Ultimate Imposter


 * This character is separate from the Byakuya of the first game. For the real Byakuya, see Byakuya Togami.

Ultimate Imposter (超高校級の「詐欺師」chō kōkō kyū no “sagishi”) is a character featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.

Their real name, appearance and gender is unknown, but they are capable of impersonating as others, such as Byakuya Togami. According to Monokuma, their heavy build does not affect their ability to fool others.

They acted as Byakuya during the second game and were murdered in Chapter 1 by Teruteru Hanamura after they tried to save Nagito Komaeda from being killed.

They also appear in a light novel titled Danganronpa: Togami as the main antagonist, a member of Ultimate Despair and thief of the identity of the real Byakuya Togami.

The Ultimate Imposter returns in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy's Despair Volume with the other Remnants of Despair, impersonating as Ryota Mitarai.

Appearance
Ultimate Imposter's real appearance is mostly unknown, but they are known to be very obese, a trait which doesn't affect their talent according to Monokuma.

Their gender is unknown, but they are able to give off a largely male impression while disguised as Byakuya and even mimic his voice and poses perfectly. Their real voice, heard in chapter 6, is notably different and more gender-neutral.

The Imposter refuses to go swimming in front of others, which implies that it would reveal their true identity/sex.

"Byakuya Togami"
The Byakuya imposter appears very similar to the real Byakuya, having platinum blond hair and bright blue eyes accompanied by rectangular, white-framed glasses. Their shirt appears to be the same one as the first game, as well. However, in contrast to the real Byakuya, "Byakuya" is very obese and wears a white dinner jacket, white slacks, and white dress shoes.

"Ryota Mitarai"
The Ryota imposter has short, light brown hair, hazel eyes and rosy cheeks. They wear Hope's Peak Academy uniform with a green tie. They have the imposter's heavy build.

Personality
Ultimate Imposter's true personality is unclear, because they spend most of their time mimicking someone else's behavior.

However, during chapter 6, they speak briefly without disguise and it's implied that their real nature is polite and slightly shy.

The Imposter appears to have a kind and caring personality, as they're shown to be smiling in a friendly manner and being protective and supportive of others even while acting as cold and arrogant Byakuya Togami. As part of their Byakuya impersonation, they often bring up their status as an heir and the power of the Togami family to assert their authority and dominance over the rest and addresses everybody else somewhat rudely. After forcibly making themself the leader of their group, they repeatedly promise that as long as they are around, they will not let anyone die on the island. Though occasionally bad-tempered similar to real Byakuya, they are notably more mellow, which seems to be their real personality trait.

They enjoy their heavy build, which appears to be their aim, as they've stated that they've intentionally sculpted their physique to be that way. While acting as Byakuya, they appear condescending towards "skinny people", though it might just be acting and part of their disguise.

They have a strong liking for food, especially fast food. While they appear attentive, they are rather easily distracted by food. They are shown to be surprisingly passionate on the topics related to food and eating, such as body fat percentages, the amount of energy coming from specific foods, and fast food restaurants. They also explain that since virtually all fast food restaurants serve the same kind of food, it gives them a sense of security to keep being around something familiar.

Due to their nature as an imposter, they have lower sense of self-esteem. Because of it, they feel lonely and as if they do not truly exist. They simply want to exist and live a normal life, but they believe they cannot exist unless they assume someone else's appearance and they believe they have to "disappear" if they're found out. They describe their life as a living hell, as they're in constant need of affirmation and they have to lie to other people.

At one point, they ask if Hajime Hinata likes being around them, and seemed very happy when Hajime answers that they are friends. After spending time with Hajime, they are convinced that they really do exist, and they decide that they don't want to lie anymore and wish to live as their true self.

History
[Warning: Several spoilers follow this section!]

Prior to the Tragedy
Ultimate Imposter is a person who was born with nothing - no name, family, birth certificate nor home; or more simply, no identity at all. They were convinced that they were nothing; their existence completely invisible and their life without any meaning. All they wanted was to live a normal life.

