Hifumi Yamada

"Listen to me! Outward appearances are meaningless! What you see before your eyes is nothing but the skin that wraps my true self! My meaning and worth can be judged only by the contents of my work!"

- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Hifumi Yamada (山田 一二三 Yamada Hifumi), is a student in Hope's Peak Academy's Class 78th, and a participant of the Killing School Life featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. His title is Ultimate Fanfic Creator (超高校級の「同人作家」chō kōkō kyū no “dōjin sakka” lit. Super High School Level Dōjin Author).

Early life
Presumably as a young child, Hifumi described himself as a "mild-mannered boy who liked to draw" and "without a single friend". He apparently did not believe when people, mostly women, were genuinely kind to him. So much so he would yell at them to leave whenever they attempted to talk to him and enjoyed doing so.

At an unknown part in his early life Hifumi watched an episode of the anime Demon Angel☆Pretty Pudgy Princess starring Princess Piggles. He didn't care at the time, saying it was just another "magical girl anime", but later he claimed Piggles came to him in a dream and that he fell in love with her when on a date. He then began to purchase all the Piggles merchandise he could find and to draw nothing but her since he couldn't show his love any other way. This lead to Hifumi creating a personal website displaying his artwork of Piggles, later convincing his middle school (through bribery of his profits from his sales) to let him create a fanfic club. He was later allowed to sell his fanfic work at a school festival (presumably high school), which many of the other students thought would ruin it or "taint it". Hifumi stated proudly he was able to prove them wrong, and boasted to have sold over ten thousand copies of one of his fan comics during it.

Hifumi mentioned he enjoyed frequenting conventions, and even having a booth to sell art in at them, as well at participating in "fanfic circles" with other authors and participating in "free-for-alls" that are specifically centered around Princess Piggles. He also shared his artistic interests with his older sister, Fujiko Yamada.

He attended Marufuji High School, and was later scouted to attend Hope's Peak Academy under the title Ultimate Fanfic Creator. Based on photos seen by Makoto Naegi, he seemed to of had a more teasing and friendly in nature relationship with Celestia Ludenberg and his other classmates.

The Tragedy

 * Main article: Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc #11

During The Tragedy, Jin Kirigiri, the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, planned to seal the school building and let the students live forever inside the Academy in order to protect them from the destruction. The students of Class 78th agreed to his plan, and they sealed the building together. Hifumi helped Sakura Ogami in sheltering the windows and was stunned that she only used her bare hands to lock the windows. The students lived peacefully inside the school building for a year without knowing that the Ultimate Despair members were already in their midst.

Killing School Life
Hifumi was among those who were chosen to attend Hope's Peak Academy as part of Class 78th. Class 78th ended up being trapped inside the school, not knowing at the time that they had already been memory-wiped of their two years of school life together. Hifumi was around 19 years old, though he believed he was only 17 because of the memory loss.

When Makoto arrived to entrance area where the other students are, Hifumi declared there are 15 students in total, and it was strange the way they all had fallen asleep. When Makoto introduced himself, Hifumi asked Makoto how much he knows about "the world of 2D art". Upon Makoto's confusion, Hifumi then boasted about his talent, and his title as the Ultimate Fanfic Creator, and how others react to his work. He told Makoto about how he has sold over ten thousand of his fan comic works at a school festival, and followed up with a suggestive comment, prompting Makoto to end the conversation and leave.

Later, during the first investigation, Hifumi is revealed to be the weekly volunteer janitor (heavily implied he volunteered because he wanted to go through girls' trash) and is the only one with the key to the trash room. He is asked by Makoto to open the shutters so he could investigate the currently "on" incinerator. They both discovered a bloody, burnt shirt piece and the shattered remains of a crystal ball.

During the Daily Life before the second murder, Hifumi had an incident with Celestia Ludenberg. She had ordered him to prepare her favorite kind of tea, royal milk tea, and he did so without question. After she calmly drinks it, she in a sudden rage smashed the cup and yells in anger at him for failing to prepare it to her liking, which caused Hifumi to cower in fear. Despite the cruel nature of event, Hifumi still ended up becoming a "servant" of hers, which later proved a catalyst to his fate.

Alter Ego's Discovery
Following second trial and the concluding execution, the remaining students, including Hifumi, discovered the artificial intelligence created and left behind by Chihiro Fujisaki- Alter Ego.

He quickly developed intense romantic feelings for Alter Ego, the reason being Hifumi describing that Alter Ego is the first "girl" who he as felt comfortable around because "she" listens to him; despite the fact that was debunked by Kyoko Kirigiri stating the artificial intelligence just wanted nothing else but information to grow from him.

