Characters / Three-Point Shot

Late-Arrival Spoiler warning. This story assumes that the reader is familiar with the canonical plot of Danganronpa V3, so spoilers for that will be unmarked.

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Female Students

Kaede Akamatsu

Ultimate Pianist

The protagonist of Three-Point Shot. A girl who started playing piano at a young age, and eventually began winning so many recitals that she was crowned the Ultimate Pianist. She's cheerful, outgoing, and motivated, and directs these traits toward escaping Monokuma and his murderous game.

She is labeled as the culprit of Chapter 1, having modified Shuichi Saihara's trap to catch the mastermind by adding a death trap to it. However, thanks to Kokichi tampering with the crime scene, Shuichi is able to prove that her death trap was actually a failure and that in reality she was framed by the mastermind - Tsumugi Shirogane - as Rantaro's murderer, due to Monokuma's Time Limit motive failing to produce a murder victim, and she survives the first trial. She survives the final trial and escapes to the outside world with the rest of the remaining students.

• The Atoner: Even though she is forgiven for creating the trap and lying to Shuichi, Kaede still feels terrible for acting this way and seeks to right her actions by ending the killing game with everyone.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: It was Kaede's intention of saving everyone that resulted in her creating her trap to kill the mastermind. This is brought up again when she's given a Flashback Light as her clue for the final class trial. She was tempted to use the light so she can save everyone and end the killing game. Thankfully, she was aware of how dangerous it was to use the device and ultimately decided against it.
• The Determinator: As part of her Rousing Speech in the final class trial, Kaede makes it clear that nothing will stop her from continuing to fight against Danganronpa using her experiences to discourage the viewing audience from supporting the show.
• Frame-Up: An non-straight example. From Chapter 3 onwards, Monokuma has been giving Shuichi clues that hint towards Kaede being the mastermind in order to encourage him to mistrust her. During chapter 63, Monokuma becomes infuriated when Kaede reveals she didn't use the Flashback Light which would have been instrumental in turning her into the mastermind.
• Give Geeks a Chance: According to her sister, Kaede has a preference for smart guys.
  Kaori: You always did go for the brainy ones, didn't you, sis?
• Honorary Aunt: To Anzu Harukawa.
• Hope Bringer: It's thanks to Kaede's stubbornness and optimism that she's able to drive the group forward and unite them during the darkest of times.
• I Hate Past Me: Kaede isn't thrilled to know how selfish and jaded her pregame counterpart was.
• The Leader: She fills the role as best as she can.
• The Mole: Subverted; Team Danganronpa tried to invoke this with a flashback light, but she caught on it was a trap and destroyed it.
• My Greatest Failure: Even though she never killed Rantaro in the first place, Kaede still feels guilty for showing willingness to kill and how her trap was instrumental in allowing Tsumugi to kill the boy.
• Odd Friendship: Out of all of the female students, Kaede is closest to Maki. The feeling is mutual for Maki, although Maki is more reluctant to call their relationship a friendship.
• Save the Villain: Kaede plans on saving her sister from Team Danganronpa's brainwashing by voting to regain their old memories, which will include Kaori's.
• Spared by the Adaptation: She lives through the first trial, unlike in canon. And she lives through the whole killing game.

Miu Iruma

Ultimate Inventor

An inventor on the cutting edge. She has a rather strange set of priorities—for instance, some of her favorite inventions are a series of devices that make it easier to eat or read while sleeping, while she considers her truly groundbreaking "eyedrop contact lenses" boring and sold the patent. She is incredibly brash and vulgar, but despite this, she will suddenly turn into a wimp if her facade is successfully attacked. She is the culprit of Case 4.

