leader

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ouma_4.png

"How are you going to find the culprit when you're all worried about each other's feelings? If you want to expose a liar, you have to corner them psychologically...only then will they reveal their true selves, hidden beneath a layer of deceit!"

Voiced By: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Derek Stephen Prince (English)

A boy who claims to lead a secret society of over 10,000 agents. He's also an admitted liar, and Ultimate Detective Shuichi Saihara seems to have never heard rumours of this supposed evil cabal, so no one is sure what to think. True to his stature as an evil mastermind, Kokichi says exactly what will most rile up the other students, smiling the whole time.

He is the mastermind of Chapter 4's murder, using Gonta as a means to kill Miu, before becoming the victim of Chapter 5 as part of a plan of his to defeat the mastermind. With Kaito Momota following Kokichi's orders, he has himself crushed under a hydraulic press, leaving his body inaccessible. Kaito then proceeds to pilot an Exisal mecha and impersonate Kokichi and himself, making it ambiguous as to which one of them died.

See Danganronpa — Kokichi Oma for tropes on him

Korekiyo Shinguji

Ultimate Anthropologist

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/korekiyo.png

"Our present situation is rather...intriguing. What beauty will I be able to witness here?"

Voiced By: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English)

A person who's been all over the world studying folklore. Seeing the adversities found in poor areas of the world has led to him believe that hardship can bring out the true beauty of mankind, so he eagerly observes the events of the killing game.

At the end of Chapter 3, it's revealed that Korekiyo had an incestuous relationship with and eventually developed a female Tulpa based on his late sister, though it is heavily implied that his sister was abusive and manipulative to him when she was alive. He is also the culprit of Chapter 3, killing Angie Yonaga after she catches him setting up a death trap that he would then use to stab Tenko Chabashira in the back.

