Izuru Kamukura

Izuru Kamukura (カムクラ イズル Kamukura Izuru), also known as Izuru 1.0, is one of the two main antagonists of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, and a major character in the Danganronpa series. He is an alternate identity of Hajime Hinata.

Izuru was the end product of Izuru Kamukura Project, and as a "genius out of the ordinary" and Hope's Peak Academy's ultimate goal, went by the title of Ultimate Hope (超高校級の「希望」chō kōkō kyū no “kibō” lit. Super High School Level Hope). He is named after Hope's Peak Academy's founder.

In Danganronpa 2, he is mentioned to be the culprit behind The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy as well as a Remnant of Despair, who aided AI Junko Enoshima by putting her into the Neo World Program. However, during Chapter 0, it's implied that he now considers her an enemy and has his own motives. By the end of the story, he awakens into the real world and chooses to live as Hajime Hinata.

Izuru is also briefly shown in the epilogue of Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, preparing his plan for the second game.

Izuru returns in the prequel Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy. It is shown that he seemingly joined Ultimate Despair, after being persuaded by Junko. However, in actuality, his true motive was his desire to see whether hope or despair was more unpredictable, following Chiaki Nanami's death. It is also revealed that he wasn't the culprit behind the school's Tragedy and was simply blamed by Junko.

In Side: Future, it's revealed that his and Hajime's personalities have merged. As shown in the ending of Danganronpa 2, he has chosen to live as Hajime, but he still has all of Izuru's talents and other people sometimes seem to mistake him for Izuru. With his talent, he cured the comatose students from the brainwashed effect and brought them alive from the Neo World Program, setting off to the Future Foundation off-shore faculty to stop Ryota Mitarai from using his hope brainwashing video.

At the end of Danganronpa 3, he returns to Jabberwock Island and lives in peace with his classmates.

Appearance
Izuru is around the age of 17-22 at youngest, considering he's one with Hajime, though his personality has existed less than 10 years.undefined

He has very long, flowing black hair. His hair is smooth, though it's also been portrayed as messy. In addition, he has red eyes (as opposed to the green eyes of Hajime) with symbols resembling target radars running across his pupils. He also seems to have a pale complexion almost gray/cadaverous.

He wears a black suit with three white buttons, a black tie and a white dress shirt inside. He also has a black belt and black loafers.

When Izuru appears in Hajime's subconscious, he is dressed in Hajime's attire.

After he exits the Neo World Program, Izuru and Hajime's identities merge together. Choosing to resume his appearance as Hajime, he cuts his hair short and switches his black suit for Hajime's school attire. His eyes have also become heterochromatic. His left eye is red while his right eye remains green. The design of both his eyes have also adapted Izuru's target radar design.

Personality
Due to the drastic changes that the operations made to turn Hajime into Izuru, his original personality was suppressed so as to not interfere with his talent cultivation. Izuru appears as a cold and emotionless person who finds everything and everyone boring. He expresses a disgust for talentless people who oppose those with talent instead of acknowledging their "true superiors". He believes that such people brought the world to a deadlock and created a world that has stopped evolving. He mentions that this way of thinking was taught to him by his "teachers".

Izuru enjoys unpredictability, which can make him feel more emotional, but he also tends to quickly grow bored because his supernatural analytical skills and intuition cause him to quickly predict things with surprising accuracy. This is seen in Chapter 0 of Danganronpa 2, as he is visibly excited by the rocking of the boat only to find it boring a few seconds later (he is also so focused on the rocking that he doesn't even realize he's on a boat, at first). Junko eventually used this to manipulate him, as she told him to strive for the unknown of despair and chaos to free himself from the boredom.

In Danganronpa 3, Izuru is shown to be quite silent at times, acting responsive only when he finds it necessary. Instead, he often observes other people and situations silently, with no changes in his facial expressions. He appears to have no interest in humor nor romantic approaches from other people, as he often doesn't even look at other people during those moments. He never seems to laugh nor smile. While he lacks sympathy for others, he differs from Junko in that he neither does not enjoy the sufferings of others, and thus only hurts or kills other people during self-defense type of situations. He also talks and expresses in a more polite way than his alternate identity.

