Korekiyo Shinguji

"Yes...and words have the power to grant or rob someone of such confidence. Words are powerful. Truth or lies may both be fired as powerfully as a bullet from a gun."

- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

Korekiyo Shinguji (真宮寺 是清 Shingūji Korekiyo) is a character featured in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony and a participant of the Killing School Semester.

His title is Ultimate Anthropologist (超高校級の「民俗学者」chō kōkō kyū no “minzoku gakusha” lit. Super High School Level Folklorist). He has seen many places and people, and as a result, he has formed his pet theory of "humanity's unlimited beauty".

Early Life

 * Before Joining Danganronpa

Korekiyo Shinguji is a normal talentless high school boy who participated in the 53rd Season of Danganronpa, a famous worldwide reality show made by Team Danganronpa.

Korekiyo and the other talentless fifteen students undergo the fabrication process, where all of their past memory and personality were heavily fabricated. He is also received the talent and title of Ultimate Anthropologist. All of this were done for the sake of satisfying Danganronpa's audience from all around the world. After the fabrication process done, Korekiyo 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 School Semester.

During his time in high school, Korekiyo attended Sunset Hill High School (夕陽ヶ丘学園). However, it is unclear if this memory of him is a part of the fabrication made by Team Danganronpa.


 * Fabricated Past

After he successfully participated in the 53rd Killing Game, Korekiyo's memories and past were fabricated by Team Danganronpa as follows.

According to Korekiyo, he had an older sister who meant the world to him and knew him better than anyone else. She always had terrible health, and ever since Korekiyo was young, she constantly had to go to the hospital and back. Because of this, she was horribly lonely and never had any friends, and it's implied that Korekiyo spent lots of his time with her. When he was younger, he got interested in cultural anthropology while reading a book with his sister. He was surprised to find out that different people around the world have had similar ideas that turned into popular stories. His sister told him that he should research it if he was curious about it, and that motivated him to become an anthropologist.

He used to have a much simpler school uniform, but his sister thought it didn't suit him and personally tailored the unique uniform he wears now for him as a present. This took a long time due to her poor health and he treasures it, considering it his alone and truly unique clothing nobody else in the world has.

In the past, according to Korekiyo, he had an incestious relationship with his older sister. He believed it was true love and he did not care what the society thought of them. However, at some point, his sister died due to an illness. Left alone and frustrated due to his deep obsession with his sister, he begun to develop an idea of "sending admirable friends" to his sister in the afterlife, since she never had any friends while she was alive. Korekiyo began to target girls that met his requirements as his sister's "friends" by killing them, making him a serial killer, with his goal being 100 victims. He eventually got very close to this number, supposedly killing women during his constant traveling (he once visited a village where people frequently practiced bondage and he was very popular with the village's women).

In order to study folklore, Korekiyo visited various areas and met with many people. From that experience, he formed a pet theory of "humanity's unlimited beauty". At one point, while crossing an entire country, Korekiyo was attacked by local natives who "welcomed" him by tying him up and torturing him with a whip to near death. He then hallucinated an image of his deceased sister, which lead to him to develop a split personality or a based on her as a coping mechanism. In times of distress, he talked to himself with his sister's persona in an attempt to calm himself.

It is unclear how much, if any, of Korekiyo's past before participating in the 53rd Killing Game was real, and which fabricated by Team Danganronpa. Furthermore, it should be noted that Korekiyo very likely could be quite delusional and some of his claims may not be accurate.

It's known that he wore a mask even as his former self, but his clothes were neat and in good style, and it's been stated that he may have been very popular.

The Gofer Project
Part of the fake backstories created for Korekiyo and the other fifteen students was The Gofer Project, 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.

Korekiyo 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 Gofer Project, they tried to stop it. As a result, the “Ultimate 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 “Ultimate Hunt” while providing protection to the students. The Gofer Project was then put into action while the Earth was being destroyed. Korekiyo 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 Korekiyo and the others to participate in the Killing Game.

It should be noted that Korekiyo has no complete recollection of the event, as he was executed before he actually received a complete memory about The Gofer Project by the Flashback Light in Chapter 5.

Killing School Semester
After the Killing School Semester officially started, the situation become worst until Kaede Akamatsu was able to unify the group that impressed Korekiyo. He and the others later follow Gonta Gokuhara to investigate a manhole inside the Boiler Room behind the academy's building.

Down there, Korekiyo and the others discover a tunnel, which everyone thought as the exit from the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles. However, Korekiyo and the others didn't manage to escape through the Death Road of Despair until all of them exhausted both of their physical and mental. Monokuma and the Monokuma Kubs appeared and told them that the Death Road of Despair was only a trap set by them. The group split into two; the one who doesn't want to continue and the other who tries to keep keep on going. Korekiyo was exhausted and decided to call it off that day. The group then dissolved again after they were able to be unified.