Affably Evil: He is creepy and off-putting, but he is a soft-spoken and affable (in his own way) young man who genuinely enjoys teaching people about anthropology and discussing folklore and legends. He also truly admires people such as Kaede and Shuichi for all the right reasons. Unfortunately, he's also a psychotic serial killer obsessed with sending "friends" to his dead sister.
Ambiguously Evil: After the Mastermind's reveal in Chapter 6, Korekiyo becomes this, since it's not clear if Korekiyo's personality is his natural one or if it was one implanted into him.
- Considering the Mastermind's revelation is a case of Unreliable Narrator (with Shuichi even suspecting that not all of the student's personalities were altered, at least not completely), Monokuma's disgust at his incestuous relationship, and the fact that Kodaka outright states his execution was well-earned, it's likely the former.
- On the other hand, Monokuma hardly has a leg to stand on, as he has overseen 53 different killing games for the sake of despair and continuing the Danganronpa reality show, and he also tacitly condones (or, at least, doesn't try to stop) Monotaro and Monophanie's incestuous relationship in Chapter 4. Additionally, Korekiyo's signature outfit is nowhere to be seen in the prologue, and he wears a much more normal face mask, too — since his sister designed every piece of it especially for him, it would be wildly out of character for someone with such insane devotion to her not to wear it. It's just as likely that Korekiyo's personality was altered like all the other students' were, especially given Kodaka's documented Trolling Creator tendencies.
Antiquated Linguistics: Nothing compared to Himiko, but Korekiyo speaks with pretty outdated kanji and frequent yojijukugos.
Asshole Victim: Korekiyo murdered Angie and Tenko just so he could give his sister "admirable friends" in the afterlife. It's also worth noting that while nobody besides Himiko necessarily condones his execution, nobody protests it either, unlike every other execution barring the Mastermind's.
Ax-Crazy: When Korekiyo says that he "nearly went mad" with grief after losing his sister, he really wasn't kidding. Long after her death, he has become a deranged Serial Killer obsessed with sending her one hundred "friends" to meet in the afterlife. When he starts to fly completely off the handle in the third trial, he manifests a tulpa of her to help calm himself down! It's at that point that the cast of V3 realizes they're dealing with a total lunatic.
Baddie Flattery: If Shuichi completes enough of his events, Korekiyo will tell him that he's considering making an exception to only sending girls to be with his sister. Of course, what that really means is that Korekiyo respects him enough to have him killed!
Bait the Dog: All of his Free Time events regarding his sister are designed to work like this since he deliberately conceals his sister's death and the sexual nature of their relationship. Replaying his events as Kaede after Chapter 3 can be brutal — she happily agrees to meet with and try to make friends with his sister once they all escape the Ultimate Academy, all while the player knows good and well that as far as he's concerned she's verbally agreed to letting him murder her.
Beautiful All Along: He's actually very pretty without his mask.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: And kinky. His Free Time events indicate that both his tulpa and his taste for BDSM originated from an incident where natives from a village he was observing "welcomed" him by tying him up and nearly torturing him to death, inducing intense disassociation and hallucinations of his sister. His personality split to cope with the trauma, and he began to view rope bondage and pain play as ways to commune with his sister from beyond the grave.
Berserk Button: Do not say he has a sister complex, as accurately as that may describe him. He also does not take kindly to others disrespecting cultural artifacts, which Kokichi learns the hard way. That being said, it doesn't seem to stop him from doing so for his murders.
Birds of a Feather: In the Ultimate Talent Development Plan universe, he strikes up a friendship with Rantaro, due to their shared passion for the world combined with their devotion to their sisters.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: While Obviously Evil, Kiyo pretends to be one of the students' allies and implies to them that he has no intent to murder, and also uses phrases like "meet" as a substitute for killing when it comes to Shuichi and Kaede "meeting his sister", as in "killing them to meet her in the afterlife". In reality, he's a near-100 body count serial killer (if it's a real part of his characterization rather than just another fabrication) who targets only girls (though he's willing to make exceptions) and was perfectly willing to betray the other students and kill them all via execution for his own selfish reasons.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: His moral compass is quite off-kilter, to say the least. He's intrigued by the "beauty of humanity", which translates to watching them suffer from a distance, and he believes so strongly in an afterlife that he is willing to send 100 girls to "become friends with" his deceased sister. While this would ordinarily indicate a severe Lack of Empathy, Korekiyo is so severely mentally ill that he genuinely believes he is doing something beneficent.
Boots of Toughness: They go towards pushing his militaristic design.
Brains and Bondage: He's among the smarter of the academic-based Ultimates, practically being a walking encyclopedia, and makes no secret about his kinks given the style of his mask.
Brainy Brunet:
- Korekiyo is among the more intelligent of the class, and his inferences are very accurate, though he himself does not quite make the connections due to a lack of evidence. A notable example includes Korekiyo being the first to propose that the mastermind exploited the cameras in the library, which was later denied in light of Kaede's confession.
- Subtler examples can be found in Trial 2: first, Korekiyo proposes the culprit overcame Ryoma's Shukuchi Method by knocking him out, which Kirumi's recollection proved true. Second, Korekiyo correctly suggests that the culprit "steered the conversation away" from the crime scene, which was yet discussed. Earlier in the trial, Kirumi did just that by redirecting the conversation back to when the body was placed in the tank.
Brother–Sister Incest: Korekiyo says that he and his sister were in a sexual relationship before her death, and his female personality (based on his sister) corroborates his claims. However, it is heavily implied through Korekiyo's free time events and behavior during Chapter 3's trial that his sister was extremely controlling and manipulative of him, leading many to infer that he was a victim of child grooming.
Cassandra Truth: Korekiyo is the only student to be suspicious of Tsumugi in the first trial, noting that she left to use the bathroom. This is quickly brushed off as insignificant due to nobody knowing about the bathroom's secret passage at the time, but in the final trial, it's revealed that he was on the right track all along.
Casual Kink:
- Like Miu, Korekiyo practices BDSM and is indicated to be a switch with a focus on bondage.
- His report card says he likes straw rope. It also says he dislikes air conditioning, which given how extreme heat plays a major role in his execution may be a reference to his masochistic tendencies.
Color Motif: Olive.
Combat Pragmatist: He catches both of his victims completely off-guard and when they still think he's just another harmless classmate of theirs, attacking Angie from behind, then stabbing her in the neck in her sleep, and as for second victim Tenko, the martial artist of the cast, he tricks her into getting caught in a trap that she otherwise would've been more wary of if he didn't trick her into thinking the séance for Angie's sake (in other words, for the first victim of whom he killed himself) was harmless.
The Comically Serious: Due to how serious and creepy he generally is and looks, this tends to happen whenever he gets too excited. A good example of this is when he discovers his Study Lab and starts acting like he's a kid at Christmas, gushing over nearly everything that catches his eye and darting over to whatever Shuichi happens to take an interest in.
Commissar Cap: Wears one as part of his military dress uniform.
Cooked to Death: As detailed in Cruel and Unusual Death below, part of his execution involves being boiled alive in a cauldron.
