Mukuro Ikusaba

Mukuro Ikusaba (戦刃 むくろ), is a student in Hope's Peak Academy's Class 78th, and a participant of the Killing School Life featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Her title is the Ultimate Soldier (超高校級の「軍人」 lit. Super High School Level Soldier).

Early Life
Mukuro was born as the older fraternal twin sister of Junko Enoshima. Junko influenced and manipulated Mukuro into working towards Junko's desire to "paint the world in despair" and planned to start The Tragedy, which Mukuro was happy to support her. At some point Junko adopted the moniker "The Despair Sisters" for the both of them.

When prompted, Mukuro alludes to her early life of being "on the streets" and like a "war zone"; however, due to conflicting stories and Mukuro was impersonating her twin at the time, it is unknown if it is intended to be taken literally or figuratively. (Free Time Events)

At some point prior to becoming a teenager, Mukuro disappeared while she and her family were on vacation in Europe where she joined the elite mercenary group based out of the Middle East named Fenrir Mercenary Group, who engaged in direct combat. During her time spent in the group, she never received a single injury on the battlefield, and received a wolf tattoo as all members of the Group were required to have. She also travelled to at least one other country during her time spent in the Group: Southeast Asia. (Free Time Events)

Some years after, Mukuro was called back to Japan by her sister to continue with their plan prior to enrolling in Hope's Peak Academy. It is unknown what Mukuro's previous high school was as she was outside the country, but she was still eventually scouted to be a part of Class 78th as the Ultimate Soldier alongside Junko as the Ultimate Fashionista. (Despair Arc - Episode 05)

Giboura Massacre
To ensure that Mukuro's skills were still useful to her, Junko ordered her to slaughter an entire middle school using only her knife. This event was later dubbed the Giboura Massacre, with only two survivors: best friends Takumi Hijirihara and Shūji Fujigawa. This event had far-reaching consquences several years after Mukuro's death such as Takumi becoming the infamous Killer Killer and a group of unknown women to worship Mukuro to the degree of emulating her appearance and killer nature. (Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer - Chapter 8 & Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer - Chapter 9)

Preparations
On Junko's orders, she aided her sister in tracking down and discovering where Izuru Kamukura was after dispatching several security personnel. While Junko is delighted to see Izuru, Mukuro is concerned for her safety. She attempted to attack Izuru after he stomped on Junko, but was easily overpowered by being backhanded into a wall. Mukuro recovered as Junko gives Izuru her speech, though he knocked her unconscious, Upon Junko waking up in the infirmary after being brought there by her sister, Mukuro dutifully delivered the message from Izuru.

When they exit, Junko bumped into Ryota Mitarai and used her analytical powers to predict his talent will be useful for her. (Despair Arc - Episode 06)

Aftermath
Both Junko and Mukuro carried out and succeed in setting up the very first Mutual Killing Game: The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy involving the Student Council. She callously shot one of the members after she resisted, afterwards joined her sister in watching the carnage unfold on several TV monitors. Junko also, pushed her to perform Tsubasa o Kudasai during it. (Despair Arc - Episode 07)

Mukuro further aided Junko by threatening Ryota to use the footage of the massacre to create the first Despair Video, kidnapped Mikan Tsumiki after she was caught trying to check on Ryota, fighting off Peko Pekoyama, lobotomizing Chisa Yukizome, and eventually aided Yasuke Matsuda in developing further brainwashing methods.

Ryoko Otonashi
While Junko was under the effects of Yasuke's memory-erasing technology and living as Ryoko Otonashi, Mukuro donned her Junko disguise for the very first time and masqueraded as her. During this period, she murdered two members of The Steering Committee and all the The Madarai Brothers in either hand-to-hand combat or traps. (Danganronpa Zero)

Prior Events
Following the events after Junko recovered her memories, she and Mukuro further solidified the Mutual Killing by preparing the Class Trial room below the school and pretended to befriend their classmates over their year of peace. They both used the information gained from their classmates to set-up the Motives and locked all of their loved ones, like Komaru Naegi, in apartments in Towa City for around a six month period. Together they also witnessed the Reserve Course students commit suicide on Junko's command.

