Monokuma

For the enemy type in Danganronpa Another Episode, see: Monokuma (DRAE). This article is about the video game character. For other uses, see Monokuma (disambiguation)

Monokuma (モノクマ, Monokuma) is a stuffed robotic bear and the self-proclaimed Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy who instigates the Killing School Life featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

He later takes over the Killing School Trip featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, kicking out Usami in the process.

Monokuma returns once again in the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles Series, starting a new Killing Game, the Killing School Semester, featured in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony alongside his children, the Monokubs.

Appearance
Monokuma is a bear that his whole face and body are divided by the center into two parts. It resembles the Yin-Yang symbol, of which there is a balance between two opposites in a way similar to a “flow”. Its right side is white and has the classic expression of teddy bear; While its left side shows a more sinister appearance. It is black, has a red, horizontal, jagged eye that resembles the Hope's Peak Academy logo and an evil smile.

Although it is completely divided into two opposite sides, the only parts of Monokuma that are not affected by the division in its area are the snout and the belly, since both remain white. He also has a large, obvious belly button on the underside of his belly. His protruding navel has an "X" shaped mark on it. Inside him he was a lot of wires due to him being a robot and a bomb.

In Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Monokuma maintained his appearance with only a few new things that changed in his game sprites. His body appears to be a little bit chubbier and small, and his black side seems to be a little more black-grayish in this game compared to the previous installments.

Outfits
In Danganronpa 2, Monokuma briefly wears a light blue suit with a white shirt and a long red tie around his neck. The collectible Monokumas are seen wearing various outfits. In Chapter 1 he is wearing a bikini made out of clams and in his right ear he has a red hibiscus with him. In Chapter 3, he haves what seems to be a red Poncho and a Sombrero. In Chapter 5, he is seem supposedly wearing a COMP from the Megami Tensei series.

In the Wizard of Monomi, Monokuma is seen wearing a golden king crown with three blue diamonds seen. He is also wearing a red king cape around his neck and body.

In cosplay, Monokuma resembles the Yo-Kai, Jibanyan. He becomes a black and white colored cat with cat ears and a chip in his right ear. He also wears a blue and white collar in his neck around him, matching the flames at the end of his two tails being him.

During the Monokuma Theater in Danganronpa V3, he is seen wearing various cosplays from famous American movies that represent each of the characters from the movie.

Personality
Monokuma is often described as easygoing and cheerful at first glance, but with very sinister undertone. However, he always rather quickly reveals his evil nature by describing killing games and his desire for despair, and he is very well known for his habit to say and do whatever he wants to. He loves hysteria, violence and chaos, summarized in one of his catchphrases "thrills, chills, kills!". He also has his own signature laughs, a sadistic "puhuhu" ("upupupu" in the Japanese version) and a mocking "ah-hahahaha".

In many ways, Monokuma represents duality both in design and personality, with his white good side and black evil side. He can sometimes act polite or cute and innocent, even patronizing, and during rare moments he even seems to give genuine positive and wise advice. However, he is mostly known for his malicious and cruel side, possessing a twisted sense of humor and a tendency to torment others and do anything for the sake of despair. He can switch between these traits at the drop of a hat, making him unpredictable for his students to deal with. He usually gets excited about the Class trials and does everything he can in order to make them entertaining for himself.

Monokuma enjoys the suffering of others, which makes him madly excited. And in turn, he gets bored and disappointed if the situation doesn't have as much despair as he hoped. Occasionally, he is so bummed out by the lack of despair that he seems to lose some of his energy and withdraws to make new plans. It's been shown that he can also get hypocritical about his ideology of despair, as he is very much willing to lie and cheat if he gets desperate enough. Still, even he seems to have some standards, as some people are so vile that they disgust even Monokuma.

Monokuma is immature and childish, often acting sarcastic and mocking towards the students, and occasionally dramatically pretending to be offended when rightfully accused. In general, he cracks a lot of jokes (especially bear puns) and breaks the fourth wall often. Monokuma doesn't seem to take the students' situation seriously, though he claims that despair is a very serious matter to him. He seizes every opportunity to belittle the students, dodging the blame and claiming that they are the ones responsible for everything bad that happens in the school. He also tends to ignore the students or act like he doesn't understand what they're talking about whenever they expose him with correct evidence.

Monokuma can be quite impatient and might attack people with his claws, his self-destruct function, threats of execution, or any other means if he is annoyed or threatened enough. However, most of the time he holds himself back, under the claim that he cannot hurt his "beloved students". His bullying and abusive nature is especially clear in the way he treats Monomi, as he gets physically and verbally abusive towards her even if he is just slightly annoyed or seemingly for no reason at all. Similarly, he is seen acting very violent towards his children if they annoy him, though originally in a very cartoony way that didn't seem to bother them. However, he turns increasingly more cruel towards his children as the game progresses, and they are shown to be quite saddened by this as they mention that Monokuma used to be much more loving towards them in the past. He also likes to make fun of K1-B0 for being a robot, even though he is also a one. In the case of the students, Monokuma generally dislikes those who don't obey him or have such optimism or intelligence that they are harder for him to manipulate, and he tends to describe these people as "annoying".

Monokuma is also very arrogant and tends to treat others in rude manner, with Junko being the only one he refers to respectfully as "Lady Junko". Fitting his arrogance, he has multiple fake stories about his past, many of them nonsensical and with silly, dark or even thoughtful message in the end. Strangely, he seems to take great pride in his supposed role as the headmaster, demanding respect for the rules and getting angry if he is called a teddy bear instead of headmaster.

Notably, he seems to be strongly against any shameful acts that could taint his respectful school, yet he himself often incorrectly accuses the students of having dirty motives and goes into way too much detail about his suspicions. Even though he acts like he is above all that, he can aim perverted comments at his students, boys and girls alike (especially for being teens). His perverseness and love for himself becomes especially clear in V3 as he seems disturbingly attracted to his own children simply because they share his "handsome" looks and only tolerates them for his "cute look". He tends to call the Monokubs "his cute cubs" and at one point he even turned bald because of the Monokubs' cuteness.

As seen in Danganronpa: The Animation, Monokuma, befitting of his role as a bear, seems to like fish and honey. It is also noted in Danganronpa 2 that he dislikes any kind of red food, and he is also seen eating the meat prepared by Teruteru Hanamura. It's unclear how eating works for Monokuma considering that he is a robot, but it seems to be just a part of his comical act, just like his sleeping. In the animated series, Monokuma also seems to be more visually comical than usual. He tends to have different objects with him, like a honeypot or a fish. He also refers to people in the anime as "yer" (you).

Monokuma's personality is originally one of Junko's personalities which she uses in the First Killing Game while she controls him, though the personality stays consistent even when he's an avatar for different people. According to Kodaka, Monokuma is the easiest character to write because he is the type of character that can make him say anything he wants without fear of repercussion.

History

 * Hope's Peak Academy Saga

Prior to the Tragedy
During the refinement in preparation for the Killing School Life, Junko determined that a mascot is necessary as well - not even a host dressed in a sort of a cartoon character outfit would do. Therefore, during the prototype execution featuring Chiaki Nanami, she hosted the broadcast to the Class 77-B with a non-robotic stuffed bear version of Monokuma. At around the same time, she contacted Monaca, the Head of Towa Group's robotics division, to create the robotic version to be used for the Killing School Life, as well as additional units to serve as Junko's army. In order to hide the true nature of the robot, Monaca claimed that she wanted to develop a series of robots that could assist in rescue operations and other scenarios that would be dangerous for humans. The Monokuma units were then secretly distributed to the various branches of Ultimate Despair, with Junko taking several for her plot at Hope's Peak Academy. Junko also creates a personality for Monokuma in the Killing Game while she controls him.

