Monomi

Usami (ウサミ) is a rabbit who features as the mascot character of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, appearing in the game as the lead teacher of the school trip. After being assaulted by Monokuma, Usami's appearance is forcibly changed to greater resemble him, with Monokuma renaming her Monomi (モノミ) as a result.

Creation
Usami was created by the Ultimate Programmer Chihiro Fujisaki, a specialist in A.I. programming, to take the role as the Observer in the Neo World Program, a psychotherapeutic virtual reality rehabilitation program able to help treat individuals who have experienced trauma. The program would remove harmful memories, then create a peaceful and safe simulation in which to help the individual create new, less harmful memories. As the Observer, Monomi would be able to advise and influence individuals who entered the program. Based on the individual's experiences, she would take on a role which would feel familiar to them, alongside a second Observer who would resemble someone they knew in the outside world.

Against the commands of the Future Foundation, Makoto Naegi planned to try and use the Neo World Program to help rehabilitate the Remnants of Despair, the 15 survivors of The Tragedy from Hope's Peak Academy's Class 77-B. However, because the Neo World Program was still in its experimental stage, it was left vulnerable to exploitation.

Entering the Neo World Program
The survivors of Class 77-B entered the Neo World Program as avatars, with their memories of their time as classmates and friends at Hope's Peak Academy removed. In this particular simulation, because their version of the Neo World Program was designed to heal their traumatic school life, Usami took on the role as the lead teacher of a school trip. A second Observer, in this case, an avatar of Chiaki Nanami, was also created, based on one of the students' classmates who had been killed. However, just as Usami had begun helping the students familiarize themselves the island, a virus implanted by Izuru Kamukura activated, corrupting Jabberwock Island and allowing an avatar of Monokuma to enter the simulation.

Usami tried to defend her students, but Monokuma overpowered her and used the virus to strip away Usami's "magical" abilities, changed her appearance to resemble his own, and renamed her Monomi. He then demonstrated his power by "executing" her using his Monobeasts, a team of large animal-shaped mechs with oversized weapons, although Monomi was able to respawn due to having spare copies.

Monomi
Monokuma quickly planted seeds of doubt in the students' minds by explaining that there was a traitor among them who was responsible for removing their school memories, which immediately put suspicion on Monomi due to her similar appearance to Monokuma and his insistence that she was his little sister. As a consequence, the students began to distrust her, and she was not invited to the party thrown by Byakuya Togami, and instead helped Chiaki guard the entrance to keep Monokuma out.

After the killing game began, Monomi began to panic, because the simulation was designed to be peaceful and there was no procedure for dealing with that kind of scenario other than shutting the simulation down. Monokuma forced her to attend Class Trials despite her revulsion, tying her up with rope and suspending her from the ceiling. After each trial, Monomi battled one of the Monobeasts guarding the island's bridges in order to make more of the corrupted simulation accessible.

Despite several murders having already occurred, Monomi continuously tried to encourage the students to co-operate rather than distrust one-another. After the rest of the students turned on Nagito Komaeda after his attempted murder of Byakuya, Monomi untied him in the hope that the students would work together. She later became locked in the Final Dead Room with Nagito and tried to help him solve the puzzles to escape. However, when Nagito became increasingly more determined to flush out the traitor among them, he broke into Monomi's House and stole her treasure box. Inside the box was a diary of the events on the island, written and illustrated by Chiaki.

Fate
Nagito set a trap, knowing that due to his talent as the Ultimate Lucky Student, it was guaranteed that the traitor would unknowingly throw a poisoned fire extinguisher canister which ultimately killed him. When the students realized this at the Class Trial, Chiaki stepped forward and revealed that she was the so-called traitor - working as a member of the Future Foundation (the creators of the Neo World Program) who Monokuma had made the students believe was a sinister organization responsible for them being trapped in the killing game. Both Monomi and Chiaki were unable to explain the situation fully or reveal themselves as the Observers due to their programming preventing it. Monomi tried to interfere with the Class Trial to protect Chiaki, even lying that she had no relation to Chiaki whatsoever, but the diary which had been stolen from Monomi's House proved that she was lying. Chiaki implored the other students to vote her as the person guilty of Nagito's death in order to protect them, and they did so, causing Chiaki to be sentenced to be executed.

As a final act in defense of the students, Monomi decided to sacrifice herself, grabbing hold of Monokuma and self-destructing. Because they both had spares, they both respawned, so repeated this self-destruction sequence several times. Monokuma stopped her by revealing that he had 1060 spares which he had been mass producing in Jabberwock Island's factory and she realized it was futile to continue attacking him.

