Shuichi Saihara

"I don't have the credentials to call myself a detective yet. I just happened to solve a case that I came across and now people call me that."

- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo)

Shuichi Saihara (最原 終一 Saihara Shūichi) is a student in Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles and a participant in the Killing Game Semester featured in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

Shuichi has the title Ultimate Detective (超高校級の「探偵」 chō kōkō kyū no “tantei” lit. Super High School Level Detective).

Early Life
{{spoiler|
 * Before Joining Danganronpa

Shuichi Saihara is one of Danganronpa fans, a reality show featuring killing games created by Team Danganronpa. In his audience tapes, it was revealed that he is eager to participate in the show as the Ultimate Detective because he adores a lot of characters with the titles in the past seasons. He is willing to do his best to use the talent to commit unsolvable murder that can amaze the series' viewers, to the point he can think of his execution as the Ultimate Detective.

During his high school days, Shuichi attended Spring Field Academy (春原学院). However, it is unknown if this was part of his memory's fabrication or not.

Shuichi, along with the other 53rd Killing Game talentless participants later undergo the fabrication process, where all of their past memory and personality were heavily fabricated. He also received the talent and title that he desire, the Ultimate Detective. All of this was done for the sake of satisfying Danganronpa's audience from all around the world. After the fabrication process done, Kaede and the others entered the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles as a whole different person, officially commencing the 53rd killing game season known as the Killing Game Semester.


 * Fabricated Past

After he was accepted to participate in the 53rd Killing Game, Shuichi's memories were fabricated by Team Danganronpa.

Shuichi learned how to be a detective by working as the assistant of his uncle who ran a detective agency. He did not want to be a detective and he was simply helping out. Most of the cases that happened to come to his uncle were small things like investigating infidelity, but on the one rare occasion Shuichi managed to solve a murder case faster than the police and became publicly known as the junior detective, gaining him his Ultimate title. However, Shuichi does not believe he deserves the title, claiming that he only happened to solve this one case by chance.

In reality, the situation was more complicated. When the culprit was captured thanks to Shuichi, his eyes were full of hatred and malice as he looked at Shuichi, and the boy never forgot that gaze. Shuichi heard later that the culprit had killed the victim to avenge his family and the victim was a horrible person who had tricked the culprit's family and driven them to suicide. Shuichi felt guilty for "siding with" the victim and felt everything was his fault because he exposed the truth. He gained a fear of exposing the truth, considering himself a pathetic detective, and he began to wear a hat because he couldn't look at other people's eyes anymore.

The Gopher Plan
Part of the fake backstories created for Shuichi and the other fifteen students was the Gopher Plan, which supposedly happened before the killing game started. It was initiated by the government after countless meteorites crashed into Earth. To try and preserve the last vestiges of mankind before the Earth’s destruction, the government decided to select a number of excellent human beings, put them in a spaceship, and have them escape.

Shuichi and fifteen other high school students were chosen to participate. Not wanting to abandon their loved ones, they attempted to escape from the plan.

Around that time, an extremist cult came into power. They believed that the meteor crashes were a punishment humanity brought upon itself, and having heard of the Gopher Plan, they tried to stop it. As a result, the “Super High School Level Hunt” started and spread throughout the world, and the sixteen students were hunted down.

The government then decided to counter the situation by faking the students’ deaths, calming down the “Super High School Level Hunt” while providing protection to the students. The Gopher Plan was then put into action while the Earth was being destroyed. Shuichi and the others went to the space in a massive colony spaceship, the true form of Ultimate Academy of Gifted Juveniles.

Kokichi Oma who declared himself as a member of Junko Enoshima's Remnants of Despair said that he is the mastermind behind the Killing Game who let Monokuma entered the spaceship, effectively forcing Shuichi and the others to participate in the Killing Game.

Shuichi was able to received the complete memory about The Gopher Plan in Chapter 5 via Remembering Light. }}

Name
His first name kanji, (終一)shūichi, means "last one" while his last name kanji, 最原 Saihara, could mean "prime field" or "conspicuous wilderness".