Prologue - Welcome to Despair
Monokuma is first shown in the opening cutscene, watching a man who has been blindfolded and tied to a chair. After a second, Monokuma presses a button to trap the man in a rocket that blasts off into space and then crashes back to the earth, reducing the man's body to a skeleton because of the intense heat of crash landing back down. Monokuma laughs at his handiwork as the screen turns black.

During the game proper, Monokuma is first seen through the monitors, where he talks to the students to head to the gymnasium so they could begin the ceremony for entering to Hope's Peak Academy as Ultimate Students.

He makes his physical debut when the trapped students were gathered inside the gymnasium. He introduced himself as the Headmaster of the Academy (to the students' skepticism), explained the Mutual Killing game, the School Rules and the e-Handbook.

At some point around this time, Monokuma approached Sakura Ogami and forced her to become his accomplice by threatening her fighting dojo. Sakura was to act as a mole among the students, and if things didn't escalate soon enough, she was to commit murder to kick-start the "Killing School Life".

Chapter 1 - To Survive
Soon after then Killing School Life began, Monokuma showed to everyone their dorm rooms and explained the detail and feature of each room. After Makoto tried to open the door because it didn't it didn't worked, Monokuma pops up and explained Makoto how to open it as his door had a problem because of the doorknob could get jammed. After giving the students a short period of adjustment to their new lives, Monokuma unveiled the first of many "incentives" to convince the students to kill each other: video tapes implying that their friends and family were being harmed. When this revelation caused Sayaka Maizono to break down into panic and despair, Monokuma was heard laughing evilly.

Soon, the Headmaster was gleefully announcing the first murder in "his" academy - Sayaka was found dead in Makoto's room. He ordered the students to come to the gym, where he explained what would happen next; they would descend to a courtroom beneath the school to participate in a Class Trial. If they correctly identified the murderer of the case, that person would be executed; if they failed to accuse the right person, the murderer could leave the academy as everyone else was executed. After explaining most of the information about the Class Trial, Monokuma was challenged by Junko Enoshima, who decided to defy his orders. Monokuma's attempt to make Junko submit only got him knocked the floor and stomped on; however, this only prompted him to activate the "Spears of Gungnir". As Junko was skewered through the chest, the other students realized that they could not hurt the headmaster to stop his plans. Monokuma then sent them off to begin the investigation of Sayaka's murder.

After the investigation, Monokuma made the students head to the courtroom to start the first Class Trial. He had to deflect a few questions from the students first, starting with Kyoko asking why there were 16 seats in the courtroom; he explained that it only meant that the courtroom was built to accommodate a maximum of 16 people. He was also questioned about the posts with the faces of the deceased in two of the empty seats; Monokuma replied that he put them there to allow the dead students to "participate" in the trials with their classmates.

In the end, Makoto Naegi managed to find the culprit of the murder, Leon Kuwata, prompting Monokuma to begin his execution. With everyone shocked by the brutality of the execution, Monokuma sent them back to their rooms, saying that the corpse and all the clues were removed from the academy, stating that just seeing them smile was enough gratitude, obviously another mockery and a reminder that they can not be lamented by the deaths of the that they died.

Chapter 2 - Boy's Life of Despair
After the trial, Monokuma and the remaining students were seen in the gymnasium doing morning exercise with Monokuma. However, the students questioned Monokuma if he called them just for that. Monokuma was annoyed and said that it was a waist of doing exercise and was only there to announce to the students that they're now allowed to access the second floor of the academy, where they discovered that the academy has been actually closed for years. Because the pool's locker rooms required the e-Handbooks to have access to the gym, Monokuma introduced a new school rule: lending your e-Handbook to another student is strictly prohibited. During the daily meeting in the cafeteria, the students theorized that Monokuma's controller must be a known psychopathic killer because of the situation they are in, this killer was theorized to be Genocide Jack, but they could not explain how someone could do such a planned execution, even if he had saved millions for it.

The next day, Monokuma announced his next incentive; envelopes sent to each of the surviving students. He warned that everyone's secrets would be made known publicly unless someone was killed in the next 24 hours, but Makoto doubted that anyone would kill over something so insignificant. The next day, however, Monokuma appeared in Makoto's room to wake up Makoto and announce to him physically that someone was murdered, this student was discovered to be Chihiro Fujisaki murdered in the girls' locker room, hung with strings with the words "Blood Lust" written with blood on the wall. Monokuma soon announced the investigation of the second murder case.

After the investigation, the Class Trial of Chihiro's murderer began. During the trial, Byakuya Togami claimed that the murderer was the serial killer, Genocide Jack; however, this was disproven when Genocide Jack herself clarified that she did not murder anyone. Due to an error of the killer himself, Makoto and Kyoko discover the identity of the culprit: Mondo Owada, who had lost his temper with lethal results after discovering Chihiro Fujisaki's secret: he was a boy disguised as a girl. Before executing Mondo, Monokuma explained both the killer and the victim's tragic backstories, and how they had collided to lead to murder.

Reveling in the students' despair, Monokuma initiated Mondo's execution, ignoring the protests of a distraught Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Monokuma was quick to execute him and at the end gen turned Mondo into butter.

Chapter 3 - A Next Generation Legend!
After the Class Trial, Monokuma allowed the students to access the third floor of the academy. When Makoto Naegi and a shattered Kiyotaka discovered the air purification machine, Monokuma deceives Taka by saying that it was a time machine that could only return "a minute ago", adding "salt to his wounds" over Mondo's death. Later, Makoto found a strange photo in which Chihiro, Mondo and Leon appeared together, but it was taken and torn to pieces by Monokuma. He later promised a lot of money to the student who got away with murder; despite Sakura's assertion that human lives could not possibly be worth money, Kiyotaka Ishimaru and Hifumi Yamada were both found dead the next morning.

When the investigation into the murder of Kiyotaka Ishimaru and Hifumi Yamada concluded, the next Class Trial began. After many debates, Makoto deduced that Celestia Ludenberg was the guilty party, having tricked Hifumi into murdering Kiyotaka before murdering him in turn. Cornered, Celestia revealed that she hated the Killing Game and that her dream was to live in a castle; with Monokuma's monetary reward for graduating, she could greatly increase the chances of her dream coming true.

After the execution, Kyoko warns Makoto about a secret room in the academy she found. Makoto investigates, only to be knocked out by a mysterious masked figure; after awakening, he follows the sound of a commotion to the gym, where Monokuma and Sakura Ogami are in the middle of a battle.

Chapter 4 - All●Star●Apologies
Sakura announced that she was done serving as Monokuma's mole; she would fight against him to ensure the mastermind's demise. The next morning, Monokuma publicly announced Sakura's role as his accomplice to the remaining students, renewing his command for her to commit murder. This announcement had a double purpose - punishing Sakura for her defiance and giving the students another motive to kill each other. After his announcement, Monokuma settled in to watch as his revelation divided the students over whether or not to trust Sakura. With tempers rising amid increasingly violent confrontations, another murder seemed inevitable.

