Mukuro Ikusaba

Mukuro Ikusaba (戦刃 むくろ Ikusaba Mukuro) is one of the characters in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, as well as a secondary antagonist in the Danganronpa series particularly during the Hope's Peak Academy Saga.

Mukuro is a student from Class 78th enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Soldier (超高校級の「軍人」chō kōkō kyū no “gunjin.”) She has received military training from a very young age and is highly proficient in both a variety of firearms and hand-to-hand combat. When pushed to the limit she can enter a kind of battle trance, where her speed and reflexes increase to nigh-superhuman levels.

Mukuro is the mysterious sixteenth student, and the older twin sister of Junko Enoshima. During the Killing School Life, she disguised herself as her twin sister and was one of the Ultimate Despair members. However, right after the first murder occurred, she was punished by Monokuma (under Junko's control) after breaking the school rules.

Mukuro has a more prominent role in the prequel novel, Danganronpa/Zero, and the alternate ending novel, Danganronpa IF.

Mukuro appeared in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy - Side: Despair as one of the Despair Sisters along with Junko. She also returns in the spinoff manga, Danganronpa Gaiden as the source of inspiration behind Takumi Hijirihara's Killer Killer persona, and in the form of numerous clones of her.

Appearance
Mukuro is similar in appearance to her sister Junko, but there are some notable differences. Mukuro's eyes are less round than Junko's, and are also naturally blue; unlike her sister's. Her bust is also much smaller. She has short, bobbed black hair and freckles across the bridge of her nose. She has a Fenrir tattoo on her right hand, which she covers up with foundation when disguised as Junko.

Personality
Being the Ultimate Soldier, Mukuro is ruthless and can kill and harm others with no remorse. She seems completely indifferent towards other people, unless it's her sister Junko or her crush Makoto. Unlike her sister, she doesn't take any sadistic pleasure in hurting or killing people, but at the same time she show little concern for other people's suffering.

Despite being an incredible soldier, Mukuro is very out-of-touch with her own emotions. She has a notable lack of social-skills, acting emotionless and indifferent towards most people. She tends to have a cold, serious expression and a reserved personality. She herself admits that she lacks skill in negotiating with others and planning tactics in advance, despite her renown as an excellent soldier. While she is completely fearless as a soldier, she is afraid of certain emotional situations.

Mukuro has been verbally and physically abused by her sister for years. She only knows how to take orders from Junko and obeys her even if she doesn't agree with her. Mukuro craves her sister's praise and acceptance and will do nearly anything to get it. Because of this, Mukuro allows herself to be constantly abused by Junko and takes her insults to heart. Mukuro believes she is the only one who truly understands her sister and she wants to make her happy, so she stays by Junko's side even when she insults her. She also finds pleasure in Junko's attempts to harm or even kill her, knowing that her sister will experience tremendous despair if she succeeds. She is sometimes portrayed even disturbingly obsessed with her sister, with her blushing and in a state of ecstasy.

According to her voice actress, Mukuro usually gives off a feminine, frail and even cute impression when in her sister's company, described with "a masochist who loves her little sister" kind of vibe. However, during fighting, her stern and grim personality comes out, and it's like she becomes a different person.

Ultimate Soldier
Mukuro showed a huge interest in the military since childhood. In elementary school, she won a survival game tournament and began writing for military magazines.

She has received military training from a very young age and is highly proficient in both a variety of firearms and hand-to-hand combat. When pushed to the limit she can enter a kind of battle trance, where her speed and reflexes increase to nigh-superhuman levels.

When she was young she joined the elite mercenary group Fenrir and never received a single injury on the battlefield.

She managed to hold her own against Peko Pekoyama the Ultimate Swordswoman, the Madarai brothers and Sakura Ogami the Ultimate Martial Artist in Danganronpa IF, while she was able to defeat the first two she was unable to defeat the latter in hand-to-hand combat.

