Great Gozu

Great Gozu (グレート ゴズ) is a character featured in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School.

During his time in Class 69th at Hope's Peak Academy, his title was the Ultimate Wrestler (超高校級の「レスラー」 lit. Super High School-Level Wrestler). After leaving Hope's Peak, his title was updated to the Former Ultimate Wrestler.

He is a member of the Future Foundation and is the Branch Office 12 Director. His responsibility as the director is assistance in restoring infrastructure, such as roads, communications, public facilities, etc. He, along with the other Future Foundation Directors, is forced to participate in the Final Killing Game.

Early Life
Not much is known about Great Gozu's early life (or even his true identity outside his wrestling persona) other than that he was a pro-wrestler, and thus was scouted by Hope's Peak Academy as a teen or young adult as part of Class 69th, where he was given the title of the Ultimate Wrestler. After graduation from Hope's Peak, his title was changed to Former Ultimate Wrestler.

After The Tragedy occurred, he was recruited by the Future Foundation and became the Director of the Branch Office 12, where he was responsible for assisting in restoring infrastructure, such as roads, communications, and public facilities as well as becoming Kazuo Tengan's personal bodyguard. He has also directly engaged members of the Remnants of Despair in physical combat on behalf of the Future Foundation. (Future Arc - Episode 01)

Final Killing Game
Great Gozu, alongside with the other Directors, attended the trial of Makoto Naegi; however, this was only a cover for The Mastermind Kazuo's plot to force the Directors to participate in the Final Killing Game.

After Makoto, Aoi Asahina, and Kyoko Kirigiri arrived at the Future Foundation base, Juzo Sakakura apprehended Makoto on Kyosuke Munakata's orders. Great Gozu was angered seeing the abusive way that Juzo was treating Makoto, and politely asked him to stop. He reasoned that punishment without a fair trial was dishonorable and threatened that if Juzo didn't stop, Great Gozu would challenge him to a fight. After an attack commences, Great Gozu attempted to reassure the other Directors that as they were all together, they could overcome anything. Directly after this, a canister of sleeping gas was thrown inside the room, rendering everyone including Great Gozu, unconscious.

When he woke up, Great Gozu and the others found a Monokuma bracelet was attached to their wrists. Via a pre-recording on the large monitor set up by Kazuo, Monokuma delivered the rules of the Final Killing Game. Great Gozu was also witness to Chisa Yukizome's bloody corpse fall from the ceiling fixture onto the boardroom table. (Future Arc - Episode 01)

Protecting Makoto
Gozu was one of the first to speak after Monokuma's broadcast ended, wondering aloud who was doing this to them. Together, Juzo and Great Gozu go to inspect Chisa Yukizome's body and, out of respect, Great Gozu took off his jacket and laid it over her corpse. After Juzo's actions indirectly kill Daisaku Bandai, Great Gozu confronted him.

When Kyosuke ordered everyone to point at who they beleived was the traitor, Gozu refused to do so, and even blocked Juzo's knife with his fist and broke the blade in half in an attempt to calm the situation. When this failed, he fought with Kyosuke to help cover Aoi and Makoto's escape. He staunchly defended his choice against Kyosuke and swore he would never kill his allies even at the cost of his own life. To further mask their escape, he elbow dropped a broken fire extinguisher Aoi threw as a distraction and fled with Makoto over his shoulder.

Together with Miaya Gekkogahara, Aoi, and Makoto, they barricade themselves with a broken locker in another room so they will be protected once they are put to sleep. After Makoto's speech to Aoi, Gozu complimented him on his ability to stay optimistic. He revealed that Kazuo was happy when Makoto first joined Future Foundation, and said that things were most certainly going to change, and passionately encouraged him to cheer up. As the time approached 00:00, Great Gozu put a hand over his heart in prayer before falling asleep with the others. (Future Arc - Episode 02)

Great Gozu's Fate
As Great Gozu is closest to one of the Monokuma monitors, he is awoken and, upon viewing the Despair Video, violently committed suicide by tangling himself up in wires above the room and stabbing himself in the eyes with the knife dropped by the monitor. (Future Arc - Episode 11) His corpse was discovered by Aoi, Makoto, and Miaya when they woke up during the next time period. (Future Arc - Episode 03)

After his corpse was removed from the wires and ceiling, Aoi, mirroring Great Gozu's earlier actions, placed her own jacket over him. Later, Makoto announced to the others over the intercom that Great Gozu was the third victim of the Killing Game. (Future Arc - Episode 03) His corpse was also examined in detail later in the killing game by Kyoko, Koichi Kizakura, and Ryota Mitarai where she covered his face with a handkerchief after removing his mask. (Future Arc - Episode 06)