Sometime after the second trial, Korekiyo found his Research Lab in the fourth floor and immediately took an interest to it, as he discovered many interesting things such as the legendary folklore story about the destroyed witch village named Kagonoko, which is later became the guidebook of Angie's "spirit channeling."

An Unexpected Meeting
Later on, Korekiyo began to execute his plan in murdering a random girl that met his requirement as his big sister's "friend" in the afterlife. He sawed all floorboards in the three empty room on the fourth floor, just in case so he could use any one of them in the next day. When he was preparing his murder, Angie who wanted to take a candle from the empty room stumbled upon him.

Afraid that Angie might told his plan to the others, he hit Angie's head using a wooden floorboard he had removed from the floor with a saw to knock her out. He brought the unconscious Angie into her Study Center to execute his plan to silence her forever.

Korekiyo hung all four dolls of his fallen classmates wax doll created by Angie upside down in the ceiling and lock the front door of Angie's Study Center. After that, he proceed to stab Angie right in the back of her neck, killing her instantly using the golden sword that he got from his Study Center.

To make the murder look like a locked-room murder, Korekiyo stabbed the golden sword on Kaede's wax doll (the nearest doll to the back entrance), twisting the rope by turning the doll and left the room as fast as possible. With that, the doll with the sword stabbed onto her body would turn in the opposite direction and effectively lock the back entrance, all according to Korekiyo's plan.

The Summoning Ritual
After murdering Angie and messing with the crime scene, he fabricated a faux necromancy ritual as a disguise to carry out his murder plan in the next day where the students discovered Angie's body. He told the other students that it's the ritual is a method to communicate with Angie's spirit, and some of them participate in his plan while the others investigate Angie's murder.

To make things went perfectly under his plan, Korekiyo told the student that the summoning ritual must be done in a dark place where there are no source of light. Himiko immediately suggested them to use one of the empty room in the fourth floor, much to Korekiyo's joy so he could later frame Himiko for his crime because she was the one who picked the ritual location instead of him.

While preparing for the spirit channeling ritual, Korekiyo was joined by Shuichi Saihara, Kokichi, Tenko, and Himiko. Korekiyo who wanted to perform his murder on whether Himiko or Tenko told the group that the spirit medium must be a girl. With Tenko volunteered herself as the spirit medium, Korekiyo cold-heartedly murdered her in the middle of the spirit channeling process.

Korekiyo's Fate
In the Class Trial, thanks to everyone's effort they could pointed out Korekiyo as the culprit and voted him as the blackened both in Angie and Tenko's murder case. It was revealed that Korekiyo is actually a serial killer whose goal is to kill a hundred women he takes to his liking, believing that they will become "admirable friends" for his deceased older sister in the afterlife. He is later dragged into his execution.



Name
His first kanji name 是清 korekiyo translated as "just and pure". Korekiyo's name is ironic because the meaning is contrary to his true self. His last name kanji is composed of the characters 真 - meaning "true", 宮 - meaning "palace" and 寺 - meaning "temple".

Interestingly, the word 宮 miya, aside from its literal meaning, is also used to refer to (usually larger and/or more significant) Shinto shrines, while the word 寺 tera is reserved for Buddhist temples. Considering how Shintoism and Buddhism are practiced side by side in Japan, and how Japanese folk culture draws heavily from both faiths, Korekiyo's last name could be said to imply at his field of expertise.

Appearance
Korekiyo is a tall, slim student with rather pale skin and long blackish blue hair. He has rather narrow golden eyes, and his mouth is covered by a black mask with a zipper on it, giving him an outlandish appearance. He wears a mask wherever he goes, and he even owns different masks for eating, showering, and other daily activities.

He wears a dark green military-style uniform with matching knee-high black boots. The uniform consists of a white shirt underneath it, a dark green button-up, a red band around his left arm, a dark green cap, and a decorative chain dangling from it. In his Free Time events, he states that his sister tailored the suit for him while she was sick. He wears what appears to be some kind of locket around his neck. Both of his hands are notably completely covered in bandages.

In the prologue, he wears the uniform of his original high school. He has the up-to-date adolescent attire composing of a jacket coordinated and adjusted on the knitted vest, totally different from the uniform he wears during the Killing Game. His neat face and the positive parts of his style stand out, and he might be very popular. He still wears a mask.