Despite being the Ultimate Soldier Mukuro has terrible negotiation skills which she admits.

Prior to the Tragedy
Mukuro and Junko used to be homeless and lived in a very harsh environment as children. It's heavily implied that she was manipulated and verbally abused by Junko.

Mukuro showed a huge interest in the military since childhood. In elementary school, she won a survival game tournament and began writing for military magazines.

Just before entering middle school, Mukuro disappeared while she and her family were on vacation in Europe. People thought she had been kidnapped, but she was never found. In truth, she had decided to join an elite mercenary group based out of the Middle East known as Fenrir, a fierce group of soldiers who engaged in direct combat. Although small for her age, she received military training and became highly proficient in both a variety of firearms and hand-to-hand combat. As a member of Fenrir, she passed through many battlefields but was never wounded.

Three years later, Mukuro returned to Japan to be with her sister. Junko had a strong desire to "paint the world in despair" and planned to start the Tragedy, the worst, most despair-inducing incident in the history of mankind. She called herself and her sister the Despair Sisters AKA the Ultimate Despair.

Mukuro was enrolled into Hope's Peak Academy's Class 78th as the Ultimate Soldier, while her sister was the Ultimate Fashionista. Mukuro fell in love with Makoto Naegi, due to him being the first person to ever smile at her. She would often watch him from afar, as she lacked the courage to tell him how she felt. It was because of him that she begun to think more of the world outside of Junko's plans, and it caused her to have doubts when Junko revealed her plan for the killing game involving their fellow students, Makoto included.

Episode 05 - The Beginning of the End
Mukuro meets Junko at the airport. She finds Junko, sitting on a pile of luggage, writing in her notebook and narrating out loud. They ride together in a limousine and Junko asks Mukuro if she has more freckles. Junko then tries to attack Mukuro with an ice pick, but she effortlessly blocks Junko's attempts. Junko throws a grenade that Mukuro uses her foot to flip it into her glass, and throws it out the window, causing it to explode against another car. Mukuro happily thinks about how Junko will fall into despair if she kills her. Junko tells Mukuro she stinks, and Mukuro says she has been bathing. Mukuro asks Junko why she wanted her to meet them, and Junko says they were scouted and have been selected to attend Hope's Peak Academy.

The two arrive at Hope's Peak Academy, just behind Makoto. Junko continues narrating, and Mukuro asks if narrating is her new obsession. Junko says it is, but she has already gotten bored of it.

Episode 06 - A Despairfully Fateful Encounter
At night, Mukuro and Junko sneak into a secure area of Hope's Peak. Mukuro uses her skills with weaponry to slaughter the security guards while Junko eats curry. Junko orders Mukuro to clean up the mess by herself. Mukuro guides Junko down the hall until they reach the door where Izuru Kamukura is. Mukuro notices it is secured by a retina scanner. Junko takes the eyeball she took from one of the trustee's, and holds it up to the retina scanner, giving them access.

Junko is happy to see Izuru, but Mukuro worries he could be dangerous. Junko calls Mukuro names, distracting her as she despairingly realizes Junko included all of the nasty ones. Junko tried to attack Izuru with a knife, but he knocked her to the ground and stepped on her. Mukuro tried to help, but Izuru backhanded her into a wall. After Junko explained the allure of despair to those with super intelligence, Izuru knocked her out, but told Mukuro to tell Junko that he will be waiting for her. Mukuro gets Junko to the infirmary after saying she hit her head. Junko is excited when Mukuro relays Izuru's message to her. As she and Mukuro rush out of the hospital, Junko bumps into Ryota Mitarai.

Episode 07 - The Biggest, Most Atrocious Incident in Hope's Peak Academy's History
While Junko explains her plan to Ryota, Mukuro is seen handing her a remote.

