Misaki Asano

"The day I've been waiting for has finally arrived! Today I will take my first steps as an investigator! From today on, I'm assigned to the Special Investigations Department. My name is Misaki Asano!"

- Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer

Misaki Asano (麻野 美咲 Asano Misaki) is the female protagonist of Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer, a spin-off manga connected to Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School.

Misaki is a member of Future Foundation and is an investigator working for the 6th Division’s Special Case Bureau. Her partner is Takumi Hijirihara, a notorious serial killer who has been nicknamed Killer Killer.

Appearance
Misaki is a petite woman with a determined expression. She has blonde hair styled held back by a black headband with a red streak going through it and large gray eyes, sometimes drawn as light blue. She wears a standard Future Foundation uniform consisting of a white dress shirt, black jacket, red tie, black skirt and shoes.

Later in the manga she is seen wearing a hospital gown.

Personality
Despite being a special investigator for bizarre murder cases, she states that she hates gore. Her determination and optimism help her persevere through this, alongside her cooperation with Takumi. While she can be easily angered by him, she is also shown to be compassionate and patient when it comes to trying to understand his motivation.

Chapter 1 - Murder for Murder
Misaki is first seen inside Ikue Dōgami's office being briefed for her first day on the job. Her dream to become a special investigator finally came true. After Chief Dogami tells Misaki to use any free locker, Misaki found her new partner, Takumi Hijirihara inside a locker making her freak out. The chief informs her that Takumi will be her partner from now on, and several coworkers express how badly they feel for the newbie to be stuck with Takumi of all people.

Chief Dogami immediately gives Misaki and Takumi a new case where a threatening letter was sent to a "Monk Idol", Momomichi Ito in the form of a grotesque 4-koma. Their task is to oversee the idol's security. Misaki is determined to make a fantastic first impression, while Takumi lazily attempts to excuse himself.

Arriving at the scene, Misaki discovers Takumi in the shrine's offering box and bickers with him. After ordering the rest of her team to secure the area, she meets with Yoshihiko Hayashi. Yoshihiko explains that a cult group have been spying on the Monk Idol in his many previous events. On the stage, Misaki sees three Asura statues and wondered if they were placed as the background.

As the concert started, Misaki enjoys Momomichi's singing until the Asura statues are revealed as crafted corpses. She and her team immediately open the investigation and evacuate all guests from the crime scene. Misaki watches in confusion as Takumi wakes up and angrily approaches the crime scene. This turns to astonishment when Takumi hugs one of the corpses' legs and mumbles to himself. After a period of investigation, Misaki finally reached the conclusion that the culprit is the one who sent the threat letter and after committing his crime, he fled from the scene--though Takumi immediately corrects her, telling Misaki that the culprit was still in the vicinity. The two continue to bicker then Takumi leaves the scene to allow Misaki to handle the situation herself, which angers her.

After returning to HQ, Misaki confides in Chief Dogami about her frustrations in dealing with Takumi. After a short time, Chief Dogami reminds her of a school massacre that had happened several years ago. Misaki recalls hearing about it, and how much it shocked her because the victims of the massacre were all children her age. Chief Dogami tells her that Takumi is the sole survivor of that incident, and as a result has developed several strange habits stemming from the psychological trauma.

Chief Dogami and Misaki return to the crime scene only to discover the true killer, Momoichi Ito, as nothing more than a pile of powder. Rather than be disgusted, Misaki is amazed. The two find the note left by Killer Killer and return back to HQ. Later, Misaki finds Takumi underneath the counter in the break room and makes a resolution to try and understand him. She joins him underneath the counter and, to her surprise, finds it comfortable.

Chapter 2 - Symbiotic Hospital
Misaki is first shown drinking coffee at the start of her day, when Takumi pops up from under the sink, hitting Misaki's legs with the door. After Takumi comments on seeing her panties, Misaki storms off until she runs into Takumi, holding a child. Misaki gets slightly concerned until; she recognizes the child as Mekuru Katsuragi. After commenting on the two's relationships, Chief Dogami sends them on another mission.

Arrived at Ongou Hospital, Misaki and Takumi entered a patient room, the crime scene. The victim was Hana Niyama, gruesomely murdered on her bed. Misaki wondered if Takumi went mad again, but instead he hugged the victim's body. Misaki shouted at him after he fell asleep beside the body. After Misaki and the investigators discovered a scalpel on the culprit's stomach, Misaki decided to interrogate some doctors from the hospital.

Chapter 3 - Bessatsu Shounen Zetsubou Magazine
Misaki is shown very briefly in the back of a van after being kidnapped by Juzo Sakakura (posing as Ted Chikatilo.) She and Mekuru were captured and taken as hostages in order to lure Takumi to the Tify Ariake Arena. Misaki squirms to try and get herself free, but quickly notices a third person in the van. She looks on in horror as she appears to see Makoto Naegi's stiff body, face-up.

Chapter 4 - Sting Casino Murders
Misaki is shown being carried to unknown room while tied and blindfolded by Juzo. After her blindfold falls off she realizes that she is sitting on a chair, tied. She then remembers that Mekuru was also tied and carried away. Before she can do anything she hears the voice from the vents and realizes that she is in the Festival of Murder, a serial killer gambling game. While listening, she finds out that Juzo just blew up Makoto's body and that he will be fighting against Takumi, who came there to save Misaki and Mekuru. Through out the fight Misaki starts panicking, realizing that Takumi will most likely die. Juzo then reveals that Takumi is the Killer Killer. Before Juzo can blow Takumi up, the real Ted appears, accidentally blowing up the side of Misaki's room, giving her the ability to escape and see what's going on.