Personality
Korekiyo is an aloof and somewhat creepy person, but he is also very cool-headed and intelligent. He has the experience of having met to a huge variety of human beings for his cultural anthropology research and because of that, he can keep himself composed even under the confinement circumstances and believes in facing things with calm and rational approach rather than an emotional one. He has a vast knowledge of different cultures and ponders different subjects in deep and complex manner, with him occasionally starting lengthy anthropology speeches even though nobody asked. He is greatly interested in topics he does not necessarily agree with as well, as he states he does not believe in any gods, but he finds them interesting from the point of view of studying the human nature and cultures.

Thanks to all of his knowledge, he has formed a pet theory of "humanity's unlimited beauty" and he has a deep interest in it. He believes all human beings are great, and that even their ugly sides are extremely beautiful and beauty can be created from hardship. During the killing game, he observes other students with great interest in seeing what kind of beauty they will display as humans under such circumstances, seemingly not caring about their safety. His morals are stated to be a bit off and he can say unsettling things rather openly, like randomly mentioning that Gonta could use his immense strength to crush a child's skull easily. In Chapter 1, he openly states he has no problem with killing and wonders why the others do, stating that killing is perceived as wrong only because of laws made by humans and such laws do not exist in the killing game. He is aware that his appearance and behavior cause him to come across as a potential murderer, but he does not appear to care what other people think of him. He claims the others should not fear him as a potential murderer, as he merely wishes to observe.

Korekiyo usually speaks in calm and polite manner, but he nevertheless comes across rather off and makes others uncomfortable due to his strange and sometimes morbid thinking. While he is most of the time very collected, with his voice staying the same tone, he occasionally gets very excited about some topics and his voice turns notably more high-pitched. He also tends to stay calmer than the others during bad situations, as for him it's an opportunity to observe, though even his spirit begins to break during the Death Road of Despair and Gonta's Insect Meet and Greet. In Chapter 3, there is also a moment when his tone changes to more a panicky one when Kokichi touches his ancient katana without permission and he fears it might get damaged. He then disturbingly threatens to tear out all of Kokichi's nerves in anger, though his voice still remains creepily calm. In general, he tends to find noisy and vulgar people annoying, often asking them to be quiet. Furthermore, he also has an unique and somewhat creepy laugh, which sounds like "kehehehe". In the original Japanese, "kukuku" is his unique laugh's sound.

As another strange trait, he is quite fixated on keeping his mask on. During his free time events, he claims he has a different mask for different activities, like eating, bathing, sleeping and exercising. However, they all appear exactly the same and do not seem to have any kind of hole in them, yet he is somehow capable of eating and drinking. According to Korekiyo, he takes his mask off only in front of people his sister deems trustworthy.

It's later revealed that Korekiyo is a serial killer whose goal is to kill a hundred women he takes to his liking, believing that they will become "admirable friends" for his deceased older sister in afterlife. After suffering from traumatic torture and near-death experience in the past, he developed a female split personality, or, based on his sister, which serves as a coping mechanism against feelings of exceptional distress. While normally very calm, stress can cause him to have a panic attack, rendering him hyperventilating and unable to talk properly. The sister persona acts reassuring towards him, but also gives orders which Korekiyo seems to obey without any questions. The persona also seems to dislike other people in passive aggressive and condescending manner, referring to the other students as "such a sorry lot". In the end, Korekiyo does not seem to mind his death that much and seems to enjoy extreme suffering, as he believes that both are ways to be closer to his deceased sister. Notably, he feels no guilt for his terrible actions neither and he seems to genuinely and unironically consider the other students his friends, not seeing any contradictions between this and his own actions.

Korekiyo is obsessed with his sister and appears to be in love with her, with many of his mannerisms like his hair and clothing inspired by her. Because of these traits, he is perceived as very effeminate by the other students. Korekiyo even claims that he and his sister were in an incestuous relationship, and because of this he only kills women, as he refuses to let other men close to her even if he deems them good people. In his Love Suite event, it's implied that he is willing to have physical relationships with other people "out of curiosity", but he states he would never love them as he appears to consider his sister his only love. He is sadomasochistic, enjoying the pain of others because he considers the raw emotions beautiful, and enjoying his own suffering because he believes it makes him closely connected to his deceased sister. However, he is also shown to be very romantic and strongly believes in the "power of love", which can make even the impossible possible. He is very fond of romance and love stories, especially ones centered around forbidden love.

Ultimate Anthropologist
Korekiyo's talent as the Super High School Level Anthropologist is a fabrication made by Team Danganronpa. Due to that fact, it is unclear whether Korekiyo traveled around the world as an anthropologist in the past.