Monokuma decided that he would execute Monomi alongside Chiaki, since because Monomi is not a student he wasn't bound by the rules of the killing game. Both Chiaki and Monomi accepted their fate for the sake of the surviving students, willing them all to not give up on their futures. They were both executed in a punishment themed around Chiaki's talent of Ultimate Gamer, called Please Insert Coin.

Despite being executed, after the surviving students later initiated the shutdown sequence for the Neo World Program, Usami was able to reappear in her original form and destroy the gigantic avatar of Junko Enoshima which represented the virus infecting the simulation. This allowed the students to escape the simulation they were trapped in.

Miaya Gekkogahara's Avatar
Miaya Gekkogahara, the Ultimate Therapist and the leader of the Future Foundation's 7th Division, was a co-creator of the Neo World Program alongside Chihiro Fujisaki (the Ultimate Programmer) and Yasuke Matsuda (the Ultimate Neurologist). Miaya was a mute woman who used a wheelchair and only communicated with others through a talking, animated avatar of Usami. Miaya's avatar of Usami differs from the Usami present in the Neo World Program, more closely reflecting the personality of the person communicating with it, but still using Usami's speech pattern and body language quirks.

Miaya was going to be present at the trial of Makoto Naegi, who was a suspect of protecting the Remnants of Despair (the students who entered the Neo World Program) against the wishes of the Future Foundation, however, Miaya was murdered by Monaca Towa before she could attend. Monaca created a robotic replica of Miaya and used that replica to infiltrate the Future Foundation. The replica used Miaya's wheelchair and continued to use Miaya's avatar of Usami in order to communicate. Like her counterpart in the Neo World Program, Usami is hacked by Monokuma at the start of the Final Killing Game and reverted Usami to her Monomi appearance. As Monomi, she communicated - through animation and speech - whatever Monaca wished robotic Miaya to communicate, rather than having free will of her own. The robotic Miaya was later destroyed by Kyosuke Munakata.

Creation and Development
In the  art book, 10 variations of Monomi's design are shown featuring several ideas that the development team considered before settling on Monomi's final design. The earliest designs show Monomi with bear ears instead of rabbit ears, suggesting she may have been originally intended to be a bear, or be turned into a bear when she was transformed into Monomi from Usami by Monokuma. The idea of a Monokuma with a pacifier may have inspired the design of the Monokubs in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony several years later. The second design document shows that the design team toyed with a few other different details, including going back and forth on using a red and white color scheme instead of pink and white, trialing different types of diaper design (including a skull applique), a skull tattoo on her arm, and having her bow covering her navel instead of accessorising her ear. All of the designs feature Monomi holding different types of weapons, particularly knives, very far removed from her final, more gentle design.

Name
Usami (ウサミ), written in as うさみ, resembles the Japanese word for rabbit, Usagi (うさぎ). Monomi (モノミ) is based on the name of Monokuma (モノクマ). The name Monomi is likely a reference to the character Dorami from the Doraemon franchise. Like Monomi, Dorami is the younger sister of the series' mascot character, Doraemon. This reference is supported by the fact that Nobuyo Ōyama, Monokuma's Japanese voice actress, famously portrayed Doraemon for 26 years.

School Mode
In Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc's School Mode (an alternate universe dating sim mode) after reaching the 51st day, if the player managed to build every backup assigned, including the final backup "Warlockuma" (which resembles Usami), the students will all gather around Monokuma, who yells at them for making a "backup" that doesn't even look like him. Out of anger and frustration, Monokuma decides to punish Makoto, saying that it would "motivate" the other students to do a better job next time, but the "backup" suddenly comes to life to defend the students, introducing itself as Usami. After a small argument, Usami attacks Monokuma until he agrees to release the group, who gives them the escape button before disappearing. Usami then thanks the group and says goodbye before mysteriously shutting down. Although many of the students are still confused, the group happily makes a small celebration as they are finally allowed to leave Hope's Peak Academy due to Usami's intervention.

Island Mode
In Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair's Island Mode (another alternate universe dating sim mode), the game essentially follows how the Neo World Program would have proceeded for the students if the virus had not infected the program. As in the main game, the students meet on the beach and Usami explains that collecting everyone's Hope Fragments will allow them to go home. This time, when the virus strikes and Monokuma enter the simulation, Usami is prepared and defeats him before he can cause any damage, leaving herself in her Usami form and the students unhindered so that the simulation is able to proceed. If the player manages to complete all of Usami's construction tasks and earn all of the students' Hope Fragments within the allotted time, the true ending is unlocked, and Usami proudly wishes her students well as they are able to leave the island.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony's board game mode (part of a collection of connected bonus modes in which the player can collect, level up and play a dungeon crawling mini-game with characters from throughout Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony casts), both Monomi and Usami are separate playable characters. The board game mode exists in an alternate universe in which all 3 games' casts all attend the same Alternate Universe version of Hope's Peak Academy simultaneously, and Usami is their teacher. If the player chooses to play as Monomi or Usami, they can experience conversations between Monomi/Usami and other characters from the franchise.