Chapter 5 - Firework Lyric
Misaki was in great shocked after she learned that Juzo disguised as Ted upon the real serial killer arrived in the Killing Festival. At first, she doubted that Juzo will survive the crowds' attack but soon changed her mind after she recalled that Juzo has a reputation as the most terrifying Future Foundation member.

After Juzo, with his special troops and Ted, defeated most of the crowds, Misaki stumbled upon a hanging corpse belong to the Republic of Lamieca's Secretary of Defense. After the quick investigation, Misaki worried about Takumi's condition.

Chapter 6 - Possibility of Despair
Misaki is seen running on top of the skyscraper to find Takumi engrossed in Ted's fireworks. Soon after she herself is hypnotized and stares at Ted's fireworks.

Later, after Takumi defeats Ted he carries Misaki back to everyone else and both of them end up in the hospital.

Chapter 7 - Pre-Wedding Mystery Tour
At the beginning of the chapter, Misaki was shown relaxing by herself in a calm and quite hot spring. Unfortunately, she came to the hot spring in a not-so-perfect time as Kinari Kunugida, an underground gravure idol, also paid a visit along with her noisy fan club. Due to this, Misaki regretted her decision in agreeing to visit the hot spring.

Chapter 9 - Don't Kill
Misaki was still in disbelief to hear about Takumi being the Killer Killer. As she watched him depart to find Mukuro Ikusaba, she attempted to stop him and question him about his real identity, but she obtained no answer.

She followed Takumi to the destination building along with Shūji, horrified to find the entirety of Future Foundation's 8th Branch's Security having been murdered as soon as they stepped in. Mukuro appeared a few seconds after, rushing for Misaki and trying to murder her, but she was stopped by Takumi and the two began a fight.

She watched as Takumi showed real intent to murder Mukuro with a mortified expression, still trying to cling on to the thought that he isn't the Killer Killer. However, she, along with Shūji, are surrounded by multiple Mukuro lookalikes which are quickly defeated by Takumi. As she incapacitated the remaining ones using a gun filled with muscle relaxants, she tried to convince Takumi one last time to tackle the issue without any murders happening, but she was not listened to and she witnessed him murdering the remaining clones with a mortified expression. She finally accepted the fact that Takumi is the Killer Killer, breaking into tears.

However, she was then impaled through the chest by Shūji, using a dagger, who attempted to use this as a last resort to bring Takumi back to his senses and make him stop murdering.

Chapter 10 - Killer Killer Killer
Misaki was threatened by Shūji who grabbed Misaki's hair and aimed his knife to her neck. If Takumi swore to stop being the Killer Killer, then Misaki will be freed.

Later, Shūji is forced to flee due to intervention by Future Foundation staff members Juzo, Sonosuke Izayoi, Ruruka Ando, Ikue and others. It is revealed by the end of the chapter that she has something metallic around her neck.

Relationships

 * Future Foundation Members:

Takumi Hijirihara
Misaki has a difficult time trying to understand Takumi and his odd behaviors, and often gets frustrated with him as a result. However, she continues to make an effort to understand him, even if she herself finds his habits and personality to be sloppy. Her concern for him is shown when she takes Takumi's invitation to hide underneath the sink with him and waiting in his hospital room for him to wake up.

Misaki has enormous difficulty believing that Takumi is the Killer Killer at first, having seen him in an entirely different light during all the time she spent with him. However, she has no other choice but accept the reality of things as she witnessed Takumi's Killer Killer persona in action as he faced and murdered the numerous Mukuro lookalikes. She was sad at first knowing that his true identity as the Killer Killer. However, Misaki understands that he turned himself as a serial killer who kills serial killers after he experienced a deadly experience such as Giboura Massacre. Eventually, after Shūji planted a bomb choker on her neck, Misaki begged Takumi to kill her, exclaiming that by killing her, he'll get the 'Passionate Killing' he yearned for. Takumi then 'severed' her head to discard the choker before her head is reconnected by unknown means.

Days later, Misaki met Takumi again in the similar manner when they first met. Takumi then hugged her and proposed to do "Super Lovers Suicide" together with her, which she complies, implying that both of them had romantic feelings for each other. Their fate is left unknown.

Mekuru Katsuragi
Misaki and Mekuru seem relatively close, as Mekuru has talked to her about Takumi, and she gave her nickname "Asamin". She also apologized Misaki for tricking her in order to stop Ted Chikatilo.

Later, Mekuru defended her when Misaki Asano's hunting began and was sad when members from Future Foundation raised the gun on Misaki.

Ikue Dōgami
When Misaki meets Dogami, she thinks about her as a "cool" person and want to be like her. Misaki sees Ikue as her superior, and listens to all her orders no matter what. The two seem to get along well and Dogami saved Misaki from fall.

Kyoko Kirigiri
When Misaki sees Kyoko Kirigiri, she can't hold herself and she's asking Kyoko for shaking hands with her. Misaki highly respects Kyoko and is a big fan of hers.

Quotes

 * "Dougami chief is really cool... I'll be just like her one day..." (thinking about Ikue Dogami)
 * "Partners... from now on... with the guy in the locker?!" (reacting to cooperation with Takumi Hijirihara)
 * "This guy... what sort of person is he...?" (thinking about Takumi Hijirihara)
 * "...Anyways, now we can capture all of them without killing, right...?" (trying to prevent Takumi from killing)
 * "Kill me to save the world... then, please promise to me that I'll be your last one that you won't kill anyone anymore." (to Takumi)
 * "I think Hijirihara is not worth any trust though... I mean, aren't we talking about the killer killer here? About a serial killer? ...But, despite that...I...I think he is worthy of "love"!"

Trivia

 * Misaki's given name (美咲) means "beautiful blossom".
 * Her last name, Asano (麻野) means "hemp field".
 * If her entire name is taken as wordplay, it could mean "beautiful blossoms of the morning".

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