To calm the chaos, Sakura decided to commit suicide, but not before writing a note for her classmates that explained her motives and what she knew about the mastermind's real plan. She intended to give the note to Aoi Asahina, but Monokuma replaced it with a note of his own, in which "Sakura" claimed that she was taking her life out of despair for the situation now gripping the academy. As Monokuma hoped, his forged message drove Hina to despair when she found it after Sakura's suicide - blaming herself and her fellow students for pushing her friend to kill herself, she resolved to lead the others to a false verdict in the next Class Trial, which would lead to all of their deaths.

Unfortunately for Monokuma, the remaining students managed to uncover the truth of Sakura's death and correctly vote her as the culprit of her own "murder". Afterwards, Monokuma casually revealed that the "suicide note" Hina found was actually a fake that Monokuma only wrote, and he proceeded to read Sakura's real suicide note to the stunned group. After revealing Sakura's true motive for killing herself, he gleefully mocked Hina for falling for the phony message, anticipating that the others would turn on her for almost getting them all killed for nothing. However, his plan backfired when Makoto pointed out that Monokuma's tampering was to blame for their strife, causing the surviving students to band together against him and the mastermind.

When even Toko Fukawa and Byakuya Togami vowed to focus on bringing down the true source of the academy's horrors, an enraged Monokuma executed Alter Ego for his attempts to hack into the main network of Hope's Peak Academy, revealing that he had known about the AI's existence all along and allowed him to access what files he'd collected and deciphered. Before leaving the courtroom, he also read one last part of Sakura's suicide note, revealing that the mastermind did "something" to the students as part of their plan, but left without revealing any further details.

Chapter 5 - 100 Mile Dash; Pain of a Junk Food Junkie
With the six remaining students now united against the mastermind and Sakura's "final blow" revealed to be breaking the lock to the mastermind's control room, Monokuma knew that he had to finish them off quickly. As such, he finally unleashed his "ace"; the sixteenth student, Mukuro Ikusaba.

In the middle of the night, Makoto found Byakuya, Hina, and Yasuhiro Hagakure, dismantling Monokuma. Byakuya claims he found Monokuma inactive, so they started dismantling him to find out what makes him tick.

Monokuma popped back up after the group (minus Kyoko Kirigiri) found his control room, revealing that he was recording them and broadcasting it to the world. He soon announced that the investigation for Mukuro was about to begin. At the Class Trial, suspicion fell on Kyoko as the murderer of Mukuro Ikusaba, only for her to deflect it onto Makoto. Before the Ultimate Lucky Student could prove his innocence, Monokuma suddenly called "time's up!", declaring that Makoto would be considered guilty of the murder. Despite everyone's shock and protests, Monokuma took Makoto to his execution, only to be thwarted by Alter Ego who was still in the system. After a moment of surprise and fury, Monokuma laughed off the mishap, noting that Makoto had fallen into the garbage chute, where he would eventually die; unfortunately for him, Kyoko was able to rescue him.

Chapter 6 - Ultimate Pain, Ultimate Suffering, Ultimate Despair, Ultimate Execution, Ultimate Death
After Kyoko and Makoto returned from the garbage room, they confronted Monokuma over his manipulation of the previous trial; noting that Monokuma's defiance of his own rules was a sign of desperation, Kyoko demanded a fair retrial. Intrigued, Monokuma agreed to Kyoko's challenge; if the students solved all of the mysteries of the school (including Mukuro's death and the identity of the mastermind), Monokuma would let them go, but if they failed, he would execute them all. Monokuma tried to get rid of some important information that was scattered around the Academy to prevent the students from knowing the truth behind the Killing Game.

During the retrial, Monokuma left his throne and took the long-unoccupied sixteenth seat in the courtroom. He interrupted the students' speculation about their lost memories, insisting that they focus on Mukuro's murder first. He gradually lost his composure as Makoto and the others slowly came to the realization that Mukuro had died long before the events of the previous night, revealing that she had been masquerading as Junko Enoshima the entire time. Cornered by his own attempts to conceal Junko's identity, Monokuma appeared defeated, but this only prompted Junko herself to make her appearance.

After Junko was found as the guilty murder, she and Monokuma executed themselves in the The Ultimate Punishment.

Epilogue - Goodbye Despair Academy
After Junko executed herself in the wake of her failed attempt to drive the remaining students to despair, Makoto and the others finally escaped the academy. However, Monokuma remained in the class trial room, seemingly defunct. He suddenly laughs and reactivates himself, declaring, "I am Monokuma... And I am your--I am this school's... ...headmaster!"

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
Although Monokuma never physically appeared, he was indirectly mentioned many times during the Demon Hunting game in Towa City. An entire army of mass-produced robots in his likeness served as the main enemies of Komaru Naegi and Toko Fukawa.

Prologue - Welcome to Dangan Island! Panic at the Heart-Throbbing School Trip!?
Monokuma hacked the Neo World to enter and start a new Killing game. Monokuma first appears after Usami lets the students go swimming. He keeps a low profile while Hajime Hinata introduces himself to the others, and only appears when Hajime decides to relax and joins the others. He hijacks the camera systems and tells all the students to gather at Jabberwock Park. When they do, he suddenly pops up from the Jabberwock Statue and states his name and the fact that he is the School Headmaster.

Gen then announced being the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy and the killing School trip that was about to begin. Monokuma started to fight Usami who wasn't willing to protect the students, however, to the end she lost to Monokuma and broke her magic wand. Once again, Monokuma started to fight Usami to change her to a more satisfying look, this turned out to be Monomi and Monokuma started to claim that he's his older brother. Because Monomi was being annoying to Monokuma he started to punch and hit Monomi due to his annoyance. He then called out the Monobeasts to execute her. After this the Killing School Trip official began.

Chapter 1 - Destination Despair
Monokuma, unlike the first game, doesn't need to prepare the motive as one of the students plans out the murder and another student commits a murder.

Chapter 2 - Sea and Punishment, Sin and Coconuts
Monokuma calls the remaining students to the central island and presents a new motive, a video game that has incriminating evidence on two students.

Later after the class trial Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu interferes with the execution, getting gravely injured. He is forced to help him by healing him.

Chapter 3 - Trapped by the Ocean Scent
Monokuma is challenged to a fight by Akane Owari and defeats her. He prepares to execute her for breaking the rules, but she is saved by Nekomaru, who is gravely injured instead. Monokuma is then forced to collect him and heal him.

Monokuma prepares the second motive to the group, the Despair Disease that infects three students during the night. Later it infects another student and they end up committing a murder.

Chapter 4 - Do Ultimate Robots Dream of Clockwork?
Monokuma, instead of presenting a motive, simply traps the remaining students inside the Grape and Strawberry houses and starves them until a murder occurs. To his excitement, one student murders Nekomaru Nidai.

Chapter 5 - Smile at Hope in the Name of Despair
Monokuma had made the students believe was a sinister organization responsible for them being trapped in the killing game was Monomi and Chiaki. Monokuma fought with Monomi trying to protect Chiaki and the other students from getting executed, but then Monokuma reveals that he has more than 1,000 spares. He later executes Monomi alongside Chiaki at the end of Chapter 5 and all of her remaining copies were destroyed.

