Ultimate Imposter


 * This character is separate from the Byakuya from Danganronpa and Ryota from Danganronpa 3. See Byakuya Togami/Ryota Mitarai.

Ultimate Imposter (超高校級の「詐欺師」chō kōkō kyū no “sagishi”)  is a character featured in  Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair and a participant in the Killing School Trip.

At first, his real name, appearance, and gender are unknown, but they are capable of impersonating as others, such as Byakuya Togami. His heavy build does not affect his ability to fool others.

He acted as Byakuya during the Killing School Trip and was murdered in Chapter 1 by Teruteru Hanamura after he tried to save Nagito Komaeda from being killed.

The Ultimate Imposter also appeared in the light novel titled Danganronpa: Togami as the main antagonist, a member of Ultimate Despair, and thief of the identity of the real Byakuya Togami.

Ultimate Imposter returns in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy - Side: Despair with the other Remnants of Despair from the Class 77-B, impersonating as Ryota Mitarai, until he decides to reveal his true appearance to his classmates.

Appearance
The Ultimate Imposter's real appearance is that of a person with long, black hair and green eyes.

His gender is at first unknown, but he is able to give off a largely male impression while disguised as Byakuya and even mimic his voice and poses perfectly. Somehow his voice, even when not pretending to be anyone, is the same as Byakuya Togami.

The Imposter refuses to go swimming in front of others, which implies that it would reveal his true identity.

"Byakuya Togami"
The imposter. as Byakuya, appears very similar to the real Byakuya, having platinum blond hair and bright blue eyes accompanied by rectangular, white-framed glasses. His shirt appears to be the same one as the first game, as well. However, in contrast to the real Byakuya, "Byakuya" is very large set and wears a white dinner jacket, white slacks, and white dress shoes.

"Ryota Mitarai"
As Ryota, the imposter has short, light brown hair, hazel eyes and rosy cheeks. He wears a Hope's Peak Academy uniform with a green tie.

Personality
Ultimate Imposter's true personality is somewhat unclear, because he spends most of their time mimicking someone else's behavior. However, during chapter 6, he speaks briefly without disguise and it's implied that his real nature is polite and slightly shy.

Most notably, the imposter appears to have a truly kind and caring personality. He impersonated Ryota Mitarai so that the real Ryota could focus on making anime, as well as get some rest, and kept checking on Ryota's well-being even after a year of impersonating him. The imposter is also shown to be smiling in a friendly manner and being protective and supportive of others even while acting as cold and arrogant Byakuya Togami. As part of his Byakuya impersonation, he act arrogant, rude and somewhat bad-tempered, but he's also reliable and feels responsible of others' safety.

The imposter enjoys his build, which appears to be his aim, as he's stated that he's intentionally sculpted his physique to be that way (while acting as Byakuya, he appears condescending towards "skinny people", though it might just be acting and part of his disguise). He has a strong liking for food, especially fast food; while he normally appears attentive, he is rather easily distracted by food. He is shown to be surprisingly passionate on the topics related to food and eating, such as body fat percentages, the amount of energy coming from specific foods, and fast food restaurants. He also explains that since virtually all fast food restaurants serve the same kind of food, it gives him a sense of security to keep being around something familiar.

Due to his nature as an imposter, he has a lack, if not absence of, self-esteem. Because of it, he feels lonely and as if he does not truly exist. He simply wants to exist and live a normal life, but he believes he cannot exist unless he assumes someone else's appearance and he believes he has to "disappear" if he's found out. He describes his life as a living hell, as he's in constant need of affirmation and he has to lie to other people.

At one point, he asks if Hajime Hinata likes being around him, and he seemed very happy when Hajime answers that they are friends. After spending time with Hajime, he is convinced that he really does exist, and he decides that he doesn't want to lie anymore and wish to live as his true self.

Ultimate Imposter
The Ultimate Imposter doesn't have a name, family register, relatives, and anything that could identify their true identity. In order to have his existence acknowledged, he took other people data and learned it so he could able to impersonating them.