• Blue-and-Orange Morality: With her memories of the outside world truly restored, she earnestly believes that the best possible fate is to be immortalized by killing and dying in a game like this.
• Death of Personality: After the events in the virtual reality simulation, her memories before the Killing Game have been restored, allowing her to remember that Danganronpa is an in-universe reality show and she is one of the crazed fans who volunteered to be a part of it. This effectively killed Miu Iruma the Ultimate Inventor and replaced her with Miu Iruma the Danganronpa Hopeful.
• Odd Friendship: With Kirumi, including more than one Spit Shake and her being the one she trusts with her returned memories and a fair Duel to the Death. Killing someone would normally not qualify you for this, but given the general mental state of those who sign up for Danganronpa...
• Pet the Dog: A minor one. When Saihara takes a joke she makes about bisexuality in the third trial very poorly due to genuinely being that, she's caught off-guard and genuinely seems to feel somewhat bad for attacking a sensitive subject like that.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Her friendship with Kirumi can be seen as this with brash and vulgar Miu as the tomboy and Kirumi as the calm and classy girly girl.

Tsumugi Shirogane

Ultimate Cosplayer

The true culprit of Chapter 1. After Kaede Akamatsu's death trap failed to kill Rantarou Amami, Tsumugi snuck up on Rantarou and bludgeoned him to death and made it look like Kaede's trap was successful. Tsumugi Shirogane was also the mastermind behind this Killing Game working for Team Danganronpa.

• An Arm and a Leg: The second half of her execution has Tsumugi's limbs being sawed off with garrote wires.
• Blunt "Yes": Her response when Kaede asks if Tsumugi specifically wanted her dead.
• Cluster F-Bomb: She starts dropping more and more profanity as Shuichi gets closer to the truth.
• Death by Irony: For someone who self-styles herself as Junko Enoshima's next incarnation, her narrative role ends up drawing a lot of comparisons to Mukuro Ikusaba in this. She's executed brutally in the first chapter while dressed as Junko Enoshima, was The Dragon to the person(s) truly running the game, and purposefully acted the part of a Flat Character to avoid suspicion. When she's cut loose without a care by Monokuma, she's extremely surprised at how quickly she was turned on by her masters.
• Demoted to Extra: She lasts all of one trial in this fic, where she was one of the final casualties of the original game.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Some “mastermind” she is. Team Danganronpa have a replacement for her in the form of Kaori after her execution.
• Evil Costume Switch: During the first half of her execution, the Monokuma cubs switch out her old clothes and replace them with Junko's iconic uniform.
• Lipstick-and-Load Montage: The cubs also transform Tsumugi's appearance for her execution using heavy makeup to make her look exactly like the queen of despair.
• Off with Her Head!: The second half of her execution has Tsumugi's neck being sawed off with garrote wires.
• Saying Too Much: "You can't let the trial go like this! You need me!!!" And so everyone in the room knows Tsumugi has been working with Monokuma.
• Say My Name: Screams Kaede's name before being executed.
  Tsumugi: You... you... AKAMATSUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Starter Villain: Her murder of Amami and state as the game's mastermind is uncovered in the first trial, but the game just keeps going without her with some adjustments to its intended direction.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: As her Villainous Breakdown proceeds, she continues to insist that Kaede is the murderer even though her innocence has pretty much been proven and it would be smarter to start casting blame on K1-B0, Ryoma, or Kokichi (who all lack alibis).
• Villainous Breakdown: After being convicted, she's furious with Kaede for not taking the fall for her, and with Kokichi for ruining her plan.
• We Have Reserves: While the producers were upset about her being discovered as the mastermind, they still intend to continue the Killing Game without her while deciding on a suitable replacement.

Tenko Chabashira

Ultimate Aikido Master

A user of "Neo Aikido", a school of martial arts developed by her and her master. She has a cheery, energetic demeanor, and tends to make kiai yells in normal conversation. She enjoys the company of other women, but despises men—not only will she reject compliments from men, she'll even reflexively throw any man who touches her. She is the culprit of Case 2, killing Korekiyo Shinguji in self-defense.

• Berserk Button: After apprehending Korekiyo for trying to kill her, he vows to target and kill the other female students, even threatening to make Himiko his next victim. This results in Tenko stabbing the Serial Killer with his own knife in a fit of rage and despair.
• Face Death with Dignity: Even though she wanted to save everyone from Korekiyo, she knew that killing him was wrong and is willing to accept her execution without struggle, confessing after Himiko calls her out on her lies.
• Sympathetic Murderer: Her victim had not only tried to kill her but also threatened to kill Himiko. While Tenko regrets what she's done, her actions are understandable.