While Izuru usually has no interest nor care for other people, the only exception is Chiaki due to his past life, as Hajime's attachment to her made him shed tears and she is the only person he subconsciously cared for as shown when he kept her hairpin and mourned for her after the Tragedy.

In Danganronpa Another Episode, Izuru appears completely silent and seemingly unemotional. However, he rips the hard drives from Shirokuma and Kurokuma in a rather aggressive and seemingly annoyed manner, which is even commented on by the AI Junko. Similarly, he appears unusually bitter and vengeful while talking about Junko during Chapter 0 of the second game, because she used him in the past. It's also possible that he is subconsciously angry because she killed Chiaki.

After the Neo World Program, the person who went in as Izuru started to identify as Hajime. He still expresses boredom to some things, but his personality is mostly like Hajime's, as he has an easier time feeling emotions and is more proactive.

Ultimate Hope
As a result of the experiments that were conducted on him, Izuru is said to possess every known talent that has been researched at Hope's Peak Academy. For this reason, he was proclaimed to be the Ultimate Hope by the trustees of the Academy themselves. Unlike Makoto Naegi, whose Ultimate Hope comes from his unusual optimism and determination and is able to rally people to action, Izuru's Ultimate Hope comes from him being talent incarnate, making him appear to be a superhuman, at the very least.

The following are a list of talents that Izuru is shown to have throughout the series.

Ultimate Analyst
Much like Junko's, Izuru’s analytical skills are borderline superhuman. He's able to predict things extremely quickly and with a surprising amount of accuracy, shown through his emotionless demeanor and quick reaction to when Junko suddenly tried to kill him in an effort to throw the world into despair. Izuru is also able to analyze/read people from the second he looks at them. This is seen during his second encounter with Nagito, where he quickly deduces Nagito’s true character from looking at him, merely judging him as boring afterward.

Ultimate Soldier
Izuru possesses heightened physical strength, reflexes, and speed, to the point of being superhuman. This effectively grants him the talent of Mukuro Ikusaba, only to a significantly greater degree, as he is able to send Mukuro herself flying with a simple backhand. Izuru was also able to barely dodge a bullet that he wasn’t able to see coming until the very last second.

Ultimate Secret Agent
Izuru is able to withhold his presence entirely at will, much like Yūto Kamishiro. Before and during the First Mutual Killing Game, Izuru is able to watch the members of Hope’s Peak Academy’s Student Council killing each other up close, as he was there with them. Despite this, none of the student council members notice Izuru at all until the very end, where he reveals himself.

Ultimate Lucky Student
Izuru is shown to have an excessive amount of good luck, to the point where it's able to rival Nagito Komaeda's own. Because of this, he is one of the very few people who are safe from the extreme backlashes of Nagito's luck. This is best shown when Izuru encounters Nagito himself, the latter aiming to shoot Junko. When Nagito tries to shoot Izuru, the gun jams due to Izuru’s luck beating out Nagito's own. However, when Izuru shoots Nagito, the bullet hit the latter’s Student Handbook instead of killing him.

Unnamed Talent of Therapy, Neurology and Programming
Izuru has an unnamed talent which Hajime used to awake his comatose friends after he fused with Izuru's identity. He also created the World Destroyer, who can fix mental instabilities. It could be talent related to Therapist, Neurologist, or Programming as these talents were held by the creators of the Neo World Program. Though, considering the fact he was imbued with every talent known to Hope's Peak Academy, it could easily be a combination of the three.

Unnamed Talent of Psychology
During Danganronpa V3's bonus mode, Izuru mentions possessing an Ultimate talent related to psychology while listing some of his own abilities related to speech.

Unnamed Talent of Negotiation
During Danganronpa V3's bonus mode, Izuru mentions possessing an Ultimate talent related to negotiation while listing some of his own abilities related to speech.