Alternate Fates
In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version), Shuichi was first seen at the end of the hallway and shyly introduced himself as the Ultimate Detective to Kaede Akamatsu. He admitted that he doesn't deserve that title. After the murder of Yasuhiro Hagakure occurred, he was seen inside the cafeteria, investigating where the murder weapon originated.

Appearance
Most of the time, Shuichi wears a black cap with a white strap. Underneath, he has short black hair with a small ahoge. He appears to have very pale skin and thick, feminine eyelashes. His eyes are gambogeish grey.

Shuichi wears his high school uniform, which appears to be in a black uniform with five buttons on his right, another two buttons on his left and attached with his high school's logo. His pants along with his shoes seem to be in black; the same color as his uniform and his cap.

Personality
Shuichi appears to have a calm, serious and polite personality. However, he is also stated to have a weak personality. He is abnormally timid when it comes to speaking and often has negative remarks. He frequently blushes and suffers from a cold sweat. Among the sixteen students, he is a boy who stands out for his submissiveness and for his good sense.

However, Shuichi can also have a stronger attitude at times and he can call out other students for their behavior. His hat is an especially sore subject for him and he dislikes to look at other people's eyes. When meeting Miu Iruma, she accused him of being a pervert with no reason, causing him to angrily yell at her to leave him alone. She had said that boys wear hats to hide their staring, which is obviously very poor reasoning, and Shuichi told her he doesn't need an excuse to wear a hat.

Even though he is a very skilled detective with superior ability and insight, Shuichi lacks self-confidence, as he claims he hasn't accomplished enough to be called a famous detective. He also feels he doesn't deserve his Ultimate title because he only happened to solve murder cases by chance, although Kaede Akamatsu says she doesn't believe something like this is possible.

Ultimate Detective
Shuichi is a very skilled detective, capable of solving murder cases faster than the police, although he claims he only managed to solve these cases by chance. However, Kokichi Oma's secret society is so mysterious that even Shuichi does not seem to know any organization matching up with it.

In other languages
Shuichi's talent as it appears in official translations of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.

Relationships

 * Family:

Uncle
Shuichi learned to be a detective by watching his uncle's example and working as his assistant. However, he had no interest in being a detective and was simply helping out. It's unclear how close they are.


 * Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles:

Kaede Akamatsu
Shuichi seems to strongly believe in Kaede, reassuring her and telling her that "if it's her, she can do it". His presence appears to comfort Kaede, due to his status as a detective, although she admits that he seems unreliable. She even attempts to help raise Shuichi's confidence by giving him pep talks.

Miu Iruma
When Shuichi and Kaede first approached Miu, she assumed that Shuichi was staring at her breasts. Miu then called Shuichi a pervert and that was why he wore a hat. However, Shuichi then stands up for himself and Miu gets startled by this as she thought he was a weakling.

Throughout the game, Miu gave Shuichi a lot of nickname such as Kusaihara, Kuzuhara, Unogahara, Dasaihara, and Hamehara.

Quotes

 * -|DRV3 Demo=

List of Appearances
Games=
 * Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
 * Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version)
 * -|Manga=
 * New Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shin Gakki Comic Anthology

Trivia

 * Shuichi's appearance share similarities with  the character from Persona 4, Naoto Shirogane. Furthermore, both characters are precocious ‎detectives.
 * Interestingly, Shuichi's clothes somewhat resemble that of Kiyotaka Ishimaru's beta design.
 * Shuichi's English voice actor, Grant George, also voices Leon Kuwata in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.
 * The official English website mistook Shuichi's uncle as his grandfather. They later fixed this error.
 * In a poll hosted by MyNavi, fans voted Shuichi the most popular Danganronpa V3 student out of sixteen students in Danganronpa V3.

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Шуичи Саихара Shuichi Saihara Shuichi Saihara