Cool Mask: One covering the lower half of his face, with a zipper directly covering his mouth, much like a bondage hood. He has multiple identical copies of it meant for eating, sleeping, exercising, etc. Even after seeing it in practice, Shuichi has no idea how the "eating" mask works, as the cookie Shinguji eats while wearing it simply disappears. The official art has him holding a creepier mask.
Costume Porn: His uniform is the most elaborate of the cast, and he is said to take longer than a girl to get ready in the morning.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Korekiyo is spun around ridiculously fast by Monotaro and Monophanie before a samurai cuts the rope binding him, dropping him into a cauldron, which begins to boil rapidly. As Monotaro and Monophanie watch him boil, Monodam suddenly runs into the flames, effectively killing himself while the remaining two Monokubs watch in horror as Korekiyo dies from the heat, blood seeping out of his eyes. His spirit flies up into the sky, seeing his sister reaching out to him, but before he can reach her, she and Monokuma sprinkle salt all over him, banishing his spirit from the human realm.
Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: When his lab is opened, he threatens to "tear out your nerves" if you try to touch anything without permission. It gets its own voice clip, too!
Dark and Troubled Past: It’s implied that his "beloved" older sister was actually controlling and abusing him.
Deader than Dead: After Korekiyo gets Cooked to Death, Monokuma arrives to (literally) throw salt on the wound, which melts his ghost into nothingness.
Deadly Euphemism: "Helping his sister make friends" serves as a broad one for him. Korekiyo's sister is dead, so in order to meet her the would-be "friend" in question is going to need to be too, which Korekiyo is more than happy to arrange. Poor Kaede just writes off him saying he needed to "plan" the two meeting as him wanting to make it a surprise for his sister. His Ultimate Talent Development Plan and Danganronpa S events show that he does this for many of the girls he interacts with.
Death by Irony: The cultural anthropologist focused on Japan gets to die in a very Japanese way: bound shibari-style and boiled alive, and when his spirit ascends to the sky to reunite with his beloved sister, she and Monokuma exorcise his corrupt soul by throwing traditional purifying salts at him.
Depraved Bisexual: In his Love Hotel event, he states that all human beings are "extremely beautiful" and he is willing to have strictly physical relationships with other people regardless of gender. It's all but stated the reason these relationships don't go further than that is because of his "feelings" for his sister, never mind that Korekiyo doesn't seem particularly concerned with whether or not these flings are even consensual. Love Hotel events are not technically considered canon as such, they are said to be indicative of what each character considers an ideal relationship.
Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: The third case would have been nigh unsolvable if he had only killed Angie, but he decided to kill Tenko too (even though only one murder was needed to graduate) with the seesaw effect trap he had been preparing that night solely because he didn't want to waste a perfectly good trap. Of course, he probably cared far less about graduating than he did about sending more "friends" to his sister.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: His unmasked face when his female personality surfaces. The lipstick certainly helps, though oddly enough even his normal eyelashes get noticeably longer whenever "she" is in control. He also spontaneously starts sporting eyeshadow, and his chest mysteriously gets slightly bigger.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Pale skin, black hair, and easily one of the most disturbing individuals of the entire franchise. When his "sister" takes over, which is even creepier to see happen, his skin seems to get a bit lighter too.
Elemental Motifs: Darkness:
- Literally, Kiyo's premeditated crime hinged on a blacked-out séance obscuring his opportunity to strike and, though not intentional on his behalf, his murder of Angie occurred well after midnight on the dark, ominous fourth floor.
- Design-wise, Korekiyo is distinguished by his long, black hair, especially when panicked.
- Metaphorically, this theme continues into his trial as Kiyo's entire strategy: shroud facts and evidence behind uncertainty and misdirection.
  "It's full of doubts! Of mystery! Of a dense, impenetrable fog! Nothing is clear at all! "
Everyone Has Standards: He only kills girls, and not just any girls either. He kills only those he deems exceptional, which he determines through careful observation. Of all girls in the Gifted Inmates Academy, only Ma ki and Miu don't meet his standards because their vices are too apparent.
Evil All Along: While quite creepy, Kiyo for the most part comes off as a fairly amicable and intelligent ally, helping during the cases and demonstrating his full support to Shuichi and the others. It's only in the third trial when he is revealed to be a psychotic madman and mass murderer, who had been planning to commit murder since the moment the game began.
Evil Counterpart: To Toko Fukawa/Genocide Jack from the Hope's Peak Saga, most likely intentionally so as part of the in-universe reality show. Both characters are serial killers with an alternate personality (dissociative identity disorder for Fukawa, and a tulpa for Shinguji). Both exclusively kill people of the opposite sex; Genocide Jack only kills handsome men, while Korekiyo only kills "admirable" women. Toko and Jack both go on to be two (one?) of the biggest heroes of the Hope's Peak Saga, while Korekiyo ends up being one of the most twisted blackened in this game. Also, it's Korekiyo's core personality who is the serial killer, although his other personality certainly approves of it, while Toko's core personality is not the serial killer and does not approve of what Jack gets up to.
Evil Gloating: He brags that even though he killed Tenko, they can't vote for him because they don't have any proof that he killed Angie. He regrets it when turns out there is evidence left behind. In fact, the only reason the others are able to prove that he killed Angie is that he admitted to killing Tenko, enabling them to prove that he attacked Angie in the same room where Tenko was murdered.
Evil Virtues: Love. He loves his sister and wants to make sure she's cared for, and he genuinely admires both humanity in general and most of his classmates. Problem is, the more he cares for a person the more he wants to murder them, because they'd be good friends for his sister in the afterlife.
Expressive Hair: Of sorts. When he's distressed, his hair becomes wavy and messy, much like Mikan's.
Expressive Mask: The zipper on his mask sometimes subtly moves like it's turning into a smile or grimace according to his moods.
Expy: As a serial killer with a split personality inspired by a female relative he had an incestuous and likely abusive relationship with before she died, Korekiyo turns out to be rather similar to Norman Bates.
Face Death with Dignity: Despite his breakdown earlier in the trial, when voting time comes he does accept his fate without contest. He's even one of the only cases in the game where a person refrains from voting at all, rather than voting for himself, keeping the votes otherwise unanimous. However, unlike others in the game, this is due in part to his firm belief in life after death and expresses his intent to continue watching over everyone with all the other dead. Too bad he didn't account for Monokuma being able to "kill" him twice for that offense.
Failed a Spot Check:
- He didn't notice that the tape covering Angie's head injury had come off, which Shuichi uses to prove that Korekiyo could have knocked Angie unconscious and taken her back to her laboratory even though there was no blood trail.
- He also fails to take into account that Keebo might be able to record evidence against him in the séance, even though he saw Keebo play Kokichi's confession back to Gonta during the Insect Meet and Greet. Granted, he didn't know Keebo had been given a photographing function specifically, but given he's a robot you'd think he would have considered the possibility.
Fan Disservice: In the aftermath of the third trial, we get to see a close-up of him and his lover, both fairly attractive-looking people, embracing each other while naked... then it's revealed that's his sister.
Foreshadowing:
- After Tenko is killed, the very first thing Korekiyo asks when Monokuma shows up is what happens if a second person can commit murder before a trial occurs. Naturally, the answer is instrumental to his plan during the trial.
- He is a foreshadow during Trial Two:
  Kiyo: [regarding Kirumi] Ah, beautiful! Your spirit of self-sacrifice is just too beautiful!
  Kiyo: [regarding the culprit] Such a bold, beautiful plan! (...) Ah! Respect begins to bloom in my heart for this wonderfully cruel culprit!
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: No one can deny that his past was pretty messed up. Despite this, no one in the third trial can bring themselves to see him as a Sympathetic Murderer like the previous culprits—they killed because they were driven to desperation (or at least, they thought that was the case with Kaede), but Korekiyo murdered Angie and Tenko entirely by choice and remorselessly killed many many more people before them, all because of his obsession with his dead sister who we later learn didn't even care about him. The fact that his ghost gets executed shows that even Monokuma thinks he's past sympathy at this point.
The Friend Nobody Likes: While he considers those around him his "friends" it's often pointed out he generally creeps everyone else out and doesn't have close ties with anyone in particular, and it certainly isn't mutual by the time the third trial is over. Considering what he asks Kaede if she does try to get closer to him (despite still finding him rather unsettling) this is likely for the best.
Friends with Benefits: How he sees his "relationship" with Shuichi during his Love Hotel fantasy. After all, nobody could ever hope to replace dear Sister in his heart, but a purely physical relationship is fine.
Giggling Villain: One of the most sinister characters of the franchise, and his Signature Laugh is a subdued "Kukuku~", or hiss-like "Kehehe" in the dub.
Graceful Loser: There were ten students who participated in the third trial, and the voting results showed nine tallies for Kiyo. Being that no one else died for not voting, it seems Kiyo didn't vote, either for himself or anyone else (though it hardly mattered since he was on the chopping block either way). Not as graceful as he could have been, but not as spiteful as Kirumi before him.
Guyliner: Not as much as Shuichi or Rantaro, but he does have fairly visible lashes.
Hate Sink: To some degree. Even though he starts off as a pretty affable and reserved character whose eccentricities have a certain charm to them, his motive is by far one of the most twisted in the series, his actions as a blackened manage to get anger from even the likes of Gonta during the trial, and his Serial Killer history isn't treated nearly as humorously as the likes of Toko's. While just about nobody in the class seems to actually hate him by the end of the third trial, the likes of Himiko and even Gonta are clearly angered at how pointless his murder of Tenko seems during the trial, and it's noticeable that it's also the first execution in the game not one person objects to. Even Kodaka himself said his death was well earned.
Hoist by His Own Petard: In layers, chronologically:
- Angie's murder would essentially have been unsolvable if Korekiyo had not used the seesaw trap at all, as the only possibly incriminating evidence would have been the katana - evidence which anyone had access to, as he states in an appeal to reason when it becomes relevant. Even if someone had discovered Angie's blood, it only proves that she was attacked elsewhere first, which opens possible suspects.
- Manipulating Himiko to select the room for the séance allowed her to select the same room Korekiyo attacked Angie in, which let Shuichi discover Angie's bloodstains. The odds of this occurring were 1/3 ! For extra irony, the entire reason he had someone else pick the room was to divert suspicion away from him.
- By accepting the Ultimate Robot as a séance participant, Korekiyo provided him with the opportunity to witness and produce evidence of the altered magic circle, which Korekiyo himself had designed to be destroyed by the investigation.
- Korekiyo murdered Angie in her lab to implicate the Student Council. Despite Angie's murder occurring well past midnight during an enforced curfew, the Student Council may have walked in on him setting up again, and in his haste to execute the locked room mechanism and vacate the fourth floor, Korekiyo failed to notice some of the tape used to staunch her laceration. This proved she was transported into her lab, opening suspects beyond the Student Council.
- Finally, Korekiyo confessed to killing Tenko in an attempt to derail the discussion and divert attention away from the bloodstains below the floor. This entrapped him as Angie's killer, as Angie's forehead wound was inflicted with the same floorboard used in the seesaw homicide of Tenko. As mentioned above, nothing specifically points to him killing Angie - all that was proven was that the same person who killed Tenko had killed Angie, and since he already confessed to killing Tenko...
Humans Are Interesting: He studies the humans around him to understand their behavior and their beauty. He believes that humans have unlimited beauty and tries to study more about it.
Hypocrite:
- He says that Maki and Miu are the only two girls he deems unsuitable to be "Sister's friends", presumably because Maki is a Professional Killer and Miu is a foul-mouthed pervert, which is pretty rich coming from a Serial Killer who has killed nearly one hundred girls and had sexual relations with his own sister.
- He gets furious at any of the other students touching any of the artifacts in his lab since they are priceless relics that cannot be tampered with... which doesn't stop him from moving, breaking, and defacing many of those same artifacts to carry out his murder plan.
If It's You, It's Okay: He gets this with Shuichi, should the Ultimate Detective win his approval. Weirdly, it's not about physical relationships with Korekiyo. It's more to do with whether or not the person is worthy enough to become "friends" with his sister, since he usually only kills girls who meet his criteria.
I'm Melting!: During the second half of his execution, Monokuma and his sister purify/banish his spirit with salt to achieve this effect.
Insane Equals Violent: He suffers from some sort of psychosis and manifests a Tulpa of his deceased sister as a coping mechanism. He is also a serial killer who wants to give his sister worthy "friends", and despite his madness he has a body count of nearly 100 victims.
In-Series Nickname: In the English dub he prefers to be called "Kiyo" by everyone, and in both versions of the board game bonus mode Hagakure gives him one that he accepts. In Japanese, it's "Shingu-cchi", which has Korekiyo note that being nicknamed is unusual for him, while in the English dub it's "Korey", which has him point out he already has a nickname the same way Yasuhiro ("Hiro") does instead.
In Touch with His Feminine Side: Other characters often point out how unusually feminine he can be, from how long it takes for him to get ready in the morning to how he speaks at times. Turns out this is a bit more literal than they expected.
Ironic Name: "Korekiyo" can translate into "just and pure." Needless to say, he is not.
Irony:
- He views all of the female students with the exception of Miu and Maki as good friends for his deceased sister. One of those potential friends for his sister happens to be the Big Bad of this game, and Kiyo would probably retract his judgment on her had he known her true nature. In addition, Himiko actually lives through the killing game, meaning the only "true" potential friend for his sister who lives after Kiyo's death became a survivor. Double points for Kiyo nearly killing Himiko if Tenko had not stepped in and done the sénce instead.
- Ultimately, the murder that Korekiyo meticulously planned for was the one that gets him caught, while the murder he committed in the heat of the moment is the one that was borderline unsolvable.
Karma Houdini: In his Love Across the Universe bonus mode ending, Shuichi decides to travel the country with Kiyo and even states that he trusts him without question. Kiyo, meanwhile, is planning on making an exception to his usual gender rule and introducing Shuichi to his sister...
Kick the Dog:
- Aside from his callous murder of both Angie and Tenko for terrible reasons, it's also implied he specifically picked Kaede's effigy to stab with a katana because it would disturb Shuichi, who is the Ultimate Detective and the one most likely to catch him.