Unnamed Talent of Observation
During Danganronpa V3's bonus mode, Izuru mentions possessing an Ultimate talent related to powers of observation while listing some of his own abilities related to speech.

Unnamed Talent of Storytelling
During Danganronpa V3's bonus mode, Izuru mentions possessing an Ultimate talent related to storytelling while listing some of his own abilities related to speech.

Unnamed Talent of Singing
During Danganronpa V3's bonus mode, Izuru mentions possessing an Ultimate talent of singing.

Unnamed Talent of Playing Instruments
During Danganronpa V3's bonus mode, Izuru mentions possessing an Ultimate talent of playing instruments, and is seen playing piano. However, while his performance is perfect in every other way, as the Ultimate Pianist, Kaede notices that it lacks feeling.

Unnamed Talent of Songwriting
During Danganronpa V3's bonus mode, Izuru mentions possessing an Ultimate talent of songwriting.

Unnamed Talents of Fighting
During Danganronpa V3's bonus mode, Izuru mentions possessing every talent related to fighting, which naturally includes his Ultimate Soldier skill.

Unnamed Talent of Lie Detection
During Danganronpa V3's bonus mode, Izuru states he can tell when other people are lying, thus making lying to him pointless.

Hope Cultivation Plan
Hope's Peak Academy was established for the sake of cultivating personal talent in order to create a perfect genius, who would be deemed the hope of mankind. For many years, the Academy researched the talents of the Ultimates. This project was named the Hope Cultivation Plan, though it was also called the Izuru Kamukura Project after the academy's founder.

Recently, the researchers were finally able to reach the experimental stage of the project. From there, they set their sights on the Reserve Course dropouts to use them as lab rats, as their plan to create talent artificially required test subjects that are wholly lacking in talent. From that group of Reserve Course students, the one who was finally chosen was Hajime, because he admired Hope's Peak Academy more than everybody else.

Hope's Peak Academy exploited Hajime's feelings of admiration toward hope and talent just to use him as a lab rat. All of his senses, emotions, thoughts, and hobbies that could interfere with acquiring talent were excised. All of his memories of the past were forcefully suppressed into the darkest recesses of his mind. By directly interfering with his brain, the academy transformed Hajime into a completely different person whose specialty is talent itself. He was meant to be the fruit of all the research, a genius among geniuses possessing various talents, and he was named Izuru Kamukura after the founder.

Izuru was known as the symbol of mankind's hope and he was given the title of Ultimate Hope. To protect such rare talent, the Academy completely concealed all evidence of Izuru's origins and identity.

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy - Side: Despair
Izuru, as the alternate identity of Hajime returns in Danganronpa 3 - Side: Despair, where its story focuses on the story of the Remnants of Despair during The Tragedy.

Episode 06 - A Despairfully Fateful Encounter
Hajime completed the transition to Izuru Kamukura, a person destined to be the Ultimate Hope, a master of all talents. His old personality, identity, and ideals were said to be overwritten in the process. After that, he was locked in a room whose access was restricted solely to the trustees of Hope's Peak Academy.

However, Junko tricked the retina scanner securing that room by using an eyeball she obtained from a kidnapped trustee. After meeting Izuru, she lamented over the fact that he is locked up, given his talents. She then suddenly attacked him, saying that as the Ultimate Hope, his death would leave everyone in despair. Izuru easily disarmed her, as well as her sister, Mukuro.

Laying on the ground before him, Junko explained that Izuru needs despair as much as she does. He replied saying that he didn't see any logical reason for the need of despair. Junko then asked him what the logical reason for her attacking him was. Izuru was aware of her analytical talent and knew that she knew an attack on his life wouldn't be successful. However, he didn't understand the reason behind her actions. Junko then gave a speech to him, saying that a world full of hope would be predictable and boring, and only the chaos that comes from despair can make it exciting.

After Junko urged him to join up with her, Izuru knocks her out by stomping on her head. Before he left the room, however, he told Mukuro that he will be waiting for Junko.