Real Fiction
In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, it is alleged by the mastermind Tsumugi Shirogane that the entire Danganronpa franchise is fictional in-universe; a series of games, anime, and later live-action dramas performed actors. In particular, Tsumugi, who is the Ultimate Cosplayer, claims she is only able to cosplay fictional characters (breaking out into a bright pink rash whenever she tries to cosplay a real person), and the fact she is able to cosplay as the whole cast of Danganronpa game characters is used as evidence to support her claim that all of the cast are fictional. However, due to a number of holes in Tsumugi's story which make her an unreliable narrator, whether or not she was telling the truth is deliberately left up to the player's interpretation; as a result, it is up to the player whether they believe Great Gozu's story within the Danganronpa series was real, or a fictional story written by Team Danganronpa and performed by an actor.

Creation and Development
In the Danganronpa 3 limited edition release booklet, Kazutaka Kodaka detailed that Great Gozu's concept (レスラーキャラ lit. Wrestler Character) was originally due to him wanting to have more "fighting-type" characters since the animation medium provided a better way to showcase these talents as the games were only static images-- even citing that he always wanted a "SHSL Wrestler" character. The "Boxer Character" concept, the basis for the character of Juzo Sakakura, was also cited for this decision.

Kodaka also explained that the "Wrestler Character" was designed with being Kazuo Tengan bodyguard in mind, even though throughout the story he and Great Gozu spend most of their time apart.

Name
While his true name is unknown, in the original Japanese Great Gozu's wrestling persona is written in as グレート ゴズ, which is typically used for loanwords in the Japanese language. "Gozu" (ゴズ) is based on the Japanese urban legend, literally meaning "Cow Head" in English. The urban legend has several variations, though all depicts a creature with the body of a man and the head of a cow. While it is based on a horror story, Kodaka stated "Gozu" was chosen because it sounded "creepy" but "protective". Great Gozu's birthday, May 8th, is in the Taurus season, further referencing this.

Alternate Fates
Great Gozu appears as a cameo in Ultimate Talent Development Plan, which exists in a separate alternate universes where the casts of the games still attend Hope's Peak Academy, but no students are in peril.

Appearance
Great Gozu is an adult male standing at 210 cm making him one of the tallest character in the entire franchise, second only to Daisaku Bandai and weighs around (140 kg) 308 lbs with a large muscular build. He has tanned skin, a brown ponytail, and a long goatee. As he's never seen without his mask, it is unknown what color his eyes are.

He wears a black suit with a Future Foundation logo pin on its lapel, a white long-sleeved dress shirt, a blue tie, white socks, black loafers, and his iconic leather mask in the shape of a stylized bull with red eyes that can glow.

Personality
Despite his intimidating appearance, Great Gozu has a gentle nature and a quiet, polite way of speaking though he does use curse words. When in arguments, he is very patient and rarely raises his voice, only doing so to dramatically, if comically, proclamation of his own name, his values, and what he is willing to do for them.

Great Gozu has a staunch loyalty and respect to anyone he considers his comrades, including the members of the Future Foundation and Kazuo Tengan as their leader. The extends to even Makoto Naegi as he willingly protects him from the fellow members of the Future Foundation due Great Gozu's unwavering admiration in Makoto and his hope. He claims that Makoto's hope is what the Foundation needs. After Chisa Yukizome's corpse is recovered, he covers her face with his own suit jacket as a sign of respect.

He is very honorable, and considers situations such persecution without a fair trial as dishonorable. He dislikes needless violence, even weapons in general though he is willing to use them if needed, as seen when he fights Kyosuke with a makeshift weapon out of a pipe. He refuses to kill or even accept killing as a means to solve problems, and attempts to prevent it when he can. He's gone as far as putting himself in harm's way to stop Juzo Sakakura from assaulting Makoto by snapping Juzo's knife with his grip, cutting his palm in the process.

Ultimate Wrestler
As expected of his talent, Great Gozu is an exceptionally skilled fighter. As a testament to his strength, he was able to hold his own against Former Ultimate Boxer Juzo, skilled swordsman Kyosuke, and fellow skilled fighters from Ultimate Despair such as Nekomaru Nidai and Akane Owari in both hand-to-hand combat and with makeshift weaponary.

He is powerful enough to snap a knife with only his grip, and drop an entire floor of a building using his shoulder. At one point in his life he was a pro-wrestler and the "" seems to be his favorite move.

Quotes
DR3=

List of Appearances
Games=
 * Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Ultimate Talent Development Plan only; Cameo)

Anime=
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc
 * Monokuma Gekijō (Yūgengaisha Mirai Kikan)

Manga=
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibōgamine Gakuen Comic Anthology
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibōgamine Gakuen Dengenki Comic Anthology

Stage Plays=
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibōgamine Gakuen THE STAGE 2018

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