Ryōko Otonashi

Ryoko Otonashi (音無 涼子 Otonashi Ryōko) is the protagonist of the Danganronpa/Zero novel series.

She is a fake identity of Junko Enoshima. She is an amnesiac version of Junko, proving that while she has a rather eccentric way of thinking, she wasn't born with hunger for despair. She is in love with Yasuke Matsuda, her doctor, and the only person she can remember more clearly.

Despite being amnesiac, she still has the talent of the Ultimate Analyst (超高校級の「分析力」chō kōkō kyū no “bunsekiryoku”; lit. Super High School Level Analytical Prowess).

Appearance
Ryoko is a girl about 17 years old. She has long, disheveled, dark red hair and eyes and wears the school uniform of Hope's Peak Academy. Her uniform consists of an unbuttoned dark grey cardigan on top of a white blouse with a red ribbon. The cardigan has the logo of Hope's Peak Academy emblazoned on it. She wears a short dark grey skirt and white knee socks.

Personality
Ryoko is presented as a girl with a psychological disorder which causes her to lose her short and long term memories. Because of this, she writes everything down in a notebook, the 'Ryoko Otonashi Memory Notebook'. While she has lost her ability to form new memories, she still has her ability to remember or learn 'procedural memory' tasks such as writing and reading.

Ryoko is generally carefree, with "natural cheerfulness". She has a rather eccentric way of thinking, which is not caused by her disorder, and she has a strange laugh.

Due to her quick memory loss, she feels that she is "uninvolved with the world" - at times she barely cares about anything that doesn't concern her or Yasuke, believing that things have nothing to do with her because she can't remember them. Yasuke is the only person she remembers more clearly, though it's only about feelings instead of what they've done together, and she thinks about him almost constantly. While he is rude towards her, she is grateful because he doesn't treat her with fake sympathy. She isn't worried about her condition either, because she doesn't have anything to compare to due to her memory loss and she sees her forgetfulness as a part of who she is instead of a disadvantage. A sudden cure would be a bigger worry for her, because it would mean separation from Yasuke.

Ryoko can't actually remember her Ultimate talent, but in times of peril she shows near supernatural analytical skills.

History
Ryoko is an amnesiac fake identity of Junko Enoshima. She was created after The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, when Yasuke reluctantly assisted Junko by testing procedures for memory-erasing in preparation for the Killing School Life of 78th Class.

Having succeeded in erasing her own memories with Yasuke's memory-erasing technology, Junko assumed the fake identity of Ryoko Otonashi and hid from suspicion. As she no longer remembered who she was, she had constantly had to use a notebook. In good intention, Yasuke attempted to foil her plans by planting fake information in the book.

Despite being amnesiac, Ryoko is still in love with Yasuke. He is the only person she can remember more clearly.

Chapter 3
Ryoko is a student in Hope's Peak Academy. Due to her illness she often visits Yasuke for check ups. Her grades are so terrible that she should have been kicked out of school, however Yasuke talked to the higher ups and convinced them to let her stay under the claim that he would like to study her unique neurological disorder.

A month after the Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, Ryoko once again goes to see Yasuke for her treatment. Yasuke throws a scalpel towards Ryoko and repeatedly insults her by calling her ugly. He then asks her who she is, claiming that he doesn’t know because he keeps looking at his manga. Ryoko answers the questions and Yasuke is surprised to find out that she remembers what just happened and what they talked, meaning that her condition might be better or maybe worse.

Yasuke gives Ryoko her treatment. Ryoko is shocked when she is reminded that she was almost suspended from school due to her bad grades, especially because it would mean she would be apart from Yasuke. Yasuke tells her he defended her, because she is too valuable research subject to lose. They talk more about Ryoko’s condition. Ryoko claims she isn’t worried about it, and that she’s more worried about being cured, because she wouldn’t get to see Yasuke anymore. Darkly, Yasuke tells her she won’t let her treatment end.

As they hear noise outside, Yasuke explains to Ryoko about the reserve course students. He leaves to see the Steering Committee, while Ryoko sleeps in the lab.

Chapter 5
After Yasuke returns to the lab, he wakes Ryoko up roughly. He throws her out and tells her to come back in three days.

Disappointed, Ryoko returns to her room with the help of her notebook. She decides to kill some time and tries to redraw her sketches of Yasuke. She soon grows tired and continues to miss him, until she suddenly gets a threatening letter. The writer calls her Ms. Ultimate Pitiful Forgetful Girl and claims to have stolen all the past memories she’s written and hidden under her bed, and tells her to come alone to the fountain in the central plaza at night 1AM. Though angered about the supposed prank, Ryoko decides to go.

At night, Ryoko goes to central plaza. She finds one of the Steering Committee's members dead and hanging from a tree with a rope around his neck. She finds a notebook in a small puddle of blood under the man.

Chapter 6
Shocked and crying, Ryoko runs away and tries to go see Yasuke.

She bangs the door, but doesn't get an answer. Instead, Yuto Kamishiro opens his door, which is next to Yasuke's. Ryoko doesn't notice him at first and confuses his age. Yuto introduces himself and asks her what's wrong while admiring her looks. Ryoko introduces herself and tells him she needs to see Yasuke, but Yuto answers that he isn't home. Yuto offers his help, but Ryoko has trouble remembering what happened. She reads her notebook and is shocked after resurrecting the memory concerning the body. She remembers the notebook inside the pool and worries she'll be blamed because of it. Quickly, she runs back to the scene, but the body has disappeared. Instead, she only finds the notebook.

Volume 2
After Yasuke pretends to be Izuru Kamukura (to test her memory), she starts to remember everything, and kills him in a fit of despair. At this point, “Ryoko Otonashi” dies, and Junko continues preparations for the first mutual killing.

Quotes

 * “Um, it seems my name is Otonashi Ryoko… maybe?”
 * “D-Don’t lie! I’m not ugly! I’m cuter than most people in this world!” (to Yasuke Matsuda)
 * “This has nothing to do with me!”

Trivia

 * Her first name, "Ryoko" (涼子), means “Refreshing child” while her last name, "Otonashi" (音無), means “no sound”.
 * Her last name, Otonashi, is very possibly a reference to the main character of Angel Beats!, Yuzuru Otonashi (音無 結弦 Otonashi Yudzuru), who by the beginning of the series has no memory of who he is.
 * Yuzuru Otonashi also has the exact same hair color as Ryoko.
 * Her first name, Ryoko, is probably a reference to the character Ryoko Asakura (朝倉 涼子 Asakura Ryōko) from the Haruhi Suzumiya series. This reference is also a hint at the end of Danganronpa/Zero and Ryoko's "death", considering how both characters' demises involve very similar events, yet in different sequences.
 * Ryoko Asakura tries to kill Kyon - a main character and the narrator of the Haruhi Suzumiya series - using a knife so as to trigger a reaction from Haruhi Suzumiya (of whom Kyon is a speculated love interest) herself, and is killed (though not in the conventional sense) in the failed process.
 * Conversely, after Yasuke successfully triggers the sealed off part of Ryoko Otonashi's psyche by imitating Izuru, the latter enters a fit of despair and kills the former (who was her own love interest) with a knife. At this point the memory alteration placed upon Ryoko is removed and her original identity is restored, effectively causing the "death" of the individual who was known as Ryoko Otonashi.
 * Ryoko's notebook is obtainable in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair as a present. The notebook has a ragged appearance and states "Ryo… ashi… emory Notebook" on the cover. Although the contents of the notebook have become illegible, it most likely contained a recollection of the events that transpired during Danganronpa/Zero.