Episode 07 - The Biggest, Most Atrocious Incident in Hope's Peak Academy's History
Junko made her way to Izuru's room and took him outside on the school grounds. She then brought him to where the Hope's Peak Student Council would participate in the first Mutual Killing Game. For most of the game, Izuru stood on the sidelines and observed the students, but at the end, he was finally noticed by one of the members, Asukasei Hino.

Izuru warned Asukasei that fighting him was impossible, seemingly convincing Asukasei to lower his gun - however, this only prompted him to attack with his chainsaw instead. Izuru easily evaded the attack and incapacitated Asukasei with a single blow, causing him to fall neck-first on his still-running chainsaw. He then turned to leave, only for the dying Asukasei to shoot a bullet which ended up grazing Izuru's cheek just enough to draw blood. Showing just a hint of surprise, Izuru examined the wound before looking up at a security camera, aware that Junko and Mukuro were observing him from the monitoring room.

Izuru was later shown when Junko was explaining her email to the Reserve Course about Hope's Peak's ulterior motive for the Reserve Students, kick-starting the the Parade.

Episode 08 - The Worst Reunion by Chance
While Nagito's attempted to assassinate Junko before her plans to throw the world into despair could be realized, Izuru happened to stumble upon the confrontation in Ryota's secret room. Silently entering behind Nagito, he found himself staring down the barrel of the Ultimate Lucky Student's gun; however, the gun jammed when Nagito tried to fire. Coldly explaining that he too carried "Ultimate Luck", Izuru easily took the gun from Nagito and shot him in the chest, commenting on the strength of Nagito's luck when his Student Handbook blocked the bullet.

He then turned his attention to Chiaki, seemingly evoking a mutual recognition between them as she recognized him by his previous identity, Hajime.

Episode 09 - Chisa Yukizome Doesn't Smile
Chiaki asks "Hajime" what he has done with his hair, and Izuru asks who she is. Junko interrupts them and says she wants to become friends with Chiaki. She wants to show Chiaki the brainwashing anime, but Chisa intervenes by throwing a fire extinguisher. She sees Izuru, and recognizes. Chisa ordered Chiaki to take Nagito and escape. When Chisa is captured and subjected to the brainwashing video. Izuru stands back and watches as Mukuro tries to weaken Chisa's resistance to the video. Izuru comments on how this is all boring.

Episode 10 - Smile at Despair in the Name of Hope
After Chiaki's execution, she is left near death. Izuru comes in and Chiaki weakly stirs. She still refers to him as Hajime. Izuru asks if that's who he previously was Chiaki tries to get up, but slips and falls in her own blood. She says she is done for, and laments her failure to help anyone. Izuru observes that she still wants to help people, even in her current predicament. Chiaki cries that she doesn't want for die; she wants to stay with her class, and play games with Hajime.

Chiaki reaches out to Izuru, and says they could have played more games together, before she finally dies. Chiaki's hairpin dislodges and Izuru picks it up. He stares at it before he starts crying over her death, which makes him surprised.

Episode 11 - Goodbye, Hope's Peak Academy
Izuru was seen in an abandoned room with Junko. Still keeping Chiaki's hairpin, he hid it on his back and commenting how happy Junko was. She says that she was very excited and declared that today will be the day Hope's Peak Academy falls and despair will take over the world. Izuru stayed with Junko and Mukuro and watches the chaos unfold.

Izuru asked Junko if she erased the memories of him from Class 77, and Junko says she has, and noted that it was an odd request to make. Izuru says he will erase his own memories. He tells Junko that if "her" wishes are able to overcome Junko's plans, and "they" are saved, hope may just be harder to predict than despair. Izuru said he wants to see which one will surprise him. Junko is irritated at Izuru's remark and maintained that despair is more unpredictable than hope.

Izuru said nothing as he starts to walk away, much to Junko's annoyance. She snapped if he is going to say a proper goodbye to her, but Izuru just says they will meet again.