Episode 08 - The Worst Reunion by Chance
Mukuro spotted Peko stalking her, who explained that a certain man asked her to keep an eye on Mukuro. Commenting on how close Peko's class is, Mukuro angrily stated that she hates being followed and attacked Peko with a combat knife, who retaliated with her bamboo sword. As the fight escalated, Mukuro brought out a second knife, which she used to cut Peko's shinai apart - however, this only revealed the metal blade at its core. Both women then speculated that each other already had experience in killing, to which they both agree.

Episode 09 - Chisa Yukizome Doesn't Smile
Mukuro defeats Peko offscreen and returns to Junko's lair just in time to hold Chisa Yukizome captive and force her to watch the Reserve Course student committing suicide. Later, after strapping Chisa down and crock for her to watch the first killing game, Mukuro is left in charge while Junko goes off to fulfill other parts of her plan. As Chisa seems to be resisting the brainwashing from the video, Mukuro tampers with Chisa's mind, and lowers her resistance to the effects of the brainwashing video, ultimately turning Chisa into an Ultimate Despair.

Episode 11 - Goodbye, Hope's Peak Academy
Mukuro, Junko, and Izuru stand atop a tall building, near to the school, with a view of Class 77-B. Junko stared at the class through her binoculars before proclaiming that they will infect the world with despair. Mukuro, not understanding what Junko meant by infect, is promptly silenced, Junko scolding her for not knowing her plan immediately slaps her, causing Mukuro to fall to the ground. Junko then used her stiletto, prodding Mukuro with it while she explained 'ominous' and 'fun' atmosphere causes the world of hope to fall into despair.

Once the Reserve Student's had finished their march on Hope's Peak, leaving it in ruin, Junko thanked them over her mobile phone, prompting them to commit suicide after adhering to her wishes. Mukuro inquired as to why she didn't keep them around to help but is immediately rebuffed by Junko who explained that they may think like her but are nowhere near the same level so have become useless to her, Mukuro staring at her in admiration, agrees to this. Junko also pointed out that Mukuro may not be safe either if she lets her guard down, Mukuro happily accepted this.

Junko and Mukuro then meet with the Class 78th, helping them to shelter the school and protect them from danger. When Junko explained that Makoto is the only person who she could not predict, Mukuro inquired whether they should kill him but Junko believed it would be more despairful if he was able to beat her in the end.

Danganronpa/Zero
Mukuro spent a good amount of time masquerading as Junko, while the real Junko's memories were missing due to her testing Yasuke Matsuda's memory-erasing technology as a preparation for the Mutual Killing of Class 78th.

Mukuro also saved Makoto from Misshiki Madarai and murdered two of the Steering Committee members. She also easily beats up and kills all of the Madarai brothers.

Prologue - Welcome to Despair
Mukuro melded into the memory-wiped students of Class 78th as Junko, but had to immediately fend off remarks from Makoto that she did not look like the supermodel he had known.

Chapter 1 - To Survive
Shortly after the first murder, Mukuro was supposed to follow a plan she had agreed on with her sister; Monokuma would trap her in the dungeon in order to "set an example" for the students not to directly rebel against him. However, on a whim, Junko decided to kill her sister for real and Mukuro was brutally impaled by Monokuma with numerous spears, dubbed "Spears of Gungnir".

Mukuro, having memorized the scenario and had expected to set up a different outcome, was completely caught off guard, never expecting that her sister would kill her. This incident misled the other students into thinking that “Junko” was killed.

The reason Junko killed Mukuro was to bring her and her sister despair, since beyond all appearances she truly did love Mukuro.

Chapter 5 - 100 Mile Dash; Pain of a Junk Food Junkie
Later, Mukuro's dead body was reused by Junko - at the time still known as “the mastermind” - to lead the other students into thinking that the unknown sixteenth student, whom they were told was “Mukuro Ikusaba”, had died as a result of murder. However, before they could take at closer look at the body, it exploded due to a Monokuma bomb, leaving little else other than the Fenrir mark on her hand and her numerous injury marks.