Beginning
During the Tragedy, Jin Kirigiri, the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, planned to seal the school building and let the students live forever inside the Academy in order to protect them from the destruction. The class agreed to his plan, and they sealed the building together. The students lived peacefully inside the school building for another year without knowing that the Ultimate Despair members were already in their midst. However Kyoko Kirigiri began to piece together that there was not only one, but two members sealed in the school as noted in her journal, but wasn't able to share this information with anyone before the killing game began.

In order to allow Junko to clandestinely oversee the game from the outside without arousing suspicion, Mukuro assumed the guise of her sister, effectively masquerading as a fellow victim who had been compelled into the deadly killing game. She maintained this pretense until she managed to orchestrate an apparent violation of the game's rules following the initial murder, thereby providing herself with an opportunity to exit the game and maintain her covert role.

Mukuro's Fate
However, Mukuro was ultimately betrayed by her sister, who instead of removing her from the game after she stomped on Monokuma, impaled her on the spot with Spears of Gungnir. Mukuro was not expecting the betrayal, so she failed to save herself and succumb to her wounds moments after uttering out her final words: "H-Huh? This wasn't...supposed to... Why...me...?"

Setting a Trap
As the killing game progressed, Junko used Mukuro's corpse as a trap for the remaining students. Junko planted her corpse in the Greenhouse on the fifth floor of the school rigged with a bomb and evidence to imply that the hidden sixteenth student "Mukuro Ikusaba" had died as a result of murder. Mukuro's corpse was set aflame by the Monokuma Bomb leaving only her lower body and hand undamaged as well as the impalement marks.

Ultimately, the truth came to light as the remaining students unearthed and unveiled the identity of the deceased individual, confirming that it was indeed the real Mukuro Ikusaba they had encountered. It became clear that her sister was the mastermind orchestrating the entire series of events.

Nagito's Illusory World
Mukuro briefly appeared as an illusion in Nagito Komaeda's imaginary world following his death in the Neo World Program. She is seen spying on several of her classmates behind a tree.

Real Fiction
In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, it is alleged by the mastermind Tsumugi Shirogane that the entire Danganronpa franchise is fictional in-universe; a series of games, anime, and later live-action dramas performed actors. In particular, Tsumugi, who is the Ultimate Cosplayer, claims she is only able to cosplay fictional characters (breaking out into a bright pink rash whenever she tries to cosplay a real person), and the fact she is able to cosplay as the whole cast of Danganronpa characters including Mukuro Ikusaba is used as evidence to support her claim that all of the cast are fictional. However, due to a number of holes in Tsumugi's story which make her an unreliable narrator, whether or not she was telling the truth is deliberately left up to the player's interpretation; as a result, it is up to the player whether they believe Mukuro's story within the Danganronpa series was real, or a fictional story written by Team Danganronpa and performed by an actor.

Creation and Development
Unlike the majority of all the characters designed for the franchise, Mukuro lacks any publicly revealed concept art, even in the original incarnation of Danganronpa DISTRUST or other developmental assets. Likely due to the fact that, as explained by Kazutaka Kodaka in the Danganronpa 1.2 artbook'', Mukuro was conceptualized as a plot device much later in development in order to make the twist of Junko swapping places work.

Name
In the original Japanese, Mukuro's full name is written as 戦刃躯. 躯, the kanji for her given name, is the kanji for "corpse" and "dead body". Her family name Ikusaba is written as 戦刃, comprising of the kanji for "war" or "battlefield" (戦) and "knife" or "edge of a blade" (刃). The kanji of both her given and family name is very likely a reference to her Ultimate Talent.

The kanji in Mukuro's family name that means "edge of a blade" (刃) matches with part of the kanji for Junko's given name that means "shield" (盾). Additionally, parts their given names came from Japanese word "Muju" (矛盾) which means "contradiction" and "paradox".

However, it is unknown why she doesn't share a family name with her twin sister Junko, as Junko herself in the final trial described the truth as "lame" and to "make up an answer" when questioned by their surviving classmates, refusing to elaborate any further. (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc)

Alternate Fates
School Mode and Ultimate Talent Development Plan exist in two separate alternate universes where Mukuro still attends Hope's Peak Academy, but no students are in peril. As they are alternate universes, these events are non-canonical, but because Mukuro's personality is unchanged, backstory information shared by her in these events is considered questionably or dubiously canonical rather than fully non-canonical.