At the end of the episode, Izuru and the Remnants of Despair are already inside the Neo World Program and returned to his previous identity, Hajime. It was revealed that the one who uploaded AI Junko on the program was himself, as he wanted to test which ones is more unpredictable, despair or hope.

The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy
Izuru kick-started The Tragedy when he, along with the fourteen members of Hope's Peak's student council, were used by Junko to participate in the first ever Mutual Killing Game known as The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy. The academy concealed the incident.

Junko claims that Izuru himself killed all 14 participants of the Mutual Killing Game (except for Sōshun Murasame). This is proved to be false in Danganronpa/Zero and in Danganronpa 3 - Side: Despair, in which the student council members killed each other; Izuru was only responsible for killing Asukasei in self-defense. However, Junko manipulated the video recording to depict him as the mastermind of the Mutual Killing Game.

Danganronpa/Zero
Izuru Kamukura is not personally met by Ryōko Otonashi (the protagonist of the story), but is referenced throughout the novel several times.

After The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, from which he and Soshun Murasame were the only survivors, Izuru disappeared. As his location is hidden and very few know about him, he is treated similar to a ghost story. Izuru is mentioned by Junko (who was later revealed to be Mukuro Ikusaba in disguise). Kyoko Kirigiri tried to investigate him, but eventually was forced to give up.

He is believed to be the culprit of the school's tragedy, though it is hinted that this might not be the case. Yūto believes that he is more like a victim.

During the Tragedy
While he is counted as an actual member of Ultimate Despair by the rest of the world, and was said to do all kinds of horrible things during the Tragedy, in actuality he was simply affiliated with it. After being convinced by Junko that despair is "unknown" and can cause unpredictable things, which had Izuru interested.

Ultimately undecided between hope and despair, he had decided to merely observe the other members of Ultimate Despair. This was to decide whether Junko's despair or Chiaki's Hope would be in his interest.

After the death of Junko, Izuru set up with the complicity of the others Remnants of Despair a plan to allow AI Junko to take over their bodies through the Neo World Program. However, his personal goal was to witness the battle between hope and despair and choose which side take once and for all.

Prologue - The Warriors of Hope
Izuru is mentioned during the prologue of the game when members of the Future Foundation are explaining The Tragedy to Komaru Naegi.

Chapter 5 - Absolute Despair Girl
In chapter 5, the Servant tells Monaca Towa that the Monokuma Kids informed him about a lone intruder in Towa City. This person is most likely Izuru, but Komeada does not remember him as Izuru had requested that Junko remove everyone's memory of him before the Tragedy.

Epilogue - The Changing World We Made
Izuru is seen briefly in the animated portion of the epilogue; wheel-barreling Shirokuma and Kurokuma's head somewhere in Towa City before punching them and ripping their hard drives to get a basis for the AI Junko.

Izuru looks towards the city and walks away as the scene cuts out. He has no dialogue in this game and seems to have merely been observing the situation rather than playing a role.

Capture by Future Foundation
At some point during the Tragedy, Makoto Naegi encountered him in an abandoned building, standing by a desk, implied to be Chiaki's, staring at a vase of flowers he apparently left on it. This ultimately led to his capture by the Future Foundation.

Chapter 0 - Heading to the School Trip
Izuru was first seen inside a boat in Chapter 0. Inside the boat, he was accompanied by Nagito, another of the Remnants of Despair, but they don't recognize each other. Izuru can easily tell the other boy's true character, but finds him boring.

Throughout the Killing Game
After Izuru entered the Neo World Program, the program dug up the memories of Hajime and rebuilt his old personality from data from the past. Izuru knew this would happen.

Izuru lived throughout as Hajime. At the end of the last trial, he and Hajime had a face to face in the latter's subconscious. During which Izuru tried to drop Hajime into despair reproach him all his weakness and talentless with the purpose to persuade Hajime to choose GRADUATION and so allow the resurrection of Junko in the real world, but Hajime, with Chiaki Nanami's help, choose to not give up and perform the SHUTDOWN deciding to face the possibility of awakening as Izuru when he exits the game.

