Shirokuma

"I just want to save people, that's all. There's no way I should be the only one keeping his fur white during hard times like this."

- Danganronpa Another Episode

Shirokuma  (シロクマ Shirokuma) is a character featured in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls.

Shirokuma is a pure white version of Monokuma. He is considered the idol of the the Resistance, because he has saved all the members of the group. He is also the one who created their secret base.

Appearance
Shirokuma originally resembled the regular Monokuma Units, but he has heavily modified himself to appear less threatening. He painted the left side of his body white and wrapped bandages around his left leg, left forearm, and the left side of his head - the latter serves to mostly conceal the jagged red left eye common to all Monokuma Units. His body is somewhat worn and covered in scratches, due to his work with the Adult Resistance.

Shirokuma has two small eyelashes on his right eye and a noticeable blush (covered by two small bandages) on his right cheek. Coupled with his very feminine vocal timbre, he's sometimes mistaken for a female. He often carries a pink flower.

If forced into combat, Shirokuma removes the bandages on his head to expose his left eye. He also displays the ability to extend claws from his hands, similar to the standard Monokuma Unit.

Personality
Shirokuma is a pacifist and he thinks that adults and kids should live together in harmony. He is very considerate and has a friendly aura surrounding him. He wants to have power to protect others, but he feels he isn't strong enough. He is a bit shy and all kind of fighting and mean words make him distressed. However, he can be surprisingly forceful at times.

He claims to have a good eye for judging character, as well as the ability to tell the date and time of someone's first kiss just by looking at them, among other things. He also considers the abilities and limitations of his allies, taking breaks despite technically not needing to (being a machine) in order to give Komaru time to rest and regain herself.

Though he appears very pure, Shirokuma really likes pretty girls and he is implied to be a bit perverted, just like the other Monokumas. He is also revealed to be a coward at times, as he really doesn't like fighting and finds the other Monokumas very scary, but he can be very brave for the sake of others.

Shirokuma can also be a bit philosophical at times and he has lots of knowledge about different topics, such as, despite claiming to have existed only for a short amount of time.

Despite his peaceful demeanor, Toko Fukawa found Shirokuma very suspicious and her opinion about him never changed. In the end, her suspicions are proven when Shirokuma is revealed to be one half of AI Junko plotting to spread despair and drag Towa City into an endless spiral of war and revenge. Shirokuma's friendly personality, in fact his whole personality, is just Junko's acting. Still, it's heavily implied that he has only some of Junko's personality and needs Kurokuma to be whole.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
According to Shirokuma, he "woke up" at the same day when the Monokuma robots began their attack. He had a strong desire to help people, which he claimed was due to his sophisticated AI allowing him to make his own decisions. Deciding that doing good deeds made him feel good, he painted one side of himself white and covered his left eye with a bandage to avoid frightening any humans he came across.

As chaos engulfed Towa City, Shirokuma began rescuing adults who were being attacked by the forces of the Warriors of Hope. He made a secret base underground, where he brought all the adults he could find, eventually forming the Resistance. Because of his work in saving the adults, Shirokuma became very well-liked by the members of the Resistance, with many considering him an "idol". He is also the only one allowed to leave the secret base.

Chapter 1 - Crying for Love in Hell
Shirokuma's first appearance was at the last second of chapter 1, foreshadowed as the person who had been following Komaru and Toko's journey from the hospital to the underground station.

Chapter 2 - Legend of the Revolution
Shirokuma was first seen being attacked by Monokuma Units, only to be unwittingly saved by Komaru Naegi. Komaru immediately panics after seeing him, but Shirokuma convinced her that he meant no harm (though Toko Fukawa still found him suspicious). Toko told Komaru to not be fooled by his cuteness, but was eventually fooled herself when he said that he wanted be friends with many pretty ladies. Shirokuma also confessed that he can tell the date and time of someone's first kiss, making Toko further fooled by him. Shirokuma wanted to help both of them and leading them to the base so they could be saved. Once Toko calmed down from her "heated" imagination to uncover those "fraudulent career women's virginity", Shirokuma asked them why Komaru and Toko were in the city. Komaru answered that they had no place to go, so Shirokuma offered them a safe place to hide. Toko didn't trust Shirokuma, thinking he wanted to kidnap them. Shirokuma said that that the safe place is a secret base underground where adults are living in hiding. Komaru thought it a good idea to go there. Toko once again left with no other options, the girls follow Shirokuma to the adults' secret base.