Monokuma decided that he would execute Monomi alongside Chiaki, since because Monomi is not a student he wasn't bound to 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 by Monokuma in a punishment themed around Chiaki's talent of Ultimate Gamer, called "Please Insert Coin".

After the execution the students are shocked to see that they both die.

Chapter 6 - This is the End Goodbye Academy of Despair
The nature of the Neo World Program and its purpose, as well as Monokuma's role as an intruder are revealed. Later, during the final class trial, Monokuma transforms into his true form which is Alter Ego Junko.

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc
Monokuma instigates the "Final Killing Game" among the Future Foundation members, but his intentions, goals and the mastermind behind the killings are unknown. In episode 11 it's revealed that Monokuma seen is merely a recording.

Episode 01 - Third Time's the Charm
Monokuma appeared for the first time via the monitor after he attacked the Future Foundation's off-shore facility and cut off every exit to the building.

Recording from Hope's Peak Academy's gymnasium, he informed that the Remnants of Despair was in the verge of extinction thanks to Future Foundation's effort. As a reward, he trapped the Future Foundation's Division leaders as the participant of the Final Killing Game, the last and the conclusion's battle between Monokuma and Makoto Naegi. He cheerfully told Makoto that the Final Killing Game can't be prevented because it already started with Chisa Yukizome's body fell from the ceiling.

This marked the final battle between Monokuma and Makoto as the conclusion of their story and the battle between Hope and Despair.

Episode 02 - Hang the Witch
Monokuma explains to the captives about the game rules.

A familiar voice appeared taking to Monokuma inn which he did had no idea who was she and decided to change her into a more "familiar look", he appeared behind Usami and started to fight her and changed her to Monomi, this caused Monomi to lost a lot of her abilities.

When Makoto, Hina, Great Gozu and Miaya Gekkogahara fall asleep he asks the traitor if they are awake and questions who they will kill next.

Episode 04 - Who is a Liar
Monokuma appears in the recap stating what happened in the past 3 episodes of Danganronpa 3 - Future Arc.

Episode 09 - You Are My Reason to Die
Monokuma appeared in the recap stating and explained the events occurred past eight episodes of Future Arc.

Episode 11 - All Good Things
When the fifth time limit hit, Monokuma appeared on the monitor Makoto was forcing himself to watch to determine whether or not Kyoko's theory about the brainwashing videos driving previous victims to suicide was true. Because Monokuma did not acknowledge Makoto, he figured out that the video was pre-recorded. After mockingly introducing "Monokuma's Gloomy Sunday", he appeared in a video similar to his old Monokuma Theater, nearly driving Makoto to kill himself before Juzo Sakakura intervened.


 * Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles Series

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Monokuma returns in Danganronpa V3 as the main antagonist. This time, he is accompanied by his "children", led by Monotaro and appears in Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles where he forces sixteen students into a new Killing Game. He is also the only returning character from previous installments. Unlike in previous installments, Monokuma acts independently of being directly controlled by the mastermind. In this case, Tsumugi Shirogane can still remain as part of the group while Monokuma orchestrates the events of the game.

Creation
Monokuma was created by the organization that created and featured Killing Games for the outside world's entertainment, Team Danganronpa as the mascot of the series and the host of the Killing Games featured in the TV show. Monokuma has appeared ever since the first entries of the series as part of the Killing Games' host, most notably the killing game at Hope's Peak academy, the Killing School Life and the Killing Game at Jabberwock Island, the Killing School Trip. Since Monokuma is the mascot of the series, he is the face of the entire TV show. Ever since Monokuma's debut, Team Danganronpa decided to give him more potential as a character for the show, creating the Monokubs as the Children of Monokuma.


 * Danganronpa 52nd

Although not mentioned in the main story, it's heavily implied that Monokuma participated during the events of the 52nd Killing Game. He served as the host of the Killing Game. He along with, Tsumugi and Rantaro all participated during those events. Monokuma was the one responsible who forced Rantaro to be executed in order to make him participate once again in the 53rd Killing Game.

The Gofer Project
Monokuma was a robot who was supposedly created by the remaining members of the Ultimate Despair. After the Gofer Project was put into action, Kokichi Oma lied about being a part of the Ultimate Despair and was supposedly the one who let Monokuma enter the spaceship, where Monokuma began piloting the Ark on his own, and returned it to “the Earth after its destruction” after hundreds of years the sixteen students were put into a cold sleep and forced them to participate in the Killing School Semester. The Earth current state is completely demolished by meteorites, devoid of oxygen, devoid of all living things. All of this was done in order to get everyone to fall into so much despair that they would not continue the Killing Game.

After Shuichi Saihara worked up, Monokuma was the first person he was, Shuichi shocked at Monokuma started to question him how did he got here. Monokuma without much saying used a Blackout light in order to make him forget all his "memories" and force him to participate in the Killing Game.

Prologue - Ultimate Revival
Monokuma made his debut when his voice was heard by the Monokubs after they began to fight inside the Exisals. The Monokubs were excited to see their father. He appeared behind the podium inside the gymnasium with wings behind him. His appearance effectively died down the siblings quarrel and make them very happy to see their "daddy" back.

After Monokuma appeared he started to compliment the Monokubs, because of how adorable they are. Due to the Monokubs talking a lot of Monokuma being angry, he began to hit his Monokubs, they were at least beaten 2 times. After that, Monokuma introduced himself as the headmaster of the Academy to the students and begins to talk about the new killing game that would be done inside the Academy, after he stated that to leave the academy one had to be murder another student without being discovered and to realize the perfect murder.

The students were shocked and refused to participate, however, they had no choice but to listen to Monokuma's orders. After the announcement, all students are shocked looking at each other with suspicion.

Chapter 1 - My Class Trial, Our Class Trial
After Monokuma officials started the Killing Game, the students found the Death Road of Despair, after the students felled to get outside, Monokuma and his Kubs appear and started to taunt them. Monokuma stated that no matter how much they try they won't be able to make it to the outside world.

After Kaito Momota committed violence against the headmaster Monokuma, the Monokubs appear to make the example of what happens when they break a school rule. When Monokuma explodes and "dies", the Monokubs begin to cry for their father, thinking he is truly gone and vow to avenge his death. This made the students believe that the Killing Game had ended.

The next day, Monokuma appeared in a cosplay by the name "Jibakuma"; Tsumugi complained how awful his cosplay was. Monokuma then revealed his actual form, to the elation of the Monokubs; he revealed that he had a lot of spare bodies, while they only had one each. Monokuma stated that he appeared from a rumored machine where he supposedly re spawned back.

Monokuma revealed a motive for the students, which it was if they did not kill someone within 24 hours all the students will be attacked by several Monokumas and get killed one by one.

One hour before the deadline, Monokuma was seen in the monitors laughing and playing some kind of weird music with creepy videos warning the students about the deadline.

When the first victim was found Monokuma, announced in the monitors and taunted Kaede that they barely got to survive the attack before the deadline. After this Monokuma revealed the Monokuma File to the students with every detail about the crime scene of the victim.

After the investigation, the Monokubs announced to the students to head to the courtroom to begin the Class Trial. When the students arrived to the court room, Monokuma and the Monokubs were found sitting to manage the Trial.

After Shuichi Saihara founded the "blackened", Monokuma and the Monokubs were quick to execute her, but Kaito, Tenko, and Gonta Gokuhara immediately jump to her defense despite facing an Exisal. Kaede urges them to stop, saying that she's ready to die.

