Warning! All spoilers below are unmarked.
The Participants:
From left to right: Seven, Light "Snake" Field, Clover Field, Gentarou "Ace" Hongou, Teruaki Kubota, Hazuki "Lotus" Kashiwabara, Sokyu Akafuku, Kiki Naegi, Ryoma Hoshi, Shuichi Saihara, Kaede Akamatsu, Rantaro Amami, Kirumi Tojo, Gonta Gokuhara, Tsumugi Shirogane, and K1-B0/Keebo Iruma
Male Participants
Shuichi Saihara
A boy who worked under his uncle in his detective agency as an apprentice, usually dealing with infidelity cases. One day, by complete chance, he stumbled across and solved a murder case. After learning the circumstances of the murder, he grew a fear of uncovering the truth. Wanting to overcome this fear in order to become a proper detective, he would go on to attend Hope's Peak Academy and train under former Ultimate Detective Kyoko Naegi alongside her daughter Kiki.
After Kaede Akamatsu's death in Chapter 1, he ends up becoming the deuteragonist. While his confidence was initially shaken during Chapter 2, he would eventually become Kiki's closest partner during investigations and the Class Trials. In the final chapter, he and the rest of the survivors discover that the Killing Game is broadcasted to the outside world by the Mastermind as a sick form of entertainment and that everyone's memories were tampered with, driving him into despair. After getting pulled out of his despair by Kiki, the two of them are able to rally their fellow survivors against the Mastermind, stopping the Killing Game and escaping with their lives.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: He takes Kaede's death in Chapter 1 harder than in V3 due to the two's former relationship prior to the Killing Game, to the point that he refused to investigate in Chapter 2, though he does get better. This causes him to not take off his hat (symbolizing him not averting his eyes from the truth) until Chapter 5 instead of Chapter 2 after Kiki's Disney Death.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: The perspective changes from Kiki to Shuichi at the end of Chapter 5's Daily Life due to the former's Disney Death, though the perspective would change back to her when it's revealed she's alive at the end the chapter's Deadly Life.
- Rage Breaking Point: After revealing Sokyu to be Kiki's "killer", a furious Shuichi does an Angry Collar Grab and demands to know why he did it and even throws a Precision F-Strike towards Monokuma when he starts taunting him. It gets to the point that the rest of the group has to physically restrain him before he goes too far.
- Team Switzerland: When the group's trying to decide whether to punish Sokyu for Killing in Self-Defense, Shuichi (being the deciding vote) ends up abstaining from voting due to him agreeing with both sides of the argument and his own beliefs as a detective.
- They Died Because of You: A grief-stricken Shuichi accuses Kiki of abandoning Kaede to die after the former convicted the latter of Rantaro's murder. Kiki rightfully calls him out on this and points out how she didn't have a choice.
Rantaro Amami
A mysterious boy who happened to be pen pals with Tsumugi Shirogane prior to the Killing Game. Despite having no memories of his past prior to the Killing Game, he has an eerily calm demeanor about the situation. Furthermore, he seems to know more than he lets on.
He is the victim in Chapter 1, seemingly being killed by Kaede Akamatsu's deathtrap. In reality, he was killed by the Mastermind (Tsumugi) in order to kick-start the Killing Game. Furthermore, it's posthumously revealed that he was a collaborator to Tsumugi and Team Danganronpa prior to losing his memories, claiming a perk for being a Willing Participant of the Killing Game as a result.
- Adaptational Villainy: While his participation in the Killing Game was more Ambiguously Evil in V3, here he's a direct collaborator with Team Danganronpa.
- Love Makes You Evil: It's implied that the reason he agreed to help Tsumugi with the Killing Game was because of his feelings for her. "Confronting the Mastermind!" would later confirm this to be true.
- We Barely Knew Ye: Like in V3, not much is known about him prior to his death. Even before the Killing Game, he's mainly only referred to as Tsumugi's pen pal.