He could impersonate the impersonated person's voice and personality perfectly. In Danganronpa: Togami, only through his voice recording of the World Domination Proclamation as Byakuya, he could make the world believes that the one who spread the proclamation is the true Byakuya.

No one could tell the difference between the Ultimate Imposter and the real person that they impersonated, except for his noticable heavy body build.

In Danganronpa 3, all of the Class 77-B, even Chisa doesn't recognize the real Ryota Mitarai's true appearances until he accidentally met with Chisa who wondered how the real Ryota could loss his weight in a very short time.

In Side: Despair #09, he revealed to his classmate that he was a fake version of Ryota and decided to become himself afterward.

History
[Warning: Several spoilers follow this section!]

Prior to the Tragedy
The Ultimate Imposter is a person who was born with nothing - no name, family, birth certificate nor home; or more simply, no identity at all. He was convinced that he was nothing; his existence completely invisible and his life without any meaning. All he wanted was to live a normal life.

Because of this, he chose to live on stealing another person's identity, hence his true Ultimate title. He hated this way of living, which made him unhappy and forced him to lie to other people, but he felt it was something he had to do in order to exist. It appears he found comfort in fast food which was always similar regardless of location. He became very enthusiastic about food and decided to gain a heavier build.

When the Ultimate Imposter enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy's 77th Class, he acted as Byakuya Togami because he had the most absolute existence the Imposter had ever seen. However, he soon began to impersonate Ryota Mitarai, so that the other boy could spend all his time on animating. Ryota worked too much and often forgot to eat, and his imposter often checked on him and brought him food, and the two lived together.

During his second year at Hope's Peak Academy, the Imposter met Junko Enoshima and was corrupted into Ultimate Despair by her.

Episode 01 - Hello Again, Hope's Peak Academy
The Ultimate Imposter was working on some of his animations as an "animator" in the Former Student Dorm. Their room was very dirty and filled with instant ramen cups, unwashed dishes, manga, books, and files. As his new homeroom teacher, Chisa Yukizome knocked on his door, he began to panick, thinking that the one who knocked on the door was his boss. Due to some unfinished work, the Ultimate Imposter attempted to escape via windows only to be found by Chisa. She greeted him happily and dragged him back to the school, while the Ultimate Imposter tried to use various excuses to stay behind.

The Ultimate Imposter once again tried to escape from Chisa when they encountered Hajime and Chiaki Nanami in the park, but he was immediately tied up by Chisa. After returning to class, Chisa told everyone that even though the school rule said that attending class was not necessary and that they could skip to better hone their talents, interacting with one another would help build their characters and help them to make memories.

Episode 02 - My Impurest Heart for You
The Ultimate Imposter was drawing sketches inside his class while Akane Owari and Nekomaru Nidai wreaked havoc during their training session. He went outside to better focus before he met Chiaki, who was upset that his friends didn't come as group so well. The Ultimate Imposter said that he didn't need to make group, as long as he honed his talents, he already grasped his future.

During the break time after they played games together, the Ultimate Imposter and his classmates happily ate Teruteru and Hiyoko Saionji's nikujaga. He ate a big portion of the food and saw Nagito crying due to the food's deliciousness. Unlike the rest of his classmates, the Ultimate Imposter merely writhed around on the ground after being affected by the food's aphrodisiacs.

After everyone recovered, Chisa gathered the Ultimate Imposter and his classmates inside the classroom, announcing that she elected Chiaki as their class representative. Like the others, the Ultimate Imposter agreed with her decision.

Episode 03 - A Farewell to All Futures
At the beginning of the episode, the Ultimate Imposter was talking to someone on his phone while he and his classmates walked past Hajime heading toward the Main Course building.

The Ultimate Imposter was shown drawing a sketch on the school's park with his classmates during the break time.

Episode 04 - The Melancholy, Suprise, and Disappearance of Nagito Komaeda
Along with his classmates, the Ultimate Imposter showed no spirit when he listened to Chisa's announcement about the annual practical exam due to the deaths of Natsumi Kuzuryu and Sato that affected their morale greatly.