Korekiyo is an anthropologist, to be precise, a cultural anthropologist that researches customs, legends, folklore, poetry, etc. His particular field of study is culture and ethnical customs whose historical origins have yet to be made clear, like or. He tries to inspect and elucidate those kinds of traditional customs from a rational perspective and states that cultural anthropology is like a science that tries to observe humanity itself.

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

Relationships

 * Family:

Older sister
According to Korekiyo, his sister, a sickly girl, knew him better than anyone else and she meant the world to him. As children, when she was confined to the hospital, he claims to have stayed with and read to her, sparking his initial interest in anthropology as a subject, and he consequently credits her for making him the person he is presently. Since she was so lonely and never made any friends due to her state, it's implied that Korekiyo spent lots of time with her.

Korekiyo's current uniform was handmade for him by his sister, who thought his old one was ill-suited to him. Her poor health made this a time-consuming effort, and so he treasures it, considering it truly one-of-a-kind. The mask he constantly wears might also be related to her sickly state.

He became obsessed with his sister and, according to him, their relationship eventually became incestuous. He claims he doesn't care what other people think and believed it was true love. After his sister died, he developed the idea of "sending admirable friends" to her in the afterlife. He began to target and murder girls that met his requirements as his sister's "friends", with his ultimate goal being 100 victims.

During his fieldwork, he was attacked and tortured by locals to near death, causing him to hallucinate seeing his sister. This led to him to develop a split personality or a based on her as a coping mechanism. In times of distress, he talked to himself in his sister's persona in an attempt to calm himself. The sister persona acted reassuring towards him, calling him "dear Korekiyo", but also appeared quite passive aggressive and Korekiyo obeyed any of her orders without questions. This might imply that she may have been manipulative and possibly abusive towards Korekiyo, as he was the only one who spent time with her and she could rely on when she was alive. It's also noteworthy that she apparently decided the kind of clothing he would wear, as she didn't want him to wear clothes that didn't suit him.

Even though he claims they were very close, his sister's spirit turns against him during his execution.


 * Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles:

Rantaro Amami
During Chapter 1, Rantaro had a good impression of Korekiyo.

During his first Free Time Event with Kaede, Rantaro tells her that Korekiyo has a strong personality, but if she takes the time to speak with him she'll understand him. In addition, he emphasizes that Korekiyo is a calm person who seems to be a clever type.

In the bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan, it's shown that Korekiyo and Rantaro are very good friends. They share a great interest in traveling and they both have a close relationship with their sister.

Tenko Chabashira
Tenko refers to Korekiyo as a weird creep and doesn't like it whenever he tries to speak in a creepy way because of her hatred towards males.

Even though she hates males so much, Korekiyo thought that Tenko is fit to become his older sister's "friend" in the afterlife. He was touched by her willingness to protect Himiko by joining Angie's Student Council and later offering to be part of the ritual in Himiko's place.

It's also possible that with her wariness towards men, Korekiyo believed she would keep other men away from his sister.

Kaede Akamatsu
During his free-time events, Korekiyo tells Kaede about his sister, to the point that she more or less jokingly asks him if he is into incest. He seems to get slightly angered by this and simply answers that incest is regrettable. Kaede apologizes and tells him she didn't mean it in a bad way, which quickly calms him down.

Korekiyo likes Kaede and her optimistic nature very much, and asks her to be his sister's friend. She agrees, and Korekiyo leaves to plan a good "method" for them to meet. He had stated to the others how he had planned to kill Kaede from the beginning but soon cancelled since Kaede was executed in Chapter 1.

Kaede thinks Korekiyo is a bit creepy, but assumes he is a nice person who cares about his sister. However, she is a bit unsure about it, as she doesn't know him well. She also assumes that Korekiyo is "so girly" because of his sister's influence.

Shuichi Saihara
Korekiyo considers Shuichi a good guy, but doesn't want him nor any other male to become friends with his sister. During his free time events, he teaches Shuichi about anthropology and wishes he would study with him.

However, Shuichi is generally creeped out by Korekiyo. During the Love Suite scene with Korekiyo, he is shown to be paranoid and uncomfortable immediately, wishing to leave quickly. This is much stronger negative reaction than he has with anyone else.

During his Love Suite fantasy event, Korekiyo has accepted to spend a night with Shuichi, though he makes it clear that there would never be love between them. In Korekiyo's fantasy, his partner requested to try BDSM with him, but Shuichi is unaware of this and he feels uncomfortable around Korekiyo. Korekiyo asks if he's afraid and gives him a permission to run. He claims it will be scary only for the first time and pulls out rope from under the bed, which immediately causes Shuichi to attempt escaping. However, Korekiyo catches his hand and pushes him on the bed, stating that he never said he wouldn't stop Shuichi if he ran. Korekiyo expresses interest in the beauty Shuichi will show, saying he will teach him thoroughly and make him feel the kind of pleasure he has never felt before. Shuichi can only gulp as he's unable to escape, and it's heavily implied that Korekiyo got what he wanted in the end. When Shuichi wakes up in his own bed the next morning, he wonders if it was just a dream, though he still feels quite sore.