This one-sided relationship quickly led to a rivalry between himself and Kiyotaka Ishimaru over Alter Ego's attention, with the latter wanting the artificial intelligence as they are able to impersonate his "bro", Mondo Owada.

Becoming an Accomplice
During the Killing School Life, Hifumi developed a subservient relationship with Celestia, calling her "Mistress" and following her every whim despite her treating him with great disdain. Celestia saw an opportunity to use this relationship to her advantage, telling Hifumi on the dead of night that Kiyotaka had sexually assaulted her, had stolen Alter Ego, and that he was planning to kill Hifumi. In the end, he wholly believed her lie, thus agreeing to become her accomplice.

Celestia outlined her plan to Hifumi: both of them need to murder separate people, while having the other help cover up the killing. She ordered Hifumi to create a "disguise", something to cover up a "suspicious person" for a fake kidnapping and to frame someone, specifically Yasuhiro Hagakure. This resulted in Hifumi creating the Robo Justice suit made out of cardboard and the four "Justice Hammers" out of painted mallets from the Art Room.

Their plot is put into motion when Hifumi used chloroform on Yasuhiro in order to stuff him in the Robo Justice suit, and Celestia and Hifumi take a photograph of Robo Justice kidnapping Hifumi. Hifumi then headed to the Art Room to murder Kiyotaka with a blow to the head with Justice Hammer 4 after Kiyotaka is lured there from a fake message written by Celestia.

Hifumi and Celestia then both faked being attacked by Robo Justice with Justice Hammer 1 (in the Rec Room) and Justice Hammer 2 (in the Library). Shortly after, Hifumi faked another attack Justice Hammer 3 in the Nurse's Office, which resulted in his "death". He was able to fake his death by covering himself in transfusion blood from the Nurse's office and laying on the floor.

A previously planned scream from Celestia signaled Hifumi to begin sneaking out of the Nurse's Office to move Kiyotaka's body to the Art Room with a dolly. However, Hifumi had cleaned the blood from his glasses with a Princess Piggles cleaning cloth, proving he was never really dead, which became a piece of key evidence later in the trial.

Hifumi's Fate
After moving Kiyotaka's body for Celestia and rendezvousing with her in the Art Room, Hifumi curiously asked who Celestia is going to kill, moments before she bludgeons him in the head with Justice Hammer 4. She left him, presuming he had been killed, to join the others. Hifumi did not die immediately and he lived long enough to be discovered by his classmates. The blow to the head undid the effect of the memory-wipe, and so in his final moments he rambled about their previous lives together and murmured the name "Yasuhiro" before dying in Aoi Asahina's arms.

Makoto's Hallucination

 * Main Article: Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc #11.

Hifumi is seen alongside his deceased classmates in Makoto's hallucination. He is first standing next to Kyoko Kirigiri, which then morphs into him on the ground, presumably bleeding, reflecting how he, along with the other deceased members of the 78th Class, had died.

Name
"Hifumi" (一二三) are numeral kanji which, when put into sequence as they are above, literally mean "one, two, three". The kanji for "Yamada" (山田) translates into "mountain rice paddy".

Alternate Fates
In the Danganronpa Visual Fanbook, there is a description of executions for all of the characters who did not have one. Hifumi's execution is called '''Watch Out, Princess Buuko!! Great Monster Invasion''' (Buuko being the Japanese name for Princess Piggles) and described as the following:
 * "A gigantic Princess Buuko comes flying to a place where an enormous Monokuma is rioting at. Both start fighting. Yamada, who is stuck between them is being hit from both sides. At the end, he dies when being hit by 'Certain Kill' beams from both simultaneously."


 * However unlike the other unused executions, Hifumi's is seen "completely" in the manga adaption of the Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc "Trial Version", where he is correctly voted guilty for murdering Yasuhiro Hagakure and executed.

The Danganronpa 3 box set included a feature detailing an alternate ending of Danganronpa called Danganronpa Another End which ultimately never made it out of the development phase. In this ending, all of the students escape, at the cost of giving up their talent forever. In Hifumi's ending, he claims he will become a thief, and with "free use" of his magic he will use it to steal gems.

Hifumi also escapes Hope's Peak alive before the Killing Game begins, with the rest of his classmates, in the novel Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF.

Appearance
Hifumi is an overweight young man with black hair and a short pointed ahoge. He wears a pair of black thick-rimmed glasses. He is dressed in a white button-down shirt, an orange tie which has a patterned double-headed blue arrow upon it with the smaller arrowhead pointing upwards and the larger arrowhead pointing downwards to the tip of the tie, a pair of dark gray trousers, and white trainers. Over his shirt is a light grey, unbuttoned cardigan and on his back is an orange backpack.

He wears not-for-sale underwear based on Robo Justice.