Free Time Events are also considered somewhat questionably canonical due to the nature of how Free Time Events are accessed (in that some characters' Free Time Events cannot be fully completed during the course of the canon game storyline due to limitations on the number of interactions you can have with them during one playthrough, and thus can only be accessed after they have canonically died either through a second playthrough or via School Mode). However, due to Free Time Events being largely experienced during the canon game storyline, Free Time Events are more grounded in canon than School Mode and Ultimate Talent Development Plan and are largely considered canon by the majority of players.

Other Alternate Fates
The Danganronpa 3 box set included a feature detailing an alternate ending of Danganronpa called Danganronpa Another End which ultimately never made it out of the development phase. In this ending, all of the students escape, at the cost of giving up their talent forever. In Mukuro's ending, she decides to stop pursuing Junko's dream and become a hairstylist.

Danganronpa IF, is a what-if scenario light novel in which Mukuro doesn't die. Instead she is the protagonist of the story. The Escape Button partially restores Makoto Naegi's memories, allowing him to see through her disguise. When Makoto is nearly killed in the process of saving her from the Spears of Gungnir and her true identity is exposed by Junko in order to frame her and Naegi as the masterminds of the Killing School Life, Mukuro opts to put a stop to Junko's plans to both save her classmates and bring her sister the despair she craves. Mukuro defects from Ultimate Despair and ultimately escapes Hope's Peak alive with the rest of her classmates before the Mutual Killing Game properly begins; her fate after this point, given her key role in The Tragedy, is unknown, though Mukuro expresses her wish to redeem herself and keep her friends safe by destroying Ultimate Despair even if doing so makes the whole world her enemy.

As the demo version of the main game begins at the investigation and subsequent Class Trial where instead of Sayaka Maizono being the first murder victim it is Yasuhiro Hagakure. Mukuro (disguised as Junko) also survives, and is able to participate in the Class Trial alongside Sayaka.

Appearance
At the beginning of the Killing School Life in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Mukuro appears to be a high school-aged teenager, though, like the rest of her classmates, she is two years older than they believed.

Mukuro stands at a height of 169 cm, equivalent to 5'7", making her one of the taller women among the characters in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. She possesses a slender physique, which has been frequently described as "concerningly thin" by her fellow students. Her complexion features fair skin with freckles adorning the bridge of her nose, and her distinctive purple-grey eyes are captivating. Mukuro's short black hair is fashioned into a stylish bob.

One notable feature on her otherwise unblemished body is a striking black wolf tattoo, located on the top of her right hand, a lasting emblem from her time with the Fenrir Mercenary Group. Although not visually depicted in her artwork or sprites, her physique is often characterized as "athletic" according to the observations made by her peers. (Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp)

She typically wears a basic Hope's Peak Academy uniform consisting of a brown tie, white button down blouse, brown pleated skirt, black stockings, and black shoes. Other minor alternations include tan fingerless gloves, a brown jacket, a red tie instead of her brown one, and a military vest.

Being fraternal twins, Mukuro and her younger sister Junko Enoshima resemble each other closely, but have noticeable differences such as Mukuro's bust size being smaller and her eye color being purple-grey as opposed to Junko's natural red eye color.

She wears the same attire as her sister while she is in her Junko disguise with a seemingly strawberry-blonde wig in pigtails, matching Junko’s hairstyle, with a cute white bunny and large red and white bow for hair-clips. She wears a white dress-shirt with a black cardigan (with white accessories referencing Junko’s Former High School) on top, red buttons, and part of her black and red bra sticking out at the top. She wears a red miniskirt cut extremely short, red nails, a loose white tie with black dots, and mid-sized black boots with platform heels with red laces. Her Fenrir tattoo is covered with foundation make-up. It can possibly be assumed that Junko’s Danganronpa 3 main attire is the reference behind this disguise for Mukuro.

Personality
Mukuro has a cold, serious expression and a reserved personality. She is completely indifferent towards other people unless it's her sister Junko. Unlike her sister, she doesn't take any sadistic pleasure in hurting or killing people, but at the same time, she shows little concern for other people's suffering, regarding them more as tools such as when she was surprised Junko made all of the brainwashed Reserve Course students commit suicide despite how useful they could have been. She is mentioned in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF to have never held much interest in the world outside of Junko before her time at Hope's Peak Academy, and is perhaps the only Ultimate Despair member who is not obsessed with either hope or despair.