At the end of the episode, the Ultimate Imposter and his classmates bid their farewell to their beloved teacher Chisa as she transferred to the Reserve Course after the bombing incident on the gym that involved one of her students, Nagito.

Episode 05 - The Beginning of the End
The Ultimate Imposter advised Ryota to eat something and take a break, but Ryota doesn't listen and eventually passes out from exhaustion and malnutrition. The imposter finds Mikan and brings her to help care for Ryota, and to avoid confusion, explains his backstory with Ryota.

Mikan assumes that the imposter won't let her leave alive now that she knows his secret, but the imposter gently tells her to not be silly. Mikan assumes he wants to have sex with her, which isn't true. Mikan starts crying and thanks him, saying no one has ever been so nice to her. The imposter advices her to toughen up since they will be upperclassmen starting tomorrow.

Episode 06 - A Despairfully Fateful Encounter
Ultimate Imposter is seen talking to Ryota, reminding him to go to the hospital.

Episode 07 - The Biggest, Most Atrocious Incident in Hope's Peak High School's History
After Class 77-B move to the new school building, the Ultimate Imposter informed Mikan that he haven't heard news of Ryota since a week ago after he left a note that he would focus on his work.

As the news of The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy widespread and caused the Reserve Course students to riot, the Ultimate Imposter and his classmates worried about their school condition. After Ryota left, the Ultimate Imposter received a note from Mikan, saying that she is helping Ryota.

Episode 08 - The Worst Reunion by Chance
After hearing from Nagito upon his return that he saw Tsumiki around the West District of the school, the Ultimate Imposter grabs him by the scruff of the neck and demands him to give more information. Nagito picks on his sudden change of character before the Ultimate Imposter plays it down as getting overly excited. He and the rest of the class go searching for Tsumiki on the school grounds, going around in a group with Akane and Nekomaru, Akane begins to think about food and asks if the Ultimate Imposter is hungry to which he replies no awkwardly.

Episode 09 - Chisa Yukizome Doesn't Smile
Having failed to locate Mikan, the Ultimate Imposter and his classmates return to the classroom. Chiaki shows up carrying Nagito and explains that Chisa is in danger. Mikan also turns up with a wounded Peko. Chiaki rallies the class to go help Chisa, and the Ultimate Imposter rips off his Ryota mask, revealing his real face. He admits he has been decieving them all because of his talent, and feels it is time they all know the truth. The class rushes to go and save Chisa, but they encounter some angry Reserve Course students. Nekomaru and Gundam stay to hold them off while the rest continue underground. As they walk down the stairs, Chiaki says she feels that together they can do anything. The Ultimate Imposter says that he feels the same way now that Chiaki has said it.

During the Tragedy
The members of Ultimate Despair did all kinds of horrible things during the Tragedy, causing despair all over the world.

After the death of Junko, the remnants of the Ultimate Despair attached some of her body parts into their own bodies in order to make her survive within them and feel closer to her. They then agreed to an insane plan to have AI Junko take over their bodies, so they could resurrect their leader.

Danganronpa: Togami
The Ultimate Imposter is the primary antagonist in Danganronpa: Togami. He impersonates Byakuya's voice to wide-spread the World Domination Proclamation.

Episode 01 - Third Time's the Charm
Impersonating Byakuya Togami, the Ultimate Imposter is seen in the flash back as a member of Ultimate Despair nimbly dodging Future Foundation's attack with his night vision googles.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
The remnants of Despair are later found by Future Foundation. Makoto Naegi plans to undo Junko's influence by putting them into the Neo World Program, but the program is taken over by AI Junko, right according to the Ultimate Despair's plan.

Prologue - Welcome to Dangan Island! Panic at the Heart-Throbbing School Trip!?
While in the Neo World Program, the Ultimate Imposter acts as Byakuya Togami, as he has lost his school memories.

In the very beginning, Byakuya was not very sociable with the others, making his introduction short and simple. He also refused to join in on the short-lived beach party.