Kirumi Toujou

Ultimate Maid

A girl with a sharp mind and an athletic body. Her day job is as a maid, but she is effective in a variety of roles, such as personal security. She was even apparently approached for a job that would "destroy a nation". Her personal motto is "duty before self", something that she continues to adhere to even in the prison school. She takes care of housekeeping and cooking for the other students. She is the victim of Chapter 4.

• Princess for a Day: As part of the Fair Play Who Dunnit themed VR world in Case 4, Kirumi is given the role of Duchess Du Jour, the main character of the game and the duchess of the house.
• Supreme Chef: Along with providing the main meals for the group, she was also able to create a fabulous gourmet dinner as part of Chapter 12's Casino Night.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Her friendship with Miu can be seen as this with brash and vulgar Miu as the tomboy and Kirumi as the calm and classy girly girl.

Maki Harukawa

Ultimate Caretaker (actually Ultimate Assassin)

The Tritagonist of Three-Point Shot. A girl who grew up in an orphanage. She was made to help out while living there, and despite not being particularly good at the work and hating children, apparently the children liked her so much that she earned the title Ultimate Caregiver. She has an uncooperative attitude and speaks from the heart. She survives the final trial and escapes to the outside world with the rest of the remaining students.

• Babies Ever After: She is impregnated by Kaito during his last days, and gives birth to a daughter named Anzu after the killing game.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Maki admits to having romantic feelings for Kaito since he was the first person to treat her like a real person and how he encouraged her to live the life she wants to.
  • She also is more nicer and patient with Kaede and Shuichi since they were willing to accept her as a friend.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Maki ends up using one of Kaito's inspiring lines during her Heroic Second Wind speech in chapter 65.
  Maki: It might not be easy, but if there's even a one percent chance at a happy ending, I'll bet on it every time.
• Her Heart Will Go On: Before his death, Maki promises Kaito that she'll help her new friends escape the killing game and then go on to live the life she wants to live.
• Hidden Depths: Maki is shown to have a talent at baking from her time at the orphanage. Though she considers herself to be rusty since it's been so long.
• The Mole: Kokichi has Maki participate in the workout club's activities to keep an eye on them and learn any potential secrets.
• Someone to Remember Him By: She has Kaito's daughter after the game ends.
• Together in Death: Maki offers to kill Kaito to relieve him of his suffering and is willing to go through a class trial so that they can be together. Kaito shoots down the idea since he wants her to keep on living.
• Unwitting Pawn: She serves as Kokichi's helper throughout the story as he uses her real identity as the Ultimate Assassin as blackmail. She also becomes this when Kokichi makes her an unwitting suspect for Kiibo's murder in Chapter 5.
• You Are Not Alone: After Kokichi reveals her assassin talent to everyone in chapter 53, Maki instantly expects everyone to abandon her for being a killer. To her relief, Kaede and the others comfort her and assure her that they're still friends regardless of this reveal.

Himiko Yumeno

Ultimate Magician

The Ultimate Magician, but she would prefer to call herself the Ultimate Spellcaster. She claims to be the youngest person to win Magician of the Year, a prestigious award given out by the magician society Magician's Castle. However, since her tricks are actual magic (according to her, at least), she alleges that she has been prevented from claiming the award because of a conspiracy to hide the existence of magic. She also claims to be flooded with booking requests from all over the world. Despite being at the top of her field, she is lazy to a fault. She survives the final trial and escapes to the outside world with the rest of the remaining students.