Contrasting when in her Junko disguise, she maintains a more upbeat "valley-girl" style persona, such interjecting "like" and "totally" into her sentences and speaking in a more haughty demeanor. She's friendly, albeit pushy, and even claimed Makoto is an "" due to his passive nature when she spent time with him. Her persona is mentioned to be based on a script Junko made for her, and while not a reflection of her true personality, it speaks to how Mukuro views her sister and thinks how she would act.

While she is able to fool her amnesiac classmates during the Mutual Killing Game, she slips up several times when she lets her guard down. For example when speaking to Makoto on a date in the garden during School Mode she mentioned missing her quickly correcting that it was an "" suit instead. Other examples are one of her favorite presents being the "Ration" item, enjoying any and all kinds of food noting she's not picky when it comes to it, and mentions playing video games.

Mukuro is extremely loyal to and loves her younger twin sister Junko and follows her every order, no matter what it is or how Mukuro feels about it. This includes, but is not limited to, breaking and entering, kidnapping, committing murder, physical, assault, performing and so on. She is also very protective of Junko, seen when she tried to attack Izuru when he stomped on Junko and voicing concerns if she feels her sister will come to harm. However, in turn Junko is cruelly abusive towards Mukuro, often physically, emotionally and mentally tormenting her in a variety of ways, such as insulting her looks and weight, hitting her with a bat, and taking advantage of her insecurities.

Due to the constant abuse, Mukuro developed a deeply and unhealthy incestuous attachment to Junko. She turns ecstatic and feverish when thinking about or explaining Junko's relationship with her and despair, considering her own relationship with Junko special because she truly is the only one who understands her. She claims that is why Junko needs her, though she's pretending she hadn't realized it yet, believing Junko is "shy". When gushing about this to an amnesiac Ryoko Otonashi, Ryoko is deeply disturbed and concluded that Mukuro's feelings for her sister are definitely not normal. (Danganronpa Zero)

She also finds pleasure in Junko's attempts to harm and kill her, believing that her sister will experience tremendous despair if she succeeds, and to Mukuro, that means she loves her in turn. (Despair Arc)

Despite her dedication to her sister, Mukuro expressed some hesitancy towards their end goal. In her final Free Time Event with Makoto, she vaguely alluded to concerns of maintaining the "same dream" her entire life since childhood. She wondered out loud to Makoto about changing her dream or even finding one of her own. Ultimately, this doesn't stop her from moving forward with Junko's plans and her subsequent execution.

As shown in the non-canon Danganronpa IF novel and Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp alternate universe, Mukuro is capable of befriending and becoming attached to her classmates. However, in both instances she still cares deeply for Junko even as her bonds with her other classmates deepen. When she talks to Monokuma in her "My Future..." event she claims she'd be extremely distraught if ordered to kill them, and would still do so, but she questions and eventually decides that if she were to bring true despair to her sister as Junko wanted to experience, she would ruin her plans and go against her orders.

In Danganronpa IF, Junko mentions that Mukuro developed romantic feelings for Makoto during their two years as classmates (and the narration further states that Mukuro had considered asking Junko to exempt him from the Killing Game before her failed execution) but could not bring herself to act on them. After Makoto saves her life those feelings, combined with her growing doubts over betraying her classmates and Junko's decision to cut all ties with her making her realize that she had never understood her sister at all, helped her find the determination to seek out a new dream. She is genuinely shocked to hear that her classmates are willing to forgive her for role in The Tragedy and still see her as their friend despite knowing that she was responsible in part for the Killing School Life, as she was certain that they would all despise her for what she did to them. While Mukuro still wishes to make Junko happy, she realizes that the only way she can give Junko the despair she craves is to make amends for her past actions, save her classmates, and put an end to Junko's plans. She also expresses regret for her previous crimes, accepting that when the students leave for the outside world she will be hunted down by Ultimate Despair as a traitor and reviled as a criminal by everyone else but resolving to live on and protect the hope that Makoto gave her until Ultimate Despair is stopped for good.