Gonta Gokuhara
A bug-loving boy and one of Kiki Naegi's childhood friends. Despite his hulking size, he's quite the gentle soul who cares for his human friends as much as his bug friends. Even as a child, all he desires is to become a perfect gentleman who can defend his friends.
In Chapter 4, after discovering that Seven (someone that he's become close friends with during the Killing Game) committed suicide and being manipulated by Monokuma, he tries to get himself and the others killed as an act of mercy. Though after reading Seven's real suicide note, he would go one to help the others escape the university in atonement for his mistakes.
- Adaptational Heroism: While he still tries to Mercy Kill everyone, he doesn't murder anyone to do it.
- The Atoner: After Chapter 4, he tries his hardest to make up for trying to Mercy Kill everyone.
- Foil: To Aoi. While they both try to get everyone killed by pretending to be the murderer of The Big Guy after reading their fake Suicide Note, the difference comes from their motives. While Aoi did so as an act of Revenge, Gonta did so as an act of mercy.
- The Killer Was Left-Handed: Subverted. He tries to prove that he killed Seven using a modified clarinet in his right hand. However, this only proves his innocence due to him being left handed.
- Spared by the Adaptation: He makes it past Chapter 4 and even becomes one of the survivors.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He winds up taking a similar role as Aoi in Chapter 4, being the friend of The Big Guy who attempts to get everyone killed via an incorrect vote after reading said big guy's fake Suicide Note.
Ryoma Hoshi
A well-renowned tennis player that was even scouted to be a student in Hope's Peak. Unfortunately, he would lose both his family and his lover to the Mafia after refusing to throw a match, leading him to kill them in response. As a result, he was turned down by Hope's Peak and was given a prison sentence.
After seeing that there's no one left in the outside world that cares about him in Chapter 2, he was willing to let himself be killed by Kirumi Tojo, only being spared when Gentarou "Ace" Hongou hijacked Kirumi's plan and killed Light "Snake" Field. Realizing his mistake, he and Kirumi would go on to help the others survive and escape the Killing Game as atonement for their unintended role in Snake's death.
- The Atoner: After realizing his willingness to be killed by Kirumi inadvertently led to Snake's death, he decides to continue living to make up for it.
- Desires Prison Life: After being told by Yui that he'll have return to prison to continue serving his sentence after escaping Kibou University, he admits he wouldn't mind going back due to prison being preferable to a Killing Game
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Like in canon, he seeks a reason to live and was Driven to Suicide after seeing there's no one in the outside world who misses him in his motive video. Though after being inadvertently saved from being killed by Kirumi, he would regain his will to live for the sake of his new friends.Ryoma: I used to think that I had no reason to live, and that I had no intention to survive until the very end. My motive video only reinforced those self-destructive thoughts. But…last night made me realize…Even if I have nobody outside that’s important to me…I still have everyone inside. Getting all of you out of here…that’s what’s important to me. So from this point on…I’ll only give up my life if it’s to protect all of you.
- Spared by the Adaptation: He makes it past Chapter 2 and even becomes one of the survivors.
K1-B0/Keebo Iruma
A robot with an advanced AI. Invented by Miu Iruma, Keebo was given a strong AI, allowing him to grow and mature like a regular human, and two main functions: being a loving son to Miu and her husband Kazuichi Iruma, and to be source of hope for all like Makoto Naegi. While he's not always great at human interaction, he does try to help the others the best that he can, though he will admonish those he considers "robophobic".
He would later go on to survive and escape the Killing Game alongside his fellow survivors.
- Adaptational Wimp: He's never given the upgrades his canon counterpart was given in Chapter 5.
- Demoted to Extra: While he was the In-Universe Audience Surrogate and Protagonist in V3, here he's not given much to do.
- Spared by the Adaptation: He winds up surviving the final chapter unlike his canon counterpart.
Gentarou Hongou (Ace)
An older man and the C.E.O of a pharmaceutical company. He's usually one of the more calm and collected ones of the group.