Personality
Hifumi has a verbose manner of speaking, often going on long-winded tangents about his interests such as anime or fanfiction. He also has a tendency to casually insert creepy or perverted comments in the middle of conversations.

Hifumi is extremely passionate about anime and fanfiction, and has little tolerance for anyone he feels has a poor or neutral opinion about them. Their importance of them is so deep, Hifumi has said it's his dream to create a story so powerful it'll inspire others to create their own as well.

He refers to others in a very formal manner, calling them "Ms." or "Mr." Last Name, for example he calls Makoto "Mr. Naegi". In the original Japanese game, he uses the honorific suffix -dono as well as their full name, for example "Naegi Makoto-dono". This proves to be a key piece of evidence later during the trial for his murder as he mutters "Yasuhiro", Celestia's real last name as opposed to it being Yasuhiro Hagakure's first name.

Although having a somewhat misanthropic look on society, Hifumi will not stand for indecent crimes against those he holds in deep regard, and even went so far as to kill Kiyotaka to avenge the harm he believed he had done to Celestia.

Hifumi seems to have an addiction to, and can get to the point of hallucinations if he goes too long without having it, and becoming nearly violent.

Ultimate Fanfic Creator
Hifumi has cited that the personal website he made for his Princess Piggles art work in middle school is what launched him into fanfiction. After that he drew nothing but Piggles art in a style he self-describes as a "total meta sci-fi approach", eventually accumulating to him selling over ten thousand copies of one of his fan comics at a festival held by his school. Something he also describes as being "a legend".

In School Mode he says he does all of the work for his fanfiction, from concept to the ink of printing of it. He also talks about the events he does with other fanfic creators, such as "fanfic circles" and "free-for-alls", implying he's popular enough to be invited to those.

Also in School Mode, specifically his Trigger Happy Heart event, he says his talent was given to him "by the gods", and thinks very highly of his skills and talent because of it.

In other languages
Hifumi's talent as it appears in official translations of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

Costume Creations
Hifumi has shown he has immense costume creation skills, being able to create, from cardboard, a functional and very detailed wearable costume of Robo Justice that was able to fit Yasuhiro Hagakure overnight.

Differences Between Talents
In Japanese, Hifumi's talent is Super High School Level Dōjin Author (超高校級の「同人作家」). Dōjin (同人) is closest to the English word "fandom", meaning a group of people sharing a common hobby or interest. In Japan, dōjin typically refers to self-published fan-works, usually derivative of a popular franchise such as an anime or video game. Dōjin creators may publish works such as fan-made manga, fan games, music, artworks or figurines, and sell them either online or at specialty conventions such as. Hifumi is a dōjinshi, a creator of dōjin manga, who participates in events with different dōjin circles (サークル) - groups of other dōjinshi who work together on a project.

In English, Hifumi's talent is Ultimate Fanfic Creator, with "fanfic" being short for "fan fiction" which are stories written by fans derived from various medias such as movies or TV shows. It should be noted that dōjin typically carries more prestige than fanfic, as fanfic is very underground, whereas dōjin is celebrated at large-scale fan events like Comiket - a bi-annual, dōjin-exclusive market convention which is the largest comic convention in the world - where attendance numbers are quadruple that of even the largest western fan conventions such as San Diego Comic Con. Fanfiction producers also rarely profit from their work due to fears of litigation towards creators, versus dōjinshi who are able to sell their works and can gain fans and fame within the fan community much more easily.

Relationships

 * Family:

Fujiko Yamada
Not much is known about Hifumi's relationship with his older sister, however she became his "Captive" in the Monokuma's first motive, signifying she is the closest person to him. They both share a passion for writing and drawing, and even are both self-published creators with Hifumi having his Princess Piggles work and Fujiko with her 4-panel manga series Tara☆Spa! They both also seem to share the same perverted nature evident as Fujiko enjoys drawing naked boy demons.


 * Class 78th:

Celestia Ludenberg
Hifumi regards Celestia highly, even referring to her as "Mistress", and following every one of her orders. Despite the fact the first major seen interaction between the two resulted in Celestia smashing a cup of tea in anger and berating Hifumi harshly for preparing it incorrectly.

He seems to be extremely protective over Celestia (or just has a strong sense of justice) as shown after she lies to him about being assaulted by Kiyotaka Ishimaru, he is willing to kill Kiyotaka for such a thing.

In many pieces of official art, Celestia is shown to be sitting on top of Hifumi, literally using him as a chair, solidifying their relationship as him simply being used.