However, the contradiction of the admission reports for Mukuro (which stated that she did not carry any scars of injuries), the fact that she was explicitly named Mukuro Ikusaba, and the wealth of information that her dead body carried, finally led the students to figure out that they had, in fact, met Mukuro in disguise, not Junko.

Danganronpa IF
Mukuro played a more prominent role in this novel. In the novel, she maintained her guise as her younger sister until the scene when she would have normally been killed by the Spears of Gungnir. Makoto, who had been electrically shocked into recovering his memories the night before, recognized Mukuro through her disguise and called out her real name at the last possible moment, giving her enough of a warning to jump out of the way of the spears and survive. However, in the process of trying to save her, Makoto is hit by one of the spears and becomes gravely injured, falling into unconsciousness.

While Mukuro was distracted by the fact that Makoto saved her life while endangering his own and that her own sister tried to kill her, Monokuma attempted to attack her, but Sakura Ogami intervened. Sayaka Maizono attempted to aid Makoto, but Junko quickly changed her plans; she pretended to have the Monokuma unit be 'taken over' by “Besshiki Madarai, Ultimate Hacker” and revealed Mukuro's true identity, alleging that she and Makoto were the true culprits behind the students' strange circumstance.

After being questioned by her fellow students to see if what the "hacker" said was true, Mukuro took off her wig and revealed that she was partly responsible for the situation the students found themselves in. However, she tried to convince them that Makoto was innocent in this, but was unsuccessful. Mukuro, realizing that she would not be able to convince them to trust her, decided to fight her way out, fighting Sakura to a draw.

Realizing that she would not be able to beat the Ultimate Martial Artist and that Makoto was running out of time, Mukuro forcibly triggered Genocide Jack's appearance, using the ensuing chaos of Toko Fukawa's drastic personality change to her advantage.

Mukuro managed to escape from the gymnasium with Makoto, dashing to the infirmary to treat his wounds. Here, she met and was antagonized by Junko in another Monokuma unit, who promptly called her useless and a disappointment.

After a long argument between the two (which was mainly one-sided as Mukuro was constantly put down and insulted, and where it was revealed that Mukuro had romantic feelings for Makoto), Junko appeared on a TV screen and, in an unnaturally kind tone, told Mukuro that she loves her.

While normally touching, Mukuro was all too aware that that was Junko's way of severing their ties to each other. Although Junko's words momentarily threatened to bring Mukuro to despair, she then resolved to make everyone happy and disrupt Junko's plans, thereby bringing Junko to despair. She then destroyed the Monokuma unit with her as well as the camera in the infirmary.

Soon, Kyoko Kirigiri and several others arrived at the infirmary to search for Makoto and Mukuro, most of whom were convinced of Makoto and Mukuro's supposed treachery. While most of the other students failed to notice anything, Kyoko was sharp enough to detect Mukuro's presence. Yet, true to her well-honed instincts, Kyoko decided to not raise an alarm, sending most of the remaining party off while she and Chihiro stay behind.

Kyoko called out to Mukuro, revealing that she knew where exactly Mukuro and Makoto were hidden. After convincing Mukuro to trust her, Kyoko had Chihiro Fujisaki record Mukuro's testimony, allowing her to explain to Kyoko the truth of the students' current circumstances. Mukuro then resolves to show Junko true despair and leaves the infirmary.

Shortly after that, Mukuro confronts Monokuma and demands that Junko open the gates so they can all leave together - leading into a spectacular battle against hundreds of Monokuma units.

Despite the grave threat, Mukuro was focused and able to fend off the attacks until Junko used Makoto's voice file - to be precise, at the moment when Makoto screamed for her to get out of the way - to throw her off and defeat her. She was however quickly rescued by Mondo in his motorbike, and was then taken to the cafeteria.