He is the culprit of Chapter 2. After discovering Kirumi's murder plan, he winds up hijacking it and tries to kill Teruaki Kubota in order to get the cure for his prosopagnosia that was promised to him in his Motive Video. Unfortunately, due to his disorder, he winds up killing Light "Snake" Field instead due to Snake wearing Teruaki's pajamas at the time.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: He's chased down a hallway by a group of hooded Monokumas which prove to not be affected by his Golden Gun. After reaching a locked door at the end of the hallway, he gets dogpiled by the Monokumas and set on fire, being burnt beyond recognition as a result.
- Defiant to the End: Like Kirumi in V3, he tries to run away from his execution while being chased by hooded Monokumas, though he fails.
- Loophole Abuse: He tries to avoid being executed by Monokuma by holding Kiki hostage, believing the bear wouldn't kill him without killing her and breaking one of his rules. Unfortunately for him, Monokuma's able to trick him into releasing Kiki and executes him anyway.
- Murder by Mistake: He initially tries to kill Teruaki out of a belief that he'll be an easy target. However, because of his prosopagnosia, he winds up killing Snake instead due to him wearing Teruaki's pajamas at the time.
Light Field (Snake)
An elegant man and the older brother of Clover Field. When he and Clover were little, the two of them were involved in a car accident. While shielding his sister, he would wind up permanently blind. Though despite his blindness, he's able to maneuver around just fine by himself.
He is the victim of Chapter 2, having been drowned in the swimming pool by Gentarou "Ace" Hongou due to his killer mistaking him for Teruaki Kubota because of his prosopagnosia.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: While he dies in an incinerator alongside Ace in their game's Safe Ending, here he's drowned in a swimming pool by Ace.
- Gut Feeling: He's demonstrated that he can be good at reading people. For example, when Kiki finds a Golden Gun and hands it to him for safe keeping at his suggestion, she thinks to herself that he probably couldn't even use due to his blindness. As if reading her mind, he tells her he very well can use it if he needs to and lets her know he isn't offended by what she thought.
- Innocent Bystander: The only reason he's killed by Ace was because of the latter's prosopagnosia causing him to mistake Snake for Teruaki (his intended target) due to him wearing his pajamas at the time.
- Stripped to the Bone: Like Ryoma in V3, his corpse gets eaten by piranhas until he's reduced to a skeleton.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He winds up taking a similar role as Ryoma in Chapter 2, being the one who's killed via drowning and having his corpse Stripped to the Bone at the end of a magic show.
Seven
A big man who suffers from amnesia. While he can bumbling at times, usually by saying something that Keebo would consider "robophobic", he ultimately is dependable when he needs to be.
When the group start arguing over what to do with Sokyu after he killed Hazuki "Lotus" Kashiwabara in self-defense and wanting to prevent the situation from getting worse, Seven commits suicide, making himself both the culprit and the victim. In his suicide note, it's revealed that he remembered being a police detective who was in a previous Killing Game called the Nonary Game.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Like Sakura, he committed a Heroic Suicide in order to stop the discourse over Sokyu's self-defense murder of Lotus out of fear that the growing discontent would either result in one of the group killing someone by accident or Monokuma supplying a motive to be the straw that broke the camel's back. This ends up rallying everyone, even Sokyu, together against Monokuma.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: While having a Karaoke Bonding Scene with Kiki, he ends up singing so badly that Kiki fears that she might go deaf if he sings another verse, though Seven does acknowledges that his singing sucks.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He winds up taking a similar role as Sakura in Chapter 4, being the Gentle Giant who does a Heroic Sacrifice via Heroic Suicide in order to stop the increasing discourse between the group before it ended in a murder.
"Teruaki Kubota"
A very skittish man who very distrusting of everyone. The reason for this distrust is due to being manipulated and bullied by those in his past. As a result, he becomes paranoid that others are only out to use and hurt him.
He is the main culprit of Chapter 3, having killed Clover Field out of a paranoid fear of her trying to kill him after her attempted suicide.