Maki Harukawa
Maki is one of the few female students who does not meet Korekiyo's criteria as his sister's "admirable friend" and thus she is not a potential murder victim for him. Due to her being an assassin and generally very unsocial, Korekiyo thinks she doesn't believe in "the power of love".

Miu Iruma
Miu is one of the few female students who does not meet Korekiyo's criteria as his sister's "admirable friend" and thus she is not a potential murder victim for him.

Tsumugi Shirogane
In chapter 1, Korekiyo was the only one who notices that Tsumugi strangely spent a long time in the women's restroom. Because of this, others do not believe him and think of him as a gross creep. However, much later in the game, her alibi was soon revealed to be an extremely important clue to reveal Tsumugi's identity as the mastermind.

Kokichi Oma
Kokichi gets on Korekiyo's nerves with his behavior. When he attempts to touch Korekiyo's katana without his permission while they're inside his Research Lab, Korekiyo disturbingly threatens to tear out all of his nerves, which seems to frighten Kokichi.

Gonta Gokuhara
Even thought both of them don't interact much in the game, their relationship was revealed in the Anthology manga. Gonta saves Korekiyo's life after accidentally slipped and was about to fall, however, Gonta stepped in quick to save him. Both of them however, ended up being tangled with their hair. Because Korekiyo was because couldn't move much, the students thought this was one way for someone to not kill someone for her sister. Gonta staunchly defended Korekiyo after he explained he would not kill someone to see his sister. Both of them slept together in the Hotel Kumasutra to spend the nighttime there. Gonta apologized to Korekiyo for having to spend the day with him, and asked if Korekiyo liked bugs now. Korekiyo disagreed, but said he was interested in how bugs impacted people's lives, and Korekiyo also thanked Gonta for understanding he wouldn't kill someone to escape the school just to see his sister.

Quotes

 * -|DRV3 Demo=

Danganronpa V3=

List of Appearances

 * -|Games=
 * Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version)
 * Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
 * -|Manga=
 * New Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shin Gakki Comic Anthology
 * New Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shin Gakki Comic Anthology Volume 2

Trivia

 * Korekiyo's voice actor, Kenichi Suzumura, is married to Maki Harukawa's voice actress Maaya Sakamoto.
 * In a poll hosted by MyNavi, fans voted Korekiyo the 13th most popular Danganronpa V3 student.
 * Korekiyo's design seems to strongly draw inspiration from a character from Japanese musician 's music video for his song . This was most likely intentional as series creator, Kazutaka Kodaka, is a fan of hide's music.
 * Korekiyo shares his English voice actor, Todd Haberkorn, with Teruteru Hanamura.
 * Korekiyo has romantic feelings exclusively for his sister and claims they were in a relationship, but this is not confirmed and could be a delusion caused by his mental state. It's also possible that all of these memories were created by Team Danganronpa and his real relationship with his sister, if he even has one, could be very different.
 * Korekiyo is the second character in the series to have a split personality, the first being Toko Fukawa. Unlike her however, his split personality is more like a than a multiple personality disorder. He also only kills women, which is somewhat similar to Genocide Jack, who only kills men.
 * Korekiyo has shown some similarities to from , including being in love with a female family member and having a split personality based on said female family member.
 * He appears to be sadomasochistic and has a strong liking of BDSM, explaining why he likes straw rope. Even his mask resembles a bondage hood, or a Gimp mask.
 * Korekiyo is implied to have attraction to people of the same gender. In his Love Suite event, he states that all human beings are "extremely beautiful" and he is willing to have strictly physical relationships with other people regardless of gender. He claims he does this "out of curiosity" and the desire to see what kind of beauty his partners will show.
 * He is the only blackened who's called out by Monokuma for his crimes.
 * He is the first blackened whose ghost is shown in the execution.
 * His favorite myth is the , knowing her original status as a mother goddess who was later depicted as a hideous monster, and believing that this is because developed human society begun to think about overcoming nature instead of being dependent of nature goddesses. He also likes the story because it shows that people can't run away from death no matter how much they overcome the nature.
 * In the bonus mode, Ultimate Talent Development Plan, he mentions that fortune telling is an interest of his as an Anthropology.

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