• Adaptational Sexuality: While the source material at least has her attracted enough to men that Angie is able to entice her to her god by describing him as a handsome man, with her exact feelings about Tenko and Angie both left up to interpretation, she very plainly admits to being gay when Kaede asks her while the two discuss Tenko. Not that anyone's complaining.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: After Tenko is executed for killing Kiyo, Himiko calls Kokichi, who she blames for Tenko's death a "menace."
• Break the Cutie: She is understandably very upset when Tenko is revealed to be the culprit and then gets executed.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Not a straight example, but Himiko does show signs of this based on her deep interest in magic and her odd comments. For example, she considered Rantaro to be either a vampire or gladiator based on his bloody talent lab.
• For Happiness: Her main reason for holding magic shows to the public is to bring smiles to their faces.
• Innocently Insensitive: Her biggest issues with Chabashira's thinly-veiled attraction to her is that she keeps denying it outwardly despite its intense obviousness. Kaede advises her that pressing on the issue would only make her feel more uncomfortable with something that is obviously a big deal to her to work through.
• Odd Friendship: She and Ryoma, of all people, end up doing a great deal to encourage one another out of their respective funks, and are very close by the fifth chapter-equivalent.
• The Pollyanna: Despite her grief over Tenko's death, Himiko makes an effort to be more cheerful and raise the spirits of her friends and fellow survivors.
• Stage Magician: The epilogue reveals that she still continues her talent as a magician and holds magic tours. She also isn't bothered anymore when people refer to her magic as tricks.
• Straight Gay: Very casually admits as much to Kaede in the second chapter-equivalent.
• You Monster!: After learning that Kokichi was responsible for Tenko and Kiyo's motive videos being swapped, thus indirectly causing Tenko to murder Kiyo and get executed, she's furious.
  Himiko: You murderer! You monster! You... you... MENACE!

Angie Yonaga

Ultimate Artist

An accomplished artist and a foreigner from an island nation. Angie considers herself a conduit of the god of her island, Atua, believing him to always be by her side. She claims that her art is not created by her, but by her god simply using her body. The particulars of Angie's country are unclear; Angie seems to have a fascination in blood sacrifice, for instance. Despite the creepy details, Angie is rather cheerful and energetic. She is the culprit of Case 3. She poisons Toujou's tea with the intention of Kokichi drinking it, only for Gonta to drink it instead.

• Ambition Is Evil: Maki claims that the reason Angie is recruiting students to join her art club is so that she has a greater chance of usurping the leadership position from Kaede. She's proven correct when she announces to everyone about her decision to have everyone give up on escaping the school.
• Blunt "Yes": When asked if she would have had a problem if she'd ended up killing Shuichi by accident, Angie says "not really."
• Voice of the Legion: After being accused of murdering Gonta in chapter three, Angie's voice and mannerisms dramatically change, making her sound as if she were truly possessed by God.
• What You Are in the Dark: Angie admits that she faced this problem when everyone refused to give up on escaping and how many of her followers did not completely believe her. Thus forcing her to commit murder despite her better judgement.

Male Students

Shuichi Saihara

Ultimate Detective

The secondary protagonist of Three-Point Shot. 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 where Shuichi happened to solve a murder before the police could, earning him the title Ultimate Detective. Solving the murder was apparently just luck, however, and Shuichi has trouble considering himself worthy of his Ultimate title. He survives the final trial and escapes to the outside world with the rest of the remaining students.

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the canon game, Shuichi suffered from low self-esteem and lack of confidence in his detective skills. Here, he is revealed to have depression and is constantly struggling with it. He even suffers an anxiety attack in the middle of the third trial.
• Decoy Protagonist: He is the main character for the first trial, but he lets Kaede take point afterwards.
• Deuteragonist: After the first case has him taking point earlier on, he takes a backseat afterwards to in-universe intended Decoy Kaede, but still remains a key player in the story with plenty of detective work to do, even continuing to make the closing arguments every trial.
• Forced Out of the Closet: During the third trial, he is outed as bisexual when Miu cracks an unfortunately-phrased joke about him.
• Genre Savvy: Thanks to his detective talent, Shuichi is able to deduce crucial details about the killing game. Such as in Chapter 22 how Kaede surviving and Tsumugi dying was not 'part of the story' and now they're going in a new direction.
• Maybe Ever After: Four years after the killing game ends, he and Kaede are still dating and it's hinted that he plans to propose to her.

Rantaro Amami

Ultimate ??? (presumably still Ultimate Survivor & Adventurer)

The victim of Chapter 1. Initially thought to having been caught by Kaede Akamatsu's death trap, he was actually murdered by Tsumugi Shirogane - the mastermind - in order to kickstart the killing game, as Monokuma's time limit motive was not having an effect on the students.