- Not to mention, in the trial, he tries to pin the blame for Tenko's death on Himiko initially, since she was the one who suggested they use the middle room for the séance. He goes even further when he is proven to have murdered Tenko, outright mocking Himiko by claiming that she won't be able to execute him no matter how much she hates him because he doesn't think they can prove he killed Angie and tries to frame that death on Tenko herself, which Himiko could still blame herself for. Even after facing execution, he almost seems to go out of his way to torment her. Despite seeing how distraught losing Tenko made her, he says he can't understand why she never liked the girl while she was alive.
Knight Templar Big Brother: Played with in the most coal-black of ways. In one of his Free Time events, after dismissing the idea of allowing Shuichi to meet and befriend his sister on the principle of him being male, Shuichi wonders how overprotective Korekiyo must be to only allow women near his sister. Then comes along Chapter 3 and exactly what Korekiyo meant by "befriending his sister" becomes horrifically clear.
Lean and Mean: Rail-thin, 6'2" and one of the most demented characters in the franchise.
Long Haired Prettyboy: Has waist-length hair, unusually elongated almond-shaped eyes, and, once unmasked, a very pretty face, all on a tall, willowy frame.
Love Makes You Crazy: Korekiyo went insane from grief after his sister died. Violently insane.
Love Makes You Evil: By his admission, everything horrible he does is out of his "love" for his sister and in general his twisted respect for The Power of Love is used to show just how unsettling and off he is as a person.
Love Martyr: He is devoted to his sister to such extreme degrees that he became a serial killer for her, but it seems apparent that his sister does not reciprocate this, and he is mostly being influenced by her to act the insane way he does. This behavior of hers is rather clear to us, from what little we see from his sister, but it seems Korekiyo is oblivious to how much of a Jerkass she really is.
Madness Mantra: Before and during the Panic Talk Action against him, both he and his split personality tell Shuichi that since his logic is wrong, he should apologize to him, over and over. It is likely that, when she was alive, his sister often forced him to "apologize" when he upset her, making it a trigger word for him.
Mad Love: He has an unhealthy obsession with his deceased sister, who was abusive and manipulative to him.
Makeup Is Evil: Korekiyo wears his sister's lipstick underneath his mask. By the time you learn about this, you're fingering him, correctly, as a remorseless murderer.
Mask of Sanity: He's usually able to keep up the front of an aloof, vaguely unsettling observer who is aware of how strange and creepy he comes off, but in the third trial he comes completely unglued on the stand. Just to punctuate it, this is when he literally removes his mask... to reveal the tulpa of his deceased sister, wearing thick lipstick.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: His split personality is initially presented this way, as he claims he's possessed by his older sister's ghost, which has happened in the Danganronpa series before Komaru in Ultra Despair Girls. Maki writes him off as simply being delusional instead. Further muddying the issue is his execution, which shows the "ghosts" of both him and his sister, but since it was made by Monokuma it's not clear if those are real ghosts or just something he created to be played after Korekiyo died for the sake of his "audience". Ironically, the ghosts being real could actually be considered proof of him being delusional since his sister personally approved of him killing in her name, but the ghost of his sister very well may not, given that she happily helps Monokuma banish his ghost with salt. There's also the fact that the UI only ever refers to him as Korekiyo even when "Sister" is speaking, while it treats Toko and Genocide Jack as distinct, implying that in his case there's really only one personality in there.
Meaningful Name: Korekiyo's surname includes the kanji for "[Shinto] shrine" and "[Buddhist] temple", both of which are symbolic of Japanese religious culture, relating to his talent. His given name is written with the kanji for "just" and "purity" which could darkly allude to his design's theme.
The Mentally Disturbed: Korekiyo shows symptoms of multiple mental disorders including PTSD and borderline personality disorder. This is often not understood and simply brushed off by other characters. When he starts showing severe signs of psychological damage during his trial, he's already burnt the bridges that would cause others to show concern for him.
Mr. Exposition: Of the parody variety, he loves talking about his field and will gladly take any opportunity to do so at length, to the point Shuichi lampshades how all of his free time events result in largely off-screen lectures. It's just that, given that he's a folklorist, most of what he talks about doesn't apply to cases or the setting as a whole, aside from hanging a lampshade on the "truth bullets" mechanic and wordplay.
Nightmare Face: His second mask seen in his official art.
Nightmare Fetishist: He adores all of humanity, and makes no effort to hide how this includes all the atrocities they can commit. He'll gladly start praising the ingenuity of the blackened mid-trial, has an obsession with séances that understandably creeps everyone else out, and has a particular interest in one tied to a girl's bitter hatred over the complete destruction of her home village. Shuichi gets really uncomfortable about this when he finds Kiyo's lab, hearing Kiyo explain just how "nightmarish" the things in there really are as he gets way too into it.
Obviously Evil: His general creepiness is commented upon so often in-game it would have been more surprising if he hadn't turned out to be a murderer. He even admits as much himself during the very first investigation.
Korekiyo: Kehehe... Let me guess. You wish to hear my alibi, yes?
Kaede: Huh? How'd you know?
Korekiyo: My appearance and actions thus far suggest I am someone who would commit a murder.
Kaede: (At least he's self-aware...)
- When Korekiyo's revealed as Tenko's killer, he's so shameless about his actions that nearly the whole group of survivors want to vote him off for both murders, they're only stopped because there's not complete evidence of this being the case yet... but they were absolutely right.
Oh, Crap!:
- Maki causes him to have a particular one when she supports Shuichi's lie that Tenko's wound to the neck killed her instantly, as this destroyed the theory that Tenko killed Angie and then herself during the Seance, since he can't say she's lying without proving his similar experience with murders or his connection to Tenko's death.
- On a comical note, even he has this reaction when he gets roped into Gonta's "Insect Meet-and-Greet".
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Given how calm he generally is the drastic effects of his panic attack certainly works but then we get to the issue of the "Sister" persona's reveal. This is the only time he removes his mask, which is visually unsettling with how out of place the lipstick looks on his face, and his demeanor and way of speaking completely change on a dime while he seems to have a conversation with himself. Not only does this serve to confuse and disturb everyone during the trial, but seeing this comes out of nowhere, Sister is also the only "person" in the game to call Korekiyo by his real name in the dub as if to stress how wrong this is. Oddly enough when it's clear he's been caught it can sound like she's trying to coach him on how to get back "in character" so he/they can try to Face Death with Dignity.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: During his Villainous Breakdown, his Antiquated Linguistics begin to slip and he starts talking more like everyone else, using slang and contractions, which is actually more unsettling than his formal speech. His "sister" persona has to coach him back into character.
Pretty Boy: He's one of the most classically "bishie" characters to come out of Danganronpa, with a very feminine face underneath his mask and waist-length hair. Since he has a female tulpa, this works out just as well.
The Perfect Crime: At least, his Accidental Murder of Angie was, having taken advantage of the Locked Room Mystery concept to avoid being discovered and having nothing to specifically trace it back to him. His murder of Tenko? Not so much since the magic circle trick would've determined him as the verdict regardless.