When he awakens, despite still having his memories as Izuru, he decides to stay on the island and live as Hajime. However, it is left unclear whether Izuru's personality was overwritten or simply mixed with Hajime's.

According to Junko, Izuru was the one who brought the AI Junko to the Neo World Program, which started the serial murders. Being the same person as him, Hajime is both the protagonist and antagonist. This is confirmed by reflecting on Izuru's words during Chapter 0. He mentions that he plans to use Junko, and says that he has her "contribution" in his pocket.

Episode 06 - No Man is an Island
Izuru appears to be active in Hajime's mind, as Hajime emotionlessly expresses his boredom after seeing approaching Future Foundation peacekeepers, ready to attack Jabberwock Island under Kyosuke Munakata's orders.

Episode 12- It is Always Darkest
In the post-credits, it shows Izuru/Hajime walking through a hallway with unconscious Future Foundation soldiers surrounding him.

Side - Hope: The Academy of Hope and Students of Despair
It is revealed that Izuru and Hajime's identities have merged together as one, as he recalled his memories prior to the project. His eye color has changed to represent both of the characters; he doesn't object to being called Izuru Kamukura, but he prefers to go by and identifies as Hajime Hinata, as shown in Danganronpa 2.

Bonus Mode
In the non-canon alternative universe, Izuru is slightly more similar to an ordinary student and is mentioned to be in the same class with the students who form the Class 77-B in the canon universe. At one point, he mentions that he has no relatives. Possessing every talent, he has very little interest in other people and activities, stating that he does not particularly like anything. At times, he considers joining other people and interacts with them, though he always gets bored rather quickly.

Hajime Hinata
The Izuru Kamukura Project pushed Hajime’s memories into the darkest recesses of his mind and effectively erased his personality. Although Izuru is a completely different person, however, he can still be recognized as Hajime Hinata by those who knew him prior to the project. Izuru himself eventually becomes aware of his true identity because of this.

Although Izuru was at least aware of his previous identity as Hajime, it's been confirmed that his first sixteen years of his life as Hajime were removed from his memory, and thus he is unable to recall the memory of his past self. However, Hajime does exist within him at a subconscious level, allowing him to cry at Chiaki's death despite having no idea of who she was. In addition, the Neo World Program was able to dig up his past self in order to use as an avatar. During the conversation Izuru had with Nagito in Chapter 0, Izuru stated that "he will not be able to participate in what lies ahead", most likely a reference to that fact.

Another hint to this can be the fact that during the final trial of the Killing School Trip, Makoto, Kyoko Kirigiri and Byakuya Togami were all surprised when it was revealed that Hajime and Izuru are the same person, despite the fact that they had already met and probably spoken with Izuru in the real world before putting him in the Neo World Program. It is also possible that when Izuru was secured and interrogated with the other Remnants of Despair by the Future Foundation, he presented himself as Hajime in order to hide his true identity and fool them, as Makoto and Kyoko did not know much information about Izuru Kamukura.

Junko Enoshima
In  Danganronpa 2, Izuru is stated to be a Remnant of Despair and according to Junko he is also the culprit behind the Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy. According to Junko, she made him join her by "breaking his spirit".

Though he seems to be an ally of Junko based on her words, in Chapter 0, Izuru acknowledges that she used him in the past and wants to use her like she used him. He also acts unusually angry and bitter while talking about her, showing that he now considers her an enemy. However, Izuru's true motives remain unclear.

Their relationship is explored a bit more in Danganronpa 3 - Side: Despair. Junko, at first, seemingly attempts to kill Izuru because of his status as the Ultimate Hope, but her true intention was to attack him knowing she couldn't win as a way to show despair's unpredictable nature and with this in mind, Izuru wishes to see more. She makes the student council kill each other and frames Izuru to show him what despair was, and eventually convinced him that a world of hope was boring and a world of despair was too unpredictable for even an Ultimate Analyst which makes life much more exciting. Izuru once protected Junko from Nagito after he attempts to kill her with a gun, showing that he was on Junko's side.

