Jataro Kemuri

Jataro Kemuri (煙 蛇太郎 Kemuri Jatarō) is a character featured in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls.

Jataro is one of the five members of the Warriors of Hope, in charge of the "Priest" class. He has the title of Li'l Ultimate Art (超小学生級の「図工の時間」chō shōgakusei kyū no “zukō no jikan” lit. Super Elementary School Level Drawing Period).

Jataro has a robot called "Priest Robot Doctor von Gerolt", with special attacks such as Killing Spree Bomb Punishment and Serial Killer Bomb Punishment.

Jataro was executed by Monokuma Kids after he lost his fight against Komaru Naegi and Toko Fukawa in chapter 2, but somehow survived and was seen with the other Warriors of Hope's members at the end of the game.

Jataro returns in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Side: Future with the former members of Warriors of Hope.

Jataro appears as a cameo in the 30-minutes long OVA, Super Danganronpa 2.5: Nagito Komaeda and the Destroyer of the World as a part of Nagito Komaeda's imagination world.

Appearance
Jataro is an elementary school-aged boy. He wears a stitched together leather mask that may double as a gas mask, evidence being the breathing tube hanging below his chin. He has gray eyes, with a scalpel pattern as the iris. When his mask is removed, it is revealed that he has a beautiful face and light brown hair.

He wears a baggy brown dress shirt with a red tie, orange-brown shorts and a brown apron; the apron has the silver Warriors of Hope badge pinned to the breast and his various tools attached to it. He also carries a white randoseru decorated with a flame motif and filled with more tools. His apron, tool set and randoseru are branded with the emblem of the "Priest" class.

According to the creators, Jataro's character image and color design is supposed to look "dirty", which is the complete opposite of a priest that focuses on "cleanliness".

Personality
Jataro has an incredible talent for anything seen as creative, such as drawing, painting and sculpting. He is also shown to be quiet, shy and scatter-brained. The official artbook describes him as "curious, crafty, and fascinated by dark and disturbing things".

Jataro is acknowledged by both himself and those around him for being hated, and he seems content with that fact. He has a tendency to blame himself for things that have nothing to do with him, as well as repeatedly apologizing and putting himself down. He believes that his face is horribly ugly and he panics if anyone wants to see it, claiming that seeing his face would make people's eyeballs explode.

Jataro's thoughts are disorganized and off-topic, some being innocent and some not, and he often has difficulties following conversations. He is shown to have some sort of mental or emotional instability, which becomes evident when he lapses into his episodes of rambling. He describes these ramblings as "yawns", things that come out of his mouth involuntarily and nobody can understand them, not even him. He calls them just "killing of time" and "distraction from the horrors around you".

Jataro's presence is often largely ignored, though he states later to Komaru and Toko that being ignored is something that he doesn't like. After Nagisa Shingetsu becomes impatient during his introduction and interrupts him, Jataro becomes visibly distraught and mumbles how his skin was 'beginning to crawl and itch' and how he wished to 'tear it all off.'

Despite the constant self-deprecation, Jataro is self-described as being a cheerful kid (though he admits that he may not understand what "cheerful" means), helpful to his friends and willing to comply with whatever they ask of him while remaining relatively upbeat.

It's later revealed that Jataro's acceptance of hate is a coping mechanism he developed against the constant abuse in his home life. He also believes that it's easier to be hated, because it leaves him free to do what he wants without worrying about pleasing people.

Li'l Ultimate Art
Jataro is very skilled in the arts and is also very creative. He can create many amazing scuptures and can draw and paint as well. During his introduction, he is shown to be surrounded with scuptures and paintings, referencing his talent. He carries around chisels, scalpels, and knives as his sculpturing tools.

Prior to the Tragedy
Jataro was born and raised in Towa City. He was a child prodigy and had an incredible talent for anything seen as creative, such as drawing, painting and sculpting.

Jataro is described by Kotoko Utsugi as a latchkey kid. Jataro's parents weren't around much and when they were, there was constant verbal abuse.

Jataro's mother regretted giving birth to him, because there were several things she wanted to do in life (like obtaining qualifications and licenses, take lessons and work more), but couldn't after having her son. She was bitter, because she felt her life had become nothing more than a platform for his life. Every night, she wished her son would be dead in the next morning, and she sighed from disappointment because he wasn't. She wished he would stop being healthy and disappear. She also hated the fact that Jataro's face was beautiful, as if it was some reason to take care of him, and would've preferred him to be ugly. Jataro was forced to wear a mask and his mother was ashamed to show him to anyone, telling him that he doesn't look like other kids. This caused Jataro to believe that he truly is very ugly.