Appearance
As Usami, she is a white rabbit with white feathered wings and two upright ears accessorized with a pink bow. She wears a pink and white skirt similar to Sayaka Maizono's stage costume, a pink bib with white hems, and a gold necklace similar to 's Crisis Moon Compact. She carries a pink staff which is topped by an upside-down and right-side-up golden heart with a red gem in the center of it, framed with a pair of small white wings.

As Monomi, she is a pink and white rabbit with one floppy ear accessorized with a yellow bow. Like Monokuma, who redesigned her, her design is split in color down the middle, with her left side pink and her right side white. She has one red robotic circular eye. She wears a cloth diaper and has a visible navel. She carries a tree branch with a white cloth tied around it.

In Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy, when Miaya Gekkogahara uses her as an avatar, Usami initially resembles her original appearance at the beginning of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, but with a star on the end of her magic staff. After being forcibly transformed into Monomi again, she resembles Monomi's appearance in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, but with a gold moon on her ear instead of a ribbon.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
Usami is gentle and kindhearted, but also very naive and not very smart. While she is strict about rules and certain other things, it's very easy to trick or persuade her. All she wants is to foster love, friendship, and good manners, emphasized in her catchphrase "love, love!". Because of this, she can even come across overly sweet and annoying. She encourages everyone to live in peace and strengthen their bonds with each other. She is very happy and proud when everyone gets along, and scolds them when they do bad and kindly asks them not to do it again.

Usami is afraid of violence, fighting, and cruelty, considering all of it "a big no-no" - the mere thought frightens her. She also emphasizes the importance of caring for the environment, prohibiting the students from throwing trash anywhere on the island (because she stated if you littered it would trigger an alarm). Furthermore, though she is very childish, Usami is aware of sexuality and tries to prevent the teens from doing anything "shameful". Comically, she sometimes incorrectly assumes that one of her students is interested in her and she's shocked by the idea of a romance between teacher and student. She seems to view herself as a lady who needs to be treated with delicacy and respect, though obviously nobody else does.

As the students' teacher, Usami often tries to guide and encourage them and take charge, but she is never taken seriously. She lost the last lingering thread of her authority after she was turned into Monomi and became an unwitting pawn to Monokuma. She is often the butt of his jokes, physically and verbally abused on a regular basis. Monomi rarely tries to fight back, as she believes she can't do anything without her magic stick, but she sometimes tries to snark back at Monokuma with poor success.

The students are very distrustful of Monomi because she is keeping important information from them and some believe she is working with Monokuma. They are also annoyed by her overly sweet nature and low intelligence. They often think she's useless, and when she does help, she is never appreciated. It makes her sad, but she says she is used to it. She is often ignored and sometimes downright bullied, but Sonia Nevermind and Chiaki are shown to be a bit more nice towards her.

In the end, Monomi only wants to help and protect her students and does it even if she isn't appreciated. Though she is shown to be somewhat cowardly at times, she is ready to give her life for them at any time. She is supportive towards everyone and believes in them no matter what. She is completely forgiving and never blames them for the murders, even though it makes her shocked and sad whenever someone does something bad (instead, she blames Monokuma, calling him the root of all evil). This is especially evident in her dialogue with Nagito Komaeda, who is distrusted and hated by most other characters.

Usami/Monomi appears to be a relatively young AI, which may explain some of her childish and naive traits, along with the fact that she was created into an artificial world where violence and other bad things shouldn't even exist. In the Japanese version, she even talks in a very childish way, sometimes including chu sounds in her speech, most notably replacing the "desu" copula with "dechu" in the original Japanese release.

Makoto Naegi mentions that there was a possibility that Usami's behavior might have gone too extreme, to the point where the students would have to escape the program, but this did not happen in the main story nor in Island Mode. In order to protect the students from this possible scenario, she was programmed with a strong fear of mice, as it would prevent her from entering the Nezumi Castle. The castle would have acted as a hiding place for the students and contains the code to enter the ancient ruins so that they could graduate and escape the program. Monokuma inherited this trait from Usami after stealing her role as the observer, though she still retained the fear after losing her role. Monomi specifically states that she is scared of the idea of mice biting her ears, referencing, who is famous for being earless and afraid of mice due to a robotic one gnawing his ears off.

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School
While Monomi still talks and acts in a childish and excited way, as she was acting as a avatar of Miaya, she also becomes more proactive and is far more willing to express her anger at people and opinions Miaya did not agree with. However, she is actually Monaca's avatar, not an independent AI.