It's eventually revealed that "Teruaki" is actually an actor as the real Teruaki actually died during the Nonary Game.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Like in canon, he gets an explosive bracelet forced onto him and shoved into a room where he blows up into Ludicrous Gibs. It's even revealed in the morgue that the only thing that remains of him are bloodstained bones.
- Dead All Along: The real Teruaki died during the Nonary Game and was replaced with an actor in order to fill in the role of the 16th participant.
- Impersonation-Exclusive Character: The only way we know about Teruaki is through the actor impersonating him.
- Not in My Contract: As he's being sentenced to be executed by Monokuma, he says that he "didn’t sign up for this shit", hinting at his employment with Team Danganronpa.
- Waiting for a Break: It's revealed by Tsumugi that the actor only agreed to played Teruaki under the promise of becoming famous after struggling to land a big acting role.
Sokyu Akafuku
"I’m going alone too. I said I’d cooperate and help out, but that doesn’t mean I gotta adhere to some kind of buddy system."
A stoic, loner boy. Like Kiki Naegi, he doesn't remember much about his past. All he does remember is living with his father and being betrayed by those he thought were his friends. As a result, this leads to him keeping his distance from everyone, even to the point of opting out of investigations.
During Chapter 3, he ends up getting attacked by Hazuki "Lotus" Kashiwabara due to her believing that he's working with Monokuma after witnessing the two talking with each other. This ends with Sokyu killing her in self-defense, causing discourse between the group over what to do with him.
It's later revealed that he's related to Jutaro and Shutaro Akafuku, a pair of criminal brothers that Makoto and Kyoko Naegi dealt with during their time at Hope's Peak. This causes Sokyu to attempt to kill Kiki out of fear of her wanting vengeance for what his family tried to do to hers, making him the "culprit" of Chapter 5, though he isn't executed when it's revealed that Kiki actually survived. He would go on to help the others escape the university to make things up with for what he did to her.
- The Atoner: After Kiki recovers from her near-death experience, he's the first to agree with her plan to beat Monokuma to make up for his attempted murder.Sokyu: Count me in! I’m not exactly ecstatic about the idea of putting my life on the line again so soon after barely escaping execution. That being said…that psychotic bear tried to manipulate me into killing you…I don’t appreciate being duped into doing someone else’s dirty work. Besides… I…owe you my life…so until I’ve paid you back, I’ll follow your lead to the very end!”
- Connected All Along: At first, it seemed like he was just an Original Character created for this fanfic. It isn't until Chapter 5 when it's revealed that he's related to the Akafuku brothers.
- Foil: To Kiki:
- Both of them lost their memories of their families and their last names. While Kiki's open about her Identity Amnesia and open to trust and cooperate with others, Sokyu tends to isolate himself and be very distrusting of others.
- Kiki's parents are well-regarded heroes due to their efforts in stopping the Tragedy, while Sokyu's father and uncle are criminals.
- While Kiki actively investigates ad participates in Class Trials, Sokyu tends to sit out investigations due to him usually being the most suspected person in the group until the last two chapters when he willing works with the others.
- Killing in Self-Defense: He ends up killing Lotus in Chapter 3 when she tried kill him for seemingly killing Clover and working with Monokuma.
- Meaningful Name: His first name means "redemption", as his father Shutaro wanted him to not make the same mistakes him and his brother made that made them criminals.
Female Participants
Kiki Naegi
"Ano…hi. I’m Kiki…I’m having trouble remembering who I am at the moment. I’ve got a really bad case of amnesia, but I hope I can still help to get us out of here!"
The daughter of Makoto and Kyoko Naegi. Sharing her father's good-hearted nature, she usually tries to help whoever she can and often tries to see the best in other. This would eventually lead her to training under her mother, along with Shuichi Saihara, in becoming a detective.
After Kaede Akamatsu's death in Chapter 1, Kiki would end up becoming the main protagonist when the pianist passed down the leadership role to her before her death.