Jataro started to accept hate so readily because he had adapted his "peaceful place" in order to cope with the constant abuse in his home life. He made himself believe that being hated makes him have a peace of mind, so he can always be at peace even when he is abused. He believed that it was necessary, because he knew his home life wasn't going to get better.

Jataro was also part of Hope's Peak Elementary School. He was on the class of troublemakers along with Monaca Towa, Nagisa Shingetsu, Kotoko Utsugi and Masaru Daimon.

Although Jataro was on the verge of committing suicide along with the other four kids, Junko Enoshima appeared and convinced the children that the adults were wrong and that they should create a paradise for children. Jataro murdered his parents shortly after, and did not regret it.

Prologue - The Warriors of Hope
Jataro is first seen in the news reporting room, where he messes around with the newscaster's corpse along with Masaru Daimon and Kotoko Utsugi. He questions if zombies really growl like Masaru had done, but is quickly shut up by him. He proceeds to join in their game by helping push the 'zombie' along in its chair to chase after Kotoko and Nagisa who tries to stop them by told them that the broadcast is important to announce about the Warriors of Hope commencement at first. After Monaca Towa began her speech, Jataro moved behind the camera to shoot Monaca.

He is later seen with the other Warriors of Hope in the main hall, talking about his status as "Li'l Ultimate Art". When Monaca arrives, he moved out of the way for her to greet Komaru. Not long after Servant arrives, Jataro and the other Warriors of Hope opens a trap door, resulting in Komaru falling through and back down into Towa City. Excluding Monaca, the Warriors of Hope each discuss the 'game' and claiming that they will be the winner. Jataro mutters how the 'game' and real life were two seperate things so 'maybe someone as hated as me could win.' Kotoko shows disgust at his 'rare motivation'.

Chapter 2 - Legend of the Revolution
After Masaru's supposed death, he is seen alongside Kotoko and Monaca in mourning. During the time Masaru fought against Komaru and Toko, he stated that Masaru had locked him in the bathroom, and Jataro was useless for that reason, for not being able to sacrifice himself in Masaru's place. Jataro later teases Nagisa alongside Kotoko after he admits to Monaca that he has feelings for her.

Following Masaru's death, he is seen through a television monitor in order to give Komaru and Toko some advice. He warns Komaru about how, as long as she's wearing the wristband, she won't be able to leave the city—then proceeds to show them what he does with the Demons he kills. Later, he finds Komaru and Toko when they attempt to enter Towa Tower and ambushes them with Monokuma. Then, he challenged Toko and Komaru officially in an arena match. After being beaten, like Masaru, the Monokuma Kids grabbed and pulled him in. In his execution, his mask is removed, and soon after, he is supposedly beaten to death. In the end, all that is left is his mask.

It is stated after Jataro's own 'death' that Jataro personally built the mourning shrine for Masaru; Monaca then uses this as an excuse to not build Jataro a mourning shrine.

Aftermath
At the end of the game, there is a CG available called "Children After The Story", which shows that Jataro, Nagisa, Kotoko and Masaru are all alive and together.

Episode 01 - Third Time's the Charm
Jataro and the other Warriors of Hope members excluding Monaca were briefly shown at the beginning of the episode as the Servant surrendered himself to the Warriors of Hope.

Episode 07 - Ultra Despair Girls
Jataro and the other Warriors of Hope are seen hiding in a hotel. Nagisa is on the phone, telling Toko and Komaru how to find Monaca while Jataro and the others watch in silence.

Super Danganronpa 2.5: Nagito Komaeda and the Destroyer of the World
Jataro appears as a cameo in the OVA, shown having fun with the other members of Warriors of Hope.

Execution

 * Main Article: Punishment of the Priest

Kurokuma
Kurokuma was Jataro's advisor. However, there was no direct in-game interaction between the two.

Monaca Towa
Like everyone else, Jataro respected Monaca. He refers to her as a princess. Monaca, however, clearly disliked him and often pretended to forget Jataro's name or even who he is. She had a habit of ignoring his presence completely. During his boss fight, he states that his motivation for winning is so Monaca will be even further disgusted by him.

After Jataro's supposed death, Monaca and Kotoko both admit that neither cared for his death, and that they mutually hated him.

It's later revealed that Jataro, along with Masaru, Nagisa and Kotoko, were used as pawns by Monaca, who is revealed to not care about any of them.

Nagisa Shingetsu
Though Nagisa largely ignores Jataro and is annoyed by his ramblings, he doesn't seem to harbor the same sort of hate for him that the others do and he truly cared about him, just like he cared about all the Warriors.