Because of this, they chose to live on stealing another person's identity, henceforth their true Ultimate title. They hated this way of living, which made them unhappy and forced them to lie to other people, but they felt it was something they had to do in order to exist. It appears they found comfort in fast food which was always similar regardless of location. They became very enthusiastic about food and decided to gain a heavier build.

During their school life at Hope's Peak Academy, they acted as Byakuya Togami because he had the most absolute existence they had ever seen, but at some point they revealed their true identity to their classmates. At some point they also pretended to be Ryota Mitarai for unknown reasons.

During their second year at Hope's Peak Academy, the Imposter met Junko Enoshima and was corrupted into Ultimate Despair by her.

During the Tragedy
The members of Ultimate Despair did all kinds of horrible things during the Tragedy, causing despair all over the world.

After the death of Junko, the remnants of the Ultimate Despair attached some of her body parts into their own bodies in order to make her survive within them and feel closer to her. They then agreed to an insane plan to have AI Junko take over their bodies, so they could resurrect their leader.

Danganronpa: Togami
The Ultimate Imposter is the primary antagonist in Danganronpa: Togami. He impersonate Byakuya's voice to wide-spread the World Domination Proclamation.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
The remnants of Despair are later found by Future Foundation. Makoto Naegi plans to undo Junko's influence by putting them into the Neo World Program, but the program is taken over by AI Junko, right according to the Ultimate Despair's plan.

Prologue - Welcome to Dangan Island! Panic at the Heart-Throbbing School Trip!?
While in the Neo World Program, the Ultimate Imposter acts as Byakuya Togami, as they have lost their school memories.

In the very beginning, Byakuya was not very sociable with the others, making their introduction short and simple. They also refused to join in on the short-lived beach party.

After Monokuma took over the island and ordered the Island Life of Mutual Killing, Byakuya immediately began to take action, making themself the leader of the group and promising the safety of all the students.

Chapter 1 - Destination Despair
The next day, after Monokuma revealed the truth about everybody's memories having been erased as well as the presence of a traitor in their group, Byakuya proposes the idea to hold a party that very night without explaining their reason.

At a suggestion, they gain a permission from Monomi to use the Old Lodge next to the Lobby as the location for the party, as the area has no monitors for Monokuma to spy on them from. As the Old Lodge was old, when it came to choosing who should clean the place, Nagito offered a lottery that he had prepared beforehand. Nagito won the lottery by his luck, and accepted the duty to clean the lodge while Teruteru offered to cook for the party. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu refused to attend the party, and though the other students questioned it, Byakuya allowed them to go.

Throughout the party, Byakuya showed strange levels of precaution that many of the students questioned. They went as far as to hold a body check at the entrance of the party, patting down every student whether female or male and confiscating any materials that they considered dangerous in a duralumin case (such as taking a wrench away from Kazuichi Soda).

When they saw the food set out in the main room of the Old Lodge, they seemed to be alarmed before suddenly digging in to the churrasco Teruteru prepared for the party, to the surprise of the other members and the complaint of Akane Owari.

Their reason was revealed to be that the churrasco was pierced by large skewers which they deemed extremely dangerous. They subsequently went to the kitchen to confiscate any sharp objects from knives to skewers based on the list hung up in there, though they noted that one of the items on the list semed to be missing.



When the party was about to start, they decided to keep the duralumin case full of confiscated potential weapons in the Surveillance Room/Office. Peko Pekoyama volunteered to guard the duralumin case and keep watch over the party there, as the place had several security monitors.

Chiaki Nanami and Monomi offered to keep watch outside as to keep Monokuma from finding them and crashing the party. Other than the duralumin case kept in the Office, Byakuya kept a second one beside them at the party, the contents of which were unknown at the time.

Midway through the party around 11:30 pm, a sudden blackout, combined with the blocked windows of the lodge, caused the interior of the building to go completely dark. It was revealed that Byakuya had kept several self-defense and precautionary items in the second duralumin case, using night vision goggles to see what was going on.