Rape as Backstory: Although he's only in his late teens, like all the other Ultimates, he has already had a long-term sexual relationship with his older sister. The controlling behaviour that her tulpa displays during the trial, if it's at all accurate to how she was in life, implies that she groomed Korekiyo into it earlier in his childhood.
Rape Leads to Insanity: Averted. What drove Korekiyo mad was his sister's death, rather than anything she did to him while she was alive.
Recurring Element: Like the past Chapter 3 culprits, he kills two people with a relatively cold-blooded motive, similar to how Celeste murdered Hifumi and Kiyotaka to get out of the school while getting money in the process, and Mikan in her despair-ridden state had murdered Hiyoko and Ibuki "for her beloved", only this time Korekiyo murdered Angie and Tenko just for the sake of wanting to give his dead sister 'admirable friends' in the afterlife. And unlike the previous two where there was some clear degree of sympathetic quality (especially when tampered memories are taken into consideration), no such quality is given here.
The Reveal: We finally see what's under his mask in the third trial. It's... weird.
Salt Solution: At the end of his execution, Monokuma throws salt on his ghost, apparently killing him Deader than Dead.
Serial Killer: After his sister died, Korekiyo became obsessed with the idea of sending her "admirable friends" in the afterlife, and set himself the target of killing a hundred "worthy" female victims, which he almost met. Before his execution, the only thing he expressed regret about was being unable to reach that goal.
Shut Up, Kirk!: In a conversation eerily similar to one between Nagito and Mikan, Maki calls Korekiyo delusional for murdering just for the sake of his dead sister, causing Korekiyo's "sister" persona to retort that Maki doesn't understand love. She only responds with Visible Silence.
Significant Birth Date: July 31, sharing his birthday with the most famous Japanese anthropologist Kunio Yanagita.
Skewed Priorities:
- Locked inside the Gifted Inmates Academy with 15 other people and being forced to kill each other, Korekiyo takes his time studying his classmates to add to his pet theories about humanity.
- His immediate concern following Tenko's death is why the seance ritual failed, rather than how she was killed and brings it up even after it's pointed out the "medium" they were using died midway through providing a pretty obvious reason for that. Of course, given who caused her death to begin with...
- Overlapping with Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat, he could easily have gotten away with Angie's murder if he wasn't so concerned with "sending 100 friends" to his sister that he killed Tenko in the same room as multiple witnesses.
Softspoken Sadist: Whenever he is talking about "humanity's unlimited beauty," he mostly means other people's fear and pain. He seems to enjoy watching the other students suffer, all the while acting calm and polite.
Something about a Rose: His official art shows him with rose thorns and petals all around.
Split Personality: Sort of. When Korekiyo starts to panic during the third trial, he lowers his mask to reveal an alternate persona based off his deceased sister, as a way of calming himself down. It's more like a tulpa than a genuine case of dissociative identity disorder, though.
Stealth Hi/Bye: In the manga anthologies his major Running Gag is surprising other students by showing up behind them unexpectedly, leaving them terrified more often than not.
Stupid Evil: He is directly done in by his insistence on using his trap to murder Tenko despite having already killed Angie, leaving more evidence that condemns him for his murder of Angie.
Sunk Cost Fallacy: His stated reason for going ahead and using the seesaw trap after already killing Angie is that he didn't want all the work he had put into it to go to waste.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: His eyes are yellow and given his interest in the occult and claims to be possessed by the soul of his dead sister it suits him. The irises in question even get larger when this "possession" is seen to happen, but how "supernatural" this personality switch remains unclear.
Together in Death: Seemingly subverted. He wanted this when he's executed so he can be with his sister, but if the execution is in any way accurate Monokuma was having none of it. He not only executed him, but by pouring salt on his spirit he caused Korekiyo's spirit to melt and cross over alone while his sister's spirit stayed behind with Monokuma. His sister's ghost is even seen happily assisting Monokuma, supporting the theory that she was abusive to him before death. And this is all well before the reveal that his older sister may not have ever really existed beyond being a part of his "character's" backstory.
Token Evil Teammate: For the non-mastermind students he's the only one who's a truly remorseless killer, even outside the game. He's just better at playing nice with the others than Kokichi is, until he decides it's time to "make Sister some friends".
Too Kinky to Torture: In his fifth FTE, Korekiyo tells Shuichi that he visited one village wherein the natives welcomed him by binding him so tightly he nearly passed out and then whipped him until he was near death...and then adds, "It was such a warm welcome."
Tragic Keepsake: According to him his uniform serves as one, since as cumbersome as it is even just in terms of how long it takes him to get it all on in the mornings (not to mention how uncomfortable it seems with how much it covers) his sister spent a lot of time making it for him while being largely confined to the hospital. In one of his free time events, he states that his sister thought his previous uniform "didn't suit him", and therefore made him a new one; this is an example of her controlling nature.
Tsurime Eyes: His eyes are slightly narrowed and sharpened.
Tulpa: His "split personality" has much more in common with a tulpa than conventional cases of DID. He summons her as a coping mechanism to keep himself calm during Chapter 3's trial, and the two of them can carry on extended conversations.
Two Siblings In One: Regardless of what she actually is, Korekiyo thinks this is his current situation with his sister, complete with "her" taking over his body at points with key changes made to his sprites when "she" does and using a different vocal range than his.
Verbal Tic: He tends to end his questions with "yes": for example, when Angie decrees in Chapter 3 that only the student council will be allowed out at night, he notes that "that seems blatantly unfair, yes?".
Villain Ball: As noted multiple times in this entry, Korekiyo might have been able to graduate if he only stopped his killings at Angie, but he reasoned that since he had already set up the trap, he might as well try to kill another girl. This proves to be his undoing.
Villainous Breakdown: He starts to lose his composure as Shuichi begins to reveal him as the one who also murdered Angie, with him losing it so much, he constantly switches with his sister, and as the trial goes on, he continues screaming in denial.
Villain Respect:
- He's genuinely impressed with how "wonderfully cruel" Kirumi's murder plan is in the second trial.
- Despite her misandry, he comments that although his original target in his Death Trap was Himiko, he was happy when Tenko volunteered to take her place because her kind heart and noble intentions would make her an excellent "friend" for his sister and tells Himiko he can't understand why she didn't like Tenko in the first place.
Villainous Incest: His Norman Bates-like obsession with his older sister and self-given goal of killing 100 innocent women just to give her spirit some "friends" in the afterlife certainly fits.
Would Hit a Girl: Notable in that he only targets girls for his killings. The only ones in the cast he claims he wasn't open to viewing as potential targets are Miu and Maki, and only because of how particularly unladylike they were. However, he does make an exception in his Free Time supports with Shuichi...
You're Insane!: He declares that Monokuma has "surpassed psychotic by a wide margin" after the first execution.
Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: He is found out as Tenko's murderer early on during the trial, but states that because of Monokuma's rule, they can't vote for him because he isn't the one who killed Angie. Monokuma declared that if two separate murders happen at the same time, only the victim whose body was discovered first counts as the victim for the case, and the second one becomes a wasted kill with no blackened. Angie's body was discovered before Tenko was even killed, and Korekiyo's connection to Angie's murder hadn't been proven at the time.