• Hero of Another Story: Shuichi finds a photo of him and Shirogane from the previous killing game, which raises more questions to the cast about both of them that readers are going to be familiar with.
• Posthumous Character: Even moreso than in the source material. The story's starting/divulging point is right after his body is discovered.
• We Used to Be Friends: When the group finds a photo of Rantaro alongside Tsumugi participating in a class trial, Himiko sadly laments that they look as if they were good friends.

Kokichi Ouma

Ultimate Supreme Leader

A boy who claims to lead a secret society of over 10,000 agents. He's also an admitted liar, but Ultimate Detective Shuichi Saihara seems to have heard rumors 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. In Case 5, he masterminds a murder in a manner such that neither the students nor Monokuma can find irrefutable proof of whether he or Maki is the blackened. After the Voting Time ends in a tie, Kokichi confesses to being the culprit and is executed after forcing a stalemate in a deadly game of chess with Monokuma.

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: After his execution in Chapter 5, it is implied that Kokichi suffered from suicidal thoughts and did not think of himself as worthy of living.
• Adaptational Heroism: While he's still just as prone to messing with everyone as ever, with a lot of his actions having direct parallels to something shady he did in the game, just about everything he's done so far has ended up serving the group for the better instead of being a mixed bag. It's also made far clearer far earlier on that sabotaging the killing game is his goal, and Team Danganronpa can be seen between chapter-equivalents discussing just how much trouble he's causing for the game.
  • For starters, his interference in the first case allows Kaede to be cleared of suspicion and survive.
  • While he still manipulates someone into a kill/be killed situation, instead of making Gonta do it to Iruma, he sets things up so Shinguuji is eliminated via self-defense before he has a chance to seriously hurt anyone else.
  • At Kaito's funeral, he only briefly shows up to express very genuine sorrow, nothing overblown or tasteless, despite everyone's doubts.
  • He threatens everyone with bombs and seemingly murders K1-B0, but it turns out to be a bluff. He backs up K1-B0 into the Motherkuma offscreen and orchestrates a murder where even Monokuma cannot safely deduce whether he or Maki is the blackened, and then accepts execution for the incident.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Gets two in the aftermath of the second trial. The first involves him asking the survivors whether they're at all upset about Korekiyo's death, and the second involves him asking Kaede how his actions are any different from her plan to kill the mastermind.
• Break Them by Talking: Uses this against the survivors during the fifth trial. He successfully convinces them there's no way out of voting Maki as Kiibo's murder with Shuichi seeing his plan as foolproof. Surprisingly, he ends up on the receiving end when Kaede suggests a tie vote between Maki and him for a better outcome. Even though he tries to refute their claim, the others point out how Kokichi is just as desperate to survive as all of them and that he's not as evil as he claims to be.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Monokuma approaches him offering to make him his new partner/mastermind. Kokichi accepts the position and offers him a handshake. He manages to shock the bear with a joy buzzer and admits to having no interest in joining him.
• Evil Costume Switch: Before the fifth trial, Kokichi reappears now with a cape and dictator hat, the same ones that appear in his promotional art, and has painted half of his face black with a red lightning bolt to make him look like Monokuma.
• Misplaced Sorrow: When seeing Kirumi's body, his first response is, "No. Now who will make pancakes the way I like them?"
• Mr. Exposition: In the first trial, he is the one who points out that the hidden room has to have a back door and that Tsumugi's alibi doesn't hold up considering this.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a brutal one to Maki.
  "Your precious Harukawa-chan is nothing more than a coldhearted killer. Shinguuji-chan was psycho, but even he's got nothing on her! Killing people for money, destroying lives without a care in the world. And she was so desperate for me to keep it a secret, that she agreed to help me. What an idiot! You actually believed my sob story about wanting to save everyone?! What part of 'I'm a liar' do none of you get?! Not that you have any room to judge, Miss 'Caretaker'..."
• Spanner in the Works: The plot is set off by him proving what a horrible idea it is to turn one of your players into a meddling genius much earlier than canon. Thanks to his whims, the intended Decoy Protagonist stays in the mix and the supposed Big Bad doesn't survive the first trial.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: He says that Korekiyo was a dangerous individual who deserved to die after the second trial.
• Trickster Mentor: Since he's less antagonistic towards the other characters as a whole, this becomes a defining characteristic of his interactions with the rest of the group whenever he's not just meddling on their behalf outright.