A bonus CG towards the very end of the game reveals a maskless Jataro holding tightly to Nagisa's arm. This may imply that Jataro sees Nagisa as a comforting figure, which would make sense, as Nagisa is the nicest towards him.

In the official artbook, Nagisa tells Jataro that he should fight only in the Demon Hunting game, not with himself. This appears to be genuine advice and expression of concern.

Masaru Daimon
Masaru doesn't seem to be verbally mean to Jataro and largely ignores him. However, he sometimes seems to enjoy bossing him around, telling him to do things like buying him a Cola (as mentioned in the official artbook).

It seems Masaru also liked to play pranks on Jataro, as he once locked him in the bathroom.

Despite his treatment, Jataro seemed to genuinely respect and admire Masaru and even wanted to make an altar for him. After Masaru's supposed death, Jataro seemed truly saddened and wished he would've died instead.

Kotoko Utsugi
Kotoko is arguably the cruelest to Jataro, insulting him at every chance she gets and having a lot of fun while doing it. After Jataro's supposed death, Kotoko and Monaca both admit that neither cared for his death, and that they mutually hated him.

Junko Enoshima
Jataro, like the other four, have a special respect and love for Junko. She stopped their joint-suicide by means of jumping off the elementary school's roof and convinced them to not only kill the source of their despair, their parents, but to create a paradise for children by murdering all adults. He addressees her as 'Big Sister Junko'.

Jataro later confesses to Komaru and Toko that Junko was the only person who had ever shown him affection and love, which gives him a motive against the Future Foundation and adults such as them.

It's implied that Jataro has a childlike crush on Junko, going by the art display of him as the Frog Prince and her as the princess, and the painting of her he has in his room.

Quotes

 * “Ah—wait... can I practice my introduction beforehand? You know how when you stare into moving bicycle spokes, you get all scared? Like, for some reason, you imagine how painful it would be to put your hand in...Oh, um, my name is Jataro Kemuri. And bird skin isn't yummy no matter how you cook it. I was really good at arts and crafts, so they called me Li'l Ultimate Art. If it's arts and crafts, leave it to me. I can remove nails, and varnish, and things...I do the Priest thing for the Warriors of Hope...Oh, and also, I wonder if aliens exist.”
 * “Uuu... my chest is itchy and crawling for some reason. I want to scratch and tear at it.”
 * “You know what he means pulp... right? Your whole body will turn into little bits of meat, your internal organs will fly out like sausages...” (to Komaru Naegi)
 * “We don't have to kill the people in ice cream shops, right? Ice cream can't be evil.”
 * “Monaca is this team's princess you see. Everyone has too fulfill the wishes of the princess.” (talking about Monaca Towa)
 * “Games aren't the same as real life. In that case... even someone as hated me as me could win.”
 * “People are always hiding their feelings about how someone hated like me should hurry up and die. But I agree with them.”
 * “O Heaven, hear my prayer to spare the Sage's life and grant mercy upon his soul! Hooo!”
 * “But "some things are better left unknown"... Adults say that all the time.”
 * “I'm from the Hate Planet, where being hated makes you feel good. And it's easier to just be hated.”
 * “I live like filth, surrounded by filth! Inside this paradise, where no adults can get in the way!”
 * “I only know a few kanji, but I'll sign your stomach, if that's okay.” (to Komaru; while holding what is presumably a chisel or other sharp tool)
 * “Aa--you said it! I was going to say that but you said it before I could! Ugh . . . my chest is crawling and itching . . . I want to tear and scratch it off!”
 * “Wonderful, wonderful, cock-a-doodle-doo! We will create a paradise for children by just ourselves!”
 * “Unlike everyone else, Junko-onee-chan was the only person who loved me... Junko-onee-chan gave us shining hope... you adults who took her away from us and branded her a villain...are far uglier, dirtier pieces of trash than I will ever be—!!”

Trivia

 * “Jataro” (蛇太郎) is composed of the kanji 蛇 - “snake”, 太 - “plump” (figuratively used in names as “healthy”) and 郎 -“son”. The name could refer to Jataro's patchy mask which is somewhat reminiscent of reptile scales. The name “Kemuri” (煙) used here as a surname is also a noun meaning “smoke” or “fumes” - matching both Jataro's color scheme and his title; since some artistic crafts involve the risk of exposure to toxic fumes.
 * After his "death", Kotoko and Monaca refer to Jataro as 'Snake-chan'; though, due to their mutual hate of him, it is most likely an insult.
 * It's implied that Jataro has experience with both building and repairing things, like broken chairs and a funeral shrine.
 * Jataro stated in the Prologue he would like to drive a train one day.
 * Jataro shares his English voice actress, Michelle Ruff, with Yuta Asahina.

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