K1-B0

K1-B0 ("Ki-bo"/“Keebo”)

Ultimate Robot (Ultimate Hope Robot)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hopebot.png

"That is a harmful stereotype. I can produce heartfelt remarks through calculations!"

Voiced By: Tetsuya Kakihara (Japanese), Lucien Dodge (English)

A robot equipped with an advanced learning AI. Invented by a robotics genius named Professor Idabashi, Ki-bo was born as a blank slate and matured the way a human child would and even went to school normally, which is why he can be titled the "Ultimate Robot" at the high school level. He is polite and rather serious and has trouble with human social interaction. Robot rights are also a sore point for him.

It is later revealed that he was an Unwitting Pawn working for Team Danganronpa as the first-person camera in the Killing Game and the In-Universe protagonist of the Danganronpa Reality Television Show, giving him the real title of "Ultimate Hope Robot". His actions and inner monologue throughout the game were manipulated by viewer surveys. In the final trial, his personality is overridden by the mastermind when he decides to abandon hope and join Shuichi's Suicide Pact, forcing Shuichi to instead make a plea to the audience controlling Ki-bo. He is successful, resulting in Ki-bo abstaining from voting and sacrificing himself by destroying the entire facility, but sparing Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko due to the will of the audience.

Advertised Extra: He is played on the first teaser and first official art as a key character or even the protagonist before the true protagonist was revealed. However, it later turns out that he really is the protagonist all along! Not for us, the players, but for the in-universe audience who are watching the Danganronpa reality TV show.
Ambiguous Gender Identity: He's treated as male by default despite being a robot and therefore having No Biological Sex, but his response to Tenko asking him if he considers himself a boy or a girl — saying he's "honestly never thought about it before" — opens up the possibility that he's a Nonhuman Nonbinary.
Ambiguously Bi: He confesses to being in love with Shuichi and wants to hold hands with him in his Love Hotel event, while he has some quite strong chemistry with Miu. Which make sense with him having a No Biological Sex.
And Now for Someone Completely Different: He briefly becomes playable at the final class trial.
Anime Hair: It's white, juts out a drastic angle and his ahoge is huge.
Arm Cannon: Shown in his promotional artwork, and eventually uses one in his upgraded form.
Ascended Extra: To the point when he became a playable character in the final trial and gained the title of Ultimate Hope Robot, which supposedly belonged to a character whose role was the Protagonist (which he turns out to be, In-Universe).
Audience Surrogate: Literally defined as such by Tsumugi, as Keebo is meant to take the responses of the audience's surveys and convey them as his actions. When he doesn't hear them, he can act on his own will.
Bad Liar: If he is ever in a situation where he has to lie, he instead just panics and says he can't remember anything.
Barbie Doll Anatomy: Discussed by Oma, who even goes as far as to question whether robots have dicks.
Become a Real Boy: Played With. Ki-bo's greatest wish is to be acknowledged and treated as a fellow human by his classmates, but he is still very proud of being a robot and has no desire to change that.
Berserk Button: Discrimination against robots, though like with Kaito, nobody listens to him when he gets mad.
Beware the Nice Ones: When he loses his inner voice and is forced to think for himself, his logical decision is to destroy the Ultimate Academy.
Big Damn Heroes: After Kokichi convinced Gonta that nobody liked bugs in order to make him bring everyone to his lab, Ki-bo plays an audio clip to let Gonta know that he was tricked.
Big Red Button: Double Subverted. The students were scared whenever Ki-bo displayed his robotic abilities in the thought that he'd explode, such as when he activated his "Headphone Ears" to rewind the tape when they thought that was his Self-Destruct Button. The actual Self-Destruct Button, however, was actually the third button above his navel. It also has a ticking sequence.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: In a very much literal instance at the end of the game when he activated his Self-Destruct Button and then rammed himself to the dome when the timer stops. The Self-Destruct has created a quite powerful explosion that not only demolished the academy but literally broke the Fourth Wall itself.
Butt-Monkey: He's constantly being bullied by Kokichi, thrown into the side of the glass tank in Chapter 2 to break it as a battering ram despite his objections, and gets kicked out of the Caged Child seance after being forced to participate, just because everyone decides that robots and seances don't really go together. The other students are also constantly underwhelmed by how ordinary he is despite being a robot.
Catchphrase:
- "That's robophobic!"
- A common voice clip for him is "Please stop!" ("yamete kudasai" in Japanese).
Chekhov's Skill:
- At the beginning of the game, he states to Kaede that he has audio-recording functions. After Gonta was convinced that everybody hated bugs and he ended up putting everybody in his lab to appreciate them, Ki-bo plays an audio clip to let him know that Kokichi was lying.
- In Chapter Three, Miu gives him a light-up function that proves crucial to solving the case and nailing Korekiyo as the culprit.
Compliment Fishing: Ki-bo has a bit of a complex concerning his status as a machine and will sometimes make comments about himself hoping others will chime in compliments for him. More often than not, they don't.
Decoy Protagonist: Interestingly zig-zagged. Keebo was displayed prominently in the first poster, and even his similar design to Makoto Naegi (including Idiot Hair) seemed to imply that he was the Player Character. Subverted in the trailer as it was Kaede who took his role as the seemingly real protagonist, only to be the decoy to Shuichi. It all gets Double Subverted up until the final chapter of the game where Keebo is temporarily playable during the final class trial and is in fact, the true protagonist to the Danganronpa audience as he serves as the first-person camera for them.
Driven to Suicide: In a way, as part of his backstory. When Professor Idabashi was injured during an accident when his AI went rogue, Ki-bo blamed himself for it, since he believed he broke the First Law of Robotics and under the weight of sadness and guilt his AI eventually reset itself. He came back, but as a blank slate, having lost all of his memories. Everything he knows prior to the incident came from Idabashi. The second one was when he blows himself up to give his classmates a chance to escape.
Expressive Hair: His ahoge changes wildly with his emotions.
Expy: His fighting style was similar to Astro Boy, having an Arm Cannon he equipped himself with and putting up a good fight against an opponent who was much stronger than him.
Foreshadowing: Ki-bo mentions he has an "inner voice" that he turns to for guidance, but Kokichi interrupts him before he can get any further. This information proves very important in the final trial.
Fighting Your Friend: He has to battle Shuichi Saihara twice during the final trial. The first instance is when the latter was suffering from the Despair Event Horizon, so Ki-bo tries to bring him back to his senses in the game's last Rebuttal Showdown. The second instance is when Ki-bo is hacked by Tsumugi and an enraged audience who demanded the students to pick a side and for Danganronpa to continue.
Final Boss: In a sense, he's the last person you have an Argument Armament with in the game. Though the argument is actually against the worldwide ''Danganronpa'' audience speaking through him, keeping with the pattern of having the final showdown against the killing game's mastermind.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Downplayed. While he isn't disliked enough by the other students to disliked by everyone, he tends to get mistreated by most of the other students, namely Kokichi, Tenko, and Himiko, due to him being a robot, much to his dismay.
Frivolous Lawsuit: He claims and threatens that he will take legal action against Kaede if she makes "discriminatory remarks" towards him.
The Generic Guy: Despite being a robot, he's one of the most normal members of the cast. He even makes note of this in his Free Time Events, fueling his desire to find a greater purpose. Makes sense, considering he's a literal Audience Surrogate for the Danganronpa audience.
Green-Eyed Monster: He gets rather jealous when Miu is gushing over the computer in the newly-unlocked computer room in Chapter 4.
Go Out with a Smile: Once he finds Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko safe from the mass execution, behind the mask was his final smile before pressing the Self-Destruct Button.
Heroic Sacrifice: He self-destructs to destroy the entire facility in the final trial and allow the surviving students to escape.
Hope Bringer: His "role" in a literal sense.
Idiot Hair: Wouldn't be DR without one. In this case, however, it's easily the biggest in the entire series. Probably because it also doubles as a TV antenna.
Innocent Blue Eyes: He is actually quite innocent and has little social skills or capacity to understand a lot of things normal people say.
Innocent Innuendo: In Chapter 3, when Ki-bo agreed to let Miu repair his body. While Miu clearly was making her suggestive comments on purpose, Ki-bo's responses certainly didn't help with the undertone.
Joke Character: His Ultimate talent is basically the fact that he exists, which is lampshaded by Kaede when they first meet. Despite being a robot, he's actually extremely ordinary, admitting that he only possesses an average intelligence and is about as strong as a strong old man, which results in him injuring his back while attempting to carry Shuichi in one of his Free Time Events. This is later subverted as his various upgrades from Miu help him become useful during investigations and class trials, and is ultimately averted in Chapter 6 when he awakens to the true extent of his power.
Legacy Character: Literally from Makoto and Hajime/Izuru, with their title of Ultimate Hope passed on to him in the final trial.
Light 'em Up: He was given a "light-up" function from Miu in Chapter 3 that allows him to use high beam lights built into his eyes. It helps the other students investigate in a dark room.
Light Is Not Good: His hope was rejected by Shuichi because it's what made the killing games continue until the 53rd season. Fortunately, he (and eventually the audience controlling him) decides to side with Shuichi.
Literal-Minded: When it's mentioned that he can't read the atmosphere^note, he says he can—he has sensors that tell him if the air around him is dirty.
Luminescent Blush: Despite him being a robot, One of his sprites has his entire face turn red from embarrassment, complete with Shy Finger-Twiddling.
Madness Mantra: During the final Panic Talk Action against Ki-bo, he is channelling the Danganronpa viewers in the outside world. Towards the end, separate voices are chanting either "Despair!" or "Hope!"
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: He's the feminine boy to Miu's masculine girl.
Meaningful Name: "Ki-bo" is Japanese for hope, which is what his purpose is for.
The Mole: Ki-bo fills in the role of the requisite "traitor" within the school student ranks that every Danganronpa game has had, albeit in a different way than usual. In previous titles, the traitors of the cast were willingly complicit in working against the students by obfuscating vital information. Ki-bo on the other hand doesn't know that he is a tool of the mastermind until the final case, where it's revealed that he's the killing game audience's POV, and that his inner conscience is manipulated by the will of the people. Unlike previous traitors this means he isn't an active hindrance to the students during a majority of the game as what the audience wants is for him to help unravel the mystery, but it becomes a big problem when the students decide to end the Danganronpa franchise, which is something that the audience, and by extension Ki-bo, doesn't want.