After traveling for a while in the underground subway station, the group decided to take a short break. Komaru asked Shirokuma why he wanted to save them, and he answered that he "just wants to save people." Komaru was amazed by Shirokuma's dedication and decided to keep relying on him as an ally, but Toko stayed suspicious. Shirokuma then led them down a hole with a ladder to the Towa City Sewers, where the secret base was.

Exploring the sewer, the group eventually found the ladder to the secret base. Shirokuma told the girls to follow him up the ladder, with Toko forcing Komaru to go first because she might die if Komaru saw her panties. After Komaru and Toko escorted him through the sewers to the Resistance base, Shirokuma invited the girls to the conference room where he introduced the girls to the leader, Haiji Towa, before giving them instructions on what they should do next.

After Toko and Haiji started fighting about the Future Foundation. After the fight ended between Toko and Haiji, Shirokuma asked Komaru and Toko if Future Foundation would really come and save the adults, to which they replied that it's impossible to reach them. Shirokuma then gave the girls a wireless laptop developed by Togami Group that can send audio and video, noting that it wasn't available to the public aside from groups like the police and Future Foundation, and the girls could use it if they got around the jamming radio waves emitted from Towa Hills be climbing to the top of a building called Towa Tower. Komaru was so happy because she could finally see a ray of hope thanks to Shirokuma, hugged and surprised the white bear.

Chapter 3 - Cute Girl's Battlefield
Shirokuma appeared once again after Komaru and Toko returned to the Resistance's base. He welcomed Toko and Komaru back after coming back from the Towa Tower. He then told both of them to join the conversation with Haiji and the rest. Once again, Toko and Haiji fought and Shirokuma tried to stop them. Later the Resistance was being attacked by Monokuma Units, he begged Komaru and Toko for help in order to save the people inside the base that are being attacked by Monokuma Units. In response to Shirokuma's plea, Komaru and Toko successfuly expelled the large group of Monokumas from the base.

Chapter 4 - The Way We Live
Once again the Resistance's base was being attacked by Monokuma Units. Shirokuma the appeared and approached Komaru and Toko as he begged them to defeated the Monokumas.

Like they did previous times, Komaru and Toko managed to get rid of the initial wave of Monokumas, but then Shirokuma told them the Monokumas were actually coming from a hole from the back of the base and he needed Komaru and Toko to block it. It turned out Shirokuma's body was packed with high explosives, but his self-destruct button was damaged during the battle so he couldn't self-destruct on his own. Shirokuma begged Komaru to shoot him so he could explode and block the hole.

As the three reached the hole, Shirokuma forced Komaru to shot him even he braved himself to attack Komaru so she could stop him by shooting him. Shirokuma thanking Komaru with teary eyes before he exploded.

Shirokuma the appeared as one of the adults brought Shirokuma's remaining head, surprisingly congratulating Komaru and Toko. He said that his AI chip is on the head so he would still continue to live.

Chapter 5 - Absolute Despair Girl
Shirokuma was seen once again with Hiroko carrying his head as they talk to Komaru and Toko about their current situation.

In the 5th chapter, it is hinted that Shirokuma was collaborating with Kurokuma in order to force the adults into battle. He later takes control of the Big Bang Monokuma to cause further havoc, attacking Komaru, Toko, Monaca, and Haiji in Towa Tower in an attempt to decapitate the leadership of both sides at once. However, Komaru and Toko manage to destroy Big Bang Monokuma, ejecting Shirokuma's head from the mecha in the resulting explosion.