After the entire group learned of the truth of their situation from Mukuro's recording and a now awake Makoto, Monokuma decided to “give them one final chance at freedom”. The students of Class 78th took on Monokuma's challenge, only to discover that they had to succeed in running past an entire corridor full of exploding Monokuma units and reach the escape switch in under 15 seconds.

While the situation seemed impossible, with help from Sakura, Mukuro was able to dash past the exploding Monokuma units, and succeeded in retrieving the escape switch from the final Monokuma unit before it exploded.

Afterwards, Mukuro donned her Junko disguise again, ready to face persecution from all sides for causing the grave worldwide incident. Mirroring the events of the first game, Makoto was given the escape switch, which he pressed to open the doors, thus ending the story in the exact same fashion as in the game, leaving Mukuro's fate past that point unknown.

Chapter 8 - Beginning of the Killer Killer
Mukuro shows up in Chapter 8, having been responsible for the mass murder in Takumi Hijirihara's middle school. Shuji Fujigawa hid Takumi in a closet so that he would be safe, since he had an intense fear of blood, similarly to Toko Fukawa. After seeing the incident through the slits of the locker, Takumi became "Killer Killer." At the end of the chapter, it is revealed by Ikue Dogami that Mukuro has "broken out", implying that she may actually be alive.

Chapter 9 - Don't Kill
After receiving an order to do so, Takumi, Misaki Asano, and Shuji arrived at a seemingly abandoned building. Takumi steps inside to find Mukuro and has a scuffle with her. This ends in him choking Mukuro, and nearly stabbing her, until he is stopped by Shuji clenching his knife. It is then revealed the actual Mukuro is dead and the person who Takumi faced is a fake, and later several clones of the Ultimate Soldier presented in the room. Takumi killed them all and scored their murders at zero points, saying they lack the passion for murder that the actual Mukuro had.

Junko Enoshima
Junko was Mukuro's younger twin sister. Mukuro viewed Junko as being far superior to her and would do anything to earn her praise, even going so far as to join Ultimate Despair and taking part in the School Life of Mutual Killing.

Mukuro wanted nothing more than for Junko to be happy and to be loved by her, but was aware that she did not subscribe to the same notions of despair compared to her sister. She refused to leave her side though, as she believes no one else besides her can truly understand her sister.

Junko was verbally abusive and cruel towards Mukuro. She made it very clear that she believed herself to be superior to her older sister, and criticized her on several occasions. Mukuro took her sister's insults to heart, and believed Junko was always right. Mukuro's feelings allowed Junko to take advantage of her, but there were certain limits, such as when Junko attempted to kill Mukuro with an ice pick and a grenade but Mukuro blocked all her attacks and chucked it out the car window. Still Mukuro understood that Junko was trying to taste the despair of killing her own sister, and was actually happy to know Junko would fall into despair by murdering her.

When Mukuro talks or thinks about her sister in Danganronpa/Zero and Danganronpa 3, she sometimes blushes and appears to be in a state of ecstasy.

Makoto Naegi
While there were no real interactions between the two in the first game, their relationship is explored and elaborated on in the novel Danganronpa IF.

It is revealed that they were close friends and that Mukuro was in love with Makoto due to him being the first person to ever smile at her. She would often watch him from afar while they still attended Hope's Peak before The Tragedy occurred, as she lacked the courage to tell him how she felt. It was because of him that she begun to think more of the world outside of Junko's plans, and it caused her to have doubts when Junko revealed her plan for the killing game involving their fellow students, Makoto included.

Makoto treated her very kindly and placed his trust in her, even after it was revealed she was partly responsible for what had happened to Hope's Peak Academy.

Another hint as to their relationship is provided in the first game, as during the last class trial when some group pictures of Class 78th are shown, Mukuro is looking away from the camera (some appear to be deliberately). However, the only one where she is actually looking directly at the camera is the one taken by Makoto. In Danganronpa IF, Junko says that Mukuro never cared about being in the photos, but did care about the one Makoto was taking.