After Monokuma took over the island and ordered the Island Life of Mutual Killing, Byakuya immediately began to take action, making himself the leader of the group and promising the safety of all the students.

Chapter 1 - Destination Despair
The next day, after Monokuma revealed the truth about everybody's memories having been erased as well as the presence of a traitor in their group, Byakuya proposes the idea to hold a party that very night without explaining his reason.

At a suggestion, they gain a permission from Monomi to use the Old Lodge next to the Lobby as the location for the party, as the area has no monitors for Monokuma to spy on them from. As the Old Lodge was old, when it came to choosing who should clean the place, Nagito offered to draw straws that he had prepared beforehand. Nagito won the lottery, thanks to his luck, and accepted the duty to clean the lodge while Teruteru offered to cook for the party. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu refused to attend the party, and though the other students questioned it, Byakuya allowed him to go.

Throughout the party, Byakuya showed strange levels of precaution that many of the students questioned. He went as far as to hold a body check at the entrance of the party, patting down every student whether female or male and confiscating any materials that they considered dangerous in a duralumin case (such as taking a wrench away from Kazuichi Soda).

When they saw the food set out in the main room of the Old Lodge, he seemed to be alarmed before suddenly digging in to the churrasco Teruteru prepared for the party, much to the surprise of the other members and the dismay of Akane.

Their reason was revealed to be that the churrasco was pierced by large skewers which he deemed extremely dangerous. He subsequently went to the kitchen to confiscate any sharp objects from knives to skewers based on the list hung up in there, though he noted that one of the items on the list seemed to be missing.

When the party was about to start, he decided to keep the duralumin case full of confiscated potential weapons in the Surveillance Room/Office. Peko Pekoyama volunteered to guard the duralumin case and keep watch over the party there, as the place had several security monitors.

Chiaki Nanami and Monomi offered to keep watch outside as to keep Monokuma from finding them and crashing the party. Other than the duralumin case kept in the Office, Byakuya kept a second one beside them at the party, the contents of which were unknown at the time.

Midway through the party around 11:30 pm, a sudden blackout, combined with the blocked windows of the lodge, caused the interior of the building to go completely dark. It was revealed that Byakuya had kept several self-defense and precautionary items in the second duralumin case, using night vision goggles to see what was going on.

In the darkness, he saw Nagito acting suspiciously, trying to retrieve something from under a table, and reacted immediately by diving under the table and pushing him out of the way. He found that a knife was stationed under the table, held in place by glow-in-the-dark tape and its handle covered in the same material.

Teruteru, who knew of Nagito's suspicious activity as well, waited in preparation under the floorboards for the knife to move. He blindly stabbed at whoever was under the table with the missing skewer from earlier and ended up killing Byakuya.

Chapter 5 - Smile at Hope in the Name of Despair
In Chapter 5, much later in the game, Hajime went into Nagito's room for investigation purposes for the upcoming Fifth Trial. In there, he found the files that Nagito had received from Monokuma as a prize for clearing the Final Dead Room in Chapter 4, and discovered that the Byakuya he thought they had all known was actually an imposter. 'Byakuya's profile listed '???' for his name, age, birthdate, and even gender, and their Ultimate talent as the 'Ultimate Imposter'.

Chapter 6 - This is the End Goodbye Academy of Despair
In the 'Game Reset' scene of Chapter 6, "Byakuya" makes a re-appearance, but his way of talking and their voice is no longer Byakuya Togami; instead, his voice has changed into a gender-neutral one, and he wonders if he should re-introduce himself. Whether this is the Ultimate Imposter's true face or simply an illusion created by Hajime is unknown.

Epilogue - The Day Before the Future
Currently, Ultimate Imposter is most likely comatose, just like most of his classmates. The survivors of the Killing Game are waiting for him and the rest of his classmates to wake up.