In the end, Kaede was executed by Monokuma after being found out as the supposed "blackened", were he hangs Kaede from a rope. Monokuma raises his baton, and the Monokubs appear on both sides of the piano, holding ropes that are connected to the rope around Kaede's neck. Using the ropes, they pull Kaede slightly upward, then start pulling her up and down, making her play a song on the piano using her feet. However, Kaede begins to step on the wrong piano keys, playing an out of tune song that disgusts the crowd of Monokumas.

After Monodam betrays Monokid and causes him to be destroyed during Kaede's execution, Monokuma seems distraught, but then brushes it off and says that's why you have more kids.

After the end of the Class Trial, Monokuma leaves behind the students and the Monokubs.

Chapter 2 - A Thin Line Divides Heaven and Hell
Monokuma was seen in the casino with Kaito, after he showed him the most difficult game. Monokuma started to taunt him after he lost everything and leaves afterwards.

Monokuma prepared a second motive to the students, which the Monokubs passed out as they are given through the Monopad were Monokuma targeted Kirumi Tojo to commit a murder.

After Ryoma Hoshi's corpse was discovered, Monokuma announced it through the monitors. In the Class Trial, Monokuma opened the Class Trial for the guilty murderer of Ryoma.

After Shuichi founded the guilty murderer, Monokuma announced that she will be executed shortly, Kirumi tried to ran away from the trial room, not wanting to die and to return to her country, however she cannot escape and was chased by Monokuma.

After witnessing Monodam causing Monosuke's destruction as well, Monokuma seems visibly shaken by his actions and also explodes.

Chapter 3 - Transfer Student From Beyond the Grave
After Monodam takes over the academy with the help of the other Kubs and the Exisals, Monokuma seemingly turns completely unresponsive and stars to turn bald from shock. This lasts for quite awhile until the Kubs don't know what to do and Monotaro and Monophanie start to cry, begging for their father to come back to them and telling him that they love him. Another Monokuma then appears, claiming that he had just been on vacation and left the Kubs the job, and that the unresponsive balding one was just his hired replacement.

A ghost Monokuma can also be found inside the middle one out of three creepy rooms. He is supposedly the ghost of the Monokuma who got crushed by an Exisal.

Chapter 4 - Live and Let The Languid World Live
Monokuma however, was disappointed that the motive went to waste. Knowing this, Kokichi later met with Monokuma in secret in the game room at nighttime and proposed that they reuse the motive in order to make the Killing Game "more interesting". Monokuma happily went along with this plan, placing a Flashback Light that revealed the secret of the outside world within the Killing Game simulator.

Chapter 5 - Voyage Without Passion or Purpose
After all the Monokubs died and got destroyed during the executions, Monokuma was seen mourning for them in private.

When the students headed to the cafeteria, Monokuma also appeared to give to the students their prizes for surviving the fourth Class Trial. However, the students didn't want Monokuma's prizes and tried to ignore him, however at the end the students kept those prizes.

When K1-B0 and Shuichi began to investigate the new area in the Ultimate Academy, K1-B0 and Shuichi triggered an extremely loud alarm which caused Monokuma to appear to just get angry and yell at K1-B0 and Shuichi. He then deactivated the alarm. The students then questioned Monokuma about that highly guarded door, Monokuma decided to give let the students enter that room, since it's now a very pointless room due to the Monokubs being destroyed. Monokuma gave to Shuichi the alarm button so he would be able to deactivate it when ever the wish. Monokuma stated that only him and the Monokubs know the secret passcode to enter this room, he then opened the door to the students so that they could enter anytime they wanted.

After K1-B0 and Shuichi entered they encountered the inactive Exisals. Monokuma appeared once again and stated that those are useless now since all the Monokbs are dead and nobody else apart from them know how to control the Exisals.

While Shuichi was investigating the new area, he encountered Rantaro's research lab that he couldn't open. However, Monokuma appeared claiming that it was closed because the owner is dead and he states that there's a rule that people who have died and not opened his lab, that lab will be closed forever due to the owner being dead. Monokuma then disappeared.

The students challenged Monokuma as they wanted to end this killing game to not take part of this Killing Game anymore. The remaining students started to prepare a plan to end this killing game by destroying Monokuma. However, Monokuma was gone missing for an entire day and never showed up in the gymnasium. After the remaining participants cleared the Death Road of Despair, Kokichi appeared and started to talk about him supposedly being the mastermind of the Killing Game and that he was the leader of the cult bent on stopping the Gofer Project. He lied about being the one who let Monokuma enter the spaceship, which effectively forced everyone to participate in the Killing School Semester as he supposedly was the one who started all this.

When Kokichi took Kaito as a hostage Monokuma was once again seen in middle of the Exisals as he was surrounded by four of them as they were in autopilot to guard Monokuma from the Exisal's hangar.

After the students found Kokichi's body he was seen in the monitors and telled everyone to meet in the crime scene. Due to Kokichi's plan, Monokuma was not able to know who was killed and wouldn't have any proper judgement to create during the class trial.

After the investigation, Monokuma announced to the students to meet up in the usual spot to begin the class Trial, this time without the Monokubs. When the students arrived, Monokuma was already in his position and ready to start the Class Trial. The students ordering Monokuma to reveal the suspect, disappointed he told "Kokichi" to come out.

Kaito in the Exisal pretending to be Kokichi, challenged Monokuma in the Class Trial in order to end the killing game and confuse him on who the real blackened is in order to make him no longer continue the Killing School Semester. During the Class Trial Monokuma teamed up with the survivors in order to defeat "Kokichi" inside the Exisal. This is what made Monokuma participate in the fifth Class Trial and introduced himself as the Ultimate Despair Headmaster.Due to Monokuma relying on Shuichi this is what lead Shuichi to lie to Monokuma in order to confuse him from who was the actual blackened from the Class Trial.

After Shuichi found Kaito as the guilty murderer of Kokichi, Monokuma was quick to want to execute him, but Maki refused to let him get killed regardless of whether or not he was sick. She was ready to kill Monokuma. However, Monokuma then revealed that he brought all of the latest models of the five Monokubs to have been reconstructed and are active once more, meaning that all five Exisals are once again under their control and will be defend Monokuma.

Kaito stated that he wouldn't let him complete his execution and finish this. During Kaito's execution, his illness ends up being the end of him instead of the execution, as he died in the middle of the execution, he was killed by his own terms and not Monokuma's, much to his annoyance.

When the execution ended Monokuma ordered the Monokubs to retread. Monokuma the triggered a Flashback Light to the students so that at some point they would remember something new from their memories. After that he left the Class Trial ending this.

Chapter 6 - Goodbye Danganronpa
After K1-B0 began a rampage he began a was with Monokuma in order to destroy the Ultimate Academy. Monokuma and the Monokubs, riding their Exisals, arrive and threaten to destroy K1-B0 for damaging the school and ending the Killing Game. K1-B0 reassures everyone to find the truth while he engages the Monokubs in combat, fighting them the entire time everyone else is investigation the real truth about the Killing Game.

After Shuichi and Himiko find out about Rantaro's true talents, he got angry at Monokuma for breaking his own rules and executing Kaede wrongly as he stated that the mastermind was the one responsible for killing Rantaro and was all a trap by the mastermind and Monokuma. Shuichi demanded a Class Trial to Monokuma that would make the students point out the real murdered that killed Rantaro and end the Killing Game itself.