Junko believes that she and Izuru are destined for each other and perfect for spreading despair together, occasionally acting like an overly enthusiastic fan and flirting with him in a joking manner, though he is completely unresponsive and uninterested to this. She had far more respect for Izuru than the other Ultimate Despair members, considering him more of an ally instead of a servant.

After Chiaki's death, Izuru started to question Junko's way of thinking, and decided to leave her and test which better fit him: hope or despair. In the end, he never truly cared for her as a person, and was just affiliated with her to see how unpredictable despair is. In return, Junko saw him only as a tool in her hand, like the other members of Ultimate Despair, stating that she'll always find a use for him. It's implied that she used his interest for despair's and hope's unpredictability to manipulate him into doing what she wants, seen as when she used him to upload herself in the Neo World Program with the promise of an unpredictable battle between hope and despair.

As shown in Danganronpa 2s Chapter 0 and Another Episodes Epilogue, Izuru later feels unusual hatred and bitterness towards Junko because she used him in the past. It's also possible that he is subconsciously angry because she killed Chiaki.

Remnants of Despair
While Izuru is counted as an actual member of Ultimate Despair by the rest of the world, in actuality he was simply affiliated with it. As he remained undecided between hope and despair, he decided to stay with the other members of Ultimate Despair to witness Junko's despair. He doesn't seem to admire her like all the other members of Ultimate Despair do. This is most likely due to the fact that, unlike the other members, Junko was mainly trying to sway Izuru into joining her in filling the world with despair, instead of outright brainwashing him into doing so.

The only Remnant of Despair Izuru is seen interacting with is Nagito, who he finds completely boring. Though they met before once, Izuru had Junko erase all of the Remnants' memories of him, as he himself also erased his own memories of them.

However, since the Remnants of Despair entered the Neo World Program of their own will with the purpose of handing over their bodies to AI Junko in order to resurrect her, while Izuru personally installed AI Junko in the program, it can be presumed that they planned it together, with Izuru as the plot's mastermind.

It's also possible that at least Mikan Tsumiki knew Izuru, since after regaining her memories in Chapter 3, she claimed she knew who the traitor was, meaning she knew that all the others, including Hajime/Izuru, were members of the Ultimate Despair.

Real-Life Version
Izuru meets Chiaki for the first time in an underground room, after he stepped in to save Junko’s life from Nagito. Chiaki, recognizing him as Hajime, quickly tries to start a conversation with him, asking what happened to his hair in the year that passed since they’ve last seen each other. Izuru merely asked who she was in response, as he was unaware of the relationship that his past self had with her. However, he is seen staring into Chiaki’s eyes until Junko interfered and personally told him to stop, heavily implying that he is showing some sort of interest in her. This is most likely due to the fact that Chiaki is the only person he knows who recognized him by someone else, and he knew that the project that created him erased all his memories of who he previously was.

In Chiaki’s final moments, Izuru comes to see her for no known definite reason. He asks Chiaki if Hajime was his previous identity, to which Chiaki, in response, desperately tries to get him to remember her. Unfortunately, despite her attempts, Izuru is still unable to recognize her, stating that all of his previous memories were erased.

When Chiaki passes away, Izuru notices her hairpin and picks it up. Upon looking at it, he unconsciously begins to cry, which surprises him. This implies that he was able to remember her, just seconds after she died, as he then keeps the hairpin with him, carrying it as a way of remembering her. Even years after the incident, he says during his conversation with Nagito in Chapter 0 that the contribution that a person left to him still rest in his pocket, referring to Chiaki's hairpin. She seems to be the only person Izuru genuinely cared for, as Izuru still mourned over her during the Tragedy.

It was actually Chiaki who made Izuru question Junko's opinion of despair being unpredictable, therefore much more exciting. Remembering Chiaki's hope, Izuru lingered between hope and despair, and decided to test out which of the two better fit him. This is heavily implied to be the reason for him masterminding the events of the Killing School Trip.