K1-B0 ("Ki-bo"/"Keebo")

Ultimate Robot

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. His body is destroyed by an EMP blast triggered by Kokichi, making him the victim of Case 5... but Kokichi made a backup of his AI in the Motherkuma. After the final trial, he stays behind, stating that his AI will reverse-hack Team Danganronpa's computer network, with the goal being to escape to the world wide web and be "free", existing as a online digital entity forever.

• Ambiguous Situation: Late in the Chapter 3-equivalent, when he puts himself under so Miu can do some maintenance on him before she herself is knocked out by Maki, Kokichi does something to him, and when he wakes up the tune-up's been completed just fine. As of the fifth trial, it's revealed that Kokichi implanted an EMP bomb inside of him.
• Benevolent A.I.: At the end of the fifth trial, Ki-bo is revealed to be alive and has taken over the Mother Monokuma and the killing game by extension.
• Disney Death: Was thought to be dead by the survivors for the second half of Chapter 5. Then it's revealed in the end that he is still alive as an AI.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Before being killed by the EMP bomb implanted in him, the last thing Ki-bo does is fight the exisal riding Monocubs which eventually results in their deactivation after the bomb explodes.
• Good Counterpart: In order to participate in the final trial, Ki-bo uses a Monokuma bot to serve as his body. To distinguish himself from the original, he painted his name in green paint across his chest.
• Hidden Depths: When his lab is revealed, he admits to wanting a lab that was more focused on the philosophical aspects of his robotic existence rather then having it filled with fancy gadgets to improve his body.
• Meaningful Rename: While he still retains the Keebo, the robot decides to adopt the name Idabashi as his new surname. His friends are accepting of this and start to refer to him as Idabashi-kun.
• Spanner in the Works: After escaping into cyberspace, Kiibo makes constant efforts to sabotage Danganronpa's credibility by hijacking user forums and their online sites, making it harder for people to participate resulting in them losing interest in the show.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Despite having his body destroyed late in the game, his AI lives on and escapes from the killing game.
• Straw Vulcan: In Chapter 52, after Kaito's funeral, Keebo purposefully detaches himself from the group knowing that he must stay rational in order for the group to survive. He also lampshades and hates the stereotype of having to become an emotionless machine during this sad time. He believes that it's necessary for the group to have someone who can keep a level head under its dire circumstances.
• Took a Level in Cynic: As the story progresses, Keebo becomes noticeably more distant from the group as many of his friends ended up betraying the group by committing murder, thus weakening his beliefs on trust and friendship.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: To Kiibo's displeasure, he is revealed to be a walking camera for the audience and isn't even allowed the freedom to leave the killing game since he is property of Team Danganronpa.

Gonta Gokuhara

Ultimate Entomologist

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 dinosaurmen called "Reptites". He has vowed to become a true gentleman to repay his "woodland family". 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 victim of Case 3, drinking tea meant for Kokichi that was poisoned by Angie.

• Demoted to Extra: Arguably the sharpest example of this even before factoring in people dropping at different times than in canon. Ouma ultimately decides against making him his henchman in the Chapter 2-equivalent, and Angie's art club is a lot less threatening than her student council was thanks to the class maintaining Kaede's strong leadership, giving him a lot less to do before he's killed as the third victim rather than fourth culprit.
• Too Dumb to Live: Crossed with Stupid Sacrifice. He knows that something is up with the tea Toujou was making when he finds her unconscious in her lab, and reasons that the best way to investigate just what is to drink it himself.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Angie claims that Gonta was this after his body was discovered in Chapter 3.

Korekiyo Shinguji

Ultimate Anthropologist

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. He is the victim of Case 2, killed by Tenko after he attempted to murder her.