Soon after the investigation, Monokuma and the Monokubs are presents in the final class trial with the remaining students as the students are ready to discover the mastermind's true identity and stop Monokuma and the mastermind. Monokuma forced the Monokubs to participate in the class trial in order to defend the mastermind from being found as the guilty murder. However, Monokuma slowly destroys them by triggering an explosion with a remote as Shuichi Saihara gets closer to learning who the real mastermind is, with Monotaro and Monophanie being the last Monokubs to explode. After Tsumugi Shirogane is revealed as the mastermind, Monokuma continues to operate independently of her.

While the other survivors were quick to oppose Tsumugi and Monokuma, they both reveal that the participants of the Killing School Semester are also "fictional characters", whose memory, personality, feelings, and talent were all fabricated in order to provide an exciting setting for the killing game for the outside world.

Monokuma and Tsumugi revealed themselves as the ones behind the Killing game and also about Team Danganronpa. Monokuma was created by Team Danganronpa to be the mascot of the TV show "Danganronpa", were he was the one to host the Killing games of every Danganronpa season (excluding the spin-offs). Monokuma began to shown to the students the world broadcast of the Killing game with K1-B0's point of view.

He tried to refute and force them students to participate in the Class Trial as they were trying to ignore the Class Trial. Monokuma and Tsumugi tried to manipulate the students to make K1-B0 execute himself and force them to participate once again in a new Killing Game that would take place in the Danganronpa timeline.

When Monokuma displayed the results of the final voting, Tsumugi was shocked to discover that no one had voted, proving that the audience does not want Danganronpa to continue. Monokuma was upset due to Danganronpa ending like this and states that is not the proper way to end the long running reality series. Tsumugi, upon realizing that Danganronpa was indeed over and done with, promptly loses all of her hope in living as she denied a world without Danganronpa, but had not prepared a proper execution beforehand and as such left it to K1-B0.

K1-B0 did not hesitate and proceeds to execute everything, sparing everyone but Monokuma and Tsumugi were getting executed and got crushed by a rock, who waved at the camera with a look of disappointment on Tsumugi's face before they both get flattened under rubble inadvertently caused by K1-B0 executing everything, and ending the killing game for good.

Relationships

 * Creators:

Junko Enoshima
Junko was the mastermind behind Monokuma throughout the events of Killing School Life and Killing School Trip - as she controls him -, and the creator of his concept and personality. Before Junko is exposed as the mastermind, Monokuma desperately tries to conceal her identity from the survivors. Monokuma's personality is based on one of Junko's many personalities, that she creates for him, and reappears when she holds him over her face when she talks. Junko is the only student that Monokuma respects, and he tends to call her "Lady Junko". Monokuma and Junko are part of the Ultimate Despair, of whom they are the original founders. In Danganronpa V3, his self-proclaimed talent references Monokuma formerly being part of the Ultimate Despair, only by adding headmaster to the title.

Monaca Towa
While Junko created the concept of Monokuma, Monaca brought him to life by creating his body. Via her position as the Head of Towa Robotic Branch, Monaca mass-created Monokuma units.


 * Family:

Monomi
When Monokuma shows up on the island, he adopts Usami as his little sister without her approval. Monokuma quickly fought Usami to strip away Usami's "magical" abilities. Monokuma changed her appearance to resemble his own, and renamed her Monomi. Monokuma does not seem to care about Monomi at all, an example is when he executed her with the Monobeasts. Monokuma usually beats her up when she irritates him, which happens often. Monokuma also likes to make fun of her, and always punches or harms her when she bothers him.

Monomi seems to hate Monokuma a lot due to him forcing the students participate in the Killing School Trip. Even though Monomi hates Monokuma, she still sometimes calls him "Big Brother".

At the end of Chapther 5, Monomi stood up against Monokuma and decided to sacrifice herself for the sake of defeating Monokuma, grabbing hold of Monokuma and self-destructing herself. Monokuma stopped her by revealing that he had plently of spares which he had been mass producing in Jabberwock Island's factory and she realized it was futile to continue attacking him. Monokuma proceeded to execute her little sister (along with her spares) with Chiaki Nanami with no worry remembering that he is an only child.

In School Mode and Island Mode, Usami shows up to help the students escape the school. Usami attacks Monokuma until he agrees to release the group.

In Danganronpa 3, Monokuma claims he doesn't recognize Usami, but he appears to be just joking as he then hacks Miaya's computer and turns Usami into a more "familiar" form - his "little sister" Monomi. In the Danganronpa 3 relationship chart, Monomi tells Monokuma that he isn't her big brother.

In the non-canon Danganronpa V3 bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan, Monomi takes her position as Monokuma's sister again. During her school life Monomi was trying to stand against Monokuma's bullying.

Monokuma Kubs
Monokuma is the self-proclaimed father of Monotaro, Monokid, Monosuke, Monodam and Monophanie. He calls them his "adorable children" and even seems disturbingly attracted to them because they look like him and he loves his own looks.

While Monokuma seemingly acts sweet towards his children at times, he seems to be neglectful and violent most of the time, punching or otherwise physically abusing them if they annoy him and overall acting very passive aggressive. Considering himself the headmaster, he gets annoyed whenever his children try to steal the show, and even states multiple times that he tolerates them only because they are so cute. Monokuma loves to lick his cubs affectionately, though this often feels like passive aggressive punishment since almost all the cubs hate the licks, excluding Monophanie.

Monotaro and Monodam usually refer to him as "father", while Monokid calls him "Papa Kuma", Monosuke "pops" and Monophanie "daddy". Out of all the Monokubs, Monokuma seems to like Monophanie the most due to her unique kind personality and general cuteness, creepily stating that he could eat her up, which startles even her. However, Monophanie's sweetness also seems to annoy Monokuma at times, since he himself is so evil. Monokid and Monotaro also greatly respect their father, with Monotaro especially loving him, and even Monodam seems fond of their father at first. Monosuke seems the most indifferent towards their father, though he still respects him in his own way.

In Chapter 3, Monodam forcefully takes Monokuma's place with the help of the Exisals, accusing him of treating his children like slaves. The Kubs also accuse him of being too old for his job. Monokuma begins to lose his hair over this and becomes unresponsive in shock for awhile, though another copy of him appears later claiming that he'd just been on a vacation and left the job for his Kubs and the balding substitute.

Monokuma doesn't really seem to care whenever his Kubs die, and he even decides to kill Monotaro and Monophanie himself during Gonta's execution in Chapter 4. He gives a petty excuse that they had only been spending time together and ignoring him. He quickly feels a mix of sadness and amusement, and then laughs it all off by stating that he's probably never going to get the hang of the whole parenting thing. He is later seen grieving his Kubs, in a somewhat pretense way, but he then begins to wonder why did they even exist.

He later creates new copies of his Kubs in order to have the ability to use the Exisals once again in order to protect him from danger and have full control at the Academy once again. During Chapter 6 in the Final Class Trial, Monokuma has a self-destruct button to destroy the Monokubs whenever he gets excited or their participation in the Class Trial dissatisfies him, and presses the button to destroy all of them one by one.