Mikan Tsumiki
While the two almost never interacted in the game, the Imposter's relationship with Mikan is explored in Danganronpa 3 - Side: Despair. When Ryota's health started to worsen, the Imposter shared his secret with Mikan in order to get the Ultimate Nurse to help his friend. Surprisingly, the Imposter was not worried about sharing his secret with Mikan, placing his full trust in her. Mikan agreed to keep his secret. The Imposter was very kind with Mikan and encouraged her to be more confident due to her shy nature. Because Mikan did not receive this kind of treatment often, she took a liking to him, and the two become close friends.

The Ultimate Imposter was arguably the most worried about Mikan when she disappeared from class all of a sudden. When Nagito claims he saw Mikan on his way to the school, the Imposter threatened Nagito on instinct, only to apologize afterwards.

Ryota Mitarai
Fellow member of the 77th class of Hope's Peak Academy. At some point after the 78th class entered Hope's Peak, the Imposter helped out Ryota and got his permission to impersonate him. While the Imposter attended class, Ryota stayed at the apartment to make anime. The Ultimate Imposter became good friends with Ryota, but often worried about him because Ryota was starting to abandon his own health to focus on making anime. One day, when Ryota becomes ill due to starvation, the Imposter shares his secret with Mikan just to get her to help him.

According to the relationship chart, Ryota questions if the Ultimate Imposter taking his place is really okay, showing that he was concerned at first about the morality of the situation.

However, when Ultimate Imposter joins Ultimate Despair, his friendship with Ryota comes to an end because the latter decides to join the Future Foundation.

Ibuki Mioda
Ibuki admires Ultimate Imposter while he is impersonating as Byakuya Togami, thinking that he's very cool and reliable and she admires his leadership skills. He is sometimes a bit annoyed with her.

During chapter 2, after his death, she states that she misses "Byakuya" a lot. In addition, during chapter 5 when she and the other deceased characters show up, she greets him by oinking and explaining that she said “You're so cool” in pig talk.

While not apparent in the game, many manga adaptations portray Ibuki with some sort of crush on the imposter and she's often shown to be attracted to his heavy build. Though, it should be noted that the manga are non-canon.

Nagito Komaeda
Unlike most of his classmates, Ultimate Imposter didn't seem to outright hate Nagito or show any disdain toward him. He sat beside Nagito while they ate and asked why he was tearing up while eating. He was also the only one of his classmates to ask about Nagito's expulsion.

Hajime Hinata
Ultimate Imposter never held any close relationships with anyone on the Island in their short time there. However, upon getting his Free-Time Events, he becomes rather close to Hajime. He engages in various discussions, one being about fast food, with him, and later tells him a strange story about a person who was absolutely nothing and so, lived on as another person to be something which later turned out to be about himself.

When Hajime tells him that he considers him a friend, he softens greatly, even changing the way he addresses Hajime (normally, Byakuya addresses everyone as omae which is a rude and somewhat egotistical method of saying 'you'; however, after this event, he briefly calls Hajime kimi, which is a friendlier, same-level method of saying 'you' before going back to omae at Hajime's request). Ultimate Imposter also says that one day, he will reveal his true story to Hajime, though he was murdered before he could.

During Island Mode, Ultimate Imposter explains his true identity to Hajime. After becoming friends with Hajime, he is convinced that he really does exist, and he decides that he doesn't want to lie anymore and wish to live as his true self. In Hajime's official relationship chart, the Ultimate Imposter considers Hajime a worthy partner.

Presents
Obtained from the MonoMono Machine.
 * Chocolate Chip Jerky
 * Sweet Bun Bag
 * Cocoshimi
 * Black Rabbit Picture Book

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.
 * Pork
 * Fast food
 * I like you

Skills
These will aid you, usually during Class Trials.
 * Sting – When you find Monocoins, you’ll earn more than usual.