Relationships

 * Family:

Monokuma
When Monokuma shows up on the island, he adopts Usami as his little sister without her approval. She is usually beaten up by Monokuma when she irritates him, which happens often. Monokuma also likes to make fun of her. He also always punches or harms her when she bothers him.

In Danganronpa 3, Usami sees Monokuma as a threat and unlike Monokuma, who seems to recall Usami as his "little sister", Usami has no recollection of Monokuma. In the Danganronpa 3 relationship chart, Monomi tells Monokuma that he isn't her big brother.

Chiaki Nanami
Both AI Chiaki and Usami were created by Alter Ego. They are usually trying to protect the other students from Monokuma, as seen in Chapter 1 when they stand guard outside the old lodge together. When Chiaki accidentally kills Nagito, she is executed along with Usami.
 * Remnants of Despair

Most other students either distrust or ignore her, possibly both. She continues to try and make friends with them, but they all decline her.

Nagito Komaeda
Many of the students after the first trial, distrust Nagito. However, Usami believes in his good side and tries to encourage him to be more self-confident, make friends and do good things. Unfortunately, Nagito doesn't take her seriously and, just like the others students, he considers her an annoyance. After Monomi was in the Final Dead Room with Nagito, she remarks that she is afraid of Nagito since he tried to shoot himself when he had to play Russian Roulette as the last part of the Final Dead Room.

Hiyoko Saionji
Hiyoko often likes to tease Usami while Monomi tries to become friends with her and the rest of the characters. Hiyoko states how Monomi always acted like a party pooper and thinks she is annoying while Usami feels upset. Hiyoko continues to tease and bully Usami and treats her like a plush toy. Hiyoko despite the idea of letting Usami participate in the events that all of their classmates attended.

Quotes

 * -|DR2=

Panic Talk Action

 * “Hajime, you stupidface!”
 * “I won't let you!”
 * “Let's all get along...”
 * “Burst open and mix!”
 * “Disappear!”
 * “I can't lose!”
 * “Don't defy your teacher!”
 * “I'll lower your grades!”
 * “Chiaki and I aren't best friends!” (Final Argument)

List of Appearances

 * -|Game=
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: School Mode/Cameo
 * Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: Major
 * Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls: Cameo
 * Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: Bonus Mode
 * Danganronpa: Monokuma no Gyakushū: Major
 * Danganronpa: Unlimited Battle: Major
 * -|Anime=
 * Danganronpa: The Animation: Cameo
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School/Future Arc: Major
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School/Hope Arc: Cameo
 * -|Light Novels=
 * Danganronpa 1 ・2 Beautiful Days: Supporting
 * -|Manga=
 * Super Danganronpa 2 - Komaeda Nagito no Koūn to Kibō to Zetsubō: Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubō Gakuen: Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubō Gakuen - Comic Anthology: Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubō Gakuen: 4-Koma KINGS The Manga: Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Dangan Island - Kokoro Tokonatsu, Kokoronpa The Manga: Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2 - Nankoku Zetsubō Carnival!: The Manga: Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Nanami Chiaki no Sayonara Zetsubō Daibōken: Major
 * Small Danganronpa 1・2 Light: Major
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy - Side: Future and Side: Despair Comic Anthology: Supporting
 * -|Stage Plays=
 * Super Danganronpa 2 The Stage ~Sayonara Zetsubō Gakuen~
 * Super Danganronpa 2 The Stage 2017

Trivia

 * Usami Test Model.png the game assets of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is a model file called test_usami_model.gmo which features running and idling animations . Based on the file name it is likely this was a test model for Magical Girl Miracle ★ Monomi.
 * Crypt_of_the_Necrodancer_Monomi_sprite.gifi appears as a playable skin in the rhythm-game Crypt of the Necrodancer.
 * In the Japanese version of Magical Girl Miracle ★ Monomi, when transforming in Usami mode, Monomi shouts "Miracle Make-up!" (ミラクル、メイクアップ), which is a reference to the transformation of the magical girl anime character, who's main transformation phrase is "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!". This likely ties into the fact that Usami's design resembles a (like Sailor Moon). Sailor Moon's Japanese voice actress, Kotono Mitsuishi, also voices Danganronpa 2 character Peko Pekoyama.
 * Danganronpa_Another_Episode_Monomi_cameo.pngi's face makes a cameo appearance at the end of Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, appearing in a building above the word "Fin" (The End). This was intended to show that Danganronpa 2 came directly afterward.
 * Monomi is the only main character not to appear in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School/Despair Arc.
 * As seen in a sprite, she was probably going to appear in her Usami and Monomi form in the last Class Trial. However, it is unknown how she was going to appear
 * In the English version of Danganronpa 2, one of Monomi's voice lines is "Yippee Ki Yay!", part of an iconic line from the  series of movies.

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