In the darkness, they saw Nagito acting suspiciously, trying to retrieve something from under a table, and reacted immediately by diving under the table and pushing him out of the way. They found that a knife was stationed under the table, held in place by glow-in-the-dark tape and its handle covered in the same material.

Teruteru, who knew of Nagito's suspicious activity as well, waited in preparation under the floorboards for the knife to move. He blindly stabbed at whoever was under the table with the missing skewer from earlier and ended up killing Byakuya.

Chapter 5 - Smile at Hope in the Name of Despair
In Chapter 5, much later in the game, Hajime went into Nagito's room for investigation purposes for the upcoming Fifth Trial. In there, he found the files that Nagito had received from Monokuma as a prize for clearing the Final Dead Room in Chapter 4, and discovered that the Byakuya they thought they had known was actually an imposter. 'Byakuya's profile listed '???' for their name, age, birthdate, and even gender, and their Ultimate talent as the 'Ultimate Imposter'.

Chapter 6 - This is the End Goodbye Academy of Despair
In the 'Game Reset' scene of Chapter 6, "Byakuya" makes a re-appearance, but their way of talking and their voice is no longer Byakuya Togami; instead, their voice has changed into a gender-neutral one, and they wonder if they should re-introduce themselves. Whether this is the Ultimate Imposter's true face or simply an illusion created by Hajime is unknown.

Hajime Hinata
Ultimate Imposter never held any close relationships with anyone on the Island in their short time there. However, upon getting their Free-Time Events, they become rather close to Hajime. They engage in various discussions, one being about fast food, with him, and later tells him a strange story about a person who was absolutely nothing and so, lived on as another person to be something which later turned out to be about themselves.

When Hajime tells them that he considers them a friend, they greatly soften, even changing the way they address Hajime (normally, Byakuya addresses everyone as omae which is a rude and somewhat egotistical method of saying 'you'; however, after this event, they briefly call Hajime kimi, which is a friendlier, same-level method of saying 'you' before going back to omae at Hajime's request). Ultimate Imposter also says that one day, they will reveal their true story to Hajime, though they were murdered before they could.

During Island Mode, Ultimate Imposter explains their true identity to Hajime. After becoming friends with Hajime, they are convinced that they really do exist, and they decide that they don't want to lie anymore and wish to live as their true self. In Hajime's official relationship chart, the Ultimate Imposter considers Hajime a worthy partner.

Ibuki Mioda
Ibuki admires Ultimate Imposter while they are impersonating as Byakuya Togami, thinking that they're very cool and reliable and she admires their leadership skills. They are sometimes a bit annoyed with her.

During chapter 2, after their death, she states that she misses "Byakuya" a lot. In addition, during chapter 5 when she and the other deceased characters show up, she greets them by oinking and explaining that she said “You're so cool” in pig talk.

While not apparent in the game, many manga portray Ibuki with a some sort of crush on the imposter and she's often shown to be attracted to their heavy build. Though, it should be noted that the manga are non-canon.

Presents
Obtained from the MonoMono Machine.
 * Chocolate Chip Jerky
 * Sweet Bun Bag
 * Cocoshimi
 * Black Rabbit Picture Book

Choices
During free time conversations, the player will occasionally be given a choice on how to respond to something that is said. These are the 'right' choices.
 * Pork
 * Fast food
 * I like you

Skills
These will aid you, usually during Class Trials.
 * Sting – When you find Monocoins, you’ll earn more than usual.