Shortly after Hifumi and Celestia's deaths, Makoto along with the remaining students discover a picture of Hifumi, Celestia, and Sayaka Maizono in Hope's Peak Academy before the Killing School Life and The Tragedy began. In the picture Celestia is angrily holding onto Hifumi for stealing her fake eyelashes as Sayaka laughs, however it doesn't seem to be any sort of threatening anger, and Hifumi seems more amused than afraid. This could indicate their previous relationship was a more friendly one, and not the cruel bullying one they have in the Killing School Life.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru
Kiyotaka and Hifumi had no notable relationship until the discovery of Alter Ego. Hifumi had developed romantic feelings for Alter Ego, and Kiyotaka learned that Alter Ego could impersonate "his bro" Mondo, the pair suddenly became bitter rivals for the AI's attention.

Kiyotaka, or as he was calling himself at the time Kiyondo Ishida, clashed with numerous times with Hifumi and the others, to the point Kyoko had to put in safety measures in order to prevent either of them from taking or talking to Alter Ego.

Because of the manipulation from Celestia Ludenberg, Hifumi was willing to believe Celestia's lie that Kiyotaka had sexually assaulted her, that Kiyotaka was the one who stole Alter Ego for himself, and even going as far as Kiyotaka plotting to kill Hifumi. This later resulted in Kiyotaka's murder at Hifumi's hands for the sake of revenge, indicating it was very likely Hifumi never saw Kiyotaka in a positive light.

Makoto Naegi
During their introductions, Makoto is made very uncomfortable by Hifumi's innuendos, despite that however, Hifumi seems to view Makoto in a friendly way, even finding him worthy enough to ramble about his interests such as Princess Piggles or his fanfiction creations.

Their relationship is deepened in Hifumi's Free Time Events and in School Mode, going as far as to call Makoto his "true friend" and even getting him to agree to join him as his apprentice/historian at his studio after they escape the school.


 * Love Interests:

Princess Piggles
Hifumi has a borderline obsessive love for Princess Piggles, even though she is a fictional anime character. He had a dream of going on a date with her, and that is how he fell in love with. After that he wanted to draw her, which ended up being his launch into fanfic creation, and to buy all the Piggles merchandise he could fine, which includes a costume and toy camera he apparently paid a lot for.

He also heavily implies he most likely creates inappropriate work with her in it as an expression of his love and affection.

Alter Ego
Hifumi develops romantic feelings for Alter Ego soon after their discovery post-Mondo's execution. He explains that he considers Alter Ego the first "girl", other than his mother, who he felt comfortable talking with. He claims "she" listens to whatever he has to say, without giving any sort of judgement or disgust, and sneaks in to talk to "her" even after he and his classmates are banned from doing so by Kyoko Kirigiri. Most of what he talks about to "her" is heavily implied to be perverted in nature.

His feelings for Alter Ego are so intense he is willing to kill for "her" after being manipulated by Celestia.

Free Time

 * Main article, including full dialogue: Free Time Events/Hifumi Yamada

During Free Time, Makoto can choose to talk to Hifumi in order to learn more about him. If he gives Hifumi a present that he likes, and chooses the correct response during their conversation, their friendship level will increase and Hifumi will disclose something about himself. Each successful Free Time conversation adds a page to Hifumi's Report Card in the e-Handbook menu, and grants either a skill that will give Makoto an advantage during class trial battles, or an increase in Skill Points.

Skills
Becoming friends with students grants Makoto special skills which can aid him during Class Trials. Becoming close with Hifumi grants the following skills:

Dorm Room
Makoto is able to see inside Hifumi's dorm room during Free Time events. The most prominent items in Hifumi's room are his large collection of Princess Piggles merchandise, which includes bedding, standees, and even a costume. There are several monster themed action figures and anime statues. On his table is a sketchbook, denoting his Ultimate talent and potato chips. He also seems to have several manga books stacked against his wall, possibly his own work, along with rolled up posters.

List of Appearances
Games=
 * DISTRUST (Scrapped)
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
 * Danganronpa: Unlimited Battle
 * -|Anime=
 * Danganronpa: The Animation
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc
 * -|Light Novels=
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF
 * Danganronpa 1 ・2 Beautiful Days
 * Danganronpa: Togami (Volume 2)
 * -|Manga=
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc "Trial Version" - Manga Adaption
 * Danganronpa: The Manga
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc 4koma KINGS The Manga
 * Danganronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair - The Animation (Manga)
 * Small Danganronpa 1・2 Light
 * -|Stage Plays=
 * Danganronpa The Stage ~Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei
 * Danganronpa The Stage 2016

Trivia

 * Hifumi's Japanese voice actor, Kappei Yamaguchi, also voices Jin Kirigiri in the Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.
 * Hifumi's English voice actor, Lucien Dodge, also provides the voice for K1-B0.
 * In School Mode, he admits that he enjoys singing karaoke of anime themes with his online friends whenever they meet.

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