• Asshole Victim: The surviving students see him as this after Tenko murders him, and Kokichi even says it's a good thing that he died.
  Kokichi: Tell me, are any of you honestly upset that Shinguuji-chan is dead? And I don't mean generally upset that a person is dead at all, I mean him specifically. (silence) There are people in this world that are too horrible to be kept alive. From our first day here, I could tell from the look in his eye that Shinguuji-chan was off his rocker. People with blood on their hands, they have this look about them that I can recognize. It just wasn't until the video that I started to put two and two together. He's better off where he is.
• A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: He spends most of his time interacting with most of the female students about various topics. He's actually been evaluating them to determine which one(s) he should kill for his deceased sister.
• Bullying a Dragon: Fantastic call taunting Chabashira with a threat on Yumeno's life, buddy. Not to mention, as Saihara brings up at his trial, he ended up making a brazen attempt on the life of the one person in the school whose talent was being skilled at a martial arts style that specializes in defending from an attacker.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: It turns out that he was intentionally made more aggressive by the group running the game, possibly with the expectation he would commit a murder sooner. While the results weren't horrible on their part, they were clearly less than satisfactory.
• Token Evil Teammate: Hardly any of the students can consider calling him a good person after the reveal of having a dangerous Split Personality along with his agenda of murdering the female students for his deceased sister.

Ryoma Hoshi

Ultimate Tennis Pro

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 demeanor despite being a teenager, and claims that the Ultimate Tennis Player is already dead due to already being in jail before coming to the prison school. He survives the final trial and escapes to the outside world with the rest of the remaining students.

• Berserk Button: After learning that there have been countless killing games created for TV entertainment, Ryoma is absolutely furious and expresses righteous rage at Monokuma.
• I Regret Nothing: Confesses to Monokuma in Case 3's motive that, for all the misery it's caused him, he doesn't regret becoming Killer Tennis, since innocent people are safer and happier without who he killed.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Emphasized more thanks to increased longevity and being able to make a good few friends. By the late-middle of the story, just about everyone is pretty cool with him all in all.
• Odd Friendship: He and Yumeno, of all people, end up doing a great deal to encourage one another out of their respective funks, and are very close by the fifth chapter-equivalent.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Lasts past the chapter 2-equivalent. He ultimately lives to see the end of the killing game.
• Walking the Earth: After the killing game, he goes travelling the world.
• Worth Living For: His main story arc is about him trying to find a reason to live despite his criminal record. With the help of Himiko, Kaito, Keebo, and Gonta, Hoshi is able to rekindle his interest in tennis along with regaining his will to live.

Kaito Momota

Ultimate Astronaut

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. In Chapter 52, he dies from his illness. As it is not a murder or a suicide, there is no blackened, and no class trial is held.

• Adaptational Nice Guy: Kaito was always a good guy in the canon game, but he had toxic masculinity issues that made him come off as an insensitive jerk whenever the touchy subjects of sexual orientation, mental illness, and gender roles were brought up. Thankfully, his toxic masculinity was toned down as he's more sensitive and compassionate to his friends regarding these issues. He's accepting of Shuichi's bisexuality and is patient with how he's handling his depression. He's also able to encourage Maki to be her own person without the sexist undertones from the canon game.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: His Plot-Induced Illness was part of the in-game "plot" as part of the Apocalypse How angle, nearly all of which Team Danganronpa chose to drop when Shirogane was executed. Thus, his sudden illness gets no in-universe explanation.
• Always Murder: A notable aversion. He is the only casualty of the killing game to be neither a murder nor a suicide, and no class trial is held for his death.
• Doomed by Canon: The straightest example. His literal Plot-Induced Illness seems to be Shirogane's only idea for the game that didn't become an Aborted Arc with her death, with him estimating that he'll last maybe one more day, which comes to pass a chapter later.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: While he's more than okay with Shuichi being bisexual, he makes it clear that he's not into guys.
• In Spite of a Nail: Though the circumstances remove the Heroic Sacrifice aspect, in the end nothing can be done about his illness, and he dies chronologically around the same time as his canonical counterpart.
• Last Request: Before kicking the bucket, he begs Maki to keep on living.
• The Lost Lenore: Becomes this to Maki after his death.
• Non-Gameplay Elimination: An Immoral Reality Show variant. He dies of natural causes during Chapter 5, and since his death is not a homicide or suicide, no class trial is held.
• Peaceful in Death: Thanks to Maki, Kaito is able to enjoy his last days living alongside her and dies with a smile on his face.
• Shipper on Deck: He's more than aware of Kaede and Shuichi's feelings for each other and tries to have them spend more time together so they can acknowledge their feelings and be happy together. Though he considers himself to be more of a wingman then a matchmaker.
  Kaito: Girls play matchmaker, guys act as wingmen. There's a difference.
• Your Days Are Numbered: His illness is still there. It still kills him, too, but this time before the fifth murder can occur.