Quotes

 * “My name is Byakuya Togami...”
 * “A person like me has a responsibility to watch over you weaklings.”
 * “As long as Byakuya Togami is in charge, you will all know peace.”
 * “You should feel lucky that someone as talented as me is here.”
 * “Just believe in me. If you do, everything will turn out fine.”
 * “Just make sure you don't get in my way. A commoner should know their place and stay put.”
 * “However...if there is anything troubling you, I don't mind if you rely on me.”
 * “Should I do my introduction over from the beginning, do you think?”
 * “All right, then... let's eat!”
 * “All right. First, a question for you all, listen up. We were ordered to go into a life of 'mutual killing' by that Monokuma thing... so what do you think is necessary for us to survive in this extraordinary situation?”
 * “I am the 'Ultimate Affluent Progeny' of the Togami family. I am a person fated to stand far above the rest of people like you, you know?”
 * “The chicken in my hands...is far tastier than the beef inside the freezer...” (saying a German proverb)
 * “Even if it's just a commoner's assistance, it's better than having nobody at all...”
 * “Don't worry about it. As long as I am leader, I won't allow a single victim to come out of this mess.”
 * “H... Hamhands? Ha... to imagine that the day would come when I would be called something like that by another...” (In response to Hiyoko Saionji after she nicknames him Mr. Hamhands)
 * “I’ll tell you an interesting story. The story of a man. He did not have anything. Not a name, nor a family with history, or any family at all… He had absolutely nothing… He was nothing…”
 * “Thank you. I... always wanted someone to say that to me.” (to Hajime Hinata)
 * “When… when all of this is over… I want to tell you my story, Hajime. I won't trick anyone anymore… especially not myself. I want to live… as the person I am right now. I never told my story to anyone, but… I want you to hear it one day.”
 * “There were people I couldn't trust... And people who couldn't trust me. My life was like a nightmare... It is only natural to my personality would be affected. Nevertheless, i believe my nature is going to come in handy in our current situation. To survive in a situation like this... one must suspect everyone.” (to Hajime after they finish inspecting the kitchen).
 * “Even if you don't have your memories, you're still you, right? You are able to live your own life. That is already enough. All you have to do is be yourself. As you stand before me, I...will believe in your potential.” (to Hajime)
 * “Throw away your past self... It's meaningless.”
 * “As a member of the Togami family, I'm in a position to guide weaklings.”
 * “Your shallow beliefs are typical of an ignorant commoner.”
 * “You always find the same things waiting for you wherever you go. You'll never know what a relief that truly is...”
 * “For someone like you has lived a fortunate life... You'll never understand.” (to Hajime)
 * “Does the Ultimate Cook's skill surpass that of the Togami Corporation's chef...?” (talking about Teruteru Hanamura)
 * “I want to live as myself, the person standing before you right now.” (to Hajime)
 * “~|~|d&#wGuidewyou-p^l??u?`+`Fate_jofttheTogamiClan2389” (Byakuya's cottage post-fifth trial)
 * “Believe that hope lies beyond this point! That is your leader's order!”

Trivia

 * His report card states that:
 * He likes coffee and dislikes common people,
 * His blood type is B,
 * His chest is 50 in. (This point is the only accurate report card's information)
 * In "Byakuya"'s free-time event, the Ultimate Imposter implies that the reason he chose to put on so much weight was in order to ensure survival should he ever have to withstand extreme cold. This implication hints at a draft for the real Byakuya's execution described in the first game's official fanbook, where he froze to death.
 * Despite being an Ultimate Imposter, many claims he has concerning real Byakuya Togami's life are incorrect. For example, he claims to have 108 half-siblings instead of 14.
 * It later revealed in the Danganronpa: Togami that this actually correct information, and that only 15 Togami children participated in the game.


 * In Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy, the voice actor portraying both Ryotas, Kanata Hongō, also portrayed Makoto Naegi in Danganronpa The Stage ~Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei.


 * "Byakuya" states he doesn't like the sea because it's too salty, and therefore doesn't join the others in swimming. It's implied that in truth he's afraid to show his body in front of others, because it might reveal his true identity.
 * In Danganronpa: Togami, he is simply called imposter (詐欺師 sagishi), and Sonia Nevermind even calls him "Imposter-san".
 * He is often referred to as “Twogami” or "Fatogami" by western fans to differ him from the true Byakuya.