Initially, Mukuro was perfectly willing to kill Makoto if for Junko's sake, despite the way she felt about him. As shown in Danganronpa 3, Mukuro hesitantly suggested that she and Junko kill Makoto immediately after her sister deemed him a threat. However, in Danganronpa IF, this changed drastically after Makoto became heavily lacerated for saving Mukuro where she became desperate in saving a moribund Makoto. As Junko then gives Mukuro the injunction to kill Makoto, Mukuro responded in refusal.

Takumi Hijirihara
Mukuro is the one responsible of the mass murder in Takumi's middle school. Despite their opposing statuses due to their respective affiliations, Takumi developed an admiration for her techniques in murder which later drove him to become the elusive Killer Killer.

Presents
Obtained from the MonoMono Machine.
 * Rations (#11)
 * Kitty Hairpin (#16)
 * Rose In Vitro (#46)
 * Golden Space Shuttle (#61)

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.
 * Hang out

Skills
These will aid you, usually during Class Trials.
 * Trance - Even low combos will increase the tempo. Effective during the Bullet Time Battle. Costs 4 SP.
 * Charisma - Increases Influence Gauge recovery when right answers are chosen. Effective during the class Trial. Costs 5 SP.

Quotes

 * “Yoohoo! My name's Junko Enoshima! Great to meet you!”
 * “Are you talking about my magazine cover shots? Isn't it natural? They were modified by the editors, of course! Photoshopped, y'know? You've never heard of image editing? Hey, don't be so surprised - everyone is doing it. It's not like they had to do heavy modification in my case... These days, editing the photos in a magazine is just the way things are done! They're always making her eyes so big and her skin so ceramic, after all!”
 * “And while we’re at it, we should find whoever is controlling that stuffed toy and give him a good beating.”
 * “Sorry, it took me a little while to put on my makeup today!”
 * “H...hey, wait just a minute!! What you’re saying... it’s all so demented!! What’s up with this... “class trial” thing?! I don’t wanna take part in anything like that...! Isn't it obvious...! Why do I have to try to figure out who the culprit is? Isn’t that all messed up?”
 * “Huh....? What....? Isn’t.... that....... strange.....? Why...... was.... I........?”
 * “Junko, you're all I have. So don't worry, little sis. I'm always looking at you, so... I swear I'm going to make you despair. I swear I'll make Makoto and everyone else happy. So when you find joy in that despair, I'll trust in Makoto's hope and bring my eyes back to you.” (to Junko Enoshima)
 * “All of this… for me? Junko is going so far, just for me. Junko… are you looking at me? Thank you, Junko.” (to Junko Enoshima)

Trivia

 * "Mukuro" (as 躯) means “corpse” while the kanji for "Ikusaba" (戦刃) mean “war blade” or, sometimes, “battlefield”.
 * In the demo version of Danganronpa, Mukuro's death at the hands of Monokuma does not occur, and so she is also present in the class trial.
 * There is a considerable amount of foreshadowing that Mukuro was a soldier, while disguised as Junko. One of her favorite free time gifts is field rations and she described her early life as “living in a warzone”.
 * She was killed by what Monokuma called the Spears of Gungnir. In Norse mythology, the Spear of Gungnir was the weapon Odin used to slay the monstrous wolf Fenrir, whose name is also the name of the mercenary group Mukuro was affiliated with.
 * Mukuro and her twin sister Junko are both voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi in the Japanese version and Amanda C. Miller (who also voices Toko, Shirokuma and Seiko Kimura) in the English version.
 * Mukuro's "death" in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is similar to Chiaki Nanami's death in Side: Despair, being suddenly impaled by spears. Both deaths also double as acts of betrayal from those who were closest to them (Junko, in Mukuro's case, and Chisa, in Chiaki's case).
 * Apparently, Mukuro knows how to sing as Junko used her singing as the background music during The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy.
 * Mukuro likes her sister and army knives, and dislikes make-up.