Another member of The Monokuma Kubs are Nanokumas. They helped Monokuma on monitoring the Killing School Semester from inside the Ultimate Academy and transmitting the live footage to Motherkuma.


 * Allies:

Monobeasts
Monokuma has the Monobeasts under his control as they will do anything he requests. He seems to treat them as pets rather than mere machines and tools. Because Monokuma refers to his relationship with the Monobeasts as per their 'contract' it could be that the Monobeasts aren't fully under his control but simply have an arrangement.


 * Team Danganronpa

In Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles Series, Monokuma was created by Team Danganronpa and used as the mascot in their reality show titled Danganronpa.

Tsumugi Shirogane
Tsumugi and Monokuma are members of Team Danganronpa and both of them worked together in the latest season of the Danganronpa season.

Tsumugi and Monokuma don't interact with each other that much, which could be to hide the fact that they both work for Team Danganronpa, and always act as if they didn't know each other.

Tsumugi tends to yell whenever Monokuma appears out of nowhere, as she states that something is about to happen everytime he shows up.

Monokuma executed Kaede in order to protect her from the students suspecting her to be the Ringleader.

In Chapter 6, Monokuma and his children try to keep Shuichi Saihara from discovering the truth behind her. At the end of the last Trial, both of them are seen waving their hands as both get crushed by a rock and die together.

In Ultimate Development Plan, Tsumugi and Monokuma are seen to have a good relationship as they are interacting well and report to each other about their plans at the festival.

K1-B0
K1-B0 along with Monokuma, were created by Team Danganronpa for the TV show, Danganronpa. However, K1-B0 seems to get very annoyed whenever he forces the students to do something as he pleases, even refusing to listen to him and trying to ignore him. Monokuma always mocks him for being a robot and makes puns about him. K1-B0 doesn't trust or likes Monokuma in any way. He tries to protect the students when Monokuma threatens to execute them. At the end of Chapter 5, after Kaito was executed, K1-B0 states that he wants to kill and end Monokuma. When the students start to lose hope, Monokuma mocks them, confirming that they should give up on hope since there's nothing left for them. However, K1-B0 refuses to give up on hope and lose to Monokuma, and wants to help his classmates no matter the cost.

In Chapter 6, K1-B0 begins a war with Monokuma and his children in order to stop him and the mastermind by destroying the academy.

During the final Class Trial, K1-B0 gets challenged by Monokuma a lot of times to defend Tsumugi and hide the truth behind the Killing Game. Soon after the final Class Trial ends, K1-B0 starts to destroy the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, only sparing Shuichi, Maki and Himiko. In the end, he betrays Monokuma and Tsumugi by letting his classmates live.

In bonus mode, K1-B0 is angry at Monokuma because he treats her sister badly, and states that robots shouldn't fight like that, especially when they're "family".


 * Hope's Peak Academy Students:

Makoto Naegi
During the Killing School Life, Makoto feels intense hatred for Monokuma, especially after the events of Chapter 1. The two maintain a fierce rivalry throughout the Hope's Peak Academy saga, a battle between Hope and Despair. In Danganronpa 3 - Future Arc, the Final Killing Game, Monokuma states that this will be their final battle and conclude the history of each other, during this last battle of Hope and Despair.

Kyoko Kirigiri
As one of Monokuma's captives, Kyoko is, at first, very cautious around him, suggesting to her fellow students that they obey his orders. But later, when Kyoko breaks the school rules and steals one of Monokuma's possessions, she angers Monokuma. He thens tries to manipulate the students to suspect Kyoko as the culprit who supposedly killed Mukuro Ikusaba and vote for her as the darkened. Following the bad ending, Monokuma executes her, leaving the other students live inside the academy. Following the good ending, Kyoko challenges him in Chapter 6, with the goal to find the mastermind behind the killing game and the murder of Mukuro.

Sakura Ogami
Monokuma blackmailed Sakura into serving him, else she would have to watch her family and her lover Kenshiro be killed. Sakura's hates having to work with Monokuma, however, he leaves her no choice. She however ends up rejecting serving him, refusing to further endanger her classmates. Monokuma then decides to expose Sakura's role as the traitor to everyone out of revenge, leaving her no other choice than to kill herself to protect her remaining classmates. In her dying mesage, she reassures everyone that they will be able to destroy Monokuma's plans and will uncover the mastermind, and she blames Monokuma for her death and everything that has happened during the Killing Game.


 * Ultimate Academy Students:

Kokichi Oma
Kokichi seemingly saw Monokuma as a cool robot. However, unlike with K1-B0, Kokichi didn't tease him for being a robot. He thought that Monokuma was the coolest one of all the Monokumas and even considered his children, the Monokubs, annoying ripoffs of Monokuma. He occasionally talked to Monokuma in a friendly and casual manner, even if his words implied the opposite.

Kokichi and Monokuma worked together in Chapter 4 in order to make the Killing game much more interesting and both prepared a motive for students, which was the outside world. Monokuma appeared amused as he pointed out that Kokichi truly is an evil bastard. The other students accused him of being allies with Monokuma and some even noticed that he had started to talk and act like the bear. However, Monokuma wasn't pleased with the downer ending of the trial, but only laughed it off when Kokichi said that his plan to make the game more interesting was just a lie.

In chapter 5, Kokichi lied about being the mastermind who started the Killing School Semester by letting Monokuma enter the spaceship during the Gofer Project. However, this was just part of his plan to outwit the true mastermind and later during the trial Monokuma appeared genuinely angry towards Kokichi for his troublesome actions and even offered some information against him "purely out of spite". In order to defeat Monokuma and end the killing game, Kokichi tried to create an unsolvable case, with Kaito speaking for Kokichi by using his script and acting very passive aggressive towards Monokuma. In the end, Kokichi considered Monokuma and the mastermind his true enemies, as you can only truly win the game by beating them and because he claimed to truly hate the killing game and its creators.

Free Time Events & Bonus Mode Guides
The link below is a full transcript and indepth guide for Monokuma's route in Ultimate Talent Development Plan.

Quotes

 * -|DR1=


 * -|DR2=


 * -|DR BTB/MTB/PAR=


 * -|DRIF=


 * -|DRtA=


 * -|DR3=
 * -|DRV3=


 * -|Extra=


 * -|References=

Creation and development
Monokuma is based on the idea of guilty (黒, literally "black") and innocent (白, literally "white"). His first beta design showcased him resembling an anatomy model commonly used in science courses. His "white" and "black" sides were originally a fully skinned side and one that exposes muscle and organs. As the style of the game changed, the character was made cuter and he became a teddy bear instead. Another beta showcases Monokuma similarly to how he is now with the exception of his bellybutton, the addition of paws, and a slimmer body. His current design doesn't show his claws.

Name
Monokuma's name is a combination of the romanization of “monochrome” (モノクローム, monokurōmu), referencing his black and white color scheme, and クマ (kuma), the Japanese word for “bear”.

Alternate Fates
In Danganronpa IF, it is revealed that Chihiro Fujisaki created Monokuma's software after the characters' memories are restored. However, this event takes place in an alternate timeline, and so may or may not be true.

Monokuma also appears in Danganronpa 1 (Trial Version) and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version) as the headmaster of the academy and the host of the mutual killing games. Monokuma first appeared in the gymnasium when the protagonist arrives where he introduces himself and talks about the killing game that is about to happen. Monokuma also appears in the Class Trials along with the students.