Epilogue - The Changing World We Made
In the epilogue, Shirokuma's head was seen in a wheelbarrow alongside Kurokuma's similarly-damaged head. As the robots argued over the result of the war, they were both revealed to be parts of an AI patterned on Junko Enoshima, pitting adults and children against each other in their agenda to spread despair. Both robots were then destroyed by Izuru as he salvaged the AI from their hard drives.

Haiji Towa
Both of them are best friends and the founders of The Resistance and best friends. Haiji and Shirokuma have been working together in saving the adults from the Warriors of Hope and travel Towa City. Shirokuma always tries to help Haiji when ever he is stressed or angry and tries to calm him down. Haiji always thanks Shirokuma for everything that he has done to him and for always helping him when ever he needs him.

Shirokuma later betrayed Haiji and took control of Big Bang Monokuma to end him and the rest of the people.

Komaru Naegi
Komaru first finds Shirokuma after saving him from other Monokuma Units. Shirokuma seems to like Komaru and even sacrifices himself in order to help Komaru get into the Warriors of Hope's Secret Base. This is all implied to be part of the plan to create a "successor" to Junko Enoshima - when Komaru appears to have rejected her "destiny", Shirokuma takes control of the Big Bang Monokuma to attack her.

Adults
Shirokuma was the one who rescued all the Adults and essentially created the the Resistance, giving him unquestionable status as an idol. The Adults respect Shirokuma more than anyone else in the Resistance's base and are always happy to see Shirokuma. Shirokuma seems to care about the adults a lot and always tries to protect them when ever they are in danger from the Warrior's of Hope or Monokuma Units. The adults compliment him and they always talk nice to him.

Because of their gratitude, the adults never question Shirokuma's motives, having complete trust in him and getting offended whenever someone compares him to the other Monokumas. In the end, it's revealed that Shirokuma (being part of AI Junko) just manipulated them and kept them alive for his own goals, and considers them all idiots. The adults' reaction to this truth is never seen, but they're all shown yelling in anger and disappointment after the Big Bang Monokuma in Shirokuma's control got destroyed.

Toko Fukawa
Toko first finds Shirokuma after saving him from other Monokuma Units. When she first saw Shirokuma she thought he was just like all the other Monokumas. Toko doesn't seem to trust Shirokuma very much due to him being a Monokuma Unit. Shirokuma is very kind to her and always tries to be gentle and help her. Despite being very nice to her, she is very mean to Shirokuma calling him by names and treating him like all the other Monokumas. She gets carried away when ever Shirokuma says something that she is interested about.

Kurokuma
Despite having no in-game interactions, at the end it appears that both him and Kurokuma were partners, both manipulating and concluding that adults and children are both equally stupid.

Together, Shirokuma and Kurokuma form AI Junko Enoshima and in reality they're both just a result of her acting.

Due to the way they're related, Kurokuma mentions that they're kind of like brothers, and he calls Shirokuma his "li'l bro".

Hiroko Hagakure
Although they don't talk to each other that much, both of them are members of the Resistance and work together to save people from Towa City. In Chapter 5, Hiroko is seen carrying Shirokuma's head.

Trivia

 * The word "Shirokuma" (シロクマ or 白熊), aside from literally meaning "white bear", is also the Japanese word for "polar bear".
 * Shirokuma will assist Komaru in certain sections of the game, bumping into Monokuma Units to stall them temporarily.
 * Along with Kurokuma, Shirokuma is the first Monokuma Unit to have a profile in the game.
 * Shirokuma liked world peace and flower meadows, and he disliked fighting and verbal abuse.
 * Shirokuma and Kurokuma seem to be much taller than the original Monokuma for unknown reasons.
 * Shirokuma is the first character to carry a flower with him, the second one being Monophanie.
 * In both the English and Japanese dubs, Shirokuma and Kurokuma are voiced by Junko Enoshima's voice actors, which hints at their true identity as AI Junko.
 * Amusingly, when you use the Megaphone Hacking Gun's "Dance" Truth Bullet on Shirokuma, he performs a dance that Monokuma uses in the anime adaptation's opening.

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