Izuru has shown unusual hatred and bitterness towards Junko. It's possible that he is subconsciously angry because she killed Chiaki.

AI Version
It's strongly implied that Izuru knew about the AI of Chiaki that existed in the Neo World Program, and he installed the AI of Junko there in order to see which of the two would stand triumphant.

Nagito Komaeda
When Izuru first meets Nagito he attempted to kill him with a gun after the latter prepared to do the same to Junko. However, because of Nagito's luck, the bullet pierces his student handbook instead. Nagito appears almost immediately attracted to Izuru and Kazutaka Kodaka has described the scene as similar to a beautiful, elegant dance.

Both Izuru and Nagito joined Ultimate Despair in order to get a better look at the battle between hope and despair. Both of them also helped out with Junko and Monaca Towa's plots, respectively, for the very same reason, with Nagito heavily assisting Monaca with her plans by guiding Komaru to become a symbol of hope, and Izuru being the mastermind of the Killing School Trip.

When the two meet again (both as members of Ultimate Despair) they do not recognize each other, and while Nagito is very excited about Izuru's company, he merely thinks of him as a completely boring person. This was due to the fact that Izuru asked Junko to erase all memories of him, as he would later erase his own memories about Class 77-B.

Interestingly, in Super Danganronpa 2.5, the World Destroyer whose personality appears to be heavily based on Izuru is seen smiling lightly while talking to Nagito about hope.

In the end, after Hajime and Izuru's identities have mixed, Nagito recognizes him as Hajime and calls him by the name (though at first glance he assumed he is Izuru).

Quotes

 * “This is so boring.”
 * “Despair... No matter how I logically analyze it, is not necessary.”
 * “If it's good luck, I have that too.” (to Nagito Komaeda)
 * “Is that who I was before?” (to Chiaki Nanami, asking about Hajime Hinata)
 * “Even in your situation, you would still try to protect someone?” (to Chiaki)
 * “I want to test something. Hope and Despair... Which will be harder for me to predict?” (to Junko Enoshima)
 * “If her wishes overcome your plot, and are able to save them... I suppose that would prove hope is harder to predict than despair.” (to Junko)

Trivia

 * His first and last names are written in katakana, but the original Izuru Kamukura's names are written in kanji.
 * "Izuru" (as 出流), which literally means "out of the current", could also mean "to go out into exile". Both of these meanings could reflect how Izuru Kamukura was a unique existence which felt very secluded due to having no peers.
 * "Kamukura" (as 神座) means "a place in which a god resides" or "a seat for gods". This could reflect how Izuru was created to be a host for superhuman talent.
 * In Danganronpa 3, Izuru is described as ("god from the machine") and Kodaka has called him a "god-mode character" and a "god-like entity".
 * During the Killing School Trip, AI Junko told the students about Izuru and that speech is the main source of information on him. During this, however, she made several large contradictions when discussing Izuru. It seems likely that Junko did this to manipulate the students. This means that much of the information on him has very questionable accuracy.
 * Technically, being the same person as Hajime Hinata, Izuru is the first character in the Danganronpa series that has participated in two Mutual Killing Games and survived.
 * Fitting his apathetic personality, he has no known likes or dislikes.
 * In Side: Future #03, Izuru is seen in an abandoned building, next to a table with a vase with flowers. Considering one of the flower is different from the other, it is implied that he was mourning Chiaki before Makoto arrived and takes him to custody.
 * In the Japanese language, Izuru talks and expresses in a more polite way, unlike his alternate identity. For example, instead of referring to himself with the word 俺 (ore) like Hajime does, he uses the word 僕 (boku), which is a more polite, juvenile way for one to refer to themselves. Similarly, he uses the word 貴方 (anata) when talking to others; in contrast, Hajime uses お前 (omae) in the same context.
 * Izuru is the only Remnant of Despair who was not brainwashed and accepted to help Junko of his own free will.
 * Izuru's voice double for the English dub of Side: Despair, Micah Solusod, is married to Natsumi Kuzuryu's English voice actress Apphia Yu.

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