She is the "victim" of Chapter 5, having seemingly been killed by Sokyu after being pushed down five stories worth of stairs. In reality, she barely survived and was able to make it to the trial grounds, preventing her would-be killer's execution. In the final chapter, she and the rest of the survivors discover that the Killing Game is broadcasted to the outside world by the Mastermind (who happened to be one of her childhood friends) as a sick form of entertainment and that everyone's memories were tampered with, driving her into despair. After getting some word of encouragement from some unlikely allies, she was able to help pull her fellow survivors out of their despair and stop the Killing Game.
Kaede Akamatsu
The initial protagonist. A more outgoing and motivated girl, she had a great interest in piano since she was little and showed to a great proficiency for the instrument, to the point that she was accepted to a music school in France. She was in a relationship with Shuichi Saihara until she broke up with him due to the young detective's insecurities.
She is considered the culprit of Chapter 1, seemingly killing Rantaro Amami in a death trap in an attempt to kill the Mastermind. Before her execution, she hands the leadership role to Kiki Naegi. It's eventually revealed that Kaede's plan had failed and Rantaro was killed by the real Mastermind in order to kick-start the Killing Game and framed her as a result.
Tsumugi Shirogane
A cosplaying otaku and one of Kiki Naegi's childhood friends. While not interested in cosplaying herself, she shows a great interest in creating costumes for others. This is only equal to her love of anime and manga, something that she'll go a full-on rant about, often to the dismay of those who're made to listen.
She is the true culprit of Chapter 1, having killed Rantaro Amami and pinning the blame on Kaede Akamatsu in order to start the Killing Game. It's eventually revealed that Tsumugi's the real Mastermind of the Killing Game. Having been inspired by Akki Tamonozan (a distant relative of Junko Enoshima) trying to recreate the Tragedy, Tsumugi gathered Rantaro and a group of others to form Team Danganronpa and created the Killing Game as a twisted form of entertainment for the outside world. When the surviving participants are able to stop her plans and shut down the Killing Game, she attempts to have them all executed, only for the police to arrive and arrest her.
Kirumi Tojo
A girl who helps others with selfless devotion. Having been trained by her mother since she was little, she works as a maid that can fulfill any request given to her within reason. Her reputation proceeds her so much, the Prime Minister of Japan even asked her to work as his intern after she graduated Hope's Peak.
In Chapter 2, she's made to believe that she's the de facto Prime Minister of Japan tasked with saving her country from an unknown catastrophe in her Motive Video. Desperate to escape, she attempted to kill a suicidal Ryoma Hoshi, only to knocked out and have her killing plan be hijacked by Gentarou "Ace" Hongou. When this winds up resulting in the death of Light "Snake" Field, her and Ryoma would go on to help the others survive and escape the Killing Game as atonement for their unintended role in Snake's death.
Clover Field
A cheerful girl and the younger sister of Light "Snake" Field. After going through a car accident that cost her brother his sight, Clover tends to always be around her brother to help however she can, even if Snake shows that he can do stuff independently despite his blindness.
After Snake's death in Chapter 2, she would become increasingly hostile towards the others and would even try to attempt suicide, though Kiki Naegi's able to talk her out of it. Even when she would regain the will to live, Clover would wind up becoming the first victim of Chapter 3, having been killed by a paranoid "Teruaki Kubota".
Hazuki Kashiwabara (Lotus)
A scantily clad older woman. Despite her abrasive attitude towards some of the group like Seven (who frequently calls her an "exhibitionist grandma"), she does show a more tender side to some of them like Clover Field and Kiki Naegi due to them reminding her of her two daughters.
At the end of Chapter 2, she witnesses Sokyu having a private conversation with Monokuma, causing her to suspect Sokyu of working with the Mastermind. This would come to a boiling point after Clover's death in Chapter 3, as she would try to kill Sokyu in order to avenge Clover and seemingly end the Killing Game. It ultimately ends with her getting killed by Sokyu in self-defense, make her the second victim of the chapter.
Antagonist
Monokuma
The self-proclaimed headmaster of Kibou Academy. Eager to see the participants kill each other and fall into despair, the bear supplies motives to the group to try and push them to their breaking point.