Ultimate Soldier
At a young age prior to being a teenager, Mukuro left her family while they were in Europe to be recruited and trained in the elite mercenary group based out of the Middle East named Fenrir Mercenary Group, who engaged in direct combat. During her time spent in the group, she never received a single injury on the battlefield. (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc)

Due to her training she is highly proficient in both a variety of firearms, knives, explosives such as grenades, and hand-to-hand combat to the degree she is able to hold her own, or even defeat equally as trained individuals such as several of the Madarai brothers (Danganronpa Zero), the Ultimate Swordswoman Peko Pekoyama, and security personnel from Hope's Peak (Despair Arc). However, she was quickly outmatched by Izuru Kamukura due to his talent of the Ultimate Hope (Despair Arc) and estimated that she could not defeat Sakura Ogami, the Super High School Level Fighter, in unarmed combat (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF). Using her skills, she easily and mercilessly slaughtered an entire middle school on Junko's orders. (Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer). Under certain circumstances, she has demonstrated the ability to go into a trance that lets her display abilities that go beyond even the level of Ultimate, fighting off an entire army of Monokumas at once with only a sharpened metal rod while also avoiding machine gun fire (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF).

Mukuro also show cased the ability to perform quick first aid treatment, likely should she need to treat herself or her comrades during her time as a mercenary, and showcased enough experience to provide someone with enough treatment to prevent them from dying, as seen when she saved Naegi in a possible alternative universe. (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF)

She is also able to deflect (most) attempts on her life by her sister Junko while carrying on a normal conversation with her, such as blocking an icepick and kicking a grenade out of a car window, which is exceptional due to Junko's analytical talent. (Despair Arc)

Mukuro underwent comprehensive survival training that encompassed essential skills such as fire starting, mastering the use of a ghillie suit for camouflage, and honing her ability to navigate and travel to various locations, including Southeast Asia. These acquired survival skills were a testament to her diverse and rigorous training experiences. (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc)

Free Time Events & Bonus Mode Guides
The links below are full transcripts and indepth guides for Mukuro Ikusaba's relationship routes in Free Time Events, School Mode, Ultimate Talent Development Plan, and Danganronpa S Development Mode, including her MonoMono Machine Present preferences and most effective dialogue options.

Quotes
DR1=

Extra=

DRIF=

DR3=

List of Appearances
Games=
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
 * Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Ultimate Talent Development Plan only)
 * Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp
 * Danganronpa: Unlimited Battle

Anime=
 * Danganronpa: The Animation
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc
 * Danganronpa 2.5: Nagito Komaeda and the World Vanquisher (Cameo)

Light Novels=
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF
 * Danganronpa Zero
 * Danganronpa 1 ・2 Beautiful Days

Manga=
 * Danganronpa: The Demo (Manga)
 * Danganronpa: The Manga
 * Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei 4koma KINGS
 * Danganronpa: The Animation (manga)
 * Small Danganronpa 1・2 Light
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibōgamine Gakuen Comic Anthology

Stage Plays=
 * Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei THE STAGE (2014)
 * Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei THE STAGE 2016

Trivia

 * The final section of Chiaki Nanami's execution from Danganronpa 3 is a direct reference to Mukuro's execution, though within the timeline Mukuro's execution had not been carried out yet.
 * Her profile in the non-canon Danganronpa IF novel states that since her childhood she has always had an interest in mystery stories.
 * Mukuro and her twin sister Junko are both voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi in the Japanese version and Amanda Céline Miller (who also voices Toko Fukawa, Shirokuma, and the child version of Seiko Kimura) in the English version.Mukuro Ikusaba Sound Gallery Sprite.png the Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Sound Gallery, Mukuro's sprite is her out of her Junko disguise, marking one of the very few times she's seen without it in the games.
 * In the post-game bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan from Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony unlocking and using Mukuro's U-Rarity card will enable an alternate set of pixels and assets without her Junko disguise; instead using her Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc design, though this does not carry over with her sprites.
 * However, while the pixel set is also found in the files of the sequel Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp, they are not available to be used during gameplay. There is also a pixel set using Mukuro's Danganronpa 3 design, but these also go unused.
 * In the Danganronpa stageplay adaptions of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Mukuro (and by extension Junko) was played by the late Sayaka Kanda, who is also the Japanese voice of Kaede Akamatsu. Kanda also performed as a singer (as part of the group TRUSTRICK), singing the opening and ending to Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc, DEAD OR LIE and Recall THE END respectively, alongside Maon Kurosaki.

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