The Mastermind (Spoilers)

Team Danganronpa

The true masterminds of the killing game. A board of faceless producers charged with organizing the killing games and ensuring that the viewing audience is pleased with the results. After Tsumugi is exposed and executed as Rantaro's killer during the first trial, the group becomes more involved with the events of the story to ensure that the audience is entertained despite this setback.

• The Faceless: None of the producers have had their physical appearances described nor how many of them there are in total. Thus leaving their appearance, number, and gender, to the imagination of the reader.
• Gone Horribly Right: Despite having exposed their primary asset so early on, the board decides to allow Kokichi go unchecked as his spontaneous actions are ratings gold. This comes back to bite them at the end of Chapter 5 as it ends up costing them a good portion of viewership, Kiibo the walking camera and Audience Surrogate was killed as part of Kokichi's scheme, and the show has received critical backlash for the supreme leader's actions.
• Greek Chorus: They usually appear either at the beginning or ending of a main chapter expressing their thoughts and concerns with how the game is progressing along with the actions of specific characters.
• Killer Game Master: Their objective involves pitting complete students against each other in the hopes of killing each other out of despair for the audience to watch and enjoy.
• Manipulative Bastard: The producers have psych profiles for each of the students giving them options on which of them would be more susceptible to kill or be killed. Maki even speculates that the motives were tailored to suit a specific student in order to motivate them to kill.
• Nebulous Evil Organisation: They are in charge of organizing the killing games for the world to see which have resulted in hundreds of deaths to those that have been involved.
• Omniscient Council of Vagueness: They tend to act this way during their brief scenes. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, most of their dialogue is about how everything is NOT going according to plan.
• We Have Reserves: Despite losing Tsumugi, the board isn't completely bothered by her death as they have other ways to ensure that the killing game continues.
• You Fool!: The head of Team Danganronpa says something akin to this after watching the survivor's ultimatum video as he claims that they (the board) are still in control of the game.

Kaori Akamatsu

The new and designated mastermind of the Killing Game and Kaede's twin sister. She survives the final trial and escapes to the outside world with the rest of the remaining students.

• Always Identical Twins: Is described as looking just like Kaede.
• Ascended Fangirl: She expresses how she and Kaede dreamed about joining Danganronpa to be part of the killing game. Despite her sister taking her spot to be on the latest season, Team Danganronpa still kept in touch with her just in case they could use her. And sure enough, she was granted the role of mastermind.
• Bullying the Dragon: She calls her superiors 'chickenshit' for not being willing to show their faces during the final class trial.
• Cain and Abel: The Cain and antagonist to Kaede's Abel and protagonist.
• The Dragon: Even though she's credited as the mastermind, she still works under Team Danganronpa.
• Evil Twin: She is the mastermind after all. And she's been described as looking identical to Kaede.
• Final Boss: She is the final opponent the survivors have to face in the killing game.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The dark to Kaede's light. She wears Junko's iconic red and black school uniform in constrast to Kaede, who wears shades of pink and purple.
• Last Episode, New Character: She appears in the final class trial and was hardly mentioned throughout the story.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Kaori admits that she and Kaede never had anything in common except for their love of Danganronpa.
• Punch-Clock Villain: She doesn't actually hate her sister, her sadism is the result of being implanted with Junko's personality; after the game ends, her original mind becomes dominant and she makes up.
• Real After All: It was extremely easy to write her barely-mentioned existence off as just another fabricated part of the characters' pasts, even one deliberately shoehorned in to be a Red Herring in the finale.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Junko Enoshima. Not only does she wear her iconic uniform, but she's also a twin of a participant who is 'responsible' for organizing the killing game. Deconstructed, in that Junko's literal personality is inserted into her brain; she is literally a carbon copy, and it annoys her.
• Unexpected Character: It's unlikely that anyone, both the survivors and the readers, expected Kaori to make an appearance in the game.

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