N-Word Privileges: Ki-bo seems more willing to tolerate "robophobic" remarks from Miu, Kaede and Shuichi than the other students, since Miu is the one who gives him maintenance and has the closest friendship with him, whereas Kaede and Shuichi are Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold and Nice Guy, respectively and mean no harm with their comments.
New Powers as the Plot Demands: Miu upgrades him in Chapter 3, giving him both a flashlight and a camera function in his eyes, both of which become crucial to investigate a dark room during the chapter's investigation and to later corner the culprit during the class trial.
No Biological Sex: Counts as this being a robot, and he himself is unsure if robots even have genders. The rest of the cast recognizes Ki-bo as male, though, so he just rolls with that.
No Social Skills: As a robot, he's very naive and clueless during social situations, and is unable to read the mood in a room. Kokichi endlessly makes fun of him for it.
Not Quite Dead: Tsumugi (along with the audience from the outside world) hacked Ki-bo by "deleting" his personality and memories in the middle of the final trial, which is the equivalent of actually killing Ki-bo in a sense. But it was revealed that he was able to become himself again and save the final three characters from the execution Tsumugi commanded him to perform.
No Waterproofing in the Future: Averted, although he can't swim at all; he'd just sink.
Occult Blue Eyes: His eyes become a solid bright blue when he is either malfunctioning or being hijacked by Team Danganronpa.
Only Friend: He's possibly the only person that Miu can call her friend (if Kaede and Shuichi didn't finish her free time events), and in return, Miu seems to be his closest friend out of all the students. In Chapter 5, he was the only student that truly missed her and seemed to be more saddened by her death than Gonta's, while every other student was more upset by Gonta's death.
Only One Name: Naturally, since he's a robot.
Parental Substitute: Defied when an amnesiac Monotaro tries to dub him his father, to which Keebo bluntly tells him no.
People Puppets: In the final trial, poor Ki-bo is hijacked by the outraged Danganronpa audience and is forced into an Argument Armament with Shuichi, which is implied to be rather painful for Ki-bo if his cries during it are anything to go by.
Player Character: An interesting in-universe example. His critical decisions are made by popular vote amongst the Danganronpa audience, making him their player character.
The Protagonist: In-Universe to be exact, based on what the audience sees of him.
Punny Name: His name is one for "Kibō" (the Japanese word for "Hope"). To English-speakers, it can also sound similar to "keyboard". It's also the nickname of a real train.
Recurring Element:
- The third character being a Token Non-Human similar to Alter Ego and Chiaki Nanami, and also the third Token Non-Human to die, as he willingly sacrifices his life to save his friends in the end. Ki-bo, however, manages to survive for a longer period of time, all the way up to Chapter 6.
- He also "sabotaged" the final execution, similar to what Alter Ego did to save Makoto Naegi from getting executed and how Chiaki appeared in Hajime's vision during the last trial.
- Similar to Sakura Ogami and Chiaki Nanami, it was revealed late in the game that Ki-bo was The Mole of the group, acting as an interactive audience character and being the first-person camera for the Danganronpa TV Show. However, in his case, Ki-bo wasn't aware that he was the Traitor all along until it was revealed to everyone in the final trial. Coincidentally, all three Traitors are also the last participants to die in each of their killing games.
- The proclamation of having the title of Ultimate Hope, being the third (and the last) character to gain such title (however, his updated intro card lists him as Ultimate Hope Robot instead). He also uses a single Truth Bullet to advance the discussions after he gains this title.
Restraining Bolt: His giant ahoge is actually an antenna, used as a receiver to catch command signals from the Danganronpa audience. Taking Angie's words to heart, he's taken the voices inside his head as a god who gives him advice and cheers for him. When his ahoge gets broken off during Kaito's execution, he loses connection with the audience and does not hear their voices. This forces Ki-bo to think for himself, tempered by his experiences inside the killing game, making his conclusion based on the desperate situation everyone is in. This makes him significantly more pragmatic and dangerous.
Ridiculously Human Robot: He basically behaves like and even resembles a high-school boy. His complicated programming allows him to learn and develop like a human. Oma and, in the bonus mode, Izuru are rather nonplussed that he's shown interest in being more human than a robot, like rejecting his lab because it's too sci-fi or liking foods despite being unable to eat. In the end, his prowess is most significant when he embraces the fact that he has weaponry mounted on his arm.
Robot Names: Ki-bo, which is a pun on the Japanese word for hope (Kibō).
Robosexual: Ki-bo has admitted that he feels attracted to humans and has a lot of Ship Tease with Miu.
Screw Destiny: In order to save the final survivors, he's this.
"Second Law" My Ass!: Attempts to be this in the final trial, but unfortunately, the audience defies it via resetting his personality.
Self-Destruct Mechanism: Has one installed in his body, and he activates it at the very end of the game to blow up a hole in the dome that would allow the three surviving students to escape.
Ship Tease: With Miu Iruma, who clearly has feelings for Ki-bo. She regularly performs maintenance on his body, which Ki-bo greatly appreciates. In Chapter 3, he was noticeable jealous when Miu complimented the supercomputer in a suggestive manner. The two are often seen together during later chapters and in the manga anthology. He was also pretty saddened by her death, even coming close to crying at one point. In the Ultimate Talent Development Plan bonus mode, the two would even agree to move in together after they graduate so that Miu may continue performing maintenance on him. It's worth mentioning that this scene can only be viewed by playing as Ki-bo.
Significant Birthdate: October 29, the Internet's anniversary.
- In the English release, it's K1-B0, and his nickname is spelled "Keebo". But the pronunciation remains the same.
- Ki-bo's name in the Chinese version is rendered in hanzi as "機望", which combines the first character of the sequence for "machine" or "robotic" (機械) with the second character of the sequence for "hope" (希望). It is essentially an inversion of Alternate Character Reading, because if the hanzi sequence was read as if it were in Japanese, then the result would still be "Kibō", making the "hope" pun much more obvious.
The Spock: During trials, he supports logical courses of action completely, like checking all avenues of possibility just to be safe.
Stereotype Reaction Gag: If given an obvious "robot" gift, he calls you a bigot for assuming he would like such a gift... and then accepts it anyway, grudgingly admitting that yes, as a robot it actually would be very useful for him to have.
Story-Breaker Power: After upgrading himself in Chapter 6, Ki-bo gains the ability to overcome Monokuma's security measures and defeat the 5 Exisals. Ki-bo probably could have ended the killing game as early as Chapter 4 (when his lab opened up and his upgrades become available to him) if it wasn't for his Restraining Bolt in his ahoge.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's meant to resemble Makoto Naegi design-wise, possibly to fool fans into thinking that he was the main character before Kaede's reveal. By the end of the game, this resemblance is revealed to have been invoked In-Universe, as Ki-bo was meant to act as an in-game avatar for the show's audience. From their P.O.V., he was the protagonist the entire time. This extends to even his Ultimate talent, which is merely existing as a robot (loosely similar to Naegi's talent, which was to be randomly picked for a lottery). His true talent as the Ultimate Hope Robot draws parallels to Naegi becoming the Ultimate Hope; he also gains a Hope Truth Bullet to advance the story when he's playable.
Swiss-Army Appendage: Almost literally; in a Free Time Event, he claims that his hands can turn into multi-tools (20 tools in total).
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Being 160 cm (5'3") tall, he can be considered the "tiny guy" to Iruma's "huge girl", who is 173 cm (5'8") tall.
Tiny Schoolboy: Being the same height that Makoto Naegi was in the first game at 160 cm (5'3"). His height isn't as noticeable as Makoto's since several of his classmates, like Ryoma and Oma, are noticeably shorter than him.
Token Minority: Some of his comments imply that he sees himself as such. As a robot, he is indeed a minority.
Token Non-Human: He's a robot, and has all the quirks that fact entails.
Tomato Surprise: For the majority of the game, Ki-bo was used as the camera for the audience, meaning we were seeing most of the events from Kaede's, Saihara's, and his point of view.
Took a Level in Badass: After his Restraining Bolt is removed at the end of Chapter 5, he upgrades himself in Chapter 6 in order to gain Super-Strength, Super-Toughness, the ability to fly, and an Arm Cannon. Thanks to these upgrades, Ki-bo is able to fight off, and eventually destroy, all five Exisals by himself. With his upgrades, Ki-bo is possibly the strongest combatant in the V3 universe.
Unable to Cry: Shortly after finding Miu's body, Ki-bo was so upset by her death that he wanted to cry for her. However, he resolves to stay strong by not crying, partly because he is unable to shed proper tears and claims that he is grateful to Miu for not giving him a cry function (This is changed in the English version of the game, with his resolve to stay strong removed, and instead wishing Miu did install a cry function so that he can cry for her properly).
The Unchosen One: Enforced to be as he becomes playable only because the player chooses to Save when Shuichi's Hope dies out from the revelation.
Unwitting Pawn: He was completely unaware that he served as the killing game's first-person camera until the mastermind revealed it during the last trial.
Verbal Tic: It doesn't really come to the point it becomes a tic, but Ki-bo does overuse the words "logical", "illogical" and "100%".
Voice of the Legion: During the final Argument Armament, when he's hacked by the audience.
What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: In his Love Hotel event, he asks Shuichi to teach him about love and romance.

Characters / Danganronpa V3 — Male Students

This is a partial character sheet for Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. Visit here for the main character index. Subjectives and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page.

Ultimate Detective

Ultimate Astronaut

Ultimate Tennis Pro (Ultimate Prisoner)

Ultimate ??? (Ultimate Survivor / Ultimate Adventurer)

Ultimate Entomologist

Ultimate Supreme Leader

Ultimate Anthropologist

Ultimate Robot (Ultimate Hope Robot)

Alternative Title(s): New Dangan Ronpa V 3 Male Students

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Characters / Danganronpa V3 — Male Students

Edit Locked

This is a partial character sheet for Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. Visit here for the main character index. Subjectives and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page.

Ultimate Detective

Ultimate Astronaut

Ultimate Tennis Pro (Ultimate Prisoner)

Ultimate ??? (Ultimate Survivor / Ultimate Adventurer)

Ultimate Entomologist

Ultimate Supreme Leader

Ultimate Anthropologist

Ultimate Robot (Ultimate Hope Robot)

Alternative Title(s): New Dangan Ronpa V 3 Male Students

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Index

Next