Quotes

 * “My name is Byakuya Togami...”
 * “A person like me has a responsibility to watch over you weaklings.”
 * “As long as Byakuya Togami is in charge, you will all know peace.”
 * “You should feel lucky that someone as talented as me is here.”
 * “Just believe in me. If you do, everything will turn out fine.”
 * “Just make sure you don't get in my way. A commoner should know their place and stay put.”
 * “However...if there is anything troubling you, I don't mind if you rely on me.”
 * “Should I do my introduction over from the beginning, do you think?”
 * “All right, then... let's eat!”
 * “All right. First, a question for you all, listen up. We were ordered to go into a life of 'mutual killing' by that Monokuma thing... so what do you think is necessary for us to survive in this extraordinary situation?”
 * “I am the 'Ultimate Affluent Progeny' of the Togami family. I am a person fated to stand far above the rest of people like you, you know?”
 * “The chicken in my hands...is far tastier than the beef inside the freezer...” (saying a German proverb)
 * “Even if it's just a commoner's assistance, it's better than having nobody at all...”
 * “Don't worry about it. As long as I am leader, I won't allow a single victim to come out of this mess.”
 * “H... Hamhands? Ha... to imagine that the day would come when I would be called something like that by another...” (In response to Hiyoko Saionji after she nicknames him Mr. Hamhands)
 * “I’ll tell you an interesting story. The story of a man. He did not have anything. Not a name, nor a family with history, or any family at all… He had absolutely nothing… He was nothing…”
 * “Thank you. I... always wanted someone to say that to me.” (to Hajime Hinata)
 * “When… when all of this is over… I want to tell you my story, Hajime. I won't trick anyone anymore… especially not myself. I want to live… as the person I am right now. I never told my story to anyone, but… I want you to hear it one day.”
 * “There were people I couldn't trust... And people who couldn't trust me. My life was like a nightmare... It is only natural to my personality would be affected. Nevertheless, i believe my nature is going to come in handy in our current situation. To survive in a situation like this... one must suspect everyone.” (to Hajime after they finish inspecting the kitchen).
 * “Even if you don't have your memories, you're still you, right? You are able to live your own life. That is already enough. All you have to do is be yourself. As you stand before me, I...will believe in your potential.” (to Hajime)
 * “Throw away your past self... It's meaningless.”
 * “As a member of the Togami family, I'm in a position to guide weaklings.”
 * “Your shallow beliefs are typical of an ignorant commoner.”
 * “You always find the same things waiting for you wherever you go. You'll never know what a relief that truly is...”
 * “For someone like you has lived a fortunate life... You'll never understand.” (to Hajime)
 * “Does the Ultimate Cook's skill surpass that of the Togami Corporation's chef...?” (talking about Teruteru Hanamura)
 * “I want to live as myself, the person standing before you right now.” (to Hajime)
 * “~|~|d&#wGuidewyou-p^l??u?`+`Fate_jofttheTogamiClan2389” (Byakuya's cottage post-fifth trial)
 * “Believe that hope lies beyond this point! That is your leader's order!”

Trivia

 * Their report card states that:
 * They like coffee and dislikes common people,
 * Their blood type is B,
 * Their chest is 50 in. (This point is the only accurate report card's information)
 * In "Byakuya"'s free-time event, the Ultimate Imposter implies that the reason they chose to put on so much weight was in order to ensure survival should they ever have to withstand extreme cold. This implication hints at a draft for the real Byakuya's execution described in the first game's official fanbook, where he was to freeze to death.
 * Despite being an Ultimate Imposter, many claims they have concerning real Byakuya Togami's life are incorrect. For example, he claims to have 108 half-siblings instead of 14.
 * It later revealed in the Danganronpa: Togami that this actually correct information, and that only 15 Togami children participated in the game
 * Both Byakuyas share their Japanese voice actor, Akira Ishida, and English voice actor, Jason Wishnov, with the real Byakuya.
 * In Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy, the voice actor portraying both Ryotas, Kanata Hongō, also portrayed Makoto Naegi in Danganronpa The Stage ~Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei.
 * "Byakuya" states he doesn't like the sea because it's too salty, and therefore doesn't join the others in swimming. It's implied that in truth they're afraid to show their body in front of others, because it might reveal their true identity/sex.
 * Ultimate Imposter is referred to as “Twogami” or “Fatogami” by some fans to differ them from the true Byakuya.