Monokuma also appeared in School Mode. Similarly to the original game, Monokuma makes an announcement as he does in the main story, however he declares that he is currently at a loss on what to do since he has forgotten to create "backups" for himself, and therefore cannot truly begin the group's "School Life". Although all the students are confused and reluctant to go along with Monokuma's words, he reminds the group that the door is sealed and that there is currently no way to leave. Monokuma then announces that in order to escape, the students must work together to create backups based on his specifications. After he leaves, the students all reluctantly agree to go along with Monokuma's orders since there was no telling what could happen if they refuse. After reaching the 51st day, if the player manages to build every backup assigned, 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, introducing itself as Usami. After a small argument, Usami attacks Monokuma until he agrees to release the group and gives them the escape button before disappearing.

List of Appearances

 * -|Game=
 * DISTRUST (Scrapped)
 * Danganronpa 1 (Trial Version): Major
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: Major
 * Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: Major
 * Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls: Mentioned/Flashback
 * Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: Major
 * Danganronpa: Monokuma no Gyakushū: Major
 * Danganronpa: Unlimited Battle: Major
 * Cyber Danganronpa VR The Class Trial: Major
 * -|Anime=
 * Danganronpa: The Animation: Major
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School/Future Arc: Supporting
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School/Despair Arc: Minor
 * Monokuma Gekijō: Major
 * -|Light Novels=
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF: Major
 * Danganronpa 1 ・2 Beautiful Days: Major
 * Danganronpa Zero: Mentioned
 * -|Manga=
 * Danganronpa: The Manga
 * Danganronpa: The Demo: Major
 * Danganronpa: The Animation (manga): Major
 * Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei 4koma KINGS: Major
 * Danganronpa 2: Ultimate Luck and Hope and Despair: Major
 * Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (manga): Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubō Gakuen Comic Anthology: Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubō Gakuen 4koma KINGS: Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2 Dangan Island: Kokoro Tokonatsu, Kokoronpa: Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Nankoku Zetsubō Carnival!: Major
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Nanami Chiaki no Sayonara Zetsubō Daibōken: Major
 * Small Danganronpa 1・2 Light: Major
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibōgamine Gakuen Comic Anthology: Supporting
 * New Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shin Gakki Comic Anthology: Major
 * Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer: Mentioned
 * -|Songs=
 * Monokuma Song
 * -|Stage Plays=
 * Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei THE STAGE (2014)
 * Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei THE STAGE 2016
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubō Gakuen THE STAGE (2015)
 * Super Danganronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubō Gakuen THE STAGE 2017
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibōgamine Gakuen THE STAGE 2018

Trivia

 * His original Japanese voice actress Nobuyo Ōyama is popular from her voice acting of Doraemon, which Spike Chunsoft purposely made Monokuma sound like. Due to her battle with dementia, she retired from voice acting, with her last in-game role being Cyber Danganronpa VR.
 * His name in DISTRUST was originally Phantom.
 * Monokuma also shares some similarities with Zero lll from  including that they are highly advanced technologies structured after animals that are intermediaries behind the mastermind and the players.
 * Another thing that should be noted is that both of them have highly erratic and ecstatic personalities, though occasionally lower their voices in threatening remarks. They are also voiced by TARAKO, which was likely cast in reference to Zero III since both Kotaro Uchikoshi, and Kazutaka Kodaka are known friends.
 * Another similar character to Monokuma is Billy the Puppet from the  series. Both act as avatars to the masterminds behind their violent games, both have a black, white, and red color scheme, both revel in giving their victims a tiny chance of survival (although Billy tends to be more genuine about it than Monokuma), and both make use of elaborate traps meant to inflict grisly, ironic deaths on their victims.
 * It should also be noted that Danganronpa was originally going to have a more horror look.
 * In Chapter 4 of the second game, it is revealed that Monokuma and Usami both hate and are afraid of mice.
 * This is another reference to his resemblance to Doraemon, who is terrified of mice ever since a robotic mouse gnawed off his iconically-absent cat ears.
 * This trait is later revealed to have an important role in the story; it's a trait given to the Observer which makes sure they can't enter the Nezumi Castle, which would act as a hiding place for the students if the Observer went rogue and contains the password to escape the program. After Monokuma stole Usami's role as the Observer, he inherited her fear of mice, meaning it's a trait he doesn't normally possess.
 * In one of the instances of "Monokuma Theater" in Chapter 4, Monokuma speaks in morse code. Translated, the message reads "BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR KUMATINE", a reference to .
 * It appears that Monokuma's “evil” left eye is meant to be similar to the symbol located on the front of Hope's Peak Academy's insignia. It is later shown in Danganronpa 3: Despair Arc that, upon arriving at the school's gates, Junko took a glance at the Hope's Peak insignia and incorporated part of it while designing Monokuma.
 * As seen in various promotional beta art, Monokuma was likely going to appear in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls and have a major role in the game as he is seen running away from Komaru Naegi and Toko Fukawa.
 * In the beginning of the second game's second Class Trial, after the students discuss the murders which took place in Hope's Peak Academy and inspired the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case, Monokuma and Monomi (who is tied up next to his seat) get caught up in a small discussion over how violent high school students have become nowadays. The humor behind this little exchange stems for the fact that Monokuma and Monomi's voice actresses, Nobuyo Ōyama and Takako Sasuga, respectively, are both senior voice actresses who are best known for the roles they have portrayed in some of Japan's most famous, long-running animated shows since the 1970's.
 * Monokuma's English voice actor, Brian Beacock, also voiced Monosuke.
 * In the end of the fifth chapter of the second game, Monokuma decides, apparently on a whim, to execute his “adoptive little sister” Monomi along with Chiaki Nanami - after the latter's words motivate Monomi to “finish off” Monokuma by grabbing onto him and self-destructing repeatedly (a plan that was, however, prone to fail as Monomi had around 10 spare copies at the time while Monokuma had novemdecillion (10^60) - claiming that he “suddenly remembered that he's an only child” and that he has no reason to keep someone who does nothing but constantly interfere with his plans around. This is very reminiscent of how Junko killed her twin sister Mukuro for the sake of her personal devices - a decision Junko later admits to have made on a whim as well.
 * Monokuma is Kazutaka Kodaka's favorite Danganronpa character because he is the easiest to write and because he can say whatever he wants to say.
 * Monokuma appears as a guest character in . His Max ATK and Max HP are 8600. His weapon is Monokuma sword and his weapon's ability is doubled attack power. His deathblow is called "Blade of Monochrome", a dash attack which causes medium damage to the enemy.
 * Monokuma appears in Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics as one of three designs available for the Ultimate Student class, alongside Makoto and Komaru.
 * In a poll hosted by MyNavi, fans voted Monokuma the most popular Danganronpa V3 Monokuma Unit.
 * Monokuma is a guest character in , featuring as a DLC boss.
 * In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Monokuma is revealed to hate with passion, seemingly jealous of his fame. On November 3, 2017, Sonic the Hedgehog's official Twitter page answered to Spike Chunsoft about Monokuma's outburst using comments by Sonic,, and . Doctor Eggman, of course, agrees with Monokuma's opinion while Sonic quotes Danganronpa's famous "you've got that wrong" catchphrase.
 * Monokuma returns in the new game Zanki Zero: